Anita's Playground

Empanadas (Pateso, Pate Chaud) - Beef filling

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 00:05:00 +0000

Hi all,

So I was just craving for this Empanadas and I did quite a lot of research on how to make a dough and I figured it is the same dough as our regular pie dough so I made some and it did turn out quite good. I stored some in freezer and oven bake again when I feel like having some (I don't have much left, it's that good).

Here is my recipe, you can use whatever filling you want and any kind of meat or vegetable as you may prefer but I stick to the authentic recipe of how the South American would make it. Enjoy! :)

Dough: (Makes about 20 - 22 pieces)

All purpose flour: 3 cups
Salt: 1 tsp
Cold water: 1/2 cup
Egg 2
Apple Cedar Vinegar: 1 tbsp
Unsalted butter (Cold, cut in cubes): 3 tbsp

Filling:

Ground beef: 1 kilogram
Onion (chopped finely): 1
Tomatoes (Drain out the liquid and seeds, slice in small cubes): 2
Garlic (chopped finely): 2 cloves
Paprika: 1 tbsp
Salt: 1 tsp
Pepper: 1 tsp
Olive oil: 1 bsp
Tomato puree: 3 tbsp
Beef broth: 1/2 cup

Vegetable oil (For frying): 2 - 3 liters
Water in a bowl with a brush (for sealing the dough)

Process:

In a small mixing bowl, add eggs, water, vinegar together combine well and set aside.
In separate bowl, place All purpose flour, salt, mix well.
Add cubed butter and use your hand to combine all together, it looks like it will not combine but just keep doing, it will be combined and looking like a sand. :) (P.S: Make sure you dust your working surface with flour so it does not stick everywhere).

When everything is well combined, add wet ingredient that we put aside just now, mix well. If it's too wet to you, add some small amount of flour at a time, it should come together like a dough.

Plastic wrap it tightly, place in ziplock bag and refrigerator for the dough to set for an hour.
To make the filling: in a pan, medium heat, add onion let it cook until it is cooked caramelized a little, add garlic until fragrance then add ground beef.
Add on the seasonings: salt, peppers, paprika. Let it cook for 5 minutes, add in tomatoes and tomato puree and beef broth. Let it cook and simmer for a bit until the liquid is reduced.
Taste, it should taste something peppery and smoky from the paprika.

Assembling time:

Once your dough is out of the refrigerator, it will feel a little hard, let it sit out at room temperature for 5 minutes or so. Dust your working surface with flour, cut your dough into half, plastic wrap the other half and put it back in the fridge (You will take a while to finish this batch); roll out your dough with the rolling pin. (This is the most torture part of making this recipe, rolling out the dough is quite a work but do think of it as the arms workout. Hehe)
Empanadas's dough is usally very thing and flaky, try to roll it out as thin as you can but not too thin that you could see through your surface though.
I didn't have a round cookie cutter, so i used a small bowl to get the edgy round cut and just bladed my knife around it and it was a perfect cut every time.
Once you are done with cutting your dough, make sure you cover it with a clean clothe or plastic wrap, to prevent from drying out the dough.
Heat up your frying pan with enough vegetable oil to cover at least half.
I actually wrap the empanadas as i go because I did not want the dough the melt (It contains lots of butter), as you work with the dough, you will realize it does shrink at time, so you have to roll out as you go as well.
Place the filling on the upper part of the dough (leave the edge), brush water around the edges, close it and press it with your finger.
I did tug in and shape my dough as the "original style" you can do it however you like, using a fork to seal the edges as you may prefer.
To form the edges, all you need to do is fold it the dough and press, fold in and press until the end. (Sorry, I didn't take a picture of my own work so I had to googled this part).

As you finish, just dump into the oil and let it cook for 4 minutes on each side, once it's golden brown then it's done. It does not require too much time for frying since the filling is already cooked.
I hope you find this recipe as delicious as I did, I had to freeze some of mine in the freezer and I'd oven bake them the next time I want to eat. This also helps the dough even more crispier and drains out the access oil. Enjoy! :)

Crispy Taro Dumpling (Pateso/PateChaud)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 09 Feb 2014 19:12:00 +0000

Hi everyone, it has been ages since the last time i posted a recipe. I have been occupied with things, life in general. That did not stop me, I have been cooking a lot lately but just did not have enough time to blog what I cook so here is one of the recipe I have recent experienced. I hope you find it helpful and enjoyable!.. :)

This recipe is called Crispy Taro Dumping, Pateso/PateChaud. It has so many name but overall it is almost the same around the world. I believe in South America also have something similar which is called "Empanadas" and I also made some as well. For our Asian countries we also have the same but the filling is slightly different. For this recipe, I made a Taro Dumpling, it is made from taro for its crust, it is an Vietnamese/Chinese inspired appetizer.
See below for my recipe, I got a basic way of doing it from youtube but I twisted and turned into something different for mine and it turned out pretty good.
It is very delicious, the taro makes everything come together and very crunchy but such a time consuming and a lot of work but it's worth the try. :)

You will need:

The Crust:

Taro (Fresh or frozen): 3 roots
All purpose flour: 1 1/2 cup
Luke warm Water: 1 cup
Salt: 1 tsp
Baking Soda: 1 tsp
Baking powder: 1 1/2 tsp
Sugar: 1 tbsp
Unsalted butter (room temp.): 2 tbsp
Vegetable oil: 2 - 3 liters

Filling:

Minced pork: 1/2 kilogram
Onion: 1 (big)
Garlic: 2 cloves
Salt: 1 tsp
Sugar: 2 tsp
MSG (option): 1 tsp
White pepper: 2 tsp
Soy sauce: 1/2 tsp
Sesame oil: 2 tsp
All purpose flour: 1 1/2 tbsp

Process:

Once you have your taro roots, peel out the skin, cut in chunks or as big or small as you like, I did cut mine in quite a big chunks. Wash them good with salt (Taro is very sticky and gluey, I suggest you to wear gloves while working with taro because if you do not wash your hand good enough, it makes it itchy). Once you have washed and drained them dry, place on a tray, heat up your steaming pot and let is steam for a good 1 hour (Leave it, you do not need to peek). :)

While that is steaming, time to prepare your filling. For this recipe I use pork because that's what the original recipe contains, if you cannot consume pork and prefer other kinds of meat I suggest you can go for either minced chicken or minced beef but make sure it has enough of its natural fats otherwise, it will make the meat quite hard.

Peel the onion, chop in small pieces and food process it with garlic. Onion has its own natural liquid, it is best to drain it out to avoid the meat becoming too water. Drain out the liquid and place in a bow.
In a bowl, add the minced pork, and the rest of the ingredients except sesame oil and all purpose flour (You will have to add that last).
Mix it well, Add sesame oil and all purpose flour.
I always microwave a small amount of my filling to taste, see if it needs anymore ingredients or it's enough. Better to taste it then find out it is too salty later. Hehe..
Once it is well tasted and done, place plastic wrap over it and refrigerator it for later assembling.
Check the taro, it is all cooked and sticky, it means it is done. Take it out from the steamer. Smash it like you would smash a potato. I did smash it and figure I would food processing it for a finer paste and it did turn out well. If you smash it finely enough then there is no need to food process it.

I normally would prepare my wet ingredients separately, so in a small cup goes in water, all purpose, flour, salt, sugar, baking soda, baking powder. Mix well.

Once the taro is all smashed and in a fine paste. Add in butter and mix well again.

Then add the flour mixture into the bowl and mix well until combined.

Plastic wrap it and refrigerator to let it firm up a little for 30 minutes.
Here comes the fun and sticky time, prepare a small bowl of vegetable oil to coat your hand and prevent from sticking all over the place.
Place the mixture onto your hand in a ball shape and tap it flatten and add the minced pork, wrap it up together and sealed completely. Also coat the vegetable oil onto the plate or the tray that you will be using to place on the dough. Continue until you finish.
Heat up your frying pan with the vegetable oil, this recipe calls for a lot of vegetable oil to fill up at least half of the pan or pot that you will be frying in, it helps your dough to float and makes it crispy.
Once your oil is hot enough (not too hot that will burn), place on the dough and also shape again.

Leave it for a good 30 - 40 seconds then you can start stirring. It is best to stir constantly so the dough gets equal heat and avoid darken on only one side.
Once it reaches the golden brown color, take them out and drain.

Let it cool down for 5 - 10 minutes and try! It is the best! So hard to make but once it's done, it finishes so fast. Hehe! Enjoy! :)

Mie Goreng and Sunny Side - up

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 14:07:00 +0000

Mie Goreng simply means Fried Noodles. It is originated in Indonesia and spread throughout South East Asian countries such as: Malaysia and Singapore. It is made from yellow noodles, fried with oil, garlic, shallots, onion, cabbage, shrimps, chicken and Bakso (meatballs). Ever since I had to chance to try Indonesian food and their instant noodles is one of my must try. It immediately became my favorite. It is very flavorful and super simple! :)

Ingredients:

Indo Mie - Mi Goreng = 1 bag
Eggs = 2
Soy sauce = 1 tsp
Pepper = 1 tsp
Dried chili = (As prefer)

Process:

Indo Mie - Mi Goreng can be found at the local Asian stores that sell Indonesian and Malaysian grocery. There are some other brands too but Indo Mie is my favorite, their other kinds of noodles and flavors are good as well.
Cooked the Instant noodles as directed on the package. Drain the water and add all the provided seasoning in to the cooked noodles and mix well.
With a sauce pan, as you noticed my eggs are heart shape. I use a Heart Shape ring mold. If you don't have one, you can skip this step and fry your eggs normally.
Place your fried eggs onto the noodles and seasoned with some soy sauce and black peppers. I like to sprinkle some dried chili on my noodles and mix well before I place the eggs.
There you have it! :)

Above picture is the Green Barley Noodles, it is as good as Mie Goreng and taste about the same. I added some Stirred fried shrimps with Paprika, Sweet n Sour sauce. :)

Enjoy,

Anita A.

Homemade Chicken Cordon Bleu

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 12:00:00 +0000

Chicken Cordon Bleu - One of my homemade recipes. It was the first time making one, it turned out to be pretty good. My recipe may not be the authentic one but it sure is a good one. Enjoy! :)

Ingredients:

Chicken breasts (Skinless & Boneless) = 4 pcs
Hickory smoked ham = 8 slices
Swiss cheese = 8 slices
All purpose flour = 1 cup
Breadcrumbs = 1 cup
Eggs = 3 pcs
Paprika = 2 tbsp
Dried Rosemary = 1 tsp
Salt = 1 tsp
Pepper = 1 tsp
Olive oil = 1/2 cup
Toothpicks

Process:

Have our chicken breasts cleaned and ready, them plastic wrap around it flatly and pound it til flatten. Season the chicken breasts with salt, pepper, paprika, rosemary, a little bit of olive oil, set it aside and let it rest for 10 - 15 minutes.
Line up the Hickory smoked hams, Swiss cheese and toothpicks in front of you. There will be some rolling.
With your chicken breast, place two of smoked hams and two of Swiss cheese onto the chicken breast equally. Roll it forward and tug in both side as you go. To prevent the access juice when the cheese melts. Insert toothpicks to secure the chickens and its stuffing in. Use as many as you like but make sure you remember to take it all out when it is done cooking.
Roll the rest of chicken breasts and the fillings together. Let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, put your coating ingredients in the bowls. All purpose flour, beaten eggs, and breadcrumbs. Dip the prepared chicken onto the flour (Add, a pinch of salt and pepper pulls out some flavor, tap out some access flour as needed), then put onto beaten eggs (let it coats all sides), then to the breadcrumbs - make sure you cover enough. Breadcrumbs give some crunchy texture to the coating. Plastic wrapped and let your prepared chicken sit for 15 minutes in the fridge so everything is all set.
With a sauce pan, add the olive oil and let the temperature reaches medium heat, toss your chicken in the pan and let it look completely. In this process if you'd like to reduce fat, you can oven baked the chicken, it will be as crunchy as pan frying. All you have to do is, spray some olive oil on your pan, line - up your chicken and spray some olive oil onto the chicken and bake at the temperature of 150 degree Celsius and let it bake for about 15 - 20 minutes until you get a golden brown chicken and crispy on the outside.
Serve while hot, slice the chicken about 2 inches. I had my Chicken Cordon Bleu with some ketchup or Siracha sauce. Some people prefer the creamy sauce on top but for my opinion, I think the chicken itself is already creamy and cheesy.
Enjoy! :)

Enjoy,

Anita A.

Okonomiyaki My Style

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 14 Sep 2013 21:29:00 +0000

Okonomiyaki is Japanese cuisine! It is so delish! But since I like to cook and love to mix and match and play around with the ingredients I have in the fridge/pantry, here is my recipe of Okonomiyaki. It is not the original but it is my kind of Okonomiyaki. You know, I love the cook the way I like it. :)

Ingredients:

Soba noodles = Half pack
Soba sauce = 2 tbsp
Chicken breasts (Sliced in small strips) = 1 whole piece
Onion = 3 tbsp
Garlic (Chopped finely) = 2 cloves
Zucchini (Sliced thinly) = 1/2 cup
Cherry tomatoes = 10 pcs
Eggs = 3
Soy sauce = 2 tsp
Oyster sauce = 1 tbsp
Sugar = 1 tsp
Salt = 1/2 tsp
Black Pepper = 1/2 tsp
Olive oil = 2 tsp
Cheddar cheeese (As you prefer)

Process:

Place water in a sauce pan just enough to cover the noodles. Bring the water boil and place noodles in. Stir a little and let it cook for about 5 minutes (As it said on the package, and it turns out great every time). Drain out the water and set aside
On a sauce pan, add olive oil. Let it get hot a bit garlic, until it gets fragrance. Add sliced chicken breasts.
When it is almost done add sliced Zucchini, stir until tendered add Salt, pepper, soba sauce, soy sauce, and mix them until completely combined.
In a bowl which Soba noodles sit in, add the stirred fried in and crack those 3 eggs. Mix well.
Bring back to the sauce pan and let the egg cook on the bottom. When it is ready to flip, if you are not a professional like me, I find the big enough flat plate and cover on the sauce pan; turn it over and toss back to the pan with the top part. Let that side cooked completely.
It is now ready to serve! I served mine with picked red chili which I had pickled and stored in the fridge for about 2 - 3 days. It is such a good combination.
If you like some cheese on it, add some cheese on top and pop it in the microwave for a minute and it melts. I actually didn't like the cheese on top as much. I enjoyed it so much with Siracha Hot sauce on top of it! Yeah! Super hot and also having the pickled peppers at the same time! It was really nice! :)

Enjoy,

Anita A.

Shrimps Tom Yum Soup

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 14 Sep 2013 20:10:00 +0000

Who doesn't like Tom Yum Soup right? Well maybe those who are not into Asian food and those who doesn't enjoy the spicy and sourness of the soup. I love Tom Yum soup, especially Shrimps Tom Yum Soup. It is such a refreshing soup. You get all these herbs in there and it is so aromatic!

Ingredients:

Shrimps (Cleaned and peels) = 15 pcs
Chicken broth = 1 1/2 liter
Lemon grass (Cut in 3 inches strips)= 1 strip
Galangal (Thin slice) = 2 pcs
Kaffir lime leaf (ripped) = 2 pcs
Onion (Cut in quarters) = 1 pcs
Tomatoes (Cut in quarters) = 2 pcs
Spring onion (Cut in 3 inches strips) = 3 strips
Cilantro (Cut in 3 inches strips) = 4 strips
Tamarind paste = 2 tsp
Fish sauce = 2 tbsp
Sugar = 2 tsp
Salt = 1/2 tsp
Pepper = 1 tsp
Chili paste w/ Soya bean oil = 3 tbsp
Lime = 1 tsp

Process:

In a sauce pan, pour chicken broth, add salt, pepper, sugar and bring to boiled.
Add lemongrass, Galangal, Kaffir lime leaf, onion, and tomatoes. Let it cook for about 3 minutes.
Add tamarind paste, fish sauce, chili paste, let it simmer for about 5 minutes.
Add your shrimps (the reason why I add this last is because I don't want to overcook the shrimps, shrimp tastes best when it is perfect cooked and it just take about 4 - 5 minutes to cook or even less depends on how big or small the shrimps you use are. Mine was a regular to small size. So it only took me about 4 minutes. You can check as you go. Overcooked shrimps or prawns are chewy so pay attention.
Lastly, taste it! Tom Yum Soup comes with 3 flavors all in one bowl: Sour, sweet and salty; from there you can figure if this is the right taste you have. If you feel like there isn't enough sourness. You can add some lime, this give more fragrance to the soup as well. Add in all the rest of vegetables (Spring onion and cilantro). There you have it!
Spicy, sour, sweet, and saltiness of soup! It is very refreshing! You can serve this with rice or by itself as you prefer. :)

Enjoy,

Anita A.

Vietnamese Style Fried Spring Rolls

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 14 Sep 2013 18:27:00 +0000

Who doesn't like Spring rolls right? Either fresh or Deep fried, i love them both. Now there are many kinds of Fried Spring rolls, what you add in your fillings is really depends on personal preferences. But the kind that I made and I always like is the Vietnamese recipe. The wrapper I use is the same kind as those fresh ones but it is made specifically for frying. So when purchasing these sheets, you have to make sure that it is for the frying spring rolls, otherwise I will break when you try to roll or when you fry it, it actually won't turn brownish easily, it will stay white and the edges are almost burnt (Trust me I have been those a lot of different kinds of sheets. lol)..

So I hope you find this recipe helpful and delish! I wish I had more pictures of every steps I made but, this is an months old pictures so I pretty much deleted some of them and didn't know I would be blogging about it. Hehe ^^

What you need:

Spring roll sheets (Thin and clear sheets same as Fresh Spring Rolls sheets)
A bowl of water
Cutting board or flat plate
Tray for placing after rolling
Wire rack/Kitchen towels for soaking out the oil
Vegetable oil = 4 cups

Filling:

Ground pork = 1 pound
Carrots (Shredded) = 2 pcs
Shallots (Sliced in tiny strips) = 6 pcs
Garlic (Sliced in tiny strips) = 6 pcs
Dried prawns (Soaked in water) = 1/2 cup
Wood ears mushrooms (Soaked in water) = 400 gram
Vermicelli noodles (Soaked in water til soften) = 2 cups
Eggs = 2 pcs
Salt = 1 tsp
Soy sauce = 2 tbsp
Oyster sauce = 2 tbsp
Sugar = 1 and 1/2 tbsp
Pepper = 2 tsp

Process:

Drain the dried prawns from water, if you have a mortar, use it to crush them finely or if you don't just use food processor to process it finely.
Wood ears should be drained from water as well and slice thinly in strips
Vermicelli, cut them thoroughly with scissors about 3 inches.
When you have all things ready, in a bow: Place everything together and mix well for about 3- 5 minutes as necessary. (I usually put some of the mixture in microwave and heat it for a little bit then taste. If I find that I need more or something, I will add.
Wrap the mixture bowl and store in the fridge for all the ingredients combined. Leave for about 30 minutes or so.

Rolling time:

Set everything ready in front of you: Water bowl, tray, cutting board and your mixture.
With a sheet, dip it in the water and place on the cutting board.
If you find that the sheet is turning alive and liquid is gone, place your mixture in. Just enough, don't be too generous otherwise it will be hard to roll and it will eventually break later on or during frying.
When placing the mixture, make sure it is in the middle of the sheet, spread it out a little bit but make sure you leave two sides or edges about an inch or two because you will have to fold both sides in.
Wrap the edge right in front of you in, then two sides in that they meet in the middle
Tug it in tight and tug in again as you roll to the end.
Dip your finger in the water and place on the end of the sheet, so it seals

Frying:

Vegetable oil in the sauce pan and heat it in medium heat for about 7 minutes.
Carefully place your Spring rolls in the hot oil one by one.
Depends on the size of your sauce pan of how many you can put it, but do not put too much because it will be hard to cook and the temperature of the oil will be changed.
Place enough to fill the pan and leave it.
Do not stir!! wait until you see a little crisp on the spring rolls, that's when you can start stirring. If you are not too lazy, you can stir constantly when frying, so Spring rolls will be fried equally on all sides.
When they turn brownish, place on the wire rack or place kitchen towels to soak out the access oil.
It is best to serve hot! but be careful! :)

Dipping Sauce:

Fish sauce = 5 tbsp
Vinegar = 3 tbsp
Sugar = 3 tbsp
Salt = 1/2 tsp
Water = 1/2 cup
Red chili (Crushed) = 10 pcs
Carrots (Shredded) = 1tbsp

Process:

In a sauce pan, put all the in ingredients together except Red chili and carrots) and bring it to boil, taste for sweet, sour and saltiness of the sauce. Place shredded carrots and let it cool completely.
In a small dipping bowl, place the sauce added Red chili, if you feel like it needs some sourness, you can slice up some lime and add to the sauce.
What the sauce is supposed to taste like is actually depends on how you like it. Some people prefer it to be somewhat sweet or sour. But I love the taste of Sweetness, sourness and saltiness all in once.

How to serve:

These Fried Spring rolls can be eaten by it sauce with the sauce but some of us prefer to wrap while eating these.
What you need for wraps is lettuce, cilantro, mint, sliced cubes and thinly of cucumber, tomatoes and some beansprout. Together with some rice noodles.
Place lettuce as a sheet, cut your spring rolls in an inch pieces and place on, along with the rest of the vegetables. Dip in the sauce and there you have it! Enjoy!! :)

Bell Peppers Sunny Side - up

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 13 Sep 2013 14:14:00 +0000

Bell peppers Sunny side - up

So I had 3 colors of Bell peppers sitting in the fridge, I thought I would make something pretty out of it as I looked around, I saw eggs. So Sunny side up in Bell peppers' cups. :)

You won't need much of the ingredients, I am sure many of you have all these in your kitchen already. Enjoy! :)

Eggs = 3 pieces
Bell peppers (Red, Yellow and Green ) = 3
Butter = 1 tsp
Olive oil = 1 tsp
Soy sauce
Pepper

Pre - Heat your sauce pan in medium heat, add butter and Olive oil, when it is hot toss those 3 rings of an inch thick bell peppers in your pan. Turn them around and let it cook for a bit.
Crack your eggs, one at a time and pour onto the bell peppers' holes let it cook completely or if you prefer runny yolks, you can remove from the heat when you see suitable.
On to your plate, sprinkle some pepper either with or black and soy sauce.
This can be serve with hot steamed rice or baguette. I enjoyed mine with toasted baguette. It was really good, never knew it would turn out so pretty and delicious.

I hope you enjoy my simple and delish recipe! :)

Homemade Apple Crisp Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 13 Sep 2013 13:56:00 +0000

Apple Crisp Cupcakes with Cinnamon Frosting

It is super delish and moist cupcakes ever! See below for the recipes I got from some websites (I forgot) I made it about 2 - 3 times and each time I played around with the ingredients to get that perfect texture, I added and also reduced some of the ingredients for my taste.

This makes about 2 dozen cupcakes:

Cake:

Butter, room temp = 1 cup
White sugar = 1 1/2 cup
Egg yolks = 8 pcs
Milk = 3/4 cup
Vanilla ext. = 1 1/2 cup
All purpose flour = 2 cups
Baking powder = 2 tsp
Salt = 1/2 tsp

Preheat your oven at 175 Degree Celsius. Sift your dry ingredients (Flour, baking powder and salt) then set aside.
In a bowl or if you have a stand mixer, cream together the room temp. butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks one at a time and when you are finish add vanilla ext,
Have your dry ingredients and milk close to you, you will be adding them alternatively; flour then milk until you got everything in there and let it mix for a minute or two until everything is well combined.
Line your paper cups, this makes a regular size cupcakes of about 2 dozen. Line them in a baking tray. If your have ice cream scoop, use it to transfer the batter, this gives a perfect measurement for each cup. When you are done, bang your tray on the counter a little just so it gets in the same level.
Toss your cupcakes in the oven for about 30 minutes, this actually depends on what kind of oven you have. Mine is not the greatest one so it took me up to 30 minutes but you should check from time to time so you don't burn them. Use toothpick or a knife to insert. If it comes out clean, it means your cupcakes is done.
Cool them for 30 minutes or so, or just until they are completely cool down.

Cinnamon Frosting:

Butter at room temp. = 1/2 cup
Confectioner sugar = 1/2 cup
Beaten egg = 1
Vanilla ext. 1 tsp
Milk = 2 tbsp
Cinnamon = 1 tsp
Honey 1 tsp

Process:

In a bowl, cream butter until soften, add a part of Confection sugar, egg yolks and vanilla ext. Cream together well. Add cinnamon, honey alternatively with milk and the rest of the sugar. Cream them well to the right consistency that you can spread the frosting. For the fluffiness of the frosting, make sure you cream the butter well enough.

Apple Topping:

Fresh Apples - sliced in small cubes = 1 or 2 pcs
Honey = 1 tsp
Cinnamon = 1 tbsp

In a bowl, mix all the above ingredients together well and set aside or refrigerator it.

Crisp Topping:

Rolled oats = 1 cup
Butter chilled and sliced in small cubes = 1/4 cup
Brown sugar = 1/2 cup

Pre - Heat your oven at 175 Degree Celsius for 5 minutes.
Mix brown sugar, and oat thoroughly, add butter and mix it together with the oat and sugar mixture.
Put the mixture onto the baking sheet and spread evenly flat.
Toss it in your oven and bake quickly for about 10 minutes. Make sure you check constantly to avoid burning.

Cupcake Assembly:

With your cooled off cupcakes, spread or pipping bag some Cinnamon Frosting, top them with Apple Topping and sprinkle some Crisp Topping.
Be generous as you'd like. :)

I hope you find this recipe helpful and delicious, I adapted the recipes from many food bloggers and video tutorial on youtube, I mixed and match the ingredients and this is what I have for my perfect Apple Crisp Cupcakes.

Enjoy!

This is such a bad picture, but it is the only picture I found of these cupcakes. Please ignore the beer. hehe! :)

Rainbow Cake with Kitkat and M&M

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 16:15:00 +0000

My homemade Rainbow Cupcake. Topped with M&M and surrounded with KitKat! It's heaven!

Best Regards,

Anita A.

Red Velvet cupcakes w/ Cream cheese frosting

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 16:13:00 +0000

Homemade Red Velvet cupcakes and cream cheese frosting!

Red Velvet is actually my most favorite cupcake! It has that cocoa flavor but the color is red and the texture is so moist! Cream Cheese frosting just makes this cupcake so perfect! So rich, creamy, and cheesy combination! Oh my! ^___^

Cupcakes Ingredients:

All purpose flour = 1 1/4 cup
Cocoa powder = 2 tbsp
Baking powder = 1/2 tsp
Baking soda = 1/2 tsp
Salt = 1/4 tsp
Unsalted butter, room temp. = 1/2 cup
White sugar/Baking sugar = 3/4 cup
Buttermilk = 3/4 cup
Egg = 1 whole
Vanilla ext. = 1 tsp
Red food color = 2 drops

Process:

Preheat your oven at 350 degrees
Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl (This recipe doesn't require hand mixer or stand mixer, if you are not too tired and you need arm exercise. This will be a great one) . Sifting is a must when baking! You want no lumps in your cupcakes, cakes or any baking. Fine sifting is a must!
Cream together the butter, sugar until soften. Add egg and vanilla ext. until finely combined.
Add your dry ingredient by half and then add half off the buttermilk, mix it well. Add the rest of the dry ingredient and the remaining buttermilk. Mix it for about 3 - 4 minutes until everything is incorporated.
Drop one or two of the red food coloring. Before of using food coloring. They stain!
Line your paper cupcakes in a cupcake mold. This recipe makes about 12 medium size cupcakes.
Scoop the batter with an ice cream scoop if you have one and if you don't all you need is a spoon. Just make sure you divide them equally so they turn out to a same size.
Toss this in the oven and let it bake for about 20 minutes to 22 minutes. This really depends on your oven temperature. Some oven doesn't as long and some take a bit longer. Just get to understand your oven :).
You can always check, when the batter rises and it reaches the timing already, just insert a knife or a toothpick in the middle of the cupcakes. If it comes out clean, it means your cupcakes are ready!
Take them out from the oven, let them cool completely on a wire rack.

Cream Cheese frosting:

Powder sugar = 2 cups
Cream cheese (room temp.) = 2 oz
Unsalted butter, (room temp.) = 2 tbsp
Milk = 1 tbsp
Vanilla ext. = 1 tsp

Process:

Combine all of the ingredient together, whisk it until it is all well combined like a paste and spreadable. If it is too thick and you can add 1 tsp of milk at a time but don't let it become runny.
You can store this in the fridge for later use.
Pipe some of this frosting onto the cool cupcakes or you can just spread it with a knife.
I like my Red Velvet cupcakes with different varieties of fruits. Strawberry is a big hit when I made these cupcakes!
Enjoy! :)

Pork floss bun!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 15:24:00 +0000

Homemade Pork floss buns! Super delish!

Pandan cupcakes with coconut frosting

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 15:23:00 +0000

Pandas cupcakes with coconut frosting! Yummy!

All the cheesecake I made

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 15:21:00 +0000

Mulberry swirl cheesecake, peaches cheesecake, timtam cheesecake and White chocolate chips almond cookies.

Layered cocoa cheesecake!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 10:50:00 +0000

On the bottom I crushed Oreo cookies without the cream to make the crust. Middle layer is just a plain cheesecake and on top of it is the cocoa layer of cheesecake. I also dusted some sugar powder on. It's a perfection. :)

Almond and white chocolate chips cookies!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 10:47:00 +0000

These cookies are really good! Just so soft and moised!! I should make some again!

Tim Tam Cheesecake

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 10:44:00 +0000

So creamy and chocolatie kind of cheesecake! This was my second timtam cheesecake ever made. I also added some fresh strawberry inside.

Best Regards,

Anita A.

Oreo Cheesecake

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 10:44:00 +0000

Homemade Oreo cheesecake, it's one of those cheesecake that you must make I guess. It turned out just good but I'm not a big fan of cookies on cheesecakes. I'm more of fruits kinda cheesecake girl. :)

Homemade Mulberry sauce

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 10:27:00 +0000

My homemade Mulberry sauce. Only a year we will eat to have some of these fresh mulberry from Mulberry farms in the northern part of Laos - Xiengkuang. It is hand picked. It's so delish, of course I couldn't let it go away if I didn't make a sauce out of it for cheesecake and dips for breads, etc...

All you need:

Mulberries (the ones that are a week away from being spoiled is the sweetest) = 2 lbs
Sugar = 1 cup
Salt = 1 tsp
Water = 4 cups
Corn starch (Mix in a small bowl of 2 tbsp of water) = 1 tbsp

Process:

Place Mulberries, water, sugar, and salt in a sauce pan. Bring it to a boil and stir constantly to prevent burning and drying. Mulberries takes 5 to 10 minutes to cooked.
Once they are soften, they are ready. If your mulberries is not as sweet you can add more sugar but mine was just right and I only needed 1 cup of sugar. Salt helps bringing all the favor together, if you don't add salt in dessert, it just tastes plain. :)
Well it is all cooked and well done. Stir corn starch liquid in and stir constantly until you get that thick texture, that is what you are looking for.
Remove from the heat and let it cool completely
Store in a jar or container as you prefer. If you don't plan to eat as much, you can store some in the freezer and it should last up to a month or so. Just make sure it is sealed completely.
I serve my Mulberry sauce with plain homemade Cheesecake and it was divined! You can even spread on your toasts, bread as you prefer.
Enjoy! :)

Best regards,

Anita A.

Homemade Swirl Mulberry cheesecake with Mulberry sauce

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 23:48:00 +0000

Check out my Homemade Swirl Mulberry cheesecake with Mulberry sauce!! Super delish'

Xmas night out 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 23:46:00 +0000

Xmas night out with friends!

Homemade Tim Tam Cheesecake topped with chocolate syrup!!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 23:45:00 +0000

Homemade Sugar cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 23:43:00 +0000

Sugar cookies!!! Super sweet but they are just super pretty!

Homemade almond cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 23:42:00 +0000

Made some almond cookies!!

Homemade Jello Shots

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 23:40:00 +0000

Homemade Jell-O shots anyone? So good and pretty!!!