When I was young (I also mean before I got married), I was never interested in learning how to cook or bake. When my mom didn’t cook, I waited until my dad would cook. If my dad didn’t cook either, I fixed Ramen. When there was no Ramen at home, I filled my tummy up with water. I assume this is what most teenagers might do, but on top of that, I had absolutely no interest in cooking. However, things changed. Someone has to cook when I got married.

I just started following recipes without knowing what I was doing. For the first couple of years, 10% of food that I cooked went into a trashcan after attempting to eat, I burned 20% of food that I cooked (I am somewhat impatient when the time comes to cooking) and also went into a trashcan; however, surprisingly 70% of food that I cooked was EDIBLE! And, some of them were pretty good or similar taste to the food that I had at restaurants.

I enjoy dining out time to time – exploring new food at different places, but I prefer cooking at home more than going out these days. I still burn things when I cook, but learning to be patient one at a time. And, I have to admit that I love cooking as much as I love baking. Over the past few years, I have taken photos of not only baking goods but also food that I cooked. So, I want to share with you.

- Cuisines will be anything and everything. I cook all kinds of different food – American, Korean, Italian, Mexican, Japanese, French, Mediterranean, Indian, Chinese, and Alexean – if I can call it this way.

- Recipes will be based on ‘cooking for 2′ or ‘cooking for 2 + tomorrow’s lunch’ as I have cooked for my husband and myself for the most of time. Cooking extra dinner works really well for us since we both are working.

Alexa

It is Friday night and I am sitting here finishing my post about Éclairs while I am doing laundry – I am very thankful that we have a washer and a dryer in our apartment unit because it is not easy to find an apartment that has in-unit laundry amenity within affordable price range in San Francisco. Anyway, I have been working on this post for a very long long time and I hope I can post it before I go to bed tonight. So, if you see ‘Friday night’ instead ‘Saturday morning,’ well, you know what that means….:)

I learned about Éclairs from Ms. Garten (aka Barefoot Contessa)’s show on the Foodnetwork channel. Actually she was making Cream Puffs on that episode, but later, I learned that Cream Puffs and Éclairs use the same dough called pâte à choux. They are just piped into different shapes. That was the time that I was watching the Foodnetwork channel from the time my husband left for work to the time my husband came home – all day long, 5 days a week plus weekend, and all year around. My husband didn’t like that channel or didn’t like me watching that channel all day, but I had learned SO MANY THINGS by watching the Foodnetwork.

This is totally my opinion, but I think Éclair (or Cream Puffs) is one of the sweets that beginners can easily make without worrying about all the mysterious questions that start with ‘why isn’t it…’ I was really amazed by how pâte à choux is made as I never thought that I could cook dough even before I bake them. I was also amazed by how these little balls puff without any baking soda or baking power! Well, enough of talking about how I was amazed by these things. Let’s start what we need and what we need to do!

EQUIPMENT & INGREDIENTS

Equipment

Stand mixer or Hand Mixer
Pastry bag and decorating tips #808 or #828 (If you don’t have them, zip lock bag and scissors)

Ingredients

Pâte à choux

1 cup Whole or low-fat Milk
8 Tbsp (1 stick) Unsalted Butter (diced)
2 Tbsp Sugar
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract (optional)
1 cup Bread Flour (sifted)
3 Large Eggs
1 Large Egg White (Save the extra egg yolk for egg wash)

Pastry Cream

Here is how to make Pastry Cream.

Chocolate Glaze

1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp Heavy Cream
1 Tbsp Corn Syrup
8 oz Semisweet or Bittersweet Chocolate chips

Combine the cream and corn syrup in a heavy saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Remove the pan from the heat and add chocolate chips. Let them rest for a couple of minutes, then stir until the chocolate is completely melted and the sauce is smooth.

HOW TO MAKE

Preparation

1. Measure all the ingredients if you can. I used to measure and prep as I go – thought this would be always faster, but preparing ahead actually saves more time.

Making Pâte à choux

2. Shift 1 cup of bread flour.

3. Dice butter. Pour milk in a saucepan or pot. Add diced butter, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract (optional).

4. Bring to a boil over high heat and stir them well. You may preheat the oven to 375 F.

5. Reduce the heat to medium, add the sifted flour all at once. Yes, all at once! Trust me on this one. Nothing bad is going to happen. Wait, am I the only one who is freaking out? Back to the step, stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the dough begins to come away from the sides of the pan (see the bottom right photo above). It will take a few minutes.

6. Separate 1 large egg and combine the egg white with the other 3 large eggs. Save the egg yolk – you can use it for making egg wash! Transfer to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle and beat at medium speed until cooled to body temperature. (If you feel warmness – that’s about the right temperature.) Add the eggs one at a time, beating well and scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula after each addition. The bottom right photo is what it should look like – smooth silky texture with pale yellow color.

7. Transfer the dough to a pastry bag with a plain round tip (#808) or star tip (#828) – I used start tip this time. Pipe the dough into 5-inch-long cylinders on the parchment-lined (or well greased with butter) baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Wet your fingertip with water and press the tip of piped dough, so they get baked evenly.

8. Brush each Éclair with egg wash (1 egg yolk + 2 Tbsp milk) for even better golden brown color!

9. Bake the Éclairs until they are puffed and light golden brown for 20 minutes. There may be beads of moisture on the sides. Then, lower the oven temperature to 325 F and continue to bake until the eclairs look dry, maybe 20 minutes more.

10. Aren’t they pretty?!?! Transfer the Éclairs to wire racks. Make sure that you let them cool completely before filling.

Filling Éclairs

11. Pierce a hole in both ends of each cooked eclair using a narrow tip or a skewer. A chopstick works as well. Fill the pastry bag with the pastry cream and pipe into the Éclair from each end.

12. Or, you can slice it in half horizontally, like a hotdog bun. Then, fill the middle with pastry cream.

You can dip the top of Éclairs in the warm chocolate glaze.

Or, you can drizzle the warm chocolate glaze on the top of Éclairs. Either way, refrigerate until the glaze firms, then serve.

ALEXA’S TIPS

1. Stand mixer is more convenient, but a hand mixer should work as well. Whisk won’t work very well on this one.

2. If you are using non-stick baking pan, preheat the over to 350 F instead 375 F. I am still experimenting, but I have found out the dark non-stick pan tends to burn my pastries.

3. Zip lock bag and scissors can substitute pastry bag and decorating tips for piping pâte à choux or filling pastry cream.

4. You can skip the brushing Éclairs with egg wash step. It’s an extra thing that I usually do.

5. Important! You must cool Éclairs completely before you fill them with pasty cream.

6. If pastry cream is too heavy for you, combine pastry cream and whipped cream in 1:1 ratio and use as filling. This is my favorite filling for both Éclairs and Cream Puffs.

If you can, serve or eat Éclairs on the same day – they are crispier and better! If you need to store them, I recommend you to freeze rather than refrigerating!

TASTE REVIEW

You know I don’t have to tell you how good they were. But, they were fantastic! Éclairs are much better when they are chilled, so little patient will give you more pleasant – I have to tell this to myself all the time because I cannot wait until sweets are cooled. By the way, this is my husband’s hand – holding Éclair. I caught him stealing and eating my Éclairs before I refrigerate them. So, I made him hold it for photo shoot.

I hope you enjoy them! Have a nice weekend, everyone!

Hugz,
Alexa

P.S: There is a sweet treat linky party going on at ‘Sweet as Sugar Cookies’ by Lisa. I already shared the Chocolate Dipped Eclairs. Feel free to share your your sweet with other people!

Happy New Year!

It was raining in San Francisco on the first day of 2011. I stayed home all day in my pajamas – thinking about how I want to redesign my website. I’m not an expert with web designing, so I can only think about it…for my husband to work on it. He has promised that he will help me on redesigning my space in here – you will see the new look of Sugar Coated Kitchen soon.

It’s been ALMOST (1 month left) 2 years since we moved to San Francisco. 2 YEARS!!!!! I have worked full time for the most of past two years, but I didn’t forget to explore all around the city by myself, with my husband, and with other friends.

There are lots of photos of San Francisco in my hard drives and I think it’s the time to share those with you at the corner of my Sugar Coated Kitchen.

Just here and there – beaches that we go for a walk, farmers markets that I go every other Saturday (not just Ferry Building one), our favorite places in the city, my favorite places in the city (mine don’t always match with my husband’s), restaurants we randomly go, cities near the City, and of course the tourist spots…

Would you like to join me?

I will take you around the City, here and there…

Hugz,
Alexa

Long time no post! I mean, seriously. It’s been too long since I post the last article on my kitchen. Living in San Francisco is pretty cool, but it is definitely expensive! Both of me and my husband must work to survive. My current job is not related to baking or photographing, but I love the people that I work with and my job is fun for the most of time. I have thought about how I can manage both my current job and updating my website well at the same time. Well, instead of just thinking about it – which I already have been doing over 6 months, I better just start doing it. So, here I go!

This will be my last post in 2010. I promise that I will see you more often next year, which starts…tomorrow!

What I want to share with you today is homemade Vanilla Sugar. Basically, ‘Vanilla Sugar’ is Vanilla infused sugar, in other words, vanilla bean + sugar. You will see lots of baking recipes that are calling ‘vanilla sugar’ as an ingredient, but may not sure where you can get it. I am not sure if people sell vanilla sugar, but I haven’t seen any ‘vanilla sugar’ in stores yet. If you have seen it, please let me know! I would love to try one!

Even a couple of years ago, I remember it wasn’t really easy to find fresh vanilla bean unless I go to special grocery store or online. However, it’s much easier to find fresh vanilla beans in any grocery stores these days as you can get them from Safeway (California Grocery Store Chain) or T.J.Maxx Gourmet Food Section. They are still pricey (1 Vanilla bean is $4-$5), but they are worth to have it!

Do you have used vanilla beans after you made cookies, cakes, or creme brulee? Then, it’s time to make vanilla sugar!

INGREDIENTS & EQUIPMENTS

Equipments

Clean Airtight Container

Ingredients

Pure Cane Sugar
New or Used Vanilla Beans

HOW TO MAKE

Preparing the Container

I highly recommend to sanitize the container with the boiling water (for glassware) and the hot water (for plasticware). Make sure it is 100% dried before you put anything in there.

Preparing Vanilla Beans

You can either 1. cut in 3rd and split new vanilla beans or 2. clean used vanilla beans (after making cream brulee, ice cream base, or other sweet) with water and dry them.

Makinging Vanilla Sugar

Step 1: Pour cane sugar 1/3 way up to the container. There aren’t really exact amount or volume of ingredients for this recipe.

Step 2: Randomly stick vanilla beans among sugar.

I have gathered many used vanilla beans in a refrigerator over a few months – if you are wondering why I have so many.

Step 3: Pour cane sugar 2/3 way up to the container.

Step 4: Stick more vanilla beans if you have many. If not, don’t worry about it. Even one whole new vanilla bean will infuse sugar in this size of container over time.

Step 5: Fill up the container with the rest of sugar.

Label with date that you make this sugar! And, YES! some of my vanilla beans are from 2008!

ALEXA’S TIPS

You can use vanilla sugar for substituting any sugar on recipes.

Also, try with your coffee! It’s so good~~~~

Store: Airtight and store in cook and dark place (just like storing other sugar).

Make More: Just pour more sugar as you use vanilla sugar. Vanilla beans will keep infusing new sugar. If you have more used vanilla bean, just stick into the container after you clean and pat dry them. There is no expiration on the vanilla sugar!

TASTE REVIEW

Super delicious! I could just eat spoonful of vanilla sugar! haha!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Again, chiffon cake is my FAVORITE cake of all. Chiffon cake doesn’t have a rich flavor of butter. However, this is such a light and moist cake that everyone can enjoy. Because the cake itself doesn’t have a strong flavor, you can add your favorite flavor to icing (usually Chantilly cream is used) and fruit as topping. In addition, once you’ve got a good recipe that you like, you can make a variety of chiffon cakes by substituting some ingredients. If you are like me, who doesn’t like cakes that are too sweet, this is your kind of cake.

Chiffon cake is not as hard as you’ve heard. You know, all those scary stories about how chiffon cake didn’t raise, chiffon cake sank, etc. Don’t worry about them and just follow steps and tips, you will have a full raised chiffon cake! And, even if you didn’t get it on the first time, don’t be disappointed. You will get it when you try again!

EQUIPMENT & INGREDIENTS

Equipment

1 Stand mixer (or hand mixer)
1 baking/cooking scale
1 10-inch Tube pan (Also known as a Chiffon or Angel food cake pan)
1 Baking pan

Ingredients

For cake
120g egg yolks (6 medium size egg yolks)
90g sugar A.
120g water
120g olive oil
15g coffee extract (espresso)
2g vanilla extract
180g cake flour
7g baking powder
320g egg whites (about 10 medium size egg whites)
120g sugar B.

For chantilly cream
300g heavy cream
30g sugar
5g orange liqueur

For topping
fresh strawberries

HOW TO MAKE

Before You Start

Sift the cake flour and baking powder three times.
Preheat the oven to 300F.

Making Egg Yolk Base

1. Separate egg yolks and whites. The way that I used to separate egg yolks and whites (photo 1) is a very useful method when you have to separate many eggs. See Alexa’s Tip #1. on the bottom for details.
2-3. Put 6 egg yolks in a stand mixer bowl and start beating for about 15 seconds. Then, slowly add sugar A. while beating egg yolks at a medium speed.

4-6. Raise the speed to high and continue beat egg yolks and sugar until the color lightens (about 3-4 minutes). Add water and beat. Then, add olive oil and beat well.

7-8. Add coffee extract and vanilla extract and beat until well mixed.
9. Sift cake flour and baking powder. Add the flour mixture and beat at low speed until you no longer see any powder. Do not over mix. Set the mixture aside in a separate bowl.

Making meringue

10-12. Add 10 egg whites in a bowl and beat at medium speed. When it starts foamy, slowly add sugar B. while it is beating. Then, increase to high speed and continue beat. You want to have medium peak meringue for chiffon cake. If it’s your first time, beat a little bit longer until you have medium and high peak meringue, but make sure not to overbeat.

Folding & Pouring

13-15. Add half of the meringue to the batter and GENTLY fold in using a whisk or rubber spatula. Then, add the rest of the meringue and GENTLY fold in. I like using a whisk because it has less chances to kill air bubbles in meringue.

16. Prepare a tube pan by simply spraying water all around the inside and placing it on the baking pan. This must done before you pour the batter.
17-18. Pour the batter into the tube pan up to 3/4 of the pan. Then, dip a chopstick (or any clean stick) in the batter and go around the pan once or twice to get the air out.

Baking & Cooling

19. Put the ENTIRE pan assemblage in the oven and bake for about 55 minutes. DO NOT OPEN the oven while it is baking.
20. Take the pan out and test with a toothpick after 55 minutes. (You can open the oven now.) If it doesn’t come out clean, bake a few more minutes and check again. Repeat as necessary. When it is done, IMMEDIATELY turn the tube pan upside down and place it on a cooling rack.

Taking Out & Layering

21. Cool the cake completely before take it out of the pan.
22. Run a metal spatula to around the inside of the pan to separate it from the cake. Remove the cake from the side of the tube pan.
23. Run a metal spatula to separate the bottom of the tube pan from the cake.

24. Put the cake board on top of the cake and flip it over.
25. Remove the bottom of the tube pan.
26. Slice the cake in three layers.

Decorating

27. Make Chantilly Cream (Whipped Cream) and apply two layers of Chantilly Cream.
28. Put a thick layer of cream on the top and put enough in the center to cover the cake. Then, put the cream around the side. Make it pretty as you want! I sliced fresh strawberries about 1/4-inch thick and put around the cake. Also, sliced whole strawberries with the stem on and decorate them on top of the cake.

ALEXA’S TIPS

1. It is pretty important to separate yolks from whites clearly when you make meringue or a cake like chiffon. When you have to separate quite a few eggs yolks and whites, try this method. There is a chance that you might break one yolk and not be able to use whites, but this is efficient if you are successive. Break egg shells carefully and put them all in a big bowl. Wash your hand really clean. Use your four fingers of both hands and separate yolks from egg whites by tossing egg yolks left and right. Wash your hands really well after this process!
2. The key point of making a good meringue is a. using a clean dry bowl and b. having egg whites without any part of yolks.
3. It is really important to put the chiffon cake batter in the oven as soon as you pour it in the pan. If you forgot to preheat the oven and have to let the batter sit for 5 or 10 minutes, the cake might sink instead raise because the air bubbles in meringue died. So, make sure you preheat the oven before you start!
4. If you are using a nonstick tube pan like I did, you don’t want to run a metal spatula and scratch the pan. Here is a little trick for that problem. I wrapped my metal spatula with plastic wrap a couple of times and it didn’t scratch a line! If you have a rubber bowl scraper, that can be a good tool.

Taste Review

I loved it! This cake is so light and moist. Plus, I love fresh strawberry and whipped cream.
My limit is usually a half piece for a butter cake or pound cake. However, oh boy, I can eat a giant slice of chiffon cake for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! Although you are a big fan of a butter cake, you will enjoy this soft and moist chiffon cake. =]

A side of the mocha chiffon cake! Isn’t it beautiful?

No time to decorate? Just slice a piece and enjoy with whipped cream and your favorite fruit on top! Or, drizzle a hot fudge sauce and sprinkle powdered sugar!

Next time, I will share with you how to make green tea, banana, chocolate, and strawberry chiffon cake.

Hey guys, what’s up? I finally updated my notes – more changes are on the way.

I’ve been busy with my day job but since the holidays are coming, I’ll start posting some new recipes.

Thanks for all the comments, feel free to ask me any questions.

The good news is that I am getting close to start baking again! Last week, we applied an apartment that we want to move and we are waiting for the approval. If everything goes smoothly, we will have a new place at the end of this month.

Since I haven’t been able to bake freely these days, I would like to show some pictures of my sweets from the past. The other day (now, a few months ago), I was organizing my photos and found old pictures of cakes and cookies that I made from 2004 to 2007. This was the time that I just started getting interests in baking, so the sweets that I’m introducing today are not 100% made from scratch except few cookies, but they were good as they were made from scratch!

My First Cake – June, 2004

This is my first cake ever. Before this one, cake was something that I only buy at a bakery. I made this cake for my husband’s birthday. I used a cake mix and a store-bought icing. It’s not bad for the first cake, is it?

Strawberry Shortcake – April, 2005

This is such a quick and easy dessert. My husband introduced me to the great world of strawberry shortcake. Ever since than, I’m in love with the combination of strawberry and whipped cream!

Dark Chocolate Cake with Fresh Strawberry Filling – June, 2005

This is a second cake that I made for my hubby’s birthday. Can you tell that I really tried hard to make it little bit fancier than the first one? I used Betty Crocker Super Moist – Dark Chocolate cake mix (It was my favorite, but I don’t see this anymore in a grocery store.) and I LOVED it. The combination of “Dark chocolate cake + Whipped cream icing + Fresh strawberry filling” is my ultimate favorite!

Strawberry Flavor Icing Cake – June, 2005

This is a cake with yellow cake mix and strawberry flavored icing. I wasn’t sure where I was going with the decorating part, but my friend who got this cake loved it…=]

Chocolate Whipped Cream Cake – August, 2005

Whipped cream icing is my favorite, not so much for my husband though. I like it because it is sweet, but not too sweet. I’ve always whipped my own heavy cream as I have a control in consistency for decorating. How did I make this chocolate flavored whipped cream? It’s simple, just add chocolate syrup while you are whipping heavy cream!

Dark Chocolate Cake With Raspberry Filling – September, 2005

I love to watch Foodnetwork channel! I have learned most of cooking and baking knowledge and skills by watching TV shows on Foodnetwork. One day, I saw a very fancy chocolate cake on TV – something like the one that I made, and I decided to try for my friend’s birthday cake. At that time, I had absolutely no idea about ‘tempering chocolate,’ so I just melted regular chocolate candy bars, piped and shaped, and waited until they get hard. However, shaped chocolate decors were still soft, so I decided to chill them in a refrigerator. They got hard, but it only lasted for a couple of minutes. Result – my finger prints appeared everywhere on chocolate decors and as soon as it reached room temperature, they were falling apart. Years later, I now know what to do! =]

Dark Chocolate Cake With Berries – January, 2006

After I had a great holidays (Christmas and New Year’s Day) at my parents-in-law’s house, I wanted make something sweet for them before I go home. Again, I made my ultimate favorite – A dark chocolate cake with fresh berries and whipped cream icing. I forgot to buy mint leaves, so I went out to their backyard and got some sage leaves! It worked for that time. Haha…=]

Strawberry & Blueberry Shortcake – February, 2006

Strawberry short cake is my emergency dessert – when I really want some sweet stuff, which is very rare. Any kind of cake (pound cake, angel’s food cake, sponge cake, or chiffon cake) and strawberries are all I need, then, I can simply make this dessert. Don’t have whipped cream? Don’t worry, It is still good without whipped cream!

Brownie With Vanilla Bean Icecream – May, 2006

One of my favorite desserts is good quality vanilla ice cream on top of freshly baked hot brownie. Of course, I can’t forget to drizzle some chocolate syrup and dust powdered sugar for extra sweetness! Oh, I recently got an ice cream machine as a gift from my mother-in-law. I can’t wait to make all different kinds of frozen desserts!

Dark Chocolate Cake With Strawberry Whipped Cream – May, 2006

I made this cake for my birthday. Yeah, it sounds a little weird, but it was my first time making my own cake. I think everyone deserves to have a special cake on their birthday. =] For this cake, I tried some new techniques. First, I added fresh strawberry puree while I was whipping heavy cream. You can see strawberry seeds on the cake! I personally don’t like using artificial flavor, so this is how I usually flavor my sweets. Second, I tired sugar art for the first time. I didn’t know how to do it, but I just did it after I saw a quick process of ‘how to make sugar art’ on TV. It was very beautiful, but my hands were burning!

Caramel Covered Walnut Shortbread Cookies – February, 2007

Although I had not attempted to bake cakes from scratch during my first four years of baking, I made some cookies from scratch time to time. One cold night, I had to have some sweets and made pecan shortbread cookies. I shaped dough in start, square, and triangle before I freeze them. They were good. =]

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing Cake – November, 2007

My first homemade icing (other than whipped cream icing). Instead of adding sugar to cream cheese icing, I added melted white chocolate. Yammmm…it was good! No special decoration needed! Just decorate two layers of baked cake with white chocolate cream cheese icing and sprinkle cocoa powder on top!

Gingerbread Cookies – November, 2007

Winter was coming. I had to smell freshly backed gingerbread cookies in the kitchen before Christmas arrived. I think I over-baked cookies little bit, but it was ok. Royal icing is so fun and pretty to decorate.

Thanksgiving Pumpkin Designed Cake – November, 2007

At the end of 2007, my mother-in-law and I decided to take a cake decorating class for fun. We registered at Joann for Wilton cake decorating beginner’s class and decorated three cakes through the classes. This was my first cake – the theme that I picked was ‘Thanksgiving.’ I decorated cute mother and baby pumpkin using a star tip decoration method.

Clown Designed Cupcakes – November, 2007

My second week of class, I learned how to make clowns on top of cupcakes. My clowns were about to fall.

Flower Designed Cupcakes – November, 2007

We also learned how to make drop flowers on the same week we made clowns.

Mini Wedding Cake – December, 2007

This was the final project – decorating with flowers and ribbons. I baked a regular cake mix in a one cake pan (the height was higher than a regular pan) and sliced them in three layers. Then, carve them into three different sizes using plates. It was my first mini wedding cake. =]

Dark Chocolate Ganache Individual Mini Cake – December, 2007

I’ve always dreamed about making individual cakes. I didn’t have individual cake rings, but I attempted to make them anyway. I baked cake in a sheet pan, cut it with a circle cookie cutter, and arranged layers with whipped ganache by hands. It was messy and not easy, but I did it! By making this sweet, I’ve learned why it is important to have right tools and pans to make certain sweets. It saves lots of time and helps me to get a perfect result. I still don’t have individual cake rings – they are quite pricey. I’m just waiting for the right time to buy all kinds of different size cake rings!

This is the end of my sweets from semi-scratch collection. Although I started baking and making sweets from scratch only a year ago and I love that way more than anything else, I have to tell you that I don’t mind to use cake, brownie, or cookie mix once in a while. They can be convenient when I have to make massive amount of sweets for events or when I am lazy to bake anything. Most of all, it is really a good way to start for beginners who just entered the joy of baking world.

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!
Before I start talking about all the excuses why I haven’t updated for a long long time, I wish everyone the sweetest day of 2009! Every year, I’ve tried to make my own sweet for my husband rather than buying something, but it seems like it won’t be happening in this year.

Well, my excuse for the past lazy & quiet couple of months was moving. Yes! my husband and I finally moved to other city! It is not San Diego as we wanted & planned, but it is San Francisco, yay! We do not mind at all as we can explore San Francisco and live in the city before we move out of California.

My husband has started his new job and I am looking for a job in the city. We’ve decided to get a temporary place for a couple of months, so we can get to know the city and find a permanent place for us. I would love to start baking right away, but all of my baking pans and equipments are in a storage and the place where we are staying doesn’t have an oven. So, unfortunately I have to wait until we get our permanent place. But, I have a few posts including new recipes, which I am planning to upload time to time, so I don’t disappoint my visitors. Plus, I will post some good pictures of the city while I’m waiting for my kitchen. =]

Oh, I’m also planning to redesign Sugar Coated Kitchen. I’ve been drawing so many different outline for the past few months and I think I finally decided what I want. So, that is another exciting news. I will work hard on it!

I’m busy with a job hunting right now, but I am so excited and ready for delicious restaurants, beautiful natures, cool places, and everything that I will experience! I am totally new to this city, so if you know or live in San Francisco & Bay area, please let me know everything about the city!

Have a sweet day!

In Korea I used to see fresh chestnuts in the market whenever it started to get cold outside. However, for some reason, it’s been very hard to find chestnuts in my local grocery stores in California. I’ve looked every year since I moved to the States but I couldn’t find any chestnuts. I guess 2008 was finally my lucky year because I finally found chestnuts when I was in Trader Joe’s and then again at Albertson’s (a grocery store chain).

I’ve been enjoying the chestnuts that I found by roasting them over an open fire as well as in the oven. I also decided to make some chestnut cupcakes with my favorite chiffon cake and a little chestnut spread icing from scratch! I could have used canned chestnut spread or puree, but 1. it was a little pricey and 2. I wanted to try to make it from scratch. So, let’s get started making some chestnut spread icing and vanilla chiffon cupcakes!

INGREDIENTS & EQUIPMENTS

Equipments

Mixer (Hand or Stand)
Food processor or Blender
Your favorite holiday cupcake baking cups

Ingredients – Makes 18 cupcakes

For the Vanilla Chiffon Cupcakes

3 egg yolks
1/4 cup and 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar A (see above picture)
1/4 cup and 2 teaspoons water
1/4 cup and 2 teaspoons olive oil
1 3/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup chopped, cooked chestnuts (optional)
5 egg whites
1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons sugar B (see above picture)

For the Chestnut Spread

1 pound whole chestnuts
1 cup sugar

For the Chestnut Spread Icing

1 cup chestnut spread
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon brandy or rum

HOW TO MAKE

Making the Chestnut Spread

1. Soak whole chestnuts in hot water for 30 minutes.
2. Peel the outer skin with a knife.
3. Soak them in hot water again for 15 minutes.
4. Use a scraping motion to peel the inner skin with a knife. Don’t worry about getting every little piece of the inner skin right now; we’ll do that later.

5. Soak the 90% peeled chestnuts in cold water for 15 minutes. Drain the water and then fill again until the water covers all of the chestnuts.
6. Bring the water to a boil and continue to boil the chestnuts for 5 minutes before draining again.
7. Peel the leftover skin from the chestnuts by hand or however you see fit – the skin should come off very easily.
8. Once again, fill the water up to where it covers all of the chestnuts and boil them on medium heat.

9. As you boil the chestnuts, the water level will go down as the water begins to evaporate. When the water level reaches the halfway mark on any of the chestnuts, add the cup of sugar to the chestnuts and reduce the heat to medium low. When the water only covers a third of any chestnut, they should all be ready for the next step.
10-12. Pour everything (the liquid and chestnuts) into a food processor or blender. Blend it all until you get a mushy consistency, you can strain the puree afterwards for a smoother spread. (Photo 11: Before puree & Photo 12: After puree) Store in a container and cool completely before use.

Making Vanilla Chiffon Cupcakes

Before you start

1. Preheat the oven to 300 F
2. Separate egg yolks and whites.
3. Sift cake flour and baking powder together.

Making egg yolk base

1-2. Whip the egg yolks for 30 seconds.
3. Add sugar A and mix well until everything reaches a pale yellow color.
4. Add water and continue mixing.

5. Add olive oil and continue mixing.
6. Add vanilla extract and continue mixing.
7. Add flour and baking powder mixture while mixing at a low speed just until you no longer see the flour.
8. Fold the optional chopped chestnuts into the cake batter with a spatula.

Making meringue

9-10. Whip egg whites for 1 minute at a high speed in separate container and then add half of sugar B while continuing to whip.
11-12. Add the rest of sugar B and continue to whip until you reach a medium peak.

Folding & Scooping

13-14. Add half of the meringue to the egg yolk mixture and gently fold with a whisk.
15. Scoop the mixture into your baking cups. An ice cream scoop usually provides the perfect amount for each baking cup!
16. Stir each cupcake once with some type of stick to let air escape from the mixture and then bake the cupcakes for approximately 25 minutes.

17. Leave the cupcakes in the baking pan for 5 minutes before taking them out to cool.
18. I placed half of my cupcakes upside down as soon as I took them out of the oven. This is something that you would need to do if you were baking a full sized chiffon cake to keep it from sinking. The half that weren’t upside down did not sink so you can cool your chiffon cupcakes right-side-up.

Making Chestnut Spread Icing

1. Whip the heavy cream at a medium speed for 1 minute. Then, add chestnut spread.
2. Beat until they are well blended.
3. Add your favorite brandy or rum and continue beating until it forms stiff peaks or it reaches a thickness to pipe.
4. Here is the chestnut spread icing.

Enjoy the vanilla chiffon cupcake with the chestnut spread icing!

ALEXA’S TIPS

1. Make sure that you cool the chestnut spread completely before you whip it with the heavy cream. If the chestnut spread is warm, the icing will be runny. I recommend that you put the spread in a refrigerator until it gets cold.
2. When you beat the chestnut spread with the heavy cream, make sure that you DO NOT over whip! If you whip the icing for too long, the fat will become chunky and the fluids from the heavy cream will start to separate.
3. While folding the meringue (in steps 13 & 14) into the egg yolk base, remember to scoop the very bottom of the bowl to ensure that the heavy ingredients (flour, sugar, yolk, etc.) mix properly with the meringue.

This is for Santa!

I wish you Merry Christmas…

TASTE REVIEW

I always love chiffon cakes because they’re surprisingly so moist and fluffy. Making cupcakes with this vanilla chiffon recipe was great, they were just like mini-chiffon cakes. Since I love chestnuts, I especially enjoyed adding the chestnut bits into the actual cupcakes.

I don’t really like making things super sweet, which is why I enjoy baking everything from scratch. This way I have more control over how sweet my desserts taste. Even though the chestnut spread might be sweeter than what I like and cost a little more than making it from scratch – I probably wouldn’t mind buying it in the future because it was very time consuming to make.

Homemade chestnut spread on top of the moist chiffon cupcakes.

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays, everyone!