Faery's Kitchen

noreply@blogger.com (Faery) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 02:06:00 +0000

The Daring Bakers november Challenge:

Cannoli

This is my favorite challenge, for one reason, My Daddy loved them.

Italians are able to build very high towers, those towers might lean but they won't fall.

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.
Thank you Lisa Michele, they were delicious, and a recipe I’ll keep
Original Recipe

Lidisano’s Cannoli

Makes 22-24 4-inch cannoli
Prep time:
Dough – 2 hours and 10-20 minutes, including resting time, and depending on whether you do it by hand or machine.
Filling – 5-10 minutes plus chilling time (about 2 hours or more)
Frying – 1-2 minutes per cannoli
Assemble – 20–30 minutes
RECIPE NOTE: THE EQUIVALENTS FROM THIS RECIPE WERE PREPARED USING THIS CONVERSION SITE: http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/index.asp.
CANNOLI SHELLS
2 cups (250 grams/8.82 ounces) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons(28 grams/1 ounce) sugar
1 teaspoon (5 grams/0.06 ounces) unsweetened baking cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon (1.15 grams/0.04 ounces) ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon (approx. 3 grams/0.11 ounces) salt
3 tablespoons (42 grams/1.5 ounces) vegetable or olive oil
1 teaspoon (5 grams/0.18 ounces) white wine vinegar
Approximately 1/2 cup (approx. 59 grams/approx. 4 fluid ounces/approx. 125 ml) sweet Marsala or any white or red wine you have on hand
1 large egg, separated (you will need the egg white but not the yolk)
Vegetable or any neutral oil for frying – about 2 quarts (8 cups/approx. 2 litres)
1/2 cup (approx. 62 grams/2 ounces) toasted, chopped pistachio nuts, mini chocolate chips/grated chocolate and/or candied or plain zests, fruits etc.. for garnish
Confectioners' sugar
Note - If you want a chocolate cannoli dough, substitute a few tablespoons of the flour (about 25%) with a few tablespoons of dark, unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch process) and a little more wine until you have a workable dough (Thanks to Audax).
CANNOLI FILLING
2 lbs (approx. 3.5 cups/approx. 1 kg/32 ounces) ricotta cheese, drained
1 2/3 cups cup (160 grams/6 ounces) confectioner’s sugar, (more or less, depending on how sweet you want it), sifted
1/2 teaspoon (1.15 grams/0.04 ounces) ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon (4 grams/0.15 ounces) pure vanilla extract or the beans from one vanilla bean
3 tablespoons (approx. 28 grams/approx. 1 ounce) finely chopped good quality chocolate of your choice
2 tablespoons (12 grams/0.42 ounces) of finely chopped, candied orange peel, or the grated zest of one small to medium orange
3 tablespoons (23 grams/0.81 ounce) toasted, finely chopped pistachios
Note - If you want chocolate ricotta filling, add a few tablespoons of dark, unsweetened cocoa powder to the above recipe, and thin it out with a few drops of warm water if too thick to pipe.
DIRECTIONS FOR SHELLS:
1. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer or food processor, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the oil, vinegar, and enough of the wine to make a soft dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and well blended, about 2 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge from 2 hours to overnight.
2 Cut the dough into two pieces. Keep the remaining dough covered while you work. Lightly flour a large cutting or pastry board and roll the dough until super thin, about 1/16 to 1/8” thick (An area of about 13 inches by 18 inches should give you that). Cut out 3 to 5-inch circles (3-inch – small/medium; 4-inch – medium/large; 5-inch;- large. Your choice). Roll the cut out circle into an oval, rolling it larger and thinner if it’s shrunk a little.
3 Oil the outside of the cannoli tubes (You only have to do this once, as the oil from the deep fry will keep them well, uhh, oiled..lol). Roll a dough oval from the long side (If square, position like a diamond, and place tube/form on the corner closest to you, then roll) around each tube/form and dab a little egg white on the dough where the edges overlap. (Avoid getting egg white on the tube, or the pastry will stick to it.) Press well to seal. Set aside to let the egg white seal dry a little.
4. In a deep heavy saucepan, pour enough oil to reach a depth of 3 inches, or if using an electric deep-fryer, follow the manufacturer's directions. Heat the oil to 375°F (190 °C) on a deep fry thermometer, or until a small piece of the dough or bread cube placed in the oil sizzles and browns in 1 minute. Have ready a tray or sheet pan lined with paper towels or paper bags.
5. Carefully lower a few of the cannoli tubes into the hot oil. Do not crowd the pan. Fry the shells until golden, about 2 minutes, turning them so that they brown evenly.
8. Lift a cannoli tube with a wire skimmer or large slotted spoon, out of the oil. Using tongs, grasp the cannoli tube at one end. Very carefully remove the cannoli tube with the open sides straight up and down so that the oil flows back into the pan. Place the tube on paper towels or bags to drain. Repeat with the remaining tubes. While they are still hot, grasp the tubes with a potholder and pull the cannoli shells off the tubes with a pair of tongs, or with your hand protected by an oven mitt or towel. Let the shells cool completely on the paper towels. Place shells on cooling rack until ready to fill.
9. Repeat making and frying the shells with the remaining dough. If you are reusing the cannoli tubes, let them cool before wrapping them in the dough.
Pasta Machine method:
1. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. Starting at the middle setting, run one of the pieces of dough through the rollers of a pasta machine. Lightly dust the dough with flour as needed to keep it from sticking. Pass the dough through the machine repeatedly, until you reach the highest or second highest setting. The dough should be about 4 inches wide and thin enough to see your hand through
2. Continue rolling out the remaining dough. If you do not have enough cannoli tubes for all of the dough, lay the pieces of dough on sheets of plastic wrap and keep them covered until you are ready to use them.
3, Roll, cut out and fry the cannoli shells as according to the directions above.
For stacked cannoli:
1. Heat 2-inches of oil in a saucepan or deep sauté pan, to 350-375°F (176 - 190 °C).
2. Cut out desired shapes with cutters or a sharp knife. Deep fry until golden brown and blistered on each side, about 1 – 2 minutes. Remove from oil with wire skimmer or large slotted spoon, then place on paper towels or bags until dry and grease free. If they balloon up in the hot oil, dock them lightly prior to frying. Place on cooling rack until ready to stack with filling.
DIRECTIONS FOR FILLING:
1. Line a strainer with cheesecloth. Place the ricotta in the strainer over a bowl, and cover with plastic wrap and a towel. Weight it down with a heavy can, and let the ricotta drain in the refrigerator for several hours to overnight.
2. In a bowl with electric mixer, beat ricotta until smooth and creamy. Beat in confectioner’s sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and blend until smooth. Transfer to another bowl and stir in chocolate, zest and nuts. Chill until firm.(The filling can be made up to 24 hours prior to filling the shells. Just cover and keep refrigerated).
ASSEMBLE THE CANNOLI:
1. When ready to serve..fill a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain or star tip, or a ziplock bag, with the ricotta cream. If using a ziplock bag, cut about 1/2 inch off one corner. Insert the tip in the cannoli shell and squeeze gently until the shell is half filled. Turn the shell and fill the other side. You can also use a teaspoon to do this, although it’s messier and will take longer.
2. Press or dip cannoli in chopped pistachios, grated chocolate/mini chocolate chips, candied fruit or zest into the cream at each end. Dust with confectioner’s sugar and/or drizzles of melted chocolate if desired.
PUMPKIN FILLING
1/2 cup (123 grams/4.34 ounces) ricotta cheese, drained
1/2 cup (113 grams/4.04 ounces) mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup (122.5 grams/4.32 ounces) canned pumpkin, drained like ricotta
3/4 cup (75 grams/2.65 ounces) confectioner’s sugar, sifted
1/2 to 1 teaspoon (approx. 1.7 grams/approx. 0.06 ounces) pumpkin pie spice (taste)
1/2 teaspoon (approx. 2 grams/approx. 0.08 ounces) pure vanilla extract
6-8 cannoli shells
1. In a bowl with electric mixer, beat ricotta and mascarpone until smooth and creamy. Beat in confectioner’s sugar, pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla and blend until smooth. Transfer to another bowl, cover and chill until it firms up a bit. (The filling can be made up to 24 hours prior to filling the shells. Just cover and keep refrigerated).
2. Fill the shells as directed above
TIPS AND NOTES:
- Dough must be stiff and well kneaded
- Rolling the dough to paper thinness, using either a rolling pin or pasta machine, is very important. If the dough is not rolled thin enough, it will not blister, and good cannoli should have a blistered surface.
- Initially, this dough is VERY stubborn, but keep rolling, it eventually gives in. Before cutting the shapes, let the dough rest a bit, covered, as it tends to spring back into a smaller shapes once cut. Then again, you can also roll circles larger after they’re cut, and/or into ovals, which gives you more space for filling.
- Your basic set of round cutters usually doesn’t contain a 5-inch cutter. Try a plastic container top, bowl etc, or just roll each circle to 5 inches. There will always be something in your kitchen that’s round and 5-inches if you want large cannoli.
- Oil should be at least 3 inches deep and hot – 360°F-375°F, or you’ll end up with greasy shells. I prefer 350°F - 360°F because I felt the shells darkened too quickly at 375°F.
- If using the cannoli forms, when you drop the dough on the form into the oil, they tend to sink to the bottom, resulting in one side darkening more. Use a slotted spoon or skimmer to gently lift and roll them while frying.
- DO NOT crowd the pan. Cannoli should be fried 2-4 at a time, depending on the width of your saucepan or deep fryer. Turn them once, and lift them out gently with a slotted spoon/wire skimmer and tongs. Just use a wire strainer or slotted spoon for flat cannoli shapes.
- When the cannoli turns light brown - uniform in color, watch it closely or remove it. If it’s already a deep brown when you remove it, you might end up with a really dark or slightly burnt shell.
- Depending on how much scrap you have left after cutting out all of your cannoli shapes, you can either fry them up and sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar for a crispy treat, or let the scraps rest under plastic wrap and a towel, then re-roll and cut more cannoli shapes.
- Push forms out of cannoli very gently, being careful not to break the shells as they are very delicate. DO NOT let the cannoli cool on the form, or you may never get it off without it breaking. Try to take it off while still hot. Hold it with a cloth in the center, and push the form out with a butter knife or the back of a spoon.
- When adding the confectioner’s sugar to the filling..TASTE. You may like it sweeter than what the recipe calls for, or less sweet, so add in increments.
- Fill cannoli right before serving! If you fill them an hour or so prior, you’ll end up with soggy cannoli shells.
- If you want to prepare the shells ahead of time, store them in an airtight container, then re-crisp in a 350°F (176 °C) oven for a few minutes, before filling.
- Practice makes perfect

Corn and Cheese sticks (Venezuelan)

noreply@blogger.com (Faery) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 01:05:00 +0000

Corn and Cheese Sticks (Venezuelan)

Well I think I getting better now, this is taking time but as my brother says “depression leads to illness” I have been depress, maybe for this time of the year I get to think a lot, about my dad and now my grandma and my aunt, my grandma was born on December 31 a bit after 12:00 a.m. so after we said bye to the old year and hello to the new one we also say happy birthday to my dear grandma, my aunt was always happy and loved Christmas time, and my dad he was my strength I miss him so much, it’s been five years now but I can take this pain away from me, it’s been hard to accept that this is a normal part of being alive, I miss his bear hugs, competing from the traffic light to the house to see who got first, boxing with him, teaching him about stars and constellations and trying to convince him that I was an alien. There are so many things to remember every single second he was like a kid, like a bear, like Fred Flintstone too, HE WAS A HERO AND THE BEST DAD.

I love when this happens

Ingredients.
2 cups corn flour.
2 tablespoons wheat all purpose flour.
2 tablespoons corn oil.
2 ¼ warm water.
1 ½ teaspoon salt.
2 tablespoons White or brown sugar.
White cheese sticks (or feta cheese).
Oil for frying .

1-Place all the ingredients in a bowl and knead very well, let rest 5 minutes.
2- Place your bag on the counter and spread some drops of oil and water on it (do this for every empanada you will make but for the rest use water only).
3- Heat the oil. Make a ball with the dough and place on the palm of your hand pad on it to flatten it, make an oval shape and place a cheese stick in the center of the flattened dough overlap the sides and close the ends and roll between your hand to make a nice dough log, deep fry them, they are ready when they have a golden brown color, continue like this until you fry all of them.
Note: This the same dough for empanadas without the grated cheese, you can see it here

Panettone

noreply@blogger.com (Faery) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:42:00 +0000

Panettone

As I have to be quiet, try not to talk too much, I decided to get in the kitchen and began to work on the “perfect” formula for my panettone and pandoro this is the second batch of panettone, I think this is THE recipe, everybody said it was delicious and they all said that I should make and sell them because they are better than the ones they find in the supermarket or the bakeries…may be those are not FRESH ha ha ha. Well to be honest I like these panettoni a lot because they smell like Christmas, they are moist and they are so soft, like a sponge.

I began with this very hard and almost dry dough

After I added the other ingredients, while it was resting

The fruits

The weather was too hot for this buttery dough

Third time resting...so lazy dough

Resting againg...

Ready to get in the oven

Done

Resting overnight.

On the door: finger paint, on the wall: butter "paint?" author: Michele

The next morning...ta daaaa

Whith chocolate syrup is even better

A sponge...

Happy Halloween.

noreply@blogger.com (Faery) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:23:00 +0000

Happy Halloween.

My sister and I decided to play a joe on Michele and, boy was he scared, he thought it was the headless horseman but then and being very careful he went to investigate and he said "HA HA HA I knew it, I knew it" he was laughing almost hysterically. Well..he wanted to celebrate halloween, didn't he??? (Michele and I love to watch The Legend of Sleeppy Hollow).

I think I am a bit better, thanks so much my dear friends for your concern.

Today I made a very typical smoothy from my hometown we call it "vitamina" vitamin, it is made of pumpin, milk, sugar and vanilla (my personal touch sweetened condensed mil and nutmeg) and pumpking pie and a mini pie with splenda for mom since she cannot eat sugar.

faery Mocha Dessert

noreply@blogger.com (Faery) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:37:00 +0000

Faery Mocha Dessert.

Ok I don’t know what is happening to me, but bronchitis wasn’t gone when my larynx began to hurt and now I have laryngitis, my Goodness….nothing works for me, I might be an alien (E.T. phone Dr House..er..home)
Well I made this to share with some friends it is very easy to make, you know…I feel kind of lazy (so many antibiotics, antihistaminic drugs, syrups, beverages, home medicines, pills, witchcraft….ooops) *cough* *cough* *cough* sorry…Again
I made a sponge cake, mocha pudding and coffee-marsala wine syrup to soak the cake. But you can buy lady fingers (savoiardi) and box pudding and prepare it according to the instructions.
I sliced my sponge cake trying to make very slim slices, I placed a layer of cake slices soaked them with the coffee-marsala wine syrup then a layer of mocha pudding and then I sprinkle dark cocoa powder over the pudding layer, repeat the process until all ingredients are used and finally cover the dessert with an Italian meringue and place in the refrigerator until very cold (better overnight). According to my friends it was delicious (my opinion too and scent of the dessert yummmmm ).

Sandwich bread with green onion and cheddar cheese.

noreply@blogger.com (Faery) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:17:00 +0000

Sandwich bread with green onion

and cheddar cheese.

This recipe belongs to my favorite baker an pastry chef, he is very famous in Latin America and I always buy his magazines, with him I learnt to use malt extract which gives moisture, color and a delicious taste to my breads.

For this olives, bacon an chear cheese

Sponge:
35 gr fresh yeast.
100 cc water.
1 teaspoon sugar.
1 tablespoon flour.
Dough.
1 kilogram all purpose flour. (we call it 0000)
100 gr sugar.
20 gr ssalt.
550 cc milk.
10 gr malt extract.
75 gr butter (soft).
Green onion chopped.
Cheddar cheese.
1- Mix all the ingredients for the sponge and let rest for ten minutes.
2- Mix the flour an salt, then make a well in the center an a the rest of the ingredients and the sponge..
3- With a whisk begging to mix the ingredients taking small amounts of flour until you use all the flour and then knead.
4- This dough is sticky as a tape but won’t attach to your hands, I learnt from my own experience that this kind of dough does not need to be worked out thoroughly because as it is wet the gluten will develop while the dough rests.
5- Let the dough rest until it doubles its size and then cut in halves, extent it with your hands and roll place in very well greased and floured loaf pans, brush with beaten egg an place the green onion and cheese on top, let rise until it doubles the initial size.
6- Carefully brush with beaten egg again and bake in a preheated oven at 190 °C until they are golden brown and you pad on top they make a hollow sound.
7- Let tem cool before removing them from the pan.
A good advice is to use parchment paper to line the pans

noreply@blogger.com (Faery) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 19:56:00 +0000

Faery’s Monkey Pizza.

I was reading one old recipe book that belongs to my mom and I read this beautiful recipe called “Monkey Bread” I was so curious about it and I wanted to make it right away, the problem was I had a dough raising but this dough was salty so I could not use it to make sweet bread …. So I though to myself if I make a salty monkey bread, using sauce instead of syrup, well I continue with my idea and came up with a “Monkey Pizza” it was delicious, soft and with all the sauce an cheese surrounding every piece of this weird pizza. You can use store bought dough or canned Neapolitan sauce, here your imagination is the limit. For my Pizza I made smoked bacon, garlic an tomato extract (no oil) an a kind of cheese that gets very soft but that does not melt when it is hot this is similar to Monterrey jack

My bread dough.

250 cc milk. (Luke warm).
60 gr butter.
2 eggs.
2 teaspoons salt.
400 gr all purpose flour.
160 gr self raising flour.
1 tablespoon malt extract (or honey)
1 tablespoon instant yeast.

1- Mix the malt extract, yeast and milk.
2- Place the rest of the ingredients in a bowl add the prepared milk and make a ough, then kneed until you have a soft, silky elastic dough.
3- Let rest until it doubles its volume, place over a floured surface an with your hands press down gently to deflate the dough.
4- Cut stripes of dough and then cut each stripe to make small pieces of dough.
5- The place sauce and dough in a bowl and toss, really gently, using your hands.
6- Place the seasoned dough in a cake pan an let raise until it doubles its volume.
7- Bake at 200°C until you see the sides of the pizza are light brown.

Daring Bakers' September Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Faery) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 22:27:00 +0000

Vols-au-Vent

As always I made my challenge two days before the posting date, It was very difficult to complete the challenge this time, I have bronchitis and after two days with fever I fell terrible but this is one of my favorites pastries so I HAD TO do it, as you can see in my previous post I made one of my personal recipes for a flaky dough at the beginning of this month, so I was “in shape” for the challenge…That’s what I thought…the weather was incredible hot, so hot that I thought to myself there will be an earthquake or there will be a storm, I was right in my second prediction and it was like a tornado, our dear soursoup tree felt. my nephew and I were watching the storm in the hallway that is next to that tree and thanks to his dear guardian angel it did not land over the house because we were one and a half meters from the tree, when I realize what could happen to him I almost faint, then “where is Lila?” our dog…she was in her house far from the tree, Then “and The wall?” it was intact, definitely God was watching over us. My mom was in her bedroom so she did not see the tree falling, when I told her, she began to cry and she thanked the tree for shadow, fruits and the protection it kindly gave us (it was a shield for stones thrown from the street, the hallway has big glass windows, so it is a temptation for kids). Well that is a pity it was loaded with fruits…I loved that tree.
I have to say that I like this recipe, although when I read the ingredients I knew that was too much fat for the kind of flour I buy here in my town (it is like a starch) so I used 400 gr instead of 454 gr and it was a bit fatty to my taste, the result : it had many layers and it was crunchy, but greasy and I am sure is due to the ingredients I used and not due to recipe, because the pics in the forum shows beautiful creations, I will try this recipe again but lowering the amount of fat in it.
Thanks Steph for this wonderful challenge, I learnt a lot and even though I was weak for the fever (and causing trouble to my dough) I enjoyed every second of it, thank you, for the recipe click here
The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

Filled Flaky Dough.

noreply@blogger.com (Faery) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 03:07:00 +0000

Filled Flaky Dough.

I may not post my recipes in the future since people in my country has been copying them and publishing without my permission, I may say that most of these recipe are of my own, I never expected this to happen. But they are available only for my friends :)
These do not have a name yet, but they are flaky and crunchy outside and very soft and spongy inside, I suppose this dough is perfect for croissants and it can be filled with savory or sweet preparations. I filled them with strawberry jam and for my mom cinnamon and Splenda.
The dough is made with shortening, like Crisco, but is not heavy because it needs less fat than other kind of dough.

Sweet Bread Cluster and Home made Guava Marmalade .

noreply@blogger.com (Faery) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 03:38:00 +0000

Sweet Bread Cluster

and

Home made Guava Marmalade.

At home, we love these buns, they are not so sweet, moist and very soft but the best part is that they are so easy to make. I created this recipe trying to imitate the ones I eat at my grade school.
Not much to say today, I guess this depression is hard to overcome. My country is getting worst, the cure is so far away if there is one. It is like when you are caught in the undertow, it does not matter how much you struggle to get rid of it, you will get nowhere.

Home made Guava Marmalade.

450 fresh pulp of guava and the same amount of white sugar and 2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (add it when you finish cooking the marmalade)
Cook until it it changes its color, bubbles like hell and smells like heaven… or you taste it on a cold saucer and if it does not run much it is ready.

The fierce crocodile is getting ready to attack

1- Mix all the ingredients and knead, this dough is a bit sticky so you do not need to knead like a slave.
2- Let dough rest until it doubles its size.
3- Deflate the dough and make small ball of dough, place them on a cake pan (greased and floured) with a very small separation between them ant let this rest covered with a loose plastic (they need room to grow) until they double in size.
4- rush with egg wash sprinkle some sugar on top of the buns and bake until they are golden brown and when you tap on top of these bread cluster it will sound hollow.
Note: you can vary the form of the bread and fill them too.

The Daring Bakers August Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Faery) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 03:35:00 +0000

The Daring Bakers August Challenge: Dobos Torte

I am so sorry I could not post my challenge before but so many things happened, I am still weak but recovering well, we had a beautiful visit for almost two weeks: my brother and his family came from Valencia, unfortunately they could not stay longer because my brother is a professor at the university and director of … I forgot the name, so he has a lot of responsibilities there.
Aaaand soooo many power cuts sometimes more than two per day, we spent three and a half hours without light today….today, that I finally gathered strength and energy to make my august challenge, when I was about making the filling *PUFF* the light went off not without blinking for a minute before definitely left us in the dark. For that reason one of the two refrigerators got damaged. But look the positive side…Venezuela is the only country in the world that is working hard against the global warming, also this situation helps the thieves to work in better conditions, you know, they have a family to care for. I can’t imagine how happy are the ones who work repairing electric appliances, they have a lot of work to do and only work a few hours a day: when there is power.
I’ll say no more for today, I’m tired and I still have to build a huge poster: LEADER/HERO WANTED, VILLAIN IS TEARING DOWN A COUNTRY.

The recipe here and here

I was so tired that I forgot to make the upper layer with the caramel so I used cookies instead, sorry

The August 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonfulof Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular DobosTorte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers' cookbook Kaffeehaus: ExquisiteDesserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.
Thank you Lorrain and Angela I loved this Torte

My First Food.

noreply@blogger.com (Faery) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 01:51:00 +0000

My First Food.

My first food after being sick, yea I know it sounds kind of super dramatic but boy was I sick and what makes me crazy is that this is due to a bad BAD administration (and you could say: ok Faery here you come again talking about politics…), Ok, the town where I live, used to be ruled by a mayor who has the town like a shiny silver cup although he was not someone I like I cannot deny the fact that he took care of everything here but during the last elections and due to electoral magic the mayor that everybody loved LOST the elections and the one who bows to the president and master of this regime, won….”It’s a kind of magic, maaagiic”.

Well this man happen to be the seven plagues of Egypt, uhm you don’t believe me, listen,: all the sanitation trucks are broken there is only one on duty so the garbage is flooding the town, this has brought a plague of mice and rats , all imaginable sizes of crocoraches and colors…,clouds of flies, mosquitoes and those annoying fruit flies (they not only bite fruits).

Also the water is so dirty and filled with mosquito larvae, besides this: the darkness, we have up to three power cuts daily specially at night.

Due to all these things we have systems to double filter the water, mosquito repellents and we keep the house super clean also we take measures of all kinds buuuut…. It hit me…what? The new virus (that I won’t mention because this is a food blog but you are free to imagine), during the 3 first days I lost 7 kilos of weight and two weeks later I still have that filling of “EWW” when I see food, I spent 2 days laying in my bed, did not eat at all and only could have a few sips of water, second day at night my mom made me a chamomile and tilo tea it was so good, next day she gave me Pepsi with lemon and that helped me a lot , that night she made me white rice and I eat 7 teaspoons of it, I felt great, during the next days I began to recover with home remedies because formal or traditional medicine did not work on this virus.
This is the first time I get in the kitchen after that. I made Tostones which are very good when you have stomach illness, chicken breast, salad and rice.
Tostones are very typical in my country

1-Peel the green plantain and cut it in slices of about 2 centimeters, then fry them in very hot oil on both sides until golden.

2- Smash flat them with the help of the bottom of a glass or plate if you don’t have something like this device I show here, then fry again the smashed plantain until just browned.

3- Place them over absorbent paper and sprinkle them with salt.

For the chicken breast

I cut the chicken breast into strips and season with salt, dried oregano, grated garlic and onion and a few drops of wine vinegar let rest and then cover each strip with corn starch and cook with a few drops of corn oil.

For the salad I cut tomato and onion and added dried oregano, corn oil and whine vinegar.

My drink was Schweppes and orange juice from our tree.

Looks loke gold

See the burnt ones, they are just for me because they are so good for my stomach.

Daring Baker July's Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Faery) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 03:47:00 +0000

Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies.

and Dulce de Leche Recipe

I love marshmallow I always make these delicious clouds at home so I had doubts about this recipe, but it was great. The only problem I had was the weather so I had to slightly refrigerate the marshmallow before using it because it was too runny at the beginning. The cookie dough was also affected by the hot weather. I made small cookies and with the rest of the dough I pressed it into a cookie cutter with the fingers and made a big… biiiiig marshmallow.

Thanks Nicole for this new recipe and wonderful challenge I enjoyed and learnt a lot in this challenge. To see the recipe click here

AAAyyy a monster jumped in my batter

He is saying GRRRRRR

Dough... Dou!

Dulce de Leche...my LOVE

Centered Filling...or...Filling Centered?

Scary

Soft ball... hot hot ouch it burns.

Almost a Disaster

The Biiiiig One

Chistmas Flavor

Piña Colada

Dulce de Leche

YUMMMM :9

These are for my neighbor and friend Hector.

Faery's Dulce de Leche.

This a dulce de leche that is like the one used for pastry, it is thick and dark and I like this kind of dulce de leche more that the traditional home made dulce de leche.
Ingredients.
7 cups fresh milk.
650 gr white sugar.
2/4 teaspoon sodium bicarbonate.
2 teaspoons corn starch.
1- Place milk, sodium bicarbonate and sugar in a big heavy bottomed sauce pan and cook over high heat stirring constantly until the sugar dissolves.
2- Low the heat and stir every 5 to 7 minutes until it takes a brown color and is thicker that cough syrup, then dissolve the corn starch in the water and add it to the dulc e de leche stirring well and continue to cook until it becomes thick (you can test the same way you do for a marmalade, dropping a bit of the dulce de leche on a cold saucer)
3- Cool in water bath and store.

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

Seadas or Sebadas.

noreply@blogger.com (Faery) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 04:58:00 +0000

Seadas or Sebadas.

These are one of my Dad’s favorite desserts, he described these delicious cheese filled dough as seadas or sebadas, by that time the web was not like the one we have today, there were no blogs and the web pages did not mention any of this, so I began searching and experimenting until I made what I think is a Seada and now I know why Daddy said they were delicious because they are something more than delicious when I tried one I wanted to eat more and more and the same happened to my nephew who wanted more seadas and we had to make another batch. They are so simple, humble I say, but when you taste them your mouth is filled with flavor, just imagine a golden dough wrapping a soft mass of fresh cheese melted with the scent of lemon peel and all glazed with honey…YUMMMM. Unfortunately I made this recipe too late because Daddy is with God now but I hope he is watching that finally, I “invented” the dough after so many fails.

They do not absorb oil, but...

They absorb all the honey

For the Dough.

250 gr ap flour.
30 gr shortening.
¾ cups of warm water aprox.
1 pinch salt.

For the Filling.

250 gr fresh cheese.
½ lemon or orange peel grated.

1- In a bowl mix the flour, salt and shortening until they resemble bread crumbs then add the water gradually and knead until you make a soft dough, let rest for 30 minutes.
2- Meanwhile mix the cheese and lemon peel.
3- Roll the dough out and cut circles, place a small amount of cheese in the center of the circle cover with other circle and press the sides.
4- Fry in abundant oil, place them over absorbent paper towels.
5- Place them on a plate and add as much honey as you like.

Banana Pound Cake.

noreply@blogger.com (Faery) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 01:05:00 +0000

Banana Pound Cake.

This cake is moist and it has a nice sweet jelly like syrup on top, I served it just like the captain ordered: with cream, chocolate sauce and caramel sauce … well in fact it was my nephew pretending to be Wall-e’s Captain and he said that I am Eve so I had to prepare a dessert (totica meaning tortica translation cake) for him because he is the captain and Wall-e too…well, in my opinion he is a dictator

Natural light, so you can see the jelly like syrup

At your service, Sir

Ingredients.
4 eggs.
160 gr self raising flour.
160 gr sugar.
160 gr butter or margarine.
¼ teaspoon banana essence.
½ teaspoon vanilla extract.
6 large bananas.
For the Caramel.
170 gr sugar.
3 tablespoons wáter.

1- Whisk butter, vanilla extract, banana essence and sugar until they are fluffy, then add the eggs one at a time and whisk well after each addition.
2- Add half of the milk and half of the flour whisk well and finally add the rest of the milk and flour. Set aside.
3- For the caramel. Place the ingredients in a small saucepan on medium heat until it becomes a very light golden syrup.
4- Butter and sprinkle flour on the sides of a cake pan, in the bottom pour the caramel and make sure it covers the entire cake pan bottom. Let cool
5- Cut the bananas (about 2 centimeters) and place them over the caramel, carefully cover the bananas with the pound cake batter.
6- Bake at 180°C until and inserted toothpick comes out clean.
7- Run a knife around the sides of the cake pan and invert the cake onto a plate, let cool.

The Daring Baker´s June Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Faery) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 20:15:00 +0000

Bakewell Tart…er…pudding

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.
Thank you Jasmine and Annemarie for this challenge, it was easy and delicious too, I had all the ingredients at home, I decided to fill my tart with apricots and white chocolate truffle and for garnish Italian almond meringue, dark and white chocolate truffle sauce, I thought it was one of my crazy combinations but to my surprise it matches deliciously, I guess that after a year and a half cooking with the daring Bakers I am learning.
The only trouble I had was with the dough, it was too dry so after four teaspoons of water I had two add 2 more teaspoons and it wasn’t sticky at all.
I have a question, the tart name was given after the town’s name or because the tart actually bakes well???

For the recipe please visit Jasmine and Annemarie

All I can say is: YUMMMM ;9

The Venezuelan Rolls.

noreply@blogger.com (Faery) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 23:49:00 +0000

The Venezuelan Rolls.

These delicious rolls are among the traditional Venezuelan pastries, they are made of a sweet dough scented with anise seed and a filling that consist of grated papelón (panela, cane sugar), white cheese and more anise seeds they are glazed with melao (some say melado others say melao, which is the right one? For me melao, it is more traditional) which is a syrup made of papelón, butter and some milk and finally they are sprinkled with grated white cheese. To me they look like mountains covered with snow like the Andes in my country. Uuups I forgot: They are called Golfeados. I hope you like them.

Super soft bread

Papelón or Panela

For the dough.

2 eggs.
125 gr white sugar.
50 gr melted butter room, temperature.
1 tablespoon instant yeast.
4 tablespoons milk powder.
½ teaspoon salt.
200 ml warm water.
650 gr ap flour.
1 tablespoon anise seeds.
½ tablespoon malt extract.
½ teaspoon baking powder.

1- Mix all the dry ingredients.
2- Mix all the wet ingredients.
3- Mix dry and wet ingredients and knead un til you have a smoot and elastic dough.
4- Let rest until it doubles its volume.
Note: you may need a bit more flour, about ¼ cup depending on the flour and weather.

For the Filling.

250 gr grated white cheese.
250 gr grated papelón.
30 gr soft butter.
1 tablespoon anise seeds.

1. Mix white cheese, papelón and anise seeds.

Melao.

100 gr grated papelón.
50 gr salted butter.
3 tablespoons milk.
1- All the ingredients in a small sauce pan and heat until the papelón is melted, you may need a bit more milk if the melao gets to thick.

How to make the Rolls.

1. Roll out the dough, and spread the 30 gr of butter, sprinkle the papelon and cheese mix.
2. Roll the dough as you do for a Swiss roll and cut portions of about two fingers.
3. Place the portions on a jelly roll sheet greased and floured ( you better line it with aluminum foil and then grease and flour the foil, if you don’t want to scrub your jelly roll sheet for two days).
4. Let rest until the rolls double its size and bake at 200°C until they are light brown.
5. Take the rolls out of the oven and glaze with the melao and sprinkle some white cheese.
Note: golfeados are so good whit coffee with milk

Chicken Filled Tortellini and Pesto Sauce

noreply@blogger.com (Faery) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 02:27:00 +0000

Chicken Filled Tortellini and Pesto Sauce

Today, I cook without a recipe I cook “eye percent” as I call this way of cooking or doing things, when I do not measure…it is great working like this
Let’s say on Saturdays I feel lazy, after 5 days in a row feeling (not that I like) like a tornado and doing things without a decent rest from 6:00 am toooo… let’s say, 9:00 pm, I see Saturdays like my personal oasis. Well today, I said I am not going to the butcher’s and the supermarket .I’ll cook with what is left in the fridge and so I did: there was 1 chicken breast, vegetables, some cream and 4 eggs … I had flour , almonds and parmesan cheese too, I went to the backyard and took some basil leaves and made tortellini filled with chicken and basil pesto, the verdict it: delicious and I stayed at home but tomorrow I’ll have to go to the butcher’s. *SIGH* I NEED A VACATION

For the Filling
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast.
Half medium onion.
Half red bell pepper.
¼ cup chopped green onion.
1 tablespoon cappers.
2 tablespoons cream.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Place all the ingredients in the food processor and process until they are smooth.

For the Dough
3 eggs.
2 ½ cups ap flour.
1 teaspoon water.
1 teaspoon oil.
¼ teaspoon salt.Knead all the ingredients until the dough becomes satiny and smooth, let rest for about 7 minutes.

Then roll the doug as thing as you can, place some small amounts of the filling over it.

Dip your finger in some water and make a line of moisture around the filling,

fold the dough over the filling and cut, finally press the edges with a fork.

Brush off any excess flour on the tortellini before throwing them into the boiling water.

Water, salt and 2 tablepoons oil. whisk the water before trowing the tortellini in, this way you will not end up with a "cluster" of testellini

You will also need white sauce and more parmesan cheese.

In a Pyrex dish, place a layer of white sauce then a layer of tortellini and sprinkle parmesan cheese to taste then repeat the process and then bake it , I wanted mine pale because I decorated it with the pesto as soon as I took it out of the oven

For the Pesto
1 cup basil leaves.
½ cup almonds.
½ cup grated parmesan cheese.
1 big garlic clove.
About 2/3 of a cup of oil. (maybe a bit more)
Place all the ingredients in the food processor and process until they are smooth.

It was kind of tic tac toe

One tortellini cut, I love these colors

With the left over dough my mom made these fried forms and sprinkled some sugar with cinnamon over them, they were delicious . sometimes she fills this forms with mermelade yummmm

So crunchy

Corn Bread

noreply@blogger.com (Faery) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 01:56:00 +0000

Corn Bread.

Hello, its been a long time since my last post but so many things happened these past days: we finished the “security system” around the house, I finished my detective work too but we are still working on my dad’s pick up truck … well no I am not a bricklayer nor a mechanic but I have to be there just telling the guys what to do and helping my cousin with the pick up truck. the sun is been so… so splendid , as a result I do not recognize myself on a mirror, my skin is reddish, tanned and like bloated also itchy. The good news is that I began my English classes again. We are getting our passports done, yes you cannot do that yourself online, in this country you hire someone to make the passport for you…but you pay a lot for that “favor”, A LOT. The Italian passports are for July when Michele is on vacation because we have to travel to Valencia to get them but these are cheaper because there is no corruption there so I gladly pay the cost; we think we will have to leave the country if things get worst.But I HOPE the big ape leaves the country first.

Compare my leg and my arm. By the way I am not a shaman those bracelets were given to me by my nephew, he thinks they are beautiful and so do I.

The most common Venezuelan security system… ha.

I found the reason why my mom’s ferns are brown and not green.

I feed it cheese hi hi hi don’t tell her please.

Corn Bread.

Ingredients.

350 gr all purpose flour.
150 gr corn flour.
350 gr warm water (or milk and water).
Tablespoon instant yeast.
1 tablespoon malt extract.
3 tablespoons corn oil.
½ teaspoon baking soda (optional)

1- Mix all the ingredients and knead for about 5 minutes or less, until the dough is smooth.
You may need 5 extra tablespoons of all purpose flour is the dough is too sticky do not add more or the bread will be too heavy.
2- Place the dough in a floured bowl and cover with a bag and let rest until it doubles its volume.
3- Form the bead and let rise again until doubled in size, make some decorations with knife spray the loaves with water and sprinkle some corn flour over them.
4- Bake at 190 °C until you hear a hollow sound when you tap on them.
5- Let the loaves get room temperature before eating.

The Daring Baker's May Challenge: Strudel

noreply@blogger.com (Faery) — Thu, 28 May 2009 03:11:00 +0000

The Daring Baker's May Challenge: Strudel

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

He he I guess I added to much toasted ground almonds, it was something between a baklava and a strudel. I used green apples, ground and coarsely chopped almonds because I could not find raisins in the super market also I forgot how to properly fill the strudel and spread the filling all over the stretched dough, the dough was so elastic that I began to play with it like a child and I think it was to thin, I could see the pattern of the cloth under it.

Tank you so much Courtney of Coco Cooks and Linda of make life sweeter! for this challenge it was so much fun, I learn new things and It was delicious.

The recipe for this Strudel here and here

Also it is my birthday today and my sister made a cake WHAT??? Gina cooking??? no way she bought a delicious cake at a bakery, it was a chocolate cake filled with white chocolate mousse and dark chocolate mousse the kitchen was flooded with delicious scent of chocolate yummm :9

Fast Food

noreply@blogger.com (Faery) — Sun, 24 May 2009 02:44:00 +0000

Fast Food.

Hello! After so many days out of the blogosphere I’m back again. I had so many things to do that my back began to hurt then I had to take a while to heal, the pain was so bad that it was hard to walk, or sit or lay on my bed, I could not move very well. we had to reinforce the walls around our house and find the best security system, we had two options an electric fence over the walls or a very Venezuelan system… we chose the second one because we have little animals and a little boy who is very curious besides I’m not the tree of awareness so we better use something less harmful but that will discourage the thieves that abound in this area (and country) now, many of which come from other nations…but you know, they vote … and always for the bad guy, we are plentiful of thieves but we lack all purpose flour, cream cheese, skim milk powder and so many other items that are necessary for people. Also my cousin and I were working on my daddy’s pick up truck a Chevy 69, everybody wants to buy it but I say sorry it belonged to my daddy so it is priceless .
Back to the kitchen too, I prepare something easy that did not demand physical effort, I cannot knead …Mua Ha Ha we’ll see dear Doctors*… kneading is my hobby.
*The doctors are my brother and sister.
The first day in the kitchen: I prepare hamburgers with Milanese, when my nephew saw them he shouted “Pambomaaaa” it means McDonaaaalds but when he bite the hamburger he said “no e pamboma chia dada” it means it’s not McDonalds aunty dada and he put it away he was very disappointed. Well I only ate half of my hamburger because it was too big for me.

Spread ketchup on the one part of the hamburger bread and Dijon mustard on the other, place as much Milanese as you like cover it with some slices of cheese and ham, over the ham place some strips of tomato and roasted bell pepper add some onion rings and mayonnaise sprinkle dried oregano and black pepper then 30 second in the microwave on high and you are done.

Today:, I prepare rolled chicken steaks filled with roasted bell pepper, basil leaves, crushed almonds and cheese and then seasoned with light soya sauce and grated garlic then I pad each roll with a mix made with dried oregano, salt and bead crumbs cover each roll with a strip of bacon and finally cooked them , also I made cachapas a traditional Venezuelan dish, using a cachapa mix, only add water and you are ready to cook cachapas… my opinion: I prefer the real cachapa made with real corn but this is easy to make so it’s one option if you don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen.

The Cachapa mix

Roasted bell pepper

Another use for electric grill

Cover the steak with cheese, ok, this was to show the fillin

I forgot the bacon , but I added it later hi hi hi

Happy Mother’s Day

noreply@blogger.com (Faery) — Mon, 11 May 2009 01:28:00 +0000

Happy Mother’s Day

The Sad Mother
By Gabriela Mistral

Sleep, sleep, my beloved,
without worry, without fear,
although my soul does not sleep,
although I do not rest.

Sleep, sleep, and in the night
may your whispers be softer
than a leaf of grass,
or the silken fleece of lambs.

May my flesh slumber in you,
my worry, my trembling.
In you, may my eyes close
and my heart sleep.

This is true, I remember how I feel when my nephew Michele is sick; a few days ago he was very sick with fever and pharyngitis. I just wanted to take his place.

This morning, my sister and I went to the store to buy my mom a present she wanted : a black and Decker electric grill, so for mom’s day celebration lunch, the food was very healthy and I made an apple sponge cake without sugar and without butter just for her, for those who prefer not so healthy cake I made and Italian cake very sweet and tasty. My mom is very special (I guess every body says the same thing ) but she loves hand made gifts, so I made a crystal bracelet that kept me awake until 2 am fishing beads and these beads are so clear that I didn’t know where they were or where the hole was, Gosh it was a pain… but she was so happy to see such a “big” gift that it was worth it the effort :) (good girl, god girl)

This is mother’s day celebration at Michele's school last Friday. We had Mariachis too, by the way, when they entered in the school, I almost dropped dead, they scared me to death with that fist loud sound of the trumpet, I was NOT expecting that .... GOSH

My negrito, perfectly suntanned due to looooong playing at his pool.

Michele and his teachers
I LOVE my new muuuug

Apple Sponge Cake

3 eggs.
½ cup corn starch.
¼ cup all purpose flour.
¼ teaspoon baking powder.
½ teaspoon vanilla extract.
4 packages of splenda.
3 apples (peeled, seeded and cut in slices)
Cinnamon to taste.

1- Whisk the eggs until they are pale and foamy, then add the splenda and the vanilla and whisk until the mixture gets a thicker consistency.
2- Sieve the corn starch, flour and baking powder. Add to the eggs with folding movements.
3- Pour the mixture in a greased and floured spring cake pan .
4- Place the apple slices over the mixture and dust with cinnamon.
5- Bake until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

The "big" gift

noreply@blogger.com (Faery) — Mon, 04 May 2009 01:23:00 +0000

Starch Cookies

These past two weeks were so difficult, we started on Thursday with an explosion of the electrical transformers on the electric pole in front of my house, the explosion was huge and my mom and nephew were really scared but I said “gooooool” somehow I knew…the one that got damaged was the one that feeds four blocks…yes, including ours J we spend two and a half days without electric power, on Saturday they “fix” it, Sunday I was with my nephew at home, and a burglar tried to broke into our house but I faced that son..#&$ , he ran away scared (I guess I am too ugly)but in the afternoon he broke into my grandma ’s house, that is next door. Plus every evening we have a power cut of about 4 hours sometimes more, specially at night (guess what, the new transformers the nation bough with our money are now in Nicaragua as a gift from the president of a bunch of people of this country to his friend the president of that country). Last Wednesday my five year old nephew Michele got sick with 40 degrees of fever, chills and he was vomiting too, he denied eating or drinking something different from water, I did not know what to do and was so nervous to see my “Negrito” feeling so bad, we spend 5 hours with him in the clinic, one thing I can not stand is to hold him while the nurse injects him. Thanks God he is fine now, only he does not like to take his medicine…*sigh* ok , to my business: cooking :D
These cookies are traditional in my country they are called Almidoncitos, they can be made of (mandioca )Yuca starch or corn starch. They are delicious, crunchy and they melt in your mouth, this is one of those recipes you want to make every time because they are easy to make and they are really delicious. Also these cookies are good for celiac people.

Michele my nephew with his friend and neighbor Isabel, he says she is his girlfriend

Ingredients.
500 gr mandioca starch. *
100 gr corn stach.
250 gr white sugar.
250 gr margarine.
2 large eggs.
½ teaspoon cinnamon powder.
¼ teaspoon clove, ground.
2 tablespoons azahar water (orange blossom )

1- Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, until they are well blended, the dough should be soft but will hold the shape.
2- Form a log and cut every 5 cm and make some desins with a knife on each one.
3- Place in a greased and floured cookie tray and bake until they are ligh brown and feel dry and a bit hard.
4- Let them cool before eating.
5- * Note: you can use corn starch instead of mandioca starch, so you will use 600 gr of corn starch, always add the last 100 gr little by little so you do not end up with a very dry dough

Two Easy But Dangerous Recipes

noreply@blogger.com (Faery) — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 19:25:00 +0000

Two Easy But Dangerous Recipes

The first recipe was given to me by Donna, it consist of a chocolate cake in five (5) minutes…the danger with this recipe is that from now on you will only be 5 minutes away from a delicious chocolate cake that has a very fine texture and can be served with ice cream or chocolate fudge or your imagination is the limit…
The second recipe is lemon dessert I made when I was at the university, very easy to make and perfect for hot days but….the dangerous part is that this dessert is sooo addictive.

5 Minute Chocolate mug Cake

The original recipe in my mailbox said:

“5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake

Ingredients.

4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
A small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.
Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts.
The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!
Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired..
EAT! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous).

And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world ?
Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!”

Lemon Delight.

Lemon Delight.

Ingredients.

2 cans sweetened condensed milk.
1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice.
½ can liquid milk, use the one condensed milk can to measure (I use full cream powder milk and not much water :9 Yum).
Maria cookies or your favorite sweet cookie
Milk

1- In a bowl place the sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice and milk, whisk until all the ingredients are smooth and the mixture is thick.
2- To assemble the dessert place a layer of cookie (slightly moisten in milk) a layer of lemon curd and keep working like this until you use all the lemon curd.
3- Place the dessert into the freezer for 45 minutes or less if you are like me or in the refrigerator for 3 hours.

Happy Eastern Week

noreply@blogger.com (Faery) — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 21:01:00 +0000

Happy Eastern Week

My Mom prepared our traditional dish for eastern time, it is called "cuajao" or Fish Cake, it consist of a fish stew, placed between layers of egg foam, boiled plantain, boiled potatoes and white cheese, it is served along with rice made with milk and sugar (it is sweet), beans, pink salad and fried plantain and the dessert is "buñuelos de yuca" they are delicious and I will try to make them to show you how to make these buñuelos. Today I am kind of lazy because we had so many visits and so many things to do, that "I feel like jello" (I used to say this when i was a Child meaning "I was so tired after a long day of playing")