Sweet Tooth

Martha Stewart Craft Room

2012-01-30T21:14:00.001+08:00

Let's get one thing out of the way first, I'm a H-U-G-E Martha Stewart fan! Yup there I said it. A perfect day for me would be doing crafts, baking and gardening all day. Now I know I sound like an old lady but I guess I'm just a homebody. I love staying home and just keep everything nice and neat... a little bid ocd but it makes me happy to see that everything is at it's proper place. When I spotted this Martha Stewart Craft room furniture, I almost scream with glee! Aren't they absolutely gorgeous??? They are absolutely to dream come true! To have a spacious room just for crafting! Love it! I'm wondering where I can find these...:)

More Books

2012-01-16T21:39:00.001+08:00

My heart goes pitter patter while my pocketbook groans from getting too much exercise. In a span of a month and a half I managed to haul in 11...ELEVEN books!!! I didn't realize it until now how much I spent on books in just a short period of time. I'm so out of control after my last purchased I promised NOT to buy anymore books for ATLEAST 2 months! I know...even as I wrote that down I am very doubtful but I have to perceiver, I'm trying to save up for a new Macbook since my current one is moving like an old lady. One thing I'm thankful for is that most new cookbooks comes out in autumn so I'm very hopeful that I can do it. Keeping my fingers crossed and testing my self control.

This whole dilemma started when I took my long overdue Christmas break. My family and I went to our favorite Christmas spot, Hong Kong, mainly to relax, sightseeing, shopping and of course visit my Aunt. Whenever I visit HK, I often drop by Page One to see what books they have on hand that we don’t have at home. Moreover, I had a very valid excuse, my discount card is up for renewal so I don’t have a choice but to drop by even if I don’t want to (…with a sly grin). Most often I buy cookbooks I’m one of those people who reads on e-reader in my case an iPhone which are great for reading novels and occasional magazines subscriptions however when it comes to cookbook. I find it hard to appreciate it in that format. I still prefer my cookbooks in the thick and heavy hardboard format. I get to see the delicious and gorgeous pictures in full scale so I get a chance to appreciate it more.

This cookbook shopping expedition, in my opinion I got myself 4 awesome books. (1) Bake! By Nick Malgieri. I got a chance to attend one of his demos years ago and most of what he showed then seems so easy and the way he explain things makes a lot of sense to me thus whenever he has a book coming out, I cannot hardly wait get my hand on it. (2) Baking by Flavor by Lisa Yokelson (Paperback Edition). I know…I know…it seems like ages ago when this book was released but then hardcover version here are way too expensive even if the book already looks a bit ancient. I mean I’m willing to shell out some of my hard earned moola for books but if I’m going to be paying on 20% off its retail value or its full priced then I need to have a book that feels, looks and smells new. No bargain looking books for me if I won’t be paying bargain too. (3) Good Cookie by Tish Boyle (Paperback Edition). Being a self-proclaimed cookie fiend like me, I must have this and not only that I have been a fan of Tish Boyle’s work for as long as I can remember. I first knew her work as the editor of now defunct Chocolatier Magazine. I used to search for back issues of that said magazine and when I finally saved up enough to have my own subscription, guess what??? That’s the time the magazine closed its doors. By then I went nuts and search online for her recipes and try to emulate them. Then when I discovered she wrote several books and she has a blog! I was so giddy like a child and my admiration for her work continues. And lastly, (4) Vegan Cookies by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I got curious and wanted to try it and see if it’s really much healthier than regular cookies and I assumed that vegan anything are much healthier than the regular kind, I got this as I try to attempt my first ever vegan cookies. I grasp my books tightly as I went along my merry way back to my hotel.

Fast forward to December 31 2011, the last day of the year, it was holiday so I didn’t have to report to the office. My parents went to the supermarket getting all the food and ingredients needed for our Noche Vieja a.k.a. New Year Eve Dinner. I was doing my usual window shopping. This usually leads me to another favorite bookstore of mine Fully Booked and I almost jumped for joy when I saw that Butch Bakery cookbook was available but it was way overpriced! If my memory serves me right I cost more than TWO THOUSAND PESOS!!! Yikes! I even asked the customer care maybe it was priced wrong since its retail price written in the back cover is only $19-$20. The lady from the counter told me that that’s what it cost but I asked why since other books cost at the same range of $19-20 cost less than 1,000. She told me that I should leave my number and as soon as regular work day starts, she will ask their main office. I even left her my number since she said she will be calling and update me.

New Year came and went, few days have passed and nobody called me from that store. Still fresh from my vacation, I kept telling myself give it time maybe they are just busy. However, it was almost a week and nothing coincidentally that same day my trusted online book provider emailed me informing me that the other book that I want is currently on hand. So I went online and check whether or not BB book is also available and guess what it is! I quickly grabbed the phone and dialed my local bookstore following up my inquiry and guess what the girl was on leave and the person who answered the who is NOT at all polite she asked me to wait for more than 5 minutes and when she came back on the line she was all snooty saying it was really like that, that the girl I talked to noted that the price is correct. When I persistently asked her how come since other books at the same price range are a LOT cheaper, her only respond was that before they got the book it was already priced that way and when I asked why? Because I was really curious but when she gave this annoyed tone saying uh because of the publisher, they are expensive. I knew then that she was lying and got really turned off with the whole store. I’m not some gullible uneducated person that can be persuaded but such blatant lie! I mean it was already written in the back cover how much it cost in the US and now she was telling me it was because of the publisher??? How so?? I’m sorry but don’t I as the customer have the right to ask question. It’s not like I’m insisting for them to sell the said book to me at a lower price I just really wanted to know why. L After that horrible incident I swiftly went through my email and searched for that newsletter from my online bookstore and placed my order that same day. It takes days even weeks to get to Manila but then my online bookstore doesn’t give me any hoity toity attitude. Ugh! Even writing about now makes me cringe! Happy thoughts…happy thoughts please…

Online shopping got me three new additions to my ever flowing bookshelves: (1) Zumbo by Adrian Zumbo. He is this celebrated Australian pastry chef being refer as Aussie’s version of Pierre Herme. I saw some of his handiwork in few episodes in Master Chef Australia. All I can say is impressive! (2) The Butch Bakery by David Arrick. Never having been able to travel to NYC, where could I’ve possible heard about Butch Bakery you asked? Well… Martha I believe. These manly flavored and looking cupcakes that easily captured the eye. No pastel looking cupcakes here all bold colors and the cupcakes it selves are flavored with Guinness and other bold flavor. Believe it or not most of their clientele are women! (3) Handheld Pies by Rachel Wharton. The idea appeals to me having my own individual serving of pie that doesn’t shape like a regular pie. Kind of like a toaster pastry but much better. Trying not to set my expectations too high I might get sad if these didn’t live up to what I’m imagining. Few more days and these babies will here! So excited!

Last weekend was another fruitful book hunt, from my local used bookstore, I got Marion Cunningham's Good Eating. It’s a compilation of her 2 other books Suppertime and Breakfast time. For only ₱ 30 bucks this is a steal!

Sunday came and my window shopping escapade turned into book shopping when that said bookstore was on sale. Didn’t bother asking anyone from that store after that horrible experience, I don’t want to ruin my perfect day. From this visit, I went away with 3 selection: (1) Chocolate Dessert by Pierre Herme. I used to have a copy of this book unfortunately it was part of the old book collection that got flooded years ago. So I know it was an excellent book and since everything was on sale at 20% off, I seized the opportunity to change my old copy. (2) The Art and Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet. I saw a glimpse of this in Google Books, it was very informative and it peak my interest. It’s a huge, hefty and substantial book so I’m sure I’m going to love it. (3) Pot Pies by Elinor Klivans. This I got in the super discount pile, I got it at 80% off, less than ₱ 180 bucks. Sweet! Now since these are very heavy books I had them delivered to my house, I so love that free delivery once you reached a particular amount. Though it seems like they don’t advertise that service much because I only knew about it since I asked. Nobody ever informed me about it. Silly me used to lug around heavy books around, which was insane believe me. Now it’s just a waiting game for me…waiting for my books to come.

At this point, I probably talked your ear off and have absolutely nothing to say until the next post that is. :)

Hi-Hat Cupcake

2011-11-20T21:52:00.001+08:00

Growing up my favorite treat is the Mallows. Mallows is a biscuit based treat topped with marshmallow then covered with thin coating of chocolate, wrapped in silver aluminum foil. Yum! One was never enough. I can easily eat 3 without feeling any guilt. During my grade school days, my weekly allowance was 500 pesos and most of the time I rather spend it on tasty treats like the Mallows rather than buying lunch. My pocket then was full of chocolates and girly hair accessories.

Fast forward to the present, after seeing Martha show wherein they featured the Elinor Klivans’ Hi-Hat Cupcake taken from Cupcakes! Book. It looks easy enough the chocolate cupcake is topped with fluffy marshmallow like frosting then when they are a bit dry, each are hand dipped into a rich bowlful of shinny chocolate. Set and enjoy! What could be better than that right? Well…I had to conquer my fears with making the marshmallow like frosting. I hate tinkering with a candy thermometer and I can never tell whether or not the mixture is hot or set enough, so I kept saying someday…someday I will make it. That someday finally came last Sunday, I finally sucked it up and made my very first marshmallow frosting. The best way I think to tackle this problem is take it a step of the time, first I made the cupcake the night before and the next day, these little babies are ready to frost. I gingerly separated my eggs, fearing that a speck of egg yolk might accidentally be mixed in with my egg whites. That is a huge no no when whisking egg whites into the desire voluminous consistency, which is exactly what we need for this.

First I made the cupcake. I made double batch of the chocolate recipe from the same book because there is no way that 1 batch would be enough for my family. They came out soft and fluffy however I have a problem with the coloring. It is supposed to be chocolate but it turned out kind of light brown and lacks the rich chocolate taste that we often associate with chocolate. That is so weird, not at all what I expected. Such a disappointment, though I have a feeling it is indeed because of the chocolate. In other chocolate cupcake recipes that I have tried before aside from the recipe calling for chopped melted chocolate there is always few tablespoonful of Dutch processed cocoa which gives it its rich dark chocolate flavor and coloring. So next time I make this I will probably use other cupcake recipe. The marshmallow part is amazing! though I might be bias here since this is the first time I made marshmallow. The only thing I didn't thought of is that my pastry tip is way too small so instead of having gorgeous swirls, what I got are small squiggles but no worries when dipped in the chocolate they all look pretty. All in all it was worth all the prep work.

HI-HAT CUPCAKE
Adapted from Cupcakes! For the Batter

3 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup (1stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream

For the Frosting

1 3/4 cups sugar
3 large egg whites
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract

For Chocolate Coating

2 cups chopped semi sweet chocolate
3 tbsp. canola or vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in center. Prepare the batter: Place chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl, and set it over a medium saucepan of barely simmering water; stir chocolate until melted and smooth. Remove bowl from heat, and set aside to cool slightly.

Meanwhile, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar on medium speed, scraping sides of bowl as needed, until light and fluffy. On low speed, mix in melted chocolate. Increase speed to medium, and add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add vanilla, and beat until mixture is creamy and color has lightened slightly, about 1 minute. Mix in sour cream. On low speed, add half of reserved flour mixture, beating until just incorporated. Mix in 1/2 cup water. Add remaining flour mixture, and mix until just incorporated.

Line a cupcake pan with paper liners. Fill each liner with enough batter to come 1/8 inch from top, about 1/3 cup. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until tops are firm and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer cupcakes to a wire rack to cool in pan for 10 minutes.

Use a small knife to loosen any tops stuck to the pan. Carefully invert cupcakes onto the wire rack. Turn cupcakes right side up, and let cool completely.

Prepare the frosting: In a large heatproof bowl, combine sugar, 1/4 cup water, egg whites, and cream of tartar. Using a handheld electric mixer, beat on high speed until foamy, about 1 minute. Set bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Beat on high speed until frosting forms stiff peaks, about 12 minutes; frosting should register 160 degrees.on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla and almond extracts, and beat for 2 minutes more until frosting thickens.

Transfer frosting to a large pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain pastry tip. Leaving a 1/8-inch border on each cupcake, pipe a spiral of frosting into a 2-inch-high cone shape, using about 1/2 cup of frosting per cupcake. Transfer cupcakes to a baking sheet, and refrigerate while preparing the chocolate coating.

Prepare the chocolate coating: Combine chocolate and oil in a medium heat-proof bowl set over a medium saucepan of barely simmering water; stir until melted and smooth. Transfer to a small bowl, and let cool about 15 minutes.

Holding each cupcake by its bottom, dip cupcake in the chocolate to coat frosting, allowing excess to drip off. Transfer to a baking sheet fitted with a wire rack. Spoon more coating around edge of cupcake and any exposed frosting; none of the frosting should show. Let cupcakes stand at room temperature 15 minutes.

Carefully remove paper liners from cupcakes, and discard. Place cupcakes on a serving platter, and refrigerate for 30 minutes to let coating set. Cover, and refrigerate for 2 hours more. Serve cold. Cupcakes can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.

Bite Size Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-11-20T17:13:00.000+08:00

Regular readers of this blog probably knows by now that I'm a cookie monster! I love them big, chewy and chocolatety, I just cannot resist making this little cuties! They are so small that in 5 minutes they are baked and ready to eat! The recipe for these little babies are found in my previous Brookies post, yup these are the left over cookie dough from that project I just added a handful or so of mini callebaut chocolate chips. I know baking is precise however how can you go wrong with chocolates right? To make it extra special I used the soft easy melt kind that is why when they were fresh from the oven the chocolate is all melty and gooey. In other word, delicious! They are so small and dainty that you can easily pop them in your mouth though word of caution you might end up eating more than what you normally eat since its so tiny.

These are excellent with a tall glass of milk while watching The Good Wife, to be honest these are good accompaniment to any tv series or just having a quiet night at home :) So grab bag of chocolate chips and make these cuties. Enjoy!

Brookster or Brookie...whatever!

2011-11-14T22:27:00.000+08:00

Thinking back, I've been baking for TEN years!!! Oh my! hehe...now I feel so old.

During my early years of baking, I started out though box mixes, not just any box mixes it has to be the toaster kind box mixes. Meaning they are 'baked' using an oven toaster. Yup I had many pitfalls with my toaster. The one incident that comes into mind was when the wax paper caught on fire!!! I know what you are going to say why the h... am I using a WAX PAPER??? Well, in my defense back then I had no idea what parchment paper is and I don't believe that they are. Watching local food shows they always said wax paper, it was just until few years back when parchment paper became readily available. Though a roll of it is quite expensive, nothing sticks to it! NOTHING! :D I usually reuse mine 3-4 times when I used it for baking cookies. In this economy there is nothing wrong with being thrifty. But every now and then I splurge! Just like this brownie - cookies combo aka Brookies!

Brookies are brownies with cookie in the middle. Not just any cookie though it has to be a chocolate chip cookie. More chocolate mixed into the mix the merrier. I can't take credit for these though, I was doing my weekly online window shopping at Williams-Sonoma, lucky me I stumbled upon Brookster pan and mix. I haven't made anything from a mix for such a long time every since I learned how to bake from scratch but these got me thinking :D They just look so yummy! Though quite expensive but looks worth it. As I was plotting how to get my hands on these, I seem to remember watching a Martha show where she and her guest made something like this. Like a little kid on christmas morning, I quickly did my search and viola! I saw it again! and guess who was her guess? none other than Matt Lewis from the uber popular Baked, Brooklyn NYC.

The instructions for making these are a bit long and precise however its so easy you don't have to bring out the heavy KA mixer out, but if you want to its ok but be sure not to over mix these or else the cookies will be chewy like bread and brownies would be cakey. Definitely not the best texture when we say brownies and cookies. If you have time, don't forget to watch the video, its nice to see for yourself how they did these. Instead of using 4" pie dishes I used my muffin pan and lined them with muffin lines for less cleaning and better handling when its time to gobble them up. :)

BROOKIES
Adapted from Martha

Brownie Layer:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes, plus more for pie tins

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon dark cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

5 ounces dark chocolate (60 to 72 percent cacao), coarsely chopped

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup light-brown sugar

3 large eggs, room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Cookie Layer:

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

6 ounces semisweet chocolate chunks or chips

Butter bottom and sides of six 4-inch-round pie tins; set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and cocoa powder; set aside.

Melt chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over (but not touching) simmering water. Turn off heat but keep bowl over water; whisk both sugars into chocolate mixture. Remove bowl from water and let cool to room temperature.

Add eggs to chocolate mixture and whisk until just combined. Add vanilla and stir just to combine; do not overmix. Sprinkle flour mixture over chocolate mixture. Using a spatula, gently fold flour mixture into chocolate mixture until just a trace amount of the flour mixture is visible.

Fill each prepared pie tin halfway with batter. Place pie tins on a large baking sheet and transfer to refrigerator; let chill for at least 1 hour.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and both sugars until smooth and creamy. Using a spatula, scrape down side of bowl; add egg and beat until well combined. Mixture should be light and fluffy. Add vanilla and beat just to incorporate, about 5 seconds.

Add half of the flour mixture and beat until just combined, about 15 seconds. Add remaining flour mixture and beat until just incorporated. Gently fold in chocolate chips.

Cover bowl and refrigerate at least 3 hours before using.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Using a 1/4-cup ice cream scoop with a mechanical release, scoop chilled cookie dough into six balls. Using your hands, shape dough to form perfect balls and gently form into a round disk that is slightly domed at the top; disks should be slightly smaller than the top of the pie tins.

Remove pie tins from refrigerator and gently press 1 disk of cookie dough into each tin of batter. Transfer baking sheet to oven and bake until cookie is golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through cooking time. Serve warm with ice cream or at room temperature.

Book Organizer

2011-11-01T22:00:00.000+08:00

Like any other food lovers out there, it is safe for me to assume that you have an extensive collection of cookbooks. After the tragic typhoon Ondoy that came and went more than 2 years ago, after ruining my extensive collection of hard to find cookbooks, I'm happy to see that I'm regaining my footing and managed to rebuild my collection. Being a bit of an control freak I want to have a list on what books I have and want to have. I actually have an amazon wishlist of this but then I want an offline version of this and I found a freeware called Book. As you can see from the screenshot above the books picture as well as the book info were downloaded through amazon just buy inputting the ISBN number. How cool was that? Now my books are all organized and I'm loving it!

Happy Halloween!!!

2011-10-31T22:20:00.001+08:00

Next to Christmas, Halloween is my next favorite holiday. Though while growing up I didn't get the chance to Trick or Treat because during those days it wasn't the norm here. This makes me sound so old! (^_^) Unlike now since there are a lot of Filipinos who have adopted the American traditions, Halloween is a big thing for kids, with their mum or dad in tow, they get to have lots and lots of candy and they get to dressed up in cute or scary looking outfits. They just look so adorable! But of course when I was a child I don't like Halloween because it means scary movies are being shown in the telly and that I have to deduct one day from my precious school vacation to visit and pay my respect to our relatives. I hated the sweltering heat of the sun and the stench of the people since it was always so hot. Now that I'm a grown up I don't hate it as much since it only takes half a day and we are finished. Maybe when I was a kid it was half a day too however since it seems like it took forever before we get back home, in my memory it seems like a whole day.

With many Filipinos being Americanized and following their traditions, more and more retail stores now sells Halloween themed items like different costumes, and decors. What really have me jumping for joy are the themed cookie cutters and the sprinkles that I recently purchased. They just look so cool I can't help myself! I know I got sucked in my the cute packaging and the vibrant colors but but... nothing I have no excuse, all I can say is that I enjoyed myself. Shopping is therapy you know... :)

To celebrate this occasion, I imagined myself making a Halloween cake, range colored cake with dark chocolate frosting. I did my research and look for something what I had in mind online but to no avail, I decided on making other things like a Halloween decorated cupcake or a cookie but the image of the cake that I want keeps popping in my head. I threw caution to the wind and made a Martha Stewart Yellow Cake and a Chocolate ganache. The Yellow cake turned orange cake is a bit denser than what I was expecting. I'm not sure if there is something wrong with my leavening agent or its what suppose to be. The color turned out quite softly colored orange rather than the shocking orange that I was going for. The chocolate ganache isn't as dark as it should be but taste great. I mean, its chocolate so it taste great. I might be too critical with this cake but in the end it still a good cake, not my favorite but a good :D

YELLOW CAKE
Adapted from Martha Stewart

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter two 9-by-2-inch round cake pans; line the bottoms with parchment paper. Butter parchment, and dust with flour, tapping out excess; set aside. Into a medium bowl, sift together flours, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then beat in vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the milk and beginning and ending with the flour; beat until combined after each addition.
Divide batter between the prepared pans, and smooth with an offset spatula. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through, until cakes are golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer pans to a wire rack to cool 20 minutes. Invert cakes onto the rack; peel off the parchment. Reinvert cakes and let them cool completely, top sides up.

CHOCOLATE GANACHE

8 oz chocolate, chopped
1 cup heavy cream

Heat heavy cream in a saucepan or microwave.
Pour hot cream mixture over the chocolate, make sure that the chocolates are submerged in the hot cream. Let it stand for 5 minutes.
Mix the chocolate-cream mixture until just combined. Cover with clingfim and stick it in the fridge until the mixture is cooled and a bit firm.
Using the whisk attachment of the mixer, whisk the chocolate-cream mixture until it's all light and fully but still cold.
Can be used at once or if a bit melted stick it in the fridge for couple of minutes and use to frost the cake.

First Carrot Cake

2011-10-19T08:37:00.002+08:00

When the book Sweeter Side of Amy’s Bread first came to print, I was on my cookbook diet then I was saving up to by a Macbook. So I convinced myself that I didn’t need another cookbook. However, every now and then, I found myself searching online for recipes from this book and whenever I find wander through the aisle of my local bookstore, I kept looking longingly on it, kept checking to see if its finally on sale. Finally got fed up with the waiting game, I saved up and luckily just in time for the annual sale J How cool is that? It took me a few months of saving and a few years of putting it off and now I got a copy of the book.

Being a huge sucker for girly looking cake, you’d think the first thing I would try is the pink swirly frosted cake. Nope…the carrot cake got my attention. I must admit this is my first carrot cake that I bake…ever! Being in a household of chocoholics, I most often make anything with chocolate in it. Always fearing that my family wouldn’t eat it and my effort would be all for nothing. As my little brother grew older, I started baking non-chocolate sweets like blueberry muffins, banana breads, lemon torte… At first, they were not appreciated but then when I told my little brother that I will only bake once a week and only if the item that I made the week before is gone. At first he was hesitant but little by little he gives in and tries whatever I make. He now eats blueberries and even my lemon torte is quite popular with my family.

Now back to the star of this post Carrot Cake, as I was hand grating the carrots I kept asking myself why am I doing this again? What’s so special about this? My answer was because I want to! J That’s the only thing that is time consuming in this whole process, after that it was easy kind of like making a muffin, where all the wet ingredients are mixed first, then the dry and lastly combine them together. An odd thing I noticed that my cake looks kind of orangey, I don’t think they are suppose to look like that but then it still taste ok, a bit on the dry side though.

What I love in this age of technology with the variety of social networking within our reach, I was able to contact the author and ask her idea what might have happened. Sure enough she said maybe I overcooked it. Next time I’m going to try this again and try to take it out of the oven few minutes earlier than what I did with this one. Though I forgot to ask her about the cake’s coloring…oh well there is always a next time.

While eating this you can delude yourself by saying that its healthier but then again with the thick luscious duvet of cream cheese frosting I would say not so much but still it taste good!

Blueberry Smoothie

2011-10-17T08:56:00.000+08:00

This may not look very delicious but I promise you that it taste good! It's even good for you, full of anti oxidant since this is pack full of blueberries! One of my favorite fruit from the berry family. Its cool and refreshing too! A warning though don't drink too fast or else...brain freeze!!!

If you have a handful of blueberries lying about the fridge of the deep freeze, this is definitely a must try specially if you had a bad week and just want to indulge to sooth away the bad vibes ^_^

BLUEBERRY SMOOTHIES

1 1/2 cup frozen or fresh blueberries
1 cup milk
handful of ice cubes

In a blender, combine the frozen blueberries and milk, puree until every berries are crushed and the milk would turn this lovely purple color.
Put in a handful of ice cubes, depending on how icy you want the smoothie.
Warning: Be sure that your blender's blade is capable of crushing ice.
Enjoy!

S'mores Pie

2011-09-19T21:45:00.002+08:00

Chocolates and Marshmallows what could be better? Sandwich them together between two crisp graham crackers perfect over a camp fire. Not that this scene remind me of my childhood. I just remember watching a movie where the characters are toasting their marshmallows over a camp fire and exchanging scary stores, I knew I want to be a girl scout and personally have a camping experience. I was so excited when I found out that our school has a girl scout club though my camping dream quickly popped when I found out that we don't exactly get to go camping in the woods only at the school's roof top because the school administrators were afraid that something bad might happen if we actually went camping.

My love affair with s'mores didn't end there, I used to microwave a small bowlful of marshmallows and take it out of the microwave when they are all puffy and scrapped them out of the bowl to sheets of graham crackers and put blocks of chocolate candy and gobble it up! I was gooey, sticky and messy but oh so satisfying. As I got older when I was allowed to use a match stick I used to light up a candle and toast my marshmallows there. Have no idea if it was healthy or food safe but I was a kid then trying to satisfy my sweet tooth and food safety was the last thing from my mind.

Now that I'm on my 20's S'mores still got my attention, when I stumbled upon S'MORES PIE, my eyes grew bigger and could not believe what I'm seeing in my computer screen. As it finally sink in, I quickly printed out the recipe and made it. Even the absence of large marshmallows, nothing stopped me from making these.

S'MORES PIE
adapted from How Sweet It Is

for crust

1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 1/4 sticks butter, melted

Preheat oven to 325.
Add melted butter and graham cracker crumbs together until a crust forms. Press in to a 9 inch pie plate.

for chocolate filling

1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk
10 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 bag of large marshmallows

Combine milk and heavy cream in a saucepan and heat over low heat. Watch carefully and once it begins to simmer, remove from heat and add in chocolate. Stir with a spatula until chocolate is melted, then whisk in sugar and salt. In a separate bowl, lightly beat the 2 eggs. Slowly add eggs to chocolate mixture while whisking.
Pour chocolate filling in to graham crust. Tyler’s directions call for the filling to be baked for 15-20 minutes, but mine needed about 30-35. Pay attention and check every 5-10 minutes after 20 minutes pass. One the chocolate is no longer liquid, remove the tart and top with as many large marshmallows as you can fit. I heated my broiled on low, and stuck the pie back in for 2 minutes so the top could get golden. The other option is to just place it back in the oven for a few minutes until they melt or use a kitchen torch.
Let cool then refrigerate for 1-2 hours before cutting. Spray a knife with non-stick spray before slicing. If it is messy, just lift pieces out with a spoon. It’s just as delicious!

Tiramisu

2011-09-07T22:48:00.000+08:00

One of my favorite dessert is Tiramisu! I don't often make it because I can eat a LOT of it in one sitting, that's how crazy I am for a tiramisu. I know tiramisu is NOT a true Italian Tiramisu without using authentic mascarpone cheese, sadly it's not readily available and when I do get to a tub or two the price is to the roof! I bring out the big guns during special occasions like birthdays or holidays but for an easy Sunday brunch or dinner, I substitute with Philly cream cheese, I can buy it in any supermarket most of the time.

For the cake layer I use an Italian lady finger variety called Savoiardi. We do have a local lady finger and when in a bind I sometimes use those but it doesn't taste as good as using the Italian one. It's thicker and gives the tiramisu a body when dipped into coffee mixture it doesn't turn very soggy unlike using the local one. But don't worry it does soften as it chills in the fridge so its like easing layer cakes. With the filling being so rich and creamy, I used a dusting of cocoa powder instead of shaved chocolate however if I'm filling indulgent chocolate shavings are the way to go. Using cocoa powder gives me a nice excuse mini Callebaut semi sweet chocolate chips to surround the whole edge of the pan.

Can you guess which cut is the most popular? the edges of course! I don't often drink coffee, thankfully I'm not one of those people who cannot function properly in the morning without chucking down a mug of coffee. However, I must admit that chocolate and coffee together have is an amazing and very hard to resist.

Dulce de Leche Bownies

2011-08-23T16:33:00.000+08:00

Many moons ago, I spotted this amazing looking recipe on my friend David's little blog, honestly speaking he doesn't know me but I know him very well, by reading through his entire blog! Yeah something came over me one day, I just sat down and started reading away. Ever since I read about this amazing looking Dulce de Leche Brownies (aka DLB) of his and upon seeing how many people in different parts of the world have tried it and said that it tasted awesome. I just knew I have to find out what they are raving about.

One thing that is blocking my way from having this amazing looking brownie is the dreaded Dulce de Leche. It's kind of like a caramel in color but its not caramel, it's actually a slow cooked milk that thickens and get super sticky as it cooks. You will know that its ready when it has this rich amber color but not burnt. Sounds easy right? Well its not, it took me four times to get this right. I tried the submerging the whole can in water and boil away for 2 hours or so, mine turn out an utter failure. I even tried the pressure cooker method but to no avail, each can I opened were under cooked. The big problem with these methods is the fact that you cannot see the inside of the can so you have no idea whether or not the milk has cooked enough. Soupy dulce de leche is no fun to use. I tired making into DLB, well...let me tell you in advance, that its not a pretty sight!

The day before my little nephew was born, I finally managed to make a Dulce de Leche that looks yummy and looks just about the right consistency. Finally! The brownie recipe itself is an easy dump in one bowl kind of recipe and the sticky dulce de leche is then dalloped all over the batter. You can put as many or as little as you want, however keep in mind the the dulce de leche is not touching the baking pan or else it might burn and ruin your pan.

DULCE DE LECHE BROWNIES

8 tablespoons (115g) salted or unsalted butter, cut into pieces
6 ounces (170g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 cup (25g) unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
3 large eggs
1 cup (200g) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (140g) flour
optional: 1 cup (100 g) toasted pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 cup Dulce de Leche (or Cajeta)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (175 C).
Line a 8-inch (20 cm) square pan with a long sheet of aluminum foil that covers the bottom and reaches up the sides. If it doesn’t reach all the way up and over all four sides, cross another sheet of foil over it, making a large cross with edges that overhang the sides. Grease the bottom and sides of the foil with a bit of butter or non-stick spray.
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add the chocolate pieces and stir constantly over very low heat until the chocolate is melted. Remove from heat and whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth. Add in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the sugar, vanilla, then the flour. Mix in the nuts, if using.
Scrape half of the batter into the prepared pan. Here comes the fun part.
Drop one-third of the Dulce de Leche, evenly spaced, over the brownie batter, then drag a knife through to swirl it slightly. Spread the remaining brownie batter over, then drop spoonfuls of the remaining Dulce de Leche in dollops over the top of the brownie batter. Use a knife to swirl the Dulce de Leche slightly.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes. The brownies are done when the center feels just-slightly firm. Remove from the oven and cool completely.
Storage: These brownies actually become better the second day, and will keep well for up to 3 days.

Another Chocolate Chip

2011-08-12T23:10:00.000+08:00

I was re reading previous blog post that I've written and I just realized that I make a lot of chocolate chips and I blog about them A LOT! But then who gets tired of making and eating chocolate chips? Certainly not me. Here is another chocolate chip recipe that I've been meaning to try and it turns out good. It's more on the crisp on the edges and gooey and soft at the center. This recipe came from one of the funniest people that I know. Reading his blog has been part of my daily routine, I love imagining living in Paris when I get old and eating Parisian pastries everyday. Though his blog I get a glimpse of Paris...

BLUE CHIP CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Adapted from David Lebovitz, The Great Book of Chocolate

100 grams granulated sugar
120 grams brown sugar
115 grams unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. baking soda
175 grams all purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
200 grams semi sweet chocolate chips
130 grams walnuts or pecans, toasted

Adjust the oven rack to the top third of the oven and preheat to 300F. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Beat the sugars and butter together until smooth. Mix in the egg, vanilla and baking soda.
Sift together the flour and salt, then mix them into the batter. Mix in the chocolate chips and the nuts.
Scoop the cookie dough into 2 tbsp.balls and place 8 balls spaced 4 inches apart on each baking sheets.
Bake for 18 minutes or until pale golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.
Store at room temperature in an airtight container for 3 days.

Slow Cooked Dulce de Leche

2011-08-05T21:51:00.000+08:00

After so many times of trying, I have finally successfully made Dulce de Leche! I have tried the in the can boiling many times before but I often undercooked it and didn't get the rich amber brown color, I think it has something to do with the fact that I read somewhere that it could explode. Thankfully it haven't happened to me yet. After every unsuccessful attempts, I set aside my plans for it and make other dessert to make me feel much better. I often check online what I did wrong and search blogs and forums to see if other bakers encountered same problem as me.

I stumbled upon a blogger that made dulce de leche by using slow cooker! Jumping up and downm I screamed "I have that!!!" In the middle of the night, in my pj's I went to the kitchen and hunt for our slow cooker. As you can see in the photo below, mine is small and cute approximately a 1 quart. It was a very messy process and since I use 2 cans I cannot leave it for a long time it would have overflow and that would make a huge mess. From the mess at the bottom picture, it would turn into this sticky rich amber color (see top picture).

SLOW COOKER DULCE DE LECHE

Adapted from Kitchen Trial and Error

2 tins of condense milk, any brand you like

Open two tins of sweetened condensed milk and pour into a slow cooker.
On a medium to high setting, stirring occasionally so as not to burn the milk and so that it wouldn't over flow.
Cook until it's rich amber color. It took me 2-3 hours to that rich color (See photo 1).
Let it cool and store in the fridge until needed.

Ghirardelli Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-07-20T22:18:00.094+08:00

Whenever I get the chance to have a vacation out of the country, I always see to it that I visit their supermarket specially the baking section my favorite is the one in Hong Kong called City Super. The one I usually frequent is the on in Harbour City, the hotel that we usually stays at is very near there. What I like about it, is that it got this huge supermarket area! It actually looks cramp but every shelf if packed with different pantry items and there is a whole section dedicated to just baking ingredients and baking paraphernalia. One of my recent finds is the Ghirardelli 60% Bittersweet Baking Chips, I quickly grabbed several packs of it and headed to the cashier! Fast forward to few months after, those baking chips are quietly waiting to be used.

After much pondering, I decided to use these up in my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe which was featured here, many years ago. I loosely adapted my recipe from this. Every reader of my blog probably knows by now that I'm a Martha fanatic, so I often watch her show online and one of my favorite was when she and actor Greg Grunberg made Jacques Torres Secret Chocolate Chip Cookies, from time to time I like to rewatch that segment. This is one of those comforting but luxurious homemade cookies, luxurious because it uses A LOT of chocolates. This recipe uses a special chocolate chip which is sold only in JT's NYC Chocolate stores. NYC is million miles away from me so finding the perfect substitute for these has been one of my greatest mission. Yes, I take my cookies THAT serious. I used to hand chop blocks of chocolate which when in a bind is a good alternative. But the best alternative I've discovered is the Ghirardelli 60% Bittersweet Baking Chips, the chips looks exactly like JT's, which are flat disk instead of mini little kisses. Lovely! It was such a nice surprised, I'm quite enamored with them! I asked people I know who are going to HK to buy me some. Luckily, my mom and aunt just went last week, I have several packets of these yummy chocolates sitting in my fridge waiting for me.

I've always love this chocolate chip cookie but using 60% bittersweet chocolates makes it more chocolaty and more indulgent. The dark chocolate balance out the sweet cookies. Now that I found the perfect partners, I sure hope I could find these chocolate locally since I often bake chocolate chip cookie throughout the year.

That Chocolate Cake

2011-07-15T21:48:00.001+08:00

I wish everyday is weekends! My favorite day of the week is Saturday because the next day is Sunday! Gives me an ample time to bake and lazy about in the house. Normally during Saturday night I go about indulging myself rifling through my extensive collection of cookbooks and finding that perfect recipe that inspires me to recreate in my own kitchen. During one of my spur of the moment, cookbook shopping expedition, I saw this book Essence of Chocolate by Robert Steinberg and John Scharffenberger. I quickly grabbed it and made a dash to the cash register. :D

I heard of John and Robert through Food Network. Years ago I chanced upon the food network show called Follow That Foodand in this case they where featuring American artisinal chocolate called Sharffen Berger created by Chocolatiers John Scharffenberger and Robert Steinberg. The show tells the story on how that company started and it showed that Robert and John are so passionate about their chocolates that they are after the quality of the chocolate that they create not the quantity so they are no way competing with chocolate giants like Nestle and Hershey's although the time when the show aired years ago, Sharffen Berger chocolates was just starting out but now it seems they have been quite successful and people love their chocolates specially bakers I think.

Unfortunately, Sharffen berger chocolates are not available in my local supermarket or in any specialty food store. For the meantime, I have to settle on using locally available chocolates. Thankfully the cake still taste great! I bet it would taste better if I use imported chocolates which I would try next time. I love the fact that I was able to do this without dirtying up too many bowls. I didn't even need to bring out my stand mixer. I use just as whisk and a rubber scrapper in making the chocolate cake batter and use a hand mixer for the ganache icing. The cake turn out to be this dark intense chocolate which my family loves and the icing is thick, sweet, stick to your mouth whipped chocolate ganache icing! Love it!

THAT CHOCOLATE CAKE

Adapted from Essence of Chocolate

For the Cake:

Unsalted butter and flour for pans
2 cups granulated sugar
1-¾ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
1 tsp. salt
1-1/2 tsps. baking powder
1-1/2 tsps. baking soda
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
½ cup canola oil
1 cup whole milk
1 cup boiling water

For the Frosting:

1-1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 cup heavy cream
5 ounces unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
8 tbsps. (4 oz) unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter the bottom of two 9-inch round cake pans. Line the bottom with parchment paper, then butter and flour the parchment and the sides of the pans.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the sugar, flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder, and baking soda, mixing on low speed. Min in the eggs, oil, and milk.

Increase the speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and mix in the water. The batter will be soupy.

Divide the batter evenly between the cake pans. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and cool on a cooling rack for 5 minutes, then turn the layers out onto the rack and cool completely.

When the cakes have cooled, check the frosting. It should have the consistency of mayonnaise. If it is still too thin, allow it to cool longer.

For the frosting: In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and cream and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat and simmer for 6 minutes. Add the chocolate and butter and stir until melted. Pour into a bowl and stir in the vanilla.

To frost the cake: Place one cake layer on a serving plate. Spread the frosting with a hot palette knife or icing spatula to give the frosting a beautiful shine. Run the knife under hot tap water and dry with a towel. Spread about ¾ cup of the frosting over the top of the first layer. Top with the second layer. Spread the remaining frosting over the top and sides of the cake, heating the knife again as necessary.

Serves 8 to 10

What happened???

2011-07-10T21:07:00.002+08:00

As regular reads of this blog probably noticed that I love scouring second hand bookshops and look for a recent copy, eerrr...actually it's more like few months ago copy but anyway I still get them. During one of my expeditions I got all excited when I spotted on The Best of ATK 2011, I almost squeal and would have probably scared tons of people there, don't worry I managed to control myself and settled on just smiling from ear to ear :D I quickly went home and was reading it cover to cover. I had a hard time choosing what t try first but then again the chocolate fiend in me won and I made the cover recipe.

It was such an easy, breezy baking flow that I just couldn't believe it that it turn into something odd. NOT horrible because it was still very edible and quite tasty, however it just didn't turn out as I expected. The chocolate cupcakes are suppose to have this fudge filling in the center. While I was reading it I as doubtful that I would end up like ATK mag said so but since they have a test kitchen and the recipes are suppose to be perfect or near perfection. Setting aside my gut feeling I went ahead and did the recipe and guess what??? I was right! The fudge filling that suppose to be in the middle turned into a chocolate puddle at the BOTTOM of the cupcakes!!! Yikes!!! I got so disappointed in this that I didn't bother making the frosting and just feed it to my family au natural. It was a very messy eat but looks very promising since the cupcake itself is very moist and soft, I'll just have to tweak it a little bit...soon...after I wipe off this chocolate stain on my lips =>

Giant Oreoes

2011-07-10T18:00:00.000+08:00

Giant Oreo anyone?

Look what I found!!! A Giant Cookie Cake Pan!

I used to go to my favorite local baking/cooking supply store almost weekly, but then I got so busy that I haven't been to the stores lately. Last Wednesday, I've been itching to visit the store luckily they have a branch near where I work so it's not so out of the way and got no excuse not to drop by, though it's not as if I needed one.

When I did dropped by, at first I was a bit panicky they are having a moving out sale! I was like "NOOOOO!!!! Where are they going????" I quickly asked the cashier person and she told me they will be moving to the newer wing of the mall. Phew! that's GREAT news actually much near to my work place. Now that I'm all calm, ready to look around and shop since everything, well...almost everything is on sale! I quickly look and see if the baking pans I've been eying are part of the sale, and they are!!! But then out of the corner of my eye I saw this Nordic Ware Giant Cookie Cake Pan! OMG! I want one! I first saw this pan online at Williams-Sonoma for years! and now they are here!!! With only 4 on stock, I quickly got myself one and can't wait to use it.

Now that I'm thinking on how to go about using this pan, I realized that I should have bought a pair instead of just one! Oh man..I'll try if I can manage to make a decent cookie cake with just one pan, because they are not really that cheap even though they are on sale. Wish me luck!

Blueberry Streusel Muffins

2011-07-05T20:50:00.004+08:00

I have a confession I love LOVE blueberries! Whenever I go to the supermarket I always check it out for frozen blueberries. My blog is peppered with blueberry something desserts. Every blueberry muffin recipe that I find, I like to give it a try. For humongous delicious muffins, I always grab my go to which is Tish Boyle's. I even tried whole wheat muffin, trying to eat more healthy, unfortunately that didn't turn out good, a little bit dry and crumbly. THIS particular Blueberry Muffin is from Baking Illustrated, ha! I must admit that it took me so long to finally find a copy of this book that, it took me a while to chose what to bake first. I am one of those Cooks Illustrated fans, sadly not all recipe that I tried from it worked. So I'm quite happy that this being my first recipe from this book and it was a complete success.

These muffins are loaded with blueberries! I used frozen wild Maine blueberries they are small and sweet and not overpowering, each bite you get these yummy blueberries. My favorite part in these muffins are the crispy and crunchy streusel toppings. The recipe from the books provided more streusel than you can use in one go, I stored my in the freezer so that the next time I'm crazing for these muffins, I'm already half way there. :D

Flourless Chocolate Cake

2011-06-24T21:13:00.001+08:00

Almost a year ago while on my Singapore trip with my mom, during one of my cookbook shopping spree, I spotted on an interesting new cookbook called Bourke Street Bakery Cookbook. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to buy it because it's thick and huge and it wouldn't fit my luggage since it's already crammed with shoes and clothes for myself and for the rest of the family. Months has passed by and I actually forgotten about this book already until I stumbled upon Almost Bourdain adaptation of the Flourless Chocolate Cake and now my obsession to find this book has began again. Oh boy! I contacted all three of the major book chains here and no such luck. Now that have discovered bookdepository, it's been tempting me to buy it online, however being the fickle minded person, I'm giving myself a few more months I just might change my mind specially when new cookbooks starts to come out in August - September. Ha! I'm also having a wishful thinking that I just might find it in the second hand bookstore anytime soon. They are actually getting great at having interesting cookbook selection sometimes they even have Jaime Oiliver's or Nigella, I just have to be vigilant in my visits and in my search. It's like finding a needle in a haystack, both challenging and fun at the same time.

Having no such luck in finding the book, for the mean time I console myself with finding recipes on line and the first thing I did was the Flourless Chocolate Cake. Having made Flourless Chocolate Cake before I know that what chocolate I use would be very important because that's what people would taste. Unfortunately, I didn't realized that I was low on my bittersweet chocolate supply but I really really want to do this. I mean I desperately want to try this so I went over my stash of chocolate chips, I know they are harder to melt but hey desperate time calls for desperate measures. I still couldn't find bittersweet chocolate and unsweetened chocolate, I settled for my Callebaut semi-sweet quick melting chips. Now that I found my chocolate I'm back in business! YES!

Pretty much everything went smoothly until I got to impatient I couldn't wait for the egg mixture to thicken enough until it holds ribbon, though the instruction didn't specifies it, I believe it's the main reason why my Chocolate dream came crashing down. Looking at the picture from Almost Bourdain, mine doesn't look as tall and it look too watery compared to flour less cakes I made in the past. Another bizarre thing that happens is that my new springfoarm tin leak!!! OMG! My batter looks less that it should be and getting much lesser by the second! All I can think about was that my precious chocolate and all the care and folding I did will be all for nothing if this silly tin doesn't stop leaking!!!! Getting frustrated with a supposedly easy cake, grabbed several sheets of aluminum foil and quickly wrapped the bottom of the pan with it. I even put it on a rimmed cookie sheet just in case any more unexpected kitchen disaster occurs like let's say it makes a huge mess on my oven that would drive me insane!

As predicted it didn't rise up as it should, I think it didn't rise up even a little bit! However, I did get that crisp chocolate crust and still tasted good. I would probably try this again when I get myself a proper pan!

Have a lovely chocolatey weekend everyone!

My First Macarons

2011-06-04T22:00:00.000+08:00

I've been wanting to get my hands on a French Macaron for the longest time, I've seen and read tons of bloggers going crazy over them, I want to try my hand on making my own French Macaron but then I have no idea what they taste like so before I do any damage to my kitchen. I have to give these babies a taste, however, I often find myself out of luck in finding the time to get them. It's either I have to do some overtime work in the office or I'm to tired and lazy to go out and buy them.

My lucky day finally came when I got off from work very early and off to the mall I went. Since this is my first time to try French Macarons, I, of course went to the best patisserie in the city, Bizu. They got these gorgeous and expensive pastries that I treat myself to during special occasions. Each macaron cost P 45.00 which is a bit steep considering they are kind of small cookie. The packaging for my 2 macarons are abysmal, the lady server just put then in little clear cellophane plastic. I mean, considering that they are a bit pricey, a good packaging would have been greatly appreciated.

For my first try I wanted to try them in their purest and simplest form, vanilla and chocolate. The chocolate macaron has a chocolate ganache filling with a crisp shell and chewy insides. Which was good however I noticed that when I bit into it, it got this off after taste and didn't like that much, I'm not sure if it wan't as fresh at it was suppose to be when I got it but it was very off putting. Huge disappointment! Next is the vanilla, inside is a buttercream filling! Uh! I hate buttercream, so that being said I didn't enjoy this flavor. Another thing that I noticed first hand is that they are very skimpy with their fillings! You can't even see them when they were sandwiched together. Another thing is are they suppose to be hallow when you bit into them? I thought they shouldn't be but here it is right in front of me a macaron with hallow inside. Tsk! tsk! and here I got them from the best pastry shop here, I mean, these are their signature product. Lastly, are they suppose to be really sweet? It's like eating candy sweet, not at all what I expected.

I'm not sure if I just put macaron on the pedestal thinking they are one of the best pastry that I could have ever eaten but I prefer eating chocolate chip cookies compared to these. Such a huge let down this experience. Will I ever try them again? Maybe but it is definitely not going to be something that I would crave.

Chocolate Chip Almond Toffee Cookies

2011-05-09T14:44:00.003+08:00

I have been looking for almond paste everywhere! When I finally managed to get my hands on some, I lost the recipe where I want to use it! Silly me I know...for the mean time when I'm still searching for that coveted cake that suppose to taste like Almond Joy. I stumbled upon Two Peas and their Pod while I was doing my daily for now these cookies will suffice me, actually it's more than enough. For these I bring out the big guns, the precious and expensive almond paste and the Heath bits I found in the supermarket aisle during one of my late night supermarket binge.

With the aid of the almond paste, these cookies smells so good, they smell exactly like Chinese almond jelly (love these too by the way! ^_^) For an added bonus I threw in a couple handful of milk chocolate chips and off to the oven they went. The first batch came out not so pretty with their hump. I usually scoop by cookie dough out and normally the heat from the oven flattens out the cookies. However, in this case it didn't, I think it had something to do with the almond paste. Word of caution when making these, flatten the dough out like a cute little hockey pucks and everything would be great!

CHOCOLATE CHIP ALMOND TOFFEE COOKIES
recipe from Two Peas & their Pod

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 ounces almond paste
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chopped toffee
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugars together with the beater blade for about two minutes. Add the almond paste in pieces and mix until well combined. Add in eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla extract and mix well.
Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients slowly mix until dry ingredients disappear. Stir in toffee and chocolate chips. Scoop dough onto prepared baking sheet with a medium cookie scoop. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until cookies are golden brown around the outside. Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.

*Note-if you don’t have homemade toffee, you can use chopped up Heath or Skor bars.
Makes about 3 dozen cookies

NYC's Milk & Cookies Bakery

2011-05-02T18:56:00.004+08:00

I'm a huge sucker for cookbooks written by famous bakeries from the US, UK or even Down under. I'm curious what these bakeries offers that makes them quite popular and have a huge followers. I think one of the reason why I often buy those "bakery" books is that each bakeries has it's own quirks that makes their goods special and I want to see what does are and I get to apply their different techniques and make it my own great cookie! :D

Having purchase an exorbitant amount of cookbooks lately, in the line of bakery books, it's so hard to choose which one should go first. After much pondering the homey feel of NYC's Milk & Cookies Bakery's book cover got me; yes I'm easy that way. I easily get swayed by book covers. With a handful of different delicious looking cookies gracing the cover of Milk & Cookies cookbook, the first recipe that I tried from this book is the Chocolate Chunk Cookies. What differs their recipe form others is that it has ground oats in it, though come to think of it the urban legend of Nieman Marcus $250 cookie has some ground oats in them too! I haven't tried making those yet. Back to this recipe, the chocolates are chopped into two different styles. One is very chunky so that as you bite into it there are huge pockets of chocolates. The second style is chopped into shards so that every surface of the cookie would have some chocolates in them. I love the fact that the books are divided into different sections. It has basic recipe sections and then the suceeding recipes has the different variations on how you can give your cookies more life! Its easy to read and the instructions are very clear and precise. Great for newbie bakers and non newbies alike. Newbies would not get intimidated by it and non newbie bakers like me, still got some interesting recipes out of it.

Another reason for opting to make cookies instead of cakes because I finally got myself SILPAT!!! Technically speaking my cousin who just got back from her doctor's convention brought it home with her for me. I bought it off amazon and had it set to her hotel. I was on pins and needles waiting for her to get back then finally last Saturday, she sent it to me! So I knew right away I have to make some kind of cookie. ♥♥♥ my new Silpat ☺

Passion Fruit Ice Cream

2011-04-18T12:17:00.000+08:00

Baguio is the summer capital of the Philippines, because of high altitude it has much cooler temperature compare to here in Manila. So when the summer temperature here in Manila is unbearable, people pack up and goes to Baguio! With it's amazing cool temperature, there are abundant of flowers, vegetables and fruits grows there locally. Baguio is more popular known for it's sweet succulent strawberries. Whenever a friend or any family member is going to Baguio, people automatically ask them to bring back loads of strawberries. My recent Baguio trip is different, instead of bringing home strawberries, I got myself a bundle of fresh passion fruit. This is so cool! I was so excited cannot wait to get back to Manila.

First thing that pops into my mind is I would make pavlova or an ice cream? Hmmm.. Tough choices but in the end, ice cream won by a landslide! For ice creams, I go to my go-to ice cream guru David. This is my first time handling passion fruit so I'm tried to savor the moment and be open minded about it. Splitting it open with a sharp knife is already an experience, it was like cutting into a Styrofoam board and lo and behold passion fruit! Its a bit odd that it looks different from what I see online. I was expecting a yellowish goo with black seeds but what I got are transparent goo and black seeds. Though don't let the term "goo" offend or turn you off. It's just that I have no idea what to call it. Odd though when I tried to smell it, I didn't get any distinct aroma from it unlike other fruits like mangoes or strawberries. Eating a spoonful of it, I was pretty surprise that it taste a lot like Soursop or guyabano, only mellower and very crunchy because of the seeds.

Extraction time! Extracting the juices from passion fruit isn't exactly difficult but it takes a little bit of patience since the seeds are wrapped around a slimy substance. With the back of the spoon, I carefully but decisively press the fruits against a wire mess strainer to extract as much juice as I can. I even let it stand in the fridge for an hour to really get as much juice as I could. I got a whole cup of juice from my bundle. I use half of it for my ice cream and the rest, I put it in a Ziploc bag and put in the deep freeze. Most of the seeds I discarded and left a hefty tablespoonful to be incorporated in the ice cream later on.

I've been making ice cream for quite sometime now but often I find them too hard and icy which is no fun at all and a bit disappointing. Got fed up with my passed failures that this time instead of using a local brand cream, I went all out and got myself an imported whipping cream. When I was making the custard base it looks the same but the smell is different and the end product is definitely not the same. It's soft and silky! Very creamy! To add a bit of crunch, I added a little bit of the seeds just for texture. My only complain with this is that the yield is so small that there is hardly anything left.

PASSION FRUIT ICE CREAM

Adapted from David Lebovitz's "The Perfect Scoop")

1/2 cup passion fruit puree (I used a mix of fresh and frozen)
1 cup heavy cream
6 tbsp (90ml) whole milk
8 tbsp sugar (I added 9, in future I will reduce to the original 8)
pinch of salt
3 large egg yolks
grated zest of one orange (optional)
1 tbsp (or slightly more) passion fruit seeds (optional)

Mix together passion fruit puree and 1/2 cup cream in a large bowl. Set a strainer over the bowl.
Heat milk, sugar, salt and remaining cream till warm. In separate bowl, whisk yolks, slowly pour warm mixture into yolks, whisking constantly. Scrape the warmed yolks mixture back into the saucepan.
Over med heat, whisk the mixture constantly, cooking till the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon.
Pour the custard through the strainer. Stir well to combine custard, passion fruit puree and cream. Add the grated orange zest if using, stir till cool over ice bath.
Chill in fridge overnight, then churn in ice cream maker for about 20 minutes (depending on your ice cream machine).
Add passion fruit seeds to the custard at the last 5 minutes mark of churning. Transfer to container and store in freezer.

Flock!

2011-04-13T15:55:00.001+08:00

Decorated Cookies are so much fun to do! It's a bit nerve racking waiting for the royal icing to dry. This is the first time I made royal icing using meringue powder. I always used egg whites but then I'm making this for a good friend's preggy cousin P. So I know that raw egg whites are a big no no! I hauled my ass to the nearest baking specialty store and grabbed a tub of meringue powder. Back to the kitchen I went and started making my flock. I couldn't find any rubber ducky cookie cutter so I made do with making my own template for it and individually cut them out with a sharp paring knife.It was a lot of hard work but then it's so gratifying seeing many of them done and ready for the oven.

Keeping my fingers crossed, I went ahead and followed the instructions found at the back of the meringue container. Within the first minutes of mixing the powder and water, nothing is happening. My mind was panicking!!! It no way resembled whipped egg whites! Luckily when I increased the speed of the mixer, within the few minutes it starting to look like whipped egg whites. phew! The icing sugar you'd be using must definitely be sifted so that your royal icing would be silky smooth. Divide the basic white royal icing into different bowls depending on the the desired number of color. In my case, I divided them into three. Use paste or gel food coloring and not the liquid stuff so as to avoid altering the finished texture of the icing. Be sure to blend the color properly so that it would be in one cohesive color. Lucky for me everything went smoothly and I managed to finished everything in one day in a leisurely pace. I'm so glad the P liked it and everyone who I showed them to find them adorable and too pretty to eat :D It's such a huge ego boast! :D

Have a happy Baby Shower P! Congrats on the bundle of joy that would be arriving soon!