~ e l r a ~

Not Quite The "GUCCI MUU MUU" Ice Cream For Valentine's Day

2012-02-03T00:01:00.000-08:00

While everyone of you is probably busy thinking about the Super Bowl game, I am already busy thinking about Valentine. I am not sure why, but Valentine's day almost associated with chocolate and roses. Coincidently, those two things are happen to be my favorite too. So, for this coming "love" day, I had an idea of sharing an ice cream recipe that is so luxurious, smooth and silky, and I hope it will melt your love heart's, as I do mine :)

To make it into the original Jeni's Gucci Muu Muu ice cream, you either have to purchase the book, which I can guarantee that you'll treasure it, or I can just give you hints that curry powder, shredded coconut, and fine sea salt are the ingredients added to the original recipe. I also need to point out that I replaced regular milk with goat milk just to see if this would affect the texture, and the taste of the ice cream. To my note, it did not seem to, although I noticed that the ice cream seem to melt just a tad quicker, but not sure if that something to do with the goat milk I used. As for the chocolate require for this recipe, you don't have to use Valrhona, use any good chocolate that you are fond of and most importantly the one you feel that you can afford to buy. Just make sure that you use minimum 55% bittersweet chocolate, and unsweetened cocoa powder.

Gucci Muu Muu Ice Cream
Recipe adapted from Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream at Home

1 cup full fat goat milk
1 tbs + 1 tsp corn starch
2 oz (70%) Valrhona Guanaja chocolate*
1 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup sugar
2 tbs light corn syrup
1/3 cup Valrhona poudre de cacao* (cocoa powder)

Fit a one gallon size ziplog bag into a 1 quart measuring glass (don't know what measuring glass is? it look like this). Set aside

Add water and ice cube in to a large bowl to make ice water bath. Set aside.

Make a slurry by combining 2 tablespoon of goat milk and corn starch in a small bowl. Set aside.

Put the remaining goat milk in a large sauce pan along with evaporated milk, heavy cream, sugar, and corn syrup. Set the pan over medium high heat stove, and bring it to a rolling boil. Add cocoa, whisking until well blended, about 4 minutes. Remove from the heat, slowly whisk in the slurry. Return the pan to the heat, stirring continuously (rubber spatula will do a great job here) until a little bit thickened for another one minute. Remove from the heat. Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the chocolate, keep stirring until the chocolate is fully melted. Pour the mixture into ziplock bag, zip it, then submerge in ice bath bowl, add more ice cubes if necessary. Let stand until very cold for about 30 minutes.

Pour the cold mixture into ice cream canister, process until thick and creamy. Transfer the ice cream into container, press a piece of parchment paper directly on top of ice cream, cover the container with its airtight lid. Freeze in coldest part of freezer at least 4 hours.

Cuban Bread

2012-01-26T15:08:00.000-08:00

Never made bread before? Or put off by the lengthy proces of fermentation? Well, here is an easy recipe that will make you feel like you can bake bread like a pro! This easy and delicious recipe is provided by Ilva, the host of Bread Baking Babes for this month. If I am still not convincing enough, please go to Ilva's blog and read the recipe, you will understand what I mean. to Ilva, thank you so much for introducing us to the delicious Cuban bread, that otherwise I would never discovered it myself.

Also sharing this with YeastSpotting friends at Susan's blog!

Pandan Spiral Mooncake

2012-01-23T17:40:00.000-08:00

Too all of you who celebrate it,

I wish you a very Happy Chinese New Year 2012!

May your year be filled with joy, good health and happiness!

I love Mooncake, I even starting to like the one with salted egg which I never to like before. I always want to make my own, but always put off by the fact that I don't have the beautiful molds to start with. Fortunately, there is apparently mooncake that don't require any mold of making it. So, I am quite thrill when I saw the recipe over at Kristy's blog. I thought I give it a try.

The different between hers and mine is that she uses many beautiful colors for her mooncake, while I only chose one color, which actually came from pandan paste. Next time I will definitely try to use more color. Anyway, I'm so happy that I can make my own mooncake now. What more?, it tastes very good and I can get to choose any kind of filling I am fond of, in this case is azuki bean. Thanks Kristy!

Update (1/25/12):
After I got comment from Jeannie, that I am so early for moon cake, I thought I might be posting a wrong cake for new year. It also make me realize that moon cake might be something that the Chinese would not serve for New Year's treat. So, I deleted part of the title that said "for the new year 2012". Since I am not not sure what they actually eat as a sweet treat, other then Ni Gao (Chinese New Year Cake) which is made of glutinous rice flour, I decided to make moon cake. Other reason? First, because I never made it before, and the technique seemed pretty intriguing; secondly, I love eating moon cake; thirdly for me, pastry seem more delicious then just plain steam cake made from glutinous rice.

Pain Grenoblois (Grenoble Raisin - Nut Bread)

2012-01-20T00:01:00.000-08:00

Just looking at the picture in the book, nothing sort of special about this bread other then it look like a regular loaf of bread with some raisins and nuts. After a quick glanced through the recipe, there is nothing ordinary about it all. In fact, it is quite unique in its own way as they are actually two very different dough, combine together. First dough is what it is called Pâte Viennoise, which includes powdered milk in the ingredients. Then, in the final dough, there is addition of rye flour, which I am starting to develop fondness to incorporating it in my bread baking whenever possible. So, there is no reason not to bake the ordinary looking bread with extra ordinary taste. Especially to those who really like sweet and delicate, almost shreddy texture slice of loaf.

Pain Grenoblois (Grenoble Raisin - Nut Bread)

Recipe adapted from: Linda Dannenberg's Paris Boulangerie Pâtisserie

make 2 loafs

Pâte Viennoise Starter

1 tsp dry yeast

3/4 cup (175 ml) water, room temperature

2⅔ cups (340 g) all-purpose unbleached flour

1 tsp salt

2 tbs sugar

4 tsp powdered milk

2 tbs (25 g) unsalted butter, room temperature - cut into pieces

Final Dough

2 tbs dry yeast

3 cups (375 g) all-purpose unbleached flour

2/3 cup (90 g) Rye flour

1/4 cup (50 g) sugar

pinch of salt

1¼ cups (310 ml) water, room temperature

1 cup (120 g) chopped walnut

1 cup (140 g) raisins

To make the starter: combine everything in a mixer bowl and knead using dough hook attachment for 3 to 5 minutes on a medium low speed until the dough is elastic. Add the butter and continue to knead for another 2 minutes, or until the dough is satiny. Form into a ball, place it in a clean and lightly grease bowl, cover with plastic, let rest 45 minutes.

For the dough: In a mixer bowl, place dry yeast, all-purpose unbleached flour, Rye flour, sugar, and salt. Cut the pâte Viennoise in to pieces and add to the mixer bowl, add the water. Knead on the lowest speed on your mixer for 2 minutes, increase the speed to low (speed # 2 on a KitchenAid), continue to knead for 5 to 10 minutes until the dough is supple and elastic. Transfer to counter top, knead in the raisin and walnut just to incorporate them. Gather the dough into a ball shape, and place it in a lightly grease bowl. Cover with a clean kitchen towel, and let it rise for 1 to 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease two 8 inches loaf pans.

Divide the dough into two equal size. Take a portion of dough, divide into 2 or three portions, shape each portion into round, then place it side by side in a loaf pan. or simply shape each dough into oblong, and place them in a prepared loaf pans. Cover the pans with clean towels. Let rise for the second time for about 40 minutes to an hour.

Bake in the bottom rack of the oven for 30 to 40 minutes until well brown.

Cool the loaf (still in the pans) on a wire rack.

The book said that this bread will stay fresh up to 3 days if wrapped in foil, but mine didn't last that long.

For YeastSpotting!

Pâte de Coing

2012-01-13T07:31:00.000-08:00

This is actually my second attempts of making this delicious fruit pate. The first one I made was a complete disaster. My heat was too high, I did other stuff in between the stirring, and did not bother to put timer on. As a result, it was harden more then it was suppose to, making it very hard to cut and to chew. My suggestion is, put the heat low, keep stirring, and put timer on. First, set up the timer for an hour, then it depends on the consistency, you can always add more time. Anyway, I was determine that I had to make it again until I got the (almost) right result. Fortunately, it only took second trial to get me pretty satisfied. It was not perfect, but it was pretty good enough to eat. To me the perfect one would be a little softer then this one, but not as soft as membrillo.

The recipe I used was from many different sources I found on the internet, they all seem pretty similar.

Pâte de Coing

Recipe adapted from here, here, and here

5 quinces

sugar (the same amount of puree quince)

2 lemon

Fill a large bowl with cold water, add juice from 1 lemon. Peel and core the quince, plunge in to the lemon water. Repeat with remaining quinces. Drain. Transfer onto a pan, fill the pan with water and boil until soft, remove from the heat, drain, and cool completely. Once cool, puree in a blender or food processor. Now, Scale the puree to determine how much sugar you need to add.

Line an 8 inch square baking pan with parchment paper. Lightly oil the paper. Set aside

Place pureed quince, sugar, juice of the remaining 1 lemon in a sauce pan. Cook on low heat until it is started to become thick. stirring from time to time to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan. This will take about 1 to 2 hours. Transfer onto prepared baking pan, and let it cool completely before cutting.

Galette des Rois ( Pithiviers)

2012-01-06T00:01:00.001-08:00

As I promised yesterday, here is my Pithiviers or Galette des Rois that I managed to make it in time for the Epiphanie day. Traditionally, trinket would be inserted inside the galette, and a person who is lucky enough to get it would be the King or Queen of the day. Unfortunately (read, as usual), I only remember about it after I put my galette in the oven.

Galette des Rois (Pithiviers)
Recipe adapted from Maria Villegas & Sarah Randell's Pithiviers, Food of France
Makes (one) 11inch galette

Ingredients:
1 lb 5 oz chocolate puff pastry, recipe follows. If you don't want the trouble of making your own, use
store bought puff pastry that available in your grocery store.

8 tablespoon (1 stick) butter, soften at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 tablespoon rum

Finely grated 1 orange zest
Finely grated 1 large lemon zest

3/4 cup almond meal

2 1/2 tablespoon flour

Roll out puff pastry into 11 inch circles. Transfer circles onto baking sheet that has been lined with parchment paper. Refrigerate for an hour. This will help to minimized shrinking during baking process.

Beat butter and sugar in a mixer on medium high speed until pale and creamy. Add egg one at the time, beat well after each addition. Add rum, orange and lemon zest turn the speed to low, mix. Add almond meal and flour, mix again just enough to incorporate all ingredient together. Scoop out this filling onto a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, refrigerate until firm enough.

To assemble: Spoon all filling onto one pastry circle, then using small spatula, spread it out starting from the center toward the edge, leaving about 3/4 inch from the edge should be sufficient (see photo here). Using a small pastry brush, moisten the edge with water or egg white. Score the other pastry circle lightly with desire pattern (see photo below), place it directly on top of almond filling. Press gently so pastry stick together. Cover with clean kitchen towel, refrigerate for an hour.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

If regular puff pastry is used, you can brush the galette with egg wash to give it a beautiful shine and golden color, but make sure to avoid brushing the side, or the pastry layers won't rise properly. If using chocolate puff pastry, I don't find it necessary to brush it, as the color is pretty dark already. If you insist, use white egg instead of regular egg wash. Bake in the middle rack for 25 to 30 minutes until it has risen. Remove and cool completely on a rack.

If desire, dust with confectioner sugar before serving.

Chocolate Puff Pastry

recipe adapted from Piere Hermé book's Chocolate Dessert, and from Fanny's technique on how to "Mastering puff pastry, step by step"

makes 2 ¾ pounds

For the dough:

3 cups (420 g) all-purposed flour

3/4 cup (185 g) cold water, plus more as needed, about 2 -3 tbs

2 tsp salt

5 tbs (2½ oz; 70 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

For the butter packet:

3¾ cup (15 oz; 425 g) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup (50 g) Dutch-processed cocoa powder (Valrhona, if possible)

To make dough packet:

Put flour on a kitchen counter top, and make a well in the center.

Mix 3/4 cup of water and salt until salt is dissolved. Pour this in the well, working from inside of the wall flour, start mixing it using a fork until most of flour has been stirred. Pour the melted butter over this mixture, continue to stir. If the dough feels a bit on the drier side, add water a tablespoon at a time. Knead the dough for roughly one minute, shape into rectangle, wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours. The dough will not look perfect at this point.

To make butter packet:

Using paddle attachment on an electric mixer, beat butter until smooth, but not airy. Add cocoa powder, continue to process just enough to blend them together.

Lay a piece of plastic wrap on a kitchen counter top. Scrape the butter directly on top, shape into square about an inch or two inches smaller than the size of your dough packet. Wrap - refrigerate at least 2 hours.

To roll and turn:

Chocolate Puff Pastry For The New Year 2012

2012-01-05T11:08:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone.... I hope you all enjoyed your holiday season, and embrace the the year 2012 with happiness and lots of good hopes.

I started my new year having fun making laminated pastry, the one that I've been making for many times, yet haven't found my self getting bored of it. This image of chocolate puff pastry was taken 2 days ago, and needed two more turns. As I type this post, the pastry has completed their final turn, and I decided that I wouldn't take photo of it, as you all know that I have the photos in my previous posts (here, here, and here). Anyway, I thought I just share, and also letting you know that I am still here. Will definitely share recipe and photo of my galette des rois that I am planning to post very soon. Thank you for being such a wonderful reader, I am truly greatfull!

Update (1/6/12): I've decided to post the recipe as well. So here it is :

Chocolate Puff Pastry

recipe adapted from Piere Hermé book's Chocolate Dessert, and from Fanny's technique on how to "Mastering puff pastry, step by step"

makes 2 ¾ pounds

For the dough:

3 cups (420 g) all-purposed flour

3/4 cup (185 g) cold water, plus more as needed, about 2 -3 tbs

2 tsp salt

5 tbs (2½ oz; 70 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

For the butter packet:

3¾ cup (15 oz; 425 g) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup (50 g) Dutch-processed cocoa powder (Valrhona, if possible)

To make dough packet:

Put flour on a kitchen counter top, and make a well in the center.

To make butter packet:

Using paddle attachment on an electric mixer, beat butter until smooth, but not airy. Add cocoa powder, continue to process just enough to blend them together.

To roll and turn:

I always rely on this same method of making puff pastry, and it is always successful. I have Fanny to be thankful for her fantastic tutorial, so please visit Fanny's blog on how to "Mastering puff pastry, step by step". I am sure you will be happy to find her easy to follow technique, and explanation.

When you are done with steps, refrigerate or freeze until ready to use.

P.S When the pastry is completed, I always test a little piece by baking a small portion to see if it is actually puff properly. This way, I can always make another batch, if it is fail. As you can see from the photo below, I didn't have to, as I was satisfied with the result.

Classic Butter Cookies. Simple, Easy, and Delicious Cookie For Holiday Season

2011-12-23T00:01:00.000-08:00

My favorite cookies to have on all occasion, especially for the holiday season. The cookie is so easy to make and the best part is, you can easily cut it into different sizes and for the festive reason, I like to add sparkle by sprinkle some sugar on top. This cookie, is delicious, buttery, and crumbly, just the way butter cookie should be.

Classic Butter Cookies

Recipe adapted from Carole Walter's book, Great Cookies

makes 3 dozens 2 1/2-inch cookies

1 3/4 cups all-purposed flour

3/4 cup sugar

2/3 cup (1 1/3 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into large chunks

3 egg yolks

vanilla bean, scrape the seeds

sprinkling sugar, optional

1 egg yolk + 1 tsp milk for egg wash

In a small bowl, mix egg yolk and vanilla bean. Set aside.

Place flour, sugar, and cold butter in a food processor. Pulse a few time until the mixture resemble a coarse meal. With machine running add egg yolk and vanilla bean mixture. Continue to pulse until the dough comes together. Divide the dough in half, shape each into a disc, wrap with plastic, then refrigerate for 15 minutes to half and hour.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Line cookie sheets with parchment papers.

Working with one dough at a time, roll it out onto lightly floured counter top to about 3/16 inch thick. Cut into any shape (I used 2 1/2 inch flower shape cutter). Transfer onto prepared cookie sheet, brush with egg wash, then sprinkle with sugar if desire. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until golden. If necessary rotate the cookie sheets from top to bottom, and back to front. Remove from the oven, and cool on wire rack. Store in an airtight container, layer between wax paper for up to 3 weeks.

SPRINGERLE

2011-12-21T00:01:00.000-08:00

December is my favorite time of the year. The year where I can bake a lot of different kind of cookies. I found my self baking the same traditional cookies each holiday, and I really like that a lot.

SPRINGERLE

Recipe adapted from House on The Hills

Depending on the size, it can yield 3 to 12 dozens

1/2 tsp baker's amonia (Hartshorn) or baking powder

2 tbs milk

6 large eggs, room temperature

6 cups confectioner's sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp anise

2 pounds sifted cake flour

zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon

In a small bowl mix hartshorn and milk. Set aside.

Using electric mixer with a whisk attachment, beat on a medium high speed egg until very thick and ribbony, about 10 to 20 minutes. Using a low speed, slowly add confectioner's sugar. Add butter, hartshorn-milk mixture, salt, anise, and citrus zests. Mix just to combine. Gradually add flour, just as much as your mixer can handle it. Using wooden spoon, stir reminding flour until the dough comes together, and feel stiff.

Turn the dough onto lightly floured counter top, knead gently. Then divide the dough in 2 portions. Take 1 portion of dough (covering the other with clean towel to prevent drying). Follow this direction for general imprinting and drying the cookies.

Bake on a parchment paper-lined cookies sheets at 255 degrees F to 325 degrees F, until barely golden on the bottom. About 10 - 15 minutes, or more depending on the size of your cookies.

Cool completely before stroring. The cookies can be kept for months, the flavor will improve with age.

SPECULAAS (Classic Dutch Cookie) For Christmas and Holiday Season

2011-12-19T03:10:00.000-08:00

This is a pretty cookies to enjoy, although most kids don't like spices in their cookies, I think they might enjoy this Speculaas, because the spices here are surprisingly mild, just the way I like it. Actually the original recipe in Carole Walter book has 1/4 tsp more of cloves and ginger, since I don't like my cookie to spicy, I reduced the amount a little bit.

SPECULAAS

Recipe adapted from Carole Walter's Book, Great Cookies.

1/3 cup almond meal

2 1/4 cups all-purposed flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

2/3 cup sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1 large egg

1 1/3 sticks unsalted butter, softened at room temperature

Sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and ginger directly on your clean kitchen counter top. Make a well in the center.

In a smal bowl, break the egg and lightly whisk with a fork. Pour this egg inside the well. Slowly incorporate the egg into flour the best you can can, then take a handful of this mixture and gently rub it between your palm until the the egg is incorporate thoroughly. At this point the dough will look dry, so don't worry about it. Using both hand, form this mixture to make a mount, then make a large well in the center of the mount.

In a medium size bowl, rub together almond and the softened butter using your finger tips, until they fully incorporated and form a mass.

Dump the almond butter mixture into the center of the flour mount, start kneading gently using the fraisage method to form a dough.

Divide the dough in 2 portions, shape each into a disc, and refrigerate at least an hour. At this point the dough can be freeze up to 3 months.

When you are ready to bake, roll the dough according to your molds thickness ( this video might help ). Bake at 350 degrees F, the time of baking is depend on the shapes and thickness of your cookies. You might also want to rotate the cookie sheets top to bottom and front to back to ensure even doneness.

When cookies are done, remove from the oven, and transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.

Yuzu Lime Melt Away Spritz Cookies For Christmas

2011-12-12T16:44:00.000-08:00

So easy to make, and so delicious!!!!. It is one of those perfect cookies to enjoy during holiday seasons with family, friends and your love one.

This recipe is my adaptation of Martha's Lime Melt Away cookie. I was not really sure how it would come out as I wanted to try to use cookie press instead of just regular round shape. I wanted something more festive for the holiday. So, I played around with a few shapes, and quite happy with the result. It is not only delicious, but also very pretty. The aroma of Yuzu lime, immediately present when I baked the cookie, it was hard to resist to not tasting it. I even wonder if I could keep it until Christmas time. As I type this post, family been eating what they called "tasting". Believe me, I don't have the heart to stop them. Yes, it is understandable, because this cookie literally melt in your mouth.

If you don't own cookie press, please follow the direction on Martha's website. It's pretty easy, you just need to slice and bake. That's it!

Yuzu Lime Melt Away Spritz Cookies

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart's

Makes 3 dozens

3/4 cup Unsalted butter, room temperature

1/3 cup confectioners' sugar + more for sprinkling or coating

finely grated 3 Yuzu limes

2 tbs fresh Yuzu lime juice

1 tbs vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups + 2 tbs all-purpose flour

2 tbs cornstarch

1/4 tsp salt

Beat butter and 1/3 cup confectioner's suar until pale. Add lime zest, lime juice, and vanilla extract. Continue to beat until light and fluffy.

In separate bowl, mix flour, cornstarch, and salt. Add this to butter mixture, and mix just to combine.

Divide the dough in half, place each in a piece of parchment paper, then roll into a log shape. Refrigerate until slightly firm, but not too firm if you are planning to use cookie press. 15 to 30 minutes should be good enough.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Remove cookie dough from refrigerator. Cut a portion of dough to fit in to your spritz cookie press. Choose any design you like, then press directly on top baking sheets (do not grease your baking sheets). Bake 10 to 12 minutes, make sure to not let the cookies turn into golden color. You want to keep the cookies somewhat whitish color (as you can see from my last picture, my second batch is a bit brownish, because I left it a bit longer in the oven). Transfer cookies onto wire rack to cool completely, then sift in (or completely coat the cookies) with confectioner's sugar, if desire.

Pfeffernüsse. German X'Mas Cookie

2011-12-09T00:01:00.000-08:00

I almost skipped this recipe, but reading through the list of intriguing ingredients, I though I gave it a try. Glad I did, because it tasted delicious, the aroma of spices were really bring joy in the kitchen. Don't be discourage by the use of peppercorn on this recipe. Despite its name, this classic German Christmas cookies is not too peppery. And that is a good thing, because like (probably) most of you, I'm not that fond of mixing peppercorns for sweet treat, and very much prefer to reserve it for savory treat.

I use two different kinds of peppercorns in this recipe, black and red. The red peppercorn is really mild and fruity, almost unnoticeable. The other thing I like about this recipe is, the aroma of both citrus zest and citrus candy, this two additional ingredients add balance and make this cookie exceptionally delicious. Last but not least, sugar coating really add a perfect finishing touch and make the cookie more festive.

Pfeffernüsse
Recipe adapted from Carol Walter's Great Cookies Book

Makes 9 dozens 1 1/2-inch cookies

1/2 cup almond meal
3 cup all-purposed flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ginger powder
1/4 tsp ground all spice
1/4 tsp ground red peppercorn
1/4 tsp ground black peppercorn
1 stick (4 oz) unsalted butter
zest of 1 Navel orange
zest of 1 lemon
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup mollasses
1 egg
3/4 cup honey
2 tbs finely chopped candied orange peel
2 tbs finely chopped candied lemon peel
Confectioner's sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment papers. Set aside.

Sift together almond meal, flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, ginger, all spice, red and black ground peppercorns. Set aside.

Using paddle attachment on your electric mixer, beat butter, orange and lemon zest on medium speed until soft. Add brown sugar and molasses, beat just until blended. Add egg and honey, mix just to combine.

Using a low speed, add flour mixture in three addition. Mixing just enough to wet the dry ingredients. Do not overmix!

Take a pinch of dough, and roll into 3/4- inch ball, and place it in a baking sheet about 1 1/2 to 2 inch apart. Repeat.

Bake cookies for about 15 minutes, until just slightly firm and start to crack a little. If necessary rotate the cookie sheets to ensure even cooking. The tops should be slightly soft, but they will firm up as the cookies stand.

Let rest on cookie sheets for 5 to 10 minutes, then roll in the confectioner's sugar. Arrange on a wire rack to cool completely.

Store in an airtight container, layer between strip of wax paper, for up to 3 weeks.

X'Mas Meringue Cookies

2011-12-05T10:15:00.000-08:00

'Tis The Season To Be Jolly ... Tra ... la .. la ... la .......

If you have been following me for a while, you know that I'm not that good with piping, but that doesn't mean I will stop making anything that require piping. This meringue cookies for instance, they should and could look prettier, but again, that is need practice on my side. Put aside the shape, this meringue is delicious, easy to make, and quite festive, especially if you don't omit the red food coloring. Although I like my meringue pure white like cloud, sometimes, I like to play with color a little. I hope you do as well.

X'mas Meringues
Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart's
makes about 5 dozens

Ingredients:
3 egg whites
3/4 cup sugar
red food coloring gel, optional

Preheat oven to 175 degrees F.

Line baking sheets with parchment papers. Set aside.

Fill a medium size pot, pan, or skillet with water. Set the pan over medium to medium low heat and let the water to barely simmer.

Fit a pastry bag with an open small star tip (Ateco #22). Set Aside

Place egg whites and sugar in a mixer bowl, set the bowl on top of barely simmering water and stir gently until the sugar is dissolve, about 2 to 3 minutes.

Remove the bowl from the heat. Using a whisk attachment, beat the white-sugar mixture until stiff peak form.

If desire, using a small pastry brush, paint 2 - 3 stripes of red food gel coloring inside the pastry bag. Fill the bag with meringue. Pipe small star shapes onto prepared baking sheets about 2 to 2 and 1/2 inch apart. Bake the meringues until crisp but do not let the meringue to become brown, about 1 hour and 40 minutes. Remove from the oven, let cool on sheet pans on top of wire racks.

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

2011-12-02T00:01:00.000-08:00

Vanilla Bean, is the key ingredient. Duh? Otherwise it wouldn't be called Vanilla Bean ice cream, wouldn't it?

As I mentioned before, I am not an ice cream person, but all change after I got a book from a friend as a present. Since then, I found myself eating and making different kind of ice cream. Yesterday, I made another ice cream that remind me of my two nephews. They love anything vanilla, let it be cookie, or cake, or anything that you tell them it has vanilla, they get excited to eat it, especially ice cream. I just wish that I made this ice cream when they were here last sumer. They would have love it!

Anyway, the book is called : Jenis Splendid Ice Creams At Home. The recipe in her book is really easy to follow. Some ingredients you might have to order online, but most are available at your local grocery store. For this particular ice cream, she uses Ugandan Vanilla bean, I don't have this type, but I do have the one from Madagascar. Use what ever vanilla bean you can afford.

You will need:

2 cups whole milk

1 tbs + 1 tsp cornstarch

3 tbs (1 1/2 oz) cream cheese, softened

1/8 fine sea salt

1 1/4 cups heavy cream

2/3 sugar

2 tbs light corn syrup

1 vanilla bean, split and scarpe the seeds

Then follow this steps on how to make it. Good luck and hope you'll enjoy as much as I do.

At least 24 hours prior to make the ice cream, put your ice cream canister in a freezer (refer to your manufacture ice cream maker to be sure).

Put (lots) of ice blocks in a large bowl, add cold water. More ice then water.

Make cornstarch slurry. In a small bowl, mix 2 tbs milk and 1 tbs + 1 tsp cornstarch. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk 3 tbs (1 1/2 oz) cream cheese and 1/8 tsp salt until smooth. Set aside.

Bring the remaining (2 cups minus 2 tbs) milk, heavy cream, sugar, vanilla seed (including the bean), and corn syrup to rolling boil. Boil for 4 minutes.

Remove from the heat. Add cornstarch slurry, stir using rubber spatula. Return to the heat. Bring back to a boil, until slightly thickened for 1 minute.

Remove from heat. Don't forget to remove the bean. Slowly pour ( a little at a time) this mixture into cream cheese, whisking constantly while pouring it to prevent any lumps.

Pour the mixture into ziplock bag. Close tightly.

Submerge into ice water bath. Let it become cool at least 30 minutes.

Have fun churning! Jeni said, it is done when the ice cream start to pull away from the bowl. If you see a thin layer of dense ice cream on the side of the bowl, that mean you stop it too soon. It took me 30 minutes to churn.

Spoon the ice cream into freezer proof container.

Lay a piece of parchment paper directly ontop of ice cream. Cover with its own lid. Freeze in a coldest part of your freezer at least 4 hours.

Feel free to lick any ice cream that left in the canister. Just don't lick the canister, or tounge might stick in it.

Spiced Seckel Pears In Party Dresses For An Elegant Thanksgiving Dessert

2011-11-22T14:10:00.000-08:00

This is relatively easy dessert to make. I like to make this particular dessert over and over again with slightly different version, because It will easily impress your guess and family as it looks pretty presented in an individual dessert plate, especially when you add ice cream, or creme anglais. The poaching liquid is also very simple, made of water and sugar, spiced with whole spices that fairly easy to find in most grocery store. You can always fancy this up by using some liqueur that will work well with this spices too if you like. Or just simply white, or red wine, sugar, and vanilla will work as well.

This recipe came from Christine Ferber's book, Mes Tarte, which I use a lot each time I want to make sweet or savory tarts. As usual, I adapted the recipe according to my own taste, change couple of things that I feel, or sound a little odd. For instance, I don't like the the sound of adding garlic clove in my sweet pastry. I can not even imagine how it will taste, not that I don't like garlic, I do! But not for my sweet treat or dessert though. So, if you really want to make her original version, the spices she uses are: cinnamon, vanilla bean, garlic, star anise, and cardamom. She aslo listed lemon juice in the recipe.

Spice Pears In Party Dresses
Recipe adapted from Christine Ferber's Spiced Pear In Party Dress
Serve 8

600 g puff pastry, store bought or homemade - thaw if frozen
8 small ripe but still firm Williams, or Barlett pears (I used Seckel pears)
500 g (2 1/3 cups) sugar
500 g (2 cups) water
1 cinnamon stick
3 cardamoms
1 star anise
1 slice of lemon rind
1 egg yolk
2 tsp milk

In a pan (large enough to accomodate all pears) place sugar, water, cinnamon, cardamoms, star anise, and lemon rind. Bring to a gentle boil. Meanwhile, peel the pears, leaving the steam on. Add them to the pan. Bring to a simmer for 20 - 25 minutes. Remove from the heat, let cool completely in the pan. You can do this step a day ahead, and refrigerate pears with its liquid.

On a lightly floured kitchen counter top, roll out the pastry to about 1/16 inch thick. To prevent pastry from shrinking when it's cut, roll it around rolling pin. Lightly flour your counter top again, then unroll the pastry. Cut 8 (eight) - 6 inch squares.

To warp the pear, place pear in the center of pastry square, lift the point of pastry square one by one and bring them up to the stem of the pear. Now using the palm of your hand, press the pastry against the pear to mold itself to the shape of the pear. Arrange on a baking sheet line with parchment paper. Repeat with the rest of the pears. Cover the baking sheets with plastic, refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Make the egg wash. Place egg yolk and milk in small bowl. Mix to combine.

Brush each pear with egg wash. Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes, or until the pastry is nicely brown. Meanwhile, bring the poaching liquid back to the stove set over medium heat. Simmer until it is become thick and sirupy. Remove from the heat to cool. When pear pastry is done, glaze lightly with the poaching syrup if desire. Serve in individual dessert plate with creme anglais, vanilla ice cream, or chocolate sauce if desire.

HAVE A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

TETU (Clove-Scented Sicilian Chocolate Cookies)

2011-11-14T00:01:00.000-08:00

As the weather getting colder each day, I forced to stuck inside the house. I suppose I can just sit down and do nothing, but I always prefer to be busy in the kitchen. In fact, I use this weather to excuse my self for a good self indulgence. I thought I'd make some cookies, not just any cookie, but something unique and I never eaten or made before. I thought of something Italian, or that part of the world. So, I grabbed "Sweet Sicily" book by Victoria Granof, that my husband gave me as a gift. Apparently I bookmarked quite a few recipes that I wanted to try. Since my mind was already set for cookie, I tried to really focus and not letting myself to easily distracted for other recipes (read, cakes). I found TETU, that was it!. The name alone already sounded intriguing. I also like how to say it, pretending that I really know how to pronounce it. I like the fact that it's only 4 letters to name a cookie, T ... E ... T ... U.... And then, the ingredients, which has chocolate and cloves, how unique, right? According to Victoria Granof, Tetu are traditional cookies for All Souls' Day called, I Morti, or Day of the Dead which fall in the first week of November. And it is much celebrated especially in the Western part of Sicily. Well, it's rather confusing, because while I was searching on the internet to get more info about this cookies (which aren't too many), I also found out that some people also bake it for Christmas, some even call it Sicilian Christmas cookies.

Granof's recipe only use chocolate glaze for this cookies, but I wanted to have a bit of variation, so I glazed some of them with simple lemon glaze made of confectioner's sugar and lemon juice. I also glazed my cookies with simple chocolate ganache (just chocolate and heavy cream) instead of using her chocolat glaze recipe.

TETU

Recipe adapted from Sweet Sicily, The Story of an Island and Her Pastries by Victoria Granof

makes about 3 dozens

1 cup whole roasted almonds, grind to a powder

4 cups unbleached all-purposed flour

8 tbs (1 stick) unsalted butter

2 oz unsweetened chocolate

1 cup milk

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp ground cloves

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg, lightly beaten

Chocolate Glaze

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cup water

12 oz unsweetened chocolate - roughly chopped

2 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted

In a large bowl add ground almond, and flour. Mix - set aside

Place milk, butter, and chocolate in a sauce pan. Set the pan over medium heat, whisk until butter is melted. Add sugar, whisk to blend. Remove from the heat, cool to luke warm. Once the mixture is lukewarm, whisk in ground cloves, baking soda, salt, vanilla, and egg. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients, and mix just to combine. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least an hour, or until it is easy to handle.

Preheat oven to 375F.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Take a pinch of cookie dough (about a tablespoon), roll in between your palm into a ball. Arrange on a baking sheet about 2 inch apart. Bake for 15 minutes, or until puff but still slightly soft in the center.

Meanwhile, make the glaze. In a medium sauce pan, bring sugar and water to a boil, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat, whisk in chocolate until melted. Add confectioners' sugar, continue to whisk until smooth.

While the cookies are warm, immerse them in a warm glaze, a few at a time. Transfer to cooling rack set over baking sheet to catch the drips. Let cool before serving.

Apfelkücherl

2011-11-09T12:12:00.000-08:00

I never actually met anybody who would say no to any kind of fritter. Let it be sweet or savory, we seem to like them. I wouldn't argue that some people will reject this for a personal reason, perhaps health reason, hips issues :) Anyway, this fritter is meant to be a treat, something special, something you don't eat on a daily basis. So enjoy while you can.

Apfelkücherl

Recipe adapted from Alfons Schuhbeck's My Bavarian Cookbook

Makes about 18 fritters

3 large Granny Smith apples, or any other sour apples

170 ml milk

3 tbs butter

100 gr flour

3 eggs

oil for frying

For Coating :

sugar

cinnamon powder, optional

In a sauce pan add 70 ml milk, 70 ml water, butter, and pinch of salt. Set the pan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Stir and slowly add flour, keep stirring while you do this until the batter is separate from the bottom of the pan. Take it out from the heat, transfer to a clean mixing bowl, add eggs and the remaining milk, using a hand whisk, stir the batter vigorously until thick.

Heat the oil to 350 F

Peel and core the apples, cut into round slices about half inch thick. Dip each apple into the batter, and fry until golden. Remove to a wire rack to drain the excess oil. Roll the fritter into the sugar cinnamon mix to coat. Serve immediately.

Fougasse

2011-10-30T15:28:00.000-07:00

I am sending this Fougasse to Elizabeth who is hosting this month BBB, and to Susan at YeastSpotting.

Fougasse

Adapted from Baking with Julia by Dorrie Greenspan

6½ cups unbleached all purpose flour + 1 tbs salt, mix

2 cups luke warm water
¼ cup olive oil

½ cup warm water + 2 tablespoon active dry yeast, dissolves and it bloom (about 5 minutes)

Herb of your choice, for flavoring (I used Rosemary)

Fleur de sel or Kosher salt, for sprinkling

Put the flour in a mixer bowl, make a well in the middle, pour 2 cups of water, the yeast mixture, and olive oil. Process on low (with dough attachment) until all ingredients mix together, add a few drops of water if its too dry. Increase the speed to medium high, and continue to mix for 10 minutes. The dough should be soft, moist, elastic, and transparent when stretch, like this!.

Turn off the machine, shape into bowl, place on a lightly oiled clean large bowl. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Let it rise at room temperature for 1 to 1½ hours. Then fold, see here how to fold. Rest for another 45 minutes to 1 hour.

After the second rest, fold the dough again. Cut into 3 pieces, shape each pieces into a ball. Place each ball into ziplock bag, refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours.

About 1½ hours before you are planning to bake, remove the dough from the refrigerator. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface, dust each dough with flour, cover loosely but completely with plastic (to prevent having the top go crusty). Let the dough rest for 1 hour until reach room temperature, and feel spongy when touch.

Working very gently (you definitely don't want to knock out the air that you've work so hard to create it), place a dough (cover the other 2 with kitchen towel) on a lightly floured surface. Gently pull the dough to make a triangular shape. Place the dough on a cornmeal-dusted baking sheet, cover while you do the rest.

Using a small knife, make 2 or 3 slashes down the center of the dough. Or use this method here and here. Brush the loafs with oil, sprinkle with the herb of your choice, and dust with coarse salt. Let them rest for 10 minutes.

Bake at 450⁰F oven for 20 minutes or until nicely golden. Transfer them to a rack, and let them cool completely before serving.

Kolaches

2011-10-28T08:02:00.000-07:00

Never heard of this delicious yeasted pastry before, until one day I saw Natashya mentioned it on Facebook that she couldn't believe to only found out about Kolaches recently. As usual, my curiousity started to tickle, so I couldn't help but started googling for the recipe. And finally settled on one recipe I found on Saveur.

The original recipe uses strawberry for the filling. Since I was a bit lazy, I went the shorter way by using preserved apricot. If you'd like to use strawberry filling, you will about 8 oz fresh strawberry (hulled - thinly sliced), 12 tbs sugar, 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice, and 1/4 cup of water. Boil all ingredients together for 8 to 10 minutes until soft. Remove from the heat, mash into chunks, then cool completely.

Kolaches
Recipe adapted from Saveur Jun/Jul 2009
Makes 16 Kolaches.

The Dough:
3 1/4 cups flour
1/4 oz SAF yeast
3 tbs + 1 tsp sugar
4 tbs butter, softened
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
1 egg yolk
3/4 milk
1/2 cup water
Apricot preserve, or your favorite preserve of your choice for filling

For Crumb Topping:
1/4 cup flour
4 tbs sugar
1 tbs melted butter

For Brushing the dough:
1 tbs melted butter

In a mixer bowl add flour and yeast, mix to combine.

In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar until pale, add salt and egg yolk, beat until smooth. Add it to mixer bowl along with milk and water. Knead using dough hook until smooth. Gather the dough into a round ball, place it in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with plastic, and let it rest for an hour.

Combine all ingredient for crumb topping in a bowl until crumbly. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 375F.

Divide the risen dough into 16 equal portions. Make a round ball for each portion. Arrange on a parchment lined baking sheet, brush each roll with melted butter. Cover with plastic and let rest for 30 minutes to rise.

Using the back of a spoon, make indentation for each ball and fill with one tablespoon filling, sprinkle with crumb topping. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes.

For YeastSpotting!

World Bread Day 2011. Challot (Challah Knots)

2011-10-16T00:01:00.000-07:00

This Challot is for World Bread Day 2011

Challot (Challah Knots)
Recipe adapted from Saveur
Makes 12 rolls

3 1/4 cups flour
2 tsp SAF yeast
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup olive oil
4 egg yolks
2 tsp kosher salt
1 cup water

Additional ingredients
1 egg yolk + 1 tsp milk = mix to make egg wash

Place all ingredients (except the additional ingredients) in a mixer bowl. Knead using dough hook on a low speed for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Gather into a ball shape, and place it in a lightly oiled container or bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, let rest for an hour or until double in size.

Fold the dough once, place it back into the container, and give it another rest for 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350F

Divide the dough into 12 equal portions. Working with one portion at a time, make a long rope, then tie to make a knot (see video). Place the knot in a baking sheet, continue to work with the rest of the dough. When finish, cover the baking sheet with clean kitchen towel, and let rest for 30 minutes. Brush with egg wash, bake for about 20 minutes until golden brown.

YUZU Lime Ice Cream

2011-09-15T12:12:00.000-07:00

I adapted this recipe from Jeni Britton Bauer's book, called Jenis Splendid Ice Cream at Home. Which, by the way, has the most interesting, unique ice cream recipes I've ever heard. Some of the ingredients might be a bit challenging to find at your local grocery store, such as ylang ylang oil, or piment d'espelette pepper for example, but no worry, she actually gives a few sources where to buy them online.

When I got this book from my friend as a gift, I was pretty excited as I never own an ice cream book before. I was also wondering if I ever told him that I am not as crazy about ice cream as the rest of my family. So, I put the book on my coffee table so that I wouldn't forgot about it, and at least try one recipe while my nephew were still here spending time with our family during the summer. It would be fun to make ice cream with them, so I thought! Well, I was way too busy to entertained them, and couldn't find the time to spare to make ice cream. But, I did find a time to read every single recipe in the book at night when my nephews were gone to sleep. As time goes by, summer is practically almost over, and the kids are gone back to their faraway home, I started to organize what I was originally planned to make. First, I must try the one that sounded pretty easy, and ingredients that weren't difficult to find. Backyard mint ice cream, that was it. I like mint, plus, I have spearmint in my garden. I thought it must be good! That was my original plan, but then it all changed after my husband and I went to nursery and found Yuzu lime tree that bears quite a bit of fruit in every branches. So, I decided to try this extremely fragrant and delicious lime instead of mint. My God, I was not disappointed, the flavor of this ice cream turned out to be the most delicious ice cream I've ever had in my life. I am an ice cream convert because of this book. I can not thank enough to my friend who give me this book. Thanks Anthony!

YUZU Lime Ice Cream
Recipe adapted from Jeni's "Backyard Mint Ice Cream"
makes about 1 quart

2 cups whole milk
1 tbs plus 1 tsp corn starch
1 1/2 oz (3 tbs) cream cheese, softenend
1/8 tsp fine sea salt
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
2/3 cup sugar
2 tbs light corn syrup
Yuzu lime zest (from 2 limes)

Mix 2 tablespoon of milk and corn starch to make slurry. Set aside.

Beat cream cheese and sea salt until smooth. Set aside.

Add water and ice cube in to a large bowl to make ice water bath. Set aside.

Put the remaining milk, heavy cream, sugar, and corn syrup in a sauce pan. Bring to a rolling boil on medium high heat, about 4 minutes. Remove from the heat, slowly whisk in the slurry. Return the pan to the heat, cook for another one minute. Remove from the heat. Add Yuzu lime zest, cool slightly. after the mixture is cooled, pour into ziplock bag, place the bag in a bowl, add more ice cubes if necessary. Cool completely until it is very cold. Or, you can also omit the water bath, and do the cooling process in the refrigerator, if you do this, you will need to refrigerate for about 4 hours, or overnight.

If you like, you can strain the lime zest, I didn't bother to do so as I love to bite into the fragrant flavor of this zest. Pour the mixture into ice cream maker, and process until thick and creamy.

Transfer the ice cream into container, press a piece of parchment paper directly on top of ice cream, then cover the container with airtight lid. Freeze in coldest part of freezer at least 4 hours.

Kue Apam (Indonesian Steam Rice Cake With Palm Sugar and Pandan Leaves)

2011-09-08T13:24:00.000-07:00

Like most Indonesian kue, kue apam is not cloyingly sweet, the appearance is quite pretty, and the fragrant from pandan leaves and coconut milk is hard to resist. Most recipe I found suggested to serve kue apam with freshy grated coconut season with salt, I don't exactly remember to eat this with coconut back then, but maybe Balinese serve it differently from the Javanese. I am not sure. But next time, I'll definitely do that, I bet it tastes delicious.

Kue Apam (Indonesian Steam Rice Cake With Palm Sugar and Pandan Leaves)
recipe adapted from this site
make 12

Ingredients
150 g gula Jawa (Javanese palm sugar), chopped into small pieces
175 ml coconut water/juice
3 pandan leaves (knotted)
150 gr rice flour
100 gr pastry flour
1/2 tsp instant yeast
180 ml thick coconut milk
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder

In a sauce pan add gula Jawa or palm sugar, coconut water, and pandan leaves. Boil until sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat, strain, and measure 225 ml. Set aside to keep warm.

Place rice flour into a bowl, slowly pour the warm syrup a little at the time while keep mixing it into the flour. Continue mixing until the batter is smooth. Set aside to cool completely. Once cooled, add pastry flour, yeast, coconut milk, and salt. Using a whisk, mix until smooth and well combine. Cover the bowl with kitchen towel, let rest for 30 minutes.

Preheat the steamer over high heat. Line 12 small oven proof cups or ramekins with paper cups, then using a pastry brush, lightly oiled the paper cups.

Add the baking powder into the batter, mix well. Spoon the batter into prepared cups. Transfer onto the steamer, cover with its lid, and steam for 30 minutes. Try to resist to open the lid while it is still cooking.

For YeastSpotting!

Kuih (Kue) Lapis. Malaysian and Indonesian Layered Steam Rice Cake Flavored With Pandan and Coconut Milk.

2011-09-04T09:01:00.000-07:00

This is my first attempt of making kuih (kue, as Indonesian called it) lapis, that I miss so much. After searching for recipe through various sites, I decided to settle with Lily's recipe because the amount of ingredients she uses seem manageable (you see, I do not want to have a huge cake just for me and my husband). This recipe is pretty simple and easy to prepare, but it does require a bit of patient of creating such layers. The process of steaming each layer, pouring it a ladle at a time, which will take between 3 to 5 minutes. It also depends on how many colour you want to create, and perhaps how good your steamer is, it can take up to an hour to make it. Unlike baking a cake where you can leave it alone in the oven, then you can go off do other chore; making this kuih mean you must stay around the kitchen until it is done. At least that was my experience.

The verdict: although I like the end result of this kuih (kue), it's a little bit chewier that I like it to be. So, I still want to try to make another kuih using different ingredients such as tapioca, sago, or green bean flour as the main ingredient. Which I am hoping that the texture will be much softer, just the way I remember it.

Kuih Lapis (Layered Steam Rice Cake With Pandan and Coconut Milk)
Recipe adapted from Lily Wai Sek Hong
make 1 (one) 8-inch square cake

150 gr rice flour
30 gr mung bean flour
560 ml coconut milk
180 gr sugar
150 ml water
1/2 tsp salt
1 pandan leave, cut into three
a drop of green food coloring

In a medium bowl, mix rice flour, mungbean flour, and coconut milk until well combine. Set aside to rest for 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small sauce pan, boil sugar, water, salt, and pandan leaves. Remove from the heat, cool completely.

lightly oiled an 8 inches square tin then place it inside the steamer. Make sure you have plenty of water in the steamer. Place the steamer on the stove, turn the heat to high and let the water to become boil (you want the water to rolling boiling).

Pour the cooled syrup into rice flour mixture and mix well. Strain into another bowl to ensure that the batter is free from any lumps. Divide the batter into two equal portions. Add a drop of green food coloring in one of the batter, mix well.

Pour a ladle of green batter into preheated tin, close the steamer, and steam for 3 minutes. Now add a ladle of plain batter, cover, steam for 3 minutes. Repeat this process until all batter has been used up. When the top layer is set (also take about 3 minutes), continue to steam for another 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from the heat, and cool completely. Once cool, cut into desire shapes and sizes before servings.

Double Chocolate Cherry Muffins

2011-08-31T11:59:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it's really nice to have rich and chocolatey breakfast on the weekend. It's like giving yourself a nice treat after a long and hectic weekday.

This muffins, like any other muffins, are pretty easy and quick to prepare in the morning. The cherry is really nice addition to it, beside most people I know always like cherry and chocolate combination. You can always substitute cherry with other summer berries if you wish to.

Double Chocolate Cherry Muffins
makes 18

1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup Greek style yogurt
1/4 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
1/2 cup + 2 tbs granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purposed flour
1/2 cup cocoa power
1 tbs baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
30 to 35 whole red cherry, pitted then cut in half
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375F.
Line a (12 holes) and a half size (6 holes) muffin tins with paper cups.

In a large bowl, whisk together the milk, yogurt, oil, eggs, sugar, and vanilla extract.

In another bowl, sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add this dry ingredients in to milk mixture. Using rubber spatula, mix just to wet the dry ingredients. Add cherry, dark, and white chocolate chip, and fold just to combine. Do not overmix!

Spoon the batter into prepared muffin tins, about two third full. Bake in the middle rack for 15 to 20 minutes until tooth pick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Transfer onto wire rack to cool completely.

Pluot Tart. Another delicious summer tart.

2011-08-23T11:49:00.000-07:00

The original recipe for this tart called for apricot, which is also incredibly delicious. Since I have made it this tart using apricot last weekend, which unfortunately was vanished before I had a chanced to take a photo; I tried to used pluot just to see if it was as good as using apricot. I am happy to say that my pluot tart made it to a business dinner. That's not all, my husband brought back the news to informed me that everybody in that meeting was delighted, and amazed on how good it was. The credit, is of course goes to me :) Thank you!

Pluot is such an ugly name (well, I think it is) for a fruit. If you put aside the name, it is one of those beautiful summer stone fruit that has sweet and fragrant scent, the color is just gorgeous. Eat it fresh, or turn it into dessert, I like it them all. So here is another delicious summer tart that I will definitely make it again next summer.

Pluot Tart

recipe adapted from Paris Boulangerie Pâtisserie by Linda Dannenberg

Serve 8 - 10

For pâte brisée au sucre:

1½ cups (210 g) all-purposed flour

1/2 cup (100 g) sugar

1/8 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup (1 stick / 50 g) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces, chilled

1 large egg, lightly beaten with a fork

For filling:

1 large egg

1/4 cup (30 g) sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup (50 g) all-purposed flour

1/8 tsp baking powder

4 tbs (50 g) unsalted butter, softened

3 pounds (1.5 kg) fresh pluots, quartered

2 tbs granulated sugar, for sprinkling

confectioners' sugar, for sprinkling. Optional

To make pâte brisée au sucre:

In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, and baking powder. add cold butter, cut this mixture using pastry cutter until the mixture is crumbly. Stir in the egg, just until combine. Don't work it too much, you don't try to develop gluten here :). Now, gather the dough, and flatten it into a disk. Wrap the disk with plastic, chill in the refrigerator at least half an hour. Once chill, roll it out (on the counter top that has been floured lightly with flour) into a 13-inch circle.

Butter generously a 10 or 11 - inch tart pan. Transfer the dough onto it, trim off the excess, then refrigerate the pastry shell for another half hour.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Make the filling. In a mixing bowl, whisk together egg, sugar, and vanilla. Sift together flour, and baking soda onto egg mixture. Add the softened butter, and mix until smooth.

Spread the filling over the bottom and the side of tart shell. Arrange pluot slices in concentric circle, overlapping them slightly to cover the filling.

Bake the tart on a lowest rack for 25 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown. Take the tart out from the oven, but don't turn the oven off. Sprinkle the pluot with 2 tablespoon granulated sugar, taking care not to sugar the pastry, otherwise your pastry will turn into unattractive brown color. Return the tart to oven, bake for another 15 minutes, or until the pluots are glazed. About 5 minutes before the tart is done, prop the oven door slightly ajar to let the steam escape and to prevent the pastry for being too soggy. Transfer the tart onto a wire rack, and let it cool completely. If desire, sprinkle the edge of the tart with confectioners' sugar before serving.

Possibly The Best and Easiest Homemade Hamburger Buns

2011-07-16T17:52:00.000-07:00

This buns were pretty easy and quick to make, and taste deliciously soft, just like eating cotton candy. Since I am not really good at making hamburger, I actually serve this buns as a snack, eating them plain and with jams. My favorite is red jalapeno pepper jam, and a soft goat cheese. I know it sounds a bit odd, but I like the taste of those two combo. Anyway, I made this buns this morning, got the recipe from Sara who is the host of this month BBB. Thanks Sara, glad you chose the theme that was not only quick and easy to make, but also delicious.

* Sara's recipe uses 4 1/2 tsp active dry yeast. I used 2 tsp SAF-instant yeast, the only yeast I have in hand. I also like using this yeast, since it doesn't require to dissolve it first with liquid. In other words, you can mix it directly into dry ingredients.

** Instead of brushing the buns, I actually spray the buns using a clean spray bottle filled with about 2 tbs of milk.

*** If you want to shape your buns into squares like what Sara did on hers, please visit her blog for the instruction.

Hamburger Buns

Recipe adapted from Sara's Hamburger Buns

makes 12

4 cups (625 g) all purposed flour

2 tsp SAF instant yeast* see my note above

5 tbs sugar

1 tbs kosher salt

1 1/2 cups (375 ml) milk

1 large egg

8 tbs (125 g) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces

Sesame seeds for topping, optional

additional 1 -2 tbs milk for brushing

In a bowl, combine milk and egg together. Set aside.

In a mixer bowl fitted with dough hook attachment, add flour, SAF yeast, sugar, and salt. Mix with wooden spoon just to incorporate the ingredients. Make a well in the center. Pour milk-egg mixture into the well. Knead on low speed for about a minute. increase the speed to medium, knead for 3 minutes, add butter in 4 addition, kneading well in each addition before you adding the next. Continue to knead until you have a soft, and elastic dough, about 3 more minutes. Turn off the machine. Form the dough into ball, transfer to a lightly oiled container. Cover, and let rest until double in volume, about an hour.

Lay a pieces of parchment paper on a baking sheet.

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Turn the dough onto a kitchen counter top. Divide into 12 equal pieces, working with one piece of dough at a time, form into a round bun**. See this video on how to shape a bun. Place the round in a baking sheet. Repeat. Cover the baking sheet with clean kitchen towel. Let it rest at room temperature (draft free) for 30 minutes.

Brush, (or spray),*** each round with milk, sprinkle with sesame seeds. bake in the middle oven for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Also sharing my beautiful and delicious Hamburger Buns to Susan for her YeastSpotting event.

46

2011-07-10T00:01:00.000-07:00

Yogurt-Olive Oil Cake With Farmer's Market Stone Fruits

2011-07-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

The easiest cake you've ever made even for those who claim that they can not bake. But, is not that the only thing that this cake has to offer. Beside of being easy, it is very moist, not cloyingly sweet, and the addition of summer stone fruits give it just a tad of tanginess, and making more pleasant to eat.

Yogurt-Olive Oil Cake With Farmer's Market Stone Fruits

Recipe adapted from Ju's Yogurt Cake (With Blueberry Sauce

makes 1 loaf

280 g all-purposed flour

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

250 ml nonfat Greek yogurt (I used TJ's)

135 ml good olive oil (not extra virgin)

170 g sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 pluot, 1 peach, 3 small apricots, cut into sections

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease a 9-inch loaf pan with butter, line the bottom and the side with parchment paper, grease the paper as well. Set aside

Sift all-purposed flour, baking powder, and salt onto a bowl. Set aside.

Using a hand whisk, mix yogurt and oil until well combine. Set aside.

Beat sugar and eggs using mixer until triple in volume, add vanilla extract, beat another 10 seconds, just to combine. Turn off the machine. Add flour to the bowl, fold using rubber spatula. Add yogurt mixture, fold gently. Pour the batter onto prepared pan. Arrange fruit sections on top. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 - 10 minutes, lift off the paper, and transfer it onto cooling rack. Cool completely before serving.

Cherry Tart With Pistachio Frangipane, Meringue and Crunchy Almonds

2011-06-23T07:01:00.000-07:00

This recipe is from my favorite Christine Ferber's book's Mes Tartes, which I refer a lot each time I want to make sweet or savory tart. Recipe in her book uses almond frangipane for the filling, and almond praline for the pastry. But, I wanted something a little bit different, so I made it using pistachio frangipane, and hazelnut praline (I couldn't find pistachio praline) for the pastry. Imagine if I can find pistachio praline, must have been indescribably delicious. Hope you'll like it.

Cherry Tart With Pistachio Frangipane, Meringue and Crunchy Almonds
Recipe adapted from Christine Ferber's Morello Cherry Tart With Crunchy Almonds

300 grams rich flaky pastry with pistachios and praline paste, recipe follows

500 grams pistachios frangipane, recipe follows

750 grams pitted fresh cherry

20 whole fresh cherries, to decorate (optional)

1/2 tbs confectioners' sugar, for springkling (optional)

For the crunchy almonds

100 grams slivered almonds

100 grams confectioners' sugar

1 egg white

For the meringue

3 egg whites

130 grams extra-fine sugar

The day before planning to make this tart, make the rich flaky pastry.

The following day, grease a 10 inches tart pan with butter. Set aside.

Roll out flaky pastry to 13 inches in diameter, and little more then 1/16 inch thick. Transfer onto prepared tart pan. Trim off the exces. Using a fork, prick all over the bottom, cover with plastic - refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 F

Blind bake tart shell for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let it cool.

When tart shell is cooled, filled with pistachio frangipane. Arrange cherries on top, pressing them slightly into the frangipane. Bake tart in the middle rack for 45 minutes until the edge of the crust is lightly golden. Remove from oven and cool it down.

Lower the oven to 325F.

Prepare the meringue. Using electric mixer with medium speed, beat egg whites until foamy. Slowly in a steady stream add the sugar, increase the speed to medium high, and continue to beat until the whites are firm. Transfer into pastry bag with a large pain tip.

In a small bowl, gently mix slivered almond, confectioners' sugar, and egg white.

Pipe the meringue onto cooled tart, distribute almonds mixture on top. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the meringue and almonds are crunchy and golden color. Remove from oven, un mold, and place it on a wire rack to cool down completely before serving.

Rich Flaky Pastry With Praline Paste and Pistachio

250 grams pastry flour

25 grams finely ground pistachios

2 grams salt

90 grams confectioners' sugar

150 grams softened butter

1 egg, lightly beaten with fork

15 grams praline paste, or ground caramelized almonds

5 grams vanilla sugar

Sift flour, ground pistachio, and salt onto kitchen counter top. Make a well in the middle.

Using rubber spatula, or wooden spoon, beat butter, confectioners' sugar, praline paste, and vanilla sugar until creamy. Transfer this mixture into the well. Gather the flour a little at the time toward the center by rubbing the mixture between your fingers until form a coarse meal. When you are done, make another well, pour beaten egg int the middle. incorporate this mixture together by bringing flour mixture toward the center. Now, lightly knead the dough, just enough to bring them together, make sure that you don't overwork it. Form the dough into a ball, wrap with plastic, then refrigerate overnight, or at least 3 hours.

Pistachio Frangipane

150 grams softened butter

120 grams confectioners' sugar

150 grams ground pistachios

60 grams flour

3 eggs

Mix flour and ground pistachio together. Set aside.

Using electric mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar on medium to medium high speed until light and creamy. Add eggs, continue to beat for about 30 seconds. Lower the speed to the lowest setting. Add flour - pistachio mixture, mix just until incorporated.

Battenburg Cake

2011-06-10T07:31:00.000-07:00

Classic, pretty, and delicious specialty from England. Love eating it with a cup of tea of course. Is not as hard as you might think. Really!

Battenburg Cake

recipe adapted from Claire Clark's Indulge

makes 2 cakes

480 g softened unsalted butter

480 g caster sugar

8 medium eggs

2 tsp vanilla

480 g flour

20 g baking powder

red food coloring

yellow food coloring

For finishing

1 jar apricot preserved, or raspberry preserved

100 g icing sugar

750 g marzipan

Preheat oven to 350F

Grease a 10 X 12 inch cake pan, line with parchment paper, grease the paper as well. Because the batter will be divided into 2 color, you will need a nother piece of parchment paper that will act as a divider. Please visit here on how to. If you have battenburg tin, prepare it according to manufacture's instructions

Sift flour and baking powder onto a piece of parchment paper twice. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, lightly whisk eggs and vanilla. Set aside.

Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until pale and puffy. Add egg a little at a time, beating well after each addition. Don't forget to scrape the bowl from time to time. Turn off the mixer.

Fold flour carefully using a large spatula into cream mixture in three addition. Do not overmix.

Divide batter in two equal portions. Add a drop of red food coloring in one batter, and yellow to the other. Be very gently not to handle the mixture too heavily.

Transfer the batter onto prepared pan. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until the cake spring back when gently press. Leave the cake to cool in the pan. Once cooled, refrigerate for at least an hour, but it will be easier to assemble if leave for 24 hours.

To assemble

Turn the cake onto a clean tray, remove the paper.

Heat apricot, or raspberry preserve until very hot, strain into a bowl.

Using a sharp serrated knife, trim off the edge and the top of of the cake (the brown and hard part from the cake), so you will have flat and even cake. Now cut it into equals strips about an inch wide. Watch the video here. Brush each pieces of the strip with preserve apricot, or raspberry. Arrange them neatly so you will have yellow, and pink in the bottom, then pink and yellow on top, or vise versa. Using the same knife, cut the cake into two equal portions.

Dust work surface with icing sugar. Roll out marzipan into 1/8 inch thick. Brush with hot preserved. Lay one cake on top, cover entirely with marzipan. Repeat in the same manner with the other cake.

Korvapuustit - Finnish Cinnamon Buns

2011-06-01T10:00:00.000-07:00

I want to share a delicious recipe that I found at Rosa's website. The way she describe this buns was so convincing that I couldn't resist of not trying it in my own kitchen. Like she said, this Finnish buns were delicious, and addictive. I had to control myself to not over indulged, of course that was not happen. I ate so many of these buns, so did the my whole family. We were so satisfied! Thank you Rosa.

As usual, I add my own twist by adding citrus zest to the dough, and omitted the cardamom. I also add dried cranberries, currants, and raisins for the filling. Hope you will try the recipe!

For YeastSpotting!

Summer Berries and Golden Kiwi Tart With Lemon Verbena Crème Pâtissière

2011-05-22T04:34:00.000-07:00

This is my adaptation of Christine Farber's Custard Tart With Spring Fruits from her Mes Tartes book, which by the way, the book that I really adore and use it a lot to make sweet and savory tart. The original recipe for pastry cream only uses fresh vanilla bean for flavoring, but I substituted vanilla with lemon verbena from my garden. As for the fruits, I suppose you can use any kind of your favorite fruit combination. But for now, I just want to enjoy as much berries as I can, while they are still plenty in the farmer's market.

Summer Berries and Golden Kiwi Tart With Lemon Verbena Creme Pâtissière

Recipe adapted from Christine Farber's book, Mes Tartes

Make 1 (10 inch) tart

450 g sweet pastry, recipe follows

500 g Lemon Verbena Creme Pâtissière, recipe follows

200 - 225 g red raspberry

100 g wild blueberry

3 golden kiwis, peeled - sliced

4 - 5 strawberries, halved

Roll out sweet pastry to fit a 10 inch tart pan. Trim off the excess. Prick all over with fork, refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Bake tart for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, then paint the pastry using pastry brush with lightly beaten egg, it helps the pastry from being soggy when fill with custard, and keep its crunch. Return it to the oven, continue to bake for another 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, un mold, then transfer the tart shell onto wire rack to cool completely. Once the tart shell is cooled, fill with crème pâtissière, and the fruits. Start with raspberries, golden kiwis, wild blueberries, and strawberry slices. Serve immediately.

Sweet Pastry

500 g pastry flour

150 g confectioner's sugar

300 g butter, cut into large chunks

2 eggs, lightly beaten with fork

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbs vanilla sugar

Place all ingredients in a food processor, pulse a few seconds until the dough almost comes together, it's okay if a few chunks of butter still visible here and there. This will make the pastry even more tender and flakier. Gather the dough and form into ball, then flatten it into a disc. Wrap with plastic, refrigerate at least for 3 hours, or overnight.

For Lemon Verbena crème pâtissière

500 g (2 cups + 2 tbs) whole milk

3 leaves lemon fresh verbena

125 g extra-fine sugar

5 egg yolks

50 g whipping cream

40 g potato starch or corn starch

Bring the milk, 60 g sugar, and the lemon verbena to simmer in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan, remove from the heat, and over the pan to infused the verbena.

Meanwhile, combine the remaining sugar with potato or cornstarch. Add the egg yolks and whipping cream. Using a whisk, mix well to make sure there aren't any lump left.

Discard the verbena leaves. Slowly add the milk to the egg mixture, keep whisking while you do this. Pour the mixture back to the pan, return it to the stove and set it over medium heat. Whisk constantly until the mixture starts to boil. Turn the heat to low, let it simmer for 10 minutes while still stirring constantly. The cream should be thick and smooth.

Pour the cream into a bowl. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on pastry cream to prevent skin forming. let it cool at room temperature. Once cooled, chill in the refrigerator, ideally 24 hour before using.

Kue Nastar, Indonesian Pineapple Cookies

2011-05-15T07:38:00.000-07:00

This little morsels of sweet, fragrant (thanks to that tiny little bud called clove), and exotic flavor of Indonesian mini cookies are truly moreish. After few attempts, and tried so many recipes from internet without any success, I finally able to make it using my own basic pastry base, and feel pretty satisfied with the result. It is not difficult to make, but it does take a bit of time to make pineapple jam, and to shape them into nice roundish ball. Hope you will like it.

Kue Nastar, Indonesian Pineapple Cookies
makes 28 to 29 small cookies

For pineapple jam
550 grams pineapple chunks (from 1 large fresh, peeled, and cored pineapple)
75 grams sugar

For pastry
254 grams all-purposed unbleached flour
65 grams confectioner's sugar
1/4 tsp salt
4 oz unsalted butter, cut into large chunks
zest 1 large orange
2 egg yolks
2 tbs milk

For egg wash
1 egg yolk
1 tsp milk

Additional ingredient : 28 - 29 cloves

Puree pineapple chunks using food processor or a blender. Transfer to sauce pan, add sugar, then cook on a medium heat until all liquid has evaporated. Lower the heat to low, continue to cook until its thicken and a little drier then the consistency of regular jam. Remove from the heat, cool completely. Scoop out about 6 grams, and make a round ball, place it on a plate. repeat with remaining jam. Set aside

Place pastry ingredients in a food processor, pulse a few seconds until it is starting to come together. Take about 16 grams of dough, flatten it, place pineapple round in the center. Enclose the filling, form into round ball. Arrange neatly on a baking sheet. Repeat until all dough and jams have been used up.

Cover the sheet with plastic wrap, refrigerate for an hour, or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl, whisk the yolk and milk together.

Brush each cookie with egg wash, then top with clove if desire. Bake in the center oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden to your liking. Cool completely before serving.

Chocolate-Raspberry Layer Cake With Sarah Bernhardt Chocolate Glaze

2011-05-10T16:55:00.000-07:00

Raspberry seem to have a short season, fortunately I still see plenty of them in the grocery store. I must admit that they are quite pricy, but to make this great cake, it is okay to splurge a little bit. The cake is actually not that complicated to make. All components can be made ahead, and the best part is you don't need to make complicated decoration for topping. Just a simple fresh raspberries is enough to impress your guest. Hope you like it.

Chocolate-Raspberry Layer Cake
Recipe adapted from Bon Appétit, June 2010
makes one 9 inch cake

For the cake
2 cups unbleached all purposed flour
1¾ cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup water
3/4 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs

For chocolate ganache and raspberry topping
10 ounces bittersweet chocolate - cut into bits
1¼ cups heavy whipping cream
6 tbs seedless raspberry jam
12 ounces fresh raspberries

For Sarah Bernhardt chocolate glaze

recipe adapted from Alice Medrich's BitterSweet

makes 1⅔ cups

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, cut into bits

12 tbs unsalted butter

1 tbs light corn syrup

5 tsp water

To make the cake

Position rack in the middle of oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease two 9 x 2 inch cake pans with butter, or oil, line the bottoms with parchment papers, grease the papers as well.

Sift flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into large bowl. Whisk and form a well in the center.

Break eggs in another bowl, whisk lightly. Add water, buttermilk, and oil. Mix to blend. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients. Whisk just to incorporate ingredients.

Divide the batter among prepared pans. Bake for 30 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean when inserted in the middle of the cake. If cake forms domed, place clean kitchen towel atop hot cakes, then gently press with palm of hand to level them out. Cool completely in the pans on a cooling rack.

To make chocolate ganache

Place chopped chocolate into a bowl. Bring heavy cream just to a boil. Pour on top of chocolate, let stand for a minute, then stir until chocolate is completely melted and smooth. Put aside 1/3 cup of ganache onto small bowl, and leave it at room temperature. Refrigerate the rest of ganache until thick enough to spread, stirring occasionally, about an hour.

To Assembly

Carefully invert one cake onto a cake cardboard, peel off parchment paper. Spread 3 tablespoon raspberry jam on top. Spoon the chilled ganache on top, using metal spatula spread evenly. Invert the other cake onto cardboard, peel off parchment paper. Carefully slice it on top of ganache. Spread the remaining 3 tablespoon raspberry jam on top.

Spread a thin layer of 1/3 cup remaining ganache on top and the side of the cake. This layer is called the crumb coat, the main purpose is to smooth out any uneven surface, and fills any cracks. Freeze the cake until the ganache is set, about 15 - 30 minutes.

Meanwhile make the chocolate glaze.

Place a skillet on the stove set on a medium heat. Add about an inch of water and bring to a gentle simmer, then turn the heat to low.

Place all ingredients in a heatproof bowl. Set the bowl over the skillet of barely simmering water. Stir continuously until chocolate is melted. Remove from the heat, stir once or twice until perfectly smooth. Cool the glaze to 88 to 90- degrees F to make a perfectly shiny glaze.

Place the cake on round wire rack, and set the rack on top of baking sheet. Pour the glaze over the center of the cake. Shake the rack gently to even out the glaze, letting it drip down the side of the cake. If there are any bare spot left uncoated, use the spatula to scoop out excess glaze, and cover those spot. Refrigerate the cake until glaze is set. Once set, decorate with fresh raspberry in concentric circle.

Citrusy Ricotta Pound Cake Serve With Poached Kumquats

2011-04-30T09:21:00.000-07:00

I love all kind of citruses, They are one of the most fragrant and delicious fruit on earth in my opinion. The blossoms, the peels, the fruits, and even the leaf, everything about citrus is wonderfully fragrant. This is why I try to grow them in my back yard. The other thing I like about it is, that they are continuesly working hard, as soon as you finish harvest the fruit, next thing you know is there tiny blossom appear, then when the blossom open up, the air fill perfumed with sweetly fragrant that make me want to sleep right underneath the tree :) And the best part? The family deer, and other creature in my back yard don't seem interested in nibbling it.

I found the recipe for this ricotta pound cake on Mercury News where they adapted the recipe from Gina de Palma's book, Dolce Italiano. As usual, I adapted the recipe by adding different kind of citrus zests. I also served it with poached kumquats which were really delicious, like biting into delicious chewy caramel citrus candy.

Citrusy Ricotta Pound Cake Serve With Poached Kumquats

recipe adapted from Mercury News

makes 1 regular size loaf

1 1/2 cup cake flour

2½ tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup (1½ sticks) Unsalted butter

1½ cup fresh whole-milk ricotta

1½ cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1 vanilla pod, scraped the beans - reserve the shell for poaching kumquats

grated zest from 2 Meyer lemons, optional

grated zest from 1 Cara Cara Orange, or regular orange

poach kumquats, recipe follows, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease a 9-inch loaf pan with butter, line the bottom and the side with parchment paper, grease the paper as well. Set aside

Sift together cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Using paddle attachment on your electric mixer, beat unsalted butter, sugar, whole-milk ricotta, and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, one at a time, beating well after each addition, scrape the side of the bowl from time to time if necessary. Add citrus zests, mix to combine. Turn the speed to low, add flour, mix just enough to incorporate the dry ingredients, about 30 seconds. Do not overmix.

Pour the batter into prepared pan. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, or until tooth pick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack.

To serve, cut the cake into slices, serve with poached kumquats.

Making any poached seasonal fruit is no brainer really, just cut or slice any fruit you like and poach them with a little bit water and some sugar, add vanilla or even some liqueur if you fancy.

Poached Kumquat

1 pint kumquat

1/2 - 3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

vanilla shell that you reserved earlier

Place everything in a sauce pan, turn the heat to medium high, and bring to a boil. As soon as it boils, turn the heat to low, simmer until it becomes sirupy, and kumquat is tender, about 10 - 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool completely.

Buttery Blackberry and Crème Fraîche Cake

2011-04-22T00:01:00.000-07:00

Marvelous cake, super easy and quick to make, I love the buttery taste that literally just melt in your mouth. Each ingredient has it own purpose, orange zest add fragrant, sweet smelling deliciousness, making pretty irresistible; crème fraîche not only add smoothness, but also make the cake more moist; and finally blackberries perfected the flavor, not too tart, but pleasantly sweet and tangy, plus it's so pretty when you slice the cake, you get that random pattern from the berries. Hope you'll be tempted enough to try to make this cake.

Buttery Blackberry and Creme Fraiche Cake

make one 10 inches loaf

250 g self-raising flour

175 g cold unsalted butter

175 g turbinado sugar
pinch of salt

1 tsb baking powder

zest of 1 orange

2 large eggs

213 g crème fraîche

1 tsp vanilla extract

342 g blackberries, rinse and pat dry with paper towel

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease a 4.5 x 10 inches loaf pan with butter, Cut a 9 x 15 inches parchment paper, then line the bottom and the sides of the loaf pan with it, let it hang over on both sides. You will need this paper to help you to lift up the cake. Now brush the paper with butter. Set aside.

Place self-raising flour, butter, turbinado sugar, salt, baking powder, and orange zest in a food processor. Pulse a few seconds until mixture resemble a fine crumbs. Measure 1/2 cup + 1 tbs and set aside for the topping. If you don't own a food processor, you can rub the ingredients together using your hands.

In large bowl, crack the eggs, add crème fraîche, and vanilla extract. Mix using rubber spatula until well combine. Add the fine crumb mixture (do not include the one you reserve for topping), fold just to wet the ingredients. Add blackberries, mix carefully so they don't break apart. Transfer to prepared loaf pan, sprinkle in the remaining crumbs mixture that you save aside earlier.

Bake for 50 minutes to an hour, or until tooth pick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from oven, let cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Loosen the narrow sides of the cake with spatula if necessary, lift the paper, and place it directly onto wire rack. Let the cake cool completely before serving.

Quinoa Banana Bread With Dried Apricot and Orange Flavored Cranberry

2011-04-19T10:56:00.000-07:00

Healthy, delicious, and quick bread that is easy to make in one morning. Perfect companion for an afternoon tea or coffee.

Quinoa Banana Bread With Dried Apricot and Orange Flavored Cranberry
recipe adapted from Wholefood's Recipe
make 1 loaf

3/4 cup quinoa flour
1/2 cup garbanzo flour
1/3 cup tapioca flour
1/3 cup potato flour
pinch of salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cups turbinado sugar
3 very ripe bananas, mashed
2 large eggs
1 large orange, zested
1/3 cup canola oil + more for brushing the pan
1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup (or more) dried apricot, cut into small pieces

1/3 cup (or more) dried orange-flavored cranberry or regular dried cranberry

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Brush a 4.5 inch x 10 inch loaf pan with vegetable oil, line with a piece parchment paper, and grease the paper as well.

In a large bowl, mix quinoa, garbanzo, tapioca, potato flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.

In a small bowl, add turbinado sugar, mashed bananas, eggs, orange zest, canola oil, and vanilla extract. Mix using a hand whisk. Pour into dry ingredients, mix just to weet the dry ingredients. Gently fold in dried apricot, and dried cranberry. Do not over mix.

Transfer onto prepared loaf pan. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until tooth pick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Remove from oven, cool in the pan for 3 minutes. Invert onto a wire rack, cool completely. Just before serving, sift in confectioner's sugar if you wish.

World FIGOLLI Day

2011-04-17T18:18:00.000-07:00

This is my contribution to World Figolli Day created by Nanette of Gourmet Worrier. I used the recipe provided by her, and I must admit that I am now addicted to Figolli. Everything about it is every bite delicious. The making process was painless, I had fun to decorate them as well. If you are interested of making Figolli, please visit Nannette blog for the recipe.

To Nanette, thank you so much for introducing me to this delicious and addictive Figolli. Thank you and I guess I'll see you next year :)

Baba Au Rhum

2011-04-11T11:41:00.000-07:00

I think Baba is the most delicious yeasted cake I have ever known, it is also one of my favorite thing to eat. I can gobbling this like I have never eaten any food in years. It's true! I can really really eat a lot of Baba, Savarin, or any yeasted cake soaked in rhum. Of course I have my favorite way of eating it too, lightly soaked is my way as I am not too keen of anything too sweet, then adding lots of berries is always please me, not to mention eating it with smooth creme chantilly can be dangerously moreish. But to day, I just go simply with berries. Hmmm, I can't even stop myself from salivating while typing this post :) Hope you like it.

Baba Au Rhum

Recipe adapted from Anne Willan's, The Country Cooking Of France

makes 12 medium babas

2 cups all-purposed flour

2 tsp SAF yeast

1 tsp salt

3 eggs

3 tbs rhum

3 tbs filtered water

1/2 cup (4 oz) butter, soften at room temperature, plus more for the molds

Rhum syrup, recipe follows

Place flour, yeast, and salt in a mixer bowl. Mix the ingredients using a spoon.

In a small bowl, lightly beaten the eggs, add rhum and water, mix to combine. Pour into mixer bowl. Using dough hook, knead for 3 minutes. Gradually add butter about a tablespoon at a time. Increase the speed to medium speed, continue to knead until the dough is elastic and smooth, about 3 to 5 minutes more.

Gather the dough into round ball, and transfer to a clean bowl. Cover, and let rest until double in size. About 1 to 2 hours.

Meanwhile, grease each baba mold generously with butter.

Turn the dough out onto kitchen counter top, then lightly knead to knock out the air. Divide into 12 equal portions, shape into round balls, and place them onto each mold. Cover - let rest for another hour, or until molds are full.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Bake babas until golden, about 25 to 30 minutes. Turn into wire rack to cool completely. When ready to serve, soak babas in hot Rhum syrup, make sure that baba absorbed as much syrup as possible (that, if you like it very sweet), other wise just soak them lightly (that's what I always do). Serve with fresh berries, or creme chantilly if desire.

Rhum Syrup

2 cups sugar
3 cups water
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup dark rum, according to your taste

Heat sugar and water in a sauce pan until sugar is dissolved. Then, bring to a rapid boil for about 2 to 3 minutes, or until it becomes sirupy. Remove sauce pan from the heat, stir in the rum.

For YeastSpotting!

Chocolate Puff Pastry With Pear and Almond Frangipane

2011-04-08T00:01:00.000-07:00

When I saw Zoe's posted "pear gallette", a recipe from Michele Gayer earlier this year, January to be exact, first thing came in my mind was, to make chocolate puff pastry again, then use that as the base for the gallette. I made my pastry that day, then I stored it the freezer. What I needed was just to buy couple of pears, then I was set. So I thought! The problem with fruit like pear in my family, it never lasted that long, we always end up eating it for a snack right away, and I never had the chance to turned it into something more delicious like this galette. Months passed by so quickly without I realize it, and my pastry has long expired as it is April already. Not wanting to throw away my hard labor, I went to grocery store pretty early on Friday morning, I bought couples of pears, straight back home and poached it immediately. This was good, because no one was at home, and I got to work peacefully, and not to worry that someone might want to have a taste of my poached pear. Glad that I finally made it, the galette was every bite delicious. I can't thank Zoe enough for her inspiring post on Michele Gayer's "Pear Galette". Thank you both!

Chocolate puff pastry might be not available in the store, at least not that I'm aware of and I never really seen it in my neighborhood store so far, so you either make it yourself, or use regular pastry instead. I also poached the pear first, just because I like it that way, you can also skip the poaching process like the one that Zoe posted on her blog. I hope you like it.

Note:

When I baked this pastry, the almond frangipane started to flow over the sides of puff pastry, I think next time I would make the shell differently. Instead of rolling it into a disc then elongates into oval shape, I probably make it into pastry shell like I would made vols au vent. If you don't want your frangipane to flow over the sides of each pastry when you bake it, make shells instead. Please visit here if you don't know how. This way, you won't lose some of your delicious frangipane like mine. Or, perhaps use less frangipane, and place it in the middle of pastry, top with poached pear, cut side up, like the one show on Zoe's post.

Chocolate Puff Pastry With Pear and Almond Frangipane
Recipe inspired by Zoe's Pear Gallette from The Salty Tart
makes 6

490 g (17.3 oz) chocolate puff pastry (recipe follows), or 2 sheets regular puff pastry. Thaw if frozen.

For poached pear:
3 ripe but still firm Bosch pears
750 ml (1 bottle) good quality white wine of your preference
1/2 cup sugar
vanilla bean, scraped

For frangipane:
1/2 cup butter, soften at room temperature
1/2 cup caster sugar
2 medium eggs, lightly beaten with fork
1 tbs orange blossom water
2½ cup almond meal
2½ tbs all-purposed flour
1/2 tsp salt

To serve:
Apricot preserve, optional

To make poached pear:
Peel, and cut the pear in half, using melon baller core and discard the seeds. Place them in a large pot, pour in white wine, add sugar and vanilla bean. Place the pot over medium low heat, simmer until pears are slightly tender, about 30 to 40 minutes. Turn off the heat, cool completely.

To make frangipane:
Sift almond meal, all-purposed flour, and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

Using paddle attachment on electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium high speed until light and fluffy, add egg in two additions, beating well after each addition. Scarpe the side of the bowl if necessary. Turn the speed to low, add almond meal mixture, mix to blend. Refrigerate will working on puff pastry.

To assemble: please read my note above before assemble it!

Roll out puff pastry to about a 1/4 inch thick, cut into 5-inch discs. Working with one disc at a time, roll it out until it elongates into an oval shape, about 7-inch long. Don't roll all the way to ends, so the ends will puff up higher then the middle. Transfer to baking sheet, repeat with the rest of puff pastry. Refrigerate 30 to 45 minutes. If there is any left over pastry, wrap, and save it for other use.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Using clean kitchen towel, or paper towel, lightly pat dry poached pears and transfer into a plate.

Fill each pastry with (more or less) 3 tablespoons almond frangipane, top with poached pear cut side down. Bake 25 - 35 minutes, until golden brown and puffy.

Transfer to a wire rack, and cool completely. Right before serving, brush each pastry with warm apricot preserved if desire.

Chocolate Puff Pastry

recipe adapted from Piere Hermé book's Chocolate Dessert, and from Fanny's technique on how to "Mastering puff pastry, step by step"

makes 2 ¾ pounds

For the dough:

3 cups (420 g) all-purposed flour

3/4 cup (185 g) cold water, plus more as needed, about 2 -3 tbs

2 tsp salt

5 tbs (2½ oz; 70 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

For the butter packet:

3¾ cup (15 oz; 425 g) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup (50 g) Dutch-processed cocoa powder (Valrhona, if possible)

To make dough packet:

Put flour on a kitchen counter top, and make a well in the center.

To make butter packet:

Using paddle attachment on an electric mixer, beat butter until smooth, but not airy. Add cocoa powder, continue to process just enough to blend them together.

To roll and turn:

Millet, Hazelnut, and Banana Muffins

2011-04-04T17:32:00.000-07:00

Banana and Hazelnut Muffins

make 12 muffins

1 cup millet flour, or all-purposed flour
1/2 cup ground hazelnuts
1/2 tbs baking powder
pinch of salt, to taste
1/3 cup brown sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup sour cream
2 tbs hazelnut, or canola oil
2 medium size bananas, mashed
2 tbs honey, optional

Preheat oven to 350⁰F.

Line a muffin tin with 12 paper cups.

In a bowl, mix flour, hazelnut, baking powder together. Set aside

In another bowl, beat brown sugar and the egg until well combined. Add vanilla extract, sour cream, and mashed banana, mix to combine. Gently fold in flour mixture just enough to wet the dry ingredients. Do not over mix, or your muffin will be rubbery.

Divide batter evenly among prepared paper cups, drizzle the tops with a little bit honey if desire. Bake for 20-30 minutes.

Rewena Paraoa (Maori bread) For BBBabes

2011-03-30T17:14:00.000-07:00

Phew, I finally made my Rewena Paraoa (Maori bread) For BBBabes, I am very late, but I made it. If nothing was wrong with my starter on the first day, or second day, I could have made it before the deadline, which was yesterday, the 29th. I do hope Lien will forgive me for this, as I promised her that I will participate.

I started to make my starter on Sunday afternoon, I followed the recipe to the letter, and was full of hope. Monday evening, nothing happened to my starter, no bubbles, not even one tiny bubble. I saw that my starter turned into somewhat bluish color, and some liquid pooling around the edge. I was worried, and I thought about dumping the whole thing and just start over. Then, I decided to see if the whole starter was actually turned blue, I was so glad it didn't. So, I discarded the top layer including the liquid around the edge, and transfer the bottom layer into another glass jar. I was full of hope once again. But then, lost my hope (again) the next day as nothing was happened, once again. I was surprised why didn't I just give up?. Perhaps, I was in a state positive mind, which was pretty bizarre considering how easily I give up with things that doesn't work or difficult to do. This time, I told myself maybe miracle would happen on Wednesday! So, on Wednesday morning, as soon as I got up, I checked my starter. Voila, my starter greeted me with smile. Those bubbles were the pretties I've ever seen in my life (I am exaggerating). I made the bread immediately.

Now, since I discarded some of the starter due to that disturbing color, I did not have the exact amount as needed in the recipe (330 grams). When I knead the dough it was a little bit on the drier side, I assumed that this occur because of the amount of starter I used. To resolved this, I added a little bit of water a spoonful at a time. I didn't really remember how much water it was, as I just went by the feel of what I think was the right dough consistency.

As for the stenciling, I used my fava bean leaf for pattern, then cover it with black sesame seeds. it turned out pretty good. This is probably not the traditional way of making your Rewena Paraoa though, I am sure Lien wouldn't mind that I played around a little bit with the design.

Texture was really great, as chewy as I like it, with its nice open crumbs, tasted really really delicious with hint of potato and perfumed with rosemary, so what not to like?

I'd like to thank Lien for introducing this wonderful Maori bread, thank you. To view for full recipe, please visit Lien at Notitie Van Lien.

For BBBabes and YeastSpotting!

Blueberry and Sour Cream Muffins

2011-03-25T00:01:00.000-07:00

This recipe was given to me on a piece of paper by an old friend of mine, that unfortunately, I have no idea where the recipe came from. I do remember that she got the recipe from her friend, and her friend got it from hers. My guess, this recipe was passed from friend to friends. Since this is truly a delicious muffins, I pass along this recipe to all of you. I hope you like it.

Blueberry and Sour Cream Muffins
yield 18

150 g butter, softened at room temperature

150 g brown sugar

2 eggs

300 g sour cream

200 g all-purpose flour

1 tbs baking powder

60 g roll oats

312 g fresh blueberry

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Line muffin tins with paper cup. Set aside.

Sift all-purposed flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Beat butter, brown sugar, and sour cream until fluffy, add egg one at a time. Scrape the side of the bowl from time to time if necessary. Turn off the machine.

Using rubber spatula, a or wooden spoon, fold in flour, and roll oats. Then, gently mix in blueberries (so you won't break them). Do not over mix.

Divide among prepared muffin paper cups, bake for 20 - 25 minutes until a tooth pick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Japanese Sweet Bread Filled With Azuki Bean Paste

2011-03-16T11:01:00.000-07:00

Our heart still filled with sadness from what has happened in Japan in the last few days. We all know, it will take years to rebuilt the country, even more years, if that, even possible to erase those horrid images. Despite all that, we shall not lose our hope!

Today, I made Japanese sweet bread filled with Azuki bean paste, one of the many wonderful recipe this country has contribute to our world cuisine. It is through its simplicity, subtleness, and the delicate presentation, Japanese food captures and wins many of our hearts.

Japanese Sweet Bread Filled With Azuki Bean Paste

recipe adapted from Corner Cafe, Jude, and from Kristy for shaping

1 recipe for basic Japanese sweet dough

1 recipe for Azuki bean paste (I chose chunkier version)

milk for brushing

Follow the recipe for basic Japanese style soft bun as directed through step #3.

Fill a muffin pans with paper cups. set aside.

After the dough has rested for 10 minutes, take one piece of dough, flatten it slightly, then fill with 1 to 2 teaspoons Azuki bean paste. Enclose the filling, then, either go to Kristy's blog on how to shape, or make a simpler one by shaping them into a round ball. Place the bun directly on a paper cup. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Cover muffin pans with clean kitchen towels. Let rest in a warm room temperature for an hour. Reserve any leftover paste for other use.

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Brush each bun with milk, bake for 12 to 15 minutes until golden.

For YeastSpotting.

This sweet bread is truly delicious, it so soft, and airy, and texture is pretty delicate. The Azuki bean paste is so delicious, that I wish I could have filled each bread with more then 2 teaspoons.

Stacey's Clementines Olive Oil Cake

2011-03-11T00:01:00.001-08:00

I love everything about this cake, the intense yellow color, the fragrant that the citruses give followed by subtle taste of olive oil, and lastly, the amazingly moist and delicious crumbs, almost like eating good pound cake. Oh, not to mention the fact that it really feels less guilt of eating it too. If you are a person who enjoy eating cake more then three times a week (me), then this is a bliss, if you know what I mean.

The recipe comes from Stacey, who once convinced that she didn't like to bake. Not anymore, in fact, she quite likes to bake. She has recipes that she tweaked from other fellow blogger, her favorite restaurant, or most impressively the one she created herself. This Clementines and Olive oil cake is one proof of her creativity.

As many of recipes I adapted from others, I couldn't help but adding my own twist by adding a little bit of poppy seeds in it. I hope you will like this cake as much as I do.

Stacey's Clementines Olive Oil Cake

recipe adapted from Stacey's blog

yield 1 loaf cake

1½ cups all-purposed flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

pinch of salt (I used 1/2 teaspoon)

1½ tablespoon poppy seeds, optional (Stacey recipe doesn't have poppy seeds)

3 clementines, zested

zest of 3 clementines

1¼ cups sugar

2 eggs

3/4 cup mild Italian olive oil (I used Spanish extra virgin from TJ's)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Brush a 10 inch (4½-inch x 10-inch) loaf pan with olive oil, lay a piece of parchment paper on top, oiled the paper as well. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, poppy seeds, and clementine zests. Mix well, set aside.

Peel the clementines, place them in the food processor bowl. Process to make a puree or pulpy juice. Measure 2/3 cup of this pulpy juice, set aside any left over for other use (I drank it). Return the pulpy juice to food processor, add sugar, eggs, and olive oil. Whirl a few seconds until well blended. Pour this mixture into dry ingredients. Using rubber spatula, mix just enough to incorporate the ingredients. Do not overmix.

Pour the batter into prepared pan. Bake 50 to 55 minutes until tooth pick inserted in the middle comes out clean, it's okay if a few crumbs cling to it. Cool completely, serve the next day if you can wait that long. Which, I doubt that will happen.

Cassava (Yuca) Buns

2011-03-07T08:02:00.000-08:00

I've made bread using potato, sweet potato, purple potato, pumpkin, butternut squash, but never made cassava bread. For such a long time I have been meaning of making it, but there was always something get it my way. Actually, most often, the steam cassava would get eaten, or tuned into another snack. This time though, my mind was set, and as soon as my cassava ready to be mashed, I immediately prepared the ingredients, this way I wouldn't change my mind again. Glad I finally did it!

The verdict? Faintly hint of cassava was a little disappointment, but then again, in my opinion, cassava itself is almost tasteless if eaten alone. I am not saying that this bun wasn't good. In fact, it was pretty delicious, the texture was tender just like brioche, although not as rich. So, here is the recipe of my first trial on cassava or yuca buns.

Cassava (Yuca) Brioche

makes 12

3 ½ cups all-purposed flour

2 cups mashed Cassava root, read note below

1 tsp salt

3 tbs sugar

1 ¼ tsp osmotolerant yeast (I used SAF)

2 large eggs, lighlty beaten

1 cup water

3 tbs unsalted butter

Confectioner's sugar for serving, optional

Place the flour, mashed cassava, salt, sugar, and the yeast in a mixer bowl, stir using a spoon until well mix. Add eggs and water. Knead using dough hook on low speed for 10 minutes. Add butter in three additions, continue to knead until butter well incorporated, and the dough is elastic and smooth, about 5 minutes more.

Gather the dough into round ball, place it in a large container. Cover with plastic wrap, let it rest for an hour, or until double in size.

Take the dough out from the container, fold into it self once. Let rest for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, brush brioche molds with butter, place them on a baking sheet. If you don't have the mold, you can use muffin tin.

Divide the dough into 12 equal sizes, about 86 to 88 grams each. Shape into roundball, and place it in prepared brioche mold. Repeat until you use up all dough. Cover with a clean kitchen towel, let rest for another hour until double in size.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Bake in the middle rack for 17 to 20 minutes, until nicely brown. Un mold brioches, and let cool on a wire rack. If desire, sprinkle with confectioner's sugar before serving. It's delicious to serve with any kind of jams.

Note:

To make mashed cassava, first you have to peel the tough outer layer bark from the tuber, cut the tuber into a large chunks, then steam until very tender (but, not until mushy). Let it cool completely at room temperature, mashed using food mill, potato masher, or simply using fork will work as well. Please don't use food processor as this will make gooey, wetter, even rubbery bread.

If you never tried cassava or yuca before, and want to learn more about it, Saveur has good article and recipe that you can read.

For YeastSpotting.

Peter Reinhart's Challah

2011-02-28T10:23:00.000-08:00

I actually made this Challah while back when I saw a post by Marlene Newell on Michael Rulhman's blog. She adapted the recipe from "Artisan Breads Everyday" by Peter Reinhart, which fortunately I happen to own this book as well. Although I make Challah on a regular basis, I never really used Peter Reinhart's book. So this time, I thought I gave it a try.

I halved the recipe as the original recipe will yield 2 large loafs, which would be too much for our small family. I absolutely couldn't get over how delicious it was, it was really similar to brioche that almost everyone adore. Having said that, you may not too surprise to learn how many egg yolks actually needed for the recipe (I used 5 extra large). The recipe also used oil, which I never really did on my challah. Now you understand why I like it, eggs, honey, oil, no wonder it was that good. I can assure you that from now on I am going to use this recipe whenever I need to bake Challah.

Tempted, and want to make this Challah? Well, you can either purchase Peter Reinhart's book or books, or go to Michael Ruhlman's blog for the recipe. Thanks Marlene Newell who made me tempted to try the recipe. If she didn't post this Challah, I would probably never made it! Lastly, thanks to you all for reading this.

Worth to share with YeastSpotting gals!

Rosemary-Lemon Knot Rolls

2011-02-19T17:04:00.000-08:00

This aromatic roll is incredibly delicious, not just delicious it's fragrant as well. If you are a regular reader of my blog, you probably notice that I always attracted to anything fragrant. I can not believe how easy, quick, and no hazle it was to make a such delicious roll, all ingredients were within my reach, and I made it in a flash. As soon as it came out from the oven, I took a few photos immediately so I can share it with you before it really disappear completely. When I type this post, I had already eaten 4 rolls. It was that good! And you must take my word for it. The recipe came from Donna Hay's Rosemary Bread rolls that I have been meaning of making it for such a long time. Like most of you, I too like to adapted the recipe to my own personal taste. Of course you have the choice of using her recipe, or you are very welcome to use my adaptation. Oh, one last thing, I think I'd double the recipe next time, because if I can eat more then 4 rolls, God knows how many of this roll my husband will eat. Hope you like it.

Rosemary-Lemon Knot Rolls

recipe adapted from Donna Hay's

make 8

2 teaspoons dried yeast (I used SAF Yeast)

1 cup (250ml) water

2½ cups (375g) bread flour

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 tablespoon olive oil

a few sprigs of rosemary

For sprinkling and brushing

Zest from half lemon, or more

1/2 tsp finely chopped rosemary

1/2 tsp coarse sea salt

1 tsp olive oil

Place dried yeast, flour, and sea salt in a mixer bowl. Using a spoon mix this ingredients together, then add water, and olive oil. Knead using a dough hook attachment on low speed for 5 to 10 minutes until the dough is elastic. Turn off the machine. Gather the dough into a ball, place it in a lightly grease container, cover, let rest for an hour.

Take the dough out from container, fold onto itself once. Divide into 8 equal portions, roll into ball, place it on a baking sheet, top the middle with rosemary sprig. Repeat with the rest of the dough in the same manner. Cover the rolls with clean kitchen towel, let rest for an hour. If you want to shape it into knot rolls instead of round rolls, check out this video on how to.

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Mix lemon zest, finely chopped rosemary, and coarse sea salt in a small bowl. Set aside.

Just prior to load the rolls into oven, brush each with olive oil, then sprinkle some rosemary-lemon mixture. Bake 15 to 20 minutes until golden.

For YeastSpotting.

Russian Black Bread, For BBB Third Anniversary

2011-02-16T00:01:00.001-08:00

Viewing the archives that Karen and Natashya posted on each of their blogs, left me feel on a baking mood, excited and almost a little bit overwhelmed kind of feeling, in a good way though. Those were the lists of bread that BBB had been baking for the past three years. There were too many delicious sounding bread that I wanted to make, but I knew I had to choose one and concentrated with my choice of making it rather then let my overwhelmed feeling took over my brain, or else I would be late to celebrate this event.

As some of you might already knew, today is the Third BBB's Anniversary. I'd like to participate for this celebration by baking what I enjoyed most, bread. I chose a special bread that most captured my mood, and also the one that sounded pretty delicious. Russian Black Bread, hosted by Görel from Grain Doe on August 2009. There were other reasons why I wanted to make this bread. First, I never really made this particular bread before; secondly, I am just starting to really really like baking bread with rye flour; lastly and most importantly, my father in law loves Rye Bread, it would be nice if I am able to make a good homemade Rye bread for him each time he comes to visit.

I used Görel's recipe as directed, but adding cocoa powder, caraway, anise, and black sesame seeds, but omitted the shallots. Since, I couldn't figure out how much cocoa powder I needed, I gambled by adding about 4 tablespoon which was probably a little too much, I was pretty nervous that I could potentially ruined my bread. Gladly, I did not! In fact, my bread came out absolutely beautiful, it had delicious aroma (thanks to cocoa, coffee, molasses and from the seeds), delicious of course. So, here is to BBB, Happy Third Anniversary!

Meringue Heart With Citrus Curd-Cream For Valentine's Day

2011-02-08T19:50:00.000-08:00

For those who doesn't really fond of chocolate, Claire Clark's Meringue Heart might be perfect to serve for Valentine's day. She serve this meringue with cream chantilly and crushed raspberries, then decorate it with summer berries. Since I see plenty of citrus at the market and they are sweet and juicy, plus inexpensive, I took the opportunity to make a good use of this fruit. Use any fruit that are in season in your area, because they will taste at their best. If you want to splurge a little, go wild, use any kind of fancy exotic fruit you can find, after all, this is a special occasion, and you make it for your love one, right?

Meringue Heart For Valentine's Day

recipe adapted from Claire Clark's Indulge

make 2 hearts

For the meringue

3 medium egg whites

1 tsp lemon juice

6 oz caster sugar (superfine sugar)

Preheat oven to 225 degrees F.

Lightly oil a baking sheet, then lay a piece of parchment paper, press it down well.

Prepare a piping bag and fitted with 1/4 inch (5 mm) plain nozzle.

In an impeccably clean mixer bowl, add the egg whites, lemon juice, and 1/3 of the sugar. Beat until they form firm peak, add another 1/3 of sugar and continue to beat for another 2 to 3 minutes. Add the remaining sugar, mix just enough to incorporate them.

Transfer the meringue into prepared piping bag. pipe two heart shapes, fill in the center by following the shape of the hearts until full. Starting on the outer side of the heart, pipe another line on top follow the original shape, repeat the process so you will have three tiers that the outside egde is higher then the middle.

Bake the hearts in the center oven for 40 to 50 minutes, until the outside is set. Do not overbake the base, the least you want is having the center totally dry. Leave to cool on the baking sheet.

Citrus Curd

1 large meyer lemon

5 small (size about 1½ inch diameter) tangerines

3 egg yolk

2 oz caster sugar*

* when in season, citruses are quite sweet. If you think that is too acid, increase the amount of sugar to you liking.

Squeeze out the juice of Meyer lemon and tangerines (you will have about 1/3 cup of tangerine juice) directly into a sauce pan, add sugar, and bring to a gentle boil.

In another bowl, whisk the egg yolk.

When the citrus juice has come to a gentle boil, slowly pour into the egg yolk, keep whisking while you are doing this. Return the mixture into sauce pan, set the heat to low, and continue to whisk and cook until its thicken enough to leave a trail on the surface of a wooden spoon. Do not let it to become a boil. Transfer to a clean bowl, cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a skin forming. Cool completely.

To serve

Simply whip heavy cream with a little sugar, then fold in citrus curd. Fill the center of each heart with it, decorate with fruit of your choice. Enjoy!

Semolina - Orange Small Tea Cakes

2011-02-07T10:18:00.000-08:00

Simple tea cakes perfumed with orange zest, and orange blossom water to give the cakes a bit of Middle Eastern flavor. They are delicious companion for tea or coffee, and enjoy them outside with friends or families. I served these cakes with simple vanilla poached kumquats, the syrup from the poaching liquid make the cake even moister, but any kind of poached fruit will be good, or if you don't want the trouble of making poached fruit, simply serve them plain. Delicious nonetheless.

Orange - Semolina Cake

makes 6 - 8

2/3 cup sugar

3 eggs

2 tbs butter, melted - cooled

1 tbs (more or less) butter for the molds

1 tbs orange zest

1 tsp orange flower water

2/3 cup semolina flour

2/3 cup almond meal

2 tsp poppy seeds

1 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

Preheat ove to 350 degrees F.

Grease each mold with butter, dust with flour, tap excess flour.

Place sugar, eggs, melted butter, orange zest, and orange flower water in a medium bowl, mix to combine.

In another bowl, add semolina flour, almond meal, baking powder, and salt. Mix using a hand whisk, just to combine. Pour the egg mixture, and fold using rubber spatula, just enough to incorporate the ingredients together. Divide the batter among prepared molds. Bake for 25 minutes, or until golden. Un-mold, let cool completely on a wire rack before serving.

Pineapple Sweet Buns With Homemade Pineapple Jam

2011-02-04T00:01:00.000-08:00

For YeastSpotting!

Ever curious each time you visit Chinese or Japanese market and look at the bakery section, and seeing all those soft and fluffy mouth watering display of bread/bun ? It happen to me all the time. Always tempted, but never had the courage to buy it, especially after I heard that the factory made buns are full of unfamiliar ingredients. Luckily, my curiosity ended, when I saw this post. Now, I can always make it in my own kitchen. Thank you Mister.

As the title suggested, this version of mine filled with delicious homemade pineapple jam. I was surprised to learn that the original pineapple bread was nothing to do with pineapple, nor that the filling contain pineapple. Although, in some cases, you might find pineapple bun filled with red bean paste. Regardless filled or not, pineapple or red bean, it was definitely scrumptious and glad that I made it.

Pineapple Buns With Homemade Pineapple Jam

make 16 buns

1 recipe for basic Japanese style sweet bun

1 recipe for homemade pineapple jam, recipe follows

1 egg yolk

1 to 2 tsp milk

sesame seeds for topping, optional

Follow the recipe for basic Japanese style soft bun as directed through step #3.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment papers. Set aside

After the dough has rested for 10 minutes, fill each dough with 1 teaspoon pineapple jam, enclose the filling, and shape into a round ball. Place the bun on a baking sheet. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Cover the baking sheets with clean kitchen towel. Let rest in a warm room temperature for an hour.

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Make egg wash by combining egg yolk and milk. Brush each bun with this egg wash, sprinkle sesame seeds if desire.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

For Pineapple Filling :

665 gr fresh, peeled, and cored pineapple

40 gr sugar

1 stick cinnamon (or, 1 tsp ground cinnamon)

2 whole cloves

Cut pineapple into a large chunks, puree in a food processor. Transfer the puree into a medium size pan. Place the pan over medium heat, cook until all liquid evaporated, about 30 minutes. If its splashing to much during cooking, you can lower the heat to medium low, and obviously you also need to adjust the cooking time as well. Once the liquid has evaporated, add sugar, lower the heat to low, cook and stir from time to time until you have the consistency of a thick jam, about 15 minutes. Take it out from the heat, let cool completely. Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic, then refrigerate until ready to use. This recipe make enough to fill 16 buns.

Chocolate Meringue Cake. For Valentine's Day!

2011-02-02T16:50:00.000-08:00

Just a simple idea for the Valentine's day. It's surprisingly uncomplicated to make, and unlike most cake that read "cool completely before serving", but, this recipe said, "cool for 30 minutes before cutting serving it". I think I like that!

Chocolate Meringue Cake

recipe adapted from Martha Stewart

make one 9-inch cake

For The Cake:

10 tbs butter + more for the pan

3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

6 large eggs, separated

12 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted

1 vanilla bean, scraped the bean or use 1 tbs pure vanilla extract

1 tbs rum

pinch of salt

For The meringue:

1 cup lightly toasted hazelnut, roughly chopped

4 oz bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped

1 tbs cornstarch

4 large egg whites

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1 cup superfine sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter a 9-inch cake pan, sprinkle a little bit of flour all over the pan, tap off the excess. Set aside.

To make the cake: place butter and brown sugar in a mixer bowl, using paddle attachment beat until light and fluffy. Add egg yolk one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the melted chocolate, vanilla, and rum. Mix just to combine.

In another clean mixer bowl, place the egg whites and salt. Beat using a whisk attachment for about 2 minutes or until a soft peak form. Turn off the machine. Mix in about a third of the of meringue to melted chocolate mixture, then gently fold in the rest. Pour into prepared pan, and bake for 25 minutes.

Meanwhile make the meringue: in a medium small bowl, combine roughly chopped hazelnut, chopped chocolate, and cornstarch. Set aside.

Using an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites, and cream of tartar until frothy. With the machine still running, slowly add superfine sugar. Continue to beat for about 8 minutes until stiff peak form. Turn off the machine, fold in the hazelnut mixture.

To assemble the cake: remove the cake from oven, using an offset spatula spread the meringue on top of the cake. Return the cake to the oven, continue to bake for another 25 to 30 minutes until the meringue is lightly brown and crisp.

Take the cake out from oven, transfer to a wire rack and let it cool in a pan for about 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the cake to loosen and release it from the pan. Cool for about 30 minutes before serving.

Pistachio And Chocolate Torte

2011-01-31T09:31:00.000-08:00

Pistachio, rose water always delicious together, it reminds me a lot of of Middle Eastern dessert. When you add chocolate into the mixture, the flavor becomes quite a unique, not too over powering, but slightly sweet with delicate scent of rose. You can simply omit it if you are too sensitive about any scent. Since I am not overly too excited of any kind of too sweet chocolate cake, I only used a little less sugar, and prefered to use dark chocolate that has high percentage of cocoa butter in it, in this case I used 70%. No rule though, if you prefer sweeter cake, increase the amount of sugar to 3/4 cup, and use any kind of dark chocolate that suit your palate.

Pistachio And Chocolate Torte
adapted from trissa's Pistachio and Chocolate (Gluten Free) cake
make one 9-inch cake

1 cup ground pistachios

1/2 cup almond meal

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

8 oz - 70% dark chocolate

4 oz butter, cut into pieces

1 tsp Rose water

5 eggs (room temperature), separated

1/2 cup superfine sugar

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9-inch cake pan, line the base with parchment paper, then grease the paper as well. Set aside.

Mix ground pistachios, almond meal, and baking powder. Set aside.

Melt chocolate and butter over barely simmering water, cool slightly, mix in 1/4 cup of the sugar, Rose water, and egg yolks. Fold in pistachio-almond mixture, set aside.

Beat the egg white until foamy, slowly add the remaining 1/4 of sugar, beat until stiff but not dry. Take a big scoop of beaten egg white, and mix it into the chocolate-nut mixture. Then, fold in (gently) the rest of the egg white, just until you no longer see the white streak. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until tooth pick inserted in the middle comes out almost clean with a few crumb cling to it.

Citrusy Ricotta Tart

2011-01-22T17:32:00.000-08:00

We are going to have rack of lamb for dinner tonight, and for dessert? I really want to have something citrusy, something light, and not too cakey type of dessert. I think this ricotta tart is perfect for that reason, plus I have Meyer lemon in my garden that need to be pick, and some leftover candied orange peel in my refrigerator.

Citrusy Ricotta Tart

serve 8-10

1 recipe for basic sweet pastry dough

1 cup milk

100 g semolina flour

2 medium size Meyer lemons, zested and juiced

425 g ricotta

3 medium size eggs

100 g sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup chopped candied orange peel, optional

To prepare the tart shell: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Butter an 9 x 2 inches ring pan, place it directly on top of parchment paper. Roll out the pastry dough slightly larger then the ring pan, then transfer it over the ring pan, and gently press the side using your fingers. Using a rolling pin trim off the excess. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

While the dough is resting, heat the milk over medium heat, add semolina flour, stir until semolina turn into porridge consistency. Add lemon juice and the lemon zest, stir for couple more seconds. Remove from the heat and cool completely.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Once the semolina has cooled, place it into a mixer bowl, add ricotta, eggs, sugar, and vanilla extract. Using paddle attachment, mix the ingredients on a low speed into a smooth batter. This only take for a minute or so. Scrape the batter into the tart shell. Scatter candied orange peel on top if desire. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the tart is set and still slightly jiggle in the middle when the pan is gently shake. Cool completely before serving.

Update (2. 27.11):

Hello all, I just made this tart again, I apologize that there are couple of things that I need to correct in this post. Thank you!

1. I forgot to mention that, after the tart shell finish resting, take it out from refrigerator, place it on a baking sheet. Put a piece of parchment paper on top of tart shell, add beans to cover entire shell, blind bake for 15 minutes, take it out from the oven, remove the beans and parchment paper, return to oven, and bake for another 10 minutes. Cool before proceed the next step.

2. I found out that if you let the milk to become a boil, the semolina started to curdled. So, make sure hot enough just to heat the milk, then add the semolina flour, stir only for a few seconds just until smooth.

Whole Grain Anadama Bread

2011-01-08T15:42:00.000-08:00

For Heather, the host of February BBD # 36, for Zorra who always has brilliant blog events, especially her bread baking event, and to Susan (YeastSpotting) who made me love wild yeast, and baking more bread.

Many of you are already familiar with Anadama bread, I, on the other hand, never made it before. I've seen the recipe in my book, as always I only scanned through it without any attempt to make it. Only after I learnt that Heather chose this month's theme to bake bread with corn, I decided to try Anadama Bread. I made this bread using the recipe from Peter Reinhart's book, "Whole Grain Breads". I hope you all like it.

Update 1/10/11 : I consider this bread is somewhat healthier then the original Anadama, because the use of the whole grain flour in it. So, I am sharing this with fellow bloggers who set up a different goals for their lives. My goal is pretty simple, include more whole grain, and legumes (which I don't like to eat), and drink a lot of water. For Eat.Live.Be for a better 2011.

Roscon De Reyes (Twelfth Night Bread)

2011-01-03T11:05:00.000-08:00

For those who celebrate the Epiphany day, here is one of the many version of King Cake. The one I made here is from Spain called Roscon De Reyes. I made the Mexican version a while back which was pretty good as well. Another version of King Cake is the one from France, called Galette des Rois or Phitivier. The later seem to be my family favorite, perhaps is the pastry like cake and the almond frangipane that make Phitivier easily become favorite among my family. We'll see if I have the time to make it again.

For YeastSpotting

Roscon de Reyes (Twelve Night Bread)
recipe adapted from : Pepita Aris's Spanish Cooking

450 g (4 cups) bread flour
1/2 tsp salt
25 g (1 oz) fresh yeast
140 ml (2/3 cup) lukewarm milk
75 g (6 tbs) butter
75 g (6 tbs) sugar
grated lemon zest from 1 lemon
grated orange zest from 1 orange
2 eggs
1 tbs brandy
1 tbs orange flower water
dried bean (optional)

For Topping:
candied orange peel, and glazed cherry
almond fakes

For Egg Wash : 1 egg yolk mixed with 1 teaspoon milk

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

Save some flour aside, more or less 1/2 cup. Sift the remaining 3 1/2 cups flour and salt into a large bowl, make a well in the center. Set aside.

In a small bowl, mix fresh yeast with milk until completely dissolved. Pour the yeast mixture into the flour well, stir in flour from around the side of the bowl to make a thick batter. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup flour over the top of the batter. Leave to sponge for about 15 minutes.

Using paddle attachment on an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on a medium to medium high speed until light and fluffy, add egg one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add lemon zest, orange zest, orange flower water, and brandy, beat on low just enough to incorporate them. Switch to dough hook attachment, add flour dough to the bowl. Knead until dough is smooth, elastic and shiny, about 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer into lightly grease bowl, cover with plastic, and live to rise in a warm room temperature for 1 to 2 hours, or until double in size.

Lightly flour the counter top, turn the dough directly on top. Lightly flatten it with your hands, then using a rolling pin, roll into to 65 cm x 13 cm (26 x 5 inch). Starting from the end closest to you, start to roll the dough into a long rope. Transfer into prepare baking sheet, connect and seal the end together to make a ring shape. Cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap, and leave to rise in a warm room temperature for 1 to 2 hours until double in size.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Brush the dough with egg wash, decorate with candied orange peel and glazed cherry, then sprinkle in almond flakes. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, or until golden.

Turn out into wire rack to cool completely.

Happy New Year To You All !

2011-01-01T22:39:00.000-08:00

Photo courtesy my son AD

SPRINGERLE, German Christmas Cookies

2010-12-22T11:48:00.000-08:00

Too busy baking, cooking and preparing for the holiday gathering. I apologies that I have too little time to write the recipe too. But, if you really really tempted want to make it, here is video and/or the recipe that I used to make this beautiful Christmas cookies.

Enjoy and Happy Holidays !

Aniseplatzchen. Snow White Holiday Cookies Flavored With Star Anise

2010-12-08T11:10:00.000-08:00

Much of my delightfulness to find cookies that represent the holiday season has been exiting so far. The activity of flipping pages through my cookbooks and magazines, browsing through the internet, and asking around my friends that perhaps have some family recipe that they would like to share make me feel quite content.

Aniseplatzchen, is one of those cookie that delighted the spirit of holiday season. The wonderful fragrant from the star anise will perfumed the entire house, especially when you bake it first thing in the morning, where the air is still fresh, and your family is still in bed. This will really wake them up, and hopefully like my family, you will get that first morning smile and kiss after they take a bite of delicious, chewy, and pleasant flavor of Aniseplatzchen.

Aniseplatzchen
recipe from Carole Walter's Great Cookies
makes 5 dozens 1½ - inch cookies

1⅔ cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbs anise seed, ground in a spice grinder or coffee grinder (see note # 1)

3 large eggs, room temperature

1 cup + 2 tbs sugar

Butter jelly roll pans, dust with flour, tap off the excess. Set aside

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and ground anise. Set aside

Beat the eggs using electric mixer on a medium speed until lighten in color, add sugar, a tablespoon at a time, this will take about 2 minutes, then beat for further 20 minutes.

Reduce speed to low, add flour mixture, continue to mix for another 3 minutes.

Drop teaspoons of dough into prepared jelly roll pans - 1½ inch apart. Let stand at room temperature overnight, at least 8 hours.

Heat oven to 325⁰F.

Bake cookies for 5 to 7 minutes (see note # 2), or until the top is set. This cookies should not brown. Toward the end of baking time, rotate the pans top to bottom, left to right (see note # 3). Let cool for 2 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. Cool completely before serving.

Note :

The recipe ask for 1 tablespoon anise seeds, but I used 1 teaspoon ground star anise
The baking time may varies depending on how reliable your oven is. Although the recipe stated that you only need to bake it for 5 to 7 minutes, mine took longer then that, about 7 to 11 minutes.
Instead of baking all pans at once, then rotating them during the baking process, I prefer to bake them one cookie sheet at a time.
Also worth noted here that, this cookie to my surprise is almost similar to Parisian macaron, which during the baking process, it develops what is known as "caveat". It was quite a pleasant discovery.

Sufganiyot - Hanukkah Recipe

2010-12-04T21:38:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting to make this festive, delicious, sweet Jewish holiday donuts, I am so glad that I finally made it. I tasted Sufganiyot once at a friend's house when we're celebrating Chanukah, I was too shy to have another one after having two of these, you know what I mean, you got to leave some for other guess too, right. I figure the only way I can eat as many is when I make my own, and make sure that I make plenty to share. Speaking of sharing, I just wish that all my family in Israel could taste how good this was :(

Can you tell that I am having so much fun with all of these holiday baking in my kitchen?. Hopefully you are as excited as I am. I am thinking about making Caillison d'Aix next. Scrumptious !

Sufganiyot
Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart

make 20

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1 tbs dry yeast, I used osmotolerant yeast

1/4 cup sugar

pinch of salt

2 large eggs, separated

3/4 cup water

2 tbs butter (I used hazelnut oil)

1/4 cup raspberry or strawberry jam

oil for frying

To coat :

1/2 cup super fine sugar

Place all -purpose flour, yeast, sugar, salt in a mixer bowl - mix. Add egg yolk, water and butter or oil into the bowl, using dough attachment knead to make a smooth dough, about 5 to 8 minutes. Transfer into oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight.

The following day, take the dough out of refrigerator and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Lightly floured your counter top. Place the dough directly in it, roll it out into 11-inch square and 1/4 -inch in thickness. Using a cookie cutter or a glass, cut into 2-inch rounds.

Line a cookie sheet with a clean kitchen towel. In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg whites. Brush the edge of each round dough with egg white, place about a half teaspoon of jam in the middle, cover with another piece of dough, press to edges together to seal them. Transfer to prepare baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough. Let rest at room temperature until puffy, about 20 to 30 minutes.

Heat about 3 inches of oil in a large heavy pot to 360 F on a deep fry thermometer. Working in batches, carefully slide 4 dough into the oil, fry until brown on both side, about 1 minute. Transfer to paper towel to drain.

Place superfine sugar on a plate, coat Sufganiyot while they are still hot. Serve immediately.
Happy Hanukkah !!!!

For YeastSpotting :)

Chocolate - Espresso Snowcaps

2010-12-03T00:01:00.002-08:00

It's the most, wonderful time, of the year (I am singing) !!!!
It's the time where I can put aside the feeling of guilt when I indulge all of these beautiful and delicious cookies, cakes, and other exciting food that would normally only appear during the holiday season. Today, is my first day to start baking what I consider a festive cookies, although there is not much of decoration in this cookies other then the sort of snowy look in it, still is, festive. Next, I am going to make Sufgainot ....

Have you been busy baking your holiday goodies ? I bet you have :)

Chocolate - Espresso Snowcaps

recipe adapted from : Martha Stewart

make 18 delightful cookies

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

4 tsp instant espresso

1 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp sea salt

4 tbs unsalted butter

2/3 cup packed light-brown sugar

1 large egg

4 oz bittersweet chocolate (I used 70 %), melted and cooled

1 tbs milk

Confectioner's sugar for coating

In a bowl, mix together all-purpose flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, instant espresso, baking powder, and salt.

Using an electric mixer set on a medium high speed, cream butter and light-brown sugar until light and fluffy, add egg, beat until well combine. Add the melted chocolate, mix well. Turn the speed to low, gradually mix in flour mixture, add the milk, mix just to combine. Transfer the dough into a clean bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 4 hours, or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Place confectioner's sugar in a plate.

Take a piece of dough, shape into 1 inch ball, coat with confectioner's sugar, shake off the excess. Place it on a prepare baking sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Cinnabon (Cinnamon Roll), The Simpler Way

2010-11-27T00:01:00.000-08:00

Cinnabon, so I heard, it is pretty expensive especially in Europe, and it says very difficult to achieve the authentic flavor at home. One would go extra miles on trial and error to recreate this famous American sweet breakfast treat. Out of curiousity, I try to make an attempt in my own kitchen. Since I never tasted the authentic one, I decided to used Michel Suas Recipe From Advance Bread and Pastry book. Uncomplicated, no scientific explanation, just plain, straight forward recipe. I used one muffin pan (I only own one), and a loaf pan. The result was not bad at all, the one that I baked using loaf pan came out really delicious, soft and fully. Unfortunately the one I made using muffin pan was slightly on the drier side. I know exactly why, I over baked it!. What I should have done was, took out the muffin pan perhaps 5 - 10 minutes earlier then the loaf pan.

Cinnabon / Cinnamon Rolls
Adapted from Michel Suas's Sweet Roll Dough
Make : 24 rolls or 12 rolls and 1 loaf

12 oz bread flour
2 3/8 oz cake flour
6 oz water
3/4 oz milk powder
2¼ oz eggs
3 oz sugar
1/4 oz salt
1/4 oz Osmotolerant Yeast
4½ oz butter, cubed
Cinnamon Sugar Filling, recipe follows
Butter, soften at room temperature, for smearing on the dough (you could use water instead)

Place everything, but the butter in a mixer bowl, knead on the lowest setting for 1 minute. Increase the speed to speed #2. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 to 10 minutes, add the cubed butter in three or four addition, continue to knead until gluten is fully develop. Oil lightly a container or a large bowl. Place the dough in it, cover with plastic or a lid, let the dough ferment for 1 hour, then refrigerate overnight.

The next morning, roll out the dough into 1/8 inch (3 mm) thick and 16 inch (41 cm) wide. Smear the soften butter to the entire surface, sprinkle with sugar-cinnamon filling, living about 1 inch (2 1/2 cm) from the edges. Roll the dough, cut into 1 1/2 inch (3 7/8 cm). Place the dough in muffin pans, cover with clean kitchen towel. Rest for 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat oven to 385 F (196 C)

Bake in the middle rack for 15 minutes. Invert immediately onto cooling rack to cool completely before glazing with your own desire glaze. Since I am not a big fan of glaze, I drizzled the rolls lightly using a simple confectioner's sugar and lemon.

Cinnamon Sugar Filling :

3 1/8 oz sugar

3 1/8 oz brown sugar

1/8 oz cinnamon powder

Mix everything but the butter in a bowl. Set aside.

For YeastSpotting.

PARAVE Apple Strudel, A Perfect Dessert Idea For Kosher Thanksgiving

2010-11-24T14:25:00.000-08:00

My father in law is coming to join us to celebrate Thanksgiving this year, so I have to make a Kosher menu which can be challenging to do if I want to make a little more elegant dessert such as cake or tart. Most of my dessert as you know, always include dairy product. Thank goodness for that invention of phillo dough, I can make any elegant dessert or appetizer (even main course) without using any dairy product in it. Even if you think that using butter is imperative for pastry like phillo, you can substitute it with fancier oil, such as hazelnut oil, walnut oil, or olive oil. Not sure if your phillo dough is parave or not? Look closely at the label, or read the ingredients. Most phillo dough I purchase, always has word Parave or Prave at front box.

So, for those who want to keep their Thanksgiving menu KOSHER, I think this version of apple strudel will be perfect to serve as dessert on this special family event. Good luck!

Parave Apple Strudel
adapted from here

4 medium size Golden Delicious apples

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup or more hazelnut oil or walnut oil

8 - 10 sheets phillo dough

Place the sugar into a shallow pan, or a skillet. Peel, core, and quarter the apples, arrange on top of sugar in circular pattern. Place the pan on the stove over medium low heat. Cook until the apples are caramelized (golden brown), turning them once so that the other side are caramelized as well. About 10 to 20 minutes on each side, depending on how dark/caramelized you want your apple is. Turn off the heat, cool completely.

Preheat oven to 375⁰ F.

Place a large clean kitchen towel on your working surface or kitchen counter top, Sprinkle lightly with flour, Lay one sheet of phillo dough directly on the kitchen towel with the widest side facing you, brush with oil, lay another layer, again, brush with oil, continue layering and brushing all sheets of phillo dough. Arrange the apple a long the side of the dough closer to you, leaving about 1 to 2 inch on each side (right and left). Fold the right and the left edge toward the middle, with the help of the kitchen towel, roll the dough genty, like you would roll a Swiss or jelly roll. Transfer onto baking sheet, brush the top with more oil.

Bake in the middle rack for 30 to 35 minutes until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. If desire, sprinkle with confectioner's sugar before serving.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE !!!!!!!

Kougelhopf or Kugelhopf. Alsatian Famous Sweet Fragrant Bread With Almond, Homemade Candied Orange Peel and Dried Currants

2010-11-15T10:19:00.000-08:00

I wouldn't mind to have a ritual warm Kougelhopf/Kugelhopf breakfast every morning, really ! I just love the fragrant that it gives during the baking process, and of course the taste of homemade candied orange peel is really sensational. Honestly, I think people in other part of the world, for example, Europe and South East asia really know how to enjoy and start their day. Think about croissant, brioche, any other sweet and delicious morning bread, the same thing with people in SE Asia, they start their morning by having savory soup, noodle soup, or a bowl of hot steaming rice porridge with delicious condiments. And I, here in the States ? Cereal, yogurt not sure what else, and that, bored me !. I am not so much of those muffins, scones, or other sweet or savory American breakfast person. But, this is just me, so don't give me a hard time okay. Honestly though, would you be bored having croissant or brioche or Kougelhopf/Kugelhopf for breakfast each morning ?

note:
I am not entirely sure what is the right spelling for this delicious bread. Some book spell Kugelhopf, and my Alsatian book spell, Kougelhopf.

Kougelhopf/Kugelhopf

recipe adapted from Anne Willan, The Country Cooking Of France

makes two 8-inch/20-cm kugelhopf molds or tube pans

3 cups flour

1 tsp SAF yeast

1 tsp salt

1 cup milk

1/2 cup + 2 tbs soften butter for the molds

3 tbs honey

zest of 1 lemon

zest of 1 orange

3 eggs, lightly beaten with fork

1/2 cup dried currants

1/4 cup raisins

1/2 cup chopped candied orange peel

4 tbs sliced almond

Place flour and the yeast in a mixer bowl, mix with your hand or a wooden spoon. Add salt - mix. Attached the dough hook on your mixer. Then add, milk, 1/2 cup soften butter, honey, lemon and orange zest, lightly beaten eggs. Knead using the first speed until all ingredients are combine. Increase the speed to speed #2, continue to knead until the dough is shiny and elastic, about 5 to 10 minutes. Add the dried currants, raisins, and candied orange peel, mix just to combine, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Transfer the dough into a large oiled container, or a large bowl. Cover, let rest for 1 to 2 hours until double in size.

Lightly floured the counter top. Turn the dough directly on a counter top, fold onto itself once. Cover lightly with plastic for 5 to 15 minutes.

Grease each Kugelhopf mold liberally with the remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of almonds slices on each mold, including the side of the molds.

Divide the dough into two equal portion. Shape each portion into a round ball, make a hole in the middle, then place them into each mold. Cover and let rise at room temperature for 45 minutes to an hour.

Preheat oven to 375⁰F.

Bake the bread until they are puff and golden brown, about 25 to 35 minutes. Turn them out onto wire rack to cool down.

For YeastSpotting !

Rum Marble Cake With Chocolate and Coconut Milk

2010-11-12T00:01:00.000-08:00

Rum, coconut milk, don't they remind you of tropical flavor? The look of this cake is similar to Tiger Cake that I made a while back. but it is completely different recipe. Tiger cake has olive oil and a little bit black pepper in it, this rum marble has rum and coconut milk. The cake is a fun to make, tastes delicious, and pretty moist. I lightly drizzled the cake with rum glaze, but you can absolutely welcome to cover the entire cake with more glaze if you like. It will taste even better, it make a perfect treat for us, the grown up people. If you do glazed the entire cake with this rum glaze, make sure to hide it from your toddlers and your teens ☺

Rum Marble Cake With Chocolate and Coconut Milk
serve 8 to 12

For the cake:

3 cups sugar

3 sticks butter + 1 tbs to grease the pan, soften at room temperature

2 eggs, room temperature

4 egg yolks, room temperature

2⅓ cup flour

1/3 cup corn starch

1 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1 small can (5.6 fl oz ) coconut milk

3 tbs dark rum

2 tbs cocoa powder

1/4 cup coconut cream

For the glaze:

3 tbs confectioner's sugar

1 tbs rum

lemon juice, as needed

Preparation :

A. Place eggs and egg yolks in a bowl, mix lightly with fork. Set aside.

B. Place the flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl. Mix with a hand-whisk to aerate them. Set aside

C. In another small bowl, mix coconut milk and dark rum. Set aside

D. In another small bowl, mix cocoa powder and coconut cream. Set aside

Preheat oven to 350⁰ F.

Grease a large bunt pan with butter, dust with flour, tap excess flour. Set aside.

With an electric mixer set on medium speed, cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy, scrape the bowl often. Add the egg mixture (A) in three addition. Make sure to beat well in each addition, don't forget to scrape the side of the mixer bowl. Turn the machine to a low speed, add the flour mixture (B) in three addition alternating with coconut milk mixture (C) in two addition, begin and end with flour mixture. Turn back the machine to medium. Beat for 30 seconds. Turn off the machine.

Set aside 1½ cups of the batter, mix with cocoa mixture (D).

Pour half of the plain batter into prepared bunt pan, add the chocolate batter, cover with the remaining batter. Shake the pan and tap gently to even out and to get rid of the unwanted bubles/air. No need to marbling the batter, it will do its own magic during the baking process.

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 to 55 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Un mold, cool completely. Drizzle lightly (or heavily) with with rum glaze.

To make the glaze:

In a small bowl, mix confectioner's sugar and rum until smooth, drizzle like consistency, if its too stiff add a few drop lemon juice.

Bara Brith. Welsh Famous Speckled Bread

2010-11-05T11:00:00.000-07:00

I have made Bara Brith before, and never forgot how delicious it was. Perfumed with candied orange peel as well as other dried fruit that has been soaked with strong brewed tea, it wins my heart at a first bite. Do you know that Bara Brith also serve for breakfast on Christmas morning? Sounds pretty comforting, doesn't it ?

Thanks to Rosa who found this link and posted on her facebook. The website has many interesting historical British food from the dark age to a modern era, which I am particularly curious about.

Bara Brith. Welsh famous Speckled Bread

adapted from Historical Foods

Yield 2 loafs

850 g bread flour

20 g osmotolerant yeast

150 g demerara sugar

100 g butter, melted

50 dried currant

50 g dried sultana

50 g raisin

50 g candied citrus peel, recipe here if you'd like to make your own

strong brewed English black tea

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 tsp ginger

2 eggs, lightly beaten with fork (just enough to combine the yolks and the whites)

400 ml warm water

1 tbs black treacle (I didn't use any)

To glaze : 1 tablespoon runny honey

The night before you are planning to make the bread, soak the dried currants, sultanas, and the raisins with strong brewed black tea, then strain and drain them in a colander the following morning. Add candied orange peel - mix.

In a bowl, add warm water, demerara sugar, and black treacle. Mix to combine.

In a mixer bowl, add flour, yeast, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, and salt - mix with a wooden spoon to combine. Add water mixture, melted butter, and the eggs. Attach the dough hook on your electric mixer. Knead the dough on low for one minute, then increase the speed to medium low, continue to knead for 5 minutes. Turn the speed to low, add the drained dried fruit, mix just to combine about 30 seconds to one minute. Transfer the dough into lightly oiled large bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 2 hours, or until double in size.

Turn the dough into lightly floured counter top, fold onto itself once. Cover with plastic, let it rest for 15 minutes.

Prepare a large cookies sheet, sprinkle generously with corn meal. Divide the dough in half. Shape each dough into round or into batard shape. Transfer to cookies sheet with seam side down, cover with another clean kitchen towel. Let rise for another hour or until double in size.

Preheat oven to 400F. Just prior to load the bread into the oven, score or scores the dough. Bake in the middle rack for 30 to 40 minutes. Transfer onto cooling (wire) rack, brush with runny honey. Cool completely before serving.

Note : I actually added lemon zest from 2 lemons to the ingredients before kneading it. It gives that nicely lemony fragrant to the bread.

For YeastSpotting

No Knead Sourdough Bread

2010-11-02T09:01:00.000-07:00

I remember being so proud of my self when I first made this infamous No Knead Bread. Showed off and bragged about it over and over to all of my friends, and forced them to taste and make it them self. I was also pretty impressed (more surprised actually) that, I didn't have to knead the dough in order to make a good and delicious bread. I made it so often, and never bored from eating it too. Then, it all changed after I discovered wild yeast aka sourdough starter, fascinated by this natural leavener, I started to practice making all different kind of sourdough bread.

However, today I wanted to go back to my memory lane, where my knowledge of baking bread was really next to nothing. I decided to make this effortless bread once again, but using sourdough starter instead of commercial yeast. I think this recipe is particularly useful to those who doesn't own a stand electric mixer. Fair to say that I am pretty satisfied with the taste. In other word, delicious !

Sourdough Bread, No Need To Knead
recipe idea from NYtimes

2½ cups bread flour
1/2 cup mature hydration sourdough starter
1¼ tsp salt
1 cups + 2 tbs water

Place all ingredients in a large bowl, mix with your hand or wooden spoon to incorporate the ingredients. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, let rest at room temperature for 12 to 18 hours.

Turn the dough onto lightly floured counter top, fold the dough onto itself once or twice. Cover with plastic, let rest 15 minutes.

Sprinkle a kitchen towel generously with flour. Shape the dough into a ball, place it directly on top, with the seam side up. Or, you can use a round bannetton if you own one. Let rest for 1 to 2 hours.

Place a baking stone or pizza stone on a lower rack, preheat oven to 450⁰ F. When the oven is ready spray the oven wall with water shut the door immediately to trap the steam.

Transfer the dough into baking peel or cookie sheet that has been sprinkled with corn meal. Slide the dough directly into the baking stone, spray the oven wall water for about 5 to 7 spray, shut the door immediately. Bake for 30 - 40 minutes. Cool completely before serving.

For Yeast Spotting !

Caramelized Apple Strudel. A Simplified Version

2010-10-29T00:01:00.003-07:00

This is a simpler version of apple strudel, using philo dough instead of the homemade version really speed up the process in the making. Caramelized apples really give this strudel more chewy and candy like texture, which is my favorite way of enjoying apple dessert. But, if you really want to make everything from scratch, you can check out the recipe here. I also made another caramelized apple strudel using homemade puff pastry. Both recipe are really worth trying if time permit. If not, this simplified version is pretty satisfying and delicious as well.

For Joanne :)

Caramelized Apple Strudel. A Simplified Version

4 medium size apples (golden delicious, granny smith, or apple of your preference)

3/4 cup sugar

1 stick (4 oz) butter, melted

8 - 10 sheets phillo dough

Place the sugar into a shallow pan, or a skillet. Peel, core, and quarter the apples, arrange on top of sugar in circular pattern. Place the pan on the stove over medium low heat. Cook until the apples are caramelized, turning them once so that the other side are caramelized as well. About 5 to 10 minutes on each side. Turn off the heat, cool completely.

Preheat oven to 375⁰ F.

Lay one sheet of phillo dough directly on the baking sheet with the widest side facing you, brush with melted butter, lay another layer, brush with melted butter, continue layering and brushing all sheets of phillo dough. Arrange the apple a long the side of the dough closer to you, leaving about 1 to 2 inch on each side (right and left). Fold the right and the left edge toward the middle, roll the dough genty, like you would Swiss roll. Brush the top with more butter.

Bake in the middle rack for 30 to 35 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm, or at room temperature, with or without ice cream.

Gluten Free Pain d'Épice. Honey Spice Bread From Burgundy

2010-10-22T00:01:00.001-07:00

I made this specialty bread from Burgundy using gluten free flour, in which, my original intention was just a trial. I was not really planning of posting it, but after tasted a slice and pretty satisfied with the result, I decided to share the recipe. You can easily substitute all flour listed below with 1 cup of all purpose flour, and 1 cup whole wheat flour if they are hard to find in your area. The bread is particularly delicious if allow to sit overnight before serving it. I let mine sit for three days to deepen the flavor. I was in full state of extacy when I open the wrapper, how the aroma of citrus and spices permeated straight into my nostril.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sorghum
1/2 cup buckwheat
1/2 cup amaranth
1/2 cup teff
1/2 tbs baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground anise
1 cup honey
1/4 cup dark molasses
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1½ cup milk
1 tsp orange flower water
1/2 cup (or more) chopped candied orange peel (check out the recipe here to make your own)
1 tbs or less butter, to grease the loaf pan

Preheat oven to 350⁰F. Grease a 9 by 5 loaf pan with butter, line the bottom with parchment paper, grease the paper as well. Set aside.

In a medium low heat, Warm the honey, molasses, and the milk, stir and mix well. Remove from the heat, stir in the orange flower water. Set aside to cool.

Sift together all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking poseder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and ground anise into a large bowl. Pour the cooled milk-honey mixture, fold gently just enough to incorporate the ingredients together. Add chopped candied orange peel, mix gently.

Scrape the batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, or until tooth pick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes before unmold. Cool completely, then wrap in a heavy aluminum foil. Store overnight, or up to 3 days before serving.

Potato Bread Using Sourdough Starter. For World Bread Day 2010

2010-10-16T00:01:00.001-07:00

My little contribution for "World Bread Day 2010 " created by Zorra from kochtopf.

Do you like potato bread? Me too :)
Using only half of this recipe formula, I manage to make another delicious, chewy, and moist potato bread. Although I am still crazy with the one I've made a while back, I must say that this version did not disappoint me at all. If you don't have sourdough starter, you can make it with using poolish starter instead, the recipe can be found here.

For The Steam Potato:
400 g Russet potatoes

Clean, peel and boil or steam until soft or cook. Drain in a colander and let cool and dry completely. The potatoes have to be completely dry, before mashed. I did this at night and by the next morning, I have my potato completely dry.

Mash the potato with potato masher or food mill, do not process in a food processor (it will get gooey). Set aside.

For The Bread:

300 g flour
125 g bread flour
255 - 257 g water
salt
150 g mature 100%-hydration sourdough starter
all the steam potatoes

Transfer mashed potato into an electric mixer bowl, add the rest of the ingredients, knead with the dough hook attachment on low speed for 2 minutes, then increase the speed to medium and continue to knead for 10 minutes. Transfer the dough into a large plastic container with lid, cover, ferment for 2½ hours with fold after 50 and 100.

Turn out the dough into lightly floured kitchen counter top, cut the dough in half. Working with one dough at a time, shape the dough into a ball, then flatten it into a disc. Starting at the end of the farthest from you, roll up the dough toward you. Pull each end slightly, then gently roll back and forth.

Transfer the loafs on a floured kitchen towel, seam side down. Cover and proof for 2½ hours.

Preheat the oven to 400F.

When the oven is ready, spray the oven wall with water, and close immediately to trap the steam. Flip over the dough (so the seam is facing up) into baker's peel or floured cookie sheet then transfer into the oven. Spray the oven again and close it immediately. Bake the bread for 35-40 minutes until brown, and sound hollow when tapped. Cool completely before serving.

update : 10/29/10
Would you like to see what other blogger's from around the globe made for this event? Please check out the link here.