a baking & blogging chemist

a sugar cookie with all the right textures

2012-03-04T12:08:00.001-05:00

Are you a fan of sugar cookies? It wasn't until this recipe that I became one. Well, that's not exactly true. It actually wasn't until I modified this recipe that I became a true believer. My reservations about the sugar cookie was the texture, which is something that's difficult to acheive. With most cookies, what we get out of the oven is a chewy warm cookie but a day later it becomes a hard crispy cookie. I think maintaining that chewy texture is essential. And I was able to find a recipe that could do that (keep the cookie chewy), and I was also able to modify the recipe to create a completely different texture (keep the cookie cakey like a Lofthouse cookie or a tea cake, while still maintaining its outer cookie crisp).

Why this recipe works: it contains 68% unsaturated fat to 32% saturated fat = perfect ratio for a chewy cookie. As I stated in the vlog, I melt the butter so the sugar cookie dough could easily be mixed together with a spoon—it gets rid of the need for a mixer and whisking. I am replacing a portion of the melted butter with vegetable oil to ensure a chewy cookie without affecting flavor. And by incorporating an unusual addition, the cream cheese, into the cookie dough it make will these cookies tender, while the tang of the cream cheese makes for a rich and not-too-sweet cookie. I play around with these fat ratios and developed a cakey cookie that tastes the same but with the desired texture. You'll find the two recipes after the jump.

These cookies would make great snickerdoodles if you roll the dough in equal parts cinnamon and graulated sugar before baking!

Chewy Sugar Cookies

Recipe from America's Test Kitchen

Makes about 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients

2¼ cups (11¼ ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon table salt

1½ cups (10½ ounces) sugar, plus ⅓ cup for rolling

2 ounces cream cheese, cut into 8 pieces

6 tablespoons (¾ stick) unsalted butter, melted and still warm

⅓ cup vegetable oil

1 large egg

1 tablespoon milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

1) Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl. Set aside.

2) Place 1½ cups sugar and cream cheese in large bowl. Place remaining ⅓ cup sugar in shallow baking dish or pie plate and set aside. Pour warm butter over sugar and cream cheese and whisk to combine (some small lumps of cream cheese will remain but will smooth out later). Whisk in oil until incorporated. Add egg, milk, and vanilla; continue to whisk until smooth. Add flour mixture and mix with rubber spatula until soft homogeneous dough forms.

3) Divide dough into 24 equal pieces, about 2 tablespoons each (or use #40 portion scoop). Using hands, roll dough into balls. Working in batches, roll balls in reserved sugar to coat and evenly space on prepared baking sheet, 12 dough balls per sheet. Using bottom of drinking glass, flatten dough balls until 2 inches in diameter. Sprinkle tops evenly with 4 teaspoons of sugar remaining in shallow dish (2 teaspoons per tray), discarding any remaining sugar.

4) Bake, 1 tray at a time, until edges are set and just beginning to brown, 11 to 13 minutes, rotating tray after 7 minutes. Cool cookies on baking sheets 5 minutes. Using wide metal spatula, transfer cookies to wire rack and cool to room temperature.

Cakey Sugar Cookies (Lofthouse Cookies or Tea Cakes)

Recipe adapted from America's Test Kitchen

Makes about 1 dozen cookies

Ingredients

1 1/8 cups (5.625 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon table salt

1/2 cup (5.25 ounces) sugar, plus ⅓ cup for rolling

1.5 ounces (3 tablespoons) cream cheese, cut into pieces

2.5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and still warm

7 teaspoons vegetable oil

1 large egg

2 teaspoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

2) Place sugar and cream cheese in large bowl. Place remaining ⅓ cup sugar in shallow baking dish or pie plate and set aside. Pour warm butter over sugar and cream cheese and whisk to combine (some small lumps of cream cheese will remain but will smooth out later). Whisk in oil until incorporated. Add egg, milk, and vanilla; continue to whisk until smooth. Add flour mixture and mix with rubber spatula until soft homogeneous dough forms.

3) Divide dough into equal pieces, about 2 tablespoons each (or use #40 portion scoop). Using hands, roll dough into balls. Working in batches, roll balls in reserved sugar to coat and evenly space on prepared baking sheet, 12 dough balls per sheet. Using bottom of drinking glass, flatten dough balls until 2 inches in diameter. Sprinkle tops evenly with sugar remaining in shallow dish discarding any remaining sugar.

4) Bake, 1 tray at a time, until edges are set and just beginning to brown, 11 minutes, rotating tray after 5 minutes. Cool cookies on baking sheets 5 minutes. Using wide metal spatula, transfer cookies to wire rack and cool to room temperature.

Dulce De Leche Frosting

Recipe from JoytheBaker

Frosts 1 dozen sandwich cookies

Ingredients

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

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup dulce de leche, plus more for drizzling

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 to 3 cups powdered sugar

Directions

1) Place cream cheese in a bowl. Beat for about 30 seconds, until very soft and pliable. Add the butter and dulce de leche. Beat until well incorporated. Add the salt and powdered sugar. Beat for about 3 minutes, until fluffy and lighter in color. Generously spoon frosting on bottom side of one cookie then top with another cookie.

coffee muffins that pack a punch

2012-02-11T17:35:00.000-05:00

Photo Credit: Cooking Light Magazine/Johnny Autry

These muffins are so stimulating because they contain so much caffeine in them! Each muffin is about 200 calories. How do I know this? It's because this is a Cooking Light recipe that I found in my January/February 2012 magazine and the nutrition facts are listed. If you read the reviews for this recipe, others will tell you about all the wonderful things about this recipe. My two cents are that these muffins will overbake and dry out easily so don't overbake them! I learned my lesson; these will go into the oven for 14 minutes and no longer than that. They will finish baking from the residual heat. These muffins are soft and tender but sturdy enough to be classified as a muffin and not a cupcake. What I love about this recipe is that I increased the instant coffee granules and the vanilla extract both by an additional 1.5 teaspoon (see the modified recipe below) and the flavor was beyond amazing. Because the coffee is so strong, the muffins are not overly sweet! I made the recipe with and without chocolate chips and I think the ones sans chocolate are fantastic! That's probably because I don't eat chocolate for breakfast :) I also strongly recommend using a food scale to measure out the flour because the approximation listed for 9 ounces of flour is supposedly equivalent to 2 cups of flour. But the density of your flour is dependent on the humidity in the environment in which your flour is stored. For me, it turned out that 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour weighed 9 ounces and not 2 cups worth as the original recipe stated. The batter for this muffin recipe will be very thick too!

Chocolate Chip Coffee Muffins

Recipe adapted from CookingLight

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients

2/3 cup whole milk

5 tablespoons butter, melted

3 1/2 tablespoons instant coffee granules

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 large egg, lightly beaten

9 ounces all-purpose flour (about 2 cups)

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 400°F

2) Combine first 5 ingredients (milk, butter, coffee granules, vanilla, and egg)

3) Measure the flour. Combine flour and the remaining ingredients (sugar, baking powder, salt, and chocolate chips) in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Make a well in center of flour mixture. Add milk mixture to flour mixture; stir just until moist.

4. Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 18 minutes or until done. Remove muffins from pan immediately; place on a wire rack.

not your typical PB cookie

2012-01-21T14:08:00.001-05:00

This cookie has a little bit of everything. Usually foods that have a little bit of everything either taste magically delicious or inevitably horrendous. You see, I personally try not to add everything but the kitchen sink into a product because then I end up having several competing flavors that either cancel each other out or are duking it out on my tastebuds. But this cookie is just right...as Goldilocks would say. It contains dark chocolate peanut butter from the one and only Peanut Butter & Company. The chocolate and the peanut butter flavors sing in harmony. And because this is primarily a peanut butter cookie, I up-ed the ante by chocking in some peanut butter m&ms. And lastly to provide a subtle contrast in texture and to "healthify" it a tad, I've included some cooking oats which provide a nice nutty addition that also lends another additional chewy capability/quality to it. I tend to add oats to a lot of my baked goodies only to regret it, but not this time!

The final result is a chewy bakery style cookie (i.e. fist sized cookies that aren't dry). The kind that is chewy soft yet sturdy dense. It tastes more peanut butter than chocolate. The crumb is moist like that of a perfect brownie, but don't misunderstand - this is not a cake-like cookie at all. The crunch comes from the outer edges and the outer crisp shell from the m&ms. Overall, I declare this cookie a delight. I've made this recipe several times and tweaked the recipe each time. This recipe that I'm posting is the one I'm sticking with for future dark chocolate peanut butter oatmeal cravings....

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal M&M cookies

Recipe adapted from BrownEyedBaker

Ingredients for 10 large bakery sized cookies

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup light brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

3/4 cup rolled oats, then pulverized in a food processor

1 cup peanut butter M&Ms

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper (or a silocone baking mat) and set aside.

2) Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

3) Pulverize the cooking oats in a food processor until its almost as fine as flour.

4) On medium speed, cream together the butter, peanut butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time and beat to combine. On low speed, gradually add the flour until just combined. Stir in the oats, and then the m&ms.

5) Dough will be thick. Roll approximately 3 tbsps worth into a golf ball shape and drop dough onto prepared baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 minutes, or until the cookies have developed a crisp looking shell on the outside. Cool completely on the baking sheet and then store in an airtight container at room temperature.

French Macarons for Beginners

2011-11-06T22:41:00.002-05:00

French Macarons are so trendy right now. It consists of two sweet, crispy and airy almond cookies that are sandwiched together by an even sweeter filling. They are visually stunning but one bite into them results in a collapse of that beautiful structure, and the cookie quickly dissolves into your mouth like sugar in hot water.

Look at those pretty feet, or pied as they're called in French. The pied/feet
are the ruffled looking edges on the bottom sides of the cookies!

I will be the first to tell you that I am by no means a professional baker. This blog post isn't supposed to tell you the rights and wrongs to baking your own batch of macarons. I can tell you that I have read through dozens of sites from our fellow bloggers about these tricky cookies. I read and seen photos from the failed attempts to the successful ones. It was because of this research that I was successful with baking my first and only batch to date of these French cookies. I want to tell you what I did and offer you a recipe that will hopefully help you to acheive the same results I have. The absolutely wonderful thing about this recipe is that it's perfect for beginners in the sense that it will give you the right proportions you need but also it's scaled down so you can produce exactly six sandwiched macarons, which means that if you should happen to fail, you didn't waste that much in ingredients! And thereby making this a great recipe as a starting point, and once you've mastered the techniques you can venture off into the wild with more adventurous flavors and combinations!

It's generally recommended that you refrigerate these cookies before
consuming so it doesn't break apart like this when you bite into them!

Rather than provide you with a list a rules on how to bake up a batch of macarons (as many other bloggers may tell you), I'm just going to tell you what I did if you would like to practice re-creating these six sandwich cookies yourself!

I used a digital baking scale. Macarons are so finicky that everything has to be precise. The exact ratio of each ingredient is needed for a successful batch otherwise it's anyone's guessing game.
I prepared my own almond flour by grinding silvered almonds. I did it with a food processor so the almonds were fine enough to pass through a sieve. Macarons are such delicate and dainty cookies that they cannot handle large and sharp bits of almond, which will inevitably create large cracks through the shell. I wanted smooth and shiny cookie tops!
I used egg whites that were aged for 10 days in the refrigerator, which were placed in a tupperware container with a lid on. The reason why I waited 10 days wasn't particular; it just happened to be 10 days when I was finally ready to bake a batch. But it's important to have aged egg whites because the whites lose their elasticity upon aging so they're to easier whip to soft peaks without turning grainy.
Macarons are incredibly sweet. Unfortunately that's just the way it is. This exact ratio of sweetness is prudent because there is a relationship between sugar itself and egg whites. In order to maintain the stability in our egg white meringue, I needed the sugar to aid in holding up its shape, which is crucial for the classic macaron appearance!
I constantly scraped the sides of the bowl during "macaronage." That's just hoity-toity talk for the stage at which all ingredients are incorporated. When I folded all ingredients together with a silicone spatula I made sure that all the batter was combined. Any portion that wasn't will destroy the ingredient ratio and result in ugly cookies. Remember, the macarons are all about appearances.
After piping the cookies on parchment paper, I allowed them to settle on the counter for 60 minutes. That is, after tapping the sheet multiple times on the counter to release any air bubbles floating throughout the batter. I tapped so the no air bubbles will rise during baking and break that flat top on the cookies. And I rested them on the counter after piping so the cookies can form a strong and sturdy crust/skin before baking. So tap baking sheet first, then let them rest.
I allowed the macarons to mature after baking and filling, but before consuming. (Ok, that's not true as seen the second photograph of this entry. I had to have a taste.) Generally, you should mature them for 24 hours and you'll get crispy cookies with chewy filling.

See how this cookie maintained its shape after it was bitten into?
That's because it was allowed a maturation period in the fridge!

Basic Recipe for French Macarons

Recipe from CakeJournal

Ingredients for 6 whole (2.5 - 3 inches in diameter) sandwiched macarons

50 grams ground almonds

50-55 grams egg whites (approximately 1 1/2 egg whites that were aged in the refirgerator)

100 grams powdered sugar

2 tbsp granulated white sugar

Directions

1) Grind the almonds in a food processor. Sift to get rid of any large pieces or lumps.

2) Mix the powdered sugar together with the ground almonds in a food processor.

3) In a large bowl, whip the egg whites with a hand- or stand mixer. As the egg whites start foaming, add the sugar one tablespoon at a time and continue whipping until the mixture is glossy and stiff. You should be able to hold the bowl upside down without the meringue sliding out!

4) Fold the dry mixture into the meringue using a spatula. The mixture should flow like a ribbon when you hold up the spatula. Don’t overmix! If you want to test if the batter has good consistency, just dollop some batter on a piece of parchment paper. If the dollop slowly “flattens”, you’re good to go! If not, just keep folding.

5) Fill your piping bag and pipe the macarons onto baking sheets. Remember that the shells will “flatten” once you’ve piped, so don’t make them too big. About 1 inch is enough. Let them set for 60 minutes to form a dry skin.

Remember that dry skins help to create flat tops!

6) Heat the oven to 150° C (300 degrees F). Bake for 10-12 minutes in the middle of the oven. Keep a close eye on them the last couple of minutes as they brown easily. You can test if they are done by touching the tip of a macaron, if it “wobbles” they are not done. Let the shells cool completely before removing them from the baking sheets. If you have trouble removing them from the paper, put them back in the oven for a couple of minutes. Pipe your filling of choice on a shell and sandwich together with another shell. I used cherry jam, but you can certaintly use a buttercream.

They could probably use more filling! :)

Good luck to everyone who wants to try their hands at these delicate cookies! I hope I provided you with the details you needed to be successful!

if you like Pina Colada Cupcakes

2011-10-15T23:45:00.000-04:00

and getting caught in the rain...

I have another great recipe here for you. You can totally booze it up by injecting rum into it with pipettes (yes, that's exactly the instrumentation I used to do it to the cake version). But these cupcake versions are tasty as is. To be completely honest with you, this recipe was very time consuming to make. There are several components to it, each requiring its own cooking and assembling process. Save this recipe for a day when you're adventurous. And the results from all that arduous work will be gratifying.

Step One: Bake cupcakes.

Step Two: Inject cake with remaining coconut milk (or rum) while it's still hot out of the oven.

Step Three: Cook pineapple curd.

Step Four: Toast coconut flakes.

Step Five: Reduce pineapple juice into a glaze.

Step Six: Whip up some heavy cream.

Step Seven: Core your cupcakes.

Step Eight: Add pineapple curd to center.

Step Nine: Cover with whipped cream.

Step Ten: Sprinkle toasted coconut flakes on top.

Step Eleven: Drizzle on pineapple reduction glaze.

Step Twelve: Eat it.

Coconut Cake

Recipe Adapted from VietWorldKitchen

Ingredients for 2 9-in cakes OR 12 cupcakes and 2 8-in cakes

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

12 3/4 ounces (3 cups) cake flour, plus more for dusting

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1 3/4 cups sugar

3 large eggs, very lightly beaten just to break up the yolks

1 cup coconut milk (Chaokoh brand preferred), reserve the remaining coconut milk for drizzling

1.5 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract

3/4 cup shredded sweetened coconut

Directions

1) Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350F. Generously grease and flour the pans, shake to distribute, then invert them over your sink, tapping out excess flour. Set aside.

2) Over a piece of wax paper or shallow bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Put the sugar in a bowl and set aside at your work area. Crack the eggs into a bowl and very lightly mix with a fork to break the yolks and blend it with the whites. Stir together the coconut milk, almond, and vanilla. Set the eggs and coconut milk near the sugar and flour.

3) Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment in place, cream the 3/4 cup of butter on medium speed for 30 to 45 seconds, until it’s clinging on the side walls and looks satiny.

4) With the mixer still running at medium, slowly add the sugar to butter; tilt the sugar bowl and it should flow slowly out into the butter. When all the sugar is added, stop the mixer. Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides. Return the mixer to medium and continue creaming the butter and sugar for 4 to 5 minutes more. The mixture will become airy, a super pale yellow, and texturally like frosting.

5) With the mixer still running, add the beaten egg, about 1/5 or 1/6 of it at a time. Let the machine work in the egg before adding the next quantity. Go slow.

6) Turn the mixer off. Add 1/4 of the flour and 1/3 of the coconut milk mixture. Run the machine on low to incorporate. When the flour and coconut are no longer visible, stop the machine and add another 1/4 of the flour and 1/3 of the coconut milk. Incorporate the ingredients on low speed and add another portion of flour and coconut milk. On the fourth addition, you will only have flour to add. When it has disappeared into the batter, turn off the machine. Finish by mixing the flour in with a rubber spatula to avoid over mixing. The finished batter should be smooth. Fold in the shredded coconut.

7) Divide the batter equally between the prepared cake pans. Weigh them if you care to be extra careful. Use a rubber spatula in a rotating motion to spread the batter outward from the center to create a raised ridge at the edge of the pan. This technique prevents the center from doming up too much during baking.

8) Bake the cakes for 30 to 35 minutes, until golden on top and the sides have begun to pull away from the pan. Gently press on the surface and the cake should spring back slightly.

9) Cool the cakes on a rack for 5 to 10 minutes. Drizzle remaining coconut milk over the hot cake.

Pineapple Curd

Recipe Adapted from EatingWell

Ingredients for 1.5 cups

2 large egg yolks

1 6-ounce can pineapple juice, (3/4 cup)

1/4 cup granulated sugar

4 teaspoons tapioca starch

Directions

1) Whisk 2 egg yolks, pineapple juice, 1/4 cup sugar and tapioca starch in a small saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, until thick and beginning to bubble, 3 to 5 minutes. Let cool completely.

Toasted Coconut

Ingredients for 1 cup

1 cup shredded sweetened coconut flakes

Directions

1) Toast coconut in a small dry skillet over medium-low heat until golden, stirring often, about 5 minutes.

Pineapple Reduction Glaze

Ingredients for 1/2 cup

1 cup pineapple juice

Directions

1) Heat pineapple juice until it reduces to a syrup over medium heat.

Whipped Cream Frosting

Ingredients generously frosts 12 cupcakes and then some :)

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/2 tsp unflavored gelatin

1 tbsp hot water

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1) Dissolve the gelatin in hot water and set aside.

2) Whip the heavy whipping cream in a chilled bowl with a chilled whisk. Once soft peaks are achieved, add the gelatin mixture. Add the sugar and vanilla. Continue beating until the peaks become stiff.

Assembly of Cupcakes

After the cakes have cooled and have been drizzled with coconut milk (or rum), core the cupcakes. Remove the center and fill with one teaspoon of pineapple curd. Cover with fresh whipped cream. Top with toasted coconut then drizzle on the pineapple reduction glaze. Serve immediately. These cupcakes are best consumed the day they are prepared.

VLOG: brownies, two ways

2011-09-29T19:36:00.001-04:00

I wish I had more time to devote to my video blogs and return to the nerdy aspects of it. Lately, I find that I am rushing to meet my monthly goal of publishing at least one blog entry. Luckily today I present to you a long awaited post on brownies. I write "two ways" because I am referring to the base brownie recipe. The addition of Andes chocolate mints and dulce de leche caramel does not result in two different brownies because the "foundation" is essentially the same. The first recipe features nutella, which is barely detectable in the flavor of the brownie. It serves as a component that contributes primarily to texture, more so than taste. The fats in the nutella spread play a key role. I offer the second recipe as an equally delicious alternative because not everyone has nutella sitting in their pantry. Both brownie recipes are phenomenal. I achieved the same chewiness that is the feature characteristic of Ghiradelli boxed brownies. The reason why box brownies have that texture is because of the kind of fats they utilize. Fat can be divided into two broad types: saturated (solid) and unsaturated (liquid). The unique combination of these fats is what gives box brownies their characteristic texture. Box mixes conveniently contain that saturated fat component (shortening), therefore when the unsaturated vegetable oil is added, the ideal chew ratio of liquid fat to powdered solid fat is formed! To achieve the same chew in a from-scratch homemade recipe, the perfect proportion of liquid to solid fat is required and I believe the two recipes in my vlog will absolutely supply that for you!

EDIT: I'm currently having difficulties getting the vlog to embed on this site. So until I get this issue resolved, you can click HERE for the video!

Recipe One: Brownies using Nutella (Italian Hazelnut Spread)

Recipe Adapted from Vittles and Bits

Ingredients for one 8x8in square pan

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweeteend cocoa powder

pinch salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 stick unsalted butter, melted

3/4 cups sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/2 cup Nutella spread

Directions

1) Preheat oven 350 degrees. Line an 8x8 square pan with parchment paper. In small bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

2) In large microwavable bowl, melt butter in 20 second intervals, stirring after each until smooth. Add sugar and vanilla, and whisk until well-combined. Add eggs one at a time, whisking well after each addition. Add cocoa mixture and whisk until fully combined.

3) In glass measuring cup or other microwave-safe bowl, melt Nutella in 20-second intervals, stirring after each, until smooth and pourable consistency. Stir into batter. Pour into prepared pan and bake 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few crumbs attached.

Recipe Two: Cocoa Brownies with Andes Chocolate Mints and Dulce de Leche Caramel

Recipe Adapted from Bon Appetit

Ingredients for one 8x8in square pan

10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 1/4 cups sugar

3/4 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder (spooned into cup to measure, then leveled)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs, chilled

1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon unbleached all purpose flour

1 cup walnut pieces

Directions

1) Position rack in bottom third of oven; preheat to 325°F. Line 8x8x2-inch metal baking pan with parchment paper.

2) Melt butter the microwave in 20 second intervals. Immediately add sugar, cocoa, 2 teaspoons water, vanilla, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Stir to blend. Let cool 5 minutes (mixture will still be hot).

3) Add eggs to hot mixture 1 at a time, beating vigorously to blend after each addition. When mixture looks thick and shiny, add flour and stir until blended. Beat vigorously 60 strokes. Stir in nuts. Transfer batter to prepared pan.

4) Bake brownies until toothpick inserted into center comes out almost clean (with a few moist crumbs attached), about 25 minutes.

Revisited: new & improved strawberry cake

2011-08-26T14:09:00.002-04:00

Remember when I vlogged about the Cake Mix Doctor's Strawberry Cake and I mentioned the flaws contributing to the overly moist and greasy cake with a cream cheese frosting that seemed too fluid to hold its shape? Toward the end of the vlog, I offer a few suggestions that I deduced to resolve these issues and I said I would reattempt the recipe using these very recommendations for improving the cake. I blog to you today to tell you I did just that...last month. The final result was everything I had anticipated. The cake was moist and fluffy and light as air. As for the frosting, I totally went in another direction and used the icing I paired with my strawberry bread recipe. This cake is definitely something I will make again in the future!

the new & improved Strawberry Cake

Recipe adapted from The Cake Mix Doctor

Ingredients for a three layer 8-inch cake

1 package (18.25 oz) plain white cake mix

1/2 package (approx. 1.5 oz) strawberry gelatin

1 1/2 cup mashed (frozen & thawed) strawberries with juice

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup milk, at room temperature

4 large eggs, separated then acclimated to room temperature

Directions

1) Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease cake pans, line with parchment paper and dust with flour. Set aside.

2) Sift the cake mix and strawberry gelatin and set aside.

3) Whisk the egg whites together until stiff.

4) Add the mashed strawberries and juice, oil, milk and egg yolks in a large mixing bowl and blend with dry ingredients. Beat until combined.

5) Fold in the egg whites.

6) Bake the cakes until they are light brown, approximately 25-30 minutes. Remove from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 10 minutes. Remove from the pans and allow to cool completely on a wire rack right side up.

VLOG: Following the Yellow Cake Road

2011-07-30T11:06:00.000-04:00

I know I promised to make my yellow cake vlog post sometime during the early to middle of July and somehow we've already reached the end of the month. This video is a bit different from the others; rather than walk you through a recipe, I actually geared this toward explaining the effects of using butter versus oil in a cake recipe. I've baked butter based yellow cakes and oil based yellow cakes and a combination of the two. The butter cake has a taste that is absolutely divine, but was crumbly in texture. The oil cake was super moist, but lacked a rich flavor. The combination of both butter and oil resulted in a flavorful cake but I wasn't able to combine the positives from both cakes without negating the negatives. For me, this is still a work in progress...but one in which progress won't be made anytime soon because I must admit, I am not a fan of yellow cake. I will provide you with the butter based recipe and the oil based one and you can decide on your own. I apologize for not being much help on this one, but as I said, this vlog is more about the science behind the kinds of fats you use than the recipe. And as a bonus, I also discuss a bit about cake batter techniques too!

Yellow Butter Cake (Using Butter) from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients for a two layer 8-inch cake and 12 cupcakes

4 cups plus 2 tablespoons (480 grams) cake flour (not self-rising)

2 teaspoons (10 grams) baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon (5 grams) table salt

2 sticks (1 cup, 1/2 pound or 225 grams) unsalted butter, softened

2 cups (400 grams) sugar

2 teaspoons (10 ml) pure vanilla extract

4 large eggs, at room temperature

2 cups buttermilk (475 ml), well-shaken

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter two 9-inch round cake pans and line with circles of parchment paper, then butter parchment.

2) Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, then beat in vanilla. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well and scraping down the bowl after each addition. At low speed, beat in buttermilk until just combined (mixture will look curdled). Add flour mixture in three batches, mixing until each addition is just incorporated.

3) Spread batter evenly in cake pan, then rap pan on counter several times to eliminate air bubbles. (I like to drop mine a few times from two inches up, making a great big noisy fuss.) Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes, then run a knife around edge of pan. Invert onto rack and discard parchment, then cool completely, about 1 hour.

Martha Stewart's Basic Yellow Cake (Using Oil) from The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook

Ingredients for a two layer 8-inch cake

4 & 1/4 Cups Flour

3 & 1/3 Cups Sugar

3 1/2 teaspoons Baking Soda

1 & 3/4 teaspoons Baking Powder

pinch of salt

3 Large Eggs plus 1 Yolk

1 & 3/4 Cups Warm Water

2 Cups Buttermilk

1/2 Cups Vegetable Oil

2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

Directions

1) Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 8-inch round baking pans.

2) Stir together sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in warm water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

3) Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.

a no frills flaky pie crust

2011-06-30T23:29:00.001-04:00

Oh snap. I'm behind on my blogging. For the past couple of months I have been working on a classic yellow cake vlog and I've been doing a lot of research for it. It'll be posted in early July, but for now I have no videos to share. Instead I'm going to briefly blog about a basic flaky pie crust recipe. I've used this for several pies and what I love about it is that it is so incredibly flaky and melts in your mouth. It has no butter, but all shortening. I know most people think shortening is unappetizing and unhealthy, but trust me when I say that butter isn't any healthier. While butter offers more in flavor, it creates a dense pie crust. You want something airy with layers? Try out this recipe. It has rave reviews from allrecipes!

Basic Flaky Pie Crust

Recipe from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients for 1 pie crust

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup shortening, chilled

3 tablespoons ice water

Directions

1) Whisk the flour and salt together in a medium size bowl. With a pastry blender, cut in the cold shortening until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Drizzle 2 to 3 tablespoons ice water over flour.

2) Toss mixture with a fork to moisten, adding more water a few drops at a time until the dough comes together.

3) Gently gather dough particles together into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 30 minutes before rolling.

4) Roll out dough, and put in a pie plate. Fill with desired filling and bake.

Questions? Comments? Just ask!

qu'ils mangent de la brioche = strawberry bread

2011-05-25T23:08:00.022-04:00

Let them eat cake! Wait, say what? We've got a bread like cake? Ok. Qu'ils mangent de la strawberry bread cake.

You know, it's so hard to find a strawberry cake from scratch meaning no cake mix and no jello. (FYI: I will eventually revisit my semi-homemade -meaning cake mix and jello- strawberry cake vlog recipe and update you on that.) So when I discovered this recipe for the cake only, I was excited! I can agree with the blogger that the "cake" is indeed incredibly moist. But it had the texture of bread, specifically similar to that of a banana bread. It was dense and chewy, and those are not characteristics I would attribute to a cake. Had I known this prior I probably wouldn't have prepared a frosting with it, but I have a fantastic recipe for a strawberry cream cheese frosting that is simply divine; it tastes like a strawberry ice cream dream!

Despite the fact that I separated the eggs, whipped the whites to stiff peaks, and folded them into the batter at the end, it did very little to fight against the gravity of the strawberry puree weighing down on the cake.

The bread itself has a sublime strong strawberry flavor. Most baked strawberry desserts don't taste of strawberry but this recipe packs a punch. I used a lot of strawberries to make a pureed strawberry reduction. This is a good thing. Buy frozen strawberries. I got mine on sale at the local supermarket. It was a buck a pound! So I used a good 32 ounces and that produced 2 cups of reduced puree for me, which was so tasty by itself. I could eat that by the spoonful. And it was all natural - no sugars added in my reduction.

Also, I had originally intended to add red food coloring to enhance that strawberry appeal. But I had forgotten. Sigh, life often doesn't go as expected. The show goes on ---> love that new Lupe Fiasco song!

Strawberry Bread

Recipe adapted from A Dash of Sass

Ingredients for a 9x13 inch baking dish

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/8 tsp of baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1 1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup vegetable oil

2 cups reduced pureed strawberries [*see note below]

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp cinnamon

4 large eggs, separated

1/2 cup milk

Directions

1) Separate eggs and let sit at room temperature.

2) Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease and flour a 9x13 baking dish.

3) Whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Add cream of tartar to stabilize them. Set aside.

4) Beat egg yolks with sugar until creamy and pale yellow. Add in oil and vanilla. Add in strawberry puree.* Set aside.

5) Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

6) Add the dry flour mixture alternatively with the milk into the wet strawberry mixture.

7) Fold in the whipped egg whites.

8) Bake for 20-25 minutes. (Yes, it bakes quickly...relatively quickly compared to cake in a pan this size!)

*Note: To make a reduced strawberry puree, puree 32 oz of frozen strawberries and transfer to a large saucepan. Cook over low-medium heat for approximately an hour. It will be relatively thick and incredibly delectable. Store in a airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to use.

I call this "cake" a bread because it is so dense. Albeit a tasty strawberrific dense piece of bread with the right amount of sweetness and well accompanied by a finger-lickin'-good cream cheese frosting.

Strawberry Ice Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients to frost a 9x13 inch cake
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 oz cream cheese, softened
a handful of freeze-dried strawberries, pulverized in a food processor to a fine dust
1 - 2 cups confectioners sugar

Directions
1) In a mixer, blend the butter and cream cheese until soft and pliable. With the mixer still in motion, dump in the strawberry powder. Slowly add the sugar in increments until desired sweetness is acheived.
2) Frost the cake.

VLOG: a simply complex mocha buttercream

2011-05-07T16:55:00.006-04:00

There is a cake back home that I like. It's a chocolate cake with a mocha buttercream frosting. The sides of the cake are coated with chocolate cookie crumbs. The last time I purchased this cake, I recall peeling off the nutrition label listing the ingredients in hopes of one day recreating this cake on my own. But when a cake is being mass produced, the ingredients aren't necessarily the greatest (i.e. shortening vs. butter). However, this recipe is simply superb. It's made with quality ingredients and you can tell after one bite. This is an Italian meringue buttercream, which means it uses eggs cooked in a hot syrup and is combined with butter. (Yeah, not so simple as my simple buttercream vlog!) It is mocha flavored from the addition of chocolate and coffee! And I'll share my favorite chocolate cake recipe on this blog one day as well, but any of your favorite chocolate cake recipes will do for now. Remember, the cake is the vehicle and not the star of the show.

UPDATE: Upon further research, I have to add a few notes. First of all, this is not an Italian Meringue Buttercream, but rather a combination of an Italian meringue AND a French Mousseline Buttercream. An Italian meringue requires the use of solely egg whites that are whipped and cooked with a hot sugar syrup. A French mousseline uses only egg yolks that are whipped and cooked with a hot sugar syrup. And little did I know, a French mousseline buttercream is considered the most difficult type of buttercream to master. I suppose if I knew that before it may have been more intimidating and possibly a more formidable challenge. But I still stand by my previous assertions that this mocha buttercream can be prepared by any amateur baker (myself included). My vlog and step-by-step instructions make it that much easier. If any readers of this blog attempts this recipe, please let me know how it turns out!

Crazy Delicious Mocha Buttercream Frosting

Recipe adapted from The Essential Baker by Carole Bloom

Ingredients for more than enough to frost a three-layer 8-inch cake

2 large eggs, at room temperature

2 large egg yolks, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup water

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

6 oz bittersweet and dark chocolate, melted and cooled

2 tsp instant coffee powder

1 tbsp boiling water

Directions

1) Place the candy thermometer in a small sauce pan. Bring the water, cream of tartar, and 1 1/4 cups of sugar to a boil over medium-high heat until it reaches a temperature of 242F. This will take several minutes. In the meantime, place the eggs, yolks, and 1/4 cup sugar in a mixer and whip until the volume has quadrupled.

2) Once the sugar is ready, transfer to a heated cup with a spout. Gradually pour this sugar syrup into the mixer while it is in motion on slow. Allow the egg and sugar mixture to beat on medium-high speed until cooled, approximately eight minutes.

3) Add the butter 2 tbsp at a time. It may appear curdled, but continue mixing and it will smooth out. Stop the mixer when it is smooth and silky.

4) Dissolve the coffee powder in the water. Add to melted chocolate while everything is still hot. If you fail to do so while everything is at the same temperature, the addition of hot coffee to cooled chocolate will result in seizing, making it unusable.

5) Add the mocha mixture (that has been cooled) to the buttercream. Now it is ready for use to ice the cake.

VLOG: the New York Times on carrot cake muffins

2011-04-20T12:48:00.001-04:00

If you read The New York Times, you may have seen this recipe printed on March 1, 2011. They are described as "spicy whole-grain muffins [that] are just sweet enough, unlike most cloying carrot cakes. And these are packed with carrots." I made some modifications to the recipe by omitting the turbinado sugar and golden raisins. I replaced them with light brown sugar and sweetened coconut. The end result was a slightly moist muffin that had a bare hint of sweetness. It's a great breakfast muffin that is probably best accompanied by jam or butter. I, however, found the touch of sweetness to be sufficient. The muffin does tend to dry out and develop a sticky residue after a couple of days. The article does say that "these keep for a couple of days out of the refrigerator, for a few more days in the refrigerator and for a few months in the freezer." So I would recommend that once these are baked, that they be frozen and microwaved when ready to eat.

The NYTimes Carrot Cake Muffin
Recipe adapted from The New York Times
Ingredients for 12 standard sized muffins + 24 mini muffins
2 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 1/3 cups buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup sweetened coconut
1/3 cup chopped pecans
1 1/2 cups grated carrots

Directions
1) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees with the rack in the upper third of the space. Place muffin liners in the muffin tin.
2) Pulverize together the whole-wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
3) In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, sugar, oil, buttermilk and vanilla. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Do not beat; a few lumps are fine, but make sure there is no flour at the bottom of the bowl. Fold in the coconut, pecans and the carrots.
4) Using a #20 ice cream scoop, fill the muffin cups to just below the top (about 4/5 full). Place in the oven, and bake 25 minutes until lightly browned and well risen. Bake mini muffins for 12-15 minutes until lightly browned and well risen.

VLOG: a very berry quite contrary strawberry cake

2011-03-18T20:47:00.001-04:00

This is a strawberry cake with strawberry gelatin and strawberry puree covered in a strawberry cream cheese frosting containing real strawberries. I don't think I missed any opportunity to add more strawberry to this cake. If this cake sounds unappealing to you, then let me explain first! When I was given this recipe a couple of weeks ago, I was skeptical because the ingredients listed white cake mix and packaged gelatin. I only do from scratch baking, but I was told that this cake was utterly magnificent because it's from the Cake Mix Doctor herself. I had googled this recipe and found the exact same one published on allrecipes.com with several mixed reviews. The only way for me to determine what this cake actually tasted like required for me to do one thing, which was to prepare the cake as directed and analyze it myself. Granted, I had to put aside my biases against cake mixes and artificial flavorings.

So here it is - the cake needs improvement. Don't get me wrong, it's good. However the texture is off. When baked as written, the cake comes out incredibly greasy and very, very moist as if it's too moist for its own good. It's a pretty dense cake, and the vivid pink color saturated throughout is a tad bit disturbing. The raw batter smelled wrong (i.e. artificial from the cake mix and gelatin), but the baked cake smelled acceptable. The frosting failed to hold on its own because it was way too watery. [See my vlog on simple buttercreams to improve this strawberry frosting recipe!] I would edit and modify this recipe so that it's more suitable to my preferences. My vlog details the effects of utilizing gelatin in a cake and what it does to the texture and structure of the cake. I also included notes on how I would alter the recipe to achieve a fluffy, light, and moist cake. I didn't extract any ingredient completely from the original recipe in order to maintain the integrity of the cake; my point is not give you an entirely different one. I only adjusted the amounts of some ingredients, and suggested a different technique toward incorporating them into the batter. These improvements were made based on my understanding of each ingredient's principle role in the cake. I myself will be taking this to heart to re-create this recipe again someday, and I'll post a "revisited" blog entry to update you.

Strawberry Cake (as prepared in the vlog - no suggested modifications included)

Recipe adapted from The Cake Mix Doctor (I made some omissions & substitutions from original recipe)

Ingredients for 30 cupcakes

1 package (18.25 oz) plain white cake mix

1 package (3 oz) strawberry gelatin

1 cup mashed (frozen & thawed) strawberries with juice

1 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup milk, at room temperature

4 large eggs, at room temperature

1 cup sweetened grated coconut

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting (as prepared in the vlog - no suggested modifications included)

Recipe adapted from The Cake Mix Doctor (I made some omissions & substitutions from original recipe)

Ingredients for frosting 30 cupcakes

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, at room temperature

1 stick (8 tbsp) unsalted butter, at room temperature

3 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

3/4 cup fresh ripe strawberries, rinsed, capped, and chopped

1/2 cup sweetened coconut

1/4 cup pecan halves

Directions

1) Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place cupcake liners in a 12-cup muffin tin and set aside.

2) Place the cake mix, strawberry gelatin, mashed strawberries and juice, oil, milk and eggs in a large mixing bowl and blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes more, scraping the sides down again if needed. The strawberries should be well blended into the batter. Fold in the coconut. Divide the batter into the cups and place them in the oven.

3) Bake the cakes until they are light brown, approximately 15-18 minutes. Remove from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 10 minutes. Remove from the muffin tin and allow to cool completely on a wire rack right side up.

4) Meanwhile, prepare the frosting. Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer on low speed for about 30 seconds. Stop the machine and add the sugar and strawberries. Blend the frosting on low until the sugar has been incorporated. Then raise the speed to medium and mix the frosting another minute or until the frosting lightens and is well combined. Fold in the coconut. Apply frosting to cupcakes and top each with a pecan half.

Revisited: Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-03-07T23:38:00.001-05:00

I'll never go so far as to tell anybody that such-and-such is the best recipe out there ever made. Who am I to say that without having tried every single recipe? So when I vlogged about the ubiquitous chocolate chip cookie in October 2010, I just told you it was a great cookie. And it still is, and I still follow the blog of the writer of that particular recipe on my google reader.

However, the reason why I am revisiting the triple c's on this blog entry is to tell you about a recipe that is just as amazing. And here's the kicker, it's EASIER to make. In my vlog, I demonstrated how to make a chewy salted chocolate chip cookie with the use of a mixer (but I'm sure some of you smarties who recreated the recipe in your own home were able to do without). In this blog post, I'm telling you that you can bake an equally successful cookie without all the little intricacies of having things at room temperature. Yes, we'll be MELTING the butter. Yes, we can use COLD eggs. The amateur culinary baker in me says yes this does go against all the baking laws out there. Do we not need to have the butter softened and eggs at room temperature for maximum aeration and emulsion? YES and YES, but the reason why I am "revisiting" is to tell you that this is the lazy man's chocolate chip cookie with the diligent, contentious, and meticulous woman's chocolate chip cookie appearance, flavor, and texture. In other words, you can half-a$$ it and still get an A!

This recipe is a Ms. Lollipop original combination of Alton Brown's Chocolate Chip Cookie #10 from his I'm Just Here For More Food: Food x Mixing + Heat = Baking and the classic Neiman Marcus Cookie from 500 Cookies: The Only Cookie Compendium You'll Ever Need. I've made it more "adult" by using Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate Chips and instant coffee powder imported from Germany. YUM!

These cookies are soft and chewy and stay that way after many days (I can only testify up to 5 days!) in an airtight container. They taste best warm too, so microwave them for 10 seconds if they're not! I reduced the amount of butter by nearly half without sacrificing on flavor or texture. I imagine the cookies would be greasy had I didn't! And there is no white sugar - all brown for maximum moisture and caramelized taste. There is a subtle hint of coffee but its a match made in heaven with the dark chocolate! And don't forget to watch my previous post on triple c's for some tips and techniques.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies - The Lazy Man's Version
Recipe adapted from I'm Just Here For More Food and 500 Cookies
Ingredients for 2 dozen cookies
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp instant coffee powder
1 1/2 cup (8oz) dark chocolate chips

Directions
1) Beat together the butter and sugar. Incorporate the eggs and vanilla extract. Set aside.
2) Sift the flour, baking soda, salt and coffee powder.
3) Using a wooden spoon (or inert spatula) to stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Fold in the chocolate chips before the dry ingredients are fully moistened to avoid over-working the dough.
4) Wrap the dough in cling/plastic wrap twice. (YES, this step is necessary for all the flavors to join forces in order to kick your taste buds out of this world!)
5) Refrigerate for at least three hours (overnight is better).
6) Preheat oven to 375F when ready to bake. Make sure your dough is at room temperature before baking (or if you watched what I did/explained in my triple c vlog, you can use cold dough - just smoosh it flat with the palm of your hand.)
7) Bake for 8-10 mins (no more!) and allow to cool on wire rack (while still on cookie sheet) before enjoying!

VLOG: simple & versatile buttercream icing

2011-02-27T23:19:00.002-05:00

This blog post title basically says it all. I'm going to show you how to make buttercream frosting in a matter of minutes - less than two minutes to be precise. This recipe is adapted from The Culinary Institute of America's Baking at Home with the CIA. I won this wonderful book from Lisa of KoreanAmericanMommy on one of her giveaways! (Thanks again Lisa!)

Buttercream icings are really adaptable because you can add whatever flavors of your choice. The key thing to remember is that the more fluid your flavoring, the more powdered sugar you must add to obtain that thick frosting like texture. So it is best to stick to extracts or more viscous additions, unless you simply adore sweetness to the max. Buttercreams consist of softened room temperature butter, powdered sugar, and flavoring. Also, sometimes milk/cream is needed to reduce the thickness of the frosting into order to achieve the desired texture. Other than that, that is basically it!

Want to make a crazy good chocolate buttercream? Replace one cup powdered sugar with one cup cocoa powder. Want to make a vanilla buttercream? Use vanilla extract. Want to make a nutella buttercream? Use nutella. Want to make [enter flavor here]? Use [enter flavor source here]. In all cases, use milk/cream/food coloring to thin it out if necessary. How much of it you use is up to you!

I'm going to demonstrate how to make a simple strawberry buttercream using strawberry jam. The reason why I don't use pureed strawberries is because it is too "liquidy" but if you prefer it, I suggest that you cook it down on the stovetop (which will also get you a more intense strawberry flavor). I feel that half the work is already done for me by using strawberry jam though.

Simple Strawberry Buttercream
Recipe adapted from Baking At Home with the CIA
Ingredients for 4 cups, or enough to fill and ice an 8- or 9-inch cake
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup strawberry jam
1 tsp red food coloring

Directions
1) In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter on medium speed until it is light in texture.
2) Add in the sugar one cup at a time until incorporated. Whip until smooth.
3) Add in the strawberry jam. Mix until combined. Then add in the red food coloring.
4) Increase the speed on the mixer to high and whip until the desired texture is achieved. Adjust the consistency by adding more jam or sugar.

VLOG: a sweet potato twist

2011-02-05T22:11:00.003-05:00

Making pie is so easy. I know I say that about a lot of my other baking endeavors, but this one is legit. With a few handy tips, you'll be thinking the same thing. Trust me, come summer time I will be talking all about making fruit pies that don't run and easy, breezy, beautiful flaky crusts. Until then, I've got a recipe on sweet potato pie to hold you over. (Yeah, I'm a tad bit late on "ground provision" pies but better late than never!) This pie recipe is adapted from the Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook. It has been raved about on various baking blogs and I just had to try it out. My review on it? It's different. It's light and delicate but still embodies the sweet potato flavor. I strongly recommend you omit the lemon juice (as was written in the original recipe) because that tang is distracting. You've got enough of the bite from the buttermilk. It's important to remember the star of this show is the sweet potato. With that being said, I present to you my shortest video yet with the featured musician being me. It's a Catalonian Melody composed by my former classical guitar instructor. This is one of the very first pieces I ever learned how to play. It starts off simple and is followed by a variation, and I think it's absolutely beautiful. Enjoy my dears!

Southern Sweet Potato Buttermilk Pie

Recipe adapted from the Lee Bros Southern Cookbook

Ingredients for one 9-in pie

1.5 lbs sweet potato (approx. 2 medium; peeled and chopped into blocks)

4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp kosher salt

3 large eggs, separated

1/2 cup sugar

2 tbsp all-purpose flout

1 pie crust, prebaked

Directions

1) Preheat the oven to 375F.

2) Steam the potatoes for 20 minutes. Puree and use only 1.5 cups of it. Mix that with the butter, flour, spices and salt.

3) Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks and set aside.

4) Beat the egg yolks with the sugar until creamy yellow in color. Add the sweet potato mixture and stir until incorporated.

5) Then add in the buttermilk, followed by the folding in of the egg whites.

6) Pour mixture into the prebaked crust and bake on the middle rack until the center is firm and has set, for approximately 35-40 minutes.

7) Cool completely before slicing.

Helpful Hints for a Successful Cheesecake

2011-01-27T21:41:00.001-05:00

Cheesecake can be incredibly intimidating but it is deceptively easy to make. All you need is a lot of patience because cheesecake takes a lot of time. I want to share with you a few tips with you that I learned along the way to help you become successful in making cheesecake in your own home.

1) Have all your ingredients at room temperature for approximately an hour or so before starting. The reason why this is important is to prevent lumps in your batter; cold ingredients tend not to blend well. Also, cold ingredients also require you to over-mix the batter in order to smooth out those lumps, which in turn causes you to beat more air into the batter. During the baking process, the air will cause the cake to puff up and sink in the center. Also, these air bubbles will eventually rise to the surface of the cheesecake and thereby aesthetically destroy the top surface.

2) Use an electric mixer (stand or hand), a food processor, or a powerful blender to combine the ingredients. Unless you have the power to beat the crap out of cheese, then the use of such equipment makes life so much easier. It's crucial to smooth out the batter without applying too much air and this is the most efficient and effective way of doing so.

Blackberry Cheesecake

3) Pre-bake your crust to dry out the moisture from the addition of butter to the cookie crumbs. Otherwise it will not be crisp if you immediately add your cheesecake batter to it and bake. The melted butter makes the crumbs stick to one another and the heat from the "pre-baking process" makes the water in the butter evaporate and thereby hardens the crust. You know, for the longest time, I wondered why a majority of recipes required you to add sugar to your already sweet cookie crumbs for your crust. I understood the purpose of the butter - it is the "glue" used to combine the crumbs together. But the sugar? Is that for *extra* sweetness? I suppose one can argue that the sugar will reach its melting point in the oven and eventually caramelize to create the strong bond needed to connect the crumbs together. Unnecessary I argue because you have the butter for that purpose. That is unless you love sugar.

4) You don't need a bain marie (water bath) to make a good cheesecake. Many people may fight me to the death on this one. Understandably. Cheesecake is essentially a custard that needs to bake slowly and evenly. The most effective way to do this is to bake it in a water bath. And since water evaporates at a boiling point of 212F, the water bath will never get hotter than this despite whatever the oven temperature is. This means that the outer edge of the cheesecake won't bake faster than the center, which can cause it to soufflé, sink, and crack. HOWEVER, you can still achieve the quintessential cheesecake without a bain marie. The trick is simple. Do not open the oven door during baking to ensure a constant temperature and don't bake at a high temperature.

5) Generously butter the cheesecake vessel. The reason why a cheesecake may crack is because it is stuck to the sides of the pan. For example, let's say we're using a 9-in spring form pan. When the sides of the pan are not greased, the cheesecake will adhere to the sides and it will pull the cake towards it. This causes it to crack in the center because the cake isn't completely solidified during the baking process (that's what refrigeration afterwards is for).

6) It doesn't matter what type of pan you use as long as you line pans with foil for easy removal. But lining it will be unnecessary if you have a spring form pan. If you cover a rectangular pan with foil, you can easily lift it out and slice. And it'll be an easy clean-up!

Mini NY-Style Cheesecake in Cupcake Form

7) Baking times will vary depending on the size of the pan. Most recipes will offer various baking times for different pan sizes, but most often, you won't see temperatures and times for mini cheesecakes (in cupcake form). Well, I'll tell you straight-up. No matter what the recipes says, bake at 275F for 35-40 minutes for mini cheesecakes (remember, the lower the temperature then the longer the baking time). This has been tested and proven to be absolutely delicious, according to myself and Martha Stewart.

8) After the baking process has completed, turn off oven, keep the oven door open ajar, and walk away leaving the cake in the oven for at least 90 minutes but really up to 3 hours. We don't want to disrupt the cake by moving it; it needs time to cool down at its own rate.

9) Refrigerate overnight. Unfortunately this is not a dessert you can sample right away. It needs to set completely in the fridge.

10) Slice the cake with a warm knife. This will give you nice even and clean slices. Dip your knife into warm water and wipe it clean with a towel then slice. Repeat this step after each slice.

Bite-Sized Oreo Cheesecake Bars

I hope these hints will help you successfully bake your own cheesecake. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave me a comment and I'll be more than happy to answer (or look up the answer)!

VLOG: the birthday cake

2011-01-14T13:02:00.001-05:00

How to you like your birthday cake? I prefer to have mine light and airy with a subtle sweetness, and paired with fresh fruit. Sounds like an Asian-style birthday cake doesn't it? The great thing about this cake recipe is that it is incredibly versatile. Add whatever fruit and flavors you like.

I posted this video in July 2010 and later removed it from my blog despite the fact that I encouraged YouTube viewers to come stop by this blog for the written recipe and instructions. Well I'm finally going to provide that. This was the very first vlog attempt and if you are a regular visitor to this blog, you will know how I have improved since.

Strawberry Cream Birthday Cake from Viet World Kitchen

Sponge Cake Ingredients - Makes (2) 9-in cakes

Egg yolk batter base:

6 large egg yolks

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Egg white batter base:

6 large egg whites

Pinch of salt, non-iodized table salt, preferred

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

3 tablespoons sugar

Completing the cake:

1 cup + 2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons cake flour, sifted

Directions:

1) To prepare the pan, smear a bit of softened butter to lightly coat the bottom and side. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Smear the parchment paper with a bit more butter. Add ¼ to ½ cup all-purpose flour and shake. Invert pan and tap it to remove excess flour. Set aside.

2) Now put a rack in the lower third position and preheat to 350F.

3) Start beating the egg whites. When they are foamy throughout, sprinkle in the salt and cream of tartar. Continue beating until soft peaks form. Then sprinkle in the 3 tablespoons sugar and continue beating for a couple more minutes to generate stiff egg whites. Transfer to another bowl.

4) Start beating the egg yolks in the bowl. Gradually sprinkle in the sugar by the tablespoon to incorporate well. Continue beating for several minutes, until the mixture is thick, pale yellow, and when you pause and lift the whisk, the batter drips down and forms a ribbon that slowly dissolves on the surface. Now, beat in the vanilla.

5) Immediately take a large rubber spatula and plop a ¼ of the egg whites into the egg yolk base. Stir gently to lighten the base. Then plop 1/3 of the remaining whites onto the base. Sift ¼ of the flour on top. Delicately and quickly use the spatula to fold the ingredients together, until they are nearly all incorporated. Then repeat with another 1/3 of the remaining whites and 1/3 of the remaining flour and repeat until all ingredients are added. Fold again until almost blended. Do not overblend or the batter will deflate.

6) Pour the batter into cake pan. It should fill to about ¼ inch of the rim. Use the spatula to spread the batter out evenly in the pan.

7) Gently slide the cake into the oven. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. The cake will rise slowly and then brown. The cake is done when its puff sinks slightly and the sides show a faint line of shrinkage from the edges of the pan.

8) Remove the cake from the oven and cool on a rack for 15 minutes.Run a knife all around the edge, between the cake and the pan. Invert the cake onto your hand (or back on the rack), give the cake bottom a tap, and then remove the cake pan.

Cake Filling:

2 tablespoons water

1 1/4 teaspoons unflavored gelatin

1 pint strawberries, or whatever fruit of your choice

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup heavy cream, chilled

Whipped Cream Frosting:

1 1/2 cups heavy cream, chilled

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/4 teaspoon water

3/4 teaspoon unflavored gelatin

1/2 cup fruit puree, optional

Directions:

1) To make the strawberry filling, put the water in a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over it. Set aside.

2) Wash and pat the strawberries dry with a dish towel. Hull and cut enough berries into small pieces about the size of your thumbnail to make a brimming cup.

3) Put the strawberries in a small pot and add the sugar, stirring to combine. Heat over medium heat, stirring just until the sugar has melted. Remove from the heat and add the water, stirring, until the gelatin has dissolved. Pour into a mixing bowl and set aside to cool to room temperature, about 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

4) While the strawberry mixture cools, whip the 1/2 cup cream using a stand mixer or hand-held mixer until soft peaks form. And then mix with cooked strawberries.

5) For the frosting, combine the cream, sugar and vanilla in a bowl. Then whip using a stand mixer or hand-held mixer until just shy of stiff. In a small bowl, combine the water and gelatin. Place in microwave for 10 seconds. Add to frosting - continue beating until well combined.

6) To fill and frost the cake, put the cake on a cake stand or platter, with strips of wax paper or parchment paper underneath to form a collar that will keep the stand or platter dirty clean.

7) Finish the strawberry mousse by combining the strawberry mixture with the 1/2 cup of whipped cream. Then spread the strawberry mousse on top of the cake layer. Place the second layer atop. Then frost the cake with the 1 1/2 cups of whipped cream.

VLOG: the scarlet cupcake

2011-01-07T23:24:00.004-05:00

After a long break, I'm ready to start twenty-eleven with a rapid fire succession of vlog and blog posts. So I'ma gonna hit it off with these fantastically red velvet cupcakes. Red velvet cake is neither a chocolate nor a vanilla cake. It does however express an ever so subtle hint of chocolately goodness. As a tremendous supporter of Hershey's chocolate cake recipe, I decided to try out their red velvet recipe. I generally read hundreds of reviews on a recipe before attempting to recreate my own version, however, not many bloggers discussed the wonders of this specific recipe. So this is my review of this recipe: it is a delicious moist and tender cake, and serves as a wonderful vehicle for a sweet cream cheese frosting. So without further ado, I present my first video blog of 2011. Happy Baking & Eating! And as promised in the vlog, scroll down for a troubleshooting guide on cake baking.

Hershey's Red Velvet Cake

Ingredients for 12 cupcakes

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 egg

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 cup All-Purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp vinegar

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp red food color

2 1/2 tbsp + 1/2 tsp cocoa powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

Directions

1) Preheat the oven to 350F.

2) Sift together the dry ingredients (cocoa powder, flour and salt). Set aside.

3) Beat the sugar and butter. Add in the eggs and vanilla.

4) Stir together the wet ingredients (food coloring and buttermilk) in a measuring cup. Set aside.

5) Alternatively add the wet and dry ingredients into the sugar/butter/egg batter.

6) Mix in the baking soda first and then the vinegar.

7) Bake for 18-20 minutes. Test for doneness with a toothpick. If crumbs are sticking to the toothpick, then they are done. They will finishing baking in the cupcake pan from the residual heat for a minute or two.

Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting adapted from my own personal trial & error experiments!

Ingredients generously frosts 12 cupcakes and then some :)

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/2 tsp unflavored gelatin

1 tbsp hot water

4 oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp sour cream

Directions

1) Dissolve the gelatin in hot water and set aside.

2) Whip the heavy whipping cream in a chilled bowl with a chilled whisk. Once soft peaks are achieved, add the gelatin mixture. Continue beating until the peaks become stiff. Remove from mixing bowl and set aside.

3) With the uncleaned mixing bowl, add the remaining ingredients and mix until combined.

4) Fold in the whipping cream until incorporated.

CAKE TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE

VLOG: do you know the muffin man

2010-12-01T23:28:00.004-05:00

Let's take a walk down Drury Lane and talk about muffins! Do you know the difference between a muffin and a cupcake? Muffins generally are eaten for breakfast and because of that they are subtle in sweetness. Muffins also have distinctive high peaks. Cupcakes, on the other hand, are miniature forms of cake. They are frosted and are very sweet and have flat tops. In this vlog, I'll be discussing the very simple muffin method - that is to mix the wet and dry ingredients separately and then combine them together with minimal agitation. This will help you to achieve the high muffin tops.

I'll be sharing two different recipes with you, but they'll contain the same scientific information. You can choose between the apple pie filled muffins or the banana chocolate chip muffins OR watch both. These recipes are equally delish. I'll also be sharing with you two versions of one song that I am featuring. The artist is my dear friend Arielle DiGiacomo and she plays a mean ukulele. Although the song was originally "untitled," it became known as the "lu-wish-cious" song because we were unable to clearly identify what she was saying. At one point I thought it was "two wishes" but that's not it either. I realize what it is now having listened to it several times (as I inadvertently do with all the songs I feature when I edit my vlogs), and who knows - maybe you'll get it the first time. And lastly, these vlogs are considerably shorter than my previous ones; my plan is to keep the vlogs in the 3-5 min range. Enjoy!

Apple Pie (filled) Muffins adapted from my own recipes!
Ingredients for 12 muffins
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup brown sugar (and 2 tbsp for the filling)
1/4 cup white sugar
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon (1 tsp for muffin and 1 tsp for apple pie filling)
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg (and a pinch for the filling)
1 egg
1/2 cup buttermilk (or 1/2 cup milk + 1.5 tsp apple cider vinegar)
1/3 cup canola oil
a pinch of salt
2 granny smith apples
2 tsp tapioca starch
1/3 cup walnuts (optional)

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 400F.
2) Combine and sift the flour, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg and salt together. Set aside.
3) Blend the egg, sugars, and canola oil together and set aside.
4) Peel apples and shred one and dice the other. Add the shredded apples to the wet mixture along with the buttermilk.
5) With the diced apples, mix in the tapioca starch, the spices, and sugar. Set aside.
6) Add the wet ingredients into the dry. Add in the walnuts, if using. Combine just until moistened. Do not over-mix.
7) Line muffin pan with liners or grease the pan. Add approx. 1.5 tbsp to each cup. Top with the apple pie filling and fill the cup with more batter until three-quarters full.
8) Bake for 18-20 mins. Afterwards remove from pan and cool on kitchen towel bottom-side up.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins adapted from KeepYourDietReal
Ingredients for 12 muffins
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup of packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 tbsp of chocolate chips
3 mashed ripe bananas
1/3 cup of canola oil
1/4 cup of milk
2 eggs
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1/3 cup walnuts (optional)

Directions
1) Preheat the oven 400F and grease or place liners in a muffin pan.
2) Place the ripe peeled bananas in a bowl and mash well.
3) Add the oil, milk, eggs, and vanilla and mix throughly.
4) In a separate large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Add walnuts, if using.
5) Add the banana mixture to the dry mixture and combine until just blended and do not over-mix.
6) Fill each muffin up about 3/4 full.
7) Bake for 18-20 mins or until the tops are golden brown. Afterwards remove from pan and cool on kitchen towel bottom-side up.

the unconventional tiramisu

2010-11-25T12:41:00.000-05:00

Can I tell you a secret? I've never had tiramisu before so I'm not even sure you could even call what I made tiramisu. According to what is considered traditional tiramisu, I deviated from it in more ways than one. First, I wanted to avoid salmonella poisoning by cooking the egg yolks in the zabaglione and the egg whites in the Italian meringue (both of which served as my pastry cream when combined with the mascarpone cheese). Second, I wanted an alternative to the imported ladyfingers (savioardi biscuits) to better fit to my taste buds by baking up my own sponge cake. Third, since I don't booze I went with the suggestion of using rum over marsala wine.

This was the original game plan:

So here's the low down on what I did. This was a three day process.
Day One: I made my own mascarpone cheese (successfully)!
Day Two: I baked 2 sponge cakes (nothing new because I've done this before) and I prepared the zabaglione custard (fail - I'm pretty sure I did it wrong because it wasn't as thick as I expected, that is according to my research).
Day Three: I made my Italian meringue and used it to create my pastry cream. I pulverized chocolate chips in the food processor. I divided the cakes into four layers and assembled the cake.

Overall, my tiramisu did not go according to plan. Because I made more pastry cream than I needed, I opted out of the chocolate and vanilla whipped cream layers. I baked 8-in cakes but used a 8.5 inch spring form pan (all I had) and filled the empty space in the sides with pastry cream. When I put the cake together with what I had, it was literally overflowing out of the spring form pan and looked as tall as a mile high apple pie would. So this is how it looked after assembling:

Overnight, it turns out that the sponge cake absorbed the pastry cream in between the layers, so when it was sliced the following day, it looked like I placed one sponge cake on top of the other with a dusting of chocolate chips in between each layer with the exception of the pastry cream on the sides which was not absorbed by the cake. I suppose I can use the excuse that this was my first time and I can only improve from here. But this cake was way to difficult to make and I think I'll pass. But if I should ever attempt tiramisu again, I'll do it the authentic way and use raw eggs, imported lady fingers, and marsala wine.

VLOG: pumpkinized cinnamon buns

2010-11-14T20:42:00.001-05:00

Some notes/rambling: My vlogs are getting longer and longer. I'm going to try avoid doing that in future posts. I've posted some text underneath the very unoriginal blog title/heading to give you a heads up on what my upcoming project is going to be. I'm going to try to mix it up and bake everyday simple things along with some challenging stuff. Those basics on cake and muffins and brownies will be discussed!

Now on to the pumpkin cinnamon buns. In this vlog, the featured musician is Barbara Bownds, or as her friends call her - Nori! I met Nori my freshman year in college. She was my neighbor actually. I've never met a soul who didn't like Nori and I don't think those people even exist because she is that awesome. The track I've chosen is titled "Doomsday" and was the song she was teaching me how to play our last year in college. On her website, Nori provides some background information on her music and on this particular song she writes, "I wanted to write a song about superheroes, and I got to thinking about the death of Superman (when he went up against Doomsday in the comics. Because THAT was a lasting story change)." I loved the song then and I love it now and I hope you love it too. So without further ado, I present to you Pumpkin Cinnamon Buns...

Pumpkin Cinnamon Buns adapted from CookingLight
Ingredients for 9 buns
1/2 packet (1 1/8 tsp) of instant quick-rise yeast
1 oz (1/8 cup) warm water
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1/2 + 1/4 cup pumpkin puree, divided
1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp (a pinch) nutmeg
3 tbsp light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup walnuts, toasted
2 oz neufchâtel cheese, softened
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tbsp skim milk

Directions:
1) Add the yeast, water, 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup pumpkin, butter, sugar, salt and nutmeg into a mixing bowl. Beat until smooth. Continue adding the remaining flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
2) Place the dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, for 60 minutes or until doubled in size. Press two fingers into the dough. If an indentation remains, the dough has risen enough.
3) Punch dough down; cover and let rest for 5 minutes. Roll the dough into a 12 x 10-inch rectangle on a floured surface. Spread on the 1/4 cup pumpkin puree and sprinkle on brown sugar and walnuts.
4) Roll up the rectangle tightly, starting with a long edge, pressing firmly to eliminate air pockets; pinch seam and ends to seal. Cut roll into 9(1-inch) slices. Place slices in a 9-inch glass pie dish coated with cooking spray. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise 30 minutes or until doubled in size.
5) Preheat oven to 375°F. Bake the rolls for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 15 minutes in pan on a wire rack.
6) To prepare the glaze, combine the neufchâtel cheese, confectioners' sugar, and milk in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Drizzle glaze over buns. Serve warm.

VLOG: one, two, buckle my choux

2010-10-24T23:30:00.013-04:00

I am delighted to present Free Phil as the featured artist in this vlogisode. The one thing I can tell you about Phil is that he rocks this hairdo that reminds me of my "went crazy and cut off all my hair Britney Spears style" moment, circa 2007. Remember when I cut off my long locks and made it super boy short? And applied a fist full of styling gel on my head to create a spiky look? And then finished it off with a polka dotted headband that had side swept bangs peeking through? Well, he looks like he kinda does the same thing minus the polka dots and bangs. A hairstyle like that certainly made me stand out. I'm not sure if he gets the same responses I did where strangers complimented me and girls told me I had "big balls" (you know, for cutting it all off), but he does get a "nod of acknowledgement" from me on the track titled "The Interview" and I hope you all enjoy it.

Pâte à Choux adapted from Joy of Baking
Ingredients for 12 puffs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup (4 tbsp) unsalted butter
1/2 cup water
2 large eggs

Directions
1) Preheat the oven to 400F.
2) Sift flour, sugar and salt.
3) Bring butter and water to a boil over medium heat. Then remove from heat and add flour mixture.
Return to low heat and stir constantly until dough comes away from the sides of the pan and it is no longer sticky and leaves no residue.
4) Transfer to a mixer or a bowl. Let cool. Slowly add eggs and allow each one to incorporate before adding the next.
5) Using two spoons or moist hands, form 12 golf-ball sized dough and place on a parchment covered baking sheet.
6) Bake 15 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 250F and bake for an additional 30-40 minutes until a golden brown color is achieved.
7) Turn oven off and remove from oven and immediately pierce the puffs to release extra steam. Cool on a wire rack. You may freeze them for future use, or slice in half and fill or pipe in the filling.

VLOG: the ubiquitous cookie

2010-10-03T23:22:00.001-04:00

It has been a while since my last post. I said I would continue blogging until I got busy and/or bored; I’m busy but definitely not bored. My posts will probably be made at least once a month, so please google friend connect me so my new entries will pop up on your google reader!

Now what’s so special about this specific recipe of chocolate chip cookies? That’s up to you to bake and decide. While I personally think the recipe is a winner, there are two things about this video blog entry (or vlog) for these cookies that make them unique. First, it focuses on chocolate chip cookie techniques and tips. You'll see that I made the assumption that the viewer knows absolutely nothing about baking and absolutely nothing about science.

The second thing about this cookie vlog has to do with the music selection. I’m thrilled to introduce you to Taylor Brown. I met him through my guitar instructor quite a few years back. I attended a couple of his performances before and I had Taylor in the back of my mind for a project. So I contacted him and when he got back to me to tell me he was on board, I was beyond stoked. He gave me a few songs to pick from and I chose to feature “Scarlet" which I believe is a pretty solid track.

I hope you enjoy the vlog as much as I did making it. I just wish it wasn't so blurry after being published on youtube :( If you have any feedback for me, I'd appreciate it.

Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies adapted from Not Without Salt

Ingredients for approximately 15 cookies

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temp.

1/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup + 2 tbsp light brown sugar, packed

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

6 oz chocolate (chips, chunks, or bar)

Kosher salt for sprinkling

Directions

1) Cream the butter and the sugars on medium-high speed until light, 4-5 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl a couple of times during this process.

2) Continue mixing while adding the egg. Make sure each egg is incorporated before adding the next.

3) Add the vanilla. Scrape down the bowl with a spatula.

4) Combine the flour, soda and salt in another bowl. Mix by hand.

5) Reserve just a bit of the mixture. Remove the bowl from the mixer and add the last bit of flour along with the chocolate. Stir with a spatula until just combined.

6) Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

7) Allow cookie dough to reach room temperature. Preheat oven to 360F.

8) Place mounds of cookie dough on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Make sure there is about 2 inches between each cookie. Do not crowd them and there is no need to press the dough down (if at room temperature). Sprinkle each mound with a bit of Kosher salt.

9) Bake sheets, one at time, until the cookies are lightly golden on the edges and a bit gooey in the center, for exactly 12 minutes. Do not overbake! Remove sheet from oven and allow to sit undisturbed for two minutes. Then carefully transfer cookies to a cooling rack. Repeat with the remaining sheets.

VLOG: it's flan you fool

2010-09-07T21:02:00.003-04:00

In seventh grade, each student in my spanish class had to prepare a spanish influenced dish and bring it in for everyone to taste. When a boy pointed to my dish and asked what it was, I was shocked and said "You don't know what this is? It's flan you fool." Ok, I didn't say that but it was ~~something~~ nothing similar to that effect.

Flan is such a treat to eat. It looks delicious but has difficulty presenting itself well (especially if you fail at un-molding it). I've made several pass/fail attempts to create, in my opinion, the perfect flan that stands up to my custardy standards. But what I was searching for was an exemplary flan. One that would outshine the previous contenders for the the best flan award and I found it. Take a look.

Spanish Caramel Flan adapted from AllRecipes
Ingredients for 9-in flan
3 tbsp white sugar
1 tbsp water
3 egg yolks and 1 whole egg
1 (12oz) can evaporated milk
1/3 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions
1) Preheat oven 350F. Fill a baking pan with enough water to cover the surface. Set aside.
2) In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, melt sugar until liquefied and golden in color. Add water. Carefully pour hot syrup into a 9-in round glass baking dish, turning the dish to evenly coat the bottom and sides. Place dish into baking pan that contains the water. Set aside.
3) In a large bowl, beat eggs. Beat in evaporated milk, condensed milk, and vanilla until smooth. Pour egg mixture into baking dish. Cover with aluminum foil.
4) Bake in preheated oven 50-65 minutes. Remove from water bath and let cool completely.
5) To serve, carefully invert on serving plate with edges.

Guest Blogger: Banana Walnut Cream Cheese Time!

2010-09-01T11:41:00.002-04:00

When Ms. Lollipop left, she gave me several of her things, including three blocks of unused cream cheese. "I guess I'll eat more bagels," I shrugged. But no, no, no, the cream cheese was meant for a cheesecake that Ms. Lollipop was going to make, so she insisted that I make this cheesecake. "Ok, fine," I said, "how do I do it?" So Ms. Lollipop emailed me the recipe with detailed instructions.

"Holy cow!!! CHEESECAKE IS TOO COMPLICATED!!!" I said.

"It's super easy," she replied. "Which part was hard? Was it the double boiler step or the kitchenaid step or the hours long baking step?! :P" <-- I rest my case.

So, Ms. Lollipop suggested a simpler recipe instead: Banana Coffee Cake
This was back in June, so seeing that the cream cheese didn't expire until September, I put it off. Ms. Lollipop kept me honest by regularly checking on me and the cream cheese. "How is the cream cheese? Did you make it yet?" she asked. "No, it's only July, it's still good!" I said. "How is the cream cheese? Did you make it yet?" she asked next time. "No, it's August, I still have time!" I said. "Hey! The cream cheese is going to expire soon!!" she warned me in late August. "OK! OK!" I replied. So today, with one week left to spare, I made banana coffee cake.

Note: As I wrote down the recipe, I decided that the topping is "wimpy" and that I would do the delicious streusel topping that Ms. Lollipop usually does on regular coffee cake instead. So I copied down her streusel recipe and patted myself on the back for being so smart.

Ok, are you ready? Set? Go! Go! Go!

I purchased bananas and left them in the plastic bag to ripen for rich banana flava!

Here is the cream cheese with a week to spare!

Oops, I used the tablespoon instead of the teaspoon,
so I tried to scoop out the excess baking powder.

The recipe called for softened cream cheese and softened butter.
Mine wasn't soft enough so I pulled out... THE POTATO MASHER!

The bananas were nice and freckled!

Added B-A-N-A-N-A-S and mashed away.
The cream cheese made the batter silky smooth!

I decided to use muffin pans. Ready for the oven!

I worked on the streusel topping and incorporated walnuts.

Look at the muffin tops!!

Since the streusel topping would fall off the muffin tops,
I sawed them off with the bread knife!

At this point, I tried to sprinkle on the streusel topping, but it wouldn't stay on. Not knowing what to do, I called Ms. Lollipop. So it turned out that I am suppose to bake it with the streusel topping on. Oops. Ms. Lollipop suggested that I toast the streusel just so the butter melts and then top the muffins. Before hanging up, she warned me not to burn the streusel.

Burnt streusel. Oops again.

Ok, at this point, I had to get ready for work, and there's no more butter to make more streusel, so IMPROVISATION TIME!! I picked out the "candied" walnuts from the burnt streusel, placed them on the muffins, and then drizzled with a sugar glaze (powdered sugar + water), and VOILA!

Yum banana walnut mini cake!

Whew! One cream cheese package down, two more to go!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yay! It makes me happy when you guys submit/share your baking escapades with me! Thanks to C for such a fantastic blog entry! I used to bake a whole lot for and with C and those were some good times, and I hope we'll get back into that rhythm someday again when the stars collide! Until then, I've been dying to hear and read about this recipe for quite some time (as mentioned above) and I look forward to her future endeavors involving the remaining two cream cheeses! The banana walnut cake looks delicious, although I have to say, assuming you shared these delectable treats, it seems you saved the best part all to yourself - the muffin tops! :)

VLOG: uncovering farm secrets

2010-08-20T21:53:00.007-04:00

Pepperidge Farm secrets that is.

Recipe for Brussel Cookies adapted from AllRecipes
Ingredients for approx. 1 dozen sandwich cookies
1/2 cup quick cooking oats
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 325 F. Cover baking sheets with foil, then coat the foil with a non-stick cooking spray.
2) In a medium bowl, combine oats, flour, salt, and baking powder. In a large bowl, cream sugar and butter until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Mix in the flour and oat mixture until just combined.
3) Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets, 2 1/2 inches apart.
4) Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until edges turn golden. Cool, then peel cookies off with your fingers. Be sure to re-spray baking sheets with non-stick cooking spray between batches.

Recipe for Milano Cookies adapted from FoodNetwork
Ingredients for approx. 2 dozen sandwich cookies
1/4 cup butter, softened
(1/2 + 1/3) cup powdered sugar
2 egg whites
1.5 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Directions
1) Cream the butter with the sugar. Add the egg whites gradually and then mix in the vanilla. Add the flour and mix until just incorporated.
2) Make a piping bag with wax/parchment paper or use a ziploc bag. Pipe 1-inch sections of batter onto a parchment-lined sheet pan, spacing them 2 inches apart as they spread.
3) Bake in a preheated 350 F oven for 10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let cool on the pan.

Recipe for Mint Dark Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
2 tbsp heavy cream
1/2 tsp mint extract

Directions
1) Combine chocolate chips and heavy cream in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat in 10-second increments, stirring in between until chocolate has melted. Be careful not to overheat.
2) Add mint extract and stir.
3) Spread onto one cookie and sandwich with another.

tastes just like the real deal...plus or minus a few personal preferences

almond strawberry swiss roll

2010-08-14T01:12:00.002-04:00

Whether you call it a swiss roll or a jelly roll, they are formed from a sponge cake base or as the French call it, a génoise (zhehn-WAHZ). When flat, a filling is added (cream or jelly jam) and then it is rolled into a cylindrical form. The outside may be kept au naturel, dusted with powdered sugar, cocoa, or frosted with ganache or whipped cream.

I've decided to go outside of my baking comfort zone and tackle the unknown. That was when the swiss roll came to my attention. Many people (online bloggers) have written/said they were intimidated by this dessert (including myself) because it appears complex, but as those who ventured to bake it have realized that it is rather simple to make with the aid of some techniques. I'll share what I've researched and learned from trial and error, all of which is incorporated into the recipe directions. So let's talk rolls!

Recipe adapted from JoyofBaking

Sponge Cake
3 tbsp cake flour
1/3 cup sliced almonds
4 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1/3 cup granulated white sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Strawberry Cream Filling
2 tbsp water
1 1/4 tsp unflavored gelatin
1/2 pint (8 oz) strawberries, chopped to bite-sized pieces
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, chilled

Directions
1) To prepare the cream filling, start off by putting the bowl and whisk into the refrigerator to chill. In the meantime, combine the gelatin and water into a small bowl. Place it in the microwave for 10 seconds to dissolve the solution. Set aside. Next, pour the whipping cream into the bowl and attach the whisk. As soft peaks are forming, slowly add the sugar. After stiff peaks have been achieved, fold in the strawberries. Cover and place into the fridge.

2) Separate the eggs into two bowls. In bowl 1, place 2 egg whites and into bowl 2, place 5 egg yolks and 2 egg whites. Allow it to reach room temperature.

3) Preheat the oven to 350F. Place the sliced almonds on baking sheet and toast for 4 mins or until lightly brown. Remove from oven and transfer to another surface to cool.

4) After it has cooled, place almonds in a food processor

with one tablespoon of flour and process until finely ground. Mix in remaining flour and set aside.

5) Increase the oven temperature to 450F. Grease the jelly roll pan. Line it with parchment paper.

6) In a mixer, beat the contents of bowl 1 until foamy and it becomes opaque. Add tartar and one tablespoon of the sugar during the soft peak phase. Whisk until stiff peaks form. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

7) Using the same mixing bowl, add the contents of bowl 2 and mix with remaining sugar. Beat on high for approx. 5 mins until mixture nearly doubles, and becomes pale, thick and fluffy. Then add in vanilla extract.

8) Fold in the flour, half at a time. Now fold in the egg whites - not all at once. Pour batter in the jelly roll pan and make sure the mixture is spread evenly. Bake for 6-7 minutes until golden brown. Cake should spring back when touched.

9) Allow it to cool for 2 mins before you flip the pan and remove the parchment paper. Here you can roll up the cake with a powdered sugar dusted kitchen towel, or do what I did and roll in a new sheet of parchment paper. Allow this to cool completely.

10) After it has cooled, unroll the cake. Spread on the chilled berry cream filling, but only covering approximately 3/4 of the cake. Make sure to leave the outside edges bare (approximately 1/2 inch). The filling will naturally

spread out of the sides as it is rolled up again.

11) Roll up the cake in the same manner in which it was rolled earlier. Carefully transfer the cake to a serving dish and cover it with plastic wrap. Allow it to set in the fridge for at least one hour before slicing.

12) Slice and eat. Top it with additional strawberry cream filling (there will be extra) and with any remaining toasted sliced almonds (assuming you toasted more than 1/3 cup).

The number of steps can be daunting. I'll admit that I got frustrated at times because not everything went as planned. But I modified the techniques I used and made the corrections above, so hopefully if and when you try to make your own swiss roll, you can avoid any errors I made.

oreo cheesecake bars

2010-07-26T13:50:00.006-04:00

One time, as my sister and I were on our way out the door of her place, I grabbed an Oreo for the ride down the elevator. As I was eating it, she was telling me that she's been purchasing the reduced fat Oreos for a while. Did you know that the difference in fat lies in the cream, and not the cookie? And apparently there is an evident contrast in taste between the full fat and reduced fat Oreo. But you'd only know that if you've had a taste test comparison. She tells me that its best to stick to the reduced fat version because once you know that there's better out there, you might not want to go back (or its harder to go back) to those "healthier" ways. I wholeheartedly agree.

The last time I made a cheesecake was way back when. It was also the last time I tasted a full-fat calorie laden cheesecake composed to regular cream cheese and regular sour cream. I can't say cheesecake is one of my favorite desserts, but I really do enjoy making them. Before now, I was under the erroneous impression that you needed a stand mixer to make a cheesecake and a spring form pan. I was wrong. Cheesecakes need to be well blended and smooth. You can easily use a food processor or a powerful blender. You can also wrap your pans in foil for easy removal in lieu of a spring form. After this baking endeavor without the "appropriate" kitchen tools, I can tell you that you too can make a really good cheesecake at home. Especially the kind I'm about to tell you about. One of the things you wouldn't know after eating these cheesecake bars is that it's composed of healthier alternative ingredients. I think it's good, and other people thought it was good. But I also have to say, I think everyone who tried it hasn't eaten a regular classic cheesecake in a while either. So I don't recommended taste test comparisons, but I can assure you this version tastes like the real deal from what I can recall. Haha.

Adapted from AllRecipes.com & EatCaliforniaFruit
Ingredients:
22 oreo sandwich cookies
3 tbsp butter, melted
12 oz neufchatel (less fat) cream cheese, room temperature (approx. 1.5 eight oz packages)
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup plain yogurt, room temperature
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
pinch of salt

Directions:
1) Preheat the oven to 325F. Wrap the insides of an 11 x 7" rectangular pan in aluminum foil.

Grease with cooking spray and set aside.

2) Set aside 4 whole oreo cookies to add to the cream cheese mixture. With the remaining 18 cookies, twist the sandwiched cookies apart and remove the white filling with the back of a butter knife. Discard this filling. Place the chocolate cookies in a ziploc bag and crush them with a rolling pin to fine crumbs. This should make approximately 1.5 cups of oreo crumbs.

3) Add the melted butter to the cookie crumbs and mix. Pour this mixture into the greased pan. Form a cookie base in the pan using your hands to spread and push the cookie crumbs into place. Set aside.

4) In a blender, add plain yogurt and 4 oz of cream cheese. Blend until a creamy and smooth texture is achieved. Add an additional 4 oz of cream cheese and repeat process until all of the cream cheese has blended completely with the yogurt. Add the flour and blend until there are no lumps.

5) In a bowl, beat the eggs with the vanilla, sugar and salt. Add the cream cheese mixture from the blender into the bowl. Mix until combined. Do not over beat.

6) Place the remaining 4 whole oreo cookies in a ziploc bag and roughly crush them with a rolling pin. Be sure not to over-crush them; they should be broken into chunks and not finely crushed.

7) Mix these oreo pieces into the cheesecake filling batter. Add this mixture to the pan with the oreo base layer. Spread the batter evenly.

8) Place pan into the middle rack of the oven and bake for 35 minutes. After 35 minutes, turn off the oven and keep the oven door slightly ajar. Do not touch the cheesecake. Let it sit and rest in the oven for approximately 3 hours.

9) After 3 hours, remove the cheesecake and cover the pan with plastic wrap. Place it in the fridge and let it sit overnight. The next day, the cheesecake can be easily removed from the pan by lifting up the aluminum foil. Slice into 18 servings. Keep covered under plastic wrap until ready to eat.

10) Savor each bite. Cheesecake is not to be taken lightly. Even though this is a lighter version of cheesecake.

As you can see, these cheesecake bars are pretty yellow. The reason is because I used organic eggs. The yolks were orange red. I recommend that regular, non-organic eggs be used! The batter shouldn't be as yellow. But if you are concerned, you can also reduce the yolk by one in this recipe (but keep the egg white). The purpose of the egg is to make up for the lack of fat and of cream cheese. It serves as a binding agent. The flour also helps with gluten formation to keep everything together as well because the yogurt is not very thick!

Guest Blogger: Madeleines

2010-06-01T14:05:00.000-04:00

My first guest blogger for the month is a close friend of mine, M. I've had baking adventures galore with her and it's with my pleasure that I post her following entry on madeleines! Please leave her comments :) Also feel free to document and submit any of your baking experiments (with photos!) to me and I'll do my best to keep your formatting as is.
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Madeleines!

In the spirit of many of Ms. Lollipop's intrepid earlier posts I thought my first guest post should be highly experimental. It should be a recipe I'd never made before, something that I wasn't sure how it would come out.

Madeleines were the answer.

Believe it or not these were the inspiration:

I first wanted to learn how to make madeleines after tasting the ones that Starbucks sells. You wouldn't think something that is mass produced, vacuum-sealed and shipped to chain stores across the country would be so good but these are. They have a light, milky, buttery rich flavor to them and I think the fact that butter and cream are two main ingredients has a lot to do with it. So I figured if the Starbucks ones are that good, the ones I make at home have to be even better right?

Ingredients: flour, powdered sugar, almond flour/meal, butter eggs, lavender honey

The reason I haven't made this recipe up til now is that it involves a few special ingredients, including some special cookware: a madeleine pan.

I got mine at Williams & Sonoma for $23 which is a bit of an investment for a recipe that you don't know is good or not. They are available on Amazon and Target for less though.

Special ingredients include lavender honey which I bought at a local farmer's market.

Other special ingredient is almond flour. $9 at the local food co-op. Kind of expensive but hopefully I can find other things to make with it.

Buttering the pan.

Separating the eggs.

Pouring batter in the pan.

For those of you don't have madeleine pans I decided to try an experiment with baking some of the batter in a muffin tin.

I was wondering how they were going to rise and get that nice bump on top if there's no leavening ingredients? No baking powder or baking soda or anything?

They're rising anyway! It's a miracle!

Chopstick comes out clean. They're done!

On the left is the Starbucks madeleine. On the right is my homemade one.

Mine's definitely more brown... and less bubbly.

Taste test time

It's hard to say which one is better.... each one is just... different. But both are quite good! I don't really taste the lavender in the homemade one which makes me think you could just as well have used normal old honey.

Starbucks: crumblier, sweeter, more vanilla-y.

Mine: eggier, crisp around edges, more fluffy.

The muffin tin ones didn't rise as well. I think next time I'm going to put more batter in those. It still has that nice crispy brown edge around it...almost like the caramelized sugar topping on creme brulee... YUM!

The recipe is from Bon Appetit Magazine and originates from a hotel in Avignon, France.

Madeleines

Ingredients:

9 tablespoons (1 stick plus 1 tablespoon) unsalted butter

4 large egg whites, room temperature

1 1/3 cups powdered sugar

6 tablespoons all purpose flour

1/4 cup almond flour or almond meal*

1 tablespoon lavender honey

Special equipment: Madeleine pan

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter each madeleine mold in pan and dust with flour, tapping out excess. Melt 9 tablespoons unsalted butter in medium skillet over medium heat. Cook until butter turns golden brown, stirring often, 3 to 4 minutes. Set browned butter aside.

2) Using electric mixer, beat egg whites, sugar, all purpose flour, and almond flour in medium bowl until mixture is blended and smooth. Place honey in small microwave-safe bowl. Heat just to warm, 5 to 10 seconds. Beat honey into batter. Add browned butter; beat to blend. Spoon 1 tablespoon batter into each prepared madeleine mold.

3) Bake madeleines until tops are just dry and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 12 minutes. Cool 5 minutes. Gently tap madeleines out of molds. Place on rack to cool slightly.

4) To prepare additional madeleines, wash pan and cool completely. Butter and flour molds and fill as directed above. Serve madeleines warm.

* Sometimes labeled “ground almonds”; available at specialty foods stores and natural foods stores.

Goes good with milk.