Tuesday, December 28, 2010

quick update

This past week entails:
20th Birthday. Cheesecake Factory. Porto's. William Sonoma's Outlet. Las Vegas. Buffets. Jean Philippe Patisserie. Delicious Souffle Cheesecake Cups. New food processor broken. &&Chocolate Macarons.

I have so much to update this blog with. But this moment, I am anxiously waiting to see how my second attempt of chocolate macarons will come out! I think... they may have FEET!!


I will get back to this blog asap(:

Monday, December 20, 2010

Vanilla Cupcakes with Espresso Buttercream



My first cupcake with professional-y looking buttercream! This was a really last minute whipped up. With the leftover espresso buttercream I made for the macarons, I decided to make some cupcakes! I really love the new 1M pipping tip I got. It's by far the biggest tip I own and it's just the perfect size to pipe buttercream or frosting (which I usually don't do)! Piping is so much fun when the consistency of what you are working with is "stable"!! (so far, my pipping experience has not been too great :p)

These cupcakes came out pretty moist& dense! I took note of what Kwanster have said about their deceiving wet-looking top when they are done and took them out right at the 17 minute mark. The cupcakes had a good height and a tender moist texture. Although not as light or airy as I usually prefer my cupcakes to be, they are still some yummy cupcakes!

Taste: 3.5 stars out of 5
Texture: 3 stars out of 5

Good tip: If you are giving these cupcakes to elderly or diabetic relatives/friends, throw in a couple walnut or almonds before putting them in the oven! Skip the buttercream(:



Billy’s Vanilla Vanilla Cupcakes
-makes 30 cupcakes

1 3/4 cups cake flour, not self-rising
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Here's the halved recipe I followed to make my 12 cupcakes(:
(I converted most of the ingredients to grams for easy "halving")
112 grams cake flour
160 grams AP flour
201 grams sugar (I reduced mine to 150grams)
1/2 tbsp baking powder
1.6 grams salt
1 stick of butter
2 large eggs
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt; mix on low speed until combined. Add butter, mixing until just coated with flour.

2. In a large glass measuring cup, whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla. With mixer on medium speed, add wet ingredients in 3 parts, scraping down sides of bowl before each addition; beat until ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat.

3. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling about two-thirds full. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 17 to 20 minutes.

4. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat process with remaining batter. Once cupcakes have cooled, use a small offset spatula to frost tops of each cupcake. Decorate with sprinkles, if desired. Serve at room temperature.



I think I will try out the vanilla cupcake recipe from Joy Of Baking next time!

COMING UP NEXT: SOMETHING WITH CREAM CHEESE! CheeseCupcake?

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Chocolate Macarons- Attempt #1

I blame the rainy weather! But ehh, macaron failures still taste pretty good! They just don't quite look as cute.



I actually never had a macaron before. I first discovered them on the food blog world a year ago and thought they are the most delicate and delicious looking little treat. And recently, my friend studying abroad in Europe reminded me of them again with her pictures of Laduree! (so jealous :x) They have been on my to- bake list for quite some time. I never got around to start on them though. But after spending a whole day reading every single post there are on macarons, I decided to embark on my very own macaron journey. :p

Here's attempt #1. Failed.

I knew it wasn't going to turn out as expected right away when I was adding the dry mixture into the egg whites. It was way too dry/rough/grainy! Definitely not the magma consistency others have noted ): I am suspecting that the dry mixture might not have been fine enough and thus over killed the egg whites.

Here's what I did and noted:
- I followed David Lebovitz's recipe.
- I separated my egg whites and left them out to age in room temperature for 2 nights. (They were the left over egg whites from my previous post- Pinwheel Shortbread Cookies)
- I oven-dried my almond flour to lose the moisture in them (350F for 3 mins).
- I sifted the almond flour, powdered sugar and cocoa powder 3-4 times.
- I added the dry mixture in 3 batches instead of 2 into the egg whites.
- I piped in a tip that was too small and piped in spiral which would have led to air escaping everywhere during baking.
- I used a macaron template that I found online so I could pipe consistent macarons.
- I used water to smooth out the top of each macarons before baking.
- I left the piped macarons out in room temperature for an hour before putting into the oven. (Some of them were still not completely dried to the touch when I put them into the oven.)
- I made an espresso buttercream to go in between the macarons. (Ganache might taste better?)


^the spiral ones -_-


^the ones with smoothed out tops

Here's what I will try to do next time:
-I might try Annie's Eat recipe next time. (Seems like more people have had success with Annie's.)
- Don't make them on rainy (humid) day! :p
- Use a food processor (if I have one by then) to grind the almond flour mixture.
- Use an extra egg white if they are small eggs. And measure out the exact grams!
- Use a bigger pipping tip!!
- Use my new silpat!



Ok. So on to taste and texture..
They were rich and a little overly sweet! They had a semi hollow center with a crunchy thin outer layer. I find them a bit chewy especially overnight.

Taste: 3.5 stars out of 5
Texture 4 stars out of 5

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Pinwheel Shortbread Cookies

I LOVE shortbread cookies. These pinwheel ones look especially impressive!



Pinwheel Shortbread Cookies
recipe from my buttery fingers
-yields about 20 cookies

Vanilla Dough
160g plain flour
100g salted butter, cold, cut into 1cm cubes
50g sugar
1tsp vanilla essence
1 large egg yolk

Chocolate Dough
140g plain flour
20g cocoa powder
100g salted butter, cold, cut into 1cm cubes
50g sugar
1 large egg yolk

1. Prepare the vanilla dough. Place flour and butter into mixing bowl, rub together until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs and the butter is completely worked into the flour. Add vanilla and egg yolk, mix together gently until a ball of dough forms. If it is too dry, sprinkle in a few drops of water.(Alternatively, place all the butter and flour food processor and pulse together until butter disappears, add the rest of the ingredients and pulse until a dough forms.)Wrap dough with cling film and chill whilst you prepare the chocolate dough.
2. Prepare the chocolate dough as above, adding the cocoa in with the flour.
3. Unwrap the vanilla dough and place into a large Ziploc bag. Roll out into a square with uniform thickness. Repeat with the chocolate dough.
4. Place the chocolate dough on top of the vanilla dough and roll up tightly, Swiss-roll style, but gently so you don't deform the log. Chill for 1 hour.
5. Preheat oven to 180C. Line a baking tray with parchment.
6. Remove dough from the fridge. Slice into generous 5mm (1/4 inch) slices and place them slightly apart on baking sheet.
7. Bake for 20 minutes until the biscuits are just turning pale golden around the edges, then transfer to a wire rack to cool. The biscuits will keep fresh for up to one week stored in an airtight tin.



Shortbread cookies would probably be even easier to make if you own a food processor or blender. Since I don't have neither, I had to opt for the more traditional and messier way of making them.

After the "labor intensive" rolling, my shortbread cookies still came out freckled(?)! Whaaa.. why? Actually, I didn't quite follow the recipe fully! I added espresso powder to the chocolate dough hoping to enhance the chocolate flavor. And I also reduced about 10 grams of sugar for each dough. I did it simply because I was trying to cut down the "unhealthy-ness." The two whole stick of butter frightens me! But yeah! Don't be foolish like me. Make your cookies the way it should and enjoy the maximum goodness of the shortbread cookies! Shortbread cookies are not meant for good health! :p

The result? You can't go wrong with anything that has this much butter!
-Taste: 3.5 stars out of 5- a little too bitter from the excessive espresso powder I used; could most definitely be fixed if I follow the amount of sugar stated in recipe; I liked the sweeter vanilla layer of the shortbread cookies a little more.
-Texture: 3.5 stars out of 5- could use less time in the oven; I like my shortbread cookies less crunchy; the interior still has the melt in your mouth quality.

COMING UP NEXT: CHOCOLATE MACARONS! : O

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

San Andreas Cookies



Tis the cookie season! Can you guess what these cookies are suppose to be? San Andreas cookies!

To me, San Andreas cookies are a lot like the infamous chocolate crinkles with their dark interior and snowy crackled tops. As you can probably see from the photo above, mine deviated slightly from that. Chocolate crinkles or San Andreas cookies for me are like the macarons for other bakers. They almost never turn out successful. At least look-wise. It's extra disappointing when your anticipation builds up overnight while the dough is chilling.

Here's how my first and second attempt during 2009 Christmas turned out:

First attempt: clay-like; looks nothing like the beautiful cracked top chocolate crinkles; hard; almost inedible


Second attempt (recipe from Betty Crocker): probably my best attempt yet; better look; resemble more like chocolate crinkles bite-able; cake-like texture



San Andreas Cookies
recipe from Bookcook
-yield 2 dozen cookies

2 ounces (½ stick) butter
12 ounces dark chocolate
3 eggs
7 tablespoons granulated sugar, plus ¼ cup for coating
¾ cup flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 cup almond meal
6 tablespoons milk
¼ cup powdered sugar

1. Melt the butter and dark chocolate in a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Set aside to cool slightly.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the eggs and 7 tablespoons sugar at moderately high speed until the mixture reaches the ribbon stage and is pale and thick, about 3 minutes. Mix in the melted chocolate and butter.

3. Sift together the flour and baking powder in a large bowl, then stir in the almond meal. Alternating with the milk, add these dry ingredients to the batter. Spoon the mixture into a container, cover tightly, and chill overnight.

4. Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Place the ¼ cup granulated sugar and the powdered sugar in two separate shallow bowls. Scoop out 2 tablespoons of dough per cookie and form into a ball. Roll each ball of dough in granulated sugar, then in the powdered sugar.

5. Place on parchment-lined baking sheets and bake 20–24 minutes, until the dough is no longer gooey in the center when tested with a toothpick. Cool on wire racks.

Check out Bookcook for how these are suppose to turn out.



I was extremely distraught when I saw my chocolate crinkles flattening out within the first 5 minutes into the oven. Eventually, they just turned into one big piece of brownie. Despite the look of them, they smelled wonderful! I broke off a piece on the edge of the big cookie, and it tasted great! Nutty. Chocolate-y. Sort of crunchy and chewy. Mmm, here comes the ingenious me! Hohoho.. I transformed them back into individual cookies with a cookie cutter! These cookies are extremely nubby and light. I ended up with a big bowl of crumbs that I am going to nibble on and a HUGE box of good-looking cookies to give away.

I was a little skeptical when the recipe calls for 2 tablespoon of baking powder. But the result is simply heavenly. Slight crunch on the outside and tender and chewy inside. And this was also the first time for me to use almond meal. I like the nuttiness and chewiness it gives to the cookies!

Taste: 4.5 stars out of 5. Texture: 4 stars out of 5
The texture would be even better if they are firmer. They are a little messy to eat


ENJOY!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Avocado Cream Cheese Cookies



Avocado and cream cheese in a cookie? And poppy seed?!?! The sound of this cookie is intriguing enough. I never thought about combining those ingredients into one cookie. The result? Mm, buttery goodness. A little heavy I should say. But the color green just makes it seem that much healthier. Haha.

I was a bit frustrated when pipping these. Mainly because I don't have any suitable pipping tips. I ended up pipping without the tip and only with the plastic ring, which surprisingly was the size I was aiming for. They came out looking okay. The simple scooped out ones turned out pretty cute too. I had them in the oven for a bit longer for that golden brown toasty look. I love it. Green and brown are such great combination. The poppy seed also adds a nice little touch to them. The dough of this cookie reminded me so much of kiwi<3



Avocado Cream Cheese Cookies
recipe from Angie's recipe
yields around 35 small cookies

100 g Butter
1/2 Avocado, mashed
120 g 0.1% Cream cheese
120 g Sugar
2 tbsp Lemon juice
1 tbsp Poppy seeds
230 g All purpose flour
1/2 tsp Baking soda

1. Line 2-3 baking trays with paper.
2. Cream butter, mashed avocado, cream cheese, and sugar together.
3. Add lemon juice and poppy seeds, and beat until light and fluffy.
4. Add in flour, baking soda and mix until incorporated.
5. Fill your piping bag fitted with a star tip half full with cookie batter and pipe out cookies onto the prepared trays. (Alternatively you can use a cookie gun to press any desired patterned cookies.)
6. Preheat oven to 190C/375F.
7. Bake for 12-15 minutes until the cookies are lightly golden.
8. Transfer them on the wire rack to cool.



Texture-wise, these cookies are more toward the chewy side. I liked that. Sort of a cross between cake and mochi. The outer layer has a slight crunch to them when they were fresh from the oven. Overnight, the ones that I left in the oven for a little longer was still a little crunchy. The other ones were just soft. I give these 4 stars out of 5 for texture( :

Taste-wise, I was expecting more given the name of these. I couldn't taste much of the cream cheese nor avocado. The butter was definitely prominent. I want to say that theses are shortbread-like. 3.5 stars out of 5 for taste.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Mini Mango Tartelettes



LooOOOOooooOOoooong time no see! This is the last thing I baked.. in the SUMMER! It's been a good 4 months since then. Stay tune for the next 3 weeks though! Winter break= many baking to be done! Haha. Hopefully I won't get too lazy (or full from eating). Fall quarter really dragged, especially this week (finals week). It was the first time I slept past 2am (on a final day) and had to wake up at 6am for a final! Only FOUR HOURS of sleep before two back to back finals from 8am to 230pm.. But whatever! I am done now!

I shall start my baking extravaganza after 1 or 2 days recuperation from the lack of sleep. In the mean time (right now), I will be compiling a list of goodies to bake! Avocado cream cheese cookies are on the top of my list at the moment. And maybe the daunting macaroons? Grocery run tmr!! WOOHOO! I LOVE THE HOLIDAYS!

Without further ado, here are the mini mango tartelettes! Honestly, I don't quite remember how they turned out. I believe I under- baked them a little. Definitely need to roll them out thinner next time! The taste was good. Tart-y the way I like them? -_- This was the first time I baked tartelettes, so I really don't have much to compare with. I guess compare to the store brought ones, texture and taste- wise.. they are still not up to par. But freshness beats! Hehe. If only they were fully baked and thinner, I think they would be excellente!



Mini Mango Tartelettes
Pastry Dough
recipe from Chocolate Shavings

200 grams of all-purpose flour
100 grams of very cold butter
30 grams of sugar (for savory, omit sugar)
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 egg, beaten with 2 teaspoons of water

1. Sift the flour, sugar and salt directly onto a work surface.
2. Cut the butter into small pieces.
3. Mix the butter into the flour by using a metal pastry scraper to cut in the butter and fully incorporate it into the flour mixture. (You can also use your fingers, but if you do you must do it quickly to ensure that the butter stays as cold as possible.)
4. Once the dough has the texture of fine sand, create a well in the center by using a cup or a glass. Add the egg and water to the center.
5. Gently beat the egg in the center and slowly incorporate the flour into the center making sure that the well does not break.
6. Once most of the flour has been incorporated you can start using your hands.
7. Knead the dough and form a round ball of dough.
8. Take a small handful of the dough, and, using the palm of your hand, smear it out completely onto the counter surface. (*This process makes sure that the butter is fully incorporated into the dough, and helps form a dough that will be easy to work with.)
9. Re-form the smeared piece of dough, and repeat with the rest of the dough until you have a pile of chunks of dough.
10. Form it into a ball again.
11. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and leave to rest in the fridge for at least 45 minutes.

12. Preheat your oven to 375 F. Take the dough out of the fridge, unwrap and leave it out for a few minutes so it warms up a little.
13. Lightly flour your working surface and roll out the dough to about 1/8 inch thick round.
14. Use small cookie cutters to cut out circles of dough.
15. Place in buttered individual molds and gently prick the bottom of the dough with a fork a couple times.
16. Then, place a small circle of parchment (a little bigger than the size of the mold) in the center of the circle of dough and place some baking beans (or rice!) on top to weigh the paper down.
17. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges of the tart turn a light shade of golden brown.
18. Let the tartelettes cool for a couple minutes, discard the beans (or rice) and parchment paper and leave to cool on a cooling rack.

Pastry Cream
(forgot where I got my recipe from)
2 cups milk
1/2 vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla extract
4 egg yolks
75g sugar
20g flour
20g cornstarch

1. Combine yolks with sugar.
2. Whisk until pale yellow (~3 minutes).
3. Stir cornstarch and flour and add to sugar yolk mixture.
4. Stir to remove lump.
5. Bring milk and extract to boil. Stir occasionally.
6. As milk starts to boil, add ladle of milk to flour/yolk mixture. Stir!
7. Add all flour/yolk mixture to milk and whisk until thickens (~1-3 minutes).
8. Remove from heat.
9. Cool.

NOMNOMNOM!