Sunday, March 29, 2015

Walnut Cacao Nibs Scones

I am obsessively into English High Tea or Afternoon Tea- the assortment of tasty sweets, bite size food, the cute plates and cups, tea, and.. the idea. The idea that you are there with your loved one(s) on a leisurely afternoon with nothing on your mind except to enjoy each other's good company. Eating is really an activity I can't live without. Moments when you can say "this is the best _____ I 've ever eaten" are what I live for. Food is on my mind 24/7. I am always thinking what my next meal would be or what I will bake next. Even my itinerary is food-based. Btw, I am NEW YORK bound! Woot woot.. NY pizza, NY cheesecake, ice cream, rice puddings, donuts, IPPUDO, HALAL GUYS! I'm coming. Looking forward to another travel adventure with the Fatty. It's only been a year since we explored Hawaii, Chicago, Paris and Barcelona together. Time to hit the gym and save up the sweet/carbs quota for the eating hop we will be doing. 

Anyways, I diverted a little. But my point is the first thing that really comes to mind when I think about the yummy-ness plated on the lovely tiered set of my beloved English High Tea is scones. Scones are like the staple of any my High Tea. I really wish my scones came out as perfect as the one I had at Chado or Heirloom- crisp, buttery, tender, flaky, a melt in your mouth experience. It didn't quite turn out exactly like so, but decent for a first real attempt. I say "first real" because it's really been a while since I made scones. I seem to have acquired an increasing liking for their dry crumbly texture over the years. Time to experiment more recipes so I can enjoy them more.


Walnut Cacao Nibs Scones
reciped adapted from The Faux Martha
makes 12 triangle scones

1/2 c. + 1 tbsp. heavy cream
1 large egg + 1 yolk
2 c. all purpose unbleached flour
1/4 c. pure cane sugar
1 tbsp. aluminum-free baking powder
1/4 tsp. sea salt
6 tbsp. unsalted butter
1/3 c. walnuts, chopped and toasted
1/3 c. cacao nibs
Wash:
heavy cream
turbinado (or sanding sugar)


1. In a measuring cup, whisk together cream and eggs. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
3. Cut butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal. *
4. Stir in walnuts and cacao nibs.
5. Make a well in the center and pour in cream mixture. Using a pastry fork and/or your hands, combine until dough just comes together.*
6. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or Silpat. Place dough on the baking sheet and form into a 6" square. Cut in half, then into thirds leaving you with 6 rectangles. Cut each rectangle on the diagon resulting in 12 triangular scones.
7. Using a pastry bench, loosen from the bottom and evenly place on the baking sheet.
8. Lightly brush with cream and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
9. Place in freezer. Meanwhile preheat oven to 425 degrees.
10. Once preheated, remove scones from freezer and bake for 15 minutes.*
11. Serve warm or cooled. Store lightly covered, not airtight.

**I cut the butter into the flour with my finger tips and returned the mixture into the freezer when I feel the mixture getting too warm. I am thinking of using my food processor for this part next time to save time.
**Combining the dry and wet with the fork took a while. I started with the fork and finished with my hands. I also added back the 1tbsp heavy cream I initially skipped. Might have overknead-ed this part. Next time I will combine with a stand mixer to minimize the mess.

ready to bake!
I love how these scones came out toasty brown with the heavy cream wash. But what I love the most is the nice crunch from the sprinkling of turbinado before baking. Thinking of cutting down the sugar in the scones so I can have more turbinado crunch next time!

fresh out of the oven- let me just take one!

The scones were tender and moist on the inside. Crumbly when biting or cutting into it. I enjoyed eating these with some jam since they weren't too sweet.


Taste: 3.5 stars out of 5
Not sweet, pair well with jam
Texture: 3.5 stars out of 5
Could be more brown and crispy/hard. Prefer a hard short bite where the rest melts in your mouth.



Besides planning for the NY trip, I have recently also doing watercolor again. Check them out in the Arts & Crafts page!

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Baked Walnut Donuts + Blood Orange Glaze


Baked walnut donuts = nutty, light and fluffy.
Blood orange glaze = pretty pink but tasted meh..

What inspired this bake were the bountiful blood oranges laying around at work. Their red stains and high amount of Vitamin C immediately called for a healthy bake.

After browsing around, I set my mind on making a pretty pink glaze with the freeloaded blood oranges. I tend to turn away from any recipes that incorporates colors. (Or a lot of butter, such as butter cream or frosting for cakes- I want to still be eating sweets in my 90s!) I certainly get enough of my share from indulging on colorful/buttery non-homebakes. The blood oranges were perfect because their red color combined with confectioner sugar yielded a natural pink! A color that's rarely seen in any of my baking.

The baked walnut donut idea sounded amazing since I love walnuts and nutty sweets. Not gluten free, but they turned out very much like the gluten free pistachio cake I made. Very nutty in flavor. Light and airy in texture. I should experiment with subbing out the flour entirely next time.



Baked Walnut Donuts + Blood Orange Glaze
donut recipe adapted (&halved) from Sugary & Buttery 

150g ground walnuts
40g sugar
3 eggs
40 g cake flour
pinch of salt
sprinkle of cinnamon

Glaze*
juice of one blood orange
zest of half blood orange
enough powdered sugar for right consistency


1. Preheat your oven to 390°F. Generously grease donut pan.
2. Separate eggs and beat egg whites with 20g of sugar till stiff. 
3. Whisk egg yolks with remaining 20g sugar until it turns light and creamy.
4. Mix flour, salt, cinnamon and the nuts with yolk mixture.
5. Gently fold in egg whites.
6. Use a piping bag or carefully fill donut pan 3/4 full.
7. Bake for 7 minutes or until slightly golden.

For the glaze, I just whisked everything together and added enough powdered sugar to the desired glaze consistency. 

Got oil/water in the white; did not whip up nicely ):
flour + yolk mixture
lumpy batter due to coarsely grounded walnuts
halved recipe made 12 minis & 6 tart-cakes
Disappointingly, the blood orange glaze came out tasting artificial and cloyingly sweet. I added zest to bring out bright citrus flavor hoping it could mask the off sweetness. My taste testers didn't find the glaze to be too sweet and noted a strong citrus flavor. It just wasn't up to my expectations. Maybe adding butter or just a splash of vanilla extract would have helped.

ready to be glazed

pretty pink!
double-glazed
Paired together, the donuts and glaze averaged out to a 3 star!
I would definitely make these again minus the same blood orange glaze.



Monday, March 9, 2015

Cacao Nibs Toasted Coconut Walnuts Oatmeal Cookies



I am obsessed with this oatmeal cookie recipe as you can tell from my two consecutive bakes.
First of all, the cookies are very very tasty and have complex flavor and texture.
Secondly, the recipe is so versatile and simple where you can have fun experimenting with different ingredients and it will turn out delicious no matter what.
3rd-ly and most importantly, there are oats in the recipe.. that makes them healthy right? (:



This time around, I added in cacao nibs, toasted coconut and walnuts. 
  1. Cacao Nibs- nom nom, healthier alternative to chocolate chips
    The bitterness of the cacao is balanced very well with the mild sweetness of the dough. It also adds a bit of a crunch.
  2. Toasted Coconut- why not? I had left overs that's been sitting around.
    They sort of disappeared in the final product. The coconut aroma did not come out (maybe due to old coconut?), but the cookie did turned out more moist and chewy.
  3. Walnuts- always a staple in my cookies, nuff said (:


had one fresh out of the oven (:

Cacao Nibs Toasted Coconut Walnuts Oatmeal CookiesSame base recipe as previous Kettle Corn Walnut Oatmeal Cookies
1/3 cup cacao nibs
1/3 cup walnuts
2/3 cup toasted coconuts
1/4 cup brown sugar
half of a 1/8 cup sugar (<1 p="">1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon



The dough was chilled for approx 1-1.5 hour, baked for 10 minutes and yielded 23 wonderful bites! I pressed the dough down with a cup after chilling and would press more next time for flatter cookies. These barely spread even after the short chill. 


These cookies are addicting with a slight crispy edges and moist/chewy center. Don't mind me if I don't share any. These are too good.

Taste: 5 stars out of 5
Texture: 5 stars out of 5