Christmas Crack (& failed creme brulee matcha cake)

Let's catch up on some of my last bakes in 2016, beginning with this highly addictive Christmas Crack! This is an ingenious and simple treat to make, and it's really customizable to your liking. I obviously went for a nutty version and topped it with almonds. A sprinkle of sea salt helped to balance and highlight the sweet toffee and chocolate really well!

The possibilities are endless (pistachios, pecans, pretzels, coconut, etc), and I highly recommend trying them out if you haven't. Top it with pink sprinkles and gift them to your valentines this year!

Christmas Crack (a.k.a. Saltine Toffee)
recipe adapted from Dessert for Two
makes about 24 pieces

24 saltine crackers
1/2 cup (100g) brown sugar
5 Tbsp (71g) unsalted butter
1 cup (180g) chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup (70g) almonds, chopped
sea salt, optional

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line quarter sheet pan with parchment paper or foil.
2. Line up one layer of saltine crackers on the pan, leaving no space between crackers. (If using salted saltine, place salted side down)
3. In a pot, add butter and brown sugar and heat on medium-high heat until boiling. Continue boiling for 3 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and immediately pour brown sugar mixture evenly over crackers.
5. Bake for about 5 minutes until toffee is boiling all over.
6. Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over toffee. Let them sit for a minute until they are melted.With a knife, spread chocolate evenly over toffee.
7. Sprinkled chopped almonds and sea salt if using over the top of the chocolate.
8. Refrigerate for 20 minutes to set.
9. Break or cut into pieces and serve.

Chop up some almonds or nuts of your choice.

Chop up a bar of chocolate.

Bring sugar and butter to a boil.

Line your crackers.

Pour the boiling sugar/butter mixture over crackers.

Bake for 5 minutes until sugar bubbles and hardens.

Sprinkle chopped chocolate on top.

Let it sit for a minute and spread evenly.

Top with nuts.

Set and break it into pieces.

Chewy and crisp - Enjoy!

Custard Pudding

Cooking with the Dog is such an addicting cooking show on youtube. After my failed attempt at their Melon Pan, I am once again determined to try out their Custard Pudding recipe.

Simple ingredients.
Simple steps!



Custard Pudding
recipe adapted from Cooking with the Dog on youtube
- makes 4 130ml/4.4fl oz molds

Caramel
4tbsp sugar
1tbsp water
1 1/2- 2tbsp hot water

Egg Mixture
2 eggs
250ml milk
4 tbsp sugar

1. Coat molds with unsalted butter.
2. Put sugar and water in a pot. Heat pot on medium heat. Heat until surface becomes lightly colored.
3. Swirl the pot to even out sugar water.
4. Remove pot from heat once sugar has been caramelized.
5. Quickly add hot water into pot and swirl.
6. Pour caramel evenly into the molds.

7. Lightly whisk egg. (Keep tip of whisk touching bottom --> reduces foam)
8. Add milk and sugar in a pot. Turn on heat and stir until all sugar has been dissolved.
9. Add milk to egg while whisking the mixture.
10. Sieve egg mixture. Scrape bottom of sieve.
11. Remove foam on top with spoon.
12. Pour evenly into the molds.
13. Cover molds with aluminum foil (prevents surface from becoming dry).
14. Heat water in pan. And place molds in (water should go halfway up the molds). Turn heat down and keep water just under boil.
15. Steam for 18-20 minutes.
16. Cool and store in fridge.
17. Serve by unmolding pudding onto a plate or eating right out of the mold!


^pictures from first attempt (caramel was not cooked long enough)

I actually made this recipe a couple times since I first tried it. I'd say these are great snacks for the summer cause they are usually served chilled. The part I struggle the most with in this recipe is definitely the caramel. It's so hard to get it to the texture where it will set after you pour into the molds. Oh well, I believe practice makes perfect. And either way, the custard pudding tastes great!

Taste: 5 stars out of 5 (perfect sweetness balanced with slightly bitter caramel, egg-y)
Texture: 5 stars out of 5 (silky, smooth)

Enjoy ;>

Portuguese Custard Tart

Egg tarts are always on the top of my priorities when I go Dim-Sum with my parents. The flaky crust and the warm gooey custard are just perfect compliments of each other! Of course, I had to try this Portuguese version of egg tarts when I spotted it on Foodgawker.

When looking back at the recipe while typing this post, I confirmed that I had messed up on the puff pastry cases. Aha! I sort of knew it when I still had lots of puff pastry left after making 12 cases. Instead of rolling the puff pastry into a log after layering, I just used a small cup and cut out circles and flatten them to fit the muffin pans.. I had no idea why I ignored the two most important steps in the recipe. But luckily, the tarts still came out fine. A bit thin if I should say. Mhm.. on the light side, I got to to kill two birds (tart and palmier) with one stone (1 sheet of puff pastry). So.. yay?



Portuguese Custard Tart
recipe adapted from Almost Bourdain
-makes 12 (or 16 in my case)

3 egg yolks
115 g (4 oz or 1/2 cup) caster (superfine) sugar
2 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
230 ml (7 3/4 fl oz ) cream
170 ml (5 1/2 fl oz or 2/3 cup) milk
2 tsp natural vanilla extract
1 sheet ready-rolled puff pastry

For the custard:
Whisk together egg yolks, sugar and cornflour in a saucepan.
Gradually whisk in the cream and milk until smooth.
Place the pan over medium heat and cook, stirring, until the mixture thickens and comes to the boil.
Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
Transfer the custard to a bowl, cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a skim forming and leave to cool.

Preheat the oven to 375F.
Lightly grease a 12-hole muffin pan.

For the pastry cases:
(Check out Ooh, Look... for a detailed step by step photos for preparing the cases.)
Cut the pastry sheet in half, put one half on top of the other
Set aside for 5 minutes.
Roll up the pastry tightly from the short end and cut the pastry log into twelve 1 cm (1/2 inch) rounds.
Lay each pastry round on a lightly floured surface and use a rolling pin to roll out until each is 10 cm (4 inches) in diameter.
Press the pastry rounds into the muffin tin.

Spoon the cooled custard into the pastry cases.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the pastry and custard are golden.
Leave the tarts in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
________________________________

4 stars out of 5. They custards were a tab bit too sweet and the tarts were too thin to give that full flaky quality (I think I might be bias toward the tarts because now I know I did messed up). My parents also noted that they might be greasy and not "light" and "airy." I believe the preparation of the pastry cases are crucial to the overall outcome (since 50% of the tart is comprised of pastry!). I got to have a re-do on this. Soon.

Pop!

This would be my third attempt at making cream puffs. At the very last minute today, I decided to alter the recipe from the one Ive been using.. since the last two times, my cream puffs turned out a bit soggy and salty. Not to mention, they also collapsed as soon as I turned off the heat. I wanted to see if I can improve them and essentially find out why they collapsed. So, I did some research overtime and jotted down a few tips here and there. Turns out the choux pastry is one of the hardest recipe to grasp (excuse me for the lack of a better word).

Some have said substituting the all-purpose flour to bread/gluten flour makes the cream puff crunchier. Some said adding less milk and water otherwise. Some mentioned about turning down or up the heat after the first ten minutes into baking. Some said letting them cool down slowly prevents the puffs from collapsing. I also noticed that the recipes varied a lot. Some requires 100g of butter while some only needs 45g..

After digesting in all those information, I wanted to give cream puffs a third try. I want to perfect them! And to my surprise, they were close to perfection this time<3 The one mistakes I made was baking them on foil instead of parchment paper.. The bottoms of some cream puffs got stuck and it was extremely hard to take them out without destroying their puffness. Good thing it was my first batch! Luckily, I baked in two batches today (I decided to use the small oven). The second batches came off with no problem. Here's the recipe and pictures. Enjoy! Feel free to serve with custards or whipped cream or anything your heart desires. I popped 5 of them plain before they even cool. Deliciousssssssssssssssss!

CREAM PUFF
Adapted from my buttery fingers
-makes about 30 puffs
For the choux pastry:
40g all purpose flour, sifted
20g bread flour, sifted (I used the left over bread flour I had)
40g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
100ml water
5g sugar
1g salt (I put around 3g; don't know if that made any diff)
2 eggs (I used 1.5 eggs; too much eggs will make the dough too liquid-y)

1. Place water, butter, sugar and salt into a small saucepan and heat over medium flame until butter is all melted and water is at a rolling boil.
2. Remove from heat, and dump in the flour. Mix thoroughly until dough forms.
3. Back on the heat, stir the dough continuously for a minute or two.
4. Transfer dough into a large bowl. Slowly add in one egg at a time. Mix and incorporate well until a shiny dough forms. (Cut down the number of eggs if the dough is at the right consistency)
5. Pipe the dough onto parchment paper. Each around 4cm in diameter.
6. Bake at 400F for 20 minutes until golden brown. (Open the oven door a little at the last 2 minutes into baking)
7. Leave in oven for additional 5 minutes to cool completely.
**Make sure the dough is just warm when adding in the eggs

For the custard, I recommended the recipe from 3yen.


This was the biggest pipping tip I had. The tips I have are normally used for cake decorations.. Oh wells, they still did the job and came up with these cute spaghetti looking dough.


Mm, they don't look the best but at least they are not collapsing and taste good! Whoohoo!


The bottoms were so nice<3 Thin and crispy!


&last but not least, my little disaster..

Till next time`