Apple muffins, sweet and tart

These muffins are super tasty; I can’t really explain how good they are. It’s important to use a tart apple to get a proper balance between sweet and tart.

Apple muffins

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup coconut oil (or butter)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup yogurt
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon

• 1 cup almond flour
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• pinch of salt

• 1 large tart apple (cored and diced)
• 1 tbsp flour

Preheat oven to 350°F. Cream sugar and coconut oil(or butter), add eggs and yogurt, then almond extract and cinnamon. Add in dry ingredients, mix till mostly smooth.  Remove core and dice the apple(peeling optional), then coat the pieces with a tablespoon of flour before adding into batter. Fill evenly into lined muffin tin. Bake for 25-30mins, till top is golden brown.

-L

lovely fudgy brownies

This is my new favorite brownie recipe, I came up with it while trying to use up some cans of condensed milk. It has a shiny crispy skin on top and dark moist center, and can be thrown together rather fast. Melting and mixing can be done in one bowl; so there’s less to clean up.

Fudgy Brownies

• 12oz chocolate chips
• 14oz can condensed milk
• 1/2 cup coconut oil (or butter or shortening)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch salt
• oil for pan

Preheat oven to 350°F. Melt chocolate, coconut oil(or butter or shortening) thoroughly in (a heatproof)mixing bowl over slow simmering pot of water. Take off heat, mix in condensed milk first, then eggs, and vanilla. Add rest of ingredients, mix till smooth (use an electric mixer or do it in a stand mixer bowl to begin with). Pour batter into an oiled 12×16in baking dish, spread evenly. Bake for 20-25mins depending on the material of the baking dish. The top should be dry and shiny, the center dark and moist.

-Lina

mexican wedding cookies

Mexican wedding cookies (aka ojarascas) are one of my all time favorite cookies. My brother’s friend’s family owns a bakery and they used to give my brother a tin of these every Christmas, which I was very grateful for. They’re so simple, not too sweet, and I love how they crumble and just melt in your mouth. I also enjoy the almond flavor in them. I’ve been told that even though they are called Mexican wedding cookies, they’re usually given during holidays or other special occasions. So, the cookbook my sister got me for Christmas is Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook. Lo and behold, there was a recipe for Mexican wedding cookies. I’ve been wanting to make them since Christmas, but this past Sunday was the first time I had a chance.

Ingredients:

• 1 c. pecan halves
• 1/4th c. confectioner’s sugar for now
• 3/4th c. confectioner’s sugar for later
• 1 c. confectioner’s sugar for rolling
• 2 c. all purpose four
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 stick unsalted butter @ room temperature
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. pure almond extract

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• In a food processor, combine the pecans and 1/4th confectioner’s sugar. Pulse them until the pecans are finely ground.
• In another bowl, add the flour and salt. Whisk in the pecan/sugar mixture.
• In the bowl for your electric mixer (paddle attachment), beat the butter and 3/4th cup confectioner’s sugar on medium/high speed until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla and the almond extracts.
• Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until the dough comes together
• Roll dough into 3/4″ balls (mine varied from 3/4″ to 1″) and 2 in. apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the pan at the half time point. (Mine were perfect as 12 minutes, but it all depends on your oven. If you see cracks/crinkles on top of your cookies, then they’re done)
• Place cookies on cooling rack and allow to cool completely. In a small bowl, pour the remaining cup of confectioner’s sugar. Once cookies are completely cooled, roll cookies in the sugar.

above: flour, sugar, pecan mixture

(i realized i hadn’t taken a photo of the dough until i was almost out of it)

(see the cracks/crinkles?)

The finished product. This lil container was handed off to my local starbucks where I share all my baked goods with them. The rest were consumed by family and coworkers. I will definitely be baking a lot from this cookbook of mine. I’ve tried two recipes so far and haven’t been disappointed. Next week, SUGAR BUNS!!

– chelle

Coconut cranberry muffins

Coconut is actually healthier than you think. Coconut fat won’t clog your arteries and your body will try to use up coconut oil (for energy) rather than storing it as body fat.

Coconut cranberry muffins

• 1 can 14oz coconut milk (full fat)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar (to 2/3 cup, if you prefer sweeter)
• 1 c almond flour (or coconut flour)
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 2 cup flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 2/3 cup dried cranberries (or raisins)
• 1 c flaked coconut (or sliced almonds)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix together wet ingredients with sugar. Then incorporate the flours, baking powder/soda, and salt. When the mixture is almost smooth, add in the dried cranberries. Scoop batter into lined or greased muffin tin, press in coconut flakes on top. Bake for 30 to 35mins till light golden brown. -Lina

Japanese breakfast

This morning I went to Panya, a Japanese bakery in the East Village for breakfast. They used to be tiny bakery but had recently expanded with a new kitchen and seating area. They make a variety of breads and desserts along with Japanese convenience store foods like rice balls(they are great, about $1.29-$1.79) and bento lunch boxes. The Japanese breakfast set($8.50) includes rice, broiled salmon, salad, miso soup, natto(fermented soy beans) with a raw quail egg, a small package of nori(seaweed), and some small sides, here they are hijiki(seaweed) and radish with bonito(smoked dry skipjack tuna). The quail egg takes the edge off of natto which can be rather funky(mix it together vigorously), you also mixed it with mustard. The salmon was made perfectly and went well with the rice. Overall everything was a bit on the salty side but still good. I also got a piece of mont blanc cake($3.50) and a green tea custard bun($2.75), but my camera battery died before I could snap a shot. Their cakes are always good and they have a very nice selection of teas and coffee. I liked the barley tea ($1.75) and the yuzu(Japanese citrus) tea($1.75). The yuzu tea was interesting, just hot water and yuzu marmalade but it was good, and chunky at the end.

Panya Bakery, 8 Stuyvesant St (between 11th St & 12th St)  New York, NY 10003

I think the hours are like 8am-10pm (varies during the week), I can’t find it listed on the internet.

-Lina

alfajores dulce de leche

One Sunday, a few friends and myself went to Hugo’s for brunch. It’s not TexMex that’s for sure, but it’s more “authentic” Mexican cuisine. Don’t kill the messenger for calling it authentic. It’s simply what the owner states on their website. ^_^ Anyways, for a nice $30 price tag, we got our Sunday brunch buffet. The food was amazing, but what really got me was the dessert. One of the dessert items were these little cookies called alfajores. Mini butter/shortbread cookies filled with dulce de leche and covered with powdered sugar. I, of course, had to find a recipe for them and make them. Here is attempt one.

I got the alfajores recipe from Nook & Pantry:

• 1 to 1 1/4 c. all purpose flour
• 1/2 c. corn starch
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1 stick of butter (room temp)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• Dulce de leche (recipe to follow)
• Powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. In another bowl whisk together the flour (starting with 1 cup), cornstarch, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

Add the egg and vanilla to the butter and beat until smooth. Add the dry ingredients and beat until the dough comes together. Add some of the remaining 1/4 C of flour if the dough is too wet.

Roll out the dough to about 1/8 in thickness and cut into whatever shape you desire. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until the edges are light golden brown. Cool on a rack and fill with a teaspoon or more of dulce de leche (I chose more). Dust the tops with some powdered sugar.

Dulce de Leche from David Lebovitz:

Preheat the oven to 425° F (220° C).
Pour one can (400 gr/14 ounces) of sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk) into a glass pie plate or shallow baking dish. Stir in a few flecks of sea salt.
Set the pie plate within a larger pan, such as a roasting pan, and add hot water until it reaches halfway up the side of the pie plate.
Cover the pie plate snugly with aluminum foil and bake for 1 to 1¼ hours. (Check a few times during baking and add more water to the roasting pan as necessary).
Once the Dulce de Leche is nicely browned and caramelized, remove from the oven and let cool. Once cool, whisk until smooth.
Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Warm gently in a warm water bath or microwave oven before using.

Attempt number 2 was on Thanksgiving.  I did not have enough time to make the dulce de leche, so I used Nutella instead. I honestly thought it was 10x better than with the dulce de leche…but in my books chocolate hazelnut > caramel. hehe Either way, delicious!

Happy Holidays to all!!

-chelle

white velvet butter cupcakes

So many moons ago, or so it seems, I made red velvet cupcakes. I now present you with white velvet butter cupcakes! I’ve been making the white velvet butter cake, but decided on cupcakes this time around. The cupcake recipe is from The Cake Bible, and the buttercream recipe is from Gale Gand, although I used hers only as a guide. I had to change it a bit to make it perfect for the cupcakes.

White Velvet Butter Cupcakes:

• 4 liquid oz. of egg whites (I’ve found that 3 large eggs cover it, but you might need a 4th depending on your egg)
• 1 c. milk (1/4th cup for now and 3/4th cups for later)
• 2 1/4 tsp. vanilla
• 3 c. sifted cake flour (please use cake flour and not all purpose, I promise it’s better that way)
• 1 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 tbsp. + 1 tsp. of baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 12 tbsp. (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter softened

Preheat oven to 350F and fill cupcake trays with cupcake wrappers (I managed to make about 30 cupcakes with this recipe). In a medium bowl, combine egg whites, vanilla and 1/4 cup milk.

In a large mixing bowl, combine cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and mix together to blend. Add the butter and remaining 3/4 cup milk. Mix on low speed until dry ingredients are moistened. Increase to medium speed (high if using a hand mixer) for 1.5 minutes. Then add the egg, vanilla and milk mixture in three equal parts, beating for 20 seconds between additions.

Pour the batter into cupcake wrappers. Try to fill each wrapper with an equal amount of batter. I used a 1/4 cup measure and it yielded about 30 cupcakes, all about the same size. Each cupcake wrapper will be about 1/2-3/4  full. Bake cupcakes for 15-20 minutes. Do the toothpick test for “done-ness”. Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting!

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:

• 2 1/2 to 3 c. confectioner’s sugar (aka powdered sugar)
• 1 c. (2 sticks) butter softened
• 4 to 5 tbsp. heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 tbsp. vanilla

In a mixer with the whisk attachment, mix together the butter and 1 c. of confectioner’s sugar and 2 tbsp. heavy whipping cream. Mix on med until mixture is blended n light. Add another cup of confectioner’s sugar and another cup of heavy whipping cream. Mix again until ingredients are combined and frosting is fluffy. On the last round, add 1/2 c. confectioner’s sugar and 2 tsp. vanilla. Mix again on med/high until frosting is light and fluffy. Taste your frosting. If it’s not sweet enough, add 1/2 c. confectioner’s sugar. If it’s not creamy enough, add another tbsp. of heavy whipping cream.

I added food coloring to my frosting, so I’ve got neon green, although they look more like pastel green and hot pink cupcakes. Colors and piping is what I’ll need to work on next ^__^

A bit of advice: If you’ve never tasted the white velvet butter cake/cupcake, I can tell you its flavor is already on the sweet side and does not need alot of added sweetness in it’s icing. If I could serve just the cupcake alone, I would, but it’s just not as pretty. hehe.  Just keep that in mind when sweetening your buttercream.

Til next time!

-chelle

Cinnamon apple madeleines, using coconut oil

I finally got the bump in the madeleine.

I haven’t baked madeleines much lately. The non-stick pans are great. I’ve switched to coconut oil for baking in the last few months. It’s healthier and better for the environment than palm oil. Measuring coconut oil can be hard, depending on the weather it can be either solid or liquid. In the summer months it’s clear looking and runny, like a vegetable oil. When I put it in the fridge it became too hard to scoop out.

Coconut oil melts at about 76°F. Since the weather has cooled, the coconut oil is a soft solid at room temperature. When you spoon it, it resembles large clumps of wax, not smooth like palm shortening. I eyeball the measurements usually, but you can melt it and pour into measuring cups for more precision (and let it re-solidify if you want a solid shortening). I don’t find the taste of coconut very prominent in the end results, but if you really hate coconut then you might notice it. Buying it in the larger jars makes the price more reasonable, and it does last a long time (shelf life and usage).

Cinnamon apple madeleines

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup sugar*
• 1 tsp molasses*
• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup apple sauce
• 1/3 cup melted coconut oil**
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• pinch of salt

*or a scant 2/3 cup brown sugar

** you can use melted butter or organic shortening instead

For more of an apple flavor, maybe add a splash of apple brandy.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix sugar and molasses thoroughly, beat in eggs, apple sauce, coconut oil, and cinnamon. Then mix the rest of the dry ingredients till smooth. Fill madeleine pans and bake for about 12mins, till the edges are browned. This makes 2 dozen full size madeleines.

The side scraping paddles are great for brownie batter too.

-Lina

Happy Halloween

All your treats belong to meeee.

smoked salmon brown rice sushi

Leftover short grain brown rice (short grain white rice always good too), the last few pieces of smoked salmon in the package (smoked wild coho salmon, but any kind works), and half a cucumber = quick sushi. With the saltiness of the salmon, you don’t have to season the rice or use any soy sauce.

Refer to http://eatyet.wordpress.com/2008/07/10/egg-nori-roll/ for rolling instructions.

-L