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

Amaretti blueberry shortcake

This was the birthday cake I made for my grandmother a few weeks ago. Like the Japanese style strawberry short cake, this is 2 layers of sponge cake with cream chantilly (whipped cream) as frosting. The crumbs are crushed amaretti cookies.

Amaretti blueberry shortcake

sponge cake:

• 6 eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract + 1/2 tsp almond extract (or just 1 tsp of amaretto)

cream chantilly (whipped cream):

• 1 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract + 1 tsp almond extract (or amaretto)

rest:

• apricot preserve
• 1 pint of fresh blueberries
• 8 to 10 amaretti cookies
• parchment paper

Preheat oven to 350. Beat eggs and sugar till very pale yellow and is 3-4 times the original volume using a mixer. Cut parchment paper into circles to fit two 8in round cake pans (fold the paper in halves till you can’t anymore and snip the ends to fit). Oil pan with the parchment thoroughly otherwise it’d be hard to get the bottom out of the pan. Sift in flour and baking powder, fold with large metal spoon and add the vanilla while folding. When fully incorporated pour into pans and bake for 25mins. Check the other cake post for more images.

Beat cream and sugar till it forms soft peaks, add extracts and beat a little more. Put away till cake is completely cooled.

When cakes are cooled peel off the parchment paper, spread on apricot preserve, cover layer with blueberries then spread the whipped cream over. Put on the next cake layer, and thin coat of preserve. Frost cake with the remaining cream.

Crush about 8 or 9 amaretti cookies in either a food processor or in just a freezer bag with something heavy. To get the crumbs on the cake you will need either a cake stand or a second person holding the plate of cake on an angle over a large baking sheet to catch run off.

Top with any remaining blueberries. If you don’t have amaretti cookies, you can just crush up nilla wafers, ginger snaps, graham crackers, or almonds.

-Lina

Happy Mother’s Day…

…and it happens to be my birthday too (happens like every other year). So we are having a big dinner with my family and I make the cake (all organic ingredients). It’s a Japanese style strawberry shortcake, meaning it’s a sponge cake base with whipped cream and strawberries.

Japanese style shortcake

sponge cake:

• 6 eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

cream chantilly (to be fancy):

• 1 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

rest:

• strawberry or raspberry preserve
• 1 qt fresh strawberries
• parchment paper

eggs and sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Beat eggs and sugar till very pale yellow and is 3-4 times the original volume using a mixer. Cut parchment paper into circles to fit two 8in round cake pans (fold the paper in halves till you can’t anymore and snip the ends to fit). Oil pan with the parchment thoroughly otherwise it’d be hard to get the bottom out of the pan. Sift in flour and baking powder, fold with large metal spoon and add the vanilla while folding. When fully incorporated pour into pans and bake for 25mins.

Beat cream and sugar till it forms soft peaks, add vanilla and beat a little more. Put away till cake is completely cooled.

Take half the strawberries (the least pretty ones) and slice into 4ths. De-stem the rest for the top.

When cakes are cooled peel off the parchment paper, spread on a thin layer of preserve, top evenly with the sliced strawberries then spread the whipped cream over. Put on the next cake layer, and thin coat of preserve. Frost cake with the remaining cream. I saved some and piped it on with just a snipped sandwich baggie (I never got the hang of using decorating tips). Top with strawberries how you see fit.

-L

san francisco food tour day 2

Day 2. Japantown! The weekend we went was the last weekend of the annual Cherry Blossom Festival, so of course we had to go! There were so many people and vendors and food and did I mention people already? It was pretty crowded. We took a taxi in, and thank goodness we did. My friend Phu joined us that day and told us it took forever to find parking. There were live bands and taiko drum demonstrations among other things. The smell coming from all the fresh food being cooked, from red bean filled pancakes to the bar b q being grilled, was heavenly.

But before I begin on the food.  I was told I wouldn’t actually see sakura trees in Japantown, which I thought was boo, but my sister and I found out about the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park had tons of sakura trees and other flowers. We of course checked it out and the blossoms were still in bloom!  The full size photos are on my flickr page. They also have a mini cafe serving tea while you enjoy the view.

After our visit to the tea garden, we headed to Japantown, and we started with the spam musubi. Spam is a sort of breakfast food staple among Filipino (and Hawaiian) households. We like it fried, with rice and a fried egg. Yum. Anyways, this one stand was selling spam musubi! It was sushi rice, topped with a slice of cooked spam, eel sauce, and wrapped with a thin strip of seaweed wrapper. It was sooooo yummy. My sister and I ended up buying a couple each to save for a midnight snack of sorts. Sorry I don’t have better pics, but it did not last long enough to take photos after opening.

Even the toy from kidrobot wanted a bite. heh.

Next were the pancakes filled with red bean paste. The line was forever long, but you couldn’t resist, because as you walked by, you could smell the sweetness of the pancake batter cooking. They were soft and light and filled with a sweet red bean paste.

The only line longer than the pancake line was the beef takoyaki line. Takoyaki is typically a fried dough ball containing octopus and other vegetables, but there are different variations. As you can see, this was of the ground beef variety. I’ve had takoyaki before in NYC, minus the octopus, and that was definitely better. However, for the price and considering they had to feed the masses, the beef takoyaki I had was worthy of the wait in line.

After that, we were pretty much full. We waited for Phu and co. to arrive and we just ventured out into all the shops and bought manga and cool pencils at Kinokuniya. It felt good to sit down. It was starting to get hot, but that cool bay breeze swept in once in a while making it a beautiful day to be outdoors. Once Phu showed up, it was time to eat again. They were hungry and who was I to say no to food? We decided on ramen at Sapporo-ya in the Kinokuniya center. We don’t have ramen in Houston, not that I know of anyways. And I’m not talking about the 10 for a $1 you find at the grocery store either.

My sis and I shared the bowl of soy sauce ramen with bbq. It was pretty good, in my opinion, but what do I know? The only other time I had ramen was in Hawaii and it was wayyyyy too salty. The noodles were a little smushy, but the broth and the bbq was yums. The boiled egg really added to the ramen. Maybe it was the texture or just the taste of it with the bbq and noodles, but I found every bite better when I had egg in it. Service was just okay and it’s a tiny spot, but overall, it was okay. There are probably better ramen spots in the area, and one that I’ll talk about again on day 3, but it was the closest one at the time.

This day was full of lines. Lines for pancakes, takoyaki, ramen, and then came the line for Sophie’s Crepes. It was out the restaurant and it was also worth the wait. The crepes are thin and crisp, yet soft and flaky. You can choose your own items or they have a variety of goodies to put in your crepe, from hot fudge and strawberries to ham and cheese. I stuck with the nutella, banana, and vanilla ice cream crepe. It was definitely tasty. It was a nice cool treat after a day in the sun.

It was food overdose by this time. We decided to walk it off by going to the Haight area and checking out the shops. There were tons of different boutiques and restaurants, and if you’re a shopper you might like this area. I just wanted to go to kidrobot. Bought a few toys. So cute! And after a long day of wandering the streets of San Francisco, we headed back to the hotel for some rest and relaxation before dinner. Oh yeah, we ate more. Hah.

Phu & I made a trade. Sprinkles cupcakes for Filipino banana chips. I think I’m the winner in this trade off. The cupcakes were rich and moist and Phu was kind enough to buy us all milk from the local convenient store.

And that was our 18th floor view at Hotel Nikko. Well, after getting some rest in, we headed to a sushi joint in Union Square. I am sorry to say that for the life of me, none of us remember the name. We went because a friend suggested it and she didn’t even know the name, only that it was good and we should go. The seafood was fresh, but as I stick to the cooked stuff, I ordered an ebi tempura roll and the spider roll. That was a well cooked soft shell crab.

And that my friends, was the end of day 2. It was exhausting, but it was definitely fun.  Thanks Phu, Hong & Megan for driving up from San Jose to hang out with us for the day!!

P.S. I miss it already.

– Chelle

mmm adobo!

It was my turn for dinner again this past Monday. I decided I would cook some Filipino food for my friends. I chose pork adobo with rice as the main meal, a simple salad to start with, and a white chocolate cake from a new favorite bakery of mine.

Adobo is pretty simple dish to make. You can use either pork or chicken, but that night was a pork night. It’s one of my favorite dishes, and no matter how I try, mine will never be as delicious as my mother’s. I have no photos of the finished meal, because we were starving and just ate…all of it.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. of pork butt (sure you could use other pork parts, but trust me, this works best)
• 1 clove of minced garlic
• 1/3 c. soy sauce (dark soy sauce is awesome for this)
• 1/3 c. vinegar
• 1/2 c. water (should be enough to cover pork)

-Make sure you wash down the pork and pat it dry with a napkin. Then, you’ll want to cut the pork into about 1/2 in. thick slices. With the pork I used, I cut it first into about 5 sections. Then I cut each section into 1/2 in. thick slices. Place pork in pot. Mince 1 clove of garlic and add to pot. Add the soy sauce and the vinegar and mix well with the pork and garlic. Add water. Place on stove on med/high heat and cover. After it’s been boiling about 15 minutes, remove cover and turn heat down to medium. Stir occassionally and cook for another 15 to 20 min. You will know when it’s done when 1. the pork is tender and 2. most of the water has evaporated and you’re left with a nice, dark sauce. If the sauce still looks too watery, turn heat down to med/low and allow it to simmer until not so watery. (I’m so sorry there’s no photo to describe it better) Serve with rice and enjoy! If you really want to go homestyle, serve it with a fried egg. =)

I made a simple salad. I’m no good with making fancy salads, but I did know that Angela & Mike liked the veggies. I’m so thoughtful. ha! So I used green leaf lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, and cucumber and served it thousand island dressing.

And, in my local Korean grocery store (HMART – 1302 Blalock, Houston TX 77055), there is a bakery called Tous Les Jours. I’ve bought other baked goods from there before, and the breads have always been so yummy and soft and just so tasty. I figured their cakes would be decent, so I bought a small white chocolate cake. It was that soft spongecake often used for Asian cakes, with the tastiest and lightest buttercream icing, and topped with white chocolate shavings. It was delicious. I am going to be buying more cakes from there, let me tell you. The cake was light and fresh. It didn’t feel too heavy and it was perfect for our meal. It also comes in the cutest box with a complimentary plastic cake knife.

P.S. my food blog partner, Lina, and her husband came to visit me last week and we had the most fun time. I made shrimp lumpia and will share that recipe next time!

– chelle

Mango Almond Cakes

I love mango pulp; it’s available from the internet, Indian specialty stores, and even in Whole Foods. In the summer I blend it with yogurt and ice to make mango lassi. The mango pulp gives these cupcakes a pretty color and great mango flavor. 

Mango Almond Cakes

• 3/4 cup organic shortening or butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup mango pulp
• 1 1/4 cup almond flour/meal
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp almond extract
• pinch of salt
• sliced almonds to top (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°. Cream together sugar and shortening till smoothed. Then incorporate eggs one at a time, then almond flour, almond extract and then the mango pulp, mix well. Add flour, baking powder and pinch of salt, and quickly mix till incorporated. Line or grease muffin tin, fill equally and top with a few almond pieces. Bake for about 25min, it should just start browning.

 -L

because 30 is the new 20

This post is long overdue. Back in August, I turned 30. My mom felt that was a milestone in my life and that I should have a party. YAY PARTIES! My parents cooked tons of food. I helped of course, but most of what you see is above is my dad and mom’s doing. There was tons more food, but for art’s sake, I couldn’t fit them all into that montage above. I’ll probably get unlazy and make another one for all the other food =D

Starting from the top left:

-Grilled eggplant salad – A dish from Dad. I’m not the fan of veggies, much less eggplant, so I didn’t try it. Everyone else did, as it was all gone.

-Calamari – Dad again. He just mixed a whole bunch of stuff and seasonings and ta da…super yum and crunchy calamari

-Beef w/Chinese broccolli – Dad’s is the best. The addition of the tomatoes made it that much tastier.

-Pork Ribs – Really, what more is there to say about that? They were in the smoker for hours and they fell off the bone and were just sooooo tender. 3 racks of ribs. None remained.

-Woo table decor

-Chocolate chip toffee crunch bars – *Raises hands* I made that. I’m actually going to post that recipe eventually. It was yummy and gooey and crunchy and definitely chocolatey.

-Bottom row. In the center is a Filipino dish with tons of different veggies and you can add either pork or shrimp. However, I was in charge of the veggie cutting, therefore my ode to squash and green beans.

I had the yummiest cake from The Acadian Bakery (http://www.acadianbakers.com). It was the brownie chocolate mousse cake with a chocolate gnache on top. Oh. Their choco covered strawberries are the greatest. When I order cakes, I always ask for more strawberries =) If you need a cake for any occassion, please give them a call if you haven’t been there before. They deliver and you can also pick up. I usually call a day in advance and they’ll have it ready by 9am the next morning. May I also suggest their Fresh Strawberries & Cream cake? Love it.

And so…I’ve reached a new decade. wee!

-Chelle

littlejohn’s toffees

It’s been almost a year since I went to L.A. for a cousin’s wedding. We had a few hours to kill before heading to the airport, so we went to the famed Farmer’s Market at The Grove that we had heard about so much. I loved the place as there were all these food stands with vendors selling fresh fruits, meats, etc. I also had some of the best Korean BBQ ever there.

One of the places I saw as I was randomly walking around was this candy shop called Littlejohn’s Candies (http://www.littlejohnscandies.com/) and it had chocolate covered toffees in its window. So, I bought 8 pieces of their toffee sticks. I honestly came back home and wished I had bought more. They were fantastic. The toffee had that perfect crunch. Not too hard and not too soft. Just right. It melted in my mouth and it was absolutely delicious.

I told one of my good friends about the place and for Xmas last year, she had ordered a box and had it delivered to me. Now, this year, for my big 30th birthday on Friday, she ordered me another box. This time, she got 3 lbs. of toffees for me. One pound for every decade. Ha. Thanks Jan! No worries. I won’t eat all that by myself. As much as I wish I could, this chubby girl doesn’t need to be eating 3 lbs. of toffees.

Seriously, I could have picked any chocolate shop in the world, but I love these chocolate/nut covered toffees. So if you’re in the L.A. area and you’ve never been to the Farmer’s Market, you really should. You just might discover a few new things. And, rather than an hour or two there, try setting aside most of your day for it. The whole “Grove” area looked like it had tons of stuff and I was sad I didn’t get to see it all.

–chelle