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

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

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

All your treats belong to meeee.

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

It’s the end of the month and I’ll push this one over the finish line. I like to get at least one post per month. This is healthy whole grains, high in protein, tasty, and way easy. And everyone should have a rice cooker.

Curry quinoa lentils and brown rice pilaf(?)

• 2/3 cup quinoa
• 2/3 cup brown rice
• 1/3 cup lentils (any type that is whole with skin)
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 dried chili
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 1/2 cup water

Wash and strain the grains, if you aren’t washing it then you’ll need more water (1/2 cup), but quinoa requires washing. Put everything in a rice cooker, and let it cook on regular.

If using the stove top, put everything into a small heavy bottom and bring to a boil with the lid on, then turn it down to a low simmer and cook covered for 35-40mins. Remove bay leaf and chili, give it a mix in the pot before serving.

You can use vegetable or chicken stock if you like, just watch the salt. This goes great with almost anything.

-L

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

I planted 4 cherry tomato plants and 4 jalapeño plants in June. These pics were from late July. My small box of thyme has managed to stay alive for the last 3 years and is doing well. I’ve let one of the oregano plants go to flower and it attracts the bumble bees. I also have a new pot of basil and new rosemary. My previous rosemary bush dried out over winter.

The pepper plants never got very large but they produced a lot of fruit.

They don’t ripened in clusters anymore. I just pick them off as they turn red.

There’s my mutt-mutt.

-L

some edges got a little too dark, watch the oil temps

Sweet potatoes are something I’ve been experimenting with recently. In general I don’t like really sweet vegetables (yams, pumpkin, squash, carrots, parsnips, etc.) But they (sweet potatoes, and the other veggies) are very good for you, high in fiber, vitamins, and minerals. In the coming days I will post more on sweet potatoes.

Latkas are potato pancakes that can be made in different ways. They can be served plain or topped with almost anything; apple sauce, sour cream, or just ketchup (personal fav).

• 1 medium/large sweet potato*
• 1 small/medium onion*
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp  pepper
• oil for frying

* the ratio is about 3:1 of sweet potato to onion

Peel then shred sweet potato and onion, mix together with the rest of the ingredients. Heat up a heavy bottom pan (I prefer cast iron) with 1/4 – 1/2 inch of oil on medium high. I used grape seed oil, it has a very high smoking point, great for frying. Scoop mixture into pan (about 1/4 – 1/3 cup per portion), try to spread out mixture to about 4 inch in diameter, it should be a thin layer. When edges turn golden brown (3mins?), flip and cook until bottom is browned. Drain on paper towels. Add more oil in pan when needed. They should be crispy on the edges and tender inside. You can also keep them warm in the over while frying up more.

I think used half the mixture (made about and then refrigerated the rest to use the next day.

-L

I had all these ingredients to make summer rolls but I ran out of rice wraps before I could use up all the filling. The next day I made lunch out of the leftovers; ‘deconstructed summer rolls’ or ‘cold rice vermicelli with shrimp’. I love cold noodle dishes in the summer and this is very light and refreshing. Makes a small light lunch for two.

• 6-8oz dried rice vermicelli (thin rice noodles)
• 1/2 lb shrimp (cooked and halved lengthwise)
• 1/2 seedless cucumber sliced or shredded
• 1/2 small onion thinly sliced
• 1 carrot shredded (not shown in picture)
• 1 avocado sliced
• cilantro and/or basil (or mint) chopped

dressing:

• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1/4 cup water (more if you find it too salty)
• 1 tsp sugar (optional)
• 1 scallion chopped (optional)

Cook noodles according to package instructions, drain, then plunge into large bowl of cold water before draining again. Prep the veggies; you can put the carrot and cucumber thru the shredder attachment on a food processor to save time (just drain out the excess liquid). Mix up the dressing. (You can make more and store in the fridge for later use on noodles or a dipping sauce for dumplings or anything fried.) If you don’t have cooked shrimp on hand, just boil raw shrimp with shells on till they turn totally pink, rinse under cold water, peel and slice. Plate the noodles and assemble everything on top anyway you like and spoon on dressing when you are ready to eat. If you like, you can finish it off with some chopped peanuts or almonds on top.

-Lina