Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Cinnamon Rolls

cinnamon rolls


A yeasted bread recipe that didn't require you to break up a sweat when kneading - in fact no kneading required at all! - what could be better than that? I got teased a lot before in school everytime we have to make breads because where as my classmates would treat their dough as a punching bag, putting all their efforts to it, I would simply prod at the dough here and there with my fingers, coax them to shape and declare them done.

I wouldn't even now what a properly kneaded dough would feel like even if they hit me in the face. My only consolation was that the breads I made turned out okay - as long as they are eaten the first hour they were made. After that is quite another story, so I made it a point to bake only as much as I thought would be eaten immediately.

cinnamon rolls


I've heard of the No-knead bread that's been blogged about many times over but I don't have a dutch oven so I couldn't try it even if I want too. This one however didn't need special equiptment so as soon as I've read (and re-read) the no kneading part I immediately tried it.

cinnamon rolls


Recipe over at thePioneerwomancooks.com and it comes with an extensive photo guides. The only thing I changed was the frostings, I added some cocoa to mine and made it a chocolate frosting. It's really good.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Chocolate Crinkles

chocolate crinkles


I dont like Chocolate Crinkles, or at least the chocolate crinkles that is usually sold in local bakeries here. It has the look of a chocolate crinkles but tasted more like bread than a soft cookie. My sister on the other hand is used to the chocolate crinkles baked on the upscale restaurants she favored and begged me one afternoon to make some.

I hit the google search page for a recipe, found one from AllRecipes.com that called for oil instead of butter, wrote it down and gave it to her after showing her where everything is. She came bugging me again after two hours to help her roll the cookies. Two hours wasn't enough time to harden the batter but as it was already 4 in the afternoon, we had to work fast to get them in the oven before they turn too soft to hold the shape of a ball.

They were delicious, soft and decadent. The chocolate is very rich with just a hint of bitterness in each bite to counter the extra sweetness of the powdered sugar. This one is definitely my sister's recipe from now on but I'll definitely volunteer to help with the rolling next time.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Sugar Icing - Royal Icing

sugar flower, royal icing


I've decided that if I've ever wanted to decorate my cakes with sugar icing, I'd buy them off the shelf. Mostly because my hand is really shaky. Even so I'd like to think that that was a pretty decent rose. Even if it's green.

sugar flower, royal icing


Here's another alien-looking sugar flower. In case you can't tell what it is, it's supposed to be Mums. It looks unfinished at the top but yeah, Mums. It's in blue because I was using leftover icings - another reason why I will be buying and not making sugar flowers anymore.


sugar flower, royal icing


Above are Cadena de Amors. I haven't seen the real flowers so I wouldn't really know if they indeed look like stringed beads. And they dont probably came in blue either. And finally flowers that looks like flowers! These are wild roses.

sugar flower, royal icing

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Ube Cupcakes

ube, ubi


That is what cooked ube (ubi or purple yam) looks like. If you think they are a little hairy you should have seen them before they underwent a massive hair loss treatment courtesy of me right before they went to the pot to be boiled. Really, really hairy. It took forever to cook. Hairy ube = not good!

So anyway I made ube cupcakes. The rest I made into a halaya for future use. We originally made this in class as a cake but I didn't want to wait that long and instead pour them into muffin pans lined with cupcake paper.

Ingredients
2 1/2 c. cake flour
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 c. oil
1/2 c. water or ube broth
6 eggs, separated
1/2 tsp. ube flavoring
1/2 tsp. ube coloring
1 c. mashed ube
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

Procedure
Shift all dry ingredients in to bowl (use only 3/4 sugar), make a well in the center and dump in the liquid ingredients (oil, water, eggyolks and flavoring) and mix well. Add the mashed ube and blend well.

Make a meringue with the eggwhites, cream of tartar, and remaining sugar and fold it into the batter. Pour into a 9x3 pan lined with a wax paper and bake at 350F for 40 minutes or until done.

ube cupcakes


The ube flavoring can be substitued with vanilla if it's not available. The ube coloring is there because purple yams aren't always purple. I've seen almost white ube before. Omit it at your own preference. I would served cupcakes this with 7 minute frosting and a dollop of halaya on top. The cake I would serve with a ube filling.

Monday, January 7, 2008

Durian Roll

durian roll


Filipinos believe that serving twelve rounded fruits during the New Year will bring you and your family good luck for the coming year. Well that's not always possible, either because of money constraints - fruit prices skyrockets during this time of year - or simply because of unavailability of the rounded fruits.

Durian is definitely not one of those fruits you'd served during New Year. Not only is it off season, it really smells and has spiky thorns - qualities you wouldn't want adapt for the rest of the coming year. But my father wanted some durian in the table and supply was not an issue so I doctored a Brazo de Mercedes recipe into a Durian Roll.

Ingredietns
1 c. cake flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/4 c. sugar
6 large eggs
1/4 c. water
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

Procedure
Shift all dry ingredients in to bowl (use only 3/4 sugar), make a well in the center and dump in the liquid ingredients (water, eggyolks and flavoring) and mix well.

Make a meringue with the eggwhites, cream of tartar, and remaining sugar and fold it into the batter. Pour into a 12x16 pan lined with an oiled wax paper and bake at 350F for 15 minutes or until done.

durian roll


Generously dust a clean towel with sugar. Turn the cake out onto the towel, and peel off the wax paper. Gently roll up the cake using the towel, and let cool. Unroll the cake, spread an even coating of filling onto the top and roll the cake back up into a tight spiral, and remove the towel. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving. The filling I used was some durian jam mother made a while ago thinned with evaporated milk.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Puto Cheese

Puto Cheese


I played hooky one time in class and missed making Puto cheese, which was too bad since I really love these tiny white cakes. So once I got a copy of the recipe from a classmate I immediately set out to try it at home. I didn't have those tiny plastic mold though so I steamed mine in metal cupcakes mold and as I used very yellow margarine, it didn't turn out white either. Oh well, the taste was good and in the end that's what really matter.

Ingredients
1/2 c. butter or margarine
3/4 c. sugar
2 c. all purpose flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. milk
4 pcs. eggwhites
1/2 of cubed cheese

Procedure
Cream butter then add half a cup of sugar gradually. Add the sifted dry ingredients alternately with the milk and set aside. Whip the eggwhites and remaining sugar until fluppy and fold into the first mixture. Spoon into the moulder, top with cheese and steam for 20 minutes or until done.

I added a pinch of cream of tartar to the eggwhites when I whipped them just because I find that it always gave them better stability. The first mixture will be very thick so fold in a little of the meringue first to thin it a little before folding in the rest. I was told that these baked beautifully too - which my classmates did with half of their batter - but I wouldn't know.


Puto Cheese

Honey Bran Muffin

honey bran muffin


These turned out better than I expected. My father seeked me out to say I'd better be not expecting some company because he finished off three of the dozen I made. I don't trust his taste buds that much but still this recipe will be printed and placed on my recipe box.

The recipe was from eHow, not from class and I only tried this because I had a lot of leftover wheat bran and I wanted it all used up already. In fact I started using wheat bran as dusting for when I make pizza - in lieu of cornmeal and it really makes one crispy pizza - but there was still a lot of it and I need the space in the ref.

honey bran muffin


honey bran muffin


I went easy on the nutmeg though, I used only about a pinch, since we (filipinos) are not really used to having spices on our cakes.