on Baking...

Cinnamon Rolls

2008-02-26T22:57:00.004+08:00

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.

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.

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.

Chocolate Crinkles

2008-02-22T18:33:00.001+08:00

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.

Sugar Icing - Royal Icing

2008-02-12T17:48:00.001+08:00

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.

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.

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.

Ube Cupcakes

2008-02-02T13:24:00.001+08:00

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.

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.

Durian Roll

2008-01-07T19:40:00.000+08:00

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.

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.

Puto Cheese

2008-01-06T20:50:00.000+08:00

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.

Honey Bran Muffin

2008-01-06T17:28:00.001+08:00

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.

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.

Bakery I, II and Cake Decorating Courses by Tesda

2007-12-20T19:46:00.002+08:00

Six months ago a friend asked me to enroll in a Tesda sponsored baking class with her. Her family had a bakery and they wanted to add cakes on their list of goodies available. I dutifully tagged along with her, depleting my wallet in the process in what proved to be a rather uneducating experience. But it was fun.

I didn't say it was educating because it wasn't really. We were given a list of ingredients and tools to bring - they only provide the classroom and oven - then the procedure was listed off in the board and we simply follow it. No discussion of the scientific part of baking whatsoever.

Even the instructor sometimes forget to list one particular ingredients or it was listed in the wrong quantity. They were also trying to save on the gas so we have to bake everything in one go, those that finished early will have to let their batter stew awhile until the instructor was ready to preheat the oven. The result; I had to go home one too many times bearing cakes with burnt edges, or one that didn't fully rise or one that had rose beautifully but fell once taken off the oven.

The only redeeming part of the whole ordeal was the fun part - eating! Three cakes recipe per week in fact. Well actually there's also breads, cookies and pies in there too but we mostly bake cakes. Three months in and I started buying new clothes because my old one were becoming slightly constricted around my middle. Losing weight will definitely be in my New Year's resolution!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

2007-12-10T20:39:00.000+08:00

Oatmeal, as it happens, is one of my favorite thing and Oatmeal Chantilly Bars is my ultimate oatmeal recipe. But I figured it'll never hurt to try another oatmeal recipe and maybe find another worthy of the the title.

Well they turned out really good, just as advertised - slightly crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. However me and my Chantilly bars have a long journey ahead of us :)

Recipe is over at EatMeDelicious. I made two batches, the first one I baked for 15 minutes, which turned out crunchy and the second batch stayed at the oven for 10 minutes and come out perfect.

The next day the crunchy lot had soften slightly, just enough that they tasted just as good the latter batch on the first day. Again, perfect!

Double Peanut Pie

2007-12-10T20:32:00.000+08:00

I'm not overly fond of peanut butter. I mean I eat it sometimes in a sandwhich and I love a hint of it on my barbeque and caldereta but it's not a favorite. That and the fact that I don't like pies in general was the main reason I won't be making this again. Plus I thought it was too sweet. But in case anyone is interested, the recipe is as follows.

Ingredients
3 pcs. eggs
1 c. dark corn syrup
1/2 c. peanut butter
1/2 t. vanilla
1 c. crushed peanuts
a recipe of pate brisee

Procedure
In a bowl, beat eggs with corn syrup, peanut butter and vanilla in medium speed until smooth. Stir in crushed peanuts and pour mixture into prepared crust.

Bake for 55 minutes in 350F preheated oven. Cool. Served with whipped cream.

Oh here's a story, instead of peanut butter, our instructor listed the recipe as butter so of course we showed up in class with half a cup of butter. When the procedure was up on the board we can only wince at yet another mishap on the part of our instructor. The worst part, she said we could go ahead and use it. WTF?!? Luckily I spied a bottle of peanut butter that morning in her locker - a project in her food processing class and I convinced her to let us buy it. She agreed but quoted a sky high price. We had no choice though.

Siopao - Steamed Buns

2007-12-06T20:35:00.000+08:00

I burnt my fingers with these buns. Steamed buns or Siopao in the Philippines is usually filled with either Chicken/Pork Asado or Bola-Bola (Meatballs) but since I'm not really good at cooking and this is my first time making Siopao, I filled mine with Bukayo - strips of candied young coconut. The result was a very light, soft buns that was worth the painful sting on my fingers.

Ingredients
1 c. warm water
1/3 c. sugar
2 tsp. yeast
3 1/4 c. all purpose flour
1 t. salt
2 tbsp. oil

Procedure
Dissolve yeast in water, add sugar, salt, oil and 1/4 c. flour. Let stand until bubbly. Add remaining flour and mix until dough holds together. Place dough on a lightly floured board and knead until smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled in size.

Punch down and turn dough onto a lightly floured board and knead for a minute. Divide the dough into two and form each into a log. Cut each log into 6-7 pieces and roll into a ball. Take one ball, flatten it with your hands, pulling the sides to form a circle. Place filling in the center and pull up the sides and twist at the top to seal.

Place each bun, sealed side down on a wax paper. Let buns rise for another 30 minutes then cook them in a steamer for about 12 to 15 minutes.

Siopao can also be made with baking powder as the leavening agent or both yeast and baking powder. The result is a little on the cakey side, springy and tend to dries up quickly. Its the kind of siopao sold almost everywhere. I like that texture in puto-pao or mantao (they have no filling) but for siopao I prefer them leavened only with yeast like the one found mostly in chinese dimsum shop.

Revel Bars

2007-12-06T20:25:00.000+08:00

This was a real pain to cut but boy was it worth it! The chocolate part turned out very gooey fresh from the oven and turned fudgy after I refrigerated it. Really yum. This recipe called for cocoa instead of semi-sweet chocolate which was a good thing because chocolates are a little expensive to buy here in the Philippines and not always available in smaller areas.

Ingredients
3 c. quick cooking oats
2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 c. butter
2 c. packed brown sugar
2 eggs
4 tsp. vanilla extract
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1 c. cocoa
2 tbsp. butter
1/2 c. chopped walnuts

Procedure
Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.

In a large bowl, beat together butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Mix in eggs and 2 tsp vanilla. In another bowl, combine oats, flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into butter mixture.

In a medium saucepan, heat sweetened condensed milk and cocoa over low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in 2 tbsp. butter, walnuts and 2 teaspoons vanilla.

Pat 3/4 of the oat mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Spread chocolate mixture evenly and crumble the remaining oat mixture over the top. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in preheated oven. Let cool on a wire rack, then cut into bars.

There was this oatmeal bar I used to eat like crazy during my college years called Chantilly Bars. I've been searching the recipe everywhere with no luck so when I first read the ingredients list of Revel Bars I got excited thinking this could be it. It wasn't and it kinda ruin the whole thing for me. A day later I got over it and ate a lot of the bars. But I'm still in search for that Chantilly Bars recipe, anyone?

Royal Bibingka

2007-11-30T20:20:00.000+08:00

Royal Bibingka (or Bibingka Royale or Rice Cake) is traditionally made of course with rice flour, baked in pans lined with wilted banana leaves on a clay stove. This recipe yield two 9" layers so I baked the first bibingka in a pie plate lined with wax paper and the other lined with banana leaves. I liked the first one better but the rest of the family preferred the latter. It had a rich smoky flavor and taste that's authentic to the dish.

Ingredients
3 eggs
4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/2 c. all purpose flour (or rice flour)
1 1/2 c. coconut milk

toppings
grated cheese
sugar
grated coconut
salted eggs - for the culinary adventurous only

Procedure
Beat eggs until light & creamy, add sugar gradually, then coconut milk and milk, beating well. Sift flour & baking powder together and fold into the mixture. Pour batter into 2 - 9" cake pans that have been lined with wax paper. Bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes.

Brush with margarine and sprinkle with sugar and cheese. You may also served this with fresh grated coconut or sliced salted eggs.

I made this with evaporated milk too, replacing half a cup of the coconut milk with equal amount of evaporated milk and it resulted to a much denser, richer cake. The next time I'll make this I'll difinitely try it with salted duck eggs.

Maja con Maiz

2007-11-29T20:01:00.000+08:00

This dish can also be made without the corn and it's called Maja Blanca - very similar to the Hawaiians' Haupia except for the amount of cornstarch. My trusted ratio is 1:1:4, cornstarch, sugar and liquids. The liquids traditionally used were coconut milk and water but adding cow's milk makes it even richer.

Ingredients
1 c. cornstarch
1 c. sugar
2 c. coconut milk
1 c. evaporated milk
1 c. water
1 425 g. can of cream-style corn

Procedure
Mix together the liquids, sugar, and cornstarch in a pot. Make sure there's no lumps before adding the corn. Set over medium-high heat and cook, stirring constantly (dont stop! it will thicken in a blink of an eye) until thick and the whisk or spoon you are using will start to leave tracks and you can see the bottom of the pan (about 10-15 minutes). The mixture will have then have a lovely sheen and creaminess. Make sure to stir in all direction so you wont it.

Pour into the cake pan or baking dish, top with crushed peanuts (optional) cool and set in the refrigerator to cool further. Cut and served.

The creamed corn can be replaced with a lot of things for variations. Most common variation here in the Philippines is Maja con Calabasa - just add one and a half cups of mashed squash. I use evaporated milk because it's readily available in store and not quite as expensive as fresh whole milk.

Pizza

2007-11-29T19:59:00.000+08:00

Pizza! We made pizza in class a few weeks ago and although I didn't get to spin the crust like they do in TV it turned out great nonetheless. Made it again a few days later letting the crust developed overnight in the ref and it was even better. It was a square one however and again, I didn't get to spin it. :)

Ingredients
2 tsp. instant yeast
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 c. lukewarm water
1 tsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
3-3 1/2 c. APF

Procedure
Dissolve sugar and salt in water, add oil. Mix yeast with flour in another bowl, make a well in the center and add liquid mixture, stirring to make a soft sought. Cover and the leave for 10 minutes.

Lightly knead in an oiled surface for about 3 minutes, left it to rest for 5 minutes and knead again for another 3 minutes. Let it proof in an oiled bowl for an hour to an hour and a half.

Cut the dough in half, roll each half into a circle, cover and leave for 10 minutes. Roll each ball into desired thickness and shape and place onto oiled-and-cornmeal-sprinkled baking tray. Brush surface with a little oil, prick and top with desired toppings. Bake in 400F preheated oven for 15-20 minutes depending on thickness.

I grated the cheese on top of the dough hence the mess. And it's cheddar, the only widely available cheese here in the Philippines and it didn't really melt. Also, I didn't have a pizza stone so even though I suspect it would turn out much better if baked with one I wouldn't really know.

Vegan Chocolate Cake

2007-11-20T19:43:00.000+08:00

This is my favorite cake to bake whenever we have to decorate or try on a new frosting recipe in class mostly because it's relatively cheap to make - being egg and dairy free - and it also holds it's shape well. The taste of course had a lot of difference compared to chocolate cakes made with eggs and milk but it's still delicious.

Ingredients
3 c. all purpose flour
2 c. white sugar
1/2 c. natural cocoa
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla
3/4 c. vegetable oil
2 tbsp. white vinegar
2 c. hot water

Procedure
Preheat oven to 350F and lightly greased a 9x13 pan. Sift together dry ingredients into a bowl. Make a well in the center, dump in all wet ingredients and stir until smooth. Bake at 350F for 35 minutes. Remove from oven, cool and frost with your favorite frosting.

Just remember that hot frosting and sugar flower icing do not go well together. And oh, store the cake in room temperature. Refrigerating dries it too much.

Banana Cake

2007-11-15T09:53:00.002+08:00

Banana cake was first cake we ever made in class, right after sugar cookies and chocolate brownies and this has became the recipe we reach for everytime we harvest banana from our backyard. It called for butter instead of oil so it's not greasy at all and it is light enough to qualify as a cake and not a quick bread. Love it!

Ingredients
1/2 c. butter
1 1/2 c. brown sugar
4 eggs
2 1/2 c. pastry flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 c. sour milk
3/4 c. mashed green banana
1/2 c. chopped nuts
1 tbsp. vanilla

Procedure

Cream butter, add sugar gradually then the egss one at a time. Sift dry ingredients together and add it alternately to the butter mixture with the wet ingredients. Mix in the banana and nuts.

Pour batter into a greased 8x12 pan and bake at 350F for 40-45 minutes or until done.

Sour milk is not usually sold in any store in the Philippines and we had to made ours by combining 1/4 cup of evaporated milk, 1/4 cup of water and 1 1/2 tsp. calamansi juice and leting it stand for a few minutes just until the milk curdled a bit.