Just in the Nick of Time

I'm a huge fan of celebrity chefs specially pastry chefs.

Yes...I know I got sucked in by all that Food Network chefs the glamor, book deals and awesome show. I'm so into those, their marketing people sure do know how to work their stuff.

Most of the time I don't buy locally published baking book written by local chefs, not for the reason that you probably think. It's not about being snobbish or anything it's just that I found it lacking in the instructions department and most of the time the book itself is poorly constructed the paper used is bad or there are so few pictures that I have no idea what the outcome should look like. And if the quality of the book itself improves, it cost a lot just like imported books, probably because it was not published locally. Which I think is weird being that we have printing press here in Manila, so why source it out? Right??? Any way, that's another story.

After years and years of waiting for a good baking book, I thought the day finally came when one of my favorite "celebrity" pastry chef Aileen Anastacio came out with a Coffee/Baking cookbook titled Home Cafe. Chef Aileen has a regular Sunday program in QTV called True Confections I actually got hooked on it when it started, I even have some episodes recorded in my VCR. But lately not so much anymore, now I found it a bit silly having so much blatant advertisements from local bakeshops, local baking product manufacturer you name it they got it. I mean, if I want to watch advertisements I would just watch the commercials. I wanted a baking show where they actually teach something which is baking from scratch, that's how they started and now, they are lost. Oh...those were the days.

Oh! I'm ranting? So sorry back to the topic on hand which is the book.

First off, for a local book it cost Php 795 which is around $16 to $17, a little expensive but bearable. But hey I like to patronize our own, so against my better judgement I grabbed a copy and took it home.

First off, I love the cover and the art design of the book, it has a nice homey feel to it. There are a lot of pictures on it which is a great plus for me, being a very visual person. Though personally for me, the book should have open with the dessert part first and the coffee concoctions second. I guess I'm such a bias for saying that but who doesn't love a good dessert. Another thing they should have put is a suggestion of what coffee creation would be better paired with what dessert, that would be specially helpful for people like me who is not a regular coffee drinker.

The first thing I tried in this book is the Chocolate Cupcake. I've seen tons of recipes for chocolate cupcakes before but this is the first time I saw one where it doesn't call for any butter but it uses oil instead. Which is pretty neat since once again I found myself running short on butter. As I was gathering all the ingredients I noticed that it called for cocoa powder, it didn't say natural or dutched? I opted for dutched processed since I love the dark color and the taste is awesome. Everything was going smoothly up until I added the hot water. Uh oh....the batter became watery like a chocolate soup! Darn it! What happened? I consulted the recipe and yes my measurements are correct. So I kept going. As I was pouring the watery batter on the cupcake liners, a small drop of batter dropped on my hand so naturally I would lick it right? (I know you're thinking Ewww.... but in my defense it's chocolate!) Well... it's actually a blessing in disguised because when I licked the batter off, I realized that I didn't put sugar! Oh man! what's going on? I think I lost my baking mojo or something. I quickly returned everything back on the bowl of batter and added the sugar. Mixing gently and praying that I don't develop the gluten on these babies. Off to the oven they went.

8 minutes later....

They came out perfect! Dark and moist cupcakes. Yummy! Definitely a must try. For the frosting though the book suggested a chocolate buttercream frosting, however, after all that uncertainty I tired me out and I just made a glossy ganache topping. It's messy to eat but of so satisfying.

CHOCOLATE CUPCAKE

Adapted from Aileen Anastacio, Home Cafe

For the cupcakes:

• 1 cup cocoa powder (I used Dutched Processed)
• 2 cups All Purpose Flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 3/4 cup Oil
• 3 large eggs
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

For the Ganache:

• 1 cup whipping cream
• 8 oz chopped dark chocolate

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line two 12-hole muffin pan with paper cases.
2. In a bowl, whisk together the milk. oil, eggs and vanilla.
3. In another bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients.
4. Using an electric mixer, gradually add the liquid to the dry ingredients. Beating on medium speed until combined.
5. Add boiling water and mix for another minute.
6. Fill the lined pans with batter about 3/4 full. Bake for 16-18 minutes or until the cake tester comes out clean.
7. Remove from the oven and set on the wire rack to cool and frost with the ganache.
8. To make the ganache, heat the whipping cream until almost up to boil.
9. Pour the cream over the chopped chocolate. Let it stand for 5 minutes and gradually stir in the melted chocolate. Set aside. It will thicken as it cools.
10. Smear a generous dollop of ganche on each cupcakes and store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days.

Chocolate Cup Cupcake

I'm embarrassed to admit it but quite recently I've been a cookie monster, baking and eating batches of cookies one after another, of course my favorite kind of cookies are chocolate chip cookies. Baked freshly out of the oven, accompanied by tall glass of milk. Delicious! ^_^ This must be the side effect of hoarding Callebaut soft baked chocolate chips. This week I promised myself that no more, I have to try something new. Well... Guess what I made?

Yup! you guessed it. It's a Chocolate Chip Cupcake!

I got this off Elinor Klivans Cupcakes! book, this is my go to book for all my cupcake cravings. The recipes are great so far everything I made from this book taste good. It is also peppered with gorgeous, mouthwatering pictures that will surely inspire you to give it a try. The procedure started out a bit different from your usual cupcake recipe, in this version the butter is mixed in with the flour till resembles a course meal. Just like making a pie! Haha... A tip though once you measured out the flour get a tablespoon or two and gently toss it with the chocolate chips until the chips are lightly coated. Do this trick so that the chips would not settle on the bottom as the cupcakes are baking. Turned out great! The end product truly taste like a chocolate chip cookie only in cakey texture. Although I really have no idea is making it the old fashioned way would change the texture and the outcome of this cupcake. But hey if it ain't broke don't fix it right?

A Piece of Pie

As regular readers of this blog, you probably noticed that I hardly if ever make a pie. I can make cake, brownies, cookies and bars, however pies are my downfall. Pies are well... for a lack of better word for it difficult and temperamental, for me anyway.

Like many other bakers out there, I'm addicted to reading Cooks Illustrated Magazine, few months back I got a article which promises a fool proof flaky crust with the secret ingredient of vodka! but of course like in any other case just when I was looking for that particular recipe, I couldn't find it. It's actually a sign that I have waaaayy too much magazines (but I can't help myself). Greatest thing about the Internet is I can google anything. My googling led me to Smitten Kitchen, she has tried CI's version of foolproof pie crust. A problem though, I don't have shortening handy and don't want to go out and buy some just for this. Tossing aside from what I've learned in many baking shows that I've watch both foreign and local, saying that shortening is crucial for that flaky crust. I looked for the all butter pie crust which is also found at SK. I'm so glad that I was able to read both post regarding the CI pie crust and the all butter pie crust. She has pictures of step by step on how it suppose to look, it gave me courage to give it a try.

Not wanting to print out yet another recipe, I'm trying to be more eco-friendly. I look at my baking book collection, I might have something there. The first thing that I checked was Rose's Pie and Pastry Bible, it's no brainer thing with a book that thick I bet it has all kinds of pie crust. It also has this intriguing cream cheese crust. I would have loved to tried those had I have cream cheese handy, so that's for another time. My next problem came is what about the filling, I don't want to make just an ordinary apple pie, but it has to have apples in it cause I've got a bunch of granny smiths waiting to be used. Out of the corner of my eye, a little cute book with a gorgeous cover calling me. It's the Rustic Fruit Dessert by Cory Scheirber. I got it last Christmas during one of my impulse buy mode. It's just so cute, it's small and compact but it's full of information and almost every recipe has a picture so I don't have to guess what it's suppose to look like. To be honest the cover alone made me want to stop by the market grab some fruits and start making pie. Little did I know...it would take months and months till I get the courage to try it.

Last week being Chinese New Year, I wanted to make something new and special. Although I must admit the whole time I was making this, I kept asking myself why? why? WHY???

Hehehe...I know I'm having panic attack

I started out early just in case I suck at this, I can make something else. The recipe in a book yields a lot! It's good for 2 double crusted pie or 4 open faced pie. I wouldn't say that making a crust is a breeze though rolling it out was fun. I'm actually not sure if I cut the butter in the flour enough or not because the outcome of my dough is white with bits of butter in it. I seemed fine however the outcome is less desirable. The crust was a bit though, might have baked it too much but then the book said that bake it for 45 minutes until brown and cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes more until the fruits are bubbling. I though it was a typo or something, being this was my first time actually making a dignified looking pie, I followed the recipe to the dot. Now I don't know how to rectify that problem. I still have 2 crust left and I want to make it perfectly, well...not actually perfect but I want to improve on it. Help! Another question is how can I get that golden crust all over? I brushed mine with some milk before baking it, read it somewhere, not sure if it actually helped or not.

For the filling, the recipe called for blackberries and apples, but I didn't have it handy but I've got some frozen wild Maine berries, they are so tiny and cute! As I was mixing the apples and blueberries, everything turned blue! Uh oh...Oh well, I hope they taste good.

All in all I'd say pie making is a challenge for me but not impossible to do. Though I need a lot of improvement and help.

Homemade Vanilla Extract...Uh Oh....

I've been searching high and low for vanilla beans here, ever since my stash of vanilla beans was washed away by flood. That was such a waste! I've been saving them up because I can rarely find vanilla beans here in Manila, I got my stashed from my godmother who hand carried it from the States. Yeah, I know I'm kind of weird, when my godmother ask what I want for 'pasalubong' (a.k.a souvenir/gift from states) my answer is always something food related.^_^

I'm now spoiled ever since godma C bought home Kirkland Madagascar Vanilla Extract, I'm no longer satisfied with using McCormic's and Ferna. I found the bottle too little and they aren't as fragrant as Kirkland's. For a month now, I've been on a vanilla hunt panic, my Kirkland stash is running low, I've got about 2 ounces left. I tried searching for replacement in PriceMart (this is like Waltermart or Costco), they are wholesalers who mostly sells a lot of imported stuff. There is a humongous collection of Kirkland products from medicine to spice but alas no vanilla extracts.

With my vanilla extract dwindling, I resorted to buying McCormic's until I find a good replacement for my Kirkland's. I was even tempted to buy an artificial Mexican vanilla extract. WTH??? I know, I know forgive me it was a weak moment for me. But don't worry I didn't succumb to it. During this depressing moments, I even found a person who sells Nielsen Massey vanilla however, I found here products quite expensive and to top it off I've got to pay a separate shipping fee for it. Thank you but no. Although I must admit I've ordered vanilla bean paste from her before and it went smoothly, so I guess she's my last resort.

Last week, my friends and I are having lunch in a mall and they decided on having a yogurt. I decided to drop by my favorite baking supply store, as I was about to leave buying nothing, there they are sitting quietly on the counter with their gorgeous black "V" logo, plump vanilla beans!!! Weee....I'm so happy such a nice surprise, I quickly bought 3 pieces (1-Tahitian and 2-Bourbon). I'm giddy as a child on her birthday and couldn't wait to get home. I quickly went to look for an empty glass bottle cleaned it, sterilized it and left to dry.

Yesterday afternoon was my busiest Sunday afternoon ever, while waiting for my pie in the oven to bake through. For the first time, I tried making my own Homemade Vanilla Beans. But before doing so I couldn't help but admire the packaging, it's vacuum sealed so once you open the plastic seal, you'd be instantly hit by that intense vanilla aroma. I love the packaging too. I took the sticker with the logo and the name of the variety of vanilla and stuck it on my bottle so I could distinguished the bourbon from Tahitian variety. Now that my bottle is all pretty time to get the vanilla inside, I split open one vanilla put in inside the empty and sterilized glass jar in my case it was a ketchup bottle, now it's a vanilla extract bottle. I topped it off with a good slug of vodka until it covers the vanilla pod. Instantly after a few minutes of steeping you could see the clear vodka being infused by the vanilla and you could clearly see the flecks of vanilla. But wait be patient, these have to stand for 6 weeks minimum, shaken once in a while. Yes SIX weeks, patience is the key here. I'll keep online readers update what happens to this project, looks promising hopefully it doesn't disappoint.

Both the Bourbon and Tahitian vanilla beans that I got came from The Vanilla Company, which is ran by a nice man P. I like him instantly, he is very prompt, when texted about something he replies at once and very nice. I would definitely buy vanillas from him in the future.

HOMEMADE VANILLA EXTRACT

• 3/4 cup vodka
• 1 vanilla bean, split

Split the vanilla beans in half, scrape off the seeds. Put the empty pod and the seed in a clean and sterilized glass bottle, pour the vodka. Be sure to keep the vanilla pod submerged. Cover and store in a cool dark place for 6 weeks minimum. Shake it once in a while to evenly distribute the vanilla essene.

Chocolate Mudslides

It's time for Magazine Mondays people! For this week, I chose Chocolate Mudslides still from the Martha Stewart Holiday 2005 magazine. What are Mudslides you ask? These are almost flour less chocolate cookies loaded with chocolate chunks. What's not to like? ^_^ Right? Well..I'm 50-50 in this thing, I'm not sure if there is something wrong with recipe or something but I found it too sticky when scooping it out and shaping it. I tried making it into small cookies because of all the chocolate I was afraid it might get too overwhelmingly sweet. And it turns out that I was right. It was too sweet specially with the semi sweet chocolate chunks the I used instead of the milk chocolate the recipe called for which I can only imagine would be much too sweet. After 2 batches of using my small ice cream scooper, I got fed up with it, the cookies turn out unappetizing and actually look like a poop! pardon those who are eating while reading this. I set the offending tiny scooper aside and grab my handy all purpose go to scooper and voila! an appetizing looking cookies are born. But I caution you, using a bigger scooper yields a much less cookies. The recipe said it would yield FOUR DOZENS! Absolutely impossible! Maybe with the tiny scooper yes but with the normal size scooper that actually makes this cookies look edible a big fat N-O. I got roughly a dozen and a half of those. I know so few but these are so overwhelmingly chocolaty that I think after a few days of these you'd probably had your chocolate fix.

To help wash down these babies a good tall glass of milk just hit the right spot. Didn't have a glass handy so a mug will do. Next time I'll use dark chocolates. If you want to give this recipe are try drop by Martha's and give it a try.

Sweets for your Sweetie

My good friend A asked me to make something with Butterfinger for her partner K. I don't normally do something special for the V-day however being such a romantic I couldn't say no to such a sweet request.

Having made brownies many times with different recipes from several sources. I decided to adapt my favorite brownie recipe to make this delectable Butterfinger Brownies. My favorite brownies was adapted from Buttercup Bakes at Home. What I love about this recipe in particular is the fact that it's chock full of chocolate both bittersweet and unsweetened chocolates. A great treat especially for chocoholics like me! And look I FINALLY got that crackly top the looks so professional and appetizing. Another added bonus in my book is that it's easy clean up, being a 2 bowl method thing, one for the melting the chocolate the other is for the mixing of the other ingredients. Absolutely no need to put out the heavy mixer.

What's with the hearts? Well...its Valentines Day! Of course, I got to have a heart shaped brownies to make it more special. I honestly didn't plan on picking up another cookie cutter when I went to the baking supply store, however when I saw Wilton's new valentine cookie cutter collection, it came in such a pretty romantic colors, I just knew I got to have it.