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05-Mar-12

Apple Puff Pasty Pie

Another quick, easy and no-way-you-can-screw-it dessert that can yield impressive result in a flash. Make sure you keep a pack of puff pastry in your freezer all the time. Grab some apples, peaches, pears, or just throw in some frozen berries, you are good to go.

Ingredients (serves 4):

4 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cubed
2 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoon maple syrup
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 pieces of thawed puff pastry, around 6 x 10 inches
1 egg, lightly beaten

Directions:

Put apples, butter, sugar, maple syrup and cinnamon in a skillet. Cook over medium heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the apples are very soft and almost fall apart into a puree. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Place one piece of puff pastry on it, and spoon the apple mixture on top, leaving one inch boarder. Place another piece of puff pasty to cover the mixture. Pin the boarder with a fork.

Brush the pie with the beaten egg.

Cut a few little slits with a sharp paring knife on top of the pie to let the air out while baking.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until pastry puffs up and turns golden brown.

Serve with ice cream or caramel sauce. Or sprinkle some icing sugar and serve it plain.

Comments (1) »
27-Feb-12

Lemon Muffin

Meyer lemon. The  most beautiful lemon on earth. That vigorous yellow color and addicting fragrance simply make you happy. Look at it or smell it, DELIGHT!

Ingredients (12 regular-sized muffins):

2 cups flour
1 cup and 2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 regular or meyer lemons
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F. Grease muffin tin or line with muffin liners.

To prepare muffins, in a large bowl, sift together flour, 1 cup sugar, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

Cut 2 lemons into wedges and put them in a food processor. Add eggs, milk and oil, and blend until almost smooth.

Pour the lemon mixture into the flour mixture, and fold to mix until just blended.

Divide the batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon and the remaining sugar with a fork. Sprinkle about a teaspoon of the cinnamon sugar on top of each muffin.

Thinly slice the remaining lemon and top each muffin with one whole or half slice.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown on top.

Comments (9) »
23-Feb-12

Quick Chocolate Cupcake with Nutella

Quick, as in you don’t need to bring your ingredients to room temperature. No standing mixer, no hand mixer. If you have a sudden crave over some chocolate treat, get up, whip this up, after 20 minutes, you have these delicious babies. 

I’m glad that I found this recipe. Such an easy yet versatile and heavenly recipe that you could have it plain, convert it into a cake that goes with raspberry meringue buttercream or chocolate buttercream. Or just smear some Nutella on top to make it extra delicate. Love it!

Ingredients (12 regular-sized cupcake or one 9-inch cake):

1 1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup warm water mixed with 2 tablespoons espresso powder
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup Nutella

Directions:

Grease muffin tin or line with muffin liners.

To prepare cupcakes, in a large bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix together espresso, vinegar, vanilla and oil.

Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture, mix until just blended.

Divide the batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes. Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting.

Spread Nutella on top of each cupcake before serving.

Comments (12) »
22-Feb-12

Ethan-40 months / Maya-16 months

Dear Ethan and Maya,

Two weeks ago, we took you to a birthday party of one of your second cousins. Party means an event filled with kids engaging fun activities. I have to pay sincere respect to the parents who are willing to take on this project even when their kids are still too young to remember this, and what will ONLY be remember is how exhausting it is for parents to watch their kids. Especially when the party happens to be held at a gym filled with equipment for kids who LISTEN TO INSTRUCTIONS. So for some of them who are not up to listen to their parents and follow their instructions, or NEVER, just like you both, all I could do was to convince myself to let go and pray. Pray for the day that you get yourselves killed to come later. And by the way, if you are expecting this kind of party for your birthday, you will have it when you are 30.

Maya, I have to say this party really opened my eyes though. We thought we might have to carry you around the gym. But you didn’t seem to like the idea, and you just kept fighting us off.  At one point your father and I just let you go. We both tagged along to see how well you would take to those bumpy mats and the trampoline, feeling stunned with the fact that you weren’t intimated at all. Once you took your first step off that trampoline, you started flying and wanted to stay there for the rest of your life. When we finally got you to come down, you kicked off and ran to each different station to climb and tumble without slight hesitation. Bewilderment emerged from your face when you saw those crazed kids flying through the balance beams. Your mouth agape at their advanced skills.  You turned your head to me hinting that you were so ready to trust those two pieces of wood with your life.

The last thing that I had expected from you is your being rebellious. At home, you love to open things. Drawers, cabinets, DVD cases, cereal boxes. If you encounter something that is not open-able, you just shove it away like that thing doesn’t worth your time at all. Every time we ask you not to throw things away, you seem to hear “Keep throwing, Maya, throwing things makes you look sexy.” And you will just fling that bowl of pasta with tomato sauce 2 miles further. That simply makes every meal with you look like a disaster, like we are sharing a table with a raccoon, a vengeful yet very cute raccoon. Every time you drop something you will watch it drop as if you are waiting for an explosion. And you will reach for something else if that sound is not noisy enough. Sometimes I am lucky to be able  to hold onto you filthy arms to stop further damage. Just then you will try to use you forehead to knock off the table. Because the sound that makes is really amusing too.

I have to say I felt utterly tragic about your behavior. Because all along my pregnancy with you, I thought that having a girl meant I wouldn’t have to go through what I had with your brother. Everyone told me girls are supposed to be more manageable than boys. No more chasing and yelling around as boys would never listen. But girls! Tell them to sit down and read, they would just sit there for the rest of their lives. Mothers can be blindly dumb! Now I’ve started to question myself why would I even listen to this shit? I ran away from home when I was 19. Shouldn’t I have stayed home quilting? So, I’ve realized that you are exactly what I should have – an independent creature who, at the age of 16 months, knows certain directions to go to and certain toys to play with. You no longer cry when we leave you with grandparents. In fact, you start to get excited when we are almost there driving to your grandparents’ house. You know which way we are going, you know you are about to have a good time and a good feast of food ALL DAY LONG.

Ethan,  this month you continue to delight us with your overflowing dialogues, and often your father and I have to check with each other to see if we have heard you correctly. One evening over dinner time, your father asked you to eat some mushroom because that is one of your rare favorites, and you refused, “No, I don’t want mushroom.” Honestly it sounded really absurd. You used to like mushroom so much that you could only eat mushroom but nothing for a week. We could smell mushroom from your poop. Your father tried again and asked you to eat some. This time you raised your voice, “No, I don’t want it. I AM SERIOUS!” So serious that all the mushroom for the grocery stores across North America would have to be pulled off.

One morning I told you we were going to the gas station and you said, “Gas station! That sounds like a great idea!” Generally you are this perky when we are ready to leave the house. You get excited even for somewhere that you haven’t been before. Sometimes I’ll push back and ask what you know about the gas station. And your eyes will get impossibly huge as you say something about it being really big, the big gas station with big truck.

This is how you talk about things now, how you outspeak everyone. You always want to make sure that we understand how determined you are when you like or dislike something. It’s a square toast, a big square toast. You do not want a big square toast, because today only a triangle toast gets the right to go into your mouth. You want a triangle toast, a small triangle toast and two rectangle toasts. You don’t like the square toast. Usually we have to cut short because you have way too many things that you dislike, that you can go on and on to detail exactly how unacceptable they are. A SQUARE TOAST? Nononononononono. Don’t you know toast with right angels will pierce through my throat, and THERE WILL BE BLOOD. You don’t want to see blood yet at 8am, do you?

We were asked to fill out a form updating your attendance schedule for daycare. When we came to a question “How would you describe your child’s personality?”, I realized over these years we had been asked this question over and over again whenever we had to fill out application for your skating lesson, music group or to see a pediatrician. Every time your father and I had to come up with a way to sum it all up because there were only three lines for the answer. THREE LINES. Apparently someone is trying to mess with all the parents. Because I know I am not the only one who felt like they were trying to describe a rainbow to someone who has been blind for the whole life. How could it possible to do this with three lines? And when I look back to every moment I have lived with you, the moment when Ethan, you utter the Whoa! Whoa! guitar sound from a Pink Floyd song, where Maya, you then get very excited, swing your body and Whoa with your brother. The moment that we didn’t realize would be this amazingly fun. All I want to give out as a perfect answer would be: You will not be disappointed.

Love,
Mommy
Comments (1) »
18-Feb-12

Chocolate Ganache Tart

You know how screwed you are when you bought a 12-inch tart pan but all the recipes in the universe are made for 9 or 10-inch pan only? SO SCREWED.

The reason why I bought this pan was because it looks so chic with that bright red color. It still does look chic. Just it gave me a hard time figuring out the exact amount of ingredients for a 12-inch pie crust. Now I have to double the ingredients a regular pie crust calls for, take whatever it fits my 12-inch pan, and save the remaining for something else.

So, here I am posting a recipe for a regular pie, but if you are as unfortunate as I am, and have a 12-inch pan. Double it.

Ingredients (9-inch tart):

Chocolate Crust
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1 stick plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, soften
1 large egg
Chocolate Ganache
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
250 gram dark chocolate
Others
20 fresh raspberries

Directions:

Preheat over to 375F. Grease a 9-inch springform pan or pie pan.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.

In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar with a hand mixer until light and fluffy, around 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add egg, beating until well combined.

Gradually add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and beat just until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Transfer dough to the prepare pan. Press dough evenly into bottom and sides of the pan. Prick the tart shell all over with a fork. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375F. Remove tart shell from refrigerator, and bake for 15 minutes until cooked through. Let cool completely on a wire rack.

To prepare chocolate ganache filling, bring heavy cream almost to a boil in a small heavy sauce pan over medium heat.

Break chocolate into small pieces, and put them into another bowl. Pour in hot cream, let sit for 5 minutes. Then stir gently with a rubble spatula until smooth.

Pour ganache evenly over tart shell and spread with an offset spatula. Refrigerate overnight.

Leave tart at room temperature for an hour, garnish with raspberries and serve.

Comments (3) »
14-Feb-12

Lemon Curd Meringue Cake

Again, nothing inside can be seen at this point. But only the flaming outside can already tell the story. The story about how sinfully delicious it was.

My husband found it too sweet, probably because of the lemon curd, which I found perfectly okay. You may want to lower the sugar level if you want. But even he complained, he still ate a big chunk of the cake. WHO CARES.

Ingredients (9-inch 3-layerd cake):

Lemon Cake
2 3/4 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup unsalted butter, soften
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1/2 cup home-made lemon curd
Meringue Frosting
2 cups sugar
6 large egg whites
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease 3 9-inch cake pans and set aside.

In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In another bowl, whisk sour cream, lemon zest, juice and vanilla.

Beat butter and sugar together on medium speed in a bowl of a standing mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until blended.

Reduce the speed to low and beat in 1/3 of the flour mixture, followed by half of the sour cream mixture. Repeat with another 1/3 of the flour mixture and the remaining sour cream mixture. Beat in the remaining flour mixture until just incorporated.

Pour the mixture into the prepared cake pans and spread evenly.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in cake comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire rack for about 10 minutes before inverting on rack. Let cool completely.

To assemble the cake, place one cake layer on a greased baking sheet. Spread with 1/4 cup lemon curd. Place another cake layer on top, and gently press down a little bit. Spread with the remaining lemon curd. Place the last layer of cake on top. Refrigerate until you are ready to frost and serve, preferably on the same day.

To prepare frosting, in a large heatproof bowl, combine sugar and egg whites. Using a handheld electric mixer, beat on high speed until foamy for 1 minute. Set bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Beat on high speed until frosting form stiff peaks, about 10 minutes.

Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and water, and beat for another 2 minutes until frosting thickens.

Preheat oven to 400F. Smear the meringue frosting thickly on the top and sides of the cake. Using a small metal spatula to create swoops and peaks.

Place cake in oven. Bake, watching carefully, until meringue is brown around edges and beginning to brown elsewhere. Remove from oven and transfer to a serving plate.

Leave it at room temperature and serve the cake in the same day, as over time the frosting will become grainy.

Comments (4) »
10-Feb-12

Valentine’s Day Toast

“What cake are you going to make for Valentine’s Day?” I was asked this question yesterday because, normally and logically, as an active cake baker, I should come up with a pink or red cake with roses on top for Valentine’s Day.

In fact, I AM NOT GOING TO MAKE ANY CAKES. Not anything at all! I am never crazy about Valentine’s Day. I simply love to make cakes whenever I want. Probably not on February 14th.

But yesterday I came across with a lovely website and saw this adorable piece of toast, who seemed to talk to me, “Make me cause I am cute.” Looking at her smilingly, I answered, “No, you are insanely cute.” And insanely easy to make.

THIS is what you are going to make in the morning of February 14th for your loved ones, just for the sake of being realistic compared  to baking a cake on a weekday morning.

BONUS: My 3-year old son saw this toast and asked me, “Why you put a heart in my toast, mommy?” Tell me what would be the better way to say, “Because I love you.”

Ingredients (one toast):

1 thick slice white bread

2 teaspoons salted butter or margarine

1 egg, separated

Directions:

Spread butter on both side of the bread evenly.

Use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out the centre.

Place bread in a pan over medium heat, and grill until golden brown.

Lower heat slightly, flip the bread over to grill another side.

Add just enough egg white to fill the toast centre, then carefully slip the egg yolk into the center.

Cover the pan and let it cook gently. Checking regularly every minute to make sure nothing is burning. Once the egg appears to be cooked, remove the toast and serve.

Comments (6) »
06-Feb-12

No Crust Pillow Cheesecake with Salted Caramel Sauce

How many times did my cheesecake come out from a water bath NOT leaking? Probably one. Maybe I didn’t wrap a thousand pieces of foil around my springform pan. Maybe baking cheesecake in a water bath simply sucks.

Now I am telling you an alternative if you are as frustrated as I used to be. Lower your oven temperature, place that water beneath your springfrom pan. For me, that’s the only way preventing water to go into the cake – separate them yet close enough for gentle baking.

Ingredients (12-inch cake):

Cheesecake
2 packages of Philadelphia cream cheese, softened
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup sour cream
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons corn starch
zest of 1 lemon
4 large eggs, separated
Salted Caramel Sauce
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Directions:

Preheat oven at 300F. Grease a 12-inch spring form pan.

In the bowl of a standing mixer with a paddle attachment, mix cream cheese, butter, sour cream, sugar, corn starch and lemon zest until combined.

Add egg yolks, one at a time. Blend for another 2 minutes until well combined.

In a clean bowl, whip the egg whites until stiff. Gently fold in the cream cheese mixture.

Pour the filling in the prepare pan. Tap the pan on counter a few times to release all the air in the batter.

Position rack in the center of oven and place cheesecake on it. Place a shallow pan full of water on the lower rack in the oven.

Bake for an hour, or until the edge of the cheesecake is puffed but the center is still wobbly and wet looking.

Turn off the oven with the door slightly opened, let the cheesecake sit in the oven to cool completely, at least an hour.

Remove from the oven. Chill for overnight.

To prepare the sauce, in a heavy saucepan set over low heat, combine the sugar and water and heat just until the sugar is dissolved. Add the butter. Let it come to a boil and cook until it reaches a golden caramel color.

Remove from the heat and add the cream slowly. Be careful as it will splatter. Whisk to combine and put back on the stove. Let it come to a boil again over low heat and cook 10 to 15 minutes until you reach a nice creamy consistency.

Drizzle the caramel sauce over the cheesecake and serve.

Comments (8) »
03-Feb-12

Thank you, Walmart, for finding my baby

Dear Ethan,

Last October, we returned from Hong Kong with these gorgeous family photos taken by Kester. We couldn’t wait and wanted to frame and display all of them on the wall in our dinning room among other family pictures. Eventually I scratched my head to bleed to shortlist some of them, placed an online order with the 1-hour photo centre at the closest Walmart. Then I did nothing but looked at the clock wondering why an hour took so long to pass.

So, you know how I would react when I was told that the photos weren’t ready when I came down to Walmart. I threatened the staff to scratch his head to bleed. The store was under renovation that the photo printer was yet installed properly. The staff would give me a call when the photos were ready. I hadn’t received his call after the 10 minutes that I took to drive home. So I decided to go for another Walmart. Yes, you could totally do nothing but wait for an hour to pass. However, not receiving a call from someone who promised you 10 minutes ago that he would call you, the 10 minutes that you’d been wasting on waiting. UNACCEPTABLE.

Two days later, he called and left me a message that the photos were ready. I didn’t pay much attention and completely forgot about it because I hadn’t already gone for another Walmart.

He called again few days ago three months later. Apparently he was panic about the possibility that I might have died. Otherwise, why would I just dumb these beauties? So, at the photo centre counter, I took out the photos from the envelope, seeing this one inches from my face. And OH MY GOD how much have you grown for the past three months. Too much that I feel ashamed that if it’s not for Walmart, I wouldn’t even realize.

Love,
Mommy

Comments (1) »
31-Jan-12

Blueberry and Cranberry Crumb Muffin

Baking with kids is messy. I am not going to hide this fact. But it is also immensely fun. Last time I made these cupcakes with my 3-year-old boy, we both enjoyed it a lot.

The more I cook with kids, the more fun facts I find. Not only can it encourage them to eat, but it can also inspire them to be creative. Once you find something that your children like, it’s easy to encourage them to participate, and eventually it just takes a little imagination and enthusiasm for them to believe that they can add their own touches to the final products.

My boy LOVES berries. Any kinds! Even cranberries, he would put them in his mouth like eating Smarties. Yes, SOUR CRANBERRY! But  what made it really sweet though was when we were making these muffins together, he put one berry on the back of my hand between my fingers and said, “You want a diamond ring, mommy?” And so, we had these muffins as well as tons of blueberry and cranberry diamond rings.

Ingredients (12 regular-sized muffins):

Muffin
2 cups and 1 tablespoon flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 cup blueberry
1 cup cranberry
Crumb Topping
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F. Grease muffin tin or line with muffin liners.

To prepare muffins, in a large bowl, sift together 2 cups flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until well combined and fluffy. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and add egg, mix until just blended.

With the mixer on low, slowly add half the flour mixture, mix until just blended. Add the milk, mix until just blended. Slowly add remaining flour mixture, scraping down sides of the bowl with a spatula, as necessary, until just blended.

Toss the berries with 1 tablespoon flour. Gently fold into the batter.

Divide the batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the topping ingredients with a fork until it is crumbly. Sprinkle about a tablespoon of topping on top of each muffin.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown on top.

 

Comments (3) »