A Spoonful of Sucre

Closed

2008-09-28T23:34:00.002-05:00

After much thought during my leave of absence from this blog, I have decided to shut down A Spoonful of Sucre. Updating it became a chore for me, and I certainly don't need another task in my life. Thank you to all who have come along on this short journey with me; I really appreciated your support!

On Hiatus

2008-09-12T08:49:00.003-05:00

Hello, all. It's been a while since I've last posted here, and it'll be a while more before another post is added. With the recent start of yet another year of school and a big move, I haven't had time to spend in the kitchen and post about it. I'm settling into my new address just fine, but I have midterms coming up in a week, so I need to divert my attentions away from interior decorating and to the books.

I'm not sure how long I'll be away, but hopefully it won't be too long. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Baking: Daring Bakers Chocolate Cream Puffs

2008-08-31T11:57:00.003-05:00

Last night, I reunited with a long lost friend--my oven. Between moving and the start of school, I didn't have much time to spare to hang out in the kitchen and bake. Lucky for me that Meeta and Tony picked Chocolate Eclairs for this month's Daring Bakers challenge, which didn't involve multiple, elaborate steps, so I was able to complete it at the very last minute.

I've made choux pastry before, so the dough quickly and easily came together. My brother wanted rounds rather than elongated fingers, so I made cream puffs instead of eclairs. I didn't have any trouble the last time I made the puff pastry, so I was very surprised when my little cream puffs all of the sudden flattened. It was amazing because they looked so golden and fluffy one minute, and then all of the air went out of them with a whoosh. I was a little saddened because I followed all of the directions as outlined by Pierre Herme and had no idea why they fell flat, but I knew that the taste would be fine and soldiered on.

I filled each puff with vanilla cream and topped them with chocolate glaze. I roughly followed the Pierre Herme recipe provided to us because I really didn't see the reason for making a separate chocolate sauce to be used in the making of the chocolate glaze. I just merged the two recipes together and made some pretty luscious topping. The chocolate glaze was definitely a nice touch, taking the cream puffs up a level.

I like a cream puff from time to time, but I get tired of them rather quickly. They are usually too rich for me, and these cream puffs were no different. They tasted great, but one will do for me. Fortunately, my brother is home for the long weekend and will eat just about anything.

Now it's back to studying for me. I hope you all enjoy Labor Day weekend (if you're in the States)!

Baking: Super Soft Sugar Cookies

2008-08-22T01:04:00.003-05:00

Sometimes a good novel really hits the spot. Sarah Addison Allen's The Sugar Queen did just that a couple of weeks ago. Detailing the coming of age of a young woman who chooses to eat Little Debbies rather than face the real world, this book was a perfect blend of culinary delights and magic. Both elements were involved in virtually every scene of the novel, and I immensely enjoyed this read. The book was so enchanting that it left me with a craving that only one thing could satisfy--tender and fluffy sugar cookies.

Inspired by a couple of recipes that I found via Megan, I experimented a tiny bit in the kitchen and created some truly great cookies. Using the basic sugar cookie recipe, I added cream cheese into the mix and turned out moist and delicious treats. The taste of the cream cheese supported the sweetness from the sugar well, and its texture made the cookies soft. My brother, who isn't a fan of sugar cookies at all, munched on more than a few of these while watching the Opening Ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics. He even asked me to make another batch for him. It's awesome to know that I've converted at least one person in my life to something.

If you want to try your hand at converting, please do make these cookies.

Super Soft Sugar Cookies
Ingredients (adapted from Everyday Foods)

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar for 2 to 4 minutes, until fluffy and light. Add the egg and vanilla, beating well after each addition. Slowly add in one-half of the flour mixture, being careful not to work the dough too much. It might be easier to switch from an electric mixer to a wooden spoon at this point. Follow with cream cheese. Finally, add in the remaining half of the flour mixture. Stir the dough just until smooth.

Drop spoonfuls of the dough onto ungreased baking sheets, spacing each mound about an inch or two apart. For aesthetics, sugar may be sprinkled on top of each cookie. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the edges of the cookies begin to brown (the lighter, the softer). Cool on wire racks before enjoying.

Baking: TWD Granola Grabbers

2008-08-19T09:32:00.004-05:00

As a girl constantly on the go, I almost always have a granola bar of some type in my purse. Pre-packaged in a nice little serving and possessing a tad too much sweetness, granola bars are a great pick-me-up after a couple of hours lecture or after a long, hardcore shopping fest. I love granola in all forms, so much so that I attempted to make my own granola last year with relative success. Considering that I am such a fan of granola, I started this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection with much gusto.

And, oh, did it disappoint.

Chosen by Michelle of Bad Girl Baking, the Granola Grabbers were a quick and easy make. Throw together some butter, sugar, egg, nuts, fruits, and grains, and then pop it into the oven. For these cookies, I used my fancy, au naturel granola that I had bought from a hippie health food store way back when. Per a suggestion made by a fellow TWD member, I replaced some of the raisins with chocolate chips. I debated adding more chocolate chips to the mix, but I decided against it because some members on the discussion thread had complained about the Grabbers being too sweet.

After tasting the cookies, I wished that I had gone with my gut instinct. My Grabbers weren't overly sweet for some reason, and they could have been benefited from the extra dimension that the chocolate chips would have added. I'm not really sure what was off about these cookies. The texture was fine, the sweetness level was good, and the taste of all the ingredients shined through. I happen to love all of the dried goods that I added to the batter--coconut, raisins, peanuts, chocolate chips, and granola. Maybe the mixture of all my favorite things was too much for my taste palate. Maybe I set out to make these Granola Grabbers with too much anticipation, and you know how that goes. If you expect too much, the more you'll be disappointed.

If you want to try this recipe and figure out what it is exactly that I didn't like about these cookies, visit Michelle for more details. As usual, don't forget to check out the other TWDers to see some lovely photos of this week's selection.

I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Baking: Simple Pizza

2008-08-14T23:01:00.001-05:00

To mark the start of the Beijing Olympics and my brother's week-long stay at home, I finally crossed something off of my to-do list and made some pizza. I have long wanted to make homemade pizza since I saw that brick-oven pizzerias in the city, such as The Wedge, used simple-looking crusts for their yummy pies. I don't have a brick oven in my house nor a baking stone, so my crust didn't have a nice, smoky tinge to it. However, the pizza still tasted great and was an awesome treat to munch on while watching the Opening Ceremonies. The crust was a wonderful "platter" for my toppings: chicken breast tenders lightly sauteed with garlic and sweet onions, grape tomatoes, baby spinach leaves, swiss cheese, and tomato sauce. The best part was that the recipe was super easy to put together and the ingredients were things commonly found in my pantry. It would be criminal if you didn't attempt this pizza at least once in our life.

Homemade Pizza Crust (via Smitten Kitchen)
Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon dry active yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup lukewarm water
cornmeal

Stir together all the dry ingredients, including the yeast, in a medium-to-large bowl. Add the olive oil and water, and stir by hand until the mixture starts to form a rounded ball. An extra tablespoon or two of water might need to be added to achieve this effect. Dump the contents of the bowl onto a lightly floured surface; knead the dough until it comes together into a ball. Place the ball into a large bowl lightly greased with oil or sprayed with oil, turning the dough to cover with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and allow the dough to rise undisturbed for a couple of hours, until it's doubled in size.

Dump the risen dough back onto a lightly floured surface, and gently work it into a ball shape. Cover with plastic wrap, and set aside for about 20 minutes.

Sprinkle the back of a baking sheet or a pizza stone with cornmeal. Preheat the oven to about 550 degrees F. Roll out the dough to fit whichever baking apparatus is being used. Place dough onto baking sheet and cover with toppings, making sure not to go crazy with the amount of toppings. Bake for 10 minutes until the crust is slightly brown (if you like crispy).

TWD Strawberry Sour Cream Ice Cream

2008-08-12T10:00:00.004-05:00

With the hot weather, I was very excited that Dolores of Chronicles of Culinary Curiosity chose Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection. Though I am grateful to Dolores for her pick, I am forever indebted to David Lebovitz. Following a link publicized on The Kitchn, I found a tutorial that David put together for people not fortunate enough to own an ice cream maker. I went to Bed Bath and Beyond with the intention of procuring an ice cream maker, but I changed my mind at the last minute because I'm one for old-fashioned ways.

I didn't have any edible blueberries on hand when I set out on this frozen adventure, but I thought strawberries were a nice edition. With such few ingredients, this creamy base was a breeze to put together. Then came the long wait with breaks every 30 minutes to beat the ice cream mixture with a hand mixer. My wait was made much, much sweeter with the amazing swim from the U.S. men's 4x100-meter freestyle relay team that I witnessed on Sunday night. I love watching the Olympics, and I have never been more riveted while watching an event in my life. Jason Lezak was uh-mazing!

I can't say the same for my frozen treat. The ice cream was just all right. My brother, who is a strawberry ice cream addict, wasn't a big fan. It tasted more like strawberry yogurt. I was very pleased with the texture, though. It wasn't as creamy as store-bought ice cream, but David Lebovitz's method gets the job done. I'm definitely going to experiment more.

If you want to try your hand at this recipe, check out Dolores's blog for the full details. Don't forget to visit all the TWDers and see what they've all been up to!

Baking: TWD Black and White Banana Loaf

2008-08-05T09:14:00.001-05:00

This week's Tuesday with Dorie was brought to you in part by Ashlee of A Year in the Kitchen. I have to admit that I was slightly skeptical about this recipe. I like banana breads fine, as well as chocolate ones. Together, though? I wasn't sure if the banana and chocolate flavors would mesh well in a loaf.

Fortunately, my worries were for not. The bread was moist and had a hint of a great banana taste. I went wild this week and opted to "play around" by adding the toasted pecans, which really did add a dimension to the texture and the taste. The bread wasn't overly sweet, so my parents really enjoyed this week's selection. My only complaint was that the chocolate parts could have been stronger and a bit sweeter. Perhaps I'll use semisweet chocolate instead of bittersweet if I make this again. Considering my parents' reactions to the bread, there will definitely be a next time.

Sorry that this post is on the short side. I had corrective vision surgery over the weekend, and my vision is super blurry. It was really hard to read the recipe for this week's selection, but I managed to persevere with the aide of a magnifying glass. I'll be keeping a low profile for a few days, so in the meantime, you should check out the going-ons of the other TWD members. If you want to make your very own Black and White Banana Loaf, you can find the recipe on Ashlee's blog.

I hope you all are having a wonderful week!

Baking: Madeleines

2008-08-04T06:15:00.001-05:00

Anyone for a cup of tea?

Sorry I've been missing in action for so long. It has been two weeks since I've last baked something, so I thought it was high time that I returned to the kitchen and get to work! To transition back into the baking mode, I picked this madeleine recipe from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours.

I was very excited about this recipe because madeleines were one of my favorite things to snack on while I was in France. With their subtle sweet, lemon flavor and their cake-like texture, they perfectly complimented a cup of tea. Every Sunday, a group of friends and I would visit a small tea salon in Clermont-Ferrand for some tea, scones, and madeleines. It was truly a great way to celebrate the one day of rest.

I did not have a madeleine baking mold on hand, so I had to make due with some mini-muffin tins. They weren't as elegant as the traditional shell-shape, but I thought they still looked cute coming out of the oven with their rounded tops. While the taste of the madeleines was good, it wasn't perfect. The lemon flavor wasn't strong enough because I opted to use lemon juice rather than lemon zest. Also, I probably overmixed the batter because the madeleines had a sponge-like texture rather than a cakey one. Nevertheless, these little cookie-cakes were tasty snacks.

Madeleines
Ingredients (adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours)

1/2 cup white sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 large eggs
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

In a medium-to-large mixing bowl, stir together the sugar and lemon juice. With a hand mixer, beat in the eggs until mixture becomes a uniform pale yellow color and slightly thickened.

Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Gently fold into the wet ingredients, followed by the melted butter. Be careful not to overmix. Cover the batter in plastic wrap by pressing the wrap against the top of the batter. Now set the batter in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours (I left mine overnight).

When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare the baking pans by spraying them with baking spray or by buttering and flouring them. Spoon the batter into the molds, filling each about 3/4 full. Bake mini-madeleines for 8-10 minutes while full-sized madeleines should be left in the oven for 11-12 minutes. The tops of the madeleines should spring back slightly when pressed upon.

Cool the madeleines on a wire rack for a few minutes, and then enjoy!

Lo Siento: No TWD

2008-07-29T06:42:00.000-05:00

Yet another missed Tuesdays with Dorie selection. I had all the intentions in the world to make the summer fruit galette chosen by Michelle of Michelle in Colorado Springs, but I found out at 10:30 last night that I didn't have any vegetable shortening in the house to make the crust. Procrastination is never a good thing. I might make it later on this week if I ever remember to pick up some shortening at the grocery store.

Please check in with the other TWD members; you'll be in a for a treat!

Heartwarming: Lazy Birthday

2008-07-24T00:27:00.005-05:00

Please excuse my lack of activities recently. I've been a bad blogger, but it's not without reason. I've been busy eating sushi, shopping in Dallas, receiving flowers from a dear friend in Arizona, acquiring a new microplane for the kitchen, and obsessing over what is now known as the biggest blockbuster movie ever (and rightly so). I've been enjoying birthday celebrations and haven't stepped near the oven for quite some time. I think it's better for my waistline not to make any baked goods at the moment, especially since my family and I are trying to get through my behemoth birthday cake. It might be hideously decorated, but the cake is pure goodness. Mmm. Nothing hits the spot quite like Sam's Club chocolate birthday cakes.

I hope you all are doing well. I will be back in full spring soon. In the meantime, run out and watch The Dark Knight, marveling at the sheer genius of everyone involved with this film.

Baking: Blueberry Cornbread Muffins

2008-07-18T09:00:00.000-05:00

After work yesterday, I sat down with the latest issue of Vogue and a little snack--blueberry cornbread muffins. I know that it might seem weird that I'm using blueberries in a lot of my baking, especially since I griped about how they ruined my pie, but they work so well in quick breads. Also, Bread & Honey recently featured this recipe, and its loveliness pushed me to try it out myself.

This was another easy day in the kitchen. The batter came together without the help of a mixer, which was really nice because I hate cleaning the whisks and beaters of mixers. I didn't have any yogurt or honey in the house, so I used clabbered milk (milk + lemon juice) and sugar. Wrong move.

The cornbread didn't turn out as fantastic as it did for Summer, and I'm convinced the ingredients I used are to blame. Yogurt would have made the cornbread much richer and creamier than the clabbered milk I put together, especially since I used skim milk to make it. I also used reduced fat margarine. With the lower fat content, the cornbread was bound to come out of the oven dry, and it did. This was compounded by the blandness of the cornbread. Honey would have added a much deeper sweetness to the bread than sugar and would have probably contributed some moisture.

I'm not too excited about the end result, but I think I will give the recipe another try if I ever get around to stocking up on some yogurt and honey. This cornbread really reminds me of the Polenta-Ricotta Cake I made for Tuesdays with Dorie, and that one turned out super well. So I have to give this recipe another shot.

Blueberry Cornbread (adapted from Bread & Honey for 8 muffins)
Ingredients

1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup clabbered milk (1/2 cup skim milk + 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice; set for 10 min)
1/2 egg
1/8 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons margarine
3/4 cup fresh blueberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a muffin tin by lining it with cupcake liners.

In a large bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients. In another container, combine the liquid ingredients, and then stir then into the dry mixture. Be careful not to overstir; mix just until the dry ingredients are full incorporated. Fold in the blueberries.

Divide into the muffin tin. Bake for about 18 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.

Baking: Basic Blueberry Muffins

2008-07-17T09:00:00.003-05:00

With my dad's eye swollen by a nasty insect bite, I decided to do a bit of baking to cheer him up. Luckily, he had recently spotted a sale on blueberries during his last trip to the market, so I made his favorite breakfast item--blueberry muffins!

I came across several different muffin recipes, all calling for very different amounts of flour, fats, and sugar. It was a tough call, but I settled with this recipe because it had 2,141 votes of confidence. How can you really compete against that kind of support?

I skipped the crumb topping since everyone in my family is watching their sugar intake. Plus, I wanted to keep things simple. This recipe could not have been easier to recreate. I didn't even have to pull out a mixer to help do the work. These muffins were completely made by hand, and it was a strangely satisfying experience.

The muffins came out of the oven much paler than I anticipated, but they at least had nice, rounded tops. My dad thought that they were too sweet, but my mom and I enjoyed the taste of it. However, I had used skim milk instead of whole milk in the recipe so the muffins were dry. I really need to invest in whole milk, or as Cook's Illustrated claims, I could supplement the skim milk with some heavy cream to get the same effect.

I would love to try this recipe again because it was so quick and easy to put together. Next time, I will use whole milk and perhaps reduce the sugar by a teensy bit. I wouldn't mind experimenting with other fruits--strawberries, apricots, cherries. The blueberries tasted great in the muffins, much better than in the pie, and they produced such a lovely deep, royal purple-blue color.

Blueberry Muffins (from AllRecipes)
Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 cup fresh blueberries

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare a muffin tin by lining the cups with cupcake liner. (This recipe makes 8 muffins, but I somehow stretched it to 9.)

Mix together all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a measuring cup with the capacity to hold at least 1 cup of liquid, pour in the oil, milk, and egg until the 1 cup mark is reached; now stir in the cup. Incorporate the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients, being careful to not overmix. When there is a trace of flour still unmixed, STOP and fold in the blueberries.

Divide the batter into the muffin tin. Bake for about 20-25 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.

I hope you all have a great Thursday! The weekend is almost here!

Heartwarming: New Layout

2008-07-14T06:57:00.000-05:00

The new layout is finally up! This has been in the works for some time now, and I'm satisfied with the results. I hope you are as well. To celebrate, I baked some chocolate chip cookies. Nothing warms the heart better than a plate of fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies and a glass of cool milk.

Happy Monday!

Baking: Eggplant Ricotta Bake...Not So Much

2008-07-11T07:44:00.011-05:00

John Barricelli and the rest of the crew at Everyday Food would be disappointed in me. Though they strive to create simple yet tasty recipes, I somehow managed to muck things up. I have long wanted to try the Eggplant-Ricotta Bake recipe since I saw John Barricelli whip it up on PBS's Everyday Food. After it being in my "Things to Try" queue for over a year, I finally attempted this dish the other evening when I found an eggplant wasting away in the vegetable drawer of the refrigerator.

As the picture above shows, I ran into some problems and all because I didn't read through the instructions. I had only one eggplant instead of two. I used 26 ounces of marinara sauce instead of 16 ounces. The eggplant was sliced too thinly and I failed to brush the slices with olive oil, so parts of the vegetable were charred and dumped in the trash. I layered the cheese mixture right on top of the tomato sauce. The baking dish was too small. It was inevitable that I would end up with something more akin to soup. Luckily, this Eggplant-Ricotta Bake soup had a pretty decent taste.

I haven't touched the dish since Wednesday night, but I will try to salvage its remains this weekend by drying it out in the oven. Considering that the taste was good and the soup provided for a solid meal, I wouldn't mind too terribly if I made this dish again. It came together very easily and quickly, which is nice when you want to have dinner all set before the start of So You Think You Can Dance.

Eggplant Ricotta Bake (from Everyday Food)
Ingredients

2 large eggplants, cut lengthwise 3/4-inch thick
3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and ground black pepper
15 ounces part-skim ricotta cheese
3 large eggs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
2 teaspoons dried oregano
16 ounces store-bought marinara sauce

Line two rimmed baking sheets with the eggplant slices and brush both sides of the cuts with olive oil. Salt and pepper the eggplant. Bake in an oven preheated to 450 degrees F for 20-25 minutes until the eggplant is tender and golden. Don't forget to turn them halfway through!

In a large bowl, stir together the cheeses, eggs, oregano, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Brush an 8-inch square baking pan with olive oil.

Line the bottom of the baking pan with eggplant and spread marinara sauce on top. Layer on more eggplant slices and top with the cheese mixture. Repeat the layers, ending with the cheese mixture. Slide into the 450 degree F oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until the sauce begins to bubble. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Happy Weekend!

Baking: TWD Double Crusted Blueberry Pie

2008-07-08T07:12:00.001-05:00

I hope you all had a happy and exciting weekend. I certainly did. I fully took advantage of the three-day weekend to celebrate the Fourth of July with much rest and relaxation. I skipped over the fireworks and grilling, but I've never been one for such celebrations. No, Fourth of July weekend has long meant watching Wimbledon coverage on television all day long. Back in Pete Sampras's hey day, I would actually tape matches during the week and catch up on them on the weekend.

This year was no different, and I was rewarded with one of the best matches I have ever watched. From 8 in the morning until 3:30 in the afternoon on Sunday, I was parked in front of the television to watch the championship final between Nadal and Federer. It was thoroughly enjoyable, but since the match went longer than expected, I wasn't able to join my parents at my future abode and help with the ongoing renovations. My parents understood my need to witness this match (I mean, I've been watching Wimbledon since Pete Sampras won in 1995), but I still felt guilty about lounging at home while they were doing some heavy duty stuff. To assuage my guilt, I decided to make the Double Crusted Blueberry Pie, which was this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection as chosen by Amy of South in Your Mouth. I wasn't planning on making it because I'm not a big fan of blueberries, but my dad is.

The pie recipe was relatively straightforward. While I tossing the blueberries with sugar and lemon juice for the filling, my mom plucked a blueberry from the mixing bowl and tried it. No one in my family has ever had fresh, uncooked blueberries, so we were all curious. My mom liked it, but the blueberries were too tart for my liking. My mom enjoyed the mixture so much that she asked if I could forget about making the pie and let her eat the plain filling instead. My decision is obvious...

I thought the pie was all right. Blueberries aren't my favorite, so this pie naturally wasn't my favorite. Despite the cup of sugar tossed with the blueberries, it was still too tart. Maybe with a different fruit next time? Apple? Peach? Strawberry? In the meantime, if you want to try this recipe out for yourself, visit Amy for the full details.

Happy Tuesday!

Baking: Basic Chocolate Brownies

2008-07-04T10:50:00.005-05:00

With the boss out of the office yesterday, my co-workers decided to have a small party to celebrate the upcoming three-day weekend. With everyone bringing one food item to share, I decided to make some good, old-fashioned brownies.

I woke up a little earlier than usual in the morning to whip up a batch of these basic brownies, using my go-to recipe. I put together this formula a few months ago by scrounging up some brownie recipes that use unsweetened cocoa powder. With the help of Microsoft Excel (yes, I'm a nerd), I compared the amount of ingredients that each recipe called for and came up with my own ratios.

Basic Chocolate Brownie
Ingredients

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 ounce semi-sweet chocolate
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 1/4 cup white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Slowly melt together the butter and chocolate. A double boiler or a microwave can be used. If a microwave is used, be sure to heat the mixture for only 10-15 seconds at a time. Stir and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together the oil, sugar, and vanilla extract until a consistent color and texture is achieved. Beat in the eggs.

Carefully fold the dry ingredients--flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder--into the wet mixture. Do not overwork the batter; fold until the dry ingredients are just incorporated. Stir in the melted butter and chocolate.

Pour the batter into a 9-inch square baking pan sprayed with baking spray (I like Baker's Joy). Bake the brownies for 22-25 minutes, until a tester comes out with clean or with a few crumbs (if you like your brownies slightly gooey, go with the latter option). Let the brownies cool to about room temperature before serving.

These brownies were a winner the first time I tried the recipe, and the winning streak continued yesterday. My co-workers really enjoyed the brownies and loved how "chocolate-y" they were. I stole away from the party few a minutes for a impromptu photo shoot at my desk, resulting in the picture above.

I hope you all have a wonderful, wonderful weekend!

Baking: Daring Bakers Danish Braid

2008-06-29T12:18:00.001-05:00

I'm breaking my rule against weekend posting, but it's for a good reason--the completion of my first Daring Bakers challenge. After a long debate, I decided to jump on the bandwagon and join the Daring Bakers. I was a little hesitant about joining because I favor simple baked goods, and the group tends to do the opposite, taking on complex challenges in hopes of expanding participants' skills in the kitchen. I figured it wouldn't hurt to add some structure and motivation to my culinary homeschooling and to test myself once a month, so I signed up.

June's challenge, which was hosted by Kelly of Sass & Veracity and Ben of What's Cooking?, was a Danish Braid adapted from Sherry Yard's The Secrets of Baking. The recipe wasn't too difficult, but as with all things involving yeast, it required a lot of time and waiting. The Danish dough is layered, so there was much folding to achieve this effect. Four instances of folding to be exact. In between each folding, the dough had to be chilled in the refrigerator for 30 minutes and then rolled out into a large rectangle. Fortunately, it was the weekend, and I had nothing planned other than watching live Wimbledon coverage all day.

For the filling, I went for an apple filling for both braids. I like danishes and usually order cream cheese ones whenever I'm feeling indulgent, but I'm the only one the family that likes that flavor. With parents who don't like things that are overly sweet, I felt the apple filling would please everyone eating.

And it did. One Danish Braid was more than enough to feed my family for breakfast; by the time we finished our last bite, we were actually tired of the pastry. I could have done with more apple filling, and the pastry crust could have been crispier. I might have taken the braid out of the oven too soon because the dough inside was a tad soggy. The texture of the pastry was different than any other danish I have ever had; it was less flaky and was somewhere in between bread and puff pastry. I'm not sure if this is right or not, but it worked for my family. The braid didn't gain any big fans, but my family liked it. Plus, it sure looked pretty...

For the recipe, visit Kelly and/or Ben. Enjoy the last of the weekend!

Baking: TWD La Palette's Strawberry Tart

2008-06-24T07:29:00.003-05:00

No, this isn't a mixed berry cobbler, which is this week's official Tuesdays with Dorie selection as chosen by Beth of Our Sweet Life. I had strawberries going to waste in my fridge last week and had heard rave reviews for La Palette's Strawberry Tart from other group members, so I opted to make the tart rather than the cobbler. It was as if the stars had aligned and was calling for me to try out this recipe.

The tart was very easy to put together. Once the crust came out of the oven, I spread on some strawberry preserves, topped it with fresh strawberries, and served it right away. It was simple to make, and it had a very simple yet refreshing taste. I made the tart for my dad for Father's Day, and both of my parents really appreciated that the tart wasn't sweet. They were slightly taken aback by how hard the crust was because they are accustomed to softer crusts for fruit tarts, but it seemed to grow on them.

I made mini-tarts, using brioche cups to bake them. Since the sweet tart dough recipe detailed in Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours was enough to make a crust with a 9-inch diameter, I had quite a few mini-tarts left over from Father's Day. I also happened to have a surplus of chocolate pastry cream from the cream puff ring... I have to say that I liked the chocolate cream-strawberry combination much more than the strawberry jam-strawberry one originally described in the book. Using jam is much easier, but if you have some chocolate pastry cream just laying around, I highly recommend trying that in the tart.

La Palette's Strawberry Tart (from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours)
Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons freezing-cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg yolk, stirred
strawberry jam (OR chocolate pastry cream!)
fresh strawberries, quartered
white sugar
golden rum

In a food processor, pulse together the flour, confectioner's sugar, and salt a couple of times to combine. Scatter the butter over the dry ingredients and pulse until the butter is cut into the mix; it should resemble oatmeal flakes and some of the pieces should be the size of peas. Slowly add in the egg yolk, making sure to pulse it into the dough before adding the next bit of yolk. Once the egg yolk is incorporated, process the dough in long pulses (about 10 seconds each) until clumps and curds form. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and lightly knead it until the all dry ingredients are fully mixed in.

Press the dough into a buttered tart pan with a removable bottom, making sure to evenly distribute it across the bottom and up the sides of the pan. A little piece of tart dough should be reserved to patch up any cracks that may develop during the baking process (I didn't encounter this problem when I made mini-tarts). Freeze the dough for at least 30 minutes.

Butter one side of a piece of aluminum foil and then press the foil, butter side down, tightly against the crust right before putting it into an oven preheated to 375 degrees F. Bake for about 20-25 minutes. Carefully remove the foil. If the crust puffed up during the baking process, gently press it down with the back of a spoon.

Once the crust is cooled, spread on a layer of strawberry jam or chocolate pastry cream. Top with strawberry pieces that have been lightly tossed with some sugar and rum (to your own taste). Serve and enjoy!

Baking: TWD Cream Puff Ring

2008-06-17T07:33:00.002-05:00

Sunday night was a busy night in the kitchen for me. I decided to bake two different sweets that night, including a cream puff ring, which is this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection as chosen by Caroline of A Consuming Passion.

Despite its fancy reputation, the choux pastry came together beautifully and easily; it was very exciting to watch it bake and puff up in the oven. I opted to make a chocolate cream filling rather than a peppermint cream filling because I was making the cream puff ring for an office party, and chocolate is usually more popular than peppermint. Plus, I didn't have any heavy cream sitting in the fridge for the peppermint cream. Making the chocolate cream was the only involved part of this recipe, but it wasn't too bad.

The part that did give me a lot of problems was piping the choux pastry in a ring shape. I used a modified ziploc bag instead of a proper pastry bag to do the piping, and the zip part of the apparatus couldn't withstand all of the pushing and squeezing. The choux pastry ended up oozing everywhere, but I was able to save enough of it to make the ring and three little cream puffs on the side.

Even though I had allowed the chocolate cream to chill in the refrigerator for two hours, the cream was still quite thin when I started assembling the cream puff ring. I didn't want the chocolate to drip all over my co-workers' clothes during the office party, so I cut back on the filling. The cream was too thin to pipe and I didn't fancy having another piping fiasco, so I just spooned half of the filling into the ring. The reduction in chocolate cream ended up being a waste because it set up nicely after being in the refrigerator overnight.

The cream puff ring was good, and everyone at work seemed to like it. The cream puff ring didn't look as perfect as the one pictured in the book, but I think its unevenness gives it a rustic charm (at least this is what I've been telling myself). I was really pleased with the choux pastry and will be experimenting with it more in the future. Below is the recipe for the chocolate cream, but the recipe for the choux pastry can be found at Caroline's blog. Don't forget to check out all of the TWD bloggers; you'll be in for a treat!

Chocolate Pastry Cream
Ingredients (adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours)

2 cups reduced fat milk
4 large egg yolks
6 tablespoons white sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
Pinch of salt
7 ounces of semisweet and 80% cacao chocolate, melted
2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into bits, room temperature

Boil the milk in a small saucepan. As this heats, whisk the eggs, sugar, cornstarch, and salt together in a medium saucepan. After everything is incorporated and thickened, slowly add 1/4 cup of the boiling milk while whisking vigorously. Add the rest of the milk in a continuous stream while whisking constantly. Once everything is mixed, place the pan over a medium heat and completely whisk the mixture (don't forget the edges!) without stopping. Bring to a boil and keep on whisking over a heat source for 1 to 2 minutes.

Remove from heat, and whisk in the melted chocolate. Allow to stand for 5 minutes before whisking in the butter. Once the butter is incorporated, transfer the cream to a bowl. Cover the cream with plastic wrap, making sure to press the plastic to the surface of the cream. Place the bowl into the fridge and allow to chill for sometime (more than 2 hours, preferably overnight). After the cream is set, use as you please, such as filling your very own cream puff ring!

Heartwarming: A Little Bit of Guatemala in Oklahoma

2008-06-13T07:24:00.009-05:00

Happy Friday the 13th! Even though this date is synonymous with bad luck, I'm feeling lucky today because I am finally writing about one of my favorite restaurants in the area--Cafe Antigua. Serving authentic Guatemalan food, this little restaurant is a frequent haunt for my friends and me. It had been a while since I ate at Cafe Antigua, so I met up yesterday with a friend for lunch there.

I ordered the usual--Motulenos (above), which is two over-medium fried eggs served on a bed of tortilla and mashed black beans. Slices of fresh avocado and queso fresco top it all off, along with chirmol, a tomato-based sauce. A handful of tortilla chips completed the dish. My friend ordered his usual--Migas, which is a plate of eggs and black beans served with a side of fruit salad topped with mango sauce. Being high-rollers, we decided to treat ourselves and split a papaya smoothie.
The meal lived up to all expectations and definitely did not disappoint. My eggs were just right, the avocado slices were firm, and the tortilla chips had a great crunch. All of the simple tastes of my dish came together well to create a flavorful and fresh experience. I can't really describe my meal; I wouldn't come close to doing it justice. I felt like it was everything a meal should be--filling, fun, and delicious. The dish itself was already filling, but each order was served a starter soup. Then my friend and I drank a smoothie on top of that. I was completely stuffed when I finally put my fork down. The meal was so filling, that I seriously had problems staying awake when I reported back to work after lunch.

If you are ever in the area, I highly, highly recommend eating at Cafe Antigua. It's a good place for breakfast (which is served all day) or lunch, and it has GREAT meatless options. Even though I'm not vegetarian, I rarely order a meat dish here. Don't get me wrong; the meat options are wonderful as well. No matter your food preferences, there's something for everyone at Cafe Antigua.

May no broken mirrors cross your path today!

Cafe Antigua
1903 N Classen
Oklahoma City, OK 73106

Baking: The Infallible Yogurt Cake (Gateau au yaourt)

2008-06-12T07:04:00.001-05:00

You know that time is flying by when you don't realize that it's been a while since you've last baked anything. I didn't notice that it had been over a week since I last tinkered with the oven until my dad brought it up on Tuesday night, asking if I was planning to bake something for dessert. I've been busy working, writing, crocheting, watching movies, and hanging out with friends; I hadn't given a thought to baking, so I went with something extremely easy to make--the yogurt cake.

I was first introduced to this dessert during my senior year of college when I was hanging out with the French exchange students from Clermont-Ferrand. One of the French girls had brought over a deliciously moist cake topped with pineapple for our weekly Desperate Housewives watch party. When I asked for the recipe, the girls told me that there wasn't really a recipe; it was all about proportions with the yogurt cake. After learning the ratios of the ingredients needed for this cake, I promptly went home and tried it out with different add-ins. The rest is history. The yogurt cake is my go-to recipe whenever I need a quick sugar fix; it's super tasty but incredibly simple to put together, so much so that this is apparently the first cake that French children learn to bake.

I decided to keep things simple, so I didn't add anything special to the batter like strawberries or chocolate chips. Instead, I just added a couple of splashes of vanilla and rum, and then I called it a day. The cake has a subtle taste, which is oddly attractive; it's not too sweet and it's not bland. This cake is the perfect, down-the-middle kind of dessert. If you have never made or tasted a yogurt cake, I highly recommend you run out to the market for some yogurt and get to work immediately!

Plain Yogurt Cake
Ingredients

One 8-ounce tub (use this as a measuring cup) of nonfat, plain yogurt
2 eggs
1 tub white sugar
1/3 tub vegetable oil
2 hearty splashes of golden rum
2 splashes of vanilla extract
2 tubs all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder

Mix together the yogurt, eggs, sugar, and oil in a large bowl until smooth. Once smooth, stir in the rum and vanilla, adding them to taste.

Sift all of the dry ingredients into the liquid mixture. Then mix the batter until the dry ingredients are incorporated. Be careful not to overwork the dough, so stop mixing as soon as you see the last trace of flour begin to disappear.

Pour the batter into a 10-inch, ceramic tart pan sprayed with Baker's Joy baking spray. Place the cake into an oven preheated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and bake for 25-30 minutes. As soon as a cake tester poked into the center of the cake comes out clean, remove the cake from the oven. Allow it to cool to room temperature before cutting into it.

Enjoy!

Heartwarming: The French Riviera and Pizza

2008-06-09T07:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Monday! After the first week of my internship, I enjoyed a much-needed fun and relaxing weekend. Included in this respite was an outing with a couple of friends that I hadn't seen a long time. We started out the evening at the Museum of Art to catch the newest Audrey Tautou film, Hors de prix (Priceless). If you are looking for a simple yet fun movie to watch, I recommend this one. The plot is pretty predictable, following the same theme as Breakfast at Tiffany's, but the two leads were charming. Audrey Tautou was absolutely GORGEOUS in all of the couture outfits, and Gad Elmaleh piqued my interest. Plus, any movie that takes place in the French Riviera is a good thing.

The movie ended during dinnertime, so we headed over to The Wedge and shared a pizza. We decided to create our own pizza and went with a pesto-goat cheese-tomato combination. The pizza could have benefited from more pesto, but the goat cheese and the slight smoky flavor from the brick oven more than made up for the deficit. The pizza was solid and made for a light and refreshing meal, great for outdoor eating in the summertime. I'll probably be a frequent visitor to this pizzeria; I hope to try a different combination with each visit. The possibilities are endless!

Here's to hoping for a good week!

The Wedge Pizzeria
4709 N Western Ave
Oklahoma City, OK 73118

Baking: TWD French Chocolate Brownies

2008-06-03T01:30:00.002-05:00

Ever since I finished my finals two weeks ago, I have been sleeping until 9:30 or 10 a.m. everyday. However, I had to get up a wee bit earlier yesterday for the first day of my internship, and boy, was it brutal. The morning wasn't too bad, but I had to take a nap at my desk during my lunch break so that I could survive the rest of the work day. The afternoon felt soooo long, and I shot out of the office as soon as the clock struck 5 p.m.

This is my first regular office job, so I was thankful that I didn't have to give even a thought to work after 5 p.m., which is much different than going to school. After taking a guiltless nap, I went to town in the kitchen and whipped up this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection--French Chocolate Brownies--as chosen by Di of Di's Kitchen Notebook. The brownies easily came together, which was nice since I needed something simple to do to unwind after work. The only part that gave me problems was flambéing the raisins.

I have long had a fear of fires. I've never been burned by an open flame, so I'm not sure why I become this meek and lame coward whenever I have to work with one. It took me a long time to relax around a Bunsen burner in Chemistry lab, and I am still a bit uneasy each time I turn one on. So it was natural that I approached this recipe with some apprehension. To make matters worse, I didn't have any long matches and had to use a long-tipped lighter. I worried that the flames would grow wild and ignite the entire lighter, so much so that I set aside a glass of water just in case a real fire started and decreased the amount of rum by 1/2 tablespoon to make it more manageable. However, all of my worrying was for nothing because everything went smoothly. The blue flames just did their thing and then peaced out. It was actually kind of pretty, and I was smug as hell that I had done the deed.

Ingredients (adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours)

6 ounces of chocolate (combination of bittersweet and semisweet), chopped
8 tablespoons of unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup raisins
1 1/2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon golden rum
3 large eggs, room temperature
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt

Gently melt the chopped chocolate in a double boiler, being careful not to overheat. Once melted, remove from heat and stir in the butter until its melted. Set aside.

In a small pot, heat the raisins and water until the water is almost completely evaporated. Remove from heat and add the rum. Carefully ignite the rum with a match or lighter, and flambe the raisins. Once the flame dies down, set aside the raisins.

In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the eggs and sugar until a pale and thick mixture is formed, which will take about 2 minutes. Reduce the speed and add the chocolate-butter combo, mixing just until the chocolate and butter are incorporated. Add the dry ingredients, and mix on low for 30 seconds. Finish incorporating the dry ingredients by folding by hand. Finally fold in the raisins and whatever liquid is left in the pot with them.

Pour the batter into an 8x8-inch baking pan lined with foil and lightly greased with butter. Bake the brownies for 35 minutes at 300 degrees F until the top becomes dry and cracked and a cake tester comes out clean.

These brownies proved that my oven must run warmer than Dorie Greenspan's. In the book, she had instructed to bake the brownies for 50 to 60 minutes. However, I decided to check on the brownies at the 35-minute mark, and they were ready to come out of the oven. Luckily, I noticed the cracked top in time because the brownies were just right in terms of their moisture content. These brownies were pretty much perfect; they were moist, chocolately, and not too sweet. The brownies weren't fudge-like, but they weren't cake-like either; they were somewhere in the middle and fluffy in texture. The cracked top looked elegant in my opinion, and I liked the taste of it. They weren't like traditional brownies, but I still loved them. I definitely will be making these again in the future. The only change I would make is maybe add more raisins since my dad requested more.

I highly recommend trying this recipe in your own kitchen if you have the funds to make this decadent dessert (the price of butter and chocolate has gone up so much!). It's easy, comes together quickly, and produces a super yummy dessert.

Last bite!

Heartwarming: A New Skin

2008-06-02T07:00:00.001-05:00

Happy June! I can't believe it's June already; I know it's a cliche, but time really passes so quickly as you age. I seriously feel like I celebrated New Year's the other day, but that was six months ago!

Today I start my summer internship, and I'm a bit apprehensive about it. I have no idea what I'll be doing and only hope that it won't be too overwhelming. I am on my last summer break ever...

Since I am on summer vacation and have a bit more free time now that I don't have anything to study, I've decided to give this blog a makeover. When I started this blog three months ago, I was so excited about jumping into the world of food blogging and sharing my experiences in the kitchen right away that I didn't give any thought as to the direction that I wanted this blog to take. I threw together a header and started blogging.

Now I'm not so satisfied with how my blog looks, so I'm slowly yet surely working on a new layout. I hope to have it finished in the next couple of weeks, and I think it'll be a better reflection of my culinary adventures.

Have a great Monday!

Baking: Bitten Chocolate Cupcakes

2008-05-30T14:00:00.001-05:00

I have a confession to make--I'm a big fan of boxed chocolate cake mixes. Since I've taken an interest in cooking and baking my own stuff, I haven't used a mix in a long while and I kind of miss it. I've tried to make chocolate cake from scratch, following a couple of different recipes, but they've all been wrong, wrong, wrong for a variety of reasons. They weren't moist enough, not sweet enough, not chocolately enough, not fluffy enough. The list goes on.

My search for just-the-right chocolate cake recipe continued this past Tuesday when I made a chocolate cake base for the ice cream cupcakes that I put together for my mom's birthday. This time I followed the chocolate layer cake recipe in Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. I had pretty high expectations of Mark Bittman; he's a NY Times Dining columnist, he has a blog I visit fairly often, and he wrote a book (the one in question) that people compare with the Joy of Cooking.

Did the recipe live up to the hype? No, but that might have been my fault. I didn't realize that each square of the Ghiradelli chocolate baking bars were only 1/2 ounce instead of one ounce, so I added half the chocolate that the recipe required. I cut back on both the butter and sugar, and I used reduced-fat sour cream. Plus, I'm not sure if my folding technique was up to snuff. The end result of all these factors was bad cupcakes. They looked beautiful and puffed up perfectly, but the taste and texture were off. They were dry and didn't have enough chocolate flavor. I'll try this recipe again before I came to a final verdict, but I'll have to follow it much more closely.

Devil's Food Chocolate Cupcakes (adapted from How to Cook Everything)

Ingredients

5 tablespoons of unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, roughly chopped
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sour cream

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, and line two regular-sized muffin tins with cupcake liners.

Melt the chocolate, and stir until a smooth consistency is achieved.

Cream butter, and then gradually add the sugar. Beat until light and fluffy before adding the egg yolks, one at a time. Once the egg yolks are incorporated, beat in the vanilla and the melted chocolate.

Mix together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add these dry ingredients into the wet mixture, alternating with the sour cream and stirring by hand. Stir until smooth.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites into soft peaks. Then fold them into the rest of the cake batter. Divvy the batter into the lined muffin tins. Bake for about 14 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool on a rack until the cupcakes reach room temperature.

Baking: Ice Cream Cupcakes

2008-05-29T12:21:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday, my mom celebrated a birthday and my dad came back from a two week trip to Vietnam. To celebrate this double whammy, I decided to make ice cream cupcakes, as inspired by Joy the Baker. These tasty treats were easy to make and provided a nice reprieve from the heat that Oklahoma has been bombarded with lately.

All that is really required for these cupcakes are a cake base and some ice cream. I went with a chocolate cake base because I wanted an excuse to try out another chocolate cake recipe. I'm still on the search for the perfect recipe, but more about my quest tomorrow. The ice cream I used for most of the cupcakes was standard vanilla, but I did make a special strawberry one for the birthday girl. I topped it all off with a simple chocolate ganache because people can never have too much chocolate. Right?

If you want to make ice cream cupcakes of your own (why wouldn't you?), head on over to Joy the Baker for a fantastic tutorial. I would provide my own step-by-step instructions here, but my cupcakes came out much messier than hers.

Enjoy!

Baking: TWD Pecan Honey Sticky Buns

2008-05-27T06:30:00.002-05:00

I started out well enough with this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection. Madam Chow of Madam Chow's Kitchen had picked Pecan Honey Sticky Buns from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours, and I was stoked because I love sticky buns. I was so excited about the project that I even started making it early, and that is a big deal because I'm a HUGE procrastinator.

I set out on this adventure on Friday morning by putting together the dough. It took a while and used up a lot of butter, but the dough came together beautifully. After the dough was finished, I went through the long wait. Man, is there a lot of waiting time when making dough! First, I had to wait for an hour while the dough rose at room temperature. Then I moved it to the refrigerator, where I had to slap down the dough every 30 minutes for at least 2 hours until the dough stopped rising. I was a little pressed for time because I had a rendez-vous with my friends in the afternoon, but I managed to allow the dough enough time to fully rise.

The dough chilled overnight, and I formed the buns late on Saturday. The dough was wet and sticky, but it wasn't too hard to work with. Since everyone in my family is trying to eat healthier, I decided to omit the 1/4 cup of white sugar from the filling; this omission might have contributed to my downfall.

I woke up early on Monday morning to set out the rolled buns so that they could rise one last time for at least 1 hour and 45 minutes. I mixed together the glaze and poured that on top of the buns. I then sprinkled some pecans over everything. I later found out that this is opposite of Dorie's instructions, but I think it worked.

The buns baked for 30 minutes in the oven, and they looked so yummy when they came out of the oven. I had to snap a picture right away, but the lighting was poor. Plus, I couldn't focus the camera. I planned to take a proper picture later, but I lost the will to do so after taking one bite of my rolls. All I could taste was salt!!!! For a while, I thought it was because I hadn't added the white sugar to the filling. However, my parents have a habit of buying salted butter when they do the grocery shopping because it's slightly cheaper. I looked at the box of the butter, and sure enough, it was salted. The salted butter might have been the main cause of the horrid taste, but it didn't help that I had cut back on the sugar content of the recipe. Lesson learned this week: check the butter before proceeding!

I'm not sure what I'll be doing with the rest of the dough. I wanted to throw it out, but my mom didn't want it to go to waste and said that she'll eat it. We'll see. I'll leave it in the freezer for a month or so, and then it's going out.

Terribly sorry for the poor quality of the picture. I'll be baking something today for my mom's birthday, and I will hopefully do better. In the meantime, if you want to try out this recipe for yourself, head over to Madam Chow's Kitchen for the details. Good luck!

Baking: TWD Florida Pie

2008-05-20T13:04:00.006-05:00

Oh, summer has never seemed so appealing. Now that I am done with finals and am in the midst of my last real summer vacation, I fully intend on making the most of it. To celebrate my last moments of freedom, I baked something--a sunny Florida Pie! I was disappointed that I missed out on this particular Tuesdays with Dorie selection last week due to finals, so I woke up bright and early on Monday morning and whipped it up. I would have liked to make the madelines that Tara of Smells like Home selected for this week's TWD, but I didn't have the special, pretty baking pan. It broke my heart because I ADORE madelines, but it wasn't meant to be this week. Maybe later?

The pie itself was easy to put together (well, I sort of cheated; I used a *gasp* store-bought graham cracker crust); so much so that I got ambitious and set out to make the meringue topping. It was all going very well...
But I got a hard lesson on rushing things in baking. Since I had a dentist appointment to make that morning, I thought I would be clever and make the meringue ahead of time while the pie cooled for a bit in the freezer. Once I got the firm, soft peaks of white, I fixed myself some lunch and got ready for a day out. Wrong move. When I was done getting ready and went out to the kitchen to finish the pie, my beautiful meringue was deflated. All that was left in the mixing bowl was a soupy mess of shredded coconut and egg whites.

Luckily, the pie turned out fine without the meringue topping. It wasn't as pretty, but it worked. The taste wasn't bad either. When I took my first bite, I thought that it was weird and not so delicious. I mean, I've never had key lime pie before; the idea of eating something tart as a dessert goes against everything that I stand for. As I devoured the slice below, the taste grew on me. Now I'm kind of addicted and have to sneak in a tiny sliver before and after meals. Oh, summer has never been such a sweet treat.

Ingredients (from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours)

1 9-inch graham cracker crust
1 1/3 cups heavy cream
1 cups shredded sweetened coconut
4 egg yolks
14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup fresh-squeezed lime juice

Heat the cream and coconut over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is reduced to half its volume. Set that aside.

Using a stand mixer, beat the egg yolks on high speed until their smooth, thick, and paler in color. On low speed, pour in the condensed milk. Once that's all mixed in, mix in the lime juice, a half of a cup at a time.

Pour in the coconut cream into the prepared crust. SLOWLY pour the lime mixture on top. Smooth over the top with the back of a spoon before popping the pie into an oven preheated at 350 degrees F for 12 minutes. Cool the pie for 15 minutes, and then place it in the freezer to set for at least an hour before serving.

Heartwarming: Super Sunday

2008-05-13T11:54:00.011-05:00

Just checking in for a quick update to reassure you all that I'm still alive. I had grand intentions of participating in this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection, but studying and recouping from the lack of sleep over the weekend got in the way. I'm still in the midst of a test block (my final one as a first-year!), but I couldn't stay from you all too long, so I'm going to share a bit of my Sunday celebrations.

As everyone knows, this past Sunday was Mother's Day. It also happened to be my brother's 20th birthday. Considering this double whammy, I had to take a break from memorizing my Physiology notes and go out to dinner with my family. We decided to treat my mom to dinner at Sushi Neko. The ambiance was swaky as usual, and the Seared Tuna Salad appetizer (pictured above) was PHENOMENAL. However, I wasn't super crazy about the sushi rolls. Perhaps it was because I just had sushi a little over a week ago at Tokyo, but I wasn't impressed with the selection at Sushi Neko. I'm going to step out onto a branch and say that Tokyo had a selection more to my liking. Neko still has a superior construction of sushi, though.

After dinner we went home and surprised my brother with an ice cream cake from Cold Stone Creamery.
Since it was frozen, it took quite a bit of elbow grease to slice the cake. My mom put her muscles to good work on Sunday night.
It was all worth it in the end. The Stawberry Passion cake, which is composed of layers of red velvet cake and strawberry ice cream with crushed graham crackers mixed in, was super delicious!
I hope you all have a wonderful week. I will be back in full swing next week when my exams are over and my summer vacation starts. I will probably be making this week's TWD selection, Florida Pie, over the weekend, so keep an eye out for that. In the meantime, visit the group's blogroll to see everyone's wonderful creations!

Sushi Neko
4318 N. Western Avenue
Oklahoma City, OK 73118

Cold Stone Creamery
315 S. MacArthur Boulevard
Oklahoma City, OK 73128

Heartwarming: HOMEMADE Ice Cream

2008-05-06T23:23:00.003-05:00

Though the whole cramming experience leading up to final exams can be horrendous, there is one great thing about studying for test blocks--dining out. Since quite a few of my classmates study on campus, we tend to eat out quite a bit during our study breaks. Yesterday, my friend surprised me in the afternoon by taking me to Kaiser's Ice Cream Parlor.

Located on probably the only roundabout in Oklahoma City, Kaiser's is actually a historic landmark. The name of the cafe inside of the building is somewhat more modern--Grateful Bean Cafe--but the decor of the place is vintage through and through. Decked out in 1950s soda shop style, Kaiser's seemed to be the perfect place for an ice cream break. Even some of the people working at the parlor were dressed for the part (check out lady in the background of the picture). The best part about Kaiser's is that it serves homemade ice cream. Some of the flavors, like the vanilla on the right side of the picture, are all organic.

While my friend went old-fashioned route, I decided to try the tiramisu-flavored ice cream. My friend definitely won this round; the vanilla flavor was fresh, strong, and totally delicious. My only complaint about the vanilla was that you can actually taste the fat from the cream or milk used to make the ice cream. Its texture kind of clung to the roof of your mouth, which became a bit unsettling after a while. Other than that, I thought the ice cream was great and can't wait to try some of the other flavors. I might even go to the cafe for lunch some day. While we were waiting for our ice cream, my friend and I browsed through the menu and spotted many delicious-sounding, wholesome dishes.

A bit of warning: the ice cream a little pricey. It was about $3.25 (including tax) for a cone and single dip, but I felt like it was worth every penny, especially since they give you such large scoops.

Grateful Bean Cafe at Kaiser's
1039 N. Walker Avenue
Oklahoma City, OK 73102

Heartwarming: Of Fish and Chocolate Sauce

2008-05-05T23:45:00.001-05:00

Well, today marked the first day of yet another scramble to prepare for test block. For the next couple of weeks, I'll spending most of my time at school, studying in a tiny computer room that might be infested with large cockroaches. This means that there won't be much time for baking or even cooking in the upcoming weeks. I couldn't have felt the pain of this more last night when I was eating white rice topped with a fried egg and covered in soy sauce. This combo is my go-to meal when I have nothing in the house to eat. It's not great by any means, but it gets the job done.

While I wolfing down my less-than-stellar dinner, I couldn't help but reminisce about the WONDERFUL dinner that I had with my friends on Friday night. Every year, a couple of friends and I get together to mark the anniversary of the day we all met up in Paris and journeyed to Clermont-Ferrand for our semester abroad. Since we've all been busy with school and work, our reunion was delayed a bit this year by over a month, but it's better late than never, right?

We started the evening at Tokyo Japanese Restaurant for some sushi. It was the first time that any of us had ever been to Tokyo for sushi, and we were all happy with the results. All of the rolls that we ordered we delicious, but there were a few stand out ones--spicy tuna roll, Dynamite Crunch, Stamina, and the spider roll. Tokyo is lacking in the appetizers department in comparison to it's trendier competitor, Sushi Neko on Western Avenue, but I would say that the rolls are comparable. If you're looking for good atmosphere, you should head on over to Sushi Neko, but if it doesn't matter either way, give Tokyo a try.

After we finished all of our rolls, we weren't quite full yet and were hankering for some dessert. We didn't feel like have any of the desserts at Tokyo, so we headed to The Melting Pot in Bricktown for some chocolate fondue. The Melting Pot is a chain restaurant that specializes in fondue; even though it's a chain, it's still pretty cool to go to. Among the four of us, we were able to devour a large serving of the Cookies and Cream chocolate fondue, which is basically dark chocolate melted with some marshmallow cream and Oreo crumbs and then flambeed at the table. What did we dip in the chocolate? Everything that is pictured below. That's right; we dipped cheesecake, rice krispy treats, marshmallows, brownies, pound cake, strawberries, and bananas in a pool of chocolate. The greatest part was that they refill the dippers for free; it's unlimited! It was a really sweet and decadent end to a great evening of memories and delicious food. What a yummy way to celebrate the start of two weeks of solid cramming!

Tokyo Japanese Restaurant
7516 N. Western Avenue
Oklahoma City, OK 73116

The Melting Pot
4 E. Sheridan Avenue
Oklahoma City, OK 73104

Baking: Buttercup Bakery's Chocolate Layer Cake

2008-05-02T14:30:00.004-05:00

I certainly was in a homey, baked goods kind of mood this weekend. While I was at the supermarket to buy ricotta cheese and yellow cornmeal, I grabbed a tub of sour cream and a small carton of buttermilk so that I could finally test the chocolate layer cake recipe I snagged from Buttercup Bakes at Home. Properly titled "Our Favorite Chocolate Layer Cake," this is supposedly the recipe that is used at Buttercup Bake Shop to make chocolate cupcakes. I've never had the fortune to visit New York City and actually sample these cupcakes, but I'm assuming that they got to be something special to be famous, so I was pretty excited about trying out this recipe.

Ingredients (From Buttercup Bakes at Home)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

3/8 cup buttermilk

1/8 cup sour cream

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup light brown sugar

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

I first melted the chocolate by microwaving it on high for 30 seconds at a time and stirring often to ensure even heating. Once I got some dark brown liquidy goodness, I set it aside and started putting together the foundation of the batter.

I creamed together the butter and sugar for a couple minutes until smooth and fluffly. Then I added the eggs one at a time and beating them in after each addition to fully incorporate them. Once I got a uniform batter, I added the dry ingredients one at a time while alternating it with additions of vanilla extract and buttermilk. Finally, I stirred in the sour cream and melted chocolate until everything was a rich brown color.

I poured the batter into a 9 x 9-inch baking pan that had been sprayed down with Baker's Joy baking spray. I put the pan into an oven preheated to 350 degrees F and baked the cake for about 23 minutes. When cake tester came out clean, I pulled the pan out of the oven and allowed it to cool to room temperature. I know this is a bad move because you're usually supposed to remove the cake to a wire rack for cooling, but I was too lazy to do so.

While the cake cooled, I whipped up some chocolate buttercream frosting to top the cake. I would offer a recipe for the chocolate buttercream, but I didn't follow one. I have this habit of mixing together frosting ingredients in a stand mixer and altering the amount of each ingredient until I get something that I like. All I can really offer you is that I used unsalted butter, powdered sugar, melted semisweet chocolate, and a couple of splashes of milk and vanilla extract to make this frosting.

After I frosted the cake, I was finally able to sample the cake (sampling is my favorite part of the baking process)! At first I thought that the cake was nice. It had a subtle sweet taste; the chocolate flavor wasn't too strong. The frosting really complemented the cake. However, while I was chewing my second bite, I noticed that the texture was a bit off. It was moist but dry at the same time. The cake overall was moist, but the individual particles of the cake were dry. Does that make sense? I have no inkling about how I ended up with this phenomenon; perhaps it was because I used reduced fat sour cream. I have no idea. If you have any theories, please send them my way. While this recipe was solid, my hunt for the perfect chocolate cake recipe still goes on.

Baking: TWD Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake

2008-04-29T00:30:00.003-05:00

Caitlin of Engineer Baker was the lucky gal who got to choose the recipe for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie challenge, and her choice had me wondering how an engineer's mind works. I mean, polenta with ricotta cheese in a cake? Together? The combination sounded like a high-brow experiment that only the best-of-the-best scientist could execute. Even Dorie admitted that the cake was the result of a whim. To a novice in the kitchen, like myself, this recipe seemed to be a disaster waiting to happen.

But that's the point of joining baking groups such as Tuesdays with Dorie, isn't it? I joined to challenge myself and try new things, like new flavors and mixtures. When I thought about the recipe in this light, I decided to go with it and make the cake. I was really hesitant about this recipe, even when I was walking through the aisles of my local grocery store and looking for the different ingredients. However, I felt that I had to bake this cake, so I got together everything on Sunday evening and went to work.

Ingredients (adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours)

1 cup low-fat ricotta cheese
1/3 cup tepid water
1/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup honey
1/8 cup lemon juice
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup large mixed raisins

Dorie required plump figs in her recipe, but I didn't have any figs nor could I find them at the grocery store, so I went with raisins. They were looking pretty paltry, so I plumped up the little raisins by steeping them in some boiling water. Once they were nice and fat, I strained them and set them off to the side.

Next, in a stand mixer I beat together the water and ricotta cheese until they were smooth. While this went on, I popped the butter into the microwave until it was melted and then set it aside to cool a bit. I went back to my stand mixer and added the sugar, honey, and lemon juice to the water/ricotta cheese combo. Dorie originally asked for grated lemon zest, but I didn't have any lemons in the house. However, I did have a bottle of lemon juice, so I squirted a bit of it into the mixing bowl.

Now I have to say a word or two about the honey because I was pretty excited about this part. A couple of years ago, I spent a semester studying in France. Though I was "studying" abroad, I spent most of my traveling around the country and I happened to visit Aix-en-Provence during one of my weekend escapades. As the name of the city describes, Aix is located the Provence region of France which is known for lavender. So when I came across some lavender honey while shopping through Aix's weekend market, I instantly bought some to bring home to Oklahoma. My family wasn't too crazy about the honey and opted to use generic honey for breakfast toast, so the jar of honey just sat in my pantry for a some time. Then along came this recipe, and now my lavender honey is all gone.

Once the last trace of honey was mixed in, I poured in the melted butter and beat it into the batter. Then I beat in the eggs one at a time. The dry ingredients were added last, and they were stirred into the mixture just until they barely disappeared.

I poured the smooth batter into a 10-inch, fluted, ceramic pie pan that had been sprayed with Baker's Joy baking spray. I stirred in the raisins right before I set the cake into an oven preheated to 325 degrees F. After about 45 minutes of baking, I pulled the cake out of the oven and allowed it to cool on the counter.

I was pretty skeptical about my success with this recipe when the cake first came out of the oven because it was really moist. It was so moist that I could literally press some liquid out of it. Luckily, as the cake cooled, it dried out a little and my family was able to enjoy the first taste of it. My parents and I became big fans of the recipe, but my mom absolutely loved it. She's a big fan of cornbread, so this seemed to be the perfect sweet treat for her. We couldn't taste the lavender, though. The only complaint that we had about the cake was that it was a bit too sweet. I already cut the white sugar content in half, but it was still sweet. I'm wary of completely cutting out the white sugar, so I probably won't be as liberal with the honey next time. Adding less honey might even help with the extreme moisture content. However, this recipe is definitely a keeper and I will be making it again some day.

Cooking: Creamy Spinach Pasta and Zucchini Chips

2008-04-25T13:06:00.003-05:00

Zio's Italian is my favorite to-go place for a dinner in downtown OKC with friends. It's a chain restaurant and doesn't serve the absolute best food in the area, but it's cheap and they never have a bad night. When you walk into the restaurant, you know you'll get a pretty tasty meal. Each time I visit the place, I order the spinach artichoke pasta without fail. Penne pasta is topped with creamy alfredo sauce flavored by spinach, artichoke, cheese, and garlic; strips of grilled chicken complete the plate. I'm such a big enthusiastic for this dish that I've even converted others. My mom and I take turns ordering this dish whenever we go out to Zio's.

When I was feeling adventurous and charitable on Sunday evening, I decided to make dinner for my parents and recreate my favorite pasta dish at home. I browsed around the internet for a recipe for "spinach pasta," but none of the search results were what I was looking for. So I took a spinach-artichoke dip recipe and adapted it to go with pasta rather than pita chips or crackers.

Ingredients:

olive oil
4 garlic cloves
5 ounces of fresh baby spinach
8 ounces of frozen peas and carrots
1 jar of Alfredo sauce
1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup of shredded parmesan cheese
1/2 pound of boneless, skinless chicken breast tenderloins
13 ounces of whole-wheat penne pasta

I used enough oil to coat the bottom of a 10-inch skillet and heated it while mincing the garlic cloves. I threw them in the hot oil along with the baby spinach and frozen vegetables. I let them cook for a bit before pouring the Alfredo sauce into the pan. Once the sauce started bubbling, I added the two different cheeses.

While the sauce simmered, I washed and chopped the tenderloins into chunks. I put them into the sauce and let it cook for about 20 minutes. In the meantime, I boiled the pasta in a separate pot. Once everything was cooked, I tossed the pasta with sauce.

This was a pretty easy dish to put together, and it was comparable to my favorite at Zio's. The whole-wheat pasta wasn't soft enough to my liking. Zio's doesn't use whole-wheat pasta, but I wanted to try it out. I feel that the whole-wheat pasta doesn't mesh well with the sauce. I probably will use regular ol' pasta next time.

I topped the pasta with little zucchini chips. I got the recipe off of my friend Allie's new cooking blog. They are very good, so if you want try these things out, head on over to her site!

Baking: TWD Bill's Big Carrot Cake

2008-04-22T09:34:00.004-05:00

It's Tuesday once again, and you know what that means...the latest episode of Tuesdays with Dorie! This recipe was chosen by Amanda of slow like honey, and I was pretty pumped about making a carrot cake. That is, until I saw the recipe for this cake; spanning over two pages, the recipe had a decent-sized ingredient list and there were a lot of instructions to go with it. Bill's Big Carrot Cake. The name of the recipe even seemed intimidating. Plus, I had never attempted making a layer cake before, and I wasn't sure if this week was the greatest time-wise to be challenging myself with that sort of task since I'm trying to memorize all the steps in doing a physical exam by Thursday.

Then Megan came to the rescue. She informed me last week that the recipe could be cut in half easily and suggested that I make cupcakes. Her tip worked like a charm! When cut in half, the recipe in Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours, makes 14 perfect little cupcakes (not mini cupcakes, though; these are regular-sized ones). I was tempted to squeeze all of the batter into 12 cupcakes, but other members of TWD said that they were having problems with overflowing cupcakes and sinking ones as well.

Ingredients:

For the cake (halved from the original recipe in the book):

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups grated carrots
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1/2 cup sweetened, flaked coconut
1/4 cup moist, plump raisins
1 cups sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
2 large eggs

For the frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 pound or 3 and ¾ cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

I prepped the carrots the night before I started putting together the rest of the cake so I wouldn't be overwhelmed with so much to do in one night. Dorie said to grate the carrots and that she used her food processor with a shredding option to complete this task. I wasn't too keen on the idea of dragging out my mom's huge food processor nor on the idea of grating all of those carrots by hand, so I cheated. I used my parent's little Black & Decker food chopper, and it got the job done. I didn't have elegantly shredded or grated carrots, but I did have minced carrots pieces. Since the carrots were chopped into such small pieces, the 1 1/2 cups of the vegetable was pretty packed. This might have helped with the sinking problem that some other members reported, and it allowed the carrot to have a stronger presence, which I like.

Last night I actually made the cake, and it came together like clockwork. I whipped the sugar and oil together in a stand mixer until it was uniform and not at all smooth (did anyone else get this combo to a smooth consistency?). Then I added the eggs one at a time and mixed them until it was a smooth. Next came the dry ingredients, and I was careful to stop beating them in as soon as the last trace of flour was gone. Lastly, I stirred in the carrots, raisins, pecans, and coconut.

I scooped about 1/4 cup of the liquid batter into each cupcake tin lined with liner. Then I placed the 14 cupcakes into the oven. My mom was making meatloaf last night, so I had to share the oven with her and baked my cupcakes at 350 degrees F instead of the 325 degrees F as required by Dorie. My cupcakes were good to go after 20 minutes, but this time might have to be shortened for others following this recipe at 350 degrees F because the heat was flowing divvied between the meatloaf and the cupcakes.

I took them out of the oven and let the cupcakes cool in the pan for about 5 minutes. Then I plopped them out onto a rack to cool to room temperature.

While the cakes were cooling, I made the frosting. I wanted these cupcakes to be topped with mounds of frosting just like all the cupcakes I saw on Martha Stewart a couple of weeks ago for her Cupcake Week. Hence, I didn't halve the frosting recipe. I creamed together the butter and cream cheese before adding in the sugar and lemon. I was pretty stingy with the powdered sugar, so I only added enough to get the consistency that I wanted. I didn't come close to using a pound of powdered sugar, but you might have to if you want a stiffer frosting.

I had big plans of using a pastry bag and piping the frosting out onto the cupcakes. I was excited about finally using the mini cake decorating kit that I had purchased months ago. However, I was too lazy to wash out the pastry bag, so I improvised and used a Ziploc bag. I cut off one of the corners and inserted the pastry tip. I spooned the soft frosting into the bag and began to make all these funky designs on top of the cupcakes. When I said, "funky," I didn't mean it in a good way. This was the first time that I worked with a "pastry" bag, so I had no control over what was spilling on top of the cakes. Additionally, the Ziploc bag decided to give out towards to the end, and a ton of frosting just gushed all over the place. I resorted to using a trusty butter knife to smooth on the frosting after that point. At least I had way more than enough frosting to cover the cupcakes.

After I frosted the cupcakes, I placed them in the refrigerator overnight so that the frosting could set. I had a cupcake for breakfast this morning, and I thought it was pretty tasty. The pecans might have been too coarsely chopped for my liking, but that's just a minor critique. I liked this recipe, and I wouldn't be opposed to making it again.

Heartwarming: Fancy Suits and Chocolate Mousse

2008-04-21T09:56:00.002-05:00

Friday night was my school's awards banquet. As you can imagine, it was a pretty dry night since all that awards banquets really do are hand out plaques to people and give recipients a chance to acknowledge everyone that's contributed to their success. However, I had some pretty great company, so it was bearable. Plus, I got to finally check out the Skirvin.

The Skirvin is a hotel located in downtown Oklahoma City, and it's considered historic in this part of the country. It was recently renovated, so I was pretty excited to see the fancy decor. The ballroom certainly lived up to my hype; a grand staircase led up to a mingling area that was decked out overhead with Anthropologie-esque chandeliers.

The hotel was definitely nice, but I couldn't say the same for the food served us that night. The chicken was dry, there wasn't enough sauce, and I could have done with more of the vegetable medley. However, the hotel more than made up for the less than stellar entree with dessert. Pictured above is a chocolate mousse tower, and it was super rich and divine. I loved it, but I think I liked my friend's carrot cake better. Fortunately, he learned to share sometime during his childhood so I got a pretty good portion of his cake. If only I could have taken a better picture of the cake...no worries, since I'll be making some carrot cupcakes tonight for this week's installment of Tuesdays with Dorie.

Until then.

Baking: Nutella Cupcakes

2008-04-17T16:45:00.002-05:00

To unwind after my final exam of the test block last Friday, I spent the evening cruising through various foodie blogs to get back into the swing of things. Mandy over at Fresh from the Oven had just updated her blog with her review of a Nutella Cupcake recipe, and as soon as I saw the pictures, I knew that I had to try it out. I became a huge fan of Nutella while studying abroad in France, and ever since I came back to the States, I make sure that my pantry is stocked with some of the chocolate-hazelnut goodness. Unfortunately, I've been enjoying other sweets so my current jar of Nutella was nearing its expiration date. I thought these cupcakes would be a great way to use up the spread.

Ingredients:

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
12 teaspoons Nutella

After a long and much needed night of good sleep, I awoke Saturday morning to start on these goodies. I first creamed together the butter and sugar in my trusty Kitchenaid stand mixer. Once the mixture was uniform and somewhat fluffy, I added the eggs one at a time, making sure to mix the batter a bit between each one. After the eggs, I stirred in the vanilla.

Then it was time for the dry ingredients. Now, the recipe called for sifted flour, but I really don't like to sift flour so I skipped this step. Instead I just skimped a bit on the flour, and this seemed to work out fine for me. However, if you're a perfectionist, then definitely sift the flour.

I just stirred in the flour, salt, and baking powder until the batter looked decently uniform. Next, I distributed the yellow cupcake batter into 12 cupcake tins lined with paper liners. This was a lot harder than it sounds because the batter was pretty thick for me. What was even harder was actually mixing in the Nutella. After dropping a teaspoon of Nutella onto each cupcake, I took a toothpick and swirled the spread into the cupcake batter. I had forgotten how thick Nutella was, so this step was extremely time consuming. Perhaps warm up the Nutella a bit before attempting this step; this might speed up the process. Once the Nutella was sufficiently mixed in and my forearms cried for a break after all that twisting and turning, I placed the cupcakes in the center of an oven preheated to 325 degrees F. After 20 minutes of baking, the cakes were ready to come out.

As with the pound cake, these cupcakes came out a little dry. Again, I think my oven is running a tad warm, so I'll have to use an oven thermometer for future baking adventures or at least cut back on the baking time. The taste of the cupcakes were all right. The cupcake part was a wee bland, but when I bit into the Nutella swirled part, it was fantastic! It was especially great when I bit into a gooey glob of Nutella; tasters seemed to really enjoy this so I would suggest not swirling the Nutella too much into the cupcakes. Leave little of pockets of Nutella to shock the tastebuds. I plan on making these cupcakes again, but perhaps with a different base.

Baking: TWD Perfection Pound Cake

2008-04-15T19:53:00.004-05:00

The recipe for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie was Marshmallows, as chosen by Judy of Judy's Gross Eats. I was ambivalent to the idea of making homemade marshmallows, but my decision not to make these sweet morsels this week was pushed by my parents. My mom and dad weren't too keen on the idea of marshmallows, and since they are the main consumers of baking attempts, I had to forgo the marshmallows.

I wanted to participate in TWD in some way this week, so I chose to make one of the recipes that the group had completed before I joined the group. I was tempted to bake Almost-Fudge Gateau, but I already had the ingredients for the Perfection Pound Cake in the house so that was the winner for me.

Ingredients (from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours)

1/2 pounds (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup of white sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups all-purpose flour

It was a really late night baking session for me since I came home late and didn't get to work on the cake until 10:30 PM. Since the heater in our house has been broken for a few months and we've been relying on space heaters, the butter can never really soften in the kitchen. I brought the sticks of butter into the bathroom in hopes that the steam from my shower would be warm enough to do the trick, but it didn't work as well as I had hoped. I had to microwave the sticks of butter for about 10 seconds to soften them before getting started.

In a stand mixer outfitted with a paddle attachment, I whipped together the butter and sugar on high speed for a full five minutes until the mixture became pale and fluffy. The results of the high speed beating looked so delicious that I wanted to stop right there and simply eat the sweetened butter. I trekked on for the sake of Dorie Greenspan, though.

Next came the eggs. I added each egg one at a time and made sure to mix the batter for 1 minute between each addition. I had to scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl many a times because everything kept on creeping up. It was kind of annoying because it was late, it was taking up a bit of time, and I still had over an hour of baking time ahead of me. After the eggs were all added, the vanilla was mixed in.

The dry ingredients were added last. Now, Dorie said to whisk the flour, salt, and baking powder together before adding them into the butter/egg/sugar/vanilla mixture. However, I didn't feel like pulling out another bowl and dirtying a whisk, so I skipped this step. I added the flour half of a cup at a time and mixed it into the batter on low speed. In between each flour addition, I added the salt and baking powder. Dorie warned us not to overwork the batter, so I actually stirred in the last half cup of flour by hand. Once that was all done, I poured the batter into a 9x5-in loaf pan that had been sprayed with Baker's Joy spray. After smoothing the top with a spatula, I popped it into a oven preheated to 325 degrees F. Then I waited.

The wait was pretty long. I checked the cake at the 45 minute mark to make sure it wasn't browning too quickly (it wasn't), and then left it in the oven for another 25 minutes. All in all, the cake baked for 70 minutes, just as Dorie said. I let the cake cool in the loaf pan for 30 minutes before removing it and letting it cool to room temperature.

I ended up wrapping the cake in saran wrap around 12:45 AM, but I did manage to sneak in a taste before going to bed. I was absolutely shocked by how buttery the cake tasted. I automatically cut back on the amount of butter I use in a recipe, but I decided against doing that for some odd reason. I really regretted it when I sampled the cake. I don't enjoy it when a baked good is overpowered by the taste of butter. Plus, the cake ended up being on the dry side. I think my oven might run a bit warmer than normal because I allowed the cake to bake for 70 minutes, and Dorie said that the cake should bake for 70-75 minutes. I really need to put my family's oven thermometer to use and maybe cut back on the cooking time.

I tried the cake this morning before class and liked it a bit better. I guess I just need to get used to the butter flavor or maybe the the butter flavor mellowed a tad. My parents didn't comment on the taste; they just said that the cake was dry. So the cake wasn't bad, but I'm not sure that I would make it again...

Any thoughts?

Heartwarming: Vegan Cheesecakes and Fashion Maves

2008-04-14T10:46:00.006-05:00

I can't believe it's been nearly two weeks since I've last made a post! I'm terribly sorry about the long stay away, but I had some more pressing issues to attend to (i.e. five exams last week). I survived a excruciating test block and am now back with a vengeance! I'm pretty excited about the two baking projects I have lined up for this week.

Anyway, the last exam of my test block ended on Friday, and I was ready to have a good time on Saturday. Luckily, my brother had decided to organize a fashion show featuring local clothing businesses and local models for that night. So on Saturday night, I got into my car and headed down to Norman. My first stop was Campus Corner.

Campus Corner was something I didn't fully discover and take advantage of until my senior year of college. It's a little square area within walking distance of campus and just filled to the brim with local eateries and boutiques. It even houses my favorite little bakery, Cookies 'n' Cards, which serves this divine Pistachio Fudge cupcake. Saturday night I decided to meet with a dear friend and eat at The Earth.

The Earth is a fairly new vegetarian eatery, and it's quickly becoming my favorite. Before all of your carnivores out there (I'm guilty here) get all grossed out at the prospect of eating some hippy, vegetarian place, you really shouldn't knock it before you try it. The place serves some fantastic imitations of traditional meat dishes such as Messy Mary, the vegetarian sister of Sloppy Joe, and "Chicken" Ranch Burger. My friend and I ordered burgers, a Chili Cheese one for him and a avocado/vegan mayo/alfalfa sprouts one for me. We were quite pleased with our meal, which was served with a side of potato chips and corn tortilla chips. The potato chips were really tasty, and they are now on my list of to-order for next time.

We finished the meal by trying the vegan raspberry cheesecake. The cheese cake looked so beautiful with its gooey layer of raspberry sauce and its chocolate graham cracker crust. I was pretty excited and had some high expectations because my brother had said it was good. However, the cheesecake fell well below expectations. The raspberry sauce was way too tart and too overpowering. I couldn't taste and enjoy the "cheesecake" middle nor the chocolate crust. I was disappointed with the cheesecake, but my main plate more than made up for it.

Once my stomach was full of meatless goodness, I headed over to campus and witnessed an awesome fashion show. The clothes were cute, the runway music was TOTALLY AWESOME, and I couldn't have been prouder of my brother.

I was even introduced to a new band--Voxtrot, who opened and closed the fashion show. All together, it was a fun night and a good way to celebrate the end of my test block.

The Earth Cafe
750 Asp Avenue
Norman, OK 73069

Baking: TWD Gooey Chocolate Cake

2008-04-01T10:26:00.003-05:00

My parents have this strange preference of me not baking when it's warm. This normally doesn't bother me much, but since Oklahoma experienced some pretty warm weather the past few days, I had to put off baking this week's Tuesdays with Dorie challenge until the last minute. I was tempted to pass up this week's TWD because I have exams next week and have been studying like crazy, but I knew I would definitely not be able to participate next week when the test block was in full swing. Plus, I couldn't pass up on something called "Gooey Chocolate Cake," which was chosen by Leigh of Lemon Tartlet.

It was a late night baking session for this time around due to studying and my newest guilty pleasure, Dancing with the Stars (I can't help it! I used to idolize Kristi Yamaguchi, and she's totally kicking butt on the show right now). The recipe called for bittersweet chocolate, and I was super excited because I finally could bust open the Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate bar that I had purchased a couple months back. I was a bit nervous about chopping chocolate, thinking that it would require a lot of elbow grease, but it went smoothly.

Since everyone in my family has been trying to eat healthier and cut back on our sugar intake, I halved the recipe and only made three servings. My parents made fun of me because I had pulled out all of these bowls, spoons, and pans for only three little cupcakes. The mixing and baking portion of making this cake was really simple, but the cleaning was another story. I hate making such a mess when I'm in the kitchen.

Ingredients (from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours; 3 servings)

1/6 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 ounces bittersweet chocolate: 2 ounces coarsely chopped, 1/2 ounce finely chopped
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
1 large egg, room temperature
1/2 large egg yolk, room temperature
3 tablespoons sugar

The recipe called for sifted flour, unsweetened cocoa, and salt. There is nothing more in baking that I dislike than sifting. I hate it even more than cleaning all of the pots, pans, bowls, and spoons that I use while prepping a cake. Though I have a handy-dandy 5-cup sifter, I still have a hard time doing it. Dry ingredients float everywhere; some don't make it all the way through the sifter. Then there is cleaning the sifter. I have no idea how to clean it; every time that I do, clumps of flour ends up sticking in the meshwork of the contraption. If you have any advice as to how to remedy this problem, please, please speak up.

After I sifted the dry ingredients, it was smooth sailing from then on. The butter and bittersweet chocolate melted nicely together, the eggs and sugar whisked up beautifully, and the thick, dark batter filled three cupcake molds perfectly. Everything was smooth sailing until I cut into one of the Gooey Chocolate Cakes. It must have been an early April Fool's for me because the little cakes weren't gooey at all in the center. I followed the directions and baked them for the 13 minutes that the recipe called for, but I didn't end up with molten cakes. Did I mix the batter too much? Was my light hand not light enough? Since I only had 3 servings instead of 6, did I need to decrease the cooking time? I don't know, but it didn't really matter in the end because the cakes tasted good with a nice dollop of ice cream on the side.

I will probably make this recipe again sometime in the future because I really want to experience a gooey chocolate cake. I mean, who doesn't like molten chocolate flowing from a baked morsel?

Heartwarming: The Mini Minimalist

2008-03-31T19:07:00.004-05:00

Mark Bittman, author of How to Cook Everything and writer for the "Minimalist" column in The New York Times, has a blog, and I have to admit that I'm lurking around there everyday. If you haven't visited his blog before, you'll be in for a treat. He posts simple recipes daily, and he has a few cooking videos on the site.

Over the weekend while I was catching up on my favorite blogs during one of my many study breaks, I had the pleasure of watching this cute video on Bitten. The kid featured was so adorable that I had to document this video for my own records. I can't help but wonder how someone so young could learn how to make ganache when I haven't even made it myself.

I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did!

Cooking: Chicken Fried Chicken with Country Gravy

2008-03-28T14:06:00.004-05:00

Since I had halved the flan recipe, I had quite a bit of heavy cream and whole milk leftover. I wasn't about to drink either straight from a cup or pour either into a bowl of cereal, so I had to look for other ways to use them up. Considering which town I'm from and what they served in my elementary school's cafeteria, it's not surprise that mashed potatoes and country gravy immediately came to mind. What to serve them with? That was also an easy question to answer because Chicken Fried Chicken is my most favorite entree ever, and it goes wonderfully with mashed potatoes and country gravy.

I have a Vietnamese mother and a Vietnamese father, so I've always been puzzled about how exactly my love for Chicken Fried Chicken came about. My first and primary exposure to the dish was through the workings of my elementary school's cafeteria ladies. My favorite lunches were noontime dining spent savoring the crispy, fried outside and slightly salty, juicy insides. The chicken fried chicken had to be served with country gravy. Otherwise, it wouldn't be the right dish. It's really weird to think that I fell in love with cafeteria food. Shows you what poor taste I have...

I found a recipe on Allrecipes, and it seemed easy enough.

Ingredients

26 saltine crackers
6 garlic & herb flavored Ritz-like crackers
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons dry potato flakes
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (1 pkg at normal, everyday grocery stores)

The first thing I did was wash the chicken breasts and patted them dry. I don't know why I always do this with chicken breasts, but it somehow seems more sanitary this way. I set the chicken aside and began to work on the crackers.

I poured all the crackers into a large, quart-sized storage bag and sealed them in. I then crushed the crackers into fine to small crumbs. To this I added the flour, potato flakes, salt, and pepper. I mixed this all up by shaking the bag vigorously for a minute or so. Now my coating was all ready to go.

I poured the vegetable oil into my largest skillet and evenly distributed it along the bottom of the pan. While the oil heated over medium-high heat, I beat the egg in a shallow bowl. Once the oil was hot, I dredged one chicken breast in the beaten egg and dropped into the bag of crumbs. I coated the chicken in crumbs by shaking and turning the bag in every direction until none of the chicken's pink was showing through. Then I placed the chicken into the skillet and let it fry on one side for about 8 minutes. Once that was done, I turned it over and fried the other side for another 8 minutes. I continued this pattern until the chicken was longer pink inside and its juices ran clear. I repeated these steps for the remaining pieces of chicken breast.

Since I had a pretty big skillet, I was able to fry two pieces of chicken at one time. Each piece took about 20 minutes to cook completely. Once they were all finished, I blotted them with some paper towels to remove the excess grease.

To make the country gravy, I used the frying oil in the pan. I added some flour, salt, pepper, heavy cream, and whole milk to the oil. I didn't use a recipe at all for this; I had remembered my friend in my high school telling me that country gravy was made of these few ingredients. I eyeballed everything and added flour and milk until I got the consistency and taste that I wanted.

I ended up serving chicken fried chicken for my family's Easter dinner. Since I had decided to peel a bag of baby carrots to make them look nice (they were kind of old and weathered on the outside) before boiling, I had a late start to making the chicken. Because each round of chicken frying took at least 20 minutes, Easter dinner was served kind of late this year. However, my parents really liked the dish and enjoyed it. It was very, very tasty in my opinion. Their only criticism was that the chicken and gravy was a little too salty. I'll have to be careful with that stuff next time; a little salt goes a long way.

Baking: TWD Caramel-Topped Flan

2008-03-25T11:00:00.005-05:00

For someone who was recently weened off of Duncan Hines cake mixes, the idea of making flan from scratch was a little daunting. I mean, I'm used to seeing flan served primarily at frou-frou sushi bars (though I did recently see it on the menu of a hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant, but they didn't make it from scratch). It's such an elegant dessert that I thought it had be really hard to make.

So when I set off to execute my first challenge as a member of the Tuesdays with Dorie baking group, I was a bit apprehensive and felt deep-down inside that the caramel-topped flan (aka creme caramel) was going to turn out horribly. However, I was pleasantly surprised on Saturday night when these golden little cups of egg-y goodness came out of the oven.

As with all Tuesdays with Dorie challenges, this recipe came from Dorie Greenspan's newest cookbook, Baking: From My Home to Yours. I borrowed a copy from the library over the weekend and had a hard time putting the book down. I kept on flipping through its pages and admiring the beautiful pictures. The recipes also seem easy enough to follow as evidenced by my success with the flan. I will definitely order my own copy soon.

Ingredients (sized down to 1/2 of the original recipe)

For the caramel

1 1/2 tablespoons of water
1/6 cup of white sugar
A squeeze of fresh lemon juice

For the flan

3/4 cup of heavy cream
5/8 cup of whole milk
1 1/2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1/4 cup of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

I first preheated the oven to 350 degrees F and lined the bottom a 9x13 in baking pan with two paper towels. I'm not really sure why the paper towels, but what Dorie asks for, Dorie gets. Then I filled a teakettle with water and set it on the stove to boil while I worked on everything else.

I decided to make the flan in 6 little brioche baking cups that I had bought at Ross a while back but had never used. Since each cup only held about 1/3 cup of liquid (or a little less), I had to halve the recipe detailed in the book. In a small pot, I dissolved sugar in some water and lemon juice to make the caramel. I constantly stirred the mixture over medium-high heat until the sweet liquid became an amber color. I stopped and took the pot off of the heat when I got my first whiff of what I thought was a burning smell. I then distributed the caramel into the brioche cups, haphazardly trying to distribute the syrup evenly on the bottoms of the cups. I lined the cups in the 9x13 in baking pan and set them aside.

For the flan, I stirred together the milk and heavy cream in a small pot and warmed it over a medium heat until the mixture began to boil a bit. I stirred frequently, stopping and removing the pot from the heat when I saw the first series of bubbling. Meanwhile, whisked the eggs, egg yolks, and sugar with a fork in a large bowl. Once an even mixture was created, I stirred in the vanilla extract. Then I began to temper the eggs by pouring a quarter of the heated milk/heavy cream combo into the egg mixture while whisking like mad. As soon as I made sure there weren't any chunks of cooked eggs in the mixture, I slowly whisked the remaining heated combo into the egg mixture. When I was finished mixing everything, I skimmed off all of the froth and bubbles lining the top with a spoon.

I poured the flan mixture into the brioche cups lined up in the 9x13 in baking pan. I then carefully placed this all into the preheated oven. This was particularly tricky because the cups were filled to the brim (I didn't want to waste any of the flan!), but slow and steady got the job done. I then slowly filled the baking pan with the hot water from the teakettle until the water line hit halfway up the brioche cups.

I baked the flan for about 30-35 minutes until the bottoms (or what would be the bottoms) were browned.
I took them out of the baking pan and set them on a making shift wire rack to cool. I was anxious to taste the flan, but I had to wait until the next morning to sample my work because the flan had to set in the refrigerator for at least four hours. It was a wonderful way to celebrate Easter morning, though!

My parents felt that the flan was a little too hard. Maybe less baking time? Less egg? It was hard to add 1/2 of an egg, so I might have added a tad too much. More milk? I have no idea. Also, the brioche cups created a very pretty petal-like edge for the flan, but it was very tricky loosening the flan from the cups. I kept on cutting into the flan. I probably will invest in some proper ceramic ramekins for my next round of flan.

Heartwarming: Art, Cheese, and Wine

2008-03-24T19:51:00.007-05:00

Oklahoma doesn't stereotypically bring to mind much aside from fields, football, and singing pioneers trying make a life for themselves out in the Great Plains. However, this state does have its fair share of cultural shindigs, and I attended a wonderful one this past Friday when Untitled ArtSpace had a reception to welcome a new exhibit, Art 365. Featuring the works of six local artists, there were definitely some great pieces on showcase that night. My favorite artist of the night was by far Betsy Barnum, and through a bit of stalking, I found out that she has a blog! Check out her work, and prepare to be amazed.

The art was nice, but what really took center stage for me were the food and drinks available to gallery visitors. Viewers could enjoy some wine or a non-alcoholic beverage while they surveyed the art. It was a great compliment to the cheese and chocolate served that night. Though the chocolate was of the standard Hershey's brand, the cheese was phenomenal! There were rounds of brie, Jarlsberg, and a couple of other cheeses I had never tasted. My favorite was a semi-creamy white cheese rolled in an herb mixture. If you have any idea what this type of cheese is, please, please let me know ASAP. I couldn't get enough of it Friday night and would like to sample it a bit more.

As I was leaving the gallery for the night, I regretted not taking a picture of the food table. The cheese and chocolate was prettily arranged on a rustic, heavy wooden table. I'll just have to make due with the photo above, picturing a couple of measly crackers, pieces of cheese, and Hershey's pieces. C'est la vie.

Untitled ArtSpace
1 NE 3rd Street
Oklahoma City, OK 73104

Reading: Julie & Julia

2008-03-21T21:08:00.004-05:00

After finishing Julia Child's fabulous autobiography, My Life in France, I was hungry for another tale of a female discovering the positive impact that cooking has one's life. I had to look no further than Julie & Julia. This book is written by Julie Powell and details her insane attempt to execute in one year all the recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. That is 524 recipes in 365 days!

I am finishing up the book, so I can't tell you whether or not Julie completes all the recipes within a year, but I can tell you that I am enjoying the book. However, I wasn't always a fan. Since I had just finished reading Julia Child's autobiography, I was expecting something written in the same light-hearted and wondrous tone. Instead, this book is pessimistic from page one. It was dramatic and discussed all sorts of issues from lackluster sex lives to the boredom that comes with working temp jobs. Sound familiar? It should because all chick lit books have the same formula. Now, I'm as much of a voracious reader of chick lit books as any other girl (or boy); I really dig the works of Meg Cabot and Helen Fielding. For some odd reason, though, I couldn't get behind Julie right away. I found her to be too gloomy and whiny, but I marched on through the book anyway. I set aside a little bit of time every night to ready a few more pages of the book and made up little reading schedules for myself. Since I'm a goal-oriented person, this technique really helped me get through some of the book.

However, as the story and Julie's life progressed, I found myself no longer marching. I was actually looking forward to finding out more about her escapades in the kitchen, and I set aside larger chunks of time to read the book everyday. It was as if I had warmed up to Julie around the middle of the book. I'm not quite sure why this is, but I think it's because she started describing more of the support she received for this project. Her friends and brother were over at her apartment more, and blog readers (or "bleaders") began to comment on her blog. As a result, I think Julie realized her own potential and developed a sense of purpose.

This book started out a wee bit slow, but it is now a pretty awesome read. What's even cooler is that Julie Powell chronicled her Julie/Julia Project on a blog. So as soon as I finish getting the retrospective look on the project from this book, I can read up on Julie's thoughts as she completes each dish and moves a step in her quest to recreate all of Julia Child's creations. I can even see all of the comments left on her blog, which, as described in the book, are pretty wacky and funny.

I highly recommend Julie & Julia because it's kind of inspiring in a voyeuristic way. Plus, this book is being adapted in a film with Amy Adams portraying Julie Powell and Meryl Streep playing Julia Child. Pretty nifty...

Baking: German Apple Cake

2008-03-19T11:33:00.007-05:00

The stormy weather came and went, but it freezing temperatures here last night. To warm up the house, I decided to bake a little treat for my parents. There was one slight problem, though; I didn't have any butter nor any cocoa powder in the house. Luckily for me, it seems like many apple cake recipes don't require either. It worked out perfectly because we had some apples that needed to be consumed somehow (hence the odd amount of apples used in the recipe below). I took this recipe from All Recipes and put my spin on it.

Ingredients

2 eggs
7/8 cup vegetable oil
1 3/4 cups white sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 small Gala apples, peeled, cored, and chopped

Since I like my apples soft, I heated the chopped apples with 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon in a small pot while I prepared the rest of the cake. Before I did anything else, I, of course, preheated the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, I beat together the eggs and oil until well incorporated. Then I beat in the white sugar and vanilla until I no longer saw a trail of sugar. Once that settled, I added the dry ingredients. I added the salt, baking soda, and the remaining ground cinnamon before beating everything well. I added the flour, 1/4 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. Finally, I stirred in the cooked apples.

I poured the batter into a 9x13 in baking pan sprayed with Baker's Joy baking spray. This all went into the oven and stayed there for 35-40 minutes, until a cake tester came out clean and the sides of the cake began to pull away from the sides of the pan.

I thought I had burned the cake, but it was moist when I tasted it. The cake had a rich, caramel color. It has a really subtle flavor, and each bite of apple is highlighted by the cinnamon. My parents definitely enjoyed it, and we all indulged in a piece this morning for breakfast.

Baking: Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

2008-03-17T10:50:00.004-05:00

It's a rainy day in Oklahoma, and I needed a little treat to perk up my day. Chocolate chip cookies are probably my most favorite sweet indulgence; I missed these guys quite a bit towards the end of my semester abroad in France. My family and I discovered this recipe for soft chocolate chip cookies a few years ago on All Recipes. We've kept the texture defined by the recipe, but we've tweaked the sugar and butter content to fit our taste.

Ingredients (for 36 cookies)

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup of butter, softened
5/8 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup (scant) white sugar
1 package of instant vanilla pudding
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

I used to never believe in softening butter in preparation of baking stuff, but when I found out how much easier it makes mixing process, I now make sure to set the butter out on the counter for at least an hour before I start doing anything. Please, please don't skip this step and work with cold, hard butter; trust me on this.

Once my butter was soft enough (if it gives easily when you press on it), I set about to sift the flour and baking soda together in a pretty big bowl. I recently bought a spring-handle sifter, and it makes this step a bit easier (not too much because it's still a bore to do all of this sifting).

I preheated the oven to 350 degrees F before moving on.

Next I creamed together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar in a large bowl. I used a stand mixer this time around, but I usually use a hand mixture when I'm making these cookies at my friend's apartment. I like to cream it until the mixture is a pale, pale yellow and kind of fluffy.

Then I beat in the instant pudding mix. As soon as that was all settled, I began to blend in the flour mixture. Don't dump the entire mixture in at one time. I added about 1/4 of the flour mixture at a time, and I made sure not to over stir the dough. Once a batch of flour begins to incorporate into the dough, add the next portion of flour mixture. Finally, I stirred in the chocolate chips (and ate one or two of them in the process).

I used a tablespoon to drop the cookies onto an ungreased cookie sheet. I prefer my cookies to have a natural, homemade look, so I didn't shape the dough at all. It was just scoop and plop. I baked the cookies for about 12-13 minutes, until the edges were golden brown.

I just love these cookies. They smell great while baking and taste awesome fresh out of the oven. A delightful snack on a gray day!

Heartwarming: Pumpkin Cookies and Heroic Dolphins

2008-03-12T15:30:00.002-05:00

Taking advantage of the beautiful Spring-like weather, I had lunch on the patio of Saturn Grill today. Located in a more affluent area of Oklahoma, this place serves very down-to-Earth meals that taste equal parts healthy and delicious. The cooks serve up items ranging from tomato and mozzarella salads to Caribbean jerk chicken sandwiches. Today, I decided to indulge in the blue cheese burger, a special on Mondays during the winter. The hamburger was made to order, served on toasted flat bread, and topped with spinach, tomatoes, and crumbles of blue cheese. The toppings really added zing and freshness to the dish.

My friends and I decided to revel a bit more in the sun and study out on Saturn Grill's patio. The area lacked wi-fi (unless you were willing to pay for wi-fi provided by the Starbucks next door), but the grill had some fabulous cookies. I thoroughly enjoyed their pumpkin cookie, a nice billowy, cakey morsel topped with cream cheese frosting and cinnamon. The cookie was high in pumpkin flavor, so much so that each bite tasted like pumpkin pie. I thought the sweet looked so pretty that I took a study break to capture a snapshot of it on my camera phone.

Before I go back to studying, I have to share a really moving story about a dolphin and its heroic ways. It's short and sweet, and it really brightened my day.

Saturn Grill
6432 Avondale Dr
Nichols Hills, OK 73116

Baking: Dark Chocolate Bundt Cake

2008-03-04T18:37:00.004-06:00

While rummaging through the clearance aisle at Wal-Mart, I found a mini bundt pan for sale. Thinking that they would be a nice addition to my growing collection of baking gear, I purchased it and immediately went home to find a recipe to bake. The perfect one to test came in the form of the Dark Chocolate Cake recipe at the TheKitchn. I tweaked the recipe a bit, and the results are below.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ounce semisweet chocolate, broken into pieces
1 cup boiling water

I preheated the oven to 350 degrees F and sprayed a 6-cup mini bundt pan and a 9x9 in square cake pan with Baker's Joy no-stick spray with flour.

Using a stand mixer, I stirred together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until the powder mixture was a uniform brown. Then I added the eggs, sour cream, milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla. Next, I beat all of this on medium speed for 2 minutes. While mixer was whirring, I dropped pieces of the semisweet chocolate into the cup of boiling water to melt. Once the chocolate was dissolved and the 2 minutes was up, I mixed the boiling water into the batter. It's really important that the chocolate be broken into small pieces to make for easy melting; I learned this the hard way. I ended up dumping murky hot water and a gooey clump of chocolate into the batter in hopes that the chocolate would finish melting with some heavy duty mixing.

I poured the thin batter into prepared pans and baked the 9x9 in baking pan for 28 minutes while the mini bundt pan stayed in the oven for 32 minutes. The latter had to bake for a longer time because I overfilled the cups. Then I cooled the cakes for 10 minutes before removing them from the pans.

Instead of having relatively flat bottoms, the bundt cakes ended up with fluffy, rounded tops. This isn't the traditional look for bundt cakes, but I kind of liked it. The cakes were like big cupcakes with a flower-like bottom (as pictured above). Appearances aside, the cakes were a great success. My parents and I enjoyed them immensely and liked how they weren't too sweet like cakes that you find in stores. One of my friends, however, could have done with some chocolate chips or chunks dispersed throughout the cakes to up the sweetness and flavor factor. I will have to take that into consideration for next time.

Reading: My Life in France

2008-03-02T00:04:00.002-06:00

I have been reading Julia Child’s autobiography entitled My Life in France. I am reading it as part of the Book Club at The Kitchn, and I have been reading it here and there during my numerous study breaks. Now that my exams are over, this week has been dedicated to catching up with the Book Club’s reading schedule.

I am thoroughly enjoying the book and find it to be a fast and delightful read. Julia Child was a staple of my home while I was growing up; on the weekends, my family and I would gather around the television to watch her cooking show on PBS. The book chronicles how she got into the gastronomical business during her sojourn in France while her husband was stationed there following the war. It’s great to learn about how her love of cooking began, especially since she didn’t grow up in a family of cooks and didn’t learn how to cook until she was in her thirties.

However, what I have been enjoying most of about this autobiography is her vivid descriptions of her life in France. Once she docked on French land, it was as if she had donned rose-colored glasses and kept them on for the next few years of her life. She found joy and passion in every instance of her time in France, from traveling through the Riviera to haggling with the administration at the Cordon Bleu culinary institute. Her excitement really translated through the words on the pages of the book, and I really empathize with her. This book has brought back some great memories from my semester in France. She even described having to hang groceries out of the window to keep them chilled since she didn’t have a refrigerator at the beginning; decades later, I had to do the same thing if I wanted to have fresh milk instead of UV milk in the morning due to my own lack of a refrigerator.

Since reading this book, I do have one regret. I regret not sampling more of the French cuisine. Oh, I became a HUGE fan of the patisseries lining the streets of France, but when it came to savory foods, I wasn’t as adventurous. Some of the items on the menus of traditional French restaurants made me squirm a little. After reading Julia’s descriptions of such food and how much she enjoyed eating them, I definitely won’t make the same mistake twice if I ever get the chance to visit France again.

So if you find yourself with a bit of free time, check out this book.

More About Me and Sucre

2008-03-01T21:17:00.001-06:00

I've long had a sweet tooth, and it flourished during my short sojourn in France. It was the viewing of Stranger than Fiction during my senior year of college, though, that got me interested in baking my own sweets. Maggie Gyllenhaal's scene where she explains how she got into the baking business was just enlightening. So now I dabble here and there with baking. I'm mainly interested in simple sweets, the simpler the better. It never hurts if loads of chocolate and frosting are involved either...

New Beginnings

2008-03-01T20:57:00.001-06:00

The unhurried pace of life has passed since I've finished undergraduate school and moved on to post-graduate studies. Time that was once spent taking mini-road trips to Dallas or watching art house films is now dedicated to memorizing motor-sensory nerve pathways and hundreds of Latin terms. A pressing need to study and live among textbooks hangs constant over my head, time has now become an enemy, and computers are my BFFs.

To counter the stress and monotony of my day-time job as a student, I've decided to turn back to simplicity. I'm rediscovering a lifestyle like that of my childhood when personal computers weren't rampant, fast food joints weren't the restaurants of choice, and sending letters through the U.S. Postal service was the greatest way to communicate with a best friend who had moved away. This blog will follow my progress as I learn how to bake, sew, knit, crochet, enjoy the simple things of life, and basically infuse a bit of sweetness into my day.