Ginger ice cream... lactose free!

a while back, completely by accident i found candied ginger chips in the baking section of a farmer's market of sorts. i definitely wanted it asap and knew it would make some yummy treat down the line. so when i wanted ice cream but had a craving something different... ginger ice cream sounded mouth watering. BUT as I reached for the heavy cream in the grocery store.. again i thought about healthy options and put my hand back down and sadly decided not to make it after all. when i got home, the ginger chips nagged me loudly from the pantry but it was too late to go back to the grocery. we did have soy milk though, so it was possible..maybe? after some research i found several recipe options using soy milk... and another one using coconut milk... so combining the two, i immediately made a soy milk/coconut milk fresh ginger root infused custard and made it the next day. hint... a couple of tbsp of lime juice right before freezing enhances the flavor. i added the ginger chips during the last 5 min of freezing and..DELICIOUS! now i must have another scoop of healthy..well, healthier...ice cream.

Whole wheat bread

while loving fluffy bread around the house.. not loving the fluffy effect it's having on me! so i tried out the tangzhong method as a healthier option using whole wheat. since i have only one loaf pan, it was fun shaping the other loaf into a braid. of course i had to eat that one first.. ha!

creamy peanut butter cookies and soy milk

Warm and fresh from the oven is perfect for movie night. :)

Jalapeno cheddar hot dog buns

these past few days, breakfast was just a quick grab and go with the bacon cheese rolls... So nice and yummy.  But what to do when they run out? Make more!  This time I'm going to freeze it and see if they stay fresh with a quick zap of the microwave.  if it works I'm going to fill up the freezer with goodies :D

bacon and cheese pan (bread)

as promised.. the tangzhong method has been revisited. i love this bread. i don't think i can make regular bread again. the result is so soft, fluffy, and moist. i love going to asian bakeries and getting various bread/pan and go a little crazy and end up buying more than i can eat. they just look so delicious! just so happens i had some turkey bacon and cheese that i needed to use in my fridge so this is the end product. i didn't know quite how to shape the bread so i experimented a bit and they came out ok, but i still don't quite get how the asian bakeries fold them up so pretty and uniform.

as a side note, i think i'm going to go back and add links/references to my little creations so that you all can read more about it and try it too. thanks to christine's blog and pictures, i've found this method (and other recipes) ...happy baking everyone!

references (click below):

christine's japanese style bacon and cheese bread

Japanese cotton soft cheesecake

Love cheesecake but can only eat a bite or two? Not the case with the japanese version of pillow soft light fluffy cheesecake. in fact one slice is not enough! I tackled this favorite treat with my new mini loaf pan and they turned out divine. Will need to make more asap.

Coffee roll & green tea (matcha) roll

Back to the sweeter side... For the fourth of july I made a swiss roll (asian style) for the first time. I flavored it with raspberry and whipped cream... I was in a hurry so I didn't have time to let it set, so by the time the car ride ended, it had melted :( but the taste was fantastic. to solve this problem, this time around, I found a recipe to make stabilized whipped cream filling..so more like a mousse.. and it looks/tastes great. I also tried different flavors...but I think I still like the original. I will have to"test" it out with another taste test later..:P also they still have to pass the car ride test...but then again these have had the chance to rest in the fridge this time. Yay for dessert!

Hokkaido milk toast

Mmmmmm. breakfast was delicious. Just like hk cafes : warm soft toast with condensed milk. Perfect also for an afternoon snack. Makes you feel so cozy inside. I will definately be experimenting more with tangzhong soon!

Tangzhong bread

I was excited when I read about this method of making bread that would produce moist super soft bread. (obsessed again) I tried it out with a hokkaido milk bread recipe. Wow! just hot out of the oven it looks great. But is now 230 in the morning I have to sleep... will have to tell you more about it later. can't wait to have it for breakfast soon. Mmmmmm...

Tea time with shortbread

I have been wanting to use my earl grey lavender tea to flavor a dessert for a while now.... and what goes with shortbread more than tea itself?! the dough never came together and was a crumbly mess... after mixing and mixing I finally gave up and just wrapped it in saran wrap, stuck it in the fridge, and hoped for the best. The next day it was firmed nicely and i baked away. result was a little bit tough, so for the next batch i knew not to mix too much. so I tried again, this time flavored with nutella. This was more doughy because of the extra moisture which made it easy to roll out, but I made it a little thin which resulted in crisp cookies as it was baked a little too long. luckily both were delicious and still goes perfectly with a steamy cup of tea...mmmmmmm

Mini apple pie... and peach!

i haven't baked in a while.. so i looked in my fridge to see what i could make. i was feeling a bit lazy when i notice a lonely forgotten box of pie crust that i had meant to use months ago.. now that i have gotten used to making everything completely from scratch, i didn't know what to do with this box. it was actually kinda perfect because as i said earlier, i was feeling kinda lazy. so mini apple tarts and peach tarts were the result. the apple above turned out quite cute and tasty. however as i was baking the peach, the crimps had opened and made a mess.. so i transferred them to muffin pans mid-bake and the result was an equally cute rustic cobbler... do i dare say.. was even more delicious. so i found a use after all :)

"CPK" BBQ pizza

one of my favorite dishes at cpk, is there their bbq chicken pizza. Unfortunately I don't get to go there often, so what to do when I get a craving? Make it, of course! I didn't realize pizza dough needed at least 24 in the fridge..so my appetite was really growing. 24 hrs later, I was super excited had bought fresh ingredients...then..oh no... I couldn't find the bbq sauce like I thought I did. everything was ready, I could not not make it..even if I have to settle for regular margarita pizza. But not to fear, google to the rescue.. Was it possible to make bbq sauce from scratch too? Most recipes called for wostershire sauce...which if course I didn't have. skeptically, I made it anyway improvising with a dash of hot wing sauce that I did find and didn't know I had : p..and it turned out quite spicy but not bad at all. so back to the plan. Taking that first crispy bite, a mixture of sweet, spicy, and fresh cilantro filed my mouth and was so worth the wait.

Ensaymada

I was talking to a friend about baking..and we got on the topic of how we like to bake, but we can't eat it all by ourselves..so we decided to make two different things and share. Great idea! What did we decide on? Ode to the Philippines: Ensaymada and sans rival! As you can see, I choose to make ensaymada. It was interesting...kinda like bread dough, but more fluid and sticky like a thick cake batter. At first I thought I made it wrong, but as it baked and the warm smell filled the kitchen..excitedly I peeked and it was rising nicely. They turned out pillowy soft... Melt in your mouth....mmmmm I can't wait to taste my friend's sans rival :)

French onion soup

What naturally goes with bread? A savory soup of course! I love french onion soup...funny, because in general, I do not like onions. Mostly uncooked onions. Anyways, I love french onion soup and have never thought of making it, somehow it seemed a complex mystery to me. I thought it couldn't be so simple. However, it is actually amazingly simple and easy. The secret is red wine and thyme, parsley and bay leaves... in the middle of making it, I realized I did not have thyme, so I substituted with rosemary and it came out so good! now go get cooking!

Take 2!

So I was home for the weekend and was so inspired by making my first bread, I wanted to make another one asap. sifting through my parent's pantry, i got the idea of making rosemary cheddar bread... mmm.. it turned out pretty good and the smell that filled the house was amazing. i didn't really get to eat much of it, so now that I'm back home, I had a craving for it. the above bread is the take 2 version. notice the cheese holes!! the first time i kneaded the cheese in before the first rise. the result was an even bread with the flavor of cheese, but kinda hard to actually see any cheese in it. i'm a big fan of seeing cheese in cheese bread, so on take two, i figured i shouldn't knead it as much and the cheese will melt together.. PLUS i added the cheese after the first rise and.. yup, it worked. i got the result i wanted! :) oh and side note.. the texture of my latest bread (of the three total i've made) was much improved. the first was good but a little heavy and dried quickly. this one is light and fluffy.. mmmm... yea for sandwich lunches this week while it lasts ..

My first bread

So the past month had been a little crazy with moving, traveling, and other events...so I haven't had much time to myself. Yesterday, I was finally able to get back to business...and what came out? My first homemade bread from scratch.

first a little background.... so this kinda really started from a couple months ago back in March when my co-worker made me a victim of the chain goo, also know as amish friendship bread. I skeptically followed the directions.. mush the bag.. mush the bag... mush.. mush.. and 10 days later, I made this wonderful cinnamon sweet bread. I was hooked.

another 10 days later, there was bananna choco chip, another 10 days, blueberry lemon...

having to travel, i did research and found out that keeping it in the fridge would slow down the goo.. research also revealed it's real identity... yeast. and after 3 batches of sweet bread.. frankly we were tired of sweet breads. so more research brought me to find it is also known as herman sourdough... SO thats how we came to yesterday after a 20 day wait... my first loaf.

but wait.. there's more.. i saved the best for last. and here it is:

Tada! look, he's even smiling at me.

can't wait for turtle soup tonight :)

a macaron is born

my baking repertoire:

1) the basic choco chip cookies from the chocolate chip bag recipe.
2) creme brulee, my forever favorite.
3) the perfect mysterious white chinese sponge fruit cake.
4) the french macaron, my new favorite and current obsession.

believe it or not, this is the extent of my experience as a baby baker. i suspect the true beginning began a month ago with the obsession to figure out how to make the delicious not too sweet chinese sponge fruit cake, but i will leave that for another post.

back to the macaron: despite the ominous warnings of macaron baking disaster, i was lured in by the super cute pictures littered around the internet. i was memorized by this little almond cookie treat. it was so cute, i had to have it.

so after a week of reading countless blogs and recipes, and an extra 3 days of egg white ageing. i happily made my first batch of macarons via the italian method as it was supposedly more forgiving. mixed. piped. rested. in the oven and looking good... i was ecstatic. checking every min, everything looked perfect. ..after 5 min, i didn't want to jinx it decided to relax and resisted the urge to check till the timer went off... 15 min later i returned to the oven and waah! what happened?! there lay a battlefield of disfigured mounds and mini volcanos. sigh, i became another defeated contender.

determined, i immediately tried again (i had aged 6 egg whites just in case) this time with the french method, even though reviewed to be a bit more temperamental. i suspected in my efforts not to overmix, i way undermixed. so i mixed. piped. rested. i also suspected the oven temperature and this time used double trays. watched carefully and at 7 min, after the feet were formed, cracked the oven open and continued to bake. and.... success! i couldn't believe it! as i waited for them to cool, i made a lingonberry buttercream for the filling. the two halves gently cradled the sweet goodness and the little treat lay before me taunting me to taste it. but striving to achieve the optimum flavor effect, i patiently waited for the 24hrs to pass before i could sample the cutie pie. and the moment the delicate sandwich melted in my lips, something sparked in me and i was hooked. endless flavor possibilities immediately flooded my head and a macaron officially birthed me into the bakers world.