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 :)