pound cake

butter butter... and more butter.



traditionally, the pound cake recipe calls for 1 lb of butter, 1 lb of sugar, and 1 lb of flour, hence its name. pretty basic. pretty easy. the pound cake is one of those high butter to flour ratio cakes, creating a dense and buttery treat for those occasional cravings. the recipe has been modified over the years to alter the consistency and taste, and really, who wants to eat a pound of butter?

but THIS... this pound cake recipe is heavier than most on the butter and def Paula Dean worthy. don't get me wrong, i'm sure Paula's a lovely lady whose recipes are well thought out and delicious but when her name comes up, the first thing i think of is a stick butter. but i digress...

After 2 different attempts at slightly varied pound cake recipes, i tried the Entenmann's Pound Cake recipe found here. i must say, after my share of Entenmann's as a kid, i am pretty well acquainted with the buttery cakes, and the final result of this recipe came pretty close.

modified recipe calls for:

1/2 lb (2 sticks) butter
2 cups of powdered sugar
3 eggs
1 Tbsp of vanilla extract
1 2/3 cups of flour
1/2 tsp salt

heat oven at 325 degrees. spray loaf pan with Pam or butter.

beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. add vanilla extract. add eggs one at a time alternating with the flour and beat until just incorporated. i added a 1/2 tsp of salt (the orginal recipe calls for none) as salt tends to bring out the flavors in most sweet foods. be sure NOT to over mix the flour into the batter or you'll get a really dense and dry cake.

pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for 40 minutes or until a tookpick comes out with a few crumbs on it.

excellent served with fresh strawberries (and vanilla ice cream, if you have some)! i probably won't be baking this again though. it was DELICIOUS but too buttery. most definitely not a healthy choice of foods but what baked good is healthy?

hmm.. perhaps that is my next mission: to make tasty AND healthy baked treats!

oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

HOLY COW! these are good!



so my obsession with baking continues. did i mention how much i hate baking? after many disappointing endeavors to bake the perfect batch of cookies, by God, i think i've come across the perfect recipe. these are DELICIOUS! it probably helps that i was looking through the list of 50 best food blogs in the world and just happened to settle upon #1 to seek out a recipe.

indeed these cookies are delicious and i think i am in shock that i was able to whip up such yummy treats in a short period of time. an easy recipe to follow, resulting in a cookie, crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside (as all perfect cookies should be), with a not-too-grainy oatmeal texture. i used just 1 Cup of chocolate chips instead of the 1 1/2 C it asks for, making it bearably sweet. next time i think i'll use even less.



Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (adapted from Orangette, thanks!)

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
¾ cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 Tbs best-quality vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 cup best-quality semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 ½ cups quick-cook oats, or rolled oats zizzed in a food processor for a few seconds

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease cookie sheets with cooking spray or line them with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

2. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter and brown and granulated sugars until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk, mixing until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients, working until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips and oats by hand, using a wooden spoon. Chill dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to one hour. Use a table knife to scoop and press dough into ¼-cup measuring scoops, and plunk the mounds onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be three inches apart.

3. Bake cookies for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned. Remove and Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes.

Macaron Attempt #1

....FAIL.

my first attempt at French Chocolate Macarons was kind of a nightmare. i don't think i whipped the egg whites enough to make stiff peaks in the meringue. boo.... resulting in spreading and cracking (and smoking?) and sticking. no good. these ARE NOT easy to make and technique is EVERYTHING. these treats are not something you can just whip up on whim which makes me dislike making them even more. but with any failure i face, i feel like i should attempt it again. the plus side was that these flattened, cracked out macarons didn't taste bad at all. crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside. subtley nutty from the almond flour and slighty chocolatey from the cocoa powder. if they had turned out nicer, i would have made a vanilla cream ganache to make little sandwiches. but alas, these cookies did not pass. perhaps they will be better paired with vanilla bean ice cream for dessert tonight. can't go wrong with ice cream.

mexican wedding cookies

Hold the Macarons!!! I didn't have much time today to experiment with the Macarons so I quickly whipped up a batch of Mexican Wedding Cookies (aka Russian Tea Cakes, Butterballs, Snowballs, Italian Butter Nuts, etc...). Every Christmas (9 years and counting...), one of Mom's customers bakes these sweet melt-in-your-mouth treats for us. They're soft and buttery like shortbread, with a pleasant nutty crunch.

During my trip to San Francisco in early December, Mike and I baked the Christmas version of Mexican Wedding cookies with pistachios and dried cherries (get it? green pistachios and red cherries=Christmas colors? haha! ). They were delicious thanks to Mike's excellent baking skills. The smooth nuttiness of the pistachio went really well with the tartness of the cherry. They were addictive but we made sure to have just one a day due to the 2 cups of butter that went into the whole batch... oh WHY must they be so unhealthy!? (as I bite into another one...)

Here is the recipe that I used for this batch (adapted from joyofbaking.com):

2/3 cup (65 grams) toasted nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts or pecans)

1 cup (227 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup (30 grams) confectioners' (powdered or icing) sugar

1 teaspoon (2 grams) pure vanilla extract

2 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

Topping:

1 cup (110 grams) powdered (icing or confectioners) sugar, sifted

Toast Nuts til golden. Cool completely. Grind in food processor or blender with 1-2 Tbsp of flour from your 2 Cups so that the nuts don't stick or become pasty.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the remaining flour and salt and beat until combined. Stir in the nuts. Cover and refrigerate the dough for about 1 hour or until firm.

Form the dough into 1 inch (2.54 cm) balls and place them 2 inches (5 cm) apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake for about 12 - 15 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies start to brown. Remove and cool completely. Roll cookies in confectioners sugar.

Tip: Be careful not to touch the cookies while they're hot because they are delicate and crumble easily. Also make sure the cookies are cool before covering in powdered sugar because the sugar will melt.

i think i've had my share of cookies for today... (gotta hit the gym tonight!)
Bon appetite! :-)

new year's obsessions

much like new year's resolutions, i find that in the new year, i seek new things to be obsessed about. last year, it was electronics (which i couldn't afford). this year, recipes. and god, i hate recipes! clarification: i hate having to follow recipes... a tsp of this, 2 2/3 cupsof that... UGH. I do NOT have the patience to follow meticulous instructions. but for some reason, after i had decided that i was not very good at baking, i became obsessed with perfecting baked goods. so far, with success! at least with the limited baking that i have attempted... baking really is all about understanding the chemistry of how one ingredient interacts with another ingredient all under specific conditions-- hence, following recipes to a T. but scouring the 'net for recipes, i've come across some a m a z i n g food blogs with PICTURES. Glorious mouthwatering marvelous PICTURES! how could one resist trying to recreate such delectable goods? not i. so i have been quite busy in the kitchen these days, spending whatever spare time i have in my daily routine to cook or bake something new.

my new mission:
Macarons

Chocolate Macarons, Photo from www.davidlebovitz.com (one of my fav food blogs)


some of these food blogs that i've been reading through have been really helpful in getting ideas for my kitchen repertoir. i get really excited reading through recipes blogs... ( also happens when i read through cookbooks, which i do quite frequently). it makes me wonder... WHY DIDN'T I GO TO CULINARY SCHOOL?! FOOD makes me so happy! eh... actually, lemme clarify. the PROCESS of preparing food for others makes me super happy.

will update with macaron results!

from the kitchen

... mochiko muffins! i got the recipe from Mr. B, who baked these for my turkey dinner. i tried making them from scratch last weekend and they turned out awesome! [possibly better than Mr. B's... shhh....]


crisp on the outside. moist, chewy, and sweet on the inside. de-lish.

Happy Lunar New Year, ppls!

Mochiko Goodness

*edit: this is the correct recipe! i gots a good memory. will post pics if and when i bake them.

must write down quickly before i forget!

Mochiko Muffin Recipe:

1 box of Mochiko
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 stick butter
2 cups milk
3 eggs
1 Tbs vanilla extract
1 can red bean paste (reserve)

mix dry ingredients together. mix wet ingredients together. add wet to dry. pour mixture into muffin pan, filling each cup halfway, add the bean paste and then fill the rest of the cup with the mixture. bake at 375 degrees for 30 mins.
A friend baked 20 muffins and brought them over. They were gone within the hour.
Delicious! moist! chewy! and not too sweet!

will confirm if this is the correct recipe. even if it's off by a little, it's mochiko so you can't fail completely (says the girl who often fails miserably at baking).