Pumpkin Cake w/ Maple Cream Cheese Frosting and Pepita Brittle

YO YO YO, is it pumpkin time again?! I love pumpkin spiced latte (#PSL) like a basic white girl and I'm always super excited for the fall. Mostly because I can eat cans and cans of pumpkin and hide all the carb loading I'm doing all winter under a heavy jacket. I'm posting something I made two years ago, that I never got the chance post! I don't ever have an excuse for not posting often other than surgical residency life/  lack of sleep getting in the way. I just finished my transplant rotation and I kid you not...  I've only slept 6 hours in the past 4 days. Even though the surgeries and patients are amazing, the lifestyle is just not :\  And I pity the fellows, who must really be into suffering haha.

Anyhoo, back to pumpkin cake! This makes for a very moist cake due to the pumpkin puree and the cream cheese frosting with a hint of maple syrup really tops it off. The brittle adds some crunch and savory flavor. The brittle will melt into the frosting, so just stick it into the slices of cake or lay on top right before serving.

Pumpkin Cake w/ Maple Cream Cheese Frosting and Pepita Brittle

makes a 8x8" cake

Pumpkin Cake
1-2/3 cup flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1-1/4 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin spice
1/2 tsp powdered ginger
1.5 cup pumpkin puree
3/4 cup vegetable oil (I used lighter flavor olive oil)
1 cup sugar
3/4 tsp salt
3 large eggs, separated

Maple cream cheese frosting
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp maple syrup
8 oz cream cheese, room temp
6 tbsp butter, room temp

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Prepare pan with parchment paper and butter. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl (flour to pumpkin puree). In a smaller bowl, mix oil, sugar, salt (I know these are dry too :P) and egg yolks in a smaller bowl.
2. Whisk up egg whites until it is foamy and slightly bubbly. I added a tbsp of sugar to help it going
3. Add wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Fold in egg whites until no whites remains (some streaking is fine!)
4. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 40-50mins or until a knife stuck in the middle just comes out clean (little moisture is fine!). It'll keep cooking outside so don't leave it in too long. Let it cool for 10 mins until taking it out to cool completely
5. For the frosting, beat softened cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Beat in brown sugar and maple syrup until the brown sugar isn't grainy in it. Then beat in powdered sugar. 
6. Spread on frosting to cooled cake. Serve immediately, or you can keep it in the fridge and let it sit on the counter for at least an hour before serving.

Pepita seed brittle

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup pumpkin seeds (aka pepitas)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tbsp butter, room temp

1. Prepare a pan with a silicone mat or that pan has to be real buttered up
2. Melt butter in small saucepan over medium heat. Stir in sugar, vanilla extract and then water. Bring to boil and cook WITHOUT stirring until lightly amber
3. Stir in pumpkin seeds and once medium/dark amber, pour onto prepared baking sheet
4. Cool completely and then break into pieces

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Matcha Crinkle Cookies

So excited my favorite holiday is coming up! I especially love the cold weather, because I can layer and layer and layer clothing and you will never see how much weight I'll be gaining from all the Christmas treats :P. I can't tell if it's the cold weather that makes me so hungry, or I just get enticed by all the creative spicy and chocolate-y names people come up for xmas treats or how pretty they look.

The only thing I don't like about the holidays is that my birthday falls a few days after. Which means I only get ONE present for both christmas and my birthday :( I think I've been complaining about this every year since I was born (yes really, right out of the womb). Also, back in the days, I had to share a birthday with my twin, so my six year old self was obvi not too happy with only half the attention :P. Now that I'm super old and don't have parties with clowns and balloons like I used to, I'm totally cool with it (maybe, maybe not haha).

Anyway, finally time to get started on baking holiday cookies myself! It's been a while since I've added something to my matcha recipe list, so I added matcha to one of my fave chocolate crinkle cookies! They're really chewy and fudge-y and not tooth-achingly sweet. They keep pretty well in a sealed container and make beautiful presents for cookie-swapping.

Matcha Crinkle Cookies

adapted from bettycrocker
makes 2 dozen cookies

1/4 cup vegetable oil
2-3 oz white chocolate chips (~about 1/4 cup)
1 cup granulated sugar (minus about 2 tbsps)
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs, at room temp
1 cup + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tbsp matcha powder (using Panatea culinary grade matcha)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
powdered sugar (about 1/2 cup)

1. In a mixing bowl or large bowl, mix flour, matcha powder, baking powder and salt.
2. In a medium sized boil, melt chocolate chips over hot water. I have a lot of trouble melting white chocolate in a microwave. I don't know why it doesn't melt as easily as real chocolate. I guess fake chocolate is just annoying like that! So I place a medium boil over a small pot with water and melt it slowly like that. Let it cool for a bit, then add sugar, oil, vanilla and beat in the eggs
3. Stir in white chocolate mixture into the dry ingredients. Mix until well incorporated. But don't over-beat like crazy :P. Your batter may seem pretty goopy and you will even question if it is really a cookie batter and not a semi-cake batter. But trust me, it will stiffen in the fridge! Cover and refrigerate overnight (or at least 4 hours).
4. Line baking pan with a silicone mat or baking paper
5. Prepare a shallow bowl with powdered sugar. Roll about 2tsp of dough into a ball with your palms and drop into powdered sugar. Roll around powdered sugar to coat fully. Place on cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. These will really spread.
6. Place pan in the fridge for a bit while you preheat the oven to 350F. Once the oven is ready, bake for 11-14mins or until the edges barely get a little golden. Immediately remove the cookies from the pan. I simply slid my silicon mat off the pan and onto a wire rack.

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Chocolate Cookie Pine Cones

It's almost Christmas and school's out. I've already caught up on The Mindy Project and watched 1000 youtube videos. I've been in PJs all day and my mane is looking like Lion King's.  'Tis the life! I'm about to board the plane in 5 hours back to LA. Apparently, the forecast is going to be warm and sunny (what else do you expect?). Yay! So excited to eat some home cooking and get me some daily pampering from mum.

I've been baking up a storm, now that I have time, and decided to get a little creative. I did spend too much time on pinterest while I was studying for the final exam :P but at least that time was well spent (maybe?). Here are some cookie sculptures to get you in that christmas spirit :)

Happy happy holidays and I hope your Christmas is filled with warmth, laughter and lots of hot chocolate xoxo

Chocolate Cookie Pine Cones

1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

3 Candy canes
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup nutella
1 tbsp butter, softened

1. In a medium bowl, mix dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, baking powder, cinnamon, salt). Beat butter and sugar until fluffy, then beat in the egg and vanilla. Mix the butter mix and dry ingredients together until it forms a soft dough. Roll between 2 sheets of wax paper to 1/4 inch and refrigerate it for at least 2 hrs
2. Preheat oven to 360F, roll the chilled dough thinner to 1/4". Make a grid to make 1/2x1/2" squares. Lay them out on a lined baking tray. Doesn't have to be that spread apart because they won't expand much
3. Bake for 6-9 mins and let cool. They will harden as they cool.
4. Mix the "glue": powdered sugar and peanut butter, Nutella and butter together and refrigerate for about 10 minutes
5. Cut candy cane to about 3" tall. Put the glue all over it and stick on the cookies. It helps to create a base on the bottom so it stands and then scoop more glue and add the cookies. Add them more upright as you go along the "spine". You can cut the cookies smaller as you go to the top too. 
6. Dust with powdered sugar!

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Macarons au chocolat et à la crème de Marrons {chocolate macarons + chestnut cream}

Oh look at me being all fancehhh. Who am I kidding? I learned French for 7 years and I still can't speak a lick of it, so I guess that makes me kind of useless :(. Although, I can say "I would like some fries" so I will be able to navigate at least in McDonald's in Paris ("ze fries, plz").  But!! I do make mean macarons and this super freaking deliciously creamy chestnut puree.  If this doesn't scream christmas, I don't know what does.

Bahhh, I can't wait for winter break already. My body is currently in lecture, but my mind has checked out a long time ago. Probably since thanksgiving, which is no bueno because I have 3 exams and a paper to look forward to until the sweet escape of Christmas and.. GIFTS!! The only thing that is worth getting this year is this Individual ice cream maker. It is almost like having ice cream on demand. Unless you can train your bf to do this, although this never happens, but I'm working on it (and he's not going to be happy reading this hahahaha).

Chocolate Macarons with Chestnut Cream

Chocolate Macarons
1/2 cup almond flour
1 cup powdered sugar
4 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 egg whites (aged 2 days in room temperature)
5 tbsp granulated sugar
pinch of cream of tartar

Chestnut Cream
1 cup heavy cream
200g roasted chestnut (I buy these in Asian supermarkets, roasted, shelled and ready to eat)
1.5 tbsp packed brown sugar
1 tbsp honey
1/2 tbsp vanilla
pinch of salt
1/2 tbsp cornstarch (if necessary)

Chestnut filling

1. In a small pot, add all the ingredients except cornstarch and simmer on low for about 30 minutes, while stirring it from time to time to prevent burning. The cream will become quite thick and a layer will form on the top, but you can just stir that back in.
2. Using an immersion blender, blend the paste until smooth, keep heating and stirring vigorously now until you reach desired consistency. It should be very thick, almost like the consistency of mashed potatoes (but not quite there). If not, add cornstarch.
3. Let it cool and then transfer into a pastry bag and refrigerate. It will become more thick as it cools too. You will only need about 1/2 of the cream but this is SO delicious on toast

Detailed macaron making here
Chocolate Macaron Shells

1. Prepare at least 2 baking trays lined with parchment paper or silicone and a pastry bag with a 1/2" tip 
2. Pulse almond flour, powdered sugar and cocoa powder in a food processor until mixed and airy. Set aside.
3. Whip egg whites on low speed until frothy looking and gradually add the granulated sugar on medium until soft peaks form. Add a pinch of cream of tartar and continue to whip on high speed just until the peaks are stiff and does not deflate/wilt under gravity when you hold it upright
4. Add half of the dry mix and gently fold into the egg whites with a spatula. Once half incorporated, dump the rest of the dry ingredients and fold. Start to squish the batter on the sides of the bowl to squeeze out the air. You can be very rough with the batter now. Mix for about 50 turns or until a drizzle from your spatula disappears into the batter 
5. Transfer batter into pastry bag and pipe out circles to your desired size. Rap the baking trays onto the counter to allow bubbles to pop from the batter. You can use a toothpick to pop the ones that didn't rise to the surface. Allow to dry for at least 1 hour or until the batter is dry to touch (timing depends on the weather)
6. Preheat oven to 310F. Bake dried shell batter for 15-17 mins. I usually er to 16-17mins so that I don't get soggy shells. 
7. Pipe filling onto cooled shells, sandwich and PUT IT IN THE FRIDGE in an airtight container. Literally, don't eat them on the first day. They don't taste as marvelous. These chocolate macarons especially taste so so so amazing when the chestnut cream has softened the macaron shells and imparted some flavor onto the shells.

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Green tea Crêpe Cake

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Woah. I'm doing back-to-back blog posting. I never do this, but I made this crepe cake for friends-giving and wanted to just shout it out on the blogosphere :P. It's just like the ones you find in Lady M bakery (NYC) but obviously 100x less refined and 100x less pretty :( . Have I ever mentioned that I used to work at a boba shop that also sold crepes and hookah. Pretty strange combo, but I guess it worked out so well that it expanded all over LA and in Hong Kong! I was their very first employee AND I came up with the crepe recipe. At least I know, if med school doesn't work out, I'll be a crepe maker :P

I also made a christmas tree stencil for the cake, but I forgot to take a picture of it ughh. This took a whole day and a half to make, but I plopped my computer right next to the stove and made crepes and watched "The Mindy Project" for 2 hours. Yea... I now have carpel tunnel from twirling my frying pan and batter all over my keyboard. I really need to invest in a keyboard cover because when I type I hear a lot of crunching... too much snacking while studying (oops)

Green tea Crêpe Cake

makes one 8" cake

Crêpes
1.5 cups flour
1.5 cups milk
1 cup water
4 eggs
6 tbsp butter, melted
5 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp matcha powder
2 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt

Pastry Creme Filling
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1.5 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla

1.5 cups heavy cream
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp matcha

1. Filling: In a medium pot, add yolks, flour, sugar, milk and vanilla. Whisk together and heat over medium fire. Keep whisking until it is pretty thick...probably about 5 mins. Take off heat and let it cool. Whip the heavy cream until soft peaks form. Whip in the sugar and matcha powder until medium-stiff peaks.  Fold into the cooled down custard and keep in the fridge until ready to assemble.
2. Crepes: In a blender, add all the ingredients. Pulse for 15-20 seconds. Refrigerate it for at least an hour to overnight. This helps to get rid of the bubbles so that it is less likely to tear while making them
3. In an flat 8" non-stick frying pan, heat on medium and melt about 1/2 tbsp of butter. Work with less than 1/3 cup (between 1/4-1/3 cup) of the batter and pour into your frying pan. Immediate tilt the batter to cover the bottom of the pan
4. Wait until the bottom is slightly brown (about 2-3mins), flip with your hands. I found this a lot easier than trying to use a spatula. Heat the other side for 1 min
5. Lay over wax paper and continue with the rest of the batter. I didn't stack them up because they can steam and make the other crepes soggy. I spread them out and would stack them when they cooled down.
6. Assembly: In a 9 or 10" freeform cake pan, wrap the bottom tin with plastic wrap. Lay a crepe on the bottom (your largest and prettiest one). Spread thin layer of filling and stack with another crepe. I added way too much creme and it kind of oozed everywhere. Make it as high as you like (but keep some filling left over to spread the top)! I think I stacked 20 crepes.
7. Lay your last one over and let it set in the fridge with plastic wrap on top overnight. This will stiffen the cake up some so the layers don't slide everywhere. The cake is best left to develop the green tea flavor and soften the crepes for 1-2 days!
8. Get a pretty plate and invert the cake onto the plate. Cover the top with the leftover creme and dust with matcha or powdered sugar

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Fig Walnut Dark Chocolate Cookies

Merry Christmas everyone! I've been doing so much baking, sometimes I feel like throwing my spatula on the floor. My mum is working me like a slave elf, baking cookies and cupcakes to give as gifts to everyone we know. If I have to whip anymore butter, I might flip a... flip some baking sheets ;) I really miss my stand mixer I left in Richmond!! My withered arms are too weak for vigorous stirring :(

Anyhoo, my high school friend is visiting and she has been helping me bake! Here's one of our lovely creations.

Fig Walnut Dark Chocolate Cookies

makes 50-60 cookies

3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 tbsp vanilla

1 cup dried figs, cut into raisin size
1 cup semisweet/dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

• Preheat oven to 350F
• In a medium bowl, mix the dry ingredients together (flour, baking soda, salt)
• With a electric mixer, beat butter in a large bowl until fluffy. Add sugars and beat for 1 min. Beat in eggs 1 at a time and then beat in vanilla.
• Add the dry mix and stir until just blended. Fold in the figs, chocolate and walnuts. Scoop 2 tbsp sized balls onto lined baking tray
• Bake for 12-15 mins, or until just golden. May be soft to touch on the top, but will harden when it cools

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Matcha Green Tea Shortbread Cookies

Done with my last exam for the semester. Only 999999 more exams in my life to go (yipee). I'm going to go run, relax and de-stress. Have my mum cook for me, go snowboarding, and then hibernate for 2 weeks. Yes!! I hope everyone has a wonderfully lazy Christmas too!

Here are some cookies I made to give to my bf's parents for xmas. Gawd, I am such a parent pleaser :)
These are mildly sweet cookies, with a buttery green tea aroma. Perfect for fancy gift giving.

Matcha Green Tea Shortbread Cookies

makes 2 dozen cookies

1 cup + 2 tbsp flour
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, cup into pieces
1.5 tbsp matcha powder (good quality makes greener cookies)
1/4 cup white sugar
3 tbsp raw sugar

• Beat butter ~3 min on medium high speed (used my mixer) until creamy. Add matcha and sugar gradually on high until fluffy
• Stir in flour and salt on low or by hand. Don't overmix! Just until blended
• Gather into a ball with your hand. The dough may seem dry but if you work at it and knead it a few times it will come together
• Roll out onto lightly floured parchment to 1/4" and cut out desired shape. Sprinkle sugar over the tops and press in lightly
• Refrigerate for at least 1 hour - overnight
• Preheat oven to 325F and bake 17-22 mins. Watch carefully because you don't want them turning brown!

*If cutting out is too much work, you can also roll the dough into a cylinder, roll it in some raw sugar to coat it. Seran wrap and refrigerate. When you're ready to bake, slice it into 1/4" rounds and bake!

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Christmas Coconut Mochi

Sometimes, I wish my birthday and Christmas wasn't lumped together. It means half the amount of presents and balloons you receive, and half the amount of cake that you get to eat every year! December babies, am I right?? Although, I got a Kitchen Aid mixer from my bf, so no excuses there... Yay! I finally have the excuse to make bread, sticky buns and more buns :D

Sooo, a friend at school gave out some deliciously soft and chewy mochi for Christmas. What a great idea. Asian girls can't get enough of mochi ;) These are sooo good though. I totally forgive him for being Japanese and not like sushi...seriously. Even people as white as wonder-bread love sushi. Kidding! We love you!

Anyhoo, his mum was so kind to share the recipe.

Christmas Coconut Mochi

makes 76 one inch squares

Ingredients
16 oz box mochiko (sweet rice flour)
2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking powder
12oz can coconut milk
1.5 - 2 cups water (depending on how firm you want your mochi to be)
1 tsp vanilla

red and green food color
potato starch (for dusting)

1. Preheat oven 350F, grease and place parchment paper on a 9 X 13 pan
2. In a large bowl, combine mochiko, sugar and baking powder. In another bowl mix water, coconut milk and vanilla. Add wet to dry ingredients and mix thoroughly
3. Take 2 cups of the mix and add 3-5 drops of green food coloring. Pour into prepared pan and place the pan on top of a cookie sheet (so bottom doesn't harden/bake too quickly), cover pan with foil and bake for 15 mins.
4. Take another 2 cups of the mix and add red food coloring. Set aside and pour the rest of the mix (white layer) over the baked green layer, cover with foil and baking for 30 mins.
5. Final layer, pour red mochi mix, cover with foil again and bake for 30 min. Let it rest with the foil cover for 15 mins
6. Stick it in the fridge for several hours or overnight (best) before trying to cut it. Seriously too sticky to cut and handle if it is still warm.
7. Using kitchen scissors, cut into desired sizes (my friend did then in mini 1/4" squares). Remember to coat fingers with potato starch so you don't stick to the mochi. You can trim the hard side off.
8. Dust lightly with potato starch and put them into cute baggies to share!

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