Miss Hangrypants: sweets

Showing posts with label sweets. Show all posts

Hotteok Waffles [Korean cinnamon pancake waffles]

I'm currently on a college tour with my brother and mum and it has been EVENTFUL. By that I mean extremely terrible, because being stuck in the car with a surly teen and a high-pitched tiger mum for several hours is almost as bad as being duct taped to a chair listening to nails scratching on a chalk board. I feel a little crazy since we've hit 5 different states in 5 days with me as the sole driver. The only thing that's keeping me going is eating at all the bomb places I've been wanting to go in each state! I just left Boston with a box of Flour Bakery cookies and I'm in heaven! It's also crazy snowing in Boston.

This year's spring is cold and weird, so it's time to snuggle up to something toasty and cinnamon-y, like these Korean pancakes in waffle form. I eat Hotteok, a street food found everywhere in Korea, in any weather actually. They are like cinnamon buns, but chewy and flat like a pancake with an oozing middle full of melted brown sugar and peanuts. So good and so perfect for chilly weather (or all four seasons ha!)

Hotteok Waffles

makes 10-12 square waffles

Dough
2.5 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
4 tbsp sugar
2 tsps instant yeast
2 tbsp canola oil
3/4 cup warm milk

Filling
heaping 3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsps cinnamon
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup peanuts, coarsely chopped
2 tbsp flaked almonds, coarsely chopped
2 tbsps each white and black sesame seeds
pinch of salt

For the dough, place all the ingredients into your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Work on a low speed until everything comes together and then turn it up a the next level for about a minute or so. Cover bowl loosely with plastic wrap and a damp cloth and leave in a warm spot until doubled in size (about 1 hour)
Meanwhile, make the filling by mixing all the ingredients together in a small bowl
When the dough is ready, punch it down and place on floured surface. Divide dough into about 10 balls. While working with 1 ball, cover the rest with plastic wrap so they don't dry out
Flatten ball gently with your palm to get a circle the size of your palm (about 4 inches). Place 1 tbsp of filling in the middle and bring edges of dough to cover and pinch to seal. Continue doing that to all the hotteok dough.
Preheat your waffle iron and oil surfaces generously each time. Cook according to your waffle iron's directions and they should be nice and brown on the outside
Serve hot!

Prez Trump Dumps

Congrats to everyone who matched for residency today! I matched into general surgery and now I only have to wait until Friday to know where I'll be going. The end of schooling is so near I can almost taste it haha. For shits and giggles (literally), I made some chocolate covered marshmallows with dried pineapple for his voluptuous hair. Doesn't it look like the real thing (if not much improved)??

I also added some food coloring to make them orange inside for Trump's fake bake. Although, eating them and discovering they're more flesh colored makes it a little morbid :/

#nastywomenunite

President Trump Dumps

makes 25-35 dumps

Marshmallows
- recipe with corn syrup adapted from Alton Brown
- recipe withOUT corn syrup here (just don't add matcha powder)
* I added 1:3 ratio of red:yellow food coloring to achieve orange insides (optional)

Dried Pineapple Toupee - 1 can of whole ring pineapple in juice (only need 4 slices)

Eyes - white and semi-sweet chocolate chips

First make the pineapple toupee because this takes the longest. Drain can of pineapple rings and cut into quarters and half the thickness. Lay on silicone baking mat to dry at room temp overnight uncovered. This eliminates using your oven and wasting so much electricity. Next day, stick it in a 170F (or your oven's lowest settings) heated oven and dry for about 2 hours. Using a chopstick, roll and lay the dried pineapple pieces to hang so they curl and dry for another hour
Prepare 2 silicone baking mats or wax paper and lightly grease patches/circles where you will pipe out the marshmallows on. Make 1 recipe of marshmallows and add food coloring if you like. Dump whipped marshmallow into a piping bag with a 1/2" tip. I also used a gallon ziploc bag and sniped a sizable whole for easy cleaning!
Pipe out marshmallow poops onto the mat and dry uncovered overnight or at least 4-5 hours
Melt 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips or baking chips in a bain-marie or double boiler and dip marshmallows. Use a fork to pick it up by the base and tap fork to let excess chocolate drip so you can have a more defined poop shape
Make your next one as you allow the chocolate covering to dry a little bit. Then place white chocolate chips for eyes and use a chopstick to draw pupils with the melted chocolate. Dress with curled pineapple toupee!

Nutella Stuffed Almond Cookies

Only two more weeks and 3 days until match day! I think I should be more nervous about where I end up, since I've been hearing my friends lose sleep over this. But my mind has been on vacay-mode for more than 4 months, so it is pretty much mush :/

Because I am still going strong with breaking New Year's resolutions to eat healthy, here are some Nutella stuffed Almond cookies!

Nutella Stuffed Almond Cookies

makes 1-2 dozen

1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda + 1 tsp hot water
1/4 tsp salt
1.5 cups flour

1/2 cup flaked almonds
1/2 cup nutella

On a piece of parchment paper or silpat mat, spoon about 12-15 half tablespoons of nutella and put in the freezer
Preheat oven to 325F
Cream butter and sugars. Beat in egg and stir in vanilla
Dissolve the baking soda in hot water and add to the batter. Add salt and mix until combined
Stir in flour just until a dough forms. Fold in almonds.
Roll into 1-2 inch balls, then flatten and place a frozen nutella ball in the middle. Seal it like you would fill a dumpling, roll back into ball shape and place 1" apart on a lined baking tray. Dough will not spread much, so if you want a thinner crispier cookie, flatten it a bit
Bake for 10-15 mins, just until edges are brown (not to a crisp!)

Homemade Matcha-mallows S'mores

A quick hello before I go to sleep (I guess goodnight?)! I'm kinda excited to share a marshmallow recipe with you guys, that contains no corn syrup! Honestly, I don't know what's up with all the bad hype about corn syrup and don't want to read about it, since I already have to read about bowel obstruction for my patients (hehe sorry). I've been meaning to make marshmallows, so I actually bought a bottle of corn syrup, but found a recipe just using sugar. Now, I have no idea what to do with the corn syrup :/

The addition of something bitter/earthy like matcha to marshmallows is such a genius move. Usually, I find marshmallows way too sweet and absolutely will not eat them unless sandwiched in s'mores. This was before I made some homemade ones. I kid you not... they are like fluffy pillows that instantly melt in your mouth. You can eat so many of them, because they aren't too sweet and I guess they're somewhat healthy (because of matcha???).

I'm excited to introduce you guys to the culinary matcha that I've been incorporating into new recipes you'll be seeing more soon! I'm super in love with matcha!!! I could run to the rooftop and shout out my love for it! It has such an unique earthy and healthy quality to it, I find myself sprinkling it on everything.

I have a whole recipe gallery dedicated to matcha! If you want to try it, I'm partnering with Panatea and offering 10% off their culinary grade bag (Code: mhpculinary)

They also have awesome matcha tees and tanks for those super matcha-afficionados. I've been debating on getting some, but they've run out of the smallest sizes D:

Homemade Matcha-mallows S'mores
makes 30-40 s'mores
adapted from kitchenfrau

Matcha marshmallows
1 cup water (divided)
2 packages gelatin (about 4.5 tsps)
2 cups white sugar
1.5 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
2-3 tbsps Panatea's culinary grade matcha
powdered sugar
corn starch

Prepare a 9x13" pan by lightly greasing with butter and powdered sugar. Tap out excess powdered sugar from pan.
Stir 1/2 cup of water with gelatin and allow to bloom (it should be like a clump of jelly fish :/)
Meanwhile heat sugar and the other 1/2 cup of water in a small pot until dissolved. Add the gelatin into the pot and bring to boil while stirring. Once bubbling, take off heat, add salt and stir (it will turn whitish and make sure sides are scraped down as well). Cool to room temp
Once cool, add vanilla and pour into a stand mixer (the cooled mix will look translucent and yellowy). Beat on high for 6 mins, the coagulated stuff will magically turn white and fluffy! Stop and add matcha powder and beat for 2-3 mins more
Dump into prepared pan. I mean dump, because the mixture will be sticky and difficult to handle. Smooth out layer as even as you can. Let cool and dry overnight
Cut into desired shape: I cut it into squares and circles to the size of my crackers. Always wipe your knife or plastic when slicing so it doesn't stick too badly. Toss marshmallows into a half and half mix of matcha and powdered sugar or corn starch. Allow to dry on a rack for a few hours

Graham crackers
1.5 cups all purpose
1 cup whole wheat
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp salt
1 stick frozen butter (cut in tbsps)
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup whole milk
2 tbsp vanilla

Pulse flours, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a food processor just to mix. Add frozen butter and pulse until you can see small pea-sized lumps amongst the dry mix
Whisk honey, milk, and vanilla to food processor and pulse until dough comes together. You can take it out and knead the dough so it forms a ball. It will be soft and sticky. Cover with plastic wrap and stick in the fridge for at least 2 hours
Roll out dough on floured surface and roll to slightly thicker than 1/8". Cut into squares of desired size (I did 1.5x1.5"). Place on silicon mat or parchment paper. Prick cut graham squares with a fork. Chill for at least 30 mins
Preheat oven to 350F and bake chilled crackers for 18-24mins or until nicely browned on the edge. Cool on rack

Assembly

- I used nutella as my (chocolate layer), but a ganache dark chocolate layer would put this over the top!

Oreo Cheesecake Brownie Bars

Ah... It feels like I haven't been posting for a while! I swear I've been sweating it up in the kitchen baking, cooking and testing out recipes. I have so many posts lined up that I'm super excited about, so I promise I'll have it up soon. But, for now I'm going to post something I made last year. Haha oops. I've been meaning to post these oreo cheesecake brownies that I made when I just felt I needed the ultimate indulgence. It isn't one of my usual East-meets-West recipe, but sometimes there are foods like cheesecake brownies that you just can't tamper with.

Do make these and save them in the fridge so you can have them on one of those long and exhausting days. Or if you're like me and you become cookie monster at a certain time of the month ;)

Hopefully I'll be able to post some cooler recipes soon!

Oreo Cheesecake Brownie Bars
makes one 8x8" pan

Brownie
1 stick butter, melted
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cheesecake
2 - 8oz packages cream cheese, room temp
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
About 1 cup crushed Oreos

Preheat oven to 350F. Line pan with parchment paper
Brownie: mix wet ingredients (melted butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla), gently stir in the dry ingredients (cocoa, flour, salt, baking powder) and just mixed. Fold in chocolate chips. Pour batter into the pan. Smooth out if necessary.
Cheesecake: Whip cream cheese until light and fluffy. Whip in the sugar, sour cream and vanilla. Gently fold in the crushed Oreos.
Carefully pour cheesecake batter over the brownie batter and smooth the top
Put in the oven for 20mins (do not open the oven door). Lower the oven to 325F and bake for another 20 mins. Again (DON"T open the oven door), lower temperature to 300 and bake for 10 mins
Now crack open the oven door just a little bit, turn off the oven, and let it sit for 30-40mins. Let it cool and then stick it in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

Roasted Strawberries Matcha Popsicles

I just started pediatrics rotation, which is kind of cool because I get to play Wii all day with the kids. Well, not really... I had a week of peds hematology and oncology, so it's been somewhat emotional on the floor and with the patients. Some kids are super well and happy, some not so much. Although, I really did play dance Wii, and got in a great workout, so I'm pretty much set for the rest of the month as far as exercise is concerned haha.

It's pretty exciting working in the hospital instead of studying at the desk all day! I'm constantly surrounded by smart people all day, so I'm learning a lot but also feeling incredibly stupid everyday :P. Anyway, one of my patients looked like a mix of Dora the explorer and Strawberry Shortcake. She's so cute! Plus, she has this insatiable sweet tooth, so these popsicles kind of reminded me of her :D.

Roasting strawberries is a pretty new idea to me, but I've been seeing a lot of blog posts about them so I thought I'd give it a try. Roasting them really caramelizes the sugar and intensifies the flavors (berry berry yummy...haha I had to say it). Do try it while it's berry season!

Other amazing roasted strawberries ideas:

This Roasted Stawberry-miso Ice Cream. Miso what?!
Roasted Balsamic Strawberry Ginger Ice Cream. Taking a trip to flavor town!
Roasted Strawberry and Dumpling. Anything in skillet please
Roasted Strawberries over Honey whipped ricotta. Like heaven on a pillow

Roasted Strawberries Matcha Popsicles
adapted from withfoodandlove

1/2 lb strawberries
3 tbsp honey
1 can coconut milk (lite or full fat)
1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 tbsp PANATEA matcha (cooking grade)

Preheat oven to 375F. Cut Strawberries in 1/2, drizzle with honey and roast for 15-20mins or until soft.
Allow to cool and then mash roasted strawberries in a small bowl. Add 1/4 cup coconut milk and distribute the mix into the molds
In a blender (I used an immersion blender), blend remaining coconut milk, sweetened condensed milk and matcha powder. Pour matcha mix carefully over the roasted strawberries. Freeze for a few hours or overnight
Run mold under warm water for a few minutes to help the popsicles unstick

Disclaimer: This post is in partnership with panatea matcha. All opinions are my own.

Matcha Checkerboard Shortbread Cookies

Ummah 엄마 - that's what mothers are called in Korean. And I love my ummah and she loves me like crazy (well... most of the time :P). When I lived at home before college, I wanted to get out of the house as soon as possible. My mum was one of those tiger mum types. If I slept at midnight, she'd yell and tell me that while I was sleeping there were other kids up way past 2am with bleeding noses because they were studying so hard. My mum expected us to use encyclopedias as pillows and to study until the crack of dawn. Every night, she would camp out on the living room sofa and my sister and I would come out of our rooms to study on the living room table so she could keep an eye out on us. Of course, by 11pm she'd be fast asleep on the couch, except you could never tell because she sleeps with her eyes open!

Sometimes, we'd take turns to wave a hand in front of her face and make sure she's sleeping. If we were lucky, we would hop straight into bed and then hear our mum a few hours later waking up groggily and walking back to her room :P. We'd hold our breaths until we heard the squeak of her mattress sink under her weight. Sometimes, we weren't so lucky in our endeavors... And when you have a mother who sings soprano at a Korean community church, you can be sure you'll be hearing that voice for miles. Thinking about it, my sister and I probably really needed an iron fist when it comes to studying, because we were such lazy kids haha...

Despite the draconian studying, our mum was always looking out for us. Every summer when I left Hong Kong for Houston, I lugged two very full suitcases; one filled with my clothes and another filled with all my favorite home-cooked foods. She was always so worried I would starve myself even if I was already on a meal plan in college. Needless to say, my suitcases were always overweight or needed extra time in security, because I was carrying stinky things like kimchi (scared the sniffing dogs) or suspiciously dense frozen blocks of Korean rice cakes. By the time I was going to graduate, I had enough food left over in the freezer for a zombie apocalypse. But, now I'm so grateful that she can still cook and pack food for me :D

Mum - I love you and thank you that you've always been there for me.

Happy Mother's Day!

Matcha Checkerboard Shortbread Cookies

1-1/4 stick butter, softened
1/3 cup powdered sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
2 cup flour
1 pinch salt
3 tsp PANATEA matcha

Beat softened butter until light and fluffy. Cream together powdered sugar, yolks and vanilla. Mix flour and salt to the butter mixture until a lumpy dough starts to form. Using your hands, press the lumps and knead until dough is smooth.
Separate dough into 2 balls. Knead matcha into one ball until it is uniformly green. Separate each ball in half again.
For each ball, roll/pat into a long cylinder about 12" and then pat to make 4 sides (like a long square). Arrange them on top of each other to make a chessboard and pat lightly together.
Wrap firmly in seran wrap and pat lightly on a flat surface to make the dough log more square.
Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 360F. With a sharp knife, cut out 1/4" cookies and lay on a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Bake for 9-12mins or until slightly browning on the edges.
Let cool for at least 5 minutes.

Spring Bloom Cookie Wreaths

Hello Spring! It was an amazingly hot day yesterday in Richmond. I actually broke out into a sweat while walking up to school (sometimes my only exercise ever), and all the pretty pink flowers that bloomed in this one tree had just shriveled up from the heat and fallen off :\ I think it's going to be hot all weekend, which means I need to either get up earlier so I can walk at snail pace and avoid getting pit stains on my scrubs or refuse to raise my arms all day.

I think I was supposed to talk about the beauty of Spring and flowers, but somehow got onto the topic of sweating and pit stains (sorry!). It's also going to be mother's day this Sunday!! The day just reminds me of how expensive flower bouquets can be (and how much I love my mum :P). I think one of our pet peeves is receiving flowers. We'd much rather receive a dozen hamburgers or a cake (my mum says straight up cash please)... such romantics :\ So, I wish I could bake these lemony bright cookies for my mum instead of flowers and give her a humongous hug for being the best mum ever. Unfortunately, she is in LA and if she knows that I've been baking instead of studying, she'll have my head on a plate.

These cookies were inspired by winter holiday wreath cookies made by bon appetite (link below). I've gone an put a spring flair on them with dried flower petals I bought at a loose leaf tea store, poppy seeds and chopped nuts. They're just so pretty and motherly looking! I hope your mum loves them as much as I do!

Spring Bloom Cookie Wreaths
inspired by bonappetite

Cookie dough
1.5 stick butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs, room temp
zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp vanilla

2.5 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

Toppings
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp milk
handful of dried strawberries, candied rose petals, dried petal tea herbs
handful of chopped almonds or pistachios
poppy seeds

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, lemon zest and vanilla. Mix in flour, baking powder and salt and then knead the dough as it comes together.
Make a smooth ball with the dough, seran wrap and flatten slightly. Place in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight (if overnight, let it thaw a little before rolling)
Preheat oven to 400F. Generously flour your surface and rolling pin. Roll out cookie dough to 1/4" thick and cut out wreaths
Bake for 6-10 mins or until the edges slightly brown. Let them completely cool out of the oven
Whisk together in a small bowl, powdered sugar, lemon juice and milk. Dip cooled cookies face down into the icing and let the excess drip. Work quickly to decorate petals, poppy seeds nuts (whatever you like!) on the icing and pressing slightly to make sure it adheres
Let the icing completely dry (may take more than an hour) and serve. Keep remaining cookies in a airtight container and they will last for many days!

Raspberry pistachio sable

Hello from the Atlanta airport on my way back to Richmond! Ah, I'm not looking forward to school and starting to feel exhausted already haha. I really should have caught up on sleep, but I started reading this fantasy book series and once I start I can't stop (all nighters, reading on the can etc...). I've been trying to read everything non-medical before school starts! I've also been baking up a storm, and baking into the wee hours of the night. It's bad when you've been startling your family as they come downstairs and see a glowing oven and a pair of eyes in the darkness...oops)

I'm all about spring baking now and really starting to enjoy the warm weather. Actually, it's always warm and sunny weather in LA. I'm just leaving it and going back to Virginia D: Sorry, going back to school brings out the whining in me. I can't help it. I guess I'm just going to have to whine for the next 10 years of my life. haha...(?)

But, I'm super excited to see my friends, my bf and even grudgingly have to admit that I want to go back to a scheduled life. I get so antsy not doing anything and so so restless. I'm the worst couch potato and also the worst person you want to sit next to while watching anything, because I WILL ask numerous questions throughout the movie. I've been driving my mum up the wall while she watches her Korean dramas. "Where is the love triangle? Why is the female protagonist so helpless? Who is she in love with again? Why is the evil wealthy mother so cruel?" You know... the typical K-drama plots. I really only watch them to ogle at the actors hehe...

I leave you with this recipe inspired from a recent visit to a French pastry shop. I think I'm speaking for a lot of bakers out there, but there are times when you see an overpriced pastry and you think to yourself..."I could make that for a fraction of the cost". So I returned home, googled sables, consulted a few French cooking blogs, and got to baking. Here, Sables aka French buttery shortbread is covered in cool vanilla pastry cream, topped with fresh raspberries and studded with crushed pistachios. I recommend you make it (like, seriously) ;)

RASPBERRY PISTACHIO SABLE
makes two 6x3" sables
sable breton recipe adapted from Dorie Greenspan

Sable breton
70g granulated white sugar
80g butter (~7tbsp)
pinch of salt
2 large egg yolks
zest of 1/2 a lemon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
112g all purpose flour (~ 1 cup)
7.5g baking powder (~ tsp)

Pastry cream
1 tbsp white sugar
1 tbsp flour
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream + 1 tbsp powdered sugar

honey
handful of shelled pistachios, chopped coarsely
6oz raspberries, washed and dried

Cream butter, salt and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks, vanilla, lemon zest
Add flour and baking powder and mix with a spatula or wooden spoon until a soft dough forms
Press dough into tart molds, filling about half way up. Make an indentation in the middle so you have raised edges (I actually cut a generic cardboard box that holds 4 sticks of butter in half lengthwise and covered that with foil to make my molds! Yay for DIY!). Cover with Seran wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hrs or overnight
For the pastry cream: whisk in a very small pot all the ingredients except whipping cream. Heat and continue to whisk on medium heat until it becomes goopy. Wrap with seran wrap and cool to room temp. In a small bowl, whip heavy whipping cream with powdered sugar until stiff. Fold into cooled pastry cream, cover and put in the refrigerator
Preheat oven to 350F and bake sables for 15-20 mins or until the top is golden brown. Allow to cool completely
Spread honey on the raised edges of the sables and sprinkle coarsely chopped pistachio. Shake off excess. Spread a layer of pastry cream in the center and arrange raspberries on top

*Best baked and eaten on the same day. Otherwise, cover and keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Matcha Tres Leches Cake

Hello blogworld! I'm finally free to blog! Although, I will be MIA again for another 2-3 weeks. :P I'm actually typing this post at the airport about to board the plane for Korea and Nepal. I seriously only have a ticket to Nepal and NO plans. This makes my type A personality go crazy, but I haven't had any time to book/plan anything, so I am without hotel, itinerary, travel insurance or proper hiking equipment. Yikes... It's supposed to be raining all throughout my trip and I only brought a pair of Nikes to trek the Himalayan range. Hmmm.. I'm starting to worry now, but I'm about to board in half and hour and can't do anything about it. D:

I hope I come back in one piece... Besides that, I made this cake as homage to the matcha almond lattes I drank every.single.day.of.studying. I'm really sensitive to caffeine and coffee makes me go crazy, so I was so grateful when I learned of Encha from my fave blogger, Betty of lejusdorangeblog.com. They make different grades of matcha, which is awesome because I always feel guilty using a lot of it for baking. Matcha lattes seriously saved my life, since I obviously can't be sleeping all day and they taste so delicious that it put me out of my studying misery. THANK YOU ENCHA!

Matcha Tres Leches Cake

makes a 8 x 8" cake
adapted from allrecipes.com

6 tbsp white sugar (divided)
3 medium/small egg yolks
3 medium/small egg whites
2.5 tbsp almond milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp matcha powder - using almond latte grade from ENCHA

3 tbsp sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup almond milk
1 tbsp matcha powder
heavy whipping cream

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter and flour bottom and sides of a 8x8" pan
Beat egg yolks with 3 tbsp of sugar until fluffy. Mix in 2.5 tbsp milk, vanilla, flour, baking powder and matcha powder
In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites with the other 3 tbsp of sugar until soft peaks form. Fold egg whites into the batter carefully
Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 35-40 mins or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean
Allow the cake to completely cool. Pour a ton of holes into it with a fork or toothpick. Mix together the condensed milk, evaporated milk, almond milk and matcha powder. Pour over the cake slowly until it is absorbed. Chill in the fridge overnight
You can whip about 1/2 cup of whipping cream and put an even layer on top before chilling. I just served the cake with dollops of whipped cream and strawberries

I received a bag of Encha culinary-grade matcha for this post. But, I honestly love their stuff and bought their almond-grade out of my own pocket, which I used to make this cake. All product opinions are my own!

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

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.
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.
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

Prepare at least 2 baking trays lined with parchment paper or silicone and a pastry bag with a 1/2" tip
Pulse almond flour, powdered sugar and cocoa powder in a food processor until mixed and airy. Set aside.
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
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
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)
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.
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.

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

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.
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
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
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
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.
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.
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!
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

Pumpkin Maple Cheesecake

Happy Halloween! Today, I feel like I have to rant (when do I not?). I came to school dressed like Wednesday Addams (yea I still dress up >.<), with stripy socks, collared shirt buttoned to my neck and braided pigtails. I thought I was dead on with the costume, but I have had 2 people in my class think I was Britney Spears. Yes, the Britney Spears in her school girl outfit. I mean... my dress up is SUPER conservative. I'm choking in my buttoned collar and have absolutely no skin exposed! Other than that, I've been told I look like a Japanese schoolgirl. Ungh...

On a brighter note, this pumpkin cheesecake was such a hit! It has a subtle spicy-ness and warmth with a definite pumpkin note. This is a cheesecake I need to make again!

Pumpkin Maple Cheesecake

adapted from allrecipes.com (makes a 5" cake)
*double ingredients for 9" except use 3 eggs not 4

Crust
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1.5 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp powdered ginger
2 tbsp butter, melted

Cheesecake
12 oz cream cheese, softened (1 1/2 packages of 8oz)
1/2 can of sweetened condensed milk (7oz)
3/4 cup pumpkin puree (drained*)
2 medium eggs
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tbsp vanilla
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice + 1 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
1 tbsp all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 325F
layer 2 kitchen towels in a bowl and put 1 cup of pumpkin puree and let it drain for 10 mins. Cover it with another 2 kitchen towels again. The puree won't stick at all but this gets rid of all the excess water. You should end up with 3/4 cup of a ball of pumpkin that you can pick up
To make the crust, mix the crumbs, sugar, ginger together. Drizzle in the butter and mix. Pat the crust mix into a 5" spring form pan. Bake for 8-10 mins and let cool
For the cheesecake, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually beat in the condensed milk. While beating, add the pumpkin puree, eggs, syrup, vanilla and salt and spices.
Gently mix the flour in (try not to over mix). Bake at 325F for 50 mins.
DO NOT take it out of the oven. Just switch the oven off and let it sit there for 3 hours. This prevents the surface from cracking and no meddling with water baths!
Chill for at least 2 hours and best overnight for a perfect cheesecake texture. Enjoy!

Birthday Cake Macarons - Blogiversary

Happy Birthday to my blog! Yay. It's been 3 years since I've started blogging and a year on this blog. I'm glad my med school schedule really allows me to cook and bake so much (yea, right). I might have sacrificed a lot of my exercise time to work on my blog, but a widened girth makes for a satisfying lady :P

Blogging has allowed me to make and try a lot of things. Meet a few blogger friends along the way and on instagram. But mostly, my blog exists to annoy my bf hahaha. He's my hand model, food holder, light reflector holder, prop holder and food tester. Sometimes he has to eat dinner at 3pm because I need to take pictures before the light goes down and by the time I'm done with my photoshoot, he needs to reheat it. Oops... I could keep going on but I think you get the idea (and you will think I'm a monster). Thank you for putting up with me! And a thank you to my roommate, who I've now recruited to hold my props. Lol. But, I make sure I feed them with lots of yummy goodies.

And thank you to my readers (if I actually have any ︶︹︺)!!

Birthday Cake Macarons

makes about 30-35

Macaron Batter
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup finely ground almonds
2 large egg whites, aged 2 days in fridge and 1 day at room temp
5 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of cream of tartar (it was really humid when I was making these, but this is optional)
sprinkles

Cheesecake filling
4 oz cream cheese, softened
2 tbsp butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar (adjust according to taste)
1/2-1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp sprinkles

Filling - *I like to do this step when I'm waiting for the macaron shells to dry

Whip softened butter and cream cheese together until light and fluffy. Whip in the powdered sugar and vanilla. Stir in the sprinkles
Fill a pastry bag with the filling and let chill

Macaron shells

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon mat and get a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch plain tip prepared
In a food processor pulse almond flour and powdered sugar until mixed and fluffy
In the bowl of your stand mixer (if you have one, or just an egg beater bowl... I really don't recommend whisking by hand!), beat egg whites with the whisk attachment on medium low for 2 mins, gradually adding in the sugar.
Increase speed to 7 to whip for another 3 minutes and then at 8-10 for another 4 minutes. You should be getting a stiff meringue that you can make soft peaks. Add the vanilla in the last 4 minutes.
Fold the dry ingredients in 2 batches with a rubber spatula and make smooth sweeps to the bottom of the bowl. You do want to deflate the meringue a bit so squishing to mix to knock out some air is okay! After about 50-ish foldings, the batter should look glossy and when you drop some from your spatula to the batter, it takes about 20 secs for it to mold back into the mix. Don't over mix or it will a runny and watery mess!
Fill your pastry bag (hold it up in a tall glass..makes life so easy) and pipe batter onto the prepared baking sheets in 3.5cm circles, spaced 1" apart.
Rap the baking sheet a few times about 1 inch above the counter top to flatten the macarons and to get rid of bubbles. Sprinkle sprinkles!
Let them rest at room temp for 45-60mins. The tops should be dry and nothing should stick to your finger if you poke them.
Preheat your oven to 315 F. Bake for 15 mins, rotate pans and then bake for another 3-5 minutes. You can check they are done by lifting one macaron you can sacrifice. If the feet comes off, leave it in a minute longer. It's better to overbake than underbake.
Let cool completely before removing them from the paper. Line up similar sized ones and pipe the chilled cheesecake filling onto 1 shell. Sandwich together. Let them sit in the fridge in a sealed container for at least 1 day before serving. They don't taste as good fresh out because the inside of the macaron shells need some time to soften and for the filling flavors to come together.