Gold Fishes Cheese Crackers

I love eating gold fishes crackers. They are flavorful and make very nice snack. I can easily devour a whole pack. I have the sudden urge to make them one night after shopping at Daiso and saw a gold fish shaped and a whale shaped cookie cutters. When I got home, I didn't know where to start, and behold, I busted out my Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc cookbook! Inside, I found a recipe for soup crackers. To me, soup crackers and gold fishes crackers share almost the same texture. So, I took his recipe and added my own touch to it. I added shredded mozzarella cheese.
The gold fishes came out very crunchy and flavorful but not as flaky as I thought they would be. So the next day, I decided to change it up and browze around! I looked up "cheese cracker" in one of the food magazine website, Country Living, I checked up on ocassionally. I followed the recipe but decreased the salt just a teeny tiny bit since cheese contains salt already.

Cheddar Goldfish Crackers
Ingredients:

1 cup(s) all-purpose flour

4 tablespoon(s) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

8 ounce(s) grated extra-sharp Cheddar cheese

3/4 teaspoon(s) salt

1/2 teaspoon(s) fresh-ground pepper

Instruction:

Make the dough: Pulse the flour, butter, cheese, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper together using a food processor until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Pulse in 3 to 4 tablespoons of water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and only enough so that the dough forms a ball and rides the blade. Remove, wrap in plastic, and chill for 20 minutes or up to 24 hours.

Bake the crackers: Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking pans with parchment paper and set aside. Roll the dough out to 1/8th-inch thickness. Cut out as many crackers as possible using a 2-inch fish-shaped cutter. Place them 1 inch apart on the prepared baking pans. Bake until golden and crisp — 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Repeat with remaining dough and scraps. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week. 

Also, one thing the magazine did not mention is that, you can pick up the scrap from the leftover dough, and re-roll it each time and cut more crackers out of it. Dust a little flour onto the counter and rolling pin to help prevent stickiness.

Make sure you have sufficient time to cut the little gold fishes out. To me, it was the longest part in making these crackers. But then again, you can use any size cutters you want, or you can simply just use a knife and go across the dough to make simple square ones.

Lavender Cupcakes with Honey Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Wow the title sounds overwhelming! This cupcake has a little kick of spiciness from the lavender and the sweet and tang from the frosting, which make them pair so well and gives a nice balance!

The amount of lavender I used was from the experience I had with making honey lavender ice cream (which was delish by the way). I steeped a tablespoon of lavender in some milk and then added to the cupcake mixture. I also added a litle bit of the steep buds into the cupcake mixture. Because even though the buds have been steeps, it will still gives off that strong spicy to bitter taste when chewed. I know people like my boyfriend are not very fond of lavender, so adjust so that the eater can taste that it's lavender.

The frosting was super fun to make since it has so many components. I made a cream cheese frosting with a larger cream cheese to butter ratio, and a little less powdered sugar than usual. The honey will makes the frosting naturally sweeter so don't need as much sugar! Then I added lemon juice and lemon zests. Whipped them all up and viola! A sticky and gooey, sweet and tangy frosting.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Whipped Chocolate Frosting

I was a peanut butter fan when I was younger, and then I stopped eating it for the longest time. Recently I bought a natural jar of it and couldn't stop indulging myself in it. I love spreading it on whole wheat bread. It's creamy and gooey; it brings me back to childhood memory of it every time.

Anyhow, so I decided to test and make some peanut butter cupcakes. I know it's going to be tricky since the consistency of the peanut butter itself is already oily, gooey and buttery...the amount of butter added would be a challenge. Indeed, my peanut butter cupcake turned out super de-duper moist and dense in the center but perfect texture outside. It's still edible but just a little too dense for my taste. I probably need to re-test this next time. But other than that I really like the flavor of it.

I decided to frost the cupcake with a lighter frosting. Instead of using a buttercream, I just used whipped cream...with chocolate! Chocolate peanut butter equals yummy!

Thomas Keller's Oreo Take Two...

I decided to make a third batch of TKO because I was not completely satisfied with the previous one. After experimenting with the dough a bit, I finally got the edge of the cookies to set better, and the cream filling better!

Never the less, this batch was 10X better than previous, look-wise especially! I do notice though the cream filling tastes better and gets a bit firmer after being in the fridge a bit. And after a couple days in the fridge, the cookies started to get lighter in color but they still tasted great! Yay!



Thomas Keller's Oreo

One of my favorite bakery is Bouchon! They made amazing macarons on top of other delightful treats such as their cookies and TKO...Thomas Keller's version of Oreos.

TKO from Bouchon

So I found a recipe in his Ad Hoc cookbook that results in similiar cookies as the TKO! All I had to do is try to make a cream filling for it! I decided to make one with white chocolate in it. Dark chocolate cookies and white chocolate fillings, yum!

MDO!

So I made and tested two different batches that resulted in different texture of the cookie. One of the batch tasted exactly like an Oreo cookie! Bingo! The other one resulted in flakier cookies, which I actually prefer if it's not cream-filled. The only trouble I had making these was shaping them right. I used the right cookie cutter and it looked perfect before they hit the oven. But while they are baking, they start mishaping.

After taste testing and baking these cookies, I am feeling a bit sick from overdosage of chocolate and sweetness. So, I decided to try making these again in the near future to try to perfect the shape then.

Matcha Cupcakes with Raspberry Jam

I always want to make a filled cupcake, and I know exactly what I wanted to use--raspberry jam. So I was thinking about possible flavor I can use it with, and I came up with chocolate and matcha. I made several chocolate cupcakes before and thought it's time to try something different, so I used the matcha powder that I have! I found this matcha cupcake recipe online by Martha Steward, then I just filled it with raspberry jam and made my own experimental matcha buttercream.

The cake is moist but too cakey for my taste. Don't get me wrong though, it tastes great and have a great texture, but I think it's more suitable for making a regular size cake. It's not as fluffy as I wanted it to be. I also think I need to get a stronger tasting matcha powder. The matcha cupcakes has only hints of the matcha taste, and this is speaking from a person who know what matcha tastes like. Otherwise, to most people who didn't know it has matcha in the cupcake, it would just like a sweeter version of vanilla cupcakes.

Coffee Addict

I am such a coffee addict! The first thing I think about after I wake up is coffee. I am picky about my coffee, it can't be super bold, and has to have at least 1-2 tablespoon of soymilk in it. I know. I rely on it so much to wake me up every morning, including the weekend.
Anyhow, I not only enjoy cup of joe, I also enjoy coffee anything! So when it comes to cupcakes, mocha is my next choice next to Red Velvet. I'd been wanting to make mocha cupcakes like forever, and finally, I made some! Yay!

I used Peet's Arabian Mocha Java, which is a bold and full bodied coffee, in the cupcake and the frosting. Oh, I used an aeropress to brew the coffee, so it's super smooth and silky! I also used a lot of unsweetened cocoa, so it overpowered the coffee a bit but I could taste a hint of it. I wonder if it's because the coffee already has a hint of chocolate in it, so it just adds to the chocolate flavor more than the coffee. Anyhow, I just used regular Toll House cocoa. I think I should upgrade and use an expensive one to pair with the higher end and delightful Peet's Arabian Mocha Java next time and see how that will turn out. But neverthless, the cupcake still turns out rich and fluffy. It's not too dense and too cakey, just exactly the way I like my cupcake! The buttercream is amazing! It's smooth, not bitter, and has great coffee flavor! I will definitely make that buttercream again. I think I can eat this buttercream shot by shot!

Hau'oli Lā Hānau Alison!

First off, I finally found the piping tip that I'd been looking for forever. It's amazing, and I love it! I tried using it the first time for the batch of cupcakes I am about to blog about below, and ah, the swirls are amazing! Of course, I need more practice as always.

Anyhow! Two or three weeks ago, my cousin Karen ordered a batch of cupcakes from me for her friend, Alison's birthday. Karen requested red velvet cupcakes with a Hawaiian theme. She and Alison went to Hawaii not long ago, and they had a blast.

So I got off work late yesterday. I didn't get a chance to work on the cupcakes until 9, after I was done with dinner and chores. I baked the cupcakes, and while they were cooling, I made the frosting. After that I went onto making the decorations. I never been to Hawaii before, but whenever I think of Hawaii, I think of their flowers and sea turtles! So immediately I started making them. I also made some white chocolate strawberry seashells with a pearl that I used edible pearl dust on. I also used chocolate to make mocha starfish with graham cracker "sand". I realized if it wasn't for the flowers, it would be more like a sea or ocean theme.

I packed everything, and decorated a hour before I handed the cupcakes over to Karen. She loved it, and I hope her friend, Alison does too!

*Update*
Karen told me that Alison loved it very much! When I asked her what she means by loved it. Karen said loved everything of it, look and taste. Yay!!

Lemony Sunday

Sundays are usually sweet and sour to me. It's sweet because that's a day off, but sour because it is always followed by a Monday, which means going to work for me.
Anyhow, I always enjoy eating things that are sweet and sour. Have you ever heard of those "super lemon" or "super strawberry" candy? I love those along with all other sour candies when I was growing up. I also love those sour prunes and plums, sweet and sour soup, etc. My mom used to tell me that I should stop eating so many sour things if I want to give birth to a baby boy one day. She said women who eat sour things tend to give birth to baby girls and not baby boys. (Not that my mom is being sexist, but I told her once that I want one boy and one girl.) I'm not sure where she gets that from either.

Okay, enough of my lemon talk. So on this lemony sunday, I decided to make lemon bars! This is my second time making lemon bars, and it came out set, golden yellow and perfect. It was just missing this particular flavor that I recalled from last time I made it. I don't know how to describe that flavor, it reminds me of steamed Chinese duck eggs minus the saltiness! Maybe I got it confused with the key lime pie I made couple months back. But with or without that flavor, it was still lemony and yummy!

 

 

 My boyfriend reserved half the batch for himself before I brought the rest to work. Not to mention I ate 3 1/2 bars within 4 hours after making it. Maybe it's not a good idea to make these, but it's so comforting to bite into the chewy sweet and tangy goodness, with the bar crust melting in the mouth. But yeah, definitely need to chill a couple months before making these again. I don't want to end up eating the whole batch.

"Bloody Embryo" + Red Velvet

I hope my title didn't scare you away from reading this. I wasn't referring to a real embryo. See picture below! "Bloody" huh? Get it? Oh yeah, there's blue one too if you refer back to my "Blueberry Velvet" post from December 16. Okay...anyways...

So yesterday, I'd decided to make my favorite cupcakes of all time, Red Velvet. It was for my friend, Lily. It was her birthday yesterday!

The cream cheese frosting turned out really well, it was light, very fluffy and not overly sweet. In fact it was better than usual for some reasons. I have no idea why, I always make it the way I usually make it. My boyfriend said he could easily do a frosting shot with it. Yay!

I was glad my friends enjoyed it. Janny complimented that it wasn't super sweet, and it tasted better than some of the cupcake shops she'd been to. I couldn't been happier!

The cake also turned out very moist and fluffy, and not undercooked-dense at all. I will be making this again in a couple days for my cousin's friend since it's her birthday and it's her favorite cupcake as well. This is the same cousin who told me to make the Winnie the Pooh & Bunny cake for her mom. So this upcoming cupcake batch is going to be my first paid order! (I only charged for materials since I'm still practicing and experimenting my recipes and techniques.) But yes, my first real order! Maybe one day, I'll make my dream come true by opening a cafe/bakery. In the meantime, I'll patiently wait, do my biotech job, earn money and bake more goodies.

Strawberry Season!

I love strawberries! It's a habit for me to check their prices every time I go to the supermarket. Every time the price drops, I buy enough to last me days. But as time gets closer to Valentine's Day, I know strawberries will go on sale, and indeed it did the week before Valentine's Day! Yup, so I bought myself a big box! A week and half later, I bought myself another big box! I put them in yogurt, I put them in salad, and I eat them after dinner. Ah! They are heavenly!

Anyhow, so like every February, I will buy and make some sweet treats with strawberries. Last year I created a cream filled Strawberry cupcake, the year before that I made chocolate dipped strawberries. This year, I decided to make cupcakes again, but this time, I came across Sprinkle's recipe and got super excited!

 I like how fluffy Sprinkle's cupcakes at the shops are, but I always think that their frosting are too sweet. Before I try their recipe, I read comments on how the cupcakes turned out to be...I realized a lot of them said the cupcakes came out moist but super dense. Stupid me, I made it anyways, and indeed it turned out SUPER dense but moist. I didn't like how dense they are. But asked for the frosting, it was fabulous! I will definitely make that frosting again! I think I need to retry the recipe, or alter it to make it less dense.

Here is Sprinkle's recipe. If you are going to try making them, tell me how they turn out!

Baked Buns

I'd been meaning to make Baked BBQ Pork Buns because it's something both my mom and I enjoy eating when we go tea houses together. It's funny because we both don't like the steamed ones but we love the baked ones. I wanted to make them and surprise her one day, so today I tried to make some, except it was kind of late of the day to go get some pork. I decided to go ahead and substitute it with chicken in the mean time.

Oh yes, I also got adventurous and made some with Italian-style fillings with mozzarella, sundried tomatoes, spinach and turkey.

I just took some chicken breast and minced it myself. Then I also chopped some napa cabbages and red onions into the mix. Then, I seasoned it and cooked it.

The buns turned out pretty good. The only thing I didn't like about it is that I let it baked too long after the egg wash. So it got a little more brown, but not burnt. Next time I'll just bake it less. Also, I find it very entertaining watching the buns rise and bake in the process. It's mesmerizing for some reasons.



I will make this again, but with BBQ Pork next time. I should present them to my mom and see if she thinks it's store bought.

Old Fashioned Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

So for Lunar New Year, I made some oatmeal raisin cookies for my boyfriend's parents. I'd made this cookies a couple times before and both his parents enjoyed it. So I wanted to go "bai nin" with something and not arrive with empty hands.

This cookie is super duper easy to make, considering I followed the Quaker Oat box but just changed up the sugar content myself since cookies made with exact box recipe was too sweet for me. I learned that on my very first batch.

Aunt Helen's Birthday Cake

A week ago, my cousin asked me to make her mom's birthday cake. I didn't know what design to make but I know I want it to look like one of those Chinese birthday cake. I decided to make a vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream and fresh blueberries inside and vanilla whipped cream frosting on the outside.

I also decided to make a baby Winnie the pooh and a bunny for the year of the rabbit.

The cake was great and I drove it all the way to SF with no problem. But when I was unloading it from the car, the handle of the cake box I put it in broke, and the cake just slammed onto box in the back of my car. Luckily, my cake was durable enough to withstand the fall! Other than that, some of the whipped cream got scraped off onto the box.

Chinese Sponge Cake

As much as I think Chinese birthday cakes are plain sometimes, I am always amazed at how fluffy and light they are! I decided to learn to make the cake base...the fluffy sponge cake. I found a recipe for rolled sponge cake with cream filled center from this Chinese cookbook from Hong Kong, so I used the recipe for the cake part.

Sponge cakes are tricky to make because if you don't whip the egg whites right, the cake will not be fluffy. Also, make sure the cake gets into the oven right away after scrapping it into the baking pan because egg whites in the batter will lose their airy texture if let out for too long. Lastly, the trick to not make the cake collapse is to turn it upside down with the pan during cooling.

I forgot to let it cool with the pan, but good thing I turned it upside down, so the cake remained in shape. The fresh out of oven cake smell so good and eggy. It was soft but not as fluffy as I wanted since I didn't put it intto the oven right away.

Afterward, I decided to try frosting it with some homemade whipped cream and fruits like a Chinese cake. Because it was a quick practice cake, I didn't bother to decorate it. I just want to eat it, haha.

Alvin's Ice Cream Birthday Cake

Every year, I would get my little brother a birthday cake for his birthday. He particularly like requesting ice cream cake. This year for his 12th birthday, I'd decided to make him one.

My little brother loves watching basketball and playing NBA basketball games, so I decided to make a cake with a basket ball theme. At first I was just going to make one with a basketball, but that's too plain. So at the end, I decided to make a jersey with a basketball.

The jersey is made with vanilla cake with vanilla ice cream, and the basketball is made with chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream. My little brother only likes vanilla ice cream, so it made my life a bit easier when it comes to picking out flavors. The jersey had the number 12 on it, which represents his age. I had the hardest time getting the basketball color icing to go darker. I gave up after awhile but glad that at least the cake turned out okay...well, minus the fact that I forgot to color the side of the jersey red.

The cake was pretty big. After feeding 14 people, there was still about half of the jersey left. I personally think the vanilla cake and vanilla ice cream combo tasted better. 

I'm glad he likes the cake and the ice cream. He asked to keep the rest at the end of the night. =]

Happy Birthday Bro!! <3

Vegan Chocolate Cupcake with Non-Vegan Bailey Buttercream

Tonight I decided to make chocolate cupcakes. But then I felt lazy and didn't want to work with butter with a handheld mixer, so I went vegan. Most vegan cupcake recipes call for vegetable oil, which to me is easier to work with when I'm not using a stand mixer. The recipe was super fast and easy; I didn't even use a handheld mixer, I just use a spatula and my hand to mix it. The recipe makes super duper moist cupcakes. I mean it's so moist that it feels undercooked even though the toothpick comes out clean.

So making vegan cupcakes have nothing to do with me being vegan, since I do plan to make a buttercream with butter. Finally I met the inevitable...I need to make buttercream with a handheld mixer or a stand mixer. I finally opened my stand mixer from its box. I didn't want to use handheld mixer this time since I injured my wrist a few days ago. Anyhow, I love my stand mixer. It makes buttercream so fast and work-free.

Banana "Cupcakes" or Muffins

Tonight I decided to use what I have in the kitchen and fridge to make cupcakes. I have two ripe bananas lying around and some buttermilk in the fridge. First thought...banana bread? Nah! I'll try making banana cupcakes, which should be less dense and fluffier, and supposedly more moist.

The time took for my the banana "cupcakes" I made took longer than the time it usually takes to bake other cupcakes. First thought! Uh oh! Second thought, it's going to be denser than a normal cupcake. Third thought? It still should be not as dense as banana bread! It better not be! Okay, maybe it'll become muffins!

So at this baking point, I felt like the consistency of the banana "cupcakes" are like muffins. So after my "cupcakes" cooled, I frosted them with some vanilla buttercream. They turned out lighter and comparatively more fluffy than banana bread, but it still could not surpass my brain...it is still not as moist and fluffy like cupcakes. Nevertheless, the banana MUFFINS tasted really delicious! I chowed down two of them with and without frosting really fast. I know I know...but I got to taste my own work right?

*Update* January 15, 2011

I took them to work today, and one of my coworkers wouldn't stop telling me how good it tasted! He said he really like the frosting too! Yay! I guess it worked out nicely as a muffin haha.

Elle's Birthday Cake

So for my friend, Elle's, birthday, I decided to make her a cake. Knowing that she has a cat and loves cat, I decided to make a cat cake. My original plan was to make a cat cake like her cat Freiya, which is black. But I changed my mind after awhile because I do not want to give her a black cat on her birthday. I know I know, I sound superstitious right? Maybe.

I drew a sketch of how I want the cake to be during lunch time two days before the cake was due. My sketch included a two tiers cake. I started baking the cakes Friday night after work, which was a day before the cake was due. Unfortunately, my cake for the first tier did not turned out the way I wanted. I gave up around 3am in the morning. The next day, I woke up and baked another cake, but this time it was too dense, so with time restrain, I decided to just make it one tier. I was glad it turned out alright.  

 This was the cake 7 hours before due time at dinner. I was stressing a bit after taking this photo because it resembled a rat as well. Oh no! So I added some extra things later.

And this is the finished cake. I added the paws and the fish 2 hours before dinner. I'm glad it made it look more like a cat.

Here is the birthday girl, Elle, and her cake. She looks so pretty from the orangy red glow. The waiter did an awesome job in putting the cake on a plate and putting candles on it for me. Yay!

It's a dark chocolate cake with raspberry preserve and raspberry buttercream frosting. I added very little buttercream because the cake itself is pretty rich already. I just need that fruity flavor from the raspberry to balance it out.

The party of 7 ended up finishing half of the cake, which comforted me a little about failing on the 2nd tier. I also got some great compliments about the look of the cakes and the taste of it as well. I was also glad that Elle knew it was a cat! Yay! Happy Birthday Elle!

Practice Ice Cream Cake

A few days ago, I told my little brother that I would make his birthday cake this year. For the last four years, I'd been getting him cakes for his birthday, but this year, I'd decide to make one. My brother loves ice cream cake, and so, I decided to make him one with his favorite ice cream flavor--vanilla.

I decided to test one out after spotting ice cream at Target. I looked around and picked out a box of mint chocolate ice cream since my test subject for the night is my boyfriend. Mint chocolate is his favorite. He's picky about his mint chocolate ice cream though, he dislikes the chunky chocolate ones or the chocolate chip ones. He only likes the chocolate shaving ones like the Rite Aid brand. Luckily, Target sells a similar kind.

Anyhow, I made the cake with  white cake mix, since it's easy; and hey, all the ice cream shops use them anyways! The ice cream cake was super easy to make. All I had to do is bake a thin layer of cake and then cool it. After that, I placed saran wrap in a cake pan, and placed the cooled cake ont. I then scooped some ice cream in a bowl and melted it a bit with a spoon. Then I poured it into the cake pan onto the cake, and place the whole pan into the freezer for 2 hours. The saran wrap made it easy for lifting the ice cream cake up as well as easy cleaning later.

Lastly, it is optional to frost the cake with whip cream or cool whip. I didn't do it tonight because I just wanted to test out the method. I would also smooth the side out with a knife if I want a better presentation, but I didn't do that either since it's all going to go down into two people's stomachs in less than a day. Haha.

Yummy in my tummy! Hopefully my brother's cake will turn out nice. We'll see how that goes later!