reconnect

Reconnected with this cookbook when Dorie Greenspan posted about Suzy’s Cake on her Instagram

It sounded easy and I had all the ingredients

I cut the recipe to fit my “baking rules” = to use 50 grams of butter & 1 egg

I added a little oil to make up the amount of butter needed 

Anyway, it came out nicely, not all recipes work when I cut the measurements down

Super chocolatey, a little dense…delicious!

Glad I tried this and reconnected with this cookbook.

aquafaba

Have you ever used aquafaba?

I hadn't.

It is the liquid from cooking beans or canned beans and can be used like egg whites.

Blog friend & pen pal, LJ, wrote a book "Cooking With Scraps" and in it is her recipe for Aquafaba Brownies.

I've been interested in trying the recipe and finally did.

I cut the recipe in half to fit my 50 gram butter rule.

And I also baked this in muffin papers instead of a square pan, because the muffin tin fits nicely on my oven's turntable.

It was pretty easy to put together and you can't taste beans.

It is doesn’t rise too much, is rich and very fudgy

This is a good recipe to use especially with egg prices still being high here, plus I like saying "aquafaba"

If you've used aquafaba before please tell me how you use it.

monday

I had wanted to bake some mochi type muffins.

When it came time to line the muffin tin, I realized I only had 3 muffin papers, so I used some parchment paper.

It was hard to fill with muffin batter, because the parchment didn't stay secure in the muffin tin.

Also while making the batter I only had a little mochiko, so I used half mochiko and half flour.

I put some yuzu peel that I had in the freezer, used up some chocolate chips and also added some cocoa powder

My baking powder expired but I used the hot water test and it still bubbled so I used it.

Even with all these obstacles, the muffins came out nice and will be good for breakfast or as a snack.

pesto and cheese milk bread

It is really too hot and humid these days to be baking, but it is probably the only time of year for yeast to proof, so I baked.

I love this milk bread recipe, you don't need to weigh ingredients nor knead the dough and it comes together rather quickly and easily.

I've made pizza with the dough and also fried it as savory doughnuts.

This time around I stuffed half of the dough with pesto and the other half with cheese.

Both were delicious but my favorite was the cheese version because the cheese gets a little burnt.

We had this with canned sardines which I always jazz up with some sliced garlic then put it under the broiler/in the fish grill.

I timed it so that the bread would come out just as we are about to eat.

So good!

blood orange upside down muffins

Since I have a lot more blood oranges, I looked online to see what I could make.

I saw an idea for upside down cake.

Since we don’t need a “whole cake” around our house, I used my favorite muffin recipe and ad-libbed.

I put 1/2 a teaspoon of brown sugar at the bottom of each muffin paper.

Then put in a thin slice of blood orange.

Scooped in the muffin batter and baked the muffins.

While the muffins baked, I squeezed the rest of the blood orange.

When they came out of the oven, I used a bamboo skewer and made holes in the muffins.

Then spooned some of the blood orange juice over them like when my mom used to make cakes and drizzle soda or jello into the holes......

The next morning, before heating the muffins up, I flipped them over and took them out of their muffin papers.

Love the color! so pretty, yeah?! like a jewel.

I froze the remaining 4 and we look forward to eating this again in the coming weeks.

baked manapua

Yesterday the temperature dropped to 14C (57F) and it has been raining.

There is a typhoon approaching (Chan Hom or #14) and should pass by over the weekend. 

Apparently, cooler ocean temps would help to break up the typhoon, but with global warming, the typhoon does not dissipate and also moves slower because of the warm ocean temps.

So..the typhoons these days do lots of damage because it takes such a long time to pass...

Anyway, since I stayed indoors, I decided to try making baked manapua.

I used part of the char siu that I made last month. 

And I used the recipe for the dough that I made beignets and pizza with during this pandemic.

I love this dough recipe because it comes together pretty easily.

I should have used a little more char siu and some green onion though, so that these manapua would be filled to the gills.

They are snack sized but I like the flavor and texture.

The next thing I want to try making with this dough is cinnamon rolls...

Hopefully I can try this before the weather gets too cool.

Have a safe weekend everyone.

campagne loaf

Yesterday it rained all.day.long...I was worried for the people affected by the flooding recently, hoping they won't have any more damage.

So sad, in some areas the water hasn't receded for over a week! some areas still don't have electricity or water...

Since it was raining (and super windy) I stayed indoors and decided to bake.

I tried making rolls with some everything seasoning on top.

Problem is that when I was getting the ingredients together, I ran out of flour (and butter)...

So I adlibbed...

Adding mochiko (rice flour) for the amount of flour I was short and olive oil for the butter.

After both proofings, the dough was sticky and hard to manage.

Since the dough was too hard to handle, I just baked it off as a "loaf".

The middle was thicker, so I think it was kind of "raw", when I cut it open.

Also, most of the seasoning looked like it burnt on top...boo!

So happy for the internet (love technology!) it told me what to do for undercooked bread...

I baked the pieces for about 10 more minutes.

It was a little dense but the crust was good!

Gonna restock on supplies after the rain stops, so I try making bread again.

diamond head market & grill's blueberry cream cheese scones

Finally tried making Diamond Head Market & Grill's Blueberry Cream Cheese Scones.

The recipe is in the "By Request Cookbook by Betty Shimabukuro".

I kind of adlibbed because I didn't have the amount of cream cheese the recipe called for.

I also cheated and pulsed the dough together in my food processor.

This scones really "poofs up" and after baking is "huge".

Blueberry Cream Cheese Scones by Diamond Head Market & Grill, published in "By Request by Betty Shimabukuro"
1/3 cup butter, cut in pieces
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup milk
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup frozen blueberries, thawed, rinsed and drained, sprinkled with sugar
2 ounces cream cheese, cut in 1/2-inch pieces
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine butter, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl and cut with a pastry blender or two butter knives until crumbly.

Stir milk into softened cream cheese, then stir in egg until well-combined. Stir cream cheese mixture into flour mixture until dough forms a ball.

Gently push blueberries and cream cheese pieces into the dough to incorporate evenly. Be careful not to crush the berries or mash the cream cheese pieces.

Spoon mounds of dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet to make 8 scones. Tuck berries and cream cheese pieces into the dough as much as possible. (Or, for traditional scones, gently pat the dough into a 9-inch circle on the cookie sheet. Sprinkle with sugar. Cut into 8 wedges, but do not separate.)

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until golden. Makes 8 scones.

NOTES: This was delicious...with all that butter, it should be, right?!

This recipe goes against my rule about only using 50 grams of butter, but I'm glad I tried it.

Instead of folding the berries and cream cheese into the dough, I sandwiched it between the dough.

Next time, I will put all the all the blueberries and cream cheese in between the dough because they didn't "sink" into the scone like I thought it would, they just stayed up top.

anpan & gardenias

It has been many years since I've baked bread.

I have this type of yeast, which was a freebie in a foodie magazine.

I have had it in my freezer and it is WAY past the expiry date!

Since yesterday was quite warm, I decided to try baking with the yeast.

On the 1st proof, it rose...whew!

I weighed and divided it into 7 pieces.

After the 2nd proof, I filled them with an (sweet bean paste).

It was my first time using this yeast as well as trying a pain de campagne (country bread) recipe.

After baking, some oozed.

I tasted one, the texture seems to be good and there was a nice crust.

Breakfast tomorrow : anpan!

I wanted to show you this gardenia bush that I found on the side of the road nearby.

Love the fragrance of gardenia (the Japanese call it "kuchinashi").

It is gardenia season here and I have seen some homes with them in their yards.

Are the gardenia blooming where you are?

nian gao

My IG friend, @yumyumtofu shared a nian gao (Chinese New Year Mochi) recipe that her mother had given to her (thank you!)...

I finally got to try it and while it was baking I realized I forgot to add the sugar...sigh.

After posting about it on IG and FB, some readers gave me suggestions (thank you!) and in the end I drizzled it with chocolate, because chocolate can save pretty much everything.

At least it was edible and I didn't have to throw it out.

I need to buy more mochiko, but still have some coconut milk and half of the evaporated milk...hope to get around to making some muffins or something with the milks in the coming days.

okara scones

I want to share with you an okara recipe and will continue with more of our travels next week...

Back in 2008, I had a baking session with my Mom and she made her okara scones.

She didn't want me to post her recipe, so I'm not.

I've adapted it and that is what I am posting.

Please note that these do not come out flaky like scones, but more dense like oatcakes.

Okara Scones : adapted from Mom's recipe : makes 10 (more or less depending on how you scoop your dough out)

1 cup okara (soy lees)
1.5 cups flour
1 cup oats
1/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
2 large dried figs, cut into fourths
1 handful of walnuts
1 handful of sunflower seeds
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup honey
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 handful of dried blueberries

Put the first 9 ingredients into a food processor and pulse
Add the wet ingredients and pulse until the dough comes together in a ball
In a bowl fold the blueberries into the dough
Scoop out with a spoon (or ice cream scoop for more accuracy), and flatten a little with your hands
Bake at 400F (200 C) for about 16 minutes

NOTES: I usually bake on parchment (because I am lazy and it is so easy to clean up afterwards), but think that it might be okay to bake these on a greased cookie sheet.

I used the dry okara, but my mom used the wet type. Even though she used the wet type her scones did come out more like oatcakes too.

You can use your favorite dried fruits, nuts and seeds.

Enjoy!

throw together dinner

Sometimes I get into a rut as to what to make for dinner.

Usually when I feel like this, then "laziness" also follows...

Not really knowing what I wanted to eat, I decided to use a can of sardines and bake something off in the oven.

I sautéed some spinach, red bell pepper and onion.

Then I mixed some diced tomato sauce with some garlic and anchovy.

I cooked a little amount of quinoa.

And then I put everything into a baking dish and topped it off with some panko, parmesan and a little pepper.

Then I baked everything for about 5 minutes then under the broiler for another 5.

Relatively fast, easy and definitely delicious.

What did you have for dinner?

using up some leftovers

The other night for dinner, I wanted to use up the leftover chicken I had made.

I also had some cheese that I wanted to use up too, so I thought baking it with some veggies and a little pasta would be a good way.

I was feeling a bit lazy and didn't want to grease any pans to bake everything in, so I decided to make individual origami boxes out of parchment paper.

If you'd like to try, take a 20 cm (7.8 inches) x 30 cm (11 inches) piece of parchment and follow these directions here.

I sautéed some spinach, red bell pepper, onion and maitake in some olive oil.

I also made a béchamel sauce using this recipe and used soy milk in place of the milk.

The cheese didn't brown up as I had envisioned, but it was a delicious way to use up some leftovers and clean-up was a snap.

If you do use the parchment origami boxes to bake in, do not place them directly onto the rack, instead use a metal tray.

Enjoy!

ginger molasses dark chocolate crinkles

I got the idea for these cookies from blog friend, Sheri, who got the idea from this blog.

The link above is for the full recipe. I cut the recipe in half for my cookies.

Ginger Molasses Dark Chocolate Crinkles (1/2 the recipe) makes about 12 cookies

50 grams flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, ground
1/4 teaspoon ginger, ground
1/8 teaspoon clove, ground
112.5 grams dark chocolate, weighed then chopped
22.5 grams butter, salted
2 tablespoons molasses
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg, room temperature
32.5 grams light brown sugar
*granulated sugar and powdered sugar to coat cookies

Whisk flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, clove. Set aside
In a bain marie (over boiling water), melt the chocolate, butter, molasses & vanilla. Take off heat and let cool a bit.
On high, beat the egg and sugar until the mixture gets "ribbony"
Fold in the chocolate mixture
Stir in the flour mixture
Refrigerate the dough for 1 to 2 hours
Preheat oven to 325F (170F)
Whisk some cinnamon with some granulated sugar
Make 1-inch balls and roll into the granulated sugar mixture
Then roll the balls in powdered sugar
Place on parchment paper about 1-inch apart
Bake for 12-15 minutes.**
Cool the cookies a bit before transferring them to the rack.
Cool completely.

NOTES: these cookies are more chocolatey than spicy. I left out the salt because I used salted butter. Next time I make these I will double the amount of spices. Also, I will chill the dough for 2 hours, as the dough was too soft to handle after 1 hour. Since it was too soft to handle, I used a scoop and "plopped" each ball into the sugars, rolling them around using spoons...
**My turntable spins the cookies, so I didn't rotate the pan, and I baked them for about 15 minutes. If you are baking them in a regular oven you need to rotate the cookies, baking them 6 minutes, rotate the pan and bake for 6 more minutes or so.

What are you baking these days?

learning something new

I learned something new from David Lebovitz's blog...he talked about how to tell if your baking powder was still good...here.

I wanted to do some baking because it is raining today, but the expiration on my baking powder is past...

So, I tried it...and it bubbled!

Guess my baking powder is still good until the next time I bake...whoo!

oatmeal chocolate chip bars

From a post that K of Never Turn Down A Cupcake had on her blog, it lead me to Cookies and Cups.

Which lead me to her recipe for Salty Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars.

These were easy to put together.

Salty Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars from "Cookies and Cups"
makes 24 bars

Ingredients
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
2 eggs
2 Tbsp milk
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 tsp coarse sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 3/4 cups flour
2 3/4 cups of old-fashioned oats
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
1/2 cup flaked sweetened coconut

How to Make
Preheat oven to 350°.
Line 9x13 baking dish with foil and spray lightly, set aside.
In bowl of stand mixer combine oil, brown sugar, eggs, milk and vanilla. Mix until smooth.
Mix in salt, baking soda and flour. Add in oats and mix until evenly combined.
Stir in chocolate chips and coconut (if desired)
Bake for 20 minutes until just set.
Allow to cool before cutting into squares.

NOTES: I cut this recipe in half and left out the salt. Next time I'll add some nuts too. Chewy and soft, they are the perfect snack.

vegetable "lasagna"

Over the past couple of days, the weather has been wavering between cool and ugly humid.

Sometimes during the daytime, it can sometimes be blazing hot...

Today we have a typhoon passing over us...

The other day, when it was blazing, I wanted to eat lasagna.

I am not sure where I saw this done, but instead of using lasagna noodles they used thinly sliced zucchini.

I oiled two ramekins and put some zucchini slices at the bottom, then I ladled a little homemade marinara.

Next layer was some maitake (hen of woods) and then some mozzarella.

I repeated this several times with my last layer being the mozz.

I baked this in a 180C (350F) oven for 15 minutes with a foil on and then another 10 with the foil off.

Even if it was a really warm day, this really hit the spot!

Have a nice week.

this year's stollen

Had to "wing-it" for this year's Stollen.

I didn't have Rum to soak the fruits and nuts in.

I was going to use Grand Marnier, like I did before, but didn't have enough, so I soaked it in Amaretto instead.

Also, I only used orange peel and dried cherries. For the nuts, I used almonds and walnuts.

I shared most of this with Satoshi's German class.

I am wondering what to do with the alcohol that I soaked the fruits in. Some of my twitter friends gave me some suggestions, but if you have some, just write them here.

I hope Satoshi's classmates enjoy the Stollen.

p.s. today is a National Holiday, Happy Birthday to the Emperor of Japan!

sesame shortbread

This recipe caught my eye in the latest "Elle a Table" cooking insert.

It boasted that an oven wasn't needed...after reading through the recipe...um, well you still are using a toaster to "bake" these, which is an oven of sorts.

Adapted from "Elle a Table" : Oyatsu no Jikan Vol 2 : makes 18 or so cookies

50 grams butter, unsalted
25 grams light brown sugar
25 grams almond powder
75 grams flour
17 grams black sesame seeds
2 tablespoons milk (optional)**

Cream butter in a bowl.
Add sugar and beat until it turns whitish.
Add the almond powder, flour and sesame seeds.
Mix with a rubber spatula.
Add the milk.**
The mixture should come together but not be too wet.
Put some plastic wrap on it and put into the refrig for 30 minutes.
After the 30 minutes, put a piece of foil onto your toaster oven pan and with a teaspoon, scoop out balls, roll them briefly in your hands, then place them on the foil and press them a little in the middle.
Take out another piece of foil and seal the cookies as best as you can.
Toast for 15 minutes.
After the 15 minutes, if they are pale, take the foil off and toast some more, watching to make sure they don't burn.

NOTES: Maybe it was me, but after following the directions, I literally had "dust".

So I added some milk. If you don't drink milk, you could probably use soy milk or almond milk.

**if your dough comes together before adding the milk, then leave the milk out.

I guess if you only have a toaster this recipe is good, but I think using the oven would've been faster. Not to mention, I wouldn't have wasted so much foil.

After taking the foil off, I ended up toasting them for 8 more minutes (probably because of the milk).

These were flaky, delicious. I like the nuttiness from the sesame seeds.

I would make these again, but would definitely bake them. Maybe at 350F (180C) for 20 minutes or so.

If you try this, let me know how it goes for you.

matcha scones

Awhile back, Kirk asked if I had made matcha (green tea) scones, which I had not.

Well, I finally did.

This recipe is relatively easy. The scones are not sweet, you may need jam or something sweet (maybe a sweet beverage) with them. We liked them as is.

Kat's matcha scones: makes 10-12

180 grams flour
8 grams baking powder
1 tablespoon matcha (green tea)
50 grams butter
20 grams sugar
1/2 egg
50-75 mililiters of skim milk*

Cut butter into the flour and baking powder
Add the matcha and sugar, mix
Add the egg and milk
Cover with plastic wrap and let rest in refrig for 30 minutes
Roll out to about 2 centimeters thick and use your favorite cookie cutter
Bake at 180C (350F) for 15 minutes

NOTES: To get half an egg, I scrambled a large egg then weighed it then divided the amount in half. The amount I used in this is 26 grams.

*As for the milk, first use 50 mililiters and if the dough is too dry, then add a little milk at a time while mixing.
The dough should be moist but not runny.
The cutter I used was a 5 centimeter (about 2 inch) round.

If you want to make these scones richer, use cream instead of the skim milk.

You could easily double this recipe so that you won't have to "half an egg"...

I hope Kirk makes these for his wife and I hope she enjoys them!