Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Last year's Thanksgiving introduced my and my sons' taste buds to pumpkin whoopie pies. We have always had the classic chocolate whoopie pies, which, according to my husband, was the reason he bought a Kitchen Aid mixer as a birthday gift to me on m our first year as a couple. When my MIL prepared these pumpkin whoopie pies last year, my husband did not try them at all (which is nothing new). My sons, however, liked them, as I did. I was surprised that this year, after my sons carved out our pumpkins for Halloween, the younger one was anticipating that my MIL would make pumpkin whoopie pies again for Thanksgiving (my MIL was so gracious to host Thanksgiving this year). But my sons was disappointed because my MIL did not make them this time. So I promised him that I would make pumpkin whoopie pies the next day, and I will make it a Thanksgiving or Halloween tradition to make them yearly. I based my recipe on Nestle's VeryBestBaking.com website, with only the addition of two other spices.

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
dash of nutmeg
dash of powdered cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
1 cup LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
6 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar



Instructions:

FOR COOKIES:

PREHEAT oven to 350° F. Lightly grease or line four baking sheets with parchment paper.
COMBINE flour, baking powder, baking soda,spices and salt in medium bowl. Beat butter and sugar in large mixer bowl on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add pumpkin and vanilla extract; beat until smooth. Stir in flour mixture until combined. Drop by heaping measuring teaspoons onto prepared baking sheets. (A total of 72 cookies are needed for the recipe.)
BAKE for 10 to 13 minutes or until springy to the touch. Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

FOR CREAM CHEESE FILLING:

BEAT cream cheese, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl on medium speed until fluffy. Gradually beat in powdered sugar until light and fluffy.
SPREAD a heaping teaspoon of filling onto flat side of one cookie; top with flat side of second cookie to make a sandwich. Repeat with remaining cookies and filling. Store in covered container in refrigerator.

Tender and Moist Wheat Pan de sal

Denise, an fb friend, once asked me if I have a good recipe for wheat pandesal, and I made a suggestion using my pandelimon recipe with wheat flour replacing half of the bread flour. When she had a good outcome that her friends and family all enjoyed and since then made every week, I felt the need to try it myself, although I used only one cup of whole wheat. The result was not the typical dry choking-hazard wheat breads, but one that was moist and tender. As always, the "secret" ingredient to make it softer and moister was the mashed potatoes (or sweet potatoes, whichever you prefer).

Ingredients:
1 / 2 cup milk
1 / 4 cup water
1 / 2 cup boiled and mashed regular or sweet potato
1 / 4 cup butter or margarine
1 large egg
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups bread flour + 2-3 tbsp while kneading
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp Fleischmann's bread machine yeast

Instructions:

Mix the milk, potato water and mashed potatoes and heat in the microwave for 30 seconds or so. Add the butter and egg, beat to mix then check temperature. It should be between 70-80 deg F (room temp). Pour into the bread machine pan. Add the dry ingredients. Set at dough cycle. after about 10 minutes, start adding flour gradually so that the dough is not too sticky (try to poke from time to time with fingers). It should appear relatively smooth and moist, not wet and flaky. The kneading ends on the 30th minute, then it rises for 1 hr.

Transfer the dough on a lightly greased and floured surface. Stretch and form into a log. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Slice every 1-1.5 inches intervals. Coat with breadcrumbs. Lay on sliced side on baking pan, 1 to 2 fingers apart. Let rise in warm oven for 30 minutes. Bake at 375 deg F for 10 minutes, rotate the pan, then bake for additional 2-3 minutes or until browned to your liking. Enjoy with butter, or your favorite "palaman" (I used dulce de leche and butter on the photo above) and cool the rest on wire rack for at least 30 minutes before storing in ziploc bag.

Kababayan (Filipino Muffins)

This recipe and photo above were shared by my fb friend Aileen Nopuente. Thanks for your generosity, Aileen!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 tsp. cream of tartar
3/4 cup softened butter( room temperature)
2 cup all purpose flour
2 cups cake flour
1 Tbs. baking powder 1 Tbs. vanilla extract
1 cup warm water
yellow food colouring,as needed for colour
28 ounces,sweetened condensed milk (2 cans)
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Directions:
- Pre-heat oven to 190"C .
- Combine sugar,salt,sugar,cream of tartar and soft butter in the bowl of an electric mixer.blend for 4 mins at lowest speed.
- Stir together in a separate bowl the all-purpose flour,cake flour & baking powder.
- Stir togeteher vanilla,water,yellowcolour and condensed milk in another small bowl.
- Add wet and dry ingredients along with oil alternately to mixer until it forms a smooth batter.
- Fill-each well-greased muffin cup with 1/2 cup batter.bake for 22 mins. or until toothpick inserted in cake center comes out clean.
- When the muffin is almost done, turn off the oven & partially open the oven door for another 5 mins. before taking out the muffin.

Choco Cornets

My older son was intrigued because of some anime cartoon show that featured this pastry. So I went on to search for a recipe, and got one from a Japanese site, which luckily has an English translation. I modified the dough by looking at the ingredients and finding a similar one from breadworld.

Ingredients & Instructions:

Dough --

Place in bread machine the liquid ingredients at room temp.
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp + 1 tsp (that's 95 ml) of water
2 large eggs
3 tbsp butter

Add the dry ingredients.
3/4 tsp salt
2-1/4 cup bread flour
2 tbsp sugar
1-1/2 tsp BM yeast

Run on dough cycle.
Transfer to lightly floured surface. Flatten with palm of your hand and divide in two (sprinkle flour as needed for easier handling). Fold the ends of each so that you make 2 layers and create a square. Fold each lengthwise, then cut into 6 portions each (so you have a total of 12 pieces).
Starting at the middle going outwards with your hands and the surface well greased, roll with your palms to make into ropes.
Wrap around the greased cornets (I found it easier to do if I let the rope stay on the table and start wrapping by rolling the horn mold along the rope).
Place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Let rise about 20 minutes (or 10 in warmed oven)
Brush with egg wash*.
Bake at 400 °F for 10 minutes.
Remove from molds and place on cooling rack. Cool completely (maybe 10 mins or more).
Pipe custard into the cooled cornets.

*Egg Wash --

1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tbsp sugar

Chocolate Custard Cream --

Whip together --
2 tbsp sugar divided
2 egg yolks
Sift together --
3 tbsp Cake flour
2 tbsp + 1 tsp Cocoa powder
Heat up until steamy –
¾ cup milk
4 tbsp sugar
Add some of this to yolk mixture and blend well,
Pour the yolk-milk mix to hot milk mixture.
Continue cooking on low until creamy thick.
Add –
1 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
½ tsp chocolate syrup
2 oz (1 square) Baker’s bittersweet baking chocolate

Cool and beat with ½ pkg (4 oz) of softened cream cheese.

Place in Ziploc bag and cool completely until cornets are ready.

Classic Spritz Cookies

This is the second recipe I tried for use with my new toy cookie press. I must say I and my kids prefer this recipe, as this is lighter than the Marcato biscuits. Plus, the dough itself was very easy to squeeze out, I did not have to use the force of my body. The downside only was that it was harder to remove from the baking pan than the Marcato biscuits once baked, even after cooling for some time. So maybe next time I can experiment by actually greasing the pan with butter before squeezing out the dough (with the possibility of the dough not sticking to the pan). Or I can just try using parchment paper and holding the paper before pulling the cookie press up after squeezing out the dough.

Hubby, as I said in my previous post, preferred the denser Marcato biscuits (although he found it hard to admit it to me).

Just a note on the cheaper Norpro brand (link shown here):
I received it already. Made of aluminum, it is lighter and thinner than the Marcato I bought earlier (which, interestingly, also bears the Norpro mark on the box, but is made in Italy). I would think it will not be up to denser cookie dough like the Marcato biscuits. However, I think it is still a better option than plastic ones. I will also someday try its butter spritz cookie recipe included in the manual. The light dough below should not be a problem with this cheaper Norpro cookie press.

Wilton's Classic Spritz Cookies

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups butter softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon no-color almond extract
Makes: 7-8 dozen cookies.

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350ºF.

In bowl, combine flour and baking powder. In large bowl, beat butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg, milk, vanilla and almond extract; mix well. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture; beat until combined. Do not chill. Fill cookie press with dough and with desired disks, press cookies onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 10-12 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 2 minutes on cookie sheet on cooling rack. Remove from sheet; cool completely.

Goodie Bars

Last time I worked, one of the CNA's came at 2PM and brought a tin can of cookies and bars. I had a taste of some of them, but this one really made me ask for a recipe. She did not have the recipe on hand, and just described the ingredients somehow, but promised me that she would write it down sometime and leave a copy in my mailbox.

You see, there was a time I was in a baking frenzy making "bars" using the recipes on Nestle and Hershey's chocolate websites, but after tasting several of them, I was sick all too soon with the sweetness, and I had a tough time cutting through the bars that they did not look at all like the ones in the photos (must be something I did wrong, but the results discouraged me from making them again). I cut them bite-size (because I could not tolerate a big chunk) but they lasted a whole month with nobody in the household taking a second serving. I chucked the whole batch then...hard and dry already. What a waste.

On the contrary, that goodie bar was something that I had to restrain myself from getting some more, so as to leave enough for the other co-workers. It was that good.

Well, as soon as I got home, despite the start of a migraine attack, I dreadfully faced the glare of my laptop to look for a recipe with the few ingredients I remembered my co-worker told me it had. This one came close. So last night I baked it (without the almond toffee bits because I mistakenly got a package of milk chocolate toffee bits instead and opted to just leave that out). The result???

It was the right recipe although it seemed sweeter.

After baking it for 45 minutes (because I was afraid the 50 mins recommended might dry up the whole thing), I let it stand overnight, with the pan resting on a cooling wire rack, the top protected by a sheet of paper towel. It was still super moist by the time I cut it (completely cold then) and I made a mental note to bake it for the full 50 minutes next time). I had a hard time cutting through because it was sticky, but nevertheless, it was so good, crunchy at the bottom and gooey at the top. After cutting them into bite-size pieces, I let them stand with enough space in between to further dry up the pieces.

The kids loved these. They munched quite a lot when they came home from school. They said, "This is really good!"

I let hubby taste it and he liked it alright. He said his mom made something like it when he was a child, but it was called Congo squares and with chocolate bits. However, he told me not to bother with those, because as long as I make the cookies that I made today with a cookie press, he'd be happy (I will post about it next).

Goodie Bars recipe by Mike and Alicia Orth of Creative Pixels

Cake:
1 (18.25-ounce) box yellow cake mix
1 large egg
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
Filling:
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 (16-ounce) box confectioners' sugar (optional to save some for sprinkling on top)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup almond toffee bits (optional)



1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan.

2. With an electric mixer stir together the butter, cake mix and 1 egg. Spread into the greased pan and pat down. (I used a hand mixer.)

3. Still using an electric (hand) mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Add the confectioners' sugar and beat well. Reduce the speed and slowly pour in the butter. Mix well. Fold in the toffee bits (I did not).

4. Pour filling onto cake mixture and spread evenly. (Optional to sprinkle some confectioner's sugar on top). Bake for 50 minutes. Don't be afraid to make a judgment call on the cooking time, because oven temperatures can vary. You want the center to be a little gooey, so don't bake it past that point!

The Ultimate Brownie from Scratch

Yesterday my kids came home from school, and the first thing my older son wanted to do was bake this recipe. (He had that recipe open on my laptop since yesterday.) I was busy putting away Christmas decors and gave him my permission.

After eating stir-fried beef for supper, we tasted what he baked. Hubby quipped it was just like the brownies he used to have as a kid -- baked from scratch and tasted same.

Me: "So you like this?"

Hubby: "Oh yeah! It's good!"

Me: "Oh, and I have often avoided baking brownies from scratch because I felt that you preferred the boxed brownie mixes because that was what you were used to."

Hubby: "I got to use the mixes after I was out of my parents' house. When we were kids, they never bought boxed mixes because they could not afford them."

Me: "So, is this a keeper?"

Hubby: "Definitely!"

So I told my older son, "You are now the official brownie baker in this household."

Recipe from about.com --

Ingredients:

8- 1 ounce squares of unsweetened chocolate
1 cup butter
5 eggs
3 cups sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
1-1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2-1/2 cups chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted (He actually used white chocolate chips)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 13 pan.
Melt chocolate and butter in a saucepan over low heat; set aside. In a mixer, beat eggs, sugar and vanilla at high speed for 10 minutes**. Blend in chocolate mixture, flour and salt until just mixed. Stir in the nuts. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake for 35-40 minutes. (Don't overbake.) Cool and frost if desired, but that is not necessary.

No-Knead Bran Bread

From breadworld.com

3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup instant non-fat dry milk
1/4 cup sugar
2 envelopes FLEISCHMANN’S RapidRise Yeast
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1-1/2 cups water
1/3 cup butter or margarine
2 cups all-bran or bran buds cereal*
1 egg, large
1 tablespoon melted butter (optional)


Directions
In large bowl, combine 1 cup flour, dry milk, sugar, undissolved yeast, and salt. Heat water and butter until very warm (120 to 130oF). Stir in all-bran cereal; let stand about 2 minutes or until cereal is softened. Stir into dry ingredients. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed of electric mixer, scraping bowl occasionally. Add egg and 1/2 cup flour. Beat 2 minutes at high speed, scraping bowl occasionally. Stir in remaining flour to make stiff batter. Place into 2 (8 -1 / 2 x 4 -1 / 2-inch) greased loaf pans. Cover; let rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Bake at 375oF for 25 minutes or until done. Remove from pans. Brush tops of loaves with melted butter, if desired. Cool on wire racks.

* 4 cups 40% bran flakes may be substituted

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

After my first ever successful (as in not flat!) chocolate cookie chip recipe, I looked for another recipe to try to see if I would get another satisfactory result. And I did, with these cookies that have both semi-sweet and white chocolate chips. Recipe courtesy of Bev who posted it on recipezaar. I edited the procedure because it was quite confusing, and changed dark brown to light brown because that was what I had on hand and it turned out great anyway.

All the kids and the big boy (and me!) loved these cookies.

22 min | 10 min prep

36 Cookies
Ingredients:
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup vegetable shortening
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

Instructions:

Place oven rack at the center. Preheat oven to 350°F degrees.
Whisk flour, baking soda and salt together; Set Aside.
Cream the sugars, butter, shortening, eggs and vanilla together using handheld mixer.
Mix in Flour Mixture into Creamed mixture just until blended.
Then Stir in chocolate chips.
Scoop out and drop onto parchment paper on cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. For into pyramids for thicker cookies.
Bake on center rack of oven 12-14 mins, until lightly browned and edges are set.
Remove from oven; wait about 2 minutes to firm up; transfer to wire rack to cool.

Note: You can reuse the parchment paper after you have removed the baked cookies.

Crispy Pata, the Healthier Way

How do you cook crispy pata with less guilt? Use the oven!

No wasted gallons of cooking oil...no need for oversized pots....no splatters!

And you end up with crispy pata that has the crackled look on the skin, which has dripped some of its melted fat onto the pan it sits on (and you can even use the drippings to make pork gravy later)...

How to make crispy pata the healthier way?

This was a eureka moment for us... We were celebrating my friend Fe's birthday party last Saturday. As I said in my previous post, I brought pandan chiffon cake (which Fe and her son love!) Cecilia brought a big chunk of pork pata that she had been cooking since 3:30 am and still had not achieved the crunchy skin stage (we know about the skin being smooth and crunchy on traditional lechon...that's what we wanted to achieve). When we arrived at Fe's house, she was still out WORKING! But she was coming home soon, so we started to fiddle with her oven. We really did not know how to set the digital controls...We placed the pan on the lower third of the oven.

When she came back, we cooked rice...then she noticed the lechon...and that the oven was warm but not baking at that time she checked (off, in other words!). Cecilia went on to say, "Hindi pa malutong yung balat eh. Pano ba gamitin yang oven mo?" Fe checked, and said, "I-broil na lang natin." So she set her oven to broil.

After 5 minutes we took a look and saw what you see in the pictures on the slideshow above.

I then realized...the traditional way to cook chicharon or lechon kawali or crispy pata was to boil the pork/rind first in some mixture of water, vinegar and spices, then dry, then deep-fry. This accidental discovery was the short cut method in that you cook the pork first by roasting for about 3 hours to fully cook it (provided you brined the pork or flavored it somehow with spices prior, or placed spices like lemongrass, bay leaf, peppercorn, etc. underneath the roast while roasting, along with a sprinkle of garlic salt on the skin), then broil to create the crackled effect on the skin. (Did I not post about chicken skin chicharon, where I said I turn it to chicharon by using my nuwave to broil/bake the pre-cooked chicken skin? I also posted about smaller pork roast using the rotisserie after cooking/boiling and letting dry the chunk of pork pata.)

We wolfed down this roast in less than 30 minutes...nagpipigil pa so everyone (including our kids) can have his/her share! The thing was, we did not have Sarsa ni Mang Tomas! So we just made our own alternative dip of vinegar with chili, soy sauce, salt and pepper.

The cut that Cecilia brought had no skin underneath, but if you will try this method using pork pata with skin all around, I suggest that once the "cooking" phase is done and you are ready to broil the pata, use a wire rack to elevate the pata so the underside is open to hot air and is not soaked in juices, then after crisping the top, rotate so you crisp the bottom also (have not tried this, but it is an idea.)

Try it yourself! You won't regret it!

A Simple Roast Pork

It seems like chicken...haha! But this is a roast cut of pork, with spine and some ribs at one side (I don't exactly know what you call that kind of cut). I was looking at my freezer and was wondering what to prep for supper. I saw this roast cut...though there were several ligaments and fascia, the cut was very lean.

Very simple to prepare, all I added was kosher salt and freshly milled gourmet pepper. Straight from the freezer, I baked it at 350 deg F in that same roasting pan showed in the pic, which is the same material as my boiling water canner. The first 2 hours I exposed it, then I added the veggies (broccoli spears and zucchini) and baked covered for another hour.

Hubby at first frowned upon seeing it was mostly "red" pork meat (I am not sure what part of pork would be "white," although I have been seeing ads about pork being the "other white meat"), but he tried it anyway, and was surprisingly delighted at the very good flavor of the tender meat that he ate a full meal after all. My kids loved it (no surprise there! They are my #1 fans.)

Baking Videos of How-To's

Since there have been readers who ask me to teach how to do this and that, and to make vids especially in relation to baking, I decided to compile good vids here of the most common how-to's asked. I am bad at making vids, and since baking can be a long process (from proofing to kneading to final rising), it would take tremendous amount of time to just edit and make a short non-boring vid of one recipe (let's say pan de sal). I think the only one missing is the proper way of cutting pan de sal. I would like to have the time to make a video of that, then I will add to this collection (the one I saw on youtube just was not the way I know how pan de sal is cut so I did not embed that here). If you would like to suggest additional how-to videos please do so and leave me a comment. Thanks!

Kneading



Shaping dough rolls









Slashing the dough (see 4:15)



Braiding



Folding egg whites into batter



Creaming Butter (or Shortening) and Sugar



Rolling a Cake/Jelly Roll

Ube & Yema Ensaymada (aka Pan de Pastel), and Chocolate Ensaymada

Bobong gave me the idea to try using yema as filling for the supersoft ensaymada. So I made a whole batch of ensaymada into ube ensaymada and yema ensaymada. Bobong said the yema-filled ensaymada is called pan de pastel in Camiguin and looks like pan de coco. I just don't know if it is also topped with butter, sugar and cheese, but I did it anyway.

I have no recipe really to share for these. Just use the supersoft ensaymada dough, have yema and ube fillings ready, and see the slideshow below. Work with everything cold already so handling the dough and fillings will be easier. The results of yema-filled ensaymada was so good, thanks to Bobong! Ube, needless to say, is as good as ever for ensaymada.

I had extra dough to make 6 pieces, which I filled with chocolate chips, both milk choco and white choco. I shaped the dough as if they were hopiang baboy. Without toppings, I let my husband have a taste of it (I baked them in my Nu Wave and turned out perfect). Husband liked them so much! My sons did too!

Ingredients:
supersoft ensaymada dough
yema
ube haleya
chocolate chips (milk and white)
topping (butter and sugar to taste, creamed; grated cheese)

Instructions:

Prepare the dough day before. Prepare yema and ube day/s before. Work when these are completely cold.
Grease pan.
Place dough on surface generously sprinkled with flour.
Cut dough into pieces about 2 ounces each (up to you, really). Flatten with the heel of your palm.
Place filling at the center. Gather the edges and seal.
Place on greased pan seam side down. Flatten a bit (or you can leave them rounded like balls). (If you are going to bake right away, you may opt to use muffin pans or brioche molds.)
Optional: Freeze covered with cling wrap for 3 hours at least, then transfer to bags (this is for those who want a good stock of these but want them freshly baked, a little at a time, like I want them.)
Let rise in warm, draft-free environment until double in size.
Bake in 350 deg F oven for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown (please use aluminum pan to avoid overbrowning of bottom). [I baked mine (few pieces at a time) in Nu Wave for 10 minutes without the need to preheat.]
Let cool completely and place in plastic bags if you are not going to eat right away.
Otherwise, cream butter and sugar. Apply to ensaymadas. Top with grated cheese (not necessary for chocolate, but it is up to you if you want to play with flavors).

UPDATE 6-15-09: You may want to use the dulce de leche as filling to make the pan de pastel. If you review Bobong's pan de pastel photos in the photo gallery, it is pretty much like pan de coco with dulce de leche filling. As shown on the photo on the right, I put the dulce de leche in a ziploc and piped out about a tbsp onto a dough piece, then proceeded to wrap it like how I wrap pan de coco. You may then enjoy plainly or with topping.

Bread Bowls

I felt like playing with bread and making a somewhat fancy yet simple and satisfying dinner, so I made bread bowls to serve Chicken a la King in.

Ingredients:
6 cups bread flour
2 envelope Fleischmann’s RapidRise Yeast
1-1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon sugar
1-1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon water
1 cup milk
2 tablespoon butter

Instructions:

Combine flour, yeast, salt and sugar in a mixing bowl; make a well at the center. Heat water, milk and butter to between 120º to 130ºF. Pour into the well and gradually stir into flour mixture. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed of electric mixer, scraping bowl occasionally, until a soft dough is formed.

Turn dough out on a lightly floured surface; knead 6 to 8 minutes until smooth and elastic. Cover dough and let rest 10 minutes.

Divide dough into 4 (or 5, in my case, about 10 oz each) equal portions; shape each into smooth ball. Place on greased baking sheet. Cover; let rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

With sharp knife (I use a new blade for cutter, greased with shortening), make 4 (1/4-inch deep) slashes (swiftly!) in crisscross fashion on top of loaves. Bake at 375ºF for 20 to 25 minutes or until done. Remove from baking sheet; cool on wire rack.

Cut off 1/3 of loaf; hollow out loaf to form 1/4-inch thick bowl. Fill bowl with soup.[Actually, I cooked chicken a la king for this. Recipe up next.]

All the boys said, "Kewl!"

Monay (and Putok)

I have been dreading making monay because of the long kneading time. The characterisically dense and smooth dough is due to extended period of kneading after the rising time prior to cutting. In my father's bakery, we used to have a kneading machine with double rollers where you place the dough in between to press it, stretching and squeezing out bubbles in the process. The baker would do this several times until he was content with the dough's dense and smooth appearance. Pieces were cut to precise sizes (I did mine to have 3oz pieces). I have no such machine, and the dough is comparatively minute anyway, so i used my arm power with the help of the rolling pin. Maybe I will make this again, using the bigger, sliced loaf version, only during Christmas time for giveaways. I am posting here mainly for reference not only for me but for those who have been searching for a monay recipe.

I added yellow food coloring here because that was what the bakers used to do and I am just copying. The yellow coloring of monay makes it appear like it had lots of egg yolk, when I only added one (bakeries do not add yolks at all). I just made use of one egg yolk I had in the fridge from a previous baking stint. I figured it would not hurt to add that to the monay recipe I used. For putok, it should not have the food coloring nor the egg yolk. So to point out the difference between the two, PUTOK (1) has no food coloring, (2) has a crown instead of slit (made by cross-slits), (3) has milk glaze with sugar on the crown, and (4) is made more compact and denser by shorter final rising time. But since I never want to make big batches of rolls that will probably not get eaten within a week, I made only the dough for monay (with the food coloring and long rising time), and only made a couple pieces shaped and glazed/sugared as putok.

I based this recipe on a pan de sal recipe posted in allrecipes, after reading the comments there. I adjusted the amounts according to the amount of evap milk in a can, in replacement of the milk used in the recipe, which called for heating it up prior to actually using it (sort of reducing the milk). The comments said the resulting rolls were dense and hardly rose at all, and another mentioned that the high rating he gave was because it made for good monay and putok recipe. After making these, I do agree it is indeed a good monay recipe.

Ingredients:
1 (14-oz) can of evaporated milk
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp yellow food coloring (optional)
1 egg yolk
1/3 cup butter
1 (0.25 oz) package active dry yeast
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
4 cups all-purpose flour

Instructions:

Heat evap milk to 80-100 deg F. Melt butter. Combine sugar, melted butter, yellow food coloring, egg yolk and evap milk in the mixing bowl. Stir in yeast and let proof.

Meanwhile, measure and put together in a bowl the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and blend well.

On stir setting of the mixer, gradually add the flour (placed at the sides of the bowl) until all is used up. Stop when dough pulls together and leaves only a small amount of flour at the sides of the bowl. Transfer to a lightly greased and lightly floured surface.

Knead for about 8-10 minutes. Grease a bowl big enough to accommodate double the dough. Place the dough in the greased bowl, then flip over (this way, all sides of the dough is greased). Cover lightly with cling wrap and let rise for 1 hr. [Take note in the photos above, the dough just before baking has the characteristic monay shape that we know after I let it rise for 1-1/2 hrs...but I should have baked these before the dough looked like so, because when I baked them, the puffing of the dough in the heat made the slit almost disappear...so I edited the time of rising here to be only one hour, and hopefully it will give you and I baked monays that have that slight dip at the middle...]

After one hour, take out the dough onto a greased and slightly floured surface. Grease your rolling pin. Flatten the dough with the rolling pin, then fold the dough, and repeat the flatten-fold-flatten-fold cycle until the dough is smooth and dense (about 8 minutes). If it becomes too sticky, very lightly flour the surface.

With dough cutter, cut into 3-oz pieces (if you did not cut the right amount, you can either cut off or add small pieces and press together to make 3-oz piece). Shape into round rolls and place on greased baking sheet (preferably aluminum). If you prefer smaller monays, make them 2-oz each. I am cutting here based on how I remember them during those days I was helping in my Tatay's bakery in shaping them to round rolls.

Before the final rising, using swift smooth motion, make deep slits at the middle of the pieces, leaving only about 1/3 of the bottom dough uncut. You might have to do this twice, since the first cutting motion gives you only good cut at one side of the pieces, so that you will have to turn the pan around and make second cuts along the same line to achieve uniformly deep slits. If the cut portions tend to stick together, gently separate them with the blade. Cover lightly with greased cling wrap. Let rise for 40-60 minutes. [Don't wait for the unbaked pieces to look more like the monay you are used to, because if you do, you will end up with overpuffed middle like I did. I should have baked these earlier (my total final rising time was 1-1/2 hours; maybe 1 hr would be enough). The middle of the pieces should still look a tad lower than the baked monay you are used to seeing. The oven heat will puff up the middle some more. Monay characteristically has a bit low dip at the middle (the slit) of the two cheeks. Well, you know what the connotation of "monay" is among Filipinos when they do not refer to these rolls.]

For putok, cut dough pieces about 1.5 to 2 oz each and shape into round rolls. Snip in a cross manner at the top to give you a crown. After the rising period (I suggest only 30 minutes because puto is characteristically very very dense and hard), brush the crown part with milk and sprinkle with sugar crystals.

Bake at 350 deg F for 15 minutes or until tops are golden brown. Enjoy with ice cream filling while hot. Cool on wire rack. Place in ziploc bag as soon as cool enough to do so without sweating inside.

Brioche Molds

 

I finally got my brioche molds which I ordered week before the Lenten season! I got the size shown here (5.5 inch for the widest diameter. I think that's the perfect size for mamon and special ensaymada. These molds that I got are heavy tin and sturdy, to my surprise, unlike the molds I got from a friend which she bought in the Philippines. They are made in France (oh, and brioche is a French bread).

Now I can make supersoft ensaymadas flavored with fillings - ube, yema (will experiment on this, per Bobong's suggestion), hazelnut cream filling, etc.

I just need to find the time...it's hard during summer...gardening season, outing season, vacation time (not that we plan to go anywhere far this year). Sigh....

Chocolate-Hazelnut Roulade

Chocolate-hazelnut roulade was what I had in mind when I learned of the previous LaPiS theme Swirl n Twirl. I had been wanting to bake it since I saw the photo in Hannaford's fresh magazine. While I loved the consistency of the cake (basically a sponge cake) and the taste of the hazelnut filling, I was not too pleased with the mocha whipped cream icing. So even if I will post here the same recipe (I modified the filling), I do not recommend the icing. I probably would settle for the chocolate icing that I have been using in my favorite cake to prepare for birthdays.

Another thing that I would change in the way I prepared this is to beat the cream cheese only after 30 minutes of it in room temp. The way I made it, I soaked the pack in hot water, then got it out and let sit for more than 30 minutes in room temp. It made the filling a tad runny, and I think that was the reason why the roulade looks "collapsed". Or maybe I should have chilled the filling a bit before spreading on the cake. Oh well, lessons learned...

Ingredients:
Cake
5 Tbs cake flour
2 Tbs Cornstarch
2/3 cup Dutch processed unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted, divided into two 1/3 cup
1/8 tsp Cinnamon, ground
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
4 ea Large eggs, separated
3/4 cup Sugar, divided
1 tsp Vanilla extract

Hazelnut Cream Filling
1/2 cup Hazelnuts, toasted and finely chopped
8-oz cream cheese
2 cups Confectioners or powdered sugar, sifted
3 Tbs Hazelnut liqueur (I found Kahlua brand)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Mocha Whipped Cream
3 Tbsp Unsweetened cocoa powder, plus
1 cup Heavy whipping cream
1/2 tsp Instant powdered coffee dissolved in 1 tsp Hot water

Instructions:
1. Position a rack in center of oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Lightly coat a 10 x 15-inch jelly roll pan with vegetable spray or solid shortening. Line pan with baking parchment, and then spray or grease parchment. Dust parchment with flour and tap out excess flour.
2. Sift together flour, cornstarch, 1/3 cup of the cocoa, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.
3. In large bowl of an electric mixer, whip 4 egg whites until foamy (reserve yolks). Gradually add ½ cup of the sugar while whipping to peaks that are stiff but not dry. Scrape whites into another bowl, set them aside (don't worry, they won't deflate), and return unwashed bowl and beater to mixer.
4. In same bowl, whip yolks, vanilla, and remaining ¼ cup sugar together until thick and very pale in color (3 to 5 minutes or more, depending upon type of mixer used). By hand with a rubber spatula, fold about one-third of whipped whites into yolks to lighten them. Sprinkle on and gently fold in about one-quarter of flour-cocoa mixture; fold gently to maintain batter volume. Alternately fold in remaining dry mixture and whipped whites until batter is fairly even in color; don't worry if there are a few streaks of white.
5. Scoop batter onto prepared pan and spread into an even layer. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or just until top is springy to the touch and a cake tester in center comes out clean. Don't over bake or cake will dry out too much to roll without cracking. While cake bakes, set a dish towel flat on counter and sift on remaining 1/3 cup cocoa, making a rectangle about 10 by 15 inches. (Note: After use, shake out towel over sink and wash in cold water - cocoa won't stain towel.)
6. As soon as cake is baked, invert it over sifted cocoa on towel. Lift off pan and peel off parchment. With a serrated knife, slice off a scant 1/8-inch strip around all crisp cake edges so that it will roll easily. Fold one short end of the towel over a short end of the cake, and roll them together. Set aside, seam down, on wire rack until cake is cold, about 1 hour.
7. Make the filling. Start by toasting the hazelnuts. Spread hazelnuts on a baking sheet and toast in 325 degrees F oven until fragrant and beginning to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool.
8. In large bowl of an electric mixer set on medium-high, blend cream cheese and confectioners' sugar until completely smooth. Add liqueur and vanilla and blend. Taste and adjust sugar or liqueur if needed. Finely chop nuts and stir in.
9. When cake is completely cold, unroll it and spread evenly with hazelnut cream filling. Re-roll cake and place seam side down on a plate. Dust surface with confectioners' sugar, or prepare a Buche de Noel.
10. Make the Mocha Whipped Cream. Sift together cocoa and confectioners' sugar. In a medium bowl, combine cream and dissolved coffee (mix coffee granules in hot water). Use an electric mixer to whip cream. As soft peaks begin to appear, gradually add sugar cocoa mixture. Whip until peaks become a little firmer, but be careful not to over beat - about 3 minutes. Gently spread mocha whipped cream over prepared roulade. Run fork tines in cream along length of log. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve. May be prepared a day in advance and refrigerated. Just before serving, sift on a faint dusting of cocoa.

Basic Muffin Recipe

I have always been intrigued by the muffins I see in stores -- the ones with high domes/peaks....I have always wondered how that is achieved, whether that depends on the recipe or the oven temperature or the placement of pan in the oven. Well, I started the quest for the answer by using a basic muffin recipe. I finally learned the secret to making nice domes of muffins: preheating the oven to high heat, which creates an effect akin to "golpe de gulat" as we would refer to it in the Philippines. As soon as the muffin pan is placed inside the oven, the temp is dropped down to the right temp (which will not burn the muffins's exterior and leave the center underbaked). Next thing I will experiment on is whether I could do the same trick with my favorite blueberry muffin recipe.

I did use the King Arthur recipe just to experience for myself whether the trick they taught there was for real, which it was. But Wena also has an almost the same recipe, only with more oil, which also helps with prolonging shelf life and accounts for the tenderness, although we probably can experiment adding mashed sweet potato or regular potato, or some sweet sticky rice flour or tapioca flour to see how these affect the tenderness. I knew at some point in my childhood life, my Tatay experimented with adding grated kamoteng-kahoy (cassava) that he harvested from our backyard, into his basic muffin recipe which he used for his version of cheese cupcakes (which was basically muffins with grated cheese on top), and I liked the outcome better than the original; more moist and tender.

The beauty of having a basic recipe is the many variations you can try, as suggested by KAF. I found the plain one not sweet enough, and was thinking of maybe experimenting with adding colored sugar crystals on top at the last minutes of baking, aside from using chocolate chips, or sweet fruits, nuts.

For purposes of keeping the recipe easy to find here, I am copying and pasting here the recipe from KAF.
Ingredients:
2 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil or softened butter (optional)*
2 large eggs

*If you leave the oil out, you can reduce the calories in your muffins by about 30%; the flavor will still be excellent, but muffins won't be quite as tender, and won't keep as well should you happen to have any left over.

(I added blueberries in half of my batter; I just sprinkled them with some flour to help them be uniformly distributed.)
Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 500°F.

Blend together the dry ingredients as long and as vigorously as you want. If you use a little whole wheat flour in your mixture, it's easy to tell when everything is thoroughly mixed.

Beat the liquid ingredients together -- milk, oil or butter, and eggs -- until they are light. If you have a 2-cup liquid measure (one with a lip above the 2-cup mark) it makes mixing the liquid ingredients very easy. Most eggbeaters will fit right in the cup, so you can use it both as a measure, and as a small mixing bowl.

Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Take a fork or wire whisk and blend the two for 20 seconds -- no more! The secret to light and tender muffins lies in this final blending. It's OK if you've left some lumps that look as if they want more stirring; they really don't. So, no matter how hard it is, resist the impulse.

Fill cups of a lightly greased muffin tin two-thirds to three-quarters full. Place muffins in the oven and immediately drop temperature to 400°F*. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until muffins test done. Yield: 12 muffins, 24 mini-muffins, or six "crown" muffins.

*When you put muffins in a very hot oven and immediately drop the temperature, you help create the high peaks that make them so appealing.

Nutrition information per serving (1 muffin, 63 g): 161 cal, 6 g fat, 4 g protein, 16 g complex carbohydrates, 8 g sugar, 1 g fiber, 47 mg cholesterol, 217 mg sodium, 66 mg potassium, 1 mg iron, 124 mg calcium, 72 mg phosphorus.
More tips can be found at KAF's basic muffin recipe page.

Wish-Bone Marinated Baked Chicken

 

This is one of the chicken dishes that my husband loves, and is one of our all-time favorite recipes. My stepdaught likes it as salad.

I actually posted this in my old kusina, but to make it easier to find, I am re-posting here. This photo is also a better one.





Ingredients:
Chicken cut into serving pieces
Wish-Bone Robusto Italian Dressing

Instructions:
Wash and drain the chicken pieces well. Place in ziploc bag and marinade with Robusto Italian dressing enough to cover all the pieces (probably about 1/2 cup for 1 whole chicken). Let sit in the fridge at least overnight, turning from time to time for the flavor to soak in well in all pieces.

Place iron cast griddle or grilling pan on higher rack of oven. Heat oven to 400 deg F. Drain chicken pieces. Spray griddle with oil and place chicken pieces. Let cook for about 15 minutes then baste with fresh dressing and cook further for 5 minutes. Baste again and cook for another 5 minutes. Turn over and let cook 10 minutes on the other side then baste and cook another 5 minutes. Baste and cook further for 5 minutes or until done and surface has a glazed and nicely browned appearance.

Serve with iceberg salad and Robusto dressing, and boiled potatoes or rice.

Sweet Potato Pockets

Sweet Potato Pockets is my 5th and final entry for the NC Sweet Potatoes contest.

I made these sweet potato pockets as snack version of the Sweet Potato Bake wrapped around by the dough of Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls. One or two pieces make for a perfect solution to a hungry tummy in between meals. It is almost like hopia.

I would like to thank sweetbytes for this contest and giving us a boost to explore the possibilities of sweet potatoes.

Ingredients:
Filling from Sweet Potato Bake
Dough from Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls
Egg wash (1 egg beaten + 1 tbsp milk)

Instructions:

The slide show pretty much explains what to do. Place the leftover sweet potato bake in a ziploc bag and cut one corner so you will squeeze this out when you fill the dough.

Cut the dough into several pieces until you have about pingpong-sized ones. Flatten each piece with the heel of your hand, and put about 1 tbsp or so of the sweet potato bake filling.

Gather the edges of the dough and seal. Roll in between your palms to get an oblong shape. Place on greased baking pan and let rise for about 30 minutes in a draft-free moist and warm environment (like inside an oven that is warmed up for 1 minute). Brush with egg wash and create slits using a sharp blade. Bake at 350 deg F for 12 minutes.