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.

7-Up Citrus Pork Chop

Today I used our grill for the first time this year. Because I had been meaning to try this 7-Up Citrus Marinade on pork chops. I got the marinade from Hannaford sometime last winter (the 7-up caught my attention, since Pinoy style barbecues and even fried chicken are usually marinated or cooked with 7-up. Unfortunately, the fried chicken pre-cooked with 7-up was not well-accepted by hubby. He said it was too sweet.)

I had 8 pieces of pork chops. I marinated 6 pieces in this 7-Up Citrus Marinade for 1.5 hours (Meanwhile, I was transplanting seedlings that I bought from a greenhouse into hanging baskets). I left two pieces unmarinated just in case hubby would not like the marinated ones, just like he did not like the 7-up cooked fried chicken. These I just flavored with salt and pepper, basted with bacon drippings.

I fired up the grill (it's now officially summer in my book!), and cooked the chops, basting with bacon drippings from time to time until I was satisfied with the doneness (I just gauge by the looks...no thermometer, no timing).

Served them while hot...oriented hubby which ones were plain and the marinated. To my surprise, he tried both, and tried the marinated ones first, and loved it! Maybe because the flavor was more of citrus, and that the flavor did not overpower the chops (since they were marinated less than two hours). Then he had a plain one and liked it too...Maybe it was the bacon drippings used for basting...

What a satisfying meal on this hot summery spring day!

Maple-Garlic Beef Short Ribs

I made this for supper tonight, using the exact same ingredients as the maple-garlic chicken, and the same method except that I used pressure cooker. (I added two slices of sirloin steaks for hubby because he does not like ribs -- "too much work for so little meat"). My MIL recently gave me two quartz of maple syrup, and one quart is almost out now, with some sediments forming at the bottom. We usually do not use this part of maple syrup for pancakes, but I hate throwing it away, so cooking or baking with it is the best way to use it up.

We loved the effect just as much as we did with the chicken.

Ingredients:
1 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup white vinegar
1 cup soy sauce
3-5 lb beef short ribs
cornstarch-water mixture (probably 1/2 cup water + 3 heaping tbsp cornstarch)

Instructions:
Mix all the sauce ingredients. Place beef ribs in pressure cooker. Pour the sauce. Close lid and turn oven on high. Once pressure gets high, simmer for 45 minutes.
Release pressure. Turn oven to low broil. Place beef ribs on baking sheet. Broil 1-2 minutes to dry up the surface. Meanwhile, make sauce thicker using cornstarch-water mixture (Sauce should be boiling briskly, then pour the CW mixture in slow stream while stirring).


Baste beef ribs with sauce and broil two minutes. Do this two times on one side then flip over and do this again twice. Basting and broiling gives the glazed effect (the sugar content caramelizes under the high heat and gives that beautiful highly-appealing sheen).
Place remaining sauce in a gravy boat. Serve with the beef ribs. Garnish with snips of chives as desired. Serve over plain rice or mashed potatoes with boiled veggies.

Fiddleheads with Coconut Milk

I was craving for some vegetable-based dish one day, then one of my co-workers left a gallon bag full of fiddleheads inside the fridge for anyone interested to take home. The unit sec and I decided to divide that. That's what I cooked in a laing-inspired fashion, although I decided to add some vinegar toward the end of cooking.

My craving was satisfied, and my sons enjoyed it as well.

Ingredients:
1/4 lb pork liempo, sliced thinly
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, sliced
2-3 tbsp patis (fish sauce)
1 (13.5 oz) can premium coconut milk (first press)
1/2 cup to 1 cup water
qt fiddle heads
salt and pepper to taste
dash of ground basil leaves
2-3 tbsp cider vinegar

Instructions:
Add about 1/4 cup water to pork and sautee until pork renders fat. Add salt and pepper. Add garlic and sautee until light brown. Add onions and sautee until caramelized. Add patis and let sizzle. Add coconut milk and fiddle heads. Add about 1/4 cup water and stir. Let simmer uncovered until coconut turns creamy (add water if it turns too dry). Season with salt, pepper and ground basil leaves. Add vinegar and let simmer another 5 minutes. Serve with plain rice.

Rice Puto

I would have said "Putong Puti" on the title, but because I used several flavorings to come up with bite-size puto to bring tomorrow to my SIL's for Easter celebration, these mini-puto have pastel colors,and will be the right way to Filipinize Easter, I would say!

I used rice flour (to save time), and added coconut milk instead of plain water just because I love the flavor imparted by it. I also added fresh pandan leaves to the boiling water for additional flavor.

My kids liked them, tasting each and seeing which flavor they liked best. Hubby was likewise delighted.

I also experimented with using additional tapioca starch (added 1 tsp to 1 tbsp to one of the 4 colors) to see whether it would help prevent the "eruption"; I also tried to lessen the heat as soon as I placed the bamboo steamer, so as not to make "gulat" and create that erupted look. Not that I don't like the erupted top; I was just wondering how some puto vendors manage not to have any on theirs. These seem effective, and tapioca subtly changes the consistency to make it a little bit chewier (almost rubber-like, but not tough, whereas pure rice would result to a more crumbly texture, especially if batter is not thin enough, or if rice did not soak long enough).

I will have to make special mention of MaMely of PinoyAmericanRecipes for the puto molds and the wonderful Pinoy flavorings she sent to me. Thanks, MaMely!

Ingredients:
1 package (16 oz or 1 lb) rice flour (regular, red writings on package)
1-1/2 cup water
1 can (14 oz or 13.5 oz) premium coconut milk (unsweetened, first pressing)
1-1/2 cup sugar
a dash or two of salt
1 tbsp baking powder
few drops of McCormick flavorings (langka, ube, pandan)

Optional:
tapioca starch (1 tbsp for the whole batch, or 1 tsp for each after dividing)
pandan leaves for the boiling water

Instructions:

In a plastic container, blend rice flour with water very well. Cover and let rest in room temp overnight.


Next morning, add everything else except flavorings and mix very well until smooth. Batter will be very very thin. Do not be tempted to add any more flour.

Prepare water for steaming. Add pandan leaves if desired.

Divide batter into 4. Add a few drops of the flavorings to 3, leaving one white, so you end up with 4 different colors. You may add tapioca (1 tsp each) to each of these, or try one with tapioca and see if you like the result. If you don't, leave the rest alone.

Lay the puto molds on top of cloth lining as shown (I use the ones in the photo below; I bought it from Walmart, where the housekeeping/building stuff are). Pour the batter almost to the brim of the molds. When water is briskly boiling, steam the puto and time for 10 minutes for these bite-size puto (muffin size will probably take 15-20 minutes). If using metal pan, line the lid also with dry cloth to absorb moisture and prevent condensation. Do not steam the puto too long that the excess moisture gets absorbed by the cooked puto that might result to sogginess. In trying to figure out the right steaming time for your size of puto, try a few, steam for about 10 minutes, try it (or break in half to see the middle), before you proceed with the rest of the batter.

Once done, remove right away from the mold and cool on wire rack so excess moisture evaporates. These puto molds easily releases the puto; I just had to slip the tip of a toothpick at one side, the gently pull it out and drop onto the cooling rack. Store (what you will not eat right away) in airtight container when cooled completely.

Ham Lentil Potato Soup

Something I made to use up leftover boiled ham. I did not expect hubby to like this, and I was preparing a TV dinner for him and stepd. He tasted some (because the aroma of simmering soup had been enticing him), and he actually liked it! He said, "I should have this instead of the TV dinner. Next time you fix this, remind me that I liked it."

Ingredients:
2 cups cubed ham (fat trimmed off)
2 stalks celery, sliced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup dried lentil
1 cup cubed carrots (I used leftover from boiled ham, so I placed these in the pot toward the end of cooking)
5 cups water + 2 cups tomato juice* (or just use plain water)
1 cup leftover mashed potato (mix this well with some of the water before placing in the pot
2 cloves garlic
1 bay leaf
dash of ground basil leaves
2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Instructions:
Dump everything (if using uncooked carrots) in a big pot and stir. Let boil then lower heat and simmer covered for 1-1/2 hrs, stirring occasionally. Enjoy with freshly baked bread (and rice for you Filipinos). (If you are using the bread machine, prepare your bread before you start fixing this soup.)

*Note: The tomato juice I used was from canned raw tomatoes, which I drained to use for lasagna. I always save the juice and use it for things like this, or for sweet and sour sauce of escabeche.

Pinoy Cheese Cupcake

This is what the typical neighborhood type of Filipino bakeshops would tout as their "special"kababayan in the sense that it uses cheese. A closer look at the ingredients would indicate that this is basically a muffin topped with grated cheese. Contrary to how the Western cheesecake is, this does not have any form of cream cheese (or anything cheese) in its batter.

This was my favorite muffin in my Tatay's bakery, especially when fresh out of the oven with its crunchy top. Once cooled, I would wrap them individually in small clear plastic bags and seal using the candle (I got proficient at making the seal without actually touching the flame; just the heat, so that the plastic would not have any dark marking as it does when it touches the yellow flame).

Husband had a taste of the batter and thought it tasted like butter cookies. (Hmmmm....maybe I should try making some into drop cookies.) When it was done, I had hubby taste it. His reaction was..."Hmmm, that's good!" Kids' reaction? Same. (gaya-gaya, puto-maya...)

This recipe was adapted from Mrs. Daisy Alonzo's recipe.

Ingredients:
1 bar (1/2 cup) butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
4 eggs
2 cans (14 oz each) sweetened condensed milk
3-2/3 cups all purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
cheddar cheese, finely grated, for topping

Instructions:

Line 2 muffin pans with paper cups.
Preheat oven to 350 ° F
Mix flour and baking powder well in a bowl.
Using a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar together on medium speed. Turn speed to slow and add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually increase speed to medium and beat well.
Turn speed to slow and slowly add the condensed milk. Beat well on medium speed for about a minute.
Turn to slow again and add the dry ingredients. Increase speed to medium and add oil. Beat well for about another minute. Add vanilla and beat to blend.
Transfer batter to a piping bag and pipe into the muffin cups, leaving about 1/4 inch space at the top.
Top with grated cheese (preferably the orange-colored cheddar cheese).
Bake for 15 minutes, then rotate the pans for even baking. (If you want, you may add some more cheese at this point).Bake for another 10 minutes. Enjoy with maple syrup or condensed milk if desired.
Transfer to cooling rack and completely cool before storing in ziploc bags those that you will not be able to consume right away.

The original recipe that I got from asiarecipe.com forum was as follows:
Pinoy Cheese Cupcake-Kababayan
(Pinoy Cheese Muffin)
Recipe courtesy of Mrs. Daisy Alonzo
Ingredients:
1 bar butter
4 eggs
100 grams sugar
2 can of condensed milk
15 grams cooking oil
5 grams baking powder
500 grams. all-purpose flour
you will need:
cheese grater
2 ounce paper baking cups
cake mixer, mixing bowl and spatula
Paraan ng pagluluto:
Hiwa-hiwain muna ang butter para madali itong lummbot.
Ilagay ang butter sa isang mixing bowl, ihalo ang asukal at apat na itlog.
Haluin ang mga sangkap na ito sa cake mixer. Gamitin ang pinakamahinang
speed upang hindi tumapon ang butter mixture.
Idagdag na din sa mixture ang dalawang lata ng condensed milk.
Ihinto muna ang mixer.
Pagsamahin naman ang harina at baking powder at saka ihalo sa butter mixture.
Paandarin muli ang mixer sa pinakamahinang speed. Haluing mabuti hanggang sa
maging basa ang mga sangkap.
Ihalo ang 15 grm ng mantika.
Pabilisin ang mixer hanggang maging pino ang sangkap.
Patayin ang mixer, ito na ngayon ang cupcake mixture.
Ihanay ang paper baking cups. Magbuhos ng cupcake mixture sa bawat baking cups
Punuin hanggang ikatlong bahagi ng bawat cups
Lagyan ng grated cheese ang cupcake mixture.
Ipasok sa mainit na oven, ihurno ng mga 30 minuto.
Luto na ang cheese cupcake. Palamigin

Binangkal

Last week I was emailed by a reader requesting for a post on Binangkal, which is popular in Cebu. I had no idea what it was, but I was intrigued enough, especially with some craving to make some munchies soon because I was not making any the past weeks due to the dust all over the house as my husband was working on our sunroom.

Plus, I needed a break too. Cooking/baking has always been therapeutic for me. So I tried this recipe I had been eyeing since last week. I wanted to decrease the ingredients but the list makes it hard to do that. So I followed the recipe. I had a lot of dough to start with, but since I had no idea what binangkal was, except that it was pretty much like doughnut in that it was fried dough, I thought it would be just fine as the first batches could be a learning phase for me.

True enough, pingpong-sized round dough dropped into the medium hot oil gave me darkly browned binangkal with uncooked middle dough. How could I come up with cooked middle without burning the outside? I came up with this solution: smaller dough, flattened somehow into discs. Rationale: Flatter dough means the heat will be close enough to the middle to cook that part well. The smaller dough ensures cooking the middle part without burning the outer.

I had the extra advantage of having the puffing up of the middle part as a visual cue that the middle is getting done. That was quite unexpected but very effective means of assessing the doneness (aside from brown color at the outside).

Kids approved it, and especially enjoyed these treats with maple syrup. Hubby tried it and said it was different, then got a can of Pepsi and had some more binangkal. So I guess he kinda liked it, although it was "different." It is wonderfully crunchy on the outside (Hey, Claire, you will not break your teeth with this one, I promise!)

Ingredients:

5 Cups All Purpose Flour
5 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder (preferably Calumet)
1 Box Dark Brown Sugar GH (2 1/2 cups)
3 While Eggs
1 Small Can Evaporated Milk (2/3 cup) + 2 tbsp milk (whole milk or if you have extra evap milk)
1 tsp Vanilla

Instructions:

Mix dry ingredients thoroughly until fine (I used the food processor in pulses.)
Mix remaining ingredients: eggs, vanilla, milk.
Combine all dry and liquid ingredients by hand.
Add more milk if it is too dry until you obtain the correct consistency. The dough should
be stiff enough to mold into a ball. Don't make it too wet (read on and you will see why).
(Adjust to your preferred Binangkal size).
Lay the pinched dough on aluminum foil.
Get a cup of tap or filtered water as preferred (this is why you should not make the dough too wet in the first place).
Dip two fingers of your hand and wet the palm of the other hand for molding the dough.
Pick up each dough and roll between both palms of your hand to shape into balls.
Roll dough in a bowl of sesame seeds then press between fingers to make them flat (depressed more at the middle than at the sides). When done, you are ready to fry.
Heat your frying pan in high heat then lower to Medium-LOW when you begin frying because the pan must be very hot to start. You can try one first to gauge your own stove and adjust in the next batches. Start with few, try to open some and see if you already like what you have before going full blast with more per batch.
Place only about 6-8 pieces per batch. Once all have floated, wait until the top parts puff up and crack, then tip over to cook the other side. Count about 30 seconds once you have tipped over all pieces. Take note of which ones are the first, as they are the ones to get out first. Check to see doneness of the underside (should be uniformly browned, not whitish in the cracks. (My video below is quite different at I tipped too soon just by counting. It will be more reliable to wait for puffing up of the middle before tipping over.)
Prepare a cooling wire rack over a cookie sheet to hold cooked Binangkal for cooling purposes and to let excess oil drip.
Line your storage container with paper towel. Store in airtight container when completely cool.
The Binangkal will keep for a week (according to recipe source).

To Mercie, I hope you will like this!

Puto Pao/Cua Pao

I am not really sure what this is called. The first time I tasted what seemed like puto with filling like that of siopao, it was when a sister-in-law brought some from Laguna. I loved it then. She said it was called cuapao. The shape was rectangular.

With previous browsing on the net, some called it puto pao. The cua pao search I made led me to a photo that did not look like what my ex-SIL brought. So, I don't know what this is really called. But simply put, that pao that I had then from SIL is basically puto with siopao filling. Period.

Now, with my easy method of making puto from boxed white cake mix (and I recently bought a pint of pure pasteurized egg whites), I made some puto pao (or cua pao?). After my kids loved them paos, I thought I should have a set of rectangular or square silicone muffin cups. So I bought a set of square and triangular. Next time I make puto pao again, I will use the square ones(they are larger too than the typical muffin cup shape). We already tried them with brownies and once the brownies were cool enough, they were easy to remove from the silicone cups.

I used leftover beef pares for filling (note: the beef pares link will lead you to my blog post which had a very old unappealing photo of my beef pares, which does not do justice to how scrumptious this dish is, so please do not be discouraged. It has been a tried and tested and loved recipe by several of my readers, and a favorite special beef roast recipe in my household that even my in-laws love it). I chopped the meat roughly, mixed that with the sauce, adjusted the sauce with thickener (cornstarch-water mix), salt, sugar, pepper as necessary. Then I chilled the mixture prior to making the puto pao. The chilling enables me to shape the filling into disks which I could lay flat over half of the puto batter before I top with the other half.

I get the water boiling even before I start preparing the batter. I use any white cake mix in my pantry, with the required egg whites and oil, then mix thoroughly with a hand mixer until batter looks fluffy. I place about a teaspoon at the bottom of the muffin paper liner, then carefully top with flattened filling (I measure using cooking scoop), then finally add another teaspoon or so of white cake mix batter, or enough to cover sides and top of the filling (I avoid adding too much). The slide show has some photos with sliced cheese on top, or plain, or some puto pao with the filling on top only (I experimented to place the filling on top, expecting it to sink to the middle while steaming, but it did not).

The result got my kids excited, they had these for snacks that night, and saved some for the next morning for their breakfast.

As expected, hubby only ate the plain puto. :(

Old Fashioned Buttermilk Bread

Makes 1 loaf. 

Do not make loaves larger than recommended by bread machine manufacturer. Use the 1-pound recipe if your bread machine pan holds 10 cups or less of water. Use the 2-pound recipe if the pan holds 13 cups or more. 

	1-lb loaf (8 slices)	1-1/2 lb loaf (12 slices)	2-lb loaf (16 slices)
Buttermilk	¾ cup + 2 tbsp	1 cup + 2 tbsp	1-2/3 cup
Butter, cut up	1 tbsp	1-1/2 tbsp	2tbsp
Bread flour	2 cups	3 cups	4 cups
Sugar	1 tbsp	4 tsp	2 tbsp
Salt	¾ tsp	1-1/4 tsp	1-1/2 tsp
Baking soda	1/8 tsp	1/8 tsp	¼ tsp
Bread machine yeast	1 tsp	1-1/2 tsp	1-1/2 tsp

Directions

Measure all ingredients into bread machine pan in the order suggested by manufacturer, addingbaking soda with flour. 

Process on basic/white bread cycle; use medium/normal crust color setting. Do not use delayed-bake feature. Remove bread from pan; cool on wire rack. 

Manang's Lechon Manok

Syempre hindi kumpleto ang Pinoy food cravings ko kung walang lechon manok. That is the main reason why I got myself a rotisserie. Actually, my friend Ana has it, and cooked lechon manok in it using cornish hens. That's what gave me the idea of getting myself this rotisserie.

My favorite back when I was in Pinas was the Baliwag style, although Andok's was more ubiquitous. But I had a different experience when I bought some at one of the MRT stations near JR Memorial Hospital (can't remember the name of the stall). The outlet was small, yet the machine was more high tech, and I love the spicy taste (although it was a bit too hot for my kids). I think the different spice flavor was due to the five-spice, which I tried below. And I added some other spices to experiment. If you notice, the two chickens below have different colors. That's because of different flavors. The chickens were the smallest ones among our very own homegrown chickens. Love them with atsarang papaya and steamy rice, plus sarsa ni Mang Tomas, of course. Hubby had the potato with it, and does not care for veggies.

Ingredients:
Whole chickens (that will fit in the rotisserie)
5 cloves garlic each
1 onion each
lemongrass stalks
celery stalks
whole peppers
several fenugreek seeds (I love the smell of it)
kosher salt to taste (in the cavity and on the skin)
various spices (I experimented with five spice, paprika, curry powder, ground pepper, etc -- up to you to experiment. Use your nose to see what you think will give you superb flavor)
Blocks of butter to keep skin moist.

Instructions:
Photos below pretty much self-explanatory. Cooking time depends on weight of chicken (about 2 hours for these two small chickens to make sure they are done. You can always check by prying with a fork or using a thermometer).
Add the veggies one hour before done.
Let sit on the platter for about 10 minutes before attacking to allow for the juices to redistribute.

Frenchie Minute Steaks (or Frenchie Beef Lengua)

Minute steaks are very thin cuts of beef sirloin or round, so thin that you can cook each side for one minute and it is done.

I cooked this for the first time just googling french onion soup with beef and got the idea to
add frenchies, basing on my husband's favorite beef dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse, Chop Steak. While not exactly the same, my husband excitedly exclaimed that they look and tasted almost the same. Chop steak is "ground beef, seasoned, grilled and smothered with sautéed mushrooms, red wine Bordelaise sauce and crisp onion straws." This dish quickly became a favorite in my household. It is so good, that I decided to make my beef lengua last Pinoy Christmas Party the same way.


Ingredients:
1 lb minute steaks
1 small can (4 oz) sliced mushrooms
2 envelopes Lipton Recipe Secret Onion soup mix*
1-1/2 cup red wine (or water)
Frenchies french fried onions for topping.

*Note: If you are using the Campbell's french onion soup, use only 3/4 cup red wine/water.


Instructions:
Prepare the french onion soup as directed in the package, except use red wine (or plain water if you don't have red wine) for the liquid. Double the amount of red wine (or water) to allow for evaporation during pressure cooking. (alternative: Campbell's French Onion Soup)
Drain and sautee mushrooms. Set aside.
A few pieces at a time, brown each side of the minute steaks and set aside on the same platter you placed the mushrooms on.
Place back everything in the pot and add the soup mixture (or campbell's french onion soup with red wine/water). Let boil.
Cover. Pressure cook for 10 minutes (if you are using thicker slices like in stir-fries, you can extend to 15 minutes).
Stir and place on a platter.
Sprinkle with Frenchies fried french fried onions and serve with mashed potatoes or plain rice.

Note: If you are going to use beef lengua, prepare the lengua first (pressure cook for 30 minutes then peel off the white coating, then slice at 1/2-inch thickness. These will now be the substitute for minutes steaks.

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.

How to Cook the Perfect Steak: Sous Vide Cooking

I don't remember how I stumbled upon a blog post by an American guy who shared what he did to produce a perfectly (and fully!) cooked steak that is medium rare (in appearance), tender and juicy. I can't even remember the blog, but it got me reading more into sous vide cooking.

As I read and learned more about the technique, and the very few affordable choices of home cooks, I set out to get the equipment I needed to add to my existing kitchen gadgets to take the plunge and see for myself. I chose the least expensive one: a PID thermostat coupled with my 6-qt slow cooker.

I was determined to learn this method because my husband is a steak eater (as much as I am a fried fish eater).

I have often wondered how restaurants always would come up with tender and juicy steaks even when very well done (as how my hubby always likes his steaks). At home we have our homegrown, grass-fed beef. While it sounds ideal and romantic, grass-fed beef are not exactly as great as those in the restaurants. Flavor is superb and the meat is really lean, and whatever bit of fat left is the good stuff, having had grass instead of grain providing the building material for the fatty acids. But consistency sucks -- tough and stringy -- what with all the freedom our beef had in their life span, and the lack of hormones. Not wanting to waste a lot of steaks this year as I did last year (I gave away a lot of unused steaks because I was getting discouraged), my readings on sous vide cooking gave me hope. Now I can see this household running out of steaks before the next year's supply comes. It seems like this was the way to cook steaks "very well done" without drying it up.

For this post, I used T-bone steaks, which already partly has tenderloin. Although I used 140 deg F (which gave the appearance of medium rare), I was explaining to hubby and kids about the technique (hubby was particularly intrigued with my PID temp controller and the seemingly elaborate and unusual setup), discussing about killing of pathogens at such temp for several hours of cooking, so that psychologically he was primed to see reddish middle of this fully cooked steak. I did brown the steaks in butter for a period long enough to make it as brown as possible without drying. However, I noticed that the longer the cut meat was exposed to air (and oxygen), the redder it got at the middle (a result of oxidation). Good thing I assured everyone already that that was fully cooked. With their concerns answered, they were reassured and pacified, and we all ate the steaks and savored the goodness...they were indeed excellent!

The next batch of steaks I cooked at 170 deg F. This time they were really brown...and tender and juicy.

So if you are interested, there is a sous vide cooker meant for home cooks at a whopping price of $449. Or, if you already have a good sized slow cooker, and are willing to invest on a PID temperature controller available in ebay for $156, here's how I prepared my first sous vide cooked steaks.

1. Thaw the steaks.

2. Season with salt and pepper (or spices...avoid fresh garlic as this can be over powering. If you want garlic flavor, use powder.)

3. Vacuum pack the steaks (I used food saver. Their plastic bags are food grade and are ok for low temp simmering.)

4. Place a spacer on each steaks (I used the lids for canning).

5. Stack the steaks inside the slow cooker and fill with water (spacer ensures the warm water bathes each steak all around).

6. Submerge the temperature sensor.

7. Cover the slow cooker, plug it to the PID temp controller, turn it on low setting, plug the PID into power supply, and set the PID thermostat to desired temp (see Table 2.3).

7. Allow at least two hours for the water in the slow cooker to reach the desired temperature according to Table 2.2 here. Then add the cooking time per recommendation in Table 2.3 if cooking thawed meat, or Table 2.4 if cooking frozen. Take note that this is the minimum time to ensure safety.I cooked mine for a total of 6 hours from turning on the unit.

8. Remove from pouches and wipe with paper towels.

9. Briefly pan-fry in butter (longer if you want it more brown).

10. Serve immediately.

More readings avaialable here in a downloadable pdf format.

HOW TO USE THE PID THERMOSTAT:

Make sure you are using a slow cooker or rice cooker that has manual controls instead of electronic.

Plug the cooker into the PID unit. Plug the PID into the power supply.

Turn on the slow cooker on low setting, place the sensor in the water in the slow cooker. Plug the PID into power supply.

Set the temperature and time (including the two hours to get the water up to the desired temp).

PID thermostat will beep when time is up.

So if you are interested in sous vide cooking, the equipment you need (if you are not getting the above mentioned sous vide cooker) are:

- a large capacity rice cooker or slow cooker with manual controls

- PID temperature controller

- vacuum sealer (I have Food Saver) and bags

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.

Blue Ridge Mountain Chocolate Chip Cookies

A confession I have to make: I had always been afraid to bake chocolate chip cookies...until I tried this recipe.

Now why was I afraid? Well, I had always used the Nestle Toll House Cookie recipe at the label of the chocolate chips, and my stand mixer, then my cookies would always be flat. If I use the Choc-Oat Chip cookie recipe, they might not be that flat...but they are still too flat for me.

This is the first time I tried a recipe off recipezaar for a cookie. And this is the first chocolate chip cookie recipe that removed my anxiety over baking cookies.

I also realized that I should stick to creaming the butter within 30 minutes of being in room temp, and to only use hand mixer instead of the stand mixer.

Then maybe I will try again Nestle Toll House recipe...we will see if those were indeed the factors that make my cookies flat.

In the meantime, my kids are happy with these, and I am gonna have them in my recipe collection here in my kusina.


Blue Ridge Mountains Chocolate Chip Cookies


30 min | 10 min prep

2 -3 dozen

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups bleached all purpose flour (see note below)
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups chocolate chips (I use Ghirardelli brand)
Note: The recipe initially calls for 2 1/2 cups flour, but with the added note if you want them more softer and rounder cookie to add 1/4 cup flour. I add the 1/4 cup making it 2 3/4 cups total.
Cream shortening, butter, sugars, then eggs and vanilla and almond extracts.
Blend dry ingredients and add to mixture.
Stir in Chocolate chips.
Drop by large tablespoons (I use cookie scoop) onto ungreased cookie sheet, leaving 2-inches room in between to allow cookies to spread. I press down lightly with a measuring cup to bake more uniform cookies).
Bake at 375° for 10 minutes until lightly brown.
Makes 2-3 dozen cookies depending on size.

Lengua De Gato (Cat's Tongue)

Who does not love lenguas de gato??? I have yet to meet one who doesn't.

I am not sure how and why I started looking for a recipe of this, but I ended up seeing a starting point with rushlynn's post here. I guess it was an attempt to use the 2 egg whites I had in the fridge, which was about 1/4 cup.

This post is a result of my third attempt at baking these delightful lenguas de gato.

The first time I tried to bake using the above link's recipe, I burned the first batch after baking for a full 10 minutes without watching carefully. I piped the dough thin and flat. The next unburned batches tasted very good, but I felt it was too tough for me. I thought maybe the flour was too much (the fluffiness of butter-sugar-eggwhites gone after beating in the flour). In any case, my kids liked it so much.

I attempted a second time, after gathering and printing out a lot of different recipes online, and experimenting with amounts, and piping them round instead of flat. It was a disaster.

So in the third attempt, I went back to the original recipe I saw, decreased the flour amount, and doubled everything, sifted the flour before adding gradually to the mixture, and beating slowly just until blended. The reason why I wanted double batch was so I would have enough to play with in case I bork up the first few batches again. I also modified the flavors, including lemon because a hint of lemon always results to more interesting flavors, and almond extract just because I love almond flavor. I went back to piping flat, bought a whole set of piping tips to get the biggest flat tip I could find, and disposable piping bags that were big enough and sturdy to remain intact as I squeeze. You will just have to excuse the odd shapes I created, as I never had artistic and steady hands.

I loved the result, and so did my husband and kids.

Hubby: (after I handed to him a handful, "Want some?") "Oh! Cat's tongue! I love that!"
(He remembered the name after I gave him some of the first batch I made!)
Later on he said to me, while still munching on them, "You know what makes them so good? They taste like the butter cookies, if you will be able to make them round with sprinkle of crystal sugars...hmmmm!"

Now that's an idea, but I don't know if they will have the crispiness if they are that thick. Maybe I should use cake flour instead, or add baking powder to puff them up...and use a cookie press. Made a mental note for such future experiments.

Kids: "Those are so good they are addicting!"

Here's my final recipe, and please feel welcome to experiment using cake flour.

Ingredients:
1 cup butter (soften at room temp for 30 mins)- I used salted butter
1-1/3 cup sugar
4 egg whites (about 1/2 cup)
1/2 tsp salt
1-1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
few drops lemon extract
2 cups all-purpose flour (measure then sift)

Equipment/Tools:
piping tip (cake decorating) #47
piping bag
parchment paper (I measured out 4)
non-insulated aluminum baking sheet (I used two)
hand mixer
cooling wire racks

Instructions:
After getting the butter out of the fridge, time for 30 minutes and start measuring the other ingredients.
Cream the butter and sugar well. Add the egg whites gradually, beating well. Mix in salt, vanilla, almond extract, and lemon extract. Add half of the flour, beat some, add the rest of the flour, and beat just until blended. Assemble the piping bag and tip. Place some of the dough in the bag, and keep the rest chilled in the fridge. Pre-heat the oven to 375 deg F while you pipe out dough about 3 inches long, flat, and about 1/8 inch high, just a little bit wider than the piping tip, onto parchment paper. (If parchment paper tends to slide off the baking pan, stick it to the pan using a thin smear of Crisco shortening at the four corners of the pan). Space them apart about 1-1/2 inch to allow for expansion while it melts some more during baking. bake for about 5 minutes, rotate the pan, then bake some more for about 2-3 minutes, depending on how thick your dough is. Transfer the parchment paper onto cooling racks, and remove the parchment paper after about 2 minutes to cool completely before transferring to a box or cookie jar.

NOTES:
(1) Baking time may be shorter or longer, depending on whether your oven actually is hotter or cooler than mine, and maybe you piped out not quite exactly right. For the first batch, wait until you get the result, cool some, and have a bite. Correct the thickness and the width of the dough and baking time accordingly on the next batch, and watch carefully until you have learned the right combination of these factors. Once you got it right, proceed with better rhythm of piping the dough onto parchment paper while the other batch is baking.

(2) You can re-use the parchment paper after removing the baked lenguas. That is why 4 of them pre-cut are enough.

(3) While one pan is inside the oven, and the other pan already has dough piped on, you can place the other parchment paper on the table or countertop and pipe out some more. Once you have a hot pan out and you have removed the parchment paper and cookies, let it cool down some (at the same time you are piping dough onto PP on the table), then spray with cold water and wipe dry when you are ready to place a the next batch into the oven. (magulo ba?) What I am trying to say is, since I only had two aluminum pans, one is still warm by the time I am ready to take out the other, so to be able to place the next batch right away, my PP is ready with the dough on the table, and I just have to cool down the pan using cold tap water. With this setup, I had two PP ready on the table, just waiting for the cookies to bake while cooling down the other pan.

(4) If I try to make the piped dough higher (thicker) or so much wider, the middle part tends to get chewy instead of crispy, which I do not like.

(5) If I bake and do NOT wait for the sides to get golden brown (so that they appear light brown all over), I end up with chewy cookies even if they are flat. I don't like that.

(6) This recipe will be enough to fill half of a typical cookie jar (hard to keep track of the number, as it will vary depending on how much you pipe out per piece, and you will tend to munch some of those done while you bake the rest. It is that addicting!)

UPDATE 1/7/10:
This is a feedback by Chef Vanessa (an fb friend):
"I made the recipe you shared for Leguas De Gato and my kids absolutley loved it and it didn't even hit 48 hours in the jar hahahhaa..The first recipe I made was from a site but it did not turned out right..It was too leathery and tasted like flour.Thanks for sharing that recipe!!!"

Thanks for your feedback, Chef!