100% Pinoy..Warm Dessert

Early morning yesterday, I received a text message from my Cuz Ces from Boston... if I'm interested in sharing my baking skills through a media network here in the Philippines. Instantly I replied "ofcourse, no excuses, no buts and ifs". I hope that this recipe will make it. This warm dessert which I created just yesterday was challenging but easy to prepare and economical. I think it is 100% pinoy because of the tropical fruits I used and is highly available since its in season as well. The fresh fruits were simply mashed and the rest were sliced, coated with beer batter. The fritters was filled in with Mango-Honey Cream Cheese and finished off with Calamansi- Butter Sauce. Calamansi Zest, halves and wedges to garnish the dessert.
Ingredients:
Banana Mixture (Mash the bananas with sugar and salt, form into a patty,insert a slice of Jackfruit and mango jam, chill for 10 minutes, dip in beer batter, deep fry in canola oil at 350F for about 3-5 minutes, drain with paper towel, cool for 5 minutes and fill in with filling)
3 pieces boild Saging na Saba
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt
2 slices of Jackfruit soaked in syrup
1/2 Tablespoon of Mango Jam
Avocado (Dip in beer batter, deep fry, drain, cool and fill in with cream cheese:method is applicable to pineapple)
1 piece of slice Avocado
Pineapple
1 Slice of fresh Pineapple
Beer Batter (Mix all, use as coating for fruits )
2 cups all purpose flour
5 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups regular Beer
4 Tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon powder
pinch of salt
Mango-Honey Cream Cheese Filling (Combine all, put in pastry bag with large round tip, fill in to the fritters)
1/2 Cream Cheese
4 Tablespoons of Honey
1/2 teaspoon of Pandan Extract
2 Tablespoons of Mango Jam
Calamansi-Butter Sauce (Melt all together in a pan and pour over the fritters, garnsih with Calamansi Zest, halves and wedges)
1/4 cup butter
1/8 cup sugar
5 pieces of fresh Calamansi juice

Oil for frying
3 cups Canola oil

The Polka Dot Pajama

Its been 5 years and this polka dot pajama still fits him, he is taller, bigger and smarter. Son it has been 5 years of fun with you. Happy birthday and I promise to give you a better life, you however have to be happy and discover life yourself. Mom will always be here for you! I love you anak!

M e r i n g u e J a r

Everytime I make desserts that requires lots of eggyolks, can't help but make meringues which became my son's favorite. I try not to make too many because he can actually finish a whole jar of these. The candy is simple made from eggwhites, granulated sugar, cream of tartar as a stabilizer and a little vanilla for flavor . Whipped up to stiff peak stage, you can actually pipe different shapes, I used a crown tip for large rustic rosettes and baked at 250 F for 1 1/2 hours. Meringues should be kept in an airtight container since sugar is hygroscopic ( one that absorbs moisture) . We should always utilize all the ingredients left after baking so there will be no waist.

Pineapple Crumble Tarts...

An Aunt from New York visited the Philippines and shew was the same person who played a significant role during those hard times back in the states. Pineapple Crumble Tart is my local version of apple pie since I know she is used to eating the famous american pie. For 2008, this tart is a perfect pastry ensemble to pay tribute to her greatness and that she enjoys our very own pineapple fruit. The base is made of a flaky and light shortcrust, filled with lime infused chunky pinapple cream and finally topped with graham-butter crumble. I reduced the amount of sugar for the topping to give highlight to the richness and tartness of the filling. Mint leaves are not available however my passionfruit tree has great leaves to garnish the dessert. To you Aunt. B... thanks for coming over and together with my son, we'll surely visit you ...

It is Christmas once again and from the bottom of my heart, I wish everyone a Happy Christmas! This post pertains to one of my favorite pastries, BLONDIES, huge slices of pale ( how I call it) brownies, moist and fudgy!. Loaded with chocolate chips and raisins...yum!

L Y C H E E & P A P A YA Cheesecake...

Seemed local but unusual for a cheesecake but I have always wanted to try making that original New York cheesecake (that of which has a burnt top, plain rich), and this what came out. The cheese I used for the first photo, the Lychee cheesecake is regular cream cheese and the second photo ,the Papaya cheesecake has half cream cheese and half goat cheese. Ths type of custard dessert was baked for just about 325 F. I would bake the Papaya cheesecake longer if I have known the pale color it will exude. I am proud to have been able to make a not-so-ripe Papaya fruit preserve. Back in college, we use a refractometer to have that perfect type of sugar syrup to preserve a certain kind of fruit of which I aspire to have one of these days... local and unusual, very asian as well...

Hope and Fortune...cookies

I am happy and proud to share to you my very first attempt to make fortune cookies. It was indeed tricky to shape this oriental tuile cookie but is surely a delightful treat for a simple dinner at home. I arranged a HOT-Pot Party for the family and I thought that it can never be called a real chinese dinner if could not make fortune cookies which is made of all purpose flour, eggwhite, sugar and vanilla flavouring. A fortune cookie should have a simple message inside and so I placed it myself immediately after it has been baked working on the shape near the oven by bending the half folded tuile cookie on a baking pan rim. I enjoyed doing it... you can also try making strawberry fortune cookies by adding food color and adding strawberry extract. Hope is what I got after reading my message...secret!

G u a p p l e - A p p l e Turnover...

My turnover made simple since I used a light, sweet, and flaky pie dough instead of puff pastry which is high in butter plus dough. I was pressed for time and so I thought of just using such as the base the perfectly blended with the semi-exotic textures and flavors of the guapple and apple fruits. The pie dough was processed through a food processor and chilled for 30 minutes that makes it even flakier aside from using cold ingredients like the butter, flour, sugar salt and egg. The fruits were stewed in cinnmaon-sugar and soft butter that gave a nutty flavor to the fruits and never forget to season with salt. Cooled the stewed fruits completely. Just when it was time to use the filling, sheeted out the chilled crust, cut out 5 inches round ones, filled it with a generous amoun tof the cooked fruits. Make sure to seal the sides with a little egg-and- water wash. Dip fried it corn oil, let it drain on a paper towel, and dusted it with powdered sugar.

Serve warm...

F l o u r l e s s Chocolate Cake...

This cake may sound so fancy but preparing is not hard at all. Flourless cakes are simply made of eggyolks,dark chocolate, butter and coffee liqeuer. The chocolate is melted with the butter over a double boiler while the yolks are beaten until pale and doubles in volume or at ribbon stage. Ribbon stage is when the mixture leaves a ribbon trail on the surface when the whip attachment is lifted. Technical but worth it. Both prepared mixtures are folded together and just add the coffee liqeuer. Having a whole bottle of Kahlua or the coffee -rum liqeuer would make endless luscious desserts and this is one of them. Flourless chocolate cake I must say is best eaten after it has been chilled. Chewy and fudgy on the inside...

When I was working in Hotel Dupont, Delaware, I use to make big batches of this classic cake. If there is one thing I enjoyed making in the pastry shop of the hotel , it would be this. I kept searching for another recipe of the cake and I got it the frist time I made it. It has quite a thick batter and really good by the way as it is, remember those days when mom makes a simple cake and Im pretty sure that you have tried tasting a raw batter, this one was really good. Lots of eggs and butter where you get the richness of the cake. Just being careful not to over mix this type of cake and it surely gives you a light-to light dense texture. A struesel which is a mixture of crumbly butter, flour, sugar and oats was placed at the bottom of the pan prior baking and why not add more on top after , better and richer...

Pound cake, traditionally made from all a pound eggs, butter, sugar and flour.The recipe has been reinvented since it yielded a very tough cake in the old times. I personally would change the ratio of each ingredient to make this cake lighter but still a little dense, sweet, cakey by moist, lemony but not overpowering. You see,baking is precision but texture, taste, structure should contrast and at the same time complement each other. Poppy seeds are mostly seen in this kind of quickbread products as well as muffins and even as a topping for specialty breads, I like it too with bagels.
It was raining when I tested on thise pound cake recipe and had it packed individually for some visitors at home. It is a comfort food for me. A better way to tea with your loved ones that proves how life is wonderful to just have a slice of this...

Rocky road, a common favorite is a mixture of marshmallows, nuts, chocolates may be with or without a cake.The word "rocky road" depicts the texture combined in the dessert. My rendition is quite contemporary using a soft and airy type of chocolate sheet cake, smudged with an old fashioned chocolate glaze, and a bed of marshmallos sandwich in between those cakes, covered with chocolate glaze with just a simple sprinkle of miniature chocolate chips. Just a tip, dipping your knife in hot water may give you a clean edged square cut of each luscious rocky road cake...

P i t a Sticks... boxed up

I must admit it middle eastern cuisine oftentimes is what I want to make once in a while. I have featured shawarma before and again it is those flat breads that keeps me going when it comes to experimenting suchwith having an ordinary oven. This is made of flour, water, a little yeast and salt contrary to its generaldefinition of flatbreads as unleavened breads. Just sliced up a whole piece and whipped up a dip made of yogurt ofcourse, garlic ,salt and pepper and a hint of paprike. I wanted to try it with balsamic vinegarand it was quite new to me, since yogurt itself is acidic, thus the balsamic vinegar does not help in cuttingthe acidity of the garlic-yogurt dip. Well, another quest may even be better...

K e y L i m e P i e...I can still remember...

Allow me to share to you my very first taste of Key Lime Pie from whereelse in the Florida Keys. I can stillremember that citrusy and fluffy lime pie from a small restaurant that me and my whole family visited called "Manny& Yssa's", they actually serve that famous heart soup -Conch Soup( conch from the squid family) andfor dessert we had ofcourse this wonderful pie. The original crust used to make this pie is graham flour andmelted butter and I wanted to try using a semi-sweet pie crust made from all puropse flour, a little sugar, cold cubed butter, salt, an egg and ice water. The filling is made from yolks, condensed milk, key lime juice and zest,lots of it, a layer ofwhipped cream with sugar and to top it all, marshmallow icing with lime zest as garnsih. Chilled it overnight and served it.Really good...I guarantee you.

Pineapple U P S I D E- D O W N Cake...

Pinapple Upside-Down Cake, I can vividly remember my mom making this old fashioned cake back in the 80s.Attempting to make my own understanding of this should I call another RETRO Cake. It is made from a goodspnge recipe baked on a mini bundt pan. Bread crumbs and stewed pineapple in heavy syrup is then laid underneath the bottomof the pan and covered with the sponge batter. Baked it at 350F for about 20 minutes. Cooled it to room temperatureand chilled a little before serving. Ofcourse, not realizing that there is such thing as National Bundt Pan Day, I was not able to make it to the season though...

I c e C r e a m Cake

Just watching food network can be a day off for me as a full time mom. There are a few of my favorites like Barefoot Contessa, Everyday Italian, Oliver's Twist and Iron Chef. For this post, it was Jamie Olivre's of Oliver's Twist that made me really want to try and taste just two days after seeing the show. It was actually Vanilla IceCream with espresso coffee and caramelized cashew nuts.
I made my version of the dessert with my homemade vanilla ice cream,regular brewed coffee, applecake, struesel and caramelized nuts.I am lucky to have an ice cream maker to whip up the vanilla ice cream. The applecake that was served for a catering and its good I kept a few for this. I always have my coffee maker on whenever I work in my kitchen, house blend of Starbucks and poured it over the churned ice cream. Struesel is what I use for topping my apple pie whcih is a mixture of butter, brown sugar, bread crumbs and assorted nuts. Finished it with caramelized nuts.
Chilling the goblet or stemmed water glass will help maintain the shape of the ice cream an hour before serving this good dessert, well for the first 3 minutes. It can be called Trifle...really good.

A s i a n S l a w

Every now and then I crave for a vegetarian appetizer that has less calories. So what I did, one time before watching a good movie with my son, is I got 1/4 from 1 head of a cabbage. Shredded it, boiled a few peanuts for extra flavor and a little texture. Having a hot pan coated with a just a little olive oil, caramelized 1 small red onion, , took out he onion having better flavor in the oil, wilted the shredded cabbage, added in the nuts and seasoned with salt and pepper. There you have it, easy and health asian slaw, healthy,easy and simple.

Caught in the act...C u b e d B r o w n i e

This brownie I had put together a few weeks ago for a small party was a success. People would not know if I only have a few baking staples in my kitchen. During those times, I was short for everything and all I have left was flour, cocoa, sugar and oil. Ofcourse the necessary ingredients like baking powder and baking soda is always present. Not even eggs, believe it or not but I was able to make such a moist brownie. Lighter thanthe usual brownie. I whipped up an american mocha buttercream which is powdered sugar, butter and coffee powder.Sprinkled the top with Honey browns which is powdered brown sugar. I may have survived this event, wish me luck for another unexpected one...

Thai C a s h e w C o n e...

I was browsing thru my huge thai cook book and this one of those that attracted me most. Cashew Cone, a better wayof serving nuts. A friend was coming over and together we made this great conical ensemble. My friend had fun making it.We ended up eating the whole thing. I tried making this with peanuts instead and it tasted great. I used it now whenever dadwould order for finger foods for his meetings in the office.

Ingredients
1/8 cup of cooking oil
1/4 cup of honey
2 cups of cashew nuts or peanuts, roasted
1 cup of dessicated coconut
salt and pepper
Green Chillies, optional

Simply heat up the pan for 2 minutes, add in the oil. Pour the honey and let cook for a minute. Toss the roasted cashew nuts onto the hot mixture. Stir until the oil-and-honey mixture coats the nuts. Add in the dessicated coconut [ this by the way makes it thai flavor plus the chillies]. Stir until wellcombined. Flavor it with salt, pepper and some chillies, I prefer using red and green to better presentation.

Grabbed a page from my Oprah magazine[lol, anything will do, foil or parchement or even brown paper], made acone out of it, I used glucose syrup to seal the sides of the cone. Scooped about a cup and a half of the cooked nuts and served in on a white plate. Try and enjoy making it!

C h o c o - c h i p Sticky Bun

It was last month when I felt like focusing on making breads. One of my favorites is this recipe, sticky buns almost like cinnmon rolls. There are variable famous brands and having a piece of this just captures my mood for a cup of hot chocolate in my kitchen. Making the sweet dough for this type of bread is easy , it is a mixture of all purpose flour, yeast, salt, cinnmon, shortening, milk ans sugar, all combined and kneaded together to form a smooth and elastic dough. The usual sticky bun is glazed with simple syrup plus flavoring and I used honey along with the dessert spices cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. This bread is filled with softened butter, lots of sugar-cinnamon and chocolate chips instead of raisins. It was milk-washed and baked at 350F for 45 minutes until golden brown . Finished it with cinnamon-sugar and butter and choolate once again. Serve this straight from the oven. Makes a big difference.There you have it , a really stickky bun.