Rose Water Poundcake! It was delish!

I made rose water pound cake - delicious and luckily moist!

  

The prep, the batter, the loaf.

 

The proper way to eat and store pound cake... from the middle.  That way you can place the ends back together and plastic wrap it so that the moisture stays in.

... I think I'll try matcha and chocolate next.  Or maybe I should follow the show exactly and do peach, white chocolate and coffee?

Crème Caramel (pudding) Success!!!

I have to say that while I was quite terrified of making caramel and burning myself - it all went splendidly well!  I altered the recipe a bit since I didn't have any light cream.  So instead of 1.5cups whole milk and 1.5cups light cream, I substituted 1 cup heavy cream and 2 cups whole milk.  It turned out well except that one of my ramekins cracked from the oven heat and majority of the caramel remained hardened at the base of the ramekin instead of inverting entirely on top of the pudding.  My mom said it was normal since she has made the filipino version of this, leche flan, before.  It tasted great and I didn't have any cavities... there were however small bubbles on the sides.  I'll have to try again to perfect that... though, I'm that too is normal and almost impossible to rid of.

The caramel cooling in the ramekins and the finished creme caramels cooling on a rack.

... I really wish I had something other than my old phone camera to take better pictures.

I'll post the recipe soon.  =)

---------- Edit five minutes later ----------

I just looked up creme caramel pictures and while my top is lighter, since I don't like bitter tasting things, and I had both fewer bubbles on the outside and perfectly smooth and bubble-less insides, I'd say that mine was more of a success than the google image search ones!!!  =D

---------- EDIT 1 hour later ----------

OMG I LOVE THE JAPANESE!!!  GIGA PUDDING!!!

http://www.kirainet.com/english/giga-pudding/

A Failed Souffle

My first pastry disaster.  I had left over egg whites from another recipe and I attempted to make a souffle... flavored with strawberry puree.  First, as a souffle it failed.  I've never tried a souffle before but I'm pretty darn sure that it wasn't supposed to be disgusting.  Needless to say, I'll have to try again.

... these things really are as temperamental as people say they are.

Stawberry Mille Crepe, Strawberry Madeleines and Matcha Madeleines

In celebration for completing the Law School Admissions Test, I decided to tackle some new flavors of familiar sweets. 

 Yes, I use two spatulas to flip my crepes... *beginner*

 Strawberry Mille Crepe with Layered Top Decoration

 Strawberry and Matcha Madeleines

 Finished Products

Last Madeleine Post... I promise... kind of

So, madeleines are ADDICTING! I mean it, seriously... I'm eating them almost as quickly as I'm making them!  In fact, we had to go to the local COSTCO wholesale store to restock on supplies!

That would be 25lbs of all-purpose flour, 4lbs of unsalted butter, a huge bottle of vanilla, and eggs! I have absolutely no clue how to store that flour and those 1lb blocks of butter can be used as weapons! I went to COSTCO a week ago but I've already used up everything and my family has been requesting that I make madeleines nonstop!  ... I still have to say that the lemon zest original recipe is still the best.

Here are some of the 60 that I made today... that is a dozen each of five flavors: vanilla, orange, chocolate-dipped vanilla, chocolate-dipped orange, and chocolate-dipped chocolate.  This is what I did today instead of studying for both my LSAT in two weeks, my chemistry lab report due Monday, and my physical geography midterm Monday night.  X_X

As if the actual time spent in the kitchen weren't academically destructive enough for me, my uncle... a serious but recreational baker, lent me a book and I couldn't put it down the other night!  I accidently pulled a genuine all-nighter without even realizing it and I read it cover to cover!  Oops!

"Le Cordon Bleu: Dessert Techniques"

I'm getting creative! ... and possibly a little carried away.

So excited with how well my first batch of butter madeleines went earlier this afternoon, I just spent the past few hours baking a dozen each of fat-free vanilla madeleines, fatfree chocolate madeleines, lemon zest butter madeleines, and orange coffee madeleines!  They're all so good!  I even put on the kettle, made some tea and enjoyed a few with my mom, sister, and grandmother!

... as soon as I figure out how to incorporate matcha, strawberries, and apple tea, I'll have completed this task in full. I've also discovered a few other things...

1.  Dry ingredients are easier to clean from your counter and bakeware if they're dry.  Water only makes things worse.
2.  The more you beat your eggs before adding any other ingredients, the fluffier the texture will be.
3.  The butter is what gives the moisture. When I removed the butter to make the fat-free madeleines, they turned out tasty but dry.

On another update, I've decided that I'm going to do the Mille Crepe again but with fruit in between the layers.  I'm going to have to learn how to cut strawberries REALLY thinly in order to maintain the right texture.  I also need to make a Genoise sometime this week so that I can take my hand at soaking a cake... or is a Savarin better suited to that? Also, anybody know where I can get rose water or tips on how to use it in baking?

I made a snack!

I baked madeleines!  I followed a recipe by 101 cookbooks and it is a wonderful recipe.  I did however have to forgo the lemon zest due to lack of an actual lemon in the house.  These things are so deliciously addicting that my mom and I already finished half of them!

Ingredients:  

1.75 sticks unsalted butter, 3/4 cups flour, 4 eggs, salt pinch, 2/3 cups sugar, 1tsp vanilla, powdered sugar

Equipment:

Mixing bowl, electric mixer, spatula, small sieve, measuring cup, madeleine pan, measuring tea spoon

Estimated Cost:

Less than $5 for two dozen!

My Mille Crepe is finally done!!!!

So, five hours of hard labor later (over two evenings) and this crepe cake is done!  I can't believe how many firsts were in this recette for me!  Between making a custard for the first time, using a sieve outside of a paleontology lab for the first time, whipping cream in to soft peaks by hand with a whisk for the first time and making crepes for the first time a few days ago - this is my cake of firsts!

I used the recipe by yvonne following Lady M for this mille crepe with over 20 layers of crepes and have yet to actually use the official cookbook for anything... I wonder how long that will last...

No step by step pictures this time.  I got too caught up in all of the individual steps to take the time to use my iPhone to take any pictures except at the end.

---------- edit ----------

I just tried the cake and it is INCREDIBLY rich and is a merciless assault by cream, sugar and flour.  I would highly recommend making twelve rather than eight servings per cake and to add some kind of fruit, sauce or both.  Chocolate syrup also works well.  It definitely needs some kind of natural sweet.  I had a fig reduction sauce and later some chocolate syrup with mine. MUCH better!

Cumulative Ingredients:  5 cups milk, 9.5 tbsp butter, 12 eggs, 1.5 cups flour, 8.5 tbsp sugar, salt pinch, 1 tbsp vanilla, 1/3 cup cornstarch, 2 cups heavy cream, 3 tbsp Kirsch = $15 estimated costs per cake (not bad considering that it usually sells for around $70-$90)

Supplies Required:  2 saucepans, 3 mixing bowls (large, medium and small), ice, sieve, spatula, pot scraper (to push custard through sieve), measuring cup, measuring spoons, 10" crepe pan (or any non-stick fry pan), cooling rack, spatula (safe for non-stick pans), sifter or fine sieve, ladel

CLICK HERE FOR THE MILLE CREPES RECIPE

Crepe Pan! Crepes!

My brand new Calphalon 10" crepe pan came in the mail Monday and I opened it up last night and made crepes this morning!  I will say that I didn't get a perfect crepe until around my fourth or fifth crepe but I did eventually get some amazingly thin and perfectly round crepes!  The perfect ones didn't make it in to the picture before making it in to my mouth though.  x_x

I will say that I have quite a few tips to add to the mille crepe recipe which I will attempt on Thursday after I purchase some Kirschwasser for the pastry creme.  Yes, I am making "adult" crepe cake here... my new crepe pan is my new love.  I wouldn't say that I'm totally all Kahoko Hino over a violin yet, but I'm getting there!  ;)

Here is the recipe for my practice crepes (makes 10-15):

2 large eggs

3/4 cups milk

1/2 cups water

1 cup all-purpose flour

3 tblspn melted butter

1 tspn vanilla extract

2.5 tblspn granulated sugar

Place all ingredients in a blender on high for 10 seconds and let settle in the fridge for an hour.  Lightly grease the non-stick pan with butter, then get to creping!  This recipe isn't the best but it's the easiest batter to prepare since I was looking more to practice crepe-cooking technique than actual batter quality and technique.  They tasted great with Nutella, whipped cream and chocolate syrup!

PS  I'm in love with anybody who figured out my La Corda d'Oro reference!  =P

... well, that was fun. I actually cooked a savory! Omurice!

I made my family dinner tonight... オムライス!!!

  

Figure out a workspace and layout your ingredients/equipment.

Cook your rice with less water.

 

Take your chicken and chop it by the half inch.

  

Cut a garlic clove in half, remove the sprout, and cut in to fine cubes.

  

Take your mushrooms and cut off the stems. Then slice by the half centimeter.

 

Place frozen peas in hot water to remove scent, then season with salt.

  

Coat pan with olive oil, sautee garlic until aromatic, add onions and cook until transluscent.

  

Add mushrooms and wine until all is oil-coated. Add tomatoes, peas, bouillon and bay leave. Remove bay leafe. Add rice. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

  

Take eggs, add cream, add salt, add pepper, beat it.

  

Make your omelette, add your filling, turn up the edges, invert on to serving plate.

Enjoy!

I made four individual plate-sized omelettes and the main costs were $2.49 for mushrooms, $2.69 for the canned tomatoes, $3.18 for a pound of chicken, and then the cost of 10 eggs. (2 eggs were because I screwed up on the first try.)  The rest of the ingredients were either already in my parents fridge or I used a negligible amount to where I wouldn't want to mention the whole price of the product. (i.e. white wine and olive oil)

CLICK HERE FOR THE OMURICE RECIPE