Oh, Marshmallow! Oh, Marshmallow!

In the past few years, I had been extremely busy & tided down at the restaurants during Christmas time, so I hasn't really enjoy Christmas since we moved to west coast.  This is the first Christmas that I do get to enjoy it with MD and I had pulled out all the stops!!  Cookies, truffles, spiced hot chocolate & marshmallows, and etc, etc, etc..  It's a kid's paradise in our house!  Actually, it's MD's paradise!

One of the things that we enjoy during this time of year is hot chocolate w/ marshmallow.  Whenever people tells me that they do not like marshmallows, I simply reply, "that is because you haven't have REAL marshmallow!"  I really think the over fluffed, plastic taste commercial marshmallow gave this old world candy a bad name.  A little bit know-how & a little bit of patient, you can enjoy marshmallow like you have never before!  This recipe is similar to Alton Brown's recipe on Food Network, so you can follow his instruction if that is easier for you.



Marshmallow


3 pkg Unflavored Gelatin
1/2 C Water

12 oz Sugar
1 C Corn Syrup
1/2 C Water
1/4 tsp Kosher Salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Marshmallow Dust
1/4 C Confectioners' sugar
1/4 C Cornstarch

1.  Mix the marshmallow dust by combine equal part of powdered sugar & cornstarch, whisk well.
2. Heavily dust a quarter size pan (9 1/2 x 13) evenly with marshmallow dust & sit aside.
3. Combine the gelatin & water in a mixing bowl, site aside (Blooming).  Attach a wire whisk to your mixer.
4. Combine sugar, corn syrup, water & salt, cook to 240F.  Turn your mixer on the slowest speed and slowly pour the hot sugar mixture into the mixing bowl.
5. Turn the speed up to med-high until the mixture is lukewarm to touch, Volume should double & sticky.  
6. Add vanilla extract, mix well on low speed.
7. Spray your hands & a spatula w/ cooking oil.  Quickly pour the marshmallow onto the prepped sheet & even it out.
8. Dust w/ more marshmallow dust, cover, & let sit at least 4 hrs to overnight.
9. Cut into 1" squares & coat w/ more marshmallow dust.  Shake off excess & store in the tightly sealed container up to 3 weeks.

Wishing everyone a merry Christmas & a happy holiday!

Sesame Croissants

Croissants are great breakfast items, as long you can find a bakery that actually do make it w/ actual butter, otherwise, it is not worth having.  Since Dad is coming for a visit tomorrow, I decided to make croissants, sesame croissant to be exact.


I must say, I ABSOLUTELY hate making bread, especially croissant & puff pastry, because I didn't have the upper body strength & the fact that our kitchen counter is a bit too tall for me to do the work.  At a professional work shop, we have sheeters to help w/ the rolling of the dough & also prevent the dough & butter get too warm & became too soft to work.  Sesame croissants are done by simply press the sesame seeds into the butter block & proceed w/ the normal folding process.  For those whom has never attempt this before, I had found a video on youtube that can be of help.



Croissant

225g  Milk
5g      Instant Yeast
15g    Sugar
8g      Salt
40g    Soften Butter
400g  Bread Flour (AP will work if you don't have Bread Flour)

225g  Butter
          Black Sesame

1. Combine 1st part of the ingredients in a mixing bowl w/ dough hook, mix it until all ingredients are combined.  Mix for another 5 min, until the dough is pulled away from the side of bowl & no longer sticky.
2. Spray the bowl & the dough, cover & let sit until double.
3. Pound the butter between 2 sheets of plastic until it is pliable & firmly press the sesame seed into it. wrap & chill until ready to use.  Make sure to shape it into a rectangular for easy incorporating.
4. Lightly flour work table & roll the dough out to a rectangular shape, wrap & chill in the fridge for 30 minute.
5. Pat dough into a 14 x 8 inch rectangle. Place butter on the 1/2 of the dough, leaving 1/4 inch margin all around, fold & make sure all sides are well sealed. If the dough feel warm, chill another 30 minutes before proceed to the rolling & folding of the dough. 
6. Roll the croissant dough out to about 1" thick & do a tri-fold.  Wrap & chill for another 30 min.
7. Turn the dough 90 degrees, so that folds are to left and right. Roll out to a 14 x 6 inch rectangle. Fold in three again. Sprinkle lightly with flour, wrap & refrigerate for 30 min. Turn 90 degrees, and repeat. Wrap, and chill 30 min.  
8. To shape, roll dough out to a 20 x 5 inch rectangle. Cut in half crosswise, and chill half while shaping the other half. Roll out to a 15 x 5 inch rectangle. Cut into three 5 x 5 inch squares. Cut each square in half diagonally. Roll each triangle lightly to elongate the point, and make it 7 inches long. Grab the other 2 points, and stretch them out slightly as you roll it up. Place on a baking sheet, curving slightly. 
9. Spray & cover w/ plastic & let the shaped croissant to double.
10. Egg wash & bake at 400 F oven for about 10 - 12 minutes, depends on your oven.

Cranberry Scones

Scones should be soft & fluffy, unlike the ice pock that you normally see at some of the local coffee shops/bakeries. Since MD loves to have scones for breakfast (or just as a snack at any time of day), so I normally make a large batch & freeze some of the unbaked, portioned scones for later as quick breakfast or snack w/ my afternoon tea, along with a little bit of homemade lemon curd & strawberry jam! Yum!

A lot of people tend to think scone is hard to master since it often refer to a method similar to biscuit/pie dough, which tends to scare a lot of people. But this is a drop scones so it requires none of the messy, scary business of cutting butter into flour! This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled as well.



Cranberry Scone

50g Butter
42g Sugar
2g Salt

1 Yolk

200g Flour
10g Baking Powder
116g Milk

1. Combine all dry together & set aside
2. Cream butter, sugar, and salt until life & fluffy.
3. Add yolk, mix well
4. Add the dry mix in 3 portions, just until combine. Don't over mix!
5. Scoop, brush w/ milk & sprinkle w/ sugar.
6. Bake at 375 F oven until done, toothpick should be clean when inserted. Roughly about 15 - 20 min, depends on size.
   

Cheese Crackers!

I am ashamed to admit that I LOVE goldfish crackers & Annie's cheddar bunnies!! I really don't know why but I simply can not stop eating them & must buy them whenever I see it in the stores. While Annie's cheddar bunnies might be way better for you than the goldfishes, it also have a not-so-cheap price tag. As a Pastry chef, I must admit I had been constantly wondering IF I can find a recipe for it & make it at home. Well, today is the day!! I had found a simple recipe online from Cupcake Project, simple ingredients, no funky business, it's a recipe that all Moms will feel great to give their children.

The recipe is called for all purpose flour but you can definitely make it healthier by subbing 1/2 C of the flours with whole wheat flour or even gluten free flours. I rolled the dough out between 2 sheets of plastic to prevent it from getting tough due to increasing amount of flour being rolled into the dough, and refrigerated the dough between roll out so it doesn't get too soft & sticky. Make sure to dip the cookie cutter into flours every now and then so it doesn't stick to the dough. It can be cut into any shapes so I used my existing bunny shape cutter for this.




Cheese Crackers

1 C Flour (or 1/2 C AP & 1/2 C whole wheat flour)
8oz Sharp Cheddar Cheese, grated or finely shredded
4 T Cold butter, cubed
1/4 t Salt
1/4 t Pepper (omit if you prefer the more traditional cheesy flavor)

1. Place all ingredients in a food processor, pulse until it form a dough
2. Wrap the dough in plastic & chill in fridge for 30 - 45 minutes
3. Roll dough out to 1/4" thick & cut it w/ cookie cutters of your choice.
   
4. Bake at 350 F for 15 - 20 minutes. Cool before store in tightly sealed container
   

Strawberry Jam!

The wonderful Oregon strawberry




Strawberry is in season, especially those tiny little Oregon strawberries. They may not be much a looker, but definitely big on favors! I made 1 flat of jam each summer to last me through the long raining winter that we get at Oregon. Since Oregon strawberries are very sweet so I use half/no sugar pectin. I prefer freezer jam over traditional cooked jam, simply because it allows the jam to keep the bright colors of strawberries and taste of summer (maybe just my imagination!).

When it comes to jam making, you definitely need to follow the instruction of the pectin package closely, otherwise, you will end up w/ unset jam (sauce). When that happened, don't worry! You can either use it as sauce for crepes or cakes, or you can simply cook the unset jams w/ another pack of pectin until it thicken. When you can run a line on the back of coated spoon and the line holds, then the jam is ready to be bottled. Just make sure you allowed the packed jam to be cool to room temp before you freeze it.

Strawberry Short Cake!

May & June were a little bit crazy and flew by w/o me even noticing it! It's July and Oregon's strawberry is finally in season!! Since it will only be available for 2 wks, so it is time for strawberry short cake!!!

Strawberry short cake!! What is a short cake? Short cake is actually a sweeten biscuit and not a cake. Most of the restaurants now serve what I called a "imposter," sponge cake, and that is definitely a BIG "no-no" in this household! MD was super excited when I said strawberry shortcake, for I had NEVER, not even once, made at home, despite the fact the I do make them daily at work. MD was a little bit let down because he was thinking of sponge cake!! Ugh! @#$%^&*(

Strawberry Short Cake

2 C AP

1 T Baking Powder

¾ t Salt

1 T Sugar

¼ C COLD Butter

¾ C Half & Half/Heavy Cream

1. Combine all dry ingredients, set aside.
2. Cut COLD butter in small cubic.
3. Place butter cubic into dry mixture & quickly pinch the butter into pea size. Do not over mix!
4. Use a spoon & quickly mix the cream/half & half into the dry mixture. Use a #40 scoop to portion the dough, or portion at 2 oz each.
   
5. Place the short cake dough 2” apart, brush w/ milk & sprinkle w/ sugar, bake @ 350° F for about 13-16 min, until center is done.

Strawberry Sauce

1. Combine sugar & cut strawberry (1:1 ratio), let sit for a couple hours.
   
2. Puree the mixture, refrigerate until ready to use.
   

Cannoli.. chocolate & pistashio!

I rarely make Cannoli, simply I don't like the smell of oil fill the apartment for days at end. However, I need to fill 2 orders this week so I figured I might as well make MD happy, make a little extra. Cannoli is actually very easy to make and was traditionally fill w/ Ricotta Cheese, however, it can be fill w/ just about anything nowadays: chocolate pastry cream, lemon mousse, and etc. Many people walked away from Cannoli due to the price tag of the form, which is about $2 each. It is a investment & time saver if you make cannoli often, but it not necessary. I used rolled up foil & it works just as well.


Cannoli

1 1/2 C Flour
1 T Sugar
1/8 t Salt
1/2 C Marsala wine

• If you don't have cannoli tube/form, cramp 1 sheet of foil into desired length & width and covered w/ another sheet of foil to form a smooth exterior. Make 12, spray & set aside.
• Combine all ingredients into a bowl to form a smooth dough, if necessary add water to reach a soft smooth dough. Wrap & chill for 30 minutes
• Divide the dough into 12 portions & roll each dough into 1/8 in thick disk.
• Wrap each disk onto the foil tube & seal with egg wash. Make sure the dough is not wrapped around the form too tight so it can be easily removed later.
• Fry in 350F oil until golden brown. Drain & let cool.
• Fill with desired filling before serving.
  

Ciabatta!!

Work had been keeping me rather busy with the new seasonal dessert changes & the upcoming mother's specials, so I have not have time to make anything at home. Since I will have friends over tonight for dinner, I figured we will do Italian and I will make Ciabatta. Ciabatta also called "slipper bread" because of its oddly shape sort of resemble a pair of old slipper! It has a heavily floured exterior, overly large holes & crispy crust, just a perfect bread to soak up pasta sauce or a stew!

If you have never make bread before, Ciabatta is probably a good starting point since it require almost no kneading so there is no risk of over kneading the dough & over develop gluten (VERY chewy bread).



Ciabatta

480 g Bread Flour (All purpose will do)
7 g Instant Yeast
600 g Luke Warm Water

240 g Bread Flour (or AP)
22 g Salt

• Combine 1st amount of flour & yeast, mix well then add water.
• Using your hand (yes, hands!) to mix, just until all the flour is mixed in. It will appear soupy, which is correct. This is the sponge for the bread. Cover & let sit for at least 1 hr or until double in size.
• Mix 2nd part of flour w/ salt, and combine w/ the sponge that we had made. Using your hand (yes, hands!), squeeze the mixture until there is no more flour visible. The dough is VERY sticky.
  
• Transfer the dough into a sprayed bowl, spray the dough (just in case it proofed onto the plastic), and cover. Let stand in room temp until double, about 30 min.
• Remove the plastic cover, lightly fold the dough into itself in 3rd. Cover & let stand for another 30 min.
• Heavily flour your work counter to prevent sticking, and lightly transfer your dough onto the counter. Heavily flour to cover the dough.
• Using a bench scraper or knife, cute the dough into 4 portions.
• Lightly folding the dough's ends so it became a rectangular shape. Place it on a baking sheet lined w/ parchment or Silicone mat.
• Cover the dough & let rest for 20 min.
• Bake in preheated 450 F oven for about 12 min, until the bottom is golden brown.
• Let cool completely before enjoy!
  

Bread pudding! Breakfast & dessert all in one...

Whenever I have leftover bread, I will make bread pudding. It is a great way to use up those harden/dried up bread that you have sit around. Personally, I don't recommend sour dough bread or any strong taste bread such as pumpernickel, or thinly slice sandwiches bread, since you want to be able to see chunk of bread "peeping" through the custards.

Bread pudding can be make w/ fresh fruit, nuts, chocolate, or dried fruits, so basically, ANYTHING! Not to mention, it is very versatile & forgiving, as long you have eggs, milk/cream/heavy cream, even coconut milk! I had a half loaf of brioche leftover from a few days ago and a half container of homemade mini marshmallow left from X'mas, so I decided to make bread pudding - S'mores w/ coconut!


S'mores Bread Pudding w/ Coconut

1 loaf Brioche/french bread/hard crust bread

5 Eggs, Beaten
2 C Milk/Heavy Cream/Half & Half
2 t Vanilla Extract

8 oz Dark Chocolate Chip
4 oz Mini Marshmallow
3 oz unsweetened coconut

• Cut bread into 1.5" cube, place it in 9 x 13 baking dish.
• Combine eggs, milk, and vanilla extract; pour over cubed bread.
  
• Push the bread down into the mixture & make sure the breads are covered. Pour in a little more milk/cream if necessary.
• Mix in chocolate chip, marshmallow, and HALF of coconut
• Bake at 300 F for about 30 min, sprinkle the remaining coconut on the top of bread pudding. Bake until the center is clean when the tooth pick entered, about 20 minute.
• Let cool. Serve warm w/ chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, or even a scoop of ice cream!
  

Tea Time...

I love tea! Mainly because it relaxes me & make me feel civilized. For me, nothing is better than a pot of good Earl Grey & cucumber sandwiches at the tea time, maybe a couple truffles. I guess I will have to settle for a pot of Rooibos Lemon Chiffon & Matcha shortbread cookies, since I am currently out of EG.

Shortbread cookies are basically buttery cookies that can be either cut or mold to shape (just like Speculaas). Dough can be make ahead of time either refrigerated up to 1 week or freeze it up to 2 months time. If frozen, be sure to thaw out in the fridge over night before using.


Matcha Shortbread

2 C Flour
2 T Matcha
1/2 t Salt

1/2 C Butter, soften, unsalted (2 sticks)
1 C Sugar

• Cream butter and sugar for at least 5 minutes on high speed
• Mix all dry ingredients together and add slow to the creamed butter & sugar. Only mix until the dough comes together.
  
• Wrap dough & refrigerated for at least 30 minutes.
• Roll dough out to about 1/8" thick, cut and bake at 375 F for about 10 minutes, until the edge is lightly browned.
  

Note: if you don't have a mixer, you may sub sugar with powered sugar & just mix it well w/ butter and proceed w/ the next step.

Dutch Baby!

Dutch Baby, sometimes called a German pancake or a Bismarck. It is basically an oven puffed pancake that make with eggs, milk, and flour. Traditionally, it is baked in mental pan or cast iron pan & serve immediately with fresh squeezed lemon, butter, and powdered sugar or fruit toppings. They are easy to make, fun to watch, and definitely a change of scenery for your breakfast table!



Dutch Baby

3/4 C Milk
2 Eggs
1 1/2 T Sugar
1 1/2 t Vanilla Extract
1 pinch Salt

1/2 C AP

• Whisk eggs and sugar together until combine
• Whisk in milk, salt, and vanilla extract.
• Slowly whisk in the flour, no lumps.

Serving

• Preheat oven to 450 F, and heat your serving dish (I used Pyrax pie pan) for at least 5 min.
  
• Sray the pan then slowly pour the batter into the heated dish, bake for 5-10 min, until the sides risen
  
• Turn the heat down to 380 F and bake for another 10 - 15 min, until the center puffed.
• Dust with powered sugar & serve (I had served w/ homemade berry sauce)
  

Berry Sauce

1 C Mix Berries
2 T Sugar
1 t Cinnamon

• If you are using frozen berries, like I do, please thaw the berries 1st.
  
• Toss the berries w/ sugar & cinnamon, and let sit in room temp for about 20 min. Use immediately.
  
• If you prefer to have a thicker sauce, drain the juice and cook it to thicken, about 10 min. Let cool & add the berries back to the thicken juice.
  

Creme Brulee

Creme Brulee... one of the classic, easy & impressive! Many people get turned off by the fact the egg yolk needs to be tempered with the hot milk, but my trick from a French chef that I once worked for will make this easy & less scary!


Creme Brulee

3 Egg Yolks
45g Sugar

375g Heavy Cream
1/2 Vanilla Bean
2 t Vanilla Extract

• Split and scrap the vanilla bean and add to half the cream
  
• Scold half the cream w/ the vanilla bean and sugar, until sugar is melted
  
• Remove the cream & add the other half of scream, whisk to combine
• Add the egg yolk to the mixture, whisk to combine
• Refrigerated over night, strain before use.
• Bake at 325 F for 25 - 30 min, depends on the size of your dish.
  

Ooh-la-la Lava Cake

Lava cake is a stable of my kitchen. It's quick & simple, can be make ahead of time & refrigerated up to 2 weeks. The flavor of the mixture can be changed depends on liqueur that you added or extract. A teaspoon of ginger or cinnamon will change up the flavor dramatically, make it a nice finish to your dinner during cold winter months!

When you feel like a little of chocolate fix, pop it into 350 F oven for about 20 minutes, serve with a scoop of ice cream. There is nothing better in the world at that moment!!



Lava Cake

4 oz Dark Chocolate
3 oz Unsalted Butter

.4 oz Corn Starch
5 oz Sugar

2 Eggs
2 Yolks
3/4 t Liqueur/Flavoring/Vanilla Extract

• Melt Chocolate & Butter in a pot, medium heat, stir often to avoid burning, heat off.
  
• Whisk in sugar & cornstarch, mix well
• Whisk in egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract, until combine.
• Place the mixture into an air-tight container and refrigerated for at least 4 hours.

Serving:

• Preheat the oven to 350 F
• Brush a ramekin w/ butter & coated in sugar and fill 2/3 of ramekin w/ batter.
• Depends on the size of your ramekin, bake until the top is cracked, roughly 15-20 minutes
• Serve immediately w/ a scoop of French Vanilla ice cream (homemade is the best!)