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.