Photoshoot: My Little Cupcake Bakery
I did a shoot with Mahtab from My Little Cupcake Bakery. It’s so great to meet other bakers and cooks out there who share a similar passion. It’s also really wonderful to photograph their creations and see how excited they are when they see the photos. I could spend all day shooting her little goodies! Check them out and check out her website!
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE VISIT MLCBAKERY.COM & FACEBOOK.COM/MY-LITTLE-CUPCAKE-BAKERY
Tiramisu Macarons
I had some leftover mascarpone from the Tiramisu Charlotte Cake from New Year’s, and I also had a lot of egg whites leftover from the flan I made for Christmas. Naturally, I decided to make macarons with with the leftover egg whites and tiramisu filling with the leftover mascarpone! I was hesitant on adding espresso powder to the actual macaron batter since I’m not big on coffee. I also didn’t want to add anything to the macaron batter as everything is meticulously measured in grams (I wasn’t sure if adding espresso powder would add density and deflate the macarons). So I thought the next best thing would be to add the espresso powder in the filling!
These ended up quite good, but I think the mascarpone soaked into the macaron shells too much and left them pretty fragile. Broken macarons aren’t the most terrible thing in the world, because they’re just as delicious broken or not! But for photography purposes, you’d want them a little more presentable! Sprinkle some cocoa powder or cinnamon on top of the assembled macarons and you have yourself a fancy dessert!
Tiramisu Charlotte Cake
I have a confession to make. I don’t really like coffee! I know it’s strange for a foodie to not like coffee, because food and coffee go hand in hand — literally! It’s not that I don’t like the taste of coffee, it’s just that I can get a little sensitive when it comes to caffeine. I remember I ordered a decaf from Starbucks once after some friends and I went to a late movie. It turned out that the barista didn’t hear me when I said decaf, and I ended up awake and restless until 8am! So, I usually just stay away from coffee. I figure that’s another daily $8-$15 in my pocket that I can save since I’m not addicted to Starbucks! Haha!
With that said, I do like an occasional tiramisu! I love mascarpone cheese and I definitely love ladyfingers! I love how the ladyfingers become cake-like after being soaked with all that tiramisu-coffee filling! Then dusted with cocoa powder, cinnamon and chocolate shavings — what’s not to like? Authentic tiramisus have raw eggs in them, and as much as I like to stay on the authentic side I don’t like to serve raw eggs when I know my niece or my nephew will be consuming it. I was fortunate to find a tiramisu recipe that didn’t have raw eggs in it.
I made this dessert for New Year’s and to assemble the ladyfingers in this circular fencing, you need a 7″ springform pan. Well, I don’t have a 7″ springform pan and the last thing I wanted to do after the holidays is to run around town looking for one! So, I just took two thick cardboard/Bristol papers, taped them together, cut it in half and then rounded it into 7″ in diameter and then tape the inseams. Then I placed this homemade springform pan/crown on top of the cake plate and I assembled the tiramisu cake right on the plate. You’re gonna wanna assemble it on the cake plate since you don’t have the bottom part of the springform pan to allow you to transfer it. What a frugal and innovative way to start the year!
RECIPE ADAPTED FROM HAPPY HOME BAKING – TIRAMISU CHARLOTTE CAKE
Happy New Year!
Wishing you all a happy 2012! May this year bring us all joy, prosperity, contentment, enlightenment and lots of good food!
Turkey Pot Pie with Puff Pastry
This happens to my third consecutive Ina Garten recipe. Completely unintentional, but I suppose it has to do with her outstanding recipes for comfort & winter foods. Her recipe is actually for Chicken Pot Pie, but I like to use her recipe with leftover turkey after Thanksgiving. It’s a creative and efficient way to use up leftover turkey. I also didn’t use her crust recipe because I love LOOOOOOVE puff pastry! I always use the store-bought puff pastry from the freezer aisles. They work so well and takes out all the painstaking work to make puff pastry! I’ve seen Paula Deen make a lattice design on her puff pastry to top off her pot pies. It gives such an impressive presentation and the lattice puff pastry are bakes separately so it doesn’t leave you with an unpleasant, mushy crust!
Again, you can make this easily with store-bought rotisserie chicken and even add ingredients you’d like. I’ve tried them with mushrooms, corn and last Thanksgiving I rolled leftover stuffing into balls and added them to the filling!!! It was so delicious! It tasted like a Thanksgiving version of Chicken & Dumplings or Matzo Ball Soup.
Christmas 2011
Another Christmas has passed! And every year it gets quicker and quicker! Since my niece and nephew came into our lives, holidays have brought on a new meaning. Christmastime is such a stressful and busy season, but seeing the smiles and the light on my niece and nephew’s faces as they tear into their presents, it reminds me so much of how hopeful and innocent we all once were. And that all the challenges in life are worth it by seeing the looks on their excited and curious faces.
I hope everyone had a warm and blessed Christmas season, as much as I had been gifted. Although it’s been said many times, many ways… Merry Christmas to you!
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas! From my family to yours!
Whatever you may celebrate, I hope your day is filled with love, light and lots of good food!
Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms
Since we opted for ham on Thanksgiving, we’re having turkey for Christmas. Stuffing is more of a Thanksgiving side dish, so I figured I should do something different. I love stuffing and I wanted something similar to it. I found this, yet again, Ina Garten recipe for Stuffed Mushrooms. I read the ingredients and I quickly decided on making it! Along with the sausage, there’s Marsala wine and Mascarpone cheese in the filling! Yum!!! I first fell in love with the perfect pairing of Marsala and Mascarpone with Giada’s Chicken Mascarpone Marsala. The tang from the Marsala wine and the creaminess of the Mascarpone cheese is just amazing… and then add sausage to it? What’s not to like?
Naturally, I tweaked the recipe a little. Instead of regular sweet Italian sausage, I used maple sausage. When I make my stuffing, I add a sleeve of Saltine crackers to it (A little trick I learned from Paula Deen). so instead of Panko crumbs, I used crushed up Saltine crackers. The salty bite from the Saltine crackers was perfect with the sausage! I also left out the 2 tablespoons of olive oil since the sausage was fatty enough. I will post my version of the recipe and the link to the original recipe will be on the bottom.
I also want to add that this recipe is great to make a day or two ahead. Just simply make the filling, stuff the mushrooms, cover it with plastic wrap and then store it in the fridge. Bake it an hour before dinner time and you have a stress-free side dish or appetizer!
Nutella-Shortbread Cookies
I found this shortbread cookie recipe from Ina Garten that I really wanted to try out. I used to love those Walker’s Shortbread Cookies when I worked at a store that sold them. I was always mesmerized by the balanced flavors of butter, sugar and flour. I wanted to include these shortbread cookies to my annual Christmas Cookie Gift Jars. The original recipe suggested to dip the shortbreads in chocolate… but I had a better idea! Why not sandwich some Nutella between the cookies? Nutella makes EVERYTHING better, doesn’t it?
The crunch and crumbliness of the shortbread cookies melted perfectly with the Nutella! The cookies were a hit amongst my friends, as demonstrably clear by a few text messages raving about them! I must confess I almost didn’t have enough cookies because I kept snacking on them! I kept snapping off pieces and dipping them into the Nutella jar! This recipe is definitely a keeper!
*NOTE: Since the cookies were cut to fit the cookie jar, I had to modify the baking time to 10-12 minutes (rotating halfway through baking time)
RECIPE ADAPTED FROM INA GARTEN – SHORTBREAD COOKIES
Christmas Decor 2011
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I can’t believe today is the First day of December. I kinda want to rewind all the way back to Halloween so I can experience Halloween and Thanksgiving again!
Fabian came over a few nights ago to help me set up my Christmas lights. This is really the first time I’m decorating the outdoors and I really didn’t want to overdo it. I just wanted something simple and monochromatic. I love how it turned out… there’s plenty of empty spots, but I’m hoping to add on to it through the coming years!
