Citrus Yogurt Muffins

This cute little book features all kinds of cupcake recipes, and VARIATIONS on those recipes! I only wish there were more pictures (like for EVERY SINGLE CUPCAKE FLAVOR) but that would be a little excessive (maybe?).

Last night I attempted to bake Citrus Yogurt Muffins.
It wasn't until too late that I realized I had no eggs (none, not one) in the fridge. SO unfortunately, and definitely (according to my chef at work), this recipe REQUIRES that egg. OOPS.

Citrus Yogurt Muffins

from the "Low-Fat Cupcake" chapter

2C AP flour
3/4C granulated sugar
1 tbsp grated orange zest (approx. all of a regular sized orange)
1 tbsp grated lemon zest (approx. all of a regular to large sized lemon)
1 tbsp grated lime zest (approx. 2 decent sized limes)
1 tbsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1C fat-free plain yogurt
1/2C sunflower oil (I used vegetable oil, I wonder if that made a difference too.)
1 lightly beaten egg

Combine dry ingredients and zest.
Mix together yogurt, oil and egg.
Stir in flour mixture until combined- do not overmix.
Spoon into prepared muffin pan (yields 12).

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Let cool 5 min. Serve warm. (They DID taste ok still warm; I didn't bother tasting them the next morning though.)

Maybe I'll try these again, WITH the egg. Maybe I won't. I end up wasting the naked fruits anyways. So sad.

Domo cake!

With only a few mishaps, a lot of kitchen mess, and 3 minorly burned fingers... I give you:

THE Domo cake

the process:


2 sheet cakes (9x13)
2 loaf cakes
Vanilla Cream Custard
Chocolate Frosting
Cocoa Powder (for the "fuzzy" texture)
Rice Crispy Treats (fresh made for shaping arms)
Fruit Roll-up (Strawberry)
White Chocolate (melted and cut for teeth)
Whoppers (for the eyes)

Notes: Did not come out as good as I wanted. Time was an issue, since I was constantly rushed to a) meet people for dinner and b) meet people for lunch. And quality of detail went into decline once the fingers got burned. So, that disgusting white goop on his bottom teeth was a consequence of that injury. Otherwise, its all about the proportion of the body and appendages, as well as attention to details of the mouth. Easy to make if you take the time to carefully shape the body and make the details nice. After all, he's a RECTANGLE shaped character. What would be easier!

'tis a shame...

With only 1 day off this week, and which is already dedicated to social activities... I won't get the chance (or maybe I will!) to bake! And I just got the inspiration... which reminded me of a picture posted on Cupcakes Take the Cake blog:

day o' baking

It's amazing how much you can get done if you wake up before noon...
after a quick trip to the grocery store, I spent the day baking up a storm!

From an old little baking book I bought for $3.00 from Michaels years ago:

Cookshelf Baking by Emma Patmore

From the Pies & Pastry chapter - Mini Frangipane Tarts with Lime
1C All-purpose Flour
1/3C Butter, softened
1 tsp. lime zest
1 tbsp. lime juice
4 tbsp. granulated sugar
1 egg
1/4C ground almonds
For Glaze:
1/3C confectioner's sugar, sifted
1/2tsp water

Reserve 5 tsp. of flour and 1 tbsp. of butter.

Rub rest of the butter into the rest of the flour, until it looks crumbly. Stir in the lime zest, and lime juice, to form a soft dough.



On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough thinly. (My dough was pretty dry... so I added more lime juice as needed when rolling out the dough.) Cut out 3 inch rounds and place into muffin pan. (12 cup pan) This took a while since the dough was so dry and crumbly and would crack when rolling it out.



In a separate bowl, cream together reserved butter and the granulated sugar. Add in the egg, ground almonds, and reserved flour. ( I ground whole almonds for this. Not sure if it makes a difference.) Spoon about 1 Tbsp. of mixture into the "tart shells". (Divide evenly.)



Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 15 minutes, until set and lightly golden. Remove from pan and let cool.



Mix the confectioner's sugar and water to make a glaze. Drizzle over the tartlets.



Notes: I was actually pretty surprised at the taste of these little tarts, especially since I was so frustrated with rolling out the dough! The crust came out to be really light and flakey, and the lime isn't overtly noticeable. Also, thickness of the crust affects how pretty the tart looks. So, next time, I'll be more careful to roll out the dough thinly for all tarts. And although there wasn't much of an almond flavor to the filling, it was still pretty tasty. I didn't do a great job with the sugar drizzle, so I probably should have just not done that. I'd say it's optional anyways.

From the Cookies chapter- Millionaire's Shortbread
1.5C All-Purpose Flour
1/2C butter, cut into small pieces
3 tbsp light brown sugar

Topping:
4 tbsp butter
3 tbsp light brown sugar
14 oz can condensed milk
5.5 oz milk chocolate

Sift flour into bowl and rub in butter with fingers until mixture is crumbly, like fine breadcrumbs (the book reads.) Add the sugar and mix to form a firm dough. (It was a pretty crumbly dough for me.)

Press dough into a greased 9in square pan (I used round) and prick with a fork. (Since I pressed the dough into the pan, I don't think it mattered much if the dough was crumbly... unlike the preceding recipe.)



Bake in a preheated oven of 375 degrees for 18-20 minutes until lightly golden. Cool completely in pan.



Meanwhile, for the topping, melt the butter, sugar and condensed milk in a non-stick saucepan. Stir constantly until boiling. Then turn the heat down and continue to stir until the caramel turns pale golden and thickens. (This took a while, so I'm not sure if I let it thicken long enough before I got tired of stirring and stopped altogether.) Pour mixture over the shortbread base and let cool.



When the caramel is firm, melt the chocolate and spread over the top. Set aside to cool and firm up. Cut and serve.



Notes: I'm not a fan of the sticky caramely nougat-y type stuff. But I do like the shortbread. It's crisp and buttery. Yum. It does help to contrast the sweetness of the caramel and chocolate though. So it's a pretty good combination. Making shortbread is pretty easy... I think I'll be making more in the future.

Cookie experimentation

So, after reading that article about chocolate chip cookies from the New York Times as I mentioned in a previous post weeks ago, I finally got time to do it!

I forget how the scientific method goes but...

Hypothesis:
Cookie dough that has longer resting time will taste better.

Experiment aka the recipe (as adapted from Orangette's blog and the NY Times):
3-2/3 C minus 2 Tbsp. All-purpose Flour
1.25 tsp baking soda
1.5 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp kosher salt
2.5 sticks unsalted butter, room temp.
1.25 c light brown sugar
1c plus 2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1x11.5oz bag Ghiradelli 60% Cacao bittersweet chocolate chips
Sea Salt (which I only used on 1 batch)

Combine all dry ingredients (except chocolate chips).
With electric mixer, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs, mixing one at a time, making sure each egg is mixed in well before the next addition. Mix in vanilla.
With mixer on low, add in dry ingredients.
Add in the chocolate chips and mix to incorporate.
Using an ice cream/cookie scoop place dough onto lined cookie sheet. Sprinkle with salt. (First I used sea salt, but didn't like the small crystals I had, so I switched to kosher instead- good move actually.)

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.
Let pan cool on cooling rack, then let cookies cool on cookie rack.

BATCH 1: 30 minute rest time, sprinkled with sea salt.

BATCH 2: 6 hour rest time, sprinkled with kosher salt.

BATCH 3: 9 hour rest time, sprinkled with kosher salt.
(no pictures since it was 7 in the morning...)
BATCH 4: 30 hour rest time, sprinkled with kosher salt.


Results:
Sea salt proved to be too salty on the cookies. Good thing I switched to kosher salt, even though I was mainly going off of crystal size.
There was a noticeable difference in fluffiness and golden brown-ness of the cookies between batches 1 and 2. Any other differences with other batches was not quite so discernible.


Conclusion:
Seems that longer rest time makes cookies a little more golden. But taste-wise, I don't think it makes much of a difference.
BUT let dough rest- for sure! At least an hour. And eat them fresh!
( I saved one cookie from each batch to "taste test" a few days later, and they were no good.)
Salt does make a difference in cookie taste. The contrast between salty and sweet is good, in my opinion, for chocolate chip cookies. Just a pinch will do ya though!

Notes:
Let cookie dough rest tightly covered in the fridge. Press plastic wrap directly over it.
Sea salt is saltier than kosher... I've been told in comparing batch 1 cookies with the rest.
The recipe yielded about 39 medium sized cookies... good thing I have roommates and co-workers I can share with!

unpacking...

As I continue to "unpack", nearly a week later, I came across some fun little stuff I stashed away...

From Hotel Nikko room service, little cards were placed with my pillow mints/chocolates:

the first night read-
"Laughter cannot bring back what anger has driven away."

the second night read-
"When you have completed 95% of your journey, you are halfway there."

Just thought I'd share those. Neat-o huh?

And for funner stuff, I visited the Musee Mecanique at Pier 45 (It used to be located at the Historic Cliff house- where I first visited it, and where is actually also featured in The Princess Diaries)... and played some of the 'fortune telling/psychic' machines for kicks:

"You have been faced with some tragedy in the past. Things will look brighter in the future. There will be a rift between you and a dear friend, but that will be patched up and your friendship will be stronger than ever." [Well! This one is kind of all over the place]

"You are a born leader, with a sense of justice and good memory. Firm in any conviction. Home loving, dependable and devoted to family and friend... Temperamental personality and desirous of being frank..."

THEN I found a business card I stashed away for Kara's Cupcakes, located in Ghiradelli Square. Reminded me a lot of Sprinkles Cupcakes design/graphic-wise, but I didn't have time to try any (as seemed like the trend of my trip) since we were off for sundaes at the Ghiradelli Ice Cream Parlor! [Sorry no pictures... I was pretty bad about that throughout the trip too.]

Birthday Fun!

This year I went (and am still going) overboard for my birthday. I had a bday trip up to SF, then a bday dinner, and soon a bday pool/bbq party! And in between all that, I had a FABULOUS day at work for my bday. It was fantastical!

So to begin my bday adventures, I visited fr'isco (as seen in the previous post). And I must say, I am a major fan of the Ferry Building. It is a magical place with all sorts of foods! I should have taken more pictures... but oh well, what can you do.

So mainly I went to the Ferry Building to find this cute sweets shop- Miette Patisserie. Since I've been drooling over cake stands, modern/kitschy/cute/vintage, for a while now, I was REALLY tempted to buy one of their cake stands. But that would have been a bad idea given my lack of packing space. So, next time, cake stand... next time.

The cakes and pastries, like the shop front, look so sweet and cute and good! I will be sure to try some next time. I should have timed my meals more appropriately that day.

Other shops in the Ferry building consisted of a chocolate shop, more confections, fresh meats, herbs, mushrooms, a tea house, cheese shop, and all things utterly and totally foodie!

My favorite part of hoteling is ALWAYS the room service... yes, it costs a pretty penny, but when on vacation... do as vacationers do. SPLURGE.

So, we ordered in some edamame (to be "healthy"), a raved about mushroom and pepperoni pizza, fried calamari with a chili oil dipping sauce (which really reminded me of some type of dim-sum), and of course, who can resist getting some chicken nuggets and fries. My favorite was the pizza... I would have enjoyed the calamari more if it wasn't so salty.

The most massive meal I had was at Max's diner...
Chicken Pot Pie that is pretty much made as large as a normal WHOLE pie. Good, but geezus, it was HUGE.

and never one to skip out on Max's Strawberry Shortcake when in season, we had to get a 1/2 slice. YUM.

Back in Orange County, on my actual birthday, my wonderful work peoples took me out to lunch to the Slidebar in Downtown Fullerton. I had "The" Mac n Cheese. But the most eye popping, jaw dropping, was the dessert... i forget the name, but it was a brownie sandwich with cookiedough between the layers, DEEP FRIED, topped with vanilla ice cream. Yummy? yes... A heartstopper? you betcha.

Then, for dinner, a mere 5 hours later (which really isn't enough to digest a meal of seismic proportions from the Slidebar), I had dinner at Cafe Tu Tu Tango at the Block in Orange. Food pics and comments can be found on my most favorite food blogger's page here. It may have been the novelty of the idea that's worn off... but it just wasn't as good this time around. Oh wells, it was spending time with friends that really mattered. :)

Oddly enough, and to my surprise... I didn't eat a CAKE at all on my birthday. I'll make sure to remedy that during my pool/bbq party. Ice cream cake... here I come!