Lightning Fast S'Mores

S'mores are the perfect seasonal treat for summer, which unofficially begins this weekend since today is Memorial Day. As we remember those who have served and sacrificed for us, we can also celebrate by spending time with those we love and being thankful for the gifts we have. Food is one such gift that we can share with others, so here's an easy treat you can make for family and friends!

Now, I know the whole s'mores process is really more about assembling than actually baking something, but I still wanted to put these up on my baking blog in case others wanted to try them out!

I created the recipe this afternoon when I discovered marshmallows in the back of my pantry that were about to expire and graham crackers that were sitting around doing nothing. I always have some kind of chocolate chips around the house in case of a cookie-baking emergency, which meant I had all the ingredients for a summer sweet that leaves you wanting s'more!

Lacking a camp fire, I simply layered one half of a graham cracker rectangle with a handful of mini marshmallows and semisweet chocolate chips, and microwaved them open faced on a paper towel for about 28 seconds. Then I topped them with the other half of the graham cracker to smush down the gooey marshmallows and create a handheld dessert in literally seconds. Let them cool just a moment and then have one while they're still slightly warm!

Treats don't have to be complicated--what's important is that the people who eat them are enjoying them. My taste tester found them delicious and gobbled two up just like that. I hope you enjoy them as well. Happy Summer!

Kutsinta

Not all experiments succeed. In fact, some fail into melty, odd-shaped blobs. However, since this is a baking blog and I had my first experiment baking with steam and making a new multicultural recipe, I felt it was important to document the occasion.

Since this week is my last Tagalog class of the semester, we decided to all bring in Filipino food (not unlike our previous classes throughout the semester where we decided to all bring in Filipino food...). For something a little different (besides Halo-Halo and bibingka that I made in the past) I decided to attempt Kutsinta, a sweet brown rice cake with a chewy texture, the look of gelatin, and made using a steaming cooking technique. It's also one of my (many) favorite Filipino desserts. To make it from scratch you need lye water, which I do not have. But I did have a box of "Sarap Pinoy" (roughly translated as "delicious Filipino") Kutsinta ready mix! (sold at the local Filipino market around the corner from my house).

All I really had to do was follow the directions on the box. Heat some tap water in the bottom of a double boiler. Empty the kutsinta mix in a bowl with 1 cup of bottled water and stir. Pour the resulting mix into kutsinta molds and steam in the top part of the boiler for 35-45 minutes or until the concoction turns "clear" (or rather, Jell-O-like).

Here were the problems:

1.) I had no kutsinta molds. They were sold out at the market. So I used the only small cups I had--plastic condiment containers. Word to the wise: plastic melts.

2.) I had no idea how high to keep the heat on, and basically ended up boiling off all my water in the second batch. It evaporated while the heat was still on and ended up burning the bottom of my pot while I was waiting for the second batch to finish cooking (sorry, no picture--I was too devastated).

3.) My kutsinta didn't seem to be turning "clear."  Not after 35 minutes. Not after 45 minutes.

I finally took them off the stove to cool, and only then did they seem to get close to the right color. I flipped them over and...

Huzzah! They may be a bit melty, odd-shaped and stamped with what appears to be some kind of product serial number from the condiment containers, but they do resemble kutsinta (as you can see here).

The plastic did not melt into the dessert since I coated the containers with nonstick cooking spray to make sure they slid out easily. So I think the kutsinta is still fit for consumption. Probably. If not, too late--I already ate one for breakfast....

Just top with coconut and enjoy!

Classic Pancakes!

Before the month of April is over, I should probably post my Easter treats! In addition to a very quick egg dye job the night before (for the same recipe see Easter of 2012), I also opted for some classic, traditional, Sunday pancakes to eat on Easter morn'.

Never officially posted on this blog (though it was mentioned), my go-to pancake recipe has been utilized almost every Sunday in my parents' house for years on end. The recipe originally comes from the "Bette's Diner Buttermilk Pancakes" recipe as found in the The Pancake Handbook. My only change has been the use of whole wheat pastry flour to get just a little more nutrition in there, and occasionally dropping in some blueberries. Cutting the recipe in half works for a small family breakfast, or you can make the whole recipe if you're having Easter guests for brunch! Best of all you can (attempt to) make them in the shape of a bunny! Hopefully yours will come out less creepy than mine....

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup milk (any kind)
2 eggs
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
Canola oil for greasing the griddle

Directions:

1.) In a large bowl, sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. In a separate bowl, combine the buttermilk, milk, and eggs, beating them lightly. Make sure your melted butter has cooled slightly, then add it in, whisking together the wet ingredients quickly with a fork to avoid curdling.

2.) Add the wet ingredients immediately to the dry ingredients and gently fold to combine everything until there is no more flour visible. Do not overmix. The battery should be thick and lumps are okay.

3.) Drizzle the canola oil onto a griddle over medium heat. Brush the oil around with a paper towel to fully coat the surface, then test with a drop of water to determine if it's hot enough (a griddle that's ready will sizzle when the water hits it without evaporating too quickly).

4.) Pour about 1/4 cup of batter onto the griddle to make the face of the bunny. Add a couple more drizzles in the shape of a line to make each ear. Dot with blueberries, if you wish, to form the face (about 13 blueberries per pancake seems to be a good amount when not making bunny faces).

5.) Let the pancakes cook about a minute, then lift the edge up slightly with your spatula to check for browning. If the underside is golden brown, flip the pancake and let it cook for another minute on the other side. If it's still pale yellow, wait a little longer. Resist the temptation to flatten your pancakes as this will ruin all your leavening agents' attempts to make the pancakes rise into fluffy goodness. When the color is perfect, simply plate them in a stack, butter them, and serve them warm with your choice of syrup.

My mom likes to heat maple syrup in the microwave and drizzle it on top. My dad likes the thicker, classic Log Cabin for his short stack. I like to eat mine plain, right off the griddle, while they're still just a little raw. So addicting. Such a treat--which may be how we got the "cake" in pancake. But despite the dessert-like qualities, it really makes for the perfect breakfast to celebrate an important time of year, and another reason to look forward to Sundays.

Halo-Halo!

If you haven't heard of "Halo-Halo," you're missing out on an amazing and unique treat that's perfect for the upcoming summer weather. A fun sounding word that literally means "mix-mix" in Tagalog, this milk and ice cream dessert originates from the Philippines but is said to have been introduced by the Japanese 100 years ago when they used the Philippines' local fruits to create new sweets to sell in their businesses. Today, the bright colors and creamy textures of Halo-Halo are still drawing in crowds of Filipinos and Americans alike.

Now, being sadly lactose intolerant myself, I can only have but a small taste of these heavily dairy-laden concoctions when I visit Filipino restaurants (and a few other local Asian restaurants that have similar desserts). But that doesn't mean I can't make this cool parfait for others! In the middle of March, I brought a whole tray of them into my Tagalog language class that I'm taking for fun (I love learning languages).

We were not required to bring Filipino food in to class, though it was strongly encouraged by my classmates. Being the baker and experimenter that I am, how could I not? I've made the Filipino dessert Bibingka in the past, but this time I thought I'd try something a little different. After seeing delicious pictures of Halo-Halo online, and finding most of the ingredients prepackaged in the Filipino market near my house, I decided it would be the perfect treat to bring, if I could just pull it off without everything melting ahead of time.

So I purchased my ingredients, used this handy WikiHow video as a guide to get the construction right, and started to put my Halo-Halo desserts together about 10 minutes before class (luckily I had a nearby fridge and freezer I could borrow to store the ice cream at work).

Ingredients:

Ube ice cream (it's purple yam ice cream, and it's delicious) or an ice cream flavor of choice
Jar of Kapuso Halo-Halo Fruit Mix and Beans (see image below as well)
Ice (small cubes or shaved--I bought my ice from Sonic since they use the small kind)
Lowfat evaporated milk (I used Carnation brand)
Ube or other flavored wafer stick cookies (if you can't find Filipino cookies like Stik-O's, regular Pepperidge Farm Pirouettes will do as well)

Directions:

1.) In a clear glass or plastic cup, drop in the fruit and beans from the Halo-Halo mix.

2.) Add shaved ice, filling the glasses almost to the brim.

3.) Pour evaporated milk over the ice (be careful, it may spill) and top with a scoop of ice cream and a cookie stick.

When you're ready to eat it, just take a spoon and "mix-mix" all the ingredients together. The result is such an amazing (and very sweet) flavor--the perfect way to cool down on a hot day and treat yourself to something delicious that you might not have thought to try.

Halo-Halo might be a little harder for casual blog readers to make if they don't have a Filipino market nearby, but I would have to say the results are worth doing a little shopping outside your comfort zone (many of the ingredients can be found online if you can't find them in stores). Once you have the ingredients, the quick steps make it so easy to impress your Filipino friends or introduce others to a new kind of summertime fix.

Oatmeal Cookies Both Ways

Oh how I've been wanting to make oatmeal cookies! Perhaps my memories of the Oatmeal Creme Pies I ate after school with my third grade friend are the reason they've actually become one of my favorite types of cookies. But I so rarely get to eat them nowadays unless my adulthood friends happen to buy and share an oversized box from Costco. But homemade are even better.

Now one question that always arises when making oatmeal cookies is that of add-ins. Do you put the classic raisins? Do you hate raisins? Do you need more chocolate in your life? Doesn't everyone? While I'm more of a fruit person, my boyfriend is all about the chocolate chips. What to choose? What to choose?

As my favorite "corny" tortilla commercial says:

Bam.

Thus I made my recipe twice, once with raisins and once with chocolate chips (dark chocolate chips, to be exact, since that's the type of chocolate I prefer to eat). Ah, but where did I get this recipe, and why? (More fun baking questions). The "why" was a request from coworkers to bring in delicious treats for some guests coming into the library the next day. The "where" was actually from two recipes I found online after searching for oatmeal cookie recipes that didn't require a mixer. I don't have a mixer. And I wanted oatmeal cookies. And I love to experiment with creating my own recipe, using other successful attempts as a basis. So I took those successful attempts and merged them.

The first was found on the Averie Cooks website. It's just a little overrun with cookie photos ("Where is the recipe??" you might ask as you scroll), but the photos were enticing enough to keep me scrolling until I finally found the ingredients and directions I was looking for.

The second recipe was found on a website called Bite This, containing fewer pictures but also fewer directions. I tried to take the best parts of both and add my own little twists (like the nutmeg and my inability to make decisions). It seemed to come together nicely, and I had all the ingredients on hand without doing any extra shopping. This might just become my classic go-to for Oatmeal Cookies.

Ingredients:

1 stick of butter, softened about 30 minutes in the microwave but not completely melted
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 and 1/2 cups old fashioned oats (not quick cooking)
1/2 cup raisins or 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1.) Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Soften your butter in the microwave for about 30 seconds or less in a glass or otherwise microwave safe container. Add in both sugars and stir.

2.) Let your mixture sit a moment to cool the butter (you can also try putting it in the fridge or freezer for just a few minutes), then add the egg and stir again. Next add the vanilla extract, cinnamon, and nutmeg, stirring one more time.

3.) Pour the flour, baking soda, and salt on top of the mixture and slowly fold the dry ingredients into the batter until no more flour is visible. Slowly fold in the oats next, and finally, fold in the raisins or chocolate chips until they are fully incorporated throughout the batter.

4.) Drop the batter into rounded tablespoons (or small golf balls) on a baking sheet lightly greased with nonstick cooking spray. Bake about 10-12 minutes (more if you have more cookies on the sheet, less if you have a small baking sheet), then rotate the cookies so the ones in the front are now in the back and bake another 2 minutes until they all still look light but firm. Allow the cookies to sit on the baking sheet for at least 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack or ceramic plate to cool completely.

If these cookies fall apart when you try to take them off the baking sheet--wait! I know it's hard, but let them sit and rest and harden a bit before moving (or eating) them. Unless you like to eat your cookies in pieces. Hey, they're still cookies. I wouldn't blame you.

So overall, I'd say the result of my experiment was definitely "success." I mentally patted myself on the back after my first bite of this treat--and I rarely mentally pat myself on the back. Now perhaps my next experiment will be to put some Lactose Free Vanilla ice cream in between two of these to recreate another childhood favorite: the ice cream sandwich.

Luck of the Irish Soda Bread

While it's still the month of March I figured I'd better write up the recipe for Irish Soda Bread I made on St. Patrick's Day this year! (Green food coloring is optional but, you know, everything should be green on St. Patrick's Day...). This recipe was adapted from a friend of my mom's with an Irish last name (though by marriage), and she really knows her stuff! The only changes I made from her original draft (besides the food coloring) was my typical use of whole wheat pastry flour and my choice to remove the raisins (I was out of raisins and tend to prefer my breads without them). The result was a dense and hearty Irish treat that tastes best warm with a little bit of butter.

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
2 eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk
about 20 drops of green food coloring

Directions:

1.) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

2.) Cut the cold butter into small cubes, then add it to the flour mixture and use your hands to stir until the mixture is crumbly.

3.) Add 1 egg and the buttermilk into your flour mixture and stir until it is just moistened. Knead this dough about one minute (at this point you can add the food coloring IF you want your bread to turn a kind of weird green) and then shape it into a small, round loaf.

4.) Place the loaf on a baking sheet coated with nonstick cooking spray. Cut a 1/4 inch deep cross in the top and brush the remaining egg over the loaf after beating the egg lightly. Bake for about 30-35 minutes (I tried about 26 to start but it was still a bit undercooked, so you might want to wait until at least 30 and then test it before it gets too brown).

If you're craving bread, this takes less than an hour to make and requires no yeast to rise. There are other Irish soda bread recipes out there that just use baking soda (hence the "soda" in the same--no fizzy beverages required), but this one suited my needs for St. Patrick's Day breakfast and marks off one more baking holiday for the year. With Easter on its way in April, stay tuned for further pastry developments....

Valentine's Breakfast Pancakes

Sure, some people ignore it, some people think it's overrated. But no matter your relationship status, I think it's always fun to celebrate Valentine's Day. Honestly, I've been celebrating all week at work with handing out candy, wearing red clothes, and sharing different stories of love.

When February 14 finally did roll around I still wanted to do a little something special to commemorate it. I already knew my day was going to busy with various commitments so I doubted I'd have time to craft my own chocolates (as I've done in the past), or even make it out to a nice Valentine's dinner. The solution: squeeze in a Valentine-themed breakfast.

During the week I was reading Valentine's stories on Facebook and came across an intriguing photo and recipe for Dark Chocolate Pancakes with Raspberry Sauce from the Eat Drink Love blog. I already had most of the ingredients, and a quick trip to the grocery store brought me the remaining buttermilk, raspberries, and fresh eggs I would need to construct a pancake experiment. I made the batter and raspberry sauce the night before to ensure enough time for breakfast in the morning.

Like any pancake recipe, this one was a simple mix of dry and wet ingredients cooked on an oiled griddle, with a bonus of delicious fruit syrup (cooked like a compote, then run through a sieve to remove the seeds). The fun part was shaping them into hearts and enjoying chocolate for breakfast!

Chocolate Raspberry Pancakes

Ingredients:

For the raspberry syrup:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2/3 cup fresh raspberries, rinsed

For pancakes:
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup unsweetened dark coca powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 Tablespoons sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:

1.) In a small pot, combine the water, raspberries and sugar. Cook over medium heat until the mixture comes to a boil, then lower the heat to simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. It helps to smush the raspberries a little with a spoon. After 10 minutes, remove from heat and blend the mixture in a food processor until smooth (I don't have a food processor, so I just stirred it vigorously with a fork). Strain through a sieve (optional) to remove seeds.

2.) In a large bowl combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Create a small well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the buttermilk, beaten egg, oil, and vanilla extract (the original recipe didn't say when to add in the chocolate chips so I left them out). Stir the ingredients until just combined but do not overmix.

3.) Heat a pan or griddle to medium heat and coat with canola oil. When the griddle is hot enough that a drop of water sizzles when lightly splashed on the surface, you know it's time to pour the pancakes. Spread about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of batter onto the griddle with a spoon, shaping into a heart (draw two thick "lines" and let them meet at the tips like a "V").

4.) Leave pancakes on the griddle for about 1-2 minutes on each side until cooked all the way through. Remove and top with the raspberry syrup and a few fresh raspberries.

My only issue with this recipe is that the pancakes came out a little more dry than I would have liked. To remedy this for next time, I might add a little milk to the batter (many pancake recipes call for buttermilk and milk) use melted butter instead of canola oil in the batter (perhaps two tablespoons instead of one) and/or add the chocolate chips into the batter before cooking the pancakes. But I didn't want to go too overboard with the chocolate--it was still early, after all.

With a few modifications, you can make this recipe for your special someone, your chocolate-loving friends, or as a quick treat for yourself! Happy Valentine's Day!