Other Baked Stuff...

A friend asked if I could make a doll cake for her 2 year old back in December. Of course I would. I'd take any chance to practice my baking and cake decorating skills! So, I told her to go get a doll...that way, N can play with it after the cake has been eaten...and not freak out if she sees that the "doll" doesn't have feet when the cake is gone! She bought a Snow White doll. We dressed her up in an evening gown in PURPLE! :P The little princess was so happy, I heard. :)


These are some baby shower cookies I made for a best friend in L.A. It's a surprise gift for her and her baby shower guests. I was supposed to attend her baby shower this past weekend. However, the cost of the airfare is way above my budget. And since we do plan on bring the kids to Disney this summer, it'd be a good chance for me to catch up with her then and I'd also get to see the baby!! I made these with Elisa Strauss' Chocolate cookie recipe. It's DELICIOUS!!! Cos' she uses melted dark chocolate instead of cocoa powder. YUM!

Baby buggy

Knowing how bz my friend is going to be, I send her an e-mail telling her to make sure to open up the package 'cos she's the type who can stand NOT opening a present/box for a couple of days!! And since I had paid over $40 for the shipping (as usual, I didn't make them until last minute, hence using the express mail instead of the priority mail service), so that the cookies get there in time for her baby shower, AND not rot in the box!!! True enough, she was in such hurry, she didn't open the box even the day after she received it...however, her hubby, who should now be awarded with the title "Cookie Hero of the Year," asked if she knows what's in there, and thought they should open it that morning (the morning after they received it)...she still insist it'd be fine!! Thank goodness for his persistence, he opened the box which was sitting by the window with the sun shining in!!! :P He had figured that I might have sent some "food stuff"!!! :) LOL ....I'm so honored he has made an equation of Jenny's parcel= Food!!! ;)

Bib - the ribbons on the bib aren't very clear in the pic

Kids' Birthdays - Belated Post

Our home was invaded by these guys!!! ( a little dice on the left was the pretend All Sparks cube)

I've been really terrible at updating my blog recently. With all the year end holidays and my addiction to some new games on Facebook!!! :P So here are some very belated posts.

The kids celebrated their birthdays with some friends. Lucas had never really have a "big party," so this year, he had requested for a birthday party in McDonald's --- I convinced him to have it else where. Man, all these party places aren't cheap anymore. We were lucky that one of his friends in school has her birthday the day before his. So we did a combine party and invited the whole preschool class, and split the bill! :) It was ALL about Transformers for him this year!

Bumble Bee theme cake - got the idea from here

The Decepticons

Yesmin on the other hand, had 5 friends over for a Hello Kitty birthday party at home. I used to see Hello Kitty cookie cutter in the stores here. Back then I didn't think I'd wanna decorate cookies, so I didn't care to buy 'em. Then, when I need it, they are only sold online on ebay! Gees! So, this is what I got.

She didn't wanna have a cake, like the previous year. So, I gave her a few choices and she picked lemon meringue tartlets. I used Meyer lemons for the curd --- YUM! Kinda burnt the meringue a little! :P

Meyer lemon meringue tartlets

I also ordered each girl a headband as a favor. I e-mailed to Erika at Tottie's Pretties, to discuss about getting the "theme" ribbons for the headbands. She advised me on not using the Hello Kitty ribbons, as they don't turn up well on headbands. In the end, we went with a bright pink polka dot with pink background on the headband,with a double bow clip. When I received the box of headbands, Erika has made one extra as a gift for Yesmin. That's the one she's wearing on the picture above. It's got 9 studs for 9 years old. So sweet of her! Thanks Erika. It's now Yesmin's favorite one! :)

Merry Belated Christmas & Daring Bakers Challenge - Gingerbread House

Merry Christmas from the family! :)

Monkey 1 and Monkey 2

It's been a crazy and hectic month! Time seems to fly at HIGH SPEED when it comes to year end, doesn't it? Well, I'm once again late for posting my Christmas wishes to all of you AND for my Daring Bakers challenge (don't think THIS is ever gonna change! :P) Anyhow, I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Holiday!! =)

This year, I didn't feel as excited as I usually did....I think mainly because Nd (Lee) had to travel to Taiwan for work for the first 2 weeks of December. However, I have also notice that usually by the time we get to Christmas, I am already so exhausted with the kids' and Nd's birthdays, Thanksgiving and all the school parties. However, I am glad that, at least this time I wasn't late in the holiday baking. I managed to deliver all the treats to friends and neighbors the weekend before Christmas! Woohooo!!

Before I forget...
The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.

So, Gingerbread House made from scratch was the challenge, and boy, was THAT a TRUE challenge for me. We have only made gingerbread house ONCE, and from A KIT. At first, I was all excited, thinking of all the possibilities to decorate the gingerbread house, and that I would make a house for each of the kids, so they can decorate their own, and not mess with MINE! :P I started off by reserving gingerbread house books from the library. It was a little overwhelming ~ what design should I choose? Should I copy from one of the books, or should I make one of my own?? Then came the busy schedule that keeps building up, while I kept on pushing off the challenge. There was a week where we were forecast to have snow (we don't get a lot of snow fall in Portland, Oregon, some years, we don't even get ANY snow), and after last year's Arctic Blast, I was worried we were gonna get snowed-in and nothing to do. So I picked up all the candies --- but which candies to buy? How much do I need? I end up spending twenty something dollars JUST on candies itself, and we didn't even have ANY snow!!! Argghhh!

In short, I end up making the dough 3 days before Christmas ( I used Y's recipe)....thinking I could maybe have it done by Christmas. NOPE ~ THAT was just a thought! I only started rolling and cutting them out on Christmas night. I knew I was late, so I just picked a classic template from Gingerbread Houses: Baking & Building Memories by Nonnie Cargas.

I have read a lot of comments in the DB forum that the dough seems very dry. Mine seems ok, at least that's what I thought...until I started rolling them out. It cracks and tears like crazy! I added water, try to pinch them back together. Sometimes that help, but still it wasn't easy to work with.

Doesn't look too dry, right?

See how it cracks like crazy?

Anyway, I was ready to get it done...I cut out the template, planed on having one house for myself and one house for the 2 monkeys to share. As I was putting up the walls of my house, I realized I HAD FORGOTTEN ABOUT THE ROOF!!!! %$#*&#@!!!!! Talk about Challenge!! ~ No problem, no problem, I CAN be Bob Villa .I can fix THAT ~ the kids just have to sacrifice THEIR walls! ;P I trimmed the sides of my walls, and two of them cracked - no problem, just a little royal icing will fix it, and using the kiddos side walls, with 2 windows on each wall, WHICH could be the skylight for my gingerbread house! ;) Pretty proud of myself, I have to say.

See the two "holes" on the roof?? That's the skylight! ;)

However, there's still A problem. The walls weren't tall enough to fully cover the whole roof, so I had to patch the roofs with licorice. BUT before that, my other problem was...I had left the empty jar that I had used to support the walls while the royal icing dries, INSIDE the gingerbread house...and the roofs are already on!!! D-U-H!!!! So, I removed the roofs, take out the JAR, replace the roof, then patched the roof! Hmmm.... I wonder why I don't care about making gingerbread houses...especially from scratch??!!

See the jelly jar in there??? Bet you can tell which brand and what flavor huh?! :P

Anyway, that was really THE challenging parts of building a gingerbread house from scratch. The rest was the fun part, and was up to your imagination :)

Front view

Details on door

Side of house

Back of house

Top of house

Side of house

Despite all the interesting challenges I had, I was glad to have participated. Visit the Daring Kitchen for the recipes and other details in this challenge. And don't forget to stop by HERE to see how other Daring Bakers gingerbread turned out! You might get inspired and make one too! :)

Oh, by the way, there's always the question of to eat or not to eat the gingerbread house. And Nonnie Cargas has included in her book this poem for eating your gingerbread house, which I think is so funny and appropriate...

New Year's Poem for Eating Your Gingerbread House
by Nonnie Cargas

Eating this house so fair and sweet
Brings insight to the year you'll meet
For every bite has a tale to tell,
So eat for luck and wish you well.

If the front door is your choice to eat,
Far-flung visitors soon you'll greet.
But if on the pathway you choose to dine,
A trip afar will soon be thine.

Consume the roof if you want security,
For love and shelter will be a surety.
Tho' if it's adventure to which you aspire,
Devour the windows to achieve your desire.

From the warmth of the chimney true love will come;
A taste of it and a pair you'll become.
Or if, by chance, you're already a pair,
Eating the chimney will recharge the air.

Trees and buses bring money your way,
While lawn decorations bring laughter and play.
Fences bring projects at which you'll succeed,
And people bring kindness and help when there's need.

But indulge in some pieces that aren't mentioned here,
You'll have special surprises throughout the New Year!

Thanks Anna and Y for the challenge and thanks Nonnie Cargas for the great book and poem! :)

P/S Since I have LOTS of left over candies, I MIGHT, try another recipe and make up for the kids.

Newsletter Sign Up --- Ebelskivers

What happens after I sign up to receive news and deals from Williams Sonoma?? I get an e-mail saying they're having a one day deal - 50% off on the Ebelskiver (pronounced as "able-skeevers") pan (they are filled pancakes originally from Denmark) !!!! Aaaahhhhhhh!!!! What am I gonna do??? I have previously seen it on their catalog, and like always, was eying on it! But I figured we have spend so much these past few months, that I should forget about it. But, but, but.... it's 50% off!!! How the hell am I supposed to stick to my logical decision??

I told myself, I'd make Williams Sonoma my last stop, and have all the time to think if I SHOULD really get it...plus, they have mentioned that quantity is limited, so if by the time I get there, and they're out, it means I'm not meant to have it...if the pan is still available, then I can think about it.

Ebelskivers filled with Gingerbread butter

So, after doing some Christmas shopping for the kids and the hubby...I went to my last stop. The store was crowded with Christmas shoppers~ and I thought I'd be the only crazy one there! :P I looked at it, observe the other shoppers ...some of them were grabbing like 2-3 pans!!! Ahhhhh!!!! Even then, I was still pretty sure that I could stick to saving money. Then guess what?! Of course! Of course they have this lady standing there, demonstrating making these delicious Ebelskiver, and handing out samples! Now, I have NEVER had a Ebelskiver in my life...I can't even pronounce that name! Why, why oh why do they have to do this to me??? I've been sooo good, trying my best not to buy stuff for myself, cos' I do that too often, and with all the kids birthdays the past months and Christmas around the corner...so why, oh why now???

The moment I pop that sample into my mouth with my right hand, I was grabbing the pan by the counter with my left hand. However after that, I still hung around..thinking twice...looking at the recipe book Ebelskivers: Filled pancakes and other mouthwatering miniatures by Kevin Crafts...I know I probably can Google the recipe online...but, this book was filled with a whole bunch of recipes from simple to sweet to savory...and although Williams Sonoma sold the mix too...I'm all about making things from scratch, plus I LOVE collecting cookbooks.... I negotiated with myself that these will be my Christmas presents. There, I have a great excuse now ;) Later when I told Yesmin that I've already gotten my own Christmas present and that I'm gonna use the pan before Christmas, then we'll wrap it up on Christmas and put it under the tree ---- she thought I was silly! :D LOL.


Basic Ebelskiver Batter by Kevin Crafts
Makes about 21 filled pancakes

1 C All purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs, separated
1C whole milk (I used fat free milk)
2 Tbs unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled (I didn't used this, cos' I missed the step of adding it to the batter)

Whisk together the dry ingredient in a large bowl. In a small bowl, lightly whisk the egg yolks then whisk in the milk and melted butter. Add the yolk mixture to the flour mixture and, using a wooden spoon, stir until well blended. The batter will be lumpy.

In a clean bowl, using an electric mixer on high speed, beat the egg whites till stiff peak, but not dry. Gently fold one third of the egg whites into the batter to lighten it, then fold in the rest just until no white steaks remain. Use the batter right away.

Note: I have totally missed the step on combining the melted butter to the milk/yolk mixture. I thought it was for brushing the pan! It still turned out GREAT! By the way, I didn't get the Ebelskivers turning tool. You could just use 2 wooden skewers, I used toothpicks... you have to cook your filled pancakes on medium flame to prevent from burning, so it wasn't that hot to handle :)

Daring Bakers Challenge --- Cannoli

This month's challenge is Cannoli...And I thought I was able to handle this in time...looks like it's even worst than other months.... I hope to have the post up by tomorrow, so please check back later. In the mean time, check out our hostess, Lisa Michele's blog for more yummy cannoli.

........

Ok, finally...I've made my Cannoli!!! It's bad enough that I've always been a procrastinator, this month I gotten even worst! I'm two days late!!! Gosh, I hope Santa's not gonna drop be a bag of coal instead! ;P Nonetheless, I did what I can, and I was glad it didn't require using an oven, cos' I have not gotten a new oven YET! --- Wonder how long THAT is gonna take??!! Lisa Michele from Parsley, Sage, Desserts and line Drives was our lovely November hostess. There was A LOT of leniency allowed this time! Thanks Lisa!

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.



Here's the recipe with my notes in RED

Lidisano’s Cannoli as noted by Lisa, the name Lidisano is a combination of Lidia, Lisa and Saprano!!! :)

Makes 22-24 4-inch cannoli
Prep time:
Dough – 2 hours and 10-20 minutes, including resting time, and depending on whether you do it by hand or machine.
Filling – 5-10 minutes plus chilling time (about 2 hours or more)
Frying – 1-2 minutes per cannoli
Assemble – 20–30 minutes

RECIPE NOTE: THE EQUIVALENTS FROM THIS RECIPE WERE PREPARED USING THIS CONVERSION SITE: http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/index.asp.

CANNOLI SHELLS
2 cups (250 grams/8.82 ounces) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons(28 grams/1 ounce) sugar
1 teaspoon (5 grams/0.06 ounces) unsweetened baking cocoa powder (I opt out the cocoa powder and replaced it with all purpose)
1/2 teaspoon (1.15 grams/0.04 ounces) ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon (approx. 3 grams/0.11 ounces) salt
3 tablespoons (42 grams/1.5 ounces) vegetable or olive oil
1 teaspoon (5 grams/0.18 ounces) white wine vinegar ( I didn't have it, so I used e cider vinegar I had instead)
Approximately 1/2 cup (approx. 59 grams/approx. 4 fluid ounces/approx. 125 ml) sweet Marsala or any white or red wine you have on hand
1 large egg, separated (you will need the egg white but not the yolk)
Vegetable or any neutral oil for frying – about 2 quarts (8 cups/approx. 2 litres)
1/2 cup (approx. 62 grams/2 ounces) toasted, chopped pistachio nuts, mini chocolate chips/grated chocolate and/or candied or plain zests, fruits etc.. for garnish
Confectioners' sugar

Note - If you want a chocolate cannoli dough, substitute a few tablespoons of the flour (about 25%) with a few tablespoons of dark, unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch process) and a little more wine until you have a workable dough (Thanks to Audax)

DIRECTIONS FOR SHELLS:
1. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer or food processor, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the oil, vinegar, and enough of the wine to make a soft dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and well blended, about 2 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge from 2 hours to overnight.

2 Cut the dough into two pieces. Keep the remaining dough covered while you work. Lightly flour a large cutting or pastry board and roll the dough until super thin, about 1/16 to 1/8” thick (An area of about 13 inches by 18 inches should give you that). Cut out 3 to 5-inch circles (3-inch – small/medium; 4-inch – medium/large; 5-inch;- large. Your choice). Roll the cut out circle into an oval, rolling it larger and thinner if it’s shrunk a little.

3 Oil the outside of the cannoli tubes (You only have to do this once, as the oil from the deep fry will keep them well, uhh, oiled..lol). Roll a dough oval from the long side (If square, position like a diamond, and place tube/form on the corner closest to you, then roll) around each tube/form and dab a little egg white on the dough where the edges overlap. (Avoid getting egg white on the tube, or the pastry will stick to it.) Press well to seal. Set aside to let the egg white seal dry a little. (I tried letting the egg white seal dry a little, but found that my dough loves to shrink a lot. So while it was drying, the dough just kept pulling back that by the time I drop 'em in the oil, the dough aren't sticking together anymore. So instead, once I seal the dough up, I immediately drop them in the hot oil seam side down)

4. In a deep heavy saucepan, pour enough oil to reach a depth of 3 inches, or if using an electric deep-fryer, follow the manufacturer's directions. Heat the oil to 375°F (190 °C) on a deep fry thermometer, or until a small piece of the dough or bread cube placed in the oil sizzles and browns in 1 minute. Have ready a tray or sheet pan lined with paper towels or paper bags.

5. Carefully lower a few of the cannoli tubes into the hot oil. Do not crowd the pan. Fry the shells until golden, about 2 minutes, turning them so that they brown evenly.

8. Lift a cannoli tube with a wire skimmer or large slotted spoon, out of the oil. Using tongs, grasp the cannoli tube at one end. Very carefully remove the cannoli tube with the open sides straight up and down so that the oil flows back into the pan. Place the tube on paper towels or bags to drain. Repeat with the remaining tubes. While they are still hot, grasp the tubes with a potholder and pull the cannoli shells off the tubes with a pair of tongs, or with your hand protected by an oven mitt or towel. Let the shells cool completely on the paper towels. Place shells on cooling rack until ready to fill.

9. Repeat making and frying the shells with the remaining dough. If you are reusing the cannoli tubes, let them cool before wrapping them in the dough.

Once again, I needed the help from the step stool. I'm just too short to roll our doughs on my counter!! In fact, I found out the other day when I was at my physician office that I am NOT 5' 2", I'm ONLY 5' 1.75" --- and that was with my sneakers on!!! SOOO SAD!

No deep fryer for me... just the typical wok and the handy extra long chop sticks!

Letting the sealed dough dry a little as suggested...

but it didn't work for me...the ones that got dried out most opened up immediately, as my dough was like an elastic band!! They would stretched when you roll it, but the moment you leave them alone....pop, they'd spring back!!!

These were the bits and pieces of dough. I fried them up, sprinkle with some powdered sugar and cinnamon ~ yummy! :)

I filled my cannoli with marscapone flavored with mango puree and chopped mango pieces.. tasted very refreshing...however, the "dessert king" in the house, a.k.a. Lucas --- DID NOT like it!!! :/ Wonder why? He took 2 bites and ran away from it??!!! Wonder if he was just too full from dinner?? Will try it on him again tomorrow and see if we get the same reaction! Cos' it's just NOT like him to not like a dessert! He DID like bits and pieces ones though. Other that HIM, all of us liked it! :)

For the full page on this challenge, just click HERE. Thanks again Lisa for this great challenge!! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY YESMIN!!

Happy Birthday Yesmin! :)

I'm a Proud Mama!

There are so many times and situations where she just DRIVES me INSANE! ...But, there are times when I am just SO PROUD of her.

It's usually the little things she does. For example, last Thursday was their class' library "check out day." When she got off the bus, she was holding this big book and the excitement on her face was like how I would react if I had won the lottery! :P She couldn't wait to show me what she had in her hand. It was a book called, The Naughty Little Monkeys by Jim Aylesworth. She told me she had checked out this book for Lucas! I asked why didn't she checked out something for herself? She told me that she had already have checked out 2 other books for herself and have found this, and knew Lucas would love this! How sweet is that? The fact that she thought about her brother when she saw the book, knowing how much he likes all of the "Little Monkeys" series! She dash back home and showed it him...and of course, he was excited! After her piano lesson, she sat down and read to him :D

I love you, Yesmin! And thank you for being such a thoughtful child!