Chocolate Babka (burnt)

I have to say that I am once again disappointed by one of Gale's recipes. Normally Chocolate Babka is served during Easter (or at least that's what I've read) but since I'm not Eastern European I figured tradition wouldn't hold a grudge against me for baking it around Christmas. Well... I burned it. It is still edible but I think I might have to trim the crust which is a shame because some of the filling is closer to the crust.

• The recipe calls for 5 egg yolks and 1 whole egg. And this is supposed to make a cake or dough with only 2 cups of flour!? I ended up adding 2 more cups just to make it kneadable.
• The filling composed of 4 oz of bittersweet chocolate, 1 egg white, 1 tbsp of butter, and 7 oz of almond paste. My super-duper-never-has-a-problem-with-anything food processor couldn't get this filling together. It was so sticky and unspreadable that I basically just dotted clumps of it onto the dough which is why most of it ended up concentrated in certain parts.
  
• The dough would not cook all the way! This batter was just way too much for a single snail roll in a 9-inch cake pan. It rose like Mt. Everest and even after 45 minutes, the insides were far from done. And I was right too because when I opened it up the insides were just right. But pretty much the crust got ruined.

Martha has a recipe for this in her Baking Handbook (and it even had a strudel topping!) and now I wished I had baked that one. Poop.

Crazy Cooking Day: Rugelach, Creamy Pumpkin Cookies, and more

So on Tuesday I had blogged about my Sweet Potato and Cheese Souffles but little would I know that my boyfriend's office was having a potluck and that I would definitely want to make something for it. So this is what I ended up cooking that day (not all of which was for the potluck):

• Sweet Potato and Cheese Souffles
• Danish Pastries
• Creamy Pumpkin Cookies with Pumpkin Frosting
• Rugelach
• Creamy Potato Gratin
• Lumpia (Filipino spring rolls)
• Crispy catfish with steamed rice and peas (a bit of a rushed dinner hehe)
  

Cheese Danishes

The danish pastry recipe was from Nigella's How to Be a Domestic Goddess book. It's probably one of the easiest ways to make danish pastry dough as the butter is cut into the flour with a food processor and once you have chilled it overnight, you then fold and and roll out only three times without having to rest the dough inbetween. After that you let it rest for about 30 minutes before rolling it out again and cutting into squares for the actual pastries themselves. The longest part probably being that once you have formed them, you have to let them rise for about 1 1/2 hours before baking them. Much too long for making them in the morning unless you like to get up 2-3 hours before breakfast time (I normally get up at 10am hah.) For some reason, I couldn't get them to hold their form so they pretty much came undone in the oven. But as Nigella would say, that's okay because they are homemade. :)


Rugelach

This is actually the first time I had made this sweet and fruity Jewish pastry and I was very pleasantly surprised. At the Nigella board they were talking about how both Nigella and Ina Garten had wonderful recipes for this cookie so be as it may I decided I'd give them a try. I decided I'd try out Ina Garten's recipe since it was so conveniently online at Food Network (Click here for the recipe.) I'm normally not a dried fruit and nut fan but these cookies were fantastic! I guess you had to know since the dough is made up of 1/2 pound of both cream cheese and butter. :D My boyfriend especially liked them and I find myself sneaking in a cookie everytime I walk into the kitchen (which is still a mess haha!) So after having made these cookies, I am considering getting the Barefoot Contessa Parties! book. Can never have too many cookbooks, I say! :D


Creamy Pumpkin Cookies

This recipe I got from a holiday cookie magazine published by Land O Lakes (my favorite butter company :) All the cookies in this magazine are creative and festive and since I had some leftover canned pumpkin from making the pumpkin pie pancakes I decided this might be a perfect fit for the potluck. The pumpkin frosting nicely complemented the pumpkin flavored cut-outs and added just the right amount of sweetness and spice. This batch makes quite a bit (I think I made about 4 dozen cookies).

For the Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (Note: To make pumpkin pie spice, combine 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, 3/4 tsp ground ginger, 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg, and 1/4 tsp ground cloves)
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt

For the Frosting
3 oz cream cheese, softened
2 tbsp butter, softened
1 tbsp canned pumpkin
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice (see above for recipe)
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 to 2 tsps milk or half-and-half

To make the cookies: In an electric mixer (or use a hand mixer), mix the butter and sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the egg making sure to scrape down the sides to fully incorporate. Then add the canned pumpkin and vanilla and beat until well mixed. Reduce the mixer to low speed and add in the rest of the ingredients (flour, pie spice, baking powder, and salt). Note: I sifted the dry ingredients together prior to added them to the butter mixture

Divide the dough in half and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate until firm or at least about 2 hours.

Preheat your oven to 350F. Roll out 1/2 dough onto a lightly floured surface to about 1/8-inch thickness (not too thin as I mistakenly did on my first batch.) Cut with favorite cookie cutters and place about 1-inch apart on cookie sheet. Bake for about 8 to 10 minutes or until the edges start to brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting: Combine all the frosting ingredients except for the confectioners' sugar and milk. Beat at medium speed until creamy. Reduce speed to low and then add in your confectioners' sugar. Add the milk gradually until you have the consistency that you want (for me, I hardly added any at all.) Spread the frosting on the cookies and sprinkle with decorative sugars.


Creamy Potato Gratin, Lumpia, and Crispy Catfish
(picture coming soon, I swear! :)

The creamy potato gratin recipe comes from Nigella Bites and is one of the most amazing comfort foods ever. Especially if you love potatoes, the creaminess will blow you away.

For the lumpia, I kind of make this intuitively as I've watched my mom make this ever since I could remember. The recipe goes kind of like this and you can improvise as needed. The lumpia skins you'll have to get at an asian supermarket unless they sell them in the frozen section at your local supermarket.

Lumpia

1 lb ground pork (or you can use 1/2 lb ground pork and 1/2 lb ground beef)
1 cup shredded cabbage
1/2 cup shredded or finely minced carrots
1/2 cup green onions
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
To taste: soy sauce, garlic powder (optional), salt and pepper

Fresh or frozen lumpia skins

Other vegetables you can add are 1/2 cup peas, 1/2 cup chopped green beans, 1/2 cup cooked bean sprouts, 1/2 cup canned bamboo shoots, etc. You can even add raisins as my mom has done (I'm not too particularly keen on this though) and you can make them vegetarian by omitting the meat and adding more vegetables.

In a large frying pan, cook the meat until no longer pink (add vegetable oil as needed depending on how lean your ground meat is.) Remove from the pan and then saute the onions and garlic together until soft. Add in your carrots or any other long-to-cook vegetable first and saute until softened (about 5 minutes or so). Then add in the cabbage, green onions, and meat. Season with soy sauce (I like to add in a generous amount), garlic powder, and salt and pepper. Cook for about 10 minutes or until vegetables have wilted and all ingredients are properly mixed. Pour mixture into a bowl or pan and let cool.

Once the mixture has cooled, you can wrap it as filling for the lumpia skins. Take the square lumpia skin and have one of the ends pointing towards you (it will look like a diamond shape). Put about 2 tablespoons of filling closer to your end but not on the tip. Flip the end closer to you over the filling and fold the sides in. Once the skin is aligned with the mixture length, roll to the other end and place seam-side down on a plate. Note: Sorry this isn't the best explanation of the rolling technique but if you have ever rolled burritos its the exact same thing lol!

Deep fry the rolls in peanut oil until golden brown. Serve with sweet chili sauce.


Crispy Catfish
This recipe is nothing special as you can probably find better recipes online. This is an easy and fast recipe and we used to eat this every Friday with peas and steamed rice when I was growing up.

Combine 1 cup flour with about 1 tbsp kosher salt, pepper, and a generous sprinkling of garlic powder inside a plastic ziploc bag. Shake your fish fillets inside the bag and then fry in peanut oil until golden brown. Serve with tartar sauce, peas, and steamed rice. :)

Sweet Potato and Cheese Souffles

My first time making individual savory souffles and I think they came out okay! This recipe comes out of the UK magazine Olive and actually utilizes cheshire cheese but I used cheddar cheese instead. So because I used cheddar cheese, I think these came out a little under-salted since the recipe does not call for any salt. I'd add in some salt if you decide to use another type of cheese such as cheddar or gruyere.

Also, its good to try and mash the potatoes as well as you can. I mashed them by hand and they still came out a little chunky. Normally I like my mashed potatoes to be chunky but for this souffle dish I think it would be better if they were almost of puree quality. So the best way to achieve that would be to put them in the food processesor (but not for too long!)

Sweet potato and Cheshire cheese souffles
(adapted from Olive December 2006 issue)

25g/2tbsp butter
3 tbsp parmesan
350g/3/4lb sweet potatoes, peeled, cut, boiled, and then mashed
2tbsp plain flour
150 ml milk (a little over 1/2 cup)
75g cheshire cheese, crumbled
pinch dried chili flakes
1 tbsp chives
2 eggs, separated

Equipment:
4-6 6-oz ramekins


1. Melt the butter in a saucepan and stir in the flour. Cook for about 1 minute. The, gradually add the milk, mixing well, until you have a smooth sauce. Add the cheese, stirring until melted then stir in the chili flakes and chives. Remove from the heat and fold in the mashed sweet potatoes. Let cool slightly and then stir in the egg yolks.
2. Put your egg whites into a bowl and beat until stiff. Fold a quarter of the beaten egg whites into the potato mixture to loosen it up and then fold in the rest. Divide the batter among the individual ramekins (I used 4 6-ounce ones) and then put the ramekins onto a baking sheet.
3. Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes or until risen and golden.

Note: You might try baking the ramekins in a water bath. Put the ramekins into a baking pan and then once you've put them into the oven, fill the pan with boiling hot water halfway up to the ramekins.

Edit: I'd forgotten the cheese in the recipe. Silly me but I've now updated it! :D

Meron Pan

For those of you that like Japanese sweets (e.g. manjuu, pocky, etc.), you might like meron pan (Melon Bread). Its basically a sweet bun with various flavors including melon and maple and there are some that have anko (sweet red bean paste) inside. We went to a Japanese market in Mountain View this weekend and I picked up a couple as sometimes they are hard to find.

I'm not sure where you can order them online but if you ever stop by a Japanese market and find them try them out!

Oh and a small little Japanese trivia for you. "Meron" is a japanization of the english word "melon" and "pan" is also a borrowed word from Portuguese meaning "bread".