Fruit Tartlets

As I sit here in class (and obviously not paying attention), I realize that I'm horrible with updating this website. I am also not a good student if I don't even bother to pay attention! I think that to keep my sanity, this would be a way for me to have a form of release and to take my mind off things. Anyways, I thought I would talk about the fruit tartlets I made for my baby niece's 1-month celebration (she's 6 1/2 months now... so fast!).

I have never been good with giving gifts. If I don't know what to buy for a person or if I can't afford it, I hate to shop. I prefer to bake. Not only is it kinder to my wallet, but it's more personal and made with love! (corny, I know)

When figuring out what to make, I had to keep in mind that Hong, her mother, and that side of the family wasn't too big on sweets and pastries. That made things tough because that's what I know. They all love fruit, but I didn't want to just bring the fruit on a platter - I still wanted to have a beautiful presentation where everyone would get something bite-sized that contained a piece of each fruit. As I went shopping the day before, I chose to use strawberries, kiwi, canned mandarin oranges, and blueberries.

I had used a store bought pie dough for the shells. Sadly enough, I have plenty of baking experience, but little to none on making pies and pie crust. I like to blame it on the fact that I don't have a food processor, and am not willing to buy one just for baking purposes. The main factor was that, as I was browsing after picking the fruit at my local Safeway, I discovered that the dough was on sale for extremely cheap.

In order to make them in perfect little cups, I cut small circles with a 2inch cookie cutter and fit them into mini cupcake pans, poked little holes in them, and baked them just until the edges were browning. I piped in just enough homemade custard to fill the bottom, then assembled the fruit (that I cleaned and sliced beforehand) the way I thought would be pretty. I glazed them prior to leaving for the party, and they were actually quite a hit. None of my brother's friends knew that there was a baker in the family, so they all thought it was store bought. The custard was a bit rich on its own, but was balanced out with the crust and the fruit.

late new years?

The start of my new year sucked, plain and simple. The midnight strike occurred when I was in the shower lol... There isn't much you can do when you get off at about 11pm (yes, I finally have a job) and all of your friends are out of town celebrating...

The only thing I was happy with that day... was my NYE red velvet cupcakes. It was a hit with the coworkers (one ate freaking 4!!).

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Must I say anything about this? I love the hint of cocoa and the moist texture this cake has. Also, you're not really limited to just red (green is my favorite color, so I'll use that the next time). These were made for a bake sale, and are actually mini-sized for a faster sale and to attract all the females that love cute things.

cake batter;
2-1/2 cups cake flour*
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 oz. red liquid food coloring* (or any color to your liking)
1/2 cup veggie oil
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk*, at room temp
1 teaspoon white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350.
Sift dry ingredients together until well blended.
Add wet ingredients and beat on low speed until just incorporated.
Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full with batter.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Cool in pan for 2 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.


frosting;
1 pckg (8oz) cream cheese, room temp
1 stick butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
4 tbsp milk

Beat cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy.
Add vanilla.
Beat in sugar, 1/2cup to 1cup at a time.
Add 2 tbsp of milk and beat in.
Beat in an additional tsp to 1/2 tbsp of milk at a time, if desired, to consistency you like.



**
- cake flour; if you don't have access to this, sub with 2-1/4 cup all-purpose and 1/4 cup corn starch
- food coloring; I use Wilton's gel food coloring - not only is it cheaper ($1.69/1oz bottle), you only have to use HALF of it!!!
buttermilk; a great sub is a tbsp of white vinegar plus enough milk to equal a cup; just add together, stir up a bit, and leave for at least 10 minutes
- makes 24 cupcakes, 75 mini cupcakes, 1 2-layered 8 or 9-inch cake, or a 2-layered 6-inch with enough batter for about 6-8 cupcakes

So Jeannie and I decided to make marshmellow treats on Friday... Why didn't I say rice krispies treats? We used honey nut cheerios, was slightly short of 4 cups of mini marshmellows, and had only 2 tbsp of butter instead of 3. I don't know why, but we decided to do it to see how it went.

End result? It was really good at first. That is, until the mixture set... and it was hard. FREAKING HARD. The rest was Jeannie's because I just could not deal with it. So.. as a reminder for you people: never attempt when you're short on butter.

RED VELVET CHEESECAKE

this is adapted from Annie's Eats



30 chocolate sandwich cookies, crushed
1/2 cup butter, melted
3 (8 oz) pckg cream cheese, room temp
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. distilled white vinegar
1/2 oz. wilton's food coloring gel


line bottom of 9-inch spring form pan with parchment and lightly grease sides.
use 3 sheets of aluminum foil to cover bottom of pan to protect it from the water bath.
add melted butter to crushed cookies and mix until moistened.
press evenly into bottom of pan.


preheat the oven to 325.
beat cream cheese until smooth.
add sugar and beat until smooth again.
add eggs, unsweetened cocoa powder, sour cream, buttermilk, vanilla extract, vinegar and food coloring.
mix on low speed just until fully combined.
pour the batter into the prepared pan.
place on cookie sheet and pour enough hot/boiling water to fill about half the height of the sheet.


bake at 325 for 10 minutes, reduce the heat to 300, and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
turn off the oven, prop the door open slightly, and let the cheesecake stand 30 minutes.
remove the cheesecake from the oven; cool in the pan on a wire rack until room temp.
run a thin knife around the outside edge of the cake to separate from the pan.
cover and chill overnight.

decorate to your liking prior to serving (i drizzled with white chocolate, covered in milk chocolate shavings, made a white frosting for the dollops, and toasted some sliced almonds)


and this is how it looks like from the inside;

Caramel Popcorn

Now... I know that this isn't the best thing to eat. It's obviously not all that healthy, but when that fatty inside you comes out... sometimes, you just can't help it. I found this recipe at allrecipes.com, and it's DELISH. It is so addicting that I have trouble not eating handfuls of it when I actually make this for friends and family members. I cut the butter amount in half.


recipe;
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 bags popped popcorn (approx.)

directions;
1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (95 degrees C). Place popcorn in 2 foil covered baking pans (the bigger, the better [for easy mixing]).


2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in brown sugar, corn syrup and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil without stirring 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in soda and vanilla. After it begins to foam up and lighten in color, pour in a thin stream over popcorn, stirring to coat.



3. Bake in preheated oven, stirring every 15 minutes, for 1 hour. Remove from oven and let cool completely before breaking into pieces.

Notes:
If you'd like for the popcorn to be more on the chewy side, bake for less time.
For even BETTER popcorn, add a cup of roasted cashews to the mix.
If all you have is salted butter, just omit the salt that's called for in the recipe.

Appalachia!

Appalachia... such a wide stretch of land. Covering thirteen states and 420 counties, you can imagine that the cuisine is anything but limited. Who else better to make the discovery and try it out other than THE Andrew Zimmern, master of eating just about anything and everything that is edible?



Andrew, you never cease to amaze me. From stinky tofu to the variety at the "penis" restaurant... you're a god in your own way. But do you want to know something? Even though there are many things that you've had that I will probably never try, there is one thing that i have the upper hand in... and that is the fact that I can eat durian!