Macadamia Nut Eclairs with Ghirardelli Ganache and Whipped Cream with Chocolate Shavings.

Gougeres

Savory Puffs with Gruyere, Parmeggiano Reggiano and snipped chive.

 

Cream Puffs

filled with Godiva Milk Chocolate Shavings and Whipped Organic Cream

Adapted from the Joy of Cooking

The Baking time below is 30-40 minutes. I made medium sized ones and used my Convection oven so I baked for 13 minutes and rotated pan and baked for another 13 minutes or until golden.  I removed from pan right away and let the puffs cool on rack.

So if you follow recipe on the baking part set you timer and watch them.

Choux Pastry: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Choux Pastry:

1/2 cup (70 grams) all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon granulated white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) (57 grams) unsalted butter
1/2 cup (120 ml) water
2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Egg Wash Glaze:
1 large egg
1/8 teaspoon salt

Whipped Cream:
1 cup (240 ml) heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon (14 grams) granulated white sugar

Garnish:
Powdered (Confectioners or icing) sugar

In a bowl sift together the flour, sugar and salt. Set aside.

Place the butter and water in a heavy saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and, with a wooden spoon or spatula, quickly add the flour mixture. Return to heat and stir constantly until the dough comes away from the sides of the pan and forms a thick smooth ball (about a minute or two). Transfer the dough to your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, and beat on low speed a minute or two to release the steam from the dough. Once the dough is lukewarm start adding the lightly beaten eggs and continue to mix until you have a smooth thick paste. Spoon or pipe 12 mounds of dough onto the baking sheet, spacing them a couple of inches apart. Beat together the egg and salt for the glaze. With a pastry brush, gently brush the glaze on the tops of the dough.

Bake for 15 minutes and then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C). Bake for a further 30 to 40 minutes or until the shells are a nice amber color and when split, are dry inside. Turn the oven off and, with the oven door slightly ajar, let the shells dry out for a further 10 - 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack.

For whipped cream: In a large mixing bowl place the whipping cream, vanilla extract, and sugar and stir to combine. Cover and chill the bowl and whisk in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. When chilled, whip the mixture until soft peaks form.

To Assemble: Split the pastry shells in half and fill (or pipe) with whipped cream. Place the top half of the pastry shell on the whipped cream and dust with powdered (confectioners or icing) sugar.

Makes 12 cream puffs.

Read more: http://www.joyofbaking.com/CreamPuffs.html#ixzz1D9QzEt5l

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A few of my favorite Chefs.

Chef Kevin from La Toque (awesome experience dining there) and

Chef Chiarello from Bottega Napa Valley

This was from the recent Battle of Chef's Benefit and CIA in Napa.

I missed the event but I was able to watch via Livestream.

Chef Eric Ripert

Le Benardin NYC

Avec Eric (PBS Series)

This is on my bucket list of 100 things to do kind of thing.

Well there's several places I'd like to go but this is one of them.

 

I was so lazy to cook I forgot what day this was last week.  I had some left over Crispy Pork Belly, had some baby Bok Choy in the veggie keeper and green onions. I always have dry organic udon noodles and Kombu and Dashi.  Udon..............

Buttermilk Cake this is sooooo good.  I used Valrhona cocoa of course.

The Spanish side came out one night last week, so I made Chili Colorado, Frijoles and Spanish Rice (with brown rice)

Tako Poke with lots of Tobiko mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm need I say more?

In honor of Chinese New Year, Chinese Almond Cookies I only made half batch, and I accidently threw away the recipe from my Nt, so I am waiting for the recipe again because hers is the best recipe.

Blood Orange Panna Cotta with Vanilla Bean.  I fresh squeezed the Blood Oranges myself and voila!

I am a little out of date here sorry.   But this is Bisteka Tagalog.  I changed a few things but came out good.

Too lazy to cook but fixed Udon with Crisp Pork Belly and Bok... on Twitpic

Too lazy to cook but fixed Udon with Crisp Pork Belly and Bok... on Twitpic

Apple Cake

Apple Cakes

There are so many versions of Apple Cake out there.  I am not fond of Apple Cake or Pie at least not mushy soggy ones.

3/4 Cup of All purpose flour

3/4 Cup of fine baking sugar

3/4 teaspoon baking powder 

2 Eggs room temperature

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

1 Tablespoon Vanilla Paste

1 stick melted butter and cooled

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

3 Tablespoons heavy cream

2 Honey Crisp Apples peeled/cored sliced thin on mandolin soak in lemon water

Whisk the dry ingredients together

Whisk the eggs and add vanilla, cinnamon and cream and mix well into flour mixture add the butter mix well,

add the apples incorporate well.  Put in a 6 or 8 inch springform pan. (butter and flour your pan)

bake at 350 for 45-55 minutes

Cool completely can be served warm with powdered sugar or whipped cream.

Can be reheated in mico for 20-22 seconds.

Voila

Been working with Chocolate past week, only because it has been cold in the area and a parfect 60-65 degrees so made the above.

Pork Roast Florentine

Pork Roast Florentine.

I forgot to post this the other day.  Inspired by Laura Calderon, French Cooking at home.

I omitted the breadcrumbs from her recipe.

But this was a delight and easy to do.

Dinner tonight

Need I say more? 

Bon Appetit!

Snickerdoodles

Snickerdoodles

I love to make these, but I hadn't made them in a long time and these were a perfect batch.

I have tried many and I have sampled lots.

Here goes

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups of fine sugar (Baking Sugar is nice)

1 Stick REAL butter softened room temperature

1/2 cup of Crisco Butter Shortening

2 teaspoons Cream of Tartar

1 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda

1 Tablespoon Vanilla ( you can use 1 teaspoon)

1/8 teaspoon salt ( I use kosher flake)

2 Eggs room temperature

For Cinnamon Sugar Coating 

1/2 sugar fine sugar

2 heaping teaspoons of Cinnamon

Preheat oven  to 375 degrees

1. Cream and Butter on shortening then add sugar and mix thoroughly do not overwork it.

2.  Add eggs, baking soda, cream of tartar and vanilla

3.  Add flour take your time adding the flour and incorporate well

4.  Use a medium cookie scooper, scoop the  batter and roll into sugar

Bake 2 inches apart for 8-9 minutes cool on cooling rack.

Ensaymada

Pan De Sal

Pan De Sal

Ingredients:

1 / 2 cup half and half milk

1 / 4 cup potato water

1 / 2 cup mashed potato

1 / 4 cup butter melted

1 large egg room temperature

1/2 teaspoons salt

1 cup all-purpose flour

1.5-2 cups bread flour (+ 2-3 tbsp while kneading if doing without bread machine)

1/4 cup sugar

2 tsp Fleischmann's yeast



Instructions:

Mick you can use instant mashed potato as well but I just boil a quartered potato and use that water peel before boiling then it doesn't take but 5-6 minutes

Mix the milk, potato water and mashed potatoes and heat in the microwave for 30 seconds or so. Add the butter and egg, beat to mix then check temperature. Pour into the bread machine pan. Add the dry ingredients. Set at dough cycle. Transfer the dough on a lightly greased and floured surface. Stretch and form into a log. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Slice every 1-1.5 inches intervals. Coat with breadcrumbs. Lay on sliced side on baking pan, 1 to 2 fingers apart. Let rise in warm oven for 30 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes, rotate the pan, then bake for additional 2-3 minutes or until browned.

I haven't had this in years.  These Binangkal or Laughing Cookies were one of my mom's favorits.  She actually made them pretty good.

This was a half batch and a half batch too much.  I only wanted a couple.

So here goes there recipe:

 1 1/2 cup of All Purpose Flour

1/8 teaspoon of salt 

1 teaspoon baking powder 

1/4 teaspoon of baking soda

1/3 cup of brown sugar

1/3 cup of buttermilk 

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 Tablespoon cooking oil 

1 bowl of White Sesame Seeds

1 medium cookie scooper

Mix all the above ingredients into a soft ball you'll know by the texture don't overwork it. 

I use the cookie scooper to get even balls, roll the dough into a ball rub some oil around the ball

and roll into the sesame seeds place on pan and let rest 15 minutes. 

While you are rolling the dough balls, heat oil in a medium pan with canola oil to 325 degrees 

cook only a few at a time and use a fork to flip to golden brown.   Don't bring the heat up too high or the inside will not cook.  Voila, enjoy!!! 

Baked/Broiled Eggs

Baked eggs and Broiled to finish.

Garlic Crab and Garlic Noodles

You know it's still crab season, it's winding down.  But today was ono for Thanh Long's Garlic Crab and the noodles.

I can't make it exactly like the Restaurant but done as close as I can my way.

It was tasty.

Deconstructed Chili Hot Dog with Cheese

The story behind this is I was watching The Best Thing I Ever Ate, Sunny and Guy Fieri were challenging who had a good chili.  So I attempted to make Coney Island Chili.  I had some Wagyu Hamburger and
cooked that up some sliced thin Cippolini Onions and Shallots, followed by chili pepper, and chili fixings.

Then I got hungry for Chili Dogs with cheese but those are generally messy so therefore, I deconstructed
it.  I had some Il Fornaio Ciabatta Bread (I'm stuck on this bread).  I bought some Nathan's Cocktail Franks so I fried a few of those up, I put of the chili on those, some sharp cheddar and gruyere cheese and green onion.

I liked it this way.

Roasted Muscovy Duck Breast, Leg and Thighs

Found a nice sized Muscovy Duck Breast and a couple Leg and Thighs, they were on sale

Nugget.

Roasted with Umami #5, Honey and Five spice soy sauce.

Cooked in the turbo broiler as well very good.

Voila!!!!

Creme Brulee' is all done.

Came out pretty yummy.  I love Valhrona Cocoa. mmm mmm mmm

It's kind of a cloudy wet day one of those need to cuddle and stay in the pajama days.  But I hit the kitchen first thing and here goes.

My rendition of the Texas Buttermilk Sheetcake

This is for a 1/4 sheet version of this cake.  If I made the large version I'd eat the whole thing.  Luckily my daughter took some with her.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup fine baking sugar
•  ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
•  ½ cup butter
• 1 ½ Tablespoon Cocoa Powder I use Valhrona Cocoa Powder you can use Ghirardelli or Guittard
• 1 Egg
•  ¼ Buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
  1/2 cup water

 Chocolate Frosting:

• 1/8 cup butter
• 1 1/2 Tablespoon Cocoa
• 3 tablespoons buttermilk 1 ½ Tablespoon Buttermilk
• 1 1/8 cup powdered sugar
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla
•  ¼ cup chopped nuts  I used Macadamia nuts here

Preparation:

Cake

Grease a quarter sheet baking pan; set aside. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In a medium saucepan combine  butter,  cocoa, and 1/2 cup of water. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. With an electric hand-held mixer on medium speed, beat chocolate mixture into the dry mixture until thoroughly blended. Add eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Beat for 1 minute (batter will be thin). Pour batter into the prepared pan.

Bake in a 350° oven about 15-18 minutes for the quarter sheet pan, or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.

Pour warm chocolate frosting over the warm cake, spreading evenly. Place cake in pan on a wire rack; cool thoroughly before cutting.

Some throw the nuts into the frosting but as you can see I dressed them on top.
Makes 12 servings

Frosting:

In a medium saucepan combine butter . cocoa powder, and  buttermilk. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat; add sifted confectioners' sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth. If desired, stir in 1/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans or mac nuts. I put on top

I'll be torching these late and put the final photo up on these.  I only made a half batch.

Happy New Year 2011 Everyone

Here's toasting to you all that you had a wonderful Holiday Season. 

Thank goodness all our family was together however, the physical presence of our parents are deeply missed. Hard to beleive they have been gone 90 days now.  But, we know they are watching above.

My hubby and I annually start the year off in Napa to dine either for lunch or dinner.  We'll we've been doing that the past 4 years.  This year we started the year off at Tyler Florence's new Restaurant there Wine and Rotisserie.  It was very good and had a photo op with Chef himself.  He will do well there.

I had the Rotisserie chicken it's enough for 2 to share, hubby had the Lamb Chops, potatoes cooked in the Rotisserie Drippings and we also shared some broccoli.

   These above were hubby's Sonoma Lamb Ribs he really like the flavors and a yam or sweet potato mash.
I actually enjoyed the potatoes.  I haven't been able to tolerate the taste of lamb.

These are the BEST corn bread we've ever had with the maple butter.  I would have ordered these by itself.

My dessert Cookies and Milk

Malted Panna Cotta with a splash of balsamic strange but was delicious and an assortment of cookies

These deviled eggs were the best we've had as well.  I need to go back to deviled egg school they were so yummy and creamy with some celery micro greens, that complimented it well.

Chef himself at work.