Butter cookies

just like those sold in stores, except better cuz i made them. The recipe’s from this chinese baking book i got a few years ago, all measurements are in grams…because we’re exact people…yea

Just for the heck of it, i dipped the cookies in melted milk chocolate chips

Butter Spritz Cookie:

Yields 30 cookies (depending on size)

100 grams butter, softened

80 grams powdered sugar

90 grams all purpose flour

76 grams bread flour (it’s probably fine if you use all normal flour)

40 grams egg (about 1 small egg)

16 grams powdered milk (i didn’t use this because i didn’t have any…and because chinese powdered milk is alot more fine then American powdered milk, so it wouldn’t have worked very well)

pinch of salt

chocolate of your choice, for dipping

1. I dumped everything into a food processor and whirled until smooth…very easy

2. I piped the dough using a large star tip onto ungreased parchment lined sheet pan.

2. Bake in 350F oven for 15-20 minutes, until slightly golden around the edges.

3. cool for a few minutes before dipping into chocolate

SLowcooker Ribs (aka asian barbeque ribs)

it doesn’t have to be made in the slowcooker. i’m sure marinating, then grilled would work just as well

I got this recipe from another blog, originally meant for beef ribs. I’ve tried it with beef, pork, and chicken and they all work really well.

Slow cooker Pork Ribs

2 lbs baby back ribs, cut into pieces ( you can use chicken thighs or beef ribs)

5 cloves garlic

2 dried chilies, broken into a few pieces

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup soy sauce

3 tbsp white vinegar

a dash of sesame oil

1. put everything in the slow cooker, and cook on high for 3 hours (for pork. it takes longer for beef, and shorter for chicken)

3 hours later in the slow-cooker

Cupcakes (chiffon style)

I got this recipe from a chinese cake baking book. They sell this type of “cupcake” in chinese bakeries. It’s very fluffy and airy and smells like eggs ( in a good way)

This is just the plain cake, flavored with a little bit of vanilla. I’m sure you can add whatever flavorings you want.

Here’s the Recipe

Chiffon CupCakes:

yields 8 large cupcakes

Yolk mixture:

40 grams milk

50 grams oil

70 grams egg yolk (about 4 large)

30 grams sugar

70 grams flour

10 grams cornstarch

1/4 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Egg White mixture:

160 grams egg whites (about 5 large)

1/2 tsp cream of tartar (i used lime juice)

80 grams sugar

1. beat egg whites with cream of tartar until it forms soft peaks. Add sugar gradually and peak to stiff peaks

2. Combine all yolk ingredients and mix until smooth

3. add 1/3 of egg whites to yolk mixture, and whisk to combine. Dump and yolk mixture back into the rest of the egg whites and fold gently until smooth and there are no more white streaks.

4. bake at 340F for 20 minutes in lines large muffin tins. I used creme brulee cups lined with foil

I’m thinking this would be nice topped with a whipped cream frosting…totally an asian cupcake

Mango Cakes (mini version)

more cakes…yum

I’ve been wanting to make a fruit flavor, so here we go. I made a coconut milk chiffon (which i really couldn’t taste the coconut…so i brushed the cakes with more coconut milk+sugar before frosting) topped with mango buttercream.

Mango Buttercream:

2 egg whites

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 sticked butter, room temperature

5 tbsp mango puree ( i used frozen mango, defrosted, then pureed, and strained)

1. Puree mango and strain out bad bits

2. heat sugar and egg whites over simmering water bath. Whisk constantly until sugar is dissolved and reaches 140 degrees.

3. take sugar/egg mixture off head and beat until fluffy and like marshmallow cream

4. add butter a bit at a time, and beat until firm and spreadable. Add mango puree and beat until well combined.

This was enough to cover 6 mini cakes

For the chiffon: i used my usual recipe, but just replaced milk with coconut milk

I baked them in individual creme brulee baking cups for about 20 minutes

Caking for fun

Part of my current cake decorating practice: i made a cake for my mom (just an excuse to do some baking) I made a plain chiffon again and the coffee buttercream. I just got some piping tips from the store and tried to make flowers and leaves…

I also tried out a whipped ganache. Except that once the ganache was whipped, it was really stiff and hard to pipe. I sandwiched some in between the layers and managed to pipe some through a really large star tip.

any suggestions on future cakes?

the flowers turned out better then i expected

I had some buttercream left over so i started going crazy with the leaves…

Here’s a slice:

Matcha Layer cake

Instead of coffee buttercream and plain chiffon like last time, I made this layer cake with Matcha buttercream and matcha chiffon cake. The filling is buttercream mixed with red bean…i can’t show you cuz these cakes ( i made two identical ones) are for a party tomorrow.

I used the same recipe as the coffee chiffon cake, except added 1 tsp of matcha powder to the cake batter. the buttercream is also the same recipe, with matcha added.

the cakes are three layers, 8 inch in diameter and decorated with chocolate covered strawberries. This is my first attempt at completely decorating a cake…

i think it’s pretty ^^