Cocoa Gingersnap Cookies

The cookie monster in me came out this weekend.

The Recipe:
Ingredients:

•  1/2 cup whole grain brown rice flour
•  1/2 cup teff flour
•  3/4 cup buckwheat flour
•  2 tbsp pea fibre
•  2 tbsp dark cocoa powder
•  1 tsp baking powder
•  1/2 tsp salt
•  1 cup cottage cheese
•  1/2 cup low fat cream cheese
•  1 egg
•  1/2 cup brown sugar
•  3 tbsp fresh ground ginger
•  1 tbsp granulated sugar

Sift and mix flours, pea fibres, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Process cottage cheese or push it through a sieve, and mix with cream cheese, egg, brown sugar, and ginger. Combine dry ingredients into the wet to form a dough. Shape into small round dough balls and squash slightly. Roll in granulated sugar if desired and bake in a 350F oven for 20 to 25 minutes until cookie is crispy. Let cool a bit and enjoy (with a glass of milk)! 

Cookie dough. The white specks are bits of cottage cheese. They will not be visible after baking. 

yum yum!

Chocolate Chantilly Cake

I'm sure someone else has already invented this cake and gave it a name, but I haven't come across it yet, so I'm just going to call it a chocolate chantilly cake. It has four layers of crispy meringue (that probably won't stay crispy by the time the cake has chilled), and is frosted with chocolate chantilly. I guess it's sort of like a dacquoise, without the buttercream or nuts. It's also meant to be a simple recipe, because other than the little bit of cream of tartar and salt, there are only four main ingredients. Hope you enjoy this rich-tasting cake too! 

By the way, if you know of the proper name for a cake like this, please let me know! University has made me obsessively vigilant about not plagiarizing or taking credit for anything that's not mine. So I definitely don't want to do that here. 


The Recipe:
Ingredients:

• 3 egg whites
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 200 g dark, unsweetened chocolate (you can also use bittersweet)
• 175 mL water

Stir sugar, cream of tartar, and salt together. In a clean bowl, whisk egg whites until they reach a soft peak (or when you don't see anymore clear, runny egg whites at the bottom of the bowl). Gradually add sugar as you continue to whisk. Beat to the egg whites are glossy and reach a stiff peak. Spread into four 1 cm, 15 cm diameter round disks with a stencil onto a lined baking sheet. I used the hole in a removeable bottom pie tin. Make sure the top is even. With the leftover egg whites, scoop into a piping bag (or plastic bag and cut off a corner) and pipe small rounds to use for decoration later. Bake in a 250F oven for 30-40 minutes until the meringue is crisp and dry, and you can easily remove them from the sheet without them sticking. Allow them to cool in the oven. 

In the mean time, bring the water to a boil in a small pot (covered). Take water off the stove and drop in 175 g of chocolate. Whisk to help chocolate melt into the water. Once the chocolate has completely melted and mixed with the water, pour into a large bowl, set over a bowl of ice water, and whisk as if you're whipping cream. The chocolate should begin to firm up and resemble chocolate frosting. Spread the whipped chocolate on each meringue disc generously, keeping 1 cm border clear of the edge, stacking each layer on top of the last as you go. With the remainder of the chocolate, spread onto the sides to cover the whole cake. Stick the mini meringues on the side for decoration. With the remaining 25 g of dark chocolate, you can melt and pipe shapes to add additional decoration to put on the cake. Chill for at least a few hours in the fridge, slice, and enjoy! 

My first time making this; not sure if it was supposed to look like this. 

Meringue disks, before baking

Tada!

Carrot Bread

Now that the school year has ended and I can devote my entire weekend to baking, I decided to try making bread with the stand mixer. I like carrot cake, but wanted to make bread, so I tried to make a sweet bread with carrots. It doesn't taste exactly like carrot cake, but it is reminiscent of it and tasty in its own way. I can never find pumpkin spice powder, and it's not really the season for it anyway, so I just used some five spice powder, which is always abundant in my house. Over the past few days, I've found out that it tastes good with some extra icing sugar dusted on top, or a drizzle of honey. It's also delicious to make peanut butter sandwich with, and even better if I make french toast with it. 

I have a question for you though. I've always thought of carrot cake as an autumn recipe, because of the dense, hearty quality of the cake and the pumpkin spice usually used. But I recently saw a local bakery's display promoting carrot cakes for the spring season. What do you think: Is carrot cake seasonal? If so, which season? 

The Recipe:

Ingredients: 

• 3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup gluten flour
• 2 tbsp pea fibre
• 1 tsp five spice powder
• 1 can semi-skimmed evaporated milk (~1 1/2 cup)
• 3/4 cup carrot puree
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 package instant yeast
• 1/2 tsp salt

Combine dry ingredients (except yeast) in a bowl and stir to mix. In the mixing bowl, place all wet ingredients, except the oil and eggs, and add the yeast. Start to stir with the dough hook attachment at low speed and gradually add the dry ingredients. Add about 3/4 of the dry ingredients and let the dough knead for 5 minutes at medium speed. Scrape the sides of the mixing bowl to make sure all ingredients added are incorporated into the dough. Take dough out of mixing bowl and into a large oiled bowl. Cover bowl loosely with a damp tea towel or plastic wrap, and let rise for at least an hour. Then, return dough to mixing bowl, and while kneading at low speed, add eggs and oil, and the rest of the dry ingredients. Let the dough knead for another 6-8 minutes or so at medium speed. Dough should be smooth, soft, and slightly tacky. Place dough in its baking tin. I used a 9" bundt pan. Cover and let rise as before for at least another hour. Place in an oven preheated to 350ºF (~175ºC) oven and bake for 45 minutes. Check if it's done by tapping the crust. It should sound airy and hollow if it is done. If it sounds and feels dull and dense when tapped, return to oven for another 5 to 10 minutes before checking again. 

Carrot puree

Risen bread

Baked carrot bread (very orange from the eggs and carrots)

Texture inside

Fruit & Syrup Cornmeal Cake

It's that time of the year again, when everything and everyone is just starting to stir from a long winter's nap, and I am recovering from another traumatizing set of exams. As always, a few eager early crops of cherry tomatoes and strawberries from some warmer place spring up to the front shelves of supermarkets. I know it isn't peak season yet, so they aren't very flavourful, but I couldn't resist getting a small box of each. Anyhow, they'll do fine in these cakes because I concentrate their flavours by heating and reducing some of their water content in a pan before adding them into the batter. To complement the fruits, there are also streaks of silky Chinese black vinegar swirling through these cakes. The cornmeal and dark brown sugar gives this cake a heartiness. There's a bit of lingering winter and upcoming spring in this cake to reflect the current weather.

The Recipe:

Sift together dry ingredients: 

• 1 cup whole wheat cake/pastry flour
• 3/4 cup yellow coarse-grind cornmeal
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt

Wet ingredients: 

• 1 cup grape tomatoes
• 1 cup whole strawberries
• 1 cup black vinegar (AKA Chinese Chinkiang vinegar, available at Asian grocery stores)
• 1 cup plain yogurt (not Greek, any fat content is OK, as long as there is no gelatin or thickening starches)
• 3 whole eggs
• 1/2 cup (or half a 250 g block) light plain cream cheese
• 1/2 cup brown sugar

Dice tomatoes and strawberries and heat in a dry, non-stick pan until the fruit pieces look somewhat shrunken and shrivelled. Allow fruit to cool on a plate. Reduce vinegar in the same pan until it is the consistency of runny honey in the pan, or about a third to a quarter of the volume is left. Remove to a bowl to allow it to cool. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, yogurt, and sugar until well mixed. Add eggs and continue to beat until mixture is smooth. Add sifted dry ingredients in three batches, stirring or blending partially between each batch. Gently stir in fruits until they are evenly distributed. Add reduced vinegar and stir a few times so that streaks of black from the vinegar are visible in the batter. 

Pour into non-stick cake tin of your choice (recipe fits well into a 12-inch round tin, or two 8-inch round tins, or six 4-inch mini-cake tins). Bake at 325°F or ~165°C until toothpick comes out clean. This takes about 25 minutes for the mini tins and 35 minutes for larger tins. Remove cakes from tins whenever they've cooled enough for you to handle them. Slice and enjoy!

Note: Feel free to substitute with any other fruit that taste good cooked. You can also use balsamic vinegar instead of black vinegar – just make sure to use the cheap kind. If you like your cake sweeter and think your fruits match the flavour, you can even drizzle in honey or thick molasses instead of vinegar. 

Strawberries.

Reducing vinegar. It's letting off a intensely sharp, but pleasant smell right now.

A rather thick cake batter with streaks of vinegar visible.

Hot cakes, just out of the oven. A yummy crispy top!

Time to have a slice!

Cereal made from Scraps

Just because you're busy, doesn't mean you should skip breakfast, right? I know cold cereal is affordable and much easier to buy than make, but sometimes they get boring. This morning, as I was about to pour myself my 2639th (approx) bowl of corn flakes, I realized the time had come to roll up my sleeves and make my own cereal.

I understand most people decide to make their own cereal out of health concerns (allergen-free, preservative-free). Today, I made cereal just to have fun. These are made from leftover store-bought products: frozen pancakes, frozen waffles, and tortillas.

Ingredients: 

• 2 frozen pancakes
• 1 frozen waffle
• 1 whole grain tortilla
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Cut frozen pancakes in half and slice horizontally to open up pancake like an english muffin (easiest when frozen). Then cut into small pieces (whatever size you wish your cereal to be). Do the same with the waffle and cut the tortilla into small pieces as well. Toast in a skillet on medium heat and stir regularly to prevent burning. When pieces become golden and crispy, sprinkle sugar and cinnamon onto the pieces and toss in the pan. Allow the pieces to toast for a few more minutes so that the sugar melts and sticks to the pieces, and the pieces become even more golden and crispy. Transfer contents from skillet to bowl and enjoy your homemade cereal. You can allow your cereal to cool before consumption, or pour cold milk into hot cereal to take cereal to a whole new level. (Makes 2 servings)

Sliced and diced frozen pancakes

Whole grain tortilla pieces

Toasted tortilla. I tried to toss the sugar out of the pan at first, but that didn't work so I added it back to the pan. 

Ready for breakfast!

Alternative Spring Rolls

It's Spring! That just means that I have some serious work to do in terms of completing all the term work and studying for the exams. I find that I'm approaching even the most tedious tasks with a brighter attitude these days. I think it has to do with the fact that the sun is already peeping up over the horizon when I wake up...

Anyway, this morning, I made these vegetarian rolls. They're made with vietnamese rice paper and vegetable strips. Halfway through making them, I realized these could be improved if the outside could have a touch of crispiness. So, I coated them with a thin layer of egg wash and seared them quickly in a non-stick pan. The outside crisps up to make the perfect texture. These rolls are fresh and light, and an excellent Spring lunch.

Ingredients:

• vietnamese rice paper
• egg (whole egg, egg whites, or liquid eggs)
• assorted crispy vegetable, such as carrots, cucumber, peppers (you can also use fruit)
• hot water
• large plate
• clean tea towel

Prepare vegetables by slicing into thin strips or slices. Fill the plate with a shallow layer of hot water. Drop a piece of rice paper in so that it floats. Gently prod it so that it becomes transparent and very pliable. Carefully lift it out and place it on the tea towel in one layer, keeping the number of folds to a minimum. It's sort of like spreading out a piece of cling wrap. Pile about a row of vegetables, about 2.5 cm or 1 inch in diameter and height. Stay at least 5 cm or 2 inches clear of the edge of the rice paper on all sides of the vegetable row, and wrap like a burrito. If you like, dip the roll in egg and "sear" them in a non-stick pan. Best eaten right away!

Vietnamese rice paper – will become almost transparent and sticky when dipped in hot water

Clockwise from top: english cucumber, fennel, red and yellow bell pepper

Liquid egg for coating

Finished Spring Rolls. Ones in front have egg coating; ones in back do not.

A Toasty Crispy Kind of Day

Have you ever seen an interesting food product in the store and thought, "I wonder how they made those?" or "I'd like to make some at home!" I tend to do that quite often.

Last week, I had a chance to peruse through my local supermarket aisles, and I found a lot of new crisp cracker- or chip-like snacks. Perhaps they're not really new, just that I haven't had time to visit the supermarket in the midst of all my school work. Actually, I'm still in the midst of my school work because it's nearing the end of term, but a visit to the supermarket was a much needed break. Anyway, I noticed these cheese crisps, these savoury wafers, and these cracker chips. And then I saw kale chips similar to these and toasted nori like these that my mom used to pack in my lunch (and then it'd get stuck in my teeth for the rest of the afternoon) when I was little. I'd wanted to try some of those, but found myself walking out of the store empty-handed and thinking how much fun it'd be to attempt making these products at home instead...

I feel the need to put a disclaimer here: I don't think my recipes here make the exact same products as the ones mentioned above, but they sure are a tasty enough substitute!

Cheese crisps: The Recipe
Ingredients:

• 1 cup milk (I used skim, because it was the only kind I had today)
• 4 slices of processed cheese (I used Kraft Singles, but an equivalent weight chunk of Velveeta or some Cheese Whiz would probably do just as well)
• 4 tbsp garlic cream cheese 
• 4 tbsp soy flour
• 1 tsp baking powder

Materials:

• non-stick silicone or teflon sheets

Heat the milk on low and add in the cheese slices and cream cheese. Stir until cheeses are melted. Remove milk and cheese mixture from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Stir together soy flour and baking powder, and sift and whisk into milk mixture. Batter should be consistency of pancake batter. Using a spatula, spread into an even thin layer (just enough so you can't see the non-stick sheet underneath) on a non-stick silicone or teflon lined baking sheet and bake at 300°F (~150°C) for 8 to 12 minutes or until surface just begins to turn golden. Remove from oven and try to peel off non-stick sheet. If it sticks, return it in the oven for a few more minutes (it's like making waffles with the press – if they're not completely cooked, they'll stick). Allow to cool, break into pieces and enjoy! Store leftovers in an air-tight container.

Note: Silicone or teflon sheets are necessary because parchment paper shrivels up when the wet batter is poured over, which makes it prone to burning.

Lettuce crisps: The Recipe
Ingredients:

• half a head of lettuce
• 2 tsp olive oil
• pinch of salt (optional)

Cut out the crunchy "ribs" of the lettuce, and cut leaves into bite-size pieces. Drizzle olive oil over the leaves and throw in a pinch of salt if you want. Toss. If you're looking for easy clean up, you can throw all ingredients in a large, clean, plastic bag, tie it close but leave lots of air inside (like a balloon) and shake. This helps get the oil and seasonings very evenly distributed. Spread on a lined baking sheet in a single layer (little overlap is okay), and bake at 400°F (~205°C) for 2 to 6 minutes, or until lettuce becomes crisp. Remove lettuce crisps from baking sheet and allow to cool on a paper towel to help them crisp up. Enjoy!

Note: These are much more delicate than those kale chips looked and probably resemble the toasted nori more.

Cheese slices - I only used the four orange slices; the first slice was for my breakfast :)

Baked cheese crisps

Lettuce leaves before tossing

Baked lettuce crisps

Products from this morning's baking