Blueberry Caramel Bars

We are craving for Max's Caramel bars but are drooling for Blueberry Cheesecake. So I decided to make a fusion of both and created our very own Blueberry Caramel Bars.  I am happy and so the kids. They can't even stop grabbing those slices! I better save some for tonight's dessert. {wink, wink}. There is always a better way to impress our palates ;-)

Ingredients for the base:

2 eggs
1/3 c brown sugar
1/3 c caster sugar
3/4 c self raising flour or all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 c chopped cashew nuts
1/2 c fresh blueberries
pinch of salt

Caramel Topping:

1/4 c brown sugar
2 tbsp melted butter
1 1/2 tbsp light cream
1/3 c chopped cashew nuts


Procedure:

Pre-heat oven at 175 degrees
Beat eggs and add brown and caster sugar.
Add flour , baking powder, nuts and salt and mix to combine.
Add blueberries.
Place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
Bake for 18 minutes.
While baking the base, mix the topping.
when baking is done, remove from oven and spread the topping and place it back to the
oven and broil for another 2 minutes or more until the topping bubbles and melted.

When done, remove from oven slice while hot and leave it to cool.

Pandesal Negra

It's been a while since i published another entry and today i'm breaking it.  There's so much to share but either the lack of right words or the absence of inspiration deprived me to upload one. This moment of reconnecting is the presence of the latter blame it on the food trails, trends and craze.  I may be a bit late for this but i believe i'm still one of the (pinoy) pioneers of black beauties. Presenting ULING!  yup you read me right CHARCOAL but this time its edible and healthy. Did you know that charcoal powder can treat insomnia and a good antidote for poisoning? hhhmmm interesting! So next time you'll find yourself in these situations, you know what to do (!... hahaha, NO!) get some help!

Kidding aside, charcoal trend has been in the air since few years back but i guess it wasn't that appealing to the consumers in the Philippines or should i say none of the celebrities has made it that popular. Before the trend will move to extinction, i will savour its contribution.

Have you heard of this BCP --Bamboo Charcoal Powder? I can of loving this black ingredient since i had those charcoal burgers from food chains. Honestly, there is in no way this powder had any effect on flavour nor aroma. It's tasteless but the dark look surely dominates the market aesthetically. The reason why i am lured to the band wagon of charcoal fanatics. To kick off my own food trail, i am officially introducing my Pandesal Negra -- "Black is still beautiful." 

PANDESAL NEGRA

My Personal Recipe
Ingredients: makes about 28-30 pcs pandesal

2 1/2 c bread flour + 2 tbsp bread flour (you can use wheat flour)
1 tbsp charcoal powder
1/2 caster sugar ( you can use honey of the same amount)
1/2 sachet instant yeast (about 6 g)
1 c buttermilk (DIY: 1 tbsp lemon juice placed in a 1 c fresh milk)
1 whole egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp salted butter

Method:

1. Place flour, charcoal powder , sugar and yeast in a stand mixer and mix to incorporate.
2. Add  milk, egg, vanilla and butter and mix at low speed. When the butter melted and invisible, increase speed and start counting the "at least 15 mins clock kneading."  When the dough resembles like a big ball inside the mixing bowl and the bottom of mixing bowl is clean then the dough is ready. Stop the mixer and take the dough out and form into a big ball. Return the dough into the mixing bowl and cover with cling wrap. Proof for 1 hour.
3. After dough doubled its size, punch the dough, then take it out of the mixing bowl.
4. Divide the big dough into smaller dough of about 30-35 grams each.
5. Roll into ball and dust with panko or bread crumbs.
6. Place in a tray lined with parchment paper.
7. Rest the dough for another hour, afterwards the dough is ready for baking.
8. Bake dough at 175 degrees for about 15 minutes. Since you can't see any browning, at least 15 mins is the safest baking  time.
9. Remove and serve hot with your favorite spread.

El Pollo Loco, my version

Chicken is chicken anywhere and it's an all time favourite poultry. Usually, fast foods' fried chicken is a fall back meal when time is against you. Thanks to technology, oven was invented to make a speedy cooking. It's a case of putting all ingredients together, cutting, mixing, marinating and baking. Pop into the oven and let the oven do the cooking. Set your timer and ting!!! It's done.

Chicken Blanca Pizza

Home is way much busier on school holidays than when kids are at school.  The most chaotic part of our flat is the kitchen. It's like a restaurant operating 24/7 heating and re-heating anything gastronomic. Not to mention the kids at play in preparing the ingredients and sometimes do the cooking themselves. My 3 and a half year old boy is the most persuasive Sous Chef, demanding to be in charge. It's like a factory, dust of flour everywhere, water on entire counter top, ingredients on the floor... Yeah, it's crazy but i would rather have it this way than having a quiet- peaceful home. For me, home is not a home when the sound of a drop of needle on the floor is deafening. ;-)

Pecan Cinnamon Roll

It's been a while since I posted my recipe not that i don't have anything to post it's just that before I can make the write up here comes another recipe...and another .... and another one. And finally, i would end up publishing only the latest recipe I made... Uh-Oh!   Just like this baby-- which I made a week ago and i just realized I haven't press the enter button-- (hahahah) But anyway, I'm back and so is my kitchen. So let's get started.

Bread Pudding

     Recently, Paige loves hanging around with me in our modest kitchen and I remember when I was her age, even earlier, kitchen is my favourite place especially when somebody is cooking---  mostly my brothers and our papang (apologies to my two sisters who were always outnumbered in many ways, ssshhh, but on the lighter note, they don't get to do dirty kitchen  clean-up on the side, Yey!)  My ultimate motive then being in the kitchen is not to learn how to cook but  to get the first taste and the first bite! As they say, early bird catches the worm! Anyway, so much for nostalgic moments. 

      Paige got her first cookbook last Sunday and picked her first baking dish. She was so curious about the names of the dish and how does it taste like so she decided to pick one and bake it. But looking at the ingredients she's  a little bit unconvinced as how would it taste then she decided to search in my cupboard and made some tweaks... tadah! she made her own recipe and it turned out delish so I am sharing her recipe inspired from this book ...

BREAD PUDDING
makes 8 medium size ramekins

Ingredients:

8 slices of Bread (Loaf)
2 tbsp melted unsalted butter
200 ml whipping cream
200 ml fresh milk
2 whole eggs
1 1/2 tbsp sugar cinnamon
1/3 c caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
icing sugar for dusting

Baking Method:

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees with fan.
Manually cut the bread slices into small pieces and place on a ramekins. One slice for each ramekins. Press the bread into the ramekins if you must. Place ramekins on a baking tray.
Next, manually whisk all the ingredients in a bowl except for the icing sugar.
Pour pudding mix into each ramekins until all the bread cuts submerged.
Let it stand for 30 minutes or while waiting for the oven.
Then dust the puddings with icing sugar and
When oven is ready,  place the tray of ramekins into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until pudding is lightly brown on top.

Serve hot with tres leches on top or just serve it plain and warm like what we had immediately after we took it out from the oven. The top is crunchy and sweet!

Enjoy the goodness of this simple pleasure!

Ribs BBQ

One of the favourites... No longer aiming for outdoor grilling when indoor is possible.
I would like to share this recipe to all who wish to go baking and enjoy a greater satisfaction of sumptuous meal than what the best rib restaurants can offer...


PORK BBQ RIBS

Ingredients:

1-1.5 kg ribs

 Marinade:
1/2 c brown sugar
1 tbsp paprika
1 big onion minced
1 whole garlic crushed and minced
1 tbsp salt
1/2 tsp coarse ground pepper
3/4 tsp ground black pepper

Note: you can use powdered garlic and onions but i like mine natural so i use fresh G&O.

Mix all ingredients and dry rub over the ribs.
Cover the ribs in foil and place in ziplock.
Let it stand in the fridge overnight or at least 4 hours
before baking.

BBQ Sauce:
1/2  can coca-cola
1 c tomato ketchup
1/4 c worcestershire sauce ( the silver swan is the best, but Lea & Perrins will do)
1/2 c smokey steak sauce (has to be with smokey sting)
1/4 c light soy sauce (LKK)
1/4 c brown sugar
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1/8 c EVOO

Place all sauce ingredients in a pan except EVOO, then simmer until thick.
When thickened, add EVOO and heat up for a minute.  Cool and ready to use.

Baking:
Pre-heat oven at 350 deg with fan ( 175 deg).
Remove ribs from the fridge and let it stand under room temperature for about 30 minutes.
Take the ribs, dust away the granulated onion and garlic.  Place it on a baking dish then cover the entire dish with aluminum foil making sure it does not touch the ribs to prevent it from sticking to the foil.
Bake for 45 minutes. After which, uncover the dish and baste the ribs with BBQ Sauce then return it back in the oven. Bake uncovered for another 45 minutes with constant basting every after 15 minutes until the ribs is nicely browned but not dry. When done remove from oven then cover cooked ribs with foil for about 15 minutes before serving. Giving it a rest under foil will keep it moist.

Enjoy with your favourite rice, bread with salad, pickled vegetables and fresh fruits.

Bon appétit! ;-)

SOUR CREAM ENSAYMADA

I have been keeping a cup of sour cream for a cheesecake craving but the absence of "baking adrenaline" causes delays.  With its expiration date draws near, I decided to make use  rather than waste it but not on cheesecake. As they say, reducing calories is a key to weight loss, huh! so I am thinking of ensaymada instead. Still cheesy but lesser evil. {wink}

Since it's been a while since I made ensaymada for our little rascals, so I decided to knead some to salvage my cup of sour cream. So here we go...

Ngo Hiang (五香粉, ngó͘-hiong-hún)

I developed a liking to this chinese delicacy referred to as hokkien spring roll or ngo hiang, 
( usually in different spellings and pronunciations ) but are all physically-- the same from the outside. With that specific chili sauce on the side, who could ever resist! 

Out of curiosity, i wondered how they made this delectable side dish or main dish? Oh, that bean curd made all the mystery, so to make your Chinese New Year giddy--yapping or simply vary your repertoire... try this recipe...



NGO HIANG


Ingredients:

300 g minced pork marinated
500 g minced shrimp/prawn marinated
bean curd skin
fried shallots
1 medium carrots, minced
3 stalks spring onions 
1 pack water chestnuts
1 c fried shallots ( you can make your own or just buy the ready made one's which I did cause i don't want to end up wasting )
1 egg
Bean curd sheets
Oil for pan frying

A delicious and nutritious ingredient in any of my mix meat!

Pan Milk

BreadTalk becomes popular in the Philippines i think sometime in 2004 at Glorietta 4, Makati. I can't forget this since I was so amazed with its green tea cake --a small size cost about 700++, well the price struct me actually.  Made me wonder who would patronize their cakes when we have Red Ribbon and Goldilocks or even Becky's Kitchen to turn to. That green tea cake hit me like... You had me at green!  Ssssshhhh... the truth, I only bought once and never did it again. My naiveté disregards the value of the cake not even its elegance, or probably my fondness of green tea as a concoction supersedes the vast possibilities of this flavour.  Though i love its physiognomity but that's all there is.

Going back to BreadTalk, it never fails to amaze its fans with its innovative baking. The soft, moist delicious breads magnetized anyone in just one bite. Now its my quest to discover or at least mimic its bread in my own addictive way.

Pork Asado Filling

Have you tasted the famous pork bun made by Paradise Group or Tin Ho Wan? Oohh that bun tastes de-lish ... so far (wink, wink!) .   With that inspiration, I challenged myself into baking one of those buns in a series of variations, but first "i have to get to the filling of this" ;-). This version is the simplest, easiest asado filling to go with my pork buns adventure...

PORK ASADO FILLING

Ingredients:

200 g minced pork
1 medium onion minced
2 gloves garlic minced
spring onion
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
dash of ground black pepper
1 tsp cornstarch dissolve in 1 tbsp water
2 tbsp water for the sauce


Method:

Heat pan and sauté garlic and onion.
Add minced pork and pepper.
Pour hoisin and oyster sauces.
Mix cornstarch with 1 tbsp water then pour into the pan.
Stir continuously until well combined. Then add the remaining 2 tbsp water, simmer until sauce thickened.  When done set aside to cool.
Ready to use.