Cupcake Camp 2010

My first foodie event!! I really didn't expect there to be that many people at Cupcake Camp 2010! There was a huge lineup, starting outside, continuing down the halls of the Queen Elizabeth Hotel and leading upstairs! I even bumped into a few friends there! I have never seen that many people go crazy over cupcakes... And the event turned out to be a huge success according to their website. Isn't that amazing? A completely volunteer run event that raised over 34,500$, shared 25,000 cupcakes with 2,500 people for the Kids Help Phone and La Tablée des Chefs!!

Two chefs from the Food Network: Nadia G. from Bitchin' Kitchen and Ricardo Larrivée from Ricardo and Friends. They were both really nice and let me take pictures!

There was also a cupcake competition. Take a look at these cupcakes! Amazing!

These are some of the cupcakes I got to take home. This one my friend made (yes, she donated over 200 cupcakes!!) and it was one of my favorite: white velvet with pomegranate filling and white chocolate frosting if I remember correctly!

This one I didn't get to try. I only had the fondant jalapeño and my sister decide to eat it cause she thought it was chocolate and got a nice surprise! Apparently it was quite hot!

I can't wait for next year's event! My friend and I really want to participate in the competition but we're going to have to work hard to come up with something creative. I'll make sure I post the cupcakes I donated soon!

Cinnamon Rolls

It's increasingly difficult for me to find time to bake nowadays. Projects are due, finals are ahead and so is Cupcake Camp 2010!! I am so excited, I've been thinking of what cupcake to make for a long time. I can't wait to finally assemble it this weekend! By the way, Ricardo is supposed to be there... THE Ricardo from television! I think it's the first time I'll be seeing a celebrity chef in real life!

Ok enough excitement for now, let's keep some for Sunday! I made these cinnamon rolls out of the blue. I woke up early one morning, and as I updated myself in the blogging world, I fell upon some delicious looking Cinnamon Rolls. I always have this fear of working with yeast for some reason, but I thought, what the heck! They were supposed to be knock-off Cinnabons but I found them to have turned out 10 times better!

Cinnabon Knock-Off Cinnamon Rolls

Adapted from Tartelette

Makes 12 rolls

For the dough:

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (1/4 oz. size or 1 pkg.)

1 cup warm milk (105 to 110 degrees F)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

4 cups all-purpose flour

Dissolve yeast in the warm milk in a large bowl. Mix together the sugar, butter, salt and eggs in a mixer bowl. Then add the flour and milk (with yeast) and mix well. Knead the dough into a large ball using your hands lightly dusted with flour. Put it in a clean bowl, cover and let it rise in a warm place for about an hour or until the dough has doubled in size (I left it for about an hour and 20 minutes).

Roll the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll it until it is approximately 21 inches long and 16 inches wide, about 1/4 inch thick.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and position rack in the middle of the oven.

For the filling:

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon

1/3 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

Combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Spread the softened butter evenly over the surface of the dough (I didn't use it all) and sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar evenly over the surface.

Form the rolls:

Working carefully from the top (a 21-inch side), roll the dough down to the bottom edge. Cut the rolled dough into 12 slices of equal thickness (about 1 3/4 inches slices) and place 6 at a time, evenly spaced, in 2 lightly greased baking pans. Let the rolls rise again until doubled in size (about 30 minutes). Bake for 10 minutes or until golden on top.

For the icing:

Adapted from Michael Smith

1 tbsp vanilla extract

4 tbsp cream (or more depending on the consistency you like, I added more to make it runny)

1 cup powdered sugar

Stir together all the ingredients for the icing and when the rolls have completely cooled, drizzle the icing over them.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

I didn't make these cookies. My sister had never baked anything on her own before and wanted to make the best peanut butter chocolate chip cookies for her boyfriend. So I put myself to the task and searched for the recipe that had the best reviews!

I also want to share with you that I got a new camera!! Actually my boyfriend got it for me (he's the best!!) and now I can't stop taking pictures. Everything looks better through a DSLR!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from All recipes

Makes 24 addictive cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs

2 tbsp light corn syrup

2 tbsp water

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt (I used a pinch)

2 cups chopped semisweet chocolate (or chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the corn syrup, water and vanilla. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt, and stir into the peanut butter mixture in 3 parts. Fold in the chocolate chunks (or chips). Drop onto ungreased baking sheets using a tablespoon, 3 inches apart.

Bake for about 12 minutes or until edges are golden brown (the more you bake, the less the cookies will be soft and chewy). Allow cookies to cool for 1 minute on cookie sheet before removing them and placing them on a wire rack.

Rocky Road Ice Cream

Rich, french-style chocolate ice cream with toasted peanuts and mini marshmallows! Really, if you haven't added marshmallows to your just-churned ice cream, you've been missing out!

This is one of those recipes in The Perfect Scoop where I put a heart next to the title :)

Croissants

Croissants were one of those things that I've always wanted to make, but were afraid to. It's as if I didn't believe that even if I followed the steps in my copy of The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Pastry Arts, they would never turn out like those flaky, light and buttery ones from the bakery.

The other day when I was about to buy the ingredients to make the Hachis Parmentier for last week's FFwD, I realized that I didn't really want to make it, but sort of felt like I had to because I had bought the book to participate in the FFwD. Instead, I really had the urge to make croissants! Plus I didn't have to buy all those ingredients; I already had everything I needed.

There are a few things that I would change next time I make these. First I found the croissants to taste great right out of the oven, but when at room temperature, they were too sweet so I would decrease the amount of sugar. Also I didn't roll out the dough thin enough before cutting it into triangles so I only ended up with half the amount of croissants than I was supposed to. This is probably the reason why they didn't end up as light as the store-bought ones.

Making croissants wasn't very difficult, it just demands a lot of time. There's a lot of rolling and putting the dough in the fridge, then taking it out from the fridge. But the final result makes it all worth it.

Cran-Apple Crisps

It's cranberry season! We drink plenty of cranberry juice and dried cranberries can be found in our granola bars and cereals, but have any of you tried fresh cranberries? I just recently tried them for the first time and I have to say that... they're very sour! I stopped after one! But when combined with apples, dried cranberries, sugar and flour to make the filling, they taste sweet!

With all the members of TWD raving about this crisp and how easy it is to put together, it didn't take me long to decide to make it. I topped it with a scoop of Goat Cheese Ice Cream I made following David Lebovitz's book, The Perfect Scoop, and... Mmmm!

The Repressed Pastry Chef hosted that week's TWD so the recipe for the Cran-Apple Crisps can be found on her blog!

FFwD : Spicy Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup

I made it! I was really debating if I should skip this week's FFwD since it's midterm time and all I've been doing is finance and accounting for the past week and a half... but no! It does feel good to take a break and cook up this delicious vietnamese soup! It reminded me very much of the one my boyfriend and I love having in Chinatown (except I don't think that one has any coconut milk).

I read some reviews this morning on the Dorie's group site and a couple had written that it wasn't very flavorful or spicy. I found it was a bit spicy, so I just added a bit of Sriracha (love that stuff!) and lots of lime juice and it was great! It wasn't very hard to make either... I think it took me longer to look for all the ingredients!

Chocolate Matcha Cake

Matcha and chocolate in a cake! What's not to like? My only regret is that the chocolate taste took over the matcha one, so I could barely taste that. I would definitely add an extra tablespoon or so next time for a stronger taste and color!

Chocolate Matcha Cake

Adapted from Bakerella

Makes one bundt cake

Chocolate Mixture

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup cocoa

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Matcha Mixture

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2-3 tbsp matcha powder

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients

3 cups sugar

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

3 eggs, at room temperature

1 3/4 cups milk, at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a loaf pan and dust it with cocoa.

With a wire whisk, mix the dry ingredients for the chocolate mixture in a small bowl and set aside. In another small bowl, do the same for the matcha mixture.

Using a mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, milk and vanilla, and mix until throughly combined. Divide the cream mixture evenly in two separate bowls.

Slowly add the chocolate mixture to 1/2 of the creamed mixture and mix throughly. Then add the matcha mixture to the other half of the creamed mixture and mix throughly.

Drop alternating spoonfuls of each mixture into the loaf pan and gently run a knife through the two batters in a swirling motion (for a marbled effect... mine failed!).

Bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

(I halved this recipe to make a loaf cake, the baking time still remains 1 hour and 15 minutes.)

FFwD: Gerard's Mustard Tart

When I was younger, I hated mustard! I was more of a ketchup fan. I would put ketchup on everything and anything! But as time is passing, my taste in food is changing and I now find myself eating things like Gerard's Mustard Tart!

The filling was easy to make: whip the eggs with the cream, add the mustards, whip and season with salt and pepper. It was the crust that I found a bit challenging.

The first time I made the pâte brisée by hand, the dough was very crumbly, I could hardly form a disk with it! It was impossible for me to roll it out, so I decided to remake it. The second time, I used the food processor method, that took me at most 5 minutes. The dough turned out soft and workable... Success!

This tart is something I would never had tried on my own, but I'm glad I gave it a try! It smells delicious out of the oven and I had to hold myself from cutting a slice right away. If you like mustard, you're sure to love this!

FFwD: Gougères

October 1rst has arrived and so has the first post for the French Fridays with Dorie! I am so happy that it has finally begun! Dorie Greenspan chose the recipes for the month of October from her new book Around My French Table and all members of the FFwD must post about the weekly recipe!

Before I talk about this week's recipe, Gougères, I must confess that I was debating if I should join this group mainly because I never cook anything! I've always done the baking at my house, never prepared anything that had to do with meat or fish (except that one time when I made an Italian Wedding Soup... yum!!). But then this is the perfect opportunity for me to learn! I mean, I have to learn how to cook someday, and why not start with some delicious French meals!?

Making Gougères is similar to making profiteroles except that you mix in some grated Gruyère cheese (or Cheddar) before piping/spooning the dough. This was the first time I made pâte à choux and it was a lot easier than I expected!

I decided to top the mounds of dough with the remaining Gruyère I had left so they ended up with a nice golden color. In the past, I found Gruyère to be a very strong cheese but when baked, it is unbelievably good (plus your kitchen will have a delicious aroma)!

The Gougères are best eaten warm out of the oven because they are crispy on the outside. I found that they got soft after being stored in a container, but they get crispy again when warmed up!

I am one of those weird people who don't like wine or Champagne, but I can assume that these ''cheese puffs'' would pair well with a nice glass...?