53 posts tagged “american”
Story time! So I'm feeling under the weather this weekend. I thought I was getting another wave of allergies, but then my throat started to feel sore, and pretty soon I was feeling weak and mildly feverish. I realized that I must have a cold of some sort. Since I had slept my way through most of Friday night, I woke up at around midnight thinking about what I could make for a late late dinner / snack that wouldn't drain me of all my energy.
The fridge is mostly empty since I haven't gone grocery shopping in a while. But in my cupboard I had an unopened bag of fine ground corn meal that I bought back when I was getting my wisdom tooth out and thinking of making grits. Well I never did get around to using it, and now grits sounded pretty good to me. Looking online for some good recipes, I noticed that most of them were savory grits, with cheese, gravy, sausage, etc. Unfortunately for me, my fridge was so empty that I didn't even have the usual milk that goes into grits. I did, however, have a single slice of American cheese and a little bit of spam. I discussed the prospect of making spam grits with my boyfriend, who thought it sounded gross and could not find a single recipe for it online. I personally thought I could invent a really cool spam grits dish, but alas, when I went to prepare it, I noticed that my spam was spoiled. Great.
So by this point I was starving to death and really annoyed that I had water boiling for my grits, but nothing to put in it. Finally, I decided that I would make a light grits with garlic and that one slice of cheese, and eat it topped with canned chili, which would provide most of the flavor. I guess in that sense it sort of takes on the role of polenta haha. So let me tell you, this was an exercise in persistence. When my water was at a full boil, I poured in all the corn meal I was going to use, at once, before reaching for tongs to stir with. Bad idea. That corn meal puffed up in a matter of seconds, absorbing all the water and forming these giant clumps with dry corn meal still in the middle. No matter how hard I stirred it and added water to thin it out, the messy clump in the pot was just not edible. So down the garbage disposal it went...
The second time I got smarter and turned down the heat before slowly adding the corn meal while stirring, and everything came out just fine - it was nice and smooth, with no clumps. Plus, my favorite part is that using finely ground corn meal shortened the cooking time dramatically. I was done in just 10 minutes! Now that's a good fast meal I could handle any day :) It's also relatively healthy too, since I don't use any milk or cream for the grits, and the chili is quite good for you with all its beans. I used canned chili here for convenience, but I'm sure it would be even better with home-made chili, if you have the patience that is!
Chili-topped Garlic Cheese Grits (serves 2)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup finely ground corn meal (it's like a powder rather than little gritty pieces)
2 cups water
1 slice American cheese
1 pat salted butter
onion powder, garlic powder, and salt to taste
canned chili
chopped raw onion for garnish
Directions:
1. Bring 2 cups water to boil in a small pot. Reduce heat to low.
2. Slowly add the corn meal to the water, while stirring constantly with a whisk to avoid lumps.
3. Cook on low for about 7-10 minutes, stirring often, and adding water as necessary to thin out the grits to your desired consistency (I prefer mine to be on the creamy, lightly viscous side). They absorb a lot of water so I think I added maybe an extra cup's worth of water before I reached a nice consistency. Season with onion powder, garlic powder, and salt to taste.
4. When grits is finished cooking, stir in a pat of butter and the slice of cheese, torn to pieces, stirring until melted and incorporated. Serve immediately, topped with warm canned chili and garnished with freshly chopped onions if desired.
I told you that my favorite sugar cookie recipe of all time was coming up, and now I'm finally delivering. This chewy sugar cookie recipe is one that I hold absolutely dear to my heart. It was one of the first cookies that I made successfully when I was in middle/high school, and everyone that tried it loved it. Just loved it. I made dozens and dozens of them for my family and friends, and they were always gobbled up with delight. To this day, my ex still asks me to make him these cookies heh. Of course, I'm not going to pretend that I invented some amazing recipe because I was a child baking prodigy. But it is different from the most popular sugar cookies that you'll find when you google "chewy sugar cookies". Admittedly, it is based on the recipe found here, one of the first entries on google. What I did, however, was to adapt the recipe to suit my family's Asian tongue.
As some you might know, Asians usually don't have much of a sweet tooth, especially when it comes to things like cookies and cakes. When I wanted to bake something at home, I wanted to make sure that my parents were going to eat it - that's part of the joy of baking! For one thing, they didn't like chocolate chip cookies much, because it was too sweet for them. So when I came around to making sugar cookies, the first thing I was quick to reduce was the sugar. Out of guilt, I also reduced the butter in the recipe (it's a little shocking how much the recipe calls for...). But I keep all the other ingredients at the same proportions, and add some almond extract for aroma. I love combining vanilla and almond extracts in my baking - it gives everything that little something extra. It's funny, because I didn't really understand the science of baking when I was younger, so I didn't really think about how altering the proportions of sugar and butter can really change the texture of the cookie. As a matter of fact, a few times I went back to the recipe to make cookies for some friends, and figured I'd go for the full sugar and butter content, only to end up with surprisingly disappointing cookies that didn't have that incredible chew I always liked. For the longest time I couldn't understand why, but now I finally do. It's a real relief.
These cookies have a really satisfying chew that doesn't go away after a day. In fact, they stay just the way they are for nearly a week, if you can keep them around that long hehe. I like to make the whole batch of dough and just bake half of it for about 3 dozen cookies, then freeze the rest for quick and easy cookies when I want them. These are not the cookie cutter sugar cookies that you'd want for decorating, they're best for just eating :) So now I'm sharing my absolute favorite sugar cookie recipe with you, I hope you'll like it!
Lucy's Favorite Chewy Sugar Cookies (makes 5-6 dozen 2" cookies) Adapted from Robbie's recipe
Ingredients:
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt (use 1/2 tsp if using unsalted butter)
1 cup salted butter, softened
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
Directions:
1. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
2. In another bowl, cream softened butter with sugar until fluffy. Add one egg at a time and stir until incorporated. Stir in vanilla and almond extracts.
3. Gradually add the flour mixture into the batter, stirring until well-mixed. Don't be afraid to stir it a lot. (Stirring the dough well will develop the gluten in the flour, which is important for chewy cookies!) When everything is incorporated, the dough will be heavy and slightly sticky. Cover it up and put it in the fridge for 30 minutes to chill.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. When the dough is done chilling, scoop out balls of dough about the diameter of a quarter, and place them on foil-lined baking sheets about 2 inches apart from one another.
5. Grease the bottom of a flat glass and gently flatten the dough balls until they are small discs about 1/3 inch thick. This will help your cookies spread evenly instead of mounding in the middle.
6. Bake for about 10 minutes, until the edges are just very slightly starting to become a golden-brown. Immediately remove from oven and let sit on the cookie sheet to finish baking for another 2 minutes. While cookies are still warm, remove from foil using a spatula and finish cooling on a cooling rack. They will be perfectly chewy starting from the moment they are cool enough to eat, until they are all gone :)
There are days when I just can't bear the thought of firing up a skillet and hovering over a stove for an hour just to make dinner. For those times, I like to rely on my trusty drumsticks and a coating of Shake 'n Bake to take over. But as the price of food as increased dramatically, I recently invested in a large (read: cheap) container of parmesan seasoned bread crumbs, and thought that maybe I could use it to make a substitute for Shake n' Bake (which runs for a couple of dollars for 8 servings or so). It was easy enough, since the bread crumbs were already seasoned, I just had to give my thawed drumsticks a toss in a ziplock of crumbs and it was ready for some oven action (375 degrees F for about 40 minutes or until juices run clear when poked).
The best part is that I can do the vegetables at the same time, by roasting a sweet potato in the oven simultaneously. Ah, how I love the sweet potato (I just can't stop calling it a yam, because I grew up thinking they were the same thing). Anyway, I like to cut the sweet potato in half lengthwise, leaving the skin on. Then I wrap up each half with foil, and lay them flat side up on a baking sheet for the same amount of time as the drumsticks (these things don't overbake anyway). They're ready when they are soft and start to leak caramelized liquid. You can stir up the flesh of the sweet potatoes with a little salted butter, brown sugar, and lots of cinnamon. Soooo delicious! And when you're all done, the only cleanup necessary is to ball up the foil and throw it away :)
Yesterday (which was just an hour ago) was my 23rd birthday - the beginning of the age when we are expected to suddenly go from college students to being grownups. How intimidating! Things have been going quite smoothly in my work life, and in the next few weeks I will make my final decision about which medical school I will be going to this fall. Maybe the continued schooling will give me an excuse to be a "student" for another few years :)
I had a chance to celebrate my birthday early with my family this week. We had a cake freshly decorated for us from the only Chinatown bakery that was still open at 8pm on a Sunday night, so I'm quite grateful that I got a cake at all haha. The decorator made me a bull out of whipped cream on top of the cake, since I was born in the year of the Ox. It was done quite well if I do say so myself - I really liked the cute chocolate accents :) I was originally tempted to make my own cake, but you never make your own birthday cake heh. The cake had a mixed fruit filling, and the sponge cake layers were soft. I wasn't terribly fond of the whipped topping, as it was more fluffy and marshmallow-y than I would have liked, but the flavors came together pretty well. My family and I enjoyed the cake with some freshly brewed aromatic white tea that my dad brought back from China this past week, mmm.
That said, the meal I had tonight was still as amazing as Shino's has always been. I didn't really notice the flavor of the brown rice. It might have been slightly more chewy, but it definitely was a subtle difference (grr, not one I'd want to pay for), which is good because I was so worried that brown rice would ruin the sushi experience. I had a regular salmon roll, a crispy eel roll (eel, avocado, cucumbers, flying fish roe, and topped with mayo and crispy tempura bits drizzled in unagi bbq sauce), and one of their specials, the Boston lobster roll (avocado cucumber roll topped with warm baked lobster mixed with chopped raw red onions in a wasabi butter sauce). The rolls were all amazing, with fresh and fatty fish that melted in my mouth. The lobster roll is one of my favorites because it has such a unique flavor - the wasabi butter sauce really brings together everything in that roll, and it really is a monster to behold with all that lobster! My boyfriend also got a shrimp tempura roll which he said was really good too. Mmm I really wish I could go back to the days when Shino's was cheaper...
After dinner we went to Cheesecake Factory for some dessert - the Godiva chocolate brownie sundae :) Deliciously rich and a perfect end to a wonderful birthday dinner. I never knew this, but apparently Edy's makes a special vanilla ice cream specifically for Cheesecake Factory to use in their desserts. I wonder what exactly is different about it...
Thanks for a nice birthday dinner Greg! Gosh, I still can't believe I'm 23 already... time just passes so fast. There are so many things I'm looking forward to this year, and I'm also sad to be leaving Boston in just a few months. It really is a wonderful city filled with an endless array of amazing places for every taste. I am certain that the years I have spent here will be fond memories I carry with me forever.
Updates have been sparse lately because I had a wisdom tooth out earlier this week and was not up for cooking nor blogging, but I'm happy to say that I'm back to eating solid foods again :) Last night I found myself once again the usual predicament of having ripening bananas and no desire to eat them as is. As luck would have it, I also happened to have a few boxes of instant pudding mixes in the cupboard, which I bought for my widsom tooth recovery period, and my boyfriend gave me an idea to make some sort of cake and pudding trifle to use up the bananas. He said he wanted a light sponge cake to go with the pudding and bananas, and I immediately thought of the Bostini cream pie that I had seen the Daring Bakers make not too long ago - a similar concept of a small sponge cake with a custard and topped with chocolate sauce. I decided to use the orange chiffon cake from this recipe, with some alterations to suit my pantry, which came together with surprising ease. With the speediness of instant coconut pudding to shave off even more time, this became one of the simplest "complex" desserts that I've ever made! I love the combination of flavors, from the coconut to the bananas, to the orange, and the chocolate - everything pairs so well and none of the flavors overwhelm each other. And I find layered desserts so elegant-looking, so I'm definitely making this for company sometime :)
Coconut Banana Trifle with Orange Chiffon Cake cake adapted from Scala's Bostini Cream Pie
(makes 6 individual servings)
Ingredients:
Orange Chiffon Cake
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup confectioner's sugar
2 eggs, separated
2/3 tsp baking powder
1/3 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
1/6 cup canola oil
1/3 cup orange juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
Filling
1 package instant coconut cream pudding
2 cups cold milk
2 ripe bananas, cut into slices
Chocolate Topping
1 oz. chocolate chips
1 tbsp salted butter
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray a 6-hole muffin pan with cooking spray.
2. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the egg yolks, oil, orange juice, vanilla and almond extracts, stirring together until just blended (dont' worry about lumps).
3. In a clean bowl, beat egg whites until frothy, and add in cream of tartar. Continue beating until soft peaks form. (I used a hand-held rotary beater for this in place of an electric one and it worked out great!)
4. Using a spatula, fold in the egg whites carefully into the batter in 3 separate additions. Ladle batter into the muffin pan, filling each well to the top.
5. Bake for 25 minutes, until tops of cakes spring back when lightly pressed with fingertips. Remove immediately from oven. Slide a knife around the edges of the cakes and flip over the muffin pan to release the cakes onto a cooling rack. They will have a golden brown skin around the edges, and you can either keep them for texture and color or trim it off for aesthetic appeal - I tried both and they both look and taste great.
6. While the cakes are baking, prepare the instant pudding according to directions and chill in the fridge. For the chocolate sauce topping, melt butter in the microwave, then stir in chocolate chips to melt. If they don't all melt, microwave for an additional 20 seconds and stir well.
7. To assemble dessert - slice up cakes into three layers. In a parfait glass or a goblet, alternate spoonfuls of pudding, banana slices, and cake layers, ending with a cake layer on top. Drizzle with chocolate sauce on top and garnish with banana slices. Serve immediately or chill until needed. Enjoy!
Although I strive to bake interesting and creative items when I can, there are certain classic baked goods that I want to make sure I've made at least once and succeeded at, if only to be able to whip out a simple dessert for a backyard BBQ somewhere down the road. I don't know how it happened, but I've never baked blondies before, even though I've eaten them countless times. And since I've changed my blog tagline to "everything tastes better homemade", well I'd better practice what I preach!
Blondies, like chocolate chip cookies and brownies, deserve a spot in every kitchen's recipe box. That's why I'm creating a new category of posts called "Essential baking repertoire" (or EBR for short) - nothing fancy, just simple, tried and true recipes that I can always turn to when I want something that is sure to please every time. So often food bloggers are so busy churning out new and innovative recipes that the traditional ones get left behind because they might seem "boring". But sometimes all I want is a good recipe for a no-frills, common dessert. Anyway, I'll slowly try and build up this category of posts (my favorite sugar cookie recipe is probably coming soon). I haven't decided if any other recipes I've posted thus far should be included. If you have any such recipes to share, or suggestions for things you'd like to see, please let me know! :)
So then, the main event of this week's baking was the blondie - sort of like a chocolate chip cookie in bar form. I have seen a zillion different variations of the blondie, some with coconut, some with white chocolate chips, some with nuts. I found my blondie EBR recipe on Allrecipes.com, one of my favorite places to go. A recipe site that has lots of reviewers is always useful in determining if a recipe will be a winner or a dud. The recipe calls for walnuts, which I omitted due to lack of availability (and also because I don't think traditional blondies should have nuts in them), and chocolate chips, for which I used half chocolate chips and half toffee chips, since I was low on chocolate chips. Other than that I followed the recipe down to the word, and boy does it make a sinfully chewy blondie...
Chocolate Chip Toffee Blondies (makes about 16 small squares) original recipe at Allrecipes.com
Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup chocolate chips of your choice (I prefer milk chocolate here)
1/3 cup English toffee bits
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. Melt butter. Allow to cool briefly, and stir in brown sugar. Beat egg separately, and add to butter and sugar mixture. Stir in vanilla and mix well to get a creamy batter.
4. Gradually stir in flour mixture with the batter until well-mixed. Fold in most of the chocolate chips and toffee bits, reserving some to sprinkle on top of the blondies (or you can just add extra for the top).
5. Spread the batter evenly into an 8x8 inch baking pan (I used an 8" round pan because I don't have a small square pan). Sprinkle remaining chocolate chips and toffee bits on top of the batter if desired. Bake for 20-25 minutes until top is a light golden color and edges are crinkly and pulling away from the side of the pan. Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting.
Note: Recipe can be doubled to fit a 9x13 inch baking pan.
There's just something so exciting about having breakfast for dinner. Maybe it's just fun to have a little indulgence at dinnertime (breakfast = no veggies!). Although, the other day my boyfriend and I had breakfast for dinner mostly because we were bored of the usual rice + dishes fare, and too lazy to come up with anything special. So pancakes, eggs, and bacon it was! The thought of pancakes made me a bit giddy, as I always think of homemade pancakes as being fluffy and warm. But I realized that we had no milk in the house to make buttermilk, so I would only be able to make non-buttermilk pancakes, which wouldn't be as fluffy (buttermilk has the acidity that enhances the baking soda action, forming more air bubbles in the batter and therefore creating a light fluffy pancake). Still, I wanted a little something special about my pancakes, and came upon a recipe for coconut pancakes. Perfect! I had a can of unsweetened coconut milk just waiting to get some action.
Double Coconut Pancakes (makes 8 medium pancakes) Recipe from Cooking Light
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp flaked sweetened coconut (I omitted this - I guess that means my pancakes weren't double coconut haha)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 can (13.5 oz) can coconut milk (at room temperature)
1 tbsp butter, melted
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Directions:
1. Combine flour, sugar, coconut flakes, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, stir together melted butter, coconut milk, and egg.
3. Gradually stir coconut milk mixture into flour mixture, until a smooth batter forms.
4. Pour 1/4-1/2 cup of batter for each pancake onto a hot non-stick skillet or griddle. Cook until tops are covered with bubbles and edges look cooked, flip and cook other side until bottoms are lightly browned.
I found these pancakes to be perfect in flavor - with the rich aroma of coconut, but still with a light taste. They weren't fluffy like buttermilk pancakes, but were still soft and fork-tender. I drizzled some of my leftover bananas foster sauce on top, and mmmmm YUM!
I think I must have had my first English toffee cookie at Au Bon Pain several years ago... their cookies are huge and always soft and chewy. While they were a special treat in the late afternoons when they are sold for half off, I wanted to try and make my own at home. Back then, as I searched for recipes, I kept coming upon ones that used an egg white wash on the tops of cookies whose dough base was essentially like a chocolate chip cookie. It baffled me that such cookies were called toffee cookies, and I actually went ahead and tried to make them. Of course, they didn't come out as I had hoped.
Fast forward several years, and I'm standing in a grocery store baking aisle, eying those bags of English toffee bits for baking that sit right beside the chocolate chips. No more egg white washes! I slapped down the $2.49 for an 8 oz. bag of Heath "bits o' brickle" English toffee bits, and I just knew that this time I would be able to make the toffee cookies I've always dreamed of - thin and chewy, crunchy at the edges, with bits of real toffee buried in the cookie. You always know that a cookie is going to be just the perfect amount of chewy when it's nice and flattened. I really didn't want to change this recipe, because I just wanted to get the classic toffee cookie experience. Now I share this mouthwatering cookie recipe with you as well :)
Chewy English Toffee Cookies (makes 4 dozen) recipe at Recipezaar.com
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
8 oz. package of Heath toffee bits
Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease baking sheet, or cover with foil/parchment.
2. Mix together flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter, white sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla until well blended.
4. Add eggs and blend thoroughly.
5. Gradually add flour mixture to the batter, mixing until just incorporated. Stir in toffee bits.
6. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto baking sheet, and bake for 10-12 minutes until cookies are golden, and browning around the edges. They will have flattened and crackled on top.
7. Allow to cool for a few minutes before removing cookies to a cooling rack.
All I can really say is that these cookies are amazingly delicious. Whoever came up with this recipe is a genius! These cookies have the perfect amount of crunchy toffee bits in them, and every bite is just wonderful. Eat them with milk for the ultimate indulgence... mmm.....
I saw these wonderful little cake truffles on Bakerella's blog, where she also has many other delectable baked goods and decorating ideas. She calls them cake balls, although I found that name to be a little non-descript and didn't do justice to the actual thing, which is very much a truffle with cake and frosting in the middle (can we say yum?). Not only did this dessert look fun and creative, it was also the perfect way to use up some of my boxed cake mixes and frostings that I bought on a whim on a 10 for $10 sale. I think the best part of this recipe is that there are endless possibilities for these truffles - the three ingredients are boxed cake mix, cake frosting, and chocolate for the outer shell. Bakerella used red velvet with cream cheese frosting and semi-sweet chocolate, which sounds and looks great. I went with a white confetti cake mix and made some truffles using cream cheese frosting and some with a lemon frosting, just for variety, all coated with white chocolate.
One thing to note though, is that while this recipe is beyond simple in procedure, it is very time intensive, at least the first time you make it. It took me one night and one whole afternoon to complete everything, with most of the time spent on repetition of simple steps. Still, it was definitely worth the hard work! I was able to make about 70 cake truffles from the recipe, and they are absolutely delicious - it is surprising how moist the cake centers are! I guess when I first went to make this recipe I envisioned the cake centers to be like little balls of the boxed cake, as if I had taken a melon baller and just scooped out rounded cake bites. But really with the frosting mixed in, the taste and texture is entirely different, very moist and decadent. These would be perfect to bring to a party, and they look great when they're done! I'll definitely be adding this one to my repertoire to bring to future dinner parties.
Cake Truffles (makes about 70) original recipe from Bakerella
Ingredients:
1 box cake mix, any flavor (I used white confetti - "rainbow party chip")
1 container of ready to use frosting (16 oz.), any flavor (I used some cream cheese frosting and some lemon frosting)
Chocolate for coating the truffles, any type (I used just a little more than 1 lb. of white Ghiradelli chocolate)
Directions:
1. Bake cake as directed on box. Allow to cool completely.
2. Crumble cake finely, using hands.
3. Stir in frosting, at room temperature, until well distributed through cake crumbs.
4. Shape cake into small balls, about 1" in diameter (I made mine similar to the size of Lindt truffle balls). Place balls on a cookie sheet and chill for several hours in the freezer (I did mine overnight).
5. Melt chocolate in the microwave a couple of ounces at a time, and one by one, dip the frozen cake balls into the chocolate to coat. Set on wax paper to allow to set.
6. Store in an air-tight container. The are great at room temperature or refrigerated - try it both ways!
Okay so you've seen how straightforward the directions are. Now you can see the process I went though - hopefully my tips will be helpful to you as you make these truffles yourself:
So I went and baked my cake in two 8" round pans, since I'm not too fond of my 9x13" casserole pan. I think in the future I will stick with 9x13", since that size means less cake skin, which is actually really tough to crumble. Of course, you could also just trim off the tougher skin, but I didn't want any of it to go to waste.
Crumbling the cake was a pretty laborious process, since I was doing it by hand. I wanted to maintain the lightness of the cake crumbs, so I had to be careful not to end up squishing the cake together as I was crumbling it. The skin would always crumble into giant chunks instead of soft crumbs, so I had to work extra hard to break those up. It was also sad to see the pretty confetti broken up into tiny little dots - the confetti effect didn't exactly make it nicely into the truffle like I had hoped, but it was there more or less.
To make the cake balls, I recommend working with the cake crumbs in batches (I did mine in 3 separate ones). That way you don't have crumbs flying everywhere as you stir in the frosting... unless you have a really big bowl. I also separated mine into batches so that I could make some with lemon frosting instead of cream cheese frosting. You can't skimp on the frosting at all - I tried doing that for one of the batches and the balls were really really tough to form. They kept crumbling in my hands as I was rolling them together. You really need enough frosting to serve as the glue between all the crumbs. When I had less than adequate frosting, some of the crumbs wouldn't stick together, and a few of those in the centers of a ball would cause the whole ball to fall apart as soon as you applied pressure while rolling it. But be patient, and wash your hands often since they will get gunky after you roll enough of them. The original recipe says you can get about 50 balls, but I got 70 of them, so your mileage may vary.
Now, after you've frozen up your cake balls, it's time to coat them in chocolate. This part can be tricky at first, but once you get the hang of it the process will breeze by faster. I used Ghiradelli white chocolate that you can buy in those huge chunks at Trader Joe's. I highly suggest using good quality chocolate, and if you can find it, use chocolate bark, which is best for candy coating. The most important thing about melting the chocolate is not to burn it.Make sure your bowls and spoons are dry. Use 50% power in your microwave, and do about 15 seconds at a time, microwaving about 2 ounces at a time in a heat-proof bowl. Stir after each 15 seconds, since the chocolate holds its shape even when it has melted. It took me about 40 seconds to get my white chocolate melted each time. Transfer the melted chocolate to a small and not too shallow container to coat the balls (I used a ramekin for this).
To coat the balls, use two spoons - spoon up some chocolate on the first spoon (left hand for righties), and place a cake ball onto the chocolate in the spoon. Using the second spoon (right hand), scoop up some chocolate and spoon it over the top of the ball, and using the second spoon to pick up and rotate the ball on the first spoon so that the entire ball is nicely coated. Pick up the ball with the second spoon and deposit gently onto wax paper to allow to harden. Note that since the cake balls were frozen, they will be very cold and will cause the chocolate to harden very fast. So work quickly as you are dipping and rotating the balls, otherwise the chocolate on your spoons will start to get stiff. I didn't have any trouble with cake bits crumbling off and falling into the chocolate this way, so remember to freeze the cake balls well.
Finally, feel free to decorate the tops of the truffles, just like you would with real chocolate truffles! I melted up some semi-sweet chocolate chips and using a plastic ziplock back with the corner snipped off, I decorated a bunch of them like petit fours. I think these would also be great if you rolled them in some coconut flakes or sprinkles, nuts, etc. right after you dipped them (remember to do it right away instead of waiting, since they harden fast). I also spooned some extra melted chocolate on top of a few of them so that I could sprinkle cocoa on top or draw in chocolate lines like those found on mini Napoleons. It was a lot of fun decorating them!
I think these fun little cake truffles would make a great party favor for weddings if they were made with some more expertise. They can definitely be decorated with pretty sugar flowers and such, and the cake balls can be shaped into other shapes using cookie cutters and such, once it has been chilled. These are much easier to make than petit fours, but just as tasty and impressive! I love that they are bite sized, so you can sneak a few without feeling too guilty hehe. Personally I really liked them refrigerated... the chocolate on the outside was nice and crunchy that way, giving you that wonderful snap when you bit into it, yielding to the soft cake center. Plus it didn't melt in my hands as easily either. I hope you'll enjoy them just as much as I did! Having someone help make these will make the process breeze by a lot faster too :)
My boyfriend is such a lucky bum. He gets to indulge in every single item I bake, no questions asked. It's like, imagine for a moment that someone is always making random desserts without you having to ask, because that's what they enjoy doing, and you can just sit around and wait for the next thing to come out of the oven. I wish there was someone that did that for me, hah! Anyway, I asked him what he was interested in trying next, and he told me he really wanted something with lots of cinnamon in it. Ideas of carrot cake and cinnamon buns twirled around in my head for a while, but neither were piquing my interest at the moment.
Then, my parents came to visit for the day and brought me a bagful of fresh apples and plums... and that got my gears turning. Being like many other college students, I don't usually eat fruit, and that's a habit that developed out of having little access to fresh fruits other than apples and bananas that are overpriced in our dining halls. So even when my parents are kind enough to bring me fruit, they usually get forgotten after I eat one or two, which is unfortunate. Apple pie was out of the question, as I had no pie crust nor the means to make one, but I did find a mouth-watering and very well-rated recipe for apple crisp that sounded perfect to me. I could use up some of my apples and have lots of cinnamon in it, plus it's a warm dessert which is always nice in the wintertime... yum. I took a few liberties with this recipe and it still came out great! Apple crisp is definitely an easier alternative to apple pie, and I'll remember that next time I have spare apples to use up. (I got some hand me down orange plates that you might see in my pictures in the future... it's nice to finally have something else besides the Corelle plates I've been subsisting on... although orange is a tough plate color to use haha.)
Ingredients:
4 cups thinly sliced apples (I used 2 medium-large gala apples)
1/3 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tsp all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 cup water
for the topping -
1/2 cup quick-cooking oats (I used 1 package instant oatmeal - cinnamon roll flavor)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/8 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, softened
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Slice up apples and sprinkle with some lemon juice if desired to keep them from browning. Mix together white sugar, 1 1/2 tsp flour, and cinnamon together. Toss apple slices in sugar mixture until coated. Evenly layer the apple slices on the bottom of an 8" round pan or equivalent. Pour the water evenly over the apples.
3. In a bowl, stir together oats, 1/2 cup flour, brown sugar, baking power, and baking soda. Using a fork, cut up the softened butter into small chunks and mix into oats and sugar mixture until you get mostly small crumbles about the size of small peas or so. Spoon over apple slices.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes. Serve hot with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and enjoy! :)
I think when I make this recipe again, a few changes I would make include peeling the apples first (I wasn't a big fan of the skin still being there), and maybe giving them a little bit of time to cook on a stovetop prior to assembling in a pan, since I think I would have liked the apples just a tiny bit softer. And finally, I would either add more butter or reduce the amount of topping mixture so that the butter to topping ratio results in bigger crumbles. But the amount of topping in this recipe is already plenty for my pan, so don't heed the reviewers of the original recipe that insisted on doubling the topping heh.
I was very happy with the results of this recipe... the apple crisp smelled so good while it was baking, the entire apartment was filled with its wonderful aroma. I just couldn't wait for it to cool down to dig in! I also thought it was really convenient that I could just sub in a package of instant oatmeal for the quick oats, and I'm sure the powder in the package added to the cinnamon flavor (I quadrupled the cinnamon in the total recipe and I thought it was just perfect). Yum!
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