My brother’s birthday was this past weekend and to my surprise (he’s extremely healthy), he asked me to make him a celebratory dessert. He requested something with a lot of chocolate, but gave me free range to make anything I wanted. I browsed the Internet and read various recipes, hoping to find one that would catch my attention.
I debated on making molten cupcakes, but realized that I would not be able to serve the dessert hot, since we would be out to dinner. Therefore, I decided on double chocolate chunk cupcakes topped with chocolate frosting and my brother’s favorite sugary treat, Nutella.
When I checked on the cupcakes mid-way through baking, I could not believe how large they’d already become. The cakes turned out absolutely beautiful, with a deep brown hue and cracks serpentining across the surface.
I knew I created a winning dessert after my brother took his first bite into the cupcake—he was in chocolate heaven. He even had to grab a cold glass of milk because of the rich chocolate flavor. My brother requested I put more Nutella in the frosting next time—he really can’t get enough of the hazelnut spread.
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I’ve had an urge to make homemade macaroni and cheese for a while and finally decided to make it for my family last night. I cooked the macaroni in small ramekins so that everyone had his/her own personal dish.
Saliva flooded my mouth during the cooking process, as the rich aroma of garlic from the bread crumbs wafted through the kitchen. The soft elbow noodles absorbed the creamy cheese sauce, providing a burst of flavor after biting down on each noodle. Baking the macaroni provided the perfect amount of crunch from the garlic and parsley bread crumbs sprinkled on top.
Since I did not want to make a trip to the market, I used the cheeses already in my fridge. I used Gruyère, cheddar, mozzarella and another white cheese. Unfortunately, I do not know the type of white cheese, since it was left over from a cheese platter—tasted great though!
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In the spirit of Halloween, I decided to bake themed cupcakes. I chose simple vanilla cakes with buttercream frosting, which allowed for ample decorating opportunities. Since I wasn’t confident in my ability to create black frosting, I settled on purple. I most likely would have ended up with a mud-colored frosting if I mixed all the food dyes, as I am not a chemist. The only solution I’ve seen was on the show, Cupcake Wars, when a contestant used squid ink to create a deep black color. Since the ink would add unnecessary (and unwanted) flavor, I vetoed this option.
Using a different recipe, but the same decoration ideas from another blog, I made “candy corn” cupcakes. Although the cakes do not actually have candy corn in the batter, with the help of food dye, the little cakes come to resemble the candy. I divided the cupcake batter in half, dying one yellow and one orange. I proceeded to fill the liners with yellow batter first, then topped them with orange batter. Once baked, I let the cupcakes cool and piped them with a dollop of buttercream frosting and a single candy corn.
For the spider web and witch cupcakes, I used the same batter and frosting recipe as the candy corn cakes. However, instead of dying the batter, I died the frosting. While thinking of something that would be sturdy enough for the witch hat, I realized that oddly, we still had Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies (unopened) in our pantry. I figured even if the cookies were stale, they would work for presentation. The cookies worked perfectly—and still tasted fresh and crunchy. Must have some amazing preservatives!
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Before my dinner party last weekend, I tested out a few potential recipes. I felt that Wolfgang Puck’s chicken aioli sandwich had a lot of potential as an appetizer (if cut into small bites) for the party. The recipe turned out somewhat time-consuming, from marinating the chicken to chopping the vegetables and spices.
I was ecstatic, however, with the result. The garlic aioli stood out as the star of the sandwich for me—possibly because I applied a generous amount of the spread on the sandwich. The bite of the garlic in the aioli and the ginger-infused chicken worked wonderfully together. Toasting the ciabatta bread provided the perfect amount of crunch and served as an extra element to the sandwich, in addition to the onion, tomato and lettuce.
What I found most difficult about this recipe was making the aioli. I admit, my first attempt was an utter failure—rather than a mayonnaise texture, my aioli was a bowl full of green oil. I made the mistake of blending the ingredients for the aioli in a large food processor, which was too big of a space to properly blend the mixture.
I complained to my mom about the oil soup I created and as always, she came to my rescue. Instead of using a food processor, I used a small metal bowl and hand mixer for my second try. Before adding the oil to the garlic and egg yolk mixture, I whisked at high-speed (speed 7 or so) until the mixture was thoroughly combined and somewhat fluffy. Next, I began to SLOWLY pour in the oil, while still mixing at high-speed.
After about 5 minutes of mixing, with the oil incorporated, a beautiful creamy aioli stared up at me from within the bowl. I was so pleased that my second attempt was successful—all thanks to my mom. I can now say I know how to make homemade mayonnaise!
The only reason I decided against this sandwich for the party was because of the strong garlic taste from the aioli, which clings to the tongue for an entire night. I figured people wouldn’t want to worry about having garlic breath while socializing with other guests. Otherwise, I highly recommend this sandwich, as it offers a delicious marriage of flavors.
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Last night, I hosted a dinner party at my house with some close friends. Like my parents’ party last weekend, I had a tapas style dinner accompanied by a plethora of white and red wine. We had a fabulous variety of foods—baked brie with jam, maple syrup and brown sugar, stuffed jalepeños, cheese crostinis, caesar salad with homemade dressing and pesto sandwiches.
I made mini pesto sandwiches, sausage and cheese stuffed jalepeños, a fruit tart and a peanut butter pie.
My neighbor often makes this fruit tart when my parents have dinner parties. She always expresses how simple it is to make the tart and doesn’t understand my family’s obsession with the dessert. However, my guests last night seemed to understand the tart addiction and cleared the platter in no time. This dessert might actually be my favorite Paula Deen recipe—her knack of creating dessert recipes never ceases to amaze me.
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The other night, my brother mentioned that he was craving pizza for dinner. His suggestion inspired me to make homemade pizza, since I was not about to let him make DiGiorno pizza or order from Pizza Hut. I decided to make a pesto pizza topped with chicken, sun-dried tomatoes and dollops of ricotta cheese, as well as a bbq pizza topped with chicken, fontina cheese, red onions and cilantro.
Both pizzas turned out absolutely delicious, which my brother and I proved when he moved on to his seventh piece and I onto my fourth.
Pizza making is not necessarily an art. The amount of toppings added and thickness of the crust, for example, is entirely up to the chef. Therefore, I do not have exact measurements for my pizza recipes. I just dumped and sprinkled ingredients until satisfied. As seen in one of the pictures, my bbq chicken pizza did not turn out perfectly circular. But I love that the pies weren’t flawless—the imperfections gave them character.
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My parents hosted a dinner party this weekend, so I helped cook, bake and decorate all day before the party. I made two kinds of hummus—regular and sun-dried tomato—as well as a dessert. I wanted to make something bite-size, since I figured people would be stuffed after munching on the plethora of appetizers all evening.
I browsed the Food Network website and came across Paula Deen’s key lime tarts. The recipe received five stars and positive comments, so I decided to try it out. After all, dessert and Paula Deen go hand in hand.
Making these desserts turned into a much more tedious process than expected. The recipe calls for Key Lime Cooler cookies, however, I was not able to find these at the market. I imagine I might have found them at Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods, but did not have time to visit a different store. Therefore, I took one of the suggestions and made a homemade graham cracker crust for the bottom of the tarts.
The desserts had the perfect amount of tart flavor—enough to make your lips pucker, but not enough to make you contort your face in discomfort.
The tarts won me over in flavor, but were way too delicate in texture after only chilling for an hour. The recipe calls to bake the tarts in mini muffin liners (sprayed before filling), and to then remove them after baking. Removing the liners was a difficult process since the tarts were so fragile, causing a few of the desserts to break in half.
To try to remedy the situation, I chilled some of the tarts for a few more hours. After refrigerating, I was finally able to remove the rest of the liners. Although the desserts did not look as presentable as I’d hoped, they were still gobbled up at the party.
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Tonight is my friend Jessica’s birthday party in LA, so I decided to bake her some cupcakes. Before I even started baking, my friend Heidi (Jess’ roommate) made sure that I was bringing some treats. I know I’ve baked a lot recently, but I promise to post some appetizers and meals very soon!
I decided to make Paula Deen’s red velvet cupcakes (made a few alterations), topped with cream cheese frosting and milk chocolate shavings. The cakes turned out moist and delicious. Fortunately, I read the comments on the Food Network website prior to baking. Numerous people suggested cutting back on the vegetable oil and adding more cocoa powder. Otherwise, I do not think the treats would have been as yummy.
As I’ve stated before, I am not an avid chocolate eater, so I had to rely on some other trusty sources to test the cupcakes—my brother and my dad. After I asked my dad to try one of the cupcakes, he stated that he wasn’t a big fan of red velvet. However, after he tried one small bite, he picked up the rest of the cupcake and finished it off. Glad I changed his opinion of red velvet desserts!
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My mom, a high school teacher, has back to school night tonight and wanted to offer the parents some snacks and desserts. Since she worked all day, I decided to help her out by making a few desserts and preparing the snacks.
The other day I was watching Giada at Home and saw her make these espresso caramel bars. Though I’m not a chocolate fan, the dessert looked fantastic. After all, I’ve never made a Giada recipe that was anything but fabulous. In addition to the bars, I also made brown sugar cookies.
The bars were a success—not only did they taste delicious, but they also looked it.
The silky smooth chocolate beautifully complimented the slight crunchiness of the graham cracker crust. The caramel layer in the middle did not go unnoticed, however. Its rich and sweet flavor is simply scrumptious.
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The other day, my dad rented the Nom Nom truck to serve food at his office in Carson for a couple of hours. Although I was still recovering from wisdom teeth surgery, I did not want to miss out on this opportunity. Who would reject free food?
My dad told his co-workers that I was coming to the office and the first thing people asked was if I was going to bring cupcakes. Apparently, baking cupcakes is my key to acceptance in his office. Some of the people I met that day even referred to me as “the cupcake girl.”
I’m a vanilla fiend, but had never worked with real vanilla bean before. Just a heads up, vanilla bean is expensive—it cost about $12 for a jar containing two vanilla beans.
I decided to bake vanilla bean cupcakes injected with a fluffy chocolate filling and topped with vanilla bean frosting. The filling and frosting were delectable, however, I was not satisfied with the cupcake—it was too dry for my liking. Since I did not want the first batch to go to waste, I still brought them to the office; however, I made another batch of cupcakes, but this time made Ina Garten’s vanilla cupcakes topped with my mom’s refreshing cream cheese frosting recipe. I was much more pleased with the texture of these cakes. The top of the cupcake was slightly crisp, while the inside was fluffy and moist.
I am only going to post the recipe for Ina Garten’s vanilla cupcake, but will still include the recipe for the chocolate filling and vanilla bean frosting, as both were delicious! If you would like the vanilla bean cupcake recipe, please let me know via posting a comment.
* The first four photos are of the vanilla bean cupcake and the last two are of the vanilla cupcakes. Both cupcakes have the chocolate filling.
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