Thursday, October 25, 2012

Peanut Butter Cookies

I love a good peanut butter cookie, and I've been searching for the right recipe for me.  I love Central Market's PB cookie!  To me, it embodies what a perfect PB cookie should be: crispy on the edge, soft and chewy in the middle, crunchy peanuts, full of PB flavor, but with enough flour to make it a cookie.  I don't want a flourless PB cookie.   So I've tried a few PB cookie recipes, and while they were good, they weren't perfection.


This PB cookie recipe is near perfection, but it's pretty close to what a CM PB cookie is.  I would love a CM PB cookie recipe, if anyone knows and cares to share.  Please.

3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
12 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
1 cup peanut butter (I used Crunchy Jif PB)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups peanut butter chips

Heat oven to 350F.
Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl.
Beat sugars and butter together until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each, until smooth.
Add peanut butter and vanilla; beat until smooth.
Add flour mixture, beat until combine.
Fold in the peanut butter chips.

Bake for about 12 minutes.  Actually I baked for about 15 minutes at 325F convection, but I think my cookies were a bit more done than I'd like.  The edges were very good, but the middle were not soft and chewy.  However, I think the cookies were underdone at 12 minutes.   I portioned the cookies using the 1-Tablespoon scoop.  I will make bigger cookies next time, and keep baking time at 15 minutes.


Also the original recipe didn't call for the peanut butter chips, but I know CM PB cookies have the chips as one of the ingredients, so I added the chips.  I think it made a world of difference to these cookies.

However, one of my picky friends didn't rave for the cookies.  But he didn't like the CM PB cookies either.  I just think he doesn't have the sophistication to appreciate a good cookie when he stumbles upon one.  :)




Posted by at 8:39 PM 0 comments

Bánh Bò Hấp (Steamed Sponge Cake)

I tried to make this 'cake' before, but failed miserably.  Other recipes didn't give enough time for fermentation.  I went a bit overboard with the colors.  My nieces call these Easter cakes.


1 1-lb (16 oz) bag of rice flour.
1 tsp sugar
1.5 tsp instant yeast
2 cups lukewarm water
Mix together until smooth.  Let mixture sit in covered container for 5 - 10 hours.
1 cup water
1.5 cup (1 can) coconut milk
1.5 to 2 cups sugar, depending on your preference for sweet.
Put everything into saucepan over medium heat.  Warm mixture just until sugar dissolved.  Do not boil (because it'll take you longer to cool it down).  Cool mixture down to 100F - 110F.
Combine coconut milk mixture into flour mixture.  Mix well.  Let mixture sit for another hour.  You should see some bubbles rising on top.
Divide batter.  Add food color if desired.
Lightly oil the molds.  Steam molds until hot before pouring the mixture in.  Steam for 8-10 minutes, if using small molds like I did above, until the top surface is solid.  If using pie pan, steam for 25-30 minutes.

You should see the honeycomb rising from cake bottom.

Since this recipe used all rice flour, my sister complained that it lacked the typical chew in Vietnamese dessert.  So when I made it the second time, I added about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of tapioca starch.  I've seen some recipes call for 50g of tapioca flour, but my kitchen scale ran out of battery, so I just guessimated.  The cake came out dense and heavy, lacking the fluffy soft texture of the steamed cake.  Did not like.


Posted by at 8:17 PM 1 comments

Spaghetti Alla Primavera

I tried this recipe, and liked it so much that I made it three times in a month.  I loved the taste:  clean, light, yet complex.  I don't love pasta that's too saucy, not something with too much cream or cheese, but I liked this dish very much.  There was just enough cream and cheese to cling on the pasta, and no sauce pooling at the bottom of the dish.

I will definitely make this again.  But for my husband and sons, I might have to add grilled chicken or something.  They kept asking, "No meat?"

6 Tbsp olive oil
3 gloves garlic
6 oz button mushrooms, quartered
1 cup asparagus tips, blanched
1 cup small broccoli florets, blanched
1/2 cup frozen peas, blanched
1 small zucchini, quatered lengthwise, cut to 1" lengths, blanched
1 lb. spaghetti, cooked al dente
1 cup heavy cram
2/3 cup grated Parmesan
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
Kosher salt, to taste
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
2 Tbsp thinly shredded basil
1/2 cup lightly toasted pine nuts

I added a lot more vegetables called for in the recipe, and I still didn't think I had enough vegetables. I used 1 lb. asparagus, 1 full head of broccoli, 2 zucchini, 2 squash for my recipe.

 Heat 5 Tbsp oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Add 2/3 of the garlic, cook until golden.  Add mushrooms; cook until golden, about 3 minutes.  Add vegetables, cook for 3 minutes.  Add pasta, cream, Parmesan, and butter; season with salt.  Toss to combine.  Transfer to a platter.

Bring 1 Tbsp olive oil and garlic, tomatoes, and basil to simmer over medium heat.  Pour over pasta.  Garnish with pine nuts.


It was so good that we started eating, and I forgot about taking pictures.  I've been very lazy with taking pictures lately, so I hardly have any picture of the prep.  Sometimes, the only pictures I might have are those taken with my old clunky blackberry.

Posted by at 7:59 PM 0 comments

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Cong You Bing - Scallion Pancakes

Scallion Pancakes

2 cups flour
1 Tbsp baking power
2/3 cup cold water
 Process in food processor for 40 seconds.  Remove.  Set aside.
2 cups flour
1 Tbsp salt
2/3 cup boiling water
Process in food processor for 40 seconds.  Add cold dough, pulse to combine, about 35 seconds.
Transfer to a floured surface, knead until smooth, about 4 minutes.  Transfer to greased bowl, let sit for 2 hours.
2 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
1-1/2 cups thinly sliced scallions
1 tsp crushed red chili flakes
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
Divide dough into 6 equal parts, roll out in rectangles thinly.  Brush with sesame oil, scallions, chili flakes and white pepper.  Roll tightly like jelly roll.  Then coil like a snail, tucking end underneath.  Flatten coil into a disk.  Roll out into 5" circle.

Let pancakes sit for about 10 minutes.

 Heat 2 tsp canola oil in skillet.  Cook, swirling skillet and turning once, until golden about crisp, about 10 minutes.


I made this dish twice.

The first time, I think I mistakenly used only 1 teaspoon of baking powder instead of 1 tablespoon as called for in the recipe.  However, it turned out better.

The second time, I followed the recipe, and the pancake was a bit bitter / metallic.  Did not like as much.  Or maybe the novelty wore off, so I wasn't as enamored with it as the first time.

Posted by at 4:20 PM 0 comments

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Artisan Bread in 5 minutes

Follow my success with the focaccia bread, I started reading more about bread making.
Someone mentioned the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.
Read it.
No, not the entire book.  Just enough to get started on the recipe.

And I got so confused.

I now got into the habit of weighing my ingredients, not measuring them anymore.
So I tried to convert the recipe into weight.

The author's conversion in this article on his website is different from other source(s).   And I ran out of AP flour and wanted to use bread flour, but not sure of what changes I needed to do.  So I was glad that he provided the hydration percentage.

For most unbleached AP flours (Gold Medal, etc.):  75% hydration
King Arthur AP:  81% hydration
Bread flour:  83% hydration
High-gluten flour:  85% hydration.

So I started my dough with...

700g bread flour
581g warm water
2 teaspoons yeast (I didn't use the whole 1.5 Tablespoons yeast called for in the recipe).
2 teaspoons salt.

The dough has been sitting out for over an hour.
Will bake it tomorrow and update.

I baked it.  It was.. a bit of a downer.  It wasn't bad, but wasn't great.  I didn't even bother to take a picture of the inside.  It wouldn't be qualified for "artisan."


The slashing was horrible I know.  It was my first time slashing, and I didn't have a sharp knife so I used a steak knife.

I also use the dough to make Cinnamon Rolls.  Again, disappointing.

Not sure if I would try it again.
Posted by at 8:41 PM 0 comments

The Best Focaccia Bread Ever

This. was. the best focaccia ever.
So it was the best focaccia I've baked.
And it was the first focaccia I've ever baked.
Still, it has the potential to be the best focaccia in the universe.

Except it was a bit salty.  Okay, really salty!
But that was because I used the Alessi Coarse Sea Salt, which made all my dishes so salty.
Who says Mediterranean sea salt is less salty?  Next time, I'll stick with Diamond Kosher Salt.

Could it be that I used 1 tsp salt instead of the 1/2 teaspoon called for in the recipe?  Hmmm...

Again, the focaccia was so good.  And so easy.
So easy that I could bake it every day.  But that would mean gaining one pound in a day.  7 lbs in a week.  30 lbs in a month. Yikes!

It required no kneading.  My kind of bread.  I've heard of no knead bread before, but never paid any attention to it.  Until now.

So good that I'm creating a post for it.  So I can keep it for myself.  And for posterity.



See?  Doesn't it look gorgeous?

And I lifted this recipe from CI-2010Sep&Oct.  Cryptic eh?  Well that was intentional.

On to the recipe already!

Biga

1/2 cup (2-1/2 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/3 cup (2-2/3 ounces) warm water (100-110F)
1/4 teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast.

 Combine flour, water and yeast in a large bowl.  Stir to combine.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature (70F) overnight (8 - 24 hours).  Use immediately or store in refrigerator for up to 3 days (allow to stand at room temp 30 minutes before proceeding with recipe).

Dough

2-1/2 cups (12-1/2 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus extra for shaping
1-1/4 cups (10 ounces) warm water (100-110F)
1 teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast
Kosher salt (don't use Alessi Coarse Sea Salt!)
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves

 Stir flour, water and yeast into biga until uniform.  Cover with plastic wrap and let raise at room temp for 15 minutes.

 Sprinkle 2 teaspoons salt over dough, stir into dough until thoroughly incorporated.  

 Cover with plastic wrap and let raise at room temp for 30 minutes. (#1)

 Fold dough.  Lift edge and and fold toward middle.  Turn bowl.  Fold.  Turn bowl.  Fold.  All around, about 8 turns.

 Cover with plastic wrap and let rise another 30 minutes. (#2)
Repeat turning and folding.
Cover with plastic wrap and let rise another 30 minutes. (#3)
Repeat turning and folding.

 Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position.  Place baking stone on rack.  Heat overn to 500F at least 30 minutes before baking.

 Transfer dough to a lightly floured counter.  Lightly dust top of dough with flour and divide in half.  Shape each piece of dough into 5-inch round by gently tucking under edges.

 Coat two 9-inch round cake pans with 2 tablespoons olive oil each.  
Sprinkle each pan with 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt.  
Place round of dough in pan, top side down; slide dough around pan to coat bottom and sides, then flip over.
Repeat with second piece of dough.
Cover pans with plastic wrap and let rest for 5 minutes.

 Using finger tips, press dough out toward edges of pan.  (If dough resists stretching, let it relax for 5 to 10 minutes before trying again.)  
Using dinner fork, poke surface of dough 25 or 30 times, popping any large bubbles.  
Sprinkle rosemary evenly over top of dough.  
Let dough rest until slightly bubbly, 5 to 10 minutes.

 Place pans on baking stone and reduce oven temperature to 450 degrees. 
Bake until tops are golden brown, 25 to 28 minutes, switching placement of pans halfway through baking.  
Transfer pans to wire rack and let cool 5 minutes.
Remove loaves from pan and return to wire rack. 
Brush tops with any oil remaining in pan.
Let cool 30 minutes before serving.


I baked the focaccia using the lazy steaming method.  I heated roasting pan with the baking stone, and after placing the cake pans onto the stone, I also threw in a few ice cubes into the roasting pan to create stream.  That supposed to do something good to the bread, but I forgot exactly what.

My son commented that the baked (burnt?) rosemary smelled like burnt glue.  Must the the sap from the fresh rosemary.  Next time, I will mix the rosemary with the olive oil before spreading it on so the rosemary won't burn as bad.

My dough was very wet and sticky.  But the focaccia turned out beautifully.  The wet dough created those big holes in the bread.

Note:  The hydration percent of the dough is 84% (the weight of water relative to the weight of flour).
Posted by at 8:27 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Staycation Destinations - Houston Metropolian

I saw this listing in the Fort Bend Parent magazine for staycation destinations in Houston area, and I just have to keep this list somewhere that I can refer to later. 

I considered saving it as a document on my PC, as an email, as a note on my blackberry, but I'm sure it'll be lost among the thousand documents I have.  My blog is the one place that's very sparse.  Besides, I can easy share the list with everyone else.

This would be a list of places I want to take my kids to.  I'm going to give myself until end of Summer of 2013 to cover all the destinations below.

CENTRAL
Free general admission every Thursday from 5-8 pm.
Free general admission on every first Sunday of the month. 
Admission:  Adult/Children 1+: $9
Annual membership $85 Family or $104 Family Plus.
Free general admission every Thursday from 3-6pm (summer) or 2-5pm (winter).
 
Admission:
Permanent Exhibit:  Adult: $15.  Child (3-11): $10.Planetarium or Butterfly Center:  Adult:  $8.  Child:  $7.
Giant Screen Theater:  Adult: $11.  Child: $9.
Free every first Tuesday of the month from 2pm - closing from September 2012 - May 2013.  (Free admission cancelled for July & August 2012).
Free general admission every Thursday from 2-5pm.
Free general admission every Thursday from 10am - 9pm.
NORTH
WEST
EAST
SOUTH
GALVESTON
Posted by at 12:38 PM 1 comments
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