Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Eat My Blog! SUMMER 2010 EDITION! June 19th

2,000 Baked Goods in one place...now thats a way to start my birthday weekend!!

I am so excited to be returning to LA just in time to participate in EAT MY BLOG! A charity Bake Sale including 70+ bakers and area restaurants and local chefs. All proceeds will be donated to the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank.

Last year was an awesome expirience - I brought Mini Pineapple Upside down Cakes and Mini Apple Bundt Cakes with Mascarpone Filling. This year, I will be donating Mini Chocolate Coconut Cakes w Toasted Coconut Custard Filling and Fluffy White Frosting and Flourless Almond Cakes with Mascarpone and Fresh Fruit!

All items will be priced between $1 and $4. Save your appetite! Check it out! Hope to see you there!


Click here for link to menu

List of participating bloggers…
http://deliciouscoma.com/

http://dianatakesabite.blogspot.com/
http://gmasbakery.wordpress.com/

http://laist.com/

http://seoul2soul.com/

http://eatingla.blogspot.com/
http://bsideblog.com/
http://ravenouscouple.blogspot.com/

http://stellarrecipes.blogspot.com/

http://duodishes.com/

http://gastronomyblog.com/
http://www.foodshethought.blogspot.com/

http://whatsgabycooking.com/

http://www.adadventurum.com/

http://www.burning-pasta.com/

http://www.hungrypassport.blogspot.com/

http://www.sarahthebear.com/
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dailydish/

http://www.domdivas.blogspot.com/

http://la-oc-foodie.blogspot.com/
http://mylastbite.wordpress.com/

http://mylifeasafoodie.com/

http://www.mattatouille.com/

http://www.theletmeeatcake.blogspot.com/

http://theroamingbelly.blogspot.com/

http://foodismynish.blogspot.com/

http://blogs.laweekly.com/squidink/

http://foodlibrarian.blogspot.com/

http://uncouthgourmands.com/

http://www.peteeatemall.com/

http://thesaltylawyer.wordpress.com/

http://www.acozykitchen.com/

http://dishingupdelights.blogspot.com/

http://lifewithawhisk.blogspot.com/

http://organicspark.blogspot.com/

http://yutjangsah.blogspot.com/

http://imlivingtoeat.wordpress.com/

http://www.fureyandthefeast.com/

http://bananawonder.blogspot.com/
http://www.twohungrypandas.com/

http://breadplusbutter.blogspot.com/

http://justjennrecipes.com/

http://cattycritic.wordpress.com/

http://hipcooks.com/
http://aforaubergine.com/
http://www.hautehealth.blogspot.com/

http://seekingfood.blogspot.com/

http://www.kitchenrunway.com/

http://www.nomsnotbombs.com/
http://la.metblogs.com/author/queequeg/
http://1hundredmiles.blogspot.com/

http://www.sweetlifekitchen.com/

http://www.lovintheoven.com/

http://noshwithme.com/
http://therealchefswife.blogspot.com/

http://showfoodchef.com/

http://nochoiceatall.blogspot.com//



Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Fried Tacos! A Tuesday quickie!

These are tasty! So easy to put together with leftovers. Use this simple idea as a starting point....be creative!

Fried Tacos
Corn Tortillas
Shredded Cheese
Taco Filling - beef, chicken, soy chorizo, grilled veggies, sauteed onions and peppers, scrambled eggs.....your favorite.
Oil for pan

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Lightly coat pan with oil. Place corn tortillas in skillet. Top with cheese and filling. Once corn tortilla is warm, fold over. Continue to fry til crispy and cheese is melted. Flip over and fry other side.

These are perfect with salsa, sour cream and lots of hot sauce. Look for the small corn tortillas to make a perfect snack.

Enjoy!
I am not a glutton - I am an explorer of food.
-Erma Bombeck

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Potato Puffs

Check it out! Leftovers and homemade - can't beat it!



Yes I am surprised as you that I am doing a savory post and I had leftover mashed potatoes. Shocking! Mashed potatoes are one of my favorite comfort foods along with macaroni and cheese (Mom's is the best!) and chocolate cake. Oh and flan and chili relleno burritos and french fries and ...focus Jenn focus.

Yes, Potato Puffs. Easy Easy. A little salt, pepper, flour, baking powder and an egg or two and there you have it. I added a little parmesan, too! These are so good, I kept eating them as I made them. I was so stuffed by the time I was done!
I made these for a little dinner party while my brother was in town. I even called my Mom to make sure I was making them right. We enjoyed them dipped in mustard BBQ Sauce along with cornbread, seans ribs and chicken and stewed green beans. The potato puffs were excellent! Sharing them with my bro and family, even better.


Potato Puffs
2 cups mashed potatoes (Our leftover potatoes were filled with roasted garlic- yum!)
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs, beaten
2 TBS grated parmesan cheese (optional)
salt and pepper to taste.
Oil for frying.

Other add ins - shredded cheese, shredded onions, chopped parsley, garlic... you get the idea.

Mix all ingredients together.

Heat oil in a deep-fryer or heavy deep pan to 365 degrees F (180 degrees C). Carefully drop the potato mixture by spoonfuls into the hot oil and fry until golden brown. I used a cookie scoop. Fry for about 5 minutes. Remove from oil to drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with salt or more parmesan cheese.


Enjoy!

If the doughnuts at the grocery store weren't meant to be free, they would lock up the doughnut case.
Clothes are just body sized napkins.
-Markisms

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with Creamy Vanilla Centers

Hostess has nothing on these!
I wanted to make something fun to take to friends. I thought I would make a variation on those Hostess Cupcakes from when I was young. I do see them every now and then at the stores (usually on a road trip at some random gas station on the middle of nowhere.) I am never tempted to buy them because I know how easy it is to whip up a batch at home. And once again if you cant pronounce it, dont eat it. There are a few exceptions two being worchestershire and charcuterie...funny I would use the later during a vegan post.
The recipe for these cupcakes are vegan but any good chocolate cupcake recipe will do and a vanilla pudding recipe too! And...you could use marshmallow type fluff...but what is it and should we eat it...probably not. A yummy vanilla pudding will crank these up a notch. Way better than fluff. The topping is simply soy milk melted chocolate or your favorite chocolate frosting recipe. Why not play around a little - peanut butter fillings, chocolate pudding or jam. Any way you make these it will make you feel like a kid again!
Enjoy!
Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes
3 cups all-purpose flour
**2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp distilled white vinegar
2 cups water
**Note - I am aware of all the discussions about sugar being vegan...charcoal, bones etc...organic unbleached cane sugar is easily substituted. Also look for organic sugar or raw sugar (turbinado). Same goes for powder sugar which I mention in a recipe at the bottom! ;o)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin tin or fill with paper liners.

Mix flour, sugar, cocoa powder, soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Mix oil, vanilla, vinegar and water in large measuring cup or pour all ingredients right into flour mix. Mix until smooth. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake for 15 minutes. Be sure to check with toothpick if done. Don't over bake.

Remove form oven and let cool.

Vegan Vanilla Filling
1/3 cup sugar
3 tbsp cornstarch
1/8 tsp salt
2 cups soy milk
1 tsp vanilla

Mix the sugar, cornstarch and salt in a large saucepan. Gradually blend in the soy milk, stirring constantly to avoid lumps.

Cook the mixture over low heat, stirring constantly until thickened. Cook for an additional 2 to 3 minutes, stirring now and then.

Remove the pudding from the heat and add the vanilla. Pour into bowl. Chill until firm, about 2 to 3 hours.



Place into pastry bag with star tip or use zip lock bag and cut corner. Insert tip into center of cupcake and squeeze a small amount into cupcake.

When using the zip lock bag it may be a little harder to fill the cupcake so use a small knife to make a slit and push bag in and squeeze in filling. Top with your fav frosting or with recipe below.

Vegan Chocolate Ganache
1/4 cup Silk Soy Milk - Plain, Chocolate or Vanilla
2 tsp vanilla
12 ounces Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
Melt chips in double boiler over simmering water. In a separate pan heat soy milk just til it simmers. When chocolate chips have melted remove from heat and whisk in soy milk. Add vanilla. You can add more chocolate chip and soy milk to get the consistency you like.






You can of course decorate these with the traditional swirls that are so familiar. Just combine a cup of powdered sugar with a few drops of soy milk or water. Stir in just a few drops of water at a time...you should need very little. Place in decorating bag or again put in a small plastic bag and snip of the corner...Why not put your sweeties name or a message of love!

Hope you enjoy!
Happy baking!


“Who throws a cupcake? …honestly!”- young Dr Evil

Monday, February 15, 2010

I have gone Bananas. 3 Recipes!

I always have a lot of bananas. I think they are mating in my freezer. Every time I look - there they are. I love having frozen bananas on hand. Its easy to whip up a quick dessert - cake, cookies or bread. Lately at Cirque we always have ripe bananas. I think some folks wait to see what banana treat will I come up with next. I thought, along with the last post on Banana Foster Min Bundt Cake, I would share a few more of my favs.

Mini Banana cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 4 bananas)
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners or grease and flour muffin pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Make a well in center of flour mixture. In well, mix together butter, mashed bananas, eggs, and vanilla. Stir to incorporate flour mixture (do not overmix).

Divide batter evenly into muffin cups.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.

Remove cupcakes from pan; cool completely on a wire rack.

Frost with your favorite cream cheese frosting recipe.

Enjoy!

Banana Cakes with Caramel Frosting

1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup mashed ripe banana (about 2 small to medium bananas)
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans (Optional)
2 cups sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sour cream

In a large mixing bowl cream butter and sugar. Add mashed bananas. Beat well - about one minute. Add eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla and chopped nuts. Sift together the sifted cake flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Beat flour mixture into creamed mixture alternately with sour cream. Beat for 2 minutes on medium speed of electric mixer. Pour batter into greased cake pans. Bake at 350° for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool on wire racks for 10 minutes. Turn out cakes and cool completely on racks.


Caramel Frosting
2 cups dark brown sugar, firmly packed
6 tablespoons butter
dash salt
1/2 cup milk
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a saucepan, combine brown sugar, butter, salt, and milk. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat. Let cool 10 minutes. Gradually beat in powdered sugar. Continue beating until spreading consistency; add vanilla and blend well. frost cakes and top with caramel or more nuts.

For Banana Chocolate Chip Cake - I fold 1 cup of chocolate chips into batter. I replace 1/4 cup of powder sugar with cocoa powder to make caramel chocolate frosting.

Banana Roll with Cream Cheeese Filling


I got this fabulous recipe from the site http://www.pinchmysalt.com/. Here is the link - Banana Roll from Pinch My Salt.....check it out!

I love all these recipes. I am glad I found have them. They are all similar. I have used the cupcake recipe a million different ways. Hope you try one soon.

Happy Baking!

Banana Facts
3 medium size bananas weigh approximately 1 pound.
A cluster of bananas is called a hand and consists of 10 to 20 bananas, which are known as fingers.
As bananas ripen, the starch in the fruit turns to sugar. Therefore, the riper the banana the sweeter it will taste.
Bananas are a good source of vitamin C, potassium and dietary fiber.
Bananas are America's #1 fruit.
Bananas are available all year-round. They are harvested every day of the year.
Bananas are great for athletic and fitness activity because they replenish necessary carbohydrates, glycogen and body fluids burned during exercise.
Bananas have no fat, cholesterol or sodium.
Bananas were officially introduced to the American public at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition. Each banana was wrapped in foil and sold for 10 cents. Before that time, bananas came to America on the decks of sailing ships as sailors took a few stems home after traveling in the Caribbean.
In 2001, there were more than 300 banana-related accidents in Britain, most involving people slipping on skins.
In Eastern Africa you can buy banana beer. This beer is brewed from bananas.
Over 96% of American households purchase bananas at least once each month.
Some horticulturists suspect that the banana was the earth's first fruit. Banana plants have been in cultivation since the time of recorded history. One of the first records of bananas dates back to Alexander the Great's conquest of India where he first discovered bananas in 327 B.C.
The average American consumes over 28 pounds of bananas each year.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Banana Fosters Mini Bundt Cakes

Laissez les bon temps rouler!
Let the good times roll!
Butter, Brown Sugar, Rum and Cinnamon.
Sounds like a good time to me!


With Mardi Gras upon us I thought I would share a recipe for a mini bundt cakes filled with the flavors of bananas foster. The recipe makes 12 mini bundt cakes. The recipe can easily be made into a 13 X 9 cake or 2 9 inch cakes pans. You can use the topping anyway you would like as a topping or filling for the cakes.

They are tasty and pretty too!

Note: It is going to be a banana fest this week. Check back this week for more banana recipes!
Cake Batter
3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 TBS baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp nutmeg
1-1/2 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium bananas)
3 TBS rum or 1 TBS vanilla
4 TBS vegetable oil
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour mini bundt pans. In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking soda and spices. In a blender, combine bananas, rum or vanilla, oil, milk. Blend well. Add liquid mixture into dry mixture. Combine completely. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on racks in pans for 5 minutes. Remove from pans to finish cooling.

Creamy Topping
Now dont be alarmed. I know I say everything homemade...but there are three components to this recipe and this is semi homemade....check it out.
1 small package vanilla instant pudding
1 8 oz package cream cheese, room temp
1/2 cup milk
3 bananas slices, tossed in a little lemon juice


Mix all the ingredients my hand or in a mixer till smooth. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes to let it set up.
Top each cooled bundt cake with some of the topping mixture. Decoratively place bananas on top of each bundt cake.

Drizzle with caramel.

Caramel Topping
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
2 TBS Rum - You can leave rum out and replace with rum flavor or more vanilla
1 tsp vanilla

In a small saucepan melt butter with brown sugar. Stir until brown sugar is melted and smooth. Add cinnamon. Turn off heat. Add rum. Stir for a minute. Turn heat back on and continue to stir for two minutes til thick. Turn off heat and stir in vanilla.

Let cool slightly. Drizzle over cakes.

Enjoy!
Happy Mardi Gras!
Show your cakes!

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Shouldn't Everyday Be Valentines Day?

That way I could bake heart shaped cookies everyday!




Do I really need a day to show how much I love you
I hope I do that everyday
Sometimes thru affection and sometimes in other ways

So I head to the kitchen with you in mind
Wanting to make you something special
Usually of the lemon or shortbread kind

This time I made them with pecans
Strawberry guava jam too
I cut them in to heart shapes
to show love to you

I hope that you like them
Hope you find them sweet and yummy
I hope you feel how much I care deep in your tummy

Happy Heart Day!


Pecan Linzer Cookies

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup pecan halves, toasted
2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar, plus more for sprinkling
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup cherry jam, strained (I used strawberry guava)



Directions
Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl; set aside. Pulse pecans, confectioners' sugar, salt, and cinnamon in a food processor until finely ground (but not wet); transfer to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.


Add butter and granulated sugar; mix on medium speed until fluffy. Mix in vanilla and egg. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture; mix until combined. Halve dough; shape into disks. Wrap in plastic; refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.


**Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/8 inch thick. Refrigerate 20 minutes. Cut out squares with a 2-inch fluted cutter. Cut out centers of half the squares with a 1/2-inch heart cutter; re roll scraps. Space 2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake squares and hearts until pale golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to racks to cool.


Meanwhile, heat jam in a small saucepan over medium heat until reduced and thickened, about 7 minutes; let cool.


Sprinkle cutout cookies with confectioners' sugar. Spread jam onto uncut squares; top with cutout ones. Store in an airtight container up to 2 days.


** I cut all the dough into heart shapes. I took half of the heart shapes and cut out a heart shaped window with a smaller cutter.


Remember - Make somethin homemade and share it with someone you love!!


The queen of hearts she made some tarts

All on a summer day.

The knave of hearts, he stole those tarts

And took them quite away.

- Alice in Wonderland

(And a sweet tweet from Miss Jackie!)