Cream Puffs

I was NOT planning to bake tonight, just to let you know. But my housemate Citra found me while I was watching the newest episode of 'White Collar'-- "Aren't we suppose to make cream puffs today?" she asked. Uhm... actually I did promise to show her how to make cream puffs last night. Long story short, Citra had made some vanilla custard, er... more like vanilla pudding (she found the recipe from the internet, so don't ask me how she ended up with the custard). She was planning on eating the custard with some white bread. Okay, let's imagine that: custard sandwiched between 2 pieces of white bread...... nahhhh!! I'd like to believe that I have saved her (and the custard) by stopping her from doing just that. Then I promised her that I would show her how to make cream puffs, so she can make better use of the poor custard. There you go, my excuse of baking tonight! And no, I do not bake every day.




The custard she made turned out a bit eggy, so I whipped some heavy cream, folded the custard in, and (okay, here comes the magic) some of my precious stash of aged Puerto Rican rum, turning them into my rendition of light pastry cream. Citra and I then made pâte à choux (recipe below), but couldn't decide whether to make it into choux cream or eclair shape- we made one choux cream and the rest were eclairs. After the shells were baked and cooled, we filled them with custard cream, and dipped them in melted chocolate (because I'm turning into chocolate snob, I only have 60% cocoa Ghirardelli baking discs on my stash).


Basic pâte à choux:

200 ml H2O
100 gr butter
110 gr flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs

• Preheat oven to 375F.
  
• Put water, butter, and salt into saucepan. Heat until boiled and butter melted. Remove from heat and immediately stir in flour and mix vigorously using wooden spoon (it will resemble mashed potatoes). Set aside until mixture is cool to touch. Beat eggs in, one at a time, mix vigorously again (you can utilize the electric mixer here) until dough turns smooth and shiny.
  
• Pipe dough into tall round shape (to make choux cream), or lengthwise (to make eclairs). Bake in preheated oven for 35-minutes until puffed up and golden brown. Note: I recall when my mom taught me to make cream puffs long time ago. She told me not to attempt peeking into the oven until the puffs turn golden brown or they will deflate. So make sure not to peek or take them out until your 35-minutes is up, otherwise you'll end up with deflated shells that cannot be filled!
• You know the drill, cut open the shell and fill them with the filling. Dip into melted chocolate, or if you're too lazy, dust them with powdered sugar.
  

Cat's Tongue Cookies

French folks claim these cookies as, uhm.... French. And Spanish folks claim these as theirs. But growing up, I learned this recipe from my mom, and she's neither French nor Spanish. She's Indonesian (of course), and we do believe that these cookies are ours, and we're pretty much far far away Europe. God knows what other countries claim these little cookies as theirs! They refer these little guys as 'Langues de Chat' in France, 'Lenguas de Gato' in Spain, and 'Lidah Kucing' in Indonesia- all can be translated into 'Cat's Tongue'. You might guessed it already, if you Google image search them, these all refer to the same cookies!


Below is a recipe for basic version of these cookies, just like how mom makes them (sorry folks, recipe is in metrics so you'll need to get the scale out). Oo, it's so unbelievably easy to make and you'll need very few pantry ingredients! You can make simple modifications, such as adding citrus zest (orange, lemon, etc.) into the batter, or dip them (baked, of course) in melted chocolate and let the chocolate set. They are great to be eaten as is, or eat them with couple scoops of your favorite ice cream. I prefer the former.


"Lidah Kucing" aka Langues de Chat, Lenguas de Gato

250 grams margarine or butter (* see note below)
200 grams powdered sugar
250 grams flour
5 egg whites
1 tsp good quality vanilla extract

• Heat oven to 375F.
• Beat sugar and margarine or butter until pale, add vanilla and egg whites one at a time, and continue beating (do your best to combine the egg whites, the batter may look like cottage cheese but it'll do it). Add flour and stir with spoon until thoroughly combined.
• Put batter into ziplock bag and snip one of the corner (~1cm). Pipe batter into cookie sheets lined with parchment paper, about 5cm in length. Space 2cm between cookies, they will flatten as they're baked.
• Bake in preheated oven until GBD (I honestly didn't keep track how long it took them to bake, the edge will be browned).

*) I'm learning tricks here and there as I bake. Here's what I've learned for this recipe: butter creates softer cookies (a bit chewy in the middle), and margarine creates crisp cookies. I like them crispy and not chewy whatsoever, like how they're suppose to be. Here, I used 1/2 butter and 1/2 margarine, just because I felt like it.

Honey Oats Yogurt Bread

This is a lean and wholesome bread, I created the original recipe many months ago while staring into my pantry thinking about what stuff I already have that I can turn into bread without going to the store. The bread turned out delicious and moist (I'm guessing it's the yogurt), so I scratch it down on a piece of old envelope and stick it inside my bread recipe book.

Fast forward to last night.... I did the exact same thing: staring into my pantry. But, this time I thought about the chicken scratch recipe! I had to make little modification to the original, since I only have some honey Greek yogurt in the fridge, but hey, it's even better, right?! Below is the recipe, it will make a small 1lb loaf.



Honey Oats Yogurt Bread
scant 1/2 c H2O
1 (5.3 oz) honey Greek yogurt
1-1/2 c bread flour
1/2 c oatmeal
1/4 c wheat bran
2 tsp gluten
1 tsp salt
1-1/4 tsp SAF yeast

Knead and shape into round loaf. Let rise at room temperature for 1- to 2-hours. I sprayed the loaf with water, and sprinkled with more oats. Bake at 365F oven for 30-minutes. You know the loaf is done when it sounds hallow when tapped.

Rosemary cottage cheese bread

So the ladies in the lab decided couple weeks ago that Thursday is the lunch day. Each of us would bring some food to share, and the staples so far consist of soup, salad, bread, cheese, and Kristina would tell you... the pepper jelly (yes, she's addicted to it!). As usual, I brought the bread component for the lunch today: the Rosemary cottage cheese bread, made with the rosemary that Kristina and I scavenged from the flower box next to our building's fire exit.





Here's the recipe, adapted from Beth Hensperger's book:

3/4 c H2O
3/4 c cottage cheese
2 tbsp olive oil
2-1/2 c bread flour
1/2 c whole wheat flour
2 tbsp sugar
1-1/2 tsp gluten
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, bruised and chopped (more for topping the loaf)
1-1/2 tsp salt
1-1/2 tsp SAF yeast

Knead and shape the loaf. I like to have my loaf rise cold and slow, overnight inside my non-heated pantry was perfect in winter months. Sprinkle loaf with rosemary and slit top lengthwise. Bake 360F for 30-minutes till G.B.D (Golden Brown Delicious: just heard it today on Food network).

The first blog entry!

Hi everyone,



Many of you have asked if I would ever documented all the baked goods that I've created these past couple of years! As many of you said, cupcakes are my speciality. But I also made cakes and recently I'm into baking rustic breads. You might have seen them on the lab lunch table, FIUTS office, events, 'the blue house', potlucks, or other gatherings. And now, you can follow what comes out from my oven anywhere you are (and checked where they're destined for). I'll post my old baking creations here and there.


warning: I often modified or even came out with my own recipe, and despite of my science background, I don't often write those down. So if I don't post the recipe, doesn't mean that I don't want to share it with you, I just simply don't remember!



Enjoy!



ps: don't forget to check our party planning blog too that Kim and I started! We do make cakes for your special occasions!