lionel richie got a boob job!

i had the strangest dream last night. my mom and i were in a cvs and she came out of the bathroom ranting and raving "you'll never believe it! lionel richie got a boob job!" i started cracking up and was like "ma, lionel richie?" and she just said "oh, i mean alicia keys. alicia keys got a boob job! can you believe it?!" i woke up laughing.

anyway, back to the cooking. i came across this recipe and decided i had to try it just based on the name. i would have done them a lot sooner but safflower oil is hard to come by!

shake your bun-buns
[from have cake, will travel]

ingredients:
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cup bread flour
1 t sea salt
2 T light brown sugar, packed
1 package instant yeast
2 T warm water
2 T safflower oil
1 cup unwsweetened soymilk
2 T sesame seeds or poppy seeds, for decoration [optional]

directions:
in a medium bowl, whisk warm water with yeast. let sit for 10 minutes.

if your soymilk was in the fridge, heat it up without boiling for about a minute in your microwave. add to yeast preparation once its ready, along with oil. whisk some more.

in another bowl, whisk together flours, salt, and sugar. add to yeast preparation and stir well, using your hands once it’s hard to do so with your spoon. knead for about 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. cover with plastic wrap, let rise for 1 hour.

make 4-6 buns out of the dough. place on a lightly oiled baking sheet. cover with a damp towel, let rise for 1 hour in a warm, draft-free place.

lightly brush buns with water, add sprinkle sesame seeds or poppy seeds on top before sliding them into the oven, if you choose to. preheat oven to 375F, bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. let cool on a rack.

boys ruin things

today i found out my friend's boyfriend broke up with her :[ so to cheer her up, i baked her a cake.

well, actually, two. i had some oreos leftover from the last batch of brownies that i tried out so i decided to make oreo cake.

the first was made using my new wilton "tasty-fill" mini cake pan set. this allowed me to bake the cake in two pieces that had little wells in their centers.


see what i mean? here you can see the two pieces, the mini bundt in the back, and the pieces i cut off to level the cakes. i filled the wells with a chocolate ganache, refrigerated a bit, and turned one on top of the other [so that the two wells were put together in the middle of the cake]. then i frosted the cake with a homemade vanilla buttercream frosting and decorated with crushed oreos.


i had leftover batter so i got to use my mini bundt cake pan. i topped this one with a chocolate glaze and some more crushed oreos.


both the cake and the frosting turned out really well and tasted really yummy. kinda comfort-foody...exactly what i was looking for. ashley enjoyed it until tristin accidentally stuck her leg in the cake, got frosting all over her pants, and somehow got hair stuck on the glaze. oh well, at least she has a second cake :]

both recipes are from baking bites.

Oreo Cupcakes

ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 egg whites, room temperature
3/4 cup milk
1 1/4 cups crushed oreo cookies (10 cookies)

directions:
Preheat the oven to 350F. Line 24 muffin cups with baking cups.

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

In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and the butter until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla extract, then beat in the egg whites one at a time, making sure each is fully incorporated before adding the next.

Working in 4 or 5 additions, alternately add the flour mixture and the milk to the sugar mixture. Keep the mixer on low speed while you do this. When just combined, stir in the crushed oreos. Spoon batter evenly into muffin tins, filling each about 2/3 full.

Bake for 15-18 minutes at 350F, until a toothpick comes out clean (a few chocolate cookie crumbs are fine, but not batter). Cool completely on a wire rack before frosting. Store in an airtight container if not serving the same day.

Makes 24 cupcakes.

Note: If you only have a 12-cup muffin tin, the batter will not suffer from sitting around for a few minutes while the first batch bakes. Just be sure to let the pan cool completely before filling it up again.

Variation: To make plain vanilla cupcakes, simply omit the oreos. You might end up with only about 18 cupcakes, but as long as you fill the tins about 2/3 full, the baking time will be the same.

Quick Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

ingredients:
1 stick butter, room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

directions:
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and beat, with an electric mixer, until frosting is creamy, 3-5 minutes.

Frost cupcakes with frosting using a butter knife or offset spatula. Add as much or as little frosting as desired. If making oreo cupcakes, garnish with additional chunks of Oreo.

starbucks in a cake

yesterday i found out that one of my managers is leaving victoria's secret to work at aeropostale. considering that she was the one who hired me [twice, actually], i felt i owed her a little "thank you". and what better way to say "thank you" [or "i love you", "im sorry", or "good luck!" for that matter] than baked goods?! besides, i was looking for an opportunity to try out my new mini bundt cake pan.

so i decided to use a cupcake recipe and quarter it so that i wouldn't have too much extra batter. i actually ended up having the perfect amount and only had to level off the pan a teensy bit after the cake rose during baking. worked out fine and both my sister and i got to sample the part i cut off [and we both approved]. even though the recipe was just labeled as "chocolate cupcakes", the coffee flavor was definitely present [although not overpowering] so i decided to call this a chocolate mocha bundt cake.

it needed a little pretty on top so i used another recipe off the same site for a caramel glaze. i also sampled that and it was really yummy. i think it went with the mocha flavor nicely [kinda reminded me of a caramel frap from starbucks].

you can't really tell from the picture, but the cake was only about 3 1/2" in diameter...so cute!


i brought it to her today and she was soo excited! she literally jumped up and down. made my day :]

here are the amounts i used for my mini cake. the original recipes can be found by clicking the links.

mini chocolate mocha bundt cake
[from baking bites]

ingredients:
1/4 plus 1/8 cups all purpose flour
1/8 cup cocoa powder
1/2tsp instant coffee powder
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
tiny pinch sea salt
scant 1/4 cup milk
1/8 cup canola oil
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease mini bundt pan.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa power, instant coffee powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a small bowl, whisk together milk, canola oil and vanilla extract. Pour into dry ingredients and stir until just combined and no streaks of flour remain. Pour batter into pan.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
Turn cake out onto a wire rack to cool completely before drizzling with glaze.

caramel glaze
[from baking bites]

ingredients:
1/2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/8 cup milk
pinch sea salt
1/2 plus 1/8 cups powdered sugar

directions:
Melt butter in a small saucepan. Stir in brown sugar, milk and salt. Bring to a boil and boil for about two minutes. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Stir in powdered sugar. Frosting should be somewhat thick, but not stiff.

Drizzle over cake.

perfect potstickers

i'm in love with alton brown. along with guy fieri, he's one of my favorite chefs. i absolutely love his show "good eats" and i always learn a lot. so after watching an episode called "wanton ways", i was inspired to make potstickers for the first time ever.

i gotta say, they were a lot of work. probably took me about two hours...mainly because i doubled the recipe, but also because my pan would only fit 5-6 at a time. however, it was totally worth it. they were delicious! they had great flavor that had slightly spicy undertones and a really nice texture. they were, in my opinion, way better than chinese takeout because they weren't oily or greasy but instead they were fresh, flavorful and crispy. this one's definitely making it to the recipe box.

i subbed ground beef for the pork and went without the bell peppers. quite spicy enough without them :]

perfect potstickers
[from food network]

ingredients:
1/2 pound ground pork
1/4 cup finely chopped scallions
2 tablespoons finely chopped red bell pepper
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons ketchup
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
35 to 40 small wonton wrappers
Water, for sealing wontons
3 to 4 tablespoons vegetable oil, for frying
1 1/3 cups chicken stock, divided

directions:
Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.

Combine the first 11 ingredients in a medium-size mixing bowl (pork through cayenne). Set aside.

To form the dumplings, remove 1 wonton wrapper from the package, covering the others with a damp cloth. Brush 2 of the edges of the wrapper lightly with water. Place 1/2 rounded teaspoon of the pork mixture in the center of the wrapper. Fold over, seal edges, and shape as desired. Set on a sheet pan and cover with a damp cloth. Repeat procedure until all of the filling is gone.

Heat a 12-inch saute pan over medium heat. Brush with vegetable oil once hot. Add 8 to 10 potstickers at a time to the pan and cook for 2 minutes, without touching. Once the 2 minutes are up, gently add 1/3 cup chicken stock to the pan, turn the heat down to low, cover, and cook for another 2 minutes. Remove wontons to a heatproof platter and place in the warm oven. Clean the pan in between batches by pouring in water and allowing the pan to deglaze. Repeat until all the wontons are cooked. Serve immediately.

fancy pants

so fancy that my mom decided to pair it with her best wine [cooler]. you can use brussels sprouts for this, but i'm not a huge fan so i went with broccoli.

quinoa with hazelnut parsley pesto
[from have cake, will travel]

the pesto:
1/4 cup hazelnuts, toasted
1 big or 2 smaller clove(s) garlic, pressed
2 T freshly squeezed lemon juice
generous pinch coarse sea salt
1 bunch curly parsley, stemmed = about 1 1/2 cup, super packed
2 T extra virgin olive oil

in a food processor, combine hazelnuts, garlic, and lemon juice. pulse several times to grind the nuts.

add salt and parsley, process for a minute. drizzle EVOO and process until well combined, scraping the sides with a rubber spatula to make sure all’s well mixed.

set aside.

the quinoa:
1 cup quinoa, well rinsed
2 cups pure water

bring water to a boil in a medium saucepan. add quinoa and cook on medium heat, uncovered, for 10 minutes. drain quinoa, spread on a cookie sheet to let cool.

combine pesto with quinoa in a large bowl.

the broccoli:
1 broccoli crown, rinses and chopped
pinch coarse sea salt
1 T olive oil
1/4 cup chopped white onion
juice of half a lemon

in same medium saucepan used to cook the quinoa, heat oil and onion, cook until translucent, on medium heat.

add broccoli, lemon juice, and salt, cook until tender, about 5-7 minutes.
add a squirt of water if the broccoli stick a bit, to deglaze.

stir into quinoa pesto. serve warm, or at room temperature.