Blueberry Sour Cream Cake

My MIL shared a piece with me. I loved it. She shared the recipe with me, which was originally a Rhubarb Sour Cream Cake. I used homemade butter, and home-ripened (soured) cream instead of store-bought sour cream. I added 1/2 t almond extract to the recipe as well, lessened the sugar.

My husband is not a big fan of desserts/cakes with blueberries. But he LOVED this so much he had at least 3 servings after the first bite. I baked this last night.

I had to bake another batch today. My sons loved it too and I brought some to work. Needless to say my co-workers loved it too.

Blueberry sour cream cake has quickly become a fave in our home...not gluten-/wheat-free, though...

Ingredients and Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Grease your baking pan.

Mix together wet ingredients:
1-1/2 c sugar (I did not fill the measuring cups)
1/2 c melted butter
1 cup sour cream
1 egg
1 t vanilla
1/2 t almond extract

In a separate bowl, mix together dry ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 t baking soda

Mix together the wet and dry ingredients.

Add the frozen blueberries.

Sprinkle the topping:
1/2 c brown sugar
1 T cinnamon

Cinnamon-sugar on top

Bake for 35 to 45 mins. Cover with paper towel when cooling.

A slice of the blueberry sourcream cake

Blueberry Syrup

Orange-Maple Chicken

Orange-Maple Chicken

I seldom update my foodblog now (although I have been more regularly posting on fb).  But this chicken recipe was a big hit, even to my hubby who usually does not like soy-sauce-rich marinades for meats.  We liked it so much we have had it twice within a month.
Perfect to eat with either mashed potatoes or "hasselback" potatoes (sliced thinly except for the bottom part, drizzled with bacon fat, then sprinkled with kosher salt).

Hasselback Potatoes

Ingredients:
2 cups orange juice
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup maple syrup
3 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
2 T olive oil
5 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp black pepper
4 to 5 lbs cut up chicken
arrowroot (or cornstarch) dissolved in water to thicken sauce

Instructions:
Combined everything in a covered 8x13 baking dish and marinate for at least 3 hours or overnight.
Bake at 400ºF for one hour. (If baking hasselback potatoes, bake them at the same time).
Take the pan out, dish out the sauce from the pan and transfer to a saucepan. (Keep the potatoes in the oven.)
Place the pan back into the oven. Meanwhile, thicken the sauce with the arrowroot-water mixture. (You may want to thicken only a little bit. You can use the rest of the marinade for stir-frying later, or re-use to marinate.)
Set the oven to low broil, baste chicken pieces with thickened sauce, broil for 2 mins, flip over, and baste the other side and broil another 2 mins.
Serve with the sauce in condiment cups for dipping chicken pieces.
(I actually also baked Honey Whole Wheat Loaf at the same time, during the last 30 mins. It takes some planning, but I had to start the dough earlier.)

If you have LEFTOVERS (though I doubt it)...shred the meat to bite size pieces. Sautee cut up veggies (ex.: bell peppers, celery, summer squash, thinly sliced carrots, etc.) in a little bit of butter or ghee. Add the chicken pieces, then pour the thickened sauce over. Instant stir-fry delight!

BananaApple Muffins (Banana Muffins with Banana-Apple Jam Filling)

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BananApple-Filled Banana Muffins 

I have been baking banana muffins a lot but never made a post about it, mainly because such recipes abound on the net, that an additional one from me that I based on simplyrecipes will just add to the net clutter. However, after I made BananApple Jam, I thought I'd marry the two just for fun. So I baked this just before I left for work today.

Honey Buttermilk Bread

Hubby has the honor of slicing the Honey Buttermilk Bread

I have a buttermilk jug in the fridge that has been sitting for more than a week now, originally intended for a caramel cinnamon roll recipe that I saw, but never had the gumption to make (somehow, really sweet rolls make me cringe at the present, with my struggles not to add any more pounds on my baggage).

I was preparing Pork Roasted in Mang Tomas Sarsa and was thinking of making a bread to go with it for supper. Then I saw the buttermilk...so off I looked for recipes. I combined a recipe of Honey Buttermilk Bread and one from breadworld since I wanted to make use of my Rapid Rise Yeast.   I imagined in my head how I was going to proceed, then prayed.

I was so excited when supper time came, and we were not disappointed with the outcome of the recipe I developed for a buttermilk bread that has honey and egg in addition to the old-fashioned recipe.

Spinach-Stuffed Chicken and Mushroom Bake

Spinach-stuffed Chicken with
Mushroom Sauce and Stuffing
Served on Plain Rice

Something I made up. Typically if I wanted a chicken casserole, I dice chicken breast and mix with cream of chicken, cubes of Velveeta cheese and a bag of chopped broccoli. But I had no cream of mushroom. And I had other extra items in my fridge that were waiting to be used, or else they just might expire.
So...what did I have?....hmmmm....think....think....

Artisan Honey Wheat Loaf

Artisan Honey Wheat Loaf

 I thought I had posted about this already...

This is one of our favorite healthier breads -- light whole wheat with bran cereal. It surprisingly turned out soft and moist.

Recipe from breadworld.com.

Ingredients:

Carrot Cake

Have a slice!

It was my first time (can you imagine???) making carrot cake. My fb friend Venus shared her recipe with me, describing it as moist. I made this for the first time because I was able to harvest tons of carrots this summer! And true to her promise, this recipe is so moist and good, my older son was saying even without the frosting it would still be good!

I had fun decorating!

For the icing, I used the recipe for cream cheese frosting in pumpkin whoopie pies because I did not have lemon on hand. I used Wilton food coloring (the ones that come in small tubs), placed some of the icing in a ziploc bag to pipe out the "carrots" and the "leaves."  I had to mark first where I would make the slices and placed a "carrot" on the top of each slice. I had more of the colored icing so I added "carrots" to the sides as well.

Venus posted her recipe and share with us fb friends, with the amounts in terms of weight. I converted them to the most convenient/closest volume measurements and came up with the following:

Ingredients:

Cake --
2 & 1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp cinnamon powder
1 &1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 &1/2 sticks (1&1/2 cups) butter
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup white sugar (you may opt to use less if you find this too sweet especially with the addition of the icing)
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups grated carrots
1 cup chopped dates/raisin (I used dates - they are also sweet)
1 cup crushed almonds/cashew/pecans/peanuts (I used almonds)

Cream Cheese Frosting --

4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
6 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 &1/2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 ºF.Lightly butter a 13"x9"x2" baking pan. Line with waxpaper. Set aside. Using electric mixer, beat butter and the two sugars in a large bowl until blended. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract. Sift dry ingredients together in a bowl. Add to sugar mixture.  Add carrots, dates, and almonds. Beat well. Pour batter into prepared pan, bake for 45 minutes or until done.  Cool and prepare frosting.


Beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl on medium speed until fluffy. Gradually beat in powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Frost the cake when completely cooled. Leave some icing for the "carrots."

Add enough food coloring to achieve the desired color for the carrot tubers and to the leaves. Have fun decorating, and ENJOY eating!

Peach Cobbler using Canned Peaches

Peach cobbler

One day this summer, after I gathered several cukes to can, my in-laws arrived with a bushel of tree-ripened peaches. I was not prepared to can them that day, because I had to work the next day, and was thinking of canning pickles instead. So my mind was racing. They were actually offering me two bushels (3 went to my SIL already), but I had to decline since one bushel was all I could possibly handle late that day. So I was panicking thinking that we were having (a big and hearty) supper and how I would be able to can these peaches in the remaining time and still get enough sleep to go to work the next day. My in-laws were sensitive enough to call me to say they were coming over after supper to help can these peaches. I was relieved, because I had no prior experience on how to can them.  We had an assembly line consisting of my two sons, my husband (they were peeling the blanched peaches), my FIL (who did the blanching), my MIL (who cut the peaches in halves) while I placed them in jars, adjusted lids and seals, and processed them in the boiling water canner. Done in three hours.

My canned peaches

Now my storage is boasting of these brightly colored jars of tree-ripened peaches, and while we have enjoyed them plain, I thought I'd try using these canned peaches for peach cobbler. (One would usually see fresh peaches in the recipes.)

Butter, batter, and peaches before baking

I followed a simple but marvelous recipe from myrecipes.com but made the necessary changes using my canned peaches, and also adding a hint of almond extract.

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup butter
For the batter ~~
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup milk
For the filling~~
1 qt canned peaches, drained
3/4 cup sugar, made wet with 2-3 tbsp of peach juice drained
1 tbsp lemon
1 capful almond extract
sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg per preference

Right after baking

INSTRUCTIONS:
Cut the butter into small pieces and lay on 9x13 pan. Place in the oven and pre-heat to 375°F. Meanwhile, measure the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix well. Boil peaches with sugar and almond extract while stirring gently. When butter is completely melted in the pan, remove from the oven and add the milk to the dry ingredients of batter until just moistened, then pour slowly into the melted butter without stirring.  When peaches/sugar mixture has boiled, spoon over the batter carefully. Sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg.  Bake at 375°F for 40 minutes or until golden brown.

The goodness of tree-ripened peaches was captured!

Upon taking it out of the oven, the juice will still be boiling. Let it cool down for at least 5 minutes.  Serve this warm (or cool per your preference). Can be enjoyed with vanilla ice cream.

My sons could not have enough! I am glad I had ~20 jars of these peaches...that and my canned apples will be rotating for fruity desserts for the whole year.

Manang's Oven-Fried Pork Chops

Oven-Fried Pork Chops

Simple and one of our family favorites (because this is one of the rare dishes that even my husband loves)...oven-fried instead of deep-fried -- less grease, less mess. [My husband does not particularly like soy sauce-marinated pork chops...too bad because I love that as well. To him, the flavor is too overpowering and masks the natural goodness of pork flavor.]

Ingredients:
8 pork chops
1 box Oven Fry (You might not be able to use all of two packets)
3 eggs
1/4 to 1/2 cup Dijon Mustard

Knorr Pork Gravy mix prepared according to package directions.

Instructions:
Pretty much self-explanatory in the following video:
Pre-heat oven to 400° F. Coat wire rack with oil.
Wipe each chop with paper towel.
Mix eggs and Dijon Mustard well.
Dip chops in egg-mustard mixture. Shake off excess.
Coat generously each chop with the oven fry coating. Pat to coat well. Shake off excess coating.
Place on wire rack on baking pan.
Bake for 30-45 minutes (depends on thickness of chops).
Serve with pork gravy, rice or mashed potatoes, and salad greens.

Manang's Hot Pockets (Baked Version of Siopao)

I roasted pork head sometime before my Nanay flew to her own mother in California (she was sick). I roasted that head for 4 hours (lower 2/3 of the oven) at 350° F then broiled until skin turned crackly (like crispy pata or lechon kawali). She was originally planning to turn the roasted pig's head into sisig, but after seeing that the skin turned super crispy, she decided we could just go ahead eat the skin while still crispy, then we proceeded to shred the meat part, discarding the fat. I then cut the meat in smaller pieces, then prepared as filling for siopao. Please see my post on pork sesame siopao for the recipe of the filling. Since this is the baked version, you can call this particular baked siopao as Hot Pockets Pork Sesame flavor.

Ingredients:
1 tube 8-pc crescent rolls (I used Pillsbury and I usually keep about two tubes at a time in the fridge)
Pork Sesame filling
Eggwash:
1 egg
1 T sugar
1 T milk

Instructions:
Pre-heat oven to 400°F.
Line a baking pan with parchment paper.
Separate the crescent roll dough along perforations into 8 pieces.
Place a tablespoonful (I used cookie scoop) near the wide end.
Fold dough over the filling and cover (see slide show or the video).
Place on the the parchment paper.
Brush tops with egg wash.
Create vents on top of dough.
Bake for 12 minutes. Rotate pan, then bake an additional 2 minutes.
Remove from oven and let cool on wire rack for about 5-20 minutes before eating as filling will be piping hot!

My two sons had these for merienda, and they were bitin! I had to make a second batch (the photos of which I used for the slide show). Then the rest of the filling that I had (I was able to make three batches of the recipe for that pork sesame filling) I am planning to make into siopao which I can freeze for future merienda.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Last year's Thanksgiving introduced my and my sons' taste buds to pumpkin whoopie pies. We have always had the classic chocolate whoopie pies, which, according to my husband, was the reason he bought a Kitchen Aid mixer as a birthday gift to me on m our first year as a couple. When my MIL prepared these pumpkin whoopie pies last year, my husband did not try them at all (which is nothing new). My sons, however, liked them, as I did. I was surprised that this year, after my sons carved out our pumpkins for Halloween, the younger one was anticipating that my MIL would make pumpkin whoopie pies again for Thanksgiving (my MIL was so gracious to host Thanksgiving this year). But my sons was disappointed because my MIL did not make them this time. So I promised him that I would make pumpkin whoopie pies the next day, and I will make it a Thanksgiving or Halloween tradition to make them yearly. I based my recipe on Nestle's VeryBestBaking.com website, with only the addition of two other spices.

Ingredients:


COOKIES
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
dash of nutmeg
dash of powdered cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
1 cup LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

CREME CHEESE FILLING (I doubled the recipe because we love thick fillings):
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
6 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar



Instructions:

FOR COOKIES:

PREHEAT oven to 350° F. Lightly grease or line four baking sheets with parchment paper.
COMBINE flour, baking powder, baking soda,spices and salt in medium bowl. Beat butter and sugar in large mixer bowl on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add pumpkin and vanilla extract; beat until smooth. Stir in flour mixture until combined. Drop by heaping measuring teaspoons onto prepared baking sheets. (A total of 72 cookies are needed for the recipe.)
BAKE for 10 to 13 minutes or until springy to the touch. Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

FOR CREAM CHEESE FILLING:

BEAT cream cheese, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl on medium speed until fluffy. Gradually beat in powdered sugar until light and fluffy.
SPREAD a heaping teaspoon of filling onto flat side of one cookie; top with flat side of second cookie to make a sandwich. Repeat with remaining cookies and filling. Store in covered container in refrigerator

Tender and Moist Wheat Pan de sal

With dulce de leche and butter - yummy!

Denise, an fb friend, once asked me if I have a good recipe for wheat pandesal, and I made a suggestion using my pandelimon recipe with wheat flour replacing half of the bread flour. When she had a good outcome that her friends and family all enjoyed and since then made every week, I felt the need to try it myself, although I used only one cup of whole wheat. The result was not the typical dry choking-hazard wheat breads, but one that was moist and tender. As always, the "secret" ingredient to make it softer and moister was the mashed potatoes (or sweet potatoes, whichever you prefer).

Ingredients:
1 / 2 cup milk
1 / 4 cup water
1 / 2 cup boiled and mashed regular or sweet potato
1 / 4 cup butter or margarine
1 large egg
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups bread flour + 2-3 tbsp while kneading
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp Fleischmann's bread machine yeast

Instructions:

Mix the milk, potato water and mashed potatoes and heat in the microwave for 30 seconds or so. Add the butter and egg, beat to mix then check temperature. It should be between 70-80 deg F (room temp). Pour into the bread machine pan. Add the dry ingredients. Set at dough cycle. after about 10 minutes, start adding flour gradually so that the dough is not too sticky (try to poke from time to time with fingers). It should appear relatively smooth and moist, not wet and flaky. The kneading ends on the 30th minute, then it rises for 1 hr.

Transfer the dough on a lightly greased and floured surface. Stretch and form into a log. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Slice every 1-1.5 inches intervals. Coat with breadcrumbs. Lay on sliced side on baking pan, 1 to 2 fingers apart. Let rise in warm oven for 30 minutes. Bake at 375 deg F for 10 minutes, rotate the pan, then bake for additional 2-3 minutes or until browned to your liking. Enjoy with butter, or your favorite "palaman" (I used dulce de leche and butter on the photo above) and cool the rest on wire rack for at least 30 minutes before storing in ziploc bag.

Kababayan (Filipino Muffins)

Note: I myself have not tried this recipe. I did not like it even when I was still a child growing up selling these in our tindahan/bakery, because I did not like the consistency. There was nothing special I found in it, but there were customers who continued to buy and eat them for some reason. So, for the sake of those who might be missing these and are interested to try and to see whether it was the same kababayan you used to like back in the Philippines, I am posting it here, as shared by a fb friend. Please be forewarned that there were those who tried this recipe and commented below, with poor feedback. I do not know when I will try this recipe. For those who have tried and did not like this, I hope you will experiment and troubleshoot what could be missing, and share your own corrected recipe. Thanks!

This recipe and photo above were shared by my fb friend Aileen Nopuente. Thanks for your generosity, Aileen!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 tsp. cream of tartar
3/4 cup softened butter( room temperature)
2 cup all purpose flour
2 cups cake flour
1 Tbs. baking powder 1 Tbs. vanilla extract
1 cup warm water
yellow food colouring,as needed for colour
28 ounces,sweetened condensed milk (2 cans)
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Directions:
- Pre-heat oven to 190"C .
- Combine sugar,salt,sugar,cream of tartar and soft butter in the bowl of an electric mixer.blend for 4 mins at lowest speed.
- Stir together in a separate bowl the all-purpose flour,cake flour & baking powder.
- Stir togeteher vanilla,water,yellowcolour and condensed milk in another small bowl.
- Add wet and dry ingredients along with oil alternately to mixer until it forms a smooth batter.
- Fill-each well-greased muffin cup with 1/2 cup batter.bake for 22 mins. or until toothpick inserted in cake center comes out clean.
- When the muffin is almost done, turn off the oven & partially open the oven door for another 5 mins. before taking out the muffin.

Classic Spritz Cookies

This is the second recipe I tried for use with my new toy cookie press. I must say I and my kids prefer this recipe, as this is lighter than the Marcato biscuits. Plus, the dough itself was very easy to squeeze out, I did not have to use the force of my body. The downside only was that it was harder to remove from the baking pan than the Marcato biscuits once baked, even after cooling for some time. So maybe next time I can experiment by actually greasing the pan with butter before squeezing out the dough (with the possibility of the dough not sticking to the pan). Or I can just try using parchment paper and holding the paper before pulling the cookie press up after squeezing out the dough.

Hubby, as I said in my previous post, preferred the denser Marcato biscuits (although he found it hard to admit it to me).

Just a note on the cheaper Norpro brand (link shown here):
I received it already. Made of aluminum, it is lighter and thinner than the Marcato I bought earlier (which, interestingly, also bears the Norpro mark on the box, but is made in Italy). I would think it will not be up to denser cookie dough like the Marcato biscuits. However, I think it is still a better option than plastic ones. I will also someday try its butter spritz cookie recipe included in the manual. The light dough below should not be a problem with this cheaper Norpro cookie press.

Wilton's Classic Spritz Cookies

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups butter softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon no-color almond extract
Makes: 7-8 dozen cookies.

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350ºF.

In bowl, combine flour and baking powder. In large bowl, beat butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg, milk, vanilla and almond extract; mix well. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture; beat until combined. Do not chill. Fill cookie press with dough and with desired disks, press cookies onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 10-12 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 2 minutes on cookie sheet on cooling rack. Remove from sheet; cool completely.

Goodie Bars/Gooey Butter Bars

Goodie Bars/Gooey Butter Bars

Last time I worked, one of the CNA's came at 2PM and brought a tin can of cookies and bars. I had a taste of some of them, but this one really made me ask for a recipe. She did not have the recipe on hand, and just described the ingredients somehow, but promised me that she would write it down sometime and leave a copy in my mailbox.

You see, there was a time I was in a baking frenzy making "bars" using the recipes on Nestle and Hershey's chocolate websites, but after tasting several of them, I was sick all too soon with the sweetness, and I had a tough time cutting through the bars that they did not look at all like the ones in the photos (must be something I did wrong, but the results discouraged me from making them again). I cut them bite-size (because I could not tolerate a big chunk) but they lasted a whole month with nobody in the household taking a second serving. I chucked the whole batch then...hard and dry already. What a waste.

On the contrary, that goodie bar was something that I had to restrain myself from getting some more, so as to leave enough for the other co-workers. It was that good.

Well, as soon as I got home, despite the start of a migraine attack, I dreadfully faced the glare of my laptop to look for a recipe with the few ingredients I remembered my co-worker told me it had. This one came close. So last night I baked it (without the almond toffee bits because I mistakenly got a package of milk chocolate toffee bits instead and opted to just leave that out). The result???

It was the right recipe although it seemed sweeter.

After baking it for 45 minutes (because I was afraid the 50 mins recommended might dry up the whole thing), I let it stand overnight, with the pan resting on a cooling wire rack, the top protected by a sheet of paper towel. It was still super moist by the time I cut it (completely cold then) and I made a mental note to bake it for the full 50 minutes next time). I had a hard time cutting through because it was sticky, but nevertheless, it was so good, crunchy at the bottom and gooey at the top. After cutting them into bite-size pieces, I let them stand with enough space in between to further dry up the pieces.

The kids loved these. They munched quite a lot when they came home from school. They said, "This is really good!"

I let hubby taste it and he liked it alright. He said his mom made something like it when he was a child, but it was called Congo squares and with chocolate bits. However, he told me not to bother with those, because as long as I make the cookies that I made today with a cookie press, he'd be happy (I will post about it next).

Goodie Bars recipe by Mike and Alicia Orth of Creative Pixels

Cake:
1 (18.25-ounce) box yellow cake mix
1 large egg
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
Filling:
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 (16-ounce) box confectioners' sugar (you may want to try to mix in 12 oz first and taste the dough if you don't want it too sweet; optional to save some for sprinkling on top)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup almond toffee bits (optional)



1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan.

2. With an electric mixer stir together the butter, cake mix and 1 egg. Spread into the greased pan and pat down. (I used a hand mixer.)

3. Still using an electric (hand) mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Add the confectioners' sugar and beat well. Reduce the speed and slowly pour in the butter. Mix well. Fold in the toffee bits (I did not).

4. Pour filling onto cake mixture and spread evenly. (Optional to sprinkle some confectioner's sugar on top). Bake for 50 minutes. Don't be afraid to make a judgment call on the cooking time, because oven temperatures can vary. You want the center to be a little gooey, so don't bake it past that point!

The Ultimate Brownie from Scratch

Yesterday my kids came home from school, and the first thing my older son wanted to do was bake this recipe. (He had that recipe open on my laptop since yesterday.) I was busy putting away Christmas decors and gave him my permission.

After eating stir-fried beef for supper, we tasted what he baked. Hubby quipped it was just like the brownies he used to have as a kid -- baked from scratch and tasted same.

Me: "So you like this?"

Hubby: "Oh yeah! It's good!"

Me: "Oh, and I have often avoided baking brownies from scratch because I felt that you preferred the boxed brownie mixes because that was what you were used to."

Hubby: "I got to use the mixes after I was out of my parents' house. When we were kids, they never bought boxed mixes because they could not afford them."

Me: "So, is this a keeper?"

Hubby: "Definitely!"

So I told my older son, "You are now the official brownie baker in this household."

Recipe from about.com --

Ingredients:

8- 1 ounce squares of unsweetened chocolate
1 cup butter
5 eggs
3 cups sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
1-1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2-1/2 cups chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted (He actually used white chocolate chips)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 13 pan.
Melt chocolate and butter in a saucepan over low heat; set aside. In a mixer, beat eggs, sugar and vanilla at high speed for 10 minutes**. Blend in chocolate mixture, flour and salt until just mixed. Stir in the nuts. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake for 35-40 minutes. (Don't overbake.) Cool and frost if desired, but that is not necessary.

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

After my first ever successful (as in not flat!) chocolate cookie chip recipe, I looked for another recipe to try to see if I would get another satisfactory result. And I did, with these cookies that have both semi-sweet and white chocolate chips. Recipe courtesy of Bev who posted it on recipezaar. I edited the procedure because it was quite confusing, and changed dark brown to light brown because that was what I had on hand and it turned out great anyway.

All the kids and the big boy (and me!) loved these cookies.

22 min | 10 min prep

36 Cookies
Ingredients:
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup vegetable shortening
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

Instructions:

Place oven rack at the center. Preheat oven to 350°F degrees.
Whisk flour, baking soda and salt together; Set Aside.
Cream the sugars, butter, shortening, eggs and vanilla together using handheld mixer.
Mix in Flour Mixture into Creamed mixture just until blended.
Then Stir in chocolate chips.
Scoop out and drop onto parchment paper on cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Form into pyramids for thicker cookies.
Bake on center rack of oven 12-14 mins, until lightly browned and edges are set.
Remove from oven; wait about 2 minutes to firm up; transfer to wire rack to cool.

Note: You can reuse the parchment paper after you have removed the baked cookies.

Crispy Pata, the Healthier Way

How do you cook crispy pata with less guilt? Use the oven!

No wasted gallons of cooking oil...no need for oversized pots....no splatters!

And you end up with crispy pata that has the crackled look on the skin, which has dripped some of its melted fat onto the pan it sits on (and you can even use the drippings to make pork gravy later)...

How to make crispy pata the healthier way?

This was a eureka moment for us... We were celebrating my friend Fe's birthday party last Saturday. As I said in my previous post, I brought pandan chiffon cake (which Fe and her son love!) Cecilia brought a big chunk of pork pata that she had been cooking since 3:30 am and still had not achieved the crunchy skin stage (we know about the skin being smooth and crunchy on traditional lechon...that's what we wanted to achieve). When we arrived at Fe's house, she was still out WORKING! But she was coming home soon, so we started to fiddle with her oven. We really did not know how to set the digital controls...We placed the pan on the lower third of the oven.

When she came back, we cooked rice...then she noticed the lechon...and that the oven was warm but not baking at that time she checked (off, in other words!). Cecilia went on to say, "Hindi pa malutong yung balat eh. Pano ba gamitin yang oven mo?" Fe checked, and said, "I-broil na lang natin." So she set her oven to broil.

After 5 minutes we took a look and saw what you see in the pictures on the slideshow above.

I then realized...the traditional way to cook chicharon or lechon kawali or crispy pata was to boil the pork/rind first in some mixture of water, vinegar and spices, then dry, then deep-fry. This accidental discovery was the short cut method in that you cook the pork first by roasting for about 3 hours to fully cook it (provided you brined the pork or flavored it somehow with spices prior, or placed spices like lemongrass, bay leaf, peppercorn, etc. underneath the roast while roasting, along with a sprinkle of garlic salt on the skin), then broil to create the crackled effect on the skin. (Did I not post about chicken skin chicharon, where I said I turn it to chicharon by using my nuwave to broil/bake the pre-cooked chicken skin? I also posted about smaller pork roast using the rotisserie after cooking/boiling and letting dry the chunk of pork pata.)

We wolfed down this roast in less than 30 minutes...nagpipigil pa so everyone (including our kids) can have his/her share! The thing was, we did not have Sarsa ni Mang Tomas! So we just made our own alternative dip of vinegar with chili, soy sauce, salt and pepper.

The cut that Cecilia brought had no skin underneath, but if you will try this method using pork pata with skin all around, I suggest that once the "cooking" phase is done and you are ready to broil the pata, use a wire rack to elevate the pata so the underside is open to hot air and is not soaked in juices, then after crisping the top, rotate so you crisp the bottom also (have not tried this, but it is an idea.)

Try it yourself! You won't regret it!

A Simple Roast Pork

It seems like chicken...haha! But this is a roast cut of pork, with spine and some ribs at one side (I don't exactly know what you call that kind of cut). I was looking at my freezer and was wondering what to prep for supper. I saw this roast cut...though there were several ligaments and fascia, the cut was very lean.

Very simple to prepare, all I added was kosher salt and freshly milled gourmet pepper. Straight from the freezer, I baked it at 350 deg F in that same roasting pan showed in the pic, which is the same material as my boiling water canner. The first 2 hours I exposed it, then I added the veggies (broccoli spears and zucchini) and baked covered for another hour.

Hubby at first frowned upon seeing it was mostly "red" pork meat (I am not sure what part of pork would be "white," although I have been seeing ads about pork being the "other white meat"), but he tried it anyway, and was surprisingly delighted at the very good flavor of the tender meat that he ate a full meal after all. My kids loved it (no surprise there! They are my #1 fans.)

Baking Videos of How-To's

Since there have been readers who ask me to teach how to do this and that, and to make vids especially in relation to baking, I decided to compile good vids here of the most common how-to's asked. I am bad at making vids, and since baking can be a long process (from proofing to kneading to final rising), it would take tremendous amount of time to just edit and make a short non-boring vid of one recipe (let's say pan de sal). I think the only one missing is the proper way of cutting pan de sal. I would like to have the time to make a video of that, then I will add to this collection (the one I saw on youtube just was not the way I know how pan de sal is cut so I did not embed that here). If you would like to suggest additional how-to videos please do so and leave me a comment. Thanks!

Kneading



Shaping dough rolls









Slashing the dough (see 4:15)



Braiding



Folding egg whites into batter



Creaming Butter (or Shortening) and Sugar



Rolling a Cake/Jelly Roll