notes from my food diary

Between birthday, anniversary, and graduation, this month is especially packed with things to do and to remember.  We had our wedding anniversary three days ago, my hubby had his birthday two days ago, and my son graduated from kindergarten yesterday.  I was wiped out this weekend.  All I wanted to do was to take a nap all afternoon long.  But before I do that, I wanted to post these sinfully delicious cake photos. 

I made this cake in two days so hubby could eat it by his birthday.  My inspiration was from Mandy, who made this wonderful cake and posted it in her blog, Fresh from the Oven.  Many thanks Mandy!  This was truly a refreshing cake and tasty too.  Hubby loves mangoes, in fact our whole family loves it too, so without a doubt, a mango mascarpone mousse cake would fit the bill as the perfect birthday cake.

I made the cake in a 9" cake pan and I only changed a bit from the original recipe.  I increased the amount of lime juice required in the mousse and the mirror because I liked them a bit sour than sweet.  Overall, the cake was not hard to prepare, though my sponge cakes shrinked quite a bit.  They’re taste great otherwise.  I’d love to make a different version of this cake using different fruits, if possible, in the future.  Another recipe that definitely earned a place in my favorite recipes list.

So hop over to Mandy’s blog and find Mango Mascarpone Mousse Cake for the recipe!

The fifth challenge from Klub Berani Baking is Banoffee Pie. I usually make a regular crust for my pie/tart, but this one requires me to make a rich pie crust using egg yolks. I prefer the regular crust to the rich crust because I hate having leftover egg whites! I don’t have any obstacles making this pie, but there’s a few steps that I didn’t pay attention, that was letting the crust rest in the fridge after being formed to the pan, the crust was rolled too thick, although my tart pan was already quite big in size, and a rectangular tart pan was used instead of a round pie pan. Hello??? I felt like I was lost in translation though the recipe was in English. Thus, I couldn’t say that this is a true Banoffee Pie because it’s misleading, it should be called Banoffee Tart. A few things that I liked to point out was that I didn’t care about the caramel-dulce-le-leche-like sauce (or toffee) for the filling. I didn’t like the taste at all and it’s quite sweet; I didn’t pour all the sauce into the tart, instead I drizzled it when it’s time to eat the tart. Next time, a butterscotch sauce might be a better substitution.  But I like having bananas in tart shell with whipped cream.  One addition to the recipe was that I added lemon juice to my bananas to prevent them from getting brown (just in case). Banoffee Pie

Makes one 20-22 cm pie or tart

Pastry

300g all-purpose flour

150g unsalted butter, diced

5 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 egg yolks

3 tablespoons cold water

Combine the flour, butter and sugar in the food processor and process until well mixed. Then mix in the egg yolks and process in small bursts until the mixture appears crumbly. Add the water a little at a time. As the crumbs get larger, turn the motor off and check that the pastry will come together when pressed between your fingers. Turn the mixture on to a clean board or bench and work very gently into a ball. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough to line 20-22cm flan or loose-bottomed tart tin, prick the base of the pastry with fork several times. Set aside for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180C. Line the base of the pastry with baking paper and beans, bake blind for 12-15 minutes or until the pastry turns golden brown. Remove the paper and beans. (Return the pastry base into the oven for 5 minutes or until the base becomes dry.)

Filling

75g butter

50g brown sugar

3 tablespoons milk

300g sweetened condensed milk

2 firm bananas

300ml heavy cream

Toasted slivered almonds, optional

Place the butter and sugar in a non-stick pan and heat gently until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil and simmer for one minute, stirring continuously using a wooden spoon. Remove from the heat and add the milk and condensed milk. Return to the heat and bring to the boil. Allow to gently bubble for 5-6 minutes, stirring continuously until the mixture thickens and turns a light golden brown. Cool slightly.

Cut the bananas and put them on the base of the pastry. Pour in the caramel mixture. Leave to cool then chill for at least 2 hours. Serve topped with the whipped cream, spooned or spread over the caramel, and toasted slivered almonds, if using.

Source: Foodtown Magazine, October-November 2007; Cuisine Magazine, November 2002 (with adjustments of pastry making and filling)

Have you ever tried making a mock apple pie? I have, in fact, made it yesterday. After reading an article in the April edition of Saveur magazine (#110), I was on the get go to have a taste of this mock apple pie. I’ve read about the story of it somewhere else but didn’t make it at that time because I didn’t have the ingredients. The history of mock apple pie seemed to coincide nicely with the high price of foods nowadays. When one couldn’t buy nice apples anymore, one would turn to a scientific method of turning crackers and simple syrup with lemon into apple filling. I’m not turning into a pessimist, but golly, everything is so expensive now. I’ve become a thrift cook and baker, trying to stretch every penny into something edible without busting our savings. Hey, I still need vacation occasionally, and that’s what I’m saving for.

If you’re interested in reading the history of mock apple pie, you could look here. It also helps you understand why when we combine crackers with lemon juice, cinnamon, and cream of tartar, the result would be something that is not unlike mashed apple. That also plays a trick in our brain by suggesting that when there are cinnamon and lemon, we immediately think of apple pie(at least for us, Americans).

I did have fun making the pie, one of the not-so-hard-to do pies. The crust is very flaky and tender, the filling is wonderful-apple-like with the right amount of sugar and lemony taste. Hard to convince my hubby that this is just like the apple pie, until he got a bite of it today. Hmmm…hmmmm…. Salute the Memorial Day!

Mock Apple Pie
Serves 8

1 3⁄4 cups flour, plus more as needed
1 tablespoon plus 2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon fine salt
12 tablespoons plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
2 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1⁄2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups coarsely broken saltine crackers (about 36 crackers)
1 egg, beaten

Combine flour, 1 tbsp. sugar, and salt in a food processor; pulse to combine. Add 12 tbsp. butter; pulse until pea-size pieces have formed. Drizzle in 3–4 tbsp. ice water; continue pulsing until dough just comes together. Turn dough onto a floured surface; knead briefly into a ball. Divide dough in half, form into 2 disks, and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Chill for at least 1 hour or overnight.

Put remaining sugar, cream of tartar, and 1 3⁄4 cups water into a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat; add lemon juice, lemon zest, and cinnamon. Let syrup cool to room temperature.

Heat oven to 400°. On a floured surface, roll 1 dough disk into a 12” circle, transfer to a 9” pie pan, fill with crackers, and pour syrup over top. Dot mixture with remaining butter. Roll out remaining dough into an 11” circle and place on top of pie; trim dough, leaving a 1⁄2” overhang. Fold edges up over rim; press to seal. Decorate edge of the pie dough with the tines of a fork. Cut 6 slits in the top of the pie, brush with the egg, and bake until crust is golden brown, about 35 minutes. Let pie cool completely before slicing.

Source: adapted from Saveur magazine in Issue #110

Would it wonderful if you make this cake for a well-deserved mom/grandmother/to-be mom on Mother’s Day? It’s quite simply a bundt cake with strawberries in it and decorated with fresh strawberries. Don’t forge the whipped cream. It just put a finishing touch to a slice of cake. Happy Mother’s Day to all you moms/grandmas/to-be moms!

Berry Bundt Cakes
Serves 12

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
3 cups plus 1 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
1 cup whole fresh strawberries
Whipped cream, optional

Preheat the oven to 350^oF. Grease and lightly flour a 12-cup bundt pan.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and granulated sugar together with an electric mixer. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract. The mixture will be firm.

In another large bowl, sift together the 3 cups of flour, the baking powder, and salt. Gradualy add this to the butter mixture, alternating with the milk. Toss the sliced strawberries with the remaining 1 tablespoon flour, and fold them into the batter.

Scrape the batter into the prepared bundt pan. Bake in the center of the oven until a wooden pick inserted in the center of the cake comes out just clean, 1 1/4 hours.

Let the cake cool in the pan over a cooling rack for about 10 minutes. Invert the cake into the cooling rack and let it completely. Dust with confectioners’ sugar and decorate with whole fresh strawberries in the center. Offer a slice with whipped cream.

Source: adapted from U.S.A. Cookbook by Sheila Lukins

I don’t remember when I started but I’m not a big breakfast eater anymore. Usually my breakfast consists of milk, juice and banana during the weekdays, days which I don’t want to think “big” in the morning. Weekends are different. These are the days I could plan ahead, a day that I could be a little creative with my or actually, my family’s breakfast. All my breakfast choices that I’ve written in this blog are mostly comfort foods, foods such as pancakes, waffles, sticky buns, or quick breads. I love those and fortunately my family members feel the same too.

This next recipe that I’m going to share is something that I’ve never thought would be good for breakfast item. But actually it fitted in the theme quite nicely. The recipe is called finger pies, which uses pie crust as the skin that would be cut into small rounds and filled with preserves and chocolate chips. The end result looked similarly like empanadas. Later it would be rolled in confectioners’ sugar, just like cookies! I like the size of the pies especially, that way I could nibble on it while reading my comics in Sunday morning.

The recipe suggested that this type of pie is something that you could do with your kids. The size of the pie and simple ingredients really help. I enlisted my son to help me scatter the chocolate chips after I dropped the preserves in the pastry. It was really fun activity! Because this was a success, I’m sending this for Waiter There Is Something In My… that’s hosted by Johanna from The Passionate Cook. The theme for April is breakfast favorite. It has become a new favorite in my family, so hopefully it’ll be one for you too.

Now that I knew how to make this in a snap, I want to try it with different preserves. I was thinking of making pineapple preserves just like the one I usually use to make Pineapple cookies (Nanas tart) and fill the pie with that. This pie needs a preserves that’s thick and substantial. Time to go get the pineapples! Yay…

Little Preserves and Chocolate Finger Pies

Tender Cream Cheese Pastry
Yields 1 single crust, 9-inch standard pie

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
4 ounces 1/3-less fat cream cheese, softened
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Combine the butter, cream cheese, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the flat beater attachment. Blend for 30 to 45 seconds on medium-low speed. Stop once or twice, if necessary, to scrape the build-up from the beater. Stopping the machine before each addition, first add the confectioners’ sugar and 1/2 cup of the flour. With the mixer on low, blend until the flour is incorporated. Add another 1/2 cup of the flour and blend. Add the remaining flour. When all of the flour has been added and the dough starts to ball up around the beater, stop the machine. Remove the bowl and scarpe the dough onto a lightly floured work surface.

Gently knead 2 or 3 times. Divide the dough into 2 pieces of the same size. Knead each piece into a ball, then flatten it into a disk about 3/4 inch thick. Wrap the disk in plastic and refrigerated for at least an hour, preferable longer, until firm enough to roll but not too solid.

Filling

Raspberry, strawberry, or other fruit preserves
Handful of semisweet chocolate chips

Garnish

Confectioners’ sugar

On a lightly floured work area, roll the dough slightly less than 1/8 inch thick with a floured rolling pin. Using a 3 1/2-inch round cutter, cut the pastry into circles. Remove the scraps, leaving the rounds in place.

Spoon about 2 teaspoons of the preserves into the center of each circle. Scatter a few chocolate chips around the preserves. Moisten the entire edge of the pastry with a wet fingertip or pastry brush, then fold the circle in half and press the edge together to seal. Roll the edge up slightly, forming a sort of rope edge. As you work, transfer each pie to the prepared baking sheet, leaving a little room between them. Refrigerate for 10 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375 ^oF.

Using a paring knife, poke 1 or 2 small steam vents in the top of each pie. Bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes.

Transfer the hot pies to a wire rack. As soon as they’re cool enough to handle, put some confectioners’ sugar in a small bowl. Roll each pie in the confectioners’ sugar, coating it heavily, and return it to the rack. Serve warm or let cool to room temperature before serving.

Source: adapted from Pie by Ken Haedrich