April 17, 2021
Basque Cheesecake
April 12, 2021
Choux au Craquelin with Pistachio Crème Mousseline and Raspberry Jam
Towards the end of last year I decided to make homemade pistachio paste using this recipe from Stella Parks. Being ambitious I thought it was a good idea to double the recipe so that I would have plenty of paste to last me for a while. Little did I know that doing this would test the limits of my poor food processor. It definitely wasn't a good sign when the motor started smoking...ha! Fortunately, after a long rest the food processor recovered and I didn't have to replace it. Phew! Perhaps it was that trauma that made me procrastinate in using the pistachio paste. Several months passed and I finally found a use for it.
Pistachio is one of my favorite nut flavors and I thought it would be
delicious in a pastry cream. I found a recipe for Choux au Craquelin with Pistachio Crème Mousseline and Raspberry Jam from the blog Ana's Baking Chronicles. Her pictures of the pastries were so stunning that I was immediately enticed to make them myself.
One of the issues I've found with cream puffs is the pastry cream filling tends to run and not hold it's shape, especially when you try to cut into it. What I especially liked about Ana's recipe is that she fills her choux with pastry cream whipped with butter, also known as crème mousseline or German buttercream. The result was a filling bursting with pistachio flavor that also held up to piping and cutting. A layer of homemade raspberry jam at the bottom of the choux serves as a nice contrast to the nutty filling. One bite of this decadent pastry and you'll be transported back to France!
April 7, 2021
Lemon Bundt Cake
As is the case with any bundt cake, a key to its success is ensuring the baked cake releases nicely from the pan. I made sure to grease my fleur de lis pan really well with shortening and then coat it generously with a dusting of flour. My cake released beautifully and you could really see the beautiful design too.
March 29, 2021
Tangzhong Hot Cross Buns
When Easter rolls around there's nothing better than a really good hot cross bun. You can't beat the combination of a bread roll spiced with cinnamon and studded with raisins. My only complaint about traditional buns is the flour and water paste that adorns the top. When it bakes up I've found it to be too hard and too tasteless. I made this comment recently on Instagram and someone suggested making the cross out of an Asian bun topping. It was such a brilliant idea that I wish I had thought of it myself.
March 28, 2021
Bunny-Themed Easter Table

March 26, 2021
Speckled Egg Cake
The centerpiece for my Easter dessert table this year is a Speckled Egg Cake. Around spring time you'll see cakes similar to this as it's perfect for the Easter holiday or spring season. Even better, it couldn't be simpler to make. All you need is a frosted layer cake along with some vodka and brown food coloring for the "speckles."
I made four cake layers (by doubling this recipe of Martha Stewart's one-bowl chocolate cake) and then filled and frosted them with blue-tinted Swiss meringue buttercream. To achieve the "speckled" effect I mixed a little bit of vodka with brown food coloring and used a pastry brush to splatter the mixture all over the cake.
If you don't want to use vodka I've also seen recipes that used 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract mixed with 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder. For the cute bird's nest topping I combined about 1 cup of toasted coconut flakes with 1/3 cup of melted chocolate chips. Form into a nest shape and place a few Cadbury's mini eggs in the center. Chill until firm and then place at the top of the cake.
HAPPY EASTER!
March 22, 2021
Petits Fours
Essentially petits fours are small pieces of pound cake that are filled (I like jam or curd and buttercream) and covered in a glossy fondant. I started with this recipe for the pound cake from the blog Rose Bakes which is nice and sturdy and holds up really well. One recipe of the cake makes a half-sheet size pan and yields a lot of petits fours. I made half of the cake into raspberry petits fours and the other half into lemon petits fours. I'm a sucker for fruit flavors and I think the tartness from the raspberry and lemon would be a nice counterbalance to the sweetness from the fondant.
February 21, 2021
Buttermilk Biscuit Jammers
February 13, 2021
Salted Caramel-Filled Brownies
I never would have thought to bake brownies in the form of a cupcake but I was easily convinced to give it a try when I saw these Salted Caramel-Filled Brownies featured on the cover of Cook's Country's Feb/Mar 2021 issue. The combination of sweet caramel and sea salt is always a winner in my book. The recipe features variations of the filling, like chocolate ganache and peanut butter ganache, which sounded delicious too.
The trick with this recipe is to make sure you use parchment paper cupcake liners which are different from the paper liners you'd find at the supermarket. I bought these ones from Amazon and I heard some Target stores also carry it. If you don't use the parchment liners you run the risk of the brownies sticking to the liner. Not pretty!
February 10, 2021
Chinese Almond Cookies
Even though these Chinese Almond Cookies aren't your typical New Year's fare I thought they'd be a great to serve as dessert. I found the recipe from use real butter's blog and it couldn't be simpler to make. My favorite thing is how the tops of the cookies shine like lacquer, stemming from the brush of egg wash they receive just before being baked. The almond flavor really comes through from the almond flour and almond extract in the recipe.
These cookies are delicious and not too sweet and can be served all year long, not just for New Year's.
Chúc Mừng Năm Mới 2021!!!!
February 8, 2021
Valentine's Day Yeasted Doughnuts
Last month's baking hiatus motivated me to get back into the kitchen even more than before. Here's another Valentine's Day themed treat for you that will surely win the hearts and stomachs of your loved ones. These Yeasted Doughnuts from Cook's Illustrated are hands down the BEST ever.
How cute are the heart shapes for Valentine's Day? I rolled some of the doughnuts in a raspberry sugar (sugar + crushed, freeze dried raspberries) and filled them with my homemade raspberry jam. Others I dipped in a chocolate glaze and decorated with sprinkles. I recommend trying to cut out as many doughnuts as you can from the first roll of the dough. I've found that re-kneading the remaining scraps and re-cutting yields tougher doughnuts.
Happy Valentine's Day!
Yeasted Doughnuts
FOR THE DOUGHNUTS: Stir flour, sugar, and yeast together in bowl of stand mixer. Add milk and egg and mix with rubber spatula until all ingredients are moistened. Fit stand mixer with dough hook and mix on medium-low speed until cohesive mass forms, about 2 minutes, scraping down bowl if necessary. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let stand for 20 minutes.
February 6, 2021
Raspberry Jam Shortbread Hearts
January came and went in a flash without much baking on my part. To be honest I was a bit burnt out from all the holiday baking I'd done and on top of that work was keeping me busy, but now I'm back and raring to go. First up are these super tasty and cute Raspberry Jam Shortbread Hearts which are perfect for Valentine's Day. The crispy, buttery shortbreads are filled with my homemade, tart raspberry jam and are utterly delicious. They actually remind me of the British "Jammie Dodgers" biscuit.
I used a heart shaped thumbprint cookie stamp I bought from Williams-Sonoma a few years ago. The set also comes with a rectangle and circle shape and cuts and shapes the cookie dough perfectly. You get professional looking results with little to no effort!
For the shortbread dough I tweaked my favorite clotted cream shortbread recipe. Since I didn't have any fresh clotted cream I just replaced that amount in the recipe with the same amount of butter. The dough is super forgiving and you can't really mess it up. My main tip is to roll the dough to at least 1/4-inch thickness; any thinner and it will be harder to get the nice embossed design on the cookie.
Gift these cookies to your loved ones for the tastiest Valentine.
Happy Valentine's Day!