Banoffee Pie

It has been a busy day for me so far, doing last minute errands since we're leaving England this Sunday. Thank goodness I still managed to squeeze in some time to bake for my H's friend, K, despite running around like a headless chicken. I had a tub of leftover toffee that I made for my mum-in-law's birthday cake, so to make use of it, I decided to make banoffee pie.

 Banoffee is a portmanteau word (combination of two words) from banana and toffee. Banoffee pie is an English dessert created around 1972. This lovable dessert is typically made out of banana, toffee and cream with a biscuit or pastry base. Some versions of this pudding may contain the addition of chocolate or coffee. 

A photo of how I assembled my version of banoffee pie

My version of banoffee pie consists of a plain biscuit and crushed hazelnut base that was then covered with a thin layer of dark chocolate ganache then topped off with bananas then with toffee then lastly with whipped cream - yummy! I wish I made extra for self-indulgence.

Components used for this dessert treat:

• Biscuit and Hazelnut Base
• Dark Chocolate Ganache
• Bananas
• Soft Toffee
• Whipped Cream

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte

Phyllo Pastry Money Bag Filled with Orange Blossom Pastry Cream

Phyllo dough. The word phyllo is the Greek word for leaf or sheet; this explains why this particular dough is called phyllo dough. Phyllo dough is a very thin sheet of dough usually used by piling a few sheets of dough with melted butter brushed in-between the layers of sheets. The alternate layers of butter and phyllo dough is what makes the baked pastry its distinctive thin flaky layers. Phyllo pastry is a popular pastry used in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines.  

Making phyllo dough from scratch is quite intimidating for most people. In fact, most home cooks and bakers, even food establishments use store-bought phyllo dough. There is nothing wrong with that because to tell you frankly, rolling phyllo dough as thin as possible is an art that involves technique and plenty of time which makes store-bought phyllo dough a very convenient commodity.

I have, for a number of times, contemplated on making phyllo dough from scratch, but time and time again, I have pushed that idea aside. Too scared perhaps... Last month's Daring Bakers' Challenge was to make phyllo dough from scratch and utilize it to make the Greek and Turkish classic, baklava. When I read the challenge last month, I was so enthused to join, but for varies of reasons I wasn't able to participate.



shots of how I made my phyllo pastry money bag



Fortunately, I managed to find time in the kitchen again, so my baking cap was on for phyllo dough project. I scrapped the idea of making baklava with my phyllo dough because I am not really a fan of baklava, too sweet for my liking. So instead I decided to use my phyllo dough to make parcels or what I would like to call money bags! What's in the money bag? I thought long and hard for my filling of choice, and ended up with a simple pastry cream because I think the phyllo dough is yummy enough already that it doesn't need a complex filling to be devoured. Although to give my pastry cream a taste of Greece, I infused the pastry cream with a nice fragrance of orange blossom water.

My experience with the phyllo dough was pleasant. It was a bit tricky when I rolled out my first phyllo dough, but managed to get the hang of it. I'm not too sure though if I rolled it out thin enough because the end result didn't look like the phyllo pastry you would get if you used store-bought phyllo dough. The taste however is more superior to store-bought phyllo dough. So will I start making phyllo dough from scratch after this phyllo dough project? 50/50. Making the phyllo dough is time consuming, so using store-bought phyllo dough is really convenient. Maybe if I have a lot of time to spare, then I'll make it from scratch.

I shared my orange blossom filled phyllo pastry money bags with a couple of friends, and they absolutely loved it! I loved it too!

Components used for this dessert treat:

• Phyllo Dough
• Pastry Cream Infused with Orange Blossom Water

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte

Mystery Fruit... Help!

Ok, same story with the mulberries; I was on my way to yoga when I saw these lovely red fruits. I've never seen fresh red gooseberries or red currants before, so I assumed those fruits would most definitely be one of my guesses. I was wrong. The fruits I bought have pits, and it tasted very similar to grapes. In fact, if you have your eyes closed, you would think they were grapes.

Currants.. Gooseberries.. No? What are they?

Inside the Mystery Fruit

 I took the fruits to my H's workplace to ask his colleagues what they were. Yes, my H has very helpful colleagues, but none of them could tell me what they were. The only answer they could give me was wild grapes. So did I buy a bag of wild grapes? I'm not so convinced. I've been also doing some research over the internet as well as books, but no answer. Can anyone tell me what these fruits are?

Update: Thank you to all my readers who were trying to help me figure out this mystery fruit. I got different responses as what this mystery fruit might be (red choke berry, goji berry, jujube, aratilis, dwarf burford holly, etc.), but in the end my Korean friend confirmed that this fruit is simply a Korean type cherry. Mystery solved!

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte

Egg Tarts

I'm going to meet up with my friend for lunch tomorrow, and she mentioned before that she had never eaten an egg tart. Egg tarts are one of the most simple yet irresistibly scrumptious dessert/snack out there, so for her not to have tasted one... Hence I've decided to surprise her with some!

I wanted to make Portuguese egg tarts for her, but I couldn't get my hands on frozen puff pastry here and I didn't really have time to make puff pastry from scratch. So to make my tarts as close to Portuguese egg tarts, I used pate brisee, which gave my tarts the flaky and buttery feel. As for the filling, I'm really really delighted by it! I managed to get the silky creamy custard feel of a Portuguese egg tart.

I know I made these tarts for my friend, but I had to have a bite to make sure it's of good quality!

Components used for this dessert treat:

• Portuguese Egg Tart Filling
• Pate Brisee

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte

Egg Pie

My grandfather loves anything that's custard or flan base like Portuguese egg tart, leche flan and creme caramel. So for this year's Chinese New Year, I made an egg pie for him. This egg pie is a favourite Filipino dessert/snack. The filling is made with eggs, condensed milk and evaporated milk, which makes a very rich and creamy pie. It's so easy to make, yet so delicious.

My grandfather was very happy when I told him I made one for him. He gave me two thumbs up without even tasting it. He was even happier after having a slice. Homemade is definitely better than store-bought.

Components used for this dessert treat:

• Egg Pie Filling (Philippine Style)
• Pate Brisee

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte

Daring Bakers' Challenge - October 2010: Doughnuts

I have never been comfortable with making breads at all, and this month's DB challenge got me facing my fear. Our challenge this month - doughnuts! Yes, doughnuts are delicious; one of the best comfort foods ever, but I would rather buy from a shop than make it myself because I'm not confident in the arena of any yeast product.

However, there's a reason why I joined DB. It's to push my boundaries in baking, and face making pastries, desserts or bread that I wouldn't normally do. So here I am... baker!

Blog-checking lines: The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.

Since our host provided four recipes to choose from, I've decided to choose Kate Neumann's bomboloni recipe. Bomboloni is a Tuscan version of filled doughnuts, except that the filling is piped on the top of the doughnuts instead of the sides, which we normally see with filled doughnuts.

I've psyched myself for this challenge; I wasn't anxious at all when I was making the dough for the bomboloni. I was also following the recipe down to a tee. I guess even if I was mentally ready to face the doughnut challenge, I was subconsciously nervous. Hence, it showed on my doughnuts. When I bake, I normally use my instinct to see if things are going smoothly, but in this case, I was so glued in with the recipe. I didnt' trust my judgement when I saw that my yeast might not have foamed up the way it should. I just continued following the recipe.

As a result, my doughnut was a flop. I was only able to make half of what the actual yield for the recipe should produce. My doughnuts came out really dense and heavy, but the taste was still good. So I decided to still continue filling and glazing my bombolonis.

So for my bomboloni, I dusted their top with powdered sugar, then filled them with pastry cream. For the glaze, I piped alternate circles of dark chocolate and white chocolate ganache. The taste of the final bomboloni was really really good! The only down side was how heavy the actual doughnut was. I guess practice makes perfect; I would definitely be making another batch at some point. This time, I'll trust myself when I think something is not right before it becomes too late.

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte

Scone

My H has been persistently asking me to make scones like forever! So I have finally gave in. I made a plain scone though because I'm not so much a fan of scones with dried fruits.

Scone is quick bread of Scottish origin, but is now synonymous with the whole of Britain. It is usually eaten at breakfast or afternoon teas served with clotted cream and jam. The shapes of scones may vary from round, square, triangle or diamond. Originally, scones were made with oats and cooked on a griddle, but nowadays it's made with flour and baked in an oven.

For my scones, I used the recipe from joyofbaking. It came out really really good. I just used half of the recipe and I was able to produce four scones.

Now what is scone without clotted cream? I know finding clotted cream here in Korea is impossible, so I didn't even try looking for one. Instead, I decided to make my own. Although, I'm not sure of the quality of Korean creams, I still gave it a go. There's not much variety or shall I say no variety at all of creams in Korea, or at least in the city I live in. They only have whipping cream, and I pretty much use that cream whenever a recipe calls for any sorts of cream. This is when I do miss England where there are single cream, double cream, half and half and the list goes on. Anyway, my clotted cream didn't turn out the way it should have. The color was immensely pale and anemic, and the taste was so sweet. I ended up discarding the clotted cream, and had to settle for butter. 

 my uber pale and sweet clotted cream :(

Despite the mishap, my H and I really enjoyed our scones with a nice cup of tea. Just remember to eat the scones fresh out of the oven! If not, you can always throw the scones back in the oven for like 3 minutes to warm it up, and it would go back to it's soft yummy state!

 my scone with 'clotted cream' and raspberry jam

scone from The Orangery at Kensington Palace with really silky scrumptious clotted cream and blackberry preserves; had this at my bridal afternoon tea last year

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte

Mooncake...Not!

This is a delayed posting because I was on my holiday visiting family and friends in Philippines. I wanted to bake something for my family because I do miss having my family appreciating/criticizing my work! Baking in Korea is different; I only have my H to taste my baking.  At first, I thought of making a fondant cake, but I have hesitations if it would travel well. Should I or shouldn't I go for fondant cake...?

Well, I didn't. Since Mooncake festival was coming up, why not make mooncake?! This is not your ordinary mooncake; it's an apple pie mini mooncake!

Mooncake festival also known as Mid-Autumn festival is celebrated every fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar in China, and basically all Chinese community around the globe. It is believed that this time of the year is when the moon shines at its brightess. Legend has it that in the thirteenth century, Chinese used mooncakes as a medium to hide messages to spread the plan of revolt against the Mongolian rulers. There's actually other legends behind the Mooncake festival, but I won't go into it anymore.

molded mooncakes before baking

my cookie stamp mold

Mooncakes are pastries that are as big as a human palm that is filled with sweet dense fillings. Traditional fillings are lotus seed paste with salted yolk on the center, sweet black bean paste, and mixture of pickled melon and nuts. There's also another version of mooncake, which is called snow-skin mooncake. This was created around the 1980's. The snow-skin mooncake has a soft outer cover that is made from glutinous rice. There are now loads of modern versions of mooncakes from durian filled to ice cream filled, basically more choices now to choose from especially in countries like Singapore and Indonesia.

Back to my version, I used pate brisee for my pastry and apple walnut cinnamon for the filling. I don't think the pastry was the right choice though, because it didn't hold the engraving from my cookie stamp. Yes, I used cookie stamp instead of a traditional mooncake mold. I was actually optimistic to find a wooden mooncake mold here in Korea because they have a similar dessert that uses a similar mold. Indeed I found a wooden mooncake mold, but the price made my heart drop! About $90 for a wooden mold! I wasn't prepared to pay that, so I improvised with a $10 cookie stamp instead, and I was lucky to find a stamp that has the Chinese character for lucky engraved on it.  It actually worked really well, for my apple pie mini mooncake project!

filling and molding the mooncakes

I'm really happy how this project turned out. Next Mid-Autumn festival I'll try to use the traditional pastry for a mooncake, and try to hunt down a reasonable priced wooden mold!

Components used for this dessert treat:

• Pate Brisee
• Apple Walnut Cinnamon Filling

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte

Daring Bakers' Challenge - September 2010: Decorated Sugar Cookies

Ay yay yay... Just came home from my holidays; been really busy lately that's why my blog has gone quiet for a couple of weeks, but now I'm back just in time to post my DB challenge.

 Blog-checking lines: The September 2010 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Mandy of "What the Fruitcake?!" Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.

  

The theme for the sugar cookies is 'September'; basically whatever September means to you, be it spring, autumn or back to school. For me, this year's September means friendship; my girl-friends and I are in a long distance friendship. We live in different countries (Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Korea and Philippines) now, so having girls night out or coffee dates are close to none. One of my girls, CT, got married this September, and everyone, including me, made sure we're all complete for the special day... reunion at last!

I was actually thinking of what to bake for the girls as a little something from me. So this challenge was really handy. I gave the girls personalized cookies by piping their initials on the cookies. Piping job is not an easy task at all. I absolutely respect sugar cookie decorators because this job involves a lot of patience, creativity and precision. My first reaction when I saw this challenge was - 'easy'. I was proven completely wrong! I definitely have loads of improvement to do with my piping. Despite the nonidentical pipings, the cookies tasted fabulous. I baked some extra for personal munching!

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte

Rugelach

As I mentioned in one of my previous post, I have quite some supply of cream cheese. Well just two packs actually, but for two people it can stretch to bountiful delights. So far I was able to produce tiramisu, cheesecake, red velvet cupcakes, and hazelnut praline cream cheese ice cream. Now to consume the last remains of the cream cheese, I decided to make rugelach to give to our friends, L&M, as a little something to congratulate them for their new abode.

The word rugelach derives from the Yiddish word rugel, which means royal. Rugelach is a Jewish cookie that is shaped similar to a bite-size croissant. The cookie is made out of a cream cheese cookie dough, and filled with jam, nuts, fruits, poppy seeds, cinnamon, chocolate or raisins.

My rugelach that I filled with chocolate

I learned of this cookie way back when I was a teen. My sister J was the one who shared this delight to me. I was lucky enough that she still got the recipe, so I was able to relive the luscious taste that's been lingering on my taste memory bank for so long. Taste memory bank... umm, is there such thing? Anyway... I seemed to have this impression that the cookie had a distinct cream cheese taste, but I have remembered totally wrong. Guess my taste memory is a little rusty!

A shortbread cookie, that's what rugelach taste similar to. I think that's why my H adored it because he does love his shortbread cookies. Even if I recalled the taste of rugelach wrong, my impression of it hasn't changed. It's definitely a classic treat that anyone would have a hard time resisting to not nibble on.

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte

Sometimes you feel like a nut

Ever wonder how the nuts we all love to munch on look like before harvest, yes??? Check this post out.. such a fabulous work of art from nature! :)

click ----> Sometimes you feel like a nut

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte

Red Velvet Cupcakes

A week ago, my H bought a 6-cup muffin pan for his Yorkshire pudding project. To our dismay, it wouldn't fit into our tiny oven! Our oven is just the size of an oven toaster. We were really disappointed, but my H decided to make a surgical operation on the pan. He sawed off two of the cups, and it was successful! It's not the most polished muffin pan, but it's usable. Here's a snapshot of it.

So to christen our newly operated pan, I decided to do a cupcake version of the classic American red velvet cake. It's a really really good comfort food, and the sweet cream cheese frosting is indeed the icing on the cake. No wonder it's a popular southern cake.

The actual cake of the red velvet cake is a mild chocolate butter cake. It is said that it got it's name from the distinct red hue attributed from the chemical reaction between the acids (distilled vinegar and buttermilk) and the cocoa found in the cake.  The acids heightens the fierceness of the red anthocyanin found in the cocoa, but nowadays it's the addition of red food coloring that gives its vibrance. Some people even use beetroot to add color. 

All in all, my H's engineering work on the muffin pan was well worth it. And the red velvet cupcakes were a nice celebratory treat to baptize the new addition to our growing pan family. 

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte

Swiss Roll

I've been trying to find out where Swiss roll originated from, but had no luck. One thing definite, it didn't come from Switzerland. A lot of countries have their own version of Swiss roll, and they call it differently as well. Jelly roll and roulade are the two most common alias for the Swiss roll.

Regardless of its history, I think this dessert was adapted by many countries because of it's dainty look. It's also such a flexible dessert, you can play up with the flavour of the sponge as well as the filling.

As for my version, I used a plain sponge and filled it with raspberry jam and whipped cream. Swiss Roll is definitely an old-fashion timeless dessert.

Components used for this dessert treat:

• Plain Sponge Cake
• Raspberry Jam
• Whipped Cream

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte

Cream Cheese Brownies

Brownies, oh brownies! It used to be one of my favourite treats; now it's just on my 'has been' list. I sort of have a love-hate relationship with brownies. I used to sell loads of them during Christmas for three years, but as a result I got sick of eating brownies. Even just the mere scent of a brownie batter made me feel icky... It went so bad that at one point, I actually had to wear face mask while making them.

Don't get me wrong, I still love making and sharing my brownies with people. It gives me great satisfaction when people are enjoying them. My repulse to brownies is not as bad now, I can actually get myself to eat a piece or two! Oh, and no need for face mask when making them. Not only did brownies make my small business a success, it is actually the first dessert I made when I was 12; brownies made me love baking. So brownies will forever be dear to me no matter what!

What's great about brownies is you can play around with different flavour combinations like peanut butter brownies, peppermint brownies, black forest brownies, etc. One of my favourite variation is the cream cheese brownies. Not only does it taste great, it looks exquisite as well. The marble effect on top of the brownies makes the comforting look of brownies into pure sophistication.

Components used for this dessert treat:

• Cream Cheese Topping
• Brownies

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte