Buko Salad

Buko (young coconut) is readily available in the Philippines all year long. Filipino cooks use it to make not only desserts but even on savory dishes like Pancit Buko where instead of using noodles, buko strips are sauteed with meat, sometimes shrimp and vegetables like cabbage, carrots, peppers and seasoned with soy sauce and other condiments. There's also another chicken dish called Binakol, a chicken and coconut soup. But here at home, we use buko to make a sweet dessert salad, a family favorite that everyone always has a second serving of.

Nata de Coco

Gelatine (made from unflavored gelatine)

Buko strips

All-purpose Cream

Condensed Milk

Combine all ingredients and chill until cold (we chill it overnight)

Cracked Cookies aka Crinkles

Tomorrow is going to be a very special day for our whole family because we are going to the beach! We've been going on family outings to the beach for a while now and it's always expected of me to bring cookies. I think that for almost 3 years I've been making chocolate chip cookies, this time I decided to bake cracked cookies aka crinkles--I lost my original recipe but found one on http://www.allrecipes.com/ and I'm hoping they live up to the testimonials. I'm stil thinking if I should bake additional chocolate chip cookies just in case these get wiped out which almost always happens.

CRINKLES

Cocoa Powder 1cup

Refined Sugar 2 cups

Vegetable Oil (I used canola) 1/2 cup

Eggs 4 pieces

Vanilla Extract 2 teaspoons

All-purpose flour 2 cups

Baking Powder 2 teaspoons

Salt 1/2 teaspoon

Confectioners' Sugar 1/2 cup

Preheat oven to 375 degrees farenheit. Line cookie sheets with wax paper.

In the bowl of a Kitchenaid mixer, combine refined sugar, cocoa powder and vegetable oil. Beat with the paddle attachment. Add eggs one at a time until well incorporated and stir in vanilla extract. Combine flour, salt and baking powder add this to egg and sugar mixture and beat until the mixture is smooth. Chill for at least one hour.

Using two teaspoons, scoop out cookie dough and form into rounds, roll in confectioner's sugar and before placing on prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 12 minutes and cool on rack. Store in air tight containers.

Filipino Style Pesto

There was a surplus of Basil leaves at home today, hhhmmm...what to do?? Basil--oh yeah, pesto! I read on one of the blogs I follow that her Italian grandmother made pesto the old-fashioned way using a mortar and pestle which I've always wanted to try. Wonders of all wonders, my ancient mortar and pestle was still there--so off to work I went. Basil is traditionally made with pine nuts, which I didn't have at home so I substituted it with garlicky fried peanuts instead. There was also no parmesan cheese but plenty of Queso de Bola (Edam Cheese). I crushed 4 cloves of garlic (I heart garlic!), added a handful of washed and dried Basil leaves, pounded the mixture until the basil and garlic were fragrant and mashed. I spooned out some queso de bola and flaked tuyo (dried salted fish usually fried and eaten for breakfast) and poured about 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Making pesto the old-fashioned way took triple the time it takes to use the food processor but the taste is unbelievably superior too! Yummy!!

Hitting Two Birds with One Stone--Sisig and Binaggoongan

January was supposed to be the month that I will repent from all my holiday eating sinfulness, but alas--my resistance crumbled at the thought of making sisig from real pig's head. I sent someone to buy one whole pig's head from the wet market for a surprisingly low price. The butcher made my job easier by cutting the meat off the head, hooray for butchers!

There was too much meat to make sisig, so I halved the meat and set aside the other half for binaggoongan. Sisig according to wikipedia is a dish made from parts of pig's head and usually seasoned with chili peppers and calamansi (which is used like lime). It's thrice-cooked meaning it goes through three cooking methods. The first method it goes through is boiling in water, pineapple juice (for softening), garlic cloves, peppercorns, dried bayleaves and salt. This is done for an hour until until meat is tender. After drying the meat, it's grilled until the skin is crispy. The meat is minced into very small cubes and marinated in calamansi, soy sauce, white vinegar, bird's eye chili and finely minced onion. The third and final step is to heat up the sizzling plate over high heat and then the marinated meat is fried and served very hot. Some cooks add egg, mayonnaise or ox brains but I opted to keep mine simple.

For the other half, after boiling the meat for one hour, the meat is set aside, dried and cooled. The meat is then deep-fried, drained and cut into pieces. I sauteed minced garlic, sliced onions, sliced finger chili and a good-quality shrimp paste. When the vegetables have wilted and the shrimp paste is fragrant, I added the meat and a little water. The mixture is simmered for 5 minutes. Serve immediately.

Birthday Cake Number Two

This is how I decorated the second smaller cake for my baby sister. I split the chiffon cake into two layers, sandwiched sweetened whipped cream in the middle, coated it with chocolate fudge and then enrobed the whole cake with stabilized whipped cream (which I got an excellent recipe) and decorated it with the remaining strawberries from the first cake. This stabilized whipped cream holds very well in warm and humid weather (especially here in Manila) because of the addition of gelatin. For best results, chill the bowl and the whip attachment for 15 minutes before using.

She's going to bring this tonight for her friends--oh to be sweet sixteen again!

STABILIZED WHIPPED CREAM FROSTING

Unflavored gelatin 1 teaspoon

Water, cold 1/4 cup

All-purpose cream, chilled 1 box (250 ml)

Refined sugar 1 tablespoon

Dissolve gelatin in water, wait for it to become spongy (around 5 minutes), microwave for 30 seconds on high, stir and set aside to cool. Whip cream and sugar with whip attachment of the Kitchenaid mixer and slowly add cooled gelatin to mixture. Whip until firm and frost cake.

Sweet Sixteen

Happy birthday to my baby sister who turns sweet 16 today...time does fly very fast *sigh*. One minute she's a baby and the next she's even taller than me! She loves anything chocolate so I thought of making her a rich chocolate cake but I wanted to make it extra-special being her 16th birthday and also because it's february (the season of love *wink*wink*). So I looked for a pinkish or reddish cake and lo and behold in searching for a strawberry mousse cake, I found out that the Daring Bakers made a Strawberry Mirroir way back in 2007. I had a clear idea of what I wanted, which was basically chiffon and strawberry mousse. The only thing I copied from the DB challenge was the mirror. Mine didn't come out as shiny as the others but I was very happy because the birthday celebrant was raving about her pretty cake.

CHIFFON CAKE:

cake flour 250 grams
granulated sugar 250 grams
salt 5 grams
baking powder 12.5 grams
vegetable oil 125 grams
egg yolks 6 pieces
water 187.5 ml
vanilla 6 ml
____________________________
egg whites 8 pieces
granulated sugar 125 grams
cream of tartar 2.5 grams

Sift cake flour in a bowl, add sugar, salt and baking powder. Make a well in the center and add vegetable oil, egg yolks, water and vanilla. Whisk until all ingredients are well-combined and no lumps remain. Set aside.
Using the whip attachment of a Kitchenaid mixer, whip egg whites on medium speed until frothy add cream of tartar continue mixing. Add sugar a little at a time and adjust speed to high. Whip until firm peaks, do not overbeat. Fold in egg whites into flour-egg mixture being careful not to deflate the foam. Transfer to 9" inch cake pan (bottom greased and waxed, leave sides --do not grease) Bake in a preheated 350 degrees Farenheit oven for 60 minutes. Do not open oven door. When done, invert pan on a cooling rack until cold. Remove from pan and decorate as desired

** this recipe produced (1) 9-inch cake and (1) 6-inch cake

STRAWBERRY MOUSSE

unflavored gelatine 10 grams

water, cold 1/4 cup

all-purpose cream, chilled 330 grams

refined sugar 1/4 cup

strawberries, fresh 300 grams

refined sugar 2 tablespoons

water 2 tablespoons

Sprinkle gelatin in water, leave to bloom then melt in microwave for 30 seconds, set aside until slightly cooled. With the whip attachment of the Kitchenaid mixer, whip cream and 1/4 cup sugar until cream doubles in size, do not overbeat. Combine strawberries, remaining sugar and water in blender and process until strawberry is pureed. Add to cream and continue whipping until well incorporated. Slowly add gelatin to mixture while mixer is running.

To assemble:

Slice cooled cake into 2 layers. Lay on cake plate and wrap with acetate (clear plastic) to make mold for the cake, you can cut 2 sheets of acetate into half crosswise and connect lengthwise with tape to create a clear mold around the cake base. Pour in mousse, chill for 10 minutes, place second cake layer and pour in remaining mousse. Spread evenly with a small offset spatula. Chill for 8 hours or until set. Pour in strawberry mirror mixture and chill until set. Decorate top as desired.

Strawberry Mirror (modified from the Daring Bakers)

2 TBSP water

1 TBSP unflavored gelatin

Few drops of red food coloring

Strawberry Juice

250 grams strawberries

37 grams sugar

37 ml water

1.Prepare strawberry juice.

2.Place water in a small bowl. Sprinkle gelatin over this mixture; set aside until spongy and soft.

3.Measure 1 ½ cups Strawberry juice into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer; pour over gelatin mixture and stir to dissolve gelatin. Tint to desired color with red food coloring. Place bowl over bowl of ice water and stir occasionally until the mixture is syrupy and just beings to thicken(do not let jell); remove from ice water.

4.When mixture is syrupy, pour a 1/16-inch layer over the top of cake. Refrigerate until set.Strawberry JuiceWash and hull strawberries; coarsely chop. Place strawberries in saucepan; crush to start juices flowing. Place over low heat; add sugar and water; simmer slowly 10 minutes. Pour juice and pulp through damp jelly bag or cheesecloth-lined colander and drain into a bowl for 15 minutes(Do not press down on fruit).

January 2009 Daring Bakers' Challenge--Tuiles

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

Happy new year to all Daring Bakers!! It's been such a busy month for me that I have to admit that I was procrastinating until the last minute and was shocked when I saw that *gasp* the others have already posted their challenges!! So this morning I woke up early and finally made my tuiles--which are deceptively simple but really hard to make (for me, at least). We were given choices to make but I stuck with the savory tuiles because I am still on a sugar rush from all the wonderful goodies and sweets I had for the Christmas holidays, but then I just realized that I didn't have sesame seeds so I made use of my poppy seeds. For my spread or dip I decided to make use of Queso de Bola (Edam Cheese) which is plentiful in Philippine households during Christmas.

Savory tuile/cornet recipe

From Thomas Keller "the French Laundry Cookbook"

1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons (65 grams/2.1/4 ounces) all purpose flour

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt (= 2/3 teaspoon table salt)**

8 tablespoons (114 grams/4 ounces) unsalted butter, softened but still cool to the touch

2 large egg whites, cold

2 tablespoons black sesame seeds

In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, sugar and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk the softened butter until it is completely smooth and mayonnaise-like in texture. Using a stiff spatula or spoon, beat the egg whites into the dry ingredients until completely incorporated and smooth. Whisk in the softened butter by thirds, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary and whisking until the batter is creamy and without any lumps. Transfer the batter to a smaller container, as it will be easier to work with. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Make a 4-inch hollow circular stencil. Place Silpat on the counter (it is easier to work on the Silpat before it is put on the sheet pan). Place the stencil in one corner of the sheet and, holding the stencil flat against the Silpat, scoop some of the batter onto the back of an offset spatula and spread it in an even layer over the stencil. Then run the spatula over the entire stencil to remove any excess batter. After baking the first batch of cornets, you will be able to judge the correct thickness. You may need a little more or less batter to adjust the thickness of the cornets. There should not be any holes in the batter. Lift the stencil and repeat the process to make as many rounds as you have molds or to fill the Silpat, leaving about 1 1/2 inches between the cornets. Sprinkle each cornet with a pinch of black sesame seeds. Place the Silpat on a heavy baking sheet and bake for 4 to 6 minutes, or until the batter is set and you see it rippling from the heat. The cornets may have browned in some areas, but they will not be evenly browned at this point. Open the oven door and place the baking sheet on the door.

*** This will help keep the cornets warm as you roll them and prevent them from becoming too stiff to roll. Flip a cornet over on the sheet pan, sesame seed side down and place 4-1/2 inch cornet mold at the bottom of the round. If you are right-handed, you will want the pointed end on your left and the open end on your right. The tip of the mold should touch the lower left edge (at about 7 o'clock on a clock face) of the cornet. Fold the bottom of the cornet and around the mold; it should remain on the sheet pan as you roll. Leave the cornet wrapped around the mold and continue to roll the cornets around molds; as you proceed, arrange the rolled cornets, seams side down, on the sheet pan so they lean against each other, to prevent from rolling. When all the cornets are rolled, return them to the oven shelf, close the door, and bake for an additional 3 to 4 minutes to set the seams and color the cornets a golden brown. If the color is uneven, stand the cornets on end for a minute or so more, until the color is even. Remove the cornets from the oven and allow to cool just slightly, 30 seconds or so. Gently remove the cornets from the molds and cool for several minutes on paper towels. Remove the Silpat from the baking sheet, wipe the excess butter from it, and allow it to cool down before spreading the next batch. Store the cornets for up to 2 days (for maximum flavor) in an airtight container.

Queso de Bola Spread

1/4 cup Queso de Bola, scraped
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup cream, whipped
Cayenne pepper, to taste
Combine all ingredients and hand whisk until thoroughly mixed. Use as desired