January 4, 2012 2

Haupia New Year Cupcakes!

By in food & cooking

I was trying to figure out what to bake for New Year’s eve.  I ran out of my stock of butter from the previous weekend’s baking marathon.  I had a lot of coconut milk in my pantry and some shredded coconut I’ve been trying to use up.  I’ve always wanted to make haupia cake so why not haupia cupcakes?  Umm…Haupia New Year cupcakes!  I’m such a dork but admit it that was clever, haha!

I Googled around for a very long time to find a recipe I could use.  I want to say about 99% of what I came across called for box white cake mix.  Since I didn’t have any I had to find an alternative.  I found recipes for the equivalent to box cake mix, but I knew that wasn’t the texture I wanted.  If you’ve had haupia cakes before, the cake is very light and airy.  Then a light bulb went off and I decided a chiffon cake would actually be better.  I’ve only made chiffon cake once before and in my opinion it was a disaster.  I was ready to conquer it this time.  I compiled various recipes and made my own modifications.  Here’s how I made my delicious Haupia Coconut Cupcakes:

Chiffon {Cup}cakes (adapted from Pinoys Kitchen)

  • 2 1/4 cups cake flour
  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup cold water
  • 1/2 cup canola oil
  • 5 eggs, separated
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract  {I substituted 1/2 tablespoon coconut flavor extract and 1/2 tablespoon butter flavor extract}
  • 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
  1. Combine flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl then mix well.
  2. Pour-in the cold water, canola oil, egg yolks, and coconut & butter extracts then whisk until the texture becomes smooth. Set aside.
  3. Transfer the egg whites in a separate mixing bowl and combine cream of tartar.
  4. Beat the egg white and cream of tartar mixture using an electric mixer (high speed) until texture becomes fluffy.
  5. Beat-in the remaining 1/2 cup sugar a teaspoonful at a time and continue mixing until everything is properly distributed.
  6. At this point, you should have two mixing bowls with different mixtures. Combine the egg white mixture with the egg yolk mixture gradually by folding the egg white mixture in the egg yolk mixture (start with 1/4 of the egg white mixture followed by another 1/4 until everything is fully combined).
  7. Fill lined cupcake pans 3/4 ways full. Yields about two dozens.
  8. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for 20-23 minutes.

Haupia Filling (Hawaiian coconut pudding)

  • 2 cups coconut milk
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 4 tablespoon corn starch
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  1. In a sauce pan heat coconut milk (do not boil).
  2. Mix sugar, salt, and cornstarch with water; stir into hot coconut milk.
  3. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens (cook over low heat to avoid curdling). Stir in vanilla and cool.

Frosting 

  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 4-6 tablespoons powdered sugar (sweetness is your preference)
  • about a cup of the haupia filling above
  • shredded coconut
  1. Whip the heavy cream.  Add in the powdered sugar and haupia filling.
The original frosting recipe I tried didn’t turn out so I improvised as above.  It called for 1/3 cup coconut milk and 3 tablespoons of unflavored gelatin which I didn’t have, so I attempted to use pectin.  It gave the frosting an awful sour taste so I substituted the mixture with the haupia filling instead.  I thought it tasted better anyway with the “cooked” coconut milk taste of the haupia versus the uncooked taste of coconut milk.

Assembly

  1. Use the cone method to create cavity for filling in cupcakes.
  2. Fill the cavity with haupia filling and put the cake cap back on.  No trimming of the cake cap is necessary since the filling will soak into the airy cake.
  3. Top cupcakes with the whipped cream frosting.
  4. Sprinkle on shredded coconut.

Yummy, so glad it turned out just how I imagined it.

I took these to a New Year’s eve party and a once resident of Hawaii taste tested it.  It was approved! Yay!!

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January 4, 2012 3

Salted Caramel Chocolate Cupcakes

By in food & cooking

These are my most favorite cupcakes in the whole wide world! I love salted caramel and it’s so exciting to be able to make my very own homemade salted caramel. Once again, I used  HERSHEY’S “Perfectly Chocolate” Chocolate Cake recipe.  I didn’t make any modification to the recipe this time except use Ghirardelli’s cocoa.  Is that even allowed in a Hershey recipe?  Haha, oh well.  Please be aware this recipe will make at least two dozen cupcakes.  I didn’t mind because I gave away most of it to friends.  The hubby was not too happy about that.  Now on to the good stuff!!  The recipes below for the burnt caramel buttercream and caramel sauce is courtesy of Bakers Royale.  I just added sea salt to the caramel recipe.

Burnt Caramel Buttercream:

  • 5 large egg whites
  • 11/2 cup sugar
  • 4 sticks unsalted butter, diced and softened
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla
  • 1/3 cup caramel sauce (recipe follows)
  1. Combine egg whites and sugar in a bowl placed over simmering water. Bring mixture to 150 degrees F while whisking constantly.
  2. Transfer mixture to stand mixer bowl, fitted with a whisk attachment and beat on medium speed until mixture cools and doubles in volume.
  3. Add butter in one piece at a time, mixing to incorporate after each addition. The mixture may appear clumpy and almost curdled looking-this is normal. Keep mixing and it will become even and smooth again. Add salt and vanilla and mix to combine. Add caramel sauce and mix to combine.

*** Note: This actually makes a lot of frosting. In fact, I still had leftover after three dozen cupcakes! ***

Homemade {Salted} Caramel Sauce:

  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 6 tablespoons of heavy cream
  1. Add sugar and water into a saucepan over medium low heat. Stir until sugar has dissolved. Use a wet brush to remove any crystals that form on the side. Once sugar has dissolved increase heat to high. Now and then, using the handle give the pot a swirl to keep the mixture moving. Do not stir the mixture directly. The mixture will start to bubble after a minute. Let mixture come to a dark amber color, approximately 5-7 minutes, add the butter and cream to saucepan. The mixture will bubble wildly. Whisk to combine (bubbles will subside upon cooling). Stir to combine. {Now to make it salted caramel, sprinkle some sea salt to the mixture.  How salty you want it is your preference}
  2. Set aside 3 tablespoons for drizzling on top of finish cupcake.
  3. Note: Since the caramel sauce is cooked longer than traditionally done so, the consistency will thicken quickly as it cools. Reheat in the microwave as needed to work with it.

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December 30, 2011 0

Oreo Cookies ‘n Cream Bark

By in food & cooking

If you love Hershey’s Cookies ‘n Creme candy bar or Cookies and Cream ice cream then this is right up your alley.  I promise this has got to be the easiest dessert to make ever  and it’s so good!!  All you need are some Oreo cookies and a bag of white chocolate chip morsels.  Yup, that’s it and you this is what you get….

Ingredients

  • 1 bag of white chocolate chips morsels (my favorite is Ghirardelli)
  • 15 Oreo cookies plus a few extra
  • canola oil (if necessary)

Directions

  1. Melt the white chocolate in glass bowl over boiling water in a sauce pan (my makeshift double boiler).   Or you can melt it in the microwave but be careful not to overheat and burn it.  Whenever I melt chocolate chips I always find it to be clumpy.  I learned from the hubby to add a little canola oil.  I don’t know why but it does the trick and makes the mixture smoother.  When the chocolate is all melted, set the glass bowl aside as you move on to the next step.
  2. Chop up 15 Oreo cookies and add it to the melted chocolate.  Stir until the two are combined.
  3. Line a cookie pan or a 8×8 pan or larger with wax paper. Poor the mixture onto the wax paper and spread it out to your preferred thickness.
  4. Crumble the extra cookies and sprinkle it on top.
  5. Let the chocolate harden and then break apart into pieces.  It’ll cool faster if you put it in the refrigerator.

I told you it’s easy!

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December 10, 2011 0

Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie a la mode!

By in food & cooking

I love this Skillet-Baked Chocolate Chip Cookie  recipe from Martha Stewart!  I used half dark and milk chocolate chips and I also added walnuts.  A slice of this heavenly chunk of goodness is delicious with a giant scoop of vanilla ice cream.  I will definitely be making more of this.

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November 25, 2011 0

White Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

By in food & cooking

I once had a peanut butter cookie recipe I loved a lot.  It was easy, quick and super chewy.  It was a recipe I learned from a sixth or seventh grade cooking class.   I wrote it down in a notebook pre my computer days, but unfortunately it’s been forgotten and lost somewhere.  I like peanut butter cookies that are sweet and chewy, not dry, bland and hard.  I came across this recipe online and liked the comments it received.  I decided to give it a try except I didn’t have any dark brown sugar.  I replaced it with light brown sugar and also added Nutella because I was in an experimentation mode.  I also used white chocolate chips instead of peanut butter morsels because that’s too much peanut butter for me.  Here’s my version of the recipe:

White Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
  • 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 3/4 cup smooth peanut butter (natural/unsweetened)
  • 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup Nutella
  • 1  large egg, at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup white chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350 and grease some cookie trays.

2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

3. In a mixer’s bowl cream together the butter, sugar, peanut butter, Nutella and egg until well combined then add the vanilla extract

4. With a wooden spoon or the mixer on a low setting mix the flour mixture in with the peanut butter mixture in three additions until just combined.

5. Roll out 1.5 tbsp balls of cookie dough and gently flatten with a fork in in a crisscross pattern.

6. Bake for ten minutes, rotating the cookie sheets after five minutes. Let cool on the tray until firm enough to move to a cooling rack.

The verdict?  Hubby says it’s yummy (then again he always says that).  Though soft I still didn’t get the “chewy” factor I was hoping for.  I must find my old recipe next time I’m at my mom’s house!  I remember a lot less flour and more sugar.

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