yum yum

More hostess cupcakes. Well, because...just look at them. Delectable.

Photo credit goes to B. 

happy birthday, B!

i take any excuse to bake chocolate sweets, and this one in particular, was a very special excuse..B's birthday!

i made hostess cupcakes from food & wine's recipe and stuffed chunks of marshmallow for the filling (i know, i cheated..i don't even really care for marshmallows). my favorite part was dunking each cake in a bath of ganache and then giving it a little twist at the end for a smooth, silky coat.  i also enjoyed decorating them with piped icing, which i added a little drop of vanilla to (well, because i love pure vanilla..almost as much as i do, chocolate), it made me feel as if i was a pastry chef, dressing each cupcake with skill and precision, all i needed was my toque blanche. and like magic, the cakes were something special. the baked mini chocolate cake, each with its fluffy marshmallow filling and warm chocolate icing, perfectly sized to fit in one bite, all just melting in your mouth. a pure pleasure.

sunflower custards

i was craving the portuguese custard, pasteis de nata, and i thought, why not try to make them on my own? they came out well, but not as good as the ones i had in belém. still, they were very fun to make and they came out really cute. the first batch, i made with store-bought filo dough, which was a really interesting process not understanding the recipe's instruction on how to place the layers of dough into the baking tin. to my surprise, they came out really well and fancy looking. i wish i had pictures to post, but I had to pack them quickly for a birthday party. they were light and crispy, a pretty golden yellow. i think the puff pastry could have been more buttery in flavor, but the egg custard filling i nailed, not too eggy, sweet, but not too sweet and complimented with a hint of vanilla.   

 

wanting to get the shell right, i tried a second batch. i looked up more recipes on the shell and tried it with--this time with a mix of whole wheat flour, cold water, tad of salt and chilled diced butter mixed in. they came really beautifully and chewy, and look like adorable flowers. still, not the texture i remeebered. perhaps, i just need to return to portgual to taste the real thing..

 

 

note: this photo was taken at work on my imac. i brought some of the second batch to share with my officemates, my beloved taste-testers :)

babycakes, double chocolate chip cookies

I've been having a chocolate craving like no other, and thanks to Natalie who got me a recipebook from the most talked about bakery in NYC, Babycakes, I made these bad boys. It was also an excuse to take a trek to Rainbow Grocery and buy the best of ingredients in bulk--coconut oil, fair-trade semisweet chocolate chips, and pure cocoa powder and vanilla extract.  They're the ultimate guilt-free indulgence--I'm actually munching on some that I packed for lunch right now. I know, it's only 9:30 in the morning, but never too early for a sweet fix.

These cookies came out so well-- thin and crispy on the edges while moist and chewy in the center, and chocolatey all around. I'm including the recipe here along with an interview of Babycakes founder, Erin McKenna because I think it's very worth sharing.

Note: I cut the recipe in a half (because the full recipe yields close to 40 cookies) and still had plenty to bring into work. Oh, another note! Dennie got me the book, "The Artist in the Office: How to Creatively Survive and Thrive Seven Days a Week," which is as awesome as it is witty and inspiring, and in it, the author suggests to make a treat for your coworkers. What better excuse have you got now?

Enjoy!
con

p.s. I took this photo with B's fancy camera, and on the second click came out with this. I'm pretty impressed. Food photographer in the making? Perhaps..

when I think of Portugal, I think surf and sweets.

After watching the film "Pastry" at this summer's International Asian American Film Festival in NYC, I grew a strong craving for the popular Chinese pastry known as the egg custard. I was never a big fan of them as they were a "no, thank you" for me at family dim sum brunches. (Aside: the thought of carts full of steaming dumplings is making my mouth water as I write this in Girona, Spain). But having watched this film about a Chinese girl's coming-of-age and love for custards; receiving pink boxes full of freshly baked custards every time one of her four sisters got married; her keen sense of judgement on boys (if they couldn't distinguish a good custard from a not-so-good one, they were thrown out the door), I fell in love and grew hungry. Luckily, when I returned home, my mom took me to a Chinese bakery in Monterey Park where I had my picking of three different styled egg custards, two Chinese kinds and one Portuguese. I happily chose one of each.

You can just imagine how excited (and nostalgic) I was when I came upon the custards in Portugal, known as paséis de nata. With their multiple layers of filo dough, so thn and crispy filled with a light creamy egg bath baked to perfection.

The first two photos are of pastéises from from Peniche, Portugal, a fisherman's village and this year's hot spot for the ASP World Surf Tour.

After surfing in Baleal, I spent four days in Lisboa, the caital of Portugal and headed to the famous, Pastéis de Belém, where the heavenly delicacy was invented.

 

 Surf's up!

life's uncertain, eat dessert first

i'm at yali's, my favorite place for coffee in berkeley and i just got a slice of their chocolate cake.
i think i'm in heaven.

a sweet surprise

This morning I got the most amazing and thoughtful care package from my Aunt Terry and Uncle Hamid. It totally made the start of my day! Funny is how the goods are fitting--organic granola, hazlenut coffee, dark chocolate, coconut cookies, raisinets, preserved plums and orange peels, all of my favorite snacks in a big box decorated with the coolest stickers that read, "You go Girl!" and "You Got that Right!" Too funny and cute. I can't help but step lighter and wear a smile all day because of it.

some sugary sweets

Tonight was spectaculicious! Maryla and Michelle came home with two monster bags full of pastries, bagels and bread. It was sweets heaven! Three weeks ago Ari had this brilliant idea of the local bakery chain that carries the most scrumptious sweets,Au Bon Pain, what they do with their bread at the end of the day. It turns out they just throw it away so they offered to give her the leftovers. A couple of my housemates make it a priority to go there at least once a week around 7pm to stock up on carbs. That pretty much covers breakfast, lunch sandwiches and dessert. The best part is that it's all free! Talk about being smart and resourceful, and soon enough-- fat!

Pigging out to DC's most delectable and mouthwatering jellyrolls, scones, danishes, muffins, crumbcakes, croissants, and macaroons and then watching Y tu Mamá También was oh, so heavenly and hilarious!

Now Maryla is attempting to teach us capoiera, which dictionary.com defines as an Afro-Brazilian dance that incorporates self-defense mamaneuvers. And apparently involves doing handstands against the wall, or so demonstrates my English housemate. Think of breakdancing in its most intense form with a lot of discipline, acrobats and chanting.