Chocolate-Covered Fruits

Angela made these chocolate-dipped grapes and strawberries.
Yummy!!
Use recipe and procedure for Cakeballs recipe #86, click here.

They looked very presentable when placed in cellophane bags.
Nice treat!!

#125_Sugar Cookies Choco Bars

This cookie bars is simple and easy to make and
is the kind you'd like to take to potlucks
and watch it disappear with pleasure.

I watched Giada De Laurentis on food network
make these cookies one day.
I basically followed her recipe except for some changes
in the ingredients as I used whatever I had.
I didn't have the mascarpone, so I substituted cream cheese.
She used refrigerated cookie dough,
I used my sugar cookies recipe #48, click here.
She used toffee, I used butterfinger bars.

With my sugar cookies recipe I made this bar cookies
using 12" x 16 1/2" cookie sheet
as it is twice the amount Giada used.
I doubled the rest of the ingredients as well.
It can yield from 48 to 60 squares depending
on the size you want your slices.
This is a big batch, ideal to take to pot lucks.
You can also use any of your favorite sugar cookies recipe.

Mix the chopped toffee bars or butterfinger bars with the cookie dough.

Spread the dough evenly onto a cookie sheet

You can press the dough down using your fingers
or you can use this gadget, mini rolling pin,
if you have one.
It makes it faster and easier to press the dough down,
and with the tines of a fork, prick the dough all over.
Bake the cookie in a 350 degrees pre-heated oven for 14 minutes
Or till the edges are lightly browned.

Let it cool, then spread the chocolate topping (recipe below) on the cooled cookie.

Sprinkle some chopped toffee bars and toasted sliced almonds.

Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before slicing.

The cook gets the first slice!
Do you think the cook can wait 2 long hours before slicing it?

Here's the original recipe by Giada De Laurentis on food network:

Vegetable cooking spray
1 pound refrigerated sugar cookie dough (recommended: Pillsbury)
2 (1.4-ounces) chocolate-toffee candy bars, coarsely chopped, divided (recommended: Skor) 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chip (recommended: Ghirardelli)
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 cup (8 ounces) mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Directions:

Position an oven rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray a 7 by 10 3/4-inch nonstick baking pan with vegetable cooking spray.

Lay a 6 by 18-inch piece of parchment paper in the pan.

Spray the parchment paper lightly with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, combine the cookie dough, 1/2 of the chopped chocolate-toffee candy pieces and vanilla extract.

Using damp fingers, gently press the dough into the prepared pan.

Using the tines of a fork, prick the dough all over.

Bake for 12 to 14 minutes until the crust is lightly browned. Cool for 15 minutes.

Chocolate topping:

Place the chocolate chips and vegetable oil in a medium bowl.

Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir until the chocolate has melted.

Cool the chocolate mixture for 10 minutes.

Whisk in the mascarpone cheese until the mixture is smooth.

Using a spatula, spread the chocolate mixture over the cooled crust.

Sprinkle the remaining chocolate-toffee candy pieces and sliced almonds over the chocolate mixture.

Refrigerate for at least 2 hours until the chocolate layer is firm.

Cut into 1 1/2 by 2-inch bars. Serve at room temperature.

Note:
To toast almonds, arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet.
Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F oven for 8 to 10 minutes until lightly browned.

#124_Treats for the Mothers

Sweet Perfection Bread Pudding
a.k.a. Leche Flan with Recycled Bread

Angela's Chocolate-Covered Fruits

Sugar Cookies Choco Bars

Ground Beef Alfredo 'N Breadsticks

Recipes coming up!!

#123_How to Clean and Fry Fish

Fried Whole Tilapia
served with dipping sauce and papaya pickles

Usually these fish are already scaled and gutted
when you buy them at the Asian stores.
If they are frozen, thaw them out in the fridge overnight
before you can clean them.

Rub really well the inside and outside of the fish with salt
or baking soda to get rid of the slimy-ness and fishy smell.
Rinse fish good with cold water.
Using a very sharp knife, make a couple of gashes
diagonally across both sides of fish.
Drain on paper towel.
Sprinkle plain salt or garlic salt all over the fish,
inside and on the skin.

These are trouts given to me by my friend Bobbi, who got them from her friends who went fishing to Idaho. I love trouts specially the German brown. I would choose trouts over bangus anytime..and I love them fried or stewed (sinigang).

You can tell that a non-Filipino gutted and scaled the fish as the heads and tails had been chopped off. I think the fish look more like snakes without the heads on than they do fish. That is probably the reason most Filipinos including myself like to keep the head intact even though we don't usually eat that part of the fish.

Whole Tilapia

How to fry fish:

Heat oil in a non-stick fry pan over medium-low heat. When oil is hot enough, drop a couple of crushed cloves of garlic in the oil. The garlic not only adds some flavor to the fish but also can be used to test the temperature of the oil. If the garlic turns brown so fast, that indicates that the oil is too hot. Turn the heat down. Then slowly drop the fish in the fry pan. Be careful because the hot oil splatters upon contact with the fish. If you have oil splatter screen, it will be useful for this task, if not, you can just use a piece of aluminum foil loosely placed over the pan to avoid oil from splattering all over.

Fry fish about 8-12 minutes on one side turning just once. The other side should not take as long. Remember, this is whole fish, so it takes a little longer to fry than fillets do. Also, cooking time varies according to the size of fish.
If you want the skin of fish to be soft, put a lid on while frying. If you want the skin to be a little crispy (but not burnt) or nice crust, do not put lid on, just place oil splatter screen on the pan.

(My) rule of thumb when frying fish: when the sizzling sound starts to die down or subside, it's time to flip the fish and fry the other side. I learned this trick from my mother who was born and raised in Binmaley, a town in Pangasinan where there are fish ponds all over the place. There is no science to this but it works for me all the time.

#122_Pani Popo or Coconut Cream Buns

Pani Popo....

not only rhymes with pan de coco
but also it is in the same ball park.

Pani Popo is a Polynesian bread baked in coconut cream,
or in other words, pani popo swims in coconut cream
while the Filipino pan de coco is filled with coconut candy or bocayo.

My sister Melinda learned how to make this bread
from her father-in-law in New Zealand,
then she showed me how to make it
when she came to visit me here 10 years ago.

It is really easy to make except for making the dough,
but the taste is, ohh, superb!
If you like pan de coco, you'll like pani popo.

Two months ago I made a whole pan
of this bread, click here, for a family from Tonga.
They love it so much that they went to a
Polynesian bakery, to get some more, obviously.
The father didn't like what they bought from the bakery!
Just recently, he begged his wife to call and ask me
if I would make some for their party.
Needless to say this bread is Polynesian-approved.

You can use any bread recipe that you may already have,
but here are my suggestions:
These are all bread machine recipes

Pan de Sal recipe #20, click here
Potato Dinner Rolls recipe #63, click here
Reduced Eggs Ensaymada recipe #114, click here
Basic Sweet Dough Recipe #178, click here

Procedure:

1) After the dough cycle is finished, let the dough rise either in the bread machine bucket or in a bowl, until doubled in size.
2) Punch down dough and divide it into 3 equal portions, then cut each portion into 12 pieces. Shape them into balls.

3) Arrange the shaped dough in 3 well-greased baking pans measuring 9x13.

4) Let rise (again) until the doughs have doubled in size.

5) Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

In the above picture, I used the reduced egg ensaymada dough recipe
in a bigger pan measuring 11 1/2" x 15 1/2" x 2"
with 24 pieces of dough balls.
Make sure the pan is at least 2 inches deep
so the cream will not splash out while it is baking.

The doughs might look like they
are swimming in coconut cream, but
don't be alarmed because as the bread bakes
the coconut cream thickens
and some of the cream will be absorbed by the bread.


The Cream Mixture

5) Mix 1 1/2 cans (3 cups) coconut cream and 3/4 cup sugar, stirring well until sugar is dissolved.

6) Pour this mixture into the 3 pans just before baking.
7) Bake for 20-25 minutes.

The thickened coconut cream in the
baking pan can be used for dipping the bread.


Enjoy!!!

UPDATES: 6-30-09

The perfect proportion for coconut cream and sugar is:
For 1 cup coconut cream, use 1/4 cup white sugar.
But you can use more or less according to your personal
preference.

I received a couple of e-mails inquiring about the coconut cream, if it is okay to use coconut milk. I took a picture of the coconut cream that I like to use personally. You can use any brand you like as long as it is coconut cream ( this is thicker).

I had used coconut milk in the past but the sauce was too thin.

Another update:
When I was in Texas visiting our family there, I can't find the ingredients to make the bread such as the vital wheat gluten and dough enhancer and the right kind of coconut cream. So, I settled with the frozen dough and coconut milk. The outcome wasn't as good as the kind I make using the dough recipes I listed above.

Vital Wheat Gluten

Vital Wheat Gluten at Wal-Mart

I had recieved several inquiries via e-mail from readers
where to find vital wheat gluten, an ingredient
I use in most of my yeast bread recipes, such as the
Pan de Sal, click here,
Reduced Eggs Ensaymada, here,
and Basic Sweet Dough here.
and other bread recipes.
Usually regular grocery stores don't carry them, so
I buy them at our local baking supply store
and are made here in Utah.

Yesterday as I was in one Wal-Mart store,
I spotted the Vital Wheat Gluten on their shelves at the baking aisle.
I thought I'd take a picture to post it here so my readers
would know what to look for.
I'm just hoping Wal-Mart will not sue me over this.

#121_Roast Beef

Rump Roast

Roast beef is one of the dishes we enjoyed at our last
Easter Sunday dinner, click here.


To prepare rump roast for roasting,
first, rinse the meat and pat dry with paper towel.
Then drizzle with canola oil or olive oil
and rub it all over the meat.

Rub some seasonings on all sides of the meat.

You can use any seasonings or spices you like.

You can even use just salt and pepper.

Here's my favorite rub:

I like to use a mixture of different spices like this one.
onion powder, garlic powder, kosher salt, mustard powder and
two different kinds of steak seasonings.


Place the prepared meat in dripper pan or a roasting pan,
fat side up. Do not add any water in the pan.
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees and bake it for 15 minutes.
Turn the temperature down to 325 degrees, and continue to bake.

For well done roast, cook it for 30 minutes per pound
or insert a meat thermometer in the center of roast.
When it's temperature reaches 170 degrees,
take it out of the oven and let it rest for
about 20 minutes before carving or slicing it.

These slices of roast are going in the crockpot.

At this point the roast should be ready to be served but,
here's something I do that makes the roast extra tender and very flavorful.
I put the sliced roast in a crock pot on low heat.
I sprinkle some salt and add some broth.
Or you can dissolve bouillon cube in about 1/4 cup of hot water.
I let the roast continue to cook for about 1 hour
or until we are ready to devour it.
This is usually served with gravy but since
I made potato casserole instead of mashed potato,
I didn't make the gravy.

#120_ Inasal or Chicken B-B-Q, Pinoy Style

 Inasal
Pinoy Style Chicken Barbeque

Whenever I make this BBQ chicken, I just eyeball the ingredients for the marinade. I don't really have the exact measurements. So what I will be posting here is just a guideline, in a way you can't really go wrong with the marinade.

For Western Style BBQ click here.

Clean chicken thoroughly by rubbing them with salt or baking soda, then rinse them with cold water.
Pat dry with paper towel and put them in a glass bowl or glass baking pan.
Marinate chicken for several hours with the marinade recipe below..

Here's a recipe for the marinade.

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 tbp worcestershire sauce
1 head garlic, crushed
1/4 cup anatto oil
1 cup 7-up, not diet
freshly cracked whole black peppers
2 pieces bay leaves

Mix everything together then take out about 1/3 cup and set it aside in a sauce pan. Marinate chicken (or pork) for several hours or overnight. Transfer the chicken to a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil for easy clean up. Cover the pan with aluminum foil then bake in a pre-heated 350 degrees oven for about half an hour. Finish cooking the chicken on the grill basting with the basting sauce below.

This is the reserved 1/3 cup marinade

Basting Sauce

To the reserved marinade, add some chopped shallots, (this is optional) then bring it to a boil. Take it off the heat and strain, discarding the garlic and shallots. To the clear juice, add about 2 tablespoons of honey. Use this to baste the chicken on the grill.

For the recipe for Anatto Oil click the link below:
http://pinoyamericanrecipes.blogspot.com/2009/01/pancit-sotanghon-chinese-vermicelli.html

#119_ Paksiw na Lechon

This is a recipe inspired by Dennis of
Mga Luto ni Dennis, click here,
where he used left over lechon and store-bought lechon sauce.
I was drooling while reading his recipe like I was nag-lilihi!

I had everything to make the recipe except for the lechon,
so I used the next best thing which I already have in the
freezer... left over roast pork (picnic cut) and sliced it up.

Here is what I came up with:

1) I heated 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.
2) Sauteed some sliced onions for 1 minute and added the roast pork and bay leaves. Sauteed it for about 3 minutes or so.
3) Added some vinegar, crushed garlic, whole black pepper, all purpose sauce (I didn't have lechon sauce)
4) Simmered for about 10 minutes.


It is a little bit dry but it is delicious. The sauce is really mild. Next time I will add some broth to make it a little saucy.

Actually my friend, Aida has a very good recipe of the sauce she makes from scratch. She adds dried lily in with the sauce which makes it extra delish, in fact it is the first food I dig into whenever I get invited to have dinner at her house.

NOTES:
1) You can add some broth if you want saucy paksiw.

2) Sorry, for not providing measurements of the ingredients. I just eyeballed everything in this recipe....it is what I call "free-style" cooking.

3) This post might sound ironic because of the swine flu pandemic. However, some doctors who come on national tv say that people acquire the virus from "people-to-people" contact and not from consuming pork.

Super good Pork Paksiw
made by Aida for Christmas dinner 2009


Addendum:
here's my latest version of Paksiw na Lechon with the addition of liver paste.
Click here to get the recipe.

#118_Red Beans Ensaymada

Bean Paste-Filled Ensaymada Bun

There were two blogs that inspired me to make this
version of ensaymada:
Firs, I saw burnt lumpia's post on ensaymada, click here,
where he filled the dough with cheese.
Well, I don't like cheese that much, that's why I don't put cheese
on my ensaymada, but the idea is good and is new to me
as I never had cheese-filled ensaymada before.
Second, I saw cafenilson's post (here) on bean paste buns....
I love the bean paste in sesame balls (bochi),
and her bean paste buns look so delicious that I want to try to them.
Then a thought came, why not combine the two ideas.

Red Bean Paste

I bought this pouch of bean paste at a Korean store.
They are pre-made red bean fillings for bochi or sesame balls,
just snip off one corner of the pouch and ready to go.

I used the dough for the Reduced Eggs Ensaymada recipe#114,
but you can also use richer Ensaymada recipe #113 as well.
They are both soft as long as you follow the
whole procedure of proofing and rising.

Divide dough equally into 24 pieces.
Roll each dough out into approximately
10 inches long by 3 inches wide
and fill each one with the bean paste.
If you have a mini rolling pin like the one pictured here,
it makes it easier to roll out these little doughs.

Roll the filled dough tight and pinch the seams really good
so they won't open up during the rising process.

Coil each filled dough like you do ensaymada
and follow the rest of procedure
as directed on the ensaymada recipes.

Top the baked ensaymada with softened butter,
sprinkle with sugar and grated cheese.

I find the bean paste to be too sweet,
so I prefer mine without the toppings.

NOTES:
1) A friend of mine suggested these for variations:
For fillings, use mung bean paste or ube halaya

2) If you want to make your own red bean paste, go to cafenilson for the link.