Blueberry & Blackberry Rice Pudding

Helloooooo. I made this stuff ages ago, but I'm only just now getting around to writing up a post. Why? 'cause that's just how I am, haha. But also because working 5 days a week plus full time classes makes me want to blow my brains out.Anyway, as you can tell, I'm really really into blueberries right now. I love rice pudding. I love blueberry desserts. It's a logical progression. I added in the blackberries because I had some in the fridge I completely forgot about (and they're prettier to garnish with than frozen blueberries, haha)
Onto pictures and the recipe!

I couldn't get the last two pictures to look right, but I hate only having one picture, so...:(



Berry Rice Pudding
1/4 cup of rice
2 cups of water
3 1/4 cups of whole milk
1/4 cup of sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
~ 3/4 mixed berries (I suggest blueberries and strawberries. The seeds from blackberries are a little jarring in the finished pudding)

Put the rice and water into a pot and bring to a boil. Once it's boiling, lower the temperature and cook the rice for 5 minutes. Drain it, and set it aside in another bowl.


Rinse out the pot, and add the milk and sugar. Put the pan over medium-high heat. Once it boils, add in the partially cooked rice. Reduce the heat (but make sure it's high enough to bubble slightly), and let it cook, stirring occasionally, for about 35 minutes.About halfway through, add in the berries and the vanilla.
I like to mash up the berries with my spoon to really get the flavor in there, but it's up to you. The pudding won't be  very thick when it's done, but that's okay, it'll thicken in the fridge. Pour it into a serving bowl, or individual dishes. Place plastic wrap onto the pudding, making sure to make it touch, so it doesn't develop a skin. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours. Or eat right away. But I find that the berry pudding tastes best cold.

Share

Chocolate, Banana & Caramel Entremet

I feel like whenever I open up the "create post" page on blogger, I have to find new words for apologies. My life really hasn't been conducive to posting, and so it's just hard to find the time/money. Also, I live in a basement apartment now, with no natural lighting (except for a tiny, high up window in my bedroom), so my photographs suffer.
I did buy a new lamp with some daylight CFL bulbs, and that greatly improved my photos!

Anyway, I finally decided that I would make something for the blog. Something pretty.
Unfortunately, my first attempt (a blood orange and pear entremet) didn't work as well as I'd hoped. It just didn't look as good as I wanted, and the cruddy lighting I had didn't help. It was sponge cake, mousse, and gelee. I wasn't a huge fan of the gelee, at least with that cake, so the next one I did was just mousse and cake.

And that brings me to what I'm going to show you guys today! A bit of warning: The following recipes are a result of some Frakensteining. But it's really really really good. Really good. REALLY. GOOD. Haha okay. If you're going to attempt it, make sure to read through the entire recipe. Certain things need to be finished in certain orders, because of the nature of the gelatin in the mousse and all of that. So even though all the recipes will come first, make sure to follow the order/timing of the assembly section :)





Chocolate, Banana, Caramel & Pecan Entremet:
(makes 1 8x8 entremet, will probably need to be trimmed)


Ingredients:

Chocolate Sponge Cake and Pecan Sponge Layer:
3 eggs, separated
1 whole egg
50 g of oil
50 g flour
50 g sugar
3 tbs cocoa powder
1 c coarsely ground pecans
dash of cinnamon

3 mousses:
1 cup heavy cream
1 Tbs sugar
1 banana
1/2 cup of chocolate
3 Tbs butter
1/2 cup of caramel
2.5 tbs gelatin (one packet)

Chocolate Ganache:
3/4 c heavy cream
1 c chocolate (this will probably make more than you need, but store it in the fridge or something XD)


Methods:

Sponge cake:
Preheat your oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

Whisk the egg whites until frothy. Add the sugar, and whip to stiff peaks.
Whisk together the egg yolks, whole egg, and oil. Sift in the flour, and mix until it's well incorporated.
Mix a couple of spoonfuls of the egg whites into the yolk mixture, to make it easier to fold in. Then fold the lightened yolk mixture into the whites, carefully.
Set aside 1/4 of the mixture, and carefully fold in the pecans and the cinnamon. Spread out that mixture on a covered sheet pan, in approximately the size of the pan you're going to assemble the whole cake in. (if you have multiples of the same size, go ahead and bake it in a pan. I'm just trying to save you washing dishes XD)
Bake it until it's lightly browned on top, and set it aside.
Carefully mix the cocoa powder into the rest of the batter, and bake it in an 8x8 pan for ~15 minutes, or until it's lightly browned on top. (you can also use the toothpick test, but be careful, it might fall)
Set that aside, but wash out your pan.

Mousse:
Bloom the gelatin over 2 tbs of cold water
Whip the cream to stiff peaks (but be careful not to make butter!)
Banana:
Puree the banana, with the Tbs of sugar. Warm it up a little, and stir 1/3 of the gelatin into it, making sure it melts completely. Immediately fold into 1/3 of the whipped cream.
Chocolate:
Melt the chocolate with the butter over low heat. add in 1/3 of the gelatin, mix, and fold into 1/3 of the whipped cream
Caramel:
Melt the caramel, mix in the remaining gelatin, and fold into the remaining whipped cream.

Ganache:
Bring the heavy cream to a boil. Pour over the chocolate, and stir until completely combined. Let cool before topping the entremet.



AND FINALLY, ASSEMBLY:

Place the pecan sponge in a lined 8x8 pan.
Make the banana mousse, spread it over the sponge, and level it off with an offset spatula (greatest invention ever)
Split the chocolate sponge into two layers. Place one layer on top of the mousse, pressing down slightly.
Make the chocolate mousse, apply, and level.
Place the second layer of chocolate sponge.
Make the caramel mousse, apply, and level.
If the ganache is already room temperature, go ahead and pour a thin layer on top. If not, put the whole entremet in the freezer for a bit, and then pour the ganache on top.


Let it sit in the fridge overnight, slice, and enjoy. (because you deserved it...that was a lot of work!)

If you guys want the recipe/instructions for the caramel corkscrew & the candied pecan, just ask in the comments, and I'll put them in another post. :)



I'm sleepy now...bye! Haha :)

Share

Kiwi Sherbet!

I have been remiss in my blogging duties, but I do have an excuse.
First, I was sick for a couple of weeks, and hardly felt like being alive, much less baking anything.
Second, when I got back to my apartment, I discovered that my minor mouse problem had turned into a major mouse problem. Let's just say I found surprises in my bed and in my kitchen drawers. T____T


So aaaaaanyway, here's something entirely out of season. (but you know what? Sometimes ice cream is best in the winter. Just ask this guy.)
The best part, though? Three ingredients!








Kiwi Sherbet:
1/2 cup of heavy cream
1/2 cup of sugar
2-3 Kiwifruit (enough to make 1/2 cup of puree)

Mash up the kiwis, enough so that you don't have to blend them too much. If you blend them for too long, the seeds get pulverized and it's not pretty. Of course, you can always not use the part with seeds, but I think it looks better with them :)

Whisk everything together, and pop it in your ice cream maker. Follow the manufacturer's directions.
If you don't have an ice cream machine, do what I did as a kid; shake it in a plastic bag!

If you'd like yours a little greener, add a tiny bit of green and yellow food dye. JUST A LITTLE. You don't want it looking too artificial XD

Put the sherbet in the freezer for a couple of hours to set up further and enjoy!

Share

Rainbow Cookies

I think, by now, you guys are aware that I like making rainbow baked goods.
I have an unhealthy obsession with food coloring, and what better way to use it than in rainbows?

So, in my neverending quest to make enough rainbow food to drown my home state, I decided to go back to my baking roots: cookies!

I made these pretty much in the same way I made the rainbow bread; 7 unequal lumps of dough, colored and layered...though this was much much easier.

They're pretty simple, and you can flavor them any way you like...and I think your friends would find them cute (I do, at least, haha)






Rainbow Refrigerator Cookies: Makes 4 dozen
2.5 cups of flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
16 tablespoons of room temperature butter (2 sticks)
1 cup of sugar
1 tbsp of any extract or flavoring (vanilla, lemon, mint, whatever!)
1 egg
pinch of salt.

Cream together the butter and sugar. When that's light and fluffy, add in the egg, and the extract/flavoring.

Add in the rest of the ingredients, and mix until the dough comes together.

Divide the dough into 7 parts, but not equally! To make sure the layers of the rainbow are the same thickness, the portions have to get progressively larger (from purple to red)

Color the smallest portion purple, and so on, and the largest red.
Cover and chill the doughs in the fridge for an hour. (or in the freezer for 15 minutes if you're a lazy bum like me)

Roll the purple dough into a snake, about 1 1/2 feet long. (for cookies the size of mine, about 1 1/2 inches across. If you want bigger ones, make the snake shorter and thicker)
Roll out each color, in order to fit perfectly over the color before it, and trim any excess before adding the next color.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Return the log to the fridge and chill until stiff enough to easily slice. (or the freezer again ;] )

Slice the log into 1/4 inch pieces, and places on a lined baking sheet.
Bake the cookies for 15 minutes, and let cool completely on a rack.

Enjoy :)

Share

Pumpkin Pie Spice Meringues!

You know, every time I go to type "meringue", I always want to type "merengue" instead.

Interesting Kiara Tidbit o' the Day! XD


Anyhoooo. Last night, I whipped egg whites by hand for an hour while watching TV, because my mixer bowl was dirty and I figured I could use the exercise.

I have poor decision-making skills, obviously.

Anyway, here are pictures, and the recipe! :)



I couldn't decide which I liked better XD



Pumpkin Pie Spice Meringues:
1 cup granulated sugar
3 egg whites
1 tsp of vinegar (or cream of tartar. You need acid, that's all :) )
1 tbs pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger)
Tiny dab of orange food coloring.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. This won't take long, so I'd do it when you're almost done whipping the egg whites.

Whip the egg whites until frothy, then slowly add in the sugar.
Then add the vinegar and spices, and continue to whip.
When it gets to soft peaks, add in the food coloring.
Whip whip whip whip whip until they're stiff, glossy peaks. (they'll hold their shape when you lift the whisk straight up, the tip should curl over , but it should be a defined peak)

You can either just put the meringue into a sandwich baggie and cut the tip off and pipe little blobs, or put a nice tip in a pastry bag. I used a Wilton 1M for mine.

Now the baking time really depends on your oven and the size of the meringues, so the first time you make them, I'd suggest making a small test batch (if you have time), or to at least make more than you need, so you can break a couple open and check if they're done.
For me, personally, these needed about an hour. Generally, they'll take between that and 2 hours, but like I said, it depends on their size, and your particular oven. :)

Share

Cookies with hazelnut filling.

I really felt like making something cute and adorable.
Logically, that leads to using little heart and star cookie cutters :)

Few things make me happier than tiny, shaped food. Haha.

I don't actually have much to say today, just trying to get through this summer of work and tiredness before I start my fall of school and tiredness. XD
I'm baking some cupcakes for my friends' birthdays, we're having a little get together tonight, and I figured I'd bring something. It's how I roll. :)

I was trying to figure out how to make some sort of cream filling made with hazelnuts, but I ended up whipping the cream and stuff so much, it turned into butter! Which, honestly, was not a bad result. :)







Simple butter cookies:
1 cup of flour
5 tbsp softened butter
3/4 cup of fine granulated sugar (run regular granulated sugar through a blender/food processor)
1 egg
1 egg yolk
pinch of salt
1/4 tsp of vanilla

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the egg and yolk, one at a time, mixing completely, then add the vanilla. Afterwards, add in the flour and salt, and mix until a dough forms.
Let the dough chill in the fridge for about an hour, and then roll it out (very thin) and cut out shapes. Bake them for about 8 minutes, or until golden brown around the edges.

Let cool while making the filling.

Hazelnut "butter" filling:
1 cup of hazelnuts
1/4 cup of sugar
2/3 cup of milk
1/2 cup of heavy cream
2 tbs nutella (optional. you can also add melted chocolate)

Cook the hazelnuts, sugar, and milk in a saucepan over medium-low heat until the hazelnuts start to become translucent, and the milk takes on a light brown color (from the hazelnut skins)
Blend the hazelnuts and milk until slightly chunky.
Whip the mixture with the heavy cream and nutella until the butter separates from the liquid. (it'll take a while, but you'll see when it happens). Strain out the liquid using cheesecloth, or layers of paper towels.

To assemble, sandwich a bit of the butter between two cookies, and use your finger or the dull side of a knife to make the edges nice and clean.
I let mine sit in the fridge for a bit, so the butter wouldn't be as soft, but you can eat them right away if you want. :)

Share

Coconut cupcakes with pineapple filling.

And a condensed milk glaze.
I feel like I've taken a trip to some tropical island XD

I am not a huge fan of coconut, as my parents will readily tell you, but I think that my dislike for coconut stemmed from the texture of the shredded stuff. It's so gross! But the flavor of coconut doesn't bother me, as I've learned with these cupcakes.
It's even kind of good ;D

Haha.

So anyway, this idea came from some suggestions on flour on her nose's page on Facebook. I thought Mom had some coconut milk that I could swipe, and I knew I had frozen pineapple in the fridge.
When I went to get the milk, I saw that it was coconut oil instead! Which actually worked out rather well, since we were low on butter.

So in this recipe, I swapped out the butter for coconut oil (it's in a solid state), and just used regular milk, but if you can only get the milk, just switch out regular milk for coconut milk and use butter instead of oil.

I don't know what happened, but the filling wouldn't thicken! So I got the harebrained idea of trying to turn it into pineapple rice pudding, but then I think the starch from the rice helped thicken it too much before the rice got to cook! I had to push it through a sieve to get all the uncooked rice out XD
I'll say exactly what I did, though, so you can at least get the same results.





Coconut cupcakes with pineapple filling and condensed milk glaze (whew):

Coconut cupcakes: (makes 6)
1 c flour
2 tbsp corn starch
pinch of salt
3/4 tsp baking powder
4 tbsp coconut oil (or soft butter, if you're going to use coconut milk)
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
tiny bit of vanilla
1/4 cup of milk (or coconut milk, if you're using butter)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Mix together the flour, corn starch, baking powder, and salt. Beat in the coconut oil/butter until it makes a kind of thick paste. Beat in the sugar.
Beat in the egg until fully combined. Add the vanilla and milk.
Put the batter in lined cupcake tins, and bake for about 20 minutes. (do the toothpick test!)

Pineapple filling:
1 egg
2 yolks
1/3 c pineapple puree (strained)
2 tbsp lemon juice
4 tbsp butter
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
(maybe a bit of cornstarch)
(and randomly, a cup of rice, haha)


Put a stainless steel bowl over a simmering pot of water, or use a double boiler. Whisk together the egg and the yolks, then add everything else but the rice. Mix it over med-low heat until it's thick. If it doesn't thicken, add a little cornstarch and keep mixing. If that still doesn't work, go ahead and add the rice and let it get nice and thick. Once it's thick, push the filling through a sieve to get rid of all the rice. Let it cool.

To fill the cupcakes, take a sharp knife and cut a cone out of the top of the cupcake. Cut off the pointy bit of the cone, just leaving a small cover. Fill the cupcake with the pineapple filling, and place the "lid" over the filling.

Then mix some condensed milk with powdered sugar (as if it wasn't sweet enough ;)) until it's really thick, but still spreadable.

Frost/glaze the cupcakes and enjoy!

Share

Kiwi Curd Tarts with Strawberry Mousse: A Mouthful in More Ways Than One

Good grief, that was a long title. XD

At the store the other day (you know, stocking up before the big storm), I grabbed a few kiwis because...well, just because. You know how that is, wandering around the produce section and randomly deciding to get something, even though you have no clue what you'll use it in.

When I got back, I started looking through cookbooks, just to get an idea of something to do, and I saw this recipe for a lemon curd tart.

I'm sure we can all make the OBVIOUS leap from lemon to kiwi, and so to kiwi curd, haha.
I wasn't entirely sure if it was possible, and a quick google search was less than fruitful (pun originally not intended.)

So I figured I'd replace the lemon juice with kiwi puree + a liiiiittle bit of lemon juice. I couldn't quite tell that it was kiwi I was tasting, but it was definitely different from a regular lemon curd.

UNFORTUNATELY, when developing your own recipes/methods, timing is very important...By the time the tarts were fully cooked, the crust was rather dark...which was sad. But honestly, it was really good, a nice carmelized flavor. And the method of making it is like a cookie, so...that's how it tastes. Next time I'll probably not prebake them, so I'm going to add that into the recipe.

Then, just to make them prettier, I added a strawberry mousse topping. Strawberry kiwi used to be my favorite Capri Sun flavor when I was a kid, hahaha, so it seemed fitting.

Both of these recipes are fairly labor intensive, but it was definitely worth it. :)

Strawberry mousse with blueberries

Mostly done kiwi curd tarts

They may look burned, but they were actually really good (and no burned taste! haha)

See? Yummy

The mousse was perfect with the curd :)

Kiwi Curd Tarts:
[Crust]
8 Tbsp butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 cup flour
pinch of salt

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the yolk, and beat for about 2 more minutes. Beat in the dry ingredients on a low speed. Form into a disc and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Now you can either make about a dozen mini tarts (I use my cupcake tin) or one big one. Either way, shape the crust in whatever tin you use, and stick it in the freezer or the fridge for a bit (it's a VERY soft dough)

[Kiwi Curd]
(This makes much more than I used for the recipe, but it's just easier this way)
1/2 cup of strained kiwi puree
6 egg yolks
juice from 1/2 a lemon
1 egg
1/2 cup of sugar
pinch of salt
8 tbsp butter.

Over a double boiler or a bain marie or whatever you use for stuff like that, whisk together the yolks, egg, and sugar. Add the vanilla, puree and the salt and whisk it until it's really really thick and lightened considerably in color. (trust me, you'll know when it's done).
Strain it and let it cool until it's just barely warm to the touch. Then, whisk in the butter.

Spoon the curd into the prepared crust and bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for about 15 minutes, but depending upon the size/thickness of the shape you choose, it may take longer. Cook it until the center is set (stick a toothpick or something in the middle, if it's clean, it's good).

Let cooooool.


Now, if you want, you can top it with strawberry mousse, or whipped cream or anything.


Strawberry Mousse:
(this also makes more than I used for the tarts, but it taste great on its own anyway, hehe)
1 tsp gelatin
2 tbsp cold water
3/4 cup of milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 egg yolks
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tbsp corn starch
1/4 cup of strained strawberry puree
1 cup of whipped cream

Bloom the gelatin over the cold water.
Boil the milk and vanilla. While that's happening, whisk together the egg yolk, sugar, and cornstarch. Carefully stream the hot milk in to the yolks, whisking furiously the whole time. (don't want to scramble the eggs). Cook the mixture until it's thick (which should not take long. I put the pot on the stove, turned to get the puree from the fridge, and when I got back to the stove, it was thick!). Whisk in the puree and cook for about 30 seconds. Then add in the gelatin, making sure it's totally melted in the mixture. When it's cool, fold it into the whipped cream.
Top the tarts with it, or pipe (or spoon) it into glasses and let it set in the fridge for an hour or so.

Enjoy! (it tastes like ice cream, yum!)


[also, I'm pretty sure I got everything, but if anything's unclear, don't hesitate to ask me!]

Share

Inspiration tastes like rainbows...and bread.

Today, I was supposed to be cleaning up/packing/organizing for the move into my apartment next Saturday. To give you an idea of the task at hand, I came home from school, dumped my bags in the game room, and, 3 months later, there they are. I've made marginal progress, but that's okay, since I'm a last minute kind of girl, Thursday and Friday will be frantic and I will be incredibly productive. In my journey to procrastinate, I decided to make something bread-related. Because, you see "it has to rise, and rise again, and probably a third time!". I am an excellent time waster.
Originally, I'd planned to make cinnamon rolls, but my father bought some the other day, and they're still sitting on the dining room table. "Okay," I said to myself "...what the heck am I gonna do?". Sooooooo I perused the internet (the whole internet) and found that panda bread that had been going around. "THAT'S IT!". Except I didn't want to do the panda...I wanted to do my own design. After much thought, I decided upon a rainbow...because the shape is technically easy, and the colors would be great! I really want to try other designs in the future
And so I set out to do it.
Unfortunately, the final product didn't rise as much as I'd like, but that's something that can be ironed out in the future...it was still tasty.



My hand after kneading all of the color in XD

Bread pre-final rising

After final rising

Fresh out of the oven


Rainbow bread:
1 1/4 cup of flour (bread flour/high protein flour's best)
2 tbs cornstarch
1 egg yolk + enough milk to equal 3/4 of a cup
2 tbs soft butter
1 1/2 tsp yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt

I like to go ahead and preheat my oven to 400 Fahrenheit now, to make the kitchen nice and warm.
Whisk together the milk and egg yolk, and heat to about 100 degrees
Combine flour, cornstarch and salt
Activate the yeast in the milk/egg mixture, add sugar and let sit for about 5 minutes and then add to the flour, along with the butter. If you have instant yeast, just add the yeast, milk/egg and sugar to the flour straightaway.
Mix together, then dump out and knead until it's not all gross and sticky anymore.
Here's the fun stuff.
Divide the dough into 7 pieces , with one at least twice as big as the rest. The other six shouldn't all be the same size...they should get progressively smaller or bigger.
Add the coloring to the 6 small pieces (for a rainbow, purple should be the smallest, and red the biggest), and knead.
Cover the pieces separately and let the rise for about 30 minutes
Punch down the dough and let rise for another 20 minutes.
Now for the assembly.
Cut a piece of parchment paper the size of the bottom of your loaf pan.(I think mine's like 8x4x4 or something)
Take about 1/3 of the uncolored dough and roll it into a cylinder the length of the parchment paper. Stick it right in the middle.
Take the purple, roll it out into a rectangle and drape over the plain cylinder. Repeat with the rest of the colors, and the rest of the uncolored dough.


Stick that in the loaf pan and let it rise for at least another hour, in a nice warm place (like on top of the stove!)
Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the top is nice and brown.
Let cool, cut, enjooyyyyy

Share

ICE:Pear & Sage Cupcakes with Honey Ginger Buttercream

Recipe number 3 :P

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE FOR ME ON THE 28TH OF JULY HERE: http://www.ironcupcakemilwaukee.com/, in the right hand column. Tell your friends to vote, too!

Etsy prize-pack:
A sweet cupcake ID bracelet by INSANEJELLYFISH
A delicious treat from CIRCLEMONKEY
a sweet surprise from Sweet Cuppin' Cakes Cupcakery
CAKESPY,who is now going to be doing a piece for the winner each month until further notice

Corporate prizes:
HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS
HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson
JESSIE STEELE APRONS
TASTE OF HOME books
a t-shirt from UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM
Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers











Pear Sage cupcakes:
3 1/4 cups of flour
1 1/4 cups of sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup + 6 tbps canola oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup of sour cream
1 cup of milk (I did 1/2 cup of milk, and 1/2 cup of heavy cream)
1 cup of sliced pear
1/2 cup of chopped sage.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
As per my usual methods, mix everything together. I am the queen of lazy baking. :P
If you insist, you can mix the dry stuff together, and mix the wet stuff together, THEN mix those together. ;)

Drop a spoonful of batter into the cupcake tins. Then place a layer of sliced pear, then more batter, then pear, then batter.

Bake for about 18 minutes or until it passes the crumb test.

Honey ginger buttercream:
Directions here
But add 1/4 cup of honey and either diced/mashed fresh ginger, or diced candied ginger.

Share