Plant Based Recipes: Coconut Whipped Cream

We all know that whipped cream is delicious, but is there an option for vegans? actually there is! There are various different recipes for vegan whipped cream, but the recipe i chose today is coconut whipped cream from the "oh she glows everyday" cookbook. This recipe is sweet and creamy just like regular whipped cream, but also has a delicious coconut flavor. The recipe and ingredients are very simple, and can be made in just 5 minuets!

The very first step is to chill the coconut milk in the fridge for at least 24 hours. Last time i made a recipe where it said to chill the coconut milk for 24 hours, i only chilled it for 30 minuets, and it did not work out, so this time i made sure to follow the instructions. Next, you open the can and separate the cream from the milk. The only part used in the recipe is the cream, however you can use the milk in a different recipe. Finally you whip together the coconut cream, sugar, and vanilla, until stiff peaks form.

Personally, this recipe didn't work out for me. I believe this is because the cream was very cold and was rock hard, so when i went to whip it, it just crumbled into many little pieces. I think that if i left it out on the counter to warm up a little it would have worked. The cookbook also says "Some brands of canned coconut milk are better than others for making whipped cream, and some cans of the same brand may even vary quite a bit." (Liddon, 275). The book suggests that there may be possible "duds" and to not be discouraged by it. I will definitely be willing to try out this recipe again, and make it the correct way! The overall flavor of the whipped cream was actually very delicious even though it did not turn out to be the right consistency.

Is this something that you would be willing to try out, whether you are vegan, lactose intolerant, or just curious?

Liddon, Angela. Oh She Glows Every Day. Avery, 2016.  

Hello Cupcakes! 

Today, I did an experiment to see if the tips in the book really make a difference. On page 9 of Hello Cupcakes by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, they give us helpful steps to filling up the cupcake pans correctly with Ziploc bags saying, "Put the cut opening in the center of a cupcake liner, squeeze gently, and fill the cup two-thirds full. As the batter approaches that level, stop applying pressure and remove the tip from the cup." 

I thought, "how difficult could it be to just fill up the cupcake pans with a spoon, like I usually do?" So, in one of the pans I poured the batter with a spoon, in the other cupcake pan I used a Ziploc bag and followed the steps in order to fill the cupcake cups correctly. And here are the results. 

The plate at the top contains the cupcakes that were filled with the Ziploc (book method). 

The plate at the bottom contains the cupcakes that were filled with a spoon (my method). 

Book method: 

Using a Ziploc bag to fill in the cupcake pans with batter was much neater, and quicker, all you had to do was just squeeze the bag until the cup was filled. And as you can tell by the picture, the cupcakes turned out more similar in sizes, and were more consistent. 

My method: 

It was the easiest method for me before, all I had to do was scoop the batter with a spoon but it was messy and took a long time. 

Overall, the tips that the book gave me were very helpful and I'll continue using that method of filling cupcake cups because it took less time and it wasn't as messy as using a spoon, like I used to do previously. 

How have you filled cupcake pans before? Do you think you'll use this method now? 

Richardson, Alan, and Karen Tack. Hello, Cupcake! Houghton Mifflin, 2009.

Plant Based Recipes: Fruit Sorbets

Although winter time is upon us, a cold refreshing treat is never a bad idea. Sorbets are really easy to make, and you can use fruit that you have in the house. Not only are they easy to make, but they are much healthier than ice cream or sherbet. I made 2 sorbets that were recommended from the "Oh she glows everyday" cookbook, and they both seemed really delicious. The first one is a mango-coconut-lime sorbet, and the second one is a Raspberry-Banana sorbet. Both of these recipes have ingredients that i would have never thought to add, which make them more flavorful and unique!

The ingredients in the mango-coconut-lime sorbet included mangoes, lime, coconut cream, and water. All of these ingredients go into a food processor or blender to make it nice and smooth. The recipe didn't call for water, however i added some to help it blend better. Angela Liddon says "The Mango-Coconut-Lime sorbet is rich and full bodied, so its a hybrid of fruity sorbet and traditional ice cream." However, i found that this sorbet did not live up to its expectations. The coconut cream added a very strange and foul flavor, as well as giving it a weird texture. I would personally change the recipe, and completely forgo the coconut cream, and add water instead. This would make the sorbet even lighter and fruitier. Next is the raspberry-banana sorbet, which tasted much better!
 The ingredients in the raspberry-banana sorbet were raspberries, bananas, and maple syrup. I added milk this time to help it blend better, in replace of water. "The tangy raspberries, banana and maple syrup give it a creamy slightly sweet taste." Says liddon. The combination of raspberries and bananas give it a tangy and creamy flavor, which is a great combination. Next time, i would replace the maple syrup with sugar, or just leave it out, because you can still taste it after it is all blended. This sorbet ended up tasting way better than the mango sorbet, and it something i would recommend to everyone. I also had a lot of left over sorbet, so the cookbook recommended to place the leftovers into a Popsicle mold, to enjoy later, so that's what i did with all the extra!

 Overall, this recipe was very helpful and easy to follow, even though the mango sorbet did not turn out very well. The raspberry sorbet however did turn out great, and i will definitely be making it again. These recipes gave me ideas for other sorbets that i could make, and was a good starting point! These sorbets are a great alternative to ice cream or other desserts, and can have just as much flavor and color, without adding anything unnatural. The end result looks beautiful, and bursts with colors! Have you ever made sorbet before, and what kind?

Liddon, Angela. Oh She Glows Every Day. Avery, 2016.  

Hello cupcakes!

It is a couple days after Christmas, and no matter how much food I ate over the holidays, I am still always hungry for cupcakes. When my family got together on Christmas Eve, there were lots of sweets like cakes, and pastries, and candies, but I was still longing the taste of cupcakes because they are my favorite comfort dessert. To fulfill my craving for cupcakes I baked some delicious, chocolate ones.

In my last blog, I did a simple frosting coating on the cupcakes with a spatula. This time, I decided to actually pipe the frosting on. Now, here's a life hack; since we all have Ziploc bags at home instead of piping bags with frosting tips, we can use them to pipe the frosting on. Luckily, the book Hello Cupcake! by Karen Tack & Alan Richardson gave me tips for this life hack method. On page 13, they tell us how to properly fill a Ziploc bag in order to be able to frost cupcakes, "To fill the ziplock, hold the bottom of the bag inside out over your hand. Using a spatula, fill the area of the bag inside your hand. Lift the edges of the bag up and around the frosting, press out the excess air, and seal the bag. Grasp the bag by the zippered edge and squeeze the frosting down to one corner." I used these helpful hints and then I cut a hole in the corner with scissors to create a frosting tip.

And then, I used this Ziploc piping bag to pipe the frosting on my cupcakes. This life hack was so helpful because I don't have piping bags with different frosting tips, but I love baking cupcakes and I want to make them look good, so using a Ziploc bag instead is very useful. 

I did a basic design on my cupcakes, but we're just getting started! Just wait until my next blog post, I'll be using frosting to make decorations and designs on cupcakes, stay tuned! 

What was the most useful life hack you've used? And do you think you will try this one out? 

Richardson, Alan, and Karen Tack. Hello, Cupcake! Houghton Mifflin, 2009.

Doughnuts - A Chocolate Glaze

Along with my basic sugar glaze, I also decided to make a chocolate glaze. It is a very common glaze that is on many doughnuts. When I read the recipe, I noticed that it was very short and simple like the glaze recipe. It contained only 4 ingredients and it had 1 step like the basic glaze recipe.

Ingredients:
11/2 cups of confectioner's sugar
4 tablespoons of cocoa powder
2 tablespoons of milk or water (I used milk)
2 teaspoons of vanilla

I used this type of cocoa powder but it was very bitter.

Steps:
1. Stir together the sugar and cocoa powder in a medium bowl. Slowly stir in the milk and vanilla, a little at a time, to make a smooth, pourable glaze.


So at first, I saw the easy recipe and I thought it would be easy to make. The first batch of chocolate glaze that I made ended up tasting really bitter, almost like a coffee. It was also very thick and not pourable like the recipe said. I made a second batch and it became more smooth, but it still had the coffee taste. The bitter taste might have been because of the unsweetened cocoa powder. I decided to just keep it and put it on the doughnuts and it applied nicely and looked good. It tasted okay when it was on the doughnut.


Have you guys ever tried to make something and it didn't come out how you wanted it to?

Doughnuts - A Basic Sugar Glaze

An important part of a doughnut is the glaze. It gives the doughnut flavor and makes the doughnut unique. Before reading the cookbook, I did not know how to make glaze. I also thought that it might be complicating to make, but I found out that it's pretty simple. There are many types and flavors of doughnut glaze but I chose to make two very common doughnut glazes.


Basic Sugar Glaze: 
The first glaze I chose to make for my doughnuts was the basic sugar glaze. The basic sugar glaze is probably my favorite glaze on doughnuts. It's clear and is very common. It's has a very simple recipe that only requires 3 ingredients, one of them being optional.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of sifted confectioner's sugar
3 to 4 tablespoons of milk or water (I chose to do milk)
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract (Optional)

Steps:
1. Place the sugar in a medium bowl and slowly stir in the milk and vanilla extract to make a smooth glaze.


When I was making the glaze, I only used the confectioner's sugar and milk. I added as much milk and sugar as the cookbook said. One thing I noticed was that as I was putting the glaze on the doughnuts, it would slip right off. The glaze was very runny. Then I thought that maybe adding four tablespoons of milk is what caused it to be runny. I decided to add some more sugar to help balance out the glaze. I didn't measure it, but it made the glaze thicker and stick to the doughnuts.

Question: What's your favorite type of doughnut glaze?

Italian Fruit Sorbet

Italian Fruit Sorbet

(Sorbetti Alla Fruita)

For this post, I decided to attempt something that doesn't really depend on presentation. Sorbet from the picture provided seems easier. 

As you can see the consistency is not too much like ice cream

The history of fruit Sorbet from the book: "Sorbet, a cold dessert eaten with a spoon, is an ancestor of Gelato. Ancient Romans enjoyed Sorbet as a pleasing way to beat the summer heat. Apparently, the emperor Nero had ice brought in from the Apennines so that he could enjoy delicious, refreshing fruit sorbets. " ((Grazia, Mario, and Academia Barilla. Italian Desserts and Pastries. Vercelli: White Star, 2014. Print.)

Paraphrase: Sorbet is one of the signature desserts in history consumed by many and especially Italians. It is not to be confused with Gelato, or Granita (what I will be making next!).

Ingredients needed for the strawberry sorbet

Making the Sorbet: The book had two different recipes of Sorbet but I decided to go with strawberry Sorbet. Overall this dessert was pretty simple. First, boil 300 ml of water then place the strawberries in. I made sure to cut them up after I measured them so they could boil under the water. Then you were to whisk the 200 grams of sugar into the mixture. The book wanted the overall temperature to be around 150°F. Once that temperature was reached, it was time to remove the pot from heat and wait for it to cool a bit before adding the lemon juice. I just gave it around 30 minutes and then added the lemon juice.

The syrup made about a quart

Later, it was time to put the syrup away for 6 hours. Since I had school the next day it was more like 9 hours, but I don't think that really matters.









The next morning, I let it unfreeze for a bit before moving on. The recipe called for an ice cream maker, but I do not have one so I just used a blender. While this sounds weird, I just put the mixture into the Puree setting and added some ice. The syrup was very sticky though, and fun to clean up!
                                                                             

Haha the syrup sticking to the sides funnn

This was the final product: 
Review~ In the picture it kinda looks like a smoothie but was actually close to the ice cream texture. It was more of a sludge. Sorbet pictures usually look a lot more like ice cream but I figured this works because it resembles the book picture and I did what I could. While making this, the fresh strawberries smelled really good. The taste of this wasn't super great but was still Sorbet so I liked it. The lemon juice was not at all prominent and the drink overall just tasted like a standard sugary drink. I still learned a bit from this experience though.



Questions:
Do you own an ice cream maker? Have you ever made your own ice cream or Sorbet? What suggestions do you have for me?

Citation: Barilla, Academia. Italian Desserts and Pastries: Delicious Recipes for 100 Authentic Sweets. Vercelli: White Star, 2014. Print.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

This break I had some time to bake, and so I decided I was going to make myself some birthday cupcakes! So, I started flipping through my book looking for a recipe that I wanted to make and share with my friends.

While I was making these red velvet cupcakes, I discovered that sometimes you need more than one mixing bowl ready. I had to hand wash my mixing bowl and several other items while the cupcakes baked in the oven so that I could start making my cream cheese frosting. I also learned that sometimes it's better to have leftover batter, because I accidentally filled a few of my cupcakes too full and they overflowed a little in the oven while baking. I'm glad that my mom has always told me to put muffins, cookies, cupcakes, etc. in for 1-2 minutes less than what the directions say. When I put these cupcakes into the oven the book says "Bake the cupcakes until they spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 16-20 minutes." (Byrn) but because I listened to my mom I put them in for 15 minutes instead and they came out perfectly done with just 15 minutes.

My cupcakes all frosted and done

I followed the original recipe exactly, not substituting or changing anything like I did with my blueberry banana muffins. The only thing I did differently from the book was that I didn't put a chocolate bow on top because I ran out of time. I was really impressed with how good and moist these cupcakes were. If I did this again I would like to try putting the chocolate bows on top of the cupcakes. I think that the cupcakes looked nice without the bows, but it would make them look more ready for the holidays and different from regular cupcakes. The book also suggested "If you don't want to pipe out 24 bows, you can easily pipe out Christmas trees, Stars of David, or other holiday symbols...You can also keep the frosting white and sprinkle it with some white sugar sprinkles to give it a snowy effect" (Byrn). I think these are cool suggestions that I would try next time I make these cupcakes.

My question to you is: what decoration would you put on cupcakes to make them look holiday ready?

Byrn, Anne. Cupcakes from the Cake Mix Doctor. New York, Workman Pub., 2005.  

The apple (cobbler) of my eye!

 French Apple cobbler

Hello, my name is Alyssa and I would like to start off saying that I have chose to improve on baking specifically on dessert dishes mostly because I have seen my family make countless things and had the urge to learn myself. So I thought what better to start out with then a classic french apple cobbler! This is a dessert my grandmother has made many times and one I have personally always enjoyed myself .

Now, the recipe from my book I have selected calls for the following :
- Filling: 

• 5 cups peeled, sliced tart apples 
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 Teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon soft butter or margarine 

Batter: 

• 1/2 cup sifted all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons soft butter or margarine
• 1 egg slightly beaten

-light or whipped cream (optional for serving but also delicious! )

So using the recipe I gathered all the ingredients listed and began to follow the instructions. In the book it says,
" Prepare the tart apples by peeling the skin off the apples then proceed to slice 5 cups as directed" (Meredith).
This is where I came to my first challenge I underestimated how lengthy it would be to complete the peeling and cutting of all those apples!

But luckily we had an apple slicer and a peeler so this made the process easier on me. Here are some pictures of my progress:

Apples peeled and ready to be sliced.(Note Beware of pesky hand cramps!)

Slicing the apples with a handy apple slicer!

softening the apples

After that lovely hand torture I got to work with dry ingredients and make the batter. Then after that I mixed in the cinnamon, sugar, vanilla, and more with the apples to get them ready to bake! 

 Here are some pictures of these steps:

 Mixing cinnamon, sugar, & vanilla

Dry ingredients to make the cobbler batter!

Once the apples and batter had been fully prepped as well as the oven and put in a heat safe pan it was finally all set to bake!

In the oven!

 The book to paraphrase said to check close to the timer end and take the cobbler out when the top layer was golden. So I tried my best and with my better judgement I should have baked it for a bit longer but here is the turn out:

Final product fresh out of the oven!

In the end I learned that baking is an extensive process but if you follow the instructions and use what you have you can accomplish something you might not have been able to before. I in turn was very proud of this outcome and was happy to share this victory with my family. I got to try it for myself and was pleased as well as getting various compliments even from my grandma who inspired this dessert!

So after seeing what impacted my dish i want to pose the following question: What Influences or has influenced your style of baking?

I would love to hear your thoughts so I welcome you to share and thanks for taking time to view my post!

Citation: Corperation, Meredith. New Cookbook. Des Moines, IA: Better Homes and Gardens, 2002. Print.

A lot on her plate: Understanding the Fundamentals

Since a young age, cooking was introduced as a huge influence on me and my family's culture. Specifically, my mom's side. Her side of the family is Philippino, while my dad's side was made up of a mix of cultures with little focus on cuisine. Growing up, I was taught the basics of cooking from my parents and aunts, which gave me a perspective of how and why they cook, but I think I was too young to really understand. It took me long time to become individually interested myself but when I did, the way I perceived cooking and baking was different from the way that the rest of my family saw it.

   I bought the book "A lot on her plate" by Rosie Birkett not just because of the aesthetic appeal,  but for the colorful and interesting recipes. It's different from a normal cookbook because of the useful tips the author includes from personal experiences and opinions, which sparked my interest. With the authors advice, I intend to sharpen up my cooking skills and be able to produce great dishes!

 

What seemed most logical to me was to first read the book, wrap my head around some of the ideas I read, and then later apply them to some recipes. The book is set up perfectly for this, with the first couple pages or so including information on the right produce to buy, where to buy it, when to buy it, and how to use it properly in a dish.

The first couple pages of the book introduce the main concept. "The recipes in this book will help you to think a little bit more like a chef about the ingredients you're cooking with. They will, I hope, encourage you to explore your local markets and shops, butchers, delis and fishmongers, and investigate producer-direct box schemes for fresh well-sourced produce, and transform it into exciting, flavorsome, globally-infused dishes for yourself and your loved ones." (Birkett, pg. 12) This quote encompasses the motivation of the author and what outcome she strives for. In great detail, it gives tips on how to shop. She puts an emphasis on being aware of how more often than not, the way we currently shop makes us complacent about how we consume cheaper, lower quality food in greater volume than we need.

The next pages are about how getting to know your local suppliers can benefit your food and your wallet. "Fishmongers, greengrocers, markets and butchers-places where you can chat, shop, gossip, brainstorm recipes, learn about ingredients and generally get looked after-once formed the backbone of the food supply chain, but now they're a dying breed." (Birkett, pg. 14) Getting to know local suppliers not only gives you a good idea of where you food is being sourced, but also are wonderlands of interesting ingredients and flavors, that conjure new ideas.

The last few information pages show that you don't need to necessarily make ends meet to be able to produce good quality food. She also explains how to make that possible, giving some handy shopping tips such as:

- making lists, and shop as you go. Unnecessary spending is often due to overstuffing out fridges with stuff we don't need. 

- when buying meat or poultry, look for information on the way the cut has been reared, when buying fish and seafood, look for fish and seafood that has been caught sustainably.

The last couple pages before the recipes start give a good guide of appliances and equipment that are helpful to have, and basic ingredients that can open the window to a variety of dishes. She also gives insight on what she prefers such as owning a pasta machine, and growing her own herbs.

 

Putting all this information in the book definitely helps the reader find some sort of ground before taking off and starting to cook. What I've learned form this section is why breaking from the comfort-zone of how you usually shop and cook can give you new ideas, even if its not what you're used to. How important knowing where you food is sourced, and how to use ingredients in the most effective way. I look forward to putting her advice into action when I start to make some of these recipes.

Q: Does the food you eat and cook often revolve around your culture? If so, what are some of your favorite family dishes?