L.A.M.B! .......By //_indifference_is_my_middle_name

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Peach Tart!!!

I finally made them! And they work! Tho i had trouble with the tart shells at first... wasn't quite sure how to get the dough in there.... in the end i just rolled balls of dough and pressed them up the sides with my thumbs... waste of time trying to roll out and cut rounds... they just crumbled up when i lifted them off the paper...

*Update*

Here's the results after eating them...

I halved the pastry cream recipe since I wasn't sure how it'd taste.
Then I ended up running out of cream and have leftover shells and peaches... lol...
They taste fine by the way, just need more egg for body and binding.
And the tart shells totally work for me! Pate Sablee pwns tarts!

Labels: Food

mon chef d'oeuvre
10:05 pm

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Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Finally fulfilled my wish - Choux cream puffs: Success!!

Made Choux pastry for cream puffs and eclairs today.
(lumpy dough from first boil, totally smooths out with eggs added. Incredible!)

1st batch: 9 Large and swirl-piped.
Flat. Too spread out. But still hollow enough to fill out by spooning custard in.

2nd batch: 12 Profiteroles (Bite-sized). Compact piping
[ - piped direct at one spot and allowed to slowly spread by swelling out. ]
Perfect and round. Best choice.

3rd batch: 7x4 mini-eclairs
Piped too long and thin... Not ideal for filling with custard. Adequate rise.
Next time must pipe and hold to swell.

Instant Bird's custard - needs more sugar and cornstarch.
Chocolate Glaze from Van Houten's semi-sweet baking chocolate (9 squares), melted + 1 Tbs butter, mixed well. Hardens when chilled. Working Ratio.

PMn visited to make the puffs tgt. Met at 10+am walking to my house from Ens and brought strawberries. met with Ch and Clr, Prns and Crmy... haha....

Pics!!!

Labels: Food, Photo-albums

mon chef d'oeuvre
6:11 pm

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Thursday, April 23, 2009

Mou ichidou wa ichigo daifuku ni tsukuttanda

I felt that I did a bad job wrapping them last night
- too loose and the anko (red bean) kept moving ard.

So this is my 2nd attempt, this time with the filling staying in shape
I made the mochi with slightly less water, making it firmer.
Result: Great texture and softness while being less overwhelmingly sticky.
Thorough flouring before handling also worked out great
- but had a problem sealing them as they wouldn't stick back tgt...

Also patted down the strawberries b4 wrapping in anko so that
they would stick tgt and also the paste wouldn't dilute and get watery.
Result: prevented misshapened daifuku
and the anko stayed within the skin when cut. Yay!

I tried to make a few pieces bite-sized so it'd be easier to eat
without having to halve them.
Result: proportioned less anko vs strawberry and ended up a bit sour. Boo...

My aunt says to try wrapping the container in a moist towel b4 refrigerating. Hopefully, this will prevent the mochi skins from drying and hardening.
We'll just see if it works tomorrow. ^_^
______________________________________________________

10 May (Sunday)

Made with grapes this time - went a lot faster since I just rolled without having to watch the fruit's orientation (but have to with strawberries if I want to halve them properly)
Taste isn't all that nice with grapes tho. Really can't beat the fragrance of strawberries .

Learnt the last time that wrapping in towel doesn't really keep the mochi soft. Skin still thins and hardens and doesn't recover fully even after thawing to room temp. Heating would just defeat the purpose and dry it out more anyway.

Picked up a trick from youtube that i tested successfully - addding a bit of wheat flour to the glut.rice mix keeps the mochi soft and pillowy even at colder temp or without damp towel. If too cold, allow it to thaw a bit and it recovers completely. Chilled daifukus taste better!

Learnt that reusing cornflour for dusting is bad even if I find it really wasteful. Cuz it has already absorbed moisture and isn't as effective as fresh - it gets thicker (coat vs dust) and loses ability to keep mochi from sticking.

Labels: Food

mon chef d'oeuvre
12:07 am

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Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Ichigo Daifuku tsukutteru - Seikou!!!

I will never again underestimate the sticky-ness of mochi!

It truly takes skill to handle the mochi...
My first attempt tackling it was a complete fiasco.
The fingers on both hands got stuck together and the mochi was impossible to remove... [Left hand cleans right hand, gets stuck instead... right hand then cleans left hand and gets stuck... so on...]

My daifuku look messy but still, the strawberry pattern is visible when halved so I consider it a success with much room for improvement... Shall have to adjust water content slightly and cooking time for the right texture, also learnt that fixing it when totally cool is much easier and less sticky... Taste overall was fine. Though I happen to prefer the taste of anko and diced strawberries filling rather than whole, even if they're aren't as pretty.

Ref: Cooking video and Recipe
Instructions for microwave method
[Though it was too high for my oven, probably has to be adjusted to own use]

Kept 2 leftovers in the fridge overnight - the skin dried up cuz the box wasn't airtight... (displayed it in a Ferrero Rocher box) Hardened skin made it easier to cut but lost the characteristic pillowy-ness of the mochi... it recovered slightly when left to warm to room temperature but just wasn't the same as fresh....

Labels: Food

mon chef d'oeuvre
3:01 am

__Mary ~~Had~~ 0 little lamb(s)__ 0 agnelet:
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Monday, April 13, 2009

mini ACP + SCC pie + a whole lot of SCC cups

Day 1 (Monday): Making pie crusts - [Baking: round #1]

Made letter-shaped almond cookies with the left-over pastry dough.
Learnt that the crust shrinks on baking so I'll have to allow for that next time...

Day 2 (Tuesday): Making SCC to set in fridge
[SCC = Strawberry Cheesecake Chocolate pie & cups ]

Filled with chocolate pie filling that was cooked over the stove.
Biscuit crumb base used for cups.