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I brought all the Starry Starry Scones that I baked on Tuesday to work on Wednesday. Steven wasn't too happy about it, so I made more last night: Two batches of Vanilla Bean Scones (his favorite), one batch of Chocolate Chip Scones (my favorite), and one batch of Snickerdoodle Scones (my new favorite!).
I made the new addition to this family by adding 2-3 tsps cinnamon to the Vanilla Bean Scones dough, and topping it with cinnamon sugar. The cinnamon sugar is roughly 1 part cinnamon to 3-4 parts sugar. These Snickerdoodle Scones are so awesome!! Next time, I think I'm going to top it was some raw sugar for a CRUNCH!!!
Been browsing allrecipes.com at work lately, and I really want to try making each of the top 20 recipes on the website. One thing that I've been wanting to make for a while now is Grandma Johnson's Scones. The recipe has AWESOME reviews, and is easily customizable to create your own version of the perfect scone. I've read that some people split the dough into two and create two different flavors. I decided to go this route, and I went with Chocolate Chip Scones, and Vanilla Bean Scones.
Going to UCD, I would always check the UCDavis Coffee House for their Chocolate Chip Scones. They're always so moist and delicious. After graduating and moving away from Davis, I don't really have access to those scones anymore. So when I found out how easily this recipe can be customized, I HAD to make half as Chocolate Chip Scones.
The reason for Vanilla Bean Scones is because Steven & I absolutely LOVE the Petite Vanilla Scones that are at Starbucks. They are soooo yummy!!! However, a tad expensive. So I decided to create my own version at home, and Steven (and some coworkers) think that these are just like the Starbucks ones. :)
I basically followed the recipe as is, but I added vanilla bean to the whole dough, chocolate chips into the Chocolate Chip Scone, and a vanilla bean glaze on top of the vanilla bean scone. Also, instead of cutting the dough into wedges, I used a (roughly 2 inch) star cookie cutter and baked for 18 minutes.
Prepare dough based on the recipe. Add 1/2 vanilla bean into dough, mix well. Split dough into two equal sections. Mix desired amount (I mixed in roughly 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup) of semisweet chocolate chips into one section of the dough. Roll/pat down each section of the dough to 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch thickness. Cut into wedges or use cookie cutters (roughly 2 inches wide) to cut shapes out. Bake in oven for 18 minutes. Makes around palm-sized scones.
While vanilla scones are baking, prepare the vanilla bean glaze. Sift 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar in mixing bowl. Add 1 Tbsp milk, and the other 1/2 of the vanilla bean. Mix well. Spread over Vanilla Bean Scones when scones are semi-cooled.
Serve with your favorite coffee. :)
Stan & Philly came over to cook for us last Wednesday (Apr 29, 09). We got to eat Rib Eye Flambé...mmMMMMM. It was mesmerizing seeing the fire, although the smoke detector went crazy a bit. :P
After dinner, we (mainly Philly) decided to make Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies. We made the cookie part using this recipe (which is supposed to be for ice cream sandwiches), and the filling from this recipe.
We didn't have regular liquid food coloring, but only gel coloring. Because we don't know what the liquid to gel conversion was, we decided to add the coloring last. We combined everything except the coloring, and Philly thought the color wasn't right, and that it wasn't dark enough. So I went a little overboard and put (in addition to the 1.5 Tbsp in recipe) two big scoops (2 Tbsp-ish) of cocoa powder. So after that...it looked a lot more brown than red........
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Portuguese Egg Custard Tart/Pastéis de Nata/葡式蛋撻
I've been trying to make the perfect Portuguese Egg Custard Tart, but have yet to find the perfect combination between the egg filling and the tart dough. Today, I used this recipe. The egg filling was quite tasty, but the dough was a bit off. I don't really know how to describe it. It's not that it wasn't flaky, because it was, but it wasn't shortbread-y either. It was hard and chewy at the same time. Just off. The filling was pretty good though, I would've preferred it to be a little less sweet, so I'll try 3/4 cup sugar next time. The filling of a Portuguese Egg Custard Tart is supposed to be burnt a little bit. The top layer should have random darkened circles, but mine came out canary yellow-ish. Not sure what happened there either. We really liked the filling though, now we may just need to alter it a bit, and find the perfect crust to go with it.
Hong Kong Style Egg Custard Tarts/港式撻皮蛋撻
Since we're on the topic of Egg Custard Tarts, I decided to post my creation of HK Style Egg Custard Tarts. I've tried a couple recipes, and I've combined the best egg filling with the best tart dough.
Recipe:
Tart:
1 Cup Powdered Sugar
3 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1 Cup Butter
1 Egg
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Filling:
6 eggs
140g Sugar
1 Cup Water
1 Cup Evaporated Milk
1 Tbsp Custard Powder
Instructions:
Combine Tart ingredients together. Create 3/4 inch dough balls, and neatly spread out onto tart mold. You want the bottom to be as thin as possible (without holes) and the edge of the tart to be a little thicker. Combine Filling ingredients together. Fill tarts with filling about 3/4-7/8 full. Bake in 450 degree oven for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 250 degrees and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool (in molds) for another 10 minutes, and it's done!!
Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
I bought two big jars of peanut butter from Costco back in December, and I figured that I should use it. After all, one can only eat so much PB&J. I searched for peanut butter recipes and came across this. I read the reviews, and after all the suggestions that were given. I decided to add 1 tsp vanilla extract to the recipe. I haven't eaten any yet, but I will give an update once I try one. In the mean time, here are some pictures.
