King Cake for Fat Tuesday

I've seen King Cake circulating around Mardi Gras time for several years now. I've never had it before and it looked very festive with all the colorful sprinkles on top. The tradition of hiding a little baby Jesus inside the cake always make me laugh. Whoever receives the slice with Baby Jesus inside has to bring the cake next year, but then I also heard how Baby Jesus is sometimes replaced by a little bean or candy bean because people would choke on him.

It being Fat Tuesday, I wanted to try King Cake. Like I do, I decide to make it even before I have tried the real thing from stores (but really, can the grocery store in Texas make as authentic a cake as something homemade?). I used the recipe for Quick King Cake from Betty Crocker and proceeded to make it last night while also eating dinner, playing with my dog, and prepping a huge pot of beans. It was quite a busy night.

So, in making this recipe, I found out what a King Cake really is. It is basically a sweet brioche (eggy, buttery bread) dough with a buttery cinnamon sugar filling, twisted or braided into a circle. Other filling are possible such as pecans instead of just cinnamon sugar. Then, the "cake" is topped with icing and sprinkled with the typical Mardi Gras colors: purple, green, and yellow. Once completely cooled, Baby Jesus is hidden inside the cake. Sadly, Baby Jesus is not with me and I could not hide him inside.

In making this dough, I thought it was interesting that the butter is added after combining the dry ingredients with the eggs, milk, and vanilla. The addition of the butter made the dough very easy to handle. I did everything by hand, all the mixing, kneading, shaping, so the ease of handling was a godsend. I did add some flour after the full 3-1/2 cups of flour were added because the dough was too sticky. I let it sit in the fridge for about 1-1/2 to 2 hours. When I came back, it had risen nicely.

I prepared the filling with only half the butter because I ran out but it was still enough, I think. I rolled the dough out to the specified size, spread the filling in (a little sparse), folded in half and then made a mistake. I wanted to incorporate the filling more and didn't think that cutting the strip into three would allow me to make a big ring. So I tried rolling it out to cut it into three strips lengthwise but that wasn't working. I ended up cutting it into three short strips, found that i couldn't braid that long enough, and ended up just trying to put the three strips back together to form a long ring. I twisted to the dough to give it that nice look. The ends didn't really seal but it kind of worked.

I let it rise for about 1-1/2 hours and then baked it for 25 minutes. The filling was spilling out because the way i twisted the dough created many openings. The filling became delicious sweet brown sugar caramel on the pan. Delicious mistake, but not one I want to make again.

After letting it cool overnight, I frosted it with cream cheese icing and dusted it with food glitter. Not the prettiest, but it sure is soooo tasty. It's like a giant cinnamon roll but better. The brioche dough is light, fluffy, buttery, a bit sweet. Biting into the filling or the caramelized sugar coating the bottom gives you that punch of more sweetness.

No wonder they eat this on Fat Tuesday. Yayyyy fat and sugar!

Overall, the recipe was not too difficult except for my misunderstanding of the shaping part.

Pear pecan pie

One thing that I've started baking and has never failed me is an apple pecan pie. I like apple pie but it can be a little boring just eating apples in buttery crust. I like the top part of the pecan pie but don't like the usual thick layer of corn syrup filling beneath. To make a healthier, more dynamic and delicious pie, I thought about combining the two! The first time I made it, I loosely based it on this recipe and used a pre-made pie crust. It came out so well, I was surprised! Using pre-made crusts makes pie-making a breeze!

For Thanksgiving this year, I made it again, but did not have enough apples to fill my 9.5" pie pan! So I had to add this pecan oat crumble and maple whipped cream.

For Christmas, my mom bought a lot of pears so I made my signature apple pecan pie but with the pears! Used bartlett pears that are still slightly crisp, not too ripe or soft, instead of apples. For the pear pecan pie, I used a few different recipes for reference but here's the basic gist:

Pear Pecan Pie
Ingredients
1 refrigerated roll of pie crust for 9" pie, unbaked
Filling:
3 medium/large bartlett pears, peeled and cored, then cut into thin slices
1/3 cup light brown sugar (not packed)
1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 to 1/3 extra juicy lime or lemon

Streusal Topping:
1/3 cup pecans, chopped
2-3 Tbs butter, softened
1/4 cup flour
1/3 cup light  brown sugar (not packed)
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

1. Combine pears with juice of the lime, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, light brown sugar, and flour.
2. Line a 9" pie pan with the pie crust. Crimp crust. Prick crust a few times with a fork and bake in an oven at 350 deg Fahrenheit for 8 minutes.
3. Remove from oven and let cool while you prepare the streusal topping: Combine all the ingredients for the streusal topping in a medium bowl using your hands, forks, or whatever you need to make it a uniform crumble.
4. Fill the baked pie crust with the pear filling. You may align the pear slices in a pretty circle.
5. Top the pie with the streusal. 
6. Cover the crust of the pie with aluminum foil or a pie crust shield
7. Bake about 40-45 minutes until just browned on top of the pie. 
8. Let cool. Slice and serve with fresh whipped cream.

Christmas Presents and Hanukkah Challah!

I am so excited. It is 6 days till I fly home to Cali and 9 days till Christmas!

These last two weeks of work have been and will be good training for me. MB has been training me on polymer synthesis and functionalization. I am rather slow and doubtful with everything I do, so I endlessly ask MB questions. Really, I'm asking for confirmation that I'm doing each and every step correctly. Every time I ask, I feel bad for asking. I know I should not feel this way for making sure I am doing things correctly, but I feel like I come off as confused, childish, forgetful, and slow. As someone who is used to getting things off the bat, slow understanding is hard to get used to. Most of all, due to my personal desire to not be a burden to anyone, I hesitate from asking because I do not want to bother others. This is a learning process, but to be effective, I need to learn to how to open myself to help and asking for help. Nothing is overnight, but I wish I was a bit faster...

Little snippet of my life, but back to fun holiday stuff! That's what ya'll want to read about, right?

So this weekend, I mostly took for holiday present shopping. I'm super excited. I have all my gifts almost ready for my co-workers and boss, and I managed to find some stuff for my family. One cool new thing I'm doing this year is doing glassware painting. I bought some glass cups from Target and a glass paintset from Michaels and will do some cute designs unique to the giftee tomorrow! I hope I have retained some of my painting skills from high school. It's been a while.

After watching "The Hobbit" today (which was very good and much recommended! Only, my eyes were sore after staring at the big screen for 3 hours...), I went home, ate, rested, and then mourned the fact that I was out of bread. I have a professed love for Blue Baker and their amazing baked goods and their half-price day-old breads ($2.25 for an artisan loaf, hellsyeah!), but I actually got tired of forcing myself to eat two loaves of their yummy beer and multigrain breads before they went bad for the past two weeks. So, I decided to make challah.

Challah, if you do not know, is a Jewish egg bread. It is slightly sweet and soft and pillowy. It makes an awesome French toast and goes well with raisins, nuts, or other things mixed-in. You will see it has a nice golden crust and is most often presented as a braided loaf. The special Sabbath and holiday meals begin with two loaves of challah. Each loaf is a braid of six strands, and the two loaves combined represent the twelve tribes of Israel.

The choice of challah was also prompted by the recipe on the side of my bread flour bag. I saw it, read the rise time (1 1/2 hrs) and the fact that there is only 1/4 cup of oil and said, sure! I love making things with less oil and less sugar to try and bake healthy. This was my first time making challah, though, and the process went rather well...at least, up to a point. I made the dough, kneaded it by hand (I'm getting better at this!), let it rise. I punched it down after an hour (an a nap!), kneaded it, rolled out three strands, braided it, and let it rise again. I came back and was super excited. It was rising beautifully and looked gorgeous! But then I realized my mistake. I put it into too small a baking pan so the edges were right up against the side of the pan. Knowing what I would do next would cause some detriment to my risen dough, I quickly shoved/threw the loaf into a larger pan. My loaf immediately deflated. Saddened but not discouraged, I let it rise again. Lo and behold! The loaf rose again, albeit not as high as before, and I finished the preparation and baked it.

The smell was so good throughout the baking process. But then, I noticed the smell was cutting too strongly through the air. The baking time on the bag said 35-45 minutes, and I had put the timer on for only 30 minutes. I rushed to the oven, pulled open the door and saw the unquestionably dark brown crust on my challah. After pulling it out of the oven, I let it cool down and hoped for the best. Luckily, 28 minutes was just long enough to make it harder than desired but not burnt. I sliced off a piece, tasted it and did a little body shake of joy! My challah tasted amazing! For having just 1.5 Tbs of honey, it was surprisingly and satisfyingly sweet. The top crust provided a nice crunch to accompany the soft airy inside. The only things I could tell, was that the bottom crust was too dark and hard for enjoyment, the loaf could have been airier and higher rising had I not deflated the loaf and let it rise for another half hour, and there may be a slight dryness from being baked too long. Other than that, I am super proud of this yeast baking experiment and will probably make another challah loaf again soon!

Challah (adapted from recipe on HEB Bread Flour bag)

Ingredients
2.5-3 cups Bread flour (do not use all-purpose or wheat)
2.25 tsp instant yeast (1 package)
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp turmeric (adds the nice yellow color - no artificial food coloring necessary!)
3/4 tsp organic granulated sugar
1/4 cup oil
1.5 Tbs honey
2 eggs (room temperature)
1 egg + 1 tsp water (for egg wash)
Sesame seeds or poppy seeds for topping (optional)

Directions
1. Combine 2.5 cups of the bread flour, the instant yeast, salt, turmeric, and sugar in a bowl. Stir till well-mixed.
2. In a small bowl, beat eggs, then add in oil and honey and beat till combined.
3. Make a well in the center of your dry mix. Pour in the wet mixture and stir with a wooden spoon till just combined.
4. Measure our 1/2 cup of the remaining bread flour and sprinkle some onto a clean surface. Knead the dough (7 minutes by hand, 5 minutes using machine), adding more of the remaining bread flour as necessary to get a smooth and elastic dough.
5. Lightly grease a bowl, place the ball of dough inside, cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let rise till doubled in size (about 1 hour). Punch down the dough and knead till smooth.
6. Separate the dough into 3 (or 6) equal-sized balls and roll each one out into a long rope. Place them next to each other and carefully braid from one end to the other (handle the dough lightly). Pat in the ends to make them nicely rounded and to seal the pieces together. Let rise till doubled in size (about another hour).
7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease and flour a large baking pan.
8. Beat the remaining egg with water. Lightly brush the top of the challah with the egg wash and sprinkle on sesame seeds or poppy seeds, if desired.
9. Bake the challah in the center for 20-25 minutes. The challah is done when you tap the top and it sounds hollow. Let the loaf cool on a rack.
Makes 1 loaf.

I hope you try this easy bread recipe. I think it will get you into yeast baking as it has done for me. It's easier than cinnamon rolls, I think, and tastier than wheat bread loaves. the braiding was not hard at all, either!

In the meantime, don't get too stressed out with holiday shopping, crazy holiday shoppers, and getting things ready for the holidays. Take things easy and remember: this season is about enjoying your time, your life, and your friends and family.

Wonderful Christmas 2011, a New Puppy, and Raisin Oat Bran Muffins

The holiday season is nearly bowled over once New Years' hits! Wowie, it's been pretty crazy, but in a good way. The rush of buying gifts was done in pretty good time, for me, unfortunately I still have to do gift exchanges with my girlfriends when they get back from Las Vegas and such (lucky dogs, going to Las Vegas on New Years). This year, we had our Christmas dinner at our house instead of grandma's (which is a long 1.5 hour drive inland). It was simple and not overloaded with food, which I like, but we still had leftovers. My mom made her delicious and famous mi hoanh thanh (wonton noodle soup), my grandma made her ca ri ga (Vietnamese curry chicken, my fave dish of hers!), and my aunt brought over seasoned chicken wings (I think from Costco). My other aunt bought a tiramisu cake from Costco (so delicious).

Mi Hoanh Thanh

 It was a good night, one that I liked a lot better than the long-winded Christmases we've had before, which involved pictures before, during and after each present and unwrapping. We shot through our presents, which were also reduced in number this year and again which I liked because I don't like excess.

Me and Ong Noi (Grandpa!)

Cousin's gifts to Cat

Me, my sis, and my aunt

Auntie and Me

Scarf crocheted by Cousin's fiance

Those scares my sister and I are wearing were made by my cousin's fiance. She crocheted them in a matter of one to two days. She is insane!!! What crocheting talent and drive! I can barely edge out one crocheted item every 6 months. She's super awesome and fun to hang out with.

Best gift, though, had to be this cute little guy my sister brought home around 3:30pm Christmas Eve day.

Cody, the Mini Toy Australian Shepherd

He's a Mini Toy Australian Shepherd, a Blue Merl. My sister drove 1.5 hours to get him in the morning, going under the alibi that she had to go "Christmas shopping." She got herself her Christmas gift, haha. She didn't get the complete approval of our parents beforehand; she just went and brought him home. Haha, my dad was pretty excited, and still is. My mom, she's a different story. As old Asian people are: dogs are smelly and dirty! Don't let them lick your face! You'll get freckles! So nasty! Aghhh! He isn't. He's a cute little guy, except now he bites and gnaws at my feet and ankles really bad. Ow!

Sleepy the first two days we got him

I didn't bake or cook anything for Christmas since we had too much cookies and cakes and pies already, but I'll show you some stuff I made during school:

Raisin Bran Muffins

Made with Arrowhead Mill Oat Bran

Raisins soaked in Cola

You can find the recipe on the back of the Arrowhead Mills Oat Bran box. I tweaked their basic oat bran muffin recipe by adding cola-soaked raisins, and a couple extra shakes of cinnamon and allspice, and a light sprinkling of brown sugar-cinnamon topping. You can freeze leftovers by wrapping individual muffins in plastic wrap and in another freezer plastic wrap for extra protection. Just take out and microwave somewhere between 45-60 seconds. These are great for breakfast or afternoon or late night snacks. They are very dense though, so I recommend that healthy and filling combination of a glass of (almond!) milk.

Baking Donuts in the Throes of Dead Week

It is really hard to believe that I am an undergraduate senior at UC Berkeley and that I am coming to the end of my second to last semester here. "Rest, Recitation, and Review" Week (or more commonly and endearingly referred to by faculty and students as "Dead Week") has just begun and it is going to be hectic. Two group projects/presentations due on Wednesday and Friday this week, so I'm meeting with my groups nearly every day (but today, thank goodness!). Review sessions and mandatory attendance of presentations occur during the same time as my normal class periods, so it's not like classes ended last Friday, as it officially says in the Academic Calendar. Not to mention I have about 5 late shifts this week. This is going to be very intense, but somehow I'll survive.

Berkeley engineering students in the library the day before Dead week

And then sometime find time to write my graduate applications to three more universities and a scholarship app before December 15.

FML.

Anyways, you've all come here to read about my baking, not my personal life. I mean, that's why we browse food blogs right? The person behind the screen does not matter. Only their food and their ability to take photos of their food matter. Therefore, I will digress no longer.

Gingerbread Donuts.

I've been having this unrelenting craving for gingerbread man cookies since Thanksgiving. I bought the Lebkuchen from World Market, made pear upside-down gingerbread cake (from Eatingwell.com, to be documented soon!), and bought iced gingerbread cookie bites from a nearby bakery...Yet nothing has satisfied my craving for a real, full-on gingerbread man cookie.

So I made gingerbread donuts, and am still craving gingerbread men. Oh, the woes of woman, to crave food and men in the same moment. Browsing through Tastespotting, I that livelovepasta posted this wonderfully healthy and tasty recipe for gingerbread donuts and immediately bookmarked it. (She apparently got it from PinchofYum, Sunday morning, I got up and made a batch to bring to my project group (unfortunately didn't have time to ice them before bringing them. So much better iced!)

I modified her recipe because of the spices I had on hand, and I wanted to try the lemon and gingerbread combo I've seen floating around. Berkeley is bountiful with random lemon trees in front of everyone's apartments and houses. It's so great, walking home, reaching into someone's tree, plucking a fresh and plump lemon, and then taking it home. ;-P

Gingerbread Donuts with Lemon "Spicing" (modified from livelovepasta)
For the Batter:
1 cup flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ginger
Sprinkling of allspice (can be somewhat generous)
Sprinkling of nutmeg (this is strong, don't be too generous)
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup (dark) brown sugar, divided
1 egg
¼ cup (unsweetened) applesauce
2 tablespoons maple syrup (I used breakfast syrup, darn maple syrup is expensive on a college budget)
2 Tablespoons milk
2 Tablespoons butter (melted in the microwave)
For the Glaze:
Powdered sugar, couple squeezes of fresh lemon, cinnamon and ginger, all to taste and texture

Directions
1. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, salt and ¼ cup brown sugar together in a medium bowl.
2. Melt butter in microwave. Mix the egg, applesauce, syrup, and milk in a large bowl. Pour in the butter and mix well. (keep the bowl the butter was in)
3. Pour in half the flour mixture to the liquid mixture. Stir to mix. Pour and fold in the rest of the flour mixture.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
5. Use a pastry brush and wipe off the butter from the butter bowl. Use this to grease the mini donut pan.
6. Put some of the batter into a plastic zip bag and cut a small bit of the bottom corner of the bag. Fill each tin ½ full with batter (or 3/4 full for super awesome plump donuts).
7. Bake for about 6-8 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven. Cool in the pan 5-10 min, then use a plastic knife and excavate the donuts from the pan carefully. Let cool completely on wire racks.
8. Mix the glaze ingredients together, making sure it's not too liquidy, but not too hard to stir. Push donut tops in, twist about to coat, pull up. Use a chopstick or plastic knife to smooth out the glaze and to remove extra glaze.
9. Let the glaze harden, set out on a nice plate and ENJOY!!!

(Calorie content should be around 100 if you make around 20 donuts, around 150 if you make 12, and around 50-80 if you make around 24 donuts)

Verdict?

You won't wanna share these little treats. Hot dayum, these tasted really good. I was sad to share them with my roommates and friends, to tell the truth. Really yummy. The donuts by themselves are a little dry tasting on their own (unlike the vanilla and hint-of-nutmeg donuts from VeganYumYum), but taste really good with the lemon frosting.

Definitely gonna make these again when I have time. Oh, 4 weeks of winter break, come now!

Hope you enjoyed this latest update on my Donut Project (and my life, lol). Hope to see you all soon! Wish me luck to survive through Dead Week and Finals!