Chik's Crib: October 2017

30 October 2017

Pumpkin Pie Recipe

Recipe October 30, 2017 0

This is my first forage into pies this year, and just in time for Halloween too! In previous years, I've made Chez Panisse's Almond Tarts before, as well as this easy French Tart Dough Recipe, both of which make an easy pie dough that don't require a rolling pin. (Luckily too, because I don't have one.) I thought in the spirit of Halloween, I should tackle something that had been scaring me off for the longest time: pie dough that requires a rolling pin.

Whenever I think of rolling pie dough, it's the combination of many small factors jumbling in my head, which makes my head hurt and my heart quop. I don't have a rolling pin, I don't have a clean surface for rolling dough, I don't know the sweet spot amount of flour to sprinkle to make the equipment non-stick while rolling without creating a stiff dough... (Usually, by this stage, I'd withdrawn my hand from the flour cupboard and would go for the gin instead.)

The weather has been warming up of late, but a recent cool spell during this Halloween period made cutting chilled butter into flour easy as ... well, pie. The recipe does require a little prepping effort, and I roasted pumpkins to make puree a day before, as well as made the pie dough prior. Everything else was a breeze thereafter. I rolled the dough out with a thermos flask in no time, and a handheld immersion blender made quick work of the pie filling.

I harbored a little apprehension as I cut a wedge of pie for myself; it was my first time making this after all. But as I cooked the pie filling, the strong smell of the spices carry the promise of holiday, and the addition of brandy released a cathartic warmth throughout the kitchen. The worry was for naught: the pie filling was like a rich spice-laden custard, and perfect for Halloween.

Pic by R

Pumpkin Pie Recipe

Makes one 9-inch (23cm) pie
Adapted from David Lebovitz's recipe
The original recipe comes with instructions for a majestic swooping marshmallow topping, which I was going to attempt until my handheld mixer inexplicably broke. David suggests that canned pumpkin can be used to cut down the work involved, but making pumpkin puree is really easy: bake the quartered pumpkin at 170C until soft enough until a fork goes in without resistance, then scrap out and mash.

INGREDIENTS
Pie Crust
175g (1 1/4 cups) flour
2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
115g (4 ounces) unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
3-4 tablespoons ice water

Pumpkin Pie Filling
425g (1 3/4 cups) pumpkin or butternut squash puree
250ml (1 cup) heavy cream
125ml (1/2 cup) milk
3 eggs, at room temperature
160g (3/4 cups) packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoon Cognac or brandy

STEPS
Pie Dough
1. Mix flour, sugar, and salt. Add chilled butter and mix into the flour mixture until the butter is in small pieces the size of a pea. (Use a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or a food processor, or by hand as you rub the flour into the butter with your finger tips, or a pastry blender).

2. Add 3 tablespoons of ice water and mix until the dough comes together. Add more water as necessary. Turn the dough out onto a clean flat surface and give it a few turns with your hands. Shape it into a disc, wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour. As the dough is refrigerating, prepare the pumpkin filling (see below).

3. Between two pieces of baking paper (or lightly flour the table and the rolling pin), roll out the dough until about 33cm (13 inches) in diameter. Dust off the excess flour and transfer it to a pie plate. Crimp the excess dough from the rim of the pie plate, and prick the bottom of the pie dough with the tines of a fork.

4. Preheat the oven to 190C (375F). Line the inside of the pie dough with aluminum foil and fill halfway with beans, rice, or pie weights. Bake for about 15-20 minutes until the edges are a golden brown, then lift out the aluminium foil with the weights, and bake until the inside is nicely browned, about another 5 to 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and turn the temperature down to 180C (350F).

Pie Filling
1.Blend all ingredients together, either in a blender or with an immersion mixer in a pot.

2. Gently warm the filling over a small fire, scrapping the bottom constantly, just until it’s warm to the touch. Do not overheat as eggs scramble around 60C (140F). Remove from fire.

3. Reheat gently just as the pie crust finishes baking.

Putting Crust and Filling Together

1. Ladle the warm filling into the prebaked pie shell. Bake at 180C for 40-50 minutes, just until when you jiggle the pie, the centre of the pie has just set and is only slightly jiggly. Let pie cool completely on wire rack. Overbaking would result in a cracked pie surface as the pie cools.

NOTE
Once cool, the pie can be chilled (for up to two days), or left at room temperature for serving.

26 October 2017

Sweet Potato Cake Recipe

Recipe October 26, 2017 0

Happy Halloween! When I thought of Halloween last year, disjointed memories come to me. It was around the week when our district's electricity got knocked out by a faulty electric grid late in the night, plunging the residential halls, as well as most of our campus, into a sudden darkness. Unable to study, and frankly, sick of studying by that time, we decided to explore the blacked-out campus by way of torchlight. The buildings, cloaked in darkness, lent our usual path the air of unfamiliarity, and the harsh flare of emergency lamps threw up startling shadows onto the shrubbery. It was dark and gusty, and rain from a previous shower kept the grass damp and the pavements shimmering. But the stars were brighter than I've seen before, bringing to the dark night a paradoxical serenity. What a night! - and perhaps, the scariest part of that story was that a year had passed us since then.

Halloween seems to be a predominantly US tradition, and nobody elsewhere seems to think that it's a big deal. Small pockets of community, for example where R stays in Singapore, do seem make an annual event out of it, but it doesn't seem to be a national celebration in either Singapore or Australia. When Halloween decorations started appearing some houses around my neighbourhood, perhaps it's a sign that we should stock up on candy for hopeful trick-or-treaters? Last year, a group of us did a Halloween dinner where I brought a Pumpkin Cake, and this year, we're doing the a potluck again, this time with a Halloween theme dress-up. Maybe we can go treat-and-treating too after dinner?

Pic by rainer

Ever since my trip to Jinshan Old Street in Taiwan, I had developed a new-found appreciation for what one can do with root vegetables. The region of Jinshan heavily exports sweet potato and yam. Walking down the streets of Jinshan, root vegetables play a big role in many of their restaurant dishes, and many of their pastry stores feature them prominently even in desserts. We were plied with heaps of delicious pastries, from Western pull-apart breads to flaky Asian-style pastries - you name it, they have it, and with root vegetables to boot. There's an annual competition featuring Taiwan's most creative pastry, and the overall winner was naturally from Jinshan.

Traditional Chinese desserts uses plenty of root vegetables, but it's one thing to make sweet soup-based desserts, and another in western-style cakes. There's plenty of carrot cake recipes, and pumpkin cakes alongside, but for the most part, my search for such recipes has yield surprisingly few results.

While rifling through the Brown Betty's Cookbook, I paused at the Only for Eliza cake - one of their best-selling cakes, and finally, a cake based on sweet potato! Because life can't be easy, I neglected to take down the recipe, confident in my knowledge that I should be able to find a recipe floating online... which, of course, I couldn't find one. Drat! Luckily, I found a similar recipe from Amy, and gave it a go.

Well, it took a couple of attempts. On my first go, I attempted to make a cake in the Brown Betty's Bakery style - a cake taller than it is wide, towering majestically with frosting between every layer. A stainless steel tin which I normally used to brew hot drinks was used to make the cake. Unfortunately, I should have baked the cake layers in several batches instead of one big go, because once I sawed through my giant tall cake into layers, the bottom and middle layers were too moist to withstand the weight and collapsed into a not-altogether-attractive pile. Also, I frosted the cake before it cooled thoroughly, and the buttercream melted into a greasy puddle. If I was aiming to build a towering cake, it looked like someone had applied a wrecking ball to the structure. Mea culpa. But to the credit of the recipe, the ruinous pile tasted good enough for the cake to be devoured in no time. The second attempt, I baked in a regular square pan.

HOLIDAY SWEET POTATO CAKE

Recipe adapted from Amy from She Wears Many Hats
Makes one two-tiered 9-inch cake

Sweet potato puree is relatively easy to do: 2kg raw sweet potatoes makes about 750g. Bake whole raw sweet potatoes skin-on at 160C for about 45 minutes, until a fork goes in all the way through. Remove skin and process until smooth. Puree can be passed through a metal sieve for a smoother consistency, which I recommend. I also find that the taste of flour gets accentuated in cakes that have been kept in the fridge, which I dislike. I kept the quantity of flour as per the original recipe - 350g - but would look to adjust it to 300g the next time I bake. (Although I'd not tried the adjusted ratio, so would not recommend it yet. Watch this space!)

INGREDIENTS

350g (2 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground ginger
226g (16 tablespoons/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
400g (2 cups) granulated sugar
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
550g (2 1/2 cups) mashed cooked sweet potatoes, cooled (about 4-5 sweet potatoes)
245g (1 cup) whole buttermilk (substitute 1 tbsp of lemon/vinegar + milk, and let stand for 5 minutes)

STEPS
1. Preheat oven to 175C (350F). Butter and flour two 9-inch cake pans, and line the bottoms with baking paper. If adding lemon/vinegar to milk, do so now.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and ginger together. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar on medium-high for 4-5 minutes until the mixture lightens and becomes creamy. Add beaten eggs, one at a time, beating between each addition. Continue to beat on medium-high for 1-2 minutes until combined and fluffy. Add vanilla and sweet potatoes and mix until smooth.

4. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture into the butter mixture, then 1/3 of the buttermilk. Alternate between the flour and milk into the butter mixture, stirring well after each addition. Beat on low speed until just incorporated.

5. Divide batter evenly between the cake pans. Bake at 175C for 35-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean with no batter attached. Let cool in pan completely before frosting.

NOTE
Online sources for a cup of mashed cooked sweet potato ranges from 200g to 328g, which has a wider range than I like. Given that yogurt and heavy cream is about 1 cup to 235g, I guesstimated 1 cup of sweet potato puree to be about 220g.

20 October 2017

Breizoz French Crêperie

Review October 20, 2017 0

Breizoz French Crêperie is a homey joint along the streets of Fitzroy serving up hot fresh crêpes. There is the usual sweet dessert crêpes available, as well as a selection of savoury galettes (a type of crêpe made with buckwheat flour, which makes a crisper texture.) As we walked through the doors, the warmth of the restaurant was a welcome reprieve from the cold spring air. The unmistakable sizzle of the batter on the hot iron pan mingling with the smell of rich melting butter is a heady combination.

Hot mulled wine, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic versions, are available in winter. Perhaps the alcohol helps to cut through the richness of their crêpes? I came with my family on a late Friday night after dinner, and was pleasantly surprised to see a number of tables available.

Because we were stuffed from dinner and were just after a light dessert, we ordered two crepes to share amongst the five of us. Salted Butter Caramel is a concept that's everywhere, but not all salted butter caramel are created equal, and most are invariably too sweet. The crêpes here though were perfectly balanced, with the right touch of sweetness and a ting of saltiness shining through.

The Banana and Chocolate Crêpe was generously stuffed with banana and drizzled with chocolate sauce, but again, the sweetness of the overall dish was perfectly balanced.

14 October 2017

Pumpkin Cake Recipe

Recipe October 14, 2017 0

I love eating the crisp edges of a cake. I love eating warm cakes fresh from the oven. And I always, always try my best to eat as much cake while avoiding the cake frosting. Cupcakes, with their chilled interior, their over-the-top frostings and their little paper cups pulling away at all the crisp edges of the cake, were an annoyance to me. I couldn't understand why cupcakes are so popular for the longest time. It's only recently that I understood what I have been missing out on. A cupcake celebrates the frosting and the fluffiness of a cake.

This epiphany was brought about by R's spectacular batch of this pumpkin cupcake and maple syrup buttercream. One bite, and I was hooked. Call me a cupcake convert, at least when it comes to this recipe. Its warm deep golden hue and strong pumpkin fragrance was a perfect dessert for autumn.

So where, you may be wondering at this point, are the pictures of the much-talked about cupcakes? Well, there isn't any. Because for one, I'm horrible at piping, but also, look at how lovely the pictures of the cakes taken by R are.

I may need frosting lessons. Pic by R.

Let's try again, and distract people from my frosting-related incompetency with some pepitas and cinnamon. Okay, I think we're in the clear. Pic by R

Pumpkin Cake Recipe

In a tasting of pumpkin cake recipes done several years ago, we tried King Arthur, lifeloveandsugar and The Blonde Buckeye. This recipe from The Blonde Buckeye is the recipe that we liked the most. It was itself adapted from Smitten Kitchen.

Makes 24 cupcakes, or one cake of 9.5-inch diameter

INGREDIENTS

280g (2 cups) Cake Flour (Substitution: all-purpose flour + cornstarch in 7:1 ratio)

1½ teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice (Substitution from Betty Crocker: ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice and cloves in 6:1:1:1:1 ratio. ie 60% cinnamon)

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

2 teaspoons Baking Powder

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

½ Teaspoon Salt
115g (½ cup or 1 stick) Unsalted Butter, room temperature
220g Brown Sugar
50g Granulated Sugar
2 Eggs
½ cup Buttermilk

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
280g (1¼ cups) Pumpkin Puree (see below)

STEPS
1) Preheat oven to 175C (350F).

2) Sift cake flour, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together and set aside.

3) Add the vanilla to the buttermilk. Set aside.

4) Cream the butter and both sugars together on medium-high until the mixture becomes light & fluffy, about 5 minutes with an electric mixer. Add the eggs one at a time, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl after every addition.

5) At low speed, add in ⅓ of the dry ingredients, then half the milk, mixing well after each addition. Continue until everything is just combined (finishing with the dry). Mix in the pumpkin until just combined.

6) Line each cupcake well with a paper liner and distribute the batter evenly amongst the cupcake wells. A tablespoon of batter in each well is sufficient, as you are aiming for a small cake that would not rise into a dome beyond the paper liner. You may use more batter if you're not planning to frost the cupcakes (AKA a muffin), but the batter should not exceed 3/4 of the well's capacity. Add a tablespoon of water to any empty wells.

7) Bake for about 20 minutes (or until inserted toothpick comes out clean). Allow cupcakes to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and cool to room temperature.

NOTES

Instructions for baking a cake: Pour mixture into a 9.5-inch cake pan. Rap the pan on a coaster/kitchen towel a few times to release any bubbles. Bake for 40-50 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. The cake can be kept for 2-3 days at room temperature in an airtight container (or they can be frozen up to 2 months without frosting).

Decorations: In addition to the maple syrup frosting, pepitas (recipe below) or candy corn or any Halloween-themed sweets or chocolate are good options. A sprinkle of cinnamon does wonders too.

Maple Buttercream Recipe

Adapted from Aida Mollenkamp on Chowhound

Makes frosting for 24 cupcakes, or for a two-tiered cake

INGREDIENTS
250g (2 sticks/8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
60g powdered sugar
160g (1/2 cup) maple syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

STEPS
1) Combine all ingredients and whisk on low speed until all the ingredients are combined, about one minute.
2) Increase speed to high and continue beating until the mixture becomes light in color and fluffy, about 5 minutes. When scraping down the sides of the bowl, the frosting should be smooth and homogenous. If it appears broken, continue to whisk. Frost immediately when ready.

Storage: Excess frosting can be refrigerated in an airtight container. To use, let it come to room temperature and whisk until light in color, fluffy, and fully incorporated.

Pumpkin Purée Recipe

There are two ways to make pumpkin puree: either steaming or roasting until the pumpkin flesh becomes soft and yielding. I prefer roasting as it requires less prep work (you will separate the pumpkin flesh from the skin only after the pumpkin flesh is softened from heat), and I feel that roasting concentrates the pumpkin flavour. In opposition, steaming makes the pumpkin puree a more watery product.

Excess pumpkin purée can be frozen in ziplock bags and kept for upwards of a year. If you squeeze the air out of the ziplock bags before sealing and keep the bags flat as they freeze, the frozen pumpkin purée can be easily broken into shards to portion for another recipe, and can be defrosted in 10 minutes in tepid water.

Ingredients
Pumpkin, cut into wedges, in as much quantity as you want.

Steps
1) Cut pumpkin into wedges. Remove the seeds and the stringy bits of pulp. but leaving skin attached. (Pumpkin seeds, or pepitas, can be roasted and eaten, or used to decorate the cake.
2) Bake at 170C for about an hour, until a fork is able to go through all the way.
3) Using a spoon, scrape the pumpkin meat out into a blender/food processor. Blend to make a purée.

Pepita Recipe

The Pioneer Woman did a really thorough picture-by-picture demonstration, and so I'll just link you to her recipe.

STEPS
The gist is to wash the pumpkin seeds and let it air-dry in a baking tray for several hours (it's sticky, so don't use paper towels!).

When ready, drizzle with a couple of tablespoon of olive oil, sprinkle generously with table salt and bake for about an hour to one and a half hours at 120C.

13 October 2017

EASY Crepes recipe - it's a breeze!

Recipe October 13, 2017 0

You should be making crepes this weekend.

Crepes have a fancy reputation, and it's a common misconception to think crepe-making was reserved for the experts. How could cooking and flipping these thin, delicate pastries ever be easy?

I remember making pancakes as a child, and agonising whether a pancake is cooked all the way through, or still runny on the inside. Because crepes are thin, they are much simpler: when the surface looks dry, the crepe's ready. Easy peasy. The thinner the crepe, the easier it is to judge. (You're bound to tear a few on your first few tries, but stick 'em in the bottom of the stack. No one will suss it, promise.)

Crepe-making really couldn't be simpler. It's a breeze. Easy, I tell you! And you don't need no fancy equipment to make them. If you have a blender (or a immersion blender - and Kmart sells one for $15, which I use), that's great. But with just a whisk and a frying pan, you're good to go. J owns a crepe maker from Kmart but honestly, it complicates crepe-making. It takes a long while to heat up and cook the crepe, and in my hands, the wooden spreader stick keeps tearing the half-cooked crepes. It takes a lot of skill to use, and I'll reach for a good non-stick skillet over the crepe-maker any day. Using a skillet is faster and fool-proof.

Flipping crepes 101: use a spatula to ease the edge of the crepe off the skillet, then peel it off with your hands.

Basic Crepes Recipe

Original recipe by J. Kenji López-Alt

Ingredients
2 large eggs
305g/280ml (1 1/4 cups/10 fluid ounces) full cream milk
140g (1 cup/5 ounces) plain flour
1 tablespoon melted unsalted butter/vegetable oil (1/2 ounce; 15ml), and more for coating the frying pan
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon (8g) sugar (Optional, if making sweet crepes)
1 tablespoon minced fresh herbs (Optional, if making savory crepes)

Steps
1) Combine all ingredients (except herbs, if using) in a blender and process until the mixture becomes smooth, about 10-15 seconds. Add in the herbs and pulse until mixed in.

I have a stick blender and mix the batter in a bowl. Alternatively, a whisk and a bit of elbow grease can bring the batter together too, although I find that if I don't sift, there are always some stubborn clumps of flour remaining.

2) When ready to cook, place a nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Lightly oil the pan and blot out the excess with a kitchen towel. When the pan gets hot enough, using a ladle, scoop out the batter and pour it into the pan, tilting the pan as you pour and making sure the batter is spread out thin and even.

3) Let the batter cook over medium heat until the top is no longer wet, and a finger touching the batter comes away clean (about 20-40s). The edges should curl up and be slightly browned. Using preferably a silicone spatula (or something as malleable), gently pry the edges off the frying pan, and then using your hands, ease the crepe off gently and flip it over. Let the other side cook for 10 seconds, then transfer to a plate.

4) Repeat for the rest of the batter. You may find it useful to turn down the fire between batches - when the pan is less hot, the batter can spread out further before solidifying.

For ideas on filling crepes, the original article on Serious Eats has quite a few ideas.

05 October 2017

HS Cake (Springvale)

Review October 05, 2017 0

Public Service Announcement for durian lovers: HS Cake is the place for all your durian cravings.

For $25, you get a fluffy, three-tiered, so-wide-my-eyes-sparkled, soft sponge cake, with each tier lovingly stuffed with durian puree. It's a simple concept, but it's simplicity done well. The durian puree itself is fragrant, and big chunks of durian pulps are dispersed throughout the puree. The cake is impressively wide enough so you never feel guilty taking an extra big slice for yourself; after all, there's so much more to spare for other people in your household... right?

Its no-frills, no-fuss approach to cakes extends to the shopping experience too. I never called ahead; we usually drop by spontaneously if we happen to be in the area, and walk away with a cake.

They recently moved to a new address right across Springvale Shopping Centre, which makes it much more accessible, and I see myself in the not-so-distant-future picking up a couple of cakes after lunch at Pho Hoang.

HS Cake Facebook page