Baking 101: Whole Wheat Cream Puffs

When I had a short internship in the commissary of a local restaurant/bakeshop, my job there was mostly about finishing, which included piping pastry cream into thousand of choux pastries for cream puffs. Since then, cream puffs had a special place in my heart. Just about as special as croissants or macarons or cheesecakes are to me. I was telling myself to try baking them at home for a long while now, but never really really tried because they seemed difficult to make.

What part of it seemed difficult? Well, firstly cream puffs seem so complex. Your choux pastry has to be crunchy and browned outside and hollow and soft inside. And secondly, I'm horrible with fillings and icings. I wouldn't hesitate to bake a cake but if you told me to make some buttercream icing I would faint and fail.

But I tried the other day, with some help from my brother. He actually gave me P100 to buy some butter and cream. Yay! <3 Jenro you rawk. It isn't as difficult as I thought it was. I picked up a recipe from joyofbaking.com which you can find here. I'll also post it in this blog post for your convenience.

The only adjustments I did was that I used whole wheat flour instead of normal flour since that's what I have on hand and my sis is into the 'healthy food' thing. What's also great about this recipe is that it barely has any sugar in it.

Whole Wheat Cream Puff with Whipped Cream.
Sorry for poor photo, my bro wasn't there to work his photo magic.

Choux Pastry:

1/2 cup (65 grams) all purpose flour  (I used whole wheat flour in the same amount)

1/2 teaspoon granulated white sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt (if using salted butter, take this out)

1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) (57 grams) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1/2 cup (120 ml) water

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Glaze:

1 large egg

Whipped Cream:
1 cup (240 ml) heavy whipping cream(double cream) (35-40% butterfat)

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (NOTE: This says "PURE VANILLA EXTRACT". So please use that. Do not use the vanilla flavoring that we can buy for 5-10 PHP in le palengke. It will seriously ruin the taste of the whipped cream, trust me. Take this out if you don't have a good vanilla extract, or squeeze in some fresh lemon juice instead.)

1 1/2 tablespoons granulated white sugar, or to taste

Garnish:

Powdered (Confectioners or icing)sugar

PROCEDURES!

Choux Pastry: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly butter or spray the pan with a non stick vegetable spray.

In a bowl sift or whisk together the flour, sugar and salt.

Place the butter and water in a heavy saucepan over medium high heat and bring to a boil. (Make sure that the butter melts before the water boils to reduce the amount of evaporation.) Remove from heat and, with a wooden spoon, add the flour mixture, all at once, and stir until combined. Return saucepan to the heat and stir constantly until the dough comes away from the sides of the pan and forms a thick smooth ball (about 1-2 minutes). Transfer the dough to your electric mixer, or use a hand mixer, and beat on low speed to release the steam from the dough (about a minute). Once the dough is lukewarm start adding the lightly beaten eggs (dough will separate and then come together) and continue to mix until you have a smooth thick paste (dough will fall from a spoon in a thick ribbon). Spoon or pipe 12 small mounds of dough onto the baking sheet, spacing about 2 inches (5 cm) apart. With a pastry brush, gently brush the tops of the dough with a lightly beaten egg.

Bake for 15 minutes and then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Continue to bake for a further 30 to 35minutesor until the shells are a nice amber color and when split, are almost dry inside. Turn the oven off, poke a couple of holes in each puff and, with the oven door slightly ajar, let the shells completely cool (and dry out). 

They'll keep on expanding and expanding in the oven. I used muffin pans to bake them so they have a uniform shape and aren't messy on a tray.

After they're baked, they look nice with all those little cracks on top that are distinct of choux pastries.

Choux Pastry is sorta hollow inside--that's why it has space inside for all that filling!

 

Whipped Cream: In a large mixing bowl place the whipping cream, vanilla extract, and sugar and stir to combine. Cover and chill the bowl and whisk in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes. When chilled, whip the cream just until stiff peaks form.

To Assemble: Split the pastry shells in half and fill (or pipe) with whipped cream. Place the top half of the pastry shell on the whipped cream and dust with powdered (confectioners or icing) sugar. Leftover Cream Puffs can be stored in the refrigerator.

Makes 12 cream puffs.
Read more:http://joyofbaking.com/CreamPuffs.html#ixzz1r9MuYy2r

Fill them in with the filling of your choice and enjoy.

As I said, I used whole wheat flour and chose to bake these babies in muffin pans so they have a more uniform shape. The butter I used was the Ambassador brand (from President) and it works well with the flour. When I want a good but cheap butter/butter compound I buy that or Queensland. The butter you buy really has an effect on your baked goodies. Ambassador is good because it's unsalted and tastes neutral. Queensland or Magnolia Gold has a salty, savory, butter-spread that you put on your sliced bread taste. The Butterfresh brand has a distinct smell to it. 

The cream you're going to use for the whipped cream matters, too. I only ever use Nestle all-purpose cream, but their premium heavy cream is the best thing I ever used for ganache. But, as with the butter, the taste of your whipped cream will depend on the taste of the cream you use. Buy what you like.

As for the finished product, since I used wheat flour, my bro and I got the impression that this choux pastry will be better fit for a savory filling--like chicken or basil pesto pasta, or something similar. It's texture is great, though, just amazing. The whipped cream was not sweet and it didn't go so well with the whole wheat choux pastry. I'm contemplating cooking some pasta tomorrow to go with the whole wheat whoux pastries. I still prefer putting pastry cream into my cream puffs--like what they do in Dulcinea Restaurant--even if those are absurdly sweet.

Also, I played around with the temperature of my oven for this. I use a small, electrical oven so I always lessen the temperature and cooking time when I bake because if I follow exactly what's on the recipe, I almost always end up with something being burnt. Well, miraculously, nothing burned here. I thought I was burning it, but I found that I wasn't, so maybe I should have stuck to the real temperature, because if I did, I'd get those pretty cracks that choux pastries have on top and a crunchier outside. Will post again if I re-do this.

Have a great day! Feel free to ask or comment here about anything!

Baking 101: Oreo Stuffed Choco Chip Cookies w/ recipe

A few months ago was the 100th anniversary of Oreo, so an Oreo recipe made it to the headlines of Yahoo! News and I just had to try it out. The recipe can be found at Becky Bakes but I'll post it here too for your convenience.

Photo by my amazing brother.

Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookiesrecipe from the fantabulous Jenny of Picky Palate

2 sticks (1 cup) softened butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla
3 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
10 oz bag chocolate chips
1 pkg. Oreo cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugars together with a mixer until well combined. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

In a separate bowl mix the flour, salt and baking soda. Slowly add to wet ingredients along with chocolate chips until just combined. Using a cookie scoop take one scoop of cookie dough and place on top of an Oreo Cookie. Take another scoop of dough and place on bottom of Oreo cookie. Seal edges together by pressing and cupping in hand until Oreo cookie is enclosed with dough. Place onto a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet and bake cookies 9-13 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Makes about 2 dozen VERY LARGE cookies.

(Above text is copied from here.)
Sad to say, I'm not in-love with these cookies yet. I love Oreos (especially with milk) but I find this recipe a little too sweet for my tastes. I find that replacing Oreos with Cream-Os work wonderfully, Cream-O isn't too sweet and is a lot less cheaper. Don't bake them too long or they'll be hard; you want a softer cookie here because there's still a cookie inside.

Our Favorite Resort: Doña Jovita Resort

Recent pictures from our Doña Jovita trip go here.


If you want a to go on a summer vacation where you can swim in either cool water or hot spring-waters, be one with nature and go on a hike, and have a lot of wonderful photos, you have to go to Doña Jovita in Laguna. It's our favorite getaway, easy to reach if you live in Calamba (like I do), and fairly inexpensive--you get the quality for your money. Recently they have also improved their site to be able to accommodate weddings and such. My family and relatives have been going to Doña Jovita for almost seven (?!) years now. We make it a habit to drop by once a year.


TIP: If you want a peaceful, quiet atmosphere, don't go there at April or May. Be a boss like me and my aunt and go there on February, or early March. We were, literally, save for the staff, the only people in the resort.


How to get there:
From Calamba, ride a jeep that will go to UP Los Banos. Say Dona Jovita and you're set. Tell the driver to drop you off.

Doña Jovita has 6 or 7 pools--some are cold water, and some are 'hot spring' water. (And there are various 'mini pools' and jacuzzi-like pools, too!) It's good because when the weather is cold you can choose to jump into a pool of hot water instead. (I prefer hot water myself)

This one is a 'mini-pool' against a stone wall. They have water running down the wall too, to make it look like a waterfall.

More scenes and pictures from Jovita:

If you're looking for pretty rocks and greenery, this resort has it.

Beside one of the pools. This one is has hot water, and is my favorite among all their pools.

You can hike up these steps on a hill quite a distance from the resort to reach a "grotto".

Many years ago, we slept over at this resort, renting one of their awesome cottages that will remind you so much of nature. Of course, we brought our own food, too!

Me and le aunt got hungry after all the swimming and waddling around and the sunbathing, so we ordered some food from the resort restaurant and asked it to be served to our table (which was conveniently one step away from the pool. We moved it there because no one else was around anyway. -_-)

The order was for some Pancit Bihon. It tasted home-made and good, not like those ridiculous instant things. With that being said, you'll also have to wait quite a while for the order to arrive. Later my aunt also ordered some cappuccino, which she remarked was good, but half the cup was just foam. Haha. XD

I highly encourage everyone to visit Dona Jovita. And I'm not even getting paid to do this. It's a beautiful place where you can swim in whatever water you prefer, hot or cold, and be one with nature as well, and take a lot of amazing photos!

And here is a picture of me sunbathing in a bikini:

No, I'm just kidding. XD

Click Here to See Dona Jovita's Facebook page and More Pics

When Life Gives You Lemons... Make Lemon Bars

Last Sunday I made Lemon Bars by request of my brother. He now declares them his 'favorite'. He loves desserts that have a touch of fruit in them--his other favorite, so far, are my mango bars, and anything with strawberry in them.


To bake, I used a recipe from Joyofbaking.com which uses easily accessible ingredients and is very easy to make. Here is the resulting product:

Photo editing care of my brother. He loves them so much he did this for me! :3

I didn't garnish them with the powdered sugar, so they look a little different from the ones at joyofbaking.com but they taste wonderful! It's tart and tangy, and just right. The lemon flavor and smell really comes through. I can't wait to make more!

Everything you need for this recipe can be right at your own home, and for Filipinos who don't store lemons at their homes, lemons are around P50 for three pieces at Puregold. For this recipe, you'd only need 2 lemons anyway. I'll quote something from joyofbaking.com about buying lemons:

When choosing lemons look for ones that are fragrant with brightly colored oily yellow skins. The best ones are firm, plump, and heavy for their size. Don't buy lemons that have blemishes, soft spots, or are hard and wrinkled. 

Read more:http://joyofbaking.com/LemonCurd.html#ixzz1oLODBfGK

It's important to use fresh lemons instead of imitation lemon juices--fresh is best. With that being said, I can't wait to buy fresh vanilla someday.I also can't wait to make lemon ice cream. :3


xoxo
Xarin


PS: While making these, my brother helped me with squeezing the juices from the lemons. And then he asked me, "Why do fanfictions say 'lemon'? What does lemon in fanfic mean?" I told him, "Smut." And so he laughed and said, "Ooh, we're making smutty bars! Yum. They taste smutty."

All Things Starbucks Here

All things Starbucks-related go here.


I don't frequent Starbucks because we all know it's pretty expensive for a middle-class student. If I want coffee or hot choco, I'll always go to cheaper alternatives, like McDonalds' (they have awesome hot choco) or Country Style (where you can get a cup of brewed coffee + free refill for only P40). And besides, my last experience drinking a Mocha Frappuccino from Starbucks ended up in me getting palpitations.


But I met friends who worked there, and also, my aunt loves going there, and so we would always cap our mall trips this vacation season with going to Starbucks to get some coffee or tea for her, hot choco for me. It was almost a once-a-day ritual during our stay at Calamba, where we were in SM Calamba almost every day.

9:45 AM , at Starbucks SM Calamba. Just got off the bus and was so hungry I just dove into everything, forgetting to take a picture. Fail.

I always order their Hot Choco. I prefer the Classic one as opposed to the Signature one.

White Chocolate Mocha Latté. Decaf. Yummy. I should order all my coffee decaf from now on. It's sweet and light, oozing with the white choco flavor.

Le Aunt Merle enjoying her Mocha Latté.

The staff at the store in Calamba were also very nice, open, and smiling, good to you even when you asked them ridiculous questions. Save for one woman who was upset over something and yelling at the other employees. My friends who worked at Starbucks would be angry to hear that. They always told me everyone in Starbucks stores are nice, from the Barista to the Managers. Meh.

Cheers to the Starbucks SM Calamba store for putting up with us. From Jakilyn Chipeco. 

Cakes at Chocolat

Went out with my cousin and my aunt to window shop at Mall of Asia--bad idea when we were there and it was packed  with people because of the fireworks competition that was going to happen later that night. You'd barely enjoy window shopping when you'd bump into someone in an attempt to just walk. We walked around hoping to find something good but then just gave up and decided to eat something. My cousin wanted to eat cake and so we ended up eating that at Chocolat. The place was packed and we barely had anywhere to sit. When that was resolved, though, we ordered our cakes.

I had the Chocolate Caramel cake (P82) with some ice cold chocolate drink

My cousin Kiss had the Chocolate Hazelnut cake (P88)

My aunt had a cup of cappuccino.

Kiss and I taking a pic together before eating.

Chocolat seems to make their cakes in the same area, because there are staff making cakes by the counters and icing them as we ate. The cake slices are priced at around P80-P120, which is the price range you'd expect for cake slices in other cake shops and bakeries too.

The cake tasted good enough. The cake was moist and the chocolate flavor not too sweet; just right. Its a bit filling after a slice or two. I like it but it doesn't haunt me and make me want to immediately buy another one. Maybe next time I'll try another flavor? Red Ribbon still has my favorite cakes.

Mark's & Spencer Swiss Chocolate Reviews

My sister brought home Swiss Chocolates last January for us to taste test, and it's about time I reviewed the stuff I ate, and I figured it's timely because Single Awareness Day (aka Valentine's) just passed and we're all, hopefully, eating chocolates. My sis already did a post on this which you can read on her blog. She has more photos, too.

Here are the chocolates included in the Mark's and Spencer Swiss Chocolate box:

Picture too big for my lay-out, pardon the resize

I didn't get to taste everything, but from the stuff I tasted, my top three is Sienna, Noblesse, and Arabia. I'm a fan of strong flavors and the coffee flavor of Arabia just does it for me. Sienna is a more subtle chocolate with pistachio filling, and is not too sweet but not too bitter. Noblesse is my top favorite among all of them, simply because it has a whole hazelnut inside and the caramel and cream filling is done to perfection.


You can grab these goodies at Mark's and Spencer shops near you.

Eating at Impressca

To make the most out of my trip to my second interview for Max's Resto, I decided to stop by SM North EDSA (one of my fave shopping places) and do a little window shopping, and looking around for good foodstuffs. The Block is one of my fave places to try out foods, because they have restaurants and small food carts and kiosks that you won't find anywhere else. It was around 5PM so I wanted to get a light before-dinner snack. I wanted a sandwich. Sandwiches are my fave things to eat. I debated over going to one of my favorite sandwich places, The Sandwich Guy (2nd floor of The Block) or trying out something new. I walked around The Block some more and saw Impressca. They were supposed to be mostly a salad place, but heck, they had sandwiches. Ordering sandwiches from a salad place could be a good idea if it meant they were using better veggies.

Located at 4th floor of The Block

I ordered their Chicken Salad Panini (or something like that) which cost P85 and came with free iced tea or coffee, your choice.

This is what I got. Exactly what I was expecting because it was only P85, after all.

Upon closer inspection.

Tasted the sandwich and it tasted like I could've made it myself, at home. And it's never good to buy something that you can make yourself at home. The only redeeming factor of this is that the white onions were so good, but that's only because I'm a white onion person and love eating them.

The brewed coffee is simply brewed coffee; a little less strong than most brewed coffee out there though.

Will I recommend this place? No. Will I eat here again? No. If you're craving sandwiches and burger like I usually do and you're at The Block, you'll get a satisfactory HBLT sandwich at The Sandwich Guy for nearly the same price (P88) or you can choose from a wide variety of burgers at Slammer Burgers for P85, or you can be like me and prefer to add a few pesos and go to Country Style and just order a Triple Decker Sandwich (P130) which already comes with iced tea.