Red Velvet Pancakes

I love anything that is Red Velvet. I've made Red Velvet Cake, Red Velvet Cupcakes, Red Velvet Brownies, and Red Velvet Cake Bon Bons. So why not Red Velvet Pancakes?

I first heard of the concept of Red Velvet Pancakes when I heard that The Buttermilk Truck served Red Velvet Pancakes. What an awesome idea. Unfortunately, I haven't caught up to the Buttermilk Truck, but I've been dying to have a taste of Red Velvet Pancakes. Then one day, I came across this recipe from Food Republic. I think it was time to finally make the breakfast version of this beloved dessert. Serve this with pancake syrup or cream cheese frosting, but this is a definite recipe to make if you are a Red Velvet dessert lover like me.

1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. cocoa powder
1 egg
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup sour cream
1 Tbsp. red food coloring
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

1) In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, and cocoa powder.

2) In another large bowl, beat egg, buttermilk, sour cream, food coloring, and vanilla extract until smooth. Slowly whisk in flour mixture into wet mixture, alternating with the melted butter. Whisk until all lumps are out.

3) Heat a large nonstick pan over medium heat and drop in batter about 1/4 cup at a time to form pancakes. When the bottoms are set and bubbles are forming on the top, flip pancake over to cook on the the other side. Serve warm with cream cheese frosting or syrup.

40 Clove Garlic Chicken

There have been different versions of this recipe circling around the blogosphere and I was quite intrigued by it. I had 2 whole chickens in the freezer that I've been wanting to use up. But instead of making just a regular, run-of-the-mill roasted chicken, I thought that maybe I should finally try to make this. So after sifting through a few versions, I settled on this recipe from What's Cookin' Chicago?

I know 40 cloves of garlic sounds like a lot, but trust me on this one. The garlic flavor is a little more subtle than expected. And cooking this dish filled the house with this wonderful smell that I couldn't wait to dig in to it. Serve this with a side of pureed root vegetables, like potatoes. Delicious.

40 cloves of garlic (about 3 heads of garlic)
1 whole chicken, cut into legs, thighs and wings
salt & pepper
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
2 Tbsp. olive oil
3 Tbsp. Bourbon (or substitute with 1-2.5 tsp. vanilla extract)
1 1/2 cups white wine
1 Tbsp. fresh Thyme leaves
2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. heavy cream

1) Separate the cloves of un-peeled garlic and place in a pot of boiling water for about 60 seconds. Drain garlic and peel (note: you can skip this step and purchase already peeled garlic). Set aside.

2) Dry chicken pieces with a paper towel. Season liberally with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat butter and oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Cook chicken, skin-side first, for 3-5 minutes on each side until nicely browned. If the oil/butter starts to burn, turn the the heat down to medium. Transfer chicken to a plate.

3) Add all garlic into the pot. Lower the heat and saute for 5-10 minutes, turning often, until evenly browned. Add 2 tablespoons of Bourbon (or 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract) and the wine. Return to a boil, scraping the brown bits that have formed on the bottom of the pan.

4) Return chicken to the pot, including all its juices. Sprinkle the thyme leaves. Cover and simmer over the lowest heat for 30 minutes, until all the chicken is done.

5) Once chicken is done, place on a platter and tent them with a foil to keep warm. In a small bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup of the sauce with flour to make a slurry. Whisk slurry into the the remaining sauce in the pot to thicken. Increase the heat and add the remaining 1 tablespoon bourbon (or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract) and cream. Boil for 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Pour sauce over the chicken platter and serve hot with rice, pasta, or mashed root vegetable.

Fruit Salad

As with previous New Years, one of the traditions in our household is to have a display of a large fruit basket on the dining table when the New Year rolls in. The fruit basket must consist of 7 pieces of 13 different fruits to help for a bountiful year.  That  being said, I always end up with a lot of fruits that need to be consumed, or else they get thrown in the trash. Every December 31st, my dad and I go to a special market that sells a large variety of different fruits. However, being that its winter, some of the fruits aren't as sweet as they would be whenever they are at their peak season. So some of the fruits end up in the trash anyway because they don't taste good. Whatever fruit that doesn't get thrown away is brought to work to share among co-workers.

Last year, I decided to start making fruit salad out of all the fruits we end up with on January 1st. This idea came from a co-worker of mine who always brings fruit salad to work potlucks. We all asked her how she made it and she told us that it was nothing more than just adding shredded coconut and chopped walnuts to any chopped fruits you have. Simple, tasty, and healthy. Perfect.

variety of fruits, chopped in bite-sized pieces
shredded coconut
chopped walnuts, soaked in water overnight to soften
splash of lemon to prevent from any fruit from browning

1) (Note: if you use fruits, such as apples, pears, or bananas that turn brown after cutting, toss them with a few splashes of lemon juice to prevent them from oxidizing). Toss all chopped fruits in a large bowl. Sprinkle desired amount of shredded coconut and chopped walnuts and gently mix. Serve immediately.

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Happy New Year everyone! I wish this new year of 2012 brings each of you and your families joy, love, and prosperity. And I hope you all celebrated with bang on New Year's Eve.

Last night at New Year's eve, as usual, was spent with my folks at their place. My mom prepared (or should I say "ordered") most of the foods that was served for dinner. I offered to make my Tom Kha soup since most of us were sick and I figured soup would be a good thing for us. I also made my much loved Buffalo Chicken Dip. However, I really wanted to make cupcakes since I haven't made any in a while. Around St. Patrick's Day months ago, I came across recipes for Irish Car Bomb cupcakes all over the blogosphere. Do you know what an Irish Car Bomb is? I don't. Its apparently a cocktail that consists of Guinness Stout, Irish whiskey, and Bailey's Irish Cream. I'm a real light-weight when it comes to drinking alcohol. Its rare that you'll even see me with an alcoholic beverage, aside from cough medicine. So this cupcake was completely foreign to me. But I had a huge bottle of Bailey's Irish Cream that I like to put in my hot chocolate on those rare occasions, and I needed to start using it up. There's only so much hot chocolate with Bailey's Irish Cream I could take. And heck, it was New Year's Eve. If I wasn't gonna booze it up, might as well do it in a cupcake form. So when I came across this recipe from the Brown Eyed Baker, I took it as a sign to finally make it for the New Year.

I didn't have any Guinness Stout or Irish whiskey. So I substituted them with the Bailey's Irish Cream, which still gave the cupcake that hint of alcohol taste without overpowering it. Since I'm a light-weight, this version was perfect for me. It was really yummy. I especially like how creamy the frosting turned out.

Cupcakes
1 cup Guinness Stout (I used Bailey's Irish Cream)
1 cup (4 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4  tsp. salt
2 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

1) Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Line cupcake pan with 24 cupcake liners.

2) In a medium saucepan, bring Guinness and butter to a simmer over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

3) Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl to combine. Using an electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream on medium speed until combined. Add the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and beat just to combine. Reduce speed to low, gradually add flour mixture and beat briefly. Using a rubber spatula, fold mixture until completely combined.

4) Scoop batter into cupcake liners about 3/4 full. Bake until toothpick test comes out clean, about 17 minutes (note: centers may collapse/sink, but that's okay because it will be filled with the ganache). Cool completely on a cooling rack.

Whiskey Ganache filling
8 ounces (1 cup) semi-sweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tsp. Irish Whiskey (I used Bailey's Irish Cream)

1) Place chocolate chips in a heatproof bowl. In another bowl, heat heavy cream to a simmer and pour over chocolate chips. Allow to sit for about 1 minute. Using a rubber spatula, stir chocolate from the center and outward until smooth. Add butter and whiskey and stir until combined. Allow for the ganache to cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped.

2) Cut a 1-inch hole at the center of each cooled cupcake. Transfer ganache into a piping bag or plastic sandwich bag. Cut off the tip and pipe ganache into the hole of cupcake, filling all the way to the top.

Bailey's frosting
2 cups (8 sticks. yup, that's a lot) unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 cups confectioner's sugar
6 Tbsp. Bailey's Irish Cream

1) Using the whisk attachment of a stand mixer, whip butter on medium-high speed for about 5 minutes, occasionally scraping down the sides of the mixing bowl. Reduce speed to medium-low and gradually add confectioner's sugar until all of it is incorporated. Add the Bailey's Irish Cream, increase speed to medium-high and whip for another 2-3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Frost prepared cupcakes.

BBQ Chicken Quesadilla with Smoked Onion Dip

I hope you all had a great Christmas surrounded by loved ones.

I must apologize that its been a while since I last posted a recipe. I've been so busy with Christmas preparations that I haven't tried any new recipes. As some of you may know, holidays are celebrated twice in our family. Once with my side of the family, the other time is spent with hubby's side. And we always host Christmas for hubby's side. So our household was pretty hectic. And since we host Christmas day at our house, we always end up with more leftovers than the two of us can handle. I say "two" because our daughter hardly eats any of the leftovers. So to avoid the tons of leftovers that takes up space in both of our refrigerators, I told all our guests to take home the leftovers. When we were left alone after the party, hubby decided to look for leftovers. He was a little disappointed to find out there was hardly anything left. I felt bad, so I planned to make it up to him.

When I saw a dish of BBQ Quesadilla with Smoked Onion Dip on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives on the Food Network, I knew I had to find a similar recipe to make. My mouth was watering just watching the TV. So I knew this was the dish to make it up to him. After doing a quick search online, I came across this recipe from My Stained Apron and decided to make it for dinner tonight. This recipe certainly did the trick. It was so delicious and the Smoked Onion dip really enhances the overall flavor of this dish. This dish was so easy, it'll be a definite do-again recipe. The longest part of the process is cooking the onions, but don't let that deter you from making this. This is a must to be made. Hubby asked for more, and I know he will be thinking about this dish for a long time.

BBQ Chicken Quesadillas

6-8 flour tortillas (soft taco size)

3/4 cup BBQ sauce

2 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, boiled and shredded

1/2 red onion, sliced

fresh chopped cilantro

1) Place 3-4 tortillas on a flat surface. Spread each tortilla with desired amount of BBQ sauce, all the way to the edge of the tortilla. Evenly distribute shredded cheese, shredded chicken and desired amount of sliced onions on top of BBQ sauce. Sprinkle desired amount of chopped fresh cilantro.

2) Spread a thin layer of BBQ sauce on the remaining 3-4 tortillas and place on top of prepared quesadilla, sauce-side down. Cook on a skillet over medium-low heat until tortilla has turned golden brown and the cheese has melted. Cut into wedges and serve hot with Smoked Onion Dip.

Smoked Onion Dip

1 medium onion, sliced

1/4 tsp. liquid smoke

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup sour cream

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1/8 tsp. black pepper

1/4 tsp. salt

1) In a medium sized skillet, saute onions over medium-low heat until it begins to soften. Add liquid smoke and continue to cook until the onions have caramelized, about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Place cooked onions in a food processor to chop finely.

2) In a medium bowl, combine prepared onion with the remaining ingredients. Adjust seasoning with more salt and pepper according to taste.

Sugar Cookies

I've always envisioned baking sugar cookies with my daughter around the Holidays, where I would let her cut out the shapes and decorate with the frosting and sprinkles. I thought baking sugar cookies would be an easy thing to do. But when I look up the recipes, they just seem so complicated. Where the most complicated thing was the the frosting....royal icing. Where in the world can I find meringue powder? I've looked at the craft store where I buy a lot of my baking needs, but no such luck. Another problem I have is the counter space to roll out the dough. I have the old-school tiled counter top. Not ideal if you want to roll out dough of any kind. So the closest I got to sugar cookies was when I made these Soft Frosted Sugar Cookies, where I didn't really have to roll out the dough. But they still weren't the shaped cookies that I've always wanted to make with my daughter.

This week was her last week at school before her Holiday break and I decided to have her give out cookies to the kids on her last day. So she and I made Chocolate Chip Cookies and I decided to tackle the task of making Sugar cookies using this recipe from Annie's Eats. Making the cookies was really easy and the ingredients were straightforward. I decided to use our dining table to roll out the dough and have my daughter cut out the shapes, which she enjoyed doing.

To tackle the meringue powder issue, I decided to search online to see if there are any substitutes for meringue powder. Sure enough, I found this substitute, using egg whites. Its an extra step, but it definitely works if you can't find meringue powder like me. Its definitely worth the extra step to see my daughter having a good time frosting and decorating these yummy cookies.

Cookies

1/2 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup confectioner's sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 1/2 tsp. almond extract

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. salt

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, sifted

1) Using an electric stand mixer, cream butter over low-medium speed. Slowly add confectioner's sugar. Blend in egg, almond extract, vanilla extract, salt and flour. Continue beating until well incorporated. Form dough into a disk and wrap with plastic wrap. Chill dough until firm.

2) Preheat oven to 375 deg F. Grease 2-3 cookie sheets.

3) Roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness on a well-floured surface. Cut with cookie cutters and place on prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes, but do not let the cookies brown. Cool completely before frosting and decorating.

Royal Icing

2 egg whites

2 Tbsp. water

1/8 tsp. cream of tartar

4 Tbsp. sugar

4 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted

5 Tbsp. water

food coloring

1) In a bowl of a double boiler, whisk together egg whites, 2 tablespoons of water, cream of tartar, and sugar. Place bowl over boiling water stir frequently with a rubber spatula. Cook mixture until temperature from a candy thermometer reads over 160 deg F. Remove from heat and cool slightly.

2) Using an electric stand mixer with a paddle attachment, combine egg mixture with confectioner's sugar on low speed for 7-10 minutes, until icing has a matte appearance. Remove bowl from the mixer and add water, 1 tablespoon at a time until desired consistency.

3) Place icing in separate bowls per food coloring. Frost cooled cookies and immediately decorate (with sprinkles). Allow frosting to set before serving.

Tom Kha (Thai Coconut Soup)

I've noticed that I've been getting sick a lot more frequently lately. Yup, you guessed it. I'm sick again. I think this is the 2nd time in the past 6 months that I've been home sick with either a cough or cold or both. This time, this cough hit me pretty hard. I've had it for almost a week with no relief in sight. Before I had my daughter, it was rare that I would be out sick from work. I'll have a slight cold, but not enough to have to call-in sick. My motto back then was "through rain, sleet, hail, or snow, I'll still report to work." Nowadays, I get so sick that my whole body aches and I can't even get out of bed. Call it age or stress or whatever the cause may be, whenever I'm sick, I always crave for some soothing soup. And because of my sore throat, I wanted a sour soup.

I've made this recipe for Tom Kha a while ago but haven't put it in this blog yet. And I've been meaning to make it again. We order Tom Kha at our favorite Thai restaurants most often during the cold season. And when I found it in my Thai cookbook, I couldn't believe how easy it was. The only hard part was getting all the ingredients. I'm fortunate to have my office close to a Thai market where I can get most of my ingredients whenever I feel like cooking Thai food.

4 stalks of lemon grass, roots trimmed

2 (14 oz) cans coconut milk

2 cups chicken broth

1 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced

10 black peppercorns, crushed

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces

10-12 shrimps, peeled and de-veined

1 cup button mushrooms

1/2 cup baby corn, cut into bite-sized pieces

4 Tbsp. lime juice

3 Tbsp. fish sauce

1-2 Tbsp. Thai chili paste

chopped green onions, for garnish

chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish

1) Cut off the lower 2 inches from each lemon grass stalk and chop finely. Bruise the remaining pieces of stalk.

2) Bring the coconut milk and broth to boil in a large stock pot over medium heat. Add chopped and bruised lemon grass, ginger, and peppercorns. Reduce heat to low and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Strain the soup.

3) Return the soup into the pan over low heat. Stir in chicken, mushrooms, and corn. Simmer gently, stirring occasionally for 5-7 minutes, or until chicken is cooked. Add shrimps during the last 2 minutes of simmer. Stir in lime juice, fish sauce, and Thai chili paste until well incorporated. Serve hot in bowls with green onions and cilantro for garnish.

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

With the Holidays comes Holiday baking. One of my favorite things to do around the Holidays is not shopping. But baking. Don't get me wrong. I love shopping just as much as the next guy/gal. However, I find I'm most happiest in my kitchen baking (or cooking). Every year, I always try to bake something new to give out as Holiday gifts for our neighbors. There's something about homemade gifts that makes me feel so domesticated like a housewife. Wishful thinking, I guess. But I do like to make homemade gifts. Besides, its the neighborly thing to do.

I discovered this recipe, of all places, from Facebook. I'm a fan of the Betty Crocker group, and everyday, they post yummy recipes and this particular recipe was posted. I love the combination of mint and chocolate. To me, this flavor combination is what Christmas is all about and what reminds me most of Chistmas. Its the time of year when you'll see a lot of Peppermint Hot Chocolate or Peppermint Mocha being advertised (think Starbucks or McDonald's). So its the perfect time to make these delicious cookies. If you love mint and chocolate, you'll love these cookies. So easy, yet so yummy. Eat these cookies and it'll remind you of eating a scoop of mint & chip ice cream.

1 pouch sugar cookie mix (I used Betty Crocker)

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/4 tsp. mint extract

6-8 drops green food color

1 egg

1 cup mint baking chips

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1) Preheat oven to 350 deg F.

2) In a large bowl, combine cookie mix, butter, mint extract, food color and egg. Mix thoroughly using a hand mixer or an electric stand mixer until soft dough forms. Stir in mint and chocolate chips.

3) Using a small cookie scoop or teaspoon, drop dough 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the cookie sets. Cool for 3 minutes, and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.