Sunday, October 10, 2010

Chocolate Pudding Pie

It's not the first time I made this but it never fails to please my chocolate loving taste buds. :)

I made this for dessert this lunch time still in connection to Jonatz's presence here. hihi

Lookie!

No crushed grahams in the grocery so I manually crushed them a while ago and yielded chunky grahams. hihi

Slice me! So yum, I can't get enough. 
Lookie!

Coconut Nips Blondies

My brother Jonathan is back in Bohol again and since we see him rarely already [but of course, Jovan's presence is 'rarer'], it becomes a great excuse for me to heat up the oven and make something special for the family to enjoy. And so I was browsing over Tastespotting as I do almost every single day to look for something simple but 'yum'. I was thinking brownies but I've been using cocoa powder pretty much lately, I wanted something else. And so I stumbled through these blondies from Honey and Butter that looked ever so pretty. However, I couldn't copy the recipe straight from her blog [I don't know why.] so I hopped on to her source Brown Eyed Baker's site and looked for the recipe there. I printed it right away, shopped for ingredients and baked it after dinner. 

I didn't have chocolate so I chose to use colorful Nips[candy coated chocolate] instead. And here they are.
[I baked them last night but opted to take the photos this morning for better lighting. :) ]



up close

This batch turned out really crispy and with just the right sweetness. [for me]


This is the original recipe found at Brown Eyed Baker's Site.

Coconut Chocolate Chunk Blondies

Yield: 16 two-inch-square bars
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 ounces unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1 cup chocolate chips or chunks

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour an 8-inch square baking pan.
2. Combine the flour and salt; set aside.
3. Stir together the melted butter and brown sugar until smooth; beat in egg and vanilla extract until well blended.
4. Slowly beat in the flour mixture until blended, then stir in the coconut and chocolate chips.
5. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth even with a rubber spatula.
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until set in the center but still soft. Do not overbake. Let the bars cool slightly before drizzling with chocolate, then cool completely before cutting into squares.




packed some goodies for my brother's friends in Cebu. :) 
[He's going back there later btw. :( ]

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Chocolate Flan Cake [2]

I have always been fascinated by this type of cake because they describe it as one that will trigger 'Oooooohhh's and 'Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh's. You're supposed to place the flan mixture above the cake batter then when it's cooked already, you'll find the flan at the bottom of the pan and the cake on top. That's because the flan is denser than the cake.

I usually have the urge to bake this when I have lots of egg yolks in the fridge after baking something else. And so when I found out I was stocking about 8 already, I thought it was time to pull the idea out again. :) So I did but the people I asked to get me condensed milk bought me evaporated instead. I was clearly upset at first but realized that I couldn't do anything to reverse the situation. I first opted to just turn down the whole thing but then I was so excited I mixed the chocolate cake batter ahead of time. In the end, I made use of what was available and hoped for the best.

As expected, the cake didn't come out perfectly. Still, it turned out good. I invited a friend to come over and have a taste for herself. She kinda enjoyed it as well. She says though that she didn't like the flan so much. My sister and I still liked the flan though. hihi

See for yourself.

The Flan is supposed to sink to the bottom.

Dusted with confectioner's sugar for aesthetic purposes. 

Took a slice and that's how the innards look like. :)

The recipe for the chocolate cake I used for this is found here
I used the eyeball technique for the flan. 
I read through recipes of chocolate flan cake for the directions on how to bake it. 

A slice as my World Teacher's Day offering.
Just like a teacher, this cake offers a good learning experience. 
[The names listed above are those of my near relatives who are great teachers as well.]


Saturday, October 2, 2010

Holiday Cupcakes

My holiday cupcakes are making a comeback. :)
Well it's undeniable that Christmas is in the air and everything about it is making me excited at fever pitch! Oh yeah! 

[Back to normal self.] I made these cupcakes for the holidays last year and posted photos on my Facebook account. Lucky me, my most recent client took notice and wanted exactly the same look for her birthday/grandchildren's christening cuppies. I delivered the box to her personally this morning and felt awesome as she is a complete stranger to me. I think she heard about me from my granny during the banana muffin bake sale at the mall. 

With regards to the cupcakes she ordered, she said she liked them. I am so relieved. 

Without further much a do, here they are. 


She ordered 18...

...moist chocolate cupcakes...

...under marshmallow frosting decorated holiday style with colored sanding sugar. :))


Whoopie Pies

I've read about these a number of times and have seen them in many blogs I have visited. I've always imagined making my own but I didn't think I'd do it today. I was just searching for something to make for one of my friends who is celebrating his birthday today. Well,  the party is tomorrow [I think] but since I will be on graveyard shift tonight, I decided to make them along with the cupcake orders. :) 

I thought working with it was going to be tedious but it turned out pretty easy. I'm surely going to make some more in the future and try different fillings for these sandwiches. :D 

I whipped up strawberry buttercream for these babies and here they are. 




up close.

I promise more of these coming soon. :))

The recipe I used for this is found here.


Happy Birthday Jesthony!