Haupia Cake

So I heard about haupia cake for the first time at work through a coworker, who said that is cake is to die for. I became curious and wondered if I could find this recipe online and I did. I saw a couple of recipes and both were almost exactly the same so I just went with one. Recently I bought round cake pans from Sur La Table just in case I might decide to make a layer cake one of these days for a birthday or something. We celebrate birthdays at work and every month there's at least one birthday. Sure enough we have one this month and I thought I'd go ahead and try this out. I have to make this in three steps, first bake the cake from a box. Then prepare the coconut flavored filling, then make the whipped cream topping. There's a lot of cooling and chilling in between so it took about two hours plus to have this completed. Since this was my first time ever to bake a layer cake, I had no idea how the finished cake was going to look like. I really tried my best to make it look smooth and tried to make it look nice by doing a little decorating but it still needs work as you'll see in the picture. I was quite pleased with the taste, not overly sweet and the cake was moist. Although, next time I might modify the recipe a little. Maybe use fresh coconut juice instead of the canned? I did forget to add coconut flakes to the cake for the finishing touch. I just couldn't believe how forgetful I am becoming even with it laid out on the counter top. Here's the recipe I used: http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/Haupia-Cake-162911

Apple Pie

I have become much more comfortable with making pie crusts these days. So what's left to do? Of course I have to make an apple pie! I've always wanted to make a pie from scratch, the crust and all. But I have been sort of avoiding this because the thought of flouring the counter, rolling the dough out and getting messy turns me away. Sometimes it's just not worth it to go through all that cleaning afterward. But then again what fun would it be without a little mess right? After debating back and forth, I decided to go ahead with it. I actually had a good reason this time for making the pie. The hubby had a meeting and we promised to provide dessert. This was the first apple pie made solely by me. Well, I did get some help with peeling and slicing the apples and that really helped out because again I was running late to work. Don't want to lose my job over this baking obsession. I used a recipe found from allrecipe for making the crust and followed Martha Stewart's recipe for the filling. For baking instructions, I went with the one on allrecipe. I didn't have that much time, so I used the shortest baking time possible. It still turned out really well. This was one delicious pie, nothing tastes better than a fresh baked pie with some vanilla ice cream. YUM!

THE TEA HOUSE ON LOS RIOS

Has anyone ever been to this tea house? It is quite a setting, let me tell ya. It was the perfect place to host a bridal shower and I was delighted to have been invited to this party. It's a really charming cottage-like tea house located in Los Rios Historic District across the train tracks at the San Juan Capistrano Train Station. We were seated outside on the porch surrounded by the garden. We didn't notice but there was a hummingbird nest right over our table as pointed out to us by the server. People say it's good luck when you have a bird's nest in your house. Our server very informative, gave us a history of the place and she was also super friendly. There's plenty to do on this street, antique shops, petting zoo and playground for children but I didn't get to see anything else besides this tea house. If you wanted to, I think you can take the metrolink there. We had two different types of teas: Chamomile and gunpowder (green tea). I thought both were excellent. I think the mission tea is what we had. It was a whole lot of food for an afternoon function. I ate EVERYTHING..Yep. It was all very tasty. I really like the currant scone and I'd like to make a scone like this someday. Think maybe I can find this secret recipe online..?? Dream on right??

The Mission Tea
garden fresh salad, assorted Finger Sandwiches, freshly baked currant scone with our own Famous Early California Cream & preserves, fresh fruit accompanied by cream and brown sugar. Your choice of one of our handmade delectable desserts. Your selection of tea.

http://www.theteahouseonlosrios.com/

Apple Tart and Rice Krispies Treats

Here's a relatively healthier alternative to some previous recipes. I didn't have a tart pan so I made it free form as recommended by Krystin. Making the dough is always a little scary for me because I don't know if it's going to be too sticky or flaky or if it's going to fall apart when I handle it too much. So when making this I was very careful and followed directions exactly as written. The dough was very easy to work with and I was quite surprised by my own abilities. Next time, I'd like to make a pie crust from scratch. Stay tuned for more!

Oh and I also made rice krispies Treats which is a family favorite snack. I was going to have some fun with this by cutting into different shapes with cookie cutters but ran out of time.



http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/11/simplest-apple-tart/

Lemon Bars

I didn't know how long this would take to make so I sort of procrastinated until last thursday. Since I was going to be late to work anyway from going to the airport, I thought what the heck. I was really amazeda at how easy this was to put together. While this was baking in the oven, I ate my lunch. Once I was done eating, dessert was ready. This was an amazing treat. I'd make it again. Everyone who had a taste really liked it. Thanks again Kristyn for sharing. Next will be apple tart.


Lemon Bars
Part: 1
1 cup butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 cups flour
1 pinch of salt


Mix above ingredients and pat into a 9x12 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.


Part II
4 beaten eggs
5 tbsp flour
6 tbsp lemon juice (meyer lemons if you can get them, they're sweeter. But always use fresh lemons!)
2 cups sugar
grated rind of one lemon


Mix above ingredients and pour over Part I. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and cut into squares.

Snickerdoodles and Chocolate Chip Cookies

Tommorrow is Chance's end of the school year party and I get to bring in baked goods. I am always so thrilled about making something for the class. I wanted to make something more interesting but not sure about the kids food allergies so I decided to stick to the basic stuff. Snickerdoodles are fairly easy to make and chocolate chips without the nuts is quite simple too. I had all morning so I went ahead and make both. I ended up with so much cookies that I had to bring some in to work to share. I don't think Chance's class can finish them all. The entire house smells like cookies once I got through baking. I just love the smell of fresh baked goods.

More Sugar Cookies Fun on Saturday at Teresa's Palace

So last saturday, Teresa and I decided to test out different sugar cookies recipes to find the best one for an upcoming baby shower. We also wanted to play around with the marshmallow fondant as well. Teresa forwarded a new sugar cookie and icing recipe prior to our get-together. I made the dough 1 day ahead and brought it over to her house. When I got there, she had already baked some cookies using another recipe. I had one of her cookies and thought the marshmallow was really really soft. Much softer than when I made mine. I was curious how hers came out different than mine eventhough we used the same recipe. Come to find out, she used more powdered sugar than I did. I measured mine out tablespoon by tablespoon and only add when I really needed to for kneading. My dough was very soft and was rather hard to work with. We couldn't figure out why it was so soft. We thought maybe because she's on a hill,the altitute might have something to do with it??? who knows?? Took a little while before we got used to handling the really soft dough. Once we got the hang of it, it went fairly smoothly. Then it was dinner time and we got caught up with preparing dinner. Guess what happened, we completely forgot about the last few cookies still baking in the oven. Boy, you should have seen the smoke coming out of that oven. I did smell something burnt but ignored it because I am used to smelling burnt bread crumbs at home so didn't think anything of it. Oh well, I guess that's what happens when you are too distracted. Dinner was delicious, we had gourmet hot dogs and homemade pizzas. I'll have to tell you all about the pizza next time if and when I decide to make it on my own.