100% Pure Mini Eclairs

Eclairs - which is a longer version of cream puffs - is my childhood favorite. The cripsy shell smells buttery but light as air but it compliments with a mouthful of whipped cream that bursts the flavors in your mouth...mmmmmmmMMM who can resisit a freshly made eclair?

My first memory of cream puff was a very proud one. Back in high school, I was the culinary team which prepares refreshments for most school events. In the midst of the busy preparation, a senior came to me for help because her cream puffs were all flat. Although I had never tried making cream puffs, I offered help and tried the recipe. And, vola! the new puffs came alive! So..what's the secret behind a nice cream puff?

Here are the fail-proof steps I used:

 Ingredients

• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 large eggs, beated
• Vanilla Whipped Cream

  Steps

1. Preheat oven for 400 degrees and line a cookie baking tray with waxed paper
2. mix in milk, butter, sugar and salt in a medium heat sauce pan. Stir well until the butter melts
3. add the flour all at once into the liquid, stir vigorously and avoid the flour from sticking to the pan
4. mix until the dough sticks and forms an elastic dough. Fold the dough in low heat for about 1 minute
5.  when the dough shows a shiny surface and slightly sticks to the pan, turn off the heat and let it cool
6. when the dough is warm, mix in the beated eggs, 1/4 of the eggs at a time
7. Slowly pour in the eggs and mix the batter until it's sticky. Note: the right texture should be soft but stiff enough to stay on the spetula. There should always have excessive egg mixture remained *
8. transfer dough to pastry bag fitted with a 1/2 inch round tip
9. pipe 2 1/2 inch long eclairs and keep about a 1/2 inch spacing between each one. Bake until exclairs rise and turned golden brown. Bake for 20-25 minutes
10. Whip cream and add vanillar extract or liquor. Can mix with berries or jam with the cream. 
11. Cool the eclairs on a tray and split them in half with a knife. Spoon or pipe the cream into eclair bottoms and spoon more berries on the top. Sandwich with eclair tops. Serve immediately

 

*The right texture(Sorry, I forgot to capture the moment when I was baking..here's a picture of reference. If you can read the Chinese description is even better haha)

Throughout my journey of perfecting my cream puff recipe, I found this cook book in a book store back in HK. This is almost the text book of making cream puffs. What I like most of the book is that it not only has fancy pictures and a variety of flavors to test out, but also it lists out all the successful tips and failed examples. It is definitely helpful for the baking process. 

For the filling, I am always lazy to make my own custard from scratch so I always opt for the whipping cream..I am longing to make custard one day..I will let you guys know if I finally get myself to make one. 

This is efficiency people:)

Taking turns to blog really speeds this up and we are so motivated to write. I am so glad we have new posts finally.

Speaking of clearing the fridge(btw...the omurice looks FAAAANNNNNTASSSSSTIC), I believe all the serious home chefs/bakers face the same problem. You see fun/fresh/interesting ingredients and you buy it because you THINK you have time for a little experiment but it turns out they sit in your fridge or cupboard, waiting for you to discover them again. But then you find the expiry date is drawing near. This is not bad actually. Now is the time for you to get creative and invent. At the end, you use all the things up and you are so satisfied.
(And now you can buy new ingredients again YAY)

So what do I need to clear this time?

Veggie Mash

2 large potatoes

1/2 cup of milk/cream

a knob of butter

any kind of vegetables you can find in your fridge e.g. carrots, onions, beans, eggplants etc

sea salt and black pepper to taste

1) Boil the potatoes in a large pot of water until softened up

2) Drain them into a colander and put it straight back on top of the pot. Steaming makes potatoes fluffy

3) Chop all the vegetables and sauteed them in a pan with olive oil. When done, put the vegetables in a plate. Set aside

4) In the same pan, on medium heat, mash the potatoes and add cream, butter, sea salt and black pepper. Stir constantly and make the potato fluffy. Add the cooked vegetables and mix well.

5) Add more sea salt and black pepper if needed after tasting.

오무라이스/オムライス/Omelet Rice

오무라이스/オムライス/Omurice

Since I was little, I have been fascinated by this cute and delicious dish. I first saw them in Japanese anime, which the moms cook omurice for their kids, then I saw omurice in real life in Japan/Japanese restaurants, and finally I saw it in a funny omurice scene in a recent Korean drama I watched, "Rooftop Prince" (I didn't know Koreans also make Omurice!). To me...it's such a happy dish with all the bright colors and flavorful ingredients. I always enjoy making omurice...it makes me feel like I am very young in heart (hey, I am still young...)..Also, it's a good way to get rid of old ingredients before they turn bad. You know, there is really no fixed recipe of how you make the fried rice. It's like an impromptu dish that gives everyone a pleasant surprise. After a stressful day, I revisited the recipe last night simply based on what I have in the fridge. It turns out to be a nice combo, so I want to share it here :)


Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup of rice, cooked
~1/2 cup of clams (I used frozen clams)

2 carrots
~1 cup of chopped spinach
2 cloves of garlic
onion, chopped
~4 tbs Korean red pepper paste
~1/2 cup of ketchup
~2 tsp white truffle oil
a pinch of pepper
a pinch of sea salt
~3 tbs sugar
1-2 tbs butter
2 eggs for the omelet
1 tbs whipping cream/milk


Steps:

1. Chopped ingredients (carrots, spinach, garlic, onion) into dices/smaller pieces. Preheat pan with medium heat and pan fry the garlic and onion until the flavor comes out 
2. Sauteed chopped ingredients and clams with the garlic and onion. Season with a pinch of sea salt, pepper and butter. Drizzle white truffle oil to flavor 
3. Turn up the heat and add rice. Mix the ingredients quickly together. Add red pepper paste and ketchup until the rice turned golden red. Alternatively add pepper and sugar until it reaches the desired taste 
4. On a separate bowl, beat the eggs together and add milk/whipping cream 
5. Preheat a smaller pan for the omelet. Turn up the heat and add olive oil. Once the pan is hot enough, pour in egg batter and twirl the pan in a circular motion to create a skin (make sure the egg is evenly distributed across the pan) 
6. once the omelet is completely cooked, carefully add the fried rice on one half of the omelet 
7. scrape the edges of the skin to let loose from the pan. Carefully fold the omelet in half and serve on the plate 
8. Garnish the omurice with ketchup on the top

The Lemon Glaze

I was supposed to have a "baking date" with my baking buddy for this amazing lemon pound cake recipe she raved about. I have bought all the ingredients but sadly it didn't work out...The ingredients for the date have been sitting around waiting for a baking project...in a wimp I decided to look for a different lemon pound cake recipe. I found this American recipe on a random site as a base to create my own version. American recipes are usually very heavy in sugar and butter, so I decided to cut back the portions, but alas, the original combination is just perfect! Not only I did not need to cut back sugar, but also the lemon glaze actually gives a nice twist to the flavor. I am usually not a big fan of frosting/sugar glaze, but man, this is the best glaze I ever tried!
Plus, don't forget about the whipping cream...I am amazed how moist and smooth the cake turns out because of the cream!


This is a hybrid of the recipe I used. I made some estimated adjustments to the portions based on the cake I just made:

Cake:
2 sticks of butter
5 large eggs
4/3 cups of whipping cream
2 cups of flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 cups of sugar
3 lemons (if small lemons, use 5), grated zest and juice
2 tsp vanilla extract

Glaze:
1 cup of confectioners' sugar
1 lemon, zest and juice
1 tbs grand manier (or any orange liquor)


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with rack in lowest position. Butter and flour two 4 1/2-by-8-inch (6-cup) loaf pans or 9" x 13" baking pan 
2. With a mixer (I used hand whisk), cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. 
3. Add flour mixture alternately with the whipping cream, beat just until smooth (do not overmix) 
4. Add lemon zest and juice to the batter and mix well. Then add vanilla extract to the mixture. (do not overmix) 
5. Divide batter evenly between pans; smooth tops. Bake until a toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes. Cool 15 minutes in pan. Turn out cakes onto a rack; cool completely before glazing. 
6. Prepare the glaze by mixing the sugar with the juice and zest. Last add liquor to flavor. 
7. Pour glazing on cake. Either brush the glazing on the top or if you prepared a lot, pour over the cake and let the ends drip. Make sure the base is covered with waxed paper or a tray to catch the excess glaze

Finally...the BIG project!!

My co-blogger Elfy had her wedding in Hong Kong and what is the best way to contribute in such an important event? Not being able to be the maid of honor is killing me already. But luckily we figured out something even better. Hence the wedding cupcakes!

Okay. We are talking about 400 cupcakes. Individually boxed. I totally underestimated the time I needed and I finished the whole thing within a week's time.Finding the right boxes. Ordering the cupcake liners. Getting the ingredients for the cake itself and the frosting. And excuse me?! I am using a not so big oven here. Now I am thinking back and I really have no idea how I could do this. We had misunderstanding when we talked about the cost and at that time the bride was still in Chicago. The fight was not a major one but it only made us stronger:) It just felt so special to do such thing for your best friend's wedding. To cut costs, the cupcake is simple vanilla with plain vanilla buttercream. Believe it or not, I didn't frost the cupcakes as I worried they would be ruined when we transported them. And so I frosted them at the venue. YES! At the venue. I frosted 400 cupcakes in about 2.5 hours and I was the only one who was capable to do the piping. I once wanted to give up so badly because I didn't think I could finish them anyway! I remember my hands were shaking when I was done frosting them and I so wanted to cry! But when the bride mentioned me in her thank you speech, it made everything worth it!