Can you doodle with Snickerdoodles?

Apparently not.

But nibble on some you could! And boy did I do just that.

It has been a long day today. At least it is for someone who has been lazying around for the past few days doing nothing short of nothing.

First off to a garage sale near our place, I was quite excited to go and hoping to find cookbooks and some rare kitchen finds. In the back of my mind, I was hoping someone would be selling a slightly used fire engine red Kitchen Aid mixer for a fraction of its cost. A girl can dream, can't she?

However, I wasn't able to find anything. Better luck next time!

Then, we went to Intramuros. I haven't been there to explore the place in awhile. It still is magical. Intramuros, was built by the Spaniards in the 16th century and is the oldest district of the city of Manila. During the Spanish colonial period, Intramuros was considered Manila itself. By the end of World War II, much of Intramuros has been damaged but it has been restored since then.

Then off to lunch. It's just mid day but I'm looking forward to siesta already. But before that, I'd love to get my hands on some cookies first. Snickerdoodles doesn't seem hard to make. After all, who can't resist a cinnamon and sugar combination?

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Snickerdoodles

From The Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

6 tablespoons sugar mixed with 2 teaspoons cinnamon for sprinkling

In a small bowl, combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and the sugar until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, milk, and vanilla, and beat well. Add the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Wrap the dough tightly in a plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets, leaving several inches between for expansion. (The book recommends leaving extra room between these cookies because they spread more than most.) Sprinkle generously with the cinnamon-sugar mixture Bake for 12-14 minutes.

Cool the cookies on the sheets for 5 minutes, and the remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Happy Cupcaking,

Aikko

Green Tea again?!

I can't get enough of green tea.

Let's see, I have paired it with...

Cream Cheese

White Chocolate

Strawberry Yoghurt

So far... so good... but I still want to see how far I can go with this flavor so I decided to pair it with another tea... Red Rose Tea. They are these dried little rose buds which smells so heavenly. You'd only need to steep 2 to 3 buds a cup and you're all set to enjoy an afternoon tea.

Green Tea Cupcakes with Rose Tea Buttercream

Green Tea Cake

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup cake flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

4 teaspoons Matcha green tea powder

1 1/4 cups white sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

1 cup plain yogurt

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 2 - 9 inch round pans. Sift together the all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking soda, salt, and green tea powder; set aside.

In a large bowl, beat together sugar, oil, and eggs until smooth. Stir in 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the yogurt, mixing just until incorporated. Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 30 minutes before turning out of the pans.

Rose Tea Buttercream Frosting

1 cup butter

1 pound powdered sugar

2 tablespoons cooled steeped rose tea (from 2-3 rose tea buds steeped from 1 cup hot water)

Steep 2 - 3 rose tea buds in a cup of warm water. Set aside to cool 2 tablespoons and enjoy the rest.

Cream butter for 1 minute and add the powdered sugar slowly.

Add cooled rose tea water until well combined.

Happy Cupcaking,

Aikko

One Lazy Girl's Crema de Fruta

It has been rainy week.

The kind of week where you just want to snuggle in bed and pretend you didn't hear the irritating sound that is your alarm clock.The kind of week where you wish it was the weekend so you have the time to make sinigang, sopas or bulalo and finish it off with something sweet. The kind of week where despite the creative ways of motivating yourself to bake something, you simply can't.

So what's a girl to do? Make the Lazy Girl's Crema de Fruta.

Crema de Fruta is my all time... let me cross that out... second all time, next to mommy's chocolate cake, dessert. It's fairly simple to make but we usually make it only during the Christmas holidays. But this weekend, I am making an exception. It's my way of celebrating the start of the Christmas season...It's the 'ber months so you know Santa's lurking just around the corner (subtext: Santa? Ahhemmm.... I've been exceptionally good this year. You know how I've always wanted a Kitchen Aid. )

For those of you unfamiliar with this delicious guilty pleasure, it's a dessert made up of soft, light sponge cake (I use Taisan) for a base, with creamy custard spread all over, sprinkled fruit cocktail and poured gelatin.

It's a very refreshing dessert, the type where you can have seconds or thirds (or fourths if you wish) and you still want to have more.

If only we can have this everyday of the year, then everyday would feel like Christmas wouldn't it? Me likey.

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One Lazy Girl's Crema de Fruta

Ingredients:

Cake Layer:

Store bought Taisan Bread (as many as you want)

Custard and Fruit Cocktail Layers"

1/2 can condensed milk

3/4 cup cold water

1.7 oz Jell O Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix (that's half an envelope of the 4 1/2 serving box)

1 1/2 cups whipping cream (I use Avoset Pour and Whip.. no need to add sugar)

1 can fruit cocktail (reserve syrup)

Gelatin Layer:

1 box Alsa Gulaman

Directions:

Layer taisan in a pan (rectangle, square or circle... it's your choice)

To make the custard, combine cold water and condensed milk. Mix well. Add pudding to the milk mixture and beat until mixture thickens. In a separate bowl, whip cream until stiff then fold pudding mixture to the whipped cream. Spread custard over the taisan bread.

Open the can of fruit cocktail, drain and reserve the syrup. Assemble the drained fruits over the custard.

Cook the gulaman per package instructions substituting the fruit cocktail syrup for water. Pour gelatin over the fruit cocktail spoonful by spoonful to avoid unwanted bubbles.

Refrigerate for 2 hours, and enjoy!

Happy Cupcaking!
Aikko

Bake Happy Recipe Requests

I have been receiving requests to post the recipes for some of my old posts...

Forgive me for not sharing them before but sometimes I feel rather lazy typing them out as sometimes, I get them from magazines or the good ole books.

So my new project would be to update the more popular posts to include the recipes I used.

Do you want to see a recipe from a previous post? Just holler, okay?

Happy cupcaking!

Aikko