That Was One Amazing Year!

Hey you!

I like you.

Wanna know why? Because...


You probably follow me on Twitter.
Or my blog could be in your Google Reader list
Or you probably follow me on Blogger.


You don't? Oops... ahem... so maybe... Bake Happy holds a special spot in your bookmark/favorites? Oh how I wish!


But if not, I still want to thank you... because you spend time to visit my little corner in the blogosphere. 


I can't believe I was able to blog for one full year, met new cool friends and got featured in the most amazing sites along the way. Sweet.


So to bid 2010 goodbye and welcome 2011 with gusto, I am stepping out of my comfort zone (subtext: cupcakes). I made bread. Not just any bread but pita bread, a Middle Eastern type of bread I love. It's the one we enjoy eating with tuna spread. This is sooo yummy, the gang finished munching on it the minute I got it out of the oven.


Peppy's Pita Bread
from All Recipes

Ingredients


1 1/8 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
Directions


Place all ingredients in bread pan of your bread machine, select Dough setting and start. When dough has risen long enough, machine will beep.
Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Gently roll and stretch dough into a 12 inch rope. With a sharp knife, divide dough into 8 pieces. Roll each into a smooth ball. With a rolling pin, roll each ball into a 6 to 7 inch circle. Set aside on a lightly floured countertop. cover with a towel. Let pitas rise about 30 minutes until slightly puffy.
Preheat oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C). Place 2 or 3 pitas on a wire cake rack. Place cake rack directly on oven rack. Bake pitas 4 to 5 minutes until puffed and tops begin to brown. Remove from oven and immediately place pitas in a sealed brown paper bag or cover them with a damp kitchen towel until soft. Once pitas a softened, either cut in half or split top edge for half or whole pitas. They can be stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for several days or in the freezer for 1 or 2 months.



Happy New Year everyone!!!


Happy Cupcaking,
Aikko

Wow! Thank You For The Amazing Christmas Gift!

Hey! How are you? Isn't the holidays a blast? I love Christmas!

Anyway, I just want to thank you for the amazing Christmas gift ever!!!

To Viva Filipinas and the amazing Tumblr community, thank you for the 480++ reblogs, notes and likes. 

Rach of All Things Cupcake, a big big big thanks to you! You made my day when I saw my cuppies in your awesome site!

Must Have Cute! I like you. You're cute. Made me realize there could be another story to my sweet little elf. You rock!

Enjoy the holidays everyone!


Have a cupcake-filled holidays!
Aikko

Oops...

Nope, I didn't "did it again". This is not a Britney post. 


It's an "Oops... a little help please?" post. 
You see, I have these little cupcakes. They're smothered in buttercream and dunked in blue sugar. Kinda reminds you of snow right? Yeah!

Then I have these gifts. Yellow wrapped gifts, green wrapped gifts, pink wrapped gifts, you name it. They're even wrapped in little bows.

Snow and gifts? What does it remind you of? Santa's workshop, of course. And Santa's workshop wouldn't be complete without Santa's elves. 
And what might happen when there's a Christmas rush, every elf going here and there, gifts put in sacks everywhere? 
This might...

Yup, an elf might get lost in a sack gifts!

See, it's really a "Oops... a little help please?" post. So... quick! Please help this cute little elf get out of the sack of gifts before he "accidentally" become one the presents!

Happy holidays everyone!!!

Happy cupcaking!

Aikko

ps. I will be in Hong Kong for the New Year! I can't wait to find some cupcakes to try there! :)

Celebrate Christmas with Parol Cupcakes!

Hi everyone!

How are your Holiday preparations coming along? How will you spend the Holidays?

Can you feel the magic in the air?

I feel giddy already, I love Christmas!!!

As you can see, I have been blogging about Christmas for sometime now.

So, even though it's still early, I want to greet you a very...

Don't you love parols? I do. Parols are these star-like Christmas ornaments popularized by the Filipinos. It symbolizes the star that guided the Magi to where baby Jesus was born.

In the Philippines, Christmas wouldn't be complete without hanging one over your home's window. Or sometimes your door. . 

This Chrismas, I decided to make parols with a twist. These parols are the edible kind - I made several of the "cupcake topper" kind.

For variety, I made small parols and big parols. Oh so delicate! Good thing they all behaved while I did the photo shoot! 

And all are made from fondant, royal icing, gold luster dust and red sparkling gel. See the red sparkling gel? It almost dripped into the gold lustered royal icing... oops!

I almost wasn't able to put up this post because every idea I thought of making parol cupcake toppers failed - big time. How about some cut out sugar cookie parols filled up with melted green isomalt? Whoa! Whatever happened to that?!

How about some sugar cookie parols? Naaah... too delicate.

At least now I now, fondant and royal icing are two of my dependable best buds.

Happy Cupcaking!

Aikko

Dear Santa, This is For You

Dear Santa, 

I know you receive lots of letters everyday over there at the North Pole. I bet it piles up as the Christmas season nears. I've always wondered how you manage  to read all of those. You don't happen to have a Ghost Reader, do you Santa? 

I am no longer a kid, so you must be wondering why I'm writing you a letter. 

You've been making a lot of nice kids happy for as long as anyone can remember. It's high time we return the favor.

Come Christmas eve, will you come by our home? Pretty please?

No, I won't raid your sackful of gifts. But if you'd invite me to come take a peek, I would. Is there something for me? Tee hee!

I would just to invite you for a little midnight snack. I made these for you.

I hope you love mint chocolate chip cookies, I do. Maybe we can share them when you get here. I'd love to hear some of your wild adventures while I wash down the cookies with the glass of yummy cold milk. Oops, I forgot, that was also for you. I'll just get some from the fridge.

Instead of chocolate chips, I used coarsely chopped dark mint chocolate bars. It made the cookies way chunkier. Why dark mint chocolate, you ask? Coz you're special. I even bought the chocolate from the best chocolate cafe in Manila, Chocolate Fire. 

Mrs. Field's Chocolate Chip Cookies
(not sure if indeed this recipe is from Mrs. Field's. There's an urban legend that says it's not, but never the less, this cookie recipe rocks!)



1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 cup oatmeal
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 package chocolate chips (6oz)


Cream together butter, sugar, brown sugar. Add egg and vanilla.
Put small amounts of oatmeal in blender; blend until it turns to powder; set aside.


Mix powdered oatmeal, flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
Combine all of the above ingredients except chocolate; mix well.
Add chocolate chips
Make golf ball sized cookies (about 2"), spaced 2" apart.
Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 6-8 minutes at 400'F.

Happy cupcaking!

Aikko

ps. We don't have a chimney. But you can use the big window by my bed. I'll be waiting...