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

Chocolate Chip Peanut Banana Loaf

I particularly liked the top most part of this loaf. It's like all the banana gooey goodness concentrated on the top part which made me want to eat only the top part.

Of course, you can not go wrong with banana! Throw in a little peanuts and chocolate chips, now that's what I call an awesome combination. Thanks Magnolia Bakery for this recipe.

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Chocolate Chip Peanut Banana Loaf

from The Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook

1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened

½ cup sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 ½ cups mashed ripe bananas

1/3 cup milk

2 cups sifted self rising flour

½ cup finely chopped, unsalted peanuts

¾ cup chocolate chips

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

Grease and flour a 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan.

In a large bowl, on the low speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter and the sugar until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time. Add the mashed bananas and the milk. Mix in the sifted flour until well combined. Stir in the peanuts and the chocolate chips. Pour the batter into prepared pan and bake for 45-55 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean.

Let cool for 20 minutes before serving.

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Happy cupcaking,

Aikko

Chocolate and Sour Cream... who knew?

Why chocolate and sour cream? Why Chocolate Sour Cream Cake with Chocolate Chips?

Why not?

And besides, the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook says so. Who am I to say no?

Verdict?

Thank heavens I tried it. It was absolutely amazing! It was sooo delicious I think I forgot my name... wait I'll grab a fork and get some more cake, maybe I'll remember then.

I want to have more, more and more!

In fact, can't get enought of it, I made it into mini cupcakes.

See? Aren't they adorable?

Happy cupcaking!

Aikko

Sink your teeth...

into some Apricot Cream Cheese Streusel Bars!

“Sink your teeth” reminds me of Twilight. That’s because I’ve been re-reading the saga in time for the third installment to be shown by end of June. I know someone (ahem) counting the days till June 30.

But this is not about Twilight, (but it gave me an idea… anyone want an Eclipse cupcake?) it’s about this amazing Apricot Cream Cheese Streusel Bars that Allysa Torey and Jennifer Appel generously shared through their Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook.

Do you have a sweet tooth?
But isn’t fond of chocolate?
Then this is for…

YOU

Go ahead… satisfy that sweet tooth and sink your teeth into these bars.

Carrie Zinnecker posted Magnolia Bakery's recipe on her site. I'm re-posting it here in case you're interested.

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Apricot Cream Cheese Streusel Bars

Ingredients

Crust

1 cup butter, slightly softened and cut into 1 inch pieces

2 cups all purpose flour

Cream Cheese Filling

1/2 pound cream cheese softened

1/3 cup sugar

1 large egg at room temperature

1 t vanilla

Filling

3/4 cup apricot jam

Streusel Topping

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3/4 cup butter, slightly softened cut in 1 inch pieces

Prodecure

Preheat oven to 350

Crust

In a large bowl beat together butter and flour on medium speed until crumbly and well combined. Pat the mixture evenly and firmly into a 13 x 9 pan. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.

Filling

Beat together cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until well combined. Set aside.

Streusel Topping

Mix together the flour and powdered sugar. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside.

Assembly

Spread the cream cheese filling on the cooled crust about 1/4 inch from the edges. Gently spread the jam over the cream cheese. Sprinkle the streusel over the entire top. Bake for 35 minutes. Cool to room temperature before cutting.

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Happy Cupcaking,

Aikko

Magnolia Bakery Cookbook Series: Raspberry Cream Cheese Breakfast Buns

This is perfect for breakfast… if you’re craving for something sweet to go with your morning coffee. I like it with milk. The bun itself isn’t sweet at all. The sweetness comes from the raspberry preserve dropped in the middle of the bun batter right before baking.

I love that it’s gritty,
I love the it’s crunchy
It’s the perfect bun to eat while watching the telly.

Okay, I made up a poem just now. (If it can be called that one... Haha!)

Next time I’ll put a cupcake paper liner because it was hard to remove the buns from the muffin pan. Had to hand over the pan to Pop because I don’t have a patience to remove it one by one. I think he did a pretty good job himself!

Raspberry preserve... all gone...

The PAM moment. Should have used cupcake liners or PAM.

Happy Cupcaking!
Aikko

Magnolia Bakery Cookbook Series: Lemon Vanilla Bundt Cake

You know a cake is a hit when you bake a Bundt cake in the morning, left it to cool, meet up with friends and come home to find the cake not only cooled down but almost half gone. We’ll I’m exaggerating a bit but that kind of made my day. Best baking compliment I’ve ever received.

This is the fifth recipe I made from the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook. So far, so good. Some recipes are a keeper while some I decided not to make for a very long time (Yup, me and the muffins still have a score to settle).

The recipe is simple enough, it contains only seven ingredients and the procedure is something I am familiar with. No “making a well” this time, just plain old fashioned creaming method which I am comfortable doing already. There was a time not so long ago, the creaming method gave me headaches. Remember the “not be repeated kapeng barako cupcakes? Good thing that old adage is true: practice makes perfect.

I wanted this cake to be extra special so instead of using 2

tablespoon of vanilla extract I used one plump and moist

Vanilla bean. Since I was too lazy to go to Glorietta, I

bought the bean at the Salcedo Saturday Market which unfortunately

cost me 100 times more than I usually pay for a bean but when

I took a bite of the cake, it was worth it.

Oops… I digressed… back to the cake, I call it the nibble cake because it’s the type of cake you dump into a cake stand in the middle of a coffee table, hand out forks to everyone and tell them to start nibbling. The perfect cake to share over good talks and long bonding moments.

This is a cake I’ll definitely bake again and again.

Happy cupcaking!
Aikko

Magnolia Bakery Cookbook Series: Cranberry Orange Bread

I assure you, no muffins were made this week. I moved on to baking bread this time.

I’m not particularly fan of using yeast when making bread. That’s why I steered away from making bread. Although baking requires lots of patience, I seem to have no patience to wait for the dough to rise, punch it and wait for it to rise again. Good thing there are such things as the quick breads. I’ll only need to use baking powder and it’s all set.

The recipe called for fresh cranberries and orange juice. I’m not a fan of cranberries, I made a few alterations, fresh cranberries are difficult to find here so I just made do with the dried variety. The bread turned out a bit dry for my taste but then again it must have been how the texture of a bread must be like. Or I must have left it a bit longer in the oven… again.

Happy Cupcaking! Or it is Breading now?
Aikko

Magnolia Bakery Cookbook Series: Oatmeal Muffin

Third installment to the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook Series - The Oatmeal Muffin.

As you can see I’m still on the muffin mode. I’m trying to conquer that “make a well” method. Or, is there any other way or method of making muffins? Could the creaming method work? Could there be anything safer to do… because this one is soo rubbery. I failed this time. This batch reminds me of Lucy Liu’s “Chinese Fighting Muffins” while Lisa is reminded of a Pangasinense delicacy, the “Tupig”. How can an Oatmeal Muffin taste like Tupig?! Apparently it can. Ooohhh yesss it can!

Makes me wonder if I did something wrong. And a quick question to Allysa and Jennifer, at what stage do you put in the butter? It didn’t clearly say in the book. It just categorized the ingredients as dry or wet. Is butter dry or wet? The book didn’t say that it should be melted so it shouldn’t be wet, right? But then again, it isn’t exactly dry eiher or am I confusing “liquid” with “wet”?! Should butter be included in the wet ingredients? My mind is boggled.

Muffins are not my thing. It’s making me feel like a fish out of the water. There are other recipes in the book I’m excited to try. I think this will be the last muffin recipe for now. Unless I discover a fool proof, tried and tested method other than “making a well”.

Happy Cupcaking!

Aikko

Magnolia Bakery Cookbook Series: Corn Muffin

I have "the complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook" for sometime now. It's just now that I started trying recipes from the book.

Second installment to the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook Series - The Corn Muffin. I'm not a fan of corn muffins or the muffin itself. I don't even know what the difference of a muffin and a cupcake (too lazy to Google) is but I want to give it a try. There are differences on the way you make a cupcake and a muffin. The recipe doesn't call for the creaming method. Basically what should be done was to mix all dry ingredients, make a well and pour the wet ingredients in the center. Then mix until just combined – never mind if there are lumps – don't be too "o.c.". When I read the "make a well part", I thought, "Wow, they still do that?" The last time I "made a well" was when my aunt taught me how to bake and I would kneel on a chair just to see what she was doing… it was that long ago.

It looks simple but something tells me it should be more complicated than that. I'm pretty sure I'm missing something but it good thing it turned out okay… well… not that okay since when it rose fairly tall on the oven and when I took it out it just shrunk… or does it really behave like that? It's just that Alyssa and Jennifer forgot to tell me through the book? It's a bit on the rubbery side but then again, I might have overbeaten it. But overbeating is relative, how can you tell when it's time to stop? Up to know that's still my problem. On the plus side, it's not overly sweet (the book said that, no surprises there) and I like the gritty taste of the corn meal. I'm not sure if I'll try to do this again, I'm not a fan of the corn muffin but other muffins I think I have to try just so I can familiarize myself on how to make muffins.




Corn Muffins
from the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook


Ingredients
1 1/4 cups yellow cornmeal
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly


Directions


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 


Grease well 9 cups of a 12-cup muffin tin. 
In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients, making a well in the center. Stir in the liquid ingredients until just combined, being careful not to over mix. The batter maybe lumpy. 


Fill the muffin cups about three quarters full. Bake for 18-20 minutes until lightly golden or a cake tester inserted into center of muffin comes out with moist crumbs attached. Do not overbake.





Happy cupcaking!

Aikko

Magnolia Bakery Cookbook Series: Zucchini Walnut Bread

Nope I'm not doing a Julie Powell. Just a few recipes from the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook that took my fancy.

I still have a bagful of walnuts left in the baking pantry so this recipe seems to an easy one to do. I just have to go the Kang's (a korean grocery) to buy the zucchini, the rest, I can easily grab from the pantry.

This is the first time I did a bread. Thank God it turned out well, moist, crumbly and chewy. Though I didn't taste the zucchininess of it. I'll probably add more when I do this again. Walnutty flavor was great though.

Happy Cupcaking,

Aikko