Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Hi guys

Hi guys (my 17 followers and other random visitors),

Sorry for the lack of new stuff lately, kind of been busy and lazy. I did bake a cake over the weekend though, a Malibu Rum Cake, and it came out great (I've been making it for years). I'll doodle out the recipe soon and then post real pictures of it.

Also if you guys have suggestions feel free to leave a comment and state it there. ^_^

Friday, February 18, 2011

Flan Recipe Review

Well...the flan recipe is a major fail that was just waiting to happen. I decided to try it out yesterday and I found myself making the ugliest flan/puddi I've ever seen as well as burning my finger and melting a rubber spatula. My boyfriend suggested I redo it, after I showed him pictures of how it turned out, but I decided I'd post it anyways as a heads up for that recipe (I recommend not using it, I'm going to try finding a better recipe to work with and actually test it out before doodling it out so I don't waste my time) as well as a way to learn from my mistake. I am by no means professional and I'd hate for anyone to think that I am, try a recipe, watch it fail, and complain to me.

Well let's start out with....
 Failures In the Recipe

  • The ingredients seemed alright, the flan tasted good and the texture was good very simplified version. 
  • The caramelized sugar part for the topping gave me some trouble, it was a disaster only in the sense that I ended up melting my rubber spatula (lol, what was I thinking) and burning my finger.
  • The custard part... I had no problems while mixing it together or anything like that.
  • The cooking time was WAY off, 6 minutes my ass. After 6 minutes in the oven it was wasn't even close to being cooked or custard-like at all, it was extremely liquidy. I ended up having to cook it for about 20 minutes and even then it was still a bit runny in the middle.
  • The recipe lacked an important thing, according to my mum, and that would be that when cooking your flan in the pan it should be surrounded by water in another pan. I'm guessing the reason being for this is to keep the sugar warm enough to where it won't burn. Though for the last 5 minutes of cooking I did put it in water because mum said to do it.
Pictures:
Flan in a pan surrounded by water.

Flan flipped upside down onto a plate (still in the glass pan).
Some sugar clumps didn't melt all the way:

And the fail of the century, I should've let it cool down more:

Yep, so...I'm not happy with the results and the recipe so I will redo this eventually, both the recipe doodle and rebaking it and showing results.






Wednesday, February 16, 2011

The Fortune Cookies



       I thought it'd be a good idea to post pictures of how the recipes turn out so you know it won't be total crap. My goal would be to have tried out all recipes listed, show your pictures, and give them my own review on how they turn out. I've yet to make the mini-cupcakes, microwave brownies, or flan but I have made the fortune cookies two or three times now and I love how they turn out.

      So first review would be the Fortune Cookies. Here is how they turned out:

So as you can see they're not a complete fail (excluding the one being pointed to on the bottom photo and that was no mistake, I didn't it that way because it wasn't folding right). They come out pretty big, though, so play around with the amount you spoon onto the span. I like mine bigger than the average fortune cookie, and even with the size of the ones I have I managed to make about 16 or so.

Tips:
  • I strongly recommend starting off with baking 2 at a time first. You will need the cookies to be hot still to fold them into the shape or they will break on you.
  • Because they're hot I also suggest you use gloves so you don't burn your fingers.
  • I put my finished ones in a muffin tin so they would maintain their shape while cooling off.
My Review:
I've never had home-made fortune cookies before and I'm not Chinese so it's not like family has made them before. They're nothing like the mass-produced ones, though, they're softer and a little chewier in some spots. They taste almost the same to me. I really enjoyed making them and eating them; speaking of making time you'll need to make sure you have enough time to make these. I spent over an hour making just one batch and that's because I would bake 2 at a time and such.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Mini Cupcakes Recipe





To see actual pictures of what they look like and the process of them being made please visit Squidoo.com/bakerlla-famous-mini-cupcakes.
For the cookie cutter shape and size, it is recommended you use a flower-shaped one that is 1.25" wide X .75" tall.
Candy melts can be found at an local grocery store or craft store in the baking section. ^_^

Valentine's Day Fortune Cookies






Sorry, I'm a day late on this. I could've sworn I uploaded it on here already but I guess not. Anyways, this recipe works for any day though, just minus the food coloring and you have yourself home-made fortune cookies. :)

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Flan Recipe




The two milks used are Condensed milk and Evaporated milk, just to clarify since it's a bit hard to read what they say.

Microwave Brownies



Ingredients
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup of sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon of salt
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla
  • 1/2 of butter or margarine
  • 3/4 cups of flour
  • 1/2 cup of cocoa powder





 I've yet to give this recipe a try but it had a fairly decent rating and comments/reviews so I went along with this. I'll probably test it out soon and post pictures of how it turns out, they can't be as terrible as the one floating around Tumblr.