Cherry Cheesecake Brownie Cupcakes Recipe

The double dulce de leche cupcakes disappeared in about two minutes, and I got yet another cupcake idea last night, so I ended up making more this afternoon. At any given time I have a list in my head of at least four or five recipes I want to try, so maybe I bake too many cupcakes, but it's either that or fall behind! Although I got a lead on a good chocolate chip cookie recipe today, so I suspect that I'm no further ahead.

These cupcakes were inspired by a recipe for cherry cheesecake brownies that my Dad used to make when I was little. Don't let their humble appearance fool you. These cupcakes are dense, moist and packed with flavour. They're topped with a fudge frosting so rich that you only need a thin layer on top rather than a big swirl. Really, they don't need frosting at all.Here's the recipe. You should definitely try them!

One quick note about the recipe: I was running out of butter and cocoa towards the end of this, so I just threw together the frosting out of what I had. Feel free to use a different recipe, I just included this one for completeness.

Recipe: Cherry Cheesecake Brownie Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Makes approximately two dozen cupcakes

Ingredients:

Brownie Batter:

• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Cherry Filling:

• 1 8oz package of cream cheese
• 1 egg
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup maraschino cherries (chopped)
  

Chocolate Fudge Frosting

• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 (1 oz) squares unsweetened chocolate
• 1 lb icing sugar
• 2 Tbsp cocoa
  
• 4 Tbsp milk

To make the brownie batter, first melt the butter. Add ingredients in the order listed, mixing until combined after each addition. Mix flour, baking powder and salt together in a separate bowl before adding to the liquid mixture.

In another bowl, beat cream cheese and 1 egg with an electric mixer until light and fluffy (about three minutes). Add sugar and flour and stir until combined. Mix in cherries.

To assemble cupcakes, first put a small spoonful of brownie batter into each cup. The batter will raise while baking, so you only need enough to cover the bottom of the cups. Use a small spatula to spread the batter out to the edges of the bottom of the cup.

Spoon a generous tablespoon of cherry filling into each cup. If you have any left over filling, you can fill any empty spots in your muffin tin with it. Its not exactly a cupcake, but it tastes good.

Top with another spoonful of brownie batter. Using a spatula, gently spread brownie batter out to the edges of the cupcake cup so that the cherry filling is completely covered (add more batter if required). The cups should be about 3/4 full.

Bake for 23 to 25 minutes. Cupcakes are done when the top center of each cupcake is cooked.

To make frosting, melt butter and chocolate in a small bowl in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until melted and smooth.

Place icing sugar, cocoa and 2 Tbsp of milk in a large bowl. Add melted butter and chocolate and mix until smooth and uniform. Add remaining milk until the frosting reaches the desired consistency. Lightly frost the cupcakes using a smooth spatula or butter knife.

Here is a picture of what the cupcakes look like inside. As you can see, the batter rises up in the middle, while the cheesecake filling stays the same size, so it makes a stripe across the inside of the cupcake.

September 2nd Bento Lunch & Poached Tamarillo Recipe

BF and I found an amazing Thai restaurant this weekend. It was so good we went two days in a row! (For my Halifax readers, check out Chabaa Thai on Queen St., near the Italian Market).

We had leftovers that we brought home, so when I was making bento this morning, I asked BF, "Do you want curry or pad Thai in your bento?"

His response: "Can't I have both?"

Sure, why not?

On the left side of the divider is a foil cup of masaman beef curry from the restaurant, made with beef, sweet potato chunks and onions. It is phenomenal, it's the first time I've ever tasted beef that literally melts in your mouth, it's so soft. So, as I'm sure you can imagine, learning to make an amazing masaman curry is near the top of my ever-changing list of cooking goals at the moment.

Masaman curry paste is used in Thai cooking, but it actually contains a lot of Indian flavours like cinnamon and cardamom, so it's a very different taste from green or red curry paste. It's definitely my new favorite.

Surrounding the curry, we have some rice. I used long grain white rice instead of the short grain that I usually use, since that is what is traditionally served with Thai food. There are a couple of steamed zucchini acorns on top of the rice for decoration.


On the right hand side of the divider, there is a foil cup of pad Thai, along with some steamed broccoli and asparagus, as well as boiled edamame. For fruit there are blueberries and poached tamarillo (recipe given below), and for dessert there is a daifuku filled with taro jam. Without a doubt, this is the softest mochi I've ever eaten, it's not chewy at all. I don't know the brand name because it's written in Japanese, so here's a picture of the box that it comes in. If you see it at the store, I definitely recommend picking it up. They make lots of different flavours, which I can't wait to try.


This morning I made poached tamarillo. It takes longer than most bento foods should (about 20 minutes) so I don't recommend this when you're in a hurry, but it's has a really interesting flavour if you have the time to make it. You can also make this the night before and refrigerate. The sourness of the tamarillo contrasts with the sweetness of the syrup and the texture of the fruit is incredibly smooth, smoother than any other fruit I can think of. It's really delicious, but I find the flavour is so powerful that I can only eat a few bites of it, which is why I think it's a perfect bento food.

I thought I would share the recipe, since when I first saw a tamarillo I had no idea what to do with it, so I'm guessing that there are lots of other people in the same boat.

Recipe: Poached Tamarillo with Cherry Syrup

Ingredients:

• Tamarillo
• Sugar
• Water
• Slice of Orange Peel
• Cherry Brandy

Quantities are easily adjusted depending on how many tamarillos you wish to poach.

1. Blanch the tamarillo by plunging it into boiling water for 10 seconds and then plunging into ice water for 10 seconds. Remove the peel (it should come off easily now).

2. Combine 1 part sugar to two parts of water and bring to a boil. For one tamarillo, I use 1/2 cup sugar, 1 cup water and boil in the smallest pot I have so that it covers the tamarillo.

3. Reduce heat to a simmer and add tamarillo and a slice of orange rind (If you don't have orange rind, you can add orange extract at the same time as the cherry brandy). Poach for 6 minutes if it is very ripe, or 8 minutes if it is not. If the liquid doesn't entirely cover the tamarillo, poach with the pot covered and turn the tamarillo over halfway through cooking.

4. If you're not in a hurry, allow the tamarillo to cool in the syrup, and then remove the tamarillo before proceeding to the next step. If you're like me and are always in a hurry, place the tamarillo and half of the liquid in a bowl, and cover it so that the tamarillo doesn't lose moisture as it cools. Place the pot containing the other half of the liquid back on the stove.

5. Add 1 1/2 Tbsp cherry brandy per cup of water you originally used in the syrup to the liquid in the pot.

5. Boil it down for 7 to 10 minutes until you have a syrup of the consistency you like. I like a light syrup, but if you prefer a heavy syrup, boil it for longer.

6. Allow the syrup to cool.

7. Slice tamarillo and put it in a small container for your bento. Pour syrup over it.

August 29th Bento Lunch

I felt like making sushi this morning so making bento took quite a bit longer than usual. I was about halfway done when I realized that everything was green and yellow! Oh well, I'm sure it will still get eaten.

I made a sweet, fruit sushi today. For sweet sushi, I use 3 Tbsp of lime juice heated with 1 Tbsp sugar (to make it dissolve) instead of sushi vinegar. I also use mamenori soy wrappers instead of nori. I have to say though, it's much tougher to get this sushi to stick together than regular sushi. It's so pretty and yummy though, that I don't mind making it once in a while.

This time I used mango and avocado as fillings. I know that seems like a bit of a strange combination, but trust me, it's delicious and the texture is amazingly smooth.

First I removed the rind from the mango and the avocado, and cut very thin, flexible slices from the top of the fruit. I cut the remain fruit into strips. I rolled the fruit strips into a regular inside out maki roll and then placed the slices over the seam and rolled it again to make everything stay together. I'm really happy with how these turned out, there is so much fruit in them! I mixed up the pieces and turned them on their sides because it looks more fun than when they're all orderly.

For protein today, I made teriyaki chicken. This is really simple to do from scratch. I used two chicken thighs for BF's bento (I would only use one for mine). Here's what you do:

The night before

• Slice chicken thighs in half
• Place in a small ziplock bag with 1 Tbsp each of mirin, soy sauce and sugar
• Refrigerate overnight

In the morning

• Remove chicken from the bag and fry in a bit of oil on medium heat until browned
• Mix 3Tbsp water with the remaining marinade and pour it into the frying pan with the chicken.
• Cover until the chicken is cooked
• Cook uncovered until the liquid has evaporated and the chicken has a nice glazed finish

The morning part takes less than ten minutes which is a pretty short time to cook meat in my opinion. I put the chicken in a foil tart container that I flipped up the rim on.

For veggies there is some sesame fried bok choy all around the foil cup and some asparagus that I parboiled for 90 seconds and then added to the pan with teriyaki chicken while it was cooking for another 90 seconds (teriyaki asparagus I guess?). There are also steamed green and yellow zucchini, sugar snaps and broccoli.

There was already all kinds of mango in the sushi, so for fruit I just included a few blueberries and three thin watermelon wedges.

On Fridays I try to use up all my leftover produce before the weekend, can you tell?

Tutorial - Zucchini Dumpling

I got the inspiration for this dumpling from the Iron Chef 2000th dish special. The amazing Hiroyuki Sakai made adorable zucchini dumplings as a part of a larger dish, and ever since I saw them I've been wanting to give my own version it a try.

It turned out pretty and yummy (which is always my goal!) so I wanted to share how I made it.

A friendly warning though: This is pretty time consuming and detailed. I definitely don't recommend trying to put one of these together in the morning before work. I suggest making it the night before and doing the final steaming in the morning.

You will need

- 1 Green zucchini
- 2 Tbsp filling (I used a mixture of rice and bison soboro. The recipe for the soboro is below)
- A big, sharp knife
- Plastic wrap
- A 6" piece of string/twine
- A vegetable steamer

First, cut a slice of zucchini about 3" long and 3/8" thick.
Slice the zucchini in strips as thin as you can. They should be opaque, but flexible. You will need 14 strips.

Cover your workspace with a piece of plastic wrap about 1 foot square. You will be cooking the zucchini in this plastic, so make sure you use a high end brand that won't leach toxins into food (I use Glad).

Select the 7 thinnest zucchini strips and place them horizontally to form a square as shown in the picture. By keeping the peel on the same side of each strip, the end result will have a subtle zigzag pattern.

The next step is to weave in the remaining 7 strips.

First slide in the first vertical strip from the left, alternating between putting it over and under the horizontal strips.

To place the next vertical strip, gently fold back every other horizontal strip and place the vertical strip on top of the remaining strips as shown. Fold the horizontal strips back to their original position and gently push the second vertical strip so that it is flush with the first.

Repeat with the remaining vertical strips until you have a woven square. The last vertical strip might look a bit messy because of differences in the lengths of the horizontal strips, but don't worry, it will look fine in the end.

Roll filling into a ball and place in the middle of the square.

Gently wrap the sides of the square around the filling. Start by picking up opposite corners of the plastic wrap and pulling them together, then do the same with the remaining two corners. The four corners of the zucchini should just barely touch at the top of the filling. If they don't quite touch, try removing some filling. If they overlap, add a little more filling.

Once all four corners are touching, gently press in the sides, trying to flatten as much possible.

Tightly twist the plastic wrap to seal the package and secure with string as shown.

Place in steamer for 7 minutes.

Remove from steamer and allow to cool enough so that you can remove the plastic wrap without burning yourself. To remove the wrap, cut off the knot and gently pull back the plastic wrap. If you pull too hard, it may displace parts of the zucchini.

Here's a picture of the underside of the dumpling after it's been cooked.

Flip it over and here is the top of this gorgeous dumpling!

The bento lunch that I used this in can be seen here.

Here is the recipe for the bison that I mixed with rice for the filling.

Recipe: Bison Soboro

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb ground bison (May substitute beef or pork)
• 2 Tbsp sake
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp mirin
• 1/2 tsp grated ginger

Place ground bison in a frying pan on medium heat and separate into small pieces. When pan is hot, add remaining ingredients. Cook until the bison is fully browned and most of the liquid has evaporated. Drain off any remaining liquid.

Can be used as a filling for dumplings or onigiri, or as a topping for a donburi.

August 26th Bento & Rice Cooker Chicken Curry Rice Recipe

My computer caught a trojan virus last week. The trojan was then kind enough to download a bunch of other viruses to the point that my computer was unusable for about a week. But, now here we are about twenty virus scans and two hard drive reformats later and I am back up and running! So all's well that ends well. Mostly anyway. I lost all of my iTunes purchased songs, so I emailed Apple to see if they can let me download them again. *crosses fingers*

In other news, I am in love. Now I know that's a pretty strong word to use in reference to a rice cooker, but I mean it for realsies, no exaggeration. I picked up this rice cooker from The Shopping Channel (since Amazon.com won't ship appliances to Canada), and it finally arrived on Sunday. I used it for the first time last night and it's amazingly better than my four year old $30 Wal-Mart rice cooker I had been using up to this point.

To break it in, I made chicken curry rice (recipe below) for last night's supper (and there was enough left over for today's bento lunch). I used the keep warm function for three hours last night and put the rice back in the cooker to reheat this morning and even after all that, it didn't burn a single grain of rice. My old rice cooker always had a layer of burnt rice at the bottom, and I always felt wasteful throwing it out. Problem solved!

It has all kinds of features, like different settings for all different kinds of rice (brown rice, sweet rice, sushi rice, etc.) and delayed start so that you can set it the night before and have fresh rice in the morning when you get up to make bento. I shopped around a lot before picking this one up, and it seems to me that this particular model (Sanyo ECJ-D55S) is the best value out there if you don't want to fork out the price of a Zojirushi.

Also, just to explain something I found confusing. It's advertised as a 5.5 cup rice cooker. I thought that meant it had a 5.5 cup capacity, but its actually much larger. The 5.5 cup measurement is how much uncooked rice you can put in it, not how much cooked rice it can hold.

I definitely recommend this rice cooker to anyone in the market for a higher end computerized rice cooker. It's fabulous! (I'm not affiliated, by the way)

Ok! On to today's bento! It was slim pickin's in the fridge today because I was away all weekend and didn't get a chance to get groceries (I played outside a ton this weekend. If you ever have a chance to do Tree-Go, do it!!!).
On the left is chicken curry rice with onions, dates and tomato and an apple heart on top (I love apple with curry). On the right there are four pork shumai that have been steamed and then pan fried, pressing down with a spatula after every flip. There's a little cup of Asian cucumber pickles (flavoured with shiso and sesame rather than dill) on the bottom, and a boiled quail egg at the top. For veggies there is some steamed cauliflower sitting on top of carrot slices, broccoli, sugar snaps and green zucchini. For fruit there are tomato wedges, blueberries and watermelon slices. I prefer personal sized watermelons for bento because the rind is much thinner.

Here is the recipe for the curry rice. Note that this recipe makes a lot (around 4 to 5 cups), so you may want to scale it back if you're just making it for bento.

Recipe: Chicken Curry Rice made in a rice cooker

Ingredients

2 cups short grain white rice

2.5 cups water

1 large chicken breast or two small chicken breasts, cut into very small pieces (uncooked)

2 cloves garlic

1/4 inch section of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

1 shallot, peeled and roughly chopped

Red chili flakes to taste (two pinches is medium spicy)

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1 Tbsp curry powder

1 tsp salt

1 white onion, sliced

1 tomato, cut into wedges

1/4 cup dates, chopped

1 small can coconut milk (5.6oz/165ml)

2 Tbsp honey

Combine yogurt, honey, curry powder, shallot, garlic, ginger, chili flakes and salt in a blender and blend until smooth.

Place curry mixture along with all of the other ingredients into the rice cooker and stir well. Let the rice cooker do its thing (Use 'mixed rice' setting if available on your rice cooker). Stir before serving.

Easy!!

Mmmmm...Muffins

Okay, I swear this isn't going to turn into a baking blog. I wasn't planning to post anything today but these turned out so gorgeous that I wanted to share them to hopefully inspire someone else to make delicious muffins.

At this time of year, berries are in season so they come in huge containers. It's wonderful of course, but I can't fit anymore into the bento lunches than I already do, so I ended up with some leftover berries that weren't fresh enough to eat straight, but perfect for baking. I decided on muffins.
I used this recipe from allrecipes.com and I can't rave about it enough! I'm actually not exaggerating when I say that I have never had a better muffin. And this is coming from someone who has eaten many, many muffins in my time.

I think the trick to this recipe is to whip the butter a whole lot. It makes them melt-in-your-mouth fluffy. I whipped the butter with an electric mixer for a solid minute before adding anything to it and then for a solid minute after every addition (i.e, after the sugar, after each egg and after the vanilla). Then I put the mixer away and gently folded everything else in very slowly.

I used a mixture of blueberries, strawberries and raspberries. I used jumbo sized muffin cups (finally a use for these! They're way too big for cupcakes) filled almost to the top and they raised up to a great height. The recipe made 15.

The only change I made to the recipe was to substitute brown sugar for white in the streusal topping. I had never heard of a white sugar streusal before and it made me a bit nervous so I decided to stick with what I know.

It's a great weekend to make muffins. If you've got any fruit in your fridge that needs to be used up, this is a yummy way to do it!

August 11th Cupcakes

I never get tired of making cupcakes! Today the theme was pina colada.

For the cupcakes, I used this recipe for pineapple cake, filling the cups about halfway and baking for 22 minutes instead of the longer time listed for a sheet cake. I also omitted the sauce that the recipe recommends because I prefer frosting and I thought having both would be overkill.

The cakes turned out wonderfully. My only wish is that the pineapple flavour was a bit stronger. I'm not sure how I could adapt the recipe to do that though since the pineapple is the only liquid in the recipe and I'm not aware of the existance of pineapple extract. I would love any suggestions.

The frosting is a coconut buttercream. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. Here is the recipe:

1/2 cup butter (salted, room temperature)
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 large bag of icing sugar (500g)
1 1/2 tsp coconut extract
3 Tbsp milk
1/2 cup shredded coconut

Beat butter and shortening on low until light and fluffy (about a minute). Add coconut extract and beat until combined. Add icing sugar about 3/4 cup at a time, beating until combined after each addition. Add milk, 1 Tbsp at a time, mixing until combined after each addition. You may need more or less milk to get a nice consistency. Add coconut and mix until combined.

I also toasted some more shredded coconut which I sprinkled on top of the frosted cupcakes. I did this by placing it in a frying pan and sauteeing over medium heat for a few minutes.

Both the cupcakes and the frosting turned out light and fluffy. The cupcakes are moist and the flavor of the frosting is amazing. They just keep getting better and better!

August 11th Bento Lunch

I've been watching a lot of Iron Chef on YouTube. Omg what a fun show! It's kind of renewed my zest for trying new Japanese recipes and cooking techniques so I've been incorporating a lot more Japanese food in my non-bento meals. I'm discovering all kinds of wonderful food combinations. Loving it! Since I'm not working at the moment, it's a lot more important to me to make sure that I'm preparing lots of healthy, well balanced meals so that BF and I are well fed. I figured it's the least I can do.

I took today's picture in natural light instead of with flash in the kitchen and I think it washed out the colours a bit. Everything didn't look so white in real life! Well at least I know for next time.
BF had some disappointing seafood udon at a restaurant yesterday, so I had planned to make some delicious yakiudon (fried noodles) for bento today to make up for it. To my dismay however, I realized this morning that I'm completely out of udon noodles. So I used somen noodles instead (yakisomen?). They're a smaller, flat noodle, so I fried them for a much shorter time and it still turned out pretty yummy.

To make them, I fried up some chunks of chicken breast in a little canola with salt and pepper while boiling the noodles for three minutes. Then I added another tablespoon or so of canola oil to the chicken (to keep the noodles from sticking together) and threw in chives, red pepper pieces and the somen noodles. Once it had fried for about a minute I added about 1 Tbsp each of sake and soy sauce (my favorite seasonings for fried noodles) and fried for about a minute more.

At the very top of the bento is some sauteed gobo (burdock root) and carrot julienne. For gobo, you want to first peel it and soak it in cold water for a bit, and then drain before you use it. I sauteed the gobo and carrot in a bit of sesame oil and then added some mirin and soy sauce. It turned out a bit too salty for my taste (the gobo really sucks up the flavor!) so next time I will use less soy sauce.

Keeping with the soy theme, I also made some soy quail eggs. To make them, I first hard boiled the eggs (three and a half minutes) and then put them in a ziplock bag along with a mixture of two parts soy sauce, one part rice vinegar and one part sugar for about an hour (BF is working the night shift this week so I don't have to have the bentos ready until late in the morning). I made four eggs, but I only used one in this bento lunch, sliced in half with a small dot of cream cheese on the yolk. They are sharp and salty and really yummy!

There are three home made gyoza as well from a batch I made last week.

I balanced all of these sharp flavours with lots of fresh fruit and lightly steamed veggies. The vegetables are broccoli, cauliflower and sugar snaps. The fruit are strawberries, blueberries, honey tangerine segments and yellow kiwi flowers. There is a chocolate seashell for dessert.

August 6th Bento Lunch

I decided to keep it simple today.

Sometimes when I get up in the morning I can't figure out what to put in the bento (like when you feel like you have nothing to wear. It's the same feeling). Other times I'll think I have it all planned out only to realize I've still got space left in the bento box after I'm done. Today, I had all kinds of great foods for the bentos, I probably could have filled another tier. It's nice when that happens.
In the left tier is coconut mango rice. The recipe is from Cooking Cute. I made the rice last night and then this morning I cut up the mango and mixed it in. I cut the recipe in half and omitted the sauce topping because I felt like it was sweet enough as is. This is yummy stuff!!

There are also some slices of chorizo sausage (BF's favorite. Too spicy for me) and some sesame fried bok choy with beet flowers on top. This was the last of the pretty beets and they don't have them at the store anymore *sigh*

On the right there is the standard broccoli, asparagus and snow peas along with raspberries and blueberries (broccoli and berries are two of the top ten healthiest foods, so it's good that we eat them every day!). I also made poached quince yesterday by following these instructions. Lastly, there is a small container of pomegranate seeds. I never got around to removing the seeds from the pomegranate last night and did I ever regret it this morning. Getting the pomgranate ready this morning actually took longer than preparing the entire rest of the bento!

I decided that between the sweet rice and the quince, this bento had enough sweet foods so I didn't include a dessert.

I think that if it weren't for my bento habit, I would never have found out so much about my tastes. For example, that I love quince and bison and that I don't like longans. Because I'm on this constant quest to make exciting lunches every day, I find I'm a lot more open to trying new foods. I'm more alert when I'm grocery shopping, rather than just picking up the same old stuff. This is a good thing!

Chocolate & Banana Cream Cupcakes

I made cupcakes last night. I listed off some choices for BF "Okay, so choice number one is matcha cupcakes with pomegranate frosting. Choice number 2 is vanilla cupcakes with banana cream filling and chocolate frosting,.."

He interrupted me "I don't need to hear anymore."

"But there are more choices"

"Nothing could be better than chocolate and banana."

Here they are:

I used the recipe for white cupcakes from Crazy About Cupcakes. This is the third time I've used it. I love the recipe, but these came out a little dry. I think I baked them about four minutes too long.

For the banana cream I used the recipe from this site, but I cut it in half (I still used two bananas though, effectively doubling the amount of banana in the recipe) and mashed the banana instead of cutting it so that it could be piped into the cupcakes (I use a Wilton's bismark tip #230 to do this). This is an excellent recipe, I highly recommend it.

The frosting is my regular buttercream with some cocoa and an additional tablespoon of milk added.

I decided to use yellow cupcake cups in keeping with the banana theme, and put slices of fresh banana on top (Do this immediately before serving because they turn brown and get soggy if you let them sit for more than a couple of hours).

These are some of the best cupcakes I've made yet!

Recipe: Cake Balls

I felt like doing something a little different this week, so I made cake balls instead of cupcakes. This is the first time I've made them, and they are so delicious but extremely sweet.

You can use whatever cake and frosting flavors you like, so be creative! You could flavor the candy melts as well. I kept it simple, using a plain vanilla cake mix, vanilla buttercream frosting and milk chocolate melts. They didn't last long!!

Recipe: Cake Balls

Ingredients:

• 1 13x9 in cake
• 2 cups frosting
• 1 package of candy melts (14oz)

Once the cake has completely cooled, crumble it into a large bowl. The smaller the crumbs, the more consistent the inside of the cake balls will look.

Mix in half of the frosting. Continue to add frosting until the mixture has a smooth consistency.

Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Roll the cake mixture into 1 1/4" balls and place on the cookie sheet. Place cookie sheet in the fridge for two hours or in the freezer for 30 - 40 minutes to firm up the cake balls.

In a small bowl, melt some of the candy melts by microwaving for 30 seconds and stirring. Repeat until all of the wafers are melted and the consistency is smooth. Line another cookie sheet with wax paper.

One at a time, dip the cake balls in the melted chocolate. Pass back and forth between two spoons to let any additional coating to run off and place on the new cookie sheet. When the melted chocolate starts to get low, add more melts and microwave an additional 30 seconds. Once all of the cake balls are coated, refrigerate until the coating has completely hardened.

Makes 45 to 50 cake balls.

Decorations: Cake balls can be decorated by adding sprinkles (candy sprinkles, toasted shredded coconut, nonpareils, cookie crumbs, etc.) after coating each one but before they have completely hardened, or by drizzling a contrasting colour of candy melt on the tops of the cake balls.

Enjoy!!

Umeboshi Onigiri???

So far I haven't been able to develop a taste for umeboshi.

Umeboshi is a Japanese form of pickled plum. It's a traditional onigiri filling and it's super sour. So sour that I can't even stand a tiny piece of one. I will keep trying to develop a taste for it though, I haven't given up.

But in the meantime, I had a silly notion last night that I would make some umeboshi onigiri out of rice krispy squares. This wasn't an original idea, I was inspired by this website.

Once they were made, I put them in some nice white boxes so that BF could bring some to a friend's place where he was having lunch today. I think they turned out pretty cute.
I just used the basic rice krispy square recipe printed inside the box. While it was still hot (and working very quickly so it didn't cool down before I was done) I pressed a layer of rice in the bottom of my small triangle onigiri mold (about 1 1/2" on each side) and placed a sour cherry candy in the middle. I like these candies because they are sour like an umeboshi and look sort of like one (okay, not really, but they look more like an umeboshi than say a gummi worm does ) and they're really yummy! Then I placed another layer of rice krispies around the candy to hold it in place.

After that I closed the mold just like you would with an onigiri. It's important not to fill it too full because cereal doesn't have a lot of give to it, and the candies get dented and scratched.

I melted some semi-sweet chocolate squares in the microwave (30 seconds and stir, repeat until melted) and used a butter knife to spread it around the outer edge of half of the 'onigiri'. I placed the chocolate coated ones on wax paper and put them in the fridge to harden the chocolate.

I had some Wilton candy boxes from Michael's (I think they're the half pound size. I threw out the tag, so I can't be sure) that I lined with wax paper. I used sushi grass paper to separate the 'onigiri'. For decorations I made some 'pickled ginger' by rolling a piece of cherry ribbon candy and filled a fish shaped soy sauce bottle with chocolate syrup.

I had intended to make 'wasabi' with a mound of green fondant, but I ran out of time.

On the top of the box I wrote "Mmm....onigiri umeboshi" with a black Sharpie.

So it was kind of silly. But it was fun :)

Purple Lemon Cupcakes?

The idea this week was to make lemon meringue pie style cupcakes. The cupcakes themselves are lemon flavoured (I was lazy this week and used a mix), and then filled them with lemon curd to replicate pie filling.

I baked individual meringues using this recipe (minus the peppermint candy). They turned out like hard, melt in your mouth meringue cookies. They're really delicious, but next time I think I might try using soft meringues and a kitchen torch to brown them to make meringue more like what you find on an actual pie.

The frosting is a plain buttercream. I hadn't intended to colour it, but the meringues are so white that it didn't contrast enough. So purple was kind of a random choice but I think they turned out pretty and it matches the wrappers I used (Wilton makes them).


Definitely yummy cupcakes, but I think these ones are almost too sweet. Is that possible for a cupcake?

Spanikopita Recipe

Today at the grocery store they had organic whole wheat phyllo pastry which I had never seen before. Then I remembered the bag of spinach in my fridge getting close to its expiration date, so I decided it was a good day to make spanikopita. It turned out so delicious! They're fluffy, crispy and cheesy with lots of flavour.

A couple of quick notes about the recipe: These are really yummy at room temperature but be careful not to put them near anything moist (like fruit) in the bento or they'll get soggy. The most efficient way I've found to make these is to set up a production line sort of set up. I make eight or nine at a time which is way faster than making them one at a time.

Recipe: Spanikopita

Ingredients:

• 1 9 oz bag of spinach (255g)
• 1 cup cooked rice
• 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley (or 1 tsp dried)
• 1/4 cup fresh dill (or 1 tsp dried)
• 1 shallot (or small onion), diced
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp olive oil
• Pinch of nutmeg
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 16 oz package of phyllo pastry (453g)

Ensure phyllo pastry is completely thawed. The best way to do this is to leave overnight in the refrigerator.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Fry shallot in olive oil until translucent.

Steam spinach until wilted. Squeeze out all of the liquid and chop finely.

Combine spinach, rice, feta, parsley, dill, shallot, egg and lemon juice and mix well to make the filling.

Cut phyllo into strips about 1 1/2" wide (the spanikopita should be small to fit snugly in a bento). Brush with butter. Spoon about half a tablespoon of spinach filling onto one of the ends and fold as shown in the picture below.
Once folded, brush again with butter and sprinkle with a little nutmeg. The finished result:
You can fit quite a few of them on a cookie sheet!
Bake for 17 - 20 minutes until outside is crispy and starting to turn brown. Recipe makes about 60.

You can freeze these before they're cooked and then bake them in the morning when you make bento, or you can freeze them after baking and take them out of the freezer the night before to thaw.

Gyoza Recipe

I made some gyoza tonight, so I thought I'd post the recipe. They're a little labour intensive, but it's a lazy sort of work. BF was settling in to watch some TV, so I whipped up the filling in a couple of minutes and sat with him on the couch assembling the dumplings. It's kind of relaxing actually and then you don't have to feel so lazy because you've been sitting around :P

These are my absolute favorite bento filler. It's not unusual for me to put them in a bento for lunch and then go to dinner at a Japanese restaurant and order them there as well. I could probably live off of them if I had to.

No pictures this time because the method is the same as my recipe for leek dumplings, it's just a different filling.

One quick note about the recipe: Most recipes for gyoza are made with raw ground pork which cooks during the final steaming/frying. I prefer to cook mine first because when I see all the fat that drains out of it while cooking, I definitely am glad that wasn't inside the gyoza. It does give a different texture to the gyoza though, but I think it tastes equally delicious both ways. If you prefer using the pork raw, just add the mirin and soy sauce to the dumpling filling directly.

Recipe: Gyoza

Ingredients

1/2 lb ground pork
2 1/2 cups chopped chinese or napa cabbage
3 Tbsp chopped green onion
1 inch chunk of ginger, grated
1 clove of garlic
1 egg white
1 1/2 Tbsp mirin
1 1/2 Tbsp soy sauce
Package of 50 round dumpling wrappers

For the dipping sauce, mix rice vinegar and soy sauce half and half. Serve about 1 Tbsp of sauce for 6 dumplings.

Heat frying pan to medium heat with mirin and soy sauce. Fry and separate the ground pork into small pieces. Remove from heat and drain well /pat with paper towel.

Combine pork with all of the other ingredients (except wrappers of course) and mix well.

The filling will be a little moist from the liquid that leaves the cabbage, so use a fork instead of a spoon to scoop out the filling to reduce the amount of liquid in the gyoza.

Scoop 1 Tbsp of filling onto each wrapper. Wet the edge of the wrapper and fold in the same way as for leek dumplings. Place on wax paper so that they are not touching, and freeze. If you don't use wax paper, they'll be tough to remove from the plate or tray that you freeze them on. Once frozen you can put them in a plastic bag or tupperware to save space.

When you are ready to eat them, steam until cooked or fry in a bit of canola oil until brown (even yummier is to steam them and then fry them on one side). You don't have to thaw them first.

Enjoy!!

Coconut Sticky Rice Onigiri Recipe

Here's another recipe from this afternoon.

Recipe: Coconut Sticky Rice Onigiri

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups rice (I used short grain)
• 1 can of coconut milk (398ml)
• Food colouring (optional)

Reserve 1/4 cup of coconut milk. Cook rice with remaining coconut milk (I used a rice cooker, but you could do it on the stove if you like).

If you would like to colour the rice, add food colouring to the reserved coconut milk. I split the milk in two and coloured one pink and one yellow using 6 drops of food colouring in each (I forgot to take a picture after the milk was coloured, so here's one before they were coloured. Sorry about the white on white!)

When the rice is finished cooking, add reserved coconut milk and mix in. Let it sit covered for a few minutes until the rice has absorbed the additional coconut milk.

Shape however you like! I decided that rather than do filled onigiris, I would leave them plain to just enjoy the coconut taste, so I made them half of the height of a normal onigiri. To do this fill the onigiri mold about 3/4 of the way up. Then cover with saran wrap and flip over. Push the bottom of the mold until the rice is packed and remove the mold.

I made pink hearts and yellow stars: Individually wrap the onigiri and place in the freezer while still warm. When ready to serve, microwave them first to thaw/warm them and to restore the texture of the rice.

Here is the finished batch. It made two dozen of the half size onigiri, ready to be thrown in a bento!

Rice Paper Turkey Rolls Recipe

They had these big smoked turkey drumsticks at the grocery store today, so I made turkey rolls. Here's the recipe!

Recipe: Rice Paper Turkey Rolls

Ingredients:

• 6oz smoked turkey, cut into strips
• a handful of snow peas (8 or 9) cut into strips
• 2 inch section of carrot, julienned
• 6 sheets of rice paper
• 1 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 Tbsp ponzu sauce
• 1 Tbsp sake
• Hoisin Sauce

Lightly steam the snow peas. Fry the turkey with ponzu sauce and sake until it starts to brown. Add in parsley and fry for another minute or two.

Here's a picture of the ingredients after they're cooked:

Fill a 9 inch square pan with hot water. For each roll, completely immerse the rice paper in the water and let it soak for ten seconds.

Remove the rice paper and spread out so there are no wrinkles in it. Place 1/6 of each of the fillings in a little pile in the middle of the rice paper, and roll it up as shown in the picture below (click on the picture for a closer view).

That's it! If they're for tomorrow's bento, keep them refrigerated wrapped in plastic wrap or in tupperware and separated by wax paper (otherwise they'll stick together).

Fry them lightly in a bit of canola oil before serving. Serve with hoisin sauce (optional: mix in a little bit of chili sauce with the hoisin to give it some kick).
Enjoy!!

Inari Sushi Recipe

I didn't have a chance to get groceries this weekend, so I ended up making inari sushi, because it uses ingredients I usually have on hand.

Recipe: Inari Sushi

Ingredients:

-2 cups sushi rice (check out my chicken teriyaki recipe for how to make sushi rice)
-4 Inari sushi pouches (or Aburage)
-Your favorite add-ins. I used:

• 1/2 lb ground beef fried with 1Tbsp soy sauce and 1 Tbsp sake
• 2 eggs scrambled with 1 tsp of sugar added while beating
• 1/2 cup grated carrot

-Black sesame seeds

The tofu pouches I purchased were already prepared, so no prep work was required, but if you have plain aburage, first cut the pouches in half. Then place them in a colander and pour boiling water over them to rinse off the oil. Simmer the aburage in a frying pan with 1 1/4 cups dashi, 3 Tbsp sugar, 4 Tbsp soy sauce and 3 Tbsp mirin for about 15 minutes.

Mix everything except the tofu pouches together in a bowl

Carefully open each tofu pouch. Spoon in rice mixture (make sure you get it into the corners!). Sprinkle black sesame seeds on top of rice for decoration. Recipe makes eight (BF was snacking on them before I could take a picture, that's why there are only six)

Wow! Easiest recipe ever!

You can freeze these. Wrap them individually in plastic wrap, and freeze. Heat them in the microwave when you remove them to restore the texture, and allow to return to room temperature before serving.

Leek Dumplings Recipe

A lot of times, I want to put a kind of snack food like dumplings or shumai in the bentos, but the bento already has enough meat and eggs for protein, and then I get a little stuck. I thought some vegetarian dumplings would fill that niche for me, so I made some leek dumplings this afternoon.

I couldn't find a recipe anywhere, so I made it up for the most part. It turned out really yummy though. Here it is!

Note: All measurements are approximate so you have a guideline. I didn't actually measure anything.

Recipe: Leek Dumplings

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups chopped leeks (I just used 1 bunch)
3 or 4 water chestnuts, chopped
1 Tbsp grated ginger
2 cloves chopped garlic
2 leaves of chinese or napa cabbage, chopped
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp sake
Approximately 30 dumpling wrappers

Fry leeks, water chestnuts, ginger and garlic in a little canola oil over medium until soft and a little brown. This takes some of the bite off the leeks so the dumplings aren't too onion-y tasting, and it helps get some of the water out of the veggies.

Throw everything in a bowl, and add the cabbage, rice vinegar, soy sauce and sake and mix well. Let it sit for about an hour to let all the flavours combine and to let all the liquid drain to the bottom (you don't want the dumpling filling to be too wet).

Drain the liquid off the filling, and form into dumplings. I do two at a time.

Take the dumpling wrappers, and drop about a Tbsp of filling on each one. Dip your finger in a bowl of water and run it around the outside of the dumpling (that's what keeps it sticking together).

Bring the bottom edge of the wrapper up to the top to fold it in half, and pleat the sides (I do three pleats on each side). It takes a bit of practice, so don't worry if your first five look a little messy.

Voila! You have a finished dumpling!

Place the dumplings side by side on wax paper. They get a little damp on the back, so the wax paper keeps them from sticking.

If you're planning to freeze them, freeze them side by side on the wax paper, and then put them in a ziplock bag after they're frozen. This keeps them from sticking together.

When you're ready to eat them, heat up some canola oil at about medium heat. Fry on each side until the wrapper starts to turn brown.

Delicious!!

Date Squares

After failed attempts at truffles and petits fours, I finally managed to make some tiny desserts!

Simple, simple date squares :P

You can't really tell from this photo, but they're really tiny, about an inch square, so just right for bento. The 'muffin cups' they're in are actually truffle sized.

Here's the recipe. The only thing I did differently is that I cut the recipe in half and used a wide loaf pan instead of a square pan, and I chilled them in the fridge when they were done so that I could cut them really small without breaking them.

Hopefully I will get better at making fancy desserts. I've been checking out Amazon for some good books, I'll let you know what I find!