This morning we woke up to a winter wonderland outside. So lovely. 
Being the sweet older sister that I am, I dragged myself out of bed extra early to bake warm, fluffy biscuits for breakfast. Baking for my sisters is such fun; Jessie will never get tired of a sweet snack to pair with her tea obsession, Maddie won’t tell me if she’s unimpressed (which is a very good thing ;), and Megan has considerably low expectations (she’d rather have an oreo than chocolate mousse!) What will I do without these three? Anyway. While obediently washing my dishes after sticking these delights in the oven, I lost myself in the slow-paced world of morning grogginess. Thankfully, Mom saved our breakfast just in time from being baked to a deathly crisp. 
I happily enjoyed a honey-butter filled breakfast this morning while the flurries quietly drifted to the ground all around me. 
Biscuits n’ Snow
A Mexican Weekend
Mexico. I’ve never been but it seems like a wonderful place. While satisfying my recipe obsession, I came across this cinnamon, vanilla beverage. The element which originally sparked my attention was the rice additive. The flavor of white rice is simply delicious and the thought of it in the form of a cool fresh drink was irresistible. As you might’ve guessed, I was delightfully surprised by the outcome. The drink was unique and tasty to be sure.
Going along with this theme, I declared a Mexican weekend. Sunday morning Jessie and I prepared a batch of horchata with sweet, donut-like “churros” as a side. My goodness. Yum. We ate the entire plate for breakfast!
I hope you had a lovely weekend, spending time with family and friends.
Pumpkin Octopus Bread
I made this bread for breakfast Saturday morning to begin our Autumn Bucket List with a BANG. However, If you ask my family, they’d say this delicious concoction wasn’t a true breakfast (seeing that the bread came out of the oven at around noon), but seriously, what is that?! In my book breakfast can last all day on a Saturday.
For the past year I admit I’ve been a play-it-safe kind of baker. I follow my recipe to the ‘T’ like an obedient little cook, and on the off chance that I am forced to alter a recipe (most likely due to the lack of ingredients), I worry myself sick thinking that the outcome will turn out disastrous. Well guess what?! I actually changed this recipe. On purpose. You see, I didn’t want “cinnamon sugar pull-apart bread” I wanted “pumpkin spice cinnamon sugar pull-apart bread…”
~I added a bit of pumpkin puree here, more flour there, a sprinkle of cinnamon, a dash of nutmeg and voila, what I like to call “Pumpkin Octopus Bread” appeared on the counter. And do you know which family member liked it the best? Dad. Unexpected for sure. Dad hates cinnamon and isn’t keen on pumpkin either. Surprises never cease in this family.
One image came to my mind as I sat staring at this loaf of pumpkin bread baking in the oven; Jessie’s “Squid 2-Go” drawing. You may remember the beginning stages of this pieces here. I love the finished product and I am so proud of Jessie’s hard work and determination.
Can’t you see it? squid tentacles reaching out of the depths vs. swelling layers of pumpkin bread extending from a loaf pan? Maybe not.
Here’s a closer look… if not identical, there is definitely a resemblance!
Anyways, enough with the squids. The pumpkin cinnamonrollish bread was bliss and I highly recommend this treat for a chilly autumn morning/afternoon :) I hope you get the chance to enjoy this festive season with friends this week.
Oh, and Jessie, I know octopuses & squids are sort of, not really different, but pumpkin “octopus” bread sounds so much better than pumpkin “squid” bread.
Cake Challenge: August
Remembering what a hit January’s cake was, I decided to try it again but this time with a simple chocolate cake accompanied by smooth vanilla buttercream filling.
This particular cake was a surprise Birthday dessert for our good friends, the Gohs. A couple of weeks ago, Mr. Goh emailed my Mom about joining their family for Thai food at an eclectic restaurant in downtown Tianjin to celebrate Mrs. Goh’s Birthday. Of course Mom (the courteous mother she is) felt compelled to bring something along to the dinner. So she replied asking if we could provide the B-day cake for Mrs. Goh. Mrs. Goh has always been a very encouraging supporter of my baking passion and she herself is a queen of creative scrapbooking so I definitely wanted to bake something special for her. This cake was the result…
our family met them at the restaurant and enjoyed a lovely dinner and (an even lovelier) cake. ~Unfortunately the Gohs arrived at the restaurant before we did and seeing 11 seats at their reserved table, Mrs. Goh soon guessed who would be joining them for dinner.
In the end, I have to say my favorite part of baking cakes are the memories I hold with those I share them with.
<Cake Challenge Series: is a collection of posts which document the cakes I bake each month. More specifically, I have a goal this year to bake at least one (hopefully spectacular) layer cake each month, and photograph/post them here. I hope you enjoy this collection as much as I enjoy baking these delicious desserts!>
Other Cake Challenge Posts:
January
February
March
April
May
June
MAKE YOURSELF:
Swiss Meringue Buttercream Filling: find a thorough set of instructions here.
Espresso Drizzle: find recipe in the Cake Challenge: January post.
Click on this post to see recipe for Chocolate Cake (scroll to the bottom).
Cake Challenge: June
This is the first pound cake I’ve ever made and my first “successful” attempt at the bundt cake-shape. The dense texture of this cake was a much needed change from my usual 3-layer butter cakes. I think the best part of this baking experience was taking photos… finally, a cake that is both delicious and effortlessly beautiful. Bundt cakes are so pretty on their own without much fuss about icing colors, decoration ideas, or touch ups. I totally recommend this recipe if you’re looking for something quick and relatively simple.
<Cake Challenge Series: is a collection of posts which document the cakes I bake each month. More specifically, I have a goal this year to bake at least one (hopefully spectacular) layer cake each month, and photograph/post them here. I hope you enjoy this collection as much as I enjoy baking these delicious desserts!>
Other Cake Challenge Posts:
January
February
March
April
May
Apple Streusel Bar is Served
Last week, we had a connecting4 meeting over tea and apple streusel bars, the spicy flavor of Michael’s homemade chai tea coupled perfectly with my homemade dessert. I will treasure these summer days with Michael and my lovely sisters.
~check out the recipe below!
Neapolitan Valentine Treat
Today I’d like to share with you a recipe I found on this blog. This is a perfect, delicious shortcake cookie for a Valentine Treat… Enjoy!
What You’ll Need:
- 1 cup of unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup of sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon of Vanilla Extract
- 1/2 teaspoon of Almond Extract
- 1/4 teaspoon of salt
- 2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
- Pink or Red food coloring
- 2 1/2 tablespoons of Cocoa Powder
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon of water
Add sugar and butter to a bowl and cream well with a mixer… Then add vanilla extract and almond extract. Mix. Now add the flour and salt, mix on low.
The dough should be a bit crumbly so knead it together to ensure that it doesn’t fall apart. Then separate into three equally divided balls of dough
Place one of the balls of dough in a bowl and add the cocoa powder, use a mixer to blend these together to make the brown colored dough, or you can also knead the cocoa powder and dough together to make this mixture.
Add another portion of dough to a bowl and add a few drops of pink food coloring, blend together with a mixer and you have your pink colored dough!
Take each color of dough and place it between two pieces of wax paper or plastic wrap and roll it to a thickness of about 3/8 inch
Use a ruler and sharp knife to cut the dough into 3/4 inch wide strips and refrigerate for about 20 minutes. While the dough is refrigerating whisk together the egg and water .
Lay a large piece of wax paper out and spread egg and water mixture on a small strip of the wax paper before placing a strip of brown dough on it. Then repeat with pink and white strips using the egg mixture as a “glue”… continue process till you have a large striped dough pattern. Finally take a heart cookie cutter and cut hearts out of the pattern.
Pre-Heat oven to 350 degrees and cook for 8-10 minutes and you have yourself a very tasty Valentine treat!
