Cinnamon Rolls

A yeasted bread recipe that didn't require you to break up a sweat when kneading - in fact no kneading required at all! - what could be better than that? I got teased a lot before in school everytime we have to make breads because where as my classmates would treat their dough as a punching bag, putting all their efforts to it, I would simply prod at the dough here and there with my fingers, coax them to shape and declare them done.

I wouldn't even now what a properly kneaded dough would feel like even if they hit me in the face. My only consolation was that the breads I made turned out okay - as long as they are eaten the first hour they were made. After that is quite another story, so I made it a point to bake only as much as I thought would be eaten immediately.

I've heard of the No-knead bread that's been blogged about many times over but I don't have a dutch oven so I couldn't try it even if I want too. This one however didn't need special equiptment so as soon as I've read (and re-read) the no kneading part I immediately tried it.

Recipe over at thePioneerwomancooks.com and it comes with an extensive photo guides. The only thing I changed was the frostings, I added some cocoa to mine and made it a chocolate frosting. It's really good.

Chocolate Crinkles

I dont like Chocolate Crinkles, or at least the chocolate crinkles that is usually sold in local bakeries here. It has the look of a chocolate crinkles but tasted more like bread than a soft cookie. My sister on the other hand is used to the chocolate crinkles baked on the upscale restaurants she favored and begged me one afternoon to make some.

I hit the google search page for a recipe, found one from AllRecipes.com that called for oil instead of butter, wrote it down and gave it to her after showing her where everything is. She came bugging me again after two hours to help her roll the cookies. Two hours wasn't enough time to harden the batter but as it was already 4 in the afternoon, we had to work fast to get them in the oven before they turn too soft to hold the shape of a ball.

They were delicious, soft and decadent. The chocolate is very rich with just a hint of bitterness in each bite to counter the extra sweetness of the powdered sugar. This one is definitely my sister's recipe from now on but I'll definitely volunteer to help with the rolling next time.

Sugar Icing - Royal Icing

I've decided that if I've ever wanted to decorate my cakes with sugar icing, I'd buy them off the shelf. Mostly because my hand is really shaky. Even so I'd like to think that that was a pretty decent rose. Even if it's green.

Here's another alien-looking sugar flower. In case you can't tell what it is, it's supposed to be Mums. It looks unfinished at the top but yeah, Mums. It's in blue because I was using leftover icings - another reason why I will be buying and not making sugar flowers anymore.

Above are Cadena de Amors. I haven't seen the real flowers so I wouldn't really know if they indeed look like stringed beads. And they dont probably came in blue either. And finally flowers that looks like flowers! These are wild roses.

Ube Cupcakes

That is what cooked ube (ubi or purple yam) looks like. If you think they are a little hairy you should have seen them before they underwent a massive hair loss treatment courtesy of me right before they went to the pot to be boiled. Really, really hairy. It took forever to cook. Hairy ube = not good!

So anyway I made ube cupcakes. The rest I made into a halaya for future use. We originally made this in class as a cake but I didn't want to wait that long and instead pour them into muffin pans lined with cupcake paper.

Ingredients
2 1/2 c. cake flour
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 c. oil
1/2 c. water or ube broth
6 eggs, separated
1/2 tsp. ube flavoring
1/2 tsp. ube coloring
1 c. mashed ube
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

Procedure
Shift all dry ingredients in to bowl (use only 3/4 sugar), make a well in the center and dump in the liquid ingredients (oil, water, eggyolks and flavoring) and mix well. Add the mashed ube and blend well.

Make a meringue with the eggwhites, cream of tartar, and remaining sugar and fold it into the batter. Pour into a 9x3 pan lined with a wax paper and bake at 350F for 40 minutes or until done.

The ube flavoring can be substitued with vanilla if it's not available. The ube coloring is there because purple yams aren't always purple. I've seen almost white ube before. Omit it at your own preference. I would served cupcakes this with 7 minute frosting and a dollop of halaya on top. The cake I would serve with a ube filling.