I’ve heard often enough that the easiest way to learn how to bake is to start with a banana bread. While the ubiquitous and comfortably familiar banana bread is a cinch to make, there’s actually more to baking a banana bread than meets the eye. If you’re just starting out on your Baking with the …
Walnut Cookies
Chinese New Year is just around the corner when all the shelves in the groceries are filled with nut cookies. Mostly these are almond cookies and cashew cookies. Walnut cookies, while also traditional, are not as ubiquitous yet walnuts symbolize happiness for the whole family. Lunar New Year cookies are simple, fuss-free and easy to …
Sugee Cookies
Sugee Cookies are small pockets of deliciousness that releases crumbly morsels of roasted buttery goodness with every bite. These cookies are surprisingly one of the easiest cookies to make – a virtual fuss-free treat. Ghee is the star of this rich and sweet crunchy cookie. It is commonly used in Indian, Middle Eastern and South …
Leche Flan
Leche Flan is a rich milk custard, laden with a syrupy caramel. Literally translated as Milk Flan, it is a heavy custard made with evaporated and condensed milks. Apparently it is the Filipino version of creme caramel. The probability of Leche Flan having its origins from Spain, though, makes more sense. Traditionally made for celebrations …
Red Velvet Cupcakes
Every baking book I own contains a recipe for Red Velvet Cake. Like the Lava Cake, Red Velvet seems to have been a fad in the early part of the century although it seems that it’s been around since the 1940s. The story goes that a food coloring company known as Adams Extract needed a …
Make Your Own Brown Sugar
What can I say about brown sugar? Top of mind: there are so many varieties that it can get downright confusing which to use. And what difference will it make in a recipe if I use one or the other? What if it’s not available in my part of the world? Truth: when you get …
Easily Make Buttermilk at Home
I have a strong reluctance to purchase a carton of buttermilk. For most of my baking batters, I haven’t needed more than half a carton, even for pancakes. So while I’ve never run out of buttermilk, I’ve had to either throw away the leftover countless times or I’ve had to quickly decide on a recipe …
DIY Baking Powder
DIY Baking Powder: for every teaspoon of baking soda, add two teaspoons of cream of tartar. I also add a teaspoon of cornstarch or arrow root to avoid the powder clumping. That, and storing my homemade baking powder in an airtight container. You can, of course, make bigger batches so that it’s always handy in …
Cashew Cookies
There is a special meaning to every type of traditional Chinese New Year cookie. Cashew nut cookies symbolize wealth because the shape and color of the nuts resemble ancient Chinese gold ingots. Cashew nut cookies seem to be a relatively modern-ish evolution of the more traditional peanut cookies which represent long life and good health. …
Food for the Gods
The first time I got ahold of a recipe for Food for the Gods was when my friend, Mike, asked me to teach him how to bake it. It was meant to be a gift to show-off to his then-I-Want-Her-To-Be-My-Girlfriend friend who supposedly, loves Food for the Gods. Up until then, I had only tasted …