Mint Chocolate Cupcakes

mint chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting
I have been making cupcakes recently. Cupcakes have been the "it" thing since the Magnolia Bakery cupcakes became famous. Many copycat bakeshops have sprouted not just in the USA but everywhere on the planet and I have been reading about them in several food blogs. Recently a very successful bakeshop that only sells cupcakes in Washington, D.C. was featured in the Washington Post which makes me want to open my own bakeshop, if only I can find a rich partner or financier or the courage to start a business. I have baked red velvet cupcakes before which were delicious but require a lot of work and clean-up. The latest I made was chai cupcakes which were just okay, the chai flavor was very faint and the recipe had loads of sugar. Next on my cupcake list is either chocolate or an alcohol drink inspired (margarita, zombie, etc.) but when I found online a really easy chocolate with mint cupcakes I knew right then the zombie cupcakes can wait. The mint chocolate cupcakes are a breeze to make, not excessively sweet, and have a super soft melt-in-your-mouth goodness. I iced them with my favorite buttercream frosting tinted with green food color gel. (Just in time for St. Patrick's Day celebration.) I have already devoured 3 of these delicious cupcakes, 15 more to go.:-)

Mint Chocolate Cupcakes
½ cup boiling water
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ cup grapeseed oil or butter
½ teaspoonvanilla extract
1 teaspoon finely minced mint leaves or ½ tsp mint extract
4 large eggs, separated
1¼ cup sugar
¾ cup flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
for garnish: small mint leaves, chopped roasted pistachio

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Line 18 cupcake tins with baking papers.
• In a heatproof glass cup, add cocoa powder to boiling water, stir until smooth. Add oil or butter, vanilla extract, and mint. Stir until mixture is glossy, set aside to cool. Stir the egg yolk with a fork until smooth, set aside.
• In a large bowl, sift together 1 C sugar, the flour, baking soda, and baking powder, set aside.
• In another bowl, beat egg whites with mixer on high for 1 minute, add 2 tablespoons of the remaining ¼ cupsugar and beat on high for 30 seconds. Slowly add the remaining sugar, beating until soft peaks form, about 2 minutes, set aside. Add the chocolate mixture and egg yolks to the flour mixture. Using a flexible rubber spatula, stir by hand until well combined, scraping bottom well. Add ½ cup of the whipped egg white and stir well to lighten the flour mixture. Gently fold the rest of egg white mixture until the batter is of uniform chocolate color. The batter will be light.
• Using a small ladle, spoon batter ¾ full. Bake for 15 minutes or until top springs back when touched. Cool in pans until ready to frost.

the softest velvety smooth chocolate cupcake

Buco, Pandan, And Sago (Tapioca Balls)

buco pandan salad with mini sago balls

Over a year ago I had buco pandan salad in a friend's house but I kept forgetting to make one at home. It's similar to the ubiquitous Filipino fruit salad made from canned fruit cocktail, canned cream, and sugar, some recipes add condensed milk which I find too cloyingly sweet. That fruit salad is a dessert that is both beloved by most and perhaps ridiculed by some Filipinos. I grew up eating them at parties, fiestas, or any get-together, and at home. The cherries were so special because there were very few pieces in a can and were divided among us when we were small. I don't know why as children we were attracted to those bright red things.:)

I can't remember the last time I made fruit salad, I normally eat just fresh fruits. Today I had a sudden craving for fruit salad but was not in the mood to drive for a can of fruits, and remembered I have both canned and frozen buco. So I finally made the buco pandan salad which I think is way much better than the canned fruit cocktail and I prefer the combination of buco and pandan flavors anytime anyway which is so much more Filipino, in my opinion. I love this dessert specially with the sago topping.

Buco Pandan Salad
5 pandan leaves, washed very well and snipped into 1 inch pieces
3½ cups water
1 agar bar, shredded
¼ cup sugar, more or less to taste
1 cup water of young coconut
meat of 1 - 2 young coconut, grated
12 ounce can Nestle cream
¼ cup sugar, more or less to taste
½ cup mini sago pearls

• Cook mini sago pearls in rapidly boiling 4 cups water, add sago pearls and let boil until transparent. Drain and transfer into a bowl of cold water; set aside.
• Blend water and pandan in a blender. Strain through a fine sieve into a medium saucepan. Add the shredded agar and let stand for 20 minutes. Heat to boiling, stirring occasionally until all the agar has melted. Stir in sugar. Strain into an 8-inch square pan. Refrigerate until completely set, about 30 minutes. Cut into 1-inch squares.
• In a large bowl mix sugar and cream until sugar has melted, add the buco and buco water. Mix in the pandan gelatin squares. Chill for 2 hours before serving. Add 1 tablespoon of cooked sago on top of individual bowls.

I also made buco pandan sago drink which is also very good. To make: in a tall glass mix ¾ cup each buco and pandan water and 1- 2 tablespoons sugar until sugar has completely dissolved. Add ¼ cup cooked mini sago balls. Mix in ½ cup crushed ice.

buco pandan sago drink

Kue Kiam (Seafood Sausage)

Kue Kiam, also spelled quekiam and kekiam, is a Chinese Filipino fish and shrimp sausage with a slightly chewy texture, which I really love, btw. Kue kiam sausages are gently steamed, then sliced, dipped in beaten egg, shallow fried, and served with sweet and sour thinly sliced radish or sweet and sour chili sauce. I have never made kue kiam before but used to buy them from the store or had them at restaurants in Manila. I haven't seen them in Chinese restaurants here in the US. I made my own recipe by combining the kue kiam recipe in my cookbook and a recipe for seafood sausage I found at the Washington Post food section. I poached the sausages then fried the slices just like kue kiam. The ingredients that I omitted from the Filipino cookbook are cornstarch/flour and the pork fat which I substituted with heavy cream. The result is a lighter color and texture, but when fried becomes a teensy bit chewy like a fishball but very tender inside and sooo delicious.

Kue Kiam
8 ounces catfish fillet
8 ounces shelled medium shrimps, deveined
1 tablespoon finely chopped scallions, white parts only
1½ teaspoon sea salt
2 egg whites
½ cup heavy cream
saran wrap
1 egg, well beaten
light olive or grapeseed oil for frying

• Cut fish and shrimps into cubes. In a food processor mix the seafood, salt, and scallions. Process until mixture is smooth and sticky, scrape down sides. Add egg whites and process until mixed. Add heavy cream slowly while pulsing, do not over-process.
• Cut 3 pieces of saran wrap 8 inches long. Spoon the mixture in a freezer gallon bag and snip an inch off one corner. Form an 8-inch log on one short end of wrap. Or you can simply spoon a third of the mixture near one short end of the wrap, form into a log. Roll using the wrap as a guide, fold ends halfway through and continue rolling up to the end of wrap. Repeat with the rest of the mixture.

• In a skillet heat an inch of water to 180 degrees and poach sausages for 5 minutes on each side. Snip one end of the wrap and slip out the sausages. Slice sausages at an angle, set aside.

• In a non-stick skillet, heat 1 T of oil. Dip sliced sausages in beaten egg and fry until golden brown. Add more oil as needed.
• Serve with sweet and sour radish. To make: peel one medium daikon radish and cut into 2 inch pieces, shave using a vegetable peeler. Mix with 3 T cider vinegar, 2 T sugar, and 1 tsp salt. Chill one hour before using.

sweet and sour shaved daikon

My Sweet Loaf

I've been busy baking the last 2 weeks, the baked goods I post in my baking photo blog without the recipes, just the photos. The photo blog is for a future project with a friend and I'm not sure how long we'll keep it or how it will develop. Yesterday I made a sweet dough that I adapted from the March 2008 issue of Gourmet magazine which is also adapted from the recipe of French master baker Richard Bertinet. The dough is difficult to handle because it is very very sticky and it requires 3 risings. I followed the recipe to a T and the result is a very light and flavorful bread which is surprisingly not very sweet at all. I'm not sure though if I'll make it again because it took me 12 minutes for the dough to come together and took a total of over 5 hours from start to finish. I prefer using the machine to knead bread because it's faster and my arms don't get tired. Maybe if the time comes when I have the need to knead, feeling masochistic, or maybe mad and want to slap someone but can't, I'll prepare sweet dough using this method again.:-)
In case anybody is interested you can watch the video of Bertinet preparing the dough here.

I made one loaf using half of the dough and the other half into pockets filled with bucayo which are already almost gone. Bucayo, mint, orange..mmm


Sweet Dough With Orange And Mint
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons mint-infused whole milk*
1 packet active dry yeast
1 pound 2 ounces bread flour
½ stick unsalted butter, softened
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
1 T cointreau or 1 tsp orange extract
1 egg, beaten with a pinch of salt

• Stir yeast in flour in a large bowl. Rub in butter. Stir in sugar and salt. Fold in milk and eggs with a flexible plastic bowl scraper, rotating bowl, until the liquid is absorbed and a wet sticky dough forms. Scrape dough out onto an unfloured surface. Dough will be very sticky but don't be tempted to add flour. By working the dough through the process of repeatedly stretching and folding into itself, trapping air, the dough will become cohesive and supple.
• Slide your finger underneath both sides of the dough with your thumbs on top. Lift dough up (to about chest level) with your thumbs toward you, letting dough hang slightly. In a continuous motion, swing dough down, slapping bottom of dough onto the surface, then stretch dough up and back over itself in an arc to trap in air. Repeat lifting, slapping, and stretching, scraping surface with flat side of bowl scraper as needed, until dough is supple, cohesive, and starts to bounce slightly off surface without sticking, about 8 minutes to 12 minutes.
• Transfer dough into a lightly floured surface. Form into a ball by folding each edge, in turn, into a center of dough and pressing down well with your thumb, rotating ball as you go. Turn ball over and transfer to a lightly floured bowl, then cover with a kitchen towel. Let rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled, about 1 hour.Stir zest and liqueur together. Gently release dough from bowl with scraper onto a lightly floured surface, then flatten slightly and spread orange mixture. Fold dough in half several times, then work, slapping and stretching as described above until zest mixture is incorporated. Form into a ball and transfer into a lightly floured bowl, cover with kitchen towel. Let rise again in a draft-free place at warm room temperature for 1 hour.
• Gently release dough from bowl with scraper onto a lightly floured surface, do not punch down. Divide into 2 pieces. Form each piece into a ball. Flatten with heel of your hand into a rectangle, 8 x 6 inches. Fold a long edge into center and press seam down with heel of your hand. Fold opposite edge over to meet in center, press seam down with heel of your hand. Fold in half along seam, pressing edges to seal. Repeat with the other ball. Put, seam down, on a lightly buttered large baking sheet. Brush tops of loaves with egg and let stand a few minutes until egg feels dry. Cover with kitchen towel and let rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until almost double and springy, about 1½ hours.
• Preheat oven to 425°F. Brush tops of loaves again with egg. Holding a pair of scissors at a 45 degree angle, make snips along top in a line down center of each loaf. Transfer to oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 400 degrees. Bake until dark golden brown, 20 to 30 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool.

*To make mint-infused milk, bring 1 C plus 2 T whole milk and 1 bunch mint to a simmer in a saucepan, then remove from heat and let stand for 1 hour. Strain through a sieve and return to saucepan, discard mint. Reheat to 130 degrees before using.

with mint butter