Food Friday: Savory Monkey Bread

Monkey bread sounds funny and I don't know why this pull-apart bread is called such. Most recipes I've seen are sweet, usually with sticky gooey cinnamon sugar and butter coating . Although I love sweet bread, I wasn't feeling it and opted for a savory one. I added cubed sharp cheddar cheese in the dough and as topping. The rolls are very soft and fluffy and great to munch on anytime of the day. I can easily go ape over this bread.🐵

Cheddar Cheese Monkey Bread

3½ cups bread flour

½ tablespoon instant yeast

1 tablespoon sugar

½ tablespoon kosher salt

¼ cup powdered milk

½ teaspoon garlic powder, optional

½ teaspoon onion powder, optional

1¼ cups water

¼ cup olive oil

1 cup cubed sharp cheddar cheese

¼ cup melted butter

¼ cup finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese

• In the bowl of a standing mixer whisk together flour, instant yeast, sugar, salt, powdered milk, and garlic and onion, if using. Stir in water and oil. With the dough hook attachment, knead on medium speed for 2 minutes, scraping sides if necessary. Increase speed to medium-high and knead for 5 minutes until dough is smooth and pliable. Transfer on the kitchen counter and knead in the cubed cheese. Transfer dough into a lightly greased container, cover with plastic wrap, and let ferment for 1 to 1½ hours. 
• Lightly knead dough, divide, and shape into 1-inch balls. Dip each ball in the melted butter and roll in the remaining cheese. Place balls almost touching in a 10-inch round pan. Cover with plastic wrap and leave to rise for 45 minutes. Bake in a preheated 375° F oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown. 

Mooncake

assorted lotus seed mooncakes

lotus seed mooncake with a salted duck egg yolk

I've always wanted to make mooncakes for Chinese mid-Autumn festival [this year it's on September 12] but couldn't find easy to use molds. I finally found and bought from a Singaporean catalog one large round with 4 different plate designs and a small square with 3 plates. For the filling I used lotus seeds I bought from the Asian store and added one salted duck egg yolk in each of the 3 big ones. Some have chopped walnuts which I really like and a few I added pandan paste to the filling. I still have to learn how to make the impressions more pronounced though and I think I have to use a different recipe for the pastry to achieve that. Right now I'm happy with the way they look and I love the flavor of all of them. 

The lotus seeds I got were already shelled and only some of the seeds had the green thingie inside that needs to be discarded before cooking. 

Lotus Seed Mooncake

pastry shell

173 ml golden syrup

78 ml light olive oil

¼ teaspoon baking soda

½ tablespoon water

10½ ounces all-purpose flour, sifted twice

lotus seed filling

1 pound shelled dried lotus seeds

water

1 cup sugar, or to taste

shelled watermelon seeds, chopped walnuts, pandan paste

egg wash

1 well beaten egg

• Pastry: Mix syrup, olive oil, baking soda, and water. Slowly add flour and mix with hands or rubber spatula until incorporated. It will be sticky. Cover with plastic wrap and leave on the kitchen counter for 6 hours.
• Filling: Wash the seeds, cover with water and soak for 3 hours. Remove the green germ if necessary. Wash 2 more times. Put in a medium saucepan, add water, and boil gently until tender. Cool slightly, then blend in a blender or food processor until smooth. Return to the pan, add sugar, and cook until all the moisture has evaporated. Cool before adding flavoring, watermelon seeds, or walnuts. 
• Shape and bake: Proportion should be 65% filling to 35% pastry shell. Shape portions of filling into balls. Flatten a piece of dough into a very thin round, place the ball in the center and cover completely with dough. Place the balls seams side down on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Use the mold to stamp the design or leave plain if you don't have one but flatten slightly. Brush with egg wash and bake in a preheated 400° F oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely before cutting into portions.

Tocino de Cielo

tiny silky smooth sweet "fat back" from heaven

Tocino de Cielo or bacon from heaven, is another Filipino sweet inherited from the Spanish. In the Philippines, these rich silky smooth treats, made with only 3 ingredients, egg yolks, sugar, and water, are cooked in small individual molds. I baked mine in a small rectangular pan and cut them into one inch cubes to resemble fat back, which is probably the reason it is called tocino de cielo.

Tocino de Cielo
4 tablespoons sugar for caramel
1¼ cups sugar
½ cup water
12 egg yolks

• In a small stainless steel skillet, melt the 4 tablespoons sugar until golden or dark brown. Pour into a 6 x 4 inch pan; set aside. Over medium heat in a small sauce pan, cook the remaining sugar and water to 200° F; let cool. In a small bowl, stir the egg yolks with a rubber spatula; slowly pour the cooled syrup, stirring until well combined. 

• Pour over a fine strainer into the prepared pan. Place the pan into a larger pan; carefully fill the larger pan with hot water halfway up the sides of the smaller pan. Bake in a preheated 300°F oven for 40 to 50 minutes. Let cool completely on the kitchen counter; refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight. Turn  the pan over on a cutting board and carefully unmold. Cut into 1 inch cubes. 

The Daring Bakers: Sinfully Delicious Candies

peach pâte de fruit

chocolate covered sponge candy

peanut butter and jelly cups

pomegranate molasses ganache in white chocolate

bittersweet chocolate with chai cream center

brown sugar meringue and salted honey caramels in bittersweet chocolate

rosewater cream in white chocolate

white chocolate coated grapes

The August 2011 Daring Bakers' Challenge was hosted by Lisa of Parsley, Sage, Desserts, ad Line Drives and Mandy of What The Fruitcake?!. These two sugar mavens challenged us to make sinfully delicious candies! This was a special challenge for the Daring Bakers because the good folks at   http://www.chocoley.com/ offered an amazing prize for the winner of the most creative and delicious candy!

I got carried away again with this challenge. It's candies and chocolates! How can I resist making different flavored fillings for chocolate? The last time I made was a simple hot chile infused chocolate candies in February of this year; before that, was in 2009. I used to make molded chocolate candies very often since I discovered 12 years ago how much fun it is to make them but I have since moved on to other yummy stuff and set aside my candy making activities. Thank you Mandy and Lisa for reviving my enthusiasm for making chocolate and fruit candies at home.

The recipes provided by Lisa and Mandy and how to temper chocolate are here.

Peach Pâte de Fruit

It's always a treat to nibble on these tiny fruity gems.

Dark Chocolate Covered Sponge Candy

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cups
This is my current favorite. The peanut butter is very creamy and I love the chewiness of the orange flavored wine jelly. I used dark chocolate for these.

chocolate cups

tempered bittersweet or milk chocolate

mini tin foil cups

peanut butter cream

3 tablespoons heavy cream

1 cup white chocolate chips

½ cup creamy peanut butter

¼ teaspoon sea salt

wine or fruit jelly

1½ cups grape juice or sweet wine

1 box powdered reduced sugar/sugar-free pectin

2 cups or less sugar

• Prepare the chocolate cups: Brush cups with chocolate. Turn upside down to remove excess chocolate and turn back up and leave on the kitchen counter or refrigerator to set.
• Prepare the peanut butter cream: Heat cream in a double boiler; add chocolate and let melt completely. Add peanut butter and salt and stir gently until fully incorporated. Let cool for 10 minutes then transfer into a disposable piping bag; set aside.
• Prepare the jelly: Place wine or juice and pectin in a medium sauce pan and whisk to combine. Heat to rolling boil then stir in sugar. Cook for 1 minute. Transfer into an 8 x 8 inch square pan lined with foil. Leave on the kitchen counter or refrigerator to set. When firm, cut into shapes with small cookie or fondant cutters.
• Fill the chocolate cups: Cut the tip of piping bag and pipe peanut cream 2/3 full. Press jelly on top of peanut cream until embedded but still visible. Refrigerate until set.
• To serve: Peel off tin foil cups and transfer into a serving plate.

Pomegranate Molasses Ganache Balls

The ganache is tart and sweet and best with sweet white chocolate. I found a bag of malted milk crisps at the candy supply store and used the bits to cover the soft ganache balls. They add very little sweetness but I like the malted milk flavor.

ganache

3 tablespoons heavy cream

1 cup semi sweet or milk chocolate
1 tablespoon butter

3 tablespoons honey
½ cup pomegranate molasses

coating

tempered white chocolate

malted milk crisps

• Make the ganache: In a double boiler, heat the cream; Add the chocolate and butter and heat until melted, stirring to combine. Add honey and pomegranate molasses and gently stir. Transfer half into a container and let set in the refrigerator. Leave the other half on the kitchen counter.
• Coat the ganache balls: Pour tempered chocolate on round candy molds and place in the freezer for a few minutes. Fill with room temperature ganache just below the rims of the mold cavities, put back in the freezer for a few minutes, then cover bottom with tempered chocolate. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Form the chilled ganache into 1 inch balls; roll in malted milk crisps and refrigerate until firm. 
• To serve: Unmold white chocolate candies and trim edges if necessary. Transfer both chocolates into paper cups and serve. Refrigerate leftovers.

Bittersweet Chocolate with Chai Cream Center

chocolate shells

tempered bittersweet or semi sweet chocolate

chai cream 

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream

1 tablespoon black tea leaves

1 tablespoon Earl Grey tea leaves

1 large cinnamon stick, broken in two

8 whole cloves

8 whole black peppercorns

cardamom seeds from 8 pods

¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg

1 inch piece ginger, sliced thin

2 cups white chocolate chips

• Crack or pound cinnamon stick, cloves, black peppercorns, and cardamom seeds. 
• In a small pan, heat cream over medium heat and add the leaves and spices. Cover pan and simmer over lowest heat for 15 minutes. Turn heat off and let steep for another 15 minutes. 
• Strain though a fine sieve into a glass bowl and set on top of a pan of low simmering water (or double boiler). When heated through, add white chocolate, a handful at a time, stirring until melted. Cool to room temperature. Fill chocolate molds and leave in the refrigerator until set. Unmold, cover in foil wrappers or set on paper cups.

Brown Sugar Meringue Cookies and Salted Honey Caramels Dipped in Bittersweet Chocolate
I love these tiny buttons. They are all at once crunchy, chewy, and chocolaty. Very addicting! 

chocolate shell

tempered bittersweet chocolate

flaked sea salt, optional

cookies

2 egg whites

a pinch of cream of tartar

1 cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

salted honey caramel recipe here

• Cookies: Preheat oven to 300° F. In the bowl of a standing mixer with wire whisk attachment, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy. Gradually add brown sugar and beat until stiff and glossy. Beat in vanlla extract. Transfer meringue into a piping bag; snip a ¼ inch opening and pipe 1-inch rounds 1 inch apart on parchment-lined sheet pans. With slightly wet fingers, flatten top of cookies. Bake until golden brown and dry to the touch, about 20 minutes. Turn heat off and leave in the oven for another 20 minutes. Remove parchment papers from sheet pans; gently remove cookies from paper.
• Caramel: Transfer into a piping bag and pipe a teaspoon on top of each cookie. 
• Dip cookies in tempered chocolate. Sprinkle a few grains of flaked sea salt, if desired. Leave on the kitchen counter until chocolate coating is set.

Rosewater Cream in White Chocolate

The fondant is soft that it oozes out when I bite into it.

chocolate shell

tempered white chocolate

rosewater cream fondant

1 cup heavy cream

1½ cups white chocolate pieces

2 teaspoons rosewater

a few drops of pink food dye

garnish

unsprayed rose petals

• Prepare molds, preferably shallow, with tempered chocolate; refrigerate while preparing fondant. 
• In a double boiler, heat cream and add chocolate. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in rosewater and food dye. Transfer into a piping bag; snip a small hole and pipe a thin layer on top of chocolate. Cover with chocolate. Refrigerate until completely set. Unmold and garnish tops with rose petals using a small amount of melted chocolate.

White Chocolate Coated Grapes

The recipe for these sweet fruit candies comes from Michel Richard, a Washington D.C. restaurateur and chef. I was watching a local TV show featuring Washington, D.C. restaurants and when I saw him preparing the candies I thought I should share it because the fruit candy is so simple to make yet really delicious and satisfying.

well chilled and dried seedless grapes, stems removed

1 cup tempered white chocolate

icing sugar

• Place grapes in a large bowl. Pour a little of the tempered chocolate while constantly stirring the grapes. Pour enough chocolate to cover the grapes, still constantly stirring until chocolate has almost set. Sift icing sugar all over while constantly stirring grapes, making sure they don't stick together, until completely set and dry to the touch. Transfer into a serving bowl or plate.