Birthday Madeleine

Sorry for having been MIA...

This is a long overdue post, for Karen's birthday : )



Supposedly, we were to SURPRISE Karen
with a birthday dinner : D
Well, the surprise didn't work out...
but hey, DESSERT is still essential! : D

Upon getting this Lindt recipe on Chocolate Petit Fours,
I decided i'd give it a try ; )
Plus it's easier to transport than a huge bday cake : b

EGGS! how can we forget goh goh's favorite? :)

Gooey chocolate mixture with melted butter...

Mix flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt altogether : )

Spray some PAM on the newly purchased
silicone madeleine pan : 0
well... i didn't have any petit fours pan : /
so improvise it is!

Mix everything together : D
oh... semisweet x bittersweet x milk chocolate...
SMELL SO GOOD : )))

Place some raisins & choco chips at the bottom,
fill the madeleine pan with the gooey goodness,
then top it with fresh blueberries : )

Somehow, there was a lot of leftover batter : 0
blueberries ran out eventually...
so i use marshmallows and shredded coconut also!

A close-up of how they came out : )

It turned out that Karen had fun
with the gift goh goh and i gave:
ICE CREAM MACHINE!!
& this warm, gooey petit dessert
became the perfect match to her
fresh vanilla bean ice-cream : D
YAY!

Instant Tart... no more!

A few years ago,
when i was vaguely interested in making desserts,
but very interested in bringing something homemade,
something special for people's birthdays,
(wow, that part of me has not changed a bit!)
I decided to make an easy birthday 'pie.'

i used something that every baker would be shameful about:

Keebler Ready Crust Graham...
I remember decorating the pie with colorful M&Ms,
while mumbling to myself,
"Wow! That looks... cheap & disgusting."

I love my friends, and that was the end of those pies.

Fast forward to 2 days ago,
seeing 2 tubs of sour cream +
finding 1 sour cream tart recipe while flipping through
the beautiful book: Desserts by the Yard (Thx Jules!) --
I took it as a sign *_*

I NEED TO LEARN HOW TO MAKE A TART!

Although... I'll be honest.
I still took a semi-cheat route 0_o"
I used betty Crocker's Pie crust mix...

But hey! At least i tried rolling a dough
with a wooden pin for the very first time.
I decided to add some cocoa powder also,
just to see if i can incorporate any chocolate flavor --
but i couldn't taste it at all after the crust came out...
so that was a waste -_-"



























Yard's recipe called for fresh raspberry
or red currents - neither of which i had at hand
nor was able to get coz EVERYTHING is closed on 1/1
(or so i was told).

So, hei's creativity came in and covered the tart
filled with dainty marshmallow instead! : D














Ohhhhhh...
I found myself smiling at the tart
as i took it out of the oven...
*_* Creamy, slightly brown dessert heaven!
Best paired with ice-cream / fresh fruits! : D

Savory Cupcake?

Expectation is an interesting thing.
We have all kinds of expectations in life,
and many of them associate with stereotypes.

If i say 'cupcake,' what comes to your mind?
Whatever flavor it is, it's quite likely to be sweet, yay?

That's why this Sour Cream Cupcake experiment
was so interesting.

Some appreciated this, but some did not.

Besides the mere taste factor,
I think it has a lot to do with expectations.
When I told people I gave them cupcakes,
they believed it'd be sweet --
(or even too sweet, as most cupcakes are...)

However, I did not add sugar into the mix at all.
The Sour Cream cupcake recipe did not call for much,
except lots of sour cream & some butter.

(You see how short the instructions on the paper are?)














I wasn't sure how people would take a 'non-sweet' cupcake,
so i decided to try things out,
and added a dozen mini-marshmallows to each cup.














Thinking back, that might have been a mistake.














After the oven drill, they puffed up very beautifully...
& looked almost like a biscuit 0_o?!














After re-evaluation, I decided this:
a) If i were to make this a sweet cupcake,
i shall add sugar to the mix,
even though the recipe omitted it.
b) If i were to add marshmallows,
I would lay it in the middle of the mix,
instead of the bottom.
c) I shall try to make it a real savory one next time,
with cheese & salt... & maybe bacon?

Whatever I try next time,
maybe i need to let people know --
what it looks like --
might not necessarily be what they expect it to be.