Special Ensaymada

It's probably been more than a year since I made my first ensaymada. The recipe was handwritten in on my recipe notebook, sadly I cannot remember which website my recipe came from.

But there are a few modifications that I have added to the recipe. Instead of the regular melted butter & sugar topping I decided to use plain cream cheese and sugar sprinkles. I know it's not traditional but it's definitely worth trying.

*this gallery also showed the first ensaymada I made

~Recipe~

1 packet of yeast

1/3 cup lukewarm water

1 1/2 teaspoon of white sugar

1/2 cup diluted evap milk or undiluted fresh milk

(the more fat the better)

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 cup melted butter

3 egg yolks

2 1/2 - 3 cups unsifted AP flour

Philadelphia regular cream cheese (thawed & must be spreadable)

Wilton sugar sprinkles

Dissolve yeast in the lukewarm water & 1/2 tsp of white sugar. Mix, then set aside until bubbly/ foamy. This process will also let you know that your yeast is still good to go, if no changes have occurred repeat process with a new pack ( its also a good to have extra just in case ). Mix everything together until well incorporated & smooth. Transfer dough into a well greased bowl, let rise for 1 hour , then form into a log. Flatten & fill with cheese & butter ( or ube jam , sweet bean paste or custard etc. ) Form into snail shell shaped coils in a greased round pan. If making smaller ones divide dough into equal balls then form into smaller snail shells coils & place it in greased muffin or cupcake pans. Let the dough rest for another hour. Preheat oven at 300'F. Cook for 25mins. or until lightly brown. Cool completely then slather with cream cheese or butter. Add the sugar sprinkles on top as well.

Quick and Easy

A few days ago I stumbled upon a recipe of Pinoy-style Custard Cake by a Pinoy Foodie Blogger - Kusina ni Manang. After reviewing her recipe, I was tempted to make one myself since her recipe only called for leche flan ingredients and cake mix in a box.

Custard cake would probably one of my top 20 favorite desserts. The cake is simple yet I love how you get 2 textures of creamy and light in one dessert. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.

Although this recipe was inspired from Kusina ni Manang, I made some adjustments. And here's what I did:

ingredients:

~ Custard Topping~

1 egg

2 egg yolks

1 cup evaporated milk

1/2 can large condensed milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp lemon juice OPTIONAL ( I wish I did this, this usually tempers the sweetness of the custard )

Caramel

sugar and water, adjust according to your preference

Boil mixture in a sauce pan, then add to your cake pans when once the syrup turns amber colored.

BE CAREFUL THIS IS VERY HOT!

~Cake~

I used French Vanilla Cake Mix from Duncan Hines, I just followed what the box asked for. I think the French Vanilla Mix is the best cake for this, it was a good bargain for $0.76 cents!

Procedure:

Preheat your oven 350F

I used 2 pans 6" and 8" round baking pans.

Mix all your custard ingredients until well combined. Add a thin custard mixture to your caramelized pans. Prepare your water bath for your pans. Fill a larger pan (such as a roasting pan) with warm water, make sure it is large enough that will fit the pans you're going to use for the cake. This is called Bain - Marie method. The water should be in the mid level of the larger pan when you add your cake pans.

Bake Custard Topping for 30mins. uncovered.

After 30mins when the custard is set ( jiggly in the middle ), start mixing your cake. Then add your cake mixture to the pans and bake for another 30mins or so. The cooking time for this last part is dependent on the size of cake pans used. You still need to use the Bain- Marie method for this second part. You may need to add more water to your bath.

When you cake is set and a tester comes of clean, your cake is ready. Cool for 10mins or so. Loosen the sides then invert in the pan. I found it best to chill the cake in the fridge overnight.

I really love the outcome of this experiment. I may use chocolate cake mix next time. Thanks Manang for this wonderful recipe!

What to do with your green tomatoes?

A week ago I cleaned up my garden space starting with the tomato plants. I know some of the fruits will not ripen anymore and I remembered that I have a pie recipe for them from a Food Network Magazine. I did have a lot of them about 4 pints, the plant was given by a friend and I think they were volunteer cherry tomatoes from her compost.

These tomatoes were very sour and I usually add them when I saute stuff. I already froze the other ripened ones and I already have a lot in my fridge. I never knew before you can make a pie out these green ones. So with my favorite pie crust recipe I made a green tomato filling to try this southern dessert. And it was later that I found out that this was southern when I searched from Food Network. A recipe of Paula Deen popped and right there I knew.

My Review: The pie was like a "sweet 'n sour" pie. A little too tart for me maybe next time I will cut the amount of lemon juice but aside from that it was good with my favorite all-butter pie crust. I did take half of the pie to friend's house and she liked it. And this pie would be best served with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. At least now I don't have to worry about my green tomatoes.

My Pie Week

For the past few weeks, I have been daydreaming about making my own pie - Peach Mango Pie specifically. This is a deep-fried pie filled with luscious creamy cubed Philippine Mangoes and Peaches. Since mangoes are abundant back home as apples are here in the US, Jollibee ( most popular Filipino owned fast food chain ) probably made use of what's most available. It's what they offer since Mickey D's have the apple pie on their menu. The Peach Mango Pie is my favorite, I even bought some in California last Feb.

Being here in the US, I have been a trying hard DIY girl on almost everything I think is possible to accomplish most especially in the kitchen. So after a few weeks of research I decided to make my own Peach Mango Pie. But I warned myself mentally that I may not achieve the exact same thing that Jollibee sells. One thing is certain though, I know it will be a fun and fulfilling journey.

The Fruit

Number one on the list is the Mango, since I got here the closest thing that I ever had to our mangoes are the Ataulfo from Mexico and they're $1.25 ea ( what the F*!) Meijer price. It was definitely impractical to use them for my experiment. But I found those Apple-Mango kind ( as we call them back home, they're not sour even if they're not ripe ) on the same isle and on sale 2 for a buck, I thought they will hold well since they will be cooked with the canned sliced Peaches.

The Filling

I followed a Pineapple Filling recipe for this one and it was really nice. I had so much fun eating them and decided to give some to my 90 y.o. neighbor. And she found them very nice too. My second batch - baked not fried, I added some almond extract to see how they turned out. And the taste was a little bit different, I liked the plain mango and peach combo better.

The Crust

I was tempted to buy a rolled pie crust for this project but I remembered my pie crust recipe from FoodNetwork in my "untested" folder file. I decided to try if it would work well for my recipe. They were nice compared to the store brought kind but my second batch was flaky and less buttery. But I made a wonderful discovery from Paula Deen's recipes, she used ready made biscuits for her fried apple pies. And so, I bought some and used them for my first batch.

Ready-Made Biscuits

They are good when you consume it right away but they get soggy from the oil if you dont. The taste was wonderful and you can get a lot of ideas if you use Paula's method. I used buttermilk kind for my first batch.

Pineapple Pie

I was also nostalgic for commercially made Pineapple Pie you can find in most local bakeries back home so I made one too. They're the too commercially-tasting pies you ever tasted in your life but they were good. They reminded me of one summer that I stayed with a relative that owned a bakeshop. It was the most delicious vacation ever, having freshly baked bread everyday was the best ever. I guess that is how I fell in love with the smell of freshly baked goodies.

My Pineapple Pie creation's timing was impeccable since we were having potluck for a pilgrimage to Mama Mary's Shrine for the weekend. I brought the 9" pie for dessert and they were giving compliments of how good it was. I felt like hitting the jackpot, and was pleased with how my experiment turned out.

Pie Crust recipe 2

This I got from Smitten Kitchen, she noted in her blog that she loves butter flavor more than the the flakiness. And having tasted the flaky crust recipe , it made me decide to go for recipe 2. It will be my mainstay pie crust recipe from now on. The aroma is simply divine.

My Style

Peach Mango Pie filling

1 canned sliced peaches in light syrup, cubed

1 large ripe mango, cubed

Procedure is the same with Pineapple Filling

I omitted the lemon ingredient

For Baked

Form dough into a log, then flatten it. Cut into desired shape fill and brush with water on the sides and seal with fork twines.

Bake 375F, for 20 mins or until brown. Cooking time varies with each oven.

For Fried

Follow Paula's method, she even has a video you can watch.

Pie Crust recipe 2 is for a 8" dish but I was able to roll the dough thin enough to fit in an 9" dish. I was under time constraint so I only refrigerated recipe 2 for 30mins prior to rolling it. Pineapple Pie filling was made of (1 of each) 20oz. canned crushed pineapple and diced, there's a little extra. I used the 375F for the temperature to bake my pie.

Taste Review

My Peach Mango Pie is the closest you can get to having the aunthentic Jollibee pie. The filling is a little tart but I like it the way it is without the Almond Extract since I experimented with it too. I think the variety of mango that I was using also played the big factor, Philippine mangoes are incomparable especially the ones from Cebu - fragrant , creamy and they simply melt in your mouth. Probably next time I will try to make the filling with mango puree or juice. And although the pie should be fried the baked ones are my choice - less fat.

As for the Pineapple Pie, its a little tart too but it is perfect with Pie Crust Recipe 2. Tartness never really bothers me, I enjoy bites of sourness in my tastebuds. Although I was craving for the commercially tasting one, I was happy with how it turned out.

This experience surely satisfied my cravings. But for me I can tell you they were wrong about the expression "easy as pie", making pies is not all easy - especially if its double crust. But I guess after your first attempt you can say that line. It's very challenging but it can be very rewarding as well. I'm happy for my pie week, just think of the different recipes that I can make in the future. Sweet!

The Color of My Summer

Yesterday, it was a beautiful day. I was attending to my garden and I couldn't help myself but take pictures of the Asian veggies growing in my tiny garden space. I just a few took shots with Kodak Easy Share C613, I bet my shots would be better if it was taken on a DSLR camera - another wish list.

Then later on my son and I explored the compound for other picture worthy scenes. There was plenty of things to see and I enjoyed that I was sharing this with my 3 year old. I told him the story of how bees cook up nectar from flowers into honey. He loves honey so it was fascinating for him.

Some of the pictures that I took were from my Bok-choy ( pechay ) - they had tiny yellow flowers but I was not expecting to see them this early since they looked small. I also had shots of thistle flowers, the plant wasn't much to look at when it was growing from my space. I had to pull it out too since it was too prickly, but the ones growing in the pond had nice flowers. And there were those tiny lavender wild flowers, they were lovely too. Even the bees agree with me, my son spotted a busy group collecting nectar and that was when I shared the honey story to him.I also took pictures of my son's hand, he found two blossoms of Dandelions and he wanted me to take pictures of them too. I find them really cute.