6.24.2010

When Life Gives You Lemons...

you make Blueberry Lemon Zest Crumble Bars!

I've been baking quite regularly recently, I can't say the same for my blog updates - but talking about that won't get us anywhere! Along with my baking/cooking, the big boys I mingle with have been mastering the art of starting a fire (their first attempt created a char crusted stove-top and me dizzily gasping for fresh air away from the kitchen/potential carbon-monoxide suicide scene). To their credit, it only took another get-together for them to put a boy scout to shame - what an accomplishment!

So, to accompany their perfectly charred cuts of meat, I tried out my first-ever Lemon Meringue Pie (www.joyofbaking.com). Two days later, I tested my hand again with a new recipe. Unfortunately, this entry is not about those pillowy pies - I kind of just wanted to prove that I had been practicing and not slacking off.

After work this week I've made Blueberry Crumble Bars with a Lemon Zest Twist and a Mango Olive Oil Cake.

The Blue Berry Crumble Bars were made because, well...we had some frozen blueberries (not ideal, I know), a bag of left-over lemons, some empty-bellied guests coming over - and I needed something fast after work.

I had a request from a dear friend Wei for something healthier - a word of warning - this is defiantly not it. A crumble is basically made of a bit of flour and pea-sized pieces of butter mixed with sugar. That's right - it's simple, crazy tasty, and slightly dangerous. Here's the recipe:


I halved the recipe below because Asians tend to eat desserts like fairies(ugh).

Preheat oven to 190C/375F

Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan

1 c white sugar
1 tspn baking powder
3 c all-purpose flour
1 c unsalted butter
1 egg
1 tspn pure vanilla extract
1/2 tspn kosher salt
zest of two lemons

4 c fresh or frozen blueberries
1/2 c white sugar
3 tspn cornstarch

*As with all crumbles or puff pastries, the butter needs to be really cold. I've watched a French youtube clip about making puff pastry and the poor chef took several hours to fold and refrigerate the dough over and over in order achieve the ideal puff and flakiness. Basically, when the butter in the dough is placed in the oven, the butter releases steam and makes the surrounding dough puff up. I'm not too sure why the butter in crumbles need to be ice cold as well - I mostly just follow instructions!! The best way to do it if you don't have hours to spend tri-folding your dough and refrigerating, you can freeze your butter ahead of time (make sure it's the correct amount for your recipe first) and then use a cheese grater to grate the butter into smaller pieces - this ensures that you can get a good dough mixture without having to use your fingers to break down the butter!

  1. In a medium bowl, stir together sugar, flour, salt, lemon zest and baking powder.
  2. In a small bowl, whisk the egg and vanilla together until combined.
  3. Use pastry cutter or your food processor to blend the flour mixture with the butter and egg/vanilla mixture. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan. (If you don't have a pastry cutter or food processor, grate the frozen butter over the flour mixture. Gently cut together with two cold forks. When butter is pretty well coated with the flour, pour over the egg and vanilla mixture - continue to lightly bring together to a loose dough. Press half of dough into the prepared pan as mentioned above)
  4. In another bowl, stir together the sugar and cornstarch. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.
  5. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

6.22.2010

The Wedding


And exactly one month later...


A few months ago, I was asked by the more beautiful half of the Cheng couple, Jessica, if I'd like to challenge my amateur dessert making skills for their wedding. The wedding cake would be out of the question. I wasn't about to ruin the first of many "best day

of their lives" by testing my hand with a multi-tiered cake. I could already imagine the humidity-hating buttercream slipping off the sides of the cake into a sad puddle...albeit a delicious one.


Instead, Jess asked if I could possibly do a dessert table. OF COURSE - I only graze over wedding, baby-shower, garden party themed websites ALL day waiting patiently for someone to ask me to tailor-design a dessert table. This was SO meant to be. And so the planning began...


On the menu:

Raspberry Buttercream Macarons

Cheesecake Pops

Decorated Vanilla Cupcakes (topped off with Lavender & Silver pinwheels)

Fortune Cookies

Milk n' Cookie Shots (Vanilla infused Panna Cotta with Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies)


I really didn't want to do the whole cupcake thing, I mean, let's face it - they're all over the place! BUT, the chocolate covered Cheesecake Pops were sweating out of their dark chocolate coats because of the summer heat, so I had to go with a quick fix. It was the first time I decorated cupcakes, and I must say, the blog-grazing finally came in handy when I had to sketch out the designs. I went with some simple and elegant themes and stuck with lavender and a soft cream color.


The fortune cookies were a huge head-ache. I could only make three at a time and each tray had to be baked for 15 minutes. After all the hard work, they ended up getting stale the second they cooled off from the oven. Please transport me to the Sahara now, dear Kitchen God.




I think my favorite by far were the Milk n' Cookie shots - the bride sweetly told me that her amore liked simple American desserts, and what's more American than the timeless combination of a tall glass of milk with a crispy chewy chocolate chip cookie? Personally, I always trade in the glass of cold milk for another cookie - I'm not a fan of milk. This particular dessert looked cute but at the same time was a Oscar-winning version of the boy/girl next door treat.


Finally, I made them a bunch of raspberry infused macarons...those were on me, simply because I like to practice my Mac-skills, and let me tell you - practice does not make perfect with this French sweet.


If anyone wants any of the recipes that I used, let me know in the comments and I'll get back to you!

Enjoy!