Strawberry Panna Cotta

The first time I had panna cotta was at a Japanese restaurant. Though it is an Italian dessert, the one I had was still so good. It had the right balance of creaminess and sweetness but it was still very light. I looked for recipes online and they are very simple and leave you with a lot of rooms to be creative. I started with using heavy cream but I found it was too creamy so I decided to use half & half. The texture was creamy enough and it was much lighter, the way I preferred.

So here is my take on this delicious panna cotta.

Ingredients:

1 small package of tasteless/colorless gelatin
1/4 cup skim milk
2 cups half & half (substitute with heavy cream for creamier texture)
1/4 cup white sugar

1 tbsp condensed milk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 package strawberry jello (optional)

Directions:

1. Make a bowl of strawberry jello and pour about 1-2 tablespoons into each ramekins. Refrigerate until they set.

2. In a small bowl, mix gelatin with skim milk and set aside.

3. Combine half & half with sugar in a small size saucepan over a medium heat and bring it to simmer. Add condensed milk and the gelatin mixture, bring it to boil. Make sure to keep stirring or the liquid might flow over when boiled.

4. Turn off the stove and let the mixture cool down a little before mixing in vanilla extract.

5. Pour the liquid into the prepared ramekins. Make sure that the strawberry jello is set, otherwise the strawberry mixture will get mix with the cream mixture. Refrigerate them over night.

6. Serve with fresh fruits or fruit sauce. I had made some raspberry sauce. They are great together.

I'm going to try making a chocolate one next!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

After watching some Food Network shows on red velvet cupcakes, I decided I'd like to try my hand on it. I've never really had a red velvet cupcake before. Though, I had an alternate version of it, chocolate velvet cupcake, which I enjoyed so much. There are many websites that offer the recipe. Here is a recipe from the foodnetwork.com. I decreased the amount of oil and replaced with some butter. And also increased the amount of cocoa because I love chocolate. Then I topped them with cream cheese frosting, some raspberries and curled white chocolate. They are delicious and pretty!

Chocolate & Vanilla Checkerboard Cookies

I have always wanted to make these cookies. They were one of my favorites when I was young. The recipe is quite simple.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter (2 sticks) soften

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 egg

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup unsweetened chocolate

Directions:

1. Melt the unsweetened chocolate on a bowl over a pot with hot water. Set aside to cool.

2. Cream the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add sugar, brown sugar, and baking powder into the bowl, beat to combine.

3. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract. Slowly adding the flour into the mixing bowl (1/4 cup at a time), mix until combined. If the dough gotten too hard to mix with electric mixing, mix with a wooden spoon instead.

4. Divided the dough into half. Set one dough aside and make a well in the other dough. Pour melted chocolate into the well and knead till combined.

5. Shape both doughs into a log about 8 inches long then wrap them in a plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 2 hours or until firm.

6. Cut each log into quarters with a long sharp knife. First, form the bottom half of the log with a piece of vanilla and a piece of chocolate. Alternate the colors to form the top half of the log. Make sure all the pieces stick together in a log, then wrap tightly and refrigerate for 15-30 minutes.

7. Cut the log into 1/4 inches thick slices. Place on the baking sheets and bake for 8 to 10 minutes in a preheated 375 F oven or until the edges are firm and golden brown.

Pumpkin Roll Cake

To stick with the holidays theme and the need to use up the pumpkin puree, I've decided to bake a pumpkin roll cake.

It's delicious, light and not too hard to make. You can find the recipe here. The recipe is good as is so I did not change anything to it. However, rolling the cake can be quite tricky. I had a few tries and still haven't got it quite right.

Here is how I do it:

1. Once the cake is done set it aside. The cake should not be left to cool longer than 5 minutes before the first rolling. Meanwhile, dusted some powered sugar on a clean towel (I use cotton dish towel but some people uses a pillow case). Make sure to dust the towel throughly, this will prevent the cake from sticking to the towel when you have to roll it out.

2. Use a small knife and ran through the edges of the sheet pan then slowly flipping the cake onto the towel.

3. Peel of the baking sheet that was use on the bottom of the cake. Gently roll up the towel with the cake inside.

4. Put the towel rolled cake on a wire rack and leave it out until completely cool.

5. Gently unroll the cake. This part is usually the hardest part for me because the cake would break when I unroll it. But don't worry if your cake breaks. The cream cheese filling will help holding it up when you roll it back.

6. Spread the cream cheese frosting evenly onto the cake and roll the cake back but this time without the towel.

7. Wrap it in a plastic or aluminum foil wrap and put it in an air-tight container and refrigerate until serve.