Strawberry Marble Muffins

Niieeeehhhh. forget the last post, i still went back to the kitchen afterall. But i will keep this short and hopefully go back to study soon.

I used to make muffins like... every other day until i got sick of baking the same flavors all the time (Coffee Chocolate Coco, Blueberry, and Apple Cinnamon). They're good, but you just dont get any satisfaction making the same things over and over again. I had plans to study last night, i really did, but 手太閒 and............ out came my first strawberry marble muffins! It was worth giving up my precious study time. XD

Strawberry Marble Muffins

• Make 2 batters of normal muffin mix.


• Add strawberry gelatin to one of them and mix well.


• Spoon the white batter and the pink batter into your muffin wells side-by-side.


• Use a knife and cut through the batter to mix the colors.


• Bake for 20 minutes.


• For other variations, use different flavored jello.

Kitchen break

Due to the fact that physio NBME is coming up, and the fact that i've been stressing out whether or not to study for biochemistry re-take............ i will not be stepping into the kitchen any time soon. i want summerrr............ so i wont have to worry about what to eat everyday and just go downstairs to get nio ro mien and bah wan..................ai. 4 more weeks.........

蔥油餅 (Geen Onion Pancake)

I was supposed to START studying for my Physiology NBME today... but i woke up too late (1:00pm), 混 too much with Mr.Lo, made 蔥油餅, ate my strawberry pie, and... slept from 8 to 11pm. AHHHHHHHH. aiiiiii... im so lazy.

This is the 2nd time i made it. The first time was when i had extra dough left from our Curry Dumplings.. we just added some spring onions on and tah-dahh! out came a 蔥油餅. This time i went to Taiwan Yahoo knowledge and just mixed everything around. pretty easy, i didnt even use a measuring cup. I also found a 蔥油餅 recipe on wikipedia. Hahahaha. Almost everything i learn, it really comes from wikipedia.

蔥油餅
INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup water (hot water for chewy pancakes, cold water for crispy pancakes)
• Green Onions/Spring onions/Scallions, chopped
• Peanut oil, Corn oil, or Lard
• Salt
  

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mix two parts flour (2 cups) with one part water (1 cup).
2. Knead until dough is smooth.Let it rest for 10 minutes
3. Seperate dough into individual balls. Take one piece and flatten it out into a round pancake.
4. Smear the preferred form of grease onto the flattened dough. This could be corn oil, peanut oil, or lard. (Olive oil and butter are not typically used).
5. Sprinkle chopped scallions and salt onto the flattened dough.
6. Roll up the flattened dough into the shape of a snake.
7. Reshape the "snake" into a coil. The dough should now resemble an unbaked cinnamon roll.
8. Flatten up the coil into a pancake wil a rolling pin.
9. Pan-fry the pancake with oil. Both sides of the pancake should be golden brown.
10. Place the fried pancake on a plate covered with a paper towel to cool the pancake and to drain the grease.
    
    

REMEMBER to 打個蛋!!我們打了3個.... :D

3 個蛋 => cholesterol => Low density Lipoproteins LDL => to the blood => build up in artery walls => atherosclerosis => thrombosis => hypertension => myocardial infarction.

*clap clap clap* not bad, not bad.
I did not 混 as much as i thought i did. heeeeeeeeeeee. XD

New and Improved Flaky Pie Crust

So yes, i made strawberry pie again after my pie crust failure a few days ago. This time i did some extensive research on pie crusts intead of trusting some overly easy recipes that makes everything sound too simple.
Thanks to: http://beyondsalmon.blogspot.com/2006/03/technique-of-week-pie-and-tart-dough.html , I was able to make a perfect pie crust.

So what did i do differently this time?

• Chill EVERYTHING beforehand (flour, butter, water...etc)
• Use ICE cold water.
  [ The reason why everything has to be kept cold is to keep the butter from melting. The small butter chunks will create layers with the flour which is what makes the pie flaky. ]
• Do not overwork the dough.
• Refridgerate the dough for at least 30 minutes before rolling it out.
• After you roll out the dough and placed it in your pan, refridgerate it for another 30 minutes.
• Bake pie crust for 20 minutes until golden brown.
• Poke holes onto the crust with a fork if it starts to puff up.

Here's the new and improved Pie Crust Recipe:

Flaky Pie Crust
makes one 8 inch pie crust

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 - 2 teaspoons of sugar
• 1/2 cup shortening, butter, or margrine. CHILLED
• 3 tablespoons ICE COLD water (preferably with ICE)

DIRECTIONS

• Whisk the flour, salt. and sugar together in a medium size bowl.
• With a pastry blender, cut in the cold shortening/butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
• Drizzle 2 to 3 tablespoons ice water over flour. Toss mixture with a fork to moisten, adding more water a few drops at a time until the dough comes together.
• Gently gather dough particles together into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 30 minutes before rolling.
• Roll out dough, and put in a pie plate. Fill with desired filling and bake.

This time i give my pie a 9 out of 10... just cuz there's always room for improvement :) .

Ahh, i wish strawberry season'll last forever.

Fresh Strawberry Pie

PP, which stands for Piotr i Paweł (Peter and Paul), is a mini-supermarket behind our dorm. Every year around this time, they start selling strawberries by kilos. I remember buying a 2 kg box of strawberries last year and ended up throwing half of it away because it rotted before I could finish it all. This year, PP 變聰明了 and they're selling it by 500g or 1kgs. 500gs for 3.49zl (41NT) and 1kg for 6.49 (about 76NT) SOOOOOOO便宜!!! How could I resist not buying another box?? So yea, I decided to make a strawberry pie and bought the 1kg box. I've had different kinds of strawberry pies before (the mousse-y kind), but the 1st time I had one like this was in high school...junior year I think? Jinny bought an entire pie from the bake sale and we ate it during lunch. It was so good that I tried to make it at home with a different recipe that used only cornstarch (no gelatin because my health-freak parents won't let me buy jello...too much artificial coloring/flavoring they said). It turned out alright... not as good as the one Jinny bought though. It was too sweet and the color was ugly. Looked kind of like this but 10 times uglier. Hahaha. I gave up on trying again because strawberries in Taiwan are expensive. So just imagine how happy I was when I saw dirt cheap strawberries at PP :D! Hao bah, here's the recipe:

Basic Flaky Pie Crust (SEE NEXT POST FOR THE NEW AND IMPROVED RECIPE)
from www.allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup shortening, chilled
• 3 tablespoons ice water

DIRECTIONS

• Whisk the flour and salt together in a medium size bowl.
• With a pastry blender, cut in the cold shortening until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
• Drizzle 2 to 3 tablespoons ice water over flour. Toss mixture with a fork to moisten, adding more water a few drops at a time until the dough comes together.
• Gently gather dough particles together into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 30 minutes before rolling.
• Roll out dough, and put in a pie plate. Fill with desired filling and bake.

Comments:
This recipe makes one 9 inch pie. I have a 12'' pie pan so i just added the ingredients as needed and poured in a little bit of vanilla extract. I think I added a little bit too much of the vanilla because the crust tasted kind of... soapy to me. So if you're gonna add vanilla, remember to add a bit of sugar in it too.

Fresh Strawberry Pie
from www.allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS

• 2 (8 inch) pie shells, baked
• 2 1/2 quarts fresh strawberries
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 (3 ounces) package strawberry flavored gelatin

DIRECTIONS

• In a saucepan, mix together the sugar and corn starch; make sure to blend corn starch in completely.
• Add boiling water, and cook over medium heat until mixture thickens. Remove from heat.
• Add gelatin mix, and stir until smooth. Let mixture cool to room temperature.
• Place strawberries in baked pie shells; position berries with points facing up.
• Pour cooled gel mixture over strawberries.
• Refrigerate until set. Serve with whipped cream, if desired.

Comments:
This recipe makes 2 pies so i halved it.
I used about 1/3 cups of sugar instead of 1/2 C since the gelatin is already sweet.
It is better to add warm water (instead of boiling) to the sugar+cornstarch mixture and let it heat up until it thickens. This way the cornstarch will dissolve evenly without the lumps. Remember to keep on stirring the mixture until it thickens.
After adding the gelatin, the mixture will look like Jam. If it looks too thick to pour, add a some water (but not too much!).
Pour the mixture evenly over the strawberries. Make sure you cover all the 洞洞.

This recipe is fairly easy and good. I give my pie a 7 out of 10. The filling was a 9 but the crust was 5. So overall, it's a 7. Mr. Lo liked it but i think he's just saying so 因為他怕說錯話以後就沒東西吃了... hohoho. I'm gonna make this pie again and i'll remember to update on how it turned out.

Oh, by they way, Mr. Lo and I made Pizza again.
SOOO GOOD I TELL YOU.

O.My.Goodness: Pizza!

I've been wanting to make my own pizza for a long time now. So Johnny and I decided to make it after our exams. On Saturday afternoon, i went to buy the ingredients and came home to make the dough. The recipe told me to "cover the dough with a piece of cloth"... all my towels were dirty so i pulled out a new crappy one and left the dough to rise. Kuh Shr, an hour later, when Mr. Lo came upstairs to roll out the dough... the dough dried up on the top and it didnt rise properly. I should've covered it with plastic wrap and sealed it tightly instead. But o well, what's done is done and we baked it anyway. I dont think i need to go into details on how gross it turned out.

We didnt give up. The next morning we tried it again.....and.... wo duh tien. SO GOOOOD. It made me forget about the Biochemistry NBME I bombed the day before. The crust was crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. The picture below is kinda blurry, but the dough raised beaaauuuutifullyyyy. The only thing i would complain about would be the crust looking kinda bland. But then, i can't do anything about that. We have a crappy oven and mr.lo and i just had to make the most of what we had. But then, who cares about the color when it tastes better than it looks? XD.

Pizza Crust
From: http://allrecipes.com/
INGREDIENTS

• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

DIRECTIONS

• In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and brown sugar in the water, and let sit for 10 minutes.
• Stir the salt and oil into the yeast solution. Mix in 2 1/2 cups of the flour.
• Turn dough out onto a clean, well floured surface, and knead in more flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Place the dough into a well oiled bowl, and cover with a cloth. Let the dough rise until double; this should take about 1 hour. Punch down the dough, and form a tight ball. Allow the dough to relax for a minute before rolling out. Use for your favorite pizza recipe.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). If you are baking the dough on a pizza stone, you may place your toppings on the dough, and bake immediately. If you are baking your pizza in a pan, lightly oil the pan, and let the dough rise for 15 or 20 minutes before topping and baking it.
• Bake pizza in preheated oven, until the cheese and crust are golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.

We made 2 pizzas with half of the recipe. It is better to prebake your pizza crust for 10 minutes before putting on your toppings. This way crust can bake evenly.

Pizza Sauce
From: http://allrecipes.com/

INGREDIENTS

• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• salt to taste
• ground black pepper to taste 1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1/2 tablespoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed

DIRECTIONS

• Mix together the tomato paste, water, and olive oil. Mix well.
• Add garlic, salt and pepper to taste, oregano, basil, and rosemary.
• Mix well and let stand several hours to let flavors blend.
• No cooking necessary, just spread on dough.

As for the topping, we layered it with ham, pepperoni, Mozzarella cheese, another layer of pepperoni, mushrooms, and more mozzarella.
Seriously, you've gotta try this sometime.

Another Start

So i have decided to start a food blog a week before my Biochemistry NBMEs.
Why is it that i can never sit still and study unless its a few days before the test...?
But anyways, there's not much going on in my life in POZ... so cooking, baking, and eating naturally becomes the highlight of my day XD.

Mr. Lo's been loosing a lot of weight lately. I dont know how that happened. I've been cooking the fattiest, cheesiest, artery-clogging foods ever and he still managed to loose 4-5 kgs. So what to do, what to do...............? We made...cornbreeeaaad. i figured that having food lying around'll increase his appetite. hmmm, does that make sense? I dont know, at least that's what happens to me. 看到吃的擺在那邊就忍不住一定要吃. sighh.... ah well let's see how weight gaining goes for Mr.Lo.

Although i still prefer my cornbread Paraguayan style , this one's still pretty good.

Cornbread
From: http://allrecipes.com/

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups cornmeal
• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). In a small bowl, combine cornmeal and milk; let stand for 5 minutes. Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Mix in the cornmeal mixture, eggs and oil until smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the cornbread comes out clean.

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