#49: Shanghai Soup Dumplings

after 2 weeks of delicious shanghai soup dumplings (first from dumpling kitchen in SF, and second from hung's kitchen in San Ramon), i started craving more and more dumplings. i don't often eat soup dumplings, but these two visits revived my love of soup dumplings. Enough so, that I decided to try to make some myself. I heard they were quite difficult to make - but i was ready to take on the challenge (note: now that i've made them...i realized that people are right - these dumplings are quite challenging to make!). the recipe comes from epicurious.

i managed to take photos throughout the process so i figured i would share them this time around. let me say first - this was a 2 day process.

Day 1, 8:00pm-12:00am. Fred and I went to Ranch 99 and picked up the essential ingredients to make the soup base. I returned home and immediately started on the soup. I combined chicken wings & drumsticks, pork bones, green onion, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and water. i let the broth simmer for about 3 hours and then boiled the broth to reduce. after the broth reduced i added knox gelatin and poured into a pan.




Day 2, 8:00am. i removed the refrigerated broth which had now gelatinized into aspic. i cut the aspic into small chunks. i then made the pork/shrimp mixture and added the aspic.



Day 2, 4:00pm. Fred came over and we got ready to assemble the soup dumplings. the recipe yielded 75 dumplings. i thought that was a bit too much, but we could always freeze them. after all was said and done we ended up with nearly 180 dumplings! needless to say, the majority of them are still in the freezer. we steamed the dumplings on top of some cabbage and then gobbled them up!

here's a few comments on the dumplings:

• i think we overcooked the dumplings and waited too long to eat them. the tops of the dumplings were dry and doughy
  
• the dumpling wrappers may have been too thin because the soup leaked out of some of the dumplings
• do not add shrimp to the pork mixture. my taste buds are more familiar with the pork mixture. adding shrimp was not as tasty for me
  

#48: Tartine's Chocolate Pudding

A couple weeks ago I was in San Francisco visiting a friend in the mission district. she conveniently lives 2 blocks away from tartine, so of course, we had to stop by for a late afternoon snack. i picked up a huckleberry tart to take home but ordered the chocolate pudding to dine in. i really like pudding and mousse so i was eager to try a tartine style pudding. the pudding was absolutely delicious - not too sweet - but still rich and indulgent enough for me.

i found an online recipe for the pudding from the tartine cookbook so i decided to try it out. i had never made pudding before so this was definitely something new to me. the recipe is pretty simple to follow but the most important step to the pudding is to whisk the pudding like crazy to make it smooth and creamy (beware of chocolate pudding curds). after chilling the pudding, i served it with a dollop of fresh whipped cream and dark chocolate shavings. i'll definitely try out this recipe again soon...absolutely delicious and easy to make :)

#47: Savory Mac 'n Cheese Cupcakes

This isn't literally a cupcake with mac 'n cheese inside...but mac 'n cheese baked in cupcake tins. I saw Giada make this recipe on one of her shows and I decided to make this as an hors doeuvre for a new years eve party. these were definitely best hot out of the oven. i think i could have used more gooey cheese but i liked the crispiness of the cupcake crust and the panko breadcrumbs sprinkled on top. i also added some broccoli for color and added some cut up bacon as well. this is a really fun idea and a great canvas to be creative with different ingredients in this cupcake.

#46: Bi-Rite Inspired Salted Caramel Cupcakes

ever since the 7x7 top 100 foods to eat list was published, i've been wanting to go to bi-rite to try their oh so popular ice cream. i hadn't managed to make it to bi-rite until November. i'll admit, i was a bit underwhelmed by the casual store front...but perhaps that adds to the appeal of the neighborhood friendly ice cream shop. i tried the salted caramel and the seasonal pumpkin ice cream in a cup...absolutely delicious and a surprisingly good flavor combination. i finally understood the hype of the salted caramel ice cream.

since my trip to bi-rite, i've been eager to make a salted caramel cupcake. i stumbled upon a blog with a great looking recipe. i decided to take a stab at making the cupcake with a couple birthdays coming up (annaliese & loan). these cupcakes were quite time intensive but definitely worth it. caramel is pretty difficult to work with...but worth it. i made the candied caramel garnish the night before and let them cool overnight. the next day i baked the cupcakes (pretty standard cupcake, but used brown sugar). i also made a creamy salted caramel filling to spoon inside the cupcakes. lastly, i made a salted caramel buttercream to top off the cupcakes. many components to this cupcake...but a great recipe.

#45: Rudolph and Frosty on a Stick!

and here they are...this year's christmas gifts for the family. unfortunately i deleted the higher quality photos from my camera without uploading them onto my computer...so my iphone 3g photos will have to do (this is a disclaimer for the poor quality of photos). sarah and i made a rudolph, frosty the snowman, and assorted green and red ornaments. although i've made cake pops before, these ones were much easier to make for a few reasons. 1. we used candy melts i purchased from michaels 2. used a thicker frosting for the cake and 3. dipped the lollipop stick in the candy melts before attaching the cake to the top. for rudolph, we used pretzels for the antlers, cinnamon candies for the nose, white sprinkles and a black edible ink for the eyes. for frosty, we used regular size and mini oreos for the hat, black sprinkle eyes, orange tic tac noses, and black edible ink for the mouth.

after we let the cake pops set we wrapped them in lollipop bags, tied a ribbon around the pops and gave them away as bouquets. i look forward to my next batch of cake pops!

#44: Mini Holiday Cupcake Treats!

For our annual Christmas cookie exchange I decided to make some mini iced cupcakes. My inspiration was some lemon blossom cupcakes I made a week ago. I decided to go with some seasonal flavors. I decided on egg nog, vanilla bean, and peppermint chocolate. The spiked egg nog cupcake has some rum flavoring. I really like the small cakes with the icing - it is reminiscent of donut holes. the pan i used had designs of stars, hearts, flowers, bundt shapes, and more. the designs added a nice touch, but the pan was a nightmare to clean! all in all i did enjoy these tasty little treats and was excited to give them away as gifts this year. Merry Christmas Eve!




Below is a nice picture that my co-worker bryan took of my little package.

#43: Mini Buche de Noels

you might recall last christmas i made a full size buche de noel. i planned a cookie exchange at work this year and started brainstorming ideas of what kind of baked goods i could make. i decided to make mini yule logs - though i'll admit i was a little nervous they would end up looking like ho ho's. i made the meringue mushrooms on the first night and let them dry out. i then made the cake and chocolate cream the next night. i hadn't realized the first time around, but my buche de noel is gluten free! it's kind of bewildering how the cake has no flour in it - but it's true! it's mostly just eggs and sugar. after i rolled up the log, i added a little stump and then frosted the outside of the log. i then took a fork and made some grains along the log. with more time, i would have loved to add some more color (like red and green holly). maybe next time.