Cream Puffs with Vanilla Custard

I absolutely love Downtown Los Angeles! It's so amazing! Especially the architecture and the many different districts. There's Fashion district for all of your cheap fashion goodies, Chinatown, Little Tokyo, Flower district for all the flowers you can imagine for cheap! So many things to do, so many things to see!

So what did I do in a day? There's so many places to go, I still have to go back to explore! But firstly, I visited some historic landmarks; this includes the Bradbury Building, Angel's Flight Railway (also the famous 500 Days of Summer bench), Walt Disney Concert Hall, and Olvera Street.

The only downside?? Parking! No expecting free parking here! When you go to LA, be prepared to pay for parking wherever you go! 

Bradbury Building Inside

We ended the day at Griffith Observatory, which overlooks all of LA and the cities that surround it. It also gives a great view of the Hollywood sign.

Griffith Observatory at Night

LA is a great city! It's full of history and beautiful architecture! Definitely more than just glitz and glam!

Anyways, I made these amazing cream puffs, aka profiteroles...or choux (choux à la crème if with cream filling). Cream puffs are made with choux pastry, the same type of pastry used in eclairs. It is first cooked on the stove, then baked in an oven. The cream puffs become hollow on the inside while baking. They can be filled with just about anything, from cream to ganache to fresh fruit.

First you cook the butter, water, and flour on the stove. The next step is to add the eggs. While making the cream puffs, it is important to let the pastry cool before adding the eggs to ensure that the eggs wont start to cook. It is also important that a few minutes before baking ends, that you poke holes at the top of the cream puffs and lower the oven temperature a little! My first batch sank like a bad game of battleship!

For the custard, I actually used a double boiling in place of the actual saucepan. It takes a bit longer, but it's a lot easier to make sure that it won't burn!

Cream puff recipe from Joy of Baking. Vanilla custard recipe from Epicurious. 

Cream Puffs:

Makes about 12 small cream puffs.

Ingredients: 
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon granulated white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup water
2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. In a large pot, bring water and butter to a boil. Stir in flour, sugar, and salt until the mixture forms a ball. Transfer the dough to a large mixing bowl and cool. 
3. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased baking sheet.
4. Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven, then decrease temperature to 350 degrees. Poke a hole in the pastry with a toothpick. Continue to bake until golden brown. Centers should be dry.
5. When the shells are cool split and fill them.

Vanilla Custard:

Makes about 2 cups of custard.

Ingredients: 

1 1/2 cups whole milk
4 large egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1. Heat milk in a saucepan over moderate heat until hot but not boiling.
2. While milk heats, whisk together yolks, sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a heatproof bowl until smooth.
3. Add 1 cup hot milk to yolk mixture in a stream, whisking, then add remaining milk, whisking constantly. Transfer mixture to saucepan and cook over moderately low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and registers 170°F on thermometer, 6 to 10 minutes (do not boil).
4. Immediately force custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean bowl and stir in butter and vanilla. 
5. Chill custard, its surface covered with wax paper, until cold and thickened, at least 3 hours.

Sweet Cornbread

Sweet Cornbread

Hello! This weekend, my cousins and I took a road trip to Sequoia National Park. We first stopped at Solvang, which is a little Danish town located in Santa Barbara county.

If you have never been to Europe, this town is definitely something you should see! It has the feeling of being in a small town, despite the numerous tourists roaming around. As for the architecture, it's just amazing. Everything is built in traditional Danish style, with different colors all around. It kind of reminded me of far far away land from Shrek. One thing that most people try when they go there are Aebleskivers, which are small pancake balls that are covered in jam and sugar. 

After we went to Sequoia! I'm not much of a tree and nature person, so I wasn't that amazed. They had gigantic trees (width)...but no matter how big the tree is, it's just a tree to me. Sorry! :( 

But it was still fun! I really enjoyed the scenery, I just didn't like the heat! 

So let's talk cornbread! I love cornbread! Especially the ones with corn in them! So that's what I did! I've never made cornbread from scratch before so this was new to me.

Pretty good though if I say so myself. I substituted brown sugar in place of the white sugar, which made a darker hue. Original recipe adapted from here.

Sweet Cornbread:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

2/3 cup white sugar

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup corn flour
1 cup cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
1 cup milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8 inch square pan.
2. Melt butter in large skillet. Remove from heat and stir in sugar. Quickly add eggs and beat until well blended. Combine buttermilk with baking soda and stir into mixture in pan. Stir in cornmeal, flour, and salt until well blended and few lumps remain. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Chocoflan

Chocoflan!

I've been reading a lot lately. After I read The Hunger Games, I just kept going like an insane maniac looking for new books to read. I am currently reading The Running Dream by Wendelin van Draneen.

Divergent, Insurgent by Veronica Roth

One book that I've read since my spree was Divergent by Veronica Roth. Let me tell you, that was the book that definitely satisfied my HG withdrawals. It was absolutely amazing! There is also a second book (it is a trilogy) called Insurgent that is equally amazing. I recommend it to anyone that loves dystopian novels. I had the pleasure of actually meeting Veronica Roth during her Dark Days Tour! I was so happy, especially since I was able to get both books signed by her! It was my first time at a book signing and my first time meeting an author. I guess when I went up to meet her I was "starstruck"... I could barely keep my composure and talk normally! Pretty embarrassing actually...

Veronica Roth at her Dark Days Tour

On a different note, I got 12 bug bites on my legs across a span of 2 weeks. SO itchy! :( No more wearing shorts! Ugh.

Last week, I made this really cool cake/flan - Chocoflan! Chocoflan is a Mexican dessert which combines layers of caramel, creamy flan, and rich chocolate cake. It was delicious! I made this for my neighbors' block party and all of them raved about it! The whole cake was almost gone by the time the night ended! 

The cool thing about this dessert is the magic that happens when you bake it! When assembling, the layers go like this: caramel sauce, chocolate cake, flan. After it's done baking: caramel sauce, flan, chocolate cake! The flan and the chocolate cake switch spots! Amazing! See! It's magic!

Not really...it's actually because the flan is more dense than the cake, causing them to invert places. Another example of this is when you place oil in water or a pool noodle in water, they always float to the top. I think I have never been more excited to make a cake before. The whole time I was giggling, I bet you will too! 

Inside the Chocoflan!

This is definitely something I would make again and again! Make sure to let it cool down completely before taking it out of the bundt pan! I wasn't able to and the flan kind of sank a little bit on the sides. Also, make sure the cream cheese is at room temperature. It must be soft or else it will not blend into the flan mixture, leaving glops of it behind. If you do, just simply strain the mixture and add more lost cream cheese.

I used dulce de leche as the caramel sauce for my cake. I made it from one 14oz can of condensed milk. I was short on time so I made it the quick way, by microwave.

Recipe from Marcela Valladolid's Mexican Made Easy. 

Chocoflan:

Makes about 12 servings

Ingredients:
12-cup capacity Bundt pan
Softened butter, to coat pan
1/4 cup cajeta or caramel sauce

For the cake:
10 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 1/4 cups buttermilk

For the flan:
1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
3 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

For the garnish:
1/4 cup cajeta or caramel sauce

Directions:

1. Put an oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.
2. Coat a Bundt pan with a little butter, then coat the bottom with 1/4 cup cajeta and put it in a large roasting pan. (The roasting pan will serve as a water bath during baking.)
3. For the cake: Add the butter and sugar to a bowl and using an electric hand mixer or stand mixer, beat until light and fluffy, then beat in the egg. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa in a medium bowl. Beat 1/3 of the flour mixture, and 1/2 of the buttermilk into the egg mixture. Repeat, ending with the flour mixture. Blend until well incorporated.
4. For the flan: In a blender, combine the evaporated milk, condensed milk, cream cheese, eggs and vanilla. Blend on high for 30 seconds.
5. Scoop the cake batter into the prepared Bundt pan and spreading evenly. Slowly pour the flan mixture over the cake batter. Cover with foil and add about 1-inch of hot water to the roasting pan.
6. Carefully slide the pan into the oven, and bake 1 hour, until the surface of the cake is firm to the touch, or an inserted toothpick comes out clean. When cake is done, remove from the water bath and cool completely to room temperature, about 1 hour.
7. Invert a large, rimmed serving platter over the Bundt pan, grasp tightly together, giggle a little and flip over. Remove the pan and scrape any remaining cajeta from the pan onto the cake and serve!

Hmmm...Everytime I look at my pictures, I want a new camera! Point and shoots. Or I should take pictures during the day in natural light. Haha. 

Simple Guacamole

Have any of you had a song that hits you so bad you start crying? A song that makes your heart melt over and over and you can't do anything about it because every time it plays you think of your past. A song that brings back the bad memories and puts it all into a few simple lyrics but explains the situation perfectly? 

Well I do. It's Miss Invisible by Marie Digby. 

Always brings me back to my horrible lonely past. I'm just glad that I'm not that person anymore. Finally broke out of my sad shell. I remember when I first heard it, I had to keep listening to it to register what the words meant in my silly mind. Then I knew. Every time I hear it I feel like I stepped on a time bomb that's been ready to explode. But I'm really glad that I went through that. There's always a time in your life that you feel like you hit rock bottom. The only thing to do is get back up at try your best to climb. I wouldn't be the person I am today if bad things didn't happen to me. The best you can do is be ready for it when it comes. 

On a lighter note, let's talk Guacamole. I always thought that was a fun word to say. I've only eaten guacamole when I got the vegetarian at Chipotle since it comes with it and at a couple Mexican restaurants. This guacamole recipe is excellent and very simple. Definitely something I would keep making, especially for 7 layer dips! 

I used Alton Brown's recipe! The only complaint is that the lime may be a bit overpowering. Watch how much you put in and alter it to your liking.

Guacamole:

Ingredients:
3 Haas avocados, halved, seeded and peeled
1 lime, juiced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1 clove garlic, minced

Directions:
In a large bowl place the scooped avocado pulp and lime juice, toss to coat. Drain, and reserve the lime juice, after all of the avocados have been coated. Using a potato masher add the salt, cumin, and cayenne and mash. Then, fold in the onions, tomatoes, cilantro, and garlic. Add 1 tablespoon of the reserved lime juice. Let sit at room temperature for 1 hour and then serve.

Lamb Stew with Dried Plums - The Hunger Games

Katniss' Favorite Lamb Stew with Dried Plums

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July! It's always an amazing celebration when fireworks are involved! I unfortunately didn't have a great haul. I bought around $35 worth and this is all I got! :'( prices of fireworks really went up a lot from the last time I bought them! $7 for 2 roman candles?! At least I can save them for my birthday and new years! 

This is the second 4th of July my family has celebrated at our new house. Previous to that, we used to have great parties and invited everyone we knew. It was awesome. Bingo, halo-halo...it was just fun all around. As opposed to now, we don't do anything.

Our neighbors have a small get-together though. It was really amazing once everyone started lighting their own fireworks. Most of my neighbors had aerials! (Surprising because you can't buy them here). It was super pretty being under those! :) 

So I made lamb stew Hunger Games style! This is Katniss' favorite lamb stew. It's the stew that she loved eating in the Capitol and that was sent to her by Haymitch during the games. It's also what she says she was most impressed by about the Capitol during her interviews before the games. 

It was a bit sweet for my tastes, even with the cut-down of sugar, but still good. I'm not much of a lamb person though, too game-y. I doubt i'll be making this again unless I find myself having a Hunger Games themed party. Hah.

Recipe Adapted from The Hunger Games Cookbook by Emily Baines.

Katniss' Favorite Lamb Stew with Dried Plums:
Yield 8-10 servings

Ingredients:
5 pounds lamb fillet, shoulder or leg, cut into 2-inch pieces
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
½ cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, chopped
½ cup water
4 cups beef stock
1 teaspoons brown sugar
3 cups diced carrots
1 cup diced zucchini
1½ cups diced celery
2 large onions, diced
3 potatoes, cubed
2 cups halved dried plums
2 teaspoons dried thyme
3 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
2 teaspoons chopped fresh basil
1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley
2 bay leaves
1 cup ginger ale

Directions:

1. Place lamb, salt, pepper, and flour in a large mixing bowl. Toss to coat meat evenly.
2. Heat olive oil in a large pan and brown the meat, working in batches if you have to.
3. Remove lamb to a side plate. Pour off fat, leaving ¼ cup in the pan. Add the garlic and onion and sauté until the onion becomes golden. Deglaze frying pan with the ½ cup water, taking care to scrape the bottom of the pan to stir up all of the tasty bits of meat and onion. Cook to reduce liquid slightly, then remove from heat.
4. Place the lamb and garlic-onion mixture in a large stockpot. Add beef stock and sugar, stirring until sugars are dissolved. Bring mixture to a boil, cover, and simmer for 1½ hours.
5. Add the vegetables, dried plums, herbs, and ginger ale to the pot. Simmer for 30-45 minutes, or until meat and vegetables pierce easily with a fork.

Flourless Chocolate Chip Cookies

Flourless Chocolate Chip Cookies

So this weekend I finally got CPR certified! Not only is it from American Heart Association, it's also a card for.... *drumroll* Healthcare Providers! Yay! 

We learned the Heimlich Maneuver and CPR for adults, children, babies, and pregnant women.  It's actually not that difficult. There are pretty much 3 magic numbers to know. 2, 5, and 30. The method they use is CAB - Compressions, Airways, and Breathing. 30 compressions at 100 compressions/min, 2 breaths, 5 cycles, 2 minutes. That's all it takes. There are also 3 levels of CPR but I won't get into that.

Time to start saving lives! 

Now back to the cookies! I've actually been making these cookies for awhile now. They are flourless chocolate chip cookies! Yup, gluten free and can be vegan! If you don't like oats, maybe these will change your mind?

I added the whole lot of milk so that my cookies would be a bit more fluffy. The previous cookies I made were more dense than these puppies. The recipe does not make too much, but it's good enough for 2-4 people. I omitted the white sugar completely because I think it tastes great without it!

Recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie.

Flourless Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Makes about 6 medium-sized cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
4 tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp plus 1 tsp white sugar
1/4 cup chocolate chips
2 tbsp oil or pre-melted margarine
3-4 tbsp milk

Directions:

1. Blend first 5 ingredients together in a food processor or blender.
2. Mix with other ingredients, form into cookie shapes, and place on a greased cookie sheet. 
3. Cook 6 minutes at 375 F.