When you hear the term “strawberry cheesecake”, what comes to mind is a cheesecake topped with a jam-like mixture that is added after the cheesecake has been baked and allowed to cool. Something like the blueberry cheesecake I made a couple of months ago. It’s great but I’ve been obsessing over this technique called feathering ... (more)
Upside-down Paradise banana pie
Posted on August 27, 2009 · 17 Comments
Upside-down pie? Yes, pie. Not cake, but pie. It may look like a cake but that’s a crust that you see. Traditional sweet pastry crust with flour, butter, sugar and a little salt. No eggs. Paradise banana? Yes. Let me explain. This recipe has two stories and the Paradise banana part is only half of ... (more)
Baked spicy pineapple chicken casserole
Posted on August 9, 2009 · 10 Comments
The idea of cooking with fruits has always fascinated me. Not that it’s anything new in Filipino cuisine. We have the classic pininyahang manok, we add green papaya to our tinola and we cook our sinigang with the juice of mashed sampalok (tamarind) pulp, kamias or bayabas (guava). But, surely, by stretching the imagination, we ... (more)
Baked apple donuts with cinnamon and nutmeg
Posted on August 4, 2009 · 49 Comments
Why they are called donuts, I have no idea. Might be because the batter is prepared in much the same way as one prepares donut batter. In some websites they are called baked apple donut holes. But they are neither donuts nor donut holes, baked or otherwise. There wouldn’t be holes if there were no ... (more)
Old-fashioned apple pie
Posted on July 17, 2009 · 28 Comments
It feels like a lifetime ago when I baked my first apple pie. I’ve been using the same recipe and technique for years until, quite by accident, I saw a TV show where the baker added cubed pieces of butter to the filling just before covering it with the top crust. Right there and then, ... (more)
Mango custard tart
Posted on July 13, 2009 · 48 Comments
The plan to bake The Pioneer Woman’s Key Lime Pie, Sorta, was set aside to give way to my daughters’ request for a mango custard tart instead. Can’t say it was a bad decision to do the switch because the mango custard tart turned out wonderfully.
The ingredients are few, the procedure is simple and the recipe is short. The entry only appears long because it is loaded with step-by-step photos — most courtesy of my daughter, Sam. Thank you, baby.
Banana choco cupcakes
Posted on July 1, 2009 · 49 Comments
The plan to bake a dozen banana nut muffins went pffft! as my younger daughter, Alex, discarded the idea. She doesn’t like nuts. Well, there’s no one else to boss me around at home these days since her older sister stays near the university during weekdays and her father is out of town attending a conference. If I had insisted on baking muffins with nuts, I’d have to eat all of them by my lonesome self. So, the plan was amended — I baked banana choco cupcakes instead. Timely too since I still had chocolate morsels nearing the expiration date.
White chocolate and blueberry mini cheesecakes
Posted on June 11, 2009 · 34 Comments
The recipe provided by AJ yields six mini cheesecakes. Six meant one mini cheesecake per person in my household. Great if it’s a so-so cake but if someone asks for seconds, or if someone wants another piece for a late night snack, I’d get blamed for not baking enough. So I added more of each ingredient to come up with more mini cheesecakes. I was able to make a dozen with come excess filling which I baked, without crusts, in silicone cups. My daughter Sam and I ate the excess straight out of the oven — still soft and gooey and steaming hot at the center. If the crustless no-topping version could be that good, well…
Cheesecake with homemade blueberry topping
Posted on June 1, 2009 · 61 Comments
The last time I baked a cheesecake, I poured a can of blueberry pie filling on top. Sure, it was thick and nice but the thickness was too unnatural for me and I wondered if I could make my own topping. So, I bought a pack of frozen blueberries and decided to try. The result was lovely but my kids preferred that the blueberries be a bit mushier. No problem, I said, next time I’ll simmer the syrup a bit longer.
Summer coolers
Posted on May 28, 2009 · 6 Comments
Is a smoothie the same as a slushy? No, it isn’t. According to Wikipedia, slush or slushy is “a generic term for a flavored frozen drink. In general, slush drinks are made by freezing a sugared liquid while constantly stirring it. The sugar and motion prevent the formation of large ice crystals, while the overrun process mixes in air, creating a smooth slush.” There are machines for making slushies.
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