The White Girl Bakery is devoted to bringing you tales of baking experiences, favorite recipes, and helpful tidbits for creating or consuming desserts of all kinds. If you are looking for decadent, stay right here.
All the shows, all the movies, everything. (I have a soft spot for The Great Muppet Caper..."We caught him red-handed!"//"What color were his hands before?")
Muppet-fanatic.
When given the opportunity to bring the Muppets to life in cupcake form to celebrate a friend's birthday, I jumped on it.
These days, when you walk down the grocery store aisles, boxes and labels scream things like "LOW FAT", "SUGAR-FREE", "DIET". It's all around us all the time: calorie counting, diets, health fads, no fat, no carbs, no sugar, no nothing.
As an avid baker and consumer of desserts, I have always tended down the path of moderation, sticking to my belief that anything that has had fat or sugar removed from it is not going to be nearly as enjoyable, so why even bother. My philosophy? Better to enjoy the fat and sugar in moderation than not at all.
Anyone who knows me knows that when I bake, I go decadent or I go home.
Red Velvet Cupcakes
Case in point.
And generally speaking sugar and butter (lots of butter) are synonymous with decadent.
(This is probably why many of my friends and family blame me for significant weight gain when they hang out with me too often.) (whoops)
BUT that doesn't mean I'm not up for a challenge every now and then. And a challenge, I was met with indeed.
A few weeks ago, I was asked to bake a cake for my cousin's 30th birthday, and was informed that it needed to be diabetes-friendly.
Diabetes-friendly?
You mean...
...no sugar???
I immediately took to the interwebs to find a solution. On principle, I try to avoid using artificial sweeteners, if only for the semi-unpredictable effects on taste and texture. But outside of using splenda or truvia, I was coming up empty handed.
Until it hit me: PALEO.
Paleo diets stay away from all things processed, so if anyone would know how to make a cake without artificial sweeteners or sugar, it would be Paleo.
I immediately went to a great Paleo blog and though she didn't have quite what I was looking for, I eventually ended up here: http://paleospirit.com
And that's how I found the gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-free chocolate cake that is probably the healthiest thing to ever be baked in my oven.
Paleo Chocolate Cake Yields one 8 to 10 inch round or square cake (1 layer) Here's what you need: 10 dates, pitted 1 ripe banana (or 1 cup applesauce) 3 eggs 1/2 cup coconut oil (I used a stronger one to emphasize the coconut flavor) 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1/2 cup strong brewed coffee 1/2 cup coconut flour 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt
Here's what you do: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8 or 9 inch square pan or 10 inch round (I used a spring form) Puree the dates in a food processor or blender. (Be forewarned, they are real sticky and need a lot of encouragement)
Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Regarding the topping:
This cake is delicious just by itself, but it is nice to have a topping. You could use any form of buttercream, ganache, or whipped cream. I made whipped cream (which promptly relieved this dessert of it's dairy-free status) and sprinkled coconut flakes on top. Rumor has it coconut cream is whippable and makes a delightful topping.
The general consensus is that this recipe is not only diabetes-friendly and tolerable for those who are gluten-intolerant, but also rich and decadent (and absolutely delicious). No sugar?
After an unintentional year long hiatus (whoops!), I am back to bring you more goodies from the White Girl Bakery.
This post is devoted to scones. Yummy, delectable, melt-in-your-mouth, wonderful scones.
I have always had a love-hate relationship with scones, because they tend to be hit or miss when you get them in a coffee shop or restaurant. You could stumble upon a light, flavorful, moist wonderful scone that compliments the steaming tea in your mug...Or you could be stuck with a dry, crumbly, flavorless chunk of something pretending to be a scone that you NEED your steaming mug of tea to wash it down with.
When I first tasted this recipe, I fell in love. And ate about 3 in one sitting. My roommate and I were on a mini-vacation in Philadelphia, visiting my cousin, and we decided to put together an impromptu tea party to enjoy while watching Downton Abbey. The recipe is one that my cousin got from a man named Fred, who I have never met but will forever live in gratitude to.
It's simple, it's easy, and you will find yourself digging deep to find enough self control to not eat them all as soon as they come out of the oven.
Orange Cranberry Scones (Yields 6 large, 8 medium, or 12 small scones) Here's what you'll need: 2 cups flour 1 tsp baking powder 1 Tbsp sugar (2 if using plain yogurt) 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 cup butter Zest of one orange 2 eggs 1/2 cup yogurt (vanilla or honey) ~1/4 cup craisins milk and sugar to sprinkle on top Here's what you do:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients. (This can be done in a food processor, although I prefer doing it by hand)
In a separate bowl, mix together eggs, yogurt, and orange zest. Combine wet and dry ingredients.
Mix in craisins (I find doing this by hand is easier than with a spoon).
For large or medium sized scones, form all the dough into a disc approximately 1-1.5 inches thick. Score into 6 or 8 wedges respectively. For small scones, divide the dough and form into 2 discs. Score into 6 wedges each. Brush the top with milk and sprinkle with sugar.
Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
All that's left is to invite a friend over, brew your favorite cup of tea, and press play on Downton Abbey.
In the world of desserts, there are two main contenders in the category of snacky-finger-foody-perfect-for-potluck-can't-go-wrong desserts.
Brownies and Cookies.
They are your All-American casual dessert items. Hardly anyone will turn down a good ol' brownie or chocolate cookie. They are the epitome of comfort food.
In the past 6 months or so, I have become slightly obsessed with brownie-cookie fusions. I am on a constant quest of seeking new, innovative ways of combining the chocolatey gooeyness of brownies with the comforting nostalgia of a good chocolate chip cookie.
One day, a friend of mine sent me a link to this video. It demonstrates the inspiration for my latest brownie-cookie fusion: All Kinds of Awesome.
The concept: A peanut butter cup stuffed inside a brownie stuffed inside a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie.
"All Kinds of Awesome? What kind of name is that?" You may be asking. Let me tell you, it is the kind of name that describes the indescribable. There is simply no other name that could do these decadent, gooey, chocolately, simply delicious brownie-cookie fusions, justice.
I should probably stop raving and ranting and just get to it, but seriously, these are the perfect example of synergy (let the geekiness begin). Synergy is when two or more things are combined to create something that is greater than what the parts are separately. And that is exactly what All Kinds of Awesome is.
What you need is a pan of baked brownies, some mini peanut butter cups, and cookie dough. I baked two pans of brownies a day or two ahead (one pan to eat and one for this project). I also made the cookie dough ahead of time (a double batch...to eat and for this project). So all I had to do on the day I made these was assembly!
Brownies:
(My favorite recipe, provided by Bake At 350)
What you need: 1 c. dutch-process cocoa 1 tsp. kosher salt 1/2 tsp. baking powder 1 & 1/2 sticks (~170g) unsalted butter 2 c. sugar 1 TBSP. vanilla 3 eggs (room temp) 1 c. flour
What you need to do:
Preheat oven to 350F (176C). Line a 9"x13" pan with tin foil and then grease the foil (either with butter, Crisco, or some non-stick spray)
Combine the cocoa, salt and baking powder in a small bowl and set it aside.
In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Turn off the heat;
add the sugar and stir to combine. Return to the heat until it's hot
again, but not bubbling.
Remove from heat and stir in the cocoa mixture. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla. Mix just until it's smooth. Add in the flour and stir just until combined.
Pour batter into the pan and bake for 20-25 minutes.
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (~227g) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs, room temperature
1/4-1/2 cup peanut butter (you can use your own judgement for peanut buttery-ness!)
12 oz (~340g) chocolate chips (mini ones work really well)
Whisk together the flour, baking soda and
salt in small bowl.
Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and
vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs one at a
time, beating well after each addition.
Mix in peanut butter just until combined. Add in flour mixture in 2-3 additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl as you go.
Stir in chocolate chips.
Living in a tropical climate, I prefer to refrigerate the cookie dough for a little while before assembly, otherwise they get too sticky. You may or may not need to do this.
Assembly:
Cut the brownies into squares that are approximately 1-1.5 inches wide.
Unwrap the peanut butter cups. Make an indentation in the underside of your brownie and stuff the peanut butter cup into it. If you want, you can smoosh the brownie around it so it is encompassing all of the peanut butter cup.
Make a ball of cookie dough that is slightly smaller than a golf ball (1-1.5 inches in diameter) and then break it in half. Turn each half into a little disc (flatten like a pancake with your palms), big enough to cover the brownie. Sandwich the brownie between the discs of cookie dough and then seal off the edges.
It should look like an over-sized sphere of cookie dough when your done.
On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, place your spheres of goodness, an inch or so apart (don't worry, they won't spread too much). Bake at 375F (190C) for 8-10 minutes.
Now, I also tried these using regular chocolate cookie dough, brownies, and Hershey Mint Truffle Kisses. They were also delicious. But the regular cookie dough didn't have as much staying power as the peanut butter ones did, and they spread just a little bit too much. So that recipe is still being perfected.
Actually, I think that my immense appreciation for breakfast originated with my dad. For as long as I can remember, he has always been the source of all things breakfast in my house. Every Sunday for my entire life (or at least pretty close) at my parents' house we would have scrambled eggs and doughnuts. Mmmm mmmm. And on special occasions we'd have pancakes or french toast or cinnamon rolls or bacon or some combination of the aforementioned.
After I moved out to go to college, when I came home to visit for the weekend or holidays, I would be greeted most mornings to the mingled smells of coffee and some form of the best possible breakfast food. Thanks Dad.
Like I said: I love breakfast.
And I love Asia.
BUT
I do not love breakfast in Asia.
Somehow, curry or fish balls first thing in the morning just doesn't do it for me. Unfortunately, there are no diners here. No Perkins or Denny's or Keys (my favorite breakfast place in St. Paul). No where to get GOOD breakfast (except Hatched, and if you live in Singapore, you should definitely go there).
Thus I am left to my own devices. And Banana Pancakes are where it's at.
They are the ultimate bum-around-all-morning-stuffing-your-face-and-ignoring-the-world-at-large breakfast food. Jack Johnson even wrote a theme song for them:
**Listening to this song is a vital part of preparing the pancakes, so don't forget**
What you need:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 3 Tbsp sugar 2 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/4 tsp nutmeg 2 eggs (room temperature) 2 cups buttermilk* 1 tsp vanilla extract 1/2 stick/2 oz/~54 g butter (melted) or oil (plus a little extra butter for the frying pan) 2-3 just a little too ripe bananas
*If you don't have buttermilk (because it's *ahem* too expensive, or like most people, you don't keep it lying around) you can use what I like to call "the poor man's" buttermilk: 1 3/4 cup of milk mixed with 1/4 cup lemon juice.
A word about bananas: the absolute best bananas to bake with are the ones that are just past their peak of ripeness. The ones that have a fair number of brown spots that are just mushy enough that you don't really want to eat, but will eat in a pinch. What you can do is pop them in the freezer when they reach that point and then just pull them out whenever you feel the urge to make banana bread or even better, pancakes. After you freeze them, the skin turns all brown and gross looking, but trust me...this is what you want!
What you need to do:
Sift/whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl (no need for a mixer).
In another bowl, whisk the eggs and then add in the buttermilk, vanilla, and melted butter/oil.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk just until combined (lumps are good!!).
Peel the bananas (if frozen, peel before defrosting by using a sharp knife). Should they be frozen, microwave them 10 seconds at a time until they are soft enough to mash. Mash the bananas with a fork and then fold them into your batter with a rubber spatula. Once again, be careful not to over mix!
Heat up your frying pan or griddle on medium heat. Add a little bit of butter (< a Tbsp, you want just enough to cover the surface, but not enough that you're deep frying the pancakes).
When the butter is hot, spoon or pour your batter onto the pan (~1/3 cup per pancake, but you can use your judgement). It'll be time to flip when there are bubbles breaking through the surface of your pancakes.
Now, when it comes to eating banana pancakes, I have tried many different techniques and toppings. And I don't know that I've ever come across a bad one. But my absolute favorite goes as follows:
Take one pancake and spread a thin layer of peanut butter on it
Then put another pancake on top and drizzle some syrup on top...
Note: these are best enjoyed in the company of a good friend or family member.
This recipe was modified from a pancake recipe in Desserts by the Yard, a most fantastic dessert cookbook.
As an American, the most I ever learned about Chinese New Year and the Chinese Zodiac was by reading the paper place mats at Chinese Restaurants. You know the ones...red and white with all of the animals and the story about how they all raced and the rat won. And then it would tell you some horoscope style thing about which of the animals you are compatible with and how lucky you would be that year...
I've known my whole life that I am a Dragon, and I was always proud of it because, frankly, dragons are sweet. I've also always known that one of my sisters is a Tiger, the other a Snake, and my brother a Rat.
This information always seemed somewhat useless, until I moved to Singapore. And then Chinese New Year became a big deal.
I could write pages and pages and pages about all the things I've learned about Chinese New Year--the traditions, the stories, the foods, the implications of what year you were born in.
But I won't.
Instead, I will relate the story of my CNY dessert this year. It all starts with Bake At 350.
I started following this blog about a year ago, and I fell in love with it almost instantly. Most of my regular and favorite things to bake have come from this blog in some form or another. But the stars of this blog are the cookies. Not just any cookies. Gorgeous cookies. Stunning cookies. AMAZING cookies. They are cut and decorated into just about anything!
And for a year, I have been intimidated by these cookies.
But then came CNY, and I needed to make a dessert for this party I was going to and I really wanted to do something festive but I'm not really an authority on Chinese desserts and that was when I thought of the cookies.
All it would take would be a batch of round sugar cookies and some colored royal icing to produce this.
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt
1 cups sugar
2 sticks or 227 g butter (unsalted), cold
1 egg (room temperature)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 350F/176C
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and then set it aside.
Cream together the sugar and butter in your mixer. You may need to let it do it's thing for a few minutes, though you should scrape down the sides halfway through.
Add the egg and vanilla and mix it just until they are combined.
Gradually add in the dry ingredients that you set aside earlier (roughly a cup at a time) while mixing at a low speed. Don't forget to scrape down the bowl, especially getting the crumbs at the bottom!
On a clean surface, dusted with flour, roll the dough out to approximately 1/4 of an inch. It might be a little crumbly, so just knead it together and don't worry. Then you can cut out your shapes! For lack of an actual round cookie cutter, I just used a glass.
Place your cookies on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. They will be golden brown around the edges and on the bottom.
For the icing, I'll just let you follow the recipe from Bridget: Royal Icing
I used Wilton's Copper gel food coloring, and just used different amounts to make the different shades.
I decided to make them into Chinese coins and while trying to research different Chinese characters, my sister had the most amazing idea of putting dragons on them. Which is how we ended up with Mushu from Mulan!
And can't forget the cake!!
Seeing as we just rang in the year of the Dragon, I am so very excited to be a dragon. Gong Xi Fa Cai everyone!!
Do you ever have that moment, standing in your pantry thinking: Thanskgiving is over, Christmas is done with, and yet there you are, you lonely can of pumpkin sitting on the shelf. Just WHAT am I going to do with you?!
I have those moments. Pumpkin after Thanksgiving, minty things after Christmas, and pastel colored things after Easter. So here I was thinking to myself...I don't really want to make a pumpkin pie, that'll take too long to bake. Pumpkin bread? Been there, done that. Pumpkin muffins? Meh.
So then I decided to Google pumpkin cookies just to see what was out there. I came upon this recipe, and after some modifications here and there, I pulled out of the oven something that resembled a cookie but with the texture of a muffin. Thus was born the Mookie. Or is it Cuffin?
Another thing to note is that the batter is AWESOME. So watch out for vultures in your kitchen:
Here's what you'll need:
5 cups all-purpose flour 2 1/2 tsp baking powder 2 tsp baking soda 2 tsp ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp ground ginger (you can safely go up to 1 tsp if you like ginger!) 1/2 tsp nutmeg 1 tsp salt 4 large eggs (room temperature**) 2 1/4 cup light brown sugar (dark brown sugar is also acceptable, or if you are ill-equipped like me, a combination of the two is great) 1 cup canola oil 2 tsp vanilla extract 1 small can of pumpkin
For the glaze:
3 Tbsp water 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar (aka icing sugar)
**Eggs can in fact be stored outside of the fridge, especially if you have a high turnover like there is in my house. Should you keep them in the fridge and don't plan ahead (like me), pull them out and put them in some warm-bordering-on-hot water like this:
By the time you have all your other ingredients ready to go and do the first few steps, your eggs will be at the right temperature and happy.
Putting it together:
First, it's always important to have an enthusiastic helper:
Preheat oven to 325F (165C) and line some cookie sheets with parchment paper. Believe me, you'll be much happier later on if you do.
In a large bowl (not your mixer bowl), sift/whisk together your flour, baking powder and soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt.
In your electric mixer bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until light and smooth...it'll be about 2 min and you should see the color change fairly easily. Add in the oil, vanilla, and pumpkin and beat it at a medium speed until it's blended well together.
Add in your flour mixture a cup or two at a time, while beating on a low speed, just until it is incorporated. Your batter will be gooey, half way between a cookie dough and muffin batter.
Using a spoon or ice cream scoop, make blobs about the size of doughnut holes on your cookie sheets. They won't spread out too much, so feel free to space them about an inch apart.
Bake for about 15-18 min until one or all of the following: 1. You tap the top of the cookie and it springs back 2. You stick a toothpick in and it comes out clean or 3. The bottom of the cookie is a beautiful golden brown (only slightly darker than the top of the cookie).
You'll want to let them cool for about 30 min or so. While you're waiting you can make the glaze. Depending on how much you want, it takes approximately 1/2 cup of powdered sugar for every Tbsp of water. Put both the sugar and water into a small bowl and mix with a spoon. It shouldn't be too thin, just thin enough to drizzle.
When the cookies are cool, drip the icing glaze onto the cookies using a spoon. It'll take about 10 min or so for the glaze to harden. Once it does, you can store the cookies stacked on top of each other without fear of ruining them!
Whether you call them Mookies or Cuffins or Muffkies, they are quite delicious, almost like eating
the top of the muffin. And they are easy enough to whip up last minute for that meeting you forgot you were supposed to be bringing snacks too...
