Gelato City

After attending the bread making class at Sur La Table last month, I got a 15% off coupon, which gave me the perfect excuse to splurge on an ice cream maker attachment for my KitchenAid stand mixer. I have wanted an ice cream maker for the longest time, so once I got my hands on it, I started mass producing gelato, and it could not come at a better time as the heat wave started to hit LA.  First, I made Nutella gelato from one of Giada De Laurentiis’ recipes on Food Network.  Giada is my husband’s favorite chef to watch on Food Network (for obvious reasons), so needless to say, he loved the Nutella gelato.

Then I found this other recipe on Epicurious from the May 2009 issue of Bon Appétit and made fresh strawberry gelato. It turned out perfect, just like gelato you would get at a gelateria. I would highly recommend trying out the recipe yourself. Enjoy the summer with some ice cold treats, my friends!

Strawberry Gelato

Nutella Gelato

All dough’d Out

Cookies, cakes, and desserts are generally easy enough to make just by following and tweaking recipes, but I had always find making breads to be intimidating. So couple of weeks ago, I took a bread making class at Sur La Table, in the hopes to expand my repertoire.  Boy did I learn a lot! From baguettes, brioche, pizza dough, white bread, to cheddar cheese buttermilk biscuits. Last weekend, I put what I learnt to good use, and made baguettes and pizza for my friends.  Nothing beats fresh ingredients, no matter how simple, on a homemade pizza dough.  I just love the house smelling like a bakery. 

 

Then on Sunday, we made crepes.  On the left is  mine, with fresh strawberries, vanilla ice cream, and chocolate syrup. On the right, we have Herman’s nutella vanilla ice cream crepe. What a carb-loading weekend, and boy was it fulfilling!

✿✿ Sakura Sakura ✿✿

My parents were here visiting several weeks ago, and I made these almond spritz cookies for them to take to my brother up north. It was right around cherry blossom season, so I made them shaped like ✿ . The cookies came out light and buttery, with just a hint of almond to them. They tasted a lot like the Danish butter cookies I grew up eating in Hong Kong. You know, the ones that are packaged in the royal blue tin can (藍罐曲奇). I hope my brother enjoyed them as much as we did, and I wonder if he shared them with his friends.

Tea Time with Boris

Shirley's Green Tea Cookies
Originally uploaded by hermanau

These matcha (green tea) cookies are perfect for a lazy afternoon, or just munched on throughout the day, like Herman does. The recipe was adapted from Lovescool. After the first try of following the recipe exactly, I forgo the granulated sugar coating and added a little more butter to make these, and they came out just right. The amount of matcha to add does highly depend on the brand you use.

By the way, the teddy bear shape is cute huh? I splurged on a bunch of cookie cutters at Tokyu Hands when we were in Japan last Fall. These cookies were made using Boris the Bear cookie cutter from the Miffy set. You know Boris, Miffy's friend.

Looking back...

The making of Shirley's Tiramisu
Originally uploaded by hermanau

Just posted a bunch of desserts and sweets I have made in the past year or so. Will definitely be making more and posting as I go from now, so stay tuned!  Matcha cookies are coming up next.

Cappuccino

Homemade Cappuccino
Originally uploaded by hermanau

A cup of cappuccino is a nice complement to almost every dessert.

Warm Chocolate Cake

Warm Chocolate Cake
Originally uploaded by siufishie

Perfect pairing = warm chocolate cake + vanilla ice cream

Chocolate Coated Orange Madeleines

Shirley's Chocolate dipped Madeline Cookies
Originally uploaded by hermanau

This was my 2nd attempt at making madeleines, and they finally turned out right, with a moist cake-like center, and a nice contrast of flavors between the dark chocolate and orange zest.

Banana Nut Muffin with Streusel Topping

Shirley's Banana Nut Muffin
Originally uploaded by hermanau

These home-made banana nut muffins were made to celebrate the grand opening of Anna's new print shop.  The pecan streusel topping gave the muffins some extra yummy goodness.

Chocolate Dipped Shortbread

Chocolate Dipped Shortbread
Originally uploaded by hermanau

Made these buttery treats for Herman to take to a photography seminar he was attending, so that he had something to snack on.

Strawberry Mini Cheesecake

Strawberry Topped Mini Cheesecake
Originally uploaded by hermanau

Made these bite-size cheesecakes for Sandy's birthday party. They are dainty and perfect for a girls night in.

White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies

Shirley's White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Originally uploaded by hermanau

Made these several weeks back to share with friends and coworkers.

Gooey Chocolate Cookies

Shirley's Gooey Chocolate Cookies
Originally uploaded by hermanau

I have decided to start blogging again, and from now it is going to be about all things baking (well with an occasional entry about my latest food adventure, I am sure.) I LOVE to bake. And if I really want to open a bakery someday, I would like this blog to document the steps I take to realizing this dream.

So I have been on a cookie kick lately, and I made these gooey chocolate cookies today. The recipe called for semisweet chocolate, but I used bittersweet chocolate instead, and I added a splash of espresso coffee to accent the rich chocolate flavor. These cookies were covered with a layer of powdered sugar before baking, giving it the crackled sugar coating. These cookies are crisp on the outside with a soft and fudge-like center. Only thing is, I do wish they would rise a little higher and not spread so much. I will need to work on that next time.