White Chocolate Green Tea Truffles.

White chocolate green tea truffles?! they were so easy to make, yet they are so fancy fresh and very impressive-looking! i think some people couldn't really taste the green tea because i only put in 1 tablespoon. i didn't want the taste to be overpowering, but maybe i'll try to put 1 1/2 tablespoons or maybe even 2 tablespoons the next time i make this. 

Here's what you need! 

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

8 ounces (1 cup) white chocolate chips

1 tablespoon matcha powder 

8 ounces melted dark chocolate (60%)

heat up the butter and heavy cream in saucepan

 in a separate bowl, pour in the white chocolate chips and matcha

 when the heavy cream and butter come to a boil, quickly pour into the white chocolate/matcha and stir to melt the chocolate and fully incorporate everything together.

 then put in the fridge so it can harden!

i left it in the fridge overnight but it wasn't hard enough to form stiff balls (i know that sounds super wrong.) to make the truffle batter harder, just stir it intensely with a spoon, which will allow the heavy cream to stiff up.

 use a chopstick to lightly stab the top of the truffle and dip into the dark chocolate so they are fully coated

then put in the fridge to harden the dark chocolate!
 mmm!

 sooo easy!

DOMO!

My friend's birthday was coming up and i saw on her facebook that she likes domo! :] so i made her a red velvet domo cake! i normally don't like red velvet cake because it's not sweet enough for me, so i added 1/2 cup more sugar.. also the color was so intense because the recipe called for 2 ounces of red food coloring, but i also checked other recipes ,which asked for 2 ounces as well, so i guess it's normal!

here's what you need! 

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour*

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 ounces red food coloring

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup butter, unsalted and at room temperature

2 cups sugar

2 eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar

*you can make your own cake flour, which i did, by measuring out a cup of flour, then replacing two tablespoons of flour from that cup with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. then sift it about 5 times so the corn starch is fully aired and incorporated into the flour. you will have to sift 2 1/2 cups of flour for this recipe, and replacing 5 tablespoons of flour with 5 tablespoons of cornstarch. yay for math!

 preheat oven to 350 degrees. then butter the bottom and sides of a 9x13 inch pan, and placing parchment paper on the bottom.

sift together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt

dissolve the cocoa powder and the red food coloring until there aren't cocoa powder chunks

  cream the butter and sugar until it looks cool like this

add the vanilla extract, then add the eggs one at a time (don't overmix!)

 add the cocoa powder/food coloring mixture into the butter/sugar/egg mixture!

 add the 1/3 of the flour, followed by 1/3 of the buttermilk to insure that they are well-incorporated into the batter (so important!)

combine the vinegar and baking soda in a separate bowl and add to the cake batter...

 then pour the batter into the pan and place it in the oven for about 35 minutes, or until a knife or toothpick comes out clean.

 meanwhile, i made lunch! rice sauteed in leftover tomato puree with sauteed mushrooms and a fried egg!

 when the cake is done and cooled, flip it upside down on a cooling rack

 peel off the parchment paper and, after it is cooled to room temperature, place it in the fridge until you're done making the frosting. the cake won't crumble as much when you frost it if it's been cooling in the fridge.

 cream cheese frosting (so good...)

Ingredients

2 packages of cream cheese

1/2 cup butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar 

 cream the cream cheese and butter together until slightly smooth

 add the powdered sugar and mix well until it looks like frosting.. you can always add more powdered sugar if you want to change the consistency, but 2 1/2 cups was perfect for this cake.

 then i added the vanilla extract

 i used dark chocolate chips for the eyes :]

and i cut the bottom for the arms

 crotch!

 i struggled with making the cream cheese brown..i added a bunch of cocoa powder but the cream cheese frosting was still light, so i melted dark chocolate chips and mixed that in. it darkened a little..

i tried making some of the frosting red by using food coloring, but it just ended up being bright pink. then i realized the cake itself is red! so i left it as is, and just added the teeth!

poor, poor delicious domo!

Cannolis with Ricotta and Mascarpone

Cannolis! My good friend *Asino told me to make cannolis awhile ago, and i finally found the time to make them!

Here's what you do!

Ingredients

 1 3/4 cup flour

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoon butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup marsala wine

1 egg

mix together the flour, sugar, salt, and butter until the butter is well-incorporated and resemble small peas.

 mix together the egg and marsala wine

 add the egg mixture a little at a time into the flour mixture while mixing well

 knead it all together to form a ball, then wrap it in plastic and let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes so it'll be easier to work with

 roll the dough very flat, about 1/8 inch thick.

 cut into squares (i used a post-it!) you can also cut them into circles!

crack another egg and spread the egg wash onto the open end of the dough and seal.

Fry in corn oil (or any other high heat oil) in medium heat until browned (but not burnt!)

 tada! i filled it with my homemade mascarpone and ricotta cheese, with dark chocolate chips, sprinkled with powdered sugar on top.

*for the filling, i mixed 1 cup of ricotta with 1/4 cup of mascarpone and 1/2 cup of sugar. then fill the cannolis with a piping bag or ziploc bag!

Homemade Ricotta Cheese

i finally made ricotta cheese! it was super easy, even though i was a little nervous about it.. i also made mascarpone cheese last weekend but i didn't take many pictures of it because i was nervous when making that too. 

but here's what you do!

Ingredients

2 quarts whole milk

1 pint heavy cream,  not ultra-pasteurized

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons distilled vinegar

heat the milk, heavy cream, and salt on medium heat and stir constantly to make sure the milk does not burn. 

 when the temperature of the mixture reaches 180 degrees, or if it is at a rolling boil, add the vinegar and turn the heat down to low.

when the milk begins to curdle (when the mixture separates into curds and whey), take it off the heat and let it cool for a couple minutes.

Then spoon the curds over onto a cheesecloth (i used coffee filters) over a sieve and drain for 20 minutes.

 after draining, put in a sealed container and leave it in the fridge until you want to use it!

Chicken Curry?

My mom left me with a bunch of spices for curry so i tried making some sort of curry today...it was pretty good though, but i didn't take any pictures because i didn't really know what i was doing..i just added a bunch of stuff that i heard fit well in curries.. but once i make it again, i will put something up soon! my mom also insisted on me adding fish sauce to it, so this curry contains incredible amounts of yummy fish sauce.