Nothing like anime cooked meal

Well its been weeks since I've been on my culinary grind outside of school, and though I've been under the weather, the fam deserves a good meal!

Enter in "super mom"!!!!!!

I have officially smashed the best dinner award for the kids right now, lol...
Blackened, but baked tilapia, corn on the cob, sweet peas and corn bread muffin!!!

Can you say happy faces all around?? I can!

Have a great Sunday!
Jae

The Art of Cheesecake

Well, I've owed my niece a cheesecake for as long as I can remember. She still loves me.

But its time for me to pay the piper and I decided to write my blog about the wonderful dessert called cheesecake.

Baking cheesecake is as delicate and tempermental as baking a cake. Science at its finest.

Started by creaming 24 oz cream cheese with 3/4 c of sugar. Stop a few times, scrape down the bowl, you want to make sure everything is incorporated well.

Add 3 eggs, one at a time, speed on very slow (dont want to incorporate too much air). Take time to scrape down bowl. You want these eggs incorporated fully.

Usually like to let batter sit overnight to let air bubble escape, but you can tap the pan to release some bubbles. Ideally you want to use a water bath for even cooking, since i dont have a pan large enough, I use a pan filled with water as an assistant.

Cook for 55 min or until set.

Let cool in pan for 20 min or more.

Refrigerate overnight or eat... I love it cold or warm.

Recipe for graham cracker crust:
1 1/2 c graham cracker crumbs
1/3 c butter
3 T sugar

Melt butter and mix all three ingredients, press into pan.


I hope you enjoy.

Love lots,
Jae

German Chocolate Cake

Sunday was the day, I made this cake, but i actually forgot to post about it.

I made this for a friend of mine, my sis cant eat chocolate so I had to give it away!

Fresh baked German Chocolate cake with Coconut Pecan Icing

After making it, I know how I would make it if I needed to cover it with fondant, lol. I love learning.

They loved it, so I'm happy?

Have a great one,
Jae

Developing recipes

Well, I'm making moves toward opening my cake decorating business/bakery, we decided to start testing recipes. When I say "we," i mean me, lol. But the taste testers are eager as well.

First up on chopping block, is my variation on Lemon Buttermilk Pound Cake.

Creaming the butter and sugar

Zesting the lemon

Adding eggs

Adding flour/buttermilk

Mixing between additions

My kitchen helper

Scraping down the bowl

Folding in vanilla and lemon zest

Pre-oven

In oven

Fresh out, can you see the steam???

Cooling

Moist and sweet

Taste test

So after the process of making the pound cake...

The taste testers agree with the baker, a keeper!!!

Have a great one,
Jae

Sugar Cookies

Well as of today, I spent over four hours in the emergency room, but I was seen, but in retrospect it was alright. My sister has wanted sugar cookies for over two weeks so i decided today to make them.

Yes I know it has been a while since I posted, and the intro is pretty grim, but oh so true.

I took a basic, but rich, sugar cookie recipe and vamped it my way:

14.8 oz AP flour
.1 oz baking powder
.1 oz kosher salt
8 oz unsalted butter, softened
5.5 oz granulated sugar (I used my homemade vanilla sugar)
4 oz confectioners sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
Optional: orange zest .1 oz, coarse sugar for decoration or royal icing for decoration

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt in bowl.

Cream the butter and the sugars together until fluffy and light.

Add the vanilla extract (and zest if used) and incorporate. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, scraping the bowl after each addition.

Slowly add the flour mixture and continue beating until dough comes together, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.

Roll a tablespoon of cookie dough into a ball and slightly flatten. Dip one side in the coarse sugar and place sugar-side up on cookie sheet 1 in apart.

Refrigerate cookies for 30 min. Preheat oven to 375*F.

Bake cookies for 10-15 min (12 min works best for my oven). Leave cookies on sheet to cool until firm enough to transfer without breaking (about 5-10min). Continue to cool on cooling rack. Can store in airtight container for up to a month.

We never get to storing part, lol. I hope you enjoy.

You can omit the rolling in sugar part and decorate with royal icing, but i did not tonight. Still got looks of smiles.

Be blessed

Jae

Buttermilk Biscuits

Well today is Saturday, family fun. My dad & I made lima beans so I decided I wanted biscuits.

I did a search on Allrecipes.com and found a recipe for Kentucky Biscuits, awesome recipes, but I of course made some changes.

2 c unbleached all purpose flour
2 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t kosher salt
2 1/2 Tb sugar
1/2 c butter, cold (one stick of butter, cut into squares)
3/4 c buttermilk

1. Mix dry ingredients together in mixing bowl
2. Cut in butter until mixture looks like coarse cornmeal
3. Add buttermilk and mix
4. Turn biscuit mix onto floured surface and knead for two min
5. Roll into square (6x6 according to original directions), cut into 12 squares (do not separate), bake in preheated 400*F oven for 15 min
**I cut rounds and didnt separate them, awesome effect baked!
Can be served warm with butter, jam, or honey, yummy

I hope you enjoy your Saturday. Happy eating...

Jae

*original recipe is Kentucky biscuits from allrecipes.com
**I adapted only the amount of sugar, i like them a bit sweeter, but i think i will try other variations on this basic recipe.

Today at the Jae P house

Since I have been posting as much as I used to, I took the time out to fix my booskies some overnight french toast with peach praline syrup.

After they went to school, my Dad made pancakes for him and Thandie... And used my peach praline syrup... Lol

To say that it was delicious was an understatement. My sis told me I need to take my skills and give them to the world, uh hello, in progress, lol.

My dad loves the syrup and is complementing me today (a first, lol, my biggest food critic).

Thandie has opt for Doc McStuffins, oh well... She will eat it later...

Until later, love ya...

Jae

Dad's Birthday

Well, my dad is officially 27. Ha ha ha, not really... But on August 31, we celebrated my dad's birthday.

We made him (well I made him) a coconut cake with simple vanilla butter cream and toasted coconut.

Everyone loved it, so i was happy....

So once again, happy birthday dad!!?