In Shambles...

I hate rain, I have always hated rain. Now more so...

For the first time in 23 years, our house was flooded last Saturday September 26, 2009 by typhoon Ondoy. Our whole ground floor was submerged in flood. Everything got ruined the food, appliances, clothes, shoes, and my cookbooks. When I think of all the time I put taking care of those books and in a few minutes there are all gone. I'm not even sure if I could still use them once they got dry. I could cry when I think of it. So I try to avoid doing that and just be thankful that my brother who got stuck inside the house is safe. These pictures are how chaotc my house looks after the flood is gone.

Serious Rum Cake

As you probably read on my previous post I've been on a book buying frenzy for the last almost two months because most of the major bookstores here in Manila were recently having their sale consecutively. One of my most recent purchase was Shirley Corriher Bake Wise book. I've searched high and low for a rum cake recipe from scratch without those box mixes in them. I've tried one years ago and didn't turn out good so I stopped. I got so happy when I saw this book, after seeing this book in the bookstores for several weeks, I finally bit the bullet and bought it. I didn't even realise who the author is until I saw her picture on the back jacket. I knew her from obsessively watching Good Eats, another favorite show of mine.We have just recently had a long weekend, yesterday (Monday) was the end of Ramadan. Though we are not a Muslim country some parts on our country specially in the south called Mindanao, there are prevalent Muslims there, so our president declared yesterday a holiday. Having more time in my hands than usually, I've decided to give this Serious Rum Cake a try. It felt like I was back in high school chem lab doing some experiments. Hahaha...There are so many steps and instructions to read that I've read them more than 5x so that I would get it precisely. Hey, ingredients are expensive so flops are a big no no. Another reason that I'm recently obsessing about rum cake is that Christmas is fast approaching and these are very popular here in Manila, I thought of making my own to give to friends and family. I started slow because I have to make sure that the while creaming the butter, shortening and sugar that the bowl stays cold to the touch. Which I honestly found asking myself why. It has 4 eggs and 2 yolks that I find odd too, most cakes I make only has 4 eggs, I guess the added yolks will make the output softer. The other succeeding instructions are quite ordinary now like adding the dry ingredients and alternating with the buttermilk. Then I stumbled upon whipping the cream until it exceeds soft peaks and gently fold into the batter. I was like huh??? what the heck is that? But being the good little soldier that I am, I did what I read. and quickly transferred them into a loaf pan and baked them. The rum syrup that goes with the recipe is a bit odd too with only 1 tablespoon of rum in it. What's up with that right? I thought this is a serious rum cake? That part looks really doubtful that I got old recipes from other Filipino book and got the rum soaking syrup there. It smelled so good!

They turn out a bit flat, maybe I needed to bake them much longer or something but they are soft, light and soft, something that I'm really amazed about. Not very boozy but just right. They taste special too with the ground almonds in them. I will definitely try these recipe again and try to be more patient with the baking time.

Black Forest Cookies

These are a bunch of ugly looking suckers! Yup they sure are but don't let that deceive you. These may not look it but these are very chocolately and taste very sinful. These dark beauties are called Black Forest Cookies, I found this recipe from Baked. I'm not a huge fan of the Black Forest cake, however I got curious what they taste like in cookie form.They turn out surprisingly good, even though the recipe called for half semi-sweet chocolate chips and half white, I used all semi sweet it turns our very chocolaty and very very dark in color. Maybe next time I will add the required white chips maybe it will make it look more appetizing. The dought itself is quite soft and very sticky so it needs to be refrigerated for a while like overnight to make it more scoopable. When making this be prepared for the mess!

It's very messy or maybe it is just me ? hahahaha... ^_^

Very Addictive...

When creamy peanut butter and chocolate chips marries, with an added dash of roasted skinless peanuts, their babies turns out to be Chunky Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Phew! that sure is a mouthful. ^_^

Lately I've notice that I've been obsessed with the peanut butter-chocolate combo, and I blame it all on KAF Baking Banter. Ever since I read this particular entry I'm forever lost. I used to be satisfied with just eating peanut butter straight from the jar with a spoon just like Joe Black. But now???!!!! no more I have to have that peanut butter and chocolate combo which I must admit is great combo, but man, this silly addictive treat is ruining my diet!!! I used to be able to eat just one cookie a day, now no more I have to keep busy doing other stuff like cross stitching to avoid stuffing my face! ^-^There are actually quite a LOT of recipes for peanut butter cookies but so few with chocolate chip combo. After an hour or so of searching for the perfect recipe. I just decided on a good peanut butter recipe and just throw in some chocolate chips and these babies are born. Yummy! Although I must be honest and admit that there is such thing as too much add-ins. Didn't actually realized that the peanut butter cookie dough and only hold so much. This recipe I got from Nick Malgieri's Cookies Unlimited, from the 2 cups of chopped peanuts I added an additional 2 cups of chocolate chips, which taste great, my brother who is a chocolate and peanut butter fiend absolutely loves it when he saw me carrying my secret stach of these cookies his whole face lights up. Hahaha...how I love it when people show their appreciation for it.

It's actually a good thing that I have a secret stach, or else I wouldn't have any pictures to show for.

It's Here!

After long months of waiting it's finally here! This is the first time that I won anything online and I'm just so ecstatic. This cupcake issue of Australlian Gourmet Traveller is courtesy of Mihn from Couture Cupcakes. It took almost 5 months to get here but it's okey, it's FREE and looks absolutely gorgeous!

The featured cupcakes looks really scrumptious and I could wait to try them. Thanks again Mihn!

It's called Insanity...

It's finally official, I think my addiction to baking books borderlines on insanity! Last week, Friday, it was pouring cats and dogs, I still got this insane idea of WALKING to and from the mall to purchase David's new book The Sweet Life in Paris! I mean how crazy is that! I was even tempted to buy Rose's Heavenly Cakes, good thing I manage to convince myself not too. With the rain relentlessly pouring I got lost several times, by the time I got home I was so tired and dirty that all I can do is take a hot shower and go to sleep.

It's insanity I'm telling you! INSANITY!

TWD: Espresso Cheesecake Brownie

This week's Tuesday's with Dorie event we have Espresso Cheesecake Brownies. These are brownies with cheesecake batter swirled in, sounds so yummy that I have to make it.

I must admit that I'm think as I get older I'm getting more and more forgetful. Even if I have my mis en place, I still tend to forget to put ingredients in. So technically speaking I made Cheesecake Brownies, everything was already in the oven before I realized that my espresso w/ water was still sitting on my counter top.

I've made cheesecake brownie before this but not with this recipe. In both recipe, I'd say they are fairly quick to make and I just remember why I hardly ever do cheesecake brownies because they are a bit addictive! Instead of swirling in the cheesecake batter I just pour it on top of the brownie batter to make a distinct layer between the two. The cheesecake are dense and rich while the brownies are moist and equally as rich.

Book Crazed!

For the past two months and a half, I've been frequenting bookstores so much that I lost track of what I saw and where I saw them. I'm like an addict trying to control my craving.

In this photo above you can see my newest addition to my already full booksheves. I keep telling myself that this is the last book I'll buy then I'll see something more special. I love book bargain hunting Peter Reinhart and Gina De Palma's book I got for less than Php 600 which is fairly a good deal coz they still look like brand new a bit tattered on the edges but with new book cover they will look great!

I can't wait to start reading these!

Oh but wait! I only have 2 weeks to give my wallet time to recover because the Manila International Book Fair is about to start!