So, first things first..I’m not 100% sure that this came out the way it was supposed to. In the end it’s still delicious. I think the pattern was supposed to be carved deeper for it to come out better but who knows.
I used this recipe and it worked beautifully. https://www.mycookingjourney.com/himbasha-hmbasha-ambasha-ethiopian-flatbread/ I will say that if you’re using your food processor, you’ll need to knead your dough by hand. Don’t kill your food processor.
Holey moley me oh my…
I don’t know how I’ve never tried tres leches cake before. *chefs kiss* fucking delicious!
For this episode, I followed this recipe: https://ethnicspoon.com/traditional-tres-leches-cake/
I highly recommend this one. Its easy to follow and nearly impossible to fuck up. I will say I was a little concerned this would be overly sweet with the sweetened condensed milk, but it’s honestly perfect.
Holy delicious, Batman! Let me preface this by saying: I don’t really like donuts. Okay, now that’s out of the way…this week, I made donuts!
These are absolutely the best donuts I’ve ever put in my mouth. I was extremely grateful that my wife took them to work because me and my jeans would have been in serious trouble…
Here’s the recipe:
https://www.thespruceeats.com/may-day-munkki-cardamom-doughnuts-4037817
I did change it a little. Instead of rolling the cooked donuts in sugar, I did cinnamon/sugar. I highly recommend this as the cinnamon plays really well with the cardamom.
Seriously, make these. You will NOT be sorry. . unless you’re on a diet.
This week I used this recipe:
https://www.shelovesbiscotti.com/romanian-easter-christmas-bread-cozonac/
This turned out WONDERFUL! I did make a couple of minor changes when it came to rolling out the dough though. Firstly I oiled my counter instead of flouring. This felt so wrong, but worked amazingly. Secondly instead of using a rolling pin, I just smooshed it out with my hands. Again, you’re welcome to do your own thing, but I think this makes it so much more fun.
Baking is about bringing joy to others and yourself. So, get messy and make something fucking delicious!
Here’s the recipe I followed for this week:
https://www.koreanbapsang.com/dalgona-spongy-candy/
This was super fun and quite easy. It’s definitely a make and enjoy right away treat..which makes sense seeing as its a traditional street food. Aside from freezing my butt off making this on the grill and trying to avoid a straight up panic attack trying to light the damn thing, this turned out wonderfully. You don’t need special tools, just a little patience and common sense 🙂
I recommend giving this one a go. You’d think sugar and baking soda wouldn’t be tasty, but its caramelly deliciousness!
Ingredients:
Soda bath
Optional ingredients (toppings)
Start off by dissolving your yeast in your warm water. While that’s doing its foamy thing, mix flour and salt together in your stand mixer bowl. Form a well in the center and sprinkle your sugar in it. Pour your yeast mixture in the well and let it sit for 15 minutes.
Add your softened butter and mix on low until a ball forms. I ended up having to add an additional tablespoon or so of water since it was a tad too dry. Let your dough rest for 30 minutes.
Time to make the pretzel shapes!! Divide your dough into 12 equal parts..or if you’re like me, 11 and then realize your mistake and hastily make 12. Pretend you’re making playdoh snakes. You want at least 18-20″ to play with. You can really make any sort of shape that makes you happy, but the traditional shape starts with a U and then cross the ends over twisting twice and bring the ends down to the bottom of the U shape. You can also try to emulate the people at Auntie Anne’s in the mall and flip it around hastily and hope for the best!
I placed my twisted pretzels on my handy-dandy silpat lined baking tray, but you can place them on a parchment paper lined try. Either way, place them uncovered in the fridge for about an hour. At least. This will help them create a nice crust. Seriously, don’t skip this. It’s a very satisfying crust.
After the hour is up, preheat your oven to 400F.
Fill a large pot with your 2 quarts of water and bring to a boil. Bring your pretzels out of the fridge. Add your baking soda to the boiling water little by little. Its going to bubble up so seriously don’t add it all at once. The bubbles with subside and now you can start to add your pretzels. I did them 2 at a time since you have to keep an eye on them. Using either a large slotted spoon or some tongs, you’re going to drop them into the water and cook for 10 seconds on each side and then place back on the tray. Repeat until all have had their bath.
Using a razor blade or a very sharp knife, score one side of your pretzel. I don’t know why, but in traditional pretzels, this is what they do..so..do it.
Now, if you’re doing plain salt or the everything seasoning, this is where you add it to your pretzel. If you want cinnamon sugar, you’re going to bake them plain.
Mine baked in 15 minutes, but depending on how deep you’d like your coloring, you may bake for 20 minutes.
If you want your cinnamon sugar pretzel, melt some butter to brush on your cooked pretzel and just dust it on. Super simple and fucking delicious!
That’s it. Its a super simple and delicious snack and perfect for when you have a house full of snacky people.
10/10 recommend.
And now for something completely different!
I didn’t follow an exact recipe this week! What? I know…it was weird for me too, but you know what? I made the best pastry crust I’ve ever made just by look and feel.
I honestly don’t know if this would have turned out as well as it did if I had used an actual step by step exact recipe. Aside from hunting down a coconut, you should have everything else in your pantry already. Flour, salt, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla. That’s seriously it.
It’s very important to use fresh coconut here because you need the moisture to break down your sugar. If you’ve never cracked a coconut before, buckle the fuck up. I almost lost my shit several times during this process. I wanted to quit, I wanted to cry, but I didn’t. In the end, I’m glad I didn’t. This tart is delicious!
This week, I used this recipe: http://www.feastofstarlight.com/orphan-black-helenas-ukrainian-babka-cake/
One thing to note is that it doesn’t say to add the milk in the instructions, but you should add it in with the “sponge”
Overall this was a pretty easy recipe and despite the goof with the milk, I think it turned out wonderfully. It was also weirdly fun making something in trash. Cans that were otherwise destined for the recycling got another shot at life. Its very important to note that you don’t want to use cans with a plastic lining..no bueno in the cooking process.
This has been a crazy week. My wife had a hysterectomy and I’ve been trying to take care of everything around the house and making sure she’s happy and comfortable while still trying to keep up with my little project, which admittedly has seemed pointless with everything going on. Add in the fact that I’m having a particularly bad bout of shitty self-image while I’m trying to edit a video and well..we’re just feeling fucking peachy.
Onwards and upwards though. I know not many people see any of my efforts in my projects, but at the end of the day, I do it because its something I’ve always wanted to do. So, in my shittiest moods when all I want to do is give up and say “what’s the point?” I try to remind myself that I’m doing it for me.
After years of watching Pati Jinich I decided it was only fair to use one of her recipes for tamales. I had to make a few changes, but it all worked out great in the end.
Heres the recipe I used: https://patijinich.com/chickengreensalsatamal/
Despite having a large Hispanic population, my town had zero dried corn husks to speak of and good luck finding tomatillos. I bought salsa verde from the store *gasp* I know. I know. I always like to make things when I can, but the fact is..you can’t make it if you can’t find the ingredients. I was able to find banana leaves in the international section in the freezer aisle so I decided to go with the tropical Mexican version.
I’ve never made tamales before, and these were super easy and delicious. A bit time consuming but its all passive time so plenty of wiggle room to do other projects while you’re cooking. I assume the same can be said for the corn husk tamales, but they are very forgiving. I was so happy knowing that it was super hard to fuck anything up. Split a leaf open? No problem, just wrap another one around that sucker! Other than split leaves, the biggest concern you’ll have is making sure you have enough water in your pan. I just set a timer in 30 min increments and it all turned out just fine 🙂
Since I used banana leaves, if you make this and decide to do the same, get 2 packages. You’ll have extra, but 1 package isn’t enough to line your steamer and your tamales.
It might not look like much, but its so delicious 🙂
Ingredients:
This is a great one pot dessert. I was originally worried this would be way too sweet. It’s sweet, but not overly.
With a medium pot, mix your P.A.N and milk until smooth, then add your coconut milk in two parts mixing well in between additions.
Turn your heat to medium and stir constantly until the thick mixture comes to a boil. (Basically until you get some bubble action going) *seriously, don’t get distracted. Keep stirring or you’ll get a lot of clumps..or even burn your gloopy mixture)
Now you add your sugar, panela, sweetened condensed milk, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt. Make sure you continue to stir and get everything well incorporated. Cook for about 3 minutes and then remove from heat.
Transfer your pudding to a large serving dish or individual dishes and chill for 3 hours.
Once cooled, you can sprinkle the top with cinnamon.
Pretty simple and very delicious.
Anxiety Kitchen 