Strawberries and Cream Cupcakes

So I’ve decided that the next three posts will be about CUPCAKES. Why? Because cupcakes are mini cakes that you don’t have to bother slicing into pieces, and each one can have its own little decoration! They’re cute, easy, and delicious, so what could be better? So I am going to drop the Three Musketeer Cupcakes for you to enjoy! Today’s cupcake is Strawberries and Cream! A sweet, adorable cupcake with fresh strawberries and not too many other ingredients makes this a go-to dessert! Enjoy~

Ingredients:

·      1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, softened

·      ¾ cup superfine sugar

·      3 eggs

·      1 tsp vanilla extract

·      1 1/3 cups self-rising flour

·      1 ¼ cup strawberries + extra to help decorate

·      1 ¼ cup cream cheese, softened

·      2 ¼ cup confectioner’s sugar

Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Line the cupcake pan with cupcake liners. Beat the butter and superfine sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in one egg at a time, then add the vanilla and fold the flour into the mixture. Pour the batter into the cupcake pan and bake fro 20 minutes. Let the cupcakes cool to room temperature before icing.

Blend or mash the strawberries into a puree, the push the mixture through a sieve to remove the seeds. Beat the strawberry puree with the cream cheese and confectioner’s sugar to create the frosting. Transfer the frosting to a pastry bag, pipe the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes, top with a strawberry, and enjoy!

So late, but here's some Garlic Fried Rice!

It's been a month since my last post; apologies about that. I was rather busy this interterm, so I completely forgot to add new recipes (no good excuse basically). But I've decided to start off again with a great recipe. I mean just look at the title; does anything else need to be said? This dish is fragrant, simple, and absolutely delicious! You can enjoy this by itself, as a side dish, or with my confetti omurice recipe (click here to check it out)! Yum yum~!

Ingredients:

·      2 garlic cloves, minced

·      10 shisho leaves, or a mix of fresh basil and mint leaves (though I recommend the shisho leaves much more!), finely chopped

·      2 tbsp sunflower, or vegetable, oil

·      2 cup cooked rice (jasmine, sushi, choose as Asian grain if possible)

·      1 tbsp granulated chicken stock (or a bouillon cube if you wish)

·      Dried fish flakes

·      Soy sauce

·      Salt and pepper

Heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry the garlic until fragrant. Add the rice and chicken stock powder and stir to combine. Add soy sauce to taste (I recommend 1-2 tbsp) and mix well. Turn off the heat, add the leaves, and mix quickly. Serve immediately topped with fish flakes and salt and pepper as garnish. Enjoy!

Confetti Omurice!

You may be familiar with the creative recipes by Tasty (a page on Facebook that puts cute, simple, fun recipes up for people to enjoy and try out). I got this recipe from Tasty Japan, and it is so cute and delicious, and it’s definitely worth a try! A picture of my attempt at it is below; it turned out pretty well and tasted delicious! It’s simple and fun, so give it a try yourself!

Ingredients:

·      1 cup cooked jasmine rice

·      ½ small onion, diced

·      ½ boneless chicken breast, diced

·      Soy sauce

·      Worcestershire sauce

·      Ketchup

·      1 tbsp peas

·      1 tbsp carrots, diced

·      1 egg, beaten

·      Seasonings (salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne, etc.)

***I will be posting a recipe for garlic fried rice soon, so if you’d like to use that instead of the really basic fried rice recipe used here, or you can use your own fried rice recipe!***

Heat a large frying pan to medium-high heat. Add a couple tablespoons of oil to the pan, then add the onions and chicken and fry until the chicken is fully cooked. Add the rice and stir to combine, then add soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, and seasonings to taste. Remove the pan from the stove, fill a small bowl with the fried rice and pack down, then invert the bowl on a small plate to create a small dome of rice.

Bring a pot of water to a simmer. Line another small bowl with plastic wrap, add the beaten egg, peas, and carrots, bring up the sides of the plastic wrap and secure shut with a rubber band. You should now have a small pouch with the egg and vegetables well secured. Place the pouch in the simmering water and move it around in the water gently to cook for 5-7 minutes. Remove from the heat and gently cut and remove the plastic wrap around the egg bundle, and place the bundle gently on top of the rice dome. And now you are all set! 

Pork-Apricot Skillet

Hello~! So the last few recipes were desserts, so this recipe will be a simple and delicious entrée! Today’s will be a perfect autumn recipe, Pork Apricot Skillet! This recipe requires little ingredients, time, and preparation; what could be better? Oh yeah, it tastes amazing!!! So enjoy and have fun cooking and eating!

Ingredients:

·      8 oz dried apricots

·      1.5 cups boiling water

·      2 lbs boneless pork tenderloin, cubed

·      1 small yellow onion, chopped

·      1 tbsp soy sauce

·      ¼ tsp pepper

·      Seasonings (cayenne, white pepper, onion powder, whatever you’d like to add)

Pour the water over the apricots to soak them. Set aside. Brown the pork cubes and onion in a large frying pan in oil over medium-high heat. Add the soy sauce, pepper, apricots, and ½ cup apricot-soaking liquid to the frying pan, and cover the frying pan. Lower the heat and simmer for 45 minutes, adding more liquid to prevent sticking. Serve with rice, noodles, or mashed potatoes, and enjoy! Yum~!

Kitchen Hacks Part VI

Happy Sunday! Today's post is another Kitchen Hacks! I hope you find all of these tips as helpful as I am! Enjoy~

1.     Need to chop up herbs? An efficient way to do this is to either roll up the leaves into small rolls and chop thinly, or secure a rubber band around a cluster of them and then begin chopping!

2.     How to create the perfect chocolate curls: wrap the chocolate bar in plastic wrap and rub the palm of your hand on the surface of the chocolate, then unwrap and use a vegetable peeler running towards you.

3.     If you have a bowl too small for a double boiler when melting chocolate, place a heatproof colander over the pot of boiling water, and set your small bowl with chocolate in the colander. Problem solved!

4.     Making zesting citrus easier by freezing the fruit for 30 minutes and then zesting.

5.     Want to easily steam a bunch of corn on the cob? Cut up two medium onions into 1-inch slices, separate into rings, and arrange them on the bottom of a large roasting pan. Fill the pan with 1-inch water and place the shucked ears of corn on top of the onions, cover with aluminum foil, and seal tightly. Set the pan over two burners and steam over high heat for about ten minutes, or until tender.

Pear Custard Pie

I hope you enjoyed the previous pear dessert recipe! While that one was a fragrant cake, this recipe is a pie with a warm custard filling! So welcome to the Pear Custard Pie recipe! This recipe is much more easy than the other one (less ingredients, less time spent), but in no way does it lack in flavor! So enjoy!

Ingredients:

·      9-in unbaked pie crust

·      5 cups pears, peeled and sliced

·      2 eggs

·      1 cup sugar

·      ¼ cup flour

·      ¼ cup softened butter

·      1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 450F. Place the rolled-out pie crust in a pie pan, and place the pear in the pie crust. Beat the remaining ingredients with an electric mixer until fluffy and pour into the pie crust. Bake for 10 minutes, reduce the heat to 350ºF, and continue to bake for 30 minutes until the pie is set. Remove from the oven and serve with whipped cream!

Upside-Down Pear Gingerbread

I love pears. I absolutely love pears. But I DEFINITELY don’t get to eat enough of them because they go bad fairly quickly. And I never get to work with them in the kitchen (that’s mainly because I’ll eat them before they end up being used). So I’ve decided that my next two recipes will be pear recipes! Today’s is Upside-Down Pear Gingerbread! This is a beautiful dessert with strong flavor, and it leaves a warm feeling in your stomach when you’ve finished eating. It’s yummy and simple, so what better reason is there to give this recipe a try?

Ingredients:

·      ¼ cup brown sugar

·      2 tbsp granulated sugar

·      1 tbsp butter, melted

·      1 tbsp water

·      2 ripe pears, peeled, cored, and sliced

·      1 cup flour

·      ½ cup whole wheat flour

·      1 tsp baking soda

·      1 tsp ground ginger

·      ½ tsp ground cinnamon

·      ¼ tsp ground nutmeg

·      ¼ tsp ground allspice

·      ¼ tsp salt

·      1/3 cup butter, softened

·      ½ cup brown sugar

·      1 egg

·      ½ cup molasses

·      ½ cup buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Combine the ½ cup brown sugar, granulated sugar, melted butter, and water in a baking dish. Arrange the pear slices on top of the sugar mixture. Combine the flours, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and salt in a separate bowl and set aside. Beat the softened butter and ½ cup brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat for a minute longer. Alternate adding the molasses and buttermilk with the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Pour the final combined mixture over the pears in the baking dish. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for a few minutes, turn over onto a platter, and serve with whipped cream!