Rainbow Sprinkle Cookies

Rainbow Sprinkle Cookies are sweet, soft, and festive! Covered with colorful sprinkles, they’ll definitely brighten your day!

Sugar Sprinkles Cookies can be rolled in any colored sprinkles for all sorts of holidays and events. Use team colors on game day, reds and pinks for Valentine’s Day, and red and green for Christmas.

Sprinkle cookies on a white rectangular tray

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My New Breville Oven & an Exciting New Technique for Melting Chocolate

Smart_Oven_Air_Hero_ Hig Res.jpg

It’s been over five years since I wrote about my first Breville oven, calling it the perfectly even oven. My test was to pipe a spiral of cream puff pastry to see how it browned and it was perfectly even.

I have been so enamored of this oven, I have since purchased one as a wedding gift and another to have in my weekend home.

A few weeks ago, I discovered the latest model, the Smart Oven Air. When I learned about the extra features this newer slightly larger model offers I had to have it. And I’m totally smitten! I’ve even put it to use for a newly developed terrific technique, which I will share at the end of this posting. First: here are the new features that I most value:

  • An oven light that can be turned off or on at will (oh joy!)
  • Two oven racks
  • A dehydrating setting and mesh basket (I’ll be using this for my citrus powder)
  • A proofing setting for bread dough between 80°F/27°C and 100°F°/38°C

(I tested it and it holds true to temperature with no more than 3°F fluctuation.)

Now here is my great new discovery: Anyone who has ever tried to melt white or milk chocolate without stirring it constantly, has learned the hard way that it will seed. This is caused by the milk solids in the chocolate. And there is no way of restoring the little specks of hardened milk solids. But, if you heat the chocolate at 100°F/38°C it will melt gradually to be as smooth as silk. In short, you can place it in a container in the Breville, turn it to the proofing setting, set the temperature to 100°F/38°C, and leave it to melt on its own.

Breville BOV900BSS The Smart Oven Air, Silver

German Sour Cherry Cake

German Sour Cherry Cake

If you follow along on Instagram, you might have seen that Mark and I were in Germany back in November. The trip was like a fairytale – the castles, the mountains, the buildings, the shopping, the towns, the markets…the FOOD – it just all made for an incredible trip. 

*this recipe was created for my friends at Imperial Sugar

[Here are some Germany travel highlights from my Instagram. Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Garmisch and Neuschaanstein Castle, and Frankfurt Christmas Market.]

German Sour Cherry Cake

I visited many a bakery while Mark was working. And did, in fact, eat a cherry cake. But, it was a chocolate-cherry layer cake with fresh cherries and kirsch. It WAS delicious, but I want to make something more simple at home. 

CLICK TO CONTINUE READING…more sugar this way!

Ep. 1002: NBA Finals, Game 2

On Monday’s episode of “The Fix,” The Jones recap Game 2 of the NBA Finals. Topics discussed include: Mario Chalmers’ big game, LeBron’s block, Manu’s slippery hands, the Heat’s defensive adjustment on Tony Parker, and turnovers.

All that, plus Jason Kidd’s interest in the Nets’ head coaching vacancy, the inaugural Twyman/Stokes Teammate Award, paintball, and chalupas.

matcha yoghurt chiffon cupcakes

These matcha yoghurt chiffon cupcakes are put together with leftover egg whites from making some hollandaise sauce; the ever available low fat plain yoghurt in the fridge, plus a new can of matcha green tea powder.

After having tried the Plaster Blaster prata (prata served with ham, poached eggs and hollandaise sauce) at the Springleaf prata place, my elder son has been pestering me to try our hands at making our own hollandaise sauce. He even picked up this cookbook ‘Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking by Michael Ruhlman’ which I borrowed from the library to learn how to prepare the sauce. This is probably the very first cookbook he has read. I suspect the title must have caught his eyes when I left the book on the coffee table. You see, he likes or rather love mathematics, and of course he enjoys good food…it doesn’t have to be an expensive gourmet dish as long as it tastes good or suits his delicate palate. I won’t elaborate on our hollandaise sauce experiment here but he did manage to pull together his own version of plaster blaster prata with frozen pre-made prata, his newly acquired skill on poaching eggs with cling wraps, and the resulting not too bad (but still lacking something?) hollandaise sauce.

Okay, back to the green tea part…

the matcha powder which my baking friend bought from Kyoto must be of very good quality. It is very fragrant as it gives off a nice sweet aroma when I left it on the counter before sieving with the flour. The cupcakes came out of the oven in a nice shade of green too.

The cupcakes were tender and moist with a delightful matcha flavour and just a hint of tang from the yoghurt. The only problem with these cute cuppies is that it takes a lot of self restraint to refrain from reaching out for more 😉

Matcha Yoghurt Chiffon Cupcakes

Ingredients:
(makes 12 cupcakes)

3 egg yolks (use large eggs)
25g caster sugar
40ml vegetable oil (I used extra light olive oil)
80g plain yoghurt (I used low fat yoghurt)
80g cake flour
10g matcha green tea powder

4 egg whites (use large eggs)
55g caster sugar

Method:

  • Sieve together matcha green tea powder and flour, set aside.
  • Place egg yolks in a mixing bowl. With a manual balloon whisk, whisk the yolks a little. Add in sugar and whisk to combine.
  • Add in vegetable oil gradually, whisk to combine.
  • Add in yoghurt. Whisk to combine. Sieve over the matcha and flour mixture. Whisk till the flour is fully incorporated. Do not over mix. The batter will be very thick. Set aside.
  • In a clean, dry mixing bowl, beat egg whites with a handheld electric mixer on low speed until mixture becomes frothy and foamy. Add half of the sugar amount and turn to high speed and beat the mixture. Continue to add in the remaining sugar and beat until the egg whites reaches the soft peak stage.The soft peak stage is reached when the peaks of the whites curl over and droop slightly. The egg whites should appear smooth and glossy. (Do not over beat the whites still stiff, it is better to beat the whites still soft peaks for easy folding with the yolk batter.)
  • Add the beaten egg whites into the egg yolk batter in 3 separate additions, each time folding gently with a spatula until just blended (I prefer to use a balloon whisk to do the folding). The yolk batter will be very thick, fold gently without deflating the beaten egg whites. The finished batter should be thick and voluminous, not thin and runny.
  • Spoon batter into paper muffin cups till 90% full. Arrange filled muffin cups on a baking tray. Tap the tray lightly on a table top to get rid of any trapped air bubbles in the batter.
  • Bake in pre-heated oven at 170 degC for 15~20 mins, till the top is slightly browned or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove tray from oven and immediately bang the tray together with the cupcakes on the table top 2 to 3 times. This helps to prevent the cupcakes from shrinking. Let cool completely on wire rack.

Recipe source: adapted from 好吃戚风蛋糕轻松上手, 福田淳子

Podcast: Has Notre Dame Upgraded It’s Coaching Staff So Far and How Do They Finish It Off?

Frank and Greg are back this week to talk through the latest developments with the Notre Dame coaching staff as Marcus Freeman works on finishing off his first staff as the head coach at Notre Dame.  The lads discuss: Has Notre Dame improved overall with the four hires so far?Thoughts on the departure for Lance …

The post Podcast: Has Notre Dame Upgraded It’s Coaching Staff So Far and How Do They Finish It Off? appeared first on UHND.com – Notre Dame Football, Basketball, & Recruiting.

Ep. 1003: NBA Finals, Game 3

On Wednesday’s episode of “The Fix,” The Jones recap Game 3 of the NBA Finals. Topics discussed include: Danny Green and Gary Neal 11 (!) three-pointers, LeBron’s shot selection and passiveness, Tony Parker’s status, Spurs’ ball movement, whether Wade thinks he’s still playing the Pacers, and whether Kawhi Leonard is the early frontrunner for Finals MVP.

All that, plus mouthguards, floppy wrists, Sebastien De La Cruz, chants, and more.

DFS Fantasy Basketball Tournament Picks and Playoff Schedule for Wednesday, April 30

Three games on the NBA Playoff Schedule for Wednesday and we have games at FanDuel!  We’ve still got nightly games, but as these series wrap up there won’t be enough games to play FanDuel every night, so definitely try these daily games out now before the season ends.  Also, FanDuel has daily fantasy baseball games […]