My brother recently gave me a big tub of roasted peanuts. While I am
an avid fan of nuts, my recent affliction of migraines has me banning
peanuts in large amounts. Hubby does not like peanuts and neither does
the little girl, except for peanut butter. So what do I do with all
those peanuts? Transform them into peanut butter... but with chocolate!
The ingredients I used for my chocolate peanut butter spread...
Thank
goodness for food processors... they make peanut butter easy! 5
minutes of whirring 200 to 250 grams of roasted peanuts and it's quite
done.
Add 100 grams melted dark chocolate... and maybe a tablespoon of sugar or honey (or to taste)
and viola! Chocolate Peanut Butter!
I have been eating this off a spoon... as has the little girl. We love it!
For the little girl... who has requested, repeatedly for several days now, chocolate ice cream with chocolate chips in it.
This recipe was given to me by an e-friend, who gave me permission to share...
1/2 cup chocolate milk
1/2 cup condensed milk
1/3 cup Dutch style cocoa
300 ml heavy 40% cream
3 to 5 tablespoons mini chocolate chips
Stir together the chocolate milk, condensed milk and cocoa until thoroughly mixed. Chill for a couple of hours.
Whip the cream until stiff peaks. Fold in the chocolate-milk mixture.
Pour
into prepared container (about 1 liter capacity). Freeze for 1 to 2
hours, until sides begin to freeze but center is still a bit liquid-y.
Stir the mixture then fold in chocolate chips. Freeze until solid.
The
little girl obviously loved her ice cream. It was delicious, although I
found it a tad a bit on the sweet side. It's a little sweeter,
particularly the end-note, than my go-to homemade chocolate ice cream, but it is darker and has a more complex chocolate-y taste, maybe due to chocolate milk component.
In any case, the little girl pronounced me her (kitchen) hero once again!
My first attempt to make homemade butter was a flop. I used my
KitchenAid stand mixer (it was really messy) and actually saw the
buttermilk separate but thought that the liquid was too little so I kept
going. Big mistake. The buttermilk reincorporated in the butter and I
ended up with something NOT butter! It spoiled overnight.
I did not want to try again!
But then I saw this video...
And I raced to the nearest supermarket and a 500ml bottle of water. I still had some fresh cream in the fridge and started "culturing" the cream, because I wanted cultured butter. I
followed the instructions in the book Kitchen Creamery, page 55-56)
After
24 hours, I poured 250 ml of cultured cream in the (clean) water
bottle. Then I shook the bottle for about 10 to 15 minutes (no way I
could do it in a minute, the guy in the video has serious muscle, I have
serious fat). About 3 minutes into shaking, I started to doubt myself
(the little girl told me I looked really funny); it seemed that there
was no activity within the bottle even as I shook it as hard as I could
(which was nowhere near the guy in the video!). I changed tactics and
started smacking the bottle against the kitchen table to dislodge the
contents which seemed to be sticking to the inside wall of the bottle.
After a while I heard sloshing!!!! And I could see a solid mass
separated from what looked like milk. I drained the (real) buttermilk.
After
most of the buttermilk was drained (and I realize that the small
opening of the water bottle was actually ideal for draining!), there was
a definite mass of butter!
I cut the bottle open and reveled in my success!
I poured the butter into a fine mesh sieve to drain for a couple of minutes.
I wished I could get the bits of butter stuck to the sides of bottle out.
I
used a coffee filter to pat the butter dry then moved it to a bowl for
washing. I washed 7 times until the water looked clear.
The third washing shows that the water was still very cloudy.
The seventh wash where the water was rather clear.
I
drained the water from the final washing and dried the butter with
another coffee filter. Then I mixed in a pinch of Himalayan pink salt.
We
had a taste of the butter smeared on a piece of bread... and I promptly
promised never to buy butter (for eating) again! It was honestly the
best butter I have ever tasted!
And I am perfectly
happy with this water bottle technique. It yields about half a cup of
butter, which suits us just fine. We are not really lovers of butter so
a very small batch is ok. Especially since the butter has to be
consumed within a week (fresh cream, no preservatives!). I seriously
doubt we could finish a large amount of butter anyway (plus it's not
really healthy to consume copious amounts of butter!)
A week later...
We finished the first batch of homemade butter in less than a week. And I'd been wanting to make another batch.
I
got everything from the store a couple of days before... I even bought
bottled water (just for the bottle, mind you!) The first step? Culturing the cream.
To my dismay, I discovered that someone took MY
bottled water, drank the water, then threw the bottle away! @#!$#%$^%^ Hmpf. I didn't mind the water being gone, but I needed the bottle! Now what
was I going to use? I couldn't go out of the house to buy bottle water again (not practical to waste gasoline just for a bottle!) so I checked all the cupboards and found a plastic
tea/water bottle that I got as a gift last Christmas. Well, I was
rather desperate and that was all I could find... so that was it.
So
I went to work and shook... it took longer (about 8 more minutes)
than the disposable water bottle but it was still doable. So I guess I
will be using this from now on - at least I don't have to keep buy
bottled water (and not for the water but for the container!) This particular bottle has a big opening but it also has a smaller one so it was actually perfect... drain the buttermilk through the small spout, open the lid and scrape everything into a sieve! I can get even the smaller bits stuck to the sides of the bottle.
This time I drained my butter directly in the sieve, without a coffee filter.
The butter was washed 7 times... the first wash - very cloudy -
The final wash (I specifically prepared a separate container) - really clear! -
Then we had merienda! Hot pandesal with fresh cultured butter slathered on!
I bought a "yogurt maker kit/system" a couple of years ago. Truth be
told, making yogurt had never been easier! But it was definitely not
cheaper. If I had the extra budget, I would buy the yogurt-maker's
powdered yogurt mixes, otherwise, I tended to buy the cheaper,
ready-made yogurt in the supermarket. But hubby really prefers homemade
yogurt, simply because the supermarket yogurt has sugar in it.
Recently however, someone told me that I could actually use the yogurt maker
kit to make my own yogurt and not using their mix! I didn't really have to use the kit with its
branded yogurt mix. I actually felt rather stupid for not thinking of
it on my own. Maybe it was because I believed the small print in its
brochure, which said that the kit was best suited with their yogurt
mixes; that it was not recommended to use the kit for other purposes.
Anyway,
I went back to the "original" recipe I started with years ago - add old
yogurt (a small tub) to (almost 1 liter of) milk to make new yogurt.
So I
tried it. I got old yogurt, mixed it with heated then cooled milk.
Then I placed it in the yogurt maker kit's inner jar and incubated it in
the yogurt maker thermos.
Viola! I got the best of both
worlds! And I've been continuously making yogurt with the previous
batch's "old" yogurt! I'm on my 4th generation already! The farthest I
got before was 6th generation... but the same someone also gave me a
hint to "surpass" the weakening strain... but for that I need to
experiment again...
Anyway, since hubby prefers a thicker
yogurt, I strain my 1 liter overnight. I use the whey for hubby's
smoothies, and the resulting Greek-style yogurt is perfect with
fruits... healthy breakfast, right?
The only downside? Straining the yogurt to make Greek-style yogurt results in less than 2 cups of Greek-style yogurt!
For each serving, toss 100 to 200 grams strawberries with 1 teaspoon sugar; let stand several minutes (the berries will exude some liquid). Slice a banana into rounds. Arrange the fruit in a small bowl of Greek-style yogurt. Sweeten, to taste.
The little girl has a new toy. It's a toy ice cream maker that makes REAL ice cream.
Of course, it cannot make a lot. Just enough for one serving, in fact.
And the darn thing kept leaking! What a waste of ice cream mix!
So
what did I do with the rest of the ice cream mix? I churned it, of
course! With what, you may wonder... (after all, I don't have an ice cream maker!) Well, with 2 bowls, my favorite spatula,
plenty of ice and salt!
In the beginning it was like stirring soup.
After 15 minutes...
It was like stirring thick soup... still nowhere near soft serve ice cream though.
More stirring and another 5 minutes (20 minutes from the beginning)...
Getting thicker and thicker... and the mixture had a couple of solid globs of ice cream!
Another 5 minutes (at 25 minutes)...
Getting there... getting there... (my arm and hand are getting really sore, though!)
After
30 minutes (and really sore arm and hand! although to be truthful,
hubby was the one who "churned" the ice cream the last 5 minutes!)...
Soft-serve ice cream... ready to eat!
I
poured a pint into a carton ice cream container (to freeze firm in the
freezer). As for the rest (half a pint's worth) we ate it with gusto!
It was certainly perfect for the hot day... imagine that last Sunday at
3pm, the temperature recorded was the highest this year (Tuguegarao
station) at 37.4*C! Yesterday, it was 37*C! Yikes!
What recipe did we use? Technically I used David Lebovitz' Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe, with some changes: first, I added about 1/2 cup dutch cocoa; then I substituted egg yolks with 1/3 cup greek style yogurt. The ice cream mix essentially became no-cook, except for the dissolving of the cocoa in the milk. I mixed the yogurt with the cream before adding the cooled cocoa-milk and other ingredients. I stuck it in the ref for about an hour before "hand-churning" it.
Anyway... hubby claimed that it was way, way better than any of the
commercial ice creams! As for the little girl? She gave me a lot of
kisses, which (she says) reflects how good the ice cream was!
I'm back with making homemade cheese... why? Because I now have a
steady and reliable source of fresh milk! (this means I'm making my own
yogurt again too!)
Of
course my homemade cream cheese is nothing like the famous Philadelphia
brand (or even the local Magnolia!); for one thing it is less salty and
a tad more tangy, but what I love about my homemade cream cheese is
that I know exactly what went in it!
I
(generally) followed the recipe for Real Cream Cheese in "Artisan
Cheese Making at Home" by Mary Karl. I varied in that I used cultured
buttermilk (instead of mesophilic starter, as suggested by a friend) and
I used powdered vegetable rennet instead of the specified liquid
rennet. Reason for the variation? I could not find mesophilic starter
or liquid rennet!
As usual,
I used the "bird's eye" cloth diaper to drain my cheese instead of butter muslin or
"real" cheese cloth, for the same reason of the latter's unavailability!
We went on a short getaway to the nearby south and I came back with a really big langka (jackfruit). I had been skeptical of its sweetness, but a quick taste test and I was sold!
I had really been on the
lookout for langka because I wanted to make my own langkasuy (langka and
kasuy/jackfruit and cashew) ice cream. Most of the recipes I found online used preserved
langka, for convenience, I suppose. But I wanted mine with fresh langka! And I didn't want to cook, which meant no eggs! Then I did not have an ice cream maker!
This
meant that I had to make my own preserve. Using the instructions for
mango jam in the book "Introduction to Food Preservation" by Matilde P.
Guzman (1977), I made my langka "jam", reducing the sugar in half
(because the langka was really, really sweet already on its own). The resulting "jam" measured just a little less than a cup.
I based my recipe on this, modifying it to suit my taste -
First I halved the recipe, but still used almost a cup of (homemade) langka preserve. Instead of egg yolks and soy milk, I used Greek-style yogurt. Everything (all ingredients very cold) got blitzed in the food processor. I transferred the mixture to a stainless steel bowl, covered it with plastic cling film and
froze it for 1 to 2 hours (depending on the freezer), until the sides were
frozen but the middle was still liquid.
I then re-beat the mixture (still in the bowl) with a hand mixer for 30
seconds (it actually looked like soft serve ice cream at that point). Then it was time for the mix-ins... fold in 1/4 cup chopped fresh langka and 1/4 cup chopped
kasuy. Transfer to a container, cover well, and freeze until solid.
To
serve, let the ice cream stand at room temp for 10 minutes, or in the
fridge for 30 to 45 minutes, to soften slightly (more scoopable this
way).
I
love, love, love it! The texture is very creamy. It is definitely less sweet than the commercial
variety. In fact, there was a slight tang to it, perhaps due to the
yogurt, but the langka flavor was perfect (not subtle but not
overpowering) and the cashew bits were plentiful, just the way I like
it!
I've been making yogurt at home again! And I purposely made a lot so
that I could have an excuse to make frozen yogurt. With strawberries
still available in the market (although dwindling of late), strawberry
frozen yogurt was the natural choice!
I decided to follow David Lebovitz' recipe, the one in his book "The Perfect Scoop" (page 91) except that I did not have an ice cream maker so I just made do with Mr. Lebovitz' suggestion for when you have no ice cream maker.
This
particular experiment utilized regular, whole milk yogurt, and it
produced a rather icy froyo (I also forgot to macerate the berries). I
will make another batch, and for that next experiment, I will use
Greek-style yogurt (and remember to let the berries stand with sugar)
and see if it makes for a less icy (hence, creamy) froyo...
A couple of years ago I ventured into making a no-pectin, low-sugar "jam". I wanted to try again, especially since I've been seeing a lot of strawberries in the market lately.
But
I wanted try a bit of variation. In an attempt to use even less sugar,
I decided to sweeten the "jam" with ripe mangoes (similar to the pineapple mango filling
for the tarts last Chinese New Year). So I used the basic recipe, substituting the
pineapples with strawberries and using only 1 tablespoon of sugar to
macerate the fruits with, and 2 tablespoons of honey for sweetness. Of
course I skipped the mixed spice and used some Tahitian vanilla extract
instead.
The finished jam was quite thick and only a bit
chunky. But it was delicious! The lingering flavor was that of
strawberry, with only a slight hint of mango! The yield, however, was
less than the pineapple-mango.
It was deliciously divine with cream cheese and toast bread!
I've always wanted to try and make my own cheese... I even bought a
book on cheese-making only to shelve it because it was full of
ingredients I'd never heard of, worse, I don't even know where I could
get them! I thought the whole thing was just too complicated.
But
recently a friend told me how easy it was to make fresh cheese, like
this whole milk ricotta, and it only took 4 ingredients!
Ricotta? I always thought it was uninteresting. (I've always preferred cream cheese!)
But
my friend said: "this is not the kind you find at the supermarket".
Still, I was not interested. She said: "this ricotta is creamy and
delicious... almost like cream cheese, without the tanginess". Ok, I
was willing to try it.
I am glad I did.
Like
I said, 4 ingredients... 1 liter of whole milk, 1 cup of whipping cream,
3 tablespoons lemon or lime juice (I used calamansi juice) and 1/2
teaspoon of salt. Place everything in a large stockpot (not aluminum)
and heat to 190F, stirring occasionally to prevent the bottom getting
burned. When 190F is reached, remove from heat and let sit 10 to 15
minutes as the curds separate from the whey (remember little Miss
Muffet?).
Meanwhile, line a strainer or colander with
cheesecloth and place the whole thing over a really big bowl to catch
the whey. Pour the curds and whey into the strainer and let it drain
for about 20 or 30 minutes (truth is I couldn't wait, I drained mine just 15 minutes). After that time it's ready to eat. But I
chilled mine and after several hours, it was perfect! Hubby said it was
like cream cheese, but sweet rather than tangy! Wow!
My
biggest problem was that I needed pasteurized milk, but all the milk in
the supermarket was ultra-pasteurized! My friend to the rescue, she
had a supplier of pasteurized whole milk...
My next problem? I couldn't find decent cheesecloth! Guess what I used instead?
A
cloth diaper! Yup, to be specific, a cloth diaper that's known as
bird's eye. It was supposed to be the little girl's when she was a
baby, except that she didn't like it. She preferred the other type,
which was the gauze-type of cloth diaper. Anyway, we had started to use
the bird's eye cloth diapers as kitchen towels and when I saw it on the
kitchen counter, I thought it would work (of course I asked for one
that was unused and sterilized it).
It worked perfectly!
(especially since my strainer was a rectangle... and I used my roasting
pan as my catch basin for the whey, which will be used in hubby's
smoothies the next few days!)
Although, gathering the ends up was a bit awkward, since the diaper was a rectangle...
The
whole project took me about 2 hours... especially since somewhere in
the middle, I wondered why my milk mixture was not getting hotter...
only to find out that my fire had gone out! I quickly restart the stove
and crossed my fingers that there was no harm done.
Despite some mishaps, I think my cheese
came out really well!
And yes, my friend was right!
This homemade ricotta is nothing like the supermarket kind. And yes, I
am a fan! I will be making this often!
