Daring Bakers December 2011: Sourdough Bread

Yet another baking favorite is our challenge for the last month of this year. Loved it! Thanks
Jessica for a great challenge.

I am still on vacation and am not able to upload photographs, will post them on return.

Post Script: Our Daring Bakers boast for December 2011 was Jessica of My Recipe Project and she showed us how fun it was to create Sour Dough Bread in our own kitchens. She provided us with Sour Dough recipes from Bread Matters By Andrew Whitley as well as delicious recipe to use our Sour Dough bread in from Tonia George's Things on Toast and Canteen's Great British Food!

All content, text and photographs in this blog, unless otherwise noted, are Copyright of © Annarasa 2007 - 2011. All Rights Reserved. Kindly do not reproduce without permission.

Daring Cooks December 2011: Asian Style Spicy Filled Buns

Wonderful challenge which I was delighted to complete. My version was of course vegetarian, and we loved the results. Not able to upload photos as am on the road but will do so as soon as I am back at my own desk :)

Post Script: Our Daring Cooks December 2011 hostess is Sarah from Belly Rumbles! Sarah chose awesome Char Sui Bao as our challenge! Where we made the buns Char Sui, and the filling from scratch - delicious!

All content, text and photographs in this blog, unless otherwise noted, are Copyright of © Annarasa 2007 - 2011. All Rights Reserved. Kindly do not reproduce without permission.

Daring Bakers November 2011: Filipino Desserts

The November 2011 Daring Bakers Challenge had 2 wonderful recipes - the amazing Sans Rival Cake and the Biingka. Sadly, I could do neither in their original form as the number of eggs required were just too many. For the same reason, a modified version also became difficult:( to create. I really did not want to attempt messing around with such beautiful recipes. But I really wanted tomparticipate in this challenge. So, in the end, I chose to a completely different dessert, Filipino nevertheless, and equally delicious as the ones chosen above! Photographs and details on my return from vacation!!

Post Script: Catherine of Munchie Musings was our November 2011 Daring Bakers host and she challenged us to make a traditional Filipino dessert - the delicious Sans Rival Cake! And for those of us who wanted to try additional Filipino dessert, Catherine also gave us a bonus recipe for Bibingka which comes from her friend Jun of Jun-Blog.

All content, text and photographs in this blog, unless otherwise noted, are Copyright of © Annarasa 2007 - 2011. All Rights Reserved. Kindly do not reproduce without permission.

Daring Cooks November 2011: An Apple Tea Cake (Eggless)

The Daring Cooks November 2011 challenge was to create a delicious food recipe using tea! Yes, tea! As anyone who reads my blog will know, tea is my favorite beverage. I enjoy it black, milky with sugar, with spices, green, white, herbal, hot and cold!!

Cooking with tea can only be described as an adventure in cooking. Just take a peek at some of the recipes this month's challenge offered. I chose to make a cake with tea. I had these beautiful Honey Crisp apples that I had bought at the orchard, and a beautiful new black tea that I am in love with. It's a Tazo blend of black tea, orange peel, cocoa extract and Yerba Mate called Tazo Focus.

Ingredients:
2 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup apple sauce
2 apples, peeled, cored, sliced
1/4 cup brown sugar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup tea made with 1 bag Tazo Focus
4 tbsp butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup milk (as needed)

Method:

1. Place the sliced apples in a bowl. Sprinkle with the sugar and lemon juice. 
2. Set the fruit aside for at least a couple of hours.
3. Prepare the tea by placing one tea bag in a cup. Add boiling water to make up one cup. 
4. Cover and set aside for 3-5 minutes. Let it cool completely.
5. Sift together the flour, baking soda, sugar, and baking powder in a large mixing bowl.
6. Blend in the apple sauce, butter, buttermilk, vanilla extract, and tea into the flour.
7. The batter should be fairly loose and lump free. 
8. If it has not achieved this consistency, add milk one teaspoon at a time to loosen it up.
9. Arrange the sliced apples in a loaf tin or baking dish of your choice.
10. Pour the batter over the apples.
11. Bake at 350F for 35-45 minutes, or until the cake passes the toothpick test.
12. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely in the tin.
13. Remove the cake gently from the tin.

This cake tastes wonderful with, what else bu a up of hot tea. Try it with, ice cream or warm custard for a dessert. I serve it warmed with maple syrup!!

Post Script: Sarah from Simply Cooked was our November Daring Cooks’ hostess and she challenged us to create something truly unique in both taste and technique! We learned how to cook using tea with recipes from Tea Cookbook by Tonia George and The New Tea Book by Sara Perry.

Click here for the Complete November 2011 Daring Cooks Challenge.

All content, text and photographs in this blog, unless otherwise noted, are Copyright of © Annarasa 2007 - 2011. All Rights Reserved. Kindly do not reproduce without permission.