Come Dine In

Champorado is a hit to most Filipino kids. Everytime I cook this for my daughter, I always remember how my grandma cooks it for me back then. Everytime she cooks, I always eat up the cocoa and sugar mixture and before she knows it, it’s already half-way empty. I told that story to my daughter and so everytime she asks for champorado, she asks that the story be told over again. She’s now the little me and I can see myself as my grandma who screams “anak, wala na akong ilalagay sa champorado… inubos mo na!!!”

see???

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup cocoa

1 cup sugar (adjust sugar to your liking)

1/2 cup rice grains

water, casserole half-filled

milk (optional)

METHOD:

1. Mix together the cocoa and sugar.

2. Boil the rice in water until soft, broken and sticky, about 30-40 minutes.

3. Add in the cocoa-sugar mixture and mix well. Let boil for another 2-3 minutes.

4. Serve with or without evaporated/fresh milk.

One afternoon, hubby requested for cheesecake while my little Alyssa requested for chocolate cupcake. I only baked 4 pieces since it’s supposed to be – ONLY for Alyssa. But once done, we ended up sha

I made this the first time on New Year’s Day for our Media Noche. I have no idea that it’s gonna look this good and would actually taste even better. Yes! I say, tastes even better! You still don’t agree? Oh, go ahead and ask my hubby… LOL! He’s not a fan of my baked goodies, but this one together with the Chocolate Crinkles I make almost every time I bake, is indeed a favorite! Wanna know his exact comment? Well, “Mum, this is so good!!! It’s like Starbucks cheesecake!”… Need I say more??? =)

And yes, as always… I’m sharing you how I did it… Just very few ingredients and

As I search around for a yummy dessert to serve Alyssa’s Godparents who will come over for dinner, my attention was caught by this recipe called Chocolate Fondant. I always thought “fondant” refers to the gum paste used to cover and decorate cakes, but I was wrong. Chocolate Fondant (Lava-Cake for some) is like a chocolate muffin cooked for only a few minutes to make the inner portion quite runny. It looks difficult to make, but it’s definitely very easy and simple.

And so I gathered all the ingredients needed and to my surprise I have all of them in my cupboard (except for the ice cream) hooray! Lucky me! I made it ahead of time and failed to achieve the right timing, gosh! It was supposed to be served hot and it was done even before the guests arrived, oh my! Alright then I said this isn’t gonna turn out very well. Alyssa can’t wait any longer so she had her part right after taking them out of the oven and yeah I was right! It was NOT what it’s supposed to be. It became a real muffin very well cooked inside and out. ;( Still yummy though.

But I promised myself that I’m gonna be doing this again and I’ll make sure that it’s gonna be PERFECT by then. And so it did!!! TADAH!!!

The Perfect Chocolate Fondant.. the 2nd time around..

Daddy Mark: “Hhmm, yum!!! Seems like we’re in a restaurant huh?”
Alyssa: “Mum, it’s so yummy! Can I have the remaining 2 please?”

Difficult??? Definitely NOT! So easy.. just the right timing.

INGREDIENTS:

25g melted butter, for brushing tins
2 tbsp. cocoa powder, for dusting tins
100g good quality dark chocolate + 25g to garnish
100g butter, softened and cubed + 10g to garnish
100g golden caster sugar
100g plain flour/all purpose flour
2 eggs and 2 yolks (whites can be used to make meringue)
vanilla ice cream or orange sorbet to serve

With these ingredients, I made 5 chocolate fondants


METHOD:
1. Get your molds ready. You can use muffin tins, ramekins or disposable aluminum muffin tins. Brush the molds all over with the melted butter and place in the fridge for about 5-10mins. Bring out the chilled molds and brush again with the melted butter. Add a tablespoon of cocoa powder and tip the mold while slightly tapping to cover the butter completely with powder. Tap the excess powder back into the jar. Continue with the other molds.

2. Heat the oven to 200C/fan.

3. Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl over a barely simmering water. When melted, remove from the heat and stir until smooth. Rest for about 10 mins.

4. Whisk the eggs and yolks together in a separate bowl together with the sugar until thick and pale. Use electric whisk if you have.

5. Sift the flour into the egg and sugar mixture and beat together.

6. Pour the melted chocolate and butter into the egg mixture little by little, beating well after each addition. Beat well until all the chocolate is evenly distributed and the mixture achieved a single color.

7. Fill in each mold with the batter.

8. If using ramekins or individual molds, better place the molds into a baking tray. Bake for 8 mins if using muffin tins and 10-12 mins if using ramekins or until the tops have formed a crust and are starting to come away from the sides of their molds.

9. While baking, melt the remaining chocolate and butter together then garnish the plate. you may start from the center of the plate and move in a spiral motion. Repeat with all the plates needed.

10. When done, rest for about 1 min before removing from the molds. Top the mold once and loosen the fondants very gently by moving the top so they come away from the sides and ready to be lifted up.

11. Place the fondant on each plate. Using a silver spoon dipped in hot water,

scoop a ‘quenelle’ of ice cream and place on top of each fondant.

12. Serve immediately. The hot fondant goes very well with the cold ice cream. Happy Home-Cooking! ENJOY!

It’s the yummiest dessert we have ever tasted, so far. And yeah… I MADE IT!!!

I’ve been craving for custard tart for the past few days so last night I decided to give it a go. The crust was good, but the feeling wasn’t. LOL It was so bland, but I’m still eating them for the sake of my effort and the electricity I used up. I’ll try this some other time and hopefully it’ll be worth blogging then. Since I take pics before I serve, here’s how it looks like -

yummy eh??? NOT REALLY! LOL

Good thing I used up the 2 egg whites not needed for the custard recipe and to my surprise… I MADE IT! I always thought meringue is difficult to make, but its as easy as 1-2-3!!! Just egg and sugar and you’re set.

INGREDIENTS:
1 egg white = 50g sugar
Always remember this proportion.

METHOD:
1. Preheat the oven to fan 100C.