A Homemade Treat

There are times my little girl would just blurt out -- Mom, I want ice cream! How can I say no if she screams and throws a tantrum in a public place? Eeep. So if I can't really convince her to stop, I'd have to tell her we'll have ice cream at home. Cheaper for me, since I have stock of vanilla ice cream in the fridge most of the time. Plus, I can add fruits or what nots I have in the cupboard!

My giveaway is still on going! Click here to find out more.

Playdate's Dessert

We usually have our playdates on Fridays. Yesterday, it's my turn to play hostess. :D Since the husband doesn't like bananas, I thought of having Banoffee Pie so I won't end up gobbling down the whole thing by myself. Hah!

Ingredients:

• Graham pie crust (2 cups crushed graham crackers, 1/2 cup melted butter, cinnamon [optional], 1/4 cup sugar [optional])
• 4pcs bananas, sliced
• 3/4 cup dulce de leche
• whipped cream (I used store-bought in can)
• chocolate syrup

Method:

1. Prepare the graham pie crust by mixing the crushed graham crackers and melted butter in a bowl. 
2. Press on to prepared pie plate. Bake for at least 10 minutes at 400 degrees Celsius. Let crust cool.
3. Take the cooled pie crust and arrange the banana slices and pour half of the dulce de leche. Make another layer of bananas and the remaining dulce de leche.
4. Top the pie with whipped cream and chocolate syrup. I used a store-bought whipped cream in can so I would suggest if you're using the same thing as I did, just do so before serving to avoid having a melted topping. :)

Crushed graham crackers plus butter (eeekk!)

Bananas! Oh Yum.

One layer of sliced bananas slathered with dulce de leche

Topped with whipped cream and chocolate syrup

By the way, there's three weeks more before my birthday giveaway ends! If you like baking and cooking stuff, click here. :)

Honeycomb Crunch

Baking soda

Light corn syrup

Last week, I was craving for a coffee crunch cake.  I'm not quite sure where I have tasted one. Eeek. So I tried scouring the internet for a recipe. It was a bit hard to look for one because it seems that there are several terms for it - honeycomb crunch/crunchies/candy, toffee crisp, butter and honeycomb crunch. Good thing I was being patient that day and I found the easiest recipe to follow. 

Needed:

• 100 grams sugar (I used caster sugar)
• Golden Syrup (I used light corn syrup and a bit of maple syrup)
• 1 tsp baking soda (I suggest to use 1/2-3/4, and make sure to sift it)
• cold water (to test a "hard crack")
• saucepan
• fork
• shallow bowl with parchment paper

How to do it:

1. In a saucepan, mix the sugar with syrup. No definite amount, according to the recipe. Try to get as much as you can by twirling the fork. Do this twice. Mix the sugar and syrup before bringing to a slow boil.

Sugar mixed with corn syrup

Bring to low heat

2. After a few minutes, this is how your sugar will look like the photo below. Try to stir the mixture with the fork to make sure everything melts evenly.

After a few minutes

Sugar will slowly change color

Until it turns brown

3. Once you notice that the all the sugars have dissolved, test a hard crack. Dip the other end of a teaspoon in to the sugar and dip into the cold water. If you hear a crack while it cools, it means you're good to go. Or bite the hardened syrup (which I did heh!) and if you get a crack on the first bite, that means the syrup is set for the next step. Quickly remove the pan from the heat.

Test if the syrup has a "hard crack"

4. Mix the baking soda into the syrup. Stir it as fast as you can as the candy would quickly harden.  And while you do this, move nearer to the bowl with the parchment paper.

Sift the baking soda

Mix the baking soda quickly

Stir well to incorporate everything

5. Once you feel that you have stirred everything completely, pour everything into the bowl.

Carefully pour into prepared bowl

6. Let it cool for an hour or so. Fill the pan with water and let it stand for an hour before scrubbing it clean.

Use parchment paper to avoid having the honeycomb stick

Let honeycomb sit for at least an hour or so

7. Crack the candy and use them for cake or cupcake toppings. Store in a covered container in the fridge to prevent it from going sticky.

Crack with something hard - a knife or spoon

Now you can use this for a Coffee Crunch Cake!

My birthday giveaway is still on going! Join my giveaway and click here! :)

Source: http://www.instructables.com/

The Vagabond Mom's Birthday Giveaway!

It's been 10 months since I started to become active on my blog again. And I'm thankful for my visitors and I appreciate all the comments. I know I'm still a starter on cooking/baking and I would like to capture my food journey on this blog. 

As my first giveaway, I am giving 2 prizes to two lucky winners.

First prize:

1 set spice jars (4 pcs)

1 set fruit garnishing set

Second prize:

1 silicone spatula

1 silicone round mold

1 silicone pound cake mold

Spice Jars

Fruit garnishing set - baller, zester, corer

Silicone stuff

Silicone spatula

Silicone round mold

Silicone pound cake mold

The contest ends on November 10. Open to all contestants with a Philippine address. :) Please leave a comment with the following details:

Name

GFC Name

Twitter

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What to Do with Old Bread?

I can remember my childhood days when my Nanay bakes bread pudding and my sister and I would eagerly wait for it to come out of the oven. It's my earliest memory of baking with my Nanay and my manang. 

Last week, I had several slices of bread in the fridge that I wasn't too keen on eating, neither is my little girl. So I thought of making it into a bread pudding with blueberries! 

Ingredients:

• 4 slices day-old bread
• 2 Tbsp butter, melted
• 1/2 cup blueberries (optional)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Soaking up

Directions:

1. Cut up your bread into 1 inch pieces. Arrange in your gratin dishes. Sprinkle the blueberries around them. Preheat oven at 170 degrees Celsius.

2. In a bowl, mix milk, well-beaten egg, and honey. Add vanilla.

3. Pour the egg mixture into the bread pieces. Allow the bread to soak the liquid.

4. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the bread turns brown and all the liquid has been absorbed.

Source: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/bread-pudding-ii/

Colorful Cake Lollies

Some of the sweets I prepared for my little girl's party were cake pops. Others call it cake lollies or or lollipop cake. And probably some other names but they're all the same - crumbled cake shaped like lollipops and covered with colorful frosting and decorated with pretty little things!

I thought of having these little treats because I feel that the little ones would enjoy them and the adults would, too. They're eye candies and not hard to eat - you just bite into it, no need for plate or fork. :)

What you need:

- any cake, crumbled

- 1/3-1/2 cup frosting (any would do)

- cake pop sticks

- mixing bowl

- candy melts or compound white chocolate (I used Tulip brand)

- food coloring (if using white chocolate)

- toothpick

- spatula

- any topping (colored sprinkles, marshmallows, nuts, etc)

- styrofoam or floral foam

Directions:

1. In a bowl, crumble the cake. If you have a food processor, you can use the pulse button for a few seconds and you'll get a good result in no time!

2. Slowly add half of the frosting and mix. Add more and adjust the consistency. Just make sure the cake mixture is sticky but not too mushy.

3. Roll about 1 1/2 Tbsp of the mixture into a smooth ball and place them into a parchment lined sheet. 

4. Once you have finished rolling everything into a ball, prepare your lollipop sticks. Dip each into your leftover frosting and insert into the ball about halfway.

5. Put the balls in the freezer for an hour or so. Just so the balls will harden when you decorate them.

Wrong way - bowl shouldn't touch the water.

6. When you're ready to decorate your lollicakes, prepare a double broiler for the chocolate coating. You can opt to use colored Candy Melts. For me, I used white chocolate. After tempering it, divided into bowls and used food coloring.

Ready for freezing!

7. Dip the hardened cake balls into the bowls. Top with your desired candies, nuts or design with another color.

8. Stick the lollicakes on the styrofoam or floral foam and let them dry.

Pretty, aren't they? :)

9. You can opt to serve them as is or cover them with clear plastic and tie with a ribbon.

10. Give them away and let the guests enjoy! :)