Lots of Baking!!!!

Por Lor Bao

hmmm...Por Lor Bao...Now that I'm vegetarian, I can't eat any more of those delicious chinese bakery buns. I miss them so much. I got a recipe from Jo's Deli - Polo Pau My attempt to make it vegetarian was not so great...I didn't have soy milk powder so I used soy milk. That was a poor substitute. It didnt taste like the por lor bao from the chinese bakery but my mom liked it. I'll post the recipe when I find a better way of substituting.

Green Tea Cupcake

My boyfriend and I made these last Saturday. We used Chockylit's Green Tea Bubble Cream Filled Cupcake recipe.

What we did:

• We added green tea powder to the cupcake batter.
  
• We substituted the regular milk with the soy milk.
• We used granulated sugar instead of the powder sugar.
• We didn't fill the cupcakes with the filling, instead we ate it!!

What went wrong: It didn't say until the end that we were suppose to fill it with the bubble tea cream so we were like ... we already ate the filling.

• The frosting came out a bit too grainy, sweet and the consistency of the frosting was to watery.
  
• The granulated sugar didn't absorb enough water and granulated sugar is sweeter than powder sugar.
  

What went well:

• Despite the problems, the cupcake came out great.
  
• The bubble tea filling tasted pretty good too.
  
• Yay. Next time we'll know what to do!

Yogurt Bread

I was inspired by Yochana's Mixed Berries Bun so I've decided to make some plain yogurt buns.
I've made some modification to her recipe. Here is the recipe I've used.

Yields: 1 5" x 8" loaf [930 cal/loaf]

1 tbsp (12 g) sugar
1 7/8 tsp (6.25 g) Active Dry Yeast
1/4 cup (60 g) warm water (100 - 115F)

+ or - 1 2/5 cup (175 g) All purpose flour
1 1/5 tbsp (21 g) Honey
1/4 tsp salt
A little less than 1/3 cup Plain unsweetened Yogurt (78 g)
1 2/5 tbsp melted butter

To active the yeast:

• Dissolve the sugar in the warm water and add in the active dry yeast.
  
• Mix until its combined and let it sit for 10 minutes.

Dough:

• Mix the honey with plain yogurt and warm it up in the microwave until it's 100 - 115F. Make sure you don't burn it or warm it up too much that the yogurt will coagulate.
  
• Combine the yogurt mixture with the yeast mixture.
• In a separate bowl combine the salt with the flour.
  
• Gradually add the flour into the liquid mixture, little by little while mixing it with your hand or a spatula. When it gets to a thick enough consistency, starting kneading it with your hands.
  
• When the dough becomes smooth, add in the melted a tsp at a time. Continue kneading the dough until it becomes as firm as a baby's bottom.
• 
  
• Put it in a greased bowl and cover it with a damp towel or plastic wrap and leave it in the refrigerator for it to rise overnight to develop it's flavor. When morning comes take out the dough and let it sit out until it's room temperature. Make sure it doesn't over rise.
  
• If you want to make the bread now, let it rise in a warm place until it double in size. (2 hours in a warm place or you can test it by pressing the dough with your index and middle finger. If it leaves an indentation it's ready to be shaped. If doesn't leave an indentation let it continue to rise.
  
• Punch does down dough and shape the bread into little buns or a loaf and place it into the pan.
• Let the dough go into the second rising for about 45 minutes or until an indentation is left on the dough.
• Bake for 375F for about 20 minutes or until it's golden brown and cooked.

Spinach, Broccoli and Cheese Tart

My b/f and I got the recipe from the Vegetarian book from the Barnes & Noble Books. The recipe is called Cheese and Spinach Tart but me made some adjustments. For the cheese you can use low fat or nonfat cheese.

Recipe: Yields 1 9" tart [3126 cal/tart]
8 slices [391 cal/slice]

Crust [2121 cal/crust]
8 Tbsp (138 g) Butter
2 Cups (250 g) All Purpose Flour
1/4 tsp Chinese Mustard Powder (or 1/2 tsp Regular Mustard Powder)
Large Pinch of Salt
1/2 tsp Paprika
1 cup (4 oz) Finely Grated Cheddar Cheese [used Cabot brand]

Filling [1005 cal/filling]
1/2 lb Fresh Spinach
1/2 lb Fresh Broccoli
1 med Onion or 1/2 Large Onion
pinch of Nutmeg
1 cup (8 oz) Large Chunk Cottage Cheese (you can use regular)
2 Large Beaten Eggs
1/2 cup (2 oz) Shredded Mozzarella [Sorrento brand]
2/3 cup (158 mL) Light Cream
Salt and Pepper for taste

Glaze
Beaten egg

Crust

• In a bowl rub the butter into the flour until the flour looks like bread crumbs.
• Add and combine the mustard powder, paprika, salt and cheddar cheese.
• Add 2-3 tbsp of water or enough water to form dough.
  
• Knead until the dough is smooth.
• Put it in a bowl wrapped with plastic wrap and chill it in the refrigerator.

Filling

• Chop the onions, spinach and broccoli.
  
• Put the onions, spinach and broccoli in a wok or pan seasoned with the nutmeg, salt and pepper.
  Cook it until they are tender.
• Add and combine the cottage cheese, beaten eggs, parmesan cheese and light cream.

Crust

• Take 2/3 of the dough and roll it out on a lightly floured surface until it fits a 9 inch pan.
  
• Line the 9 inch pan with the crust and cut off the excessive dough.
  
• Preheat the oven to 400F.
  
• Spoon the filling into the pan with the crust.
• Roll out the remaining into a 9 inch circle and cover the pie with the crust and press in the edges. (You can also cut the crust with a decorative pie crust cutter like the lattice pastry cutter.
• Glaze the top of the crust with a beaten egg.
• Put the tart into the oven and bake it for 35-40 minutes or until it is golden brown.

Sicilian Filled Cannoli Cake

It's a 3 layer sponge cake with Sicilian cannoli filling. I've searched far and wide for the best recipe online. It looks like it was slumping because the commercial type of ricotta cheese needs to be drained, which I didn't do and it was such a hot, warm day. It made the cannoli fillng melt as soon as I took it out of the fridge but the cannoli filling tasted very good. I was stealing bits and pieces here and there. I hope my boyfriend don't mind . The frosting was not good for decorating though. Not only was it too soft and wont retain the decorative detail, it had huge chunks of orange peels/zest and chocolate. I've should've made the cake with regular cannoli filling. My boyfriend liked it but the consistency of the filling was not the same as the regular cannoli filling. He said it was too grainy. I should've placed it in the blender. Eh...it's good to learn from mistake. By the way...I used Key Food - Part Skim Ricotta Cheese. It's Kosher but it does contain whey. Use your own judgment whether or not you want to use it.

Ricotta Cheese

Key Food Brand
Ricotta Cheese - Part Skim [any size] (veg)
*Does contain Whey

This was the type of ricotta cheese used in the cannoli frosted cake. It does contain whey but it is Kosher. I'm also pretty sure the whole ricotta cheese are also vegetarian.