Little Bowl

We’ve been on an Italian spree this past few days, eating at Jolly Pasta, Sizzeria, and Fracasso for dinner (oh..btw, those are Italian restaurants here in Japan)

And yet I still crave for pizza this morning. And the sight of my basil tree sitting on my balcony, waiting eagerly for me to use them (after springing out some fresh new leaves) I know I just had to make pizza today.

So, off I was to the kitchen.

Here’s the recipe for the crust that I made today. I thought I should just jot it down before I forget. You see, I’m more of the throw-stuff-in-a-bowl-with-just-a-hunch-and-no-proper-recipe kind of person (phew..that was long) So I ALWAYS forget what I threw in the last time I made something, unless I jot it down.

Crust:
300g bread flour or high gluten flour
50g glutinous flour or dango/mochi flour (or tepung pulut)
1 tsp yeast
2tbps olive oil
1/2 cup of cold water and some
pinch of salt

How to:

1. Mix in all the ingredients in your bread maker machine (if you have one) or you can go semi-traditional like me.
2. I just dump the dry ingredients plus oil in my Kitchen Aid bowl, attach the paddle attachment, and slowly
   pouring the cold water in while it was mixing.
3. Then I change to the hook attachment and give it a nice knead (the dough SHOULD NOT be sticky, it should clean away from the bowl just nice. Add the water just enough until you get a soft but firm dough.
4. Proof it until double in size.
5. Punch out excess gas and using cornmeal or semolina flour, dust you table and flatten out the dough. Make sure you’re already preheating you oven to MAX at this point.
6. Transfer flatten dough on a baking tin, pour about 1-2 tbsp of olive oil on the crust, pizza sauce, cheese and basil leaves. Pour another tablespoon of olive oil on top of the garnished pizza.
7. Bake in oven for 10-15 minutes until nice and golden (now this depends on your own preference)
8. Tabasco and grated Parmesan on top and you’re ready to munch you pizza away!

What makes this recipe different from others in the use of glutinous flour/mochi flour in it.

I wanted to crust to be crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. And that’s exactly what I got from adding the glutinous flour in the recipe.

I think I like making my pizza this way. It’s different, and I like it.

I think I’ve had enough of Italian food for the week. Who knows what food spree I’m gonna go on next huh?

Burrrpp!

I was compelled to join the ICE monthly challenge again and this time they came up with the theme HERBS!
It was so much fun trying to come up with a cupcake recipe that uses herbs and I wanted to come up with something that is probably not the common combo that you can google on the net.

So I made these. It potrays my love affair with margarita pizzas – a simple combo of tomato, basil and cheese. But unfortunately I ran out of cream cheese at the time and ended up having to make a basic SMBC with basil leaves instead. I think adding the freshly chopped basil leaves to a CREAM CHEESE frosting would taste superb as well! Even so, this cupcake was really yummy too

Tomato Cupcake with Tomato Jam filling and Basil Buttercream
(Makes 6 cupcakes)

Ingredients:
Cupcake
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup cornflour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup ( 1/2 stick) butter
1 egg
3 tbsp tomato juice (or 1/2 large tomatp-blended)

Tomato Jam
1 fresh tomato- blended
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 water
2 tbsp cornstarch

Basil Buttercream
1 cup Swiss Meringue Buttercream
4-5 leaves of fresh basil, finely chopped

Directions:

1. Sift all dry ingredients together.
2. Place butter, sugar, egg, dry ingredients with tomato juice and mix together at high for 1-1 1/2minutes.
3. Divide batter into 6 cupcake liners and bake in preheated oven at 160 degrees for 18-20minutes.

Prepare Tomato Jam:

1. Cook all ingredients until thickened and leave to cool.

Prepare Basil Buttercream:

1. Chop fresh basil leaves finely and add to 1 cup of SMBC.Mix well.

Assembling:

1. Scoop out the middle part of the cupcake and fill in with tomato jam.Pipe Basil Buttercream on top and serve.

I hope you’d give this recipe a try!

Oh yes..

This month’s ETSY PRIZE-PACK is from artists:

• A sweet cupcake ID bracelet by INSANEJELLYFISH,http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5021935
• A delicious treat from CIRCLEMONKEYhttp://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5335273
  
• a sweet surprise from Sweet Cuppin’ Cakes Cupcakery,http://www.acupcakery.com/
• PLUS, IronCupcake:Earth can not forget our good friend, CAKESPY, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5243382, who is now going to be doing a piece for our winner each month until further notice - sweet!

And of course not to forget thecorporate prize providers:

• HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS,http://www.fiestaproducts.com
• HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, http://blog.hellocupcakebook.com
• JESSIE STEELE APRONS http://www.jessiesteele.com
• TASTE OF HOME books, http://www.tasteofhome.com
• A t-shirt from UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM http://www.upwithcupcakes.com/
• Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers,http://www.1800flowers.com

This is my first time joining the Iron Cupcake: Earth Challenge. This month’s theme is SUMMER BERRIES and since blueberries are the closest ones that I could get my hand on at the moment, so I decided to give it a go.

While lemon blueberry cupcakes, or vanilla blueberry cupcakes are the most common ones you can find nowdays, I was intrigued to come up with something unusual. And since I was craving for some gingerbread cookies the other day ( I know, it’s summer :p ), so I thought..why not Gingerbread Cupcakes with Blueberries??

So here’s my take on this month’s ICE Challenge.I present to you:

GINGERBREAD CUPCAKES WITH BLUEBERRY FILLING AND *ALMOST* SUGARLESS CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

INGREDIENTS:
(makes 12 cupcakes)

70 g unsalted butter, softened
70 g white sugar
100ml unsulfured molasses
1 egg
1 egg yolk
160 g cups all-purpose flour
15 g cocoa powder
1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
120ml hot milk

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter or line with paper liners a 12-cup muffin tin.
2. Cream butter with the white sugar. Add the molasses, egg and egg yolk.
3. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and salt. Dissolve the baking soda in the hot milk. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in the hot milk mixture. Pour the batter evenly into the prepared tin.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 20 minutes or until slightly springy to the touch. Allow to cool a few minutes in the pan and remove to a rack to cool.
5. Recipe adapted from AllRecipe.com’s GingerBread Cupcakes with a few alterations in quantity and ingredients.

For the *Almost* Sugarless Cream Cheese Frosting:

INGREDIENTS:

250 g cream cheese
1/2 tablespoon unflavored gelatin
6 tablespoons of milk, 2 tablespoons to be combined with gelatin
3 tablespoons of powder sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of milk and add in gelatin. Mix until dissolved. Set aside.
2. Cream the cream cheese with 4 tablespoons of milk in blender/food processor.
3. Add in the milk+gelatin mixture and vanilla essence and lemon juice. Blend for 20-30 seconds. Pour in bowl.
4. Sift in powder sugar and mix well. Place in refrigerator for 30-60mins for it to set.
5. Transfer to piping bag and pipe over cooled cupcakes. (Make sure to give the frosting a stir before transfering to piping bag)

This month’s prize to grab:

Our June ETSY PRIZE-PACK is from artists:

• A sweet cupcake ID bracelet by INSANEJELLYFISH,http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5021935
• A groovy linocut piece from BLOCKHEAD PRESShttp://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6108705
  
• a sweet surprise from Sweet Cuppin’ Cakes Cupcakery,http://www.acupcakery.com/
• PLUS, IronCupcake:Earth can not forget our good friend, CAKESPY, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5243382, who is now going to be doing a piece for our winner each month until further notice - sweet!

Last and certainly not least, don’t forget our corporate prize providers:

• HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS,http://www.fiestaproducts.com
• HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, http://blog.hellocupcakebook.com,
• JESSIE STEELE APRONS http://www.jessiesteele.com;
• TASTE OF HOME books http://www.tasteofhome.com
• t-shirt from UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM http://www.upwithcupcakes.com/.
• Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers,http://www.1800flowers.com .

This recipe was actually originated from the super talented Shikita, of Fair Cakes UK. Her recipe is just slightly different, where in this recipe I added a bit of liquid to the batter. Hers I believe does not have any liquid added. Still, it’s a really great base cupcake recipe and you can pretty much play around with the amount of flour, butter, liquid (milk, sour cream, cream or yogurt), sugar, extracts to fit your taste and to make other different flavors as well.

It really is a flexible recipe.

Ingredients:

• 100g butter, softened to room temp.
• 100g sugar
• 110g flour
• 20g cornstarch
• 2 eggs
• 4 tbsp milk/cream/yogurt
• or
• 2 tbsp sour cream
• 2 tsp b.powder
• 1 tbsp vanilla essence/extract
• 1/2 tsp salt

How to:

1. Sift dry ingredients and mix them with the remaining ingredients in a bowl and mix at HIGH for 1-2minutes until batter has the consistency of a thick pudding.
2. Preheat oven at 160-170deg C and line cupcake pan with liners.
3. Put in batter (you can use an ice cream scoop here, saves you time and you’ll get even cupcakes all the time!) 2/3 full and bake for 18-20minutes. Remember that you can always adjust the amount of batter in each cupcake if you think 2/3 is too much, and also the baking time can be increase/decrease depending on your oven.
4. Take cupcakes out of baking tin as soon as they come out of the oven and cool before decorating.

Enjoy!