Chicken Empanada

Chicken Empanada is a popular Filipino pastry that is stuffed with chicken meat, potatoes, carrots and peas. It's excellent for lunchboxes and snacks to go served hot or cold.

My mother-in-law gave me a tip in making these yummy delights. It's better to make the filling in advance and freeze it. It will be easier to place in the dough and form that empanada shape.

Red Velvet Cheesecake

I have been thinking about what dessert to bring to our first ever Christmas gift exchange this year. I checked out Martha Stewart's website and immediately decided to try making my very first cheesecake. But, what kind? After some soul-searching (right?), I decided on making Red Velvet Cheesecake - perfect color to celebrate Christmas.

I am not a huge cheesecake fan. Actually, I'm not a huge cake fan. Hahaha. Ironic, right? I just love to bake. And nothing's more satisfying for me than to have my creations consumed by people important to me. That's what I love and enjoy about baking - sharing it. But this recipe is amazing that I became a fan! I finished two slices one after the other. It's light and smooth, not too rich - hits you in just the right spots.

Purple Zebra Cake

My niece turned 16 and for her cake she wanted the zebra print incorporated with her favorite color, purple. Her 16th party was just a simple get-together of very close friends and relatives, not that elaborate Sweet 16. Being a Filipino, the big party doesn't get done until our 18th birthday. This is a simple design. I wanted to try my hand in making fondant roses and found a video online on how to make it without tools. I think the cake came out pretty good.

I added 2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder to my usual Marshmallow Fondant recipe to make brown fondant. And then kneaded in the black icing color to turn it black. You will use up less black icing color that way than turning pure white marshmallow fondant black.

This is a pretty easy cake to make with hardly any tools used. Here's how I put everything together.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Whenever we crave for some chocolate and give in, I end up baking Chocolate Muffins, to save us from too much guilt. It's easy to make and what I usually bake before a long road trip. The whole family can eat it for breakfast on the road and for snacks when we get hungry in between meals. I found a great recipe from joyofbaking.com. My son loves it. He would gobble up a couple of muffins right out of the oven.

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever

I'm sure everybody has baked Chocolate Chip Cookies before. My first baking endeavor was Betty Crocker's Chocolate Chip Cookie mix. And my son was satisfied with it for the longest time...until I found this recipe online and after so many attempts and tweaking - have become our almost weekly go-to craving fix. My craving to bake something, anything. My son's craving for sweets.

Every time I bake cookies, my son would say, "Mom, this is the best chocolate chip cookies in the world!" It makes me smile and completes my day. But, you know, he's my son. Of course, he'd say that. Right? He's 5.

But last Saturday, I had a surprise visit from a friend/ex-coworker/churchmate and her family. We had Panda Express to-go for dinner and I baked my cookies. I heard her daughter say, "Mom, this is the best cookies I've ever had!" I pretended not to hear it. My friend asked her daughter to repeat what she said to me. Awww...see? I'm smiling again.

Anyway, so I guess it means it's good enough to share. I love sharing. Gotta spread the love.

Crostata! - November '10 Daring Bakers

The last quarter of the year is always the busiest for me. My eldest celebrates his birthday in October, mine's in November and my husband's birthday is in December. So, please forgive me if my blogs has slowed down quite a bit. Aside from the birthdays making me busy, it's the holiday season, too.

The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.

I did my best to squeeze in this month's baking challenge by making it for Thanksgiving. We went to my in-laws' house for the get-together. It was a challenge trying to bake in Mom's busy kitchen on Thanksgiving Day. It was a rush and I didn't get to take a lot of pictures.

Crostata...sounds intimidating. But at the same time, sounds delicious, too, right? Anyway, it's basically Italian tarts. A quick Google search, and I found that it's traditionally made without the tart tin and can be filled with anything you like.

Red, White & Blue Cake

I probably should wait to publish this around the Independence Day holiday. But this was the cake I made after the Flower Pot Cake. And I wanted to follow that sequence until I get updated. Make the cake, then post about it a few days later.

Anyway, I made this for my brother-in-law to welcome him home from Iraq. He was gone for almost 5 whole months and we were so glad to have him back safe in our arms. Thus, the patriotic theme and the "Welcome Home". This is quite simple and very easy to make.