cafejno

[cafejno]

Recipe:

1 c softened butter

1 c packed light brown sugar

1/2 c white sugar

2 eggs

2 tspn vanilla extract

1 c all-purpose flour

1/2 tspn baking soda

1 tspn salt

3 c quick-cooking oats

1 c chopped walnuts

1 c (I added another half cup) semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325F.

In a large bowl-cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Stir in the vanilla.

In a separate medium size bowl-combine the flour, baking soda, and salt.

Stir the dry ingredients into the cream mix until just blended.

Mix in the oats, walnuts, and chocolate chips.

Drop by spoonfuls onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake for 12-14 minutes (until edges are light brown). 

[cafejno]

French Apple Tart

Hello~ It has been a LONG time since I blogged due to being out of the country for a year and not having an oven. I've also been lazy since I've come back home. :P I have been baking here and there, but today I decided to blog this recipe, which came out exceptionally well.

Here is where I got the recipe to help guide me: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/french-apple-tart-recipe.html

Below is the recipe I modified to fit the amount of apples I had, which was one sad apple that I was trying to get rid of.

Pastry recipe:

1/2 c flour

1/8 tspn salt

1/4 TB sugar (I used brown)

3 TB cold, unsalted (doesn't matter if it's salted) butter, diced

1/8 c ice water (set aside)

Apple recipe:

1 apple (green, jonagold, any other apple that is good for baking)

1/8 c sugar

1 TB melted butter

1/8 c apricot jelly

1/2 TB Calvados, rum, or water

Directions:

Put the flour, salt, and sugar into a food processor and pulse 2 seconds to combine it.

Add the butter and pulse (10-12 times) until the butter is in small bits.

Pour the ice water little by little into the food processor until the dough starts coming together.

Dump the pastry dough onto a floured board and knead into a ball.

Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for 15-20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Peel apples and slice in 1/4 inch thick slices.

Mix 1/8 c of sugar and 1 TB of melted butter in with the slices of apple.

After 15-20 minutes is up, roll the dough into a thin layer and place it on the baking sheet.

Place the apple slices in overlapping rows (or in this case, a row)

Bake for 45 minutes-1hour until the pastry is browned and the edges of the apples start turning brown.

Rotate the pan, once, in the middle of the baking time.

When the tart is done, heat the apricot jelly and Calvados and brush the apples and pastry completely. I did not have either of these, so I was not able to do this part. I will have to try it next time I am prepared to make this tart again. :)

Anyway, that's it! I (accidentally) changed a few things like the order and a couple of the directions from the website, but I think it turned out just fine! This is perfect for two or three, depending on the person's sweet tooth.

Bon Appétit!

[cafejno]

Check out my guest appearance in @ericjyum ‘s cooking video at youtube.com/ericjyum ! And check out his previous cooking videos too! :) #cookingwitheric

[cafejno]

Hello everyone~ it's been a while since we've put up a post. Hope you all are having a great end of the summer! We were supposed to make this before Jess left but it's just me now, and this will be the last post of the summer. I might put some up throughout the year since I will have a kitchen, but it really depends on my schedule. 

Cheesecake (first try)--

1-1/2 cups Honey Maid graham cracker crumbs

3 tbsp sugar

1/3 cup butter, melted

4 pkg (each 8 oz.) Philadelphia cream cheese 

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

4 eggs

Heat oven to 325 F. Mix the graham crumbs, 3 tbsp of sugar and butter in a small bowl, then press onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan. I didn't have a springform pan, so I just used a regular 9-inch pan. It would most definitely work better using a springform pan. If you don't know what a springform pan is refer to this link: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springform_pan Next beat the cream cheese, 1 cup sugar and vanilla with mixer until well blended. Continue mixing (on low) while adding eggs 1 at a time, until blended. Pour the mixture over the crust and bake for 55 minutes, or until center is almost set. After it's done baking, make sure it cools down before removing the rim. Finally, refrigerate for at least 4 hours before eating.

Honestly this didn't turn out the best that it could. I would suggest using fewer eggs because my mom noticed that it tasted eggy when she tasted it. I'm going to try making cheesecake again sometime soon but it'll probably be a no-bake version!

Olivia :)

[cafejno]

These are officially my FAVORITE kind of cookie as of this moment in my life! I usually don't like chocolate chip cookies, but who would have known adding a ripe banana would change my whole view of the classic chocolate chip cookie!

I took Martha Stewart's banana chocolate chip cookie recipe and altered some things. Below is her recipe and in italics are the things I changed or didn't add.

Recipe:

1 1/4 c all-purpose flour

1/2 tspn baking soda 

1 tspn salt (did not add any, refer below)

8 T (1 full stick) unsalted butter (I never get unsalted butter so instead I just did not add any salt)

6 T granulated sugar (refer below)

6 T light brown sugar (instead of adding the above, I just put in 12 T of light brown sugar)

1 large egg

1 tspn vanilla (did not have any, so I did not add this)

1 ripe banana, slightly mashed (you don't have to mash it separately, you can just mash it in the mix)

3/4 c semisweet chocolate chips(or baking chocolate chips, or nuts, or both! :))

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 F, have two baking sheets out (nonstick or lined with foil or parchment paper)

Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in one bowl

In a separate bowl, beat the butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla (in my case I had no vanilla but it was still good).

Add flour mixture and stir until combined

Mix in the ripe banana and chocolate chips

Drop by T onto baking sheets spaced out by one inch

Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until lightly golden brown. Mine took 10 minutes the first sheet, second sheet took 9. Make sure to keep an eye on them as they may burn quickly on the bottoms.

Optional: drizzle nutella on the cookie... as if you didn't have enough chocolate in the cookie! Only problem with this is... you have to eat them on the spot if you design them because nutella does not harden... actually that's not much a problem haha!

Simply ENJOY!

I love how these cookies are so moist and a bit cake like. If you like that cakey texture, this cookie is like that. It's not super dense, but just right!

Have a wonderful day guys! I won't be able to post something until probably next week as I will be going on a trip today until Sunday! So have a fantastic week!

À la prochaine!

-Jess

[cafejno]

Classic shortbread cookies! :)

This is a late post because I've been busy/tired lately so now I have some time to post this simply delightful recipe!

Recipe (came from Martha Stewart's Cookies):

2 c all-purpose flour

1 1/4 tspn coarse salt

1 c (2 sticks) of unsalted butter room temp. (I used 1 stick of salted butter and 1 stick of unsalted butter. I think the salt in the butter made the cookies taste better.)

3/4 c confectioner's sugar

Directions (I altered it.. partially by accident and partially because I didn't think I needed to do all the extra work the book said to do...):

Sift flour and salt into a bowl

Cut butter in small cubes and throw into the flour and salt

Using clean hands, fold the butter well into the flour and salt

Add in the confectioner's sugar and fold in until everything is mixed in well

Refrigerate for 20-30 mins.

I had some cookie cutters I got as gifts and haven't used them yet so I took the opportunity to make these cookies look cute! Since this batter is very buttery, I did not need to spray the baking tray or cutting board to roll it out and cut the batter into shapes. Chilling it in the fridge did help a bit. It sticks to the cutting board because I am pushing it down with the rolling pin. I used a butter knife to help scrape the shape I cut out up off the board. I used a plastic cutting board as well. I don't know if it would work the same for a wooden one. You can flour the boards if you want, but the technique I used was just as effective requiring less mess.

Preheat oven to 300F with rack on upper third

Place shapes onto baking sheet and put in oven for about 30 minutes or until you see it turn golden brown! Since my shapes were small, about 1 1/2 in diameter, it only took about 30-40 mins for it to turn golden brown. Just make sure to keep an eye on it :)

When they are done, eat them with caution! They are hot... but they taste SO good when they come right out of the oven! MM MM!!

I think I'm going to have to make these babies one more time before I leave this country! I won't have an oven in my apartment! T_T Hope you guys try this recipe out too. You can add food coloring and decorate it more than I did! This was so good though. My mom is usually picky about what I bake but she said these tasted even better than store bought ones! :) :) :) You can make these and impress someone or a group of friends/family!

Enjoy,

Jess

[cafejno]

Hi everyone! I apologize for my last post being a bit ambiguous with the recipe (like how to marinate) but hopefully this post makes up for it! :)

Coffee Cake (easily one of my favorite desserts but I always forget about it for some reason)

1 cup of butter at room temperature

2 cups granulated sugar

2 eggs 

1 cup sour cream

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups cake flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp ground cinnamon

4 tblsp brown sugar

1 - Preheat oven to 350 F and grease pan you plan on using  2 - Mix the butter and sugar in a large bowl 3 - Add eggs one at a time -- beat well 4 - Using a mixer on low speed, beat in the sour cream and vanilla  5 - In a separate small bowl mix together the cake flour, salt and baking powder 6 - Starting your mixer on very slow speed, gradually add the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Increase the speed as you add more of the dry ingredients and the batter gets thicker 7 - In another small bowl, mix the cinnamon and brown sugar together 8 - Put half of the batter in the prepared pan 9 - Sprinkle half of the cinnamon and brown sugar mixture over the batter  10 - Add the remaining batter and sprinkle with the remaining topping 11 - Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a tester inserted halfway between the center and edge of pan comes out clean 12 - Cool completely, then it's good to eat!

Enjoy! ~ Olivia

[cafejno]

Hellooooo, it's been a while since I posted something. Sorry about the delay in posts but I'll try to get back on the cooking/baking grind! :)

Tonight I tried to do a sort of Korean-American fusion food:  불고기 (bul-go-gi) and 김치 (kim-chi) burgers! 

If you don't know what bulgogi or kimchi is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgogi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimchi

recipe:

bulgogi - you can get this at an Asian or Korean market

kimchi - ^read above

burger patties

mozzarella cheese

water, sugar, soy sauce, 1 kiwi (for marinating bulgogi)

sesame oil

optional: sesame seeds

garlic

1 - If the bulgogi is frozen, it's best to let it defrost over night in the fridge, but if you need to make it soon you can defrost it in the microwave until it is ready to marinate.

2 - Marinate the bulgogi -- add the same amount of water, sugar and soy sauce to the bulgogi in a medium sized bowl. The amount of water, sugar and soy sauce will depend on how much bulgogi you are marinating. Next add a dash of sesame seeds, bit of sesame oil, small pieces of garlic and (again, depending on the amount of meat you are cooking) half or quarter of minced kiwi. Using your hand, in a plastic disposable glove, squeeze the meat into the sauce. The better the sauce soaks the more tender it will be! If you have the time, let the meat marinate longer by leaving it in the fridge for a couple hours. 

3 - Cook the bulgogi in a frying pan on a stove until the liquid is caramelized. Set aside.

4 - Cut/shred up the kimchi into small pieces (we discovered that it would be better to cut them into thinner strips). Add sesame oil, sesame seeds, kimchi and a bit of sugar in a frying pan and fry until desired.

5 - In the photos I put the mozzarella cheese on first, then the bulgogi, and finally the kimchi. However, we discovered it to taste better when the buns are toasted (with the mozzarella cheese on it) in a toaster oven (or you can toast the buns in a toaster and put the cheese on separately). Then add the bulgogi and small pieces of kimchi. 

:) happy eating,

Olivia.

[cafejno]

Hello everyone!

So today for lunch I was craving something spicy and automatically thought of ramen! However, I stopped myself and decided to whip up a very quick and healthy dish! I also didn't want hot soup since it's so hot outside... This dish is also perfect for those that are on a diet (not that I'm on a diet haha).

There are very few ingredients needed. If you are Korean, or love cooking Korean food, you will definitely have these ingredients on hand! The only thing that might be needed is the pasta, but any kind of noodles should do!

Serving for two:

A little bit of sugar~ 1/8 tspn

1T of Sesame oil- add less or more to your taste. It's very healthy so it's not bad to add more of this kind of oil.

However much kimchi you want, I thinly sliced about a 1/4 c of it (for roughly 2 servings)

About an inch bundle of angel hair pasta

2 tspn of kochujang aka Korean hot bean paste. You can also add to taste. It is pretty spicy... or I am just a weaksauce...

Sesame seeds to top it off-totally optional

This dish is extremely easy to make. It is similar to a Korean dish called Jjolmyun. However, this is simpler and just as yummy!

Steps!

Boil the pasta noodles. I tried to make this dish a fusion of Italian and Korean, but it's not that much a fusion... That's one of my goals for the summer. I promise I'll get to that!

Rinse the noodles in cold water in the pot, drain the water, and place back on a cool part of the stove.

Add in all the ingredients; sugar, hot bean paste, sesame oil, and kimchi.

Mix it up well and place on your plate of desire. Once that's done, grind some sesame seeds on top if you'd like or any garnish of your choice! Sesame seeds and sesame oil are extremely healthy for you. So you're only winning by adding these in your dish! It's great for your skin, hair, and healthy overall!

Eat eat eat!

To make it more healthy you could use whole wheat noodles and add cucumber, carrots, and other vegetables of your choice. I was just really hungry and wanted to make something super fast!

Hope you all have a great day today :)

-Jess

[cafejno]

Hello my few but very awesome followers! :)

Sorry I haven't posted anything new in SO long! Honestly, I have been lazy! I have been going on several road trips with the family [going on another one this weekend] but that's no excuse! I will try to keep posting something new every week!

So, tonight's post is watermelon juice! The weather has been pretty hot but less humid (thank goodness!) and I came across this video: http://vimeo.com/67594234

This looked delightful for a hot summer day... or night! My mom just recently said we had a HUGE watermelon sitting in our fridge doing nothing, so I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to try this out!

I did not have any mint, nor do any of my family members like it (I always like things none of my family members like...) SO I thought it would be delicious with some Korean Yogurt drinks in it!

I used (almost) the same recipe in the video:

16 c/1 small watermelon [I used 1/2 of a HUGE watermelon]

Juice from 1 lime

1/2 c granulated sugar

1 T mint [I poured in two Yogurt drinks]

This recipe is very simple and it's really fun to make! The photos are pretty self explanatory, but I will briefly explain it below anyway! :)

You can either cut and chop up the watermelon into 2 inch cubes and put them in the blender, or you can do what I did, just spoon out the watermelon with a tablespoon!

Pour in the sugar and blend! Depending on blender size, you may need to blend the watermelon 2-3 separate times.

After each time you blend the watermelon, take a sieve and pour the juice through it. I couldn't put the sieve on top of the pitcher so I did it over a bowl then poured it into the pitcher.

Then towards the end you want to squeeze your lime juice in the mix and pour the Yogurt drinks in. The Yogurt drinks are definitely optional, especially the number of Yogurt drinks you want to add. If I were to do this again, I would definitely want to try it with the mint!

After you've sieved the blended mixture into the pitcher, just pour into a glass and serve! By the time I was done, the juice wasn't that cold so I had to add some ice cubes. If you are patient, just chill in the fridge and then enjoy the refreshing beverage!

Hope you guys enjoy this and try it out some time! It's definitely a great drink for the summer! I'm not a huge fan of watermelon but this is really good!

Cheers,

Jess

p.s. Thank you for all the support guys. I really appreciate your encouraging words and I'm so thankful and extremely blessed to have such good friends! :) <3

[cafejno]

Macarons Diary Entry 2 (online, that is... not gonna share how many trials I have gone through offline)

I am pretty happy with this turnout! Last night I tried to make chocolate macarons... and they pretty much ended up like brownie/cookies but tasted yummy nonetheless!

Anyway, the last time I made pink macarons was the second/third time I made them EVER and that's when they were 98% to perfection! I made them this past winter for the first time too... I guess pink is my lucky color because these are the closest to my second/third try ever. I'm still working on the hollowness issue... But I think I know what I need to fix (the folding-macronnage part). I'm just so scared I'll over do it... Well, in time I'm sure I will get it to perfection! I am not giving up. Soon I will be making all kinds of flavors! My friends... my future investors... ;) Watch out because I am going to make you guys some delightful macarons before I take off! I promise!

Filling:

Blueberry buttercream~

1 stick of butter

(about) 1/2 c of powdered sugar

Fresh blueberry jam (add to your liking)

Macarons Shells:

I used Martha Stewart's recipe, but no cream of tartar. I also changed the temperature to 280 degrees fahrenheit for 15 minutes (for small macarons) and did not rotate them during the time I had them in the oven.

http://www.marthastewart.com/318387/french-macaroons

Try this out or let me know what I can do to get it to perfection! :)

~Bon Appetit

Jess

[cafejno]

Chicken Broccoli Casserole

What you need:

Roughly 5 raw chicken tenders (or however many you feel like putting in)

1 pound of broccoli florets

1 can condensed cream of mushroom (or chicken) soup

1 tablespoon of mayonnaise

Shredded cheddar cheese

Dry stuffing mix (I used Turkey)

Optional: French's french fried onions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Boil or grill the chicken tenders until they're tender, then shred/cut them up into bite size pieces. While the chicken is boiling, steam the broccoli until crisp. In a small bowl, mix together the condensed soup and mayonnaise. Then, in a 9x13 inch baking dish (or any other casserole dish), layer the ingredients: chicken, 1/2 soup mixture, broccoli, 1/2 soup mixture, then cheese. Finally, sprinkle the dry stuffing mix and French's french fried onions over the top and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes. Then it's time to eat! :D

Enjoy!

-Olivia

[cafejno]

Tonight!

Chicken broccoli casserole coming up! Olivia is cooking tonight :)

[cafejno]

Here it is! My first time baking spaghetti! It was very simple (I didn't do much research other than the oven temp and the length of time I should keep it in the oven).

I got the idea of slicing thin vegetables from ratatouille. I was actually going to make that at first, however it didn't sound that appetizing when I looked up some recipes... So I resorted to this simple delicious filling meal!

How I did it:

Thinly cut 1 zucchini and 1 yellow squash (left overs can be used however)

Boil the pasta to al dente

Rinse pasta in cold water, strain, and place in baking pan

Preheat oven to 350 degrees faranheit

Pour any tomato sauce of desire onto the spaghetti

Place sliced vegetables on spaghetti in any pattern

Drizzle olive oil over the vegetables

Cover with parchment paper and place in oven for 40 mins

At the 20 mins mark, take out the pan, uncover the pasta and sprinkle with parmesan cheese, pepper, and chili powder for some extra spice!

Place back in oven uncovered for remaining 20 mins

It's as simple as that! Olivia made some garlic bread with Jimmy John's bread in a few mins because we realized we were out of bread sticks. Turned out just great!

End result: It's easy, filling, and the texture of the noodles was chewy and perfect! :)

Give it a try!

-Jess

[cafejno]

The other day I got to catch up with a good friend of mine while making Tiramisu for the first time! Check out her tumblr and etsy (links at the end)!

The one good thing about this is that it requires no heat! The downfall... it's so hard to cut and make it look pretty :( I did my best. Perhaps chilling it for awhile would have helped. Oh well. It still tasted alright!

I don't remember the measurements exactly because we had to change it in order to fit it with the number of eggs we had on hand. But I think this is what we used:

4 egg yolks

1 1/3 tubs (~9 oz) of Italian marscapone cheese

1 tbsp sugar

2/3 tbsp of black coffee (your choice of coffee or rum or whatever you want as a substitute)

Ladyfingers (we used something close to it)

Cocoa powder for the finishing touches

There are millions of recipes online. We winged the coffee part and didn't use ladyfingers but it came out just fine. :) Too bad no one in my family likes Tiramisu... guess I'll have to enjoy it on my own!

-Jess

p.s. About to make dinner now! Stay posted! :)

Check out my talented friend's blog and etsy!

http://cindyyshaw.tumblr.com/

https://www.etsy.com/people/cindyYshaw

[cafejno]

Baked Spaghetti

I'm going to try to be a little adventurous and cook dinner tonight. Since I've been going out to eat so often these days, I want to start saving some money... hehe...

I'll post pictures of my process and the end result later tonight :)

-Jess

[cafejno]

Pineapple upside-down cupcakes

1 can (20 oz) pineapple tidbits

packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup salted butter, melted

1 cup (4 oz) cake (soft-wheat)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 egg yolks

1/3 (3 oz) cup sugar

Optional:

whipped cream

other fruits to top (we used strawberries and grapes-- see last picture)

baking cups

PART ONE (preheat 350 degrees F)

open and reserve 1/2 cup pineapple juice

next arrange pineapples in a circle or however you would like on the bottom of the *baking cups (reserve the leftover pineapples for another use)

*you can either grease the bottom of each cup in the muffin pan or use baking cups like I did

sprinkle 1.5-2 teaspoons of brown sugar and drizzle about the same amount of melted butter into each cup, then set aside

PART TWO

in a small bowl mix the dry ingredients, the flour, salt, and baking powder

in another bowl mix the egg yolks, sugar and remaining butter until   it turns light

gradually beat in half of the dry ingredients, the reserved 1/2 cup of pineapple juice and then the rest of the dry ingredients

finally, put the batter into the baking cups and into the oven for 20 minutes

After I let them cool for about 10 minutes, I flipped them over (hence the part of the name that says "upside-down") and Jess decorated them with fruits :) Add whipped cream to top and other desserts if desired.

Here is the end result: 

Bon Appetit~

Olivia