Baked Happy

Also known as “ube” to Filipinos, purple yam has a rougher, darker skin. They also grow from a vine above ground. This yam is one of the important sources of food and livelihood in the Philippines.

It is often used in making native desserts. If you have a Filipino grocery store in your area, you might be able to acquire purple yam.

Sweets in the Philippines, such as “halo-halo”, “sorbetes”, or “pastillas”, are incomplete without ”ube”. That is why every Filipino version of various desserts has purple yam in them.

Ice cream, mooncakes, pies, and even candy bars all have purple yam versions in the Philippines. It seems like the flavor of this yam is part of every Filipino child’s memory growing up.

When you know it has “ube”, it is definitely a special dessert.

A native of the Philippines, the purple yam (Dioscorea alata) is a unique rope with a bright purple coloration. Purple yam is already starchy and bright purple. It doesn’t need a lot of treatment as an ingredient.

Just add a few simple ingredients and you can transform it into “ube” jam. I remember a Fil-Am friend of mine. She said that her grandmother would always bring “ube jalea” whenever she visited for Christmas.

It’s a special dessert during important occasions back in the Philippines. The holidays, weddings, christenings, and reunions always have purple yams there.

“Ube jalea” is always made with a huge cast iron wok or a “kawa” over direct flames. As the “ube” cooks, coconut milk and condensed milk are added. It involves vigilant stirring and folding.

This constant movement is necessary so that the condensed milk will thicken without burning. Once the sweet, purple paste is thick enough, it is placed in containers to cool.

Jars are good if you want to give them as preserves. If you want it to cool more quickly for the ongoing feast, place it in shallow bowls or large platters.

Many bakeshops and pastry shops in the United States now include purple baked goodies on their list of products. Thanks to their access to purple yams, more people are now appreciating the delicious flavor of this root crop.

I have Filipino friends and they have introduced me to the purple yam a few times. They made me taste “ube” in the form of “halaya” or a thick, creamy, sweet purple yam jam.

We usually just ate it right out of the jar with spoons in hand.

Since it’s the holiday season, colors abound in decorations and food. I always made colorful cookies for my family and friends.

This year, I decided to change things up and went with purple. When I made a batch of my soft, “ube” crinkles, I noted the following techniques to make the process smoother.

Quick Tips:

• Cool the purple dough before scooping and rolling them in powdered sugar. This makes it more workable.
• Oil your ice cream scoop if you are using one.
• Oil your hands if you plan to be more tactile in shaping them before rolling them in powdered sugar.
• Make sure to arrange them about an inch apart on the prepared baking tray.

Here is my easy recipe for ube crinkle cookies. I hope it adds more sweet holiday magic to your gatherings at the year’s end.

1 To make the ube crinkles, we start by mixing together all the dry ingredients – flour, baking powder, and salt.

Whether you want to sift it or dry whisk it, it’s all up to you. For this recipe, I just dry whisked. Worked for me.

2 In a mixing bowl, cream together to sugars (white and brown) and butter until light and fluffy.

3 Mix the ingredients. Beat in the egg and mix well.

4 Now for the fun part – add in the Ube!!! Both the jam and the flavoring.

Mix well until batter will look like this.

5 Now, add the dry ingredients. Cover the crinkle cookie dough with cling wrap and let it chill in the refrigerator. I chilled mine overnight, but if you can’t wait, the four hours will do.

6 Cover with powdered sugar. Ohhh!!! Another fun part! Place the powdered sugar in a medium-sized bowl. There will be lumps in the sugar but it really doesn’t matter. We’ll just be using it as a coat.

7 Now, get the dough from the ref and get an ice cream scooper. I used a .25 oz (1 1/2 teaspoon) sized scoop. I like small cookies, they’re pretty nice.

8 Roll the dough into a ball and coat with powdered sugar. Place them in the cookie sheet with parchment paper and bake for 7 minutes at 350F.

You can make approximately 76 yummy ube cookies from this recipe.

The finished product. That bright ube color? I love it!

Let the cookies cool in the cookie sheet for about 30 minutes before transferring them to the cooling rack or your tummy. Your cooling rack or your tummy? Your choice.

Ube Crinkles Recipe

Cook Time: 7 minutes
Yield: 36 cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup ube jam / halaya (I used Ube Jam from Mountain Maid Training Center)
• 1 teaspoon ube flavoring (I used the McCormick Ube Flavor)
• 1 cup powdered sugar

Instructions

1. Assemble team dry ingredients – flour, baking powder, and salt.
2. Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg.
3. Add in ube jam and ube flavoring then gradually add in the dry ingredients.
4. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and chill for 4 hours or overnight.
5. Using a .25 oz (1 1/2 teaspoon) ice cream scoop, roll the cookie dough into balls and coat with powdered sugar.
6. Bake at 350F for 7 minutes or until done.

Notes

Cookies are okay to store at room temp for a week.

carrot cake cupcakes

In her notebook, the recipe is actually for a cake but this time I made it into cupcakes and I’m telling you, this is simply divine.

I’ve actually posted this recipe here on my blog before but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to count how much it makes (plus I wanted to have new nicer pictures to go with the recipes) so indulge me as I am re-doing it again.

Some carrot cake (or cupcake) recipes call for raisins, some even pineapple chunks but this recipe is pure, simple and basic. It’s just carrots, cinnamon, and cream cheese.

All good stuff that has endeared us to the classic that is the carrot cake. Did I mention, it’s moist, not too sweet and all around carrot-y?

carrot cake cupcakes

Here’s how to make it

To start off making this Easy Carrot Cupcakes Recipe.

① Sift or dry whisk Team Dry Ingredients together, flour (I used all purpose flour for this one but cake flour is okay, too), baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.

② Now, the next would be an optional step but if you don’t want the cashews sinking into the bottom of the cupcakes, then you are welcome to do this extra step.

③ Scoop out a teaspoon from the sifted dry ingredients and cover the chopped cashews with this. Set aside the cashews as well.

Add egg one at a time

④ In a bowl, mix together oil and sugar until well combined.

⑤ Add the eggs one at a time. Make sure the egg added was well combined before adding another egg.

⑥ Add Team Dry Ingredients in three batches. Make sure to just barely mix until just it’s just combined into the batter.

⑦ Fold in the grated carrots.

Fold in the Carrots

The chopped cashews. Another *optional* but totally required for me. Just toast the nuts first before using it in the recipe to give them a nuttier flavor.

⑧ Line cupcake pans with cupcake liners, the batter will make 30 cupcakes. Fill each 3oz sized cupcake liners with 1/4 cup batter.

⑨ Bake at 350 F for 15-17 minutes or until golden brown. Let the cupcakes cool to room temperature.

For Frosting:

① To make the frosting, mix together cream cheese and sifted powdered sugar. Add vanilla extract.

Mix Cream cheese and powdered sugar

② In a separate bowl, whip cream until stiff.

③ Fold the whipped cream to the cream cheese mixture.

④ Pipe the frosting into the cupcakes. The frosting is enough to generously frost 30 carrot cupcakes. Enjoy!

PS: I topped these carrot cupcakes with fondant carrots. I’ll show you how I make it soon. 🙂

Pipe the Frosting in the cupcakes

For the Cupcakes:

• 1 1/2 cups canola oil
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 cups grated carrots
• 1/2 chopped cashew nuts

For the Frosting:

• 1 cup cream cheese
• 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 1 tsp vanilla

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Instructions:

1. Sift or dry whisk Team Dry Ingredients (flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt). Set aside.
2. (this is optional) Scoop out 1 tsp from Team Dry Ingredients and sprinkle it into the chopped nuts. Also set aside.
3. In a bowl, mix together oil and sugar.
4. Add the eggs one at a time.
5. Add the dry ingredients in three batches.
6. Mix in the grated carrots.
7. Fold in the cashew nuts. (Optional) Toast the nuts first before using them to give them a nuttier flavor.
8. Line cupcake pans with cupcake liners, the batter will make 30 cupcakes. Fill each 3oz sized cupcake liners with 1/4 cup batter.
9. Bake at 350 F for 15-17 minutes or until golden brown. Let the cupcakes cool to room temperature.
10. To make the frosting, mix together cream cheese and sifted powdered sugar.
11. In a separate bowl, whip cream until stiff. Fold the whipped cream to the cream cheese mixture.
12. Pipe the frosting into the cupcakes.

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.

Ube Macapuno Cake

The cake I made before used Ube Halaya which depending on where you are, may be hard to come by.

Hmmm… perhaps ube powder is more easily accessible to most of you (than Ube Halaya) so I tried experimenting with baking an Ube Cake using Ube Powder.

And wow, it was so good and moist, and I think even better than the one using Ube Halaya.

Ube Macapuno Cake

Most of the Ube Cake recipes you can find are recipes for chiffon cakes. This one is different. It’s easier to make with ingredients you can easily find in your area.

This cake results in a moist, light and fluffy with a great ube flavor in every bite. Coupled with a topping of macapuno, this cake is surely any ube lovers dream come true.

I bought ube powder when I went to the Asian market, and I was saving it for the time I’ll try out the ube recipes with ube powder.

The ube powder I used is the unsweetened variety. For this recipe, make sure not to use the sweetened one that is being used for shakes.

So, making a marvelous Ube Macapuno Cake has to start somewhere, right?

Ube Macapuno Cake

Prepare the Wet and Dry Ingredients:

Here’s how. First, we’ve got to prepare Team Dry Ingredients (TDI) and Team Wet Ingredients (TWI).

Sift together TDI – flour, baking powder, baking soda, ube powder, and salt.

In a small bowl, mix together TWI – milk, yogurt, and ube flavor powder. For the flour, in case you don’t have all purpose flour, you can use cake flour instead.

For the milk, I used fresh milk but you can substitute it with evaporated milk or full cream milk but not low fat milk.

Yogurt can be substituted with sour cream or Yakult. Set both TDI and TWI aside.

For Ube Cake Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup ube powder (unsweetened) available in Asian stores
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup yogurt
• 4 tsp ube flavoring (like McCormick) available in Asian stores

the Frosting:

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 3 tsp ube flavoring
• 1/3 cup macapuno (preserved coconut for garnish)

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350F.
2. Sift together all the dry ingredients, flour, ube powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt, Team Dry Ingredients (TDI). Set aside.
3. Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Then add in the eggs one at a time.
4. Mix together the yogurt, milk and ube flavor, Team Wet Ingredients.
5. Add in one third of the dry ingredients and then add in one half of the wet ingredients.
6. Repeat step 5 untill all our combined. Just barely mix, until you cannot see streaks of flour in the batter.
7. Pour into two lined 6-inch pans and bake at 350F for 40-45 minutes. Make sure to tap the pans used to release air bubbles before baking. Let it cool.
8. To make the frosting, mix together butter, ube flavor and butter. Sift the powdered sugar and add to the butter mixture slowly. Mix until smooth.
9. To assemble, cool cakes first. Divide the cake into four layers. For every layer, add 1/3 cup frosting in between. Cover the cake with frosting and top with macapuno.

Directions:

① Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time.

Cream the butter and sugar

② Add one-third of TDI (Team Dry Ingredients). Add one half of TWI (Team Wet Ingredients).

③ Add another third of TDI then half of TWI and lastly, add the rest of TDI. Mix together until just barely combined.

Mix Together

④ Line two six inch pans with parchment paper. Pour equal amounts of the ube cake batter into the two pans and bake at 350F for 40-45 mins or until done.

⑤ To make the frosting, mix together butter & ube flavor. Sift the powdered sugar and add to the butter mixture slowly. Mix until smooth.

Mix the butter, ube flavoring and add the powdered sugar

To Assemble:

① To assemble, divide the cakes into two layers (about 1 inch each or thicker if you want). Place the first layer in a pretty cake plate. Or a serving plate.

Cut the Ube Cake into a layer

② Place it in a pretty cake plate. Or a serving plate. And spread evenly. Continue until all layers are beautifully stacked up.

③ Cover the cake with ube frosting generously. I know, I still need to work on my frosting covering skills.

④ Pipe the edges with frosting and top with macapuno.

Pipe edges with frosting

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.

Sans Rival, crisp cashew filled meringue layers, layered with smooth, light and not-too-sweet buttery icing, heavily sprinkled with cashew nuts.

Sans Rival Cupcakes

No, we’re not talking about Sans Rival Cake, we already made it here. We’ll be talking about its mini-me version, the Sans Rival Cupcake.

Sans Rival Cupcakes

Have you heard about the French Dacquoise? Yes, this Sans Rival is very much like that but this version is more chewy and crisp.

To those who are not familiar with Dacquoise, it is a crisp meringue made with finely chopped cashew nuts and folded into the mixture before baking.

Then, you piped into shapes and baked in a low-temperature oven until crisp and layered with buttercream.

Sans Rival Cupcake

Thank heavens you have dropped by the Bake Happy blog today because you are all in for a treat, we’re going to Sans Rival Land today, and once you’ve tasted these cupcakes, you are no longer missing one half of your life.

Want to see how the inside looks like? Creamy icing, layers of crisp meringues, loads of nuts. It’s like all you have ever dreamed of and more.

Sans Rival Cupcake

I always crave for sans rival for my birthday, so I made a Sans Rival cake made of layers of cashew studded meringue with the most buttery of all buttercreams.

Though I could hear my waist screaming, I can’t hear it for now. This super-rich cake will be a perfect cake to welcome more cellulite.

Sans Rival Cake

Are you ready to make some?

For the Meringue Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup ground almonds
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup egg whites
• 1 tsp egg white powder (optional)
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 2/3 cup+ 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2/3 cup chopped cashew nuts
• 1/4 cup flour

Directions:

① Let’s start by placing 2/3 cup egg whites in a bowl, egg white powder (available in your friendly local baking suppliers stores) and cream of tartar.

Egg Whites + Cream of Tartar

② Get your trusty old (or new) mixer and mix the egg whites in high speed. Once it’s foamy (or frothy), like below, add 2 tablespoons sugar.

③ Once soft peaks form, add in the 2/3 cup sugar gradually. Mix until stiff peaks form. How do you know if you’ve achieved stiff peaks? Turn it upside down (some even turn it upside down over their head). If nothing falls off, you’re good to go to the next step.

Stiff peaks form

④ Combine 1/4 cup sugar and almond meal. Almond meal is the same as almond flour which is the same as ground almonds.

⑤ Fold it into the egg whites. Combine flour and chopped cashews. Essentially we coat the cashews in flour to make sure the cashews won’t settle on the bottom of the batter.

Combine the Almond Flour

⑥ Fold it to the batter like we do the almond meal. Ta-daaahh!!! Sans Rival batter is now ready to be piped.

⑦ Now, go get some cookie sheets and line it with parchment paper. I used a round cookie cutter that’s two inch in diameter and traced circles in the parchment paper. Turn it over so the pencil markings won’t get on the cookie.

Pipe Circles on the Parchment Paper

⑧ Using a piping bag with a large round tip, pipe circles on the parchment paper. Place your piping tip just 3/4 inch above parchment paper and press until the batter reaches the lines of the circle then release.

⑨ Flatten the cookie so you’ll have pretty meringues but this is totally optional.

Bake the mixture at 225 F

⑩ You will make around 60 cookies from this recipe. Bake them at 225F for 45 minutes or until the meringue dries out.

⑪ Or alternately, you can pipe them on cupcake cups but make sure to place cupcake liners so you can easily remove them. Either way works fine.

For the ButterCream

Sans Rival Icing

• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoon sugar
• 3/4 cup water
• 14 egg yolks
• 2 1/2 cups unsalted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cup chopped cashew nuts (for decoration)

Now, this is where I get nervous, this is where the recipe went wrong the first time I made this Sans Rival Cupcake Recipe.

Directions:

① Separate some eggs and place 14 eggs yolks in a bowl. (What 14?! Yes, we need this much because this Sans Rival Cupcake Recipe needs more icing than the usual Sans Rival Cake.)

But you’re welcome to reduce it to half or 3/4. It’s just that the proportion is just enough to pipe and decorate 20 cupcakes.

Egg Yolks

② Combine water and sugar in a small saucepan. Let it boil. Make sure to have a candy thermometer on hand as we need this to make the icing.

③ Once the thermometer reaches 220F, start mixing the egg yolks at a high speed. This is very critical, once the sugar mixture reached 240 F, pour it over the egg yolks (with the mixer still on, okay?) in a stream (like water in a faucet). Mix well.

Candy Thermometer reaches 220 F

④ Once mixed well, turn off the mixer and let the icing cool. I actually just put the bowl in the freezer for 10 minutes or so until it’s slightly cool. This is very important. You don’t want to add butter to a hot egg yolk mixture or the world will end. Just kidding, icing might just not come together properly.

⑤ Once it’s cooled down, now’s the time to add the butter. Add it in small batches.

Fluffy, Creamy Buttercream

⑥ Beat the icing until smooth, creamy and fluffy. There will be a phase where everything seems not to mix readily. Not to worry, this will pass.

⑦ It will be ready once the icing is really smooth. And by the way, I give you permission to lick the sides of the bowl. Enjoy!

To Assemble:

① To assemble, I used candy cups. Place cookies on the base. Cover it with icing and then nuts.

Assemble the Meringue in Candy Cups

② Then add another layer of cookie… then icing, then nuts.

③ When you add the third cookie, you must have reached the top.

④ You can now play around with the design of the cupcake. I covered it icing with a flat finish.

Covered with Icing

⑤ I don’t actually have a description for this photo. I just love looking at it and I want to post the picture because I find it pretty. I hope you do, too.

⑥ Now, add chopped nuts to the sides. On top, I piped a shell border and finished it with a cashew nut topping.

Add Chopped Cashew Nuts on the Side

There you have it, Sans Rival Cupcakes! I actually find making this Sans Rival Cupcake Recipe quite challenging but the result is oh sooooo worth it! This recipe is a keeper. You can take my word for it. Pinky swear.

Now all you have to do is sip your tea and nibble on these cupcakes. Enjoy!

I have to say, this is the first time Tiramisu made an appearance here on my blog. It really didn’t tickle my fancy. Nope, not one tiny bit.
And now I feel the need to explain.

I love tiramisu (who doesn’t?)
Especially in cupcake form.
Irresistible.
Totally.

Tiramisu Cupcake

A long time ago, I was this lady who could barely look at tiramisu to someone who bakes and eats like crazy. This is one of my favorites dessert and trust me, I love trying new things.

To resemble the coffee-soaked ladyfingers, brush the coffee/Marsala syrup on the warm cupcakes. This way the syrup will be absorbed effortlessly by the cupcakes with just a perfect amount.

Tiramisu Cupcake

Tiramisu Cupcakes

Adapted from: Martha Stewart
Yield: 18 cupcakes

For the cupcakes:

• 1 1/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising), sifted
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1/4 cup milk
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into pieces
• 3 large whole eggs plus 3 egg yolks, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

For the Coffee-Marsala Syrup

• 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon freshly brewed very strong coffee
• 1 ounce Marsala (can be bought at liquor stores)
• 1/4 cup sugar

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted

For the Cupcakes:

① Sift or dry whisk cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Heat milk just until bubbles appears around the edge add in butter until melted. Let milk mixture cool.

Add the butter

② Set a mixing bowl over a pan of simmering water. With an electric mixer, mix eggs, yolks, and sugar until just sugar is dissolved and the mixture is smooth (no grainy texture felt) and warm which is about 6 minutes. Remove bowl from heat.

③ With an electric mixer, whisk until mixture is fluffy, thick and is pale yellow. Fold flour mixture into the egg mixture in three batches.

④ Stir 1/2 cup of the batter into the milk mixture to thicken, then fold milk mixture into the remaining batter until just combined.

⑤ Bake until golden brown, about 15-18 minutes at 325F.

For the Coffee-Marsala Syrup

① To make the Coffee-Marsala Syrup, combine all ingredients together until sugar is dissolved.
② Brush the cupcakes with syrup while still warm. Let them cool.

For the Frosting:

① Whisk heavy cream until stiff peaks form.
② In a separate bowl, mix together cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar until smooth.

③ Gently fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture until well combined. Use immediately.

④ Pipe frosting onto the cooled cupcakes. Sprinkle cocoa on top for extra chocolate-y goodness and enjoy.

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.

Easy Tiramisu Cake

I love tiramisu. If I can eat it every day, I would.

But I already said that of mint and chocolates, didn’t I? I guess there are a lot of sweet treats I can eat every day, tee hee!

Since this is a re-cake, I tried to make it differently from the tiramisu I made before.

This time, I used Italian Sponge Cake from scratch and pulled out all the stops by generously adding Kahlua and Marsala wine for the much needed “pick me up”.

First, the Italian sponge cake must be made, cut up into three layers, then I proceeded using Megan’s Tiramisu recipe, substituting the ladyfingers with the sponge cake.

Italian Sponge Cake

**NOTE: You Can Use this Sponge Cake Instead of LadyFingers, but if you have ladyfingers available, disregard this recipe.

Adapted from The Golden Book of Desserts

• 1 cup (150g) cake flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 6 large eggs, separated
• 1 ¼ cups (250 g) sugar
• ½ vanilla pod

Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F
2. Butter a 10-inch springform pan, line with parchment paper.
3. Sift the flour and salt into a medium bowl.
4. Combine egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl. Split vanilla pod into two, scrape beans and add to the egg-sugar mixture.
5. Beat egg yolks, sugar and vanilla beans with an electric mixer at high speed until pale and very thick.
6. Beat the egg whites in a large bowl until stiff peaks form.
7. Use a large rubber spatula to fold the dry ingredients into the egg yolk mixture. Carefully fold in the beaten whites.
8. Working quickly, spoon the batter into the prepared pan.
9. Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until springy to touch and the cake shrinks from the pan sides.
10. Cool the cake in the pan for 5 minutes. Loosen and remove the pan sides. Invert the cake onto the rack. Loosen and remove the pan bottom.
11. Carefully remove the paper. Turn the cake top-side up and let it cool completely.

Tiramisu Cake Ingredients:

• 8 large eggs yolks (or 9 smaller yolks)
• ½ cup Caster Sugar + 2 tbsp (Caster sugar is like a fine white sugar)
• 1½ cups Marsala Wine – Creamy
• 750g Mascarpone Cheese
• 500ml Cream
• 2 cups strong Espresso Coffee
• 3 tbsp Kahlua (or other liqueur that you like)
• 2 packets Savoiardi Sponge Finger Biscuits (or use the Italian Sponge Cake – recipe above)
• Cocoa Powder
• Large Lasagna Dish

Note: Cups used are metric – 250ml. The tablespoon is 15ml.

Prepare the Zabaglione:

Read: /ˌzäbəlˈyōnē/ – an Italian dessert made of whipped and heated egg yolks, sugar, and Marsala wine served hot or cold.

1. Whisk the egg yolks and ½ cup caster sugar together until pale and thick.
2. Over simmering water in a double boiler slowly add ½ cup Marsala to the yolk/sugar mixture.
3. Keep on stirring until it thickens like custard (this takes about 7-8 minutes).
4. Set aside to cool and whisk it occasionally as it cools so it is thick and creamy.
5. I have some cold water ready in the sink so I can dip the bowl in it and stop the cooking quickly once the zabaglione is ready.

Prepare the Tiramisu Cream:

1. Stir (but do not beat) the mascarpone until well blended and smooth.
2. Whip the cream until thick – just past the soft peak stage.
3. Fold together the mascarpone, whipped cream and zabaglione one at a time (for example, add zabaglione to the mascarpone, and then add the cream to that mix).

A variation on this recipe keeps each of the three ingredients above separate and layers them up individually on top of the dipped biscuits. Try it both ways!

For Dipping Mixture:

1. Mix together the coffee, 2 tbsp of caster sugar, 1 cup of Marsala wine and 3 tbsp of Kahlua.
2. Make sure the sugar is completely dissolved.

Assembly:

1. Dip Savoiardi sponge finger biscuits (or substitute with Italian Sponge Cake from recipe above) into the cooled dipping mixture until they are moist but not sodden and line the bottom of the dish with them.
2. The time varies due to variation in the sponge fingers.
3. Layer half of the Tiramisu Cream over the top of the biscuits.
4. Repeat another layer of dipped Savoiardi biscuits and Tiramisu Cream.
5. Bang the dish firmly to make the Tiramisu Cream settle into the gaps between the biscuits. Cover and chill overnight.
6. Just before serving dust liberally with cocoa. If you want to be more lavish some grated chocolate is nice too.

When the fruitcake recipe says to add orange rind, the white bitter part should be added also. I haven’t baked a fruitcake since.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookie

Chocolate Crinkles are cake crumbs rolled into flattened balls then coated with confectioner’s sugar. Oh, wait… now I know that is not true, I now know they are baked.

I first tasted crinkles at a canteen in high school and for a chocolate lover, every bite is chocolate cookie heaven. So when someone requested that I feature a Chocolate Crinkles recipe, I went straight to work at it. Want to see how it goes?

Chocolate Crinkle Cookie

Chocolate Crinkle Cookie Recipe

These Crinkle cookies are one my favorites and I’m so obsessed with it’s gooey, richly fudgy chocolate cookies. These are classic holiday favorite that is studded with mini chocolate chips and rolled in powdered sugar! Who can resist that?

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar

---

Directions:

① Combine cocoa, white sugar, and vegetable oil a bowl. Mix well.

Combine the ingredients

② Add in eggs one at a time. Then stir in the vanilla.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookie

③ Sift together all dry ingredients – flour, baking powder, and salt then add to the cocoa mixture.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookie

④ The dough will still be soft at this stage. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and refrigerate for four hours.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookie

⑤ Use a 1.5 oz ice cream scoop to roll the dough into balls then coat it with confectioner’s sugar before baking at 350 F for 10-12 minutes. Remember not to overbake so the cookies will still be chewy.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookie

These Chocolate Crinkle Cookies are super easy and you can make them right at this very moment and nibble on them for the next few days. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.

I so love the gooey, soft inside while the outside is slightly crispy coated with a layer of confectioner sugar. Ahhh.. what a bliss!

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.