Guava and Cheese Pastry

I've always been a South Florida girl but it wasn't until I moved to Tampa several years ago when I became obsessed with Cuban food. Yellow rice, Palomilla steak, Cuban sandwiches and Cafe con Leche, yum! Two years ago when I moved even further South I thought for sure I'd get that same Cuban food down here. Maybe I'm just too picky but I'm partial to Ybor City Cuban Sandwiches so sadly I haven't found great Cuban food here outside of Boca. But there is a little Cuban Cafe kiosk at the airport that has delicious Guava and Cheese pastries. I know right! An hour from Miami and I'm getting my Guava Pastelitos at the airport!?

Well a couple of weeks ago I returned to work. And I've been trying to avoid temptation i.e these little warm triangles filled with sweet guava, cream cheese and ohh that flaky crust! This past Sunday I fought so hard to stay away from them. It worked I didn't get one by the way but when Monday came around I craved it even more. I had to give in, luckily I didn't have to drive far. I learned how to make easy Guava and Cheese pastries when I lived in Tampa and it was time to try it at home. I can't say these are as good as getting one at an Authentic Cuban Cafe but it's pretty darn close to me!

Guava and Cheese Pastelitos (pastries)

Ingredients:

• 1 8oz block Cream Cheese
• 1Guava Paste
• 1 package of  frozen puff pastry
• 1 egg white
• Granulated Sugar

1. Preheat Oven to 350 F. Thaw the frozen puff pastry on the countertop. Unfold the pastry on a floured surface. Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter cut each sheet into four even squares. (Total of 8 squares)
2. Using a butter knife slice 1/2 Inch sections of Guava Paste and place in the middle of each pastry square.
3. Using a seperate butter knife slice 1/2 inch sections of cream cheese and place on top of guava.
4. With the corner of each pastry square pointed towards you (diamond shape) fold over the top corner down to the bottom. Using a fork press the sides together. Each pastry should be triangle shaped now.
5. Place pastries on a lightly greased baking sheet an inch apart.
6. In a small bowl whip one egg white and brush the tops.
7. Sprinkle each pastry with sugar.
8. Bake for 20 mins or until lightly golden.
9. Allow to cool.

Guava paste can be found at Specialty stores or the ethnic food isle.

Guava and Cheese and Cuban Coffee. Perfecto

ooey gooey

Philfest Phun 2015

This past weekend we trekked all the way to Tampa for their annual Philfest. (Philippine Festival). A three day celebration of Filipino food and culture. I was so amped up. I was prepping for this festival for weeks. All my favorite filipino foods were to be there so I had to plan accordingly.

When we arrived it was already hot as beans. After meeting with some friends and family I was ready to eat and find some shade. The festival had at least 20 food vendors. Food and drinks are purchased using tickets and range from 1 ticket to 10. We found most had the same dishes like pancit, rice, adobo. But each booth seemed to have at least one thing that the others didn't. Such as fish balls, balut, ube ice cream, sapin-sapin and pan de hipon. I wish I took more pictures of all the different foods. But when you're strolling around with a 2 1/2 month old and 5 kids under 15. Things get pretty hectic.

My first dish was a steamed pork bun (Siopao) from Filipiniana restaurant booth. This place had a line all day and with good reason. They had bubble teas and halo-halo. Not sure if it was world famous halo-halo or something or because it was 90 something degrees. Not like you need a reason to eat halo-halo, because it's delicious! I held off on the halo-halo because I had one the weekend before and I was saving my calories. haha. But my good friend had her first halo-halo here and she liked it.

My friend's Halo-Halo "mix mix" ice dessert

With my Siopao I had a side of turkey Lumpia (eggrolls) from the PAO food truck and a buko (young coconut) juice which I didn't get a picture of. :(

For dessert I decided to try a slice of Sapin-Sapin. It's a pretty layered cake made of rice and coconut. It's consistency was gooey meets sponge-y. It's steamed so it's not like a traditional cake. Each layer of the cake is a different flavor. The orange is jackfruit, the white is coconut and the purple layer is ube. Honestly I was not that impressed by this Sapin-Sapin. It had almost no flavor. So that was a disappointment. But look how pretty!

Sapin-Sapin "layers"

After lunch we walked around and caught a show. Then the most amazing thing happened. We found the booth with the balut. Now I don't eat balut ( I just can't get over the whole baby duck thing) but a lot of Filipinos do. You can read about balut HERE. My brother and cousin ended up getting an egg each. We found a semi-shaded spot for them to eat it. It was the funniest thing because a crowd started to form when they were eating it. People were taking videos and pictures.
Here's a big ol basket of balut.

In the mid-afternoon. I was craving a snack myself. I opted for Suman and a melon juice. That melon juice was the best thing I have ever tasted. It was sweet and refreshing. We've juiced a lot of cantelopes at home but none of that melon juice compared to this filipino style melon juice.

My favorite thing from Philfest hands down was a cup of Taho. A warm snack made with a brown sugar syrup, silken tofu and sago ( tapioca pearls) The last time I had Taho was 15 years ago while visiting the Philippines and it was everything I remembered and then some.

All in all Philfest was a success. I ate everything I could see, enjoyed some folk dancing and caught up with family. Philfest 2015 has come and gone but If you're ever in Tampa in April be sure to check out Philfest!






Check out the Philippine Cultural Foundation for future events.
Philippine Cultural Foundation

Menu from PAO food truck

Fresh Melon Juice

Filipino Streetfood Taho

Mega Mango Macaron

After my first attempt of macarons turned out pretty successful ( for a newbie ) I wanted to a make them again. But the real way! The first time I used rice flour and they were actually good. See HERE. So this time we made the trek to Whole Foods and bought Almond meal. I decided to try mango ones because we had a pile of mangoes on the counter.

Macarons are fickle. The egg whites, the humidity ,and the oven temperature can be your best friend or your worst enemy. This batch tasted 10x better than my first batch but a lot of my shells cracked. Trying to figure out what went wrong and from some macaron reading I don't think I mixed the batter enough (a few shells had cracks). Don't get me wrong these macarons are quite edible. Yummy actually but not all of them are picture perfect. Boohoo.  For the recipe I basically followed the rice macaron recipe and made some adjustments.

Mango Macarons with Mango Ganache

• 1 C. Almond flour
• 1 C. Powdered Sugar
• 3/4 C. granulated sugar
• 1/2 Tsp .Mango Extract
• 4 Egg whites at room temperature
• pinch of salt

1. In a medium bowl sift the flour and powdered sugar. Make sure you sift the almond flour well. I put it in the food processor a couple pulses to make sure it was nice and fine.

 2. In a large bowl whip the egg whites, salt and granulated sugar . Whip for at least 10 minutes. Remember it should be glossy, white with stiff peaks.

3. Stir in 1/3 of  flour/sugar mixture into egg whites. Then fold in the rest with a spatula. After partially mixed add the Mango extract and continue to fold. The mixture should be the consistency of molten lava. 

4. Preheat oven to 310 F. Transfer the batter to a pastry bag with a round tip attached. Squeeze out mounds on parchment paper. I am seriously going to buy a silpat mat though. I just hate dealing with parchment paper. Let the shells sit out for 20-30 mins or until a skin forms on top.  This is the secret to the feet. I wish mine had more feet! Bake for 16 mins.

Mango Ganache

• 1 Whole Mango. Sliced and pureed.
• 1/2 C. White Chocolate Chips

1. Slice and puree Mango until there are no large pieces. In a small saucepan heat pureed mango.

2. In the microwave melt white chocolate chips and add to saucepan with mango. Over low heat mix until well combined.

3. Once mixed pour into a bowl and cool in the fridge.

When you're ready to assemble the shells. Spread or pipe the ganache on one side and then sandwich. 

Although a few of my shells cracked. The texture of these were perfect. Soft and pillowy. Hooray! Getting  better at this macaron stuff. Hope you enjoy!

Pork Free Pancit Palabok

Pancit is a staple in filipino cuisine. If you've been to any filipino parties then you've probably seen a giant pan of pancit bihon or pancit canton (cabbage, pork, chicken etc.) Palabok is maybe a lesser known type of pancit to those that didn't grow up in Filipino households. I can't even remember the last time I had palabok which is why I wanted to make it!

 Pancit Palabok contains thin rice noodles covered with a "gravy" sauce of shrimp and topped with shrimp, chicharron, green onions and eggs. It is delightfully orange. This recipe is a pork free version. I know, what kind of Filipino doesn't eat pork!? Well some people don't eat pork ( my honey included ) so why should they miss out on the yummy-ness that is Filipino food? So here it is...my version of a Pork Free Pancit Palabok.

Pork Free Pancit Palabok
 serves 4

• 1-8oz. package of thin rice noodles

For the sauce

• 1 Tbsp. of Annatto Powder
• 4 C. of chicken stock  (or homemade shrimp stock)
• 1/4 C. flour
• 1/4 C. Water

For the topping

• 1/4 C. Crushed shrimp chips
• 2 Boiled eggs
• 2 Tbsp. minced garlic
• 1/2 C. Cooked shrimp (store bought)
• 1/4 C. Green onions
• Four slices of turkey bacon

1. Soak the rice noodles in water for 2-3 minutes until soft. Drain and then set to the side. 

2. To start the sauce. In a Saucepan add chopped turkey bacon and garlic to oil. Fry for a few minutes until crispy but don't burn the garlic. When finished remove but keep oil in the pan. 

3. Add annatto powder to 1/4 cup water. Mix and dissolved completely. (The Annatto makes the sauce orange, it's perfectly normal) Then add water to Saucepan that you fried the garlic and bacon in.

4. Over Medium heat slowly add flour to the saucepan stirring frequently. Whisk in chicken stock and Annatto water. Sauce should be like a gravy but not too thick. Adjust by adding more stock or water.

5. When the gravy is done, set to low to keep it warm. In a large pot bring water to a boil. Add softened rice noodles and cook for 1 minute. This seriously takes no time at all! Drain and place noodles on serving dish.

6. Top Noodles with gravy.

7.  The last step: Add toppings! Go crazy! Top the gravy with cooked shrimp (I just reheated the store bought shrimp we had.) Slice the hard boiled eggs in half and place on the sides. Sprinkle the cooked turkey bacon and garlic over the Shrimp. Then the green onions and lastly the crushed shrimp chips. Ta-da!

My gravy is a little less orange but I used wheat flour which I think turned it a more brown color. Oh well still good.

Lychee Rose Cake with Lychee Cream Filling

After making my pandan macarons with lychee I had oodles of lychee syrup left over. Since that sweet stuff is just too good to toss away I wanted to put it to good use. But what to make!? My first thought was cake. Other than the obvious reasons (because cake is good) I thought it was a good idea because 1. I've never seen a lychee cake before and 2. My honey's birthday was approaching and so it was meant to be.

 I have to say this lychee cake was a long process. First I researched lychee cake and it turns out there is such a thing. Seems to be common in Asian countries ( duh they have the best stuff!) but what I mostly found was a recipe for spongecakes and this oh so famous lychee martini cake. A spongecake was a little more effort than I was willing to put in. And although vodka soaked lychees sounded good it just wasn't what I was looking for. So maybe just a white cake with lychees in between. Next I researched white cake recipes. I found many recipes for this of course but then I thought " Geez I don't need to make a whole 9 inch cake for two people! I will never get rid of post baby weight! " Enter the 6 inch cake. Brilliant. The trouble is there are not so many recipes for just a 6 inch cake. And yes I COULD have taken the time to calculate how to divide the ingredients and so on, which I considered really, but after reading how to do that my brain exploded. Seriously read it and yours will explode too. So back to the cake...I scoured the internet for a 6 inch cake recipe and finally found one. I still had my heart set on the lychee cake so some minor tweaks to the recipe were in order. Lastly a quick trip to the Asian store. I had all my ingredients but in the days between the macarons and the lychee cake the lychees I was storing in the fridge got eaten. A simple mistake. How can you resist the yummy-ness of a lychee? So really it was my fault. The trip to the asian store was bountiful. Rice flour, bihon noodles, 3 cans of lychee, shrimp chips and a gem of a find : Rose essence! I noticed most lychee cake recipes called for a combination of rose or raspberry. I wasn't keen on the raspberry but the rose intrigued me so now it was going to be a Lychee Rose Cake.

Now to the good stuff...

 6 Inch Lychee Rose Cake

• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 cup butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 egg whites, room temperature
• 1/2 Tsp. Vanilla extract
• 1/2 Tsp. Rose essence
• 2 Tbsp. Lychee syrup ( from canned lychees)
• 1/2 cup milk 
• 2-6 inch cake pans

1. In a Medium bowl whisk together flour and baking powder and set to the side.

2. In a seperate bowl cream together butter and sugar. Add egg whites one at a time and then beat in vanilla and rose essence and lychee syrup. The rose essence is bright pink and will stain your fingers so beware. It gives the cake a nice floral aroma and a beautiful pink color.

3. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients in thirds, alternating with the milk, mixing well and scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl after each addition. (The addition of the flour mixture and milk will go as follows: 1/3 of the flour mixture followed by 1/2 of the milk, another 1/3 flour mixture followed by the remaining milk, and then the final 1/3 of the flour mixture.)

4. Pour the batter into the greased cake pans evenly. Tap the pans to release any air bubbles.

5. Bake at 350 F. for 18- 22 minutes. (Don't forget to toothpick check your cakes) Cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack.

Lychee Cream Filling

• 1/2 pint fresh whipping cream
• 1 tsp. Vanilla extract
• 1/4 C. chopped Lychees (  from the can )
• 5 Tbsp. Lychee syrup 

1. Separate the lychees from the syrup by straining. Keep the syrup in a separate bowl. Chop the lychees and set the side. A rough chop is ok or you can puree in a blender.

2. In a medium bowl whip the fresh cream, vanilla and lychee syrup. Best if you're using an electric mixer. Whip until fluffy ( like whipped cream duh)

3. Gently fold the chopped lychees into the cream and then refrigerate.

* When your ready to assemble the cake you will sandwich the cream in between the cake layers.

Easy Vanilla Frosting

• 1 C. softened butter
• 1 1/2 C.  Fine Powdered Sugar
• 1 Tsp. Vanilla

1. In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, mix together the butter and sugar.  Begin mixing on low speed until crumbly, and then increase to high and beat for 3 minutes. Then add Vanilla and beat again for another minute.

Assembling the Cake

My cake frosting skills still need improvement. The one thing I've learned though is to crumb coat your cake. That means doing a light coat of frosting on the cake then refrigerating overnight and finish frosting the next day. This gives your frosting time to set which will make it easier later. Ever try frosting a cake but the cake crumbs smear into it? Annoying. This prevents that.

1. Once the cakes have cooled . Place one layer of cake down. Top with the lychee cream filling. I put a giant heap. Go on, go crazy with it. Spread with a spatula. Then place second layer on top.

2. Crumb coat the stacked cakes with a light layer of frosting. Then place in the fridge.

3.  The next day or several hours later...finish frosting with leftover frosting. ( assuming you refrigerated the frosting..take it out ahead of time to allow it time to softened. Smearing cold frosting is darn near impossible)

4. Once the cake is frosted. Decorate to your liking! I added some of the canned lychees on top for a pretty but simple design.

 * I only made 1-6 inch cake so I halved this recipe for the cake. That's why my cake is not THAT tall.

The cake was rather tasty. It had the sweet lychee flavor combined with the rose which made it springy and floral. It made it a nice pink color too (always a plus!)

 

Ube Muffins

I am obsessed with Ube. Maybe more than pumpkin flavored things..maybe equal..I'm not sure. Ube is a sweet purple yam. It is NOT the same thing as Taro as many people believe.You can read all about the healthy Ube facts here. But what you really need to know is it's delicious. No it's Ube-licious!

Anytime I go to the Asian store I stock up on all things Ube. Ube powder, jam, ice cream. Still haven't found ube extract but when i do i will stock up on that too. You will need a jar of ube jam for this recipe. You won't use the whole thing but that's ok, ube jam is yummy. Spread it on toast or make ube pop tarts (note to self. make ube pop tarts) the options are endless.

Ube Muffins

• 1¾ C. of Flour 
• ½ C.  of sugar
•  1 Tbsp baking powder 
• ½ Tsp. salt 
• 2/3 C. milk 
• 1/3 C. butter, melted 
• 2 Tbsp. honey  
• 2 Eggs 
• 2 Calamansis (the juice) 
• 1 C. Ube jam

1. Mix all the dry ingredients.

2. In a separate bowl lightly beat eggs. Add milk, butter, honey and Calamansi juice. 

3.Pour wet ingredients into dry, then gently fold in Ube jam. (Do not over mix ube into batter. You will want chunks of Ube in the muffin)

4. Pour into greased muffin pan. Bake at 375 F for 20 mins. (Or until toothpick comes out clean)

* This recipe will work great with any fruit jam 

The result is a yummy muffin with gooey pieces of Ube floating in it. Not too sweet and the Calamansi juice  adds a bit of citrus flavor. Actually next time I make these I'd add more calamansi. Definitely better than your average blueberry muffin.

Calamansi Tartlets

Calamansi is a filipino lime, a.k.a Calamondin. Last year I got a new Calamansi tree and a few weeks ago it was overflowing with fruits. ( I don't have a green thumb really but having a Calamansi tree is almost effortless as long as you water it!) The fruits are super sour, range from orange to yellow/green color, and are small. Smaller than kumquats even! So anyways I had a ton of Calamansis to use and racked my brain on what I could make. Then I remembered I had these mini pie shells I bought from World Market and it hit me... Key Lime  Calamansi Tartlets! Now Key Lime Pie is pretty good. I live in Florida so it's almost mandatory that I like them, but Calamansi is better. Yeah I said it.

 Calamansi Tartlets

• 1 package of mini tart shells.
• 1 14oz. can Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 4 Egg yolks
• 1/2 C. Calamansi Juice
• 2 Tbsp. Powdered Sugar
•  Zest from a Lime 

1.  Preheat Oven to 375 F.
 

2. In a large bowl whisk egg yolks. Add Sweetened condensed milk, Calamansi juice, sugar and lime zest. I tried zesting a Calamansi but those suckers are so small it was nearly impossible. I had a lime on hand so I used that instead. Whisk all ingredients together.

3. Pour batter into pie shells. I used Clearbrook Farms Sweet Tart Shells. Found here. But any mini pie shell will do. Fill to the top. Bake  for 10 mins or until custard has set. Watch carefully if you cook too long the custard will crack. Some of mine cracked but it still taste good! When finished let it cool completely. 
(If you want you can top with whipped cream but I left it off because less is more!)

* If you have leftover batter just pour into a ramekin and bake. Then you have a crustless Calamansi custard!