Pandesal using the bread maker

Pandesal is a breakfast favourite, eaten by itself or with a bit of cheese or butter, it's simply divine. I remember when I was still a very young girl living with my grandparents in the province of Apalit, Pampanga, my grandpa and I used to wake up at 4 in the morning so that we were one of the first if not the first to get pandesal from the store where it's being delivered. And yes, they will still be very hot then and the store smells of freshly baked bread. We get 2 pesos worth, and that will be 20 pieces of pandesal then, and the sizes of the pandesal is about 5 or 6 inches long. Yup, they were only 10 centavos a piece during that time. And no, that wasn't in the 60's ... it was in the 70's. I'm not that old. Last time we went back to the Philippines (1997), I used to send my hubby to the nearest bakery and asked him to buy pandesal. That time, not only they're 1 peso a piece, they're only 2 inches long and mostly air inside. Oh bring back the 70's ... LOL. Now with the help of a bread maker, I can make my very own pandesal. I have tried so many recipes, and this is the one I prefer the most.

Ingredients:

2 cups lukewarm water
½ cup shortening or cooking oil
1 ½ fine salt
½ cup white sugar
6 cups plain flour
3 tsp dry yeast
2 eggs (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 220 C. Reduce to 190 C (180 C fan forced oven) when you put in Pandesal.

1. Place ingredients in baking pan in order listed or according to your manufacturer’s machine. Insert baking pan and close lid.
2. Program your machine to dough cycle. Press START
3. When the cycle stops, I usually leave the dough in the bread maker for another hour or so until the dough doubles in size. Sometimes, if I forget, it’s almost coming out of the bread maker. Alternatively, remove the dough from your bread maker and put it in a much bigger bowl (lightly greased) cover it with cling wrap and leave in a warm place to rise until it doubles in size.
4. Remove the dough from the bread maker, punch out the air then roll out on a floured board, into a 1 ½ diameter strips.
5. Cover with bread crumbs. Let rise for another 15 minutes
6. Cut into 1 ½ inch pieces, roll them into some more bread crumbs.
7. Arrange on a slightly greased baking sheet, cut side up.
8. Sprinkle with more bread crumbs. Let rise for another 30 minutes or until it doubles again in bulk.
9. Bake in a pre-heated oven.
10. Bake until slightly brown, about 15 – 20 minutes.
    

Mamon

Thanks to the original poster of this recipe, Virgina Rodriguez. I found her recipe quite a while back, and tried it and found the taste so close to the mamon I remembered. I just tweaked her recipe a little bit by adding a few drops of orange extract and lessening the amount of sugar.

Ingredients

6 eggs (separate yolk from white)
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
¾ cup white sugar
1 cup cake flour (replace 2 tablespoons of plain flour with 2 tablespoons of corn flour/starch if you haven’t got cake flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
Few drops of orange or lemon extract (optional)
1/2 cup vegetable oil


Spray mamon moulds (you can use regular muffin pans if you don't have moulds)


Preparation

1. Sift cake flour and baking powder in a bowl and set aside
2. In a separate large bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until very foamy like meringue but not stiff
3. Add sugar gradually and continue beating
4. Add vanilla, orange extract (if using) and vegetable oil
5. Add egg yolks one at a time and continue beating
6. Using a spatula, fold the cake flour and baking powder and continue mixing
7. Spray moulds or line muffin pans with paper cups and pour mixture about 2/3 full
8. Bake in a preheated 180 degree C (350 F) oven for approximately 12-15 minutes or until golden brown (160 C for fan forced oven)
   

Banana Muffins

These muffins are very easy to make. Enjoy them with a cuppa. A great way to use up those very soft bananas you have lying around your breakfast table.

Ingredients:

125 g butter or margarine
1 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 eggs
2 cups self raising flour
¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (approximately 2 large bananas)
1/3 cup natural yoghurt (I used 1 small tub of whatever yoghurt I have. The recipe is very forgiving)
1 cup chopped nuts (pecan, walnuts, hazelnuts or combinations)
1 cup sultanas (I also tried 1 cup of chopped prunes)

Directions:

1. Cream butter and sugar until soft and fluffy.
2. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition
3. Add flour alternately with the combined mashed banana and yoghurt.
4. Stir through Nuts and Sultanas, mix thoroughly.
5. Pour in the prepared muffin pans (spray your muffin pans or line them with paper cups)
6. Bake in a moderate oven, 180 C or 160 C for fan forced oven, for 12 – 15 minutes

Pandan Chiffon Cake

This is a very light and fluffy cake. You will enjoy it as is .. or if you want a fix of cream, you can use the ready to squirt cream. Or whisk some double cream and serve it with perhaps strawberries or raspberries. Sky is the limit. I just enjoy it by itself. Once you have a slice, you can't stop.

Ingredients:

1 cup cake flour (I used sponge cake flour)
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
8 egg yolks
300 ml coconut milk/cream
1 tsp pandan extract
¾ cup caster sugar
9 egg whites
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 tsp cream of tartar

Directions:

Pre heat the oven to 160 C or 350 F

Preparation for the Batter

1. Pour the coconut milk into a saucepan and add the caster sugar. Bring to a boil, stirring slowly to dissolve the sugar. Set aside to cool.



2. Sieve the cake flour, baking powder and salt.



3. In a bowl, combine the egg yolks, coconut mixture, pandan essence and drops of food colouring. Use food colouring so that your cake is green, which is the colour of pandan. But if you don’t use colouring, the taste of pandan is still there.



4. Whisk lightly, and then add the flour to the egg yolk mixture. Mix until the batter is smooth. Set aside.



5. Whisk the egg whites lightly and add in the cream of tartar and the caster sugar. Continue to whisk until the mixture is stiff. Do not overbeat or allow the mixture to become dry. Set aside.

Baking the Cake

1. Gently fold half of the beaten egg whites into the egg yolk mixture and blend well.



2. Fold in the remaining egg whites and work very lightly with a spatula. Make sure the mixture is well mixed.



3. Place the finished mixture in an ungreased 10 inch chiffon cake/tube mould. Level and bake in the oven until golden brown (about 45 minutes)



4. Remove the cake from the oven and invert the mould. I usually invert it onto a bottle with a long neck/handle. Allow it to cool completely. Do not remove the mould while the cake is still hot.



5. When it has cooled, use a long, fine palette knife to loosen the sides of the cake to remove it from the tin.
   

Penne pasta with Seafood

This is another favourite in our house. When pasta is cooked like this, then I love it. I love it even more if it is spicy. But of course, you don't need to put the chili if you don't like it spicy. There's no set rules in cooking any food. You cook it the way you want it. Or at least, that's always been the rule I live by. After all, it's me who is cooking it, and eating it.

Ingredients:

500 grams of Pasta Penne (cook as per direction in the packaging)
3 tablespoon of olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
1 medium onion, chopped finely

2 - 3 medium tomatoes, chopped
200 grams of prawns (frozen is quite ok)
200 grams of scallops (again, frozen is ok)
Salt
Pepper
Chili flakes (to taste)

Directions:

Sauté the garlic in the olive oil until fragrant
Add the minced onions; keep stirring until it’s translucent.

Add the tomatoes, stir until cooked.
Add the prawns and scallops. Stir for a minute. Do not overcook the seafood as they will turn rubbery if they are overcooked.
Season with salt and pepper.
Add chili flakes if you like a bit of spice, or more if you like it spicier.
Mix the pasta, and mix well.

Brownies (Microwaved)

Brownies come in a variety of forms. They are either fudgy or cakey, depending on their density. They may include nuts, icing, cream cheese, chocolate chips, or other ingredients. Brownies are typically accompanied by either milk or coffee. In our house, it doesn't matter whether they are fudgy or cakey, they will be gone in a jiffy. Sometimes we just eat it as is, especially if they just came out of the oven, sometimes, we serve it with whipped cream or sometimes, just dust with icing sugar. One thing is definite, whatever we put on top, it will be eaten, because it's one of our favourites. This recipe is a very simple one and a quick one too. If you need a quick fix of chocolate, this is for you. Enjoy ...

Ingredients:

METRIC/IMPERIAL

75 g/3 oz plain chocolate, broken
100 g/4 oz butter
2 eggs
225 g/8 oz sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
100 g/4 oz plain flour, sifted
100 g/4 oz mixed nuts, chopped

AMERICAN

3 squares semi-sweet chocolate, broken
½ cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
1 cup chopped mixed nuts

Directions:

Line a 20 cm/8 inch square box or dish with plastic cling film. I used a rectangular pyrex dish.

Put the chocolate and butter in a bowl and Microwave on high for 1 ½ minutes until the chocolate is melted.

In another bowl, beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla essence (extract) together until thick and creamy. Fold in the flour and chocolate mixture in alternate spoonfuls. Fold in the nuts.

Turn the mixture into the lined box and spread smoothly. Microwave on high for 5 – 6 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean; give the dish a quarter turn every 1 minute during cooking.

Leave in the box or dish until cold, then turn out and cut into squares.

MAKES 16 TO 20 BROWNIES

Peach Kuchen

This is a very refreshing cake. Considering the amount of sugar I used in this recipe, surprisingly, it's not very sweet. It's best to eat when it's been in the fridge for 2 hours or so. Of course, that's not a rule, if you want to eat it as soon as you finished decorating it, go for it. Alternatively, you can use mangoes when they are in season. That's also very very delicious. It will be called mango cake then, right? Left, my sons will tell me. Hope you enjoy this as much as we enjoy it. Cheers!

Ingredients

10 egg whites
1 cup caster sugar
10 egg yolks
¼ cup water
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup caster sugar
2 cup sifted self raising flour

Directions:

Preheat oven to 180 C/350 F. Spray a square or round pan.
Beat egg whites until foamy.
Gradually add 1 cup of sugar, continue beating until very stiff but not dry. Set aside.
Beat egg yolks with water and vanilla until creamy.
Gradually add the other cup of sugar, beating well until thick and lemon coloured.
Fold half of the egg whites into the egg yolks. Mix well.
Then, fold the egg yolks mixture alternately with flour into egg whites.
Pour in the prepared baking pan and bake for 20 -25 minutes or until done.
Cool. Ice and decorate.

To decorate.

Beat/whip some double cream (I use 400 ml) until thick and spreadable. Or you can buy the ready mix stuff.
Split the cake in the middle. Make the cut even as much as possible.
Spread the whipped cream on the bottom cut layer. Arrange the slices of peaches.
Place the other half of cake on top and spread the remaining whipped cream. Sometimes I also spread whipped cream on the bottom side of the top cake before I lay it on top so that the peaches are sandwich with whipped cream.
Garnish with the rest of the peaches. Chill and serve.