Do you like chestnuts? I LOVE chestnuts! I think the best way to enjoy these seasonal treasures is to roast them over an open fire and eat them one at a time. You can also eat them with some sticky white rice, top your salads with some chopped chestnuts, or find a way to incorporate them with anything else that you like to eat.

In Korea I used to see fresh chestnuts in the market whenever it started to get cold outside. However, for some reason, it’s been very hard to find chestnuts in my local grocery stores in California. I’ve looked every year since I moved to the States but I couldn’t find any chestnuts. I guess 2008 was finally my lucky year because I finally found chestnuts when I was in Trader Joe’s and then again at Albertson’s (a grocery store chain).

I’ve been enjoying the chestnuts that I found by roasting them over an open fire as well as in the oven. I also decided to make some chestnut cupcakes with my favorite chiffon cake and a little chestnut spread icing from scratch! I could have used canned chestnut spread or puree, but 1. it was a little pricey and 2. I wanted to try to make it from scratch. So, let’s get started making some chestnut spread icing and vanilla chiffon cupcakes!

INGREDIENTS & EQUIPMENTS

Equipments

Mixer (Hand or Stand)
Food processor or Blender
Your favorite holiday cupcake baking cups

Ingredients – Makes 18 cupcakes

For the Vanilla Chiffon Cupcakes

3 egg yolks
1/4 cup and 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar A (see above picture)
1/4 cup and 2 teaspoons water
1/4 cup and 2 teaspoons olive oil
1 3/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup chopped, cooked chestnuts (optional)
5 egg whites
1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons sugar B (see above picture)

For the Chestnut Spread

1 pound whole chestnuts
1 cup sugar

For the Chestnut Spread Icing

1 cup chestnut spread
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon brandy or rum

HOW TO MAKE

Making the Chestnut Spread

1. Soak whole chestnuts in hot water for 30 minutes.
2. Peel the outer skin with a knife.
3. Soak them in hot water again for 15 minutes.
4. Use a scraping motion to peel the inner skin with a knife. Don’t worry about getting every little piece of the inner skin right now; we’ll do that later.

5. Soak the 90% peeled chestnuts in cold water for 15 minutes. Drain the water and then fill again until the water covers all of the chestnuts.
6. Bring the water to a boil and continue to boil the chestnuts for 5 minutes before draining again.
7. Peel the leftover skin from the chestnuts by hand or however you see fit – the skin should come off very easily.
8. Once again, fill the water up to where it covers all of the chestnuts and boil them on medium heat.

9. As you boil the chestnuts, the water level will go down as the water begins to evaporate. When the water level reaches the halfway mark on any of the chestnuts, add the cup of sugar to the chestnuts and reduce the heat to medium low. When the water only covers a third of any chestnut, they should all be ready for the next step.
10-12. Pour everything (the liquid and chestnuts) into a food processor or blender. Blend it all until you get a mushy consistency, you can strain the puree afterwards for a smoother spread. (Photo 11: Before puree & Photo 12: After puree) Store in a container and cool completely before use.

Making Vanilla Chiffon Cupcakes

Before you start

1. Preheat the oven to 300 F
2. Separate egg yolks and whites.
3. Sift cake flour and baking powder together.

Making egg yolk base

1-2. Whip the egg yolks for 30 seconds.
3. Add sugar A and mix well until everything reaches a pale yellow color.
4. Add water and continue mixing.

5. Add olive oil and continue mixing.
6. Add vanilla extract and continue mixing.
7. Add flour and baking powder mixture while mixing at a low speed just until you no longer see the flour.
8. Fold the optional chopped chestnuts into the cake batter with a spatula.

Making meringue

9-10. Whip egg whites for 1 minute at a high speed in separate container and then add half of sugar B while continuing to whip.
11-12. Add the rest of sugar B and continue to whip until you reach a medium peak.

Folding & Scooping

13-14. Add half of the meringue to the egg yolk mixture and gently fold with a whisk.
15. Scoop the mixture into your baking cups. An ice cream scoop usually provides the perfect amount for each baking cup!
16. Stir each cupcake once with some type of stick to let air escape from the mixture and then bake the cupcakes for approximately 25 minutes.

17. Leave the cupcakes in the baking pan for 5 minutes before taking them out to cool.
18. I placed half of my cupcakes upside down as soon as I took them out of the oven. This is something that you would need to do if you were baking a full sized chiffon cake to keep it from sinking. The half that weren’t upside down did not sink so you can cool your chiffon cupcakes right-side-up.

Making Chestnut Spread Icing

1. Whip the heavy cream at a medium speed for 1 minute. Then, add chestnut spread.
2. Beat until they are well blended.
3. Add your favorite brandy or rum and continue beating until it forms stiff peaks or it reaches a thickness to pipe.
4. Here is the chestnut spread icing.

Enjoy the vanilla chiffon cupcake with the chestnut spread icing!

ALEXA’S TIPS

1. Make sure that you cool the chestnut spread completely before you whip it with the heavy cream. If the chestnut spread is warm, the icing will be runny. I recommend that you put the spread in a refrigerator until it gets cold.
2. When you beat the chestnut spread with the heavy cream, make sure that you DO NOT over whip! If you whip the icing for too long, the fat will become chunky and the fluids from the heavy cream will start to separate.
3. While folding the meringue (in steps 13 & 14) into the egg yolk base, remember to scoop the very bottom of the bowl to ensure that the heavy ingredients (flour, sugar, yolk, etc.) mix properly with the meringue.

This is for Santa!

I wish you Merry Christmas…

TASTE REVIEW

I always love chiffon cakes because they’re surprisingly so moist and fluffy. Making cupcakes with this vanilla chiffon recipe was great, they were just like mini-chiffon cakes. Since I love chestnuts, I especially enjoyed adding the chestnut bits into the actual cupcakes.

I don’t really like making things super sweet, which is why I enjoy baking everything from scratch. This way I have more control over how sweet my desserts taste. Even though the chestnut spread might be sweeter than what I like and cost a little more than making it from scratch – I probably wouldn’t mind buying it in the future because it was very time consuming to make.

Homemade chestnut spread on top of the moist chiffon cupcakes.

Happy Holidays!

I always have dreamed about making (or molding) my own chocolate, but never did because of ‘tempering.’ In order to get a hardened chocolate that is shiny and smooth, ‘tempering’ must be done properly. I never had a candy thermometer, so I didn’t think about molding my own chocolate.

But, I found out that there is a way to mold my own chocolate without tempering. So, I decided to do this for a fun Valentine’s day post! There are products that are already tempered, so all I have to do is melt and mold them! Look for candy melts by Wilton at a craft store like Joann or Michael’s. You can also find different shapes of candy molds at the store. So, here we go.

INGREDIENTS & EQUIPMENTS

Equipments

Candy molds
Pastry bags
Decorating tips (#1 or #2)

Ingredients

Candy Melts – Dark & White
Food Coloring (Get type)
Nuts (If you desire)

HOW TO MAKE

Melting & Coloring Chocolates

1. Place dark candy melts in a double boiler and melt them in a low-medium heat.
2. Place white candy melts in a double boiler and melt them in a low-medium heat.
3. Add desired food coloring in white candy melts(I used rose pedals) and mix well.
4. Put candy melts in pastry bags with tip # 1 or 2 (very small circle shape).

Designing & Molding

5. Draw lines, dots, or letters as you want and put them in a refrigerator for 5 minutes. (So, the design remains as we want when we fill out molds.)

6. Fill out molds with opposite color, so you can see your design well. Drop the mold lightly for a couple of times to get the air out and smooth the surface with a spatula or a back or knife. Put them in a refrigerator about 30 to 60 minutes or until they get hard.

7. Fill out lolly pop mold and place lolly pop sticks by spinning the stick. Put them in a refrigerator about 30 to 60 minutes or until they get hard.

* To take the chocolates out from a mold, flip the mold – upside down and drop it on a parchment or wax paper. They should come out easily by tapping or dropping.

Custom designed chocolates!

ALEXA’S TIPS

1. Give enough time to harden chocolates before you take them out of molds. Otherwise, the surface won’t be shinny as they suppose to be.
2. If you made mistakes while molding or melted chocolate was getting hard, just put them in a double boiler and melt them again. The best part of using ‘candy melts’ is that you don’t have to worry about tempering!

Chocolate Lollipops…Ummmm….=]

TASTE REVIEW

I was so amazed by the taste of ‘candy melts.’ I always hesitated to buy them because I wasn’t sure about their quality, but it was very good. Plus, no tempering process makes it so much easier!
Also, chocolate covered nuts were also fantastic – I love any chocolate covered nuts!!!!

I tossed nuts (macadamia nuts & almond) in leftover candy melts and drizzle with white chocolate.

Happy Valentine’s Day!
It’s always good to bake and make something for my loved ones.

Valentine’s Day is coming soon.
I think one of the best ways to express your love is baking these sugar cookies and decorating them with royal icing. Royal icing is good for decorating cookies with because it has good hardness to it. However, personally, I’m not a big fan of royal icing because I don’t like raw egg whites in my icing. =]

I’m trying to find an alternative icing which is easy to work with and tastes good, but for now, I use royal icing to decorate my sugar cookies. I made my icing by combining meringue powder + lemon juice + powdered sugar until I got the consistency that I needed, which is stiff but soft. So, you’ll need to play with the ratios until you’re happy with the icing.

INGREDIENTS & EQUIPMENT

Equipment

Rolling pin
Cookie cutters
Piping bag & Decorating tips

Ingredients for Sugar Cookie Dough – Makes 3 dozen (2 1/2 inch) cookies

3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon milk
Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough

Ingredients for Royal Icing

1 tablespoon meringue powder
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice, plus extra

HOW TO MAKE

Making Sugar Cookie Dough: Sorry, I forgot to take pictures! =(

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
2. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color.
3. Add egg and milk and beat to combine.
4. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl.
5. Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Rolling & Cutting Dough: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

1. Sprinkle surface (I usually use a wooden cutting board.) with powdered sugar and top of the dough, and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick.
2. Cut into desired shape (Of course, heart for Valentine’s Day) by using cookie cutters.
3. Grease your baking sheet with butter or place parchment paper on a baking sheet, and
place cookies. Bake about 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn light brown around the edges.
4. Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes and then move to a cooling rack.

Decorating Cookies

5. Mix all the ingredients for royal icing by using a small whisk. Then, pipe a outer line with thick royal icing.
6. Then, add more water or lemon juice to royal icing to adjust its consistency and fill out the line.

ALEXA’S TIPS

1. If you are using butter to grease baking sheet, make sure that you really grease it well. There were parts that was not greased well, and cookies got ugly when I tried to take them off.
2. I have found three different royal icing recipes that use water, vanilla extract, and lemon juice. Which one is the best? I think it just depends on your preference!
3. When you decorate cookies, use the smallest tip (usually #1 or #2). This might seem too small, but it is the right size to write letters and draw as you want.

You can either fill out the top of cookies with royal icing, draw lines and heart, or write a note.

TASTE REVIEW

I didn’t like the icing – I think it’s just me, don’t like royal icing.
However, everyone loved these cookies!
My friends loved the lemon taste of icing although I thought there was too much lemon juice in it.

Sprinkling decorating sugar before the icing gets hard gives another look.

Show your love with your homemade cookies!

Happy Valentine’s Day!