Mini Banana Bread Loaves

Once again my husband bought bananas, ate only 1, and left the rest to ripen beyond the point of wanting to touch them! Nobody at my house wants to eat the blackened, mushy bananas. These poor bananas needed a home badly and was calling my name. Long before my pastry training, I already started making banana bread and knew this recipe will be perfect for super ripe bananas. It always comes out soft, moist and full of flavour!

Review: Truffles Cafe in VanDusen, Vancouver

I've been to many dessert places in Vancouver and in the Lower Mainland but have never even thought of writing a review regardless of all the comments in my mind I'd like to share about the products! Even today, only while I was there did I even realize I should've brought my dslr! Unfortunately for my first review, I don't have any pictures of the atmosphere, so please bear with me! I did take many pictures of the food.

One of my girlfriends had asked me to head down to VanDusen for afternoon tea. She is a great food adventurer and always invites me to try different places. She had heard of this cafe that serves tea for only $28 dollars for 2. This was great news to us. We've never heard of such a great deal in Vancouver.

Asian Chiffon Cake

I've been baking more and more during my free time. My husband continues to tell everyone I'm baking and has gotten several people particularly interested in this particular cake!

This is a typical item sold in many asian bakeries, usually wrapped in parchment paper. It is super soft, airy and eggy! It is one of my favourite items and doesn't require many ingredients.

Sausage Rolls

It was raining all day in Vancouver. As usual, I didn't want to go out and had nothing much to do at home than to bake! Found some ground beef and puff pastry that's been sitting in the freezer with no particular use and decided to make these sausage rolls.

These sausage rolls are really versatile! I've made them for dinner, finger food for guests and even for afternoon tea. These rolls can be made in advance, kept in the freezer and when needed, cut, and place them right in the oven.

Sausage Rolls (makes approximately 3 rolls)
300g Ground beef
100g Water
80g Egg
80g Bread crumbs
Dash of Worcestershire sauce

1/2 tsp Paprika
1/2 tsp Cumin
1/2 tsp Black pepper
1/2 garlic powder
5g Salt

1. Take puff pastry from the freezer to thaw
2. Mix all of the above ingredients together in a mixer until thoroughly mixed.
3. Place the mix into a piping bag with no piping tip. Ensure the end has a large hole (approximately 1in diameter)
4. Unroll the puff pastry and cut in half. The one I've used is 10in x 10in

5. Pipe meat onto the centre of each half
6. Egg wash one side
7. Starting from the Non egg washed side, wrap the puff pastry around the meat. Ensure dough overlaps by 1/2" to properly close the filling
8. Place in freezer
9. When needed, remove from freezer, cut into desired width (I cut them into 1in thickness). If it's too hard to cut, let thaw at room temp till it's soft enough to cut, approximately 30 minutes.
10. Egg wash ONE side
11. Bake at 350F for approximately 40 minutes

Although this recipe makes 3 rolls, I typically only make 2 rolls and leave the rest of the meat for mini patties for mini burgers! I don't particularly like to thaw out an extra sheet of puff pastry and only using half and 2 rolls is perfectly enough for my husband and I.

This is how the puff pastry I bought looks like:

Easy Chocolate Jelly Roll with Buttercream

I made these during my afternoon tea party at home with some girlfriends. Its super easy to make using only 4 ingredients.

Chocolate Jelly Roll

112g Whole Egg

66g Granulated Sugar

34g Pastry Flour

15g Cocoa Powder

Warm eggs and sugar over bain marie to 45C 

Whip mixture to ribbon stage

Sift pastry flour and cocoa powder and fold into Whipped mixture (just till combined)

Line a 1/4 sheet pan with parchment and spread the mixture with an offset spatula. Bake at 450F for approx 7minutes

Let cool

Spread a thin layer of Buttercream or Whipped Cream on top and roll up!

Here is a picture of all the goodies from my afternoon tea party

Berry compote in 10 minutes

This is a super easy to make berry compote. I had berries leftover last month that I threw in the fridge and decided to utilize them as a compote for a cheesecake I will later make.

Berry Compote
1 lb of any berries (I used strawberry and blueberries)
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 of 1 lemon, squeezed
1/2 tbsp of corn starch (mixed with 1/2tbsp of water)

Thaw the berries in a small pot on low heat till juices run out.

Add sugar and stir. Add lemon juice.

Cook down the berries for about 5 minutes

add cornstarch + water mix and give it a good boil (to rid starchy taste).

cool to room temp and enjoy!

Macarons with Fresh Raspberries and Raspberry Ganache

One of the most difficult products I've ever made are Marcarons. After 6+ attempts they've finally turned out!!

The raspberries were filled with ganache, cut in half, and glued down with more ganache :)

This tasted delicious! The sweetness was contrasted with the tartness of the raspberries which made it much lighter than just ganache.