Needham aka Potato Candy

Lobster and Needham candy, savory and sweet, foods well renowned in Maine. My mother bought me a Needham candy to go along with the lobster (as pictured below). Can you believe this candy is actually made out of potato?!

   

Filled with coconut flakes and drenched in chocolate, this was sure going to be a must-try and dessert after filling my stomach with two fresh, whole lobsters into my stomach individually during lunch at Docks Seafood in Portland, Maine, until I ate too much and couldn't finish the potato fries that came along with the meal and the Needham candy, so I packed them all into a to-go box saved for the long road trip to Boston, MA and when I got hungry I remembered the Needham candy and...

all along it was thrown away by my father at the restaurant because he thought the to-go box had nothing in it. Surprise!

Not. 

So, the picture where I'm holding that Needham candy is looks only... I never got to try it. So sad! And now I'm all the way back in California and 3,145 miles away from Needham candy and thus my only hope was to make it myself and hopefully gain an understanding of what that delicious sweet was all about.

   

Here's my attempt at emulating the distinctive Maine taste. 

In the end, I really enjoyed the sugary chocolate meets coconut taste. Despite the fact that potato is added, the powdered sugar takes away all the potato flavor, so the Needham basically tastes like a really sweet chocolate plus coconut brownie. Such a lovely taste of Maine!

Soufflé Pancakes

I miss eating Apple Brandy soufflé pancakes at Bette's Oceanview Diner in Berkeley, CA. How I miss the light, fluffy, eggy, soft, sweet but not too sweet, fat but not too fat, basically not your typical IHOP pancake... the soufflé pancake. This is MY breakfast on a Thursday morning. Oh I'm fancy huh? 

Ingredients: 

3 eggs, separated

• ½ cup soy milk

• 2 1/2 tbsp butter, melted

• ¼ cup all-purpose flour

• ½ tsp sugar

• ¼ tsp salt
• Fruit for decorating

How to Make:

1. Beat egg yolks, soy milk, melted butter, all-purpose flour, sugar, and salt.

2. In an electric mixer, beat egg whites until soft peaks form.

3. Fold in the egg whites into the batter mixture.

4. Spread oil onto a cast iron skillet. Turn to medium heat.

5. Pour batter into cast iron skillet and heat for 5 minutes, up to the point where the bottom of the batter has solidified and cooked firm. 

6. Place into broiler on low heat and cook for 4 minutes or until light brown.

7. Serve with a dust of powdered sugar, honey, and slice of apple! 

My end result: the pancake wasn't as puffy as that of Bette's, most likely because I didn't add any fruit to the batter and/ or maybe because of the soy milk I used? I have yet to try this again... on a Sunday Thursday morning sumptuous brunch.

Zinfandel Grape Juice

For non-alcoholics only. 

I don't know about you, but I absolutely abstain from buying bottled juice such as Welch's. I just like everything fresh and made from scratch. I prefer to drink juice that I know does not require preservatives to remain fresh. Hence, I blended some Zinfandel (or I think they are, or maybe Merlot or some other cousin... they all look alike!) grapes which are meant for wine, but hey, I haven't gotten interested in wine tasting just yet, and secondly, I want to stay sober for morning breakfast.

Anyhow, here's what I did. I blended on high setting a plate full of grapes. You're probably thinking, there are a bunch of grape seeds and skins blended all together! I purposely kept the seeds and skins because of the high antioxidant content, and I personally believe it's a better choice than grape seed extract. Although the juice had a fair level of crunchy bits of seeds, it was actually quite tolerable when chilled with ice and paired with a snack. Well, cheers to a good morning!

Mini Hubbard Squash [Pumpkin] Pies

Same recipe as the Fresh Hubbard Squash Pie, but I decided to make miniature pies because they are easier to serve (I don't have to eyeball the size of the pie slice while serving, or who gets the bigger piece... equality for the win!) Oh yeah, I decided to eliminate the 1/4 tsp of ginger... too spicy for my liking, and I baked for 25 minutes. Anyways, pie says, "Mini me!"

Fresh Hubbard Squash [Pumpkin] Pie

My auntie gave me a huge 10-pound squash that she grew in her backyard, and I was like, how should I consume 10 pounds of squash?! I didn't even know the name of this squash (I thought it was just a bizarre-looking giant pumpkin from another planet), and I didn't know how to look up recipes because I couldn't even get the name right. After doing some research, I came to the conclusion that it is similar to a hubbard squash; I might have been wrong, but the squash needed to be eaten soon. Since, it's October and pumpkin season, might as well try to make a "pumpkin" pie out of it. The unnamed squash finally got its name.

Ingredients for the Pie Crust:

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, sliced

1/2 cup ice cold water

How to Make Pie Crust:

1. In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt. You can do this by hand.

2. Add butter.

3. Add ice cold water.

4. Mold together into a ball.

5. Put the dough in the refrigerator (or freezer).

Ingredients for the Pie Filling:

1 3/4 cup hubbard squash

1 cup brown sugar

1 tbsp cornstarch

1 egg

1 cup evaporated milk

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ginger

How to Make Pie Filling:

1. Slice a hubbard squash in half.

 2. Place half a hubbard squash onto a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Bake for 1 hour.

3. Let the squash cool completely before processing in a blender.

4. Then, pour the squash puree into a strainer over a bowl. Cover and let drip in refrigerator overnight.  

5. Combine 1 3/4 cup hubbard squash and the rest of the pie filling ingredients in a mixer.

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6. Take out the dough and roll it out on a floured surface. Use your pie pan as a stencil to cut out the dough. Mold the dough into the pie pan.

7. Pour the pie filling into the pie crust.

8. Bake in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for 50 minutes.

Cold-Brewed Iced Coffee

I had a two-pound bag full of San Francisco Bay French Roast grounded coffee beans. I wanted to get rid of it after drinking the same hot coffee with milk over and over again. After reading this post, http://www.putaringonannie.com/2013/08/cold-brew-iced-coffee.html#more, I knew just how to get rid of the coffee. Yes. Cold brew is my new obsession. It tastes way better, since it is less acidic and more sweet than hot brew (in which the hot water causes a chemical reaction in the process that makes the coffee more bitter). And the steps are really easy to follow:

Ingredients

1 cup grounded coffee beans

2 cups cold water

How to Make

1. In a lid container, pour the 1 cup grounded coffee beans and 2 cups cold water. Stick it in the fridge and let soak overnight.

2. Place a coffee filter over a sieve. Pour the grounded coffee beans + cold water mixture through the sieve into another container.

3. Let drip. (This takes a while, so be patient!)

4. Serve with ice, milk, etc.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Double the chocolate! Easy to make!

Ingredients for the Cupcakes

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp baking soda

6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1/8 tsp salt

4 1/2 tsp butter, softened

3/4 cup white sugar

1 egg

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk

How to Make the Cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Mix butter and sugar.

3. Add vanilla and egg.

4. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, unsweetened cocoa powder, and salt into the batter and mix until incorporated.

5. Bake for 15 minutes in a prepared or lined muffin pan. Let cool completely before decorating.

Ingredients for the Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tbsp butter, softened

1/2 (4-oz.) cream cheese

2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 tbsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp milk

How to Make the Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

1. Beat the cream cheese in an electric mixer.

2. Add the unsweetened cocoa powder and butter.

3. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk.