Heart-shaped Meringue Cookies

Meringue cookies are absolutely light, delicate, sweet, and delightful. They can be enjoyed plain or with a generous topping of whipped cream, fruit, or anything else you can think of! 
Today was my first attempt at making meringue cookies. As a result, they deliciously melted in my mouth. These sweet treats are so fun to make, but should be baked on a dry, warmer day. They may not turn out so well if it is wet or humid. 
Recipe
 Ingredients:
-2 egg whites
-1/2 cup granulated sugar or superfine sugar
-1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 250 F. 
1. To make superfine sugar, take 1/2 cup granulated sugar and put it in a food processor. Turn on and process for about 45 seconds, until the sugar is very fine. This will help the sugar dissolve more easily in the meringue. 

Sugar in food processor

2. In a large bowl, separate two egg whites from egg yolks.

Separated eggs

3. Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until they become foamy.
4. Add in the cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks are formed. To test this, turn off the electric mixer and lift the whisks/beaters towards the ceiling. The egg whites should look like small mountains, slightly bending down. 

Egg whites with cream of tartar

 5. Slowly add in the sugar. The meringue should start to develop a creamy texture. Beat until stiff peaks form. When the beaters are lifted, the peaks should stick up straight towards the ceiling. Make sure that the sugar has fully dissolved by feeling the meringue to see if it is smooth.

Final mixture of ingredients

6. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.
7. Either drop the meringues onto the baking sheet in round spoonfuls, or to create the heart shapes, place the meringue in a pastry bag, or plastic bag. If using a plastic bag, fold down the edges of the bag and transfer the meringue into the bag. Form a cone-shape with the plastic bag and snip off the tip of the bag.
8. Make heart shapes on the baking sheet, then smooth out the top with a knife, spatula, or the back of a spoon.

Meringue piped onto baking sheet

9. Bake in oven preheated to 250 F!
10. Let cool in slightly opened oven for 25-30 minutes.

Sitting in the oven

11. Eat plain, or top with any topping of you choice. 
Seen in the first picture above, I made a lovely strawberry cream topping by mixing whipped cream with strawberry jam and a tiny amount of vanilla extract. This tastes absolutely wonderful!
Enjoy your happiness in an oven! :)

Final, baked heart-shaped meringues!

**couldn't have made these without the help of the Meringue Hearts Recipe from http://www.joyofbaking.com/Meringuehearts.html

Mochi Donuts and Bread

A relaxing, but chilly Sunday in November... the perfect time for making mochi donuts! I am a huge fan of mochi. The sticky, chewy texture is so unique and delicious.. and it works wonderfully in baked recipes as well! So here is my first attempt at mochi donuts... 
 Ingredients:

-1 cup glutinous sweet rice flour (can be found in Asian supermarkets)
-1 cup all-purpose flour
-3/4 cups of sugar
-1 egg
-3/4 cups of milk
-2 tbsp. baking powder
-oil for frying

Procedure:
1. Mix rice flour, all-purpose flour, sugar, egg, milk, and baking powder.

Mochi donut batter

2. In a small dish, stir together sugar and cinnamon. You will roll your donuts in this!
3. Heat oil so that it sizzles when something is placed in it.
4. Drop the batter in round spoonfuls into the oil. 

5. Fry until the shape is definite and the donuts are golden-brown.

Frying the donuts. Those are my grandma's hands. ;)

6. Drain the donuts on a plate on top of a paper towel.
7. Roll your donuts in cinnamon and sugar.
8. Enjoy! :)

Additionally, I decided to try baking the batter in muffin tins.. So I lined my muffin tin with foil liners, baked at 350F for 25 minutes... and voila! A sweet round bread has formed! But it doesn't taste as good as the donuts... :-)

Baked mochi bread

Enjoy~

Peach Muffins

On a relaxing summer day, I had the pleasure of baking delectable peach muffins which came out as total happiness from the small oven. I baked 31 mini muffins and one large one, in honor of my baby cousin's 2nd birthday. I don't have step by step pictures for this recipe, but it sure turned out great! Now, here's the recipe:
Ingredients:
-2 cups all-purpose flour
-1 cup sugar
-1 tsp baking powder
-2 tsp ground cinnamon
-1/2 tsp salt
-3 regular eggs
-3 tablespoons of butter, melted
-1 cup sour cream
-1 tablespoon vanilla extract
-1 peach chopped into small pieces


Procedure:
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl.
Use another bowl to mix eggs, butter, sour cream, and vanilla. Add in the peaches and fold them in.
Add the wet mix to the dry mix. Stir together until blended. Do not overmix.
Scoop muffin batter into non-stick muffin pan, just enough to fill each cup. Sprinkle with brown sugar.
If baking mini muffins, bake 20 minutes. If baking large muffins, bake for 30 minutes. 
Let cool for 5 minutes.
Ready to eat!

Miniature peach muffins!

Brown sugar, flour, and butter topping.

Pumpkin Pie

I don't have any recipes or whatever to share today, but for dessert I had the joy of enjoying a nice slice of toasted pumpkin pie with generous amounts of whipped cream. And of course, now I'm inspired to bake pumpkin pie. While I'm not exactly professional enough to think up my own recipe, I definitely WILL try to bake a delicious pie some day. I found a pretty nice recipe for pumpkin pie here: Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie. :) This isn't exactly the most meaningful post today, but I sadly have no recipes or baking experiments to share.
But.. upcoming.. I'll be making peach muffins with streusel topping. That'll sure be a generous serving of happiness. :)

Baked Curry Triangles

Here's a homemade recipe that I've grown up loving in the comfort of my home: baked curry triangles. My mom would bake these delicious goods for the family, and we'd enjoy them with happiness. :)
Ingredients:
-curry powder
-puff pastry squares
-1/4 of an onion(chopped)
-one egg
-1/2 to 1 pound of ground beef





Procedure:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Sautee ground beef and chopped onions together. Add curry powder to taste.

Divide about 5 pastry squares into halves(triangles).

Fold each triangle into another half, pressing the edges together, leaving an opening to fill with the curry meat. 

Fill the pastry with the meat and press the edges closed. 

Beat one egg. Coat each meat-filled triangle with egg using a brush. 

Bake until golden-brown. 

Enjoy your curry triangles!
Delicious happiness in an oven. :)

Welcome to Tastefulness!

Here begins the start of a food blog, mostly focused on baking, but may also refer to ANYTHING that's FOOD. I will be posting recipes, food that I've tasted, and such. Welcome to tastefulness and have a delicious day. :)