15.
Day 7: Your Favorite Recipe
Okay everyone, you must know this about me: I am completely useless in the kitchen. I cannot cook to save my life because even turning on the stove scares me. It's an irrational fear that I need to get rid of, but yes I survived 20 years without knowing how to cook proper meals. Yes, I've totally been spoiled because one of my brothers is a chef and my dad is a really good cook. So usually when I'm craving for something I just ask one of them to make some.
I can't really share with any of you a favorite recipe because really, I have none! Cooking skills, zero. The only thing I remember cooking was tanigue pasta back in high school for home economics class and pancakes for my mom on Mother's Day. So instead of sharing with you a favorite recipe, maybe I'll just share with you a potential recipe that I wouldn't mind making. But honestly, if I knew my way around the kitchen I'd probably just bake and make pastries. So yes, this is a baking recipe for Ferrero cupcakes from The Cupcake Project.
Ferrero Rocher Cupcake Recipe.
1/2 c boiling water
6 T unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 c milk
1/2 t vanilla extract
1 T hazelnut extract
1/2 c unsalted butter, softened
10 T dark brown sugar
6 T granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 c all-purpose flour
1/2 + 1/8 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
In a bowl, whisk the boiling water into cocoa until smooth and whisk in milk, vanilla, and hazelnut extracts. In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes, and beat in eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Into another bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and salt and add to egg mixture in batches alternately with cocoa mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture, and beating well after each addition. Fill each wrapper slightly more than 1/2 way. They will rise a lot. Bake in a preheated 350F oven for about 18 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
Note: I have never used that much of an extract in a recipe before. I actually worried that it was a typo and she meant teaspoon. However, it definitely needed that much. In fact, I added another whole tablespoon (1/2 if you are only making 12).
The Gooey Chocolate Hazelnut Filling Recipe
If you have some Nutella around, I think you could easily just fill this with Nutella. I did not have Nutella around and didn't want to go to the store.
1 c heavy cream
1 c semisweet chocolate chips
2 t hazelnut extract
Bring heavy cream to a boil. Pour over chocolate chips to melt them. Add extract. Mix until fluffy. Let cool. Cut a cone in each cupcake and put a teaspoon or two of the ganache in. Replace the cone.
The Chocolate Hazelnut Ganache Recipe
I used the ganache recipe from Sweets Made Here. The only change I made was that rather than putting hazelnuts on top as she did, I mixed 1 Cup of toasted, ground hazelnuts into the ganache before spreading. Also, while I doubled the cake recipe, I did not double the ganache recipe and I still had plenty.
1/2 c heavy cream
8 oz good semi-sweet chocolate chunks
2 T light corn syrup
2 t hazelnut extract
Heat the cream on the stove until it boils. Pour over the chocolate and stir to melt, adding the corn syrup and hazelnut extract.
I do hope I find a man that won't mind my lack of skills in the kitchen. That, or a man who will be patient with me if I end up burning our dinners. Or better yet, I'll just stop being a lazy daisy and just learn how to cook. IN DUE TIME!
Day 8: Picture Of The Last Place You Visited
(Taken by jem_aime)
The Manila South Harbor counts, right? Yesterday we had the privilege to board a replica of a 17th century old Spanish galleon which sailed in last Monday from Spain via Mexico. The Andalucia docked in Manila after a 6-month journey from Spain to celebrate the Día del Galeón to commemorate the galleon trade between the Philippines and the Kingdom of Spain. It was a cool little fieldtrip for us, and a chance to learn about our colonial history. The boarding was short since they were expecting the Spanish ambassador to arrive, and he did right as we were leaving. And yes, we may have stared at his diplomatic car with the little flags for a little too long. Lol. Still, the highlight of the excursion for us girls was being greeted "Good afternoon, Ma'am!" calling cadence style by a group of navy trainees jogging in the area.