Starbucks Semi-Homemade Lemon Loaf

My grandfather was a big fan of baked goods with his morning coffee.  For as long as I can remember, he would spend an hour or so, savoring the sweetness while nursing his coffee.  The routine sometimes carries over into the afternoon with his tea.  Grandpa always had a soft spot for any baked goods with a fruit flavor. Lemon loaves is one of his favorites.

Loaf:
1 box of lemon cake mix
1 box of lemon pudding
1/2 cup of oil
4 large eggs
1 tsp lemon extract
1 cup whole milk
1 Tbsp flour
Zest of lemon, optional

Icing:
2.5 cups powdered sugar
3-4 tsp of lemon juice or milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour 2 loaf pans. Set aside.

Combine all ingredients and mix well for about 4-5 minutes.

Pour into pan and bake for about 40 minutes or when the center is clean after poking with toothpick.  Allow to cool completely before icing it.  Keep the loaf in the pan.

Add the lemon juice or milk to the powder sugar slowly by adding a little at a time and stirring until you see a nice thick and gooey consistency.  You are looking for a blob just runny enough to pour.

Madeleines

I discover that my eldest son loves Madeleine cookies whenever I would buy these beautiful buttery cookies at the Starbucks.  The package comes in 3's and I always end up with one.  The little guy eats them so fast. I decided that I need to learn to bake these so that he can have as many as he likes.

I googled some recipes and this was the recipe that had all the ingredients I had on hand at the time.

Difficulty: Medium

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup flour, sifted
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3 large eggs, room temp
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 375.
Cream your butter, both sugars, vanilla and eggs together.
Add baking powder and salt to flour.
Add 1/3 of flour mixture to wet mixture and fold in well and repeat until gone.


Grease the Madeleine pans with butter well.  Flour each mold and tap out any excess. Spoon batter in to fill only half way.  Bake for 9-11 minutes for the large, 5-7 for the mini ones. Tap out Madeleines and allow to cool complete.

Serve by dusting some powdered sugar.

Chocolate Chip Cookie

This is my variation of the Nestle Toll House cookie recipe from the back of the bag. I have made this variation for years and every kid loves it. It is always a hit at the holiday parties. I love it warm out of the oven with a nice tall glass of cold milk.

Difficulty: Easy

2-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, room temp.
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed coconut brown sugar
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, room temp
1 cups mini chocolate chips
1 cup Heath's toffee chips


Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cream the soften butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla together. Set aside. Mix the remaining dry ingredients together. Toss the chips in and blend well into flour mixture. Add the dry ingredients in two parts, mixing well into the wet ingredients. Place in refrigerator for about 5-10 mins so the mixture will not spread too much in the oven.

Drop tablespoon size batter on cookie sheet and bake for 10 (+/-) 1-2 minutes.  Allow for the cookie to completely cool on baking rack.

Coconut Pandan Waffles

Difficulty: Easy

Growing up, I never had pandan anything.  I was very unfamiliar with pandan and actually thought it was a vanilla leaf.  I tried pandan waffles for the first time in Houston at the grand opening of Lee's Sandwich on Bellaire.  They pour a thin batter on a waffle iron, which produce this thin crispy waffle.  It's texture was very similar to the waffle cones.

If you have access to fresh pandan, use it instead of the paste that is readily available in stores. Just cut up the leaves, blend with some water, pour through sieve, and filter the juice with a coffee filter.  What's left in the coffee filter is the paste.

I came up with this recipe by using different Belgium waffle recipes that I googled online.  I replaced milk with coconut milk and replaced vanilla with pandan.

For the pandan coconut waffles:
2 egg
1 1/2 cup coconut milk
1 tsp pandan paste
1-1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp wheat or corn starch
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1 tsp salt

Beat eggs until fluffy. Add sugar and coconut milk. Combine well. Add the pandan paste. Set aside.
Combine flour, starch, baking powder and salt. Mix well. Combine the dry ingredients with the wet in two portions. Mix well each time to make sure that there is no lumps. Add the coconut flakes. Let the batter rest for 15 minutes.

Heat up your waffle iron. Please refer to your individual owners manuals on how to use it.