"Fluff," AKA Ambrosia Salad

This is something my mother always made for me as a child. It’s super addicting and terrible for you, but it tastes marvelous. Growing up, I always called it “fluff” (not to be confused with the marshmallow stuff you put in fluffernutter sandwiches) but apparently it’s a form of ambrosia salad.

I don’t know the exact measurements of any ingredients, because my mother just eyeballs everything.
You’ll need:

• confectioner’s sugar
• heavy cream
• 1 can crushed pineapple/pineapple tidbits
• mini marshmallows

Whip the heavy cream, adding confectioners sugar slowly until you have a thick, sweetened whipped cream. Add in the mini marshmallows and stir until incorporated. Drain your can of pineapple until it’s no longer wet, and add that in, stirring until everything is mixed well. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (the longer it’s in the fridge, the better it tastes).

Variations on this recipe include adding: maraschino cherries, mandarin oranges, bananas, strawberries, and coconut.
Substitutes for the whipped cream include sour cream and yogurt.

Chicken Teriyaki

My mother was on a trip and I didn’t have a lot of food left in the house. I had just ran out of milk that morning so cereal for every meal until she got back was no longer an option. I did find some frozen chicken breasts in the freezer thankfully, so all I had to do was let them thaw. Originally I was going to bread them and eat them with pasta, but we had pretty much no cheese in the house and I’m one of those people that grates up about half a wedge of cheese when eating pasta. So I made this up with all the other stuff we had lying around.

Chicken Teriyaki

• 3 boneless chicken breasts
• 1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds (optional)
• teriyaki sauce (either store bought or homemade)

for marinade:

• 4 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon oyster sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon honey
• juice and zest of one orange

Combine the soy sauce, brown sugar, oyster sauce, cider vinegar, garlic, honey, orange juice and zest in large ziploc bag and add the chicken. Press out as much air as you can and seal the bag. Let this sit and marinade in the fridge for at least an hour.
After an hour, take chicken out of the fridge and place in skillet over medium heat. Sear until brown, then baste with teriyaki sauce and place in 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes. Flip chicken over, baste that side and cook for another 10 minutes. Serve over white rice with toasted sesame seeds on top.

Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake Bars with Oreo Crust

Cheesecake is probably my favorite dessert, if you can’t tell by how many I make. And chocolate and strawberries is one of the best combinations ever, right? So after making oreo cheesecake bars, combining the two was the only option I could think of. Well maybe not the only option, but it sounded good at the time. If conditions were more favorable, this probably would have come out a lot better. I think I overcooked the crust, but that’s what happens when you’re in a rush, trying to cook things at 1am while your mother is asleep, and you’re whacking Oreos into crumbs with a rolling pin while still trying to not wake the whole neighborhood up. All in all, it still tasted pretty damn good.

Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake Bars with Oreo CrustFor the crust:

• 23 Oreo cookies
• 2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

For the cheesecake (recipe via mykitchensnippets):

• 2 package (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened at room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tbsp flour
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup strawberry jam

For the (optional) strawberry topping:

• about 6 or 7 strawberries, sliced (you may need more or less, depending on the size of your berries)
• 1/3 cup strawberry jam

Preheat oven to 325ºF. Grease and line an 8” x 8” square baking with parchment paper with leaving an overhang on both side (for easy removal of your slices later).
If you have a food processor: place the Oreos in the bowl of your food processor. Process, pulsing, until the cookies are finely ground. Add in the melted butter and pulse until the cookie crumbs are moistened. If you do not have a food processor: place Oreos in large ziploc bag, and beat with a rolling pin until finely ground. Transfer crumbs into a bowl and add in the melted butter, mixing until moist. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking pan. Press the crumbs into an even layer over the bottom of the pan. Bake the crust for 10 minutes, then set aside while you prepare the filling.

Beat cream cheese, sugar, flour and lemon juice in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating on low speed after each addition, just until blended. Pour over crust. Heat up strawberry jam slightly in the microwave. Gently drop jam by small spoonfuls over top of batter. Cut through batter several times with knife for marble effect. Bake 40 min. or until center is set. Cool. Slice strawberries and heat up the additional 1/3 cup jam in the microwave. Layer your strawberries over the cheesecake, then drizzle the warm jam evenly over the berries and top of the cake. Refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight before slicing.

Berry Birthday Cake

I jumped at the chance to make this particular cake, since I had wanted to last year for my birthday, but fruit is never really in season around my birthday, unfortunately.
I originally followed this recipe for the frosting, but it tasted just like butter and nothing else, so that’s when I added the powdered sugar and other extra ingredients. If I made the frosting again, I would use the recipe below. Also, next time I would definitely put a layer of fresh berries (strawberries/blueberries/blackberries/raspberries) in between the layers of the cake. I didn’t have any at the time, so I just decorated the top with the few fresh berries we had on hand. It was delicious, but more strawberries would have definitely added to it.

Berry Birthday Cake  makes a 2 layer 8-inch cake or 24 cupcakes

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons vanilla extract
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup blueberries (if frozen, do not thaw)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour two 8-inch round baking pans and set aside.

In a stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed for 3 to 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula to ensure that everything is well mixed. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition.
In a small bowl whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt.

In a separate small bowl combine the milk and vanilla extract.

With the mixer on low speed, alternate adding the flour mixture and the milk mixture in three batches. Start and end with the flour mixture. When the batter is just combined, shut off the mixture and thoroughly incorporate the dough with a rubber spatula.

Divide the batter between the two pans. Add blueberries to top of each pan. Poke them down into the batter a bit with either your finger or a spoon.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a pale golden color, and a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. For cupcakes bake 25 to 30 minutes.
Let the cakes cool in the pan for 15 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool. Frost and berry only when cakes are completely cool.

Cinnamon Vanilla Whipped Buttercream Frosting

• 2 sticks (1 cup) organic unsalted butter, softened
• 3 1/2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons organic vanilla extract
• 1 Tablespoon heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Cream the butter on medium speed, 3 to 5 minutes, in a stand mixer, or with a hand mixer until soft, adout 30 seconds. Add the sugar a little at a time until completely incorporated. Add the vanilla and heavy cream, then beat on high speed until light and fluffy, 5 to 7 minutes. Stop the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat again.
(adapted from Joy The Baker)

Banana Birthday Cake

For the past few years, I’ve been making my own birthday cakes. Mostly just as a chance to experiment with decorating (like this Pyramid Head Hello Kitty cake for my 15th birthday, a Batman themed cake for my 16th, and a rainbow cake for my 17th), but lately since I’ve been more into the culinary arts than I ever have been in my life, it’s also a way to learn more about how to make certain kinds of cakes. I had a bunch of different options picked out, but then finally got down to this one. I wanted a really big cake for my 18th birthday, but I think I actually made too much cake. Also, dowels would have worked better than lollypop sticks to keep the cake structurally sound, but it was all I had at the time and I didn’t anticipate the cake almost toppling over.

Things to note: I doubled the recipe for both the cake and the frosting, and added cinnamon to the frosting. It gave me four layers! The cake started to tip over so I had to put lollypop sticks through it to hold it up and as you can see, half of it fell over after it was cut. It basically tasted like a cakey banana bread with frosting, but it was very good. Super rich though, I could only eat a couple bites at a time.

Banana Cake

• 1 1/2 cups bananas, mashed, ripe
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 3 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 2 1/8 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 1/2 cups icing sugar

Garnish

• chopped walnuts

Directions:
Prep Time: 15 mins
Total Time: 1 1/4 hr

Preheat oven to 275°.
Grease and flour a 9 x 13 pan.
In a small bowl, mix mashed banana with the lemon juice; set aside.
In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
In a large bowl, cream 3/4 cup butter and 2 1/8 cups sugar until light and fluffy.
Beat in eggs, one at a time, then stir in 2 tsp vanilla.
Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk.
Stir in banana mixture.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for one hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Remove from oven and place directly into the freezer for 45 minutes. This will make the cake very moist.
For the frosting, cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth.
Beat in 1 teaspoon vanilla.
Add icing sugar and beat on low speed until combined, then on high speed until frosting is smooth.
Spread on cooled cake.
Sprinkle chopped walnuts over top of the frosting, if desired.

Japanese Strawberry Shortcake

I can't believe I made this (and started my food blog on tumblr) a little over a year ago. Going back through old posts is really odd sometimes. Not the prettiest photo, I know. This was supposed to be for someone at my mother's work, but I overestimated the size of the cake and should have doubled the recipe. It ended up being too small and I ate it instead (after making another replacement cake).

In retrospect I would have probably puréed some strawberries and added that to the simple syrup, or soaked the cake in jam to give it more flavor.

(made using this recipe)