strawberry and cream cupcakes

for me, nothing screams summer more than berries. okay, probably beach and frilly summer dresses scream summer even louder, but berries are the creme de la creme of summer, for me at least. and my favorite berry? all of them really, because i love blueberry, raspberry, blackberry and every-berry else. but now if you ask me, what berry i buy most of the time? its strawberry! strawberry is just so tempting for me. they are so red, sexy and juicy. and for me, the perfect summer dessert is something creamy, light, fresh with a touch of strawberry. last summer one of the most memorable desserts i had was a strawberry mousse cake with strawberry sauce and this summer, its must be this strawberry and cream cupcakes, okay, no, i lied! this summer, i love that japanese strawberry shortcake from local japanese bakery here in Jakarta and in fact, this strawberry and cream cupcakes i made is inspired by that japanese strawberry shortcake.



this strawberry and cream cupcakes have a basic vanilla cupcake based with chopped strawberries in the bottom, baked, cooled and frosted with very light whipped cream just minutes before being served. and the best way to enjoy this cupcake? using plate and fork so you can have the three parts altogether, the buttery vanilla cupcake, juicy strawberries and the light and creamy whipped cream. and a cup of tea if possible, to wash down or maybe a glass of icy lemonade? your choice, either way… this is just a perfect summer cupcake.



click here for the recipe, my entry for Dujour Magazine

just words

note to self: go to local mall and buy cotton candy, go to kinokuniya and buy cupcake pencils (one for me, one for her), get back to baking and keep away the laziness.

wishes: i wish for money, for me to buy pretty scrapbook papers, to make kawaii purchases at kinokuniya store, to make sending swaps a lot easier.
i wish i stop gaining weight.

god forbid: me to make impulsive buy at kinokuniya store for those pretty japanese books, i know i cant read it, i know i cant read japanese.

have i mention: that kinokuniya is probably my most favorite store? because right now, i cant think of anything else

welcome august

just one month before my big fat 22nd birthday!
and, well, you know me..
i always love birthdays.
well, okay, i love my birthday!
and hey, mOM.. or friends.. here im giving you an obvious hint of what i want for birthday. :D

OKAY, I WANT PINK KITCHENAID MIXER, MA!! it had been two birthdays since im putting a pink KitchenAid mixer in my wishlist. okay, just saying.


*hot pink? anyone?*

and oh, I WANT TOKINA WIDE LENS AF 11-16mm f/2.8, OKAY MA? OKAY PA? OKAYYYYY?
(forgive me for the use of caps lock)

and Ma, Pa.. of course you guys know that i also want that olympus pen camera right?
what.. i hear whatttt? ungrateful child? greedy?
geez..

okay enough with the over-pricey fancy schmancy stuffs, lets get to the more 'realistic' stuffs


*bullseye doll from toy story 3, i saw this at Watsons. and i dont mind getting the woody, jessie and buzz altogether also*


*i saw this at kinokuniya and was in good deal, when i ask Ma about whether the book is worth to buy, she said "you already have too much baking books" errrr, duhhh..*


*im all about food/drink flavored lip balm/gloss and im also all about cupcakes, so this is surely in my next amazon.com purchase*


*SURELY MY NEXT AMAZON.COM PURCHASE, seriously Ma, there's no such thing as "too much baking books"*


*what can you say? puffy..cupcakes..stikers.. on amazon.com..im serious..*


*MAAAAAA! please let me use your credit card and get this dreamy floral printed jegging! its from evans.co.uk, please ma please.. this is what i want the most!*



*im building a kawaii stationery and stikers collection.. and i think i'll start with kawaii sticker sacks and memo pads from kinokuniya*

all pictures from amazon.com, evans.co.uk, kawaiishop.com, weheartit.com

Hazelnut Jam Thumbprint cookies

If you’re having a tea party like my blog crush Lola, then these cookies are perfect for the tea party, they are nice, sweet and a fancy companion to a cup of tea. Not to mention that they are also pretty. Maybe various jams would make them even prettier, like apricot or blueberry. I used plain old strawberry.

I liked the texture of the cookies, they are really crunchy and nutty on the outside and soft in the inside. Although, frankly I like them better after few days in my cookie tin, certainly crunchier. And one thing, the better the quality of the jam the nicer it’d taste. I used my regular grocery strawberry jam and it was too sweet, well, next time I’ll use apricot!



click here for the recipe and more from me for Dujour Mag

salted butter caramel ice cream

David Lebovitz wrote that this ice cream is better than Berthilon’s Glace Caramel, I don’t know, I’ve never been to Berthilon.
But I surely know that this ice cream tasted exactly like caramel candies.
Buttery with strong sugar burnt taste and slight hint of salt.
Also I went all fancy with this ice cream, I used French butter and Fleur De Sel from Bali ocean.

Now lets talk how I made it without ice cream machine, here’s the article from David Lebovitz about how to make ice cream without ice cream machine. Go read it and I bet you’d think, “Man, this is easy!” because I thought of that too. But then, after total 3 days of making, freezing and waiting, I thought, “this is not easy.” It’s a long time of mixing the ice cream batter and break the crystal water to make the smooth silky ice cream.



And the result? It is a smooth ice cream , tastes so good like I mentioned above and worth those 3 days of making, mixing and freezing. But this ice cream melts too quick under the sunny summer sun. so make sure to finish the ice cream soon after you take it out of the freezer, though it wont be a big problem for an ice cream this good.

click here for the adapted recipes from David Lebovitz and more from me for Dujour Magazine

cocoa shortbread stars

whew! its been a quite long time since i last baked cookies.
and now i miss it! baking cookies is so easy and relaxing.
i baked this for my friend, she asked me to bake her chocolate cookies and i can have her used movie tickets as the payment.
why used movie tickets?
that's another story in another post.

my mind went straight to this recipe.
i've been meaning to bake this cocoa shortbread since i first got the book.
but i kept making recipes other than this one.
and now i regret it.
because this one is dead easy cookies.
SERIOUSLY!
and they taste dead good as well.

and what is the best pair for this cookies?
a nice fancy tea.
my lord i love this cookies!
wonder how good it'd be if i drizzled the white chocolate.



COCOA SHORTBREAD STARS from Martha Stewart

Ingredients
* 1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
* 1/2 cup confectioners sugar
* 1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
* 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
* 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
* 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 2 ounces best-quality white chocolate, coarsely chopped (i omit this)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Pulse flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt in a food processor to combine. Add butter and vanilla, and process until mixture comes together. Shape the dough into a ball.
2. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/4 inch thick; cut out shapes with a 3 1/2-by-2 1/2-inch star-shape cookie cutter. Space 1 1/2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake cookies until firm to the touch, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cookies cool completely on wire racks.
3. Melt white chocolate, stirring, in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Drizzle chocolate over tops of cookies. Let set before serving, about 30 minutes. Cookies can be stored in a single layer in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.

i will just let the pictures do the babbling

but then i thought of you, i thought...maybe, well, just maybe..
living the average life with you would be just as fine.

XOXO