Alton Brown’s “The Chewy”

My quest to find my perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe continued this past weekend when I tried out Alton Brown's recipe called "The Chewy."  I've seen his recipe quite a few times floating around on other blogs. I was intrigued by the use of bread flour rather than all purpose flour. I also liked that I only needed to refrigerate the recipe for a few hours rather than overnight or over several days. I just don't have that kind of patience or fridge space.

The recipe was pretty simple to put together. After the dough was refrigerated, it was much easier to scoop out and mold. I liked that this recipe made big cookies. The cookies stayed puffy and thick and came out looking pretty nice. Some of the recipes I've tried, I feel like the cookies are quite ugly.

I found this recipe to be pretty tasty. I like how thick the cookie is. This recipe is definitely a keeper unless I find something better.

Alton Brown's The Chewy Chocolate chip cookies

Ingredients

• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 2 1/4 cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan over low heat. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.

2. Pour
the melted butter in the mixer's work bowl. Add the sugar and brown
sugar. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed. Add the egg, yolk,
2 tablespoons milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined.
Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in
the chocolate chips.

3. Chill the dough (about 2 hours), then scoop onto
parchment-lined baking sheets, using an ice cream scoop, 6 cookies per sheet. Cookies should be quite large if you are using a regular ice cream scooper. Preheat oven to 375 F. Bake for 14 minutes
or until golden brown, checking the cookies after 5 minutes. Rotate the
baking sheet for even browning. Cool completely and store in an
airtight container.

Rowland Heights Roadtrip (Snowflake shaved ice, stinky tofu, and trying to catch a taco truck)

Class 302
1015 S. Nogales St., #125
Rowland Heights, CA 91748
(626) 965-5809

A few weeks ago, we made a roadtrip to LA where we experienced snowflake shaved ice for the first time at Pa Pa Walk.  The shaved ice is shaved so fine that it doesn't even seem like ice anymore, and mixed with condensed milk, it tastes almost creamy like ice cream. We absolutely loved it. I did some research and got some suggestions from other foodies and learned that Class 302 in Rowland Heights is supposed to have the best snowflake shaved ice.

I've never been to Rowland Heights and decided we needed to take a trip. Boyfriend has never been a huge fan of shaved ice, but the snowflake shaved ice had a big impact on him as well. The entire road trip, he kept asking when we would be eating shaved ice.

Class 302 was really small. Much smaller than any other cafe of the same nature I've ever visited.  I was surprised at how small it was considering how crazy popular it is. It can only seat about 5 small tables. Next time I go, I would like to go earlier in the day when it's not so full.

We ordered two shaved ices as we had four people. The shaved ice here was definitely cheaper than the one we had at Pa Pa Walk. It's $6.25 for one. We got a mango shaved ice and a green tea shaved ice, both which are quite popular.

There were a lot of other things on the menu that looked tempting, but I stayed focused and stuck to ordering the shaved ice.

The set up of Class 302 is interesting. To match the name, the place is set up to look like a classroom. There is a huge chalkboard, some fake textbooks, and the tables are school desks. There was also a tv that was playing Dorimon cartoons in the background.  The Dorimon cartoon brought back memories of Taiwan, as the cartoon always seems to be playing when I'm in Taiwan. The books also gave me a sense of nostalgia. While I never attended school in Taiwan, one of the books reminded me a lot of one I used when I took chinese school when I was younger.

The shaved ice definitely looked different from the snowflake ice I had at Pa Pa Walk.  The ice comes out in sheets. But it's still really soft once you eat it.  I think the one at Pa Pa Walk actually was a bit softer, but this one was good as well.  I love that the ice doesn't melt fast. Usually shaved ice melts so fast, but because the snowflake shaved ice isn't pure ice, but is instead mixed with condensed milk, it melts a lot slower.

My favorite was the mango. Boyfriend ate almost the entire thing by himself. I wasn't as much of a fan of the green tea one. Normally I love green tea, but this one didn't seem sweet enough. The green tea one was topped with sticky rice balls and red beans.

Here is the menu:

Tofu King
18414 Colima Rd
Rowland Heights, CA 91748
(626) 964-6250

There's a lot of chinese dishes that can be very unappealing to those not used to chinese cuisine. Perhaps one of the most unappealing is stinky tofu, due to its pungent odor.  However, I love stinky tofu, which is a classic Taiwanese street food item.  The tofu is fermented, giving it a great flavor but also causing the smell.

The problem with introducing stinky tofu to other people is that the stinkier it is, the better it tastes. Ones that don't have the pungent odor aren't fermented as well, so the taste it creates isn't that appealing.  Stinky tofu is usually served fried, dipped in a savory sauce and eaten with pickled cabbage.

I haven't found great stinky tofu outside of Taiwan. Tofu King got rave reviews. It was difficult to find. First, despite being called Tofu King, the sign says differently.  The sign says "Dynasty Plaza" If you can read chinese, the words tofu king are written in chinese only, on the orange curtain below the giant sign that says something different in chinese and English. The only reason why I knew we were in the right place is the smell. From two stores down I could smell the tofu.

The store is quite small and only has some seating outside. It definitely had the feel of the street food in Taiwan. There were quite a few street food items on the menu, but I stuck to ordering the stinky tofu. We got two orders to go and then ate them in the car because it was chilly outside. 

For some reason, they don't completely cut the tofu. Instead, we were given three large pieces of fried tofu, sauce and the pickled cabbage. The tofu was delicious. The closest I've had to the ones I've eaten in Taiwan. I was really impressed. Boyfriend loved it too and he usually is not a fan of stinky tofu.

Boyfriend loved the shaved ice and stinky tofu so much he talked about wanting to pay a visit on the way home from his parents' place because it's "on the way." Except it isn't. It's an hour detour. In an hour and half drive. I'm happy to see Boyfriend becoming quite a foodie though.

Kogi BBQ truck
www.kogibbq.com

For a while now I've been following the Kogi bbq taco truck through twitter. I've wanted to try it for so long. Korean bbq meat served in a taco sounds so good. But of course Kogi is usually in LA and Irvine and I'm not there. But I realized Kogi would be in Rowland Heights that night. So we planned on getting there right when it opened and hopefully catching the truck.

On a sidenote, we kept seeing other food trucks while in the area. So different from living in San Diego. When we got to the taco truck, we were shocked by how many people were already there. It hadn't yet opened and there were already over 100 people in line! I knew kogi was popular, but I had hoped that by arriving early I could have avoided most of the crowd.

We were so close to the kogi truck, yet so far. They didn't open up for business until almost 11:30 pm. And we needed to get back to San Diego. So we ended up not getting any tacos that night. Another time, Kogi truck.

Chocolate Sponge Cake

I've gotten pretty good at making chiffon/sponge cakes. I find them easier to make than the majority of cake recipes, even though I have to separate the eggs and whip the egg whites. I love whipping the egg whites and watching them come together. Every time I whip egg whites, I recall when I was much younger and trying to make a meringue and having an absolute disaster with trying to whip the egg whites.

So this weekend, I tried out a chocolate sponge cake recipe that looked tasty. I set about separating my eggs. Crack, open, separate. Everything was going great, and then the unthinkable happened. One of my yolks broke.  I don't even know how it happened. I didn't see it happen. One minute, the egg yolk was in my hand and solid and the next minute it was beginning to leak. I saw it just as it was about to fall into my bowl of egg whites. I quickly dumped it into the egg yolk bowl. Only a drop got in. I thought I could save it. I stuck a spoon in to try to remove the drop. But I couldn't completely. Some of it just spread out even more.

It was just a drop. I could still whip up the egg whites right? I mean there were five egg whites in my bowl and one drop of yolk. But no. Apparently that one little drop was enough to completely ruin my egg whites. They simply would not whip together.  I was so annoyed. I had to start all over again. 

Anyway, I finally got it right. I enjoyed the cake. I like the spongy texture. The chocolate flavor is pretty light. I think my favorite is still the pandan chiffon cake. But this one is pretty good too.

Chocolate Sponge Cake (adapted from Life's a feast)

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 eggs, separated, preferably at room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup cold water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 tsp cream of tartar

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C).

2. In a small bowl, blend the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.

3. Separate
the eggs. Place the whites in a mixing bowl with 3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar. Set aside.

4. In another bowl, put the yolks in a very
large mixing bowl. Beat them with an electric beater on high speed for
a few minutes until very thick and pale yellow. Add the sugar gradually
and continue beating for another couple of minutes. It should be pale
and very thick.

5. Add the dry ingredients to the yolk/sugar
mixture, alternating with the cold water and vanilla
(dry-wet-dry-wet-dry), beating after each addition until blended,
scraping down the sides as necessary.

6. Beat the whites until
stiff peaks hold..

7. Delicately
fold the whites into the cake batter: begin by folding in about a third
of the whites in order to lighten the heavy batter. Then fold in another third, then the
final third. Don’t overdo it or, again, you will knock out too much air.

8. Pour
into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan.
Bake in the preheated oven for about 55- 60 minutes until set. If you think
it is done, if the cake is risen high and seems baked through simply
press the top very lightly. If you hear a foamy sound – don’t worry, if
your hear or feel that foamy sensation you will know it – simply let
the cake bake for another couple of minutes. If the cake is not
perfectly baked through it risks falling as it cools. Invert the cake and let cool, while the cake is still stuck to the pan. 

9. Once cooled, loosen cake from pan (I use a plastic knife) until cake slides out of pan.