Cafe Munchkin

Posted By munchkinmommy on January 4, 2012

Aahh, 2012, new year. Is it just me or did 2011 come and go way too fast? It’s true what they say, you know, that time flies when one is having fun. *wink*

Following is my New Year’s wish/message as posted on my Facebook wall, which I now say to you:

For you and me, I claim and already am thankful for the rich and bountiful harvest of blessings 2012 will bring. Miracles, big and small, will come at us in more ways than one, in more ways we know possible. Be ready to receive, to embrace, to be pleasantly surprised and to share. Sit back, relax and enjoy what promises to be one heck of an amazing ride. Thank you, God! Happy and Richly Blessed 2012 to us all! Weeee!

There’s no other and no better way to start the year than with an overly generous amount of positivity and good vibes.  Any sign of bad vibes from anyone and I automatically just tune out!  You should perhaps do the same, while we wait for someone  to invent a barcode scanner type of gadget that zaps the bad vibes out of everyone. That’ll be the day!

Happy cooking! Happy eating! Cheers and mabuhay!

Category: Celebrations | No Comments »
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Posted By munchkinmommy on November 27, 2011

And just like that, Thanksgiving break is over!  November is almost over! Boo! So, before the month officially ends a few days from now, let me squeeze in a quick update. Believe me, I feel the drought! Hee hee.

Hubby celebrated his birthday on Thanksgiving week. He didn’t want a fondant birthday cake, bless his heart. He wanted either a cheesecake or tiramisu. I chose to make him a cheesecake. After all, almost always, we find ourselves at The Cheesecake Factory after celebratory dinners. I thought it would be nice to save ourselves some serious bucks. Ha! The big question was, what kind of cheesecake to make? I had a few options, Blueberry, Cappuccino and Fudge Truffle. I chose Fudge Truffle, that way, hubby gets his cheesecake and I get my chocolate fix. Win! Win! *wink*

I turned to my tried and tested Hershey’s recipe book for the recipe. For the chocolate cookie crust, I used Oreo cookies instead of the vanilla wafer cookies mixed with cocoa called for in the recipe book. It’s right to say then, that the cheesecake had an Oreo cookie crust.

INGREDIENTS:

OREO COOKIE CRUMB CRUST (recipe follows)

2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) HERSHEY’S SPECIAL DARK Chocolate Chips or HERSHEY’S Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (Note: By all means, please use your chocolate chips brand of choice!)
3  packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

1. Prepare Oreo Cookie Crumb Crust; set aside. Heat oven to 300°F.

2. Place chocolate chips in microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at medium (50%) for 1-1/2 minutes; stir. If necessary, microwave at medium an additional 15 seconds at a time, stirring after each heating, just until chips are melted when stirred.

3. Beat cream cheese in large bowl until fluffy. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Add melted chips, eggs and vanilla; mix well. Pour into prepared crust.

4. Bake 1 hour and 5 minutes or until center is still a little bit jiggly. Remove from oven to wire rack. With knife, loosen cake from side of pan. Cool completely; remove side of pan. Refrigerate several hours before serving. Garnish as desired.

OREO COOKIE CRUMB CRUST: Stir together 1-1/2 cups Oreo cookie crumbs (about 2/3 of a packaged tray of Oreos), 1/3 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa and 1/3 cup melted butter or margarine in medium bowl. Press firmly onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan.

You can find some very helpful tips, techniques and troubleshooting guide on the Hershey’s website.

We loved this cheesecake, specially my little girl! This is quite dense so go easy on the portions! This recipe is definitely a keeper. I haven’t made a cheesecake in a very long time. I’ve forgotten how simple (yet tricky!) it is to make. I am glad this one turned out to be a huge success. Yay!

Back to reality tomorrow. I hope y’all  had a wonderful Thanksgiving break as did we. I hope you’re all back safe and sound where you should be. :) Nobody wants to be bothered with rv repairs right smack in the middle of a vacation or a drive home (or to anywhere!).

Cheers, y’all and have a great week ahead!

Category: Cake Decorating, Celebrations, Desserts/Goodies | No Comments »
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Posted By munchkinmommy on October 21, 2011

In May, I was asked to make a birthday cake for a dad who has traveled the world. His favorite pair of shoes are white Converse All-Stars, which had to be on the cake. That, to me, was the easy part. The challenge was incorporating landmarks from some of the places Mr. World Traveler has visited.  These landmarks are so far from each other, they just might be out of your  hd tv antennas‘  reach.  *wink*

Two of the landmarks are in the next photo. Please, please tell me you recognize them!

Try this next one…

This cake turned out be quite a learning experience for me, in more ways than one. Yes, it looks simple, but a lot of work went into it. In the end, it left me feeling, well, humbled.  I have to admit, this wasn’t my best work, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t give it my best effort.  *sigh*

This is a theme I’d use for a cake for my Mom, who herself was is a world traveler.  Hmm…

Cheers, y’all!

Category: Cake Decorating | 3 Comments »
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Posted By munchkinmommy on October 21, 2011

I have a backlog of cake entries from as far back as May. I’m afraid I have no choice but to bore you with cake entries left and right…top and bottom. Promise to bear with me? *smiles sheepishly*

In July, a friend requested me to make her a birthday cake. She collects cuddly stuffed dolls, specifically, stuffed pigs. And for her birthday, she wanted a cake version of one of her favorite stuffed toys. She sent me photos of her cuddly toy/s in all angles.  This is what I came up with…

This was my first time to really carve a cake, small scale as it was. Sure, I’ve carved cake into mini bags, but those were regular shapes. I was a little bit nervous making this cake, but after a while, I became unusually and unbelievably calm and relaxed. I wish I could say the same for all my fun projects. Hee hee.

You have to love the suckling pigs! Yes to breastfeeding! Hee hee. :)

This is one of my favorite angles. Every pig has a curly tail, in my mind at least! :)

The pig, by the way, was carved from pound cake. It’s resting on an 8-inch chocolate cake. Yum-mee!

I love how this cake turned out. More so, I love how stress-free the cake decorating process went. So, I’ve so far made cake/fondant/gumpaste replicas of baby shoes, bags, princess dresses and just recently, a piano. What could be next?  Replica Ed Hardy? That should be interesting! Haha!

Have a great weekend, y’all! Cheers and mabuhay!

Category: Cake Decorating | 1 Comment »
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Posted By munchkinmommy on September 28, 2011

I understand perfectly well if some people find the idea of sweet chocolate rice porridge – champorado as we call it in the Philippines – unfathomable. Just think about it…rice and chocolate. Yes, the combination does work! Hee hee.

The last time I enjoyed a bowl of champorado was in January during our vacation back home.  It was made with Belgian chocolate and had a scoop of raspberry ice cream and then topped with a fresh strawberry. Yum-mee! I told myself I’ll never have champorado any other way again. That was until I received a box of Ghirardelli Intense Dark treats a week or two ago as part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program. *wink*

Hubby and darling daughter have been wanting to get their hands on the chocolates but I just wouldn’t let them. I told them I’m saving those treats for something. Then I thought, it’s about time I made some champorado, raspberry ice cream or no raspberry ice cream!

Champorado is, more often than not, cooked with powdered cocoa.  For this venture, however, I chose to use the Twilight Delight variety of Ghirardelli chocolates, which is 72% cacao. I used an entire bar of chocolate plus a few more of the individually wrapped ones that came in a bag.  It took all of my willpower not to munch on the chocolates! It also seemed like it took forever for the champorado to cook! Everyone was impatiently pacing in the kitchen!

And then finally, after more than an hour or so of stirring, the chocolate-y rice goodness was done! Hubby likes to eat his champorado as is, no milk whatsoever. As for my daughter, my mom and I, we added a little bit of soy milk. When I was little, I had my champorado with lots of evaporated milk. ;)

Do you want to give sweet chocolate rice porridge a chance? Here’s the recipe:

INGREDIENTS

1 cup sweet rice
1 bar (and more!) Ghirardelli  Twilight Delight chocolate
1/2 cup sugar (add more according to taste)
6 – 10 cups of water (add more for a less thick consistency)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Put the rice, sugar and water in a pot.  Cook over high heat until the water starts to boil.
2. When the water starts to boil, turn the heat down to low and stir constantly to prevent the rice from sticking.  Start adding the chocolate. Break the chocolate bar into smaller pieces and then drop in the pot of rice. Stir for 30 to 40 minutes until the rice is cooked.
3. Add more water, 1/2 cup at a time, if you want a less thick consistency. You may also add more chocolate and sugar if you wish.
4.  Serve hot or cold with your choice of milk (fresh, evaporated or soy).

It was late in the afternoon when I made this two days ago. I had a bowl of champorado for dinner and so did my mom. Hubby and my daughter had it as a pre-dinner snack. Hee hee. What can I say? Everyone loved it!  I just love taking gastronomic trips back home. :)

Cheers and mabuhay, y’all!

Category: Rice/Pasta/Noodles, Taste of Home | 2 Comments »
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