Here’s how to make “Bacon Caramel”

Ingredients:

* a little over half a pound of bacon
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 cup corn syrup
* 1/2 cup butter
* 1/2 cup heavy cream
* 3-4 oz bourbon or maple syrup

Directions:

* Once the bacon’s finished cooking, blot it well and remove any stubborn fatty bits that refuse to become crispy. Then trim it down into large-ish bacon bits that’d work nicely in a Caesar salad. Reserve in paper towel to promote further fat drainage. Add to a deep saucepan the following: 1 cup sugar 1 cup corn syrup 1/2 cup butter 1/2 cup heavy cream 3-4 oz bourbon or maple syrup.
* Over low to medium heat, dissolve everything while stirring constantly. Get your candy thermometer ready and then turn up the heat until reaches 240 degrees Fahrenheit. Don’t forget to keep stirring!
* At that point, you’ll be at the firm-ball stage and things should look a lot like this:
* Remove your pot from heat and then slowly stir in another 1/2 cup of heavy cream.
* Once the bacon’s finished cooking, blot it well and remove any stubborn fatty bits that refuse to become crispy. Then trim it down into large-ish bacon bits that’d work nicely in a Caesar salad. Reserve in paper towel to promote further fat drainage. Add to a deep saucepan the following: 1 cup sugar 1 cup corn syrup 1/2 cup butter 1/2 cup heavy cream 3-4 oz bourbon or maple syrup. Over low to medium heat, dissolve everything while stirring constantly. Get your candy thermometer ready and then turn up the heat until reaches 240 degrees Fahrenheit. Don’t forget to keep stirring!At that point, you’ll be at the firm-ball stage and things should look a lot like this:Remove your pot from heat and then slowly stir in another 1/2 cup of heavy cream.Then, put the pot back on the stove and heat it back up to 245 degrees Fahrenheit while stirring still. Then, pour the mixture into a buttered Pyrex dish or deep cookie sheet.
* Immediately afterward, add the bacon. Be sure to make it an even application!
* And hey! I had some toasted almonds left over from dinner the night before, so I added those as well.
* Then, let everything cool for at least 3 hours before cutting the bacon caramel into squares. Serve it up to those without pancreatic issues and watch their eyes light up before they they begin to bounce off the walls!

Now that you have learned how to make bacon caramel, please be sure to view the other recipes.

Here’s how to make “Almond Biscotti”

Ingredients:

* 3 cups All-pupose flour
* 1 heaping teaspoon Baking powder
* 3 Eggs, large
* 1 cup Granulated sugar
* 1/2 cup (1 stick) Unsalted butter, melted and cooled
* 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
* 1 cup Whole almonds, toasted

Directions:

* Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray or butter.
* Whisk together the flour and baking powder in a large bowl; set aside.
* Use an electric mixer to beat the eggs and sugar in another bowl on medium speed. .
* Add the melted butter and vanilla. Mix on medium speed until combined..
* Gradually add the flour mixture in three batches. Blend well after each addition..
* Use a rubber spatula or mixing spoon to gently stir in the toasted almonds. The dough should be stiff enough to hold in your hands without being too sticky. If it is too sticky, add a small amount of extra flour until it is workable..
* Turn the dough onto the prepared cookie sheet. Divide the dough into two equal portions..
* With lightly floured hands, shape each portion into a flat rectangle about 5-inches wide and 12-inches long. Space the “loaves” at least 2-inches apart..
Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the loaves are golden brown. Allow them to cool on the pan for 5 minutes..
* Gently transfer the loaves to a cutting board and use a serrated knife to slice them into 1/2-inch slices..
* Place the sliced almond biscotti cookies back on the cookie sheet; placing them cut-side down. Be careful, they will be fragile and could break in half. Bake the almond biscotti cookies for 10 minutes or until golden brown..
* Remove the pan from the oven and turn the almond biscotti cookies over so the other cut side is now facing up. Bake for 10 more minutes or until golden brown. Place finished almond biscotti cookies on a rack to cool..

Now that you have learned how to make almond biscotti, please be sure to view the other recipes.

Here’s how to prepare “Chocolate Truffles”

Ingredients:

* 12 Ounces Dark Chocolate
* 1/2 cup Heavy Cream
* 1/2 Stick Butter
* 5 TB Cocoa

Directions:

* Chop 9 Ounces chocolate.
* In a double boiler bring cream, butter and 9 Oz chocolate together until just melted.
* Transfer to a 9×9 pan.
* Chill truffle mixture, covered, until very firm, at least 12 hours, and up to 3 days. Using a melon baller or tablespoon measure, scoop out truffle mixture and roll into balls.
* You will have to transfer the mix back and forth to the fridge to keep it cold enough to work with. Roll balls around in cocoa powder.
* But wait! There’s more. You might notice that only half the balls are powdered. Let’s coat the rest with more chocolate! Melt 3 oz Chocolate in a double boiler Roll balls around in chocolate. Use fork for chocolate truffle ball extraction.
* Chill a bit more and enjoy! Transfer the chocolate truffles to an air proof container for storage up to 2 weeks.

Now that you have learned how to make chocolate truffles, please be sure to view the other recipes.

Here’s how to make “Leche Flan”

Ingredients:

* 14 oz Sweet and Condensed Milk
* 12 oz vol Evaporated Milk
* 8 eggs
* 1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 1/2 cup sugar

Directions:

Only the yolks of the eggs will be used for this recipe. Use 1.5 teaspoons of vanilla, and caramelize 1/2 cup of sugar. You can use any bake ware capable of taking 350 degree heat, if its a smooth bottom the caramelized sugar spreads easier. Use a bunt pan cause it is pretty snazzy looking. Notice the baking dish that you use must fit inside of the other container, with room to fit water up to the level the flan will be. Separate the egg yolks. Add the egg yolks to the bowl. Add Sweet and condensed milk, evaporated milk, and 1.5 teaspoons of vanilla. Set the oven for 350F around this point. Set the bowl of flan mixture aside. After you have mixed the main stuff together, it is time to the caramelize the sugar. Once again, I use 1/2 cup of sugar, but sometimes if I use a smoother dish, I’ll use 1/3ish. No big deal really either way. Start with a sauce pan. Put sugar in sauce pan over low heat. LOW HEAT, especially for beginners, cause its really easy to burn sugar if you are not careful. At first, just swirl the pan around to keep sugar moving. If you use a spoon, the sugar will start to clump up right away and its a bit more difficult.

After it starts to melt, use a spoon and keep sugar moving.
Eventually you’ll see the sugar starting to really melt, turning to a liquid – be careful, it is very hot. Keep stirring, breaking up chunks of sugar, and keeping everything moving. Once the sugar starts to get light brownish, BUT NOT BURNT (be careful, it happens quick), take the sugar off and QUICKLY pour it into your bake-ware along the bottom. Quickly move around the dish (DON’T TOUCH IT WITH A SPOON OR YOUR HANDS/etc) until you have coated as much of the pan as possible. Careful! Different temperature variations can break glass. You might be best to let the sugar cool down a bit before you put it into a fridge. With the silicone, I do it right away. You want the sugar to cool down a bit, if it’s hot when you poor the flan mixture into the pan it might curdle the eggs/cook too fast/etc. Now, after you have beaten the ingredients for the flan together, you might very well end up with foam on top. This wont hurt anything, however, as you might imagine, the foam offers up more surface area, and so if you have foam on the top of your flan, you tend to end up with a burn layer/crust on the bottom of your flan (you flip the container over to serve). If you want to skip the next step, feel free! But, I don’t like to have that crust in my flan, so…I don’t know what this thing is, but it will work. It will act as a strainer, and all (or close to all) of the bubbles/foam will get stuck in the strainer. This makes a big difference in my opinion, but really might not be worth the effort, it is up to you. I got a bit impatient, and some bubbles got through. Using my fingers as a sponge, I cleaned most of these up actually, so it has a smooth/glassy top. Now, put the flan pan into the other container, which will contain water. I pour the water in AFTER I put the flan pan in, as it leaves out the guesswork as to how much water I will need. Fill it up as much as possible.Then put the flan in the oven you had pre-heated to 350F. Now, I normally cook the flan for 50 minutes before I check it (insert knife 1/3 of the way from the edge, if it comes out clean, you are good to go (or at least almost 95% clean). BUT, it normally takes around an hour an 10 minutes, this of course dependent on your oven, the bake-ware you use, and MAINLY the volume of water you have around your flan dish – the more water, the longer it takes to heat up! Once the flan is baked, just take it out, let it sit for maybe 10, 20 minutes, and put it in the fridge FOR A GOOD 2 HOURS! It has to be cool, set, etc. Its better tasting that way, and the texture is better.Run a knife along the edge of the pan, as best you can – at least pierce the top layer, as it is the only part that will be really crusted to the pan.

Put a plate on top of flan pan, and then invert quickly.
Allow the caramel to run onto flan, so wait a couple of seconds before lifting it off. ta da! Notice the sugar piled up on top, this wouldn’t be there if you were using a glass pan, as it would have stuck to the pan. I personally like it, I use it to garnish the flan. Quickly rearranged the sugar: And there is the finished flan.

Now that you have learned how to make flan, please be sure to view these other tart recipes and these flan recipes.

Here’s how to make “Open-Faced Grilled Sandwich”

Ingredients:

1 loaf French baguette, sliced 1/2″ thick diagonally
olive oil
Dijon mustard
slices of tomatoes

assorted cold cuts — cooked ham, spiced ham, salami, bologna, cut into wedges
mozarella cheese(or quick melt cheese), shredded
parsley or slices of olives for garnish, chopped

Directions:

Brush baguette slices with olive oil. Bake bread slices until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Lightly dress sliced baguette with Dijon mustard. Place slices of tomatoes and arrange a slice of cold cuts on top. Top with cheese and grill in the oven for about 3-5 minutes or until cheese has melted and top lightly browned. Garnish with chopped parsley and olives.

Here’s how to prepare “Fruit Pastries”

Ingredients:

2 cups White King all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup Butterfresh margarine
6-8 tbsps cold water

Cream filling:

1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
1 (250ml) Selecta Moo fresh milk
4 eggyolks, slightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Sift together flour and salt in a bowl. Cut in Butterfresh margarine until particles are pea-sized. Add water little by little while tossing the mixture with a fork. Form dough into a ball. Roll out pastry into 1/8″-thick. Fit dough into greased pastry molds.

Fill each pastry shell with cream filling. Top with assorted fruits (kiwi,peach,mango, blueberry and strawberry).

Procedure for Cream filling:

Mix sugar, cornstarch and salt on top of a double boiler. Add milk gradually and stir to blend, then heat to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly.

Add the slightly beaten eggyolks into the hot mixture and beat thoroughly. Cook for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Cool thoroughly.

Here’s how to prepare “Ginumis”

Ingredients:

¼ cup small white sago or tapioca
2 tbsps. panutsa syrup
1/8 cup coconut milk

1 tsp. pinipig
2 scoops ice, crushed

Directions:

*In a glass, put white sago, panutsa syrup and coconut milk.

*Add the crushed ice.

*Top with pinipig.

This is a yummy, flourless, fail proof chocolate cake – the base and the filling are the same: one is baked while the other is just chilled. Use fresh eggs and good quality chocolate – preferably with 70% cocoa, and don’t over-bake the base.

Here’s how to make a very sweet and special “Black Cake” that is perfect for your Valentine’s Day

Ingredients:

6 eggs
200g caster sugar
200g butter, softened
120g ground walnuts
3 tablespoons cocoa
150g dark chocolate, melted
400ml double cream + sugar to taste (3-4 tablespoons, depending on how sweet you want it to be)
Grated chocolate or walnuts to decorate

Preparation method:

1. In a medium bowl beat yolks and sugar with electric mixer until pale and creamy.
2. In a second bowl beat well together butter, ground walnuts, melted chocolate and cocoa.
3. In a third bowl beat egg whites until they are firm.
4. Gently mix all together and divide in two parts.
5. Place the first part in a greased round (21 cm base) cake pan, base lined with baking paper and bake for 30 min on 180 degrees C.
6. Place the second part of the mixture in the fridge.
7. When the first part is baked and cooled, cover it with the second, and finish all with double cream whipped with sugar.
8. Decorate with extra walnuts and chocolate.
9. Keep in fridge.

Here’s how to make a “Strained Eyeballs”

Ingredients:

6 eggs, hardcooked, cooled and peeled
6 oz. whipped cream cheese

12 green olives stuffed with pimientos
red food coloring or ketchup

Directions:

Half eggs widthwise. Remove yolks and fill the hole with cream cheese, smoothing surface as much as possible. Press an olive into each cream cheese eyeball, pimiento up, for an eerie green iris and red pupil. Dip a toothpick into ketchup and draw broken blood vessels in the cream cheese.

Here’s how to make “Suman in a Rice Cooker”

Ingredients:

2 cups glutinous rice (malagkit), washed, soaked for 1 hour & drained
2 cans coconut milk (2nd extraction, about 3 cups)
1 can coconut cream (kakang gata, about 1-½ cups)
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. butter
½ cup granulated sugar
4 mature pandan leaves, fold & tie

1 small bottle each of ube jam & macapuno
12 pcs. banana leaves, 8′ -long
12 champagne glasses
Mango sauce:
2 cups fresh mango, diced
1 cup granulated sugar boiled with
½ cup water (to make syrup)

Directions:

*Prepare the banana leaves:
Wipe clean then pass over low flame of gas or electric stove; set aside.

*Mango sauce:
Put the diced mango in a blender. Add the hot syrup made by boiling the sugar and water. Pulse to blend, put in a sauce boat with a spoon.

*Put the malagkit, pandan leaves and 2 cans coconut milk in a rice cooker. Cook for 15 minutes, add 1 cup coconut cream and continue cooking for 15-20 minutes or until done.

*When rice is cooked, add salt, butter, sugar and mix well. Scoop out with plastic or silicone scraper and put 1/3 cup on banana leaf. Roll tightly to form a cone (use cling wrap to form rice into cones); set aside.

*Put ½ tablespoon ube jam on the bottom of champagne glasses and spread using a spoon. Remove rice cone wrapper and put on top of jam, press slightly. Spoon macapuno on top of ube jam and around rice. Place glass on banana leaf lined sauce with spoon. Serve with hot mango sauce.