eating with emak

Fresh Strawberry Popsicles

Just three ingredients…so simple….(recipe)

I went strawberry picking with my friend Deborah over the weekend at Stony Hill Garden in Chester, NJ. While driving back we were discussing the different desserts we were going to make with our strawberry harvest. Deborah was going to make ice cream while I was thinking of fresh strawberry popsicles and strawberry cheesecake. So this is how they turn out…so yummy! 

Mini Baked Strawberry Cheesecakes- yields 12 servings

For the crust:

• 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 3/4 cup of shredded unsweetened coconut flakes
• 2 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:

• 16 oz. of cream cheese at room temperature
• 2 eggs at room temperature
• 2/3 cup of sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1.5 cups of strawberries, diced

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl mix together the graham cracker crumbs with the sugar and coconut flakes and pour in the melted butter. Mix well.
3. Put a spoonful of the graham cracker mixture into your mini cheesecake pan and press evenly along the bottom.
4. Bake the crust for 8-10 minutes and then let cool on the side. Turn oven to 300 degrees.
5. In another large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar and beat together until smooth. 
6. Add in one egg at a time and the vanilla and mix until just incorporated. Don’t over mix or else it’ll add in a lot of air into the batter.
7. Pour a spoonful of the cream cheese filling into the crust and top with a little bit of strawberry. Go back and place another spoonful of the filling mixture to cover the strawberries.
8. Bake at 300 degrees for 20 minutes. The center will still look a little wobbly.
9. Let the cheesecakes cool in the pan to room temperature, about 30 minutes.
10. Place the cheesecakes into the fridge for 2 hours. Then remove them from the pan. 
11. Enjoy! 

Cha-An has the best desserts ever!

We started out with their jasmine tea ice cream with a toasty sesame cracker, a mango mousse, a strawberry tart, a green tea shortbread cookie, and a chocolate brownie. This all comes as a dessert set for $17. Back then, it also came with a pot of tea, but now it’s an extra $5 if you want tea with your dessert. We washed everything down with a pot of Honey Phoenix Oolong tea which was just perfect!

The mango mousse and strawberry tart were heavenly! I love Cha-An’s desserts because they are not overly sweet and a set menu gives you a chance to try a little of everything.

Cha-An, 230 East 9th Street 2nd Floor, New York, NY

Photos courtesy of Tim.

Wedding Cupcakes

The 200 wedding cupcakes I’ve been telling my family and friends about for months now are finally done! Hip hip horray! I spent the whole day Friday baking and the morning on Saturday frosting.  Whew…it was a lot of work especially with 1 mixer and 1 oven. I made 100 red velvet cupcakes with vanilla buttercream, 100 vanilla cupcakes with strawberry buttercream, and a 6” top cake for cutting.

There were some mishaps along the way. The first 6” cake would not come out of the pan and fell apart when I used a little force. I had to bake another one. Then, when I was baking a batch of the red velvets, I forgot to add the baking soda and they came out hard as bricks.  Those will turn into bird and squirrel food or part of the compost pile. 

I’ve been praying and hoping for good weather and I’m so grateful that I got that. Low humidity and low 80 degree weather. I couldn’t have ask for anything better especially in August. Transporting the cupcakes was smooth; however, every turn and bump caused my heart to beat faster hoping nothing got turned over. The bride’s sister provided the two cute owl cake toppers and the L-O-V-E letters which made the display even more fun and lovely. 

Congrats to the bride and groom Susan and Jimmy! Wishing you guys the best. Thanks for giving me this chance to bake for you guys. Thanks to my friend Deborah for suggesting this great opportunity. Thanks to everyone who have tasted my cupcakes the past few months while I’ve been practicing. Finally, thanks to my lovely mother who helped me with this process: taste testing, cleaning after my mess, and with her numerous suggestions on set-up, etc…

This experience was fun, tiring, exciting, and nerve-wrecking all in one.  I’m still not a good baker, but I’ll keep practicing! 

Strawberry-lime Paleta from La Newyorkina at the Hester Street Fair.  An interesting, but refreshing combination.  

Hester Street Fair, at Hester and Essex Street, Lower East Side NYC