A - Amaretto Cake

So, my 2 week adventure with working with recipes that involve the letter A ended yesterday. I actually made this Amaretto Cake on Saturday for a Chinese new year dinner I had with family. I decided not to post it yesterday because there was just too much talk about poop.

I figured with all the Amaretto liquor I have, and the fact that I've never made a Bundt shaped cake, this was the way to go for my family dinner. Plus, its better than making an apple pie, because although I like pie and I do eat apple pie, I just don't like fruit. I wouldn't know how to pick good fruit anyway or how to handle it.

Anyway, back to this Amaretto cake. Who doesn't like liquor in their food?? I especially like recipes like this, because it takes shortcuts like using cake mix, which really saves me from sifting flour, sugar, baking powder, and all that hassle.

The Ingredients
For the cake:
* 1 package store bought yellow cake mix
* 4 eggs
* 1 (5.1 ounce) instant vanilla pudding mix
* 2 Tbsp amaretto liqueur
* 1/2 cup water
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* 1/2 tsp almond extract

For the glaze:
* 1/2 cup amaretto liqueur
* 1 cup sifted confectioners' sugar

When I began this recipe, I took out my liquid measuring cup and I was so disgusted! I saw all these white streaks and caked on liquid inside. I tried to scrub the grossness out, but it wouldn't come off! I have no idea what it is, but I decided not to use the cup and just used the measuring cups meant for dry ingredients. Now I need to buy a new measuring cup!



Anyway, after grossing you all out with my measuring cup (seems like I've been doing that a lot lately sorry!) I started off by taking the bundt pan my sister gave me for my birthday last year. I've never used it before, but it has all these grooves that make it look like it would produce an interesting shape. I sprayed the inside with some oil and sprinkled flour around so the cake wouldn't stick to the pan later.



Next, I poured in the box cake mix into a bowl. I used Betty Crocker, but any brand works. I think even a white cake or chocolate cake mix will work. Love cheating with these cake mixes! :D



Next went the eggs, the pudding mix, water, oil, 2 Tbsp of Amaretto liquor and the almond extract. The recipe originally called for 1/4 tsp but I added an extra 1/4 tsp to make it more almond-y.



Mix all the ingredients together. I scraped down the sides once in the middle of mixing.



Once everything is mixed well, the batter is smooth and even in color.



I poured the batter into the bundt pan, and as you can see, not very well. Kinda messy on the sides, but its ok. When the cake rises, it should pick up the batter on the edges.



After baking at 350 degrees F for 45 min, I tested with a toothpick to verify done-ness. Plus it looked golden brown and smelled soooo yummy!



I let the cake cook for about 5 min, and I took the same toothpick and poked a ton of holes at the top of the cake. Can you see them? I tried to get a closer up look, and I let the cake cool for another hour.



While the cake was cooling, I mixed the glaze together. I started off with powdered sugar. To be honest, the hole for my jar of powdered sugar can't fit a 1 cup measuring cup, so I kind of eyeballed it.



Then I poured the 1/2 cup of Amaretto liquor. Notice I'm using the cup for dry ingredients. So ghetto.



I used a fork and just whipped and mixed the sugar with the amaretto. The color came out kind of like cafe con leche and should be a slightly watery consistency.



When the cake was cooled, I poured the glaze over the cake and aimed for the holes I made. The glaze seeps into the cake and makes it moist with Amaretto goodness.



I let the cake sit for about another hour, before putting a plate over the bundt (why does this word make me smile everytime?) pan and flipping it over. Hooray!! Success! The cake came out of the pan easily and you can see the parts of the cake that are a little darker due to the glaze seeping through.



I sprinkle the cake with some sifted powdered sugar and topped with some sliced almonds. I was really happy with how it all came out.



My family ate my cake at the dinner and they all really liked it. My aunt said it could use more liquor! (definitely from my family) haha so maybe next time I'll increase the glaze and use a little less powdered sugar.

I'm pretty glad that I was able to fit in at least 4 recipes these past 2 weeks. I actually tried an Aioli recipe for some pommes frites that I made for the Superbowl, but I never got around to posting about it. Maybe I'll post it for P haha. I'm looking forward to these next 2 weeks. I actually will be in London and Barcelona for a week, but hopefully I can fit in some B recipes :)

A - Artichoke Dip

So, for the superbowl, I found this recipe for Artichoke dip from Alton Brown. Its actually Spinach and Artichoke dip, but I called it Artichoke dip, because I wanted to make it for the Superbowl haha.

I trust Alton because he's all science-y and stuff, so I figure he knows the right combinations for deliciousness. Wow I just made up hella words. Well, I guess I question Alton a little bit, because I read somewhere that he lost a lot of weight by going on a diet of Avocado and Sardine sandwiches. Doesn't sound appetizing to me, but maybe its awesome.

Anyway, I decided to make his warm artichoke dip for the Superbowl. I served it alongside Tostitos scoops and Saltines. Which, by the way, have you heard of the Saltine challenge? You have to eat 6 Saltine crackers in 60 seconds... apparently its one of those impossible things because the Saltines dry up your saliva and its hard to swallow without saliva.

Also, another bit of trivia that I read on wikipedia, is that Peyton Manning has such a competitive spirit that after failing the Saltine challenge, he did it again by stacking all 6 crackers and stuffing them in his mouth at once... and succeeded! I thought it would be a fun mini-game to play during the Superbowl but we all ate so much and were into the game as it is. Plus, we were drinking beer, so I'm sure we were all dehydrated and had less saliva as it is haha

The Ingredients
* 1 cup thawed, chopped frozen spinach
* 1 small jar of artichokes
* 6 ounces cream cheese
* 1/4 cup sour cream
* 1/4 cup mayonnaise
* 1/3 cup grated Parmesan
* 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Alton's recipe called for 1 cup of frozen spinach, but I kind of eyed it. I bought a package of frozen spinach and just poured it into boiling water... my guess is that I had more like 1/2 - 3/4 cup of spinach in the end, but I think it was ok. His recipe also called for 1 1/2 cup of frozen artichokes, but I only bought like a small jar of artichokes in a chili brine. I think it still worked out ok.

So I drained my spinach and added my artichokes. Kinda swiped it a little with a knife to break them down a little.



I microwaved the cream cheese in a bowl for about 45 seconds to soften it and make it really creamy.



To the cream cheese, I added the mayo. I got one of those squeeze top bottles, so I'm not sure how accurate it is, but hey, this isn't baking so its not a big deal if I'm off a little. I also got the low fat mayo... oh and I should also mention that I used the neufchatel cream cheese, which is like 1/3 less fat I think.

I looked it up on wiki and neufchatel != cream cheese! I thought it was the same just lower in fat! eh, close enough I guess. On wikipedia, it says american cream cheese was created when a man tried to make neufchatel. Neufchatel is less in fat and softer than regular cream cheese, so I guess it works well for our dip. Yay less in fat, still good. :)



Next I added the sour cream... couldn't shake it out of my cup, hence the spoon :)



Then, just add the artichokes and spinach to the bowl.



I mixed it all together and it kinda looks like I should have put more spinach. Honestly, I should have paid more attention when I was pouring the spinach into the boiling water... but I was playing Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 2 at the same time, so I was rushing to not be AFK for too long. haha kinda embarrassing to admit, but its the truth.



Next the seasonings! I added 1/4 tsp of garlic powder



I was supposed to had 1/2 teaspoon of red chili flakes, but I kinda just sprinkled it liberally because I like red chili flakes :9 I probably should have added more now in hindsight, the chili flakes kind of get lost in the cream cheese.



Next, the 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese goes in. I've never used parmesan cheese in cooking until this week! I'm expanding my horizons! haha



Next goes the 1/4 tsp of salt. I think I should have added a little bit more.. maybe some garlic salt so you get both garlic and salt? It takes a lot of seasoning to be noticed with all the cream cheese and sour cream.



After everything gets mixed in well, I reheated the bowl for a minute to warm everything up, then time to munch!



I actually liked it. I think the cream cheese and sour cream overpower a little, so I would add a little bit more salt, parmesan cheese, and chili flakes. However, I think it was good with the chips and Saltines, because the chips and crackers are salty as is, so it was a nice smooth balance.

I would definitely make this again, and Alton suggests putting it in a slow cooker to keep it constantly warm. I did find it a pain to have to keep reheating in the microwave and stirring, so I would try the slow cooker next time or maybe my fondue pot! :)

A - Angel Hair Pasta with Shrimp and Fire

Another recipe tried for the letter A! Notice how I didn't just call it Spicy Angel Hair pasta with Shrimp? I added the "Fire" so the recipe could start with the letter 'A' in case I got called out on a technicality.

Anyway, I was inspired by Giada de Laurentis' Fiery Angel Hair Pasta recipe, which I used as my guide with a few tweaks. I did follow her Chili Oil recipe for this pasta to a T, which was really simple!

The Ingredients
* 1 pound angel hair pasta
* 1/2 cup Chili Oil
* 1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves (or 1/4 dried parsley flakes)
* 1 lemon, juiced
* Coarse sea salt
* Dried crushed red pepper flakes

In her original recipe, she uses lemon peel and lemon zest. Honestly, I don't know what the difference is, but I opted not to use either. Also, I added half a medium onion and a can of diced tomatoes and 1/4 pound of shrimp.

First I started off making the Chili Oil. All you need is 2 cups of olive oil and 4 teaspoons of dried red pepper flakes. In my case, I used extra virgin olive oil, because I have a huge costco bottle that is expiring in May... Also, you'll noticed I used packets of red pepper flakes that you get from pizza places... I'm so asian.

I think each packet yielded about 3/4 tsp, so I used 5 packets haha



I put the oil and red pepper flakes in a small pot and put it on low heat.



Its done once the temperature gets to 180 degrees F. Let it cool for about 2 hours before putting it in a container.



I made the oil yesterday, so today I was able to start on the rest of the pasta. I boiled a pot of water and added lots of salt and about 2 Tablespoons of EVOO. Once it was boiling, I added the angel hair pasta. I cooked it for about 6 minutes until it was al dente and drained it.



While the pasta was going, I cut half an onion. I was going to add the whole thing but omg it was so potent! My eyes were burning like pee so I only cut one half.



I put a little bit of the chili oil in a pan and cooked the onions on low to medium heat.



I used a can of diced and peeled tomatoes (lazy to pick tomatoes and cut them myself). I tried to get out as much liquid as I could, but I figured, any excess water would be ok since I was going to toss it in with the pasta anyway. I added the tomatoes to my onions and added 1/4 cup of dried parsley flakes. The recipe calls for fresh parsley, but all I had were dried.



Once the onions, tomatoes, and parsley were mixed well, I added shrimp. I just bought a package of little shrimps that were already peeled and deveined, I think it was less than $3 worth.





Once my onion, tomato, shrimp, and parsley mixture was combined and cooked through, I put 1/2 cup of the chili oil I created earlier into a large bowl and squeezed the juice of 1 lemon in.



I dumped my noodles in and topped it with the onion/shrimp mixture.



I used a spoon and fork and mixed everything in the bowl together. It took me a while because I think I should have used a bigger bowl. I had to toss quite a few times to get all the noodles covered. Then, I added some sea salt and dried red pepper flakes. I like things spicy, so I added more red pepper flakes to my taste.



Once everything tasted good, I plated some for myself and topped with grated parmesan cheese. Ta Da!!!



I was really pleasantly surprised! I like the heat that comes through with a little hint of the lemon-y citrus. It was full of flavor, and I think it was a good call to add the tomatoes and onion.

If I were to make this recipe again, I would suggest using the whole onion and using more shrimp (maybe 1/2 pound - 3/4 pounds). I like more filling in my pastas than noodles typically. I don't think I realized how much pasta the 1lb box would yield. However, if this was made as more of a side dish, I think it would be ok.

The recipe can feed A LOT! I ate a big bowl and Lisa had some as well, but I have a giant bowl of it left! I think I'll plan on serving it tomorrow as a pasta side dish for the superbowl party.

A - Almond Amaretto Cookies

I should get bonus points for using 2 A's in the first recipe of my challenge. I'm pretty proud of myself, I almost forgot about this project... haha it must have been some form of hypothermia from last weekend.

So, Almond Amaretto cookies (try saying that 5 times). I took some recipes that I read online and made a few tweaks to make them almost a fusion of the traditional chinese almond cookies and an italian almond cookie.

The Ingredients

* 1 softened stick of butter (1/2 cup)
* 1/2 cup white sugar
* 1 egg
* 3/4 cup ground almonds
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 2 tsps amaretto liqueur
* 1/2 tsp pure almond extract

For this recipe, I preheated the oven to 400 degrees F.

For the almonds, I only had a container of mixed roasted unsalted nuts, so I picked out a bunch of almonds and ground them up in the Magic Bullet until I had about 3/4 cup. I think you can use up to 1 cup of ground almonds, but it was getting hard picking up the almonds at the bottom haha



I started by softening the butter by leaving it out at room temperature, but then I got busy with work, then had dinner and totally forgot about it! I think I left it out from 2pm to 10pm. Hopefully it was safe to use.

So we cream the butter with the 1/2 cup of sugar



Then we add the egg once the butter and sugar mixture is smooth and creamy



I used a bottle of Amaretto liquor that I got from Trader Joe's. It was like $6.99, pretty cheap so I don't know how good it is, but I think it works for baking.



So we add 2 teaspoons of the Amaretto liquor and the ground almonds to our mixture



After all the ground almonds and Amaretto are mixed in, slowly incorporate the 1 cup of flour. I incorporated 1/4 cup at a time and scraped the sides to get it all in.



Mix all these ingredients well and then I added some almond extract for some additional almond oomph!



This is what my batter looked like in the end, so you can see there are little bits of almond throughout. nom!



I took the teaspoon I used for the amaretto to measure out drops of batter and dumped them on a cookie sheet I lined with foil. I use foil because I try to reduce my cleanup as much as possible (I'm lazy to do any more dishes than necessary)



I shaped each mound into more roundish shapes and topped each of the mounds with an almond. Again, I was lazy to dig deep to get the almonds at the bottom of the jar, so I ended up using some raw sliced almonds that I had laying around.

kinda embarrassing, u can see the bottom of my oven, so gross.



I baked the cookies at 400 degrees F for 8 minutes. They came out a little whiter than I expected, but they still tasted good. Not too sweet and a nice subtle almond flavor in a soft cookie. :)



I think this recipe should yield about 24 - 30 cookies if you make them about 1 tsp size like I did. I only made 12 for this blog entry, so I have some batter left which I refrigerated. I'll update this blog later if the results of the refrigerated batter varied in any way. Yay for my first accomplished recipe. :)