pomelo curd crème brûlée

Is it "un-American" to not hand out candy during Halloween? My parents and I wrestled with the idea for a solid 3 minutes before deciding that it wasn't and went to our favorite celebratory restaurant far away from home (just in case the trick-or-treaters followed us). If karma is a thing, it sure hasn't hit me yet because I'm sitting here at my desk with a smile and cup of crème brûlée that I smuggled from the buffet line. You know when a crème brûlée is good when it is felony-worthy good. 

And while the crème brûlée I had at the restaurant was the inspiration for this recipe, I didn't want to just copy it. I wanted to make an elevated crème brûlée, one that after your first bite you can't stop eating until all the cows and chickens say enough is enough. The resulting concoction, the convergence of a pumelo sale at the store, my experience at the restaurant, and the all-important cow-chicken factor, was this Pumelo Curd Creme Brulee. No need to thank me. Just enjoy. 

scrambled eggs and tomato | a childhood favorite

Those of you who have scoured cookbooks and websites in search of a quick and easy recipe for the weekdays and nights, exposing yourself to computer viruses whilst scraping the dark underbelly of the internet, scour no more. Often times the best things in life are the simplest, case and point, the humble scrambled eggs and tomato. After reading the comments you guys left me on my social media (links in the sidebar), I learned that many of you also grew up eating this dish. Some of you suggested adding onions while others emphatically yelled "witchcraft" from their rooftops. While suggestions are encouraged they aren't necessary because today we're sticking with the crowd-pleaser. Passed on to my momma from her dad and generations before him, this dish needs no accoutrements or augmentations. Remember, the simplest things are often the best. 

While I'll admit it was difficult to shoot this dish because of it's somewhat brain-like features, the poorly taken photography in no way degrades the deliciousness of the recipe. Because this is so easy to make and can be achieved with only basic refrigerator staples, this is a dish you can prepare whenever you want in whatever mental state you're in. On a completely unrelated note, this is the perfect hangover food. I know this not by experience so one need not call the Center for Underaged Drinking. My point is nostalgia can be had by you whenever you'd like in less than five minutes. Cheers!

buttermilk buckle + grape + blueberry + streusel

Confession Time ... there were no laboratories, nor any scientific agricultural breakthroughs, simply put no Grapeberry, I lied. I deceited you and since the time I last wrote I have been feeling an excruciating  amount of guilt. It's a good thing I have this cake consoling me, unfeigned in its generosity and care for my situation, lending its moist, fruity, buttery self to my buckleless albatross. Unless...perhaps I did you all a favor. Isn't our world filled with enough sadness. What is this world lacking but a new genetically engineered fruit to keep our fruit bowls and buttermilk buckles exciting...yeah I'm not even going to try. Forgive me? :-)

the best lemon bars in the world - a classic perfected

Lemon Bars are one of those classic desserts you can find in about any of the supermarkets these days. What's different about my lemon bars is they actually taste good. I know, surprising (not the part about my lemon bars tasting good, the part about lemon bars tasting good at all). Sweet without being cloyingly so, buttery without being too rich, and certainly not dense. If I were to use one word to describe these lemon bars it would be, perfect. The dilemma chefs have always had when making lemon bars, was getting a firm enough top, without sacrificing a crispy bottom. With this recipe you won't have to give up any of that. This is the perfect summer dessert, gift, or picnic item for your next special occasion (or just for everyday eating). It's absolute perfection in a bar, so let's get started (before I go off on one of my tangents). By the way, did I tell you that I finally got a twitter account. @chefchowblog #awesome #madcookingskills #i'mnotmadatyou #i'msorry #don'tcry #nowyou'remakingmecry. Why didn't you stop me!

Like many of our recipes we'll start with the butter. You want to cut the butter into small chunks and put it on a plate in the freezer to harden. Whenever you're baking, often times the temperature of your butter will dictate the success of whatever you're making. Recipes that call for melted butter (i.e. cookies) are intended to have a chewy outcome. Desserts that require the butter to be cold (i.e. pies, pastries) mean the end product will one of these three, crispy, crunchy, or flaky (it could even be all three, oh my). The more you chow.

strawberry pavlova trifle

The resurfacing heated debate of whether pavlova originated in New Zealand or Australia was really the inspiration for this week's chow creation. Just kidding - I just really like yummy things and this was surely that and even more! This pavlova layered dessert is not only delicious, but it is also texturally and aesthetically delectable. The crunchy chewiness of the pavlova, layered between smooth creamy pudding and accented with fresh sweet strawberries. This is to die for - literally, if God told me this was his welcome gift I would die right here right now (I'm just kidding, please don't kill me now. At least let me finish the post). 

To kick off this three component dessert I'm going to separate some eggs. You only want the whites. If you get just the smidgiest bit of yolk in your whites consider it breakfast and start over. The yolk will prevent the whites from whipping and you'll be standing over your pavlova for hours wondering why it stays flat. Reserve 3 of the egg yolks for the vanilla pudding. 

raspberry jam swirled buns - a surprising experimental success!

Imagine splicing one of these in half and spreading warm butter on its toasty side. Actually, that's a good idea, and it's breakfast, hold on one second...

okay I'm back. If there are any typos it's because I have a roll in my left hand. I love sweet rolls, in fact before this blog I used to make all types of bread, baguettes, brioche, pita (I'll try to put out more yeast based recipes in the future). But I think my favorite in terms of the all important simplicity to reward ratio has to be the humble roll. Not only are these easy to make, but everyone craves over these. Unlike the store bought rolls which are dense and cakey, my buns are perfect - pun intended. These are fluffy, airy, full of flavor, and most of all you'll look like you spent hours to make these. Well actually you did but it's not a lot of work just waiting, I'll get to that below. 

lemon blueberry ricotta pound cake

I made this on Thursday and I s#!t you not when I woke up the next day, the plate was in the sink and all was left were crumbs. The lemon is so fresh and fragrant, being so abundant in this peak lemon picking season. The blueberries are also perfect, juicy and plump studded throughout this moist cake. And we'll talk about this more down below but the ricotta cheese gives this cake such a moistness, which also lets us cut on the butter. Moist, tasty, and low-fat, what more could you ask for. 

Ah, lemon, blueberry, and ricotta, such a classic flavor combination and it works beautifully in this cake. But you may be thinking, cheese in a dessert? Well do you like cannolis? Of course you do, and you can thank the italians for figuring out that ricotta is the secret to creamy, rich, delicious desserts. 

flat and chewy chocolate chipped cookies

Stop! Slowly read these next sentences with all your might and attention. This...is...the...best...chocolate...chip...cookie...recipe...in...the...world. Got it? Good. Okay, I think we all know that nothing is better than a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie. Chewy, chocolatey, and warm. Am I right or am I right. But no one likes those doughy dry mounds of crap people call cookies these days. That's why this week I'm bringing back the good ol' days with America's favorite cookie, The Chocolate Chip. 

Howard Taft. I approve of these cookies. In fact my pockets are full of them.

The best types of chocolate chip cookies are the flat and chewy ones. I even prefer them to be slightly bendable. That's the hallmark for a really good choco-chip. Not too sweet, and dotted with chips of chocolate. This recipe is all that and more. If you follow this recipe to the period, I can guarantee that you will be presented with a batch of the most perfect, classic chocolate chip cookies you have ever tasted and or seen. The ones Ben Franklin, and Howard Taft would be proud of. And you can be sure President Taft had a few cookies in his day.

momma's sour cream cookies - well how i imagined them to be

Despite the title my Mom never made these, but that doesn't mean I can't make them for myself. 

After those Monday Night Football Parties, don't you always have leftover sour cream. Whether it's from that delicious five-layer dip, or those disgusting vegetable platters, I know there will always have extra. And up until now I didn't know what to do with it. Then I thought about cookies, you can make cookies with anything. These cookies are refreshing, simple but delicious and only take a few minutes to prepare, and eat the whole batch. Okay, well I'm not sure about the eating the whole batch part but make them I did, and they did not disappoint. 

lime curd - easy peasy lime...wait

What do you do when you're mom's co-worker gives you a bag of limes? You cannot make the proverbial lemonade, but you can make this delicious chow-fection! Perfect for filling pies, or even breakfast with toast, this lime curd sure does it all. Did I mention it was easy too. You don't need any fancy equipment, nor do you need to be a very good chef either. If you can follow directions you can make this crud...I mean curd. You don't know how many times I'm going to make that mistake in this blog. This curd has a pudding-like consistency with a light lime flavor. Absolutely deliciouso. So scroll on down so we can get started!

To begin I'm going to separate two yolks and two eggs into a small bowl. Please do not throw those whites away. Every time you waste your whites a whale from Wisconsin wallows. I'm not sure if that made much sense but the alliteration was very satisfying. The point is you can use those whites for macarons, or even a breakfast omelet. 

the best zucchini bread - that's in the world

After staying up all night to watch the ball drop, or in some places a large shoe, a giant peach, or a live possum, you want something super delicious to wake up to. And this, is that somethin' something. Not only is this really tasty, but you can prepare this days before you want to serve. Actually I'll say my peace now, it does taste better if you wait for like two days. The bread sinks down into the tin, and the flavors meld together, I think it's just superb. But please don't wait more than two days because then you will have a different kind of green thing running through your bread, and it won't be the zucchini.

strawberry mousse chiffon cake - brought to you from the mystical lands of atlanta!

Chiffon sounds interesting right? I bet it was the only reason why clicked this link. Well sorry to disappoint you but, a chiffon cake is nothing but a sponge cake in French. Disappointing right…wait, I bet you don’t even know how to make a sponge cake. Hypocritess ;) This cake is light and fluffy, layered with my Five-Second Strawberry Mousse, and covered with whipped cream. For the holidays I flew to Atlanta to see how the great bakers there bake their cakes, and to also share this delicious chow-fection to the entire world (otherwise known as the 5 people who have visted this blog and my immediate family). The recipe demonstrated in this blogpost is none other than of famous Chinese chef, Victor Hsu, also known as my uncle, and also referred to as “who is that guy?” Well you would be right, he is a nobody, but there’s one thing he is known for, Chiffon Cakes. After smuggling from Taiwan the secrets to making perfectly light, fluffy chiffon, he perfected it with his own mad scientific flair. Littered below are his many pro tips on how to make a perfect chiffon cake that will surely impress your relatives and friends this holiday season. So without two twists of a peacock’s feathers let’s get bakin’ so we can get cakin’.

Uncle Vic begins his recipe by weighing out his dry and wet ingredients. For me I don't have a digital scale, or any scale for that matter, so in the recipe below I converted all the measurements to volume, however a part of me agrees that weight measurements would be more precise. Once your mise en place is complete we can begin to mix the meringue for the cake. The thing with a chiffon cake is that it doesn't have baking soda nor baking powder in the batter. For a cake to rise you need one of the two components, a mechanical leavener, or a chemical leavener. Usually in cakes and cookies we add baking soda or powder, these are called chemical leaveners. When they are baked they cause a chemical reaction in the batter that rises the cake. In things like puff pastry, or chiffon cake there are certain components in the dessert that cause it to rise. In puff pastry it is because of all the layers of fat and flour that expand when they're stack on top of each other. In chiffon cakes the air pockets in the meringue expand with steam causing the cake to rise. These are called mechanical leaveners. 

crunchy chewy orange chocolate cookies - happy national cocoa day!

Instead of the traditional single bite shot, I decided to go with the more daring double bite.

As you all know on December 12th it's National Cocoa Day! So in recognition of this truly special food holiday, I decided to make a chow-fection that embodied everything I love about cocoa, while presenting it in a shape we all know and love. Thus the birth of the Crunchy Chewy Orange Chocolate Cookie, and the extra fold in my love handle. But we can work that off later however there's no better excuse to make these cookies other than right now. Using a little bit of my scientific knowledge I was able to combine my two favorite textures to create a cookie unlike any you have ever tried, so stay tuned for the secret shortly. But without further-ado let's get started! 

To begin I'm going to whisk together my All Purpose (AP) flour, my salt, baking powder, and cocoa powder. You don't need to dirty a sifter when whisking proves just as effective. 

assorted macaroons - welcome to america

Oh boy! Macaroons! I sure love me some of those mini french sandwich cookies that are soooo in style right now. You're really showing us how to make those Chef Chow? EH-UH! That was supposed to be the sound a buzzer makes. No I'm showing you how to make the american coconut macaroons. You know the you always shy away from because they're way too sweet macaroons. The only difference is, mine are delicious!

Now I know not all of you think that they're overly sweet but I do, and so do the members of my weekly, overly sweet macaroons club. But you don't have to worry because I found two tricks to cut the sweetness of the macaroons so they taste just perfect! The first trick is to toast your coconut flakes before you actually bake the cookies. This way the initial sugar from the sweetened coconut gets caramelized, and all you're left with is a deep coconut flavor. My second tip is to add different flavorings. Macaroons are often too sweet because there's no flour or butter to absorb the sugar. Adding citrus or nuts can balance the flavor, and not to mention show people that you aren't just a one-trick pony. 

chewy fudgy brownies - just as the name suggests

This is a message to every home cook out there. Every time you buy a brownie mix from the supermarket God blinds a puppy. See how cute he is. He can't. 

And why would you ever want to buy a brownie mix when brownies are so easy to make yourself! Who knows what kinds of yucky stuff they put in those mixes and in the end they aren't really worth it. If you want to cut a year off your life don't you want to do it in style. Of course you do, you aren't stupid...or are you?