Pai Cookery Class, Thailand

For Christmas break this year, my family visited Thailand. It sounds far away, but when you're already in Taiwan (where my parents and younger sister are currently living), it's actually only a few hours by plane. We split our time between Bangkok (the capitol city), and Koh Samui (an island).

By sampling different foods as we strolled the streets, we discovered that there is a fair amount of Thai food that we like. Since we have also learned that cooking classes and food tours are a lot of fun and a good way to experience a culture (note our Rome food tour and Chicago cooking classes), we decided to do a cooking class here.

We settled on a cooking class taught by a Thai lady, Pai, in Koh Samui. In typical Faber fashion, we embraced the local culture and rode three mopeds to the class.

As we approached, Pai waved at us, the only white people in sight. After cooling down in her dining room, we started cooking. There was a long table with little stations for each of us; we all had our own cutting board, mortar and pestle, and trays of ingredients for the three recipes. We were making stir fried vegetables, pad Thai, and either green or red curry.

First we prepped all of the ingredients. She explained what each one was and how to cut it. There were some interesting ones, like tamarind, tofu, and fish sauce. We cut the carrots into little flowers, unzipped the snow peas (I failed miserably on at least five snow peas before I understood what she meant), and ground a bunch of spices together with a mortar and pestle to make the curry sauce. Pai explained to us the difference between red, green and yellow curry: red curry (the least spicy) uses a large dried red pepper, green uses small fresh red and green peppers, and yellow curry uses  a small dried red pepper as well as some curry powder. I chose red curry and I removed all of the seeds from my chili—my curry was NOT going to burn my tongue off! My red curry turned out to be the least spicy of all of ours, which I was quite content with. Dad chose to make green chili, and it was way too spicy for me!

After prepping, we went out to the porch where there was a little stove and table for each of us. We used woks, sometimes cooking one half of a recipe then shoving that part up onto the side of the wok and cooking the rest of the recipe in the bottom of the wok before mixing it all together. It was certainly efficient! One thing that surprised me about this part was that we added sugar to all of the recipes. It makes the dishes have a sweeter flavor than I am used to in cooking. I really liked this part of the Thai food!

At the end, we sat down with our meal and ate up. I liked everything, but I think my favorite was the stir fried vegetables—the sauce was so good! Everyone had a different favorite, though. Although I wanted to, there was no way I could finish all of my food (except the vegetables, obvi).

As we left Pai gave us each a recipe book, and despite some of the strange ingredients, hopefully I will be able to recreate these dishes at home sometime! But probably not all at once, because the whole class took about two hours...and we didn't even do the preparations ourselves for some of the food, like the chicken. My whole family enjoyed this class, and when I recreate the dishes sometime, I will post the recipes here!

Here is the link to Pai's website: http://paicookerysamui.com

Buckeyes

These simple chocolate-covered peanut butter balls are a crowd pleaser for sure! Especially in Ohio...

Every year there is one Christmas cookie that we must make: pepparkakor, a.k.a. Swedish gingerbread. They're a tradition, they bring us back to our Swedish roots. Buuuuut this year there were no pepparkakor for us. None. We could find neither dark corn syrup nor cloves—two essential ingredients—in the stores in Taiwan, but since we still needed to make one more Christmas cookie, we decided try a new one.

Enter buckeyes.

We simply excluded the M&M's from the recipe on Sally's Baking Addiction, and the result was traditional buckeyes: creamy sweet peanut butter encased in a shell of rich crunchy chocolate.

(...ours aren't quite as chocolate-covered as they maybe should be to look like buckeye nuts, but we had a bit of chocolate trouble.)

A few notes on the recipe and process.

Use white, milk, semi-sweet, or dark chocolate to cover the buckeyes. Chocolate chips do not melt very well, and are not suggested—however, in a pinch, they do work. Whatever you do, do NOT add milk or water to the melted chocolate to 'loosen it up'. Trust me, it doesn't work. Instead, adding a little vegetable oil (about 1tsp. per 1 cup chocolate) to the chocolate before melting it will help it stay smoother. On the other hand, the chocolate will also take a little longer to firm up. There is no need to temper the chocolate if you are keeping the buckeyes chilled.

Making the peanut butter balls is super easy, but covering them in chocolate takes some time and practice. Use a toothpick or a dipping tool to dunk the buckeyes in the chocolate.

If you used toothpicks, after finishing chocolate-covering all of the balls, use your finger to rub over the tiny holes in the tops until they disappear.

How about a little buckeye background...

Buckeyes are made to look like horse chestnuts, also known as buckeyes. The buckeye tree is Ohio's state tree, and so it comes as no surprise that the buckeye candy is beloved in Ohio. Buckeyes are especially popular in the Christmas and football seasons.

Now, I don't really understand the Christmas part. Sure buckeyes are yummy, but are they Christmasy? Not really. I'm a strong believer in festive desserts at Christmas, especially those including peppermint or old traditions. So, I give you permission to make and eat these buckeyes whenever you want. Where does my authority come from, you may ask? Well, don't ask, just eat.

After all, don't you also think they would make a perfect cold snack on a warm day?

Buckeyes

Makes about 35 1-inch balls

Notes:

*Using chocolate chips for coating is not recommended, but works. A small amount of vegetable oil (about 1 tsp. per 1 cup chocolate) may be added to make the chocolate smoother. Using pure chocolate is best. Semi-sweet, milk, bittersweet, and white chocolate all taste good.

Recipe from: http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2015/06/22/peanut-butter-mms-truffles/

Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes

Packed with flavor, you can't go wrong with these festive cupcakes!

I've been missing cupcakes a lot lately. Last year with the cupcake business, I had cupcakes coming out of my ears, but since starting college I haven't been able to make any. Cupcakes are a labor of love in time and ingredients! However, I do have all of my supplies with me, just in case.

Thus, my holiday baking list includes: church windows, buckeyes (coming soon!), and the delicious peppermint mocha cupcakes that I saw on Sally's Baking Addiction. I picked a morning, and whipped these cupcakes up. It actually took a really long time because I knew where nothing was in my mom's new kitchen... But a few hours and two sore feet later I had a nice row of fresh cupcakes with pretty swirls of pink and white frosting. Well, some swirls were pretty—it was my first time doing two-toned frosting.

The frosting was actually some of the best I have tasted. I don't know if it was the use of cream instead of milk, the type of butter I used (salted cream), or what, but it was SO good! I may have licked my frosting spatulas clean ;)

Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes

Makes 12 cupcakes

Notes:

*Use instant coffee, not coffee granules.

*It is alright to use cake flour instead of all-purpose flour. Cake flour will make the cupcakes slightly softer.

*Buttermilk is essential. If you do not have real buttermilk, you can make a substitute:  mix 2 teaspoons white vinegar or lemon juice with 1/2 cup milk. Let sit for 5 minutes to curdle.

*Instead of heavy cream, milk or half-and-half can be used, but the frosting will not be as creamy.
*Immediately before serving, sprinkle on crushed candy canes; if done too far in advance, they will melt.

*To learn how to make swirled frosting: http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/how-to-make-swirled-frosting/

Recipe from: http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2013/11/24/peppermint-mocha-cupcakes/

Church Windows

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..."

Wait...no it's not. I'm visiting my family in Taiwan right now, where it's 70ºF and Christmas isn't really celebrated, except for a few lights. However, inside our apartment, Christmas season is in full swing: tree, presents, decorations, music, movies, and, of course, baking.

First up on the baking list was church windows, my sisters' favorite Christmas cookie. Their namesake, stained glass windows, are one of my favorite parts of visiting big old churches. Those and the pipe organs. Unfortunately, these cookies are just about the only church windows I'll find in Taiwan. There are plenty of temples here (quite cool to see, but also a little creepy), and there are a few modern churches, but it's nothing compared to Europe. But these cookies appear on our Christmas cookie plate every year almost without fail.

However, sometimes getting these cookies onto the cookie plate is a bit of a struggle. To get the stained glass design, you need mini colorful marshmallows. Not a big deal, except that they are difficult to get ahold of overseas. Hence, we have to have visitors send them at Christmas, or we resort to cutting up large marshmallows into smaller pieces.

This year, the cutting-up method did not go very well. Elena and I dumped the marshmallow pieces into the very hot chocolate mixture, started to stir, and stood there in shock as we realized that the marshmallows were melting, ruining the church window effect. After panicking for a minute, we quickly rushed the pot over to the freezer and stuffed it in before any more marshmallows could melt. Luckily we saved them just in time, and we ended up with rich, delicious, marshmallow-stained glass church windows. Lesson learned!

This recipe from my grandma Faber is simple, quick, cute, and oh-so-tasty. Even the cat was curious to see what all the fuss was about!

Church Windows

Ingredients:
12 oz. chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter
1 pkg. colored mini marshmallows*
1 cup chopped nuts, such as walnuts (optional)

Directions:
In a medium pot, melt the chocolate chips and butter together.
Let cool for about 3 minutes before stirring in the marshmallows and nuts so that the marshmallows don't melt.
Pour the mixture onto two sheets of plastic wrap in a log shape. Roll the plastic wrap around the logs, set on a cookie sheet, and chill in the refrigerator. Cut into 1/2 inch slices.

*If you do not have mini marshmallows, cut colorful large marshmallows into small pieces, about 1 cm in length and width.

Recipe from: Janet Faber