A Treasured Recipe Collection

More than cookbooks, I have inherited from my grandaunt, Adelaida Lopez Locsin Ledesma, her recipe collection. It was handed down to me when she got ill by my grandmother who took care of her as I was constantly with them through the years and my Lola Adeliada had no children.

Her recipes are written in our Assumption handwriting. There are other recipe cards include and cut out from magazines. These are stored in two index boxes, one of which was for desserts and the other for dishes like our award-winning Lumpiang Shanghai that won in Cook's Magazine before.

This recipe collection she had placed at her side table. It was like opening a treasure box, then and now, as the recipes that are part of this collection are tried and tested, and even has notes to reflect any changes and about the substitute ingredients and changes in procedure. If she would copy a recipe from a cookbook, it would indicate at the upper left hand corner the name of the cookbook, the author, and the page.

These recipes are top secret and I am only allowed to share these with my children, as per what my grandmother had told me to do, though I did make an exception with two recipes as my relative, Mike, yearned for his grandmother's, Encarnita Murphy (who was their sister), one of which is Arroz a la Valenciana that is presented as a roasted chicken stuffed with flavored rice and served on a bed of rice and the other one of chicken corn soup with sili leaves.

There is one recipe though that she never wrote down which I mastered by being always in her kitchen. The leche flan that can be made to be as big as a Selecta ice cream can is the most awesome one you will ever find. My girls and I know it by heart. 

As I go back to the food industry after concentrating for many years online to be more 'offline', I cherish and add to this treasured recipe collection of my grandaunt.

Be Cavity FREE with Colgate Free Dental Kits!

Colgate is the Filipino generic name for toothpaste. If one goes to a sari-sari store and asks for Colgate, the sales person would ask what brand. That is how popular Colgate is in the Philippines and even though there are a lot of other brands, Colgate is trusted.

Free Dental Kits

February is Oral Health Month according to the Colgate Facebook Page and they are encouraging everyone to take a pledge towards having Zero Cavities. This concern is especially targeted for children for the parents to teach them how to brush their teeth regularly. With this ongoing freebie, one has to pledge to brush and do other things for good oral health care. Do you want a free dental kit?

Click here to get a FREE COLGATE DENTAL KIT

Please share and tweet this post! 

In Search of the Perfect Gooey Chewy Brownie

There are two kinds of brownies which are cakey or fudgy which is also know as chewy.

Then, there is the gooey kind that oozes with goodness. As I go forth and search for the perfect gooey brownie, there have been a few batches made that are fails. Edible but not lovable, the first one that I made was a hit as what I did was adjust the baking time by lessening it.

This first method of reducing the baking time works. The way to do this with any ordinary brownie recipe is to bake it and check for doneness with a toothpick. Insert the toothpick at the edge and that can come out clean or with a few crumbs - and the middle part should still be rather wet so the toothpick won't come out clean.

The next method I read about was to add an extra egg. A brownie recipe typically has two eggs so you must make it 3. This was done is a Martha Stewart brownie recipe and she also used a recipe with less flour which is another method that I read about. I love Martha but I haven't tried this recipe yet as what I am looking for is a brownie that is oozing with goodness from the middle, with that decadent chocolate spilling out when sliced.

I did find a recipe that had condensed milk in the brownie and that looked absolutely wonderful yet it was topped with a whole load of chocolate chips that seems overwhelmingly sweet and that is not what I yearned for nor what is a must for me to sell as I don't want to make ordinary brownies as I desire awesome ones. yet for now, the first method which is to reduce the baking time does yield chewy, delicious brownies that are adored by everyone.