Montage

In honor of the DVD release of Up, I have decided to post one last recipe inspired by the movie. This time, I have decided to adapt a dessert recipe to the montage in the beginning of the movie.

I had invited my friends over for tea and had no idea what baked good to make. The baked good couldn't be too heavy and had to balance with the tea. I remember seeing these cute petit fours at a shop window a few days ago and decided to make those for tea. They were made of sponge cake and the jam wasn't as sweet as frosting. I had made about two dozen or more little cakes and decorated them to match the montage. Petit fours are great for representing the montage because they are very easy to decorate. The petit fours are also light which matches the tone of most of the montage.

Ingredients for the cakes:

• 1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
• 1/4 cup shortening
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup milk
• 3 egg whites
• Strawberry jam (any other jam will do)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and lightly flour a 9-inch square baking pan. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, shortening and sugar. Beat in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk. In a small mixing bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form; gently fold into batter. Pour batter into prepared baking pan and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Remove cake from oven and let cool in pan for 10 minutes. Turn cake out onto a plate or cooling rack; then chill cake in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Remove cake from refrigerator. Cut a thin slice off each side of chilled cake. Slice the cake horizontally into four pieces to create the different layers. Cut cake into 1-1/4-inch (3.175 cm) squares. Place squares 1/2 inch (1.27 cm) apart on a cooling rack over a 15 x 10 x 1-inch (38cmX25cmX2.5cm) pan. Place a thin layer of strawberry jam in between each layer.

Ingredients for icing:

• 9 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• Food coloring, (optional)

Directions:

Combine all icing ingredients in the top of a double boiler. Heat over boiling water to lukewarm. Pour icing over tops and sides of petit fours. Once they are set, they should be coated with icing again.

Thoughts?

Do you agree with my interpretation of the montage? What other mini desserts could be used to represent the montage? Please leave a comment below!

Dug

Dug, one of the main dogs in this movie, immediately takes a liking to Carl despite having been with Muntz for a long time. His loyalty to Carl really intrigued me as most dogs usually take a while before obeying a master. I wondered if there were other dogs that followed Dug's example.

My dear friend, Beth, called me up yesterday wondering if I wanted to go jogging with her the following morning. She had made a resolution to jog every other morning and she followed that routine until about 5 weeks after New Years. She jogs with her dog most of the time. I remember her complaining about how her dog no longer liked the treats she bought for him. So I decided to bake these wonderful dog treats for him to have during our jog. He loved them! Beth told me that whenever she invites me to go jogging, I better have a bag of these treats in hand.

Ingredients for Peanut Butter Dog Treats:

• 6 cups of whole wheat flour (if your dog is allergic to wheat, try oat flour or brown rice flour)
• 2 1/2 cups of water
• 2 1/2 cups of natural peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons of canola oil
• 2 tablespoons blackstrap molasses

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine the water, peanut butter, canola oil, and blackstrap molasses in a bowl. Slowly add in the flour until a sticky, thick dough forms. Then, roll out the dough to the desired thickness and use a cookie cutter to cut out fun shapes. I had found a bone cookie cutter and used that but any shape will do. If you don't have any cookie cutters on hand, you can use a pizza roller to cut out small squares. Bake in the oven for about 25-30 minutes. They should be dry an crunchy when they come out of the oven. Let the treats cool overnight. Keep them in an airtight container and the treats should last several weeks.

Thoughts?

What did you think about my interpretation of Dug? Do you have any dog treat recipes you would like to share or would better suit Dug? Leave a comment below!

Kevin

Kevin, the female exotic bird the Russell incorrectly names, has very bright feathers. She is the elusive bird that Muntz is looking for. Russell encounters him when Kevin sneaks in bites of his chocolate. Her goal was to find food for her babies.

I was going to my sister's house for our monthly dinner. She is the better chef while I'm the better baker. I decided to revisit our childhood by making chocolate chip cookies. But I decided to substitute the chocolate chips for M&Ms to provide the pops of color that can be associated with Kevin. I also had to choose a dessert with chocolate because Kevin loves chocolate.

Ingredients for M&M Cookies:

• 1 cup of brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of white sugar
• 1 cup of shortening
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups of M&Ms

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix sugar, eggs, shortening, and vanilla. Once the wet ingredients are thoroughly mixed together, add in flour, salt, and baking soda. Once a sticky dough forms, add in 3/4 cup of the M&Ms. Drop teaspoonfuls of dough onto a cookie sheet. Space them out so the cookies have room to grow and they won't combine with other cookies during the baking process. Slightly push the rest of the M&Ms into each dough ball. Bake at 350 degrees for 11 minutes. If you want chewy cookies, bake for 9 minutes.

Thoughts?

Did you like my interpretation of Kevin? Any other colorful desserts come to mind? Please leave a comment!

Russell

Russell, the Wilderness Explorer that Carl unwillingly allows to join him, is a young kid and his exuberant nature opens up Carl who has closed himself off from the world since Ellie's death. Cupcakes are a great way to incorporate kids into the baking process and I have a feeling Russell would enjoy cupcakes as much as any other kid.

Tomorrow is the Fourth of July and I was going to join my family with our annual picnic at Golden Gate Park. There were going to be a lot of kids at the event as the invitation included extended family as well. I decided to make a batch of plain vanilla cupcakes for the kids to decorate. I pre-made batches of frosting in several different colors so the kids could go crazy decorating. I also went to Michael's to pick up sprinkles in different shapes. I'll be bringing nuts and mini chocolate chips as well. I figure some of the older kids would want to join in on the fun so I'll probably be making more batches of these vanilla cupcakes. Cupcakes really allow the creative juices to flow.

Ingredients for Vanilla Cupcakes

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 egg whites from large eggs
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 cup 2% milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, shortening, milk and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Mix at low speed for 2 minutes. Scrape bowl. Add egg whites and mix at high speed until fluffy and smooth, approximately 2 minutes. Fill liners 1/2 to 2/3 full of batter. Do not overfill. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pans then remove from pan, and place on wire racks to cool completely.

Ingredients for Vanilla Buttercream:

• 2 cups (230 grams) confectioners sugar (icing or powdered sugar), sifted
• 1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2tablespoons milkor light cream
• Assorted food colors(if desired)

Directions:

In an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter until smooth and well blended. Add the vanilla extract. With the mixer on low speed, gradually beat in the sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the milk and beat on high speed until frosting is light and fluffy (about 3-4 minutes). Add a little more milk or sugar, if needed. Tint the frosting with desired food color.

Thoughts?

Do you like my interpretation of Russell? What other kid-friendly recipes are there? Leave a comment below!

Charles Muntz

Charles Muntz is the main villain of this film. His goal is to capture an exotic bird, Kevin, to prove his credibility. He has gotten rid of people who have threatened his goal. For this, he seemed like a sour person so I had decided to make a tartlet. When you hear the word "tart," you might assume the object is sour. I also chose to do a raspberry tart because raspberries are traditionally sour. The tarts look tame enough, which is how we see Muntz in the beginning. But once you bite into them, you are hit with the sourness of the raspberries which represents the part where Muntz reveals his true nature.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons of redcurrant jelly
• 200 grams of reduced-fat crème fraîche
• 100 grams Greek yogurt
• 50 grams icing sugar, sifted
• handful basil leaves, roughly chopped
• 8 pre-cooked individual tart cases
• 300 grams raspberries

Directions:

First, make the glaze. Place the redcurrant jelly with a small splash of water into a pan and heat gently until melted. Do not boil. Sieve, cover with clingfilm that is touching the top of the jelly and allow to cool. Beat together the crème fraîche and yogurt, then stir in the icing sugar and basil. Pipe or spoon in enough of the mixture into the tartlet cases to fill the pastry. Arrange the raspberries on to the tarts. Brush with the cooled glaze, taking care not to touch the pastry, and repeating until it forms a thick, shiny layer. Leave to set. Serve alone or with a drizzle of raspberry purée.

Thoughts?

Do you like my interpretation of Muntz? Would you have picked a tart to represent Muntz? Leave a comment below!

Ellie

A few days ago, I had posted my first recipe for my new project, Macarons with White Chocolate Ganache for Carl Fredricksen. For my next recipe I had decided to tackle Ellie. She's a quirky girl, the opposite of Carl. But they suit each other and they live a long happy life together. Suddenly, Ellie becomes ill and passes away before Carl and he is left heartbroken. I had decided to do macarons but with pistachios instead of almonds. And to give her dessert a bigger kick, I decided to fill the macarons with a lemon buttercream frosting.

Ingredients for Pistachio Macarons:

• 1 part egg whites
• .6 parts almond meal
• .65 parts pistachios
• 1.6 parts icing sugar
• 0.8 parts granulated sugar

Directions:

Combine the almond meal, pistachios, and icing sugar in a food processor until well blended. In a separate bowl, whip up the egg white with a hand mixer and slowly add the granulated sugar once the egg whites look foamy. Mix the egg whites until they form a glossy meringue. Fold in the nut/sugar mixture until the batter is thoroughly mixed. The batter should ribbon for about 30 seconds. Any less and the batter is in danger of becoming runny. Fill a pastry bag with the mixture and pipe out macaron shells that are one-inch in diameter on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Space out the macaron shells so they don't have a chance of touching during the baking process. Let the shells sit out for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes. Let them cool and remove from the parchment paper. Place one big tablespoon of buttercream on one shell and top with another.

Ingredients for Lemon Buttercream:

• 1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 100 grams of sugar
• 2 large egg whites
• 1 splash of lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon of lemon zest

Directions:

Put the sugar and egg whites in a large heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir constantly and heat the mixture for about 3 minutes. Transfer to another bowl and beat the mixture with a hand mixer on medium speed. Beat for about 5 minutes or until it becomes glossy. Add the butter, one tablespoon at a time, until the buttercream is smooth. Then beat for another 7 minutes until it becomes a thick and very smooth buttercream. Add in the lemon juice and lemon zest. Fold until the lemon juice and lemon zest are fully incorporated.

Thoughts?

What do you think? Would you have chosen this recipe to represent Ellie? What other quirky desserts would have suited Ellie? Leave a comment please!

Carl Fredricksen

To those of you who haven't seen Up, I highly recommend you do. It's a great movie for the entire family to see.

Carl is a very dull senior citizen in the beginning. He had lost the love of his life and now he's being bombarded by a corporation who wants to destroy his house so they can build a fancy new building. He decides to blow up hundreds of balloons so he can travel to Paradise Falls and fulfill his deceased wife's dream.

Carl is a very simple person, as evidenced by his side of the family at his wedding in the beginning of the movie. His color palette is mainly filled with neutral colors: brown, black, white and grey. However, he is a complex person. He initially resists Russell's presence but gradually opens up to him. I decided his dessert would be a French macaron. Macarons look simple but they are very hard to make. I remember it took me several botched batches before I was able to come up with a recipe that yielded decent-looking macarons time after time.

I chose to do a Basic Macaron with White Chocolate Ganache.

Ingredients for Macaron Shell:

• 1 part egg white
• 1.3 parts almond meal
• 1.6 parts icing sugar
• 0.8 parts granulated sugar

You'll see that I didn't give exact measurements for the ingredients. I've realized that it's a pain when you want 90 grams of egg white, that might take up 2 1/2 eggs and then you're stuck with more egg white than you need. So this formula is made to work for any amount of egg whites. If you used 50 grams, just multiply 50 by 1.3 for the amount of almond meal needed for this recipe.

Directions:

Combine the almond meal and icing sugar in a food processor. Combine until well blended. You can just sift the ingredients but this makes it a lot easier. In a bowl, mix the egg whites with a hand mixer and slowly add in the granulated sugar until the egg whites form a glossy meringue. Don't add in the granulated sugar until the egg whites get foamy. One trick to tell if the egg whites are done is if you lift the hand mixer upside down and the peaks don't dip, you're good. Incorporate 1/3 of the almond meal and icing sugar mixture into the meringue. Slowly fold because if you overfold, the macarons will be flat. Then, incorporate the rest of the almond meal and icing sugar into the meringue. A good way to tell if the batter is done is when you lift the spatula, the batter should "ribbon" and disappear in about 30 seconds. Fill a piping bag fitted with a one-inch tip. Pipe macaron shells on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. The macaron shells should be about 1 1/2 inches in diameter and spaced apart by an inch for the macarons to grow "feet." "Feet" are the frilly things on the edges of the macaron shells once they are done baking.

Let the shells sit out for about 30 minutes to an hour, depending on your city's humidity level. In San Francisco, 30 minutes is enough for the shells to form a hard shell. If the domes aren't smooth, you can wet you finger with water and gently press down to smooth out the shell. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake the macaron shells for 15 minutes. Take them out and put on a cooling rack. Try to peel the shells off of the parchment paper and flip upside down for the rest of the cooling process. This allows the macaron insides to fill up the rest of the shell and you won't be left with a hollow shell. If the shells don't come off easily, wait a few more minutes before trying again.

I have found that different ovens yield different results so don't worry if your macarons don't come out perfect the first time. Practice makes perfect!

Ingredients for White Chocolate Ganache:

• 200 ml of heavy cream
• 420 grams of white chocolate, finely chopped

Directions:

Heat the heavy cream in a saucepan until boiling. Place the white chocolate in a microwave safe bowl. Pour the cream over the chocolate and let sit for two minutes to allow the chocolate to soften up. Stir the ganache until smooth. Let the ganache thicken by letting it cool.

Preparing the Macarons:

Spread the ganache on one macaron shell. Top that macaron shell with another. Serve with tea or whatever suits your fancy.

Thoughts?

What did you think about my interpretation of Carl? What other dessert would suit Carl? Leave a comment below!

New Project!!

Hello everyone!
I watched the new Pixar film Up yesterday and I absolutely loved it! The story was very good and the characters were very entertaining but my favorite thing about the movie was the colors! Oh, the colors! When the balloons came up behind the house, I felt like a child again. After coming back from the movie theater, I craved for something sweet. I was confused at first; I had eaten Red Vines while I was watching the movie. But nonetheless, I decided to whip a batch of cookies. And while I was waiting for the cookies to cool down, I was hit with the most fantastic idea. Why don't I make desserts inspired by the movie Up? It's perfect! The characteristics of Carl and Ellie are easily translatable to dessert. The colors of the balloons created images of colorful macarons in my head. So for the next few days, I will be coming with dessert recipes based on the characters from Up. Stay tuned!