Homemade Crème Brûlée

Crème brûlée is an unpretentious dessert that's simple yet incredibly rich - the little black dress of desserts if you will.  I've come to expect a rich, creamy layer contrasted with a snappy disc of burnt sugar that cracks beautifully when introduced to a spoon.  I've never been tempted to try crème brûlée in Seoul because it's a dessert that, in this society, is sure to command a high price tag.  The story traversed down the usual path - I ended up making my own.

Fudge Puddles

Every time I've made these fudge puddles, they've disappeared.  They're essentially a cup-shaped peanut butter cookie filled with fudge.  It's the embodiment of the classic combination of peanut butter and fudge, and though they look like they'd be a ton of work, they're actually quite easy to make and popular with the masses.

Jalapeno Bread in a Rice Cooker

Not made in China.

I was curious to try baking in a rice cooker because what is a rice cooker but a container which emits heat semi-evenly from all directions?  Like Alton Brown or like anyone who lives in a small apartment, I'm all about multi-functional appliances.  A rice cooker is a surprisingly versatile appliance.  I had already figured out how to make yogurt out of both my rice cooker and crockpot.  I really wanted to know if it would bake bread.

Apple Brownies from Surplus Apples

Fruit prices are outrageous in Korea - so outrageous that every time I walk by a seedy fruit truck where an ajushi with one leg is yelling at you to buy kiwis, I actually do it.  And that's how I ended up with a giant potato sack of apples.

I love apples, but I've been spoiled.  Growing up, I ate through every kind of apple there is.  In Korea, there is one apple - the Fuji apple.  No Granny Smiths, no Red Delicious, no Gala, no Honey Crisp, no Macintosh, no, no, no.

Staring at a colossal bag of racially uniform apples growing squishier each day made me wring my hands in worry, waving apples in my sister's face and accusing her of not eating her share...it was time to scour the internet for some way to bake these apples to freedom.

"Whey" Freshly Baked Bread

This is bread I've made before using whey.

I love bread.  Low-carb diets work really well on me because most of my diet is bread.  Take that out, and I'm basically eating ice cubes and really big gusts of air.  Anyway, there are few things in life as delicious as butter slowly melting on hot-out-of-the-oven bread.

Banana Bread Featuring Homemade Butter

There are few baked goods in the world that can take a fruit and make it taste even more like that fruit.  Banana bread is one such baked good.  Once you're done baking up a loaf, your entire apartment will scream of the deliciousness that is banana bread.  I envy those who walk into a kitchen with their clean nostrils and fill 'em with the love-stank of banana bread.  It's not something the baker can experience, and that experience alone is a gift of love and sacrifice.

Anyway, the problem I seem to encounter here in Korea is that bananas tend to go from yellow to brown and covered in fruit flies in just a few days.  The best way to use them up is to make banana bread.

New York Bagels in Seoul

The best bagels I've found in Seoul were at Dunkin' Donuts and Costco.  It was amazing because they tasted just like the bagels that sit in a bag on the grocery store shelf back home.  And with enough cream cheese, they taste alright.

So instead of whining about the lack of good bagels in Korea, I made some.  Chewy and a just a tad crunchy on the outside; soft, moist, and flavorful on the inside.  These bagels are amazing fresh out of the oven with some butter.  And when they're toasted with some homemade cream cheese?  OMFG.

Vanilla Extract

I've been experimenting with different ways to substitute for vanilla extract here in Korea given its scarcity. After receiving bits of advice here and there and googling my fingers raw, here's what I've come up with: