My Beer Brined Baked Chicken (Photo Tutorial + Recipe)

I get lots of raves whenever I make my beer brined chicken, and a lot of people on social media are also curious as to how the chicken tastes. To be honest, it's not really easy to describe in my case because I don't drink beer. The chicken does have this exotic taste to it which is obviously from the beer, but I can't really liken it to anything. What I can rave about though is that the chicken is so soft and tender that when freshly eaten, the meat slides off the bone. 

I don't remember when or why I started making this, but in general I just had to tweak the stuff I saw on the internet because a lot of them were either too complicated or involved grilling. This version of the chicken is baked, and the steps are simple enough for most beginners to do. I actually do this on my lazy days. 

So for this episode, I'll basically be doing a walk through as to how I do it. I'll probably put in a summary recipe at the end of this post, but in general I make my beer brined chicken in a no-measurement and pure estimation manner because it's supposedly one of the best tasting dishes that require the least amount of effort.

Bulk of the tutorial after the jump!

Cupcakes by Sonja with my BFF

Hooray for cupcakes! I recall when I first tried a Sonja's cupcake. It was about 2007 or 2008 I think, and back then, the only branch was at the fancy Boni-high branch they had. I also remember that their simpler cupcakes were only Php40-50, the most expensive being Php80-90 I think, and at that time it was also already considered very posh and fancy. I remember how back then, it was unheard of to make people pay that much for a cupcake. Sonja was the one who pioneered selling gourmet cupcakes in the Philippines if I'm not mistaken. 

I also think that it's because of her which is why it's become more 'acceptable' for people to pay Php100 for a single cupcake, with Php50 cupcakes encountered in less swanky shops or in school bake sales. 

As for the BFF part of the title, it's because my BFF Denivee and I had a date here just yesterday at their TriNoma branch. She had just come from a movie date with other friends, and I figured that she must have been full from lunch and possibly the popcorn and movie snacks that i thought that this would be a nice place where we could have a snack and have quality time (aka chika-chismis-lerler time). 

Happy Cream Puff (happy) experience

My mom is now over her Dulcinea cream puff addiction because there's a better cream puff brand in town. 

I've heard of Happy Cream Puff since way back in 2009 as during that time I was studying in a Japanese language school in Makati and after class I'd often hang out at Little Tokyo. I remember that there was this newsletter/magazine given out for free, and inside it were ads, articles, and tips for Japanese expatriates in the Philippines. Almost every issue of that magazine had ads for Happy Cream Puff. 

We never really made it because we'd often be so enamored in what Choto Stop and Little Tokyo had to offer that we barely had the time to go to Happy Cream Puff. When my classes ended in mid 2009, it was also quite impractical for folks based in the heart of QC (near TriNoma, SM North, Walter Mart, Centris, S&R and whatnot) to make a trip to the depths of Makati just for one establishment.

This is why I was so happy that during our visit to Shang plaza a few weeks ago, I saw a banner that there was already an outlet of Happy Cream Puff open and I just had to convince everyone to go there and try it. Mama was reluctant as she claims that I'm already too fat hahaha, but I convinced her to go for it because I knew that deep inside her heart was a desire for cream puffs, one of her favorite foods.

Last time we went there, we got a box of 14 with mixed puffs in it, but the caramel puffs proved to be more popular which is why we ended up getting a whole box of caramel mini puffs this time.

Baked Mussels with Cheese, Garlic and Butter (Trial and Recipe)

I may not have muscle, but at least I have mussel!

It's that time of the year. Any Pinoy in the Philippines will need to eat baked tahong, or mussel, at least at one point of the year. Since the cravings were already too strong, I decided to do something about the boxed mussels I recently got from S&R Membership. These KONO mussels are really good, they're really fat, and the aroma is well kept even if it's a frozen set of mussels. I put the box of mussles in our freezer and came back to a fragrant, mussel-smelling freezer. A mussel-smelling freezer is sooo much better than a meat blood-smelling freezer. So yeah, I'm about to share some of the photos. 

It's 350 pesos per Kg, but I think that the deal's already good enough as the mussels are New Zealand mussels and they're already in the half shell, barnacle and sand free. 

Cheese Cupcakes Trial and Recipe (from Meiji's Website)

A screenshot of the recipe selection page at meiji's website. So there are recipes for soups, mousses, cakes, desserts, and all other kinds of treats. 

For people who love to cook and can read in Japanese, going to Meiji's (the confectionery company) website  is great as there are over a hundred recipes for all sorts of dishes, from savory dishes to all sorts of sweets and cakes. What I like is that the website is Japanese but a lot of the recipes are western in nature, with a lot of the recipes having cream and cheese.

But I guess what intrigued me the most was their recipe for cheese muffins. This is because my mom has a weird fixation over  cheese muffins. While I care about ice cream, she cares about cheese muffins. My mom and I are on this mini quest to find the best recipe ever for cheese muffins-- we want the kind of muffins that are moist, cheesy, and not too sweet. We just want the perfect muffin.  

So I try out their recipe for Camembert Cheese Muffins. For those who can read Japanese, just click on the link. But to those who can't, I'll provide a skeleton translation soon. 

The English recipe for these muffins is as follows: 

Hershey's Chocolate Chip Cookies (Trial and Recipe)

Yesterday was All Saints' day here in Manila. The usual family goes to the cemetery on this day, but since we were already done with cemetery affairs the previous Sunday, we decided to do some shopping at S&R. It's not sale time, but the place was doing really well for a holiday as many families were doing their shopping. So I walk around, and to my happiness, I find Hershey's chocolate chips in one of the shelves. It was beside a bag of Ghriardelli chocolate chips 3 times its (the hershey's bag) size, but since mom doesn't want much to do with chocolate chips in the storage, she tells me to take this Hershey's bag. 

So here is this glorious bag of Hershey's chocolate chips in front of me. Just holding the bag and feeling the chips inside already makes me so very, very happy. 

Ube Cupcakes Trial and Recipe

I've been quite wary about the recipes I've been seeing as of late as most have problems-- cupcakes that aren't moist, recipes that call for too little liquid, and so many other problems on flavor and texture. Mom has already been having problems with the products as they're too many but giving them away randomly to neighbors is not her kind of thing either. 

I saw this recipe of Ube Cupcakes on this blog called Samiwich and Addiecakes, and upon inspection of the recipe, I thought that the recipe will more or less be fine. But to ensure that there won't be an excess of leftovers that taste bad, and that everyone will want to eat this someday, I just make a half batch to be sure. And since it was such a waste to open the big oven we had, I just baked them in our toaster oven. As a mold, I put the cupcake liners in metal custard cups. This was to ensure that the product does not come out oval or lopsided.