Buddakan

Buddakan

This is the second Atlantic City Restaurant Week restaurant we had lunch at. Buddakan is located in The Playground at Caesars. It is built on a 900-foot pier over the Atlantic Ocean and offers high end retailers and various restaurants and bars. This was our first trip to Buddakan and the lunch menu was great.

Buddakan

Sophia and Allen, The Two Frys

Love the decor

Allen with Buddha

Sophia

For our appetizer, we both ordered the chicken and ginger dumplings with sesame soy dipping sauce. For the main course, I ordered the wok cashew chicken with plum wine sauce and Allen got the Asian barbecued pork grilled tenderloin, Chinese broccoli, and a giant panko onion ring. For dessert, we got Zen-Ful Donuts, sweet cream, banana and chocolate sauces.

Allen with his dumpling

Chicken and ginger dumplings

Our dumplings

A peek inside a dumpling

Allen:
I had the fresh, savory and authentic Asian dumplings, unlike those fast food types you get when you order takeout. I also enjoyed my entree of barbequed pork on Chinese broccoli with a flavorful sweet sauce on the side, and a crispy panko crusted onion ring. The donut dessert was very good, and I loved the banana red bean dipping sauce.

Asian barbequed pork

Allen with his entree

Panko crusted onion ring

Yummy pork

Sophia:
The dumplings were steamed to perfection and the ginger taste was prominent and meshed great with the tender chicken, and the dipping sauce complimented each bite. My main course was the cashew chicken in a plum wine sauce and came with mushrooms, snap peas and broccoli. The mushrooms were lovely and I even gave Allen some to try and he loved them as well. The snap peas and broccoli were cooked just right, not too soft or hard, and the sauce was not overpowering and balanced the dish. They also brought white rice for us to share. The zen-ful donuts were a great dessert to round out this wonderful meal. They were crispy and covered in cinnamon sugar with a yummy cream cheese filling. I opted for the chocolate sauce and enjoyed it immensely.

Sophia and wok cashew chicken

Wok cashew chicken

White rice

Our waiter was very attentive and explained the restaurant set up as it was our first time there and graciously answered our questions. There are different dining areas, a bar, and the central table with the large Buddha statue. This central table is great for a large party of people.

Zen-Ful Donuts

Zen-Ful Donuts, a closer view

My donut drizzled with chocolate sauce

Allen's donut with banana sauce

This place is beautiful and the huge Buddha statue inside with the decor offer a nice ambiance for your dining. We had a great time. It is a great place for a date and we will definitely return. 

Allen with Buddha

Buddha statue

The grand table with Buddha

For further information, visit:
https://buddakanac.com/

-Sophia and Allen/Two Frys

Valentine's Day Cookies

Valentine's Day Cookies

Happy Valetine's Day everyone. For these Valentine's Day Cookies, I made blood orange cookies and share the recipe below, and also coffee cookies. I will share the coffee recipe at a later date as I am still perfecting it. The deep orange red color of a blood orange is very pretty and tastes like an orange mixed with berries. I used blood orange zest and freshly squeezed juice in the cookies. To boost up the citrus flavor, I added a little orange extract. See recipe below.

Yield: 3 Dozen Cookies depending on cutter size and cookie thickness

Some of my Valentine's Day Cookies

Valentine's Cookies

My Valentine's Cookies

Ingredients
5 cups King Arthur All Purpose Flour

1 1/2 cups Granulated Sugar

1 teaspoon Coarse Salt

2 cups, 4 sticks Unsalted Butter, softened

2 Large Eggs

1 teaspoon Orange Extract

1 tablespoon Zest of 2 Blood Oranges

3 tablespoons Blood Orange Juice, freshly squeezed

Rose Cookies

Rose Cookies

Lovely Rose Cookies

Directions
Whisk together flour and salt; set aside.

Cream butter and sugar in a hand held mixer or stand mixer with paddle attachment on low; 1-2 minutes. Do not overmix.

Scrape sides of bowl with spatula and mix for 10 seconds.

Valentine's Wafer Paper Designs from Fancy Flours

Love Wafer Paper Designs from Fancy Flours

Add eggs one at a time, mix until incorporated. Scrape sides of bowl and mix for 5 seconds.

Add blood orange zest, blood orange juice, and orange extract, and mix on low until incorporated, about 20-25 seconds.

Turn off mixer and add the flour mixture and cover the mixer with a large kitchen towel.

Hearts of all sizes

Envelope Cookies

Turn mixer on low speed, and mix until incorporated.

The dough is ready when it begins to clump around paddle attachment.

Form dough into a disk, cover with plastic wrap, and chill in fridge for 1-2 hours or overnight.

Yummy fruit flavor Brach's Conversation Hearts

Conversation Hearts

Conversation Hearts

Conversation Hearts

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Take half of the dough leaving unused dough covered with plastic wrap in fridge until ready to use.

Use two sheets of parchment paper with dough in between and roll with rolling pin until desired thickness is reached.

If needed, dip cutters in flour, shake off excess, and make shapes.

Heart Puzzle Cookies and Hearts

Hearts

Hearts

Place onto cookies sheets lined with parchment paper, and put in freezer for 20 minutes.

The cookies hold their shape when you do this.

Bake 8-12 minutes or until the edges have slightly browned. My cookies baked in 12 minutes.

Wait 2-3 minutes before transferring cookies on cooling racks to complete cooling.

Decorate once cookies have cooled completely.

Pretty Heart Cookies

Lip Cookie

Coffee Heart Cookies

Large Batch Royal Icing
Ingredients
8 Egg Whites

8 teaspoons Lemon Juice, freshly squeezed

12 cups Powdered/Confectioners' Sugar, sifted

1 tablespoon Clear Vanilla Extract

Blood Orange Zest

Directions
In a large bowl, sift powdered sugar; set aside.

In a bowl, add the egg whites.

In a bowl, whisk together the egg whites and lemon juice.

Transfer to stand or hand held mixer with paddle attachment and mix on high for 1-2 minutes.

Add vanilla extract and mix for 5-10 seconds.

Turn off mixer and add the powdered sugar and cover the mixer with a large kitchen towel.

Turn the mixer on low speed and beat until smooth.

Blood Orange Juice

Blood Oranges

The consistency using this recipe is thick and great for borders but I wanted a 10 second icing so I use a bottle filled with water and spritz a few times until I had the consistency I needed.

I found the best way to color royal icing is to separate the icing in plastic containers with lids according to the different colors needed for tinting. I save the containers when I get a pint of soup from Chinese takeout. They are great for icing. You can also use Tupperware.

Keep the containers or Tupperware covered until you are ready to color.

I used Gel Paste Food Color in turquoise, pink, super red, orange sunset, purple, leaf green and golden yellow.

For each color, dip a toothpick in the color and then swirl it into the icing and mix together. Repeat until you reach the desired color.

Then I transferred each color into icing bottles.

The color process

Color completed and in icing bottles

When I prep I lay out my sprinkles and used almost all of them

I outline each cookie and then immediately flood it.

Use a paintbrush or cookie stick to reach edges, and use tip of cookie stick or a toothpick to pop any air bubbles.

Add sprinkles, confetti, sugar pearls, dragees, etc... over wet icing.

If you are doing layers over the icing you need to let it dry overnight before you continue.

I use Gourmet Writer Food Decorating Pens (Certified U.S. food grade) for some of the cookie designs.

Let cookies dry overnight. This is essential so the icing does not stick together when you stack them or place in cookie tins for gifts.

For the Royal Icing Recipe visit, Joy of Baking:
http://www.joyofbaking.com/RoyalIcing.html

For the Decorated Rose Cookies visit, Sweet Sugarbelle:
http://www.sweetsugarbelle.com/2014/01/decorated-rose-cookies/

For the Easy Decorated Rose Cookies visit, Sweet Sugarbelle:
http://www.sweetsugarbelle.com/2015/04/easy-decorated-rose-cookies/

To Learn How To Make Decorated Banner Heart Cookie, visit Lila Loa:
https://www.lilaloa.com/2017/01/how-to-make-decorated-banner-heart.html

Enjoy!

-Sophia/Two Frys

Valentine's Day Sprinkle Cookies

Valentine's Day Sprinkle Cookies

Valentine's Day is almost here and these are very yummy and fun cookies to make. Anything with sprinkles is a cause for celebration. This recipe has some cream cheese and it gives the cookies a great taste combined with the almond and vanilla extracts. These cookies have a welcome crunch from the nonpareils and are chewy inside. See recipe below.

Yield: 3 Dozen Cookies

Valentine's Day Sprinkle Cookies

Ingredients
2 cups Granulated Sugar

2 1/2 cups King Arthur All Purpose Flour

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

2 teaspoons Corn Starch

1/4 teaspoon Coarse Salt

Super yummy

1/2 cup, 1 stick Unsalted Butter, softened

1/4 cup, 2 oz. Cream Cheese, softened

2 Large Eggs

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1 teaspoon Almond Extract

1 cup Nonpareils Sprinkles

Love the color combo of the nonpareils

Directions
Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, corn starch, and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy; about 1-2 minutes.

A lovely Valentine's Day gift

Scrape sides of bowl with spatula.

Add eggs, vanilla and almond extracts and mix just until incorporated.

Turn mixer off. Add flour mixture and cover with kitchen towel and then turn mixer to low and mix until incorporated.

Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 2 hours. The dough is sticky.

Dough balls ready to roll in nonpareils

Pour nonpareils into a bowl.

Take dough and using a cookie scoop form into balls about the size of 1 1/2 tablespoons.

Roll each dough ball in the nonpareils completely covering it. Place dough balls on lined baking set 2 inches apart.

Nonpareils

Take the end of a glass and press gently and slightly flatten each one or use the palm of your hand.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes.

Ready to roll

Let set in baking sheet for 5 minutes and transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

For Soft Batch Valentine's Day Sprinkle Cookies visit The Salty Marshmallow:
https://thesaltymarshmallow.com/soft-batch-valentines-day-sprinkle-cookies/

Enjoy!

-Sophia/Two Frys

Strawberry Crinkle Cookies

Strawberry Crinkle Cookies

This is my first cookie recipe using cake mix and I love how the cookies turned out. They are full of yummy strawberry flavor and have a cake-like texture. You don't even need a mixer so the recipe comes together super fast and it is easy to do. They are perfect with a cup of coffee, tea, or a glass of milk. The best part is you only need a few ingredients to bake these cookies. See recipe below.

Yield: 2 Dozen Cookies

Strawberry Crinkle Cookies 

Ingredients
1 box of Strawberry Cake Mix (I used Duncan Hines)

2 Large Eggs

1/3 cup Vegetable Oil

1/2 cup Powdered Sugar for rolling

Strawberry Crinkle Cookies

Love the aroma while the cookies are baking

Directions
Heat oven to 375°F.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, add powdered sugar; set aside.

In a medium size bowl, sift the cake mix to remove lumps.

Ingredients needed for this recipe

About to combine everything with a spatula

In a large bowl, stir together with a spatula the sifted cake mix, eggs, and vegetable oil until combined.

Using a cookie scoop form dough into balls about the size of 1 1/2 tablespoons.

Roll each dough ball in the powdered sugar, shake off excess and place on lined baking sheets 2 inches apart.

Ready to roll in the powdered sugar

Ready to bake

Cookies just taken out of the oven 

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until the tops no longer look wet.

Let set in baking sheet for 5 minutes and then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

For the Strawberry Crinkle Cookies recipe, visit The Barefoot Baker:
https://thebearfootbaker.com/2019/01/strawberry-crinkle-cookies/

Enjoy!

-Sophia/Two Frys