Welcome back!  Today, we have a very essential Italian recipe: Focaccia! This is a bread that is very similar to pizza dough, except that you eat it just as bread, whether plain or as a sandwich. It's very nice because you can add a variety of interesting ingredients on top (some people make some really beautiful focaccia art), or you can just make it the classic way, like we do here. Focaccia Ingredients: 3 1/2 cups flour 1 package (1/4 ounce or 2 teaspoons) instant yeast 2 teaspoons honey or sugar 1/4 cup olive oil 1 teaspoon salt 1 1/3 cup water More olive oil for the pan and on top Various toppings: rosemary, coarse salt (like fleur de sel), olives, etc. Directions: In a stand mixer (using the dough hook), add the flour, yeast, honey, olive oil, and salt. Slowly add the water in and mix it on low speed until it has become smooth. You can also knead it with your hands if you're feeling daring. Once it's good, set it in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel. ...

Welcome back!  Today, we have a recipe for a really cool cheesecake! This is known as the Basque Cheesecake, which hails from - you guessed it - the Basque region in Spain. This region is very interesting because of its unique language and its location in the Pyrenees, but evidently, it's also interesting because of its food! This was also super popular in East Asia a couple years back, and our recipe is probably closer to something like that. This is not to be confused with the Gateau Basque, which is from the French Basque region, and is completely different - it's a cake. Basque Cheesecake Makes a 7" cheesecake Ingredients: 2 8-ounce boxes cream cheese, softened 1/2 cup sugar 3 eggs 1 cup heavy cream A pinch of salt 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 tablespoons cake flour Directions: Beat the cream cheese with the sugar. Make sure it's nice and smooth. The softer your cream cheese the better. One at a time, add in each of the rest of the ingredients and mix smoothly so i...

Welcome back!  Today, we have another recipe for the barramundi fish! This time, it's with a delicious lemon-caper sauce. It's very simple to cook and makes for a quick and tasty meal. As mentioned in our previous recipe for  barramundi , the barramundi is a soft and mild fish that can pretty easily pair with various flavors because of its lack of strong taste, so the range of recipes you can make with this fish is quite large, as seen in the contrast between this and the previous recipe. Baked Lemon Caper Barramundi Ingredients: 2 1-pound barramundi fillets 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 tablespoons butter, melted 2 tablespoons lemon juice 1 tablespoon capers 1/4 cup dry white wine Salt and pepper Directions: With a paper towel, pat the fish dry. Cut each filet up into smaller serving sizes. Combine the garlic, butter, lemon juice, capers, and white wine to make the sauce. Mix it together. In a baking dish, put in the fish and pour the sauce on top. Bake in the oven at 375°F for 1...

Welcome back!  Today, we have a delicious birthday cake! This is the cake that we always make for birthdays in the Chefpo family, but really, you don't need a birthday to eat cake, right? Right. Anyways, this is really just a chiffon cake, so like our banana or lemon chiffon cakes, except that there's not an innate flavor to the cake. So, we add fruit and whipped cream on top and inside to make it delicious! Birthday Chiffon Cake Makes a 9" cake Ingredients: 7 eggs whites 1 teaspoon lemon juice/white vinegar 1/2 cup sugar 7 eggs yolks 2 tablespoons sugar 1/3 cup orange juice 100 grams oil 165 grams cake flour 3/4 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Various fruit For whipped cream: 4 cups heavy cream 2 tablespoons sugar Directions: Beat the egg whites and lemon juice until stiff peaks. Slowly add 1/2 cup of sugar along the way, about a third at a time. Beat the egg yolks with 2 tablespoons of sugar. Then add oil. Then add orange juice and vanilla extract. Si...

Welcome back!  Today, we have a new variant on our Financier recipe: this one's chocolate! Financiers are really supposed to have that distinct almond flavor, and the chocolate kinda covers that up, but it's still a good recipe nonetheless, because who doesn't like chocolate? It still retains a similar texture, like a lighter, fluffier cake, but with a nice, rich chocolate flavor. Chocolate Financiers Makes 9 financiers (we have a Lekue 9-cavity mold) Ingredients: 60 grams powder sugar 15 grams cake flour 15 grams cocoa powder 40 grams almond flour 1 teaspoon espresso powder A pinch of salt 50 grams brown butter 20 grams dark chocolate 2 egg whites Directions: Sift/mix the sugar, flours, cocoa powder, espresso powder, and salt together. Beat the egg whites until smooth. Add it into the dry mixture. Melt the chocolate. Meanwhile, prepare the brown butter. Make sure both of them stay hot. Pour the butter into the chocolate and mix evenly. While still hot, pour the chocolate/b...