my tiktok recipes explained...
i've been loving making tiktok recipes. so much so that i've been posting at least one video per day during the quarantine! it's a great way to challenge myself and also wake up knowing that i have something to look forward to. but after checking them out on my own i thought it could be cool to fill you guys in on some of the problems, surprises, and special tips i experienced that you didn't see!
whipped coffee
so before i made this video i had seen TONS of recipes for this and knew i had to try it. at the very beginning of the quarantine i made it exactly how the other videos did with crappy brand instant espresso, very hot water, and sugar. but when i blended it up there were still really big sugar chunks :( it had stiffed peaks which was cute because it looked perfectly whipped and aesthetic but once i added the milk it wouldn't blend together!! felt like i was drinking chunky sugar instant coffee and plain milk... nasty. so i thought i'd try it with regular espresso. i get a lot of funny dms about how i'm probably the only young adult with a boujee-ass espresso machine in their house hahaha. but it was a gift that my parents got for their wedding and at the beginning of the quarantine i found it hidden in our pantry. once i found it i absolutely fell in LOVE. espresso is so much better than regular coffee imo. but even if you don't have an espresso machine you can make espresso in a french press or use good quality instant espresso. in my video i whipped just the espresso and sugar and it tasted AMAZING. it's not as whipped-looking as using instant espresso but i prefer the flavor of my recipe way better. also my whipped coffee blended together with the milk perfectly. maybe it doesn't look as aesthetically pleasing and has more air bubbles but damn did it taste good.
sour cream muffins
my grandma makes this amazing sour cream cake so i thought i'd give sour cream muffins a go and JESUS they were SO GOOD. in the video they didn't look very brown on top (probably because of the filter i use) but in real life they looked absolutely perfect. this was my first attempt making the recipe and i can't wait to make them again because it was so easy and delicious. the sour cream makes them really fluffy. also the butter cinnamon sugar topping could prolly go in the middle too as well as the top so i'll try that next time! very moist and a perfect lil breakfast.
iced coffee cubes
as simple as these are to make i LOVE these recipes and use iced coffee cubes in like every drink i make now. there are three cubes that i make in the video: mocha, caramel, and thai. at the time that i made the mocha cubes we didn't have chocolate syrup so i just mixed hot coffee with cocoa and sugar. while they tasted really good, the next time i make mocha cubes i am definitely going to get syrup just because lil bits of cocoa powder ended up floating around in the cup. it still tasted like an amazing mocha! just not a fan of the powder stuff so chocolate syrup would be a better choice. i also wanna try doing plain espresso cubes in the future. the caramel cubes are sooo tasty and i just add one to my regular iced coffee to give it a little bit of sweetness. same thing with the thai coffee cubes. i will never use regular sugar in my coffee ever again! delish and no more watery coffee!
breakfast cups
this was also the first time i made these and they were INCREDIBLE. i found the recipe on pinterest and was like dang i gotta try this. the only thing i would differently would be to probably just put the bacon on a regular metal tray for 4 mins to cook at first instead of the muffin tin like i did in the video. they still get cooked either way but it was hard to take the bacon out of the muffin tin and i had to wash the muffin tray right after bc it was really really greasy before i added in my eggs. i also would remove the eggs outta the oven like 1-2 mins earlier since i love my eggs a lil runny but they were like a soft medium and tasted delicious anyway!
strawberry shortcake
these were a huuuge hit with my family. plus they were really adorable looking. this recipe really just depends on getting the shortcake right. my shortcakes were less sweet because i used a classic biscuit recipe. usually i use bisquick mix but i thought i'd give it a go from scratch for the video and even though it wasn't as sweet as i'm usually used to they still tasted great to me! the biscuits were pretty simple to make but my mom really had to help me make them because at the time i had super long fake nails hahaha so when you see someone kneading the dough and rolling it out that is allll mama shep. the recipe said we could make 8 biscuits out of the dough but we only got like 6 out of it. we also had to add more half & half than the recipe called for so we could form the dough into a ball. i think i may have added more flour than i probably should have. the recipe also told us to NOT over-knead the dough. we definitely kneaded it more than we probably should have but the biscuits still came out really good and had flakey butter layers! overall everything about making this was easy it just took a lot of time. also i've gotten a couple comments about my whipped cream recipe. i've always made mine like this– heavy whipping cream & maple syrup! maple syrup is the perfect sweetener and i like my whipped cream a lot less sweet than other ppl. however i definitely over-whipped the whipped cream in the video lol! still tasted good ofc. give it a go and let me know what you think!
pad thai
this was my absolute favorite recipe i've done so far and everyone has really loved this vid so thank you guys! i learned that there are a few very important elements of mastering making pad thai. the first is the order that you add things to the pan. remember that you're frying everything up so the timing of adding ingredients is KEY. you start by adding garlic. make sure the garlic is cut up in thick chunks. since you're working with hot oil it's important they are thick and won't just burn up before you add the other ingredients in! then you add in your chicken and cook it enough that the outside is seared and the INSIDE is still raw. afterwards you push everything to one side of the pan, add oil to the empty side, and fry your eggs. like i showed in the video you should just crack them in there, let em fry up for a bit, and THEN you can gently scramble the eggs up. the second most important is the noodles. instead of boiling them you should leave them in a bowl of warm water. the water should be like the temperature of a nice warm bath. have them soak for like 30 min so that then get loose but are STILL tender. this way they will be perfect for frying and they'll cook more in the pan ofc. also like i showed in the video, adding the noodles to the pan right outta the water is good because you want some moisture. this will make adding the sauce better and make your noodles a lot less dry. finally, it's important when you add the bean sprouts, scallions, and peanuts at the end to make a lil bed in the middle of the noodles and gently fold them in. this will just steam those ingredients and cook em in the noodle rather than frying them on the bottom of the pan. i also was getting a few questions about the pad thai sauce i showed and you can find it in the Asian isle of Wegmans or at any other super market! it's really good, i just like to boost it up with the chili flakes and sriracha so it's nice and spicy.
chicken lettuce wraps
we actually made these AND the pad thai on the same night! you can notice the chicken mixture in the background of the pad thai video lmao! but god these were incredible. my parents were keto for a while and try to eat less bread/gluten so these chicken lettuce wraps because a staple. the sauce in this recipe is absolutely outta this world. so good in fact that we doubled it! in the video you see us just making one serving of sauce but we actually used 2 lbs of ground chicken instead of 1 so we made another batch of sauce that i didn't show you guys in the tik tok. the key to making these are definitely cooking the chicken just right and perfecting the sauce. i didn't include the measurements for the sauce because you can really add in whatever amount you want but if you wanna know what we did we used–
6 tbs soy sauce
6 tbs hoisin sauce
2 tbs sesame oil
2 tbs rice vin
2 tbs peanut butter
2 tbs honey
1 tbs duck sauce
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ginger powder
i can't wait to make more cooking, baking, and coffee videos in the future! thanks to everyone for their support and i'm always looking for inspiration so if there is anything you wanna learn to make or something you want me to try i'm always down
xox
