Lemon cupcakes

I had lemons in the fridge to make lemon and honey drink while I've been sick for the last few days and decided to bake lemon cupcakes! I love the smell of lemon and I've decided to not put any icing sugar on this because it smells sweet enough =D

I got this recipe from Rachel Allen's Lemon Cupcakes:

Ingredients

125g (4½ oz) butter, softened
125g (4½ oz) caster sugar
Finely grated zest ½ large lemon (keeping the zest of the remaining ½ lemon for the lemon icing)
2 eggs, beaten
150g (5oz) plain flour
¼ tsp baking powder

For the lemon butter icing (optional)

75g (3oz) butter, softened
125g (4 ½ oz) icing sugar, sifted
Finely grated zest of ½ large lemon
1-2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC Line a 12-hole cake tin with 12 paper cases.

2. Cream the butter in a large bowl or in an electric food mixer until soft. Add the sugar and grated lemon zest and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.

3. Gradually add the beaten eggs, then sift in the flour and baking powder and fold into the mixture

4. Divide the mixture between the paper cases and bake in the preheated oven for 7-10 minutes, until risen and golden. When cooked, the centre of each cake should be slightly springy to the touch. Remove the cakes from the tin and place on a wire rack to cool before you ice them.

5. To make the lemon butter icing, cream the butter in a bowl with a wooden spoon or hand-held electric beater until very soft. Gradually add the icing sugar and beat into the butter, along with the lemon zest and enough lemon juice to soften the icing, to a spreadable consistency.

6. Ice the cooled cupcakes!

Red Velvet cupcakes

I've always wanted to make red velvet cupcakes because it seems to be the popular type of cupcakes everywhere online especially in the states! After being in New York earlier this year you can't go into any cupcake store without seeing a red velvet cupcake! These cupcakes are also sold in general grocery stores along the road!

I realised that red velvet cupcakes is the same as chocolate cupcakes just with the red colouring and vinegar mixed with soda perhaps to give it that different texture?

Anyway, this is definately a very popular cupcake especially with the vibrant colour and delicious cream cheese topping!

Red Red Red!

Cream cheese topping

Wrapped up for hubby to bring to work for his team as his birthday cakes lol!

Red Velvet Cupcakes:

1 1/4 cups (125 grams) sifted cake flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoons (10 grams) regular or Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1/4 cup (57 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cups (150 grams) granulated white sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (120 ml) buttermilk
1 tablespoon liquid red food coloring
1/2 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 ounces (227 grams) cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (60 grams) confectioners' (icing or powdered) sugar, sifted
2/3 cup (160 ml) cold heavy whipping cream (double cream) (35-40% butterfat)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and line 12 muffin tins with paper cupcake liners.

In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until soft (about 1-2 minutes). Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Add the egg and beat until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

In a measuring cup whisk the buttermilk with the red food coloring. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter mixture, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour.

In a small cup combine the vinegar and baking soda. Allow the mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter.

Working quickly, divide the batter evenly among the 12 muffin cups and smooth the tops with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 18 - 23 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out clean.

Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes and them remove from pan. Let cool completely before frosting. Either spread the frosting with a knife or offset spatula, or use a large 1M Wilton open star decorating tip to pipe the frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the vanilla and confectioners sugar and beat until smooth. Using the whisk attachment, gradually add the heavy cream and whip until the frosting is thick enough to pipe. Add more sugar or cream as needed to get the right consistency.

Recipe from Joyofbaking =D

Chestnut Flaky mooncakes

I've been making red bean flaky pastries that looks like cookies but it isn't...I've searched to see what they are called and some calls it flaky mooncakes, some calls it piah like tau sar piah and some just calls it baked red bean pastry. I'm still confused as to what it is called and have tried different recipies to get the perfect pastry.

I've thought of many flavours and happened to eye different flavoured paste in the fridge section in a local asian grocery. I bought chestnut paste to give it a try as I've never tasted that flavour before! It's amazing that it used to be just red bean and lotus paste you could find but now I found mung bean, chest nut, black sesame, and wife biscuit paste...it's good because it means that I can bake these little bites without having to make the paste! =D

So here it is, this recipe that I'm trying for the first time somehow gave me really big portions for the dough so the "cookie" looks rather big and my ideal size should only be half that size. However, when cut and eaten it tasted like those in the shops and my husband couldn't wait to get his hands on them!

Recipe

Ingredients

Water dough:
100g All purpose flour
25g caster sugar
40g shortening
40g water

Oil dough:
100g plain flour
40g shortening
15g butter (my usual recipe does not include butter but I'm giving this a try)

Filling:
Any paste of your desire

Directions:

1. Blend Water dough till smooth and divide into 5 portions and set aside to rest for 10 mins
2. Blend Oil dough till it becomes a dough and divide into 5 portions
3. Flatten a piece of water dough and wrap a piece of oil dough in it and roll into a rectangular shape
4. roll it up like a swissroll and turn 90 degree clockwise and flatten again
5. Roll it up like a swissroll again and cut into 2
6. With the side facing down flatten it into a round shape and wrap up filling to form a ball
7. Brush the top with egg wash (which I didn't for this round)
8. Bake in preheated over at 180 degrees for about 20 mins or until pastry looks golden and flaky =D

Macarons

There seems to be a macaron craze for quite a period of time and so I was one of those curious ones that wanted to try one of the most fragile delicious little bite! It took me after a few trials and failures to produce what you see here below:

It brings such joy in my heart when i see these shells!

Filled with chocolate ganache:

I had to read up on macaron websites and the different methods they used to come up with the right texture for the shell. For me I found that it definately helped when:

1. The eggwhites are aged
2. The shells are left to rest for about 45 mins on the baking tray before putting it in the oven
3. Leaving the oven door ajar with a wooden spatula so that the oven is not too

It does take alot of trial and error to really know how the consistency of the eggwhite mixture is suppose to look like before piping it on the baking paper. I've bought silicon mat just for this purpose hoping the macarons will slip off easier but I have yet to try it!

This chocolate macaron is the only flavour that turned out the nicest and I've tried greentea and red bean macarons but it did not turn out as smooth and nice as this!

Macarons

Ingredients

225 grams icing sugar
110 grams ground almonds (I used almond meal)
110 grams egg whites (about 4), aged overnight at room temperature
30 grams granulated sugar
Pinch of salt

Procedure

1. You can draw circles on baking paper first and set aside to make piping easier

2. Push almond flour through a sieve, and sift icing sugar. Mix the almonds and icing sugar in a bowl and set aside. If the mixture is not dry, spread on a baking sheet, and heat in oven at the lowest setting until dry. (if you have a processor just grind it more)

3. In a large clean, dry bowl whip egg whites with salt on medium speed until foamy. Increase the speed to high and gradually add granulated sugar. Continue to whip to stiff peaks—the whites should be firm and shiny.

4. With a flexible spatula, gently fold in icing sugar mixture into egg whites in about 4 additions until completely incorporated. The mixture should be shiny and 'flow like magma.' When small peaks dissolve to a flat surface, stop mixing.

5. Fit a piping bag with a 3/8-inch (1 cm) round tip. Pipe the batter onto the baking sheets, in the previously drawn circles. Tap the underside of the baking sheet to remove air bubbles. Let dry at room temperature for 1 or 2 hours to allow skins to form.

If the cookies form peaks on their tops after piping, flatten them with a wet fingertip. (I left mine for only 45 mins because I was impatient, so perhaps leaving it longer could help with the rise and the beauty of the shell) – (you can do your ganache filling while waiting)

6. Bake, in a 160C/325F oven for 10 to 11 minutes. Use a wooden spoon to keep the oven door slightly ajar, and rotate the baking sheet after 5 minutes for even baking. (Depending on your oven, mine was at 140c otherwise the top gets burnt!)- Keep checking on the shells so that it doesn’t burn or expand like a lava. I also didn’t rotate my baking sheet which I might next time.

7. Remove macarons from oven and transfer parchment to a cooling rack. When cool, slide a metal offset spatula or pairing knife underneath the macaron to remove from parchment. (I sprinkled a little water underneath so that the steam helps the macarons to be removed easier)

8. Pair macarons of similar size, and pipe about 1/2 tsp of the filling onto one of the macarons. Sandwich macarons, and refrigerate to allow flavors to blend together. Bring back to room temperature before serving

Bittersweet Chocolate Cream Ganache
- makes about 2 cups (550 grams) -
Ingredients

8 ounces (230 grams) bittersweet chocolate, preferably Valrhona Guanaja, finely chopped (I used normal cooking chocolate/buttons)
1 cup (250 grams) heavy cream
4 tablespoons (2 ounces; 60 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature

Procedure

1. Place the chocolate in a bowl that's large enough to hold the ingredients and keep it close at hand. Bring the cream to a full boil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. While the cream is coming to the boil, work the butter with a rubber spatula until it is very soft and creamy. Keep the butter aside for the moment.

2. While the cream is at the boil, remove the pan from the heat and, working with the rubber spatula, gently stir the cream into the chocolate. Start stirring in the center of the mixture and work your way out in widening concentric circles. Continue to stir—without creating bubbles—until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Leave the bowl on the counter for a minute or two to cool the mixture down a little before adding the butter.

3. Add the butter to the mixture in two additions, mixing with the spatula from the center of the mixture out in widening concentric circles. When the butter is fully incorporated, the ganache should be smooth and glossy. depending on what you're making with the ganache, you can use it now, leave it on the counter to set to a spreadable or pipeable consistency (a process that could take over an hour, depending on your room's temperature) or chill it in the refrigerator, stirring now and then. (If the ganache chills too much and becomes too firm, you can give it a very quick zap in the microwave to bring it back to the desired consistency, or just let it stand at room temperature.)

Enjoy!

Gingerbread men

I've always wanted to bake gingerbread men because
1) I like the smell and taste of ginger
2) It's christmas
3) I have the gingerbread men mould and
4) I wanted to decorate and make little presents to give away

So...I went to get the main ingredient, well not really but I needed the ground ginger I suppose....and colouring and little m & ms to decorate the little men!

I searched for recipes and there were quite a few but I stuck to the one from taste.com

Plain cookies needing to be dressed:

Colourings and m & m to decorate, you could also use other fun stuff to decorate your men too like raisins, cherries and the list goes on

Happy family:

Wrapping them in cellophane paper and tied it with a christmas ribbon ready to be given away:

Reciepe from taste.com.au

Preparation Time - 15 minutes
Cooking Time - 10 minutes
Makes 20

Ingredients

* Melted butter, to grease
* 125g butter, at room temperature
* 100g (1/2 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar
* 125ml (1/2 cup) golden syrup
* 1 egg, separated
* 375g (2 1/2 cups) plain flour
* 1 tbs ground ginger
* 1 tsp mixed spice
* 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
* Plain flour, to dust
* 150g (1 cup) pure icing sugar, sifted
* 8-10 drops red liquid food colouring
* 8-10 drops green liquid food colouring
* Smarties, to decorate

Method

1.Preheat oven to 180°C. Brush 2 baking trays with melted butter to lightly grease.

2.Use an electric beater to beat the butter and sugar in a bowl until pale and creamy. Add the golden syrup and egg yolk and beat until combined. Stir in the flour, ginger, mixed spice and bicarbonate of soda. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Press dough into a disc. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.

3.Meanwhile, place egg white in a clean, dry bowl. Use an electric beater to beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add icing sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Divide icing among 3 bowls. Cover 1 bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge. Add red colouring to 1 bowl and stir until combined. Add green colouring to remaining bowl and stir until combined. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge.

4.Place the dough between 2 sheets of baking paper and roll out until about 4mm thick. Use a 9cm gingerbread man cutter to cut out shapes. Place on trays about 3cm apart. Repeat with any excess dough.

5.Bake in oven for 10 minutes or until brown. Remove from oven. Transfer to a rack to cool.

6.Place prepared icings in small plastic bags. Cut a small hole in a corner of each bag. Pipe icing over gingerbread men to decorate. Finish with Smarties.

As I was decorating the gingerbread men, I felt like a little child having fun with colours, piping, and thinking of ways to decorate the cookie. It felt so liberating to be able to play with the gingerbread men.

Wrapping the men up is fun too, looks like the ones sold in stores! I can't wait to give them away!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Tau Yu Bak (Braised Pork)

I enjoy having friends over for a meal because that's when I get to try out new dishes (risking the fact that it may turn out real bad!). I decided to try braised pork because I've never really tried it but really like the taste and the fact I could add in mushrooms and tofu and basically anything that goes with the dish.

I altered the recipe I found on the net and when marinating the pork I overdosed it with pepper!!!!! (So I had to quickly give it a rinse and pray that the dish will turn out fine!)



Ingredients:

600g Pork Belly

Marination:

1 1/2 Garlic Bulb (smashed with the skin on)
3 Tbsp Dark sweet soy sauce
1 Tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp of pepper

Oil for cooking
2 Star Anise
2 small cinnamon sticks
1 tsp sugar (to taste)
Water to boil

Chinese mushrooms (soaked/optional)

1) Marinate pork belly (leave in long strips) with the marination over night or for a few hours before cooking.

2) Heat up oil in pot
Fry star anise, cinnamon sticks till fragrant

3) Add in marinated pork to brown

4) Add in one cup of water and bring to boil

5) Let it simmer for about 1 1/2 - 2 hours
If gravy is drying out, just add more water. Likewise if meat is not tender enough, just add water and simmer for a longer time.

6) (optional) Add in mushrooms after 1/2 hour or simmer

7) Add sugar in the last hour and anything else to your taste

8) To serve, cut pork into slices and add gravy to the dish. Garnish with spring onion. Served hot with rice.

Silken Tofu with soy sauce

Always wanted to make tofu dishes because it's easy and pretty healthy right? So here is another simple dish that you can make up and it was very tasty too!




Ingredients

1 packet of chilled Soft Tofu, drained
2 1/2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
2 Tbsp Peanut Oil
3 Shallots, sliced
2 stalks Scallions, chopped

Method

In a small saucepan, fry the shallots with peanut oil until golden brown in color. Remove the shallots and place them on top of the tofu.

Turn the heat off and pour in the soy sauce into the oil and let it sizzle for a while. Pour the oil and soy mixture on top of the tofu and sprinkle with some scallions. Serve immediately.

Mini oreo cheesecakes

I'm never a big cheesecan fan and always quite afraid to try making cheesecakes because i'm not sure how it should turn out etc etc. I have made small oreo cheesecakes before which turned out fine but came across this recipe on http://kokken69.blogspot.com/2010/07/cookies-and-cream-cheesecakes.html and wanted to make them for dessert tonight! What I like about these is how they are in tiny portions so you don't have to finish a big slice and you can have them as little finger food in parties too!

Here's the simple recipe which I changed alittle because I had more cream cheese mixture to use so I could have more cookies to use:

Recipe

9 cream- filled Oreo Sandwich (whole)
4 Oreo Sandwich , coarsely chopped
227g Cream cheese (I used phildaphia)
1/4 cup Sugar
1/4 tsp Vanilla extract
1 Egg beaten
1/4cup Sour cream
Pinch of salt

Method
1. Preheat oven to 135C
2. Line muffin pan with cup cake liners. Place 1 whole cookie in the bottom of each lined cup
3. Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese until creamy. Gradually add in sugar and beat until smooth. Add vanilla extract.
4. Drizzle in egg and mix until well coporated. Mix in Sour cream and salt. Fold in chopped Oreo.
5. Scoop cream cheese mixture into each cookie filled cup. Bake at 135C for 22mins.
6. Cool down on wire rack in the muffin tray. Refrigerate for at least 4hours before removing from cup cake liner.

Oreos being placed at the bottom of each muffin cup:


Finished mini oreo cheesecakes:


I was going to drizzle some oreo sauce that I have but didn't want to oreo kill it so perhaps next time i'll give it a try!

So go ahead and try these it's so simple and yummy!

rocky road

I decided to make rocky roads today because it had a simple recipe and didn't need baking in the over but sadly I didnt have the camera with me so didn't take any pictures but because it tasted real good I must put it up for future.

Ingredients:

200g of milk chocolate
75 g of dark chocolate
25 g unsalted butter
100g of marshmallows cut into pieces
90g of glazed cherries
50g peanuts

Method

1. Line a 3cm-deep, 8 x 25cm bar pan with plastic wrap.
2. Place the milk and dark chocolates with the butter in a saucepan and stir till melt
3. Stir marshmallows into chocolate with remaining ingredients.
4. Spread into pan, chill in fridge for 2 hours or until hard.
5. Slice and eat!

What's so good about this is that you can put anything you want, such as raisins, other types of nuts, turkish delights and the list can go on!

I will definately make this again and probably add more peanuts and marshmallow in the mix because there was too much "brown"/chocolate or perhaps my stirring isnt very well mixed =)

Crumbles

Today I think i've found an apple crumble recipe that i'll definately keep! Despite my oven acting funny and burning and overcooking ALL my baking since I've been using it i'm glad that my apple crumble turned out good.

Made this apple crumble today from seasaltwithfood blog and I love the aroma and sweentness of the apples mixed with cinnamon and sugar


The finished product topped with smooth crumbs, the texture of the crumbs are fine and smooth and apple crumble cannot be finished without vanilla ice cream!


Recipe
Base:
3 Big Granny Smith Apples, peeled cored and sliced (I cut mine into cubes)
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoon cinnamon

(mix and set aside in a baking tray)

Topping:
1 cup of flour
1/4 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of chilled unsalted butter, cut into cubes

1) Mix flour and sugar together
2) cut butter through flour mixture and rub together till crumbs like
3) Sprinkle flour mixture onto apple mixture
4) Bake for about 30 mins or till top is golden brown

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream!

Enjoy!

Chocolate Sunkun Brownie cupcakes

NO MORE BAKING!! That's me trying to stop myself from baking consecutively for the last 2 days!! Today I tried making chocolate cake but made it into cupcakes instead...because of the high heat and small mixture I think that's why my cupcakes sank in the middle =( Hence the title of this blog.




Despite the look and my family all asking me why it sank in the middle, they all said it was yummy and it finished within minutes!

What you need:

150g unsalted butter
½ tsp salt
150ml water
1/3 cup cocoa powder
some chocolate bits (optional)
1 2/3 cup cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
200g castor sugar (I used abit less)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method
A)

Combine butter, salt and water in a small pot. Cover and cook over low heat till the butter has melted and the mixture is about to boil.

Add in cocoa powder and chocolate bits (optional) whisk until smooth. Let it cool completely.

Preheat oven to 180˚C.
B)

Sift cake flour and baking powder. Add in sugar and mix very well. Stir for at least a min.

Add in eggs and vanilla to the cocoa mixture and beat until smooth. Scrape this mixture into the flour.

Stir with a whisk until smooth, then spoon batter into a greased baking pan.

Bake for 20-22 mins

This chocolate cupcake turned out with a brownie texture which make it yummy. Next time I will do it in a proper cake tin!

Note to self: strawberry season is here soon will go well with chocolate desserts!

Banana Sponge Cake

I can have banana cakes and bread anytime! It's just easier to buy them than make it especially if im the only one eating it at home! HOwever, had some bananas even though they are not very very ripe I thought i'll use them up before they rot and cause flies to come!

So I've decided to try this new recipe I got from the internet and it turned out nicer than I thought and it smells SOOOO good with banana chunks still intact! The cake is so moist & spongy!



The recipe is very simple and here it goes:

Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 cup sugar (I used 3/4 cup)
3 medium bananas
1 1/3 cup all purpose flour (I used cake flour as it seems to give me a lighter texture)
1/2 tsp Baking powder
1/4 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
100 ml Canola oil or Cornoil (I used canola oil)

Method:
1.Grease baking pan
2.Preheat oven to 160 degrees C
3.Sieve flour, baking powder, and soda together
4.Whisk eggs, sugar and banana at maximum until batter stiff
5.Add in the sieved flour and fold well
6.Add in oil and mix
7.Pour into baking tray and bake for about 30 mins to 40 mins

Smells great & the taste was light and moist, and with banana chunks stil intact reminds me of goreng pisang...family also loves it and said it's definately a recipe to keep!

Cheesecake on oreo cookie

Today's weather was so bad that I didn't end up going out at all but had a lazy day in. I decided to try baking something new and attempted making cheesecake because I bought cream cheese so though what can I do with it? Also...my cousin Ford loves cheesecake and chocolate so if it taste alright i'll pass one to him tomorrow haha.

It's actually really simple to make. I got the recipe from Little Corner of Mine. I didn't want a recipe that had too many ingredients so this was great. Also, I used oreo cookies because that was the only cookies in my cupboard and I LOVE OREOS!!!

This is what it turned out from my muffin trays before I put them in the fridge to set:


Smells like cheesecake but not sure about the taste will know soon!
These cheesecakes turned out really small so you can't really taste the cheese part but maybe after eating a few you will! Ok definately need to run tomorrow Ford!


Ingredients: (Yield 12 cheesecake cups)

Base:
Round cookie of your choice (I used Oreos)

Cheesecake topping:
1 pkg (8oz) cream cheese, soften
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 large egg

Method:

1. Lined paper cups in muffin pan. Add in round cookie of your choice.

2. In a mixing bowl, add in cream cheese, sugar and vanilla, beat with an electric mixer until blended. Add in egg and mix until blended. Spoon cream cheese on top of each cookie cups, divide among 12.

3. Bake at preheated 350'F for 13-15 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Decorate with gels, sprinkles, fruit preserved, chocolate syrup, whipped cream if desired. Store in refrigerator.

Ok time to put them in the fridge!

Date Walnut Loaf

Tonight I decided to bake date walnut loaf so that I could use some of the dates I bought last week and because I love dates!

There were so many recipes but I used the one on Sanitarium:

Ingredients:

1 cup of chopped dates
3 tablespoon of margarine
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup boiling water
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup chopped walnut
1 cup wholemeal flour
1 cup self raising flour (I used plain flour and 3 teaspoon of baking powder instead)

1) Combine dates, margarine and sugar with boiling water and stir till mix
2) Stir in egg and walnut
3) Sift in flour mixture
4) Spoon into baking pan
5) Bake in preheated oven at 180 degrees for about 40 mins
6) Remove from oven

Corn bread

I've started to enjoy making cornbread ever since I got back from Korea. There was this really nice yellow bread but yet cakey texture that I got while in Korea and I had to find the receipe but at the same time I didn't know what it was??

So I dont know how corn bread came about but ever since I started making one I really enjoyed it and today I tried it with whole kernal corns inside and used less sugar compared to my previous cornbread.


Instead of putting whole kernel corns inside, you can also add cheese, bacon and capsicum depending on the type of taste you want. I prefer the sweet one so I made one with honey and it was produced a crunchy top yummy!

I also used sour cream instead of buttermilk because I had some leftovers in the fridge and it turned out nicely. The type of milk really does bring out a different taste and texture to the bread ay..


The bread turned out more crumbly maybe because I didnt have as much oil or should have used one more egg in the mixture: anyway this is what I used.

Ingredients:
1 cup cornmeal flour (I bought mine from foodtown)
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
½ cup sourcream (can use milk/buttermilk instead)
1/4 cup oil (or butter)
1 cup whole kernal corn (optional) or you can add cheese capsicums etc

Directions:
1. Mix the cornmeal, flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
2. Mix the sugar, eggs, buttermilk, cottage cheese and oil in another bowl.
3. Mix the dry ingredients in to the wet ingredients.
4. Stir in the corn.
5. Pour into a greased 8 inch square baking pan.
6. Bake in a preheated 375F oven until a toothpick pushed into the center comes out clean, about 30-40 minutes

Lo Po Peng

Today I tried making lo po peng after yesterday's success in tau sar beng I thought i'll try something else. I went to tofu shop in search of winter melon candy and actually very surprised that they have everything here!

Just for those that do not know, lo po peng is wife biscuit. It is a chinese pastry made with winter melon.

Here are the lo po pengs brushed with egg yoke and getting ready to be put into the oven:


I am so impress with the result although it could be abit bigger like the ones in the shop. Actually I quite like the size of mine, it's cute and bite size ;)

The smell is just amazing..i love fresh baking from the oven! My house smells like it nearly everyday and everytime my husband comes home he ask straight away...did you bake again?? ;P




Inside: oh it's divine. I love the smell of the inside together with the pastry and even more divine when it's eaten fresh out of the oven!


Brought some to mum's place because I promised her i'll make some for her and it was GONE within seconds! Didn't expect my sisters to like them but they did! Mum ordered from me to make these for her connect group on Thursday..so I guess that's what I'll be doing then!Update later on it!

Recipe :

Ingredients:

Water dough
100g cake flour, sifted
25g icing sugar
25g butter (cubed) or shortening or margarine or lard
2 Tablespoon of water approx to make the dough

Oil Dough
100g cake flour, sifted
2 tablespoon oil

Filling
3 1/2 Tablespoon Candied winter melon (chopped to bite size)
3 Tablespoon of white sugar = 3 tablespoon
1 tablespoon, ¾ teaspoon oil
1 Tablespoon roasted white sesame seeds
2 1/2 teaspoon dessicated coconut
5 Tablespoon commercialized cooked glutinous rice flour (Koh Fun)

1/4 cold water (at room temp) or until the filling is firm as a ball

Egg wash
1 yolk + 1 tsp water + pinch of salt

Method:

Filling:
Put all ingredients into a big bowl, pour in water until forms a dough and well combined.
Divide filling into 12 equal portions.

Pastry:
Water dough:
Rub butter into sieved flour and icing sugar till bread crumb state.
Add in water till a pliable dough is formed.
Cling wrap dough and rest for 30 - 45 minutes.

Divide dough into 12 equal portions.

Oil dough:
Rub shortening into flour till well mixed.
Cling wrap and leave it aside to rest for 30 - 45 minutes.

Divide dough into 12 equal portions.
Flatten a piece of water dough and wrap in the oil dough.


Press and roll out dough into a longish flat piece with a rolling pin.

Roll it up Swiss roll-style.

Turn the dough 90 degrees and then roll it into a longish flat piece.

Roll it up Swiss roll-style again.

Pinch the 2 side edges and shape it into a flat circular shape.

Put a piece of filling in the centre of the dough and wrapped it.

Flatten it and make 2 snips into the dough using a pair of scissors.

Apply egg wash.

Bake in a preheated oven at 200°C for 20–25 minutes or until golden brown.

SUn, DvD and Baking!

Today I had a really relaxing enjoyable day baking and watching you've got mail at ken's place with nette and Hsu Lynn.

We baked egg tarts which turned out alright even though the dough was stickier and seems different to when baking at my own place. It's strange but I think baking in other people's place using thier ovens and ingredients can make such a difference! Ok maybe it's just me...need to be more accurate.

After baking the egg tarts, we decided to bake lemon cake because we had a lemoon?? Nette tried looking for other things to bake like...cheesecake....marble cake....but we didnt have some of the ingredients needed. We really wanted to get rid of the lemon and the butter that I melted haha....so so...Nette made Lemon cake which turned out great! Even Ken said it was good hehe..

While baking the cake in the oven, ken was our bartender....making us cocktails and drinks...and Hsu went to get her hair cut and came back for a second hair cut by Nette. I must say..Nette was like a baker and a hairdresser...so anyone wanting haircuts should find her hahaha

When the cake was finally done, I felt like doing something to the plain cake so I decorated the lemon cake with lemon icing to make it look pretty but turned out it was quite sweet. However, ken thought it was just right...I think he has a sweet tooth like me. The sliced lemon on top was just for deco and for the picture. The icing was flowing down frm the cake making it look like an overloaded icing cake.


Even though it looked quite WHITE, when cut it is nice inside and when eaten the texture was just right! Well dong NettE!


So as you can tell...we were pretty much "sweeten" out for the day and me drinking coffee and cocktails with it made me feel like i'm on a little holiday! It was fun..I felt like uni when it was holiday time and we just bummed around enjoying doing nothing and just relax...the best part was the sun was out and I was sitting on the bean bag getting tanned but it got tooooo hot so I migrated to the sofa. I am starting to feel SUMMER is approaching and the smell of BBQs and fish and chips!

For those of you who want the recipe for the egg tarts here they are:

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 pinch salt
• 140 g Butter
• 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 & 1/2 - 2 tablespoons water (just enough to mix and form a nice dough)

Filling:

• 1 cup water
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3 eggs
• 6 Tablespoon evaporated milk
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 200 Degrees C

Dough:
In a large bowl, mix flour and salt and sugar together.

Blend in butter with a pastry cutter or knife until mixture resemble coarse crumbs.

In a small bowl, beat the egg with the cold water. Stir the egg mixture into the flour mixture to form a soft dough. Handle lightly don’t knead to get a more flaky crust.

Wrap with plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

When dough is ready mould them into prepared greased muffin trays or egg tart shells. Depending on the thickness of how you want your pastry shell, divide dough in parts. I divide mine into 12 - 14 using greased muffin trays.

While waiting for the dough prepare the filling

Filling:

In a saucepan over low heat, stir water and sugar until sugar dissolves. Measure 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of the resulting syrup and set aside to cool. I put this in the fridge to quicken the process.

In a large bowl, combine eggs, evaporated milk and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Strain once then second time into reserved syrup and mix well. Pour into prepared tart shells or muffin tray.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is set.




YUM YUM taste like thes one in the shops!!

NOTE: Depending on your oven and pastry, I normally preheat the oven once I've prepared to mould the dough into the muffin tray so that the oven does not get too hot to burn the pastry.

At last green tea!

Today I felt like trying to bake using two of my fav food - red bean and green tea hence I decided simply red bean green tea cake??? I couldnt find any green tea powder in the normal super markets but thanks to my Korean friend she gave me a pack hence I can bake

There were so many recipies but I just wanted a simple one using what I have at home.

Matcha (Green Tea) cake
• 1 ¼ cups flour (run through a sifter 2x to make it lighter - I used cake flour)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon matcha
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup canola or vegetable oil (I used rice bran oil)
• 2 egg yolks, room temperature
• ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons cold water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 egg whites
• ¼ cup sugar
Red bean paste (from chinese super market)

Preheat the oven to 180 Degrees C. Line a bread loaf tin or muffin tray

Sift together the cake flour, matcha (tea) powder, baking powder and salt. Mix with the sugar.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, egg yolks, water and vanilla.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until well incorporated.

Place the egg whites in a clean, dry bowl and whip using a handheld or standing
electric mixer on low speed until they begin to froth.

Once the whites become foamy, begin gradually adding the sugar one tablespoon at a time until all of the sugar is incorporated.

Continue beating, gradually increasing the mixer speed, until stiff peaks form.
Fold the meringue into the mixture in three additions.

Pour the 1/3 of the batter into prepared tin then spread a layer of red bean paste followed by another layer of thin batter to cover it and repeat it again with the red bean paste covered with the batter to finish

And here it is...It is my first attempt, tasted good but I put too much green tea powder so the green tea was very strong but I love the smell of it!