Lick Thy Fingers

coconut cupcakes with coconut cream cheese frosting

2008-08-14T18:53:00.002+10:00

Coconut Cupcakes with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

Cupcakes
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup self raising flour
1 cup dessicated coconut
2-3 tbs milk

1. Beat butter and sugar till creamy.
2. Mix in the eggs one at a time followed by vanilla till smooth.
3. Mix in the flour followed by coconut till just come together but not overmixed.
4. Fold in the milk gently till no streaks of flour or milk is seen.
5. Pour into prepared cupcake moulds and bake in preheated oven at 180 C for 15-20 minutes till done when tested. Let cool on wire rack.

Frosting
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup cream cheese
1/2 cup icing sugar
1/2 cup flaked coconut

1. While the cupcakes are cooling, make the frosting. Beat butter, cream cheese and icing sugar till creamy and light.
2. Fold in the flaked coconut till you get a smooth consistency.
3. Gently slather the frosting generously onto the cooled cupcakes with a small spatula or use a piping bag if you have one to decorate the cupcake.

Makes 18 cupcakes

peanut butter sandwich cookies

2008-08-12T18:53:00.001+10:00

Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies (adapted from The Taste of Home Cookbook)

Cookies
1/2 cup butter
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter peanut butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture and mix well.
2. Shape into 1 inch balls and place 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets. Flatten with a fork to create a criss cross pattern. Bake at 190 C for 10-12 minutes, or until golden. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Filling
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3-4 tbs milk

For filling, in a large bowl, beat the peanut butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and enough milk to achieve spreading consistency. Spread on the smooth bottom of the cookie and top with another cookie with the smooth bottom facing each other. The sandwich cookies should have the criss cross pattern facing up.

Makes 2 and half dozen sandwich cookies.

peanut butter crumble cake

2008-08-10T18:53:00.000+10:00

Peanut Butter Crumble Cake (adapted from Baking Bites)

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup milk
1 large egg
1 cup crunchy peanut butter, room temperature

1. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Beat in softened butter until the mixture resembles wet sand. Remove 3/4 cup of the mixture to a medium bowl and set aside.
2. Add milk and egg to the large bowl with the remaining flour mixture. Mix well, until no streaks of flour remain. Do not over-mix. Pour into prepared pan.
3. Add peanut butter to medium bowl with the remaining 3/4 cup flour mixture. Mix well and crumble (or drop in clumps, as the mixture will be thick) onto the cake batter in the pan.
4. Bake in preheated oven at 180 C for about 30 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack before slicing.

apple and coconut crisp

2008-08-08T17:37:00.002+10:00

This makes a great quick dessert when you're short on time and ideas but want a fast and delish sweet stuff to serve a group of people. This is from nami-nami and I didn't alter the recipe at all but I wish I had taken the time to peel the apples and will try flaked coconut the next time I make this again.

Apple and Coconut Crisp

2 cups not-too-sweet apples (peeled, cored and quartered)
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup plain flour
1 cup desiccated coconut
1/2 cup butter (melted)

1. Beat the eggs with sugar until foamy and pale.
2. Mix flour and coconut, and fold into the egg mixture.
3. Gently stir in the melted and cooled butter.
4. Layer the apples in a greased 25 cm oven dish, so the bottom would be covered.
5. Pour the batter over the apples and bake in a preheated 200 C oven for about 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.
6. Take out of the oven, and cool a little. Serve lukewarm with vanilla ice cream, crème anglaise or lightly whipped cream.

no fat banana cupcakes

2008-08-06T17:45:00.002+10:00

No Fat Banana Cupcakes (adapted from Too Many Chefs)

1 pot of plain yoghurt (125 ml)
2 very ripe medium bananas (mashed)
2 yogurt pots of sugar
3 yogurt pots of plain flour
2 eggs
2 tsp baking powder

1. Mix the mashed bananas with the yoghurt till well blended.
2. Beat until smooth and then add the eggs one by one, beating after each one until smooth.
3. Gradually add the sugar and then the rest of the dry ingredients.
4. Pour the batter into lined cupcake molds, filling them 2/3 of the way.
5. Bake in preheated oven at 180 C for 20 minutes, until golden on top and cooked through. Test with a wooden toothpick to make sure: if it comes out wet, the cakes are not done.

The texture of the cupcakes was really interesting and not like any cupcakes I've ever made. If left for a few days, they actually got quite a bit sticky but once heated up, they tasted the same as when they first came out of the oven. Overall, a really quick and lovely cupcake recipe for when you've got overripe bananas and leftover yoghurt to use them up.

Jacques Torres chocolate chip cookies

2008-08-04T17:54:00.002+10:00

So this is the famous chocolate chip cookies recipe that had the whole world raving about. I have to admit that it is a very good chocolate chip cookie but I did tweak it quite a bit that I actually made 40 small cookies from just half the original recipe. I can't imagine how big the original ones would be. I would love to try this out again one day, when I'm feeling very indulgent, and actually create those 6 giant cookies with maybe walnuts or pecans.

Jacques Torres Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups plain flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp coarse salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup dark chocolate chips or chopped bitter chocolate
Sea salt

1. Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugars together until very light. Add egg followed by the vanilla. Add dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them.
3. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.
4. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 180 C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.
4. Using a teaspoon, roll dough into 1 inch balls and lightly flatten the dough onto prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 15 to 18 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day.

potato chip chocolate chip cookies

2008-08-03T18:09:00.003+10:00

Potato Chip Chocolate Chip Cookies (adapted from The Search for the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie by Gwen Steege)

1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups plain salted potato chips, coarsely crushed
1½ cups dark chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts – optional (I used peanuts)

1. Cream butter, sugars and eggs. Stir in vanilla. Add flour and baking soda, then potato chips, then chocolate chips and nuts. Mix after each addition.
2. Line a baking sheet with baking paper and drop teaspoons onto baking sheet (they will spread a lot). Bake at 180 C for 10-12 minutes. Yielded 3 dozen.

I'm definitely going to make these again. The salty and sweet really complimented each other and I love how the chips gave that added crunch and dimension. I'll try adding oats into the mix next time around.

cookie doughy

2008-08-01T18:24:00.003+10:00

I was in a mad mood for all things cookies and decided on trying my own spin on cookie dough brownies and cookie dough cupcakes. I decided to use the chocolate chip cookies recipe by David Lebovitz and the brownies and cupcakes recipes are by Jamie Oliver. The end results was fantastic and so sinfully delicious. The brownies was fudgey and gooey with the cookie topping lightly crunchy and chewy. The cupcakes was great even though I made the mistake of putting the cupcake batter first instead of the cookie dough which resulted in the hole in the cupcake design there. My friends thought it was cute but oh well, at least they tasted great.

Great Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe (adapted from The Great Book of Chocolate by David Lebovitz)

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup walnuts or pecans, toasted and chopped

1. Beat the sugars and butters together until smooth. Mix in the egg, vanilla, and baking soda. Stir together the flour and salt, then mix them into the batter. Mix in the chocolate chips and nuts.
2. Scoop the cookie dough into 2-tablespoon balls and place 8 balls, spaced 4 inches (10cm) apart, on each of the baking sheets.
3. Bake in preheated oven at 150 C for 18 minutes, or until pale golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.
4. Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Fifteen Chocolate Brownies (adapted from Cook with Jamie)

1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup best quality dark chocolate, at least 70% cocoa solids, broken up
3/4 cup dried cherries or chopped nuts (optional)
4 tbs cocoa powder, sifted
4 tbs plain flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup caster sugar
3 large free range eggs

1. In a large bowl over simmering water, melt the butter and the chocolate and mix until smooth. Add the cherries and nuts if using, (I used crushed pecans) and stir together.
2. In a separate bowl, mix cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, and sugar, then add this to the chocolate mixture. Beat in the eggs and mix well until you have a silky consistency.
3. Pour brownie mixture into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven at 180 C for around 30 minutes. You don't want to overcook them so the brownies should be lightly springy on the outside but still gooey in the middle. Allow to cool in the pan, the transfer to wire rack to cool further before slicing them into chunky square.

All purpose Cupcakes or Sponge cake recipe (adapted from Cook with Jamie)

1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup caster sugar
4 large free range eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract or zest of 1 lemon
1 cup self raising flour

Beat butter and sugar till creamy, light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time beating each one in well before adding the next, then fold in the flour and lemon zest or vanilla.

To make cupcakes: simply pour into prepared tin and bake for 20 minutes in preheated oven at 180 C

For the sponge cake: pour into prepared pan(s) and bake for 20 minutes in preheated oven at 180 C.

Allow the cakes to cool before slicing for fillings or frosting.

Cookie Dough Brownies
Prepare the cookie dough and brownie recipes before hand.
When you've poured the brownie mix into the pan, smooth it out as best you can. Top the brownie mixture with the cookie dough in clumps all over. It doesn't have to look pretty or neat, just as long as the cookie dough covers the brownie mix. Bake as per usual the brownie time. The cookie topping will be browned but may not be as crunchy as a usual cookie is. Re: picture; I didn't have enough cookie dough leftover because I used half the batch for the cupcakes.

Cookie Dough Cupcakes
Prepare the cookie dough and cupcake recipe before hand.
To get the odd looking cavity like cupcakes in my pictures, pour the cupcake batter first followed by a tablespoon of the cookie dough into the center of the batter. But if you want a proper looking cupcake, put a tablespoon of cookie dough first into the prepared cupcake tin followed by the cupcake batter. Bake as per usual the cupcake time. The cookie dough will be soft and not fully baked like a cookie.

marbled chocolate chip cookies

2008-07-26T11:07:00.001+10:00

Marbled Chocolate Chip Cookies (adapted from Quaker Oatmeal)

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tbs vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour (divided half)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup cocoa
1 cup quick or old-fashioned oats (divided half)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (divided half)

1. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, beat butter and brown sugar until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla, mixing well. Add flour mixture and mix well.
2. Divide dough in half. To one half, add cocoa and mix. Stir into each dough 1/2 cup oats and 1/2 cup chocolate chips. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.
3. Preheat oven to 180 C. Combine 1 tablespoon of each dough, twisting together to make one cookie. Place 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. If dough becomes too warm, refrigerate for a few minutes then resume forming cookies.
4. Bake about 10 minutes or until lighter dough is golden brown. Cool on sheets for 2 minutes. Then, remove cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

banana oatmeal cookies

2008-07-23T11:06:00.004+10:00

Banana Oatmeal Cookies (adapted from Baking Bites)

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter, very soft
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup mashed banana (1 small/medium)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup chocolate chips

1. In a small bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Beat in egg and banana, followed by the vanilla extract. Gradually add in the flour mixture. Stir in the oats and chocolate chips.
3. Drop dough by tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking sheet.
4. Bake in preheated oven at 180 C for 15 minutes until set and lightly browned. Let cookies cool for about 5 minutes on the pan before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

coco-nutty

2008-07-21T13:13:00.003+10:00

Coconut Macaroons

3 cups unsweetened desiccated coconut
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbs plus 1 1/2 tsp melted butter
1 cup caster sugar
3 extra-large or 4 medium-large egg whites
1 cup chopped chocolate (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 180 C.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine coconut, vanilla, butter, and half the sugar.
3. Whip the whites in the bowl of an electric mixer until they begin to get foamy and opaque. Add the remaining sugar in a slow, steady stream and continue whipping until the mixture is pure white and volumized, but just short of holding soft peaks. Fold the whites into the coconut mixture. Add the chocolate, if desired.
4. Using a teaspoon, scoop the batter onto parchment-lined cookie sheets, about 1/2-inch apart.
5. Bake for about 13-15 minutes, until lightly browned, turning the tray once during baking. Cool completely.
Note: The batter can be made several days in advance, and kept covered and refrigerated.

Coconut Shortbread (adapted from Baking Bites)

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sweetened, shredded coconut (unsweetened is fine, too)

1. In a large mixing bowl whisk flour, sugar and salt together. Mix in butter until dough is crumbly, but starting to come together. Stir in coconut and continue to mix until dough resembles wet sand; there should be large and fine clumps of dough in the mixing bowl.
2. Pour shortbread dough into prepared pan and press it firmly down into a single, even layer. Score shortbread lightly to make it easier to slice later.
3. Bake in preheated oven at 180 C for 30-35 minutes, until edges are golden and top is very lightly browned. Middle of shortbread will be set, but not firm.
4. Cool shortbread for 5 minutes, then use a sharp knife to cut the shortbread into 18 bars. Cool shortbread entirely in pan.
5. When cooled, remove shortbread from baking pan and store in an airtight container.

banana bread with almond streusel topping

2008-07-19T13:13:00.002+10:00

Banana Bread with Almond Streusel Topping

2 cups plain flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
3 large very ripe bananas, mashed (or 4 regular ones)
2 eggs
1 cup slivered almonds (or your favourite nuts crushed coarsely)

1. Grease and flour loaf pan (or muffin pan).
2. Stir & toss together flour, salt, baking soda then set it aside.
3. In a large bowl combine butter, sugar, eggs and bananas until well blended.
4. Add the combined dry ingredients until batter is thoroughly blended.
5. Pour into loaf pan or muffin tins.
6. Sprinkle with the streusel topping.
7. Bake in preheated oven at 180 C for 60-70 minutes for loaf pans, 15-20 minutes for muffins.
8. Check center for doneness with a toothpick. If it comes out clean, it's ready. Remove from oven then let cool for 5 minutes before inverting.

Streusel Nut Topping

6 tbs brown sugar
5 tbs plain flour
4 tbs butter
2/3 cup chopped almonds (optional)

In a small bowl, combine the sugar and flour. Then using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the almonds. Sprinkle this on top of the loaves or muffins before baking.

austrian raspberry shortbread

2008-07-15T13:13:00.002+10:00

Austrian Raspberry Shortbread (from Smitten Kitchen and Epicurious)

2 cups unsalted butter, slightly softened
4 egg yolks
2 cups granulated sugar
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup raspberry jam, at room temperature
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

1. Cream the butter in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or using a hand mixer) until soft and fluffy. Add the egg yolks and vanilla extract, and mix well.
2. Mix the granulated sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt together. Add to the butter and egg yolk mixture and mix just until incorporated and the dough starts to come together. Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and form into two balls. Wrap each ball in plastic wrap and freeze at least 2 hours or overnight (or as long as a month, if you like).
3. Heat the oven to 180 C.
4. Remove one ball of dough from the freezer and coarsely grate it by hand or with the grating disk in a food processor into the bottom of a 9×13-inch baking pan or a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Make sure the surface is covered evenly with shreds of dough.
5. With a piping bag with a wide tip or a zip-lock bag with the corner cut off, squeeze the jam over the surface as evenly as possible, to within 1/2 inch of the edge all the way around. Remove the remaining dough from the freezer and coarsely grate it over the entire surface.
6. Bake until lightly golden brown and the center no longer wiggles, 50 to 60 minutes. As soon as the shortbread comes out of the oven, dust with confectioners’ sugar.
7. Cool on a wire rack, then cut in the pan with a serrated knife. I find that for this an all bar cookies, chilling the pan in the fridge makes it a lot easier to get clean cuts.

new york crumb cake

2008-07-11T20:04:00.002+10:00

Martha Stewart's New York Crumb Cake

2 tbsp vegetable oil
4 cups all purpose flour, divided
1/2 cup granulated (white) sugar
2 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 large egg
½ cup milk (lowfat is fine)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup light brown sugar
1 ½ tsp cinnamon
1 cup butter, melted

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together 1 1/2 cups flour, the granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, canola oil, and vanilla. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and spread into pan (you might want to grease your spatula). Set aside.
3. In another large bowl, whisk together remaining 2 1/2 cups flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon (and allspice, if using). Pour melted butter over flour mixture, and stir with a rubber spatula until large crumbs form. Spread evenly over batter in pan.
4. Bake in preheated oven at 175 C for 25-30 minutes, rotating once, until a tester comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack before serving in large pieces.

chocolate matcha marble loaf

2008-07-10T20:02:00.002+10:00

Chocolate Matcha Marble Loaf

2 cups self raising flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp instant espresso or coffee powder
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
1 egg
6 tbs unsalted butter
1 cup low fat yoghurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp matcha powder

1. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
2. In a smaller bowl, combine espresso powder, cocoa and 1/3 cup of the sugar with 1/4 cup of water. Whisk until smooth. Set aside.
3. Cream the butter and the rest of the sugar in another large bowl. Mix in the egg and vanilla when it's creamed enough.
4. Mix half of the flour mixture with the batter till well combined followed by half of the yoghurt. Fold in the remaining flour mixture and the yoghurt till well combined.
5. Scoop out 1 1/2 cups of the batter and mix into the cocoa mixture.
6. Mix the matcha powder with the rest of the batter in the large bowl.
7. Fill the bottom of the loaf pan with about 3/4 of the matcha batter placed in dollops. Spoon the chocolate batter over the green batter in dollops. Cover the chocolate with the rest of the green batter in small dollops. Use a knife and run the batter through to create a marbling effect in a circular pattern. Be careful not to blend them too much.
8. Bake in the preheated oven at 180 C for 45-50 minutes and the cake starts to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted in comes out clean. Let cool for 10-15 minutes on a rack then slice into thick pieces.

the cookie monster strikes again

2008-07-05T19:58:00.005+10:00

Being buried under three batches of different cookies will definitely do something to you if not at least give you a crazy sugar high for a few days. Phew!

Crispy Salted Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies

Coconut Oatmeal Cookies

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Everyone loved them, I am proud to say. My favourite of the bunch was the white chocolate cookies. I loved the crispiness of the cookie's edges and how the inside was slightly chewy but not too much and managed to retain the crunchiness and integrity of the salted bit. The peanut butter cookie was really good too without it being too peanut buttery as I had previously made PB cookies which was almost all peanut butter and no texture at all. I love the krinkly pattern on the cookie that the icing sugar produced too and of course, who doesn't love chocolate chips. The coconut oatmeal cookie was somewhat of a disappointment compared to the rest but it was still alright.

eggless banana chocolate loaf

2008-07-02T19:56:00.003+10:00

Eggless Banana Chocolate Loaf

1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1 cup mashed banana
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup canola oil

1. Whisk flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Whisk sugar, milk, banana, vanilla, and oil in a separate bowl.
2. Fold the banana mixture into the flour mixture till no streaks of flour remains. Do not over mix.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin and bake in preheated oven at 180 C for 55-60 minutes till well cooked with a toothpick inserted in the center, it comes out clean. Let cool and slice in thick pieces.

banana bar cookies

2008-06-30T19:55:00.003+10:00

Banana Bar Cookies

1 large banana mashed or enough bananas to make 1 cup mashed bananas
6 tbs margarine (softened)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease 8x8" pan and line with wax paper.
2. In a large bowl, mix the margarine and brown sugar till creamy.
3. Add in the mashed bananas, egg, vanilla, baking powder and salt.
4. Add in the flour and mix till well blended.
5. Add the chocolate chips and stir till just mixed.
6. Pour the batter into the pan and smooth out.
7. Bake for 20 minutes till set and let cool.

cherry pie

2008-06-28T17:07:00.002+10:00

I needed to use up the last bit of morello cherries which I already used a little over half of the jar so far. For the last round of my cherry run, I decided to go a bit more traditional and classic and made an all American cherry pie!

I would have liked to use fresh cherries for this but morello works really well too as you get that tarty sweetness too. The shortcrust recipe is from this site. It came together quickly and easily even with just my hands and no KitchenAide or machine whatever. I let it chill overnight which definitely made a difference in rolling out the dough.

Once it finished baking, I dusted it with icing sugar and dug straight in while it was nice and hot! Yum! It feels like the 4th of July already! Except that it's cold and wintry here in Melbourne while sunny and perfect beach weather everywhere else.

oatmeal jam crumble bars

2008-06-25T15:11:00.001+10:00

Oatmeal Jam Crumble Bars

1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup butter (softened and cut into chunks)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup jam (use your favourite flavour, I used raspberry)

1. Cut the butter into the flour, oats, sugar, baking soda, salt and vanilla till they are blended and resemble coarse crumbs with small and big chunks.
2. Take half of the mixture and press them into the prepared 8 x 8 inch baking pan till the bottom is covered evenly.
3. Using a piping bag or a zip-lock bag with one side of the tip snipped off, pipe the jam all over the mixture leaving half an inch of space from the sides.
4. Sprinkle the remaining mixture all over the jam but do not press down. Make sure they are evenly spread.
5. Bake in preheated oven at 180 C for 30-35 minutes. Let cool then slice into bars.

chocolate cherry brownies

2008-06-23T14:50:00.002+10:00

Chocolate Cherry Brownies

1 cup butter
1 cup dark chocolate (at least 60% cocoa broken into pieces)
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup plain flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup drained morello cherries

1. Melt dark chocolate and butter in a microwavable bowl at medium for about a minute and till it's thick and creamy when stirred. Let cool.
2. Beat sugar, vanilla, and eggs till creamy and smooth.
3. Mix the chocolate mixture with the eggs mixture.
4. Add in the flour and salt and mix till well combined.
5. Fold in the morello cherries and spread the batter onto prepared brownie pan.
6. Bake in preheated oven at 180 C for 25-30 minutes.
7. Let cool then slice into squares.

eggless chocolate chip cookies

2008-06-20T16:07:00.003+10:00

Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies (makes about 2-3 dozen cookies depending on their size)

1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup margarine
1/3 cup plain lowfat yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup combination chocolate chips (semi-sweet, dark and white)

1. Preheat oven to 180 C.
2. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt until well combined.
3. Cream together margarine and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add in the low-fat yogurt and vanilla, beat until well incorporated.
5. Add the flour in 2 installments mixing/beating well after each addition.
6. Mix in the chocolate chips till well incorporated.
7. Drop on greased cookie sheets in 1 tbsp quantities (2 inches apart) and bake for about 15-18 minutes or until golden brown on the sides.

cherry custard pie

2008-06-18T16:00:00.008+10:00

Chery Custard Pie

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 cups pitted fresh cherries sliced in half
2 eggs
1 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 180 C.
2. Cream the butter and sugar. Sift together the flour, salt, cinnamon and baking powder. Add to butter/sugar and mix briefly. The mixture should be crumbly but moist enough to hold together when pressed. Set aside 1/4 cup and press remaining dough into tart pan, making sure the sides are strong and even.
3. Arrange cherries, spreading evenly over the bottom. Sprinkle on the reserved 1/4 cup of mixture and place tart pan on a baking sheet and slide into the oven. Bake for 15 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs in a bowl, then add the milk and whisk until combined. After 15 minutes, open oven door and pull the baking sheet half way out of the oven. Carefully and quickly pour the custard mixture over the tart and carefully push the baking sheet back in and close the oven door. Bake another 25 minutes, until crust is deep gold and the custard is set and beginning to brown.
5. Remove from oven and let cool slightly before removing tart ring. Let cool completely before sliding off bottom. Serve warm, at room temperature or slightly chilled with ice cream.

rosemary loaf cake

2008-06-12T15:52:00.004+10:00

Rosemary Loaf Cake (Adapted from Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking)

1 cup soft butter
1 cup caster sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
4 tbs skim milk

1. Preheat the oven to 170 C.
2. Mix flour, salt and baking powder.
3. Cream butter and sugar until pale, smooth and light. Beat in the eggs one at a time, folding in a spoonful of flour after each addition, then add the vanilla extract. Fold in the rest of the flour and finally add the rosemary.
4. Thin the batter with the milk - you're aiming for a soft, dropping consistency.
5. Pour the batter into a buttered (or lined with parchment paper) 450 g loaf tin.
6. Cook for 60 minutes or a bit longer, until a cake-tester comes out clean.
7. Leave to cool in its tin on a wire rack. When completely cold, unmould and wrap well in foil until you need to eat it.
8. Keeps well for a few days.

milo chocolate chip muffin

2008-06-10T15:50:00.000+10:00

Milo Chocolate Chip Muffin (makes 9 muffins)

1 1/4 cup self raising flour
1/4 cup Milo powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup butter (chopped into small cubes)
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup chocolate chips
2 eggs lightly beaten
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Mix the flour, Milo and baking powder in a large bowl.
2. Rub in the butter till it resembles coarse crumbs.
3. Mix in the sugar and chocolate chips.
4. Mix the eggs, milk and vanilla in a smaller bowl.
5. Stir the wet into the dry mixture till the batter just comes together.
6. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tins.
7. Bake in preheated oven at 200 C for 20 minutes till brown and well risen.
8. Let cool then eat!

puff pastry pinwheels

2008-06-06T15:40:00.000+10:00

Rugelach Dough (Adapted from Kate Zukerman's The Sweet Life)

1/2 cup cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
1 cup plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar

1. Sift together the flour, salt and sugar. Set aside.
2. Cream the butter and soft cheese together till ilight and fluffy. Add the dry ingredients till well combined.
3. Scrape the dough onto plastic wrap and press into a flat disk. Then, double rap the dough and refrigerate overnight.
4. To use, roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface into a large rectangle about 12 x 16 inches. Then, cut into two 6 x 16 pieces.
5. Fill as desired with the long side facing you, and roll up. Wrap the dough in wrap again and chill for 30 minutes. Or, if you want, you can freeze the log to use later in the week.
6. To cook, slice the log into 1-inch cross sections, and place each little round about 1 inch apart on a parchment lined baking sheet.
7. Bake at 180 C for about 15 minutes, or until the dough is a light golden brown. Allow the pinwheels to cool for about 15 minutes before serving. They will keep up to 4 days, depending on your filling.

easy sticky toffee pudding

2008-06-02T15:23:00.002+10:00

Sticky Toffee Pudding (Adapted from Nigella Bites by Nigella Lawson)

For the cake:

1/2 cup dark muscovado sugar (I used raw brown sugar)
1 cup self-raising flour
1/2 cup whole milk
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbs unsalted butter (melted)
200 g medjool dates (chopped)

For the sauce:

1 cup dark muscovado sugar
about 2 tbs unsalted butter (to top the pudding), broken into little pieces
2 cups boiling water

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C.
2. Generously butter a baking dish that has a capacity of 1-1/2 litres.
3. In a bowl, combine the sugar and the flour, making sure there are no lumps.
4. Pour the milk into a measuring cup and beat in the egg, vanilla and melted butter. Mix well.
5. Pour the milk mixture into the sugar and flour mixture and mix until just combined.
6. Fold in the dates.
7. Spoon the mixture into the prepared baking dish and spread evenly across the bottom of the dish.
8. Sprinkle the 1 cup of muscovado sugar over the top of the batter. Dot with the 2 tbs of butter.
9. Pour the boiling water over everything.
10. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the cake is springy when touched.
11. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes. When you cut into it, you will have a lovely sponge cake on top and the most delicious sauce on the bottom.
12. Serve with ice cream, yoghurt or creme fraiche while still warm!

coffee kick

2008-05-24T16:53:00.006+10:00

This morning I got to attend an espresso coffee making class that came with my espresso machine which I got recently as a present. It was quite interesting though I've learned most of the grinding and tamping techniques from the DVD that came with my machine too, I was only really interested in the milk texturing aspect of the class. I think I've got it just about right but it's all about practice now.

I just got inspired to make something caffeine infused which I was then prompted to browse for some coffee baked goodies. I came across Su's recipe for coffee and walnut streusel topping muffin and it was perfect. I changed the proportions and measurements just a touch which I've included here.

Coffee and Walnut Streusel Muffin

Muffin batter:
1/2 cup less 1 tbs butter
1/2 cup less 2 tbs brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp favourite coffee powder
1 tbs hot water
1 cup self-raising flour
1/3 milk (I used soy milk to no ill effect)

Streusel topping:
1 tbs butter
2 tbs brown sugar
1/2 cup crushed toasted walnuts
2 tbs plain flour

1. Mix the streusel topping ingredients till they resemble coarse lumped sand. Set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugar. Mix in egg till well incorporated.
3. Mix the coffee powder and hot water in a cup and stir into the batter.
4. Alternate the flour and milk additions into the batter till you get a smooth consistency.
5. Divide the batter into 6 muffin moulds/tin lined with paper cases and cap the batter off with the streusel topping.
6. Bake in preheated oven at 180 C for 25 minutes till well risen and golden brown.

The coffee flavour was a good kick, very soft and moist cake, and not too strong which contrasted very well with the crunchy sweet walnut streusel topping.

honey, i blew up the cookie!

2008-05-23T15:28:00.000+10:00

No, that is not an exaggeration. Well maybe a little but it is still the biggest cookie I've ever made. The site I got the recipe from is Clumbsy Cookie. I never thought of using yeast in cookies before but this made a believer out of me and it was one of the best cookies I ever made. It's perfectly crunchy and crisp outer shell and soft chewy center is the most perfect type of cookie I love and have finally found the magic ingredient. I altered the measurements slightly from the original recipe and my cookies are a lot flatter than the original had intended, but no less yummy!

Large Yeast Leavened Chocolate Chip Cookies

6 tbs butter
5 tbs brown sugar
5 tbs caster sugar
1 egg
8 tbs bread flour (I used plain flour to no ill effects)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp instant yeast
2/3 dark chocolate chips
1/3 toasted chopped walnuts

1. Cream butter and both sugars till fluffy.
2. Add egg and salt and mix together till incorporated thoroughly.
3. Mix the flour and yeast in a separate bowl till well incorporated.
4. Mix the flour with the batter mixture and stir well till no streaks of flour is visible.
5. Stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts. The dough should be neither sticky nor dry.
6. Divide the dough into four medium-large mounds on the grease paper. Keep them sort of raggedy and not too well rounded. You want them kind of rustic looking.
7. Bake in preheated oven at 190 C for 10 minutes then lower the temp to 180 C and bake for a further 10 minutes.
8. Cool on sheets for about 10 minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

buddha-canned

2008-05-22T10:41:00.000+10:00

SPOILER
AHEAD
TOP CHEF
Restaurant Wars
Episode 11 Season 4

I am angry. Sad, bummed, disappointed and in his own words, bitter. VERY.

It's the end of the road for the fiery tempered and super talented Dale Talde in the Top Chef trip and I will miss him. Le sigh. He was doing so well and produced very consistent food in lieu of some recent occasions but then even I had to cringe at the sound of butterscotch miso scallops and groan at his lack of knowledge or inexperience with a traditional Asian cuisine like laksa. I love my curry laksa rich, super spicy and assam laksa tangy with a slight sour taste from the lime but Lisa's laksa just looked bad and unappetizing with very thin and watery looking soup. Spike was smart to stay out of the kitchen to take care of front of house and let the battle of exec chef Dale and sous chef Lisa war out for the last time.

To make the whole situation for Dale as bad as it could get, Anthony Bourdain, was the guest head judge of the Restaurant Wars episode and I was literally cringing with delight when it came to him seeing 'Mai Buddha' in the kitchen. Like who else but Tony could be the harshest critic of Asian cuisine especially when it is well known that he loves Asian food. It was just not Dale's night to shine when he very well could have shown his skills except that his attitude got the better of him combined with some bad decisions made and sloppy execution, which all just led to his eventual downfall. He did not deal with the stress well enough and everything just crashed and burn right before him in the end.

With that said, I hope he's still doing well at Buddakan but now I've only got two of the remaining top three people whom I really wanted to see at the finals battle it out for the grand prize. I hope Stephanie and Richard at least make it to the final two and kick those other non-deserving cheftestants' asses out. And they know who they are. And to cap Dale's farewell off, the dude cried in the exit interview. All the walls are breaking down to reveal a soft squishy inside which is not such a bad thing after all.

For a better composed, well rounded opinion and written review of this episode and past ones, these sites are great and awesome.

in my time of knead

2008-05-21T16:05:00.006+10:00

It's the return of the no-knead dough! I found a different recipe this time round which uses olive oil instead of honey.

The recipe is from Bake or Break which I halved the original and got three personal sized pizzas and about a dozen savoury buns with a meaty tomato, onion and garlic, mince beef filling.

It's a pretty hefty yield and I will definitely make it again as well. This dough actually came together better than the honey dough one and was a lot easier to shape it and work with it too.

The pizza toppings were the same mince beef used in the buns, thinly sliced onions, fresh rosemary, and grated parmesan cheese. Of course, everyone has their own taste and favourite topping that can be substituted or opted for when making a pizza.

old favourites

2008-05-18T16:04:00.003+10:00

Time to break out those old favourites and indulge. I was craving for some crumble and had some peaches in the fridge which were going to be wasted if not I used them soon so I plucked out an old fave recipe for crumbles from this site and it was delicious and so scrumptious, whether hot from the oven or chilled the day after.

Another favourite and winter warmer treat of mine is an old fashioned chocolate chip oatmeal and coconut brownie.

I decided to try a new recipe from this article and it was great! Very chocolatey yet you don't feel like you've indulged too much because of the oats and coconut which imparted a delicate sweetness.

thrice the charm

2008-05-15T16:17:00.003+10:00

It's a muffin, biscuit and chocolate triple threat tonight.

First, is an eggless and butter and margarine free vegan muffin recipe with bananas, coconut and maple syrup in it. Well, in my case, I substituted the maple with honey but the results are just as wonderful and delicious. I feel healthier already just thinking about it. Definitely a repeat performance and it's from this site, which actually originally is a loaf but I altered it for my own convenience.

I've been wanting to try out a shortbread biscuit or cookie recipe for the longest time and found this one. It was very crunchy and quite delicate. Liked it a lot as a tea time snack and a midnight one too.

Lastly, I tried my hand at these delectable looking cinnamon chocolate squares recipe from Baking Bites which I've kept in my bookmarks for quite while but just hadn't gotten to it yet. I have to say I am glad that I did finally, because they were so sinful and luscious but in a very, very good way.

knead-less

2008-05-05T21:13:00.003+10:00

Making bread has always been the bane of my baking skills. I tried it twice before to little success. So after my previous attempt at the yeasted coffee cake, I became more confident and so decided to try the talked about no knead bread recipe.

Sounded simple enough. Just mix the ingredients together and stick it in the refrigerator overnight or for up to 4 days and use as you like. The links are from Tartelette and Steamy Kitchen. I was pretty satisfied with how all the bread came out and will definitely make it again. Only because my instant yeast packets are about the expire soon.

The dough came together well enough and really did double in size after one night of rising. It was a bit sticky but with just a little bit of flouring and shaping it was easy and soft and supple to work with.

I made these little brioche type mini buns in the morning with four different fillings in each.

From left to right; cinnamon, chocolate spread, chocolate chips, hazelnut honey spread.

They were all quite lovely though perhaps a bit too plain on its own. I think it would have gone well with more butter slathered on top and toasted too.

Then we've got an improvised version of the seductively guilty and fattening cinnamon rolls slathered with caramel pecan sauce and filled with buttery caramel goodness. Mine is a more chocolatey or Nutella and coconut version and without the sauce at the base. I wasn't able to photograph the steps along the way as I went about making it as my hands were sticky and floury as I rolled, spread, and arranged the cut out rolls in the jelly pan.

I shaped the dough into as much the same way as how a cinnamon roll would be formed. It was a bit sticky and fussy to get the dough the proper length and width as I wanted but I managed to in the end after a bit of wrestling. After about half an hour in a 200 C oven the results came out smelling great and looked almost as good as any cinnamon rolls out in the shopping malls.

All I need now is an excuse to indulge in some hot chocolate and sinful butter melting on top of some warm rolls. Breakfast is going to be delightful. Mmm.

chocolate coconut banana bread

2008-05-03T15:54:00.002+10:00

I think the title speaks for itself already, doesn't it? Try saying that five times fast.

So the recipe is actually a Karen Martini one which I found from this site. The pictures looked too good to pass over and I had some really ripe and black bananas to use up as well.

The results did not disappoint and I had to control myself before scarfing down the whole lot when I made it for brunch this morning. It was moist and tender and bursting with great banana flavour which was matched perfectly with the chocolate and coconut. I used my newly purchased silicone pan which is actually more suited for bar cookies or brownies. They still came out great and tasted awesome. Will definitely make these again.

going green

2008-05-02T15:32:00.000+10:00

I recently got some green tea or matcha powder from an Asian grocery store and decided to experiment with some green tea or matcha cupcakes. The recipe is actually a very easy and basic sponge cake recipe from Jamie Oliver's Cook with Jamie. I halved the original recipe to make six blooming green cupcakes without any additions like nuts or chips. Feel free to add chocolate chips or walnuts or even top it off with cream cheese icing. This link is a really cute recipe for green tea cupcakes as well. The cupcakes were full of green tea flavour and makes a great tea time snack with some milk tea or coffee.

Green Tea or Matcha Cupcakes

1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup raw or caster sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla (optional)
1 cup self-raising flour
1 heaping tbsp green tea or matcha powder
1/2 - 3/4 cup of white chocolate chips, roasted walnuts, almonds (optional)

1. Cream butter and sugar till pale and fluffy.
2. Mix eggs one at a time till well incorporated. Add vanilla if using at this stage too.
3. Mix in the flour and matcha powder till well mixed and no traces of flour or green tea powder is seen. Mix in any additions you like.
4. Spoon the green batter onto prepared 12 muffin tins and pop into preheated oven of 180 degrees C. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until cake tester comes out almost clean.

hot chocolate

2008-04-25T22:35:00.005+10:00

After watching this week's episode of Top Chef, I am just spazzing myself over the irresistibly, adorable and hot pastry chef, Johnny Iuzzini.

This week's episode finally had the cheftestants creating desserts in the Quickfire Challenge for the delectable Johnny. Unfortunately there weren't too much variations from the usual chocolate cake, buttermilk cake, and traditional souffle and pavlova. Though, Richard's weird looking banana scallop dessert and Dale's halo-halo which looked too much like ais-kacang to me were the better of the bunch. And as much as I hate to say it, Richard won yet again for his odd take on bananas. Damn, he's the type of guy you just love to hate yet you can't stop rooting for him.

Even this chick is excited about Darling Johnny.

Where have you been all my life? Well, all my life since I got into dessert and pastry type cooking. Which makes it about two or three years now. In any case, immediately after the show, I googled the dude and found out that in addition to being the guest judge in this week's Top Chef episode, he was voted as New York City's Sexiest Chef and won numerous James Beard awards and the restaurant Jean-Georges that he works in was awarded the very prestigious three Michelin Stars. He is one of the best pastry chefs in the USA if not the world currently.

And how can one not love a guy with a huge ass tatt on his biceps/triceps? And that cheeky looking smile and grin. I will be awaiting for your new pastry cook book; Dessert Four Play with anticipation. Or if someone is willing to sponsor me that book that would be fantastic too.

I'm thinking of doing like a weekly recap of each Top Chef episode. I mean I know there are many blogs out there which do that already but it's the thought and words that count, right.

brown-karoonies

2008-04-22T16:26:00.002+10:00

Another day, another yummy recipe to conquer and devour. I've been on fire this week and I've been wanting to try this recipe for the longest time too. Actually I've got loads of recipes that I want to try but I should start with this first.

It's a different kind of brownie which is sort of two toned with a coconut topping and a fudgy brownie base. The coconut topping will brown so be careful that it doesn't burn but you want to get a nice brown finishing as well.

I was quite happy with the brownie except that I would try a different brownie base another time as it was a little too dry but the coconut topping was really sweet and tasty. The coconut was quite sweet and had a good texture to it.

cupcakes celebration

2008-04-20T16:15:00.005+10:00

Cupcake season is abound us! I've been on the lookout for some cute cupcakes to make on occasion of it being my friend's birthday and for visiting.

I decided to try my hand at two absolutely delicious looking cupcakes which they did not disappoint by the way. They were the upside down or downside up cheesecake cupcake by Su and the coffee cake cupcake by HTEAC. I made half a dozen of each of the cupcakes which means half of the original recipes. They were both really good but I think I preferred the coffee cake cupcake more because of the streusel like topping which gave a good crunch and bite to the whole cupcake. The cheesecake filling was wonderfully light but after a few days the graham crust became a little soft so it's best eaten on the day it's made itself.

The next cupcake is a black bottom cupcake from BB. These were really yummy and so sinful. The black chocolatey bottom was fudgy and moist which was what I really wanted and the cream cheese topping with chocolate chips capped these little beauties off perfectly.

The final but no less important or delish cupcake is plucked from Jamie Oliver's 'Cook with Jamie' cook book and it was actually a carrot loaf recipe which I switched and played around with the proportions and ingredients a bit to create my own carrot coconut cupcake. It was moist, very lovely texture, fluffy and not overly sweet or greasy even with the cream cheese frosting which every carrot cake, loaf, muffin or cupcake should have accompanying them.

Before frosting

Cream cheese goodness

Carrot Coconut Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing (makes 9 cupcakes)

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs separated
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
1 medium sized carrot to make about 3/4 cup; grated and drained
1/2 cup grated unsweetened coconut (desiccated or flaked coconut is alright too)
1/2 cup toasted walnuts or almonds (optional)

1. Cream butter and sugar till fluffy and pale.
2. Beat the egg yolks in one at a time.
3. Mix in the flour, baking powder, and cinnamon followed by the carrot and coconut.
4. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff and fold gently into the cake mix.
5. Spoon the mixture gently into prepared muffin tins or a loaf tin and bake in preheated oven at 180 C for about 40-45 minutes till golden and risen.
6. Let cool while you prepare the icing.

1/2 cup cream cheese
1/2 - 3/4 cup icing sugar (according to sweetness)

Cream the above ingredients together until a thick and smooth consistency is reached. Add a more icing sugar to taste if you want a sweeter frosting.

Spread a generous portion of icing on top of the cooled cupcakes to form a mound.
Munch in and enjoy!

the three c's plus one

2008-04-17T16:14:00.001+10:00

I was really excited about making the following cookies. It's been so long since I made a batch of cookies and these two recipes to follow were really tasty.

I love almost anything with carrot in it except chicken pot pie with carrot or any stew with carrot. I think I just like the dessert part of using carrot in them. So when I came across this carrot cake breakfast cookie from Cookie Madness, I knew I had to try them. I changed the ingredients slightly by using white chocolate chips and grated coconut and omitted the raisins and nuts. I don't think it was very healthy in the end when I made the changes but they still tasted fantastic!

One of my good friends told me she was craving for some chocolate chip cookies and so I decided to make some for her when I was to meet her soon. It's a wonderful chocolate chip oatmeal and coconut cookie which smelled and tasted even better. I think they actually improve the next day and keep pretty well too.

breadey cake and cakey bread

2008-04-15T15:29:00.003+10:00

It's been a dry spell but I'm back.

Been trying out some new cake slash bread recipes and made an Elvis inspired pound cake from Muffin Top. It was a bit on the dry side and I actually halved the massive recipe which could have been the reason for it being dry but I think it was quite good overall, especially the day after.

This yeasted coffee cake had plums in them and tasted really yummy actually. It's my first time in a long, long time that I used yeast since and I was really happy with the results. I would like to make it again but using other fresh fruit like maybe berries, apples, or pears. It was very much a bread but the top was crumbly and sweet which was more like a crumble or cobbler cake topping. The plums gave it that zesty tartness that went together prettily.

man-eaters

2008-04-10T16:57:00.009+10:00

I think it's getting just a tad bit strange and unorthodox that I think middle aged British men look hot to me.

I've been teased several times for my outspoken affection and affinity for Hugh Laurie and Jamie Oliver and now, I'm being smitten with potty mouthed Gordon Ramsay.

I'm getting addicted to 'Kitchen Nightmares' (both the US and original British version) just like I was with every of Jamie Oliver's shows in the past. Yeah, so maybe Ramsay just seems to be shouting and screaming at almost every person he encounters in the show episodes but still he does spout some sensible nonsense every now and then. Just watching Chef Ramsay bleeping and effing his way through the kitchen and tearing the restaurant apart is entertainment enough. But only he can do it in such a way that wearing a white chef's jacket can look both intimidating and irresistible at the same time while chopping up perfect 6 ounces fillets off a great big halibut.

I've been missing some Jamie love for a while now but just sifting through his cook books is enough to get me excited about trying new things and fresh ideas again. I've already got two of this books which make for excellent reading material and would love to get my hands on that Italian one as well in future. Love his style of cooking emphasizing always on freshness and simple ingredients to create wonderful meals that can please anyone. That boyish English cockney charm does rub off on you after a while after all, doesn't it, eh.

Alright, so my love for older chefs doesn't cover just the British since I've been a fan of Anthony Bourdain for as long as I can remember watching food and travel programs several years ago. Love his witty comebacks, quick one-liners, sarcasm and ironic humour that he unflinchingly displays and for not holding back what he loves and hates no matter what and who. I miss 'No Reservations' too.

Anyways, there will be new cakes and cookies coming up soon. I've been baking a slew of new ones and will post them up real soon.

strawberry fields forever

2008-03-21T13:19:00.004+11:00

Getting straight down to business, it's all about luscious strawberries today. First up is a modified buckle recipe from Simply Recipes which I substituted the blueberries for strawberries. The texture of the cake didn't really look alike to the original one perhaps due to the strawberries being used giving it a different type of texture, albeit still tasting great.

The crumble topping was very good and addictive to eat so it was very dangerous to have around the house by your lonesome especially.

Next we have a strawberry bread with a strawberry glaze drizzled liberally on top after it's cooled down. I halved the original recipe and came out with a small loaf and a small pie sized cake. The batter became a shocking pinkish and redish colour when I added the crushed strawberries which brought that much needed sunshine to this cloudy Easter morning.

The glaze I made with some of the juices leftover and used about a half cup of the crushed strawberries mixed with about a cup of icing sugar or till you get the desired consistency you want. I decided to make it a little bit more liquid than usual and left some small chunks of the strawberries in there.

Overall, I am very satisfied with the results of these cake/bread/buckle and will make them again soon with some variations next time.

blondie in the kitchen

2008-03-20T15:25:00.003+11:00

I love blondies!

The edible, sweet and chocolatey type of course. This new type of blondies is a modified version from this website. It's full of chocolate chips and coconut goodness all filled in a generous square sized portion. They're sweet but not so overpowering that the coconut can't be hinted at and the edges are really crumbly that they remind me of shortbread cookies.

Chocolate Chip and Coconut Studded Blondies

1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips plus some for studding
1/3 cup desiccated coconut plus some for sprinkling

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Prepare greased baking tray.
2. Cream butter and sugar till fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and mix.
3. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt till batter comes together.
4. Add chocolate chips and coconut till well combined.
5. Spread the batter onto prepared baking tray and top with the remaining chocolate chips and coconut.
6. Bake for about 25 minutes till browned on top.
7. Let cool and slice into squares. Makes about 12 squares.

if you can't stand the heat

2008-03-19T15:41:00.003+11:00

Get out of the kitchen! Top Chef kitchen that is.

Yes, it is latest season of Top Chef that I'm talking about and it's already the second episode down and second contestant out.

So far I'm currently rooting for "Kiwi" Mark, "Fauxhawk" Richard and "Tulan" Dale. It's not strange that they're all guys by the way and that the two persons eliminated first were women.

I'm looking forward to more kitchen disasters, tasting nightmares and of course dining divine. Hopefully my favourites will last long and well into the competition and so far they're doing quite alright provided they don't screw up something big.

Someone make some dessert! And no I'm not talking about some tiny looking banana bread cocktail thing.

poppers

2008-03-13T12:12:00.003+11:00

I've made these babies twice before already now but they didn't look as impressive and pretty as this time when I finally made them to almost perfection as I can possibly get them to be.

The two recipes that I got the basic recipe from is here and here. The two of them are basically the same but I just thought that the pictures looked pretty darn fantastic. I couldn't exactly get my popovers to rise and create that hollow bit in the middle like they did but they still tasted great with honey drizzled on top when still fresh and piping hot from the oven.

Basic Popovers

1 tbsp melted butter plus more for buttering the muffin/popover tins
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup flour

1. Preheat oven to about 230-250 degrees. Liberally butter 10 insides of the muffin or popover tins if you have them and place inside the oven in the middle rack to warm them up.
2. Melt the butter and let cool a bit. Warm up the milk and let cool as well.
3. Mix butter, milk and eggs in a bowl till well whisked.
4. Add the flour and salt and mix well till you get a rather smooth batter.
5. Take out the muffin tray and spoon the batter into the buttered tins up until 3/4 way through.
6. Place the tray back inside the oven and bake for about 20 minutes. Resist the urge to open the oven door to get the most rise from the popovers.
7. Lower the temperature to about 180 degrees and continue baking for about 15 minutes more or until you can't stand the temptation any longer.
8. Eat them piping hot out of the oven with honey or fresh fruit jam!

I halved the original recipe and made five brown babies. I think making them fresh and eating them on that day itself would give the best results instead of heating them up for later. But then again who can resist these, when they look this great, taste fantastic and takes as little as ten minute to get the batter made! They came out so invitingly hot and smelled intensely good and tasted even better! I can imagine how good these would have tasted with roast beef and gravy and mash, just like a traditional English pub supper. Yum!

sour cream tea bread

2008-03-11T12:49:00.005+11:00

I decided to try out this sour cream tea bread recipe just to use up the last tub of sour cream in the fridge. I made two small loafs on two different days and I halved the original recipe to accommodate the small sized tins. The first time I made it, they tasted wonderfully but I had made the mistake of mixing the sour cream and flour together instead of what the recipe called for alternating the mixing. The batter turned out pretty stiff and had a bit of trouble pouring and smoothing the batter into the loaf tins. However, they still turned out beautifully browned and smelled heavenly in spite of the ugly crusty appearance.

I made some vanilla glaze to make the cake look more interesting which involved mixing about 5 tablespoons of icing or confectioner sugar, 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence, and 2 tablespoons of milk. The glaze came together quite easily but if left alone for a while, it became stiff again so be careful about that minor detail. If you want it a bit liquid, just add a bit more milk. I drizzled the glaze on top of the cooled cakes using a knife.

The next day, I was more diligent in the mixing and came out absolutely perfect, appearance wise and taste wise too. I did something a bit differently from the recipe on those two occassions, which was to toss in a thin layer of chocolate chips after pouring a thin layer of the batter at the bottom of the tin and then followed by another layer on the top to cover the chips. The recipe was halved again as well. So in all actually, combined from the two days, I made one whole cake from the original recipe that called for it.

The result: my friends liked them! Yay! The batter came together incredibly fast at about ten minutes and I only sticked the cakes in the preheated oven at 180 degrees for about 50 minutes because they were browned quicker than I thought and I didn't want the cakes to be too brown and tough on the inside. The cake was fluffy, light, airy and just so tasty even without the chocolate chips I imagine. I would like to try mixing in some roasted almonds or even berries to see how it will turn out.

caked out

2008-03-10T12:41:00.003+11:00

These slew of cakes were baked for a farewell occasion for a friend and I brought along two varieties of coffee cakes; apple and banana fillings in each, and a chocolate chip sour cream cake. The coffee cake was from a previous time that I had made before and thought deserved a repeat performance.

The chocolate chip cake turned out wonderfully except that I think I should have used three instead of only two pie pans which lead to the overflowing disaster of the year where the cake sort of gravitated towards the back of the oven and began overflowing onto the baking tray quite a bit. After I took out the tray, and while still hot, I tried to carefully remove the excess spillage of cake which resulted in some half-eaten appearance at the edges. The peeled off cake pieces was actually quite tasty and crunchy because they were somehow more baked than the cake itself so they became my snack. Yum for me! The cake turned out quite well anyway and was really good too.

The coffee cakes were delish as usual and I used banana for one of them this time. Easy breezy to put together and even easier to eat.

banana cookies

2008-03-09T22:22:00.000+11:00

These absolutely heavenly banana cookies from Vanilla Garlic were divine. They tasted like what a banana cake would be except in cookie form which make them easier to munch on and savour slowly as well. The texture was quite cake like and soft.

Before

After

I made two different batches of cookies, one plain and one with chocolate chips mixed in. The chocolate chips one was quite decadent and really sweet but still lovely no less. I enjoyed the plain banana ones with some honey drizzled on top too.

berry nice

2008-03-06T17:37:00.004+11:00

Ah, man. It's been a long while since the last post. Well, I might as well jump right into the swing of things again.

I've been dreaming of peanut butter anything for a while and well after reading this post on Smitten Kitchen, how could I not try out the peanut butter cookie recipe that was demanding to be made and gobbled down.

My version of the cookies omitted the chocolate chips by the way and was rather flat and soft in texture rather than the crispy and crunchy type. Though the peanut butter flavour was amazing and came through really nicely and aromatic without being too overpowering. But then again, since I love peanut butter everything, I might be biased in my verdict so I gave a whole bunch away to friends. Fortunately they liked them too so this recipe is definitely a keeper for the books!

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup peanut butter (I used Kraft Smooth Peanut Butter)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla essence

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
2. Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, beat butter and peanut butter together until fluffy. Add sugar and continue mixing until smooth. Add egg, milk and vanilla.
4. Continue beating the mixture and add the flour mixture until you get a rather sticky dough.
5. Prepare two grease paper lined trays. Using two spoons, scoop a tablespoonful of dough and shape them into a ball. Line the balls on the tray making sure to keep them about an inch and a half apart to allow for expansion.
6. Using a fork dipped in water to prevent the dough from sticking, press the balls down with it. I forgot to add the second fork indentation so it's not really a criss cross shape.
7. Bake for about 12-15 minutes. Don't overbake. These cookies will appear underbaked and soft and chewy in the middle.
Makes about 45 smallish cookie morsels.

I had a half cup of blueberries in the fridge and didn't know what to do with them. Scouting for some blueberry recipes, I came across this delicious looking bilberry muffin recipe by A cat in the kitchen. I know I don't have bilberries but they sounded similar to blueberries so I thought why not.

Blueberry Muffins

1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
A splash of milk (About 2-3 tbs)
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup blueberries

1. Preheat fan-forced oven to 180 degrees.
2. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy and light. Add the egg, vanilla and milk and mix until combined and smooth looking.
3. Add the flour and baking powder and continue mixing until just combined and come together.
4. Toss in the blueberries and mix in. Scoop the dough into the prepared muffin tray (makes about six large ones) with a spoon and fill up till about 3/4.
5. Bake for about 25-30 minutes till browned on top but still tender and moist inside.
Tastes great with a teaspoon of honey drizzled on top and eaten while still warm.

oldies and newbies

2008-01-03T12:54:00.001+11:00

Woot! First post of 2008. And what better way to start off the new year than with some old and tried muffins and a new type of cake too.

This ham and onion muffin recipe came out very prettily except that I thought that the taste came out feeling a bit off. Perhaps it was the soy sauce used instead of Woschestire sauce or maybe I just don't have the taste for savoury muffins.

I just can't stay away from those bananas and anything to do with those golden fruits. I decided to give David Lebovitz's banana bread/cake recipe a go but used a muffin tin instead of a loaf pan or cake tin. The little morsels came out beautifully except that I would not used the muffin cases next time and grease the muffin holes instead to fill the batter in straight. I tossed in some coffee powder into the batter as well and the mix of coffee and banana flavour melded perfectly. Love!

Right after the muffins came out of the oven, I started on an apple cake dessert to bring to a barbecue tonight. The cake batter came together very easily and smelled divine once it was done. The result from the people at the barbecue came back great. It had a crumbly and slightly pie crust texture on the outside because of the browned sugar, the cake was fluffy and light without overpowering the cooked apple within the cake layers. I'm definitely aiming to recreate this cake again but with different fruits like strawberries, apricots, and pears.

Here's to a new year of better and more creative recipes to be tried and experimented with great success. Happy 2008!

ja-pan!!

2007-12-20T23:05:00.000+11:00

Ja-pan literally translated from Japanese to mean Japanese or Japan bread or could also relate to the absolutely hilarious, punny (funny), and genius show called Yakitate!! Japan.

I am absolutely in love with this anime show about a tensai-pan or bread genius boy whom is passionate about bread making and tells of his story in wanting to create Japan's own bread to call of their own.

It's just too funny at times that I can almost die several times over from laughing at their over-the-top reactions, elaborate antics, crazy expressions and outrageous situations. What more could one expect from an anime that explores the world of competitive bread making and celebrating the lives of ludicrously but extravagantly portrayed bread artisans.

I'm almost a third way through with the show but I believe that it can only get better from here on till the end. Stay tuned for an update on this review.

Update!!
Well I finished watching the whole 69 episodes show of Yakitate!! Japan and overall I was satisfied and amusedly entertained throughout its entirety. Absolutely fun show to watch as the play on the Japanese words and phrases was used a lot resulting in many a crazy situations. There was not much suspense in the show as what other animes usually have but the multitude of pop culture references, parodies of other animes and even themselves, and continuously breaking the fourth wall with comedic and pitch perfect effect was what kept the show alive and different from other food-related anime shows.

I was just a bit disappointed with how the show ended as the last 3-4 episodes is actually not based on the manga and so it didn't feel like a proper ending to the series. The final episode was actually a bit of an anticlimax and I think the producers of the anime could have done a better job of wrapping up the series if they had worked a bit harder at tying up some loose ends. Even though the 69th episode was the last one, I felt that they actually left quite a wide opening for a continuation of the show if they wanted to.

The manga continued on from after the third last battle of the breads so there is a lot more to go and explore for the Japan team. I'll be looking forward to more madness from Kuroyanagi aka Kuro-yan, hilarity from ~~Kappachi~~ Kawachi, and geniusity from Azuma-kun!

I feel quite inspired to throw myself back into bread making but that horrible first time that I tried handling yeast was enough to set me back a few. But maybe with this show I'd be able to rekindle my love for bread and try it again. Hopefully I will soon enough and I'd be sure to blog about it. Just thinking of those yummy looking breads in the show like the many-layer-croissant, ~~butter~~ margarine roll, melon-pan, naan-pan, and lots of other different types of bread that you couldn't even possibly imagine.

cuppy cakes

2007-12-19T16:23:00.000+11:00

In light of graduation week at University of Melbourne this week I decided to be indulgent and extravagant and made death-by-chocolate cupcakes for two of my lovely friends who graduated today and the other to be graduating tomorrow.

The recipe comes from Su Yin once again and took literally minutes to come together and popped into the oven and came out smelling awesome and looked delicious. The dome cracked a little perfectly and the texture was light and fluffy without being too sweet or dense like some cupcakes can be, which resemble more of a cake type texture.

After letting the cupcakes to cool down I melted down some Nestle Dark Chocolate Melts in the microwave and slathered them on top of the cupcakes and some I even created a shallow cavity in the cupcake and filled them up with the chocolate. Once cooled, the chocolate actually hardened up and when bitten into, it feels like the cupcake has a hidden chocolate piece filling.

The finishing touches after the frosting and slathering was some liberal sprinkling oficing sugar to give it that fancy look and for a bit of colour even though it is white.

I'm not really much for absolute chocolate cupcakes or muffins but they do look pretty I have to admit. I will be trying out more new cupcake recipes and making my own frostings and ganaches in due time.

fruit cake cookie

2007-12-12T17:00:00.000+11:00

I'm not sure if one would call these tiny munchies fruit cake cookies but they do taste like a piece of fruit cake but in a more compact, crunchier, and denser like form. The recipe came from this site, much thanks to Su Yin and her lovely recipes, which I modified a bit with taking some liberties in the additions of mixed fruits and slivered almonds and the non-addition of chocolate chips simply because I didn't have any. Embarrassing I know.

Well I have been on the ball with the cookie baking frenzy taking over me again and this was what I came up with. But it's also due in part to needing to finish up my baking supplies before I return to KL for a break and I really can't buy any more baking products so that is why for the lack of chocolate chips which is a shame really.

Anyway, back to the cookie. I decided to make them smaller than the average cookie because of the many ingredients in it. Also I actually expected the cookie to spread a lot more once they were done but it didn't. Nevertheless the taste test proved that it was still good and fit for consumption and surprisingly turned out to be somewhat festive too in its appearance and taste-wise.

Fruit Cake Cookie

1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup softened margarine
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup almonds (slivered or chopped roughly)
1/2 cup dried fruits (diced if they are not chopped up already)

1. Cream sugar and margarine till fluffy.
2. Combine egg and vanilla with mixture till just come together and same consistency. Don't overmix.
3. Combine the rest of the ingredients into the batter.
4. Shape the dough into rounded balls and place them apart about 1 inch on grease proof paper.
5. Bake in preheated oven at 180 C for 10-15 minutes till lightly golden brown on top.

Makes about 4 dozen small bite sized cookies.

I quite like these ones but I can't help thinking how much a difference it would have made if I had included those yummy melty chocolate chips in them if I actually did have them. Sigh. I might try them again but will use chocolate chips and maybe roast the almonds as well to give the cookies a nuttier flavour.

anzac biccies

2007-12-11T12:44:00.000+11:00

Here's a very simple and quick ANZAC biscuit recipe I used today but altered slightly.

The finished product came out a bit chewier than usual ANZAC cookies are supposed to be I think but that's only probably because I couldn't wait to try one of them babies. I think I actually prefer them chewy than their usual crunchiness that you get from store bought ones. But they'll likely to firm up when they cool down later.

ANZAC Biscuit (altered version from this site)

2 cups rolled oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 brown sugar
1/2 cup melted margarine
1 tbs honey
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbs boiling water

1. Combine the rolled oats, flour, sugar with the melted margarine in a big mixing bowl till they just come together.
2. Combine the honey, baking powder and boiled water in a small bowl or mug till they are dissolved.
3. Combine the dry and wet mixture.
4. Roll the dough into round shaped and of equal thickness balls and flattened lightly and place them about an inch apart from each other onto greased baking paper.
5. Bake them in a preheated oven at 180 C for 20 minutes till they are brown on top.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies depending on the size and shape.

Crunchy on the outside, slightly chewy on the inside, filled with oaty goodness, with just enough sweetness to not overpower the honey taste. These yummy morsels of oaty honey-ness are a keeper.

quiche for a cloudy day

2007-12-09T16:46:00.000+11:00

With almost nothing much to occupy my time with except for books and movies, sometimes you just need to liven things up a bit with some haberdashing of ingredients and throwing them together to see what you can get out of them.

Thinking of what I should eat for lunch I scrounged my refridgerator and the pantry and procured these items:

Last two sheets of puff pastry
Soy milk
Half a package of shredded tasty cheese
Eggs
Garlic
Onion

Then just for sheer fun and the heck of it, I decided to try my hand at a quiche dish with these few ingredients. I have never even looked a quiche recipe before but I think just at that time I figured out not too hard that a quiche was basically just beaten eggs combined with whatever other items you liked in it.

Mini Me Quiche

5-6 eggs
2 tbs milk (soy or light will work fine)
Finely diced 2 cloves of garlic and a small onion
1/2 cup shredded cheese (tasty, parmesan, mozarella will likely work fine)
2 rolled out and thawed puff pastry sheets

1. Cut the sheets into shapes that will fit into a 12 muffin case tray. Ensure that the sheets cover the base and around the sides of the holes so that the pastry dough reaches the lip of the hole.
2. Crack the eggs into a medium sized mixing bowl and beat together with the garlic and onion.
3. Add the cheese and milk and continue beating the mixture till it looks a shade lighter than when you started. Don't overmix till it becomes pale or fluffy.
4. Divide the mixture evenly among the 12 holes trying not to overfill them.
5. Bake in preheated oven at 200 C for 20 minutes turning the tray halfway through to ensure the heat is distributed evenly.
6. Let cool for few minutes as it will deflate a little when cooling down.

I had mine accompanied by some warmed up baked beans sprinkled with paprika and pepper and barbecue sauce goes well with this as well.

I'm still contemplating on my next foray back into the world of sweet pastries and confections. But with my ever expanding waistline that could be put on hold for a while.

muffin tops

2007-11-03T18:00:00.000+11:00

Whee! Hooray for muffin season! Well at least for me that is. It's more like exam season but yeah whatever. I've been on a muffin streak this past week even though it's been quite a stressful and trying time for myself because of the exams and all. However, baking is the only thing I know to de-stress myself from the hectic week of holing myself in the library and coming out for light and food every now and then in five minute breaks.

The first batch of muffins for the week, which I made last Tuesday was adapted from Culinary in the Desert's Doughnut Muffin recipe. They came out pretty good and smelled awesome and my friends liked them but I think I sort of grew out of chocolate chip muffins and thought it was rather plain and lacked something more substantial to spice it up. I should have added some sort of roasted almonds or walnuts for that nutty flavour to round the muffin up. The texture was good and rather like a scone slash bread. I think I prefer more complex flavours which combined citrus, nutty, salty and something sweet in my muffins.

The following is my altered version from the original:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup canola oil (I used vegetable oil.)
1 egg
3/4 cup skim milk

In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
In a medium bowl, mix sugar, oil, egg, and milk.
Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened or stop when there's no traces of flour left. Be careful not to over-mix.
Fill greased or paper-lined muffin tin to about 3/4 full.
Bake at 180°C for 20-25 minutes or until muffins test done.

Today's freshly baked batch is my take on Elise's banana nut muffin, which I tweaked a little by substituting the walnuts with some leftover milk chocolate chips. These gave out the most sensuous and delicious aroma or bananas and chocolate chips I've ever had the pleasure of smelling and tasted even better! Love the texture of the muffin and the flavourful taste with every mouthful of it. I always love the combination of bananas and chocolate chip as previously I had made also with a banana and chocolate chip "Monkey" bar. I'm definitely keeping this recipe in mind for any special occasions coming up.

This is my slightly altered version:

3 ripe bananas (mashed)
1/3 cup melted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar (I reduced it from 3/4 to compensate for the chocolate chips.)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp baking soda (I used baking powder. Maybe that's why my muffins didn't expand and crown as much.)
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cup plain flour
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 180°C.
Mix melted butter with the mashed bananas in a large bowl.
Mix in the sugar, egg and vanilla.
Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl. Transfer the banana mixture and combine them together until no traces of flour is seen.
Fold in the chocolate chips. Do not over-mix.
Divide mixture into prepared muffin tin.
Bake for 20-25 minutes.
Check for doneness with a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin. If it comes out clean, it's done.

Both recipes for today yield a dozen muffins each.

test drives

2007-10-20T17:14:00.000+10:00

It's been quite a busy, busy week for me but I managed to squeeze some baking moments into my schedule thus far.

The first is a chocolate pudding cake which has not failed me thus far and has been immensely successful wherever I bring them to. The photo doesn't do justice to this single bowl of mix and bake and then eat from it cake, but it looks rather like some moon craters or something rather than an intense piece of chocolate goodness with gooey chocolate topping. Mmm.

Following that, I learned a new recipe from a friend for a bread/scone like pastry which has only three basic ingredients as its base. I don't know what they're really called but I think I'm going to dub them Mayo Bread. They're actually quite good plain but to spice things up a bit you can do what I did as follows.

1 cup self-raising flour + 1/2 cup milk (low-fat or no fat is fine) + 2 tbs mayonnaise

After combining the above three ingredients, you can add whatever you like into the mix. I used dried fruits and sultanas in the first one and the other one has cocoa powder mixed into it and I topped the dollops of dough with a huge marshmallow on each of them.

Since they don't have any sugar at all, the dried fruits + sultanas one turned out the better batch while the chocolate + marshmallow one didn't really have much taste to them unless you liked marshmallow. The next day the marshmallow one sort of turned quite sticky and looked quite mushy to me. I don't think I'll try that one again. Perhaps chocolate chips next time.

I just baked this little beauty today and the smell is still wafting in the apartment. Absolutely lovely and I am just in love with bananas this season. They're just too cheap to miss out at my local fresh produce market and I've been stocking up on them.

These are called Monkey Bars because they're denser than the usual banana bread or cake. A bit more like a brownie like cake but with banana and chocolate chips instead. I'm pretty pleased with this, not because of the fantastic aroma and taste though they are really good, but because these don't require too much butter as well. I substituted the butter for margarine and they came out great and also the baking soda for baking powder because I didn't have any soda. I don't think the changes I made affected the bars because they taste wonderful.

Hopefully when I bring some to tomorrow's service, my friends will think that way too about the Monkey Bars. Again, my gratitude to the lovely Baking Bites for the two recipes featured today and here's to more great recipes in future!

birthday

2007-10-11T17:42:00.000+10:00

This is going to be more like a two in one blog posts where there's food and actual people involved in this post for once.

Last Sunday night that had come to pass was our dear Selena Tsay belated surprise 21st birthday celebration. We all received invitations to actually dress in our best clothes even though we were only going to be having the shindig in darling Pammie's place who so kindly offered her place for us to crash, dine, and basically mess up. But we love you, Pammie dear so no hard feelings for those carpet food and drink stains.

Anyway, a few of us had already been delegated the elegant duty of preparing the food for the night and everything actually turned out really well and delish. I made an apple and strawberries lattice pie and mini blondies in muffin cases for dessert. Thankfully everyone liked it and I was just glad that most of the food was polished off by the end of the night.

About a total of 15 odd people turned up including the special guest of the night whom actually turned up the last and made a grand entrance full on with snapping cameras flashing away blindly at her while she tried to hide from us.

It was just a really good and fun gathering for this little group of ours and just take a short break for the week from all our daily stresses.

Pray that we can do something like this in the future if not just for the fun and heck of it.

Time to get on with life now and hopefully more baking and culinary discoveries soonish.

hybrids

2007-09-24T11:34:00.001+10:00

Sometimes you just get into certain moods to try different things once in a while. So this was when I decided to make porridge using arborio rice, which is usually used for risotto and baking brownies in a muffin pan.

Both came out equally delicious and comforting. The porridge/risotto combo was cooked in the initial stage alike to browning the rice first and then adding the stock till the rice became a thick and lovely consistency. I just upped the liquid contents by about a cup more and simmered for an additional ten to twenty minutes according to how you like your rice "mushiness" to be. I used chunks of fish fillets and diced vegetables for this Chinese styled porridge using an Italian ingredient as its base.

The other hybrid isn't really a hybrid per se but just looks like one. It's a blondies or brownies recipe from Smitten Kitchen and it was the easiest and simplest recipe you could ever want and try. Mixed in one big bowl and spoon the batter onto a cake pan or if you're like me, you can use a muffin pan which will yield the same brownie goodness either way. The aroma emanating from the oven midway through was too torturous for me to not want to try one of these babies.

I only decided to use the muffin tray instead of a baking dish because I just recently got it and needed to break into it and also for the occasion that it's a friend's birthday today and I wanted to bake her something chocolatey and sinfully good instead of the traditional cake. I hope she likes the additions of roasted slivered almonds and luscious Cadbury dark chocolate chips which I used in this recipe.

There's a barbecue coming up so I might double the recipe and use chipped Lindt chocolate and roasted chopped walnuts. Everyone loves a good brownie including myself!

sunny days

2007-09-08T10:43:00.000+10:00

This is going to be a relatively short post because I've been swamped with tests and assignments of late.

SO, for tonight's pot luck dinner gathering with some friends I decided to try my hand at an apple squares recipe which actually sort of resemble to that of an apple pie/tart thing. I have to give credits to the lovely Canadian Baker again for the beautifully simple recipe. I have always been a bit intimidated by pies and tarts or squares and basically anything that required me to make a dough and shape them to resemble anything at all. So, when this pot luck gathering came around and I heard that most of the people there really liked apple pie a lot I thought of maybe I should try it for once and for all. I came across this recipe and seemed relatively simple enough for even a novice baker like me and decided to give it a go.

The filling made of sliced apples mixed with sugar and cinnamon was easy enough to do and I added some sliced peaches as well into the mix for some variety. The dough came together quite easily and nicely enough but when it came to shaping them into long strips to make the lattice topping my worst fears came through. First I tried to roll them out onto a flat surface so that I could score them into even shapes and lay them gently onto the filling. The dough just wouldn't want to stick with me when it was flat and kept falling apart. So I had to end up following the rolling technique and made snake-like dough thingys to form the lattice shape. It's so far the fanciest looking dish I've made. If I had a choice I'd rather make a crumb topping and sprinkle them all over haphazardly instead of the lattice pattern.

When it was finally done, I was just glad that the dough actually expanded a bit and sort of covered up my mistakes and the ugliness of some of the dough. I'm only wishing now that it'll be evening and I get to try a piece of it. It's torturous to see the dish sitting on the counter waiting to be eaten and I can't even touch it.

Just last week as well I baked another batch of my favourite scones but this time with an addition of tinned peaches. I made this specially for my friend who was leaving good old Melby for good ole UK and been bugging me for something I either baked or cooked. I didn't realise that the scones was just about British as you could get when I gave it to him at the party and only then I got the neo-irony of it. It was just a cute coincidence that I decided to make scones and not anything else only because it was the easiest thing I knew to make then when I was pressed for time.

The odd looking shaped tin foil basket thing you see there was something I decided to scrounge out in the last minute when I was thinking of how I could bring the scones to the party place. Then I recalled this handy looking thing I watched on Jamie Oliver's The Naked Chef once and thought I'd give it a go and see if it looked as odd as I had remembered it.

Well it certainly does look odd but it does the job of keeping them safely tucked away so who am I to complain.

That last week as well, I decided to get all tarty for lunch and try out the ready made puff pastry sheets I recently bought. I used the tinned peaches again and mixed it in brown sugar, butter and flour to bring them together in a kind of crumbly mix. The puff certainly did puff and tasted lovely but I think I should have probably left them in the oven a bit longer to allow for the crumb mixture to attain the golden and crispy texture I love so much.

It's been incredibly sunny and hot but still slightly chilly here in Melbourne as we are transitioning into spring. I'm on the lookout for some spring inspired pastries, tarts, pies or anything springy this time around. But then you never know with Melbourne when the cold might bite back again despite the awesome weather we've been having recently after the frosty winter.

b.c. cake

2007-08-24T12:18:00.000+10:00

Upon waking up from my less than desirable sleep from last night's outing, I just had to do something which didn't involve much brains much less thinking. I immediately had a craving for a fruit crumble but didn't have any apples or strawberries or even blue blackberries. All I had was bananas.

So t'was a banana crumb cake in the end that it came to pass.

Banana Crumb Cake aka B. C. Cake

Cake Base:
1/2 cup (125 g) butter (softened)
3/4 cup (185 g) brown sugar
1 egg
2 cups (500 g) all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
pinch cinnamon
1/2 cup (125 ml) milk

4 ripe bananas (sliced into 1 cm thickness)

Crumb Topping:
1 cup (250 g) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (125 g) brown sugar
1/2 cup (125 g) butter (melted)

1. Preheat the oven at 180 degrees C and prepare a greased baking/casserole dish.

2. Cream the softened butter and sugar till fluffy using an electric mixer or by hand.

3. Beat in the egg till its consistency is slightly fluffy but not overly mixed.

4. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

5. Mix in the flour and the milk into the butter and sugar with alternating additions. Add in 1/4 of the flour mixture and 1/3 of milk into the batter, combine them, and repeat till the batter becomes a thick but not stiff consistency.

6. Pour the batter into the prepared dish and level it. Place the sliced bananas neatly onto the batter and set aside.

7. For the crumb topping; pour the melted butter into the flour and sugar mix and combine them till you get crumbs no bigger than the size of your thumbnail. Or alternatively you can just stir it for a while and get your hands in there to rub the mixture together to get a fairly nice crumb mixture.

8. Sprinkle the crumb topping over the bananas evenly. Pop into the oven for 45 to 50 minutes. Test to see if it is done with a knife and if it comes out fairly clean, take it out to cool a bit or just dig straight in while it's hot and filled with comforting banana goodness.

Needless to say I myself dug straight into the cake once it came out of the oven ready to be ravaged by my hungry self. The crumb topping was delish, the bananas soft but not mushy and oh-so-warm, and the cake base was light and fluffy without being overly sweet.

The original recipe, which I had it modified quite a lot because I didn't have some of the ingredients, came from The Canadian Baker whose original recipe was actually a plum crumb cake. It looked too good to pass up trying my hand at in as I've been craving for a crumb cake or fruit cobbler for the longest time. Just anything with a crumb topping actually.

Anyway, seeing as I still had some more bananas from my last banana adventure, I decided to give it a go and see how the banana variation will turn out. I couldn't be happier with the result as I did the modifications and alteration in measurements in my head and a slight help of intuition. I was just glad it came out great seeing as this is my first time baking a crumb cake.

I'm getting a bit peckish again and in the mood for more banana-ey goodness. Mmm, bananas!

it's a banana nice day for scones

2007-08-19T11:14:00.000+10:00

Forgive the absolutely horrid pun and title there. I think it must be the slight high that I'm experiencing from the banana scones I scarfed down just an hour ago where I freshly mixed and baked them so quickly you wouldn't believe.

The recipes are courtesies of Molly from Orangette and Everybody Likes Sandwiches's blogs. I followed the recipe to a T and they came out beautifully albeit while kneading them they turned out a bit stickier than I expected. I was slightly agitated and worried that they would not turn out right due to a past and very bad experience with scones before. It could be because I added a banana into the mix which resulted in it being a tad stickier and harder to work with but after a slight adjustment by adding a tablespoon of flour while kneading, that made it more workable to form them into drops instead of the triangles that the recipe called for.

Nevertheless, they still turned out perfectly as perfect I can expect to be and smelling so delicious that I just had to pop one into my mouth once they came out of the oven. That's why you only see nine scones instead of ten in the picture. They didn't burst with a lot of banana flavour as I only used one but you can definitely see some specks of yellowish in them. They were really soft, with a flavourful texture and golden crispiness on top.

I'm definitely going to be making another batch of these again but with varying flavours like strawberries, apples, and chocolate chips among others. Every morning should start with a delicious tray of freshly baked scones!

a simple twist

2007-08-16T21:53:00.000+10:00

Alright, I've just been too complacent and busy at the same time to do much blogging much to my chagrin but here I am again after all.

I've been trying out a few new recipes for dinner for my brother and me and came out quite successful on two separate occasions.

The first is a really simple baked salmon seasoned with salt, pepper, herb salt, and drizzled with some olive oil. I placed some lemon slices on top of the salmons as well for that little citrus flavour in addition to the coriander leaves placed dutifully on top of the salmon pieces to be roasted in the oven for about 15 to 20 minutes till juicy, tender, moist and absolutely delicious. Even the brother who doesn't like fish that much quite thought it wasn't half bad which is already a compliment in itself.

Another quick bake dish is a new spin on the traditional spaghetti and meatballs dish. Get some mince meat and mix them up with some minced garlic cloves, salt, black pepper, herb salt and bind the meat together with some egg wash to shape them into little meatballs. I made the mistake of not rolling them in breadcrumbs which is what you are supposed to do before frying them because I was a lazy arse and didn't have any in the pantry. The meatballs ended up becoming a rather big mess in the pan and made even worse when I added the tomato sauce midway cooking them. I persevered and managed to retain some of the shape of the meatballs but I was still upset that they sort of disintegrated halfway cooking them.

While the meatballs and sauce is cooking, boil a pot of water and cook your pasta. I had enough fettuccine pasta for the two of us left so I used them instead of the usual spaghetti. Towards the end of the cooking time for the meatballs, add some dashes of salt and black pepper to taste.

Drain the cooked pasta and place them in an oven safe ceramic dish. Top the pasta with the meatballs and sauce and toss lightly to ensure that the pasta is sufficiently and evenly covered in the sauce.

Now for the fun part. If you're a big cheese lover like me, go crazy and have a go at using whatever cheeses you like and have. I tore up some remaining boccocini, shaved parmesan, chopped brie, and sharp cheddar. Just sprinkle the cheeses in liberal amounts all over the pasta. Don't have to be neat here.

Place the dish into the preheated oven at 200 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes.

It'll come out smelling cheesy and gooey. Just the way I like it!

Anyway if you'll excuse I have some catching up on work to do. Hopefully I can make some time to whip something up with the name 'crumble' and 'apple' or 'pie' this weekend.

pizza palooza

2007-08-04T19:23:00.000+10:00

I'm back from the chefly undead!

So after a long period of hiatus cooking, I have returned in my brand new apartment which I am staying with my brother now. We stayed home for dinner tonight and made pizza for the very first time in my life. I knew it wasn't going to be difficult, I was just worried as to how it would taste like when it came out.

To my amazement it came out better than I thought except for a little burnt bit there but that's just a slight oversight which I plan not to make a mistake of in future.

The cheating part of my pizza-making was that I substituted the traditional pizza base with a pita base. Still turned out beautifully albeit on the crunchy side.

Chicken and Sausage with Red Pepper and Onion Pita Pizza

Ingredients:
Diced chicken for two depending on how big eaters you are
1 smallish sausage; sliced thinly ala pepperoni style
Half a red bell pepper aka capsicum
1 small onion; sliced thinly
2 garlic cloves; diced finely
Tomato paste
2 mozzarella cheese balls
1 pita bread

1. Heat up a pan with oil till it becomes hot enough. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
2. Toss in chicken and sausage pieces and brown them thoroughly but not cooked through.
3. Season with salt and cracked black pepper.
4. Take it off the heat and let it rest while you prepare the pita-pizza base.
5. Spread a few dollops of tomato paste on the pita according to your taste. Make sure the entire pita is covered.
6. Arrange the cooked chicken and sausage on the pita, ensuring that they are spread evenly apart and not clumped around together.
7. Neatly but deftly sprinkle the red pepper, onion, and garlic on top of the chicken and sausage.
8. Tear apart the cheeses and place them on your toppings ensuring that most of the area is covered in the cheese. You don't have to be neat with this.
9. Place the pita straight into the oven or if you want, place the pita on top of tin foil before putting it in the oven.
10. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool a bit before digging in!

I also made two other variations on another pita bread. They included a pesto base sauce with white mushrooms, red pepper, and onion, and the other half which had a honey mustard sauce as its base and using up the excess chicken I had combined with the shrooms, peppers, and onion. And finally topping them off with the shredded cheeses as well.

My brother liked the honey mustard one the best while we both agreed that the pesto base sauce worked really well too. That's not to say that the first one was bad but I think it's a really decent and good try for a first time pizza maker like me. I might have put too much tomato on it so I won't do it again the next time. I really liked the taste of the cheese I used for my faux pizza so that's going to be a staple addition to my pantry too.

everyday snappy meals

2007-05-05T18:10:00.000+10:00

Hey all, haven't been updating much I know but I've been busy with tests, assignments and all the in betweens. Didn't really have much time to spend on cooking anything special or interesting to say the least but I took a couple of photos to show the type of everyday food I eat for dinner most days.

A typical one-meal dish consisting of stir fried beef marinated for about 5 hours in thick black soy sauce, light soy sauce, salt, pepper, and crushed ginger. I just threw in a handful of baby bok choy into the stir fry towards the end of the cooking time of the beef for a bit of healthy greens in my diet and variety as well. Mound your plate with steamed Jasmine rice and top it off with the stir fry and you've got yourself a pretty decent and hefty meal for one hungry girl.

Looks quite a lot eh, and it was. Was pretty stuffed when I polished it off.

Another simple meal to dish up if you're pressed for time is pan fried sole fish sprinkled with a dash of salt, black and white pepper, and black pepper corns, accompanied with a some leafy greens as well which was stir fried with soy sauce, sesame oil, and fried onions for that added bit of fragrance.

Yeah stir fries are really very common in this household considering we're all growing and starving college kids and really couldn't be bothered with things like curries or braises. Sambal or chili paste are kind of a staple for me as well during dinner times simply because I just love all things spicy and sweet. I usually eat this with my main dishes and used in fried rice as well. This specific 'sambal ulek terasi' isn't sweet but it sure is spicy and HOT.

Next up, possibly a little insight into what I usually have brown bag for my lunches.

the ubiquitous fried rice

2007-04-24T19:36:00.000+10:00

After two long weeks of assignments, case studies, mid semester tests, and tutorials to slog through, it's good to just relax and take some time to chill for the night.

I haven't been cooking much if not at all for the past few days as my house-mate was kind enough to offer to cook for the previous few days.

Today was sort of the final stretch of this crazy week of sleep deprivation and lots of coffee consumption along the way.

Arrived home today to find myself unwilling and too lazy to rustle up a good meal. Fortunately there was leftover rice from yesterday's dinner and so fried rice it was for dinner.

There's a slew of variations and versions of the ubiquitous fried rice which has been tweaked and changed and modified over the years that everyone has their own favourite version and taste of fried rice.

It's basically a fail-safe all-in-one meal that easily satisfies and satiates you when you're pressed for time and have limited resources on hand.

I really feel silly putting up a recipe for fried rice because it's one of the easiest dish that a student on a budget can make. This applies for everyone ranging from homemakers, corporate lemmings, the starving clubber,and anyone else with basic knowledge of heating up a pan with oil and adding some ingredients and leftover rice to the pan to create an instant dish. You don't need instant fried rice powder or anything of that sort. Some salt, pepper, soy sauce, and you're good to go.

Tonight I had some thinly sliced pork marinated with a dash of teriyaki sauce and whole grain mustard and tossed with cabbage, celery and onion before finally adding the essential ingredient to any fried rice that is egg.

The chocolate brownie was doggy bagged from this little nook of a cafe along A'Beckett and Elizabeth Street called Workshop. If it weren't for my friend leading the way I would have definitely missed out on this little hidden gem of a coffee place. I thoroughly enjoyed the brownie and $2 coffee. Do make your way there if ever you are in the city. I didn't have my camera on me so I couldn't snap some shots of the place but it gives off a very relaxing vibe and jazzy slash reggae style background music where you can just chill and while away your time with cheap coffee. That is until the place turns into a bar after 6. Cool artwork splay the walls, comfy sofa, high ceilings, and great vibe. What could make a better coffee chill place?

cheesed up

2007-04-15T20:38:00.000+10:00

I did say I'd be posting my fave risotto recipe soon. Considering I'm supposed to be studying right now, I'll have to try to make this a short one. This recipe yields two dishes.

500 ml chicken stock (keep warm)
160-200 gm arborio rice
2-3 stalks of celery finely diced
1 small onion finely diced
60-80 gm of any two or three cheeses of your liking
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1. Heat up a heavy based large pot over medium to high heat.
2. Heat up the olive oil in the pot and toss in the diced onion and celery.
3. Fry it till it becomes soft and fragrant but do not let it turn brown or burn.
4. Pour in the arborio rice and stir it in together with the aromatics for about a minute or so to coat the rice and toast it.
5. Pour in a ladle full of chicken stock and stir it around till the stock has been absorbed into the rice. This should take about 3-5 minutes. Proceed with another ladle of stock and continue to stir till all the stock has been absorbed and used. This process should take about 20-25 minutes.
6. Once the rice looks soft but not mushy or gluggy and easy to work with, turn the heat down to low and toss in the roughly chopped or sliced cheeses.
7. Stir it all around till the cheeses have been incorporated fully into the rice. You can add a pinch of salt and pepper to taste at this point.
8. Dish the risotto out into two plates, grate some Parmesan cheese over it and dig in!

My recipe is really a bastardised version of Jamie's one as I don't use wine in it and I don't even know the names of the cheeses that I use. Also, this is not for the faint of cheesy hearts.

Oh the fried chicken drumstick there, it's been marinated in whole grain mustard overnight and simply fried in a shallow pan till brown and cooked all over. It was yummy as I did not think that the mustard marinate would work. It'll definitely be a repeat and I'm too embarrassed to put up the recipe for it.

risotto regalia

2007-04-13T20:45:00.000+10:00

This is all about risotto. If you've never heard of it before or think you may have faintly caught the name before, I don't blame you. I've never heard or knew what it was till Jamie Oliver came along.

Basically, risotto is made with Arborio rice and cooked with preferably homemade chicken or vegetable stock over a medium to low heat while stirring in the stock one ladle at a time till the appropriate amount of stock has been absorbed by the rice.

The basic risotto and easiest one I could think of following comes from my beloved 'Cook with Jamie' book which has a beautiful illustration and guide to making the perfect risotto. Thankfully the basic risotto recipe could be found online as well. It's from this basic recipe that you begin to add your other flavours, ingredients and textures that go into making your favourite risotto.

Jamie's recipe calls for wine to be added as well but seeing as I don't drink or will bother to get some wine, I've just omitted it from my risotto and they came out fine all the same. The wine is just to give it a little something extra and aroma to the dish.

Risotto #1:

This was the first risotto dish I made after I managed to get my bag of arborio rice and some nice extra virgin olive oil. Yeah, it was supposed to resemble somewhat to the picture in 'Cook with Jamie' but after altering the dish here and there, it came out resembling more like reddish mush with flecks of green celery mixed in. The reddish tinge was created with the tomato I put into it at the last few moments of cooking it and squashed it a bit to let the juices out. Since it was my first risotto, it didn't taste much of anything but tomato and celery.

Risotto #2:

The second time round, I decided to be a bit more adventurous and tried carrots with a little bit of Parmesan cheese shavings melted in at the last moment. It was a little bit better this time but something was missing. I think I should've cut the carrots into smaller pieces instead of the big fat slices I used.

Risotto #3:

Then came the cheesy risotto. The inspiration came from Mr. Oliver once again from his website called the Three Cheese Risotto because of the three different cheeses he used in it. Well, I didn't have those cheeses he used but I did have three different cheeses which I basically just added in ad-hocly towards the end and let them all meld and melt into each other and incorporate nicely into the rice. The result was oozy, gooey, and ultimate comfort food at its best.

Risotto #4 & #5:

I was pretty disappointed with how this came out. It was supposed to be my interpretation of a Chinese style risotto but apparently Chinese and Italian doesn't go too well together. They both look the same because I used the same vegetable in the two dishes. They're Chinese spinach chopped roughly and stirred into the risotto towards the end as well. The fifth risotto dish was a bit different because I wanted to go all out and try something totally different. I added in some sambal chili paste but only a little and you can see the tiny flecks of chili in the dish as well. Needless to say, it tasted really odd and I'll not do it again.

Risotto #6:

This was my take on the traditional Italian Carbonara dish except I'm using arborio rice instead of the usual spaghetti or other form of pasta. I don't think egg and cheese whisked together goes well with risotto too. Better leave the carbonara to the pasta.

Risotto #7:

The final one in my risotto trial sessions. I've been using my own homemade chicken stock made by boiling a chicken frame in water and just using the stock from it for my risotto for the past dishes. I've basically just tore out the remainder of the chicken meat from the bony frame and used up all the stock left to make this seventh risotto. It tasted a lot like chicken. Nothing too fancy or difficult. Just added a pinch of salt and pepper and it makes a hearty chickeny risotto.

Overall, I'd say that this was a rather interesting experiment into the world of risotto. The best one out of the seven was the cheesy risotto and it'll definitely be a repeat when I've figured out the specifics that go into it and will post up the recipe too.

Just give risotto a go and don't be afraid of trying new things. All you need it some creativity, curiosity, and some improvisation to go a long way.

chew-baker

2007-04-12T21:50:00.000+10:00

Cookies. Chocolate chip cookies, specifically. Could there be anything more comforting, homely, sinful, and humbly delicious all at the same time?

I went over to my friend's apartment where we decided upon baking up a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies. Thankfully the recipe I had called for chewy chocolate chip cookies instead of the traditional ones as those were the ones she wanted to bake.

The original recipe that we used was from Baking Bites so hop on over there now for the best chewy chocolate chip recipe (in my opinion) and for other scrumptious recipes as well. It's all in the extra yolk added into the cookie dough to give it that extra chewy bite. Though I forgot to melt the butter first which would have made it a lot easier to cream together with the sugar.

I think we were too greedy and impatient so we went full on and tried to cram all the dough into two baking trays which we thought looked alright and spread out evenly. However, I think maybe we might have accidentally added a tad bit too much baking soda and the cookies started to rise and spread the minute we popped them in the oven. A lot.

The top tray of cookies came out pretty alright but the bottom one had some problems baking well and we almost left them in the oven longer than they should be. Basically they all got stuck together at the sides and we had to scrape them out carefully without totally obliterating them into tiny morsels of chewy and crispy goodness.

Luckily they came out alright in the end and we happily helped ourselves to bites after bites of the guilt-ridden goodies fresh and warm out the oven. The chocolate chips were a bit oozy and soft and the center of the cookie was soft while the outer edges were crumbly and crispy.

Sounds (and tastes) like the perfect cookie to me.

dough you just love it

2007-04-08T23:55:00.000+10:00

Baking. Is there a more pleasurable way of spending time in the kitchen creating a beautiful cake or loaf or a tray full of warm cookies fresh from the oven using a handful of raw ingredients.

Damn I've only been away from the oven back home for two months now and I'm feeling it already. The bad thing is that my new place doesn't have an oven for me experiment new pastry recipes or new roast or grilling meals.

My baking adventures have been wide and varied. From the disastrous to the downright delicious and delectable.

Chocolate chip cookies are a time honoured tradition that every novice baker has to go through the rigor induction process of baking. No one can resist the tempting urge to just scarf down a few handfuls of chocolate infused crumbly or chewy morsels, more so to tantalize your taste buds with crispy and crunchy doughy goodness.There's been a few variations of cookies that I've experimented in the past including peanut butter filled chocolate cookies, butter cookies, cereal cookies, peanut butter cookies, cinnamon frozen cookies, and various others.

Muffins have a been a love-hate thing for me in the past. I could never bake muffins for nuts previously but after many persistent attempts, I finally got it right with Nutella and peanut butter self-frosting muffins. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures to show my effort for nuts so you'll just have to believe me when I say that they came out fragrantly peanut buttery and Nutella-rific. A bit on the sweet side but I'll tone it down the next time I make it.

Then there's the loafs. I've baked a few different loafs during the past years. Some came out pretty good while others were passable. My butter pound loaf recipe seems to be a favourite of my mom's while I prefer the banana loaf one. Loaves are easy, quick and simple no fuss quick breads to bake when you're a beginner.

Another favourite cake recipe I discovered late last year was this chocolate pudding cake recipe by Baking Bites. It's as simple as baking cakes goes. It's all mixed, baked and eaten from one pan. Absolutely sinful, chocolatey, gooey and sticky goodness. I served this up when some friends dropped by and thankfully there were seconds to go round. Didn't get a few shots of the cocoaey oozy cake back then as well.

I've tried scones and breads as well in the past which did not see the light of day as they were atrocious both in the taste department and visually fugly as well. I guess bread will just take some time for me to get used to and finally overcome my fear of them soon.

I'll be attempting to recreate some baking magic tomorrow when I go over to a friend's place to use her oven. I'm going to teach her to bake cookies or chocolate pudding cake. Yum!

And just for the record, I've been on an accidental vegetarian diet for the last two days because I've been experimenting with risotto for my dinners with limited resources like celery, cheeses, tomato, and carrots with cashew nuts thrown into the mix for snacks. Watch this space for a post on my risotto romp as I will try to perfect this simple and hearty Italian dish in due time.

chop, chop, bake, bake

2007-04-06T12:06:00.000+10:00

So here it is. The dawn of a new blogera. After being a foodie fanatic and bakery blondie for the latter years of my life (two to three years at most) I've finally decided to chroniclelize all future endeavours of mine in this gastronomic journey that is cooking.

This came about I suppose partly due to my impulse purchase of 'Cook with Jamie' cook book and my first essential cookery bible. You can relive the experience through this recent blog post in my daily blog.

And to culminate and christen my first cooking expedition here is the result of last night's dinner.

It's a fairly traditional Japanese one meal dish called Oyakodon which I've been meaning to experiment with in a long time and finally had the chance to do so last night. There are variations to this dish and mine included some leftover beef and tuna (sounds like an odd combination but the flavours really came out quite interestingly well) while I excluded mirin from this dish which its quite essential but I didn't have it. I'll remember to get it from the nearest Asian grocery store soon.

1/2 cup rice
1/4 cup of hot chicken stock or broth
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 to 1 tsp sugar
4 oz thinly sliced chicken meat, skinless and boneless (or use beef or pork to your liking)
1 onion (sliced thinly)
1 egg

1. Cook the rice as per instructions.
2. Heat up the chicken stock or broth in a heavy based sauce pan till it comes to a boil.
3. Add in the soy sauce and sugar. If you have mirin feel free to add in 1 tsp. Lower the heat to a simmer.
4. Toss in the chicken/beef/pork to the simmering broth. Meanwhile whisk the egg in a separate bowl.
5. Gently pour the egg mixture on top of the chicken. Do not stir. Sprinkle the sliced onions on top.
6. Once the sides of the egg start to firm up, the chicken should be cooked by now (3 minutes), give it a little stir.
7. Have your steaming bowl of rice ready and top it with the chicken egg mixture. Sprinkle with fried onion or garlic if you wish. Yields one dish.

And there you have it. Easy as pie. Or should I say oyakodon?

Anyway watch out for more cooking and foodie posts in future. Have a go at it and do comment if you feel like there's something not right with it, an improvement would do it good, or you just think it's crap.

Till next meal.