A Quick Post for a Quick Dessert!

Another quicky recipe. This dessert can be done is less than 10 mins. Not the first time that I did this but always a yummy and easy recipe especially when you have guests arriving in less than 30 minutes! This time I added a bit of orange cordial to give it some orange flavouring and coloring so that they looked like mandarin oranges (since it was still CNY). Also, I added whole roasted pistachio nut (de-shelled of course) to the red bean filling. Yummy and ready in less than 10 mins!

Snowy Orange Redbean Pistachio Mochi

Ingredients:
Mochi Skin
100g Japanese Glutinous Rice Flour (those used for Japanese Mochi)
180g water** minus 1T
1T orange cordial
2T sugar or adjust to preference
** If not using flavouring, just use 180g of water.

Filling:
Red bean paste
Roasted whole pistachio nuts
- Prepare filling first. Roll about 1 generous tablespoon of redbean paste into a ball. Stuff 1 nut into the ball. Roll again.

Dusting:
Corn Flour or dessicated coconut

Method:
1. Mix orange cordial in water.
2. Put glutinous rice flour in a deep microwaveable dish. Pour in water from (1) and stir well until it becomes a watery paste.
3. Add sugar and still to dissolve.
4. Cover and microwave on HIGH for about 2 mins. If still watery, zap it for another 30 mins
5. Remove and stir quickly with a pair of chopsticks.
6. Dust hand and work area generously with corn flour. Take about 1 - 2T of dough. Flatten into a round with palm or fingers. Try to make edges thinner than center. Work quickly and be careful as dough will be quite hot.
7. Wrap the skin around 1 prepared redbean ball. Knead the edges shut and roll into a ball. Dust generously in corn flour.
8. Serve immediately or keep in fridge. You can warm it up again before serving by zapping in the microwave for about 10 secs.

Ong Lai! Ong Lai! (Pineapple Butter Cake)

Pineapple is considered by many as an auspicious food item for the Chinese Lunar New Year. In the Hokkien dialect it is called "ong lai" which means prosperity comes. Not that I am superstitious, but it is nice to make something with pineapple just for the occassion. And that was how I ended up baking a Pineapple Butter Cake for someone to show my gratitude for a favour done. It was a rather last-minute decision. I didn't have any idea on what to bake initially and it was too late to go out and get anything else since it was the eve of CNY and most provision and baking supplies shops would be closed. A quick scan of what I had in the pantry and my eyes settled on a can of pineapples. Aha! Pineapple Butter Cake. Simple and apt for the occassion.

The recipe was kind of improvised by yours truly. I was pretty worried about how it would taste initially since I have not baked this before. Luckily, I had some extra batter which I poured into muffin cups so I ended up with a couple of cupcakes. Hmm...., not bad at all. Buttery and fluffy cake with chunks of pineapple throughout.

Here's the recipe.

Pineapple Butter Cake
Ingredients:
1 prepared 9x5" butter cake** (recipe below):-

2 eggs + 1 egg white
175 g Butter, softened
100g castor sugar (or adjust to your preference)
150 g plain flour
0.75 tsp baking powder
90ml liquid (juice from canned pineapple)
1/4 or 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2c pineapple chunks (cut into smaller pieces) well-drained and coat with a little flour from above***
1T pineapple jam (optional)

Method:
1. Beat butter and sugar till white and creamy.
2. Add eggs, one at a time to beat.
3. Sift flour, baking powder together and add into batter to mix.
4. Add juice, vanilla essence and pineapple jam and mix till combined. Do not over mix.
5. Add pineapple chunks and mix till combined. Do not over mix.
6. Pour into greased 9x5" loaf tin.
6. Bake in preheated oven 175 C for 30-40 mins or until done*.

Notes:
* As baking time and temperature varies with different ovens, it it better to test with skewer for doneness from 30 mins onwards. Cake is done when skewer comes out clean when inserted in the center of the cake. If top browns too fast, cover with foil.
** For quick fix, buy those ready packed pre-mix from baking supplies shop. Follow the instructions but just substitute liquid with pineapple juice. Last 3 ingredients listed on top to be used as in the above recipe.
*** This is to prevent the pineapple chunks from sinking to the bottom of the cake during baking.

Happy Piggy Year! Gong Xi, Gong Xi!

Today's the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year of the Fire Boar. So here's wishing all
A Happy New Year! May this year brings lots of good times, happy moments and excellence in everything!

For the customary family reunion lunch/dinner yesterday, I made some little contributions.


Chilled Water Chestnut Cake. Cooling & refreshing! Link to recipe here.

And from Gina, I made some white nian gao. I didn't have any other suitable molds other than my mooncake jelly molds. Anyhow, they still look auspicious for the occasion, don't you think?

Steamed White Nian Gao

Very nice to have this together with some steamed fresh coconut flakes.


Have a wonderful holiday!

So what are you baking for CNY? Part II

In continuation of my previous post, I found time to bake more CNY cookies before CNY comes around. Not that I really need to bake as there are already tons of different CNY cookies at home. But somehow, it seems more befitting that I bake some CNY cookies for my family.

Here are 2 more new recipes that I tried this year, courtesy of Yochana.

Satay Fish Cookies (FAVOURITE RECIPE)
Crispy, crunchy and slightly savoury. I just found a new favourite!

Note: I added at least 20g extra satay fish (the crispy type). Too lazy to roll them out so just rolled them into balls. Easy!


Seaweed Cookies

I made a mistake with this recipe. I halved the recipe but forgot to half the icing sugar required. As a result, my dough was too dry and tough to pipe out. So I rolled them out and cut them using a cookie cutter. Not bad, a very crispy and crunchy type of seaweed-flavoured butter cookie.

Hmm..., I wonder if I got time to bake some more?

Note: The above recipes can be found on Yochana's blog. Link provided above and side bar.

So what are you baking for CNY?

Lately, I have been receiving a few enquiries from friends who knew of my interest in baking. They asked me, "So what are you baking for Chinese New Year?" I felt ashamed in replying, "So far, nothing." With CNY about a week more to go, time is running out for me particularly when I have been too ambitious in preparing my "CNY To-Bake List". I think I had at least 6 different types of cookies that I planned to bake. But like I said earlier, with CNY about a week more to go, I think I need to be more realistic and trim the list down to maybe 4 selections. Or perhaps 3. Hmm...., or maybe just 2.

But at least, I already baked my 1st batch of CNY cookies. Ta-da....., Green Peas Cookies (not green bean or mung beans).

A friend introduced me to these cookies last year which I enjoyed very much. Then later, I found a stall in a shopping mall that sells very good green peas cookies - the melting type. Sadly, they no longer sell them. Recently, I found a recipe for these cookies and to my delight, the recipe looked so simple to make (and they really are!). This version results in a very crunchy cookie, particularly since I did not blend the green peas too well, rather roughly grounding them into coarse bits.

Using a good oil is important (such as sunflower, canola or soya that does not have a strong scent), otherwise the cookies will stink of oil (I can't stand the smell of blended cooking oil such as Knife or Neptune. I also added some vanilla essence, just in case.

May have to bake another batch since I almost finished the first batch by myself *grins*. Well, at least 1 down and another 1 or 2 more to go...

Link to recipe.

Rejoice! It is Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone! A day late, but hey, it is still Christmas!

The days leading to Christmas were so busy. Tons of last minute shoppings and bakings, in addition to the usual parties and events as well as church practices. Nonetheless, these are part of the fun of Christmas, my favourite time of the year...

So what did I bake for Christmas? Take a look below:

Chocolate Banana Cake (based on wonderful recipe from SeaDragon with slight changes.)


Vanilla Sugar Cookies (recipe taken from epicurous.com)


More Chocolate Chip Cookies (recipe from Williams-Sonoma). Supposed to be crispy, but mine still turned out chewy (???).


Mini Vanilla Butter Cupcakes for the children carollers!


Triple Layered Chocolate Oreos Cake for brother's birthday. (truly yummilicious, thanks to Fatboy for recipe. I use my own recipe for chocolate sponge and chocolate ganache.) - (FAVOURITE RECIPE)


Tiramisu (laddened with alcohol, the flavour gets better the longer it sits in the fridge (i.e., days not weeks or months, mind you). I had a slice 3 days after making it, and I couldn't stop at 1 slice. Recipe taken from Kitchen Capers - see sidebar for link). - (FAVOURITE RECIPE)


Once again, have yourself a blessed Christmas and a fantastic New Year!

"Celebrate in the Wonders of His birth, Rejoice in the Beauty of Christmas!"

CNY 101: Down but not out...

Hello! My blog has been silent for awhile and that's because I was away on a week-long trip to HK and Tokyo. I have been back for a few days now and unfortunately, also been sick not long after I touched down. However, this did not deter me from my baking project for CNY but alas, I could only managed 3 types of cookies,

Red Bean Butter cookies / Green Bean & Peanuts cookies


Egg White & Pumpkin Seeds Crisps

CNY 101: Let the baking begins (again)... (Lotus Tarts)

It's back to the kitchen for mass cookies baking. CNY is just around the corner and I want to try a few new cookie recipes before "mass-producing" them for CNY. Time is scarce, life has been very busy and I barely have enough time to bake all I want. Moreover, I will be away next week (off to HK & Tokyo - yay!) and by the time I returned, it will be just a mere few days before CNY.

Anyway, here's my first try. Instead of the usual Pineapple Tarts, I baked Lotus Tarts. Ahem, to be honest I was just too lazy to go through the tedious process of making pineapple jam. Fortunately, my family (being the first testers) gave their thumbs up! The clove stem that was used only for decorative purpose only lend a hint of spice to the cookies. Hmmm, something diferent...

Recipe: (small-batch: makes about 23-24 pcs)
94g SCS Butter, melted and cooled slightly
125g plain flour, sifted
1 egg yolk
Filling: Lotus paste (or pineapple jam)
Decoration: Clove stems
Glazing: Egg yolk (for the tarts) and egg white (for the cloves)
Method:
1. Combine first 3 ingredients together and softly knead into a pliable dough.
2. Divide into 10g portions.
3. Wrap 1/2 tsp of paste with the dough and roll into a ball.
4. Brush with egg yolk.
5. Dip the cloves into egg white and stick it into the tart.
6. Bake at preheated oven 165-170c for 15-18 mins or until golden brown (original recipe calls for 175c for 20-25 mins)

Cooking Up A Storm on Christmas Eve

That's right. This year I have been put in-charge of my family's Christmas dinner which we have decided to hold it on Christmas eve. I have to admit it took me a while to finalise on the menu for the night. There were many recipes which I considered but then in the end, I have to find the ones that sound yummy, but not too task-demanding. After all, except for baking, I am relatively alien to the kitchen in terms of cooking...

After 2 weeks of recipe contemplation, 2 hours of ingredient shopping, 4 hours of preparation in the kitchen prior to dinner (with the help of 2 maids and my good ol' sister who arrived early for the dinner), here are my (ahem) pride and glory:

Starters:
1. Prawn Salad (this is contributed by my niece. Simple & nice, go girl!)

2. Broccoli, Cauliflower, Crabstick & Mushroom Salad in Creamy Wild Mushroom Sauce topped with "longan" fruit. (A case of "dump all leftovers here"...)

3. Sausage & Pineapple Cocktail.

4. Coca-cola Pork Ribs (this is the family's favourite, it seems)

5. Oven-Fried Cucumber & Zucchini Sticks


Mains: Choice of the following with sides of Garlic Mashed Potatoes & Honey Glazed Carrots.
1. Swiss Steak

2. Fish in Lemon Parsley Butter sauce


Kid's menu:

1. Fried Chicken cutlets
2. Sausage/Crabstick Cheese Bruschetta
3. Garlicky Mash
4. Chocolate Milkshake

Desserts:
1. Chocolate Tartlets

2. Creme Caramel

3. Lemon Pudding Cheesecake with Kiwi Fruits


I have to declare the dinner to be a success except for a minor accident. Moments after cutting slices of the cheesecake and when I was about to return it to the fridge, somehow the slippery pie dish slipped out and fell to the floor. Oh no!!! And just when I thought I could have it for breakfast the next day as I like this cheesecake very much. :(


Here's the cheesecake, seconds from disaster!

Nevertheless, it was a fun evening. Tiring yes, but fun! We ended the night with gifts-exchange under the Christmas Tree.


Merry Christmas to All! Good tidings and Peace!

Countdown to Christmas III (Tartlets, Cupcakes & A Cake)

More goodies for the upcoming Christmas celebration...

Fruit Tartlets (for my office)


Hazelnut Frosted Cupcakes (same frosting as below) for my friend's potluck Christmas dinner.



And another birthday cake for my brother (Hazelnut Cream Cake). Frosting was very-very good...., but then again I used Varlhona chocolate and good quality roasted ground hazelnuts. ;-) But looks like I have got a long way to go in mastering the art of cake decoration.


Sliced.

Countdown to Christmas II

More Christmas cookies baking....

Orange Chocolate Chip Stars


Clockwise from top: Dark Chocolate Truffle Cookies, Peanut Snowballs, Coconut Orange & Sultana Stars

Countdown to Christmas

Countdown to my most favourite holiday season, Christmas has begun. There are Christmas shopping to do, presents to wrap, and cookies and cakes to bake. :)

Some recent bakes:
Cranberry Yoghurt Babycakes


Peanut Snowballs


Walnut Marble Yoghurt Cake


Baked Caramel Tapioca Slices (they may not look like much but these are very delicious and decadent)


Kiwi Jam (as gift to a friend)