Three Weeks of Goodies

I have baked a little during the past weeks but was really lazy to post or blog them. So here goes, three weeks of goodies.

Three Weeks back.....Green Apple Kiwi Muffins. Baked with chopped green apples and kiwi jam, these were tangy, moist and soft at the same time. Behind the apple muffins are the Chocolate Coffee Cupcakes. Fragrant, chocolately and bittersweet at the same time, these cupcakes are your perfect companion with a cup of hot coffee.


Two Weeks back....Taiwanese Pineapple Tarts. In reality, the fillings is a mixture of Wintermelon & Nata De Coco. I bought the fillings from Taiwan a couple of months back and only got round to making tarts recently. The fillings were really good. They were not sweet, have many crunchy nata de coco bits inside and free from any artificial fragrance. Strangely, it tasted like pineapple. The lovely melt-in-the mouth shortbread crust was a recipe from another blog.


The Tarts packed in the cookie bags which were also bought from Taiwan.

Another bake were these vanilla cupcakes amd cherry chocolate cakes. We have this SFS2010 training in the office and I thought it would be cool to decorate the cakes with the company and training logo. Through Zu, a friend from a cooking forum, I had her help me print these edible icing sheets with the logos.. The cakes went down extremely well with the Management and colleagues and many were intrigued as to how the logos were made.

Last Week....Fruit Pastry. Chockful of blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and chopped apples. This recipe is from Vi, who mentioned that this is extremely popular in Belgium. This was confirmed by my colleague Ilse, who hails from Belgium. Doing the taste test, Ilse gave me a thumb up and an A for authenticity.


Finally today.....Custard Peach Bread. It was really not a good day for making bread as it was raining cats and dogs and the temperature has dropped tremendously. Not ideal for proving bread actually but I just had this tremendous urge for making some bread.

Extremely Lazy

I have been extremely lazy lately. I had thought that after my exams, I would go into a baking frenzy. Surprisingly, I went on snail's pace. I was not motivated to bake nor blog. Ummh....something must be wrong with me! It has been almost a month now and I have only just started to crawl a little. I had better speed up before the next term starts in January as I do have many new recipes to try.

I was really glad to have four very good friends over for dinner last evening. Though it has been only close to five months since we started our course in July, we had became firm friends and a really dynamic project team to boot.

For my bunch of serious at times but mostly crazy, lively and funny groupmates I made:

Mee Siam - Topped with chives, beanpuffs, prawns and crispy shrimp skin.


Yam Cake Wannabes - The correct name should be Bread Pudding I supposed but everyone was stumped to realise that these are not Yamcakes but savory puddings made with bread. It tasted so yam-like that I had to call them Wannabes.


Frosted Cupcakes - I just loved this Vanilla Cupcakes. Soft and fluffy with a heavenly vanilla fragrance.


Mars Bar Velvet Cheesecake - I had this recipe for the longest time and this is the first time I have attempted this cake. It has chopped Mars chocolate bars inside and I also added some shredded canned pineapple to give it a little bite and some sour tang. Amazingly, the caramel within the bars oozes out like molted lava in little pools on the surface & when you slice through the cake. Personally, I do not really like this cake as it was way too creamy for me.


To wash the spiciness of the Mee Siam down, a refreshing minty Lime Mochito.


To Maria, Lai Foong, Joanna and Rayson, thanks for being such good pals. Knowing the bunch of you makes studying fun and I am really looking forward to the day when the five of us will parade ceremoniously on stage in our splendid convocation gowns and mortar-boards to receive our well-deserved scrolls.

Honey I Shrank The Doughnuts!

Aren't these mini doughnuts cute. They are each about the size of a normal door key which makes eating them so much easier.

The Doughnut Factory is a belated birthday present from Danny, my daughter's boyfriend, who came home from Australia for vacation. It was really sweet of him to remember that I was looking for this mini doughnut maker as the last time he and my daughter were unable to get hold of one in Bangkok as it was out of stock.


The doughnut maker is fantastic! However, the recipe that came with the instructions was a disappointment as the doughnut turned out more cake-like than normal. Although it still tastes delicious, I would have preferred it to taste closer to the real thing. So I shall be going in search of a recipe that will do justice to the doughnut maker.

Another belated birthday present which I just received from my daughter over the weekend is a BlowTorch. I have been contemplating for the longest time if I should buy one as I do not have many recipes on-hand that would require it's use. So if you have any recipes besides Creme Brulee/Baked Custard and browning the Meringue, do let me know.

Excusez-Moi

Please excuse me if I have not been answering your emails or comments. I am currently preparing for my exams and am buried in my books. My last paper is on the 7th of November and I promise to come back to all who have left comments and emailed me in the last couple of weeks after that.

Thanks for your patience, understanding and support.

Ginny

A Brief Respite from Books

Lectures have ended for this semester and I am giving myself a weekend away from books before starting on my revisions for the exams.

There are lots of stuff that I wanted to make but in the end, I made only a couple of sweets: Coconut Sweet Potato Tarts, Vanilla Sponge and Candied Pomelo Skin.

The original version of tarts from AuntyYochana were made with coconut and durians. As could not find any durians yesterday morning, I substituted with Japanese sweet potatoes instead. I brought them to a birthday party last evening and they were very well received.



Make friends with your neighbourhood minimart owner. They keep these empty pretzels cartons for me to use as cupcakes holder. See how convenient it is to transport the tarts! I just clingwrap them. No mess! No fuss!


Pomeloes are in season now. Do not throw the skin away as you can turn them into Candied Pomelo Skin. When I was a kid, my mum used to buy this candied pomelo skin which comes in little earthened pots. The made in China type is drier and quite 'chewy' from lots of maltose. The candied skins are placed in between layers of rice paper to prevent them from sticking to each other. They no longer comes in earthen jars but are packed in boxes now. It is not easy to come by them but if you are lucky, you may find some at the Yue Hwa Emporium.

As I did not cook mine till the sticky stage, the skin retains some moisture and were slightly juicy. Very nice served chilled.


Made another simple Vanilla Sponge but turned it into a luxurious version by filling them with Hazlenut Praline that has crunchy feulleutine in it. Tasted like a 'naked' Pralet in the end but nevertheless delicious.


And more bakewares to add to the collection: a Victoria Bundt pan from Kitchen Aid some festive silicon bakeware and a Cinderella Waffle Maker. All brought back from USA by my dearest brother, Michael.

Precious Choya Snowskin

My second moonies this year. Snowskin that is flavored with Umeshu Choya, a Japanese liquer that is infused with sour Ume plums.

I could have named them Double-Wine snowskins as the fillings are a Red Wine Cranberry-Lotus Paste. However, I prefer the fancier name of Precious Choya Snowskin as each moonie is topped with a flake of edible gold leaf. It took a lot of hunting on my part before I finally found the gold leaf at the Chinese Medical Hall.

Apparently, these gold leaves have a medicinal value (I do not know what??) and they can also be used on the face to beautify the texture of our complexion.

These moonies are definitely not for the kiddies as I had used quite a lot of the wine in place of the water called for in the recipe. I love how the sourish wine offset the sweetness from the skin and how it enhances the taste of the cranberry paste.

Black Gold

During my trip to Taiwan in April, I bought a mooncake presser from a bakery supplies shop there. I have seen similar plastic presser in Singapore however I was attracted to this particular one at it comes with interchangeable plates for different designs.

It was a breeze making these Chocolate Snowskins as I had only 'stamp' it out. I do not have to be very precise in measuring the weight of each dough covered lotus paste as the presser is able to accomodate as tall a mooncake as you want. Unlike the traditional moulds, each piece of cake has to be of the same weight. Too big and it will overfill the mould. Too small and you will have a very short mooncake. The best part of using this presser is that I did not have to make a ruckus with all the knocking and banging of the mould to dislodge the cakes.

Here are my Chocolate Snowskin Mooncakes, some dusted with edible gold luster dust.




The presser with the interchangeable plates.

Steamed Pumpkin Mee Suah Kueh

This is for LingLing, who requested for the recipe



STEAMED PUMPKIN MEE SUA KUEH
(Recipe adapted from Y3K Magazine)

Ingredients
240g mee suah
300g pumpkin flesh (shredded/grated)
4-5 Chinese mushrooms (soaked & sliced)
50g hae bee (soaked)
5 shallots – sliced
5 garlics – minced
120g minced pork or chicken
700ml water

Seasonings
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tbsp chicken granules
2 tsp light soya sauce

Garnish
1 red chilli, diced
1 stalk spring onions, diced

Method
1) Place mee sua in a sieve or colander, rinse with water, drain and keep aside.
2) Heat 3 tbsp oil in a wok and sauté shallots till golden brown. Reserve for garnishing.
3) Fry minced garlics, mushrooms, hae bee, minced meat and pumpkin shreds.
4) In another clean wok, add in some water to boil and blanch mee sua till water is absorbed. Add in the fried ingredients and seasonings. Stir well and adjust to taste.
5) Press mee sua firmly into a greased 9” tray and steam for 35 minutes
6) Garnish with red chilies, spring onions and fried shallots.

Note:
Although original recipe calls for 700ml water, I suggest you use 500ml boiled water first and then adjust accordingly to prevent mee sua from turning too soft and mushy.
I use Maicar brand of mee sua which is not salty and the strands are thicker. Each pack is about 280g (slightly more than the original recipe). I use the whole packet without changing the amount of water.

Ensaymada

The other day, Elaine, my Filipino colleague brought back some Ensaymada from her hometown.

That was my first encounter with this cake-like bread. Actually, I am not sure if it is a cake or a bread. Anyway it was really delicious. It was covered entirely with grated cheese and it came in four flavors – original cheese, Ube (purple yam), Macopuno (young coconut) and Chocolate.

I googled for the recipe and found one which I tried today.

Mine turned out more like a very soft and fluffy bread and not dense like the one which Elaine brought back. It was nevertheless delicious with it’s rich butter taste and the generous shavings of cheddar cheese. I had made three flavours. Cheese, Angle Coconut Flakes and Chocolate.

The fillings were rolled inside the flattened dough and then coiled into a snail shape before baking. After that, they were slathered with softened butter, topped with cheese and good sprinkling of sugar.

If I had not been successful in creating anything close to an Ensaymada, I had definitely found myself a recipe for soft fluffy bread that is a keeper for sure.

Proofing the bread.


Ensaymada ~ Plain Cheese, Chocolate, Angel Coconut


Another shot of the bread.


Inside, very soft and fluffy. This is plain, sans fillings sans topping.

Chocoholic Anonymous

I am almost dying of cold turkey from not making a cake or a muffin. I have not been baking for quite a few weeks now. So I took the opportunity last weekend to bake a blueberry chocolate cake for my niece's housewarming. As it looks too plain without any decorations, I decided to whip up a devillishly sinful bitter-chocolate garnache to top off the cake. A slice of this cake can send your heart racing as it is so..ooo rich in chocolate. I christened the cake Chocoholic Anonymous.




Over the National Day holidays, I attempted doughnuts. I had great ambitions. My thoughts actually went wild with all sorts of toppings and fillings:- strawberry glaze, creamcheese filling, sour cream & onion, orange curd and almond-chocolate toppings. Alas, it was not meant to be. The dough was quite soft to handle and I lost patience as I could not get a nice doughnut shape. The frying part also put me on wits ends as it browned too fast even after I have lowered the flame.

In the end, I just made some odd looking shapes and tossed most of it in a simple cinnamon-sugar or have them chocolate-dipped with a sprinkling of almonds bits and angle coconut flakes. Oh yes, I made some cute little hundreds & thousands sprinkled hearts for the little girl next door. The doughtnuts tasted good but I guess I just lost patience in making them.





With so much oil left in the fryer, dinner was Vegetarian Pork Cutlets. Boy these were good! You just sandwich two pieces of mock ham with cheese, batter them and coat them with breadcrumbs before frying. It was real good served with mayonnaise, cold tomatoes and lettuce.

Here Comes the Bride (& Groom)

The last two weeks were a blur of activities at work and schoolfront. As the last time I attended lectures was 6 years ago, it was rather difficult to re-start my 'engine'. Mine! What a difference these 6-years made. I was struggling to stay alert during classes and was trying my best to 'save' the theories and concepts to the rundown CPU in my head! My notes taking skills had also deterioriated tremendously as before I could finished jotting down a point, I would have forgotten what the lecturer just said! Ah! That is but a sign of old age!

Anyway, as the course had just started, I could still squeeze in a little bit of time to do some baking. As promised to my niece Audrey a couple of months back, I made some 'Thank You' wedding cookies to be given to her guests at the solemisation of her marriage to Marvin at the Masonic Club today.

The sugar cookies were baked in a cascading size, tiered and decorated to look like minature tiered-wedding cakes. Individually packed, these were presented to her 50+ guests at the lunch reception after the couple's 'I Do'.






Blushing Bride and Dashing Groom


Isn't this bouquet of Purple Callas lovely? They are quite difficult to come by in Singapore and Audrey had these specially flown in from Holland.


The Masonic Club is really a queer old place. Stepping inside the club, I feel as though I have been transported back to the Medieval times. I was half expecting a Knight to come charging through the heavy doors on a horse any moment. On every available inch of the wall, there were these framed up old pictures, maps and something-something(like Coat of Arms??) which gives the place a very cosy and antiquated atmosphere. In the member's area, there is even a soldier all garbed up in a very fine suit of armour!





The Solemisation Ceremony was held in this lovely garden behind the Club


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Earlier in the week, I managed to squeeze in a brownie order for a friend and a tirimisu for a colleague returning from the USA for a home visit.

I just had to call these Supernatural brownies as they are so devillishly chocolately, fudgy and well, supernatural. I had a chocolate high just looking the batter being poured into the baking tin.

Packed

And ready to go


Oh no! Not another picture of a Tirimisu! This could well be the sixth or seventh Tirimisu in my blog!