MERRY CHRISTMAS!

first and foremost, i wish everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR! (: (:

season of giving and receving (: i receive chocs and food stuffs from mummy's friend who bought for me when she's in hk (:

TADA! best gifts that i could ever receive!

yes, the whole set! (: is testing my chinese proficiency level! x)))

sis is going for gathering later. so i was busy baking mango cheesecake for her. OMG! is DISASTER! seriously, like what cathy say, look can be deceiving!  they look really nice arent they? extra goes to making it in muffin size (: (:



first attempt of macarons

i've been having a hard time uploading pics to blogger for 2 days!! found this new, fast and nice way to upload photos (:

i shall share about my happiest first attempt on MACARONS! i actually read and "research" about macarons for at least 3 weeks to prepare myself better (: to be honest, i LOVE macarons a lot! tried bakerzin, canele and many different places. macarons are exp yet worth the money (at least to me) . .

i tried the pink colour macarons (my favourite colour) since i dont know which to start first. i think because i over baked the macarons (fear of uncooked macarons) that's why it dont look as pink as it should be ): i read that i could cover it with aluminium foil but i have this attempt on cheesecake that the foil sticks to the top of the cake ): i need to continue experimenting macarons to check out how to bake it!

looking at those pics, you can tell, is my first time piping macarons. not too nice. but subsequently, i got the hang of it and it dont looks as bad (: i tried big and small shells to experiment their feet, baking time and more. i didnt went on to prepare the buttercream coz i think i'll fail the first attempt since i read about others who failed thrice and more. still, i stood by the oven PRAYING that there'll be feet. i slowly watch the process and YEAH!! FEET!! you know the kind of excitement (: (: (: i read that if first 5 mins you dont see those feet, you'll prob not see it. im extremely happy!! in the end, i choose GRAND MARNIER buttercream to go with it (: im soooo glad that my family LOVE it and they cant stop at one! x)))


anyway, im going to try many different method again to check out which taste better and which method would lead me to a failing macaron. also, the oven timing and temp so that i get the colour instead of brown ): not forgetting, learn to pipe it better! (:


those photos are here (: if you cant see it, try to REFRESH the page (:

WINNER of $20 3 inch sin voucher

dear all, as wendy is staying in malaysia and wouldnt be coming to singapore, so i choose another lucky one. this time round, i heed bakertan's advice and . .

TADA! the lucky one is CATHY!

CONGRATS (:

One Ninety Restaurant Four Seasons Singapore

OMG!!! Dessert Buffet at One Ninety Restaurant Four Seasons Singapore at only $12++/pax (available from Monday to Friday 12.30pm – 2.30pm)
im sooo going to try it!! x)))

WINNER for the $20 3 inch sin voucher

i used random.org to choose the winner but when i copy and paste the whole chunk of code, this box didnt tun out ): so i decided to snap a photo of it and post it up so that is fair (:

so, the WINNER for the $20 3 inch sin voucher goes to . . . .

WENDYYWY (: (: congrats!! advance merry christmas to you (: (:

crunchy choc chip cookies with macadamia nuts and choc cupcakes with "ice cream"

did not post for a while coz i was really busy helping out with new family member at home (: my second sis-in-law gave birth to my nephew (: my house have an army of boys! now i have 3 nephews at home EVERYDAY! one is 5 years old, another is turning 1. imagine? hahah.

enough said, let's come back to baking! (: baked crunchy choc chip cookies that i saw on rei's blog. like i mentioned, my house always have different nuts at home and i like macadamia so, i added it in (: (: i must say, this cookies are really really nice! not only nice taste, nice smell too!! you got to try it!

Ingredients :

190g plain flour
30g cornflour (original recipe use all plain flour instead)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt (I use 1/4 tsp)
125g unsalted butter, at room temperature
125g granulated sugar (I reduced to 80g)
105g packed light brown sugar (I reduced to 70g)
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
185g semi-sweet chocolate chips
125g walnuts, toasted and chopped [optional] (i replace it with macadamia nuts)

Methods:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degree and have ready 2 ungreased baking sheets.
2. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt onto a sheet of waxed paper, set aside.
3. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on high speed, cream the butter till fluffy and pale yellow.
4. Add the sugars and continue beating till mixture is no longer gritty.
5. Add egg and vanilla and beat on low speed until blended.
6. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed or stir with a wooden spoon until just blended.
7. Add the chocolate chips and the walnuts, if using, mixing or stirring until just blended.
8. With dampened hands, shape the dough into small balls and place on the baking sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart.
9. Bake the cookies until golden brown around the edges, about 12 minutes.
10 Let the cookies cool briefly on the sheets before transferring them to the racks to cool completely.

next is chocolate cupcakes "ice cream" that i saw on little teochew's blog (: her's look soooo nice!!! (: i did a little modification coz my mum dont really like buttercream ): and my nephew INSIST that he want rainbow rice sprinkles! so this is it. hahah



For the chocolate cupcakes

- 125g butter, softened
- 1/2 cup (125ml) milk
- 3/4 cup (165g) caster (superfine) sugar
- 100g dark chocolate, melted
- 2 eggs
- 16 storebought flat base ice-cream cones*
- 1 1/4 cups (190g) plain (all-purpose) flour
- 80g dark chocolate, extra, chopped
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder

For the chocolate cream icing
- 200g whipping cream
- 15g icing (confectioner's) sugar, sifted
- 1/2 tsp cocoa powder, sifted

1. Preheat oven to 160°C (320°F). Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and creamy. Gradually add the eggs and beat well after each addition. Sift over the flour, baking powder and cocoa and beat until combined. Fold through the milk and stir in the chocolate. Place the ice-cream cones on a baking tray and place a piece of the extra chocolate in the base of each cone. Spoon the cupcake mixture into the cones* and bake for 20–25 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Allow to cool.
* You need to fill the cones up quite a bit. Leave about 1cm to 1.5cm gap from the rim. Be careful not to have any batter drip onto the outside or it will burn.

2. To make the chocolate butter cream icing, place the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 6–8 minutes or until pale and creamy. Add the icing sugar mixture, cocoa powder and milk and beat for a further 6 minutes or until light and creamy. Pipe the icing onto the cupcakes using a star-shaped nozzle.

Makes 16.

christmas giveaway (:

christmas giveaway expire on 19 dec (SUN) tmr! comment on my FIRST POST (:

advance merry christmas! (: (:

homemade ferrero rocher and macadamia snowball

baked cookies! is macadamia snowball. i have lots of macadamia nuts available (: is really YUMMY and smells great too! (:

next is HOMEMADE FERRERO ROCHER! i saw it on zurin's blog and was attracted to it! *thumbs up* and i put it in my favourite colour (pink) cup (:
only thing is, hers look much nicer! hahah. and i have a hard time hunting for hazelnuts!

Ingredients100 g hazelnut wafer biscuits, crushed
150 g hazelnuts
200 g Nutella
250 g semi-sweet dark chocolate (or milk chocolate)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Spread out the hazelnuts on a rimmed baking sheet and roast them in the oven for 8-10 minutes, until they are warmed through and aromatic. Remove from the oven and let cool and rub their skins off with a tea towel. Finely chop the hazelnuts.
2. Combine the wafer biscuits, chopped hazelnuts. Add Nutella and mix them with hands.
3. Roll approximately 1 heap teaspoon of the mixture into ball. Repeat and you should get around 30-40 balls depending on the size. (If the mixture is not firm enough to roll, put it in the refrigerate for 15-30 minutes until it's firm enough to roll into balls.)
4. Put them in the refrigerator for 45 minutes to firm up.
5. Melt the dark chocolate and let it cool.
6. Remove the balls from the refrigerator and dip them into the melted chocolate until well coated

cakes, k food and dulce de leche

i was busy preparing for my sis-in-law bday cake. she requested for black forest cake. is my second attempt for layer cake. first was strawberry shortcake (before i started blogging). it was simply DISASTROUS! i used my new non stick springform pan to bake the 9" cake. happy that it turn out nice! but that was not the end. it did not come off beautifully from the bottom. TADA! it break off ): without hesitation, prepare to bake another using my old pan. this time, GOT IT! (: i slice the "spoilt" cake to distribute and they say is nice and spongy (: this cake, i saw it before on youtube before i started blogging (: if you understand chinese, you can try watching it. if not, i have the translated recipe. is really cool! (:

next was the layering! the layers are not slice nicely ): next is the whipping cream! not really nicely done too ): i only manage to snap a photo and next moment when i want to take photo of the not so nice looking layering, cream and black forest, the cake are all GONE!! in short, no look but there's taste. hahah

CHOCOLATE SPONGE CAKE (9" pan)

Ingredients:

203g Whole eggs

32g Egg yolks

135g Caster sugar

21g Glucose

1g Salt

32g Vegetable oil

21g Cocoa powder

106g Cake flour

1g Baking soda

21g Milk

1. Put the pot on the fire, pour in the oil immediately to heat up and off the fire when the oil start to warm.
2. Add in the cocoa powder and stir well to dissolve the cocoa powder with oil and set aside.
3. Mix eggs, sugar, salt in the mixing bowl and whisk in high speed till thick and creamy, increase the volume unitl the color turn pale.
4. Add in glucose and whisk in medium speed until ribbon stage.
5. Mix in the sifted flour and baking soda, whisk in low speed for 3 circles to let the flour mix into the egg mixture. Then turn to medium speed and whisk for about 20 circles (about 20 seconds) to mix well.
6. Fold 1/3 of the batter into cocoa mixture and mix well. Pour the mixture back to the remaining batter, add in milk to mix well.
7. Pour the batter in the cake tin till 60-70% full.
8. Bang the cake tin on the table lightly to reduce some air.

9. Bake at lower heat 160 degree upper heat 180 degree for 35 mins.
10. Once done, remove from oven and turn the cake tin upside down on wire rack for it to cool down.
11. When the cake is cool, press round the top side of the cake and push up the bottom plate to remove the cake.
12. Press round the bottom of the cake to remove the cake from the bottom plate.

For Filling and Frosting :
260g non dairy whipping cream
1 can dark pitted cherries
60g shaved chocolate (i replace it with valrhona choc dark pearl)

1. Whip the whipping cream till stiff.

To Assemble :
1. Slice the cooled cake into 3 layers.
2. Place one layer on the turntable/cake board and brush with some cherry syrup.
3. Spread whipped cream and scatter pitted cherries over it.
4. Place the second layer and spread the whipped cream and scatter the pitted cherries.
5. Set the third layer of sponge on top of it and spread top and sides of cake with remaining cream.
6. With fingers, gently press chocolate shavings into cream on sides of cake.
7. Decorate with whipped cream rosettes and garnish the pitted cherries (drain the cherries till dry with kitchen tower).
8. Finally sprinkle some chocolate shavings on the top and chill for 2-3 hours before serving.




next is Korean Fried Chicken! is really crispy! (: but is rather spicy.

Ingredients :
Vegetable oil, for deep-frying
2 kg chicken pieces (drumsticks and wings)

Batter:
115 g plain flour, sieved
2 tbsp cornflour
1 eggwhite, lightly beaten

Chilli sauce:
2 tbsp each soy sauce and rice vinegar
1 tbsp honey
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp sugar
10 g ginger (about 2 cm) piece, finely grated
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
65 gm (1/4 cup) ko chu jang


Method :
1. For chilli sauce, combine ingredients in a large bowl, season to taste with freshly ground pepper and set aside.
2. For batter, whisk flours, eggwhite and 170 ml cold water in bowl. Season to taste and set aside.
3. Preheat oil in a deep-sided saucepan to 180C. Dip chicken pieces in batter and deep-fry in batches, turning occasionally until light golden (5-6 minutes). Drain on absorbent paper until cooled slightly (10-15 minutes).
4. Deep-fry chicken again, in batches, until crisp and deep golden (6-8 minutes), drain on absorbent paper, then add to sauce, toss to coat and serve hot topped with sesame.

SPECIAL THANKS TO BAKERICIOUS for her generous recipe for the above mentioned sweet treats (:

more to go . . . i was very curious what DULCE DE LECHE was all about. so i did some googling. to my surprise, is really interesting! (: i choose the easiest recipe that yield the best result i guess? (: check out TABLE FOR 2 or more too (:

first, you need to have FULL CREAM SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK from MILKMAID which are readily available in store or supermarket.

Boil a pot of water and put into the pot. ensure that water is about 2cm above the can (so that the can will be "evenly cook" and wont get burnt) . simmer the can for 3 hours. check on the water level so that it dont dry up. Let the can of milk cool down in the pot until the water is warm. Then fish it out and let the can COOL COMPLETELY before opening it. Do not attempt to open a hot or warm can!

kueh bangkit

baked kueh bangkit yesterday. it turned out fine (: YUMMY! thank you baking mum for your wonderful recipe! (: however, mine is not as white and nice looking as hers. i have the fear that the cookies may not be completely baked so i give it a while more.

you may hop over to her blog to check out the wonderful recipe (:



korean rice cake

yesterday and today, i went INTENSIVE SHOPPING for bakeware and ingredients (: (: i also went bookstore. OMG! i really want to stay there! there's soooo many books that i love and i just want every single one of them!! hahah.

i just " fry" the flour for kueh bangkit. im making it tmr! hopefully i'll succeed! x)))

i bought 1kg of korean rice cake when i was shopping the other time coz is not just cheap but also, my family is really big and my sis is a FAN of it! so, without hesitation, i bought it. hahah. i say no to those ready made ones coz i want to try! hunt for hot pepper paste (ko chu jang) and bought it! to my surprise, the end product is quite nice (: (: you can try making it too!

Ingredients:

250g korean rice cake
1 small onion (sliced)
1 garlic (minced)
5 leaves of cabbage, sliced (optional, depending on preferences)
1 big fish cake, sliced (optional, depending on preferences)

• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 2 tbsp ko chu jang

Mix the 3 ingredients in a bowl

Method:

1. put a little oil in pre-heated frying pan, add in onion, garlic and stir fry until golden brown
2. pour in about 1 cup of water, slightly above level of rice cakes (estimate)
3. once water starts boiling, add in rice cakes and boil for about 1 min
4. Add in cabbage, fish cakes and mixed sauce
5. keep stirring till paste is slightly thicken
6. garnish with sesame seeds and it is ready to serve

marvelous cream and swensens

marvelous cream (: i bought their waffle ice cream. is rather expensive. some of the flavours arent that nice except for one. that is blueberry yoghurt and red currant (: wait till i buy myself a waffle maker (: (:

yesterday is my bday and i got myself swensen ice cream log cake (: is DURIAN INDULGENCE! yummy! im going to learn how to make it coz is definitely not too cheap to buy it outside. on another note, the person is soooo nice to give me 20% discount (: (:

OKONOMIYAKI

you know OKONOMIYAKI ? is my second time making it and is yummy! (: is a jap food and the preparation time is not long (:

Ingredients:
200g flour
300ml water
3 eggs
150g tofu
1/2 white cabbage
2 whole leeks (or 1 bunch spring onion)
1 large squid, cut into finger-sized slices
8 thin slices of pork belly

Garnish:
Mayonnaise
Okonomiyaki sauce
Fish flakes
Seaweed flakes

1. Mix flour and water together, then add egg and mix well to form a smooth batter
2. crush tofu and to mixture and mix well
3. stir in cabbage and squid
4. heat a little oil in a small frying pan
5. when oil is shimmering, add 1 portion to the frying pan, shaping it into a large patty. Place 2 slices of pork belly on top and cook over low heat for 8 to 10 mins till crispy and golden brown.
6. To serve, squirt a lattice of mayo and sauce on each patty with fish flakes and seaweed.

Is really yummy and easy to prepare (: however, i modify it. I omit leeks because i dont eat it. and NO PORK too! though im a chinese but my family and i dont eat pork, beef and mutton. so i replace it with PRAWNS and it taste as good. beware, place the prawns between the vege so that it wouldnt "swim away" from the patty.

*sorry, i was in a rush to go for picnic so i didnt take a pic. next time (:

you can buy the sauce, fish flakes and seaweed from isetan (scotts) and is not to exp (:

ENJOY (:

FIRST POST (:

HELLO (: is my first post and is my bloggy to learn and at the same time, make new and nice friends (:


my first post would be ALMOND COOKIE (:

Ingredients:
125g butter
55g sugar
150g flour
10g almond
2 tbsp almond flakes

1. Preheat oven to 170 degree C
2. Beat butter and sugar in small bowl until smooth
3. Stir in sifted flour and almond
4. Roll level tbsp mixture into balls. place 5cm apart. sprinkle with almond flakes
5. Bake for 10 mins.

recipe source : U weekly magazine

my sis insist she wants a mickey mouse cookie so i made it though after baking is not so obvious. the taste is yummy! (: let me know after you try it (:

thank you for visiting my humble blog (: so, as my welcome gift to you plus christmas season is coming, i'll be giving away one/two $20 3 inch sin vouchers *depending on the response (: CHOCOHOLIC will love it! you may participate by leaving a comment for me.


participation ends on 19 dec. have fun (: