MIA.. and now posting for documentation..

Been too lazy to blog but I did bake lots..although some are not documented.  Lately I would just post the photos onto my own FB account so that I have an idea what I have baked.  However,  recently I had to refer back to this blog to check my older postings because I can't recall.

Milk Tea Loaves (using TWG's The Grand Wedding Tea Blend)

Hokkaido Milk Tea Loaves

Hot Cross Buns 

this recipe is a failure - not enough spice & raisins. recipe also didn't specify orange peel or mixed fruits. Added but still not enough imo.  

Cinnamon Buns 

(burnt top..but still tasted good!)

Coffee Buns 

Custard Buns

Cinnamon Buns

Baguette using pre-ferment

(not sure how to shape the dough yet)

Tina's White Crusted Bread

(simple, easy and taste so good!)

Donuts

(not as soft as i expected)

Brazilian Cheese Bread

Water Chestnut Cake

Chocolate Loaf Cake & Cinnamon Bread

Tiramisu Cake

(Really very good!..must remember this..)

Blueberry & Raspberry Crumb Cake

Portugese Rice Cake

Pineapple Tarts

Egg Waffles

(got to find a better recipe that is more crispy!)

Macarons (French)

Testing different variations

 Pandan Butter Cake

Pandan Chiffon Cake

Fresh Pandan Juice

 Fresh Strawberry Cake

Pineapple Tarts

Every year, just before Chinese New Year, i will order my fave pineapple tarts from a friend's friend who makes the most amazing melt-in-the-mouth pineapple tarts ever. However, this year she stopped baking them..and i am left with no pineapple tarts for Chinese New Year! Arggh...!  Pineapple tarts is my all time favorite goodies during Chinese New Year among others like 'bak-kwa' (..like beef jerky..but it's pork and sweeter and juicer), love letters (almost like tuiles and traditionally done under charcoal fire with a patterned metal clamp..which i remembered i did help out when i was a little kid..), Lapis cake, Suji cookies, Bangkit, etc.. I wanted to give pineapple tarts a miss this year but one of my amazingly talented flickr friend, "Sweet-Tooth-Fairy" had to tempt me with her recipe and her pineapple tarts that i am left with no choice but to bake some for myself. And so my quest for the perfect pineapple tarts (to my tastebuds that is..lol!) began...

My first batch of pineapple jam was a bit too moist (4 pineapples in total).  But nonetheless was still ok but a bit more difficult to handle so the shaping of the soft pastry was a bit difficult. So instead of round, it was a bit 'dome' shape - see photo below..supposedly to be a bit round..but ended up dome..lol!  It's sweeter but the pastry does have the melt in the mouth texture. Overall, it was good but still room for improvement. My husband said the pineapple jam was a bit sweet and has no tangy flavor. 

For experiment no. 2, I actually wanted to buy store-bought pineapple jam at the speciality bake-store but last minute all the ready-made jam were sold out..so i had no choice but to cook my own jam again! This time, i bought 6 pineapples (not totally ripe) and grated them all together and cooked them in a non-stick wok and till dry.   I'm not too sure if it is because i had more experience or what, but i shaped the pastry much neater this time and faster too. See the pastry below is more compact and neater..and the jam inside is drier too.

My husband likes the 2nd batch better as the pineapple jam has a bit of sourness/tangy taste and the pastry is not as sweet, has more texture but still maintaining the melt-in-mouth quality..except he thinks the pastry is a tad too buttery.  He said if i cut down on the butter a bit more would be perfect....but that would be experiment no. 3..after Chinese New Year... Although i still have pineapple jam stored away in the freezer..:)..but i need a break from pineapple tarts..LOL!

Wishing all a Happy & Prosperous Chinese New Year! 

And May the Year be Tigerrific! :) 

新年快乐，身体建康，万事如以，恭喜发财！ 

Snow (Ice) Skin Mooncakes w/ Custard Fillings

When Christine tweet her new blog post on Ice-Skin Mooncakes with Custard Fillings, i knew i had to try it. She made it looked so simple in her photo-step-by-step recipe and they looked deliciously good too. I like mochi and i like custard. Since i don't really fancy the traditional lotus paste ones, so i decided to try making some before mid-autumn festival is over on Sat (i think..:p).

I ran out of condensed milk so i replaced with milk and more sugar. I added a piece strawberry in the centre of the custard fillings since i still have tons of sour strawberries in my fridge..lol! I like the taste to it, but i think my custard is not sweet enough & not smooth enough, i should have added more sugar & cook it instead of steaming it (i think cooked custard has a smoother texture - imo). Otherwise, i like the overall taste to it. Taste more like mochi than usual snow-skin to me and i love anything mochi. :))

I dont have a mooncake mold, so i followed Christine's advise and used a cookie cutter instead. :)

*Note1: used plain flour instead of stated wheat flour: texture more like mochi which i really like*
*Note2: tried again with wheat flour/starch but do not like the texture: it's more chewy & stretchy but it is not as pillow soft as the ones made w/o wheat flour/starch*

Sesame Cookies (Almost Fat-Free)

I wanted to try a recipe from my newly bought chinese cookbook from Taipei - thus chose this recipe for it's simplicity - using only a few ingredients. Also it's a sort of guilt-free cookies cos there's not one drop of oil or butter (other than the natural oil in the sesame seeds & eggs). My 2nd tray of cookies were much better, ie, crispier and crunchier as i baked it longer. These cookies are delicious and light! If under-baked, it is not as crunchy and gives a more sponge cake texture which i don't quite like. I like crispier stuff..lol!

RECIPE (loosely translated from Chinese):-

Sesame Cookies

Ingredients:

-2 large eggs

-100g of fine/caster sugar

-110g cake flour

-1g of salt

-1/4 cup of sesame seeds (enough to cover all the cookies)

Method:

1) Heat oven at 200C

2) Whisk the eggs and sugar till light and fluffy

3) Fold in the cake flour & salt into the egg/sugar mixture

4) Pipe the batter into small rounds on cookie sheet (like macarons) & sprinkle sesame seeds all over.

5) Bake for 10-12 mins or until the top turns brown.

Konnyaku Jelly

KONNYAKU JELLY
(Phoon Huat's recipe, I think..)

 10 grams Konnyaku Powder
 210 grams Caster Sugar
 950ml Water
 1/8 teaspoon of Citric Acid or Malic Acid
 ¼ teaspoon of Flavors - Optional
 ½ teaspoon of Kiwi Seeds soaked in water – Optional
 1 drop of Liquid Color – Optional
 Canned Fruit

1. Mix the Konnayku Powder & Caster Sugar together.
2. Pour the Konnayku Powder & Caster Sugar mixture into water gradually and stir till it boils
3. Turn off flame and keep stirring for about 5 mins, till the bubbles dissipates and the mixture becomes clear
4. Add Citric Acid/Malic Acid, Liquid Coloring & Flavour into the solution. Stir Well.
5. Put the pieces of fruits in the moulds, then pour the Konnyaku solution into the moulds for 3 times, everytime pour 1/3 of the mould.
6. Chill to set the moulded Jelly solution in the fridge for 3 hours before serving.

Yield: 24 jellies

PS: For purchase of REDMAN 250 grams packaging, the measurement of 10 gram is
1 Tablespoon + ½ Teaspoon + 1/8 Teaspoon = 10 grams.

Indonesia Lapis Cake (*Failure*)

My lapis (not the original version - this is the healthier sponge cake version) - does have have visible layers cos i didn't set the correct oven temperature i think. Perhaps i should have set it under the 'grill' settings to darken the top of each layer before pouring the next batter over..as i was unduly worried if i would overcook the batter. Despite failing in the looks, the cake taste great..and not overly sweet & oily. :)

Wolfberries & Sweet Osmanthus Jelly - retry

Re-did the jelly again, and this time round it is much better. I have not found the osmanthus sugar yet but from what i know, it is sold in yue hua chinatown. Instead of the osmanthus sugar, i used osmathus flowers but i brew the osmanthus first for the flavor to develop in the water, then i add the sugar and gelatin and then cold water. After pouring into the mold (i only had the konnyaku jelly molds!) i add the wolfberries (which has been soften with water) and some of the 'cooked' flowers..into the jelly..

Wolfberries & Sweet Osmanthus Jelly

I came upon this book about rice dumpling while hanging out at Page One with my son on Wednesday. In it, was this recipe..yup strange..and i thought it looked simple and tried it..afterall, i was 'tempted' by Saresha with Osmanthus Jelly a few days earlier..

It's easy to do and my daughter said the texture is right (yup, she is my food critic), but i find that maybe i put too much osmanthus or what, but it is quite 'leafy'..and i had to spit some of the flowers/sprigs out. I asked the 'Master' (i try not to ask any 'Masters' unless i have absolutely no choice..lol!)..and he said he uses osmanthus sugar and hence only a bit of the flowers. I have yet to find osmanthus sugar, which i think only sell at Chinatown area..cos i can't find anywhere else in town area...

Pandan Cake - *Success*!!! Yipee!

FINALLY!! I tried the recipe again and i got everything right this time! I even turn the pan upside down and cool for an hour and the pandan cake turned out really fluffy & soft! Yipee!! Finally, i got to make it right again after my last failure. I am also happy cos my son loves it! He is such a food snob..he didn't even want to try the last failed cake.. hahahaha.. this time round, he ate it without any hesitation!!

Also i cheated a bit with the flour and with the pandan juice. I used 80g of cake flour (err..that's what's left over..) and the rest i top it up with top-flour. Then i was too lazy to grind the pandan leaves for it's juice, i just used pandan paste! :P Seem to work..no problem!


I found a site "e-how" on how to make pandan cake..the instructions pretty comprehensive but only thing is the photo uses a square pan and not the tubepan and you can find it here! Another site that provides a good recipe is Lilys Wai Sek Hong's site "Hearth And Home".

My sis just said that she tasted a bit of salt towards the end of the piece she ate! Opps! Must be the salt not evenly folded in with the flour! Cos the few pieces we ate at home was ok, no saltiness at all. Next time perhaps i gotta melt the salt into the coconut milk first so it will become evenly distributed.