Crepes with Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream.

Today i got back home at about 3ish , slightly hungry due to the early lunch or rather brunch i had before heading over to college. I asked my mom what's there to munch on for tea but as expected , the usual answer from her, nothing. Was slightly disappointed but i knew that now its all up to me to feed my hungry stomach.

I know i've got a tub of raspberry ice cream in the fridge but i definitely didn't wanna go pig out on that tub therefore , i thought of making crepes to go with it , at least everyone at home can have it as a tea time snack.

INGREDIENTS

* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 2 eggs
* 1/2 cup water
* 1/2 cup low-fat milk
* 2 tbsp olive oil / melted butter

Method:
1) Sift the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl.
2) In another bowl , mix and whisk all the wet ingredients together and pour into the flour.
3) Stir and whisk until combined. Sift the batter to remove any lumps before making crepes.
4) Heat your non-stick pan over medium heat and oil the pan with some butter or olive oil. Pour 1/4 cup of the batter onto the pan.
5) Cook it for approximately 2-3 minutes , turn and cook the other side.
6) Repeat step 4 and 5 for the remaining batter.
7) Serve it with your favourite type of ice cream.

Note:
For those who likes your crepes a lil buttery , add in the melted butter instead of the olive oil.

This recipe makes about 9 pieces of crepes.

Moist Carrot Walnut Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Finally i made my first carrot walnut cake! I've been waiting to make this for a while now but didn't really have the time until today. I've had a packet of walnut sitting in my fridge for almost a few months now and i was so glad that i used up the whole pack. Surely didn't wanna leave anymore walnuts in my fridge, cause if i do , i have no idea when will i be able to use it again.

Ingredients

Carrot Walnut Cake

* 2 cups all-purpose flour

* 1/2 tsp salt

* 1 tsp baking soda

* 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

* 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

* 4 large eggs

* 1 1/2 cups brown sugar

* 1 cup canola oil

* 1/2 crushed pineapple

* 2 tsp vanilla extract

* 150g walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped

* 360 g raw carrots, finely grated

Method:

1) Toast walnuts in the oven for about 10-15 minutes at 180 degree C, let it cool and chop coarsely.

2) Sift the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon powder in a bowl and set aside.

3) Beat the eggs for about 1-2 mins, until its frothy and gradually add the sugar and whisk until the mixture is light colored and thick, bout 4-5 mins. Add in the crushed pineapples.

4) Add in the oil in a consistent flow then pour in 2 tsp of vanilla extract.

5) Add the sifted dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated.

6) Fold in 3/4 of  the chopped walnuts and grated carrot.

7) Pour into a 9' square baking pan that's lined with a greaseproof paper and sprinkle the remaining 1/4 of the chopped walnuts on the top.

8) Let it cool and remove from the pan and if desire, you can either divide the cake into 1/2 or 1/4.

Note:

You can add in all the chopped walnuts into the batter, instead of sprinkling some on the top of the batter before baking it. I like my cake to have more texture especially when it involves nuts, that's why i set aside 1/4 of the walnuts to be sprinkled. You can also replace the walnuts with pecans.

Cool the whole cake and frost it with the cream cheese frosting or you can cut it into 4 pieces and assemble it to form a layered cake. If you layered it , then you'll have 2 layered carrot cakes that measure 4 1/2  by 4 1/2.

Since i've two mini carrot cakes, i decorated each of them differently. I covered one of it with finely chopped walnuts and the other only sprinkle it on the top.

For better tasting moist carrot cake, once its cooled, pop it into the fridge or you can just leave it at room temperature and only pop it into the fridge once you've done with the frosting. Leaving it in the fridge will ease your frosting session.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

* 250g cream cheese, room temperature

* 57g butter, room temperature

* 2 cups confectioner's sugar

* 1 tbsp lemon zest

* 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1) Leave both the cream cheese and butter at room temperature. Once its ready , add both in a bowl and mix it until just blended with no lumps.

2) Add in the sifted powdered sugar gradually and mix until fully incorporated and smooth.

3) Add in your vanilla extract and then your 1 tbsp of lemon zest.

4) When the cake has cooled, frost it with cream cheese and decorate it with toasted finely chopped walnuts or just plain cream cheese frosting.

Note:
I cut down the powdered sugar to 1 1/2 cups. Keep tasting the frosting from time to time when you make it so that you can have a better control of the sweetness of your frosting.

Shitakei Mushroom Soup

Lately i've been craving for mushroom soup but i didn't wanna go out there , order and have it. I want something homemade, something without the typical generic mushroom soup taste that most restaurants offer. Also I didn't wanna get the cream of mushroom from the can as well so that leave me no choice but to figure out how to make something creamy minus the sour cream/ cream on my own. This is also my first time making so i was a lil clueless on what should i include it in.

I definitely need some fresh mushrooms, the dried ones will only add more flavour to it. i don't have any button or straw mushrooms therefore , i've no choice but to use up all the shitakei mushrooms, the remains from the pasta i made a couple of days back.

INGREDIENTS

* 280g fresh shitakei mushrooms

* 1large yellow onions

* 4 cloves garlic

* 2 sprigs fresh thyme

* 1/2 tbsp butter or more

* Black pepper

* Salt to taste

* 500ml chicken broth

* 200ml low-fat milk

* 3/8 tsp vanilla (optional)

* A dash of nutmeg (optional)

Method:

1) Heat your sauce pan and add in butter and olive oil.

2) Saute the garlic and onions.

3) Add in your fresh thyme and stiry then add in the sliced shitakei mushrooms.

4) Season with pepper and give it a stir before adding in salt.

5) Give it another stir then pick out your thyme leaves.

6) Add half of the chicken broth into your sauce pan, leave another half to be added into the blender/food processor.

7) Pour the mushrooms and the chicken broth into the blender/food processor, pulse it once or twice before adding the remaining chicken broth and puree until its smooth.

8) Once you're done, pour the mushroom soup back into your pot and heat it up.

9) Season your soup further with salt or pepper or even nutmeg powder, but thats entirely optional.

10) Add in your low-fat milk and let it simmer before adding in your vanilla extract.

Note:

Most mushroom soups have got some white wine/sherry in it, so instead of using sherry, i substituted it with some vanilla extract, at least that's what i learnt about substitution for sherry.

You can serve the soup with some toasted garlic bread or like me , spread a thin layer of marjerin on a slice of bread and toast it!

I like the texture of the soup but somehow the aroma of thyme was a lil too strong for me , also it has a somewhat bitter end note to it, i'm yet to figure out why though. Perhaps its the type of mushrooms i used. I should have opt for some combination ( portobello, oysters, button, straws) but oh well, its not that bad for a make to do with what's available in my fridge :) Or maybe i've added a bit too much of nutmeg or was it the vanilla extract? Hmm.. i think the next time when i do this, i'll just add some white wine to it instead.

Pork Rolls with Bechamel Sauce

I'm sure you guys have seen this around and for this dish, you're right , its not entirely my original idea. In fact there's a few version of it available online. Pork rolls also known as Flamenquines in Spanish; a delicious tapa. I've been searching for the origin but there's not much info available but it  was said to have relation to the term "flamenco", which means any colourful dish to the native of Andalusia.

You must be wondering why am i serving it with a bechamel sauce instead of salsa, like how the Spanish would. I actually got the idea from a recipe i came across on Flamenquines. In the recipe, we're suppose to dip the rolled pork into the bechamel sauce and then coat it with breadcrumbs and deep fry it. Since i know that i don't have that skill to dip in anything creamy and coat it with breadcrumbs, i opted to serve it as a dipping sauce instead.

Ingredients

PORK ROLLS
* 10 slices of pork loin sukiyaki
* 10 slices smoked black pepper ham
* 10 strips of cheese
* Some minced garlic
* Some minced parsley
* 1 egg, beaten
* Flour to coat
* Breadcrumbs

Method:
1) Place a slice of ham on top of the pork loin and add a strip of cheese on the ham and roll. Secure with a toothpick if needed.
2) Coat the rolled pork with flour and dip it into the beaten egg mixture and coat it with the breadcrumbs mixture; add the minced garlic and parsley into the breadcrumbs.
3) Heat the wok with oil and deep fry until golden.
4) Remove and drain it on a paper towel.
5) Cut about 1/2 inch across and serve.

Note:
I ran out of flour therefore i substituted it with chickpea flour. I add bout 3 tablespoon of chickpea flour and some water to make it into a paste and coat the rolled pork. Instead of breadcrumbs,i added the minced garlic and parsley into some chickpea flour and with the coated rolled pork , i coated it with the garlic-parsley mixture before deep-frying it.

Result, well i think its a little too hard, especially the chickpea coating, i'll definitely use breadcrumbs instead the next time around..  Also, instead of mixing the garlic and parsley together , i think it would be better to spread it on the pork loin instead. Oh well , another round of experiment for me! :)


BECHAMEL SAUCE
* 2 1/2 tbsp butter
* 2 tbsp flour
* 2 cups low- fat milk
* 1/8 tsp nutmeg powder
* Salt to taste
* Pepper to taste

Method:
1) Melt the butter in a sauce pan.
2) Add flour and keep stirring with your whisk.
3) Add the heated milk and stir further.
4) Keep stirring while you season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
5) If its too thick to your liking, add more milk until it reaches the consistency you like.

Note:
For those that wanna skip the warming up the milk step, like i did, due to sheer laziness :) . All you need to do with the cold milk from the fridge is to add a tablespoon or two of milk at a time into your butter-flour mixture until you finished up the milk and keep stirring with your whisk and you'll get a smooth and somewhat thick sauce.

You can add more nutmeg powder and ground pepper to give the sauce more flavour.

The classic French version of this sauce, they uses white onion that is studded with cloves ( take the cloves and stick it into the onion),instead of adding ground nutmeg . The onion-cloves combination give the sauce a unique flavour.

Banana Pancakes with Melted Peanut Butter

Pancake has once again made another come back in my choice of  food for breakfast. The idea to incorporate banana into my pancake batter came when i was replying a comment on banana related food stuff. As usual i was excited and couldn't wait till the next morning to try it out! Instead of using my usual pancake ingredients  i decided to make it simple and see how it will turn out to be. Yup, another experiment! If it turns out great, thumbs up otherwise i'll have a hard time finishing it off!

 

INGREDIENTS
* 1 cup wheat flour
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 1 large egg
* 1 cup water
* 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
* 3 medium bananas, mashed

Method:
1) Sift the flour and salt together in a bowl.
2) Make a well and pour in the egg, water and vanilla extract.
3) Mashed the ripe bananas and add it into the batter.
4) Heat your non stick with a drop or two of olive oil and pour about 1/4 cup of batter onto your non stick.
5) Flip the pancake over when the edge dries up and cook the other side until its thoroughly cooked.
6) Dish it out and put it on a plate. Repeat Step 4 until you finish up your batter.
7) Stack the pancakes so that it will keep warm while you  fry another pancake.
8) Serve with your choice of filling/jam.

Note:
This recipe made about 6 pancakes. If you find that the batter is too thick for your liking, dilute it further with water. You can also replace the water with milk.

When i was much younger and even now at this age, i still love the combination of banana and peanut butter, be it crunchy or the smooth ones. Some of my friends actually think that the banana -peanut butter combination is simply weird and disgusting , I beg to differ! So its rather natural that i reach out for my jar of peanut butter and spread some reasonable amount on my hot banana pancake and let the warmth of the pancake to slightly melt the peanut butter. The combination is just heavenly and irresistible at the same time!

Vegan Bread Pudding

Personally I don't think i ever tasted bread pudding, well perhaps i did when i was much younger at some buffet dinner but i really can't recall the taste or even the texture. Therefore when i made this vegan bread pudding, i brought some over to my dearest friend so that i can get some feedback , if this is the right texture or even taste.

From what my mom told me, the non vegan version has eggs, butter and milk as part of the ingredients and also some served it with some syrup , perhaps maple or some sweet syrup or even cream, which i'm not too sure of. I read that some baked it in a water bath, but my version is just like how you would normally bake anything.

INGREDIENTS
* 3 cups soy milk
* 3/4 cups brown sugar
* 1 tbsp vanilla extract
* 1 tsp ground cinnamon
* 1 cup golden raisins
* 4 cups day old bread (cubed)
* 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Method:
1) Mix all the ingredients in a bowl except the bread and stir well.
2) Arrange the cubed bread in the pan and pour the soy mixture on it.
3) Let the bread and soy milk mixture sit for bout 20-30mins, so that the bread will be even soaked.
4) Bake in a preheated oven of 180 degree C for bout 30mins.

Note:
Instead of mixing the raisins together in the soy milk mixture, i scattered it around the cubed bread before pouring the soy mixture over it. If you like raisins all over , u can even layer your bread and raisins alternatively, which i did. I also omitted the nuts for i don't have any at that time.

I baked it for 30mins like what the recipe suggested but it turn out too soggy and wet for me , therefore i further bake for bout 25-30mins. I let the pudding sit for almost 2-3 hours before i tasted it. The texture turns out great after a few hours of sitting and not when its freshly out from the oven. For those who likes a thicker pudding, add more layers. Mine was only 2 layers of thick cubed bread compressed into a pretty decent thickness after a few hours of sitting at room temp.

Granny Smith's Apple Pie

I was suppose to bake some kinda fruit pie like weeks back but i kept remitting due to tight schedule until today when i couldn't absorb anymore of the stuff i was reading and decided that it was a perfect time to take a break and bake that apple pie !

Ingredients

PIE CRUST
* 2 cups flour
* 1 tsp salt
* 1 tbsp sugar
* 6 tbsps butter
* 6 tbsps shortening
* 6-8 tbsps ice water

Method:
1) Mix the flour , salt and sugar in a bowl.
2) Add the butter, shortening and ice water into the dry ingredients.
3) Then cut in the butter and shortening until it sticks together and thats the sign its ready.
4) Divide the dough into 2 equal portions and wrap each with a cling wrap and keep it in the fridge for at least 30mins or until its needed.
Note:
According to some pastry chefs, its best not to over mix it, cut the butter into the flour until its no longer bigger than a pea size and then gather it all and form it into a ball shape and avoid as much contacts with the dough as possible and let it sit in the fridge.

APPLE PIE FILLING
* 5 tart peeled apples (I used Granny Smith)
* 1 cup sugar
* 2 tbsp flour
* 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
* 1 tbsp lemon juice

Method:
1) Slice the apple and soak it in water with a tbsp of lemon juice.
2) In another bowl, mix the sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt and apple cider vinegar and stir to mix.
3) Drain the sliced apple and toss it into the mixture and mix well.

Note:
Lemon juice will prevent the apples from turning brown. If you dont have any lemon juice, jst add a lil salt to the bowl of water.

I didnt have any apple cider at home , so i jst added white vinegar instead.

PUTTING THE PIE TOGETHER

Method:
1) Take the dough out from the fridge and roll both of it.
2) When rolling, start from the center out.
3) Once you're done rolling, wrap the dough around the rolling pin and bring it over to your pie pan and unroll it.
4) Shape it to fit the inside pan and once you're done doin that , use a fork and poke holes on the fitted dough.
5) Place all the sliced apples into the pie and add some small cubed butter if you fancy.
6) Roll out the remaining dough and repeat step 3 and place it on top. If the sides of the dough's overflowing, just slightly fold n tuck it in.
7) You can use the tip of a fork and create a pattern around the edge of the pie.
8) Use a knife and cut lines on the top so that there's an outlet for the steam to escape during baking or you can latticed it.
9) Bake at 205 degree C for bout 50-60mins

Note:
My pie came out just nice but the bottom crust was a lil wet, mayb i should try bakin the bottom pie first , for about 15mins or so then only add in the apples n the top crust

Eggless Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting

Chocolate and strawberries are two of my very close friend's favourite and i thought this is the perfect timing to blend both ingredients together for i was invited over for lunch at her place and i thought a sweet dessert might be good. Since she doesnt consume eggs, its another good chance for me to try out another eggless cake with different ingredients used as compared to my previous Eggless Chocolate Muffins. I didnt wanna make the usual rectangular or round cake so i thought why not turn it into cupcakes! Easy to consume and cute looking at the same time!

At first i was skeptical on whether to frost the cupcakes or not then i thought why not give it a try and see if she likes it. We both not a big fan of frosting or whipped cream or anythin creamy for that matter so to have frosting on it its a 50-50 thing , where you either like it or hate it. For someone that doesnt like creamy stuff i actually like the taste of the frosting when i was done whipping it. Food definitely taste different when nothing but the best and fresh ingredients used.

Ingredients:

CUPCAKES
1 packet of eggless premix
400gm condensed milk
100ml full cream milk
200ml UHT milk
185gm melted butter
1 tsp chocolate paste/compound

Method:
1) Beat the sugar (came together with the eggless premix) with the condensed milk, full cream milk and UHT milk until sugar dissolved.
2) Add the melted butter and chocolate paste
3) Fold the premix
4) Scoop the batter into the lined muffin tray and bake in the preheated oven of 180 degrees C for 30mins or when the cake tester comes out clean.

Note:
If eggless premix is unavailable you can use the eggless cake/cupcakes recipe available in cookbooks or internet. If you're in a creative mood, feel free to experiment on the standard ingredients used for the eggless cake and add a touch of your creativity in it.

FROSTING

250gm butter
3 cups powdered sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp strawberry extract
3 tbsps fresh strawberry puree

Method:
1) Cream the butter until its light and fluffy before adding the sugar.
2) Once it has combined, add vanilla and strawberry extract.
3) Lastly, add the freshly crushed or pureed strawberry.

Note:
Crushed strawberries are good if you like to feel some texture in your frosting when you eat it. You can crush it with your fork.

But if you want a smooth and fluffy frosting then pureed strawberry is good. Put bout 4-5 strawberries in the food processor to produce about 3 tbsps of strawberry puree.

If your fresh strawberries are one the sour note, then sprinkle some soft brown sugar on it and set it aside until later use.

Wickedly Peanut Butter

Sinfully Peanut buttery! That's all that came into my mind when i had my first bite. Its like falling in love all over again with peanut butter! Being an avid peanut butter fan i can't help but evilly indulge in it.

Peanut Butter Muffins

Ingredients:

* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 tbsp baking powder
* 2 cups full cream evaporated milk
* 1/3 cup low fat milk
* 1/2 cup soft brown sugar
* 1/2 cup + 2 tbsps creamy peanut butter
* 1 tsp salt

Method:
1) Preheat oven to 204 degrees C.
2) Line the muffin tray with muffin cups.
3) Shift flour and baking powder in a bowl.
4) Place milk, eggs, sugar, peanut butter and salt in the blender and blend.
5) Pour the mixture over dry ingredients and fold until just combined.

Note:
I made some changes to the original recipe. The actual recipe only calls for 1 cup of milk but i substituted it with 2 cups of full cream evaporated milk and i added an extra 1/3 of low fat milk and 2 tbsps of peanut butter.

For those who love it to be on a sweeter note and more peanut buttery, feel free to add more creamy peanut butter and soft brown sugar. My version of peanut butter isnt too sweet, in fact i cut down on the sweetness so that the combination of the muffins and the frosting would be just nice and not too overly overwhelming.

Peanut Butter Frosting

Ingredients:

* 2 tbsps + 3/4 tsp milk or as needed
* 1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
* 1/4 cup + 2tbsps butter
* 3/4 creamy peanut butter

Method:
1) Place butter and peanut butter in a bowl and beat it with an electric mixer.
2) Gradually mix in sugar and when it thickens, add in milk a teaspoon at a time until the sugar is mixed and the icing is thick and spreadable.
3) Beat until its fluffy.

Note:
Don't add too much milk for the frosting would be too soft to make a nice frosting on cakes/cookies.

So there you have it, the muffins and the frosting! So what are you waiting for? Get your piping set out and start experimenting with it. This is my first time playing with my new toy and i gotta say i was really excited frosting my own muffins.

Come to think bout it, it looks more like cupcakes now! My frosting skills isnt that great and it didn't turn out very pretty there but i'm jolly happy with the outcome as a first timer on my piping set!

Thyme-y Sweet Potato Wedges

Today i've this exceptional craving for some sweet potatoes. I remember i came across a lot of sweet potatoes bake recipes given /avail over the internet,so instead of tryin out any of the recipes i decided to experiment it with fresh thyme leaves. I'm currently in this phase of experimenting with fresh herbs so i thought why not make use of the packet of thyme leaves i bought previously. Wht i like bout thyme leaves is that it has it pungent minty with a hint of light-lemon aroma to it.

INGREDIENTS
* sweet potatoes
* thyme leaves
* salt
* brown sugar
* olive oil
* cayenne pepper powder
* coarse black pepper

Method:
1) Wash the sweet potatoes and cut it into wedges. I used a tablespoon to the scrap the skin instead of a peeler.
2) Combine the olive oil, cayenne pepper powder , salt, pepper, sugar and fresh thyme leaves together.
3) Pour the olive mixture to the potato wedges and coat it evenly.
4) Transfers the wedges to a bakeware and bake each side for bout 30mins in a preheated 200 degrees C oven or until tender and golden brown . The size of wedges will affect the cooking time need for the potatoes.
5) When its done, you can serve this as an appetiser or as a side dish.

I personally love the combination of spices on the potatoes! The thyme leaves give an excellent flavour and aroma to the wedges. I ate it plain like that for its already so good to eat it on its on. No dips needed.

Orange Chocolate Marble Cake

I would say chocolate and orange is the perfect combination if anyone were to ask me. Before this, i experimented on a simple orange cake recipe and i find that the recipe i used lack the flavourful and zesty note i was looking for. So me being in the state of dissatisfaction, i started fine-tuning the original orange cake recipe to suit my tastebuds. 

I scribbled down notes and jotted down the approximation of measurements i thought appropriate to create that kick i was looking for. I wanted to bake with the revised recipe but i thought why waste the time when i can embark on somethin new.

So instead of just a plain orange cake again, i decided to bake a marble cake with orange cake as the base of it with chocolate instead of the normal butter marbled cake.

I'm pretty proud of myself with my first attempt in tryin out this own recipe of mine. I've also increased the servings from 12 to bout 20 or more.

INGREDIENTS:

* 3 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
* 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1 cup sugar
* 3 eggs
* 1 tbsp vanilla essence
* A whole cup of plain yogurt ( Dutch Lady- 140g)
* 1/3 cup corn oil
* 3 tbsps Sunquick Orange
* 2/3 + 1/4 cup milk
* 100gm cooking chocolate (double boil)

METHODS:
1) Preheat oven to 180 degrees C for bout 10mins. Grease the bakeware with butter or margerin.
2) In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
3) Combine eggs, vanilla essence, yogurt, corn oil, Sunquick Orange and the milk in a separate bowl.
4) Pour the egg ingredients into the flour mixture and mix thorougly. 
5) Double boil the chocolate and set it aside to cool. Add a tablespoon of Sunquick Orange into the melted chocolate.
6) Alternately spoon the orange and the chocolate batters into a greased bakeware.
7) Swirl through the two batters with a knife to create a marbled effect on the batter.
8) Bake at 180 degrees C for 50 minutes or until the cake tester comes out clean.
9) As soon as the cake is done remove from the oven, let the cake finish cooling on a rack before serving.  
10) You can use the remainin melted chocolate as the topping or you can eat it just like that.

Banana Chocolate Chips with Almond & Chocolate Rice Cake

Today i decided to bake banana cake for my family; they love banana cake. Since i didnt have any ripe bananas at home today, i went out to do some grocery shoppin and also i bought myself a cute pretty lil plate. I was a lil worried bout how the cake would turn out for the previous Peanut Butter cupcake didnt turn out very well. It was edible but not like how i'd wanted the texture to feels like when i bite into it. 

I didnt want to bake a plain banana cake so i decided to add a lil twist to it; chocolate chips with almond and chocolate rice as the toppings.

So i went about searchin for the banana cake recipe; found one but as i was mixing all the ingredients together, i kinda fine-tuned it a lil. Here's the revised recipe :

INGREDIENTS:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 cup corn oil
1/2 cup of plain yogurt ( i used the whole yogurt cup; 140g)
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup mashed ripe bananas ( i used 5 small ripe bananas)
2/4 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup milk

TOPPING:
1/4 - 2/4 cup of sliced almonds
1/8 cup of chocolate chips

METHODS:

1) In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
2) Combine the egg, oil, yogurt and vanilla in another bowl .
3) Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.
4) Fold in bananas and chocolate chips.
5) Grease the non-stick bakeware.
6) Pour the batter and top it up with almond slices and chocolate rice.
7) Bake at 177 degrees C for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

And here's the end result of my Banana Chocolate Chips with Almond & Chocolate Rice cake and my newly bought cute lil pretty plate :)

Coconut Cake with Hidden Treasure

Previously i did an entry on Coconut Muffins and i wasn't too pleased with how the muffins turned out, especially the texture; wasnt as moist and fluffy as i wanted it. Due to that i was even more determined to try that recipe out again but this time around i added a twist in it. I've included chocolate chips in the batter.  

Instead of using the muffin cups i opted the rectangular non-stick bakeware i bought previously.

As for the batter, i used the same Coconut Muffins recipe but with a slight change. I've added more milk this time, bout 1/4 cup more and a lil bit more of the desiccated coconut in the batter.

Before pourin the batter into the bakeware, brush it with melted butter or marjerin, in my case, i used marjerin.  I baked it for bout 25mins.

I was pleasantly surprised and pleased by how the texture of the cake turned out! I thought 3rd's a charm but i suppose its not applicable in my case. I definitely cant wait to bake again!

Baking taught me so much more than just following the precision of ingredients used in the recipe. Patience is definitely a virtue in bakin and determination is another plus point in striving to achieve perfection. 

Coconutty Muffins

Baking with coconut was inspired by a friend. She being the coconut lover somehow kinda turned me into wanting to try experiment with the various aspect of coconut.

This is officially my 3rd time baking muffins and i gotta say im so totally into this baking thing right now. I even got myself a set of piping tools for the cake decorations!

I'm definitely glad that i'm venturin into a new territory right now where there's so much for me to learn and i've got the time to spare as well. 

I've replaced some of the ingredients stated in the original recipe, so here's the revised recipe.

INGREDIENTS: 

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
3 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
2/3 cup coconut milk
1/3 cup corn oil
1/2 cup coconut cream
1/2 cup dessicated coconut

TOPPING:
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup fresh grated coconut
1/8 dessicated coconut
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

METHODS:

1) Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl
2) Combine egg, milk,oil and cream in another bowl; mix well.
3) Stir egg mixture into dry ingredients just until combined.
4) Stir in coconut once batter is well combined
5) Grease or line paper muffins cups in the muffin pan and fill it two-thirds full. 
6) Combine the topping ingredients; sprinkle over batter.  Top it up with more desiccated      coconut if you want to beautify it.
7) Bake at 204 degrees C for 20minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.

I was happy how the topping turns out to be; crispy, just nice sweetness with a hint of cinnamon! Unfortunately i cant say much bout the muffin, it wasnt as moist and light as i would wanted it to be. I did some research and i found out the culprit so what i'm gonna do during my next  baking session would definitely bear in mind the tips given on muffin makin and try to follow as closely as possible.

Blueberry Muffins

This is my second attempt in bakin muffins and boy am i glad i got it right this time! Though there are still a lot of space for improvement but im so glad i got the basic done, at least the muffins rose unlike the previous one where it sunk in the middle, causin the whole muffin too sweet to consume.

I think i figure out why my first attempt in bakin failed miserably. i was too experimentive (not sure if there's such word), i substituted corn oil with olive oil! look at how crazy i can get. you cant blame me though, i dont have any corn oil at home and i dont wanna be using the cookin oil - palm oil. Perhaps there were more factors that contributed to the failure than the substitution of oil!

I learnt my lesson and in today's baking session, i used corn oil instead of olive. Previously i used a muffin mix, as the same as today's blueberry muffin. I thought i should start of with a muffin mix first then only i start from scratch once im familiar with baking. I cant wait till i bake next. Its gonna be from the scratch the upcoming ones.

Today i baked a dozen of muffins and i suppose i can bake more with a muffin pan with the same amount of batter. Talkin bout muffin pan, i was tryin to talk my mom into allowin me to get a few muffin pans and besides with that i can save on the muffin bakin cases. 

So with this muffin mix, all i added was corn oil, milk, eggs and blueberry paste. And it took me bout 45 minutes at bout 175 C. There was no written instructions on the temperature and the duration of baking so i was constantly checkin the muffins with the cake tester i bought earlier.

For display and food photography wise, i should at least frost the cake but i'm not a big fan of frosting and besides i think frostin would be good on cupcakes and not muffins. Muffins are less sweet than cupcakes otherwise its similar

Peanut Butter French Toast

Peanut butter has been my favourite since god knows when! This mornin when i got up, i had the craving for peanut butter; i love both the creamy and the crunchy ones. So i decided to make peanut butter french toast when i got home from running some errands. 

Despite havin a lil sore throat, i still insist on havin both peanut butter and black pepper at a go. I guess the temptations are too great to ignore. Besides who can ignore peanut butter & black pepper? Of course i'm referin to those avid fans of these two items. 

For the egg batter, i've had a good amount of black pepper in it. Usually i opt for coarse black pepper due to the texture and also the taste of it when you bite into it!

For those that want a lil saltyness to the combination u can either add a few drops of fish sauce or light soy sauce. Normally ppl would add a dash or two of light soy sauce instead of fish sauce. 

Fish sauce gives the egg a different taste and for those that wondered how come the eggs strips you had in a Thai restaurant taste differently or they have a certain distinctive taste to it ( a lil salty & aromatic hint), fish sauce's the secret.

Once you've got the egg batter ready, spread the peanut butter on a slice of bread or both slices if you want a thicker texture or if you want more melted peanut butter oozing out when you bite onto it. You can cut it in any way you desire but for me i cut it diagonally on both sides and ended up with 4 cute triangles.

Heat up the non-stick pan and glaze it with marjerin or butter then coat the triangles lighty with the egg batter. Do not let it soaked for too long for it will turn the bread soggy. You wouldnt wanna bite into a soggy bread would you? Then pan-fry the triangles on both sides and dish out onto a paper towel to absorb the excess marjerin.

Easy Egg Tarts

Egg tart's one of my fav desserts in the morning when i have dim sum. Come to think bout it, its not only during dim sum sessions but also when i visit the bakery! My personal favourite would be the Portugese Egg Tarts. I'll definitely look for the recipe to try it out. 

Since this is my first attempt in bakin egg tarts, i'm gonna start of with the easy egg tarts recipe i came across earlier. 

What you need for these egg tarts are:

Filling
* 2 eggs
* 200ml milk
*1/4 cup castor sugar
*1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Dough
* 80gm butter
* 21/2 cups flour
* 2/3 cup water

You'll need to preheat oven to 160 degrees C and beat all the ingredients listed in the filling.  Next combine butter , flour and water to make the dough.

If you've muffin pans then butter it with a brush. Roll out the dough to approximately 3mm thin. Next, you'll need to cut rounds of dough with an upside-down  cup to fit halfway up the muffin holes. As for me , since i dont have any muffin pans at home, i resorted  to round aluminium foils for my dough to sit in.

Pour the egg mixture through a strainer into each dough- lined up foil/muffin,leavin bout 5mm of rim.  Bake for 15 minutes. Turn up heat to 175 degrees for the lower part of the oven. Bake for another 6 minutes. Since i was using my good old-fashion oven, i baked it for bout 20mins.

The egg tarts turn out pretty but the crust was rather hard, perhaps its due to my own oven or mayb its the way i was doin the dough. I wasnt very happy with how the crusted tasted like but i suppose its aint that bad for a first attempt.

Anyhow, i'm planning to try out some other recipes for the dough. Perhaps i'll try to search for Betty Crocker Pie Crust Mix for the crust the next time around.
                                                              

Steamed Char Siew Pau

Pau's one of my granny's favourite besides Loh Mai Kai. Since granny has been hinting for quite a while now that she wants some home made pau, i finally made some pau for her today.

This is my first time tryin my hands one pau making. I was lucky to have bought the char siew today at the market. Its all bout timing. If i were late for another 5mins, my char siew would have been other's char siew for the day. I wasnt sure of how much i should buy, so i told the butcher i want 1kg of it. Since he has a lil less than a kg on his tray, i told him i'll take the amount that he has.

I used only char siew as the filling. For those who are into making everythin from scratch, you can even roast your own char siew to be used as the pau's filling. You can add some green peas and chives or scallions to the filling. 

You'll need seasoning such as water, sesame oil, oyster sauce, sugar, dark soy sauce, cornflour, peanut butter,pepper and chinese cooking wine for the filling. 

First you'll need to mix all the seasoning together on a non-stick pan and stir on a low heat until the sauce thickens before adding the finely chopped char siew and for those who wants the green peas and chives/scallions, you can also add it in when you add it in chopped char siew.

As for the dough, i bought the pau flour from Blue Key (500gm,shifted) and added some other ingredients such as instant yeast (1/2 tsp), castor sugar (100gm), water (240ml), shortening (3tbsp) and  single- action baking powder (2tbsp) since i dont have double- action baking powder at home.

First, you'll need to knead the flour mixture into a smooth and elastic dough. Once u're done, cover it with a we cloth until the dough double its bulk.

After that, shift baking powder on the dough and knead well. Cover the dough and allow to rest for 15mins or so. Divide the dough into small balls, approximately 18, depending on the size of the portion. Fill up each small dough with about a tablespoon of filling and fold it.

Before putting it on a steamer, make sure that the water is boiling. Once the water is boiling, put the rack of pau on it and steam for approximately 10-15mins.

Though the result isnt exactly what i was hoping for but i'm glad it didnt turn out to be a disaster! After steaming the pau, there's brown dots all over the pau. Not sure why not. Mom said it might be the yeast , but since i used the instant yeast , there's no need to mix it with water. Perhaps i can mix it and dissolve it in the water first before addin it to the flour mixture. The brown dots made my pau looks like its wholemeal pau! I'll definitely give it a few more try until i achieve like the ones available at the dim sum place, so white and fluffy!

Edited :

I found out why there were brownish spots on the pau skin. Its due to the lack of the very well kneading of dough after adding the baking powder! Lesson learnt, next time around, a well kneadin is needed for the brownish spots to disappear!

Tangy Mango Slaw

Like i mentioned yesterday, i'll get my hands on the pie tee mold and make some decent looking shells but i wasnt in the mood to test out my patience , so i embarked in this new recipe. 

This is actually the recipe meant to be my new filling (the modern vegetarian filling i mentioned) for the pie tee. 

Instead of eatin it together with the pie tee shells, i decided i should jst eat it like a salad. Besides havin it as a salad, u can use it for a side dish to a pasta, chicken or even seafood dish.

Mango slaw is one really easy recipe. All you need is one shredded  firm ripe mango, shredded cucumber, shredded carrot, slices of red onions, shredded or thinly sliced red bell pepper (capsicum) and some chopped coriander leaves.

For the dressing, its a simple vinaigrette. Usually vinaigrette's a mixture of vinegar and oil with some flavoured herbs, spices and other ingredients.

Instead of vinegar, i used lemon juice with some honey, a dash or two of black pepper and a pinch of salt.

For those who loves honey, you can put more of it to tone down the tartness of lemon juice.

To get a more flavourful salad, leave it a lil longer after mixing it in the salad bowl. The shredded vegies will absorb all the tangy-ness and you'll have a less raw taste to the green vegie. This is most suitable for those who do not fancy capsicum or fresh onions.

For those who wants more stuff in it , you can put it some shredded cabbage/purple cabbage, pineapples, mandarin oranges, you name it. 

The more colourful ur platter is the better!

 

Top Hats - Pie Tee

Today i got the Pie Tee mold i ordered and to be honest i was eager to try it out and see if i can get the pie tee cases/shells like how some restaurants served it.

I thought it would be easy but i was so dead wrong! There are rules to follow though. For instance, ur mold cannot be to hot and it should not sizzle when its dipped in the batter. It might sound really easy but i had a tough time doin it and i wasted quite a bit of batter experimentin on how to do it and get it right.

At last i manage to get one miserable shell after a long try. Of course the test didnt just stop there, i couldnt get a proper one after that! The mold was too hot and when i dipped it in the batter, it sizzled! So again, i wasted more of the batter.

But at last i managed to get a few decent lookin shells but the bottom part of the shell isnt exactly flat. I'm still wonderin on how do they get it to look that flat.

Despite so many failed attempts, I'll be tryin to make those shells again tomorrow. I'm feelin rather dissatisfied today but hopefully tomorrow's attempt will be a successful one.

As for the pie tee fillings, i used shredded jicama (yam bean), shredded carrot, finely chopped french beans, finely chopped garlic, fresh prawns (chopped into smaller pieces), salt, sugar, oyster sauce and some chicken stock granules.

You can actually put anythin as the fillings. For those who loves mushroom, you can add it in but do slice it finely for it will fit into the shells. I've tasted some with deep-fried beancurd in it as well. So basically you can get creative with the fillings. 

Talking bout fillings, since i'm gonna try making the shells again tomorrow, i'll have a slight idea for the fillings - it will be a vegetarian filling and a modern one too!

Besides the fillings, you'll need the toppings too. Again its all bout creativity. You can have anythin as the toppings. You can even prepare a few toppings and voila a range of combinations will be formed!

As for me, since i couldnt get the scallions today and i dont quite fancy fried shallots with it, so i only had shredded omelette and a dash or two of Sri Racha hot chili sauce. 

For those who loves a lil raw green, u can add shredded cucumber on it too and perhaps a lil finely chopped onions as well.

Here are some miserable shells that i managed to make. So stay tune for a better lookin shells. Am gonna make sure this time i get it right. 

Told a friend i did this and he told me its a very hard process. Oh well, be it hard or easy, am gonna fine tune it to perfection.