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First of.. I am pissed off with my Internet connection last night... after uploading photos and writing a long "essay" i couldn't published it.. it kept on saying i had no connectivity!! arghhhhhh... hate it when that happens.. shud hv just listened to hb when he told me to go to bed since it was already past midnight.. blahhhh







Anyway i cant simply remember what i wrote last night.. so i am gonna keep it simple.. Was out and abt with Sonia yesterday since 9am.. err well thats what happens when Rima has the car for the day lol.. took her to a few places.. the early learning center (ELC) was one of them... she loves to just play with the toys there and wont ask me to buy any... the same goes when i took her to ToysRus... she will play but will walk out of the store without any toys.. good girl!







Had planned to take her to Bambini but unfortunately she fell asleep while I was driving there so had to make a u turn and drive back home...and since i knew that hb would be home late cos of some office bowling event.. i decided to keep myself busy and one of them was definitely baking hehehe







Got online.. saw this butter cookies recipe in florence blog and realised that its time i make use of some of my newbies i hv in my pantry (hb had bought me baking stuff as vday gift hahaha) dont u just love the colour of this Mastrad rolling pin??







We love the buttery and crunchy texture of these cookies.. its easy to prepare and it doesnt use a lot of ingredients... just make sure u use quality butter and also use the demerara sugar for topping as it makes a lot of differences then using the normal coarse sugar..







Ingredients
75g butter (I used Golden Churn canned butter)
50g fine sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg yolk + 1/2 tsp vanilla essence (lightly beaten)
150g cake flour (remove 1 tbsp)
pinch of baking powder
1 tbsp skim milk powder

1 egg white
Dry Demerara sugar for sprinkling







Method
1. Cream butter, sugar and salt with electric beater till pale and fluffy.
2. Add in egg yolk and beat till well incorporated.
3. Sieve in the flour and baking powder, add in the milk powder, use the lowest speed of your electric beater to combine. Mixture will be bread-crumbs like and will form a dough easily.
4. Put dough into a plastic bag and roll it into a flat sheet as in Photo 5. Chill in the fridge till harden before cutting out the cookie.
5. Cut out cookie with cutter. Brush on some egg white and sprinkle dry demerara sugar on the surface.
6. Bake on a lined tray at 180C for 10 minutes in the middle rack and shift to the upper rack and bake a further 2 - 3 minutes to get the golden brown color. (i baked mine at 170C for 8mins)







Notes fm Florence
1. The sprinkling of the dry demerara sugar is optional. If you omit this step, please increase sugar to 60g.
2. Please really only use a pinch of baking powder as you don't want the cookie to be out of shape when it is baking in the oven.
3. Chill the dough again if it is too soft to be cut out.
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Eversince our last trip.. Sonia has been waking up in the middle of the night wanting to sleep in our room... we hv tried all kinds of ways to put her to bed when she wakes up but of no use... so lately hb and I hv not been sleeping properly and whats worse she wud always kick me in her sleep... grrrr







So yesterday for a change hb had "prohibited" me fm baking.. I decided to just chill and not bake anything eventho my mind kept on thinking abt baking sugee cake.. I hv never eaten sugee cake before and when i saw this recipe on the little teochew blog i felt intrigued.. err well i think its more abt the stories of 2 ladies behind this recipe... sooo without further ado today i decided to bake not one but three types of desert lol.. I gave mom half of this cake (she lovessss sugee cake!) and half of the other cake to my aunt..  I will let u know if i like the taste of this cake tmrw tho..  


Note: No comment on the taste of this cake cos i didnt even take a bite.. mom said its yummy and super soft... so i guess thats good enough to say this recipe is worth trying.. :o)





Ingredients
250 gm butter, softened
250 castor sugar (i used 220g)
125 SR Flour (i used all purpose flour n add 1tsp baking powder)
1 tsp baking powder
125 gm semolina flour
50 gm cashews, ground (I used ground almonds)
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp buttercream essence or rose essence(i used cranberry extract)
5 eggs plus 1 yolk, the whole eggs separated


Method
Preheat oven to 150 C

Stir semolina flour, Self Raising flour, baking powder and nuts together in a bowl and leave aside.

Seperate all the eggs. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks one at a time. Add cold milk, vanilla extract and buttercream essence and mix well.

In another bowl beat egg whites till stiff. Fold in flour mixture into creamed mixture. Then fold in beaten egg whites gently until well mixed.

Bake 150 C for 50-60 mins until skewer comes out clean






Source: The Little Teochew adapted fm cherry on a cake
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I told ya that i hv been busy in the kitchen lol.. so ok since my mission today was to make use of what i hv in my fridge.. i decided to use up the mashed bananas that i had prepared a few days ago.. I dont feel like baking muffin nor banana cake this time round.. had wanted to try and bake banana cookies but not too sure if everyone will like it sooooo i decided to try out aunty yochana steamed soft banana cake... 


We like the taste of this cake.. super soft and not overly sweet... light and easy just like our all time fav radio station hahahha







Ingredients
A
200 gm. mashed banana
1/8 tsp. vanilla essence
1 tsp. Bicarbonate of soda
a pinch of salt

B
3 small eggs
100 gm. brown sugar
100 gm. Hong Kong flour (u can use pao or superfine flour)
1 tsp. Baking powder
65 gm. cornoil


Top Layer
2 eggs
60 gm. sugar
25 gm. water
65 gm. Hong Kong flour (u can use superfine or pao flour)


Method
(1) Mix all the ingredients (A) together and set aside.
(2) Whisk eggs and sugar together till fluffy, add in flour and baking powder and mix till well combined. Add in mashed bananas mixture and cornoil and stir till well combined.
(3) Pour into a greased and lined loaf pan and steam for 15 to 20 mins till cooked.
(4) For topping: Whisk eggs and sugar till fluffy, add in water and flour and mix till well mixed.. (fold in flour and mix gently) Pour on top of steamed banana cake and steam again for another 15 mins or till cooked.
(5) Serve







Had baked sardine puff for the family to munch in the evening.. aarghhhhh this is what happens when Hairi is home... I am constantly preparing something in the kitchen.. thank god for  Aircon!! hehehe






No recipe cos really all u need to prepare in advance is sambal sardine (sardine cooked with chilli paste) and instant puff pastry.. cut pastry into squares.. fold all four sides to the center and brush each puff with egg yolk.. bake it in preheated oven of 175C for 20mins..





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I am not too happy with the crust left on my chiffon tin when I removed the cake from it.. nevertheless I love the texture of this cake.. its moist...  springy to touch and the cake turned out pretty high ...Hairi, the chffon cake lover, loves it of cos!... recipe is fm Fatma Bahalwan of NCC (Natural cooking club Indonesia)


Ingredients
Egg Mixture
In this mixture, the recipe calls only to pour the egg yolks into a well of dry ingredients. I whisk the egg yolks and caster sugar, firsthand, and then mix it to the dry ingredients, oil and coconut milk.

50g caster sugar
20g milk powder
20g cornflour
140g flour
1 tsp baking powder
100ml vegetable oil (I used corn oil)
100ml coconut milk
140g egg yolks (abt 8 eggs)

Egg Whites Mixture
300ml egg whites (abt 9 eggs) 
150g caster sugar
1/2 tsp table salt
1 tsp cream of tartar (optional)

Rainbow Paste 
1/2 tsp pandan paste
1/2 tsp strawberry paste
1/2 tsp chocolate paste
1/2 tsp vanilla essence (I added)




Method
Preheat the oven to 180C. Prepare a 20cm chiffon cake (I used 22cm.. best wud be 24cm tin). Do not grease or line the tin.

Combine sugar, milk powder, cornflour, flour, and baking powder (I sifted these ingredients three times). Make a well in the centre. Pour the egg yolks (mine is already mixed with caster sugar) in the middle, mix well, while adding the oil and coconut milk. Work from the middle to the edge, combine well until you have a smooth egg mixture.

Meanwhile, whisk egg whites, caster sugar, salt and cream of tartar until soft peak. (i whisk egg white till foamy .. add in cream of tartar and salt.. then add sugar in 3 addition) Mix this mixture into the egg mixture. Work lightly but thoroughly, to avoid any lumps.

Divide the mixture into 4 portions and put each portion into a bowl. Work each paste into each bowl, so you will have one bowl of pandan paste mixture, one bowl of strawberry paste mixture, and another bowl of chocolate paste mixture, while the rest of the mixture remains plain.

(I divide egg yolk mixture into 4 portion and added pandan, chocolate and strawberry paste in each bowl.. I added 1/2 tsp of vanilla essence in plain batter.. once ur done whisking egg white mixture.. divide it into 4 portion and fold in egg white mixture gently into each bowl)

Pour these mixture into the tin, and bake for 45 minutes, or until it becomes springy to the touch. Remove the cake from the oven and immediately turn the cake upside-down, using the tin's feet (if you have a chiffon cake with feet). Otherwise, use a strong bottle, like your vinegar bottle, to hold the cake by sliding the bottle into the tin hole in the middle. Leave it to cool.

When it is already cool, remove the cake from the tin by using a long thin knife, loosening from the sides and bottom of the tin. Slice and serve.. 




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Someone in my household is a happy puppy... for the longest time hes been eyeing it and finally yesterday i gave in and got us a brand new toy... well this is our 4th machine so far... the first time we got ourself a coffee machine was 6yrs ago... started off with a simple machine... forgot what the brand name was but we got it in Australia i think... now its sitting in hb's office... the 2nd one was Boncafe.. we got that for free but it broke down within 1 week.. the machine went keput for some reason.. 3rd one was a manual Sunbeam.. bought it fm Harris Scarfe in Adelaide last year... even tho we've been using it on daily basis.. hb has never stopped fm eyeing this fully auto DeLonghi coffee machine... 







Sooo yesterday while in Carrefour he saw his fav machine on 55% discount (actual price was $2699)... got it tested and off to the cashier for payment..at first we thought the price was for the demo set ..but is was for a new one! This machine does the grinding of coffee beans and also is capable to do the frothing of milk for cappuccino and latte .. with just a click away.. u can choose if u wanna mild or super strong coffee.. no need to press the coffee powder manually anymore .. no need to worry if i am pressing too hard (we dont want a burn bitter espresso do we?).. hope after this he wont be looking at another one called Jura ( that one can easily cost more than $3000....and its NEVER on discount)





So anyway.. hes been making the queen of the house espresso, latte, cappuccino and machiatto since last night .. will enjoy this moment cos it wont last long.. come next week .. he will be "ordering" me to make him a cup of espresso with a valid reason like.. "oh babe since u make the best espresso.. why dont u make us one??" ... err but wait... he no longer can use that reason cos our new machine is fully auto muuuahahahhaha 





Okie dokie.. this is our weekend desert.. super simple desert which u can prepare in under 10 mins.. I dont usually use box mix kinda thing for desert but since hb had bought a box of white wing creme caramel custard a few months ago (dont ask me why he bought it lol)... i had to somehow make use of it bef it expires! 





All u need to do is to mix the caramel with warm water... boil milk with custard powder.. pour caramel in a mold.. pour custard mixture onto caramel sauce.. let it sit for a few hours in fridge and ur good to go.. simple and nice.. u can serve it as it is or hv it with a few types of berries..



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Friday is almost over and bef u know it its gonna be Monday once again... Hairi has been on medical leave for the past 2 weeks .. hes been in his room... watching telly... on his lappy .. the only time i get to see him is when hes hungry... i think if there were a kitchen on his floor.. i might not even get to see his face at all!! grrrr







He had to go to the hospital again a few days ago for some therapy and check up and was given 4wks medical leave on top of his already 2wks leave.. he later went to the camp to report sick and what happened next?? his officer told him that they wont accept his leave and that he was not allowed a 4wks medical leave but instead they got the doc to change it to a 2wks leave and a month of light duty.. kwang kwang kwang... when he told me abt it.. i was like.. smiling.. fm day one i told him that his op is absolutely unnecessarily and that hes only finding excuses to stay home.. all the trouble to only get 4wks leave instead of 6wks.. muuuuhahahha serves him right for not listening to hb and me..







So ok enough abt my stubborn boy... today i decided its time i try out my new brownie pan... saw this brownie recipe at homekreation and thought i shud gv it a try since lots hv tried baking em... not much to rave abt the taste of this brownie.. was not that super rich even tho i used valrhona chocolate and cocoa powder.. I guess after baking something like molten cake.. my expectation was high.... hb felt the brownie shud be sweeter (my fault oppss) .... i will take a bite tomorrow and see if it tastes better after a day and if not.. i can always serve it with ice cream hehehe







Ingredients
225g Butter
240g Cooking Chocolate (I used valrhona)
3 grade A eggs
1 tsp Coffee Powder
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
250g Castor Sugar (I used 200g but will definately stick to 250g next time)
60g Flour*
40g Cocoa Powder*
1/2 tbsp Baking Powder*
1 tsp Salt* (* mixed together)
1 1/2 packs Oreos Cookies - break & mix with 15g Flour (I used 1 pack)





Method
1. Melt chocolate using double boiler.. add in butter and Stir till smooth... let it cool

2. Whisk eggs, coffee powder, vanilla essence and sugar till smooth. Add in chocolate mixture and stir till well combine. Fold in flour mixture and mix it slowly. Finally fold in Oreos..

3. Bake on a preheated oven of 170C for 45 min using 31x29x4cm brownie pan.

4. Once cool.. cut your brownie according to ur preference



Source: HomeKreation blogspot
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I am gonna keep this short... had baked two types of financiers today.. sooo easy to prepare.. best way to get rid of ur egg whites and best of all.. its so so yummy!! you can use any berries u hv in ur fridge or bake it plain.. either way these little cuties are definately photogenic hehehe
  





Blueberry friand recipe u can get it fm my previous post ok..





Ingredients
175g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup (100g) ground almonds
6 egg whites, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ½ cups (210g) icing sugar, sifted
½ cup (70g) all purpose flour, sifted
1 cup (105g) blackberries





Method
Preheat the oven to 190°C. Butter well 18 mini cake/financiers or muffin pans.
Whisk lightly egg white for abt 30 sec.. put it aside
Sift ground almonds, icing sugar and flour in a large bowl and stir into egg white till just combined.
Slowly stir in melted butter and vanilla extract.
Spoon the mixture into prepared pans – they should be just over 3/4 full. Top each friand with 1 or 2 blackberries. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
Allow to stand in pans for 5 minutes then turn out onto a cooling rack.




I couldnt remember where i got this recipe fm.. found it in my baking notebook..
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Ever wonder how the world would be without chocolate?? hmmm



Wordle word image generator: http://www.wordle.net/



Valrhona Guajana is the finer chocolate we occasionally wud use to indulge in our senses.. As expensive as what fine things can be, it is well-spent if you use it for the best purpose. Molten chocolate pudding is one of the great choices of cos..







Nuff said, I lost my words and my mouth is full... I couldn't stop nibbling..heheh.. I don't even care about my waistline and my digital scale... Sorry Sonia, hb and Hairi, you guys have to share them with me this time round! :oP


5 stars to this recipe.. no words to describe the best chocolate pudding made from the finest cocoa in the world! oh heavennnnn....



Ingredients
250g Valrhona Guanaja 68% (200g dark chocolate if ur not using valrhona)
50g butter, chopped
4 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup flour, sifted
1 Tbs cocoa, sifted
dusting of cocoa and cream to serve






Method
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Grease 6-hole Texas muffin tins with butter and flour them, too.
Melt chocolate with butter in a double boiler, set aside.
Beat eggs and sugar until pale and thick.
Beat in the cooled chocolate and butter mixture. Keep beating until smooth.
Fold in sifted flour and cocoa, mix well.
Spoon into the prepared muffin tins, and bake for 10 minutes.
The pudding should be light to touch and will be soft in the centre.
Remove them from the tins as carefully as possible, if you don't want to end up with messy results.
Serve them warm, and watch the lovely lava flooding down. Amazingly dark and oh-so-sinful. Enjoy.








Source: Foodtown Magazine
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Last day of the looonnngg hols here in Singapore and how best to spend the day?? woke up early... get ready and off to the zoo.. super super crowded with tourists.. had to queue for like half an hour just to buy the entrance ticket.. oh well.. Singapore Zoological Garden is one of the best zoos worldwide anyway.. Sonia had a blast of cos.. the last time we took her there, she was too young to even recognize the animals... now at the age of 23 months.. she can say out almost all the animals that she sees... good girl!


The Singapore Zoo also has a section for kids and thats where she went crazzzy...they even hv a wet play area.

Anyway I wish I cud write more but my toothache is bothering me BIG TIME!! helppppp.. Here are some of the photos of today's outing.. Enjoy!


































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About Me

My photo
Hi.. I am a SAHM to 2 kiddoes..19yr old boy n 2 year old girl.. met my Austrian hubby here in Singapore and hv been living here all my life... my love for baking started when i was 6mths preggie to my daughter, Sonia... my addiction to baking has not stop eversince.. I hope to learn as much as i can abt baking and decorating and then share it with u along the way..