Chocolate Cornflakes Biscuit

Hi dear readers and friends, I'm back with a simple easy post today. I've been alittle quiet lately due to my joints problem but I feel much better now. For the last 2 weeks I hardly bake and cook and I find rather guilty for my dearest daughter to eat out most of the time. I promise her that I'll bake and cook something nice for her when I feel better, and today I'm back to my kitchen again..;p Hope there are more for me to share with you...:)


About today's post, its a simple and delicious biscuit that I found in the Malaysian Women's Weekly magazine (August issue). I've changed and replaced some ingredients though, actually I'm out of those ingredients at home..hehe! The biscuits turned out delicious and everyone loves it.



Ingredients:
250g butter
1 cup castor sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups plain flour (original called for self raising flour)
2 tsp baking powder (avoid this if you are using self raising flour)
1 cup original cornflakes
1.5 cups milk chocolate chips
2 cups mixed fruits (original called for 1 cup sultanas & 1 cup glace cherries)


Coating:
3 cups original cornflakes (lightly crushed)

Method:
~ Preheat oven at 180'C. Lined 2 trays with parchment papers.
~ Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add in eggs and vanilla and mix well.
~ Fold in the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
~ Round up a small portion of mixture (about a fish ball size) and coat with crushed cornflakes.
~ Place on the prepared tray and slightly flatten it as shown above. (3cm apart from each other)
~ Bake at 180'C for 15 minutes until golden. Cool before storage.

If you like chewy biscuits, this is the recipe you must keep. Very crispy outside and chewy inside..super delicious!!

Cheers!!

Glutinous Rice in Lotus Leaves

It's another weekend...yeah!! My daughter and me are so looking forward to every weekend because we'll be having lots of fun outdoors. This week we have promised my girl to go to the park with her newly bought "Tinkerbell" kite. Hope there is wind and no rain..;p

Well, back to my post. I've cooked a special dinner for my family yesterday for which this was usually serve during breakfast especially when you go for "dim sum" at the chinese restaurant. Glutinous Rice in Lotus Leaves or Lotus leaves Sticky Rice (at the dim sum table, call it "hor yip fan" in cantonese or "her yeh fan" in mandarin ) It has a lot versions of how this may cook but I just like my simple way with less meat but more rice..:)

That's how it looks when the leaves are dry and its kind of difficult for me to get this leaves in KL. I got the help from my dad, and he bought a whole packet (about 20 pieces) for me from our hometown. The lotus leaf imparts a wonderful aroma to the rice. Oh I love it!!
The Ingredients ( from my own version):
3 cups glutinous rice (soak for at least 1 hour)
150g barbeque pork or chicken (diced)
6 chinese mushrooms (soften and diced)
3 tbsps dried shrimps (soften)
5-6 shalltos (chopped)
4 salted duck egg yolks (quartered) ~ optional
4-5 lotus leaves (fresh or dried)
1 tsp sesame oil
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp Hoisin sauce (or oyster sauce)
a dash of pepper
a dash of sugar
**water

Method:
~ Rinse lotus leaves and scald in boiling water till soft. Trim away the stems and cut into 2. ( if the leaf is too big, may cut into 3)
~ Rinse glutinous rice and soak for at least 1 hour. Drain.
~ Pan fry shallots till fragnant and add in barbeque meat, dried shrimps and mushrooms and mix well. Add in glutinous rice and continue to pan fry awhile.
~ Add in all seasonings and add in water just to cover the rice and simmer for 8-10 minutes until the rice is 80% cooked. (Check and stir constantly to prevent the rice from sticking on the pan. May add more water if the rice is still hard).
~ Pat dry the leaves with a clean cloth and wrap in the rice shown above.
~ Place in a steamer to steam at high heat for 20 minutes.

Have a nice weekend!!

Cheers!!

Cotton Cheese Roll with Mocha Cream

My husband is out of town again, and that means I don't have to work for few days..hehe! Good, then I'll pamper myself with some shopping, meeting with old friends and also alittle pedicure & manicure..haha!
Let's start with some cakes for my supper later.........
I want some cheese cakes, and the same time I want some coffee cakes. Well, at the end I combined both...;p This was the first time I went into a bakery supply store without my list. I just grabbed some cream cheese and butter and hopefully I have everything I need at home..;p When I reached home I just started off with what I have and turn my idea into a swiss roll....a cheese cake roll...LOL!


I'm quite satisfied with the result actually. The texture turns out good and the cheese and coffee I wanted in the cake were there too...so it's DONE!! Let me show you what I did.....;p

The ingredients for the cheese sponge:
120g sugar
6 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

50g butter
250g cream cheese
100ml fresh milk
6 egg yolks
1 tbsp lemon juice

60g superfine cake flour
20g corn flour

** 2 tsps cocoa powder (for the flower prints ) ~ optional

First, I melted the cream cheese, butter and milk over a double boiler. Then cool the mixture completely. Then Add in egg yolks and lemon juice and mix well.
Second, I whisk the egg whites with cream of tartar until bubble forms and add in the sugar gradually and whisk until a soft peak forms.
Third, I took out 1 tbsp of egg yolk batter and 1 tbsp of egg white mixture and add with the cocoa powder. Spoon into the piping bag and piped some flower prints on the prepared tray. Bake this flower prints at 180'C preheated oven for 1 minute then remove from oven and set aside.
Fourth, I fold in the egg whites into the egg yolk batter and mix well. Pour onto the prebaked printed flowers and level the top. Back into the oven and bake at 180'C for 20 minutes.


Notice that the steps are similar to the printed Strawberry Swiss Roll? Yeah, I've converted the whole thing here but I realized that the finale bakes for the sponge cannot be 12 minutes. Think its because of the cream cheese added and the sponge needed slightly another 5 minutes.
Lastly, spread the whipped Mocha cream on to the cooled sponge and gently roll up the cake. Please becareful while rolling, this sponge is alittle heavy compare to the normal swiss roll.

Ingredients for the Cream:
1/2 cup non-dairy cream (whipped)
1 tsp mocha paste
1 tsp coffee paste
** Mix everything together and its ready for spreading.

The sponge texture and taste are quite similar to those Japanese Cotton Cheese Cake. It really goes well with the Mocha cream. Trust me, if you like to have a light cheese cake and some coffee cream, this is definitely for you.

Submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #9 - Swiss Rolling Good Times hosted by Obsessedly Involved with Food.

Cheers!!

Blueberry Yogurt Tarts

Its Sunday, a day that my daughter always look forward to. That is because we have promised her that we'll bring her out to park, shopping then swimming or picnic. Every Sunday, she'll wakes us at 8am sharp and make sure we are on time to start the day..;p But this morning she was late..haha! Think it was because the late night sleep and we've been traveling the whole day back to hometown. And so her schedule was alittle miss out here and there..LOL!! And what's more....a surprise gift from her daddy while shopping to cheer her up...:p She's one happy girl again..haha!
Alright, about today's post is a light and delicious tart that i found in the book "The lifestyle Cuisine magazine" again. I actually made this for my daughter's teachers in her kindergarten. Don't get me wrong, my daughter is no more in kindie but we just make a day to visit her old teachers who she miss..:)


The recipe calls for plain yogurt but I've used a blueberry flavored yogurt instead. I just want the taste to be more concentrated with blueberries. The colour was a beautiful purple with a light touch of yogurt and a crispy chocolate crust...yummy! Again my daughter took 2 of the tarts after her dinner! Too bad I only had a small bite of it, I'm sure to make this again for myself soon..:)
The Crust: (makes 20 small tarts) 250g plain flour
10g cocoa powder
1/4tsp salt
170g butter
40g beaten egg

~ Combine flour, cocoa powder and salt. Rub in butter then add in beaten egg and make to form a dough. (Do not knead too much).
~ Wrap dough with cling foil and chill for 30 minutes.
~ Roll out dough to fit a small pie mould, press and trim off edge.
~ Prick the base of the dough with a fork and bake in preheated oven at 180'C for 10 minutes. (shown above)
~ Remove crust from oven and set aside.

The fillings:

400g blueberry yogurt

20ml fresh milk

90g sugar

2 eggs (beaten)

~ Bring fresh milk and sugar to boil. Remove and leave to cool.

~ Add yogurt and beaten egg into the cooled milk mixture and mix well.

~ Pour filling into baked tarts crust.

~ Bake at 180'C for 25-30 minutes until the top of the fillings are set.

~ Remove from tarts / pie mould to cool.

The decoration:

Fresh blueberries

Alittle icing sugar

~ Place some fresh blueberries on top of the tarts and sprinkle some icing sugar.

~ Chill the tarts before serving.

The crust was good, had a light flavour of cocoa which matched the blueberry fillings perfectly. Its a good dessert to serve after a heavy meal..:) Hope you'll like this as much as I do!

Cheers!!

DIY Bread Pizza

Lazy to cook? Maybe you can try this!!
I always prepare lunch for my daughter before she goes to school but yesterday I was too lazy to cook and I have run out of idea what to cook for her. It seems everyday served her with rice and noodles are boring. Then she suggested that we order a pizza for her lunch. After a few thoughts, I was thinking why not she make her own pizza instead! She was so excited and looking forward to the bakes...hehe! Since I want to make it simple, we used some white bread instead of making her the pizza dough...;p Well, it turned out great, and she loves it!!!


Okay, the preparation....I only prepared some white bread, some pasta tomato sauce, a small onion (diced), some luncheon meat (diced), sausages and shredded mozzarella cheese. First she rolled the bread into thin slice...real thin one so that it'll be very crispy after bake.
(Shown below)
Then...spread spread spread with the pasta sauce!

Then she added all the prepared ingredients, well she doesn't like the onion much..haha! After the 1st slice, she came with the idea of making faces on the pizza..:) Kids always like cute things..:D

Lastly she sprinkled as much cheese as she can (oh she loves cheese), and in the oven they go!
Bake that for 10 minutes at 200'C and they were ready to serve.


See the funny face (below) after baked?! ...LOL!! It was out of shape when the cheese started to melt...;p
Think your little ones may like this idea of preparing their own meal. Kids always like to do adult things..don't you agree?..hehe!

Cheers!!

Apple Cake / Muffin 苹果小蛋糕

Its July, and its already half a year pass for 2011. I can't wait for the year ends holiday which we had planned for almost a year but in another hand, I'm worry of getting old..hehe! My wrinkles are so obvious and my health is not getting any better..:( Wish I can leave a long life at least to see my daughter weds...haha! I'm talking like an old lady now...okay okay, lets go into my post today.

I've made this cute little bear cake for my daughter yesterday. Its an apple cake which was adapted from the book "The Lifestyle Cuisine Magazine And Cookbooks, issue 68". The original recipe was to steam the cake but I baked it instead..;p

The ingredients are healthy and the steps are easy too. Let's have a look....

Ingredients:
(A)
2 eggs
60g sugar (original called for 70g)
1 tsp ovelette / emulsifier

(B)
130g cake flour / plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder

(C)
150g red apples (original called for 100g) ~ Peeled, discard core and blend with a pinch of salt till smooth paste
70ml corn oil


Method:
~ Mix the corn oil with the apple paste and keep aside.
~ Whisk egg, sugar and ovelette become soft forms, then gradually add in ingredients (B), mix until well combined.
~ Add in apple paste mixture and mix well.
~ Spoon batter into greased heatproof cups or any muffin cups or pans as you desire but the depth must not be more than 2" deep.
~ Bake at 180'C for 15 minutes.


The texture was soft and fuffy even up till the next day. It has a simple taste of apples and eggs, and I think its the most healthier snack for the little ones. My daughter grabbed 2 yesterday after her dinner and 2 for her breakfast this morning, she told me she just love the bears...haha! She didn't mention about my cake..;p


Hope you'll like it too..:)

Cheers!!

Hakka Stuffed Beancurd （Hakka Yong Tau Fu）

Yesterday my hubby just came back from his 1 week business trip and insisted he wants dinner at home and requested something soupy. Well, I've thought of few dishes and at the end I came up with my mum's recipe...hakka yong tau fu. This is our favorite since I was a little girl. Actually this recipe was adapted from my grandmother and my grandfather was actually selling this when he was young. Anyway, according to my mother, the recipe has been modified to suit our taste. And for so many years, this was my first attempt for it. The taste was good and the fillings were nice but its not as delicious as my mum's..;p


It took me half a day preparing the soup and stuffed the fillings into the beancurds and others but it really worth it. At least they finished all of it and even drank all the soup..:) And the most satisfying words from my daughter..."Yummy, I like this mummy"!!
Ingredients for the fillings:
200g Mackerel ( I used spanish mackerel) ~ Scraped out the flesh, make into small balls and soaked i salt water
50g minced pork (with fats)
2 tsps salted fish (panfry & mashed)
dash of pepper and salt to taste


~ Drain the fish paste and mix into minced pork. Mix in pepper and salt to taste. Set aside.


Ingredients for the soup:
The above Mackerel bone
50g yellow beans
5-6 cups water
1 tbsp fish sauce

~ Toast the yellow beans until slightly brown and washed clean.
~ Pan fry the fish bone and beans with a little oil until fragnant.
~ Pour in water and bring to boil. At low heat simmer for 30 mins.


Stuffed the fillings in all the prepared taufu, brinjals, bitter gourd, red chili, lady fingers...etc.
You can even make the fillings into small balls like fish balls. Then pan fry with some oil before putting them into the pot of soup. Note that for the white tau fu, just pan fry where the fillings were been stuffed.
Then about the brinjals, splash some light soy sauce in the pan when its almost done. Dish up and its ready to serve.
This dish is nice to serve with white steamed rice or noodles. Of course its good enough to go by its own...:)
We had a wonderful dinner last night and we were too full to have any desserts..hehe! Guess my daughter was the most happiest one, besides her favorite meal she had a big surprise gift from her daddy's trip! Me ah...a few packs of pepper...:(

Have a nice weekend...!!

Black Sesame rolled buns with Peanut Butter

There's no fun staying home alone, especially when you feel like having some tea and some freshly bakes buns. No fun eating alone either..:( And so there is no doubt that i'll post immediately with my buns and have a nice tea breaks in front of my lap top..hehe!
So, my bakes today is the freshly baked "Black sesame Rolled buns with Peanut Butter". Love it! Have a look below...don't they looked lovely...;p


Here's the recipe I figured out by rolling it and spreading some peanut butter in it..:)

Ingredients:
125g Bread flour
13g fine sugar
1/8 tsp salt
2g instant yeast
5g milk powder
80g water
5g unsalted butter
10g black sesame powder


Method:
~ Mix flour, sugar, salt, yeast, milk powder and water until a dough form.
~ Mix in butter and knead until an elastic dough form, then add in black sesame powder and mix well.
~ Rest dough for 60-80 mins and divide dough into 8 small balls.
~ Roll out and spread a layer of peanut butter and roll up like a swiss roll.
~ Rest the buns for another 30 mins and bake at 180'C for 15-18 minutes.


**Feel free to double the portion here, for its only 8 mini buns I've made from the above ingredients.

Spread, spread, spread....Opps! I think I've over spreading for the peanut butter oozed out from the buns while baking..lol!

I just love the texture of the buns after the 2nd time resting...soft soft! I can't stop touching it before baking...haha! Its really soft after baking too, as you can have alook below........

Well, this is a fast and easy recipe I can find and the texture is guaranteed soft..:) Hope you'll try it!

Cheers!