Nestum Cereal Cookie Bars

Had a nice weekend with family and friends, lots of good food and some shopping too. I love holidays when I don't have to wake up early preparing breakfast, don't have to rush home to prepare meals while shopping..haha! Wish everyday is holiday..;p

Well, even though it's holiday, I still bake a little. Yeah, can't live without going into my kitchen though..(^^)

Here's an easy recipe which I baked last 2 days for my daughter's snacks (she loves snacks). First attempt, and it's not bad at all. 

Nestum Cereal Cookie Bars

Recipe:
80g sugar
125g butter
1 egg yolk
2 tbsps fresh milk
100g Nestum honey cereal
100g plain flour
30g cornflour
30g tapioca flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:
* Beat butter and sugar till creamy.
* Add in egg yolk, milk and vanilla.
* Add in Nestum honey cereal and (all) flour.
* Mix well to form a soft dough
* Pour into a 10x10" square pan and press firmly.
* Bake at 170'C for 30 mins or until golden brown.
* Remove from oven and cut into small rectangles with a knife while it's still hot.
* Let cool completely before remove from the pan. Store in an airtight container.

The texture was crispy outside and a little soft in the inside. It's still good until today!
Maybe you can try with some other cereal or oats. I bet it will taste good too.

Cheers!

Sweetcorn Fritters 玉米黄金脆饼

Chinese New Year is around the corner, what are you baking this lunar year? I didn't bake much as those are the old recipes that I've done years ago. Maybe there'll be a new one but it's still under my testing list. Will be posting soon if it's successful ya..^^

For now I'll like to share this simple yet yummy recipe that I've googled. It's really simple and it takes only 20 minutes to cook this. 

 
As you see the picture above is quite tempting right! This recipe came to my mind as I have a big pack of sweetcorn given by a friend in my freezer. These are the organic sweetcorn and they are super sweet!! Last night I've just steamed some of them with added butter and salt..and you know what?! They are so sweet and I just can't wait to mix these sweeties with other ingredients.

I've got this recipe somewhere from the web, not sure which website already because I've been searching lots of them and I didn't even bother to jot down. At the end, I just remember some of it here and there..haha!
So here it goes with my own version of sweetcorn fritters. (Yes, I did remember the name..LOL)

Ingredients:
100g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp fine salt
1 egg
alittle black pepper and white pepper to taste
150ml fresh milk
200g frozen sweetcorn

 **serve with anything you desire. I just like to eat it as its own.

Method:
~ Mix all ingredients together into a batter
~ Heat up some oil and spoon a full tablespoon into the hot oil and pan fry both sides until golden brown and crisp.

That's it! Super easy right!!

The texture is soft and fluffy inside and crispy on the outside. This was my 1st try and I never thought that my hubby likes it so much as he is quite picky. He asked for more!!! (happy me!!)

Cheers!

What Ive Done Lately!

Hi! How are everyone doing lately? Me?!...Very busy since my daughter's school starts but of course I do cook and bake everyday. What I've been cooking? Here are some of them, something simple but delicious for my family. Well, of course there are some more but those are the repeat recipes which I've posted before so I'm not going to repost them.

I'm having a very important mission to complete this coming week. I'll let you know what it is later..hehe!

I'll make this post as short as possible, hope that you still enjoy reading it..:p

Here, the 1st one...saw this from a tv show once that a taiwanese cook did something with the chicken breast and I find that was interesting. With some changes, well actually I did change the whole idea except wrapping with the chicken breast. Flatten the chicken breast and marinated with some salt, paprika powder and black pepper then wrapped with anything that you desire ( I stuffed with some brinjals, carrots and cheddar cheese) Rolled them up and sealed with toothpicks. Then grilled at 250'C until done (about 20-30 mins) Removed the toothpicks and sliced. Served with some garden salad. Yummy!

Next, the roasted pork which is my family favourite. This is a super delicious and easiest recipe for roasted pork I ever done. get the recipe here.

Deep fried Spring Rolls! What a sinful snacks for my afternoon tea. using only the frozen spring rolls wraps that I got from the supermarket, the yummilicious fillings that I invented myself..haha! Nice!!
Fillings are minced shallots,turnips (thinly sliced), carrots (thinly sliced) and dried beancurd (thinly sliced). Stirfry the shallots till fragrant, then add in the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Add seasoning~ oyster sauce, sugar and pepper. (amount depends to individual) Slowly add in water until there is a small amount of gravy will do. Slow cook till the vege softened. Wrapped with the psring roll wraps and deep fry until golden brown.

Another old recipe here, the chiffon cake. Well this time I did 2 flavors in a cake because my daughter has been asking for chocolate flavor and me, I like the orange one. so at the end, I combined both!!Do look for the chiffon cake recipe from my blog here for details.

Lastly but not least, remember I mentioned earlier that I have a very important mission? Here's the roses that I wanted to show you. Chocolate fondant roses all done for a wedding cake next week!! I'm very satisfied with the roses here after so long that I didn't practice making them. Not bad huh?..hehe!
They are for my dear cousin's sister's wedding next week. So stay tune for the cake ya...^^

Cheers!

Almond Brittles

Hi all, it's weekend again! School holidays have just started and I bet everyone is so busy with their holiday schedules. Hmm....where are you planning to go this year? I have no idea yet in fact my daughter is enjoying her playtime with her schoolmates everyday. Early this morning I've sent her to ice skating nearby and she had so much fun playing with her friends even though they meet up everyday. Sometimes I just wonder what's their conversations are besides school..;p

Well, besides all the repeated recipe I'm trying to cook for these few days, here's a not-so-special snacks that I'll like to share. I found this recipe from one of the old magazine when I'm trying to rearrange my bookshelf that day. A very simple non-bake snack that I think everyone will adore.

Ingredients:
200g castor sugar
6 tbsps water
60g butter (salted)
200g almond flakes (lightly toast and keep warm)

Method:
~ Prepare a swissroll tray and lined with parchment paper
~ Toast the almond flakes until lightly brown and keep warm
~ Cook the sugar and water in a pot until sugar caramelized
~ Add in butter into sugar syrup and cook until turns to dark caramel color. Be careful not to burn the syrup.
~ Remove the syrup from heat and add in almond flakes. Stir well.
~ Then spread the mixture onto prepared lined tray. Remember to spread until even and thin. (shown above)
~ Then quickly make lines on the spread brittles with a plastic knife so that it's easy to break into small pieces when it turns hard. (shown below)
~ Cool nicely then break into pieces and store in an airtight container.

It is so easy and delicious. My daughter has requested another batch of it. It was so yummy when goes with my favourite long black. Guess this is one of the best to give away during X'mas or Chinese New Year!

Have A Nice Weekend!

Macadamia Chocolate Chips Cookies

Chocolates! Bet everyone can't resist this sweet and tasty snacks huh! I love chocolates as much as my daughter. We can both wallop up few bars of chocolates in a day..haha! 

I have alot chocolate cookies recipes and all are so yummy and tasty and just can't finish to try out all of them. Here, one of the yummilicious one that I'll like to share. Recipe adapted from one of my collection books, with some changes as I can't get some of the ingredients from my nearby bakery store. 

Anyway it turned out super delicious and they never stay long in my cookie jar..;p

I think you can judge how delicious they were from the pictures below...(even though they were badly captured)...haha!

Ingredients:

115g butter

115g brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla essence

115g dark chocolate (roughly chopped)

50g raisins

100g macadamia nuts (roughly chopped)

Method:
~ Preheat oven at 190'C
~ Cream butter with sugar until pale and fluffy
~ Add in egg and vanilla and beat well
~ Stir in flour into the mixture and fold in lightly with a metal spoon
~ Add in chopped chocolate, chopped nuts and raisins and stir well
~ Spoon small spoonful of the mixture onto prepared tin and leaving space for spreading
~ Bake for 15-20 minutes until beginning to turn pale golden
~ Cool for 2-3 minutes and transfer to wire rack to cool completely

Look at the chocolate!! It melted when you bite them and the crunch of the nuts just come so well with the cookies. Trust me...its heaven!
If you like chocolates.....please try this!!

Cheers!

Rapsberry & Cheese Delight

Special treats for my niece! Thinking what to bake for her on her birthday but instead of cakes that will make her fat....so this light desert is what I think will suits her since she's on a diet...LOL!! Anyway...cheese...hmm is fattening though...haha!

Well, this is not very special from any special chef's recipe. It's just something she loves..."rapsberry & cheese"...so I just combined them and put it in a cup. Looks tempting though....^^

Very easy and it was done within an hour. No bake and no fuss!! I personally like the combination and the colour of the cream cheese...beautiful! The tatse?!...PERFECT!!

Ingredients:
170g rapsberries
250g cream cheese
100g whipping cream
75g sugar
150g digestive biscuits
30g butter (melted)

Method:
~ Mashed the rapsberries and keep aside.
~ Beat cream cheese, sugar and whipping cream till fluffy.
~ Mix in the mashed rapsberry and sti well.
~ Smashed digestive biscuits into crumbs and add in melted butter and mix well.
~ Scoop the biscuits follow by the rapsberries cream layer by layer into a cup.
~ Chill before serve.

See the biscuits and the cream?! Melt in the mouth and appetizing...wonderful!!
Try it and you'll know. Its easy as ABC...:))

Cheers!

Glutinous Rice Rolls

Hi my dear readers and friends..I'm back!...LOL!! I've been missing for such a long time, and yeah..I've left my kitchen to dust!!!....;p

I'm very lazy...really lazy for doing anything. I'm still in the mood of holidaying...GOSH!! Got to wake up huh!

School has starts, back to my daily routine and yet not much cooking and baking except a simple kuih I've done last week. Well, I'm just craving for some coconut last week, and I don't want to do anything complicated so this simple kuih just pop out from my mind. It was simple but delicious...^^

 It took less than and hour to complete this kuih, and it goes really well with a cup of hot green tea or black coffee. This kuih almost looks like the Pulut Inti, a kind of nyonya kuih. 

Ingredients for rice:
500g glutinous rice (soak for 1-2 hours)
1cup thick coconut juice
2 tsp salt
2 large banana leaves (washed and dried)

~ Lined up the 9" round pan with banana leaves.
~ Mix all ingredients together and pour onto the lined pan. Even the rice with a spoon.
~ Steamed at high heat for 30-35 minutes or until well cooked.

Ingredients for coconut:

150g grated coconut

20g castor sugar

60g gula melaka 

2 pcs pandan leaves

50-60ml water

~ In a wok add in water, sugar, gula melaka, pandan leaves and bring it to boil by stirringit all the time till sugar has dissolved.

~ Add in grated coconut and stir till the mixture has thickened. Leave to cool before use.

 Method of wrapping:
~ Place a pc of cleaned banana leaf on the table.
~ Spread cooked rice (about 5mm think) on the banana leaf.
~ Next spread the coconut onto the rice then roll up like a swissroll.
(make sure it's tight enough or else the rice and coconut may fell apart while cutting)
~ After rolling, leave the rolls to rest for about 5 minutes before cutting. (this to make the rolls stands to its shape)

Hope you like this! I'll be back for more post soon. 

Cheers!!

A Nice Gathering with Good friends & Good Food

Yesterday I had a great day chatting and drinking at friends's house until late night. My daughter had a great time playing with her friends too. We started our small gathering cum party at 7pm but it ends at 130am...haha! What a good night for all of us...:) All of us got abit dizzy after so many bottles of red wine ( can't remember how many ) and talked all sorts of things and really got a good good good laugh! I'm so looking forward to our next meet up...:)

Well, gathering means we have to have nice food and desserts. So I've prepared 2 snacks to go with our wine and a dessert for the kids to enjoy. Oh and not to miss the "Assam Laksa" by my friend, its really a good one but....opps! Forgot to take the picture..;p Beside the laksa, she prepared a nice yummy "Penang Popiah" for us...(you can see the picture below).

Alright, what I've prepared.....1st, "Rosted Pork" . Recipe here.
Then a new dish (my first attempt)..."Assorted Taufu Peanuts Snacks".


For the Taufu Peanut snacks, ingredients and method is really easy and its a best appetizer ever. See the ingredients below....

1) 2 fried taufu (cut into cubes)
2) 4 green chilies (cut into cubes)
3) 1 onion (shredded)
4) 50g peanuts (deep fried)
5) 50g anchovy (deep fried)
6) 1 tbsp Chili bean sauce (辣豆瓣酱)
7) 1-2 tbsps sugar to taste
8) 1 tbsp cooking oil

Pan fry onion and green chilies until fragnant, then add in all other ingredients and pan fry at medium heat until well mix and cook. Dish up, you'll have a good nice dish.

Both were so good, and all my friends love them so much. These were really a good dish or appetizer for any party.


Then not to forget about my specialty...haha! The cutie swiss roll again. This time instead of strawberry, I just filled it with some fresh cream + shredded chocolate. Well, don't kids just love chocolate? Yup, these rolls were gone too in a minute!!
Method was exactly the same as the other rolls I've done before but I just decorate it in another way buy cutting, place flat on a cake sheet and deco with some chocolate chips.
(Refer for the details here)

Lastly but not least, the yummilicious Penang Popiah prepared by the host. So delicious, and everyone can't resist to have few rolls!! Eh...I don't have the recipe yet, but I'll be going to learn it from her soon...:)

Cheers!!

Abacus Beads (算盘子)

I have always wanted to learn this dish from my mother. And I finally got the chance during this Chinese New Year. This is not that difficult as I thought but you must have a tough hands. Oh why tough hands?....That's because you have to knead the hot yam once after steam together with the hot water.....HOT!!

We had this on the 2nd day of Chinese New Year for lunch. And this dish is a must during this festive season. "Xuan Pan" ( 算盘) means abacus, the more you eat the more you can calculate the $$..haha! Well, well lets see how much I can get this year...LOL!!
The photo belows showed how the dough looks like after kneading (Oh, that's my mother's hands, not mine...haha! I just can't stand the "hot"!!) Anyway I did help for moulding the beads.

Recipe for the yam dough:
200g Yam / Taro
100g Tapioca flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp five spice powder

Method:
~ Slice yam into 1" thick, place in the pot fill with water (water level just to cover the yams)
~ Cook for about 15 minutes or until soft
~ Mashed yam together with the water, then add in remaining ingredients and knead into a soft dough. (may add alittle warm water if dough is dry)
~ Keep kneading the dough until smooth but not sticky.
~ Take a small piece of dough and mould into small abacus beads.
~ Bring to boil a pot of water and cook the beads for about 10-15 minutes. They're cook once floated.
~ Drain and transfer into a bowl. Add 1 tbsp cookingl and mix well. This to prevent the beads from sticking each other.

Ingredients for the accompaniment (for 1/2 portion of the abacus beads):
4-5 tbsps cooking oil
100g minced meat (usually its pork)
3-4 black fungus (shredded)
30g dried shrimps (diced) 5 chinese mushrooms (soaked & shredded)
3 pieces dried beancurd (shredded)
10 shallots (diced)
a little garlic (diced)

Seasoning:
2 tbsps oyster sauce
a little salt
50ml water
** some coriander for garnishing

~ Heat up oil, panfry shallots and grlic until fragnant.
~ Add in minced meat, stirfry until almost cook then add in remaining ingredients.
~ Add in half portion of the cooked abacus beads then follow with the seasoning. Continue stirfry until almost dry.
~ Garnish with some coriander and serve.

Texture was so chewy and the taste was just right to our bud. Hope you like this wonderful recipe from my mum...:)

Happy Cooking!!

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival / Tiramisu Cake

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival or Happy Mooncake Festival or Happy Lantern Festival......whatever, today is the day, and we had great fun..:) What about you?
Besides all the mooncakes I've made, this was the last which I made for today's celebration. Well, it was actually from my previous post "Cendol Agar-Agar". Instead of the 2 layers, this time I've transfered it into the mooncake mould. Hmm....Pretty!!



The filling inside was the gula melaka instead of those lotus paste. We had enough mooncakes with those fillings (lotus, red beans, pandan...etc. etc.) so I think some refreshing ones should be suitable for the party..:)

Once again, wishing everyone has a wonderful and memoriable time..:)

中秋节快乐

**********************************************************

Besides that, it was my dear friend's birthday too. We decided to celebrate with her at her house so the kids may have fun playing with their lanterns too. And that I've made a cake for her...Tiramisu. Inspired by the restaurant, Alexis @ The gardens. I've came out with my version..haha! Not bad leh..;p

The ingredients that you need were as below..

Ingredients for Chocolate Sponge:

250g eggs (weigh without shells)

125g fine sugar

110g Plain flour

50ml water

13g emulsifier

15g Cocoa powder

60g Melted butter

Method:

~ Whisk at high speed eggs, flour and emulsifier until light and fluffy

~ Lastly fold in the melted butter which is already mixed with cocoa powder.

~ Bake in a 9" round lined cake tin for 40-45 minutes at 180'C. (I used two 7" round pan)

~ Cool completely then sliced. ( I sliced into 3 for each 7" cake)


Ingredients & Method for the Cream:

1/2 cup Fresh Cream (Whipped)

250g Mascarpone cheese

30g sugar

~ Cream the cheese then add in sugar. Then fold in whipped cream.

Coffee-Rum Syrup:

1/2 cup hot water

2 tbsps sugar

2 tsps good quality instant coffee powder

1 tbsp rum paste

~ Mixed all together until sugar disolved. Brush onto the sliced sponge before spreading the cream.

Topping / coating:

~ Cook 2 cups sugar into caramel, and add in some chopped almonds (amount depends to individual). Spread thinly on a sheet of parchment paper and let cool.

~ Crushed into small pieces for decoration.

Happy Birthday my dear friend,

Hope you like this cake...^^

Simple Turn Over Apple Cake

Hey there, I'm back for bakings again, after the few days of sore throat, I finally can eat those cakes and cookies..haha! Made an apple cake to pamper myself..heehee.

An Apple cake, very simple recipe adapted from a Taiwanese chef which I've kept for a long long time too. This is not the 1st time I bake this but it seems I've forgotten how long I have to cook the caramel......



Well, as you can see here, the cake looks abit burn on top..*sigh*. Luckily it still taste ok..;p
That's the caramel that suppose to look yellowish ..:(


Will make note here, so that I won't forget next time...;p

Base:
1 or 2 apples, thinly sliced
1/4 cup sugar, melted becomes caramel (turn off the fire right after the caramel turn yellowish)

~ Pour caramel onto the cake pan ( I used and 8" ring pan) and arranged the sliced apples on the caramel. Set aside.

Ingredients for batter:
1 finely chopped apple
4 eggs
200g butter
130g sugar (has been reduced)
180g Plain flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
50g milk

~ Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy
~ Add in eggs one at a time
~ Slowly fold in flour and milk alternately, and ends with flour.
~ Mix in chopped apples and pour batter onto the cake pan with arranged caramel & sliced apples at the bottom.
~ Bake at 170'C for 40-45 minutes.
~ Over turn and remove the cake once done.



Serve the cake warm or cold as your wish. I always keep half of it in the fridge and half outside..heehee! I just like both! Hope you like it too..:)

Cheers!