Butter Cinnamon Rolls

What's for breakfast this morning? This is the question that you'll probably ask every morning. Do you?...haha! We did!! Every morning we will crack our head for what to eat before we start our day, and if we were out late to office that day we will prabably grab some bread with butter or jam and a cup of coffee.
Well, but not today! I've baked some cinnamon rolls this morning and we did had a good breakfast before we go. You'll probably think that I have to knead and rise the dough in the middle of the night..huh...;p Nope!! This recipe is a quick and easy one and you'll get a fresh and soft cinnamon bread right away!!

I've done this long time ago, and don't ask me why I've only do it again now...haha! Too many recipes in my to-do-list! The recipe was adapted from a simple DIY book, but with some changes I made up myself..;p

Recipe:

280g Bread flour

15g Milk powder

60g castor sugar

1/2 tsp salt

70g water

6g instant yeast

100g fresh milk

50g butter

Method:

~ Mix all ingredients together except butter in a mixer, mix until a dough forms.

~ Add in butter and knead until you get an elastic dough.

~ Brush a deep bowl with some butter, and leave the dough to rise in it for 1 hour. (covered with cling wrap)

~ Then transfer it into the fridge and chill over night.

~ Take out the dough from the fridge and let it stand for 5 minutes, then roll flat.

~ Brush a thin layer of butter on the flat dough and sprinkle enough cinnamon powder and brown sugar as you desire.

~ Roll up like a swiss roll and cut into sections.

~ Place on a greased pan and let it double in size for 10 minutes. Brush with beaten eggs.

~ Bake in preheated oven, 190'C for 20 minutes.

See the texture here...it was unexpectedly soft!
The recipe makes 8 (slightly smaller than those selling outside).

Let me tell you how I plan my time for this recipe. I've started to make the dough at 9pm then chilled the dough at around 10pm++. This morning I started at 830am, then we had a great breakfast by 9am...:)
Its just that simple, and you get what you want..:)

Cheers!! Have a nice day...:)

Strawberry Cheesecake

This Chinese New Year was the most enjoyable and excited one for me. I have visitors come and go during the whole clebration. And not to forget about the food....I had the most yummilicious one!!..haha! Now I have to start my diet all over again...LOL..;p
Ok, this post was my last bake for this Chinese New Year. A Strawberry Cheesecake for my dear cousin brother and his wife before they leave for Australia. Never thought they love it so much, and bring home the other half..haha!

A recipe adapted from Kevin Chai but this time I did it with strawberry instead. Oh, this was my 2nd attempt...the 1st was blackberries. This time was done with 3 small 4" round pan instead on a 9" square one.
You can get the recipe here.

My daughter is a big fan of this cake. She called it an ice-cream cake instead..;p So you can imagine the texture with her comment...haha!

Maybe I'll try some other berries for this recipe next time. Blueberries or rapsberries...yummy!

I'll like to wish all of you a happy year ahead, and back to the normal routine after all the relax and eatings past few weeks...:) Btw, I'm looking forward to the next holidays already..lol!!

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!!