Pandan Kaya Roll

Hey there, i have been very active baking, cooking and eating lately...haha! Maybe after a week break, i miss my kitchen and the oven so much...;p
Anyway my daughter has been asking for breads, cookies...etc. etc....:) It was since after she recovered from her sickness. I think its a good sign, since she can eats! Well, she has been giving me her menu everyday....for her breakfast and dinner. No lunch....cause she used to have her lunch in school. Or else, i'll be in the kitchen the whole day...haha!

Today, she said she wants some bread to school tomorrow. Well, since all the while she had brought redbean buns to school, this time will have something different..:) Pandan Kaya Roll!
Hmm...she loves kaya, as same as my husband....except me..hee hee!
Last week i tried one of the recipe from my dear friend, honeybeesweet's Pandan Kaya loaf with crumble topping. It was great, her recipe was wonderful. The loaf was gone in 3 hours...haha! If any of you haven't try that yet, you should give it a try. Really delicious.
So today i want to try another recipe, its also pandan kaya bread, but its in small roll. This was from a book i have, "DIY Home Bread". It looks nice and simple, so decided to give it a try....


Here's the recipe..........
350g Bread flour
5g Milk powder
48g Sugar
1/2 tsp Salt
30g Egg
200g Cold Water
6g Instant yeast
3 drops Pandan flavour
20g Santan powder
30g Unsalted butter

* Some Pandan kaya
* Alittle melted butter, for coating at the end.
* Alittle dessicated coconut (optional)

Method:
~ Mix all ingredients together except butter and kaya.
~ When it forms almost a dough, add in butter
~ Knead until it forms a fine dough (if using a mixer, need about 10 minutes on high speed)
~ Cover and prove for 1 hour in a greased bowl.
~ Divide dough into 30g each, flatten the dough to allow air bubbles escape.
~ Spread alittle pandan kaya on the flatten dough, then roll up like a swiss roll
~ Arrange closely onto the greased tray and let prove another 30 minutes, until its well prove.
~ All the bun stripes should be stick to each other after proved, then spray some water on top of the buns
~ Pipe some kaya on top and spread some dessicated coconut on top if desire.
~ Bake at 180'C for 20-25 minutes.
~ Once baked, apply melted butter on the buns.
~ Place on wire rack to cool completely.



See the texture here...its really soft. the whole kitchen was filled with pandan kaya aroma....:)
My daughter once smell it....said 'YUMMY'! haha!



Of course i've brought some for my friends to test it out. Yup, they said nice....heehee!
Guess i have to make this again this weekend for my in-laws..;p Good-day...:)

Steamed Glutinious Rice with Pandan topping (Kuih Nasi Pulut)

Haiz...i thought this is easy....:( I mean of course it still can be eaten, but the topping was too soft and the colour is terrible. This is the 1st 'kuih nasi pulut' or steamed glutiniuos rice with pandan topping, and it was the lousiest! haha! Luckily my hubby sad the taste is nice....just have to close your eyes while eating...hahaha! So next time when i make this again, i'll never use pandan paste for the topping. Muz keep in mine,....use fresh pandan leaves' juice!

The colour of the topping shouldn't be that dark......mmmmm......but the rice is great.

Have to post this for my reference...and i promised myself...next time will be better;P

Frens out there, can have a try...but remember don't use pandan paste!

INGREDIENTS (Base)

600g Glutinious rice

250g Coconut milk

200g Water

3 tsps Salt

METHOD:

~ Mix coconut milk with water and salt, stir well

~ Add into rice and mix well

~ Rub some oil on the base of the tray

~ The level of the coconut milk in the rice (after placing in the tray) should not be too much. Juz enough to cover the rice will do.

~ Steam for 20 minutes (high heat), then use a spoon or spatula to press the rice firmly.

(At this moment, if the rice was too dry, can add alittle water)

~ Continue to steam for another 15 minutes or until rice cooked.

INGREDIENTS (Topping)

2 Eggs

227g Sugar

3 tbsps Cornflour

75g Rice flour

2 tbsps Pandan juice

800g Coconut milk

pinch of salt

METHOD

~ Beat eggs and sugar together using an egg beater

~ Mix all the other ingredients together with coconut milk

~ Add into eggs mixture and stir well

~ At low heat, keep stiring the liquid until it thickens

~ Pour onto cooked rice and steam for 20 minutes at medium heat

~ Cool properly before cutting

* The topping will only hardened properly when the kuih really cool down

Pandan Sponge Cupcakes

It has been awhile since I last baked with Pandan Leaves and Fresh Coconut Milk! Love these two combinations, it gives a real aromatic fragrance and pretty colours. 

I've used these two wonderful ingredients for a simple bake yesterday, a pretty green soft sponge cupcake recipe! Happy with the outcome...pretty colors, lovely smell all over my kitchen and super soft texture..^^  

Pandan Sponge Cupcakes

Ingredients for 24 small cupcakes:

6 large egg yolks
20g fine sugar
100g fresh coconut milk
50g concentrated pandan juice (refer to Table for 2..or more for the step by step method)
100g low gluten flour
15g corn flour

6 large egg whites
70g fine sugar

Method:

~ Prepare paper cups on cupcake mould
~ Preheat oven at 180'C
~ Lightly whisk egg yolk and sugar with an egg whisk till bubble forms
~ Add in concentrated pandan juice and coconut milk. Blend well.
~ Add in flour and mix well.
~ Beat egg whites and sugar till a soft peak forms
~ Gently mix the meringue into the egg yolk batter until well blended.
~ Spoon into prepared paper cups and bake for 20 minutes at 180'C

The texture are really soft and its almost like a Pandan Chiffon Cake. Store these cutie greens in an airtight container and they can only be kept not more than 48 hours. The sponge may be too moist and sticky on top!

Enjoy!!!

Simple Pandan and Raisins Swiss Roll

Another 3 weeks we'll be celebrating Chinese New Year. Busy baking cookies? I've planned the cookies that I'm going to bake and did some testing these few days. So stay tune for my cookies..;p
Well, this is the 2nd week of the school, and I'm happy that I've finally got the timing adjusted and have some time to bake too. So today's bake is a swiss roll. A very simple recipe that you can have it with any flavours you like.

The colour of the roll is alittle light here for my pandan juice was not that condense. Further more I have no pandan paste in my house..*gosh*. Anyway it still taste alright..haha!

Recipe makes a small roll with a 10x12" pan.

(A)

50g cornoil

55g plain flour

40ml coconut milk

1/2 tbsp pandan juice

1/2 tsp pandan essence (optional)

1 whole egg

3 egg yolks

15g sugar

(B)

3 egg whites

60g sugar

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

** Some whipping cream and raisins for fillings.

Method:

~ Whisk eggs and sugar from (A) until fluffy, then add in oil and continue to whisk.

~ Add in the rest of the ingredients in (A) and mix well.

~ Whisk egg white with cream of tartar until foamy and add in sugar. Whisk until a soft peak forms.

~ Fold egg whites into egg yolk batter slowly (divide into 3 times)

~ Pour onto a greased and lined with parchment paper (10x12") swiss roll pan.

~ Bake at 175"c for 12-15 mins.

~ Transfer cake immediately onto a cooling rack. Cool completely before spreading the whipped cream and sprinkle some raisins.

~ Roll up the roll gently and chill before slicing.

Cheers!!

Cakes for him.....Pandan Layered Cake & Tiramisu

It was my husband's birthday 2 days ago, and we had a great celebrations on his big day. I've made 2 different birthday cakes for him...one "Pandan Layered Cake" for the family celebration in the morning and another "Tiramisu" to celebrate with his friends at night. Both cake were well received and they were gone on the day itself..:)

First, the Pandan Layered Cake. It was my first attempt and I had a good praise by my hubby. He loves the cake and took 2 big pieces right away. It was not that difficult as I thought though...^^

 The recipe:
(A)
2 egg yolks
60g cake flour
35g sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 pandan essence
1/2 tsp baking powder
40ml thick coconut milk
1/4 cup corn oil

(B)
2 egg whites
35g sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

(C)
500g thick coconut milk
35g brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 egg
50g Hun Kwee flour
1 tsp agar agar powder

~ Cook till thicken!

Method:
~ Mix ingredients (A) together with a whisk and keep aside.
~ Beat ingredients (B) till fluffy and firm.
~ Gently fold in (B) into (A). Mix well.
~ Bake in and ungreased 7" round tin at 180'C for 25-30 minutes.
~ Sliced cake into 3 to 4 layers and topping each layer with hot frosting (C)
~ Cover the whole cake with the hot frosting (C) and sprinkle with some desiccated coconut.
~ Chilled the cake before serving.

I didn't do a good job slicing the cake properly. So you can see the thickness of each cake was uneven here.
Anyway, he didn't notice that...LOL!!

Then I was told that he'll be celebrating with his friends at night too. Without any hesitation, a Tiramisu was the most simple one to bake...hehe! So the cake was completed in 2 hours time and I'm off to the hair saloon to beautify myself for the night...hahaha!!!
If you like this Tiramisu, please refer to my older post here.

Cheers!!

PANDAN CHIFFON CAKE

A fine recipe from a friend...i tried it twice, and its wonderful. Easy n fast! May change the pandan to orange, but i'll prefer the original. Guess what?! My daughter (only a small kid) can gobble up 3-4 pieces at a time!

(A):
15g Sorbitor / Glycerine
135g Egg yolk
90g Pandan leafs water
2g pandan flavour
15g Dextrose / sugar
4g Salt
180g Hig ratio flour / low protein flour
17g Coconut cream powder
2g Baking powder
80g cooking oil (mazola corn oil)

(B):
270g Egg white
1g Cream of tartar
150g Sugar

METHOD:

~ Beat (B) together until forms a soft peak
~ Mix (A) together
~ Then mix (B), add on (A)
~ Use scrap to mix gradually, as slow as possible so that air will not gets in the mixture
~ Pour into chiffon cake mould (do not grease the mould)
~ Bake at 180'C for 45-50 minutes.
~ When done, over-turn the cake immediately and let it cool before taking out from the mould

Black Sesame Coconut Milk Kueh

After a week of my daughter's Pri-1 orientation, I think I'm more relax now knowing that she's getting use of the school enviroment and also the teachers there. I can say the teachers there are all very caring and firm enough..;) So the following week will be no problem at all.
Being stressful and busy this week, I thought a steaming recipe is more suitable for us. And also alot of fluid at this weather. Before I repeat my "old" recipes like paus or cakes, I've steamed a "new" kueh recipe instead. Well, the next will be paus..haha!..^^
Okay, this kueh has a very bouncy-soft texture, quite similar to the "Nyonya Layered Kueh" I've done long time ago. Have a look then you'll know what I mean.

Black Sesame Coconut Milk Kueh

The recipe:

Ingredients for black sesame layer:
(A)
60g water chestnut powder
50g rice flour
50g black sesame powder
300ml water

(B)
120g caster sugar
150ml water
some pandan leaves (knotted)

Ingredients for coconut milk layer:
(A)
60g water chestnut powder
50g rice flour
50g tapioca flour
250ml coconut milk

(B)
120g caster sugar
200ml water
some pandan leaves (knotted)

Method for black sesame layer:
~ Combine ingredient (A) together, set aside.
~ Bring ingredient (B) to boil. Discard pandan leaves and pour into (A) mixture. Mix well, divide into 3 parts, set aside.

Method for coconut milk layer:
~ Combine ingredient (A) together, set aside.
~ Bring ingredient (B) to boil. Discard pandan leaves and pour into (A) mixture. Mix well, divide into 3 parts, set aside.

Steaming method:
~ Lined a 7" square mould with plastic sheet. Pour in 1st part of black sesame mixture. Steam for 4 minutes. Then pour in the 1st part of coconut milk mixture, steam for 4 minutes. Alternate the layers till ingredients are used up.

~ Steam the final layer for 25 minutes. Cool kueh completely before slicing with a plastic knife.

The black sesame mixture & coconut milk mixture above

"It is indeed a very delicious kueh"...commented buy family and friends who tried them. So this is definitely a keeper for me..:)

Have a Nice Weekend!!

Mini Paus

My daughter has been asking for paus lately. Nowadays she'll give me her menu, almost everyday, saying what to cook for her....;p Yea, she loves to eat! haha!
Instead of the normal sizes i've been making, today i'll just make it into mini sizes (but its still too big, i should have make it smaller)..;p
Then, i just play the dough with some colours, pink and green, my daughter's favourite...:)
A little of the strawberry flavour was added to a portion of the dough, also some pandan paste for another portion, and keep some for the normal plain ones. Wonder how it taste like for the strawberry ones, looks nice....heehee!



Well, after steaming i tried each of the paus immediately, i still prefer the plain ones though.
But my daughter said the pink ones were her favourite....."it taste so nice, mummy!" That was her first comment to me...:) I was so happy that she loves it so much.
Guess all mothers always hope their love ones like her cooking and baking....;) I did, and it makes me want to cook more for them. Am wondering what to make tomorrow....haha!



With the pandan flavour of pastry, i find it taste nicer with some lotus filling, don't you?! But the colour here is alittle too light, i should have add more to it. The strawberries ones, are lovely here. The colour and the taste just goes well with the red-bean paste. Not to mention about the plain ones larr.....its definetely GOOD!!
Maybe next time i'll try some peanuts filling for the pandan pastry....hmm..;)


All the pastries and ingredients here are from my previous post..."Paus". Except the flavouring added....:) Have you try any paus recipe yet?? Go ahead, try it out....you'll definitely satisfy with this...;)

Cutie Strawberry Rolls

Few days ago, my aunt (舅母) sent me a link bout this cute strawberry roll, once I opened it, my reaction was...WAH!!! SO CUTE!! While I was planning to try it out, my aunt and my youngest sis have posted theirs..haha! Their work was so fine and nice..:) So without any delay, I did mine this morning!
This was from a blogger in Taiwan, and of course everything was written in Mandarin. You can have a look at hers here.

Not much changes have been made here, I used some pandan paste for the strawberries leaves instead..;p And why is my rolls got holes ha? Maybe I've folded it too much..:(

See, this is how it looks after bake...so cute isn't it...haha! Anyway I think I should post the recipe here which I'll translate it to English for my own reference.

Egg yolk Batter:

6 egg yolks

20g sugar

60g fresh milk

45g cornoil (original called for salad oil)

100g cake flour (original called for low gluten flour)

15g cornflour

Egg Whites:

6 egg whites (original called for 5.5 egg whites)

70g sugar

Ingredients for little strawberries:

20g egg whites

10g sugar

few drops strawberry paste or red colouring

** some cocoa powder diluted in some water (brown color)

** some pandan paste (green color~leaves)

Fillings:

Some whipped cream and some halved fresh strawberries.

Method:

~ First, preheat the oven at 180'C. Then lightly whisk the egg yolks together with 20g sugar, then add in fresh milk and coinoil and mix well.

~ Add in cake flour and cornflour and stir well. Set aside.

~ Spoon out 30g egg yolk batter and mix in the red colouring or strawberry paste. Mix well.

~ Whisk the egg whites and sugar (ingredients for little strawberries) till half soft peak form and add in the prepared 30g egg yolk batter. Stir well.

~ Spoon the pink batter into a piping bag with tip #3. Pipe some little triangles onto lined tray (10"x14").

~ Bake at 180'C for 1 minute then set aside.

~ Whisk the 6 egg whites together with the 70g sugar until peak form.

~ Fold into the remaining egg yolk batter. Then pour batter over the half-baked strawberries.

~ Flatten the top with a spatula and bake at 175'-180'C for 12-13 minutes.

~ Transfer on to wire rack to cool completely. Then slice into half.

~ Once completely cooled, spread the whipped cream and place some strawberries on the cream and roll up.

~ Once the rolls are stable, colour the strawberries with prepared cocoa powder and pandan paste.

** For more step by step details and pictures, you can find it here.

There'll be 2 rolls all together, and I did one with a cute Hello Kitty...does it look okay?....LOL

Luckily when I asked my daughter what can she see here, she did answer Hello Kitty...haha!

Texture is super soft. Maybe I'll try it with some other fruits. Kiwi? Orange? Banana? Or maybe durian...;p

Cheers!!

Chinese New Year Cookies (Part 1) ~ Traditional Cookies

This is part of my cookies baked this week. Those are very traditional ones..."Kueh Bangkit" and "Harp Tou Sou". These cookies can easily find in every home during the Chinese New Year.
The 'Harp Tou Sou" was not my 1st attempt...I've been making this almost every year but not last year...;p So this year, there are request on this..:)
About the "Kueh Bangkit"...this was my 1st time baking. I admit it was not as tasty as those I tried, but it still acceptable.


Gula Melaka Kueh Bangkit

Recipe:
90g gula melaka or palm sugar
150ml concentrated coconut milk
30g butter
1 egg yolk
250g tapioca flour
few blades of pandan leaves

Method:
~ Stir-fry tapioca flour with pandan leaves over low heat until flour becomes light and airy. Remove pandan leaves, cool flour and store for 1 week before using.
~ Combine gula melaka and coconut milk in a pot. Simmer over low heat until sugar dissolved. Strain through a sieve and keep aside.
~ Place flour, butter and egg yolk in a big bowl, mix evenly. Add in coconut mil syrup slowly and knead into a dough. It should be non-glossy looking dough and firm enough to stand without collapsing to one side. (Coconut milk syrup may not be totally needed as there could be a little surplus)
~ Wrap dough and rest for 30 minutes.
~ Remove from wrap, knead dough until softened again then roll flat to a thickness of 1/2cm.
~ Cut out dough with desire cutter and arrange on lined baking tray.
~ Bake at 170'C for 20-25 minutes. Cool well before storage.


Harp Tou Sou

Recipe:

500g plain flour

1tsp baking powder

250g sugar

1 tsp alkaline

1tsp fine salt

2 tbsps butter

300g peanut cooking oil

Method:

~ Mix all ingredients together until a soft dough form. (Cooking may not be totally needed)

~ Make dough into small balls and placed on lined baking trays.

~ Used a chopstick to make a small hole in the centre of the cookies.

~ Brush with egg wash and bake at 170'C for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown.

Stay tune for my next 2 cookies...:) Happy baking!!

Steamed Coconut Blossom Cake

Is been a lazy sunday, not much to do in the morning. Since my husband got to work today, so no shopping or a nice relax breakfast at the cafe we like...:(...Well, seems like baking and cooking will occupied my time..:)
Just a quick and easy cake for me and my daughter later....hmm...how easy was it? Okay, its just beat, spoon and steam! Sounds easy ha!! Here it goes.....



Got this recipe fr my favourite book again, 'Bake with Yen'...
Its kind of a traditional cup cake, like those Chinese used for praying or to celebrate Chinese New Year. You know those "fatt gao", well, its something like that. But this is alitte different in the filling and slightly changes in the texture.
Note that the sugar shouldn't be reduce here, it might cause the fluffy texture you want.
As you can see in my pictures here, it suppose to be more fluffy after steaming, this was because i reduced the sugar and the cake doesn't has enough sweetness.
So don't worry about the sugar amount here, its just nice!

Ingedients for filling:

100g Gula melaka
30g Fine sugar
60ml Water
150g Grated coconut
1/2 tsp Cornflour (diluted in alittle water)
Few pandan leaves

Method:
~ Boil water, gula melaka, sugar and pandan leaves until all sugar melted properly
~ Add in grated coconut and mix well.
~ Add in the cornflour mixture and stir well, off fire. Cool aside.

Ingredients for the cake:

3 Cold eggs (size A)
250g fine granulated sugar
280g Cake flour
2 tsps Baking powder
1 tsp Ovallete
170g Coconut milk
1tsp Pandan paste

** Some half glaced cherries for deco.

Method:
~ Beat all ingredients together for 6-7 minutes on high speed until fluffy.
( Texture should be fluffy and sticky)
~ Line small round aluminium containers (i used egg tarts mould) with paper cups and spoon batter until half full.
~ Place some filling then cover the filling with some batter and top with half glaced cherry.
~ Steam on high heat for 15 minutes.
~ After steamed, transfer to the wire rack immediately to cool. (without the aluminium mould)



See the texture here....its soft and flavourable when bite together with the coconut filling. Do have a try, its really good...:) Cheers!

Kueh Koci

Have been busy with work last 2 days....and i didn't really enjoy my food. Brought home all the paper work from office, sitting down on the working table for almost the whole day! Hmm....miss my kitchen too. Hee hee!
Bought myself a new recipe book (Nyonya Traditional Kueh). I love those Nyonya Kueh selling outside, and usually will buy 1 or 2 at least in a week, ha ha! Today, with the book i have, i tried this "Kueh Koci" which is 1 of my favourite. Its not difficult, but when come to wrapping it with the banana leaf.......opps! I can't do it!! Haiz....:( Got to find an expert for that!...:P So i made it unwrapped instead....

DOUGH:
(A)
395g Glutinous rice flour
115g Sweet potatoes / pumpkin
200ml Coconut milk
Few drops green colouring (i used 1/2 tbsp fresh pandan juice instead)
(B)
1 tbsp Sugar
1 tbsp Oil
115ml Coconut milk

** Few banana leaves for wrapping / base


FILLING:
(A)
1 tbsps Sugar
150g Palm Sugar (gula melaka)-crushed
2 tbsps Water
Few pandan leaves
(B)
250g Grated coconut
1 tbsp Sago, mix well with 2 tbsps of water

Making the filling:
~Boil ingredients (A) till sugar turns into syrup
~Add in grated coconut, then lower down the flame and stir the mixture continuosly till almost dry. Add in sago mixture and stir thoroughly and leave it to cool.

Making the dough:
~Steam sweet potatoes / pumpkin till soft and then mash till smooth. Then mix well with 225g of the glutinous rice flour and set aside.
~Boil ingredients (B) and add in colouring (if used) or the pandan juice. Then let cool for 1-2 minutes.
~In a large bowl, add in coconut milk to the sweet potatoes / pumpkin & flour mixture. Stir till form a paste.
~Add in (B) mixture and mix well. Add in remaining flour and knead into a soft dough.
(if its too dry, may add alittle more water)
~Divide the dough into small equal portions and roll into ball. Flatten the dough and wrap in the coconut filling and seal.
~Wrap with a banana leaf, or just leave it on the (oiled) banana leaf and steam over high heat.....
**If wrap with banana leaf, may need to steam for 15 mins.
**If unwrap, only need 10 mins to steam.

Its really nice but its alittle high choresterol here....due to those coconut milk used....:P
Wonder how it taste if i replace the coconut milk with full cream milk....hmm....hee hee! Will try it out......

Pandan Coconut Roll ( Kueh Ketayap)

There is a Nyonya Stall in 1Utama here named "Nyonya Colors". If you shop at 1Utama shopping mall often, then you'll know which one I'm talking about. Located at the old wing of the mall, people used to queue for food and seats. I used to go quite often, just love all the kuehs and their coffee..;)

I've made myself one of the kueh today, but its not that simple to get the right shape of the roll. I just can't get the right way on wrapping the rolls anyway. heehee! So all the rolls turned out to be fat, wide, flat....any shapes! You named it...haha! But the taste of it...perfect! Just love the coconut fillings.



See what I mean? Those don't look like the one selling outside larr...Okay, its my version..;p
Anyway, here's my recipe.....

Skin:
250g Plain flour
3 eggs
150ml water
150ml thick coconut milk
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp instant yeast
3 tbsps Pandan juice

Method:
~ Mix and stir all ingredients well, then drain and leave to rest for 10 mins.
~ Heat a non-stick pan and brush with some oil, then add in a laddle of batter and using circular motion swirl the pan to get a thin pan cake.
~ When set, remove it from the pan and wrap it with some filling.

Fillings:
(A)
1.5 tbsps Sugar
140g Palm Sugar
2 tbsps Water
few pandan leaves

(B)
280g Grated coconut
1/2 tbsp Sago (mix well with 1 tbsp of water)

Method:
~ Boil Ingredient (A) till sugar turns syrup.
~ Add in grated coconut, then lower down the flame and stir the mixture constantly till almost dry.
~ Add in sago mixture and stir thoroughly and leave cool.



See my grated coconut was not that dark in colour? Its because the palm sugar I'm using is slightly different from the local ones. These were from my aunt, said its from Indonesia, and it taste real good!

Another weekend round the corner, wish everyone has a ..........................

Happy Weekend!

Winter Solstice Festival / DongZhi Festival

The Winter Solstice Festival or DongZhi Festival is one of the most important festivals celebrated by the Chinese and other East Asians during the DongZhi solar term on or around December 21st when sunshine is weakest and daylight shotest.
Traditionally, the DongZhi Festival is also a time for the family to get together. One activity that occurs during these get togethers is making and eating Tang Yuan or balls of glutinous rice which symbolize reunion.
Same as before, I always prepared some Tang Yuan for breakfast or supper on that festive day serve with ginger soup and peanuts for dipping. But this year there'll be some changes on preparing the Tang Yuan. Anyway the peanuts for dipping is a must..;p

I've prepared some plain white and also some red ones with beetroot juice. That was the special one..:) I admit that the colour was not as bright red as those using colouring, but its acceptable.
There are 2 types of soups I prepared for the serving, one with sweet ginger tea and another with soybean milk. About the Tang Yuan, there are 2 types too...one with black sesame seeds filling and the other is plain.

Recipe for plain Tang Yuan:

250ml water (not neccessary to use all)

150g sugar

500g glutinous flour

Recipe for Black Sesame fillings:

Some Black sesame powder (can get from any organic shop)

Some sugar to taste

1 or 2 tsps water (purpose is to make the sesame powder into small balls for easy wrapping)

~ Mix all all dough ingredients together to form into a dough. Knead for about 5 minutes and warp with cling film. Keep in fridge for at least 30 minutes before using.

~ Take a small portion of the plain dough and wrap in the sesame filling. Seal tight and bring to boil in a hot pot of water. It is cook when the balls float.

** I didn't make the soy milk myself, but added few pandan leaves and sugar and bring the milk to boil before serving.

Recipe for the Beetroot Tang Yuan:

** Same as the plain ones, but change the 250ml of water into 250ml beetroot juice.

** Cut the beetroot into small cubes and bring to boil with water. Use only the water.

These are serve with sweet ginger tea soup and some toasted grind peanuts.

Ingredients for the Sweet Ginger Tea:

1 tbsp good quality chinese tea leaves

250ml water

2 large pieces of old ginger (pounded)

few pandan leaves

800ml water

some rock sugar or honeycomb rock sugar

~ Boil the tea leaves with 250ml water, drain and keep the water.

~ Add in all ingredients except sugar, bring to boil. Then simmer for 20 minutes.

~ Add in sugar to taste.

What do you think with these kind of servings? I like both especially the the soybean milk..:)

~Happy DongZhi Festival~

A Promise

"When you make a promise, you have to do it!" That's what i told my girl all the time.
But i always forgot what i promised her, until she got angry..haha! Guess i'm not a good role model to her....;p
I've promised her that i'll bake something for her school party today, which the school will celebrate the Hari Raya and also the coming Deepavali and Children's day. Already showed me the notice from her school few days ago, and she too already chose her recipe. hee hee..:p
So no matter how lazy i am, i got to do it this time!

Octopus kaya pandan buns
Some pandan kaya bread for her breakfast last two days,.....made into the shape of an "octopus"!
Inspired by the "Cottage Bakery" red-bean buns, which we bought last weekend from my aunt's place. Very cute and my girl love it! Its not the taste of my buns, its the shape of it..haha!
Recipe is from my previous post.



Butterfly cupcakes
Here is it....the cupcakes i promised her for her school party.
Just a simple and easy cupcakes that the kids will like, vanila and chocolate.
The preparation for the batter only takes about 15mins, cooking time about 20 minutes then done. But the cutting and decorating part need alittle longer time, due to the mini cupcakes i made. When my daughter sees those cakes, she was so happy and said she wants to help too. Guess it worth all the trouble seeing her so happy and satisfied..:)



A recipe from one of my collection "Favourite Cupcakes". Here the recipe goes....

Ingredients for Vanilla cupcakes:
3 large eggs
225g butter, softened
1 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 + 1/2 cup Self-raising flour
1 tsp vanilla essence

Topping:
1 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
225g butter, room temperature

Deco:
Chocolate chips or coloured sugar sweets or M&Ms

Method:
~ Preheat oven to 180'C
~ Lightly beat the eggs, add in butter and sugar, then mix until light and fluffy.
~ Add milk, flour and vanilla, and beat until light and fluffy about 2 minutes.
~ Spoon into prepared cupcake papers, bake for 18-20 minutes until risen and firm to touch.

Method for topping:
~ Combine all the topping ingredients, beat until light and fluffy.

Deco:
~ Using a sharp knife, slice off the top center of each cake. Cut these circle into half and set aside.
~ Fill the center of each cupcake with icing, and stand the two pieces of cake top upright, to form wings. Slightly pipe alittle in the center of the wings to form the body of the butterfly.
~ Decorate with some chocolate chips or coloured sugar sweets in the center (body).

For those chocolate flavoured ones, just add in 100g dark chocolate pieces or chopped cooking chocolate and 1 tbsp cocoa powder.

The rest of the ingredients and method are the same as the above vanilla cupcakes.

At the end of the day when i pick up my girl from school...she happily told me the cupcakes are all finished. She was so proud that she told her friends she did the decorating..haha!

The cakes are really good for kids party, especially when you make it into small mini sizes. It looks cute..:)

Cassava Bibingka Cake 椰香薯糕

Its another weekend, time really flies. Everything is moving fast, did you notice that there are mooncakes selling in the market already? Oh dear, its not even the 7th month of the lunar calendar. Btw, I've ate some from certain brands already...heehee..;p

Okay, today's bakes.......Cassava Bibingka Cake. Well cassava is "ubi kayu" or tapioca. When I see my dear friend (Honeybeesweets) made her 3-layered Steamed Tapioca Kueh, I can't wait to try her recipe. But too bad I can't find any pandan leaves today. Just imagine the whole area here no pandan leaves selling?....:(

Okay, since I've already bought some cassava, will just bake it with my old recipe. Even its my old recipe, it's new in my blog...:) (made this before I started blogging actually) This is a porpular desert in Manila, Philippine. With the cheddar cheese which is left over from the previous post, it's just right for this recipe.


Ingredients:
5 cups grated cassava (ubi kayu / tapioca)
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup melted butter
2 eggs
1 & 3/4 cups coconut milk
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:
~ Mix all ingredients together in a bowl, pour into a greased 9" square pan.
~ Half bake for 30 minutes or till half done at 180'C.
~ Pour topping and bake again.

Ingredients for Topping:
1 cup condensed milk
2 tbsps plain flour
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

Method:
~ Combine milk and flour in a saucepan and cook over low fire till bubbly.
~ Remove from heat and add in egg yolks.
~ Mix well, and cook over low fire again till slightly thick.
~ Pour onto the half baked cassava cake.
~ Top with cheddar cheese and bake again for another 20-25 minutes at 180'C.

The top is crispy wihile the inside is soft & tasty. YUM YUM!! My daughter asked me to bake this more often after trying the 1st bite..:) Well, I can't recall whether she ate this before or not but it was definetely a long long time ago that I once baked this.

Wish everyone has a nice weekend..;)