Chilled Chocolate Banana~

Frozen banana is one of my favourite desserts and requires very little preparation ya. The banana skin is removed before chilling the banana in the freezer. It tastes like banana ice cream (healthier version). It can also be dipped in melted chocolate and coated with grounded almonds for a richer dessert ya~ (i prefer the originally plain and simple frozen banana ya~).

This dessert is meant to be frozen when served ya. It has a smooth, refreshing and satisfying 'mouth-feel' ya~ i made some of these for a year-end meeting get together session, and they were wiped out ya. (phew~ :p)

Thai Buffet Dinner~

i had a wonderful 'Thai Buffet Dinner' during my godparents' anniversary dinner on sat night ya. It was catered by Creative Catering, the approved caterer for esplanade - theatres on the bay.

1. Thai green papaya & carrots with spicy sauce

2. Lemon grass stick prawn cake (i like the combination of prawn and lemon grass ya~)

3. Thai curry fish cake

4. Black olive fried rice with minced chicken & Phad Thai

5. Green curry chicken wit aubergines and sweet basil

6. Pork spare ribs marinated with sweet sparkling wine and spices

7. Deep fried fish fillet with 3 flavours & stir fried seasonal vegetables

8. Fruit platter (Honeydew, red watermelon and honey rock melon)

9. Pumpkin custard agar & agar agar
10. Caramalised tapioca with coconut (a thai dessert not to be missed ya)

Some Champagne to go alone with dinner~ (awww~ simply wonderful ya)

Creative Catering, do check them out ya~

Crepes Party~

i love having a Crepes party ya~ It's easy to prepare, i can select whatever fillings i like and it's great fun ya~ During the crepes party yesterday, there were lots of fresh salad (buttercup, tomatoes and cucumbers), seasoned hotate scallops, hotdogs and grilled black paper chicken fillet~Oh~ Last but not least, some E33 to top it all up ya~ Awww :P~

1. The 'naked' crepe wrap
2. The 'dressed-up' crepe
3. Seasoned hotate scallops (they go really well with chilled E33 or beer ya~)

4. The all important green salad~ (vegggggggggggg~)

5. A nice cold bottle of e33 cider~

p.s. the ready made frozen crepes (a packet of 10) was bought from cold storage.

~*fantastic*~

Chocolate Chip Cookies~

i could vividly remember some 3 and a half years back, when i first baked these cookies ya. i got all excited when my mum bought a microwave oven with grilling and conventional baking functions. It was the very first time i could do some real baking at home ya.

The recipe was passed to me from an avid baker a.k.a HoneyTree (;p) during my poly days ya. i made alittle modification to the recipe ya, the units in the original recipe was in grams instead of Cups.

Recipe

Ingredients

· ½ Cup butter
· 1 Cup brown sugar
· 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
· 1 egg, lightly beaten
· 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
· 1 Cup & 2 tbs plain flour
· ¾ Cup chocolate chips

Method

1) Preheat oven to moderate 180°C. Brush two oven trays with melted butter or oil. Line with baking paper.
2) Using electric beaters, beat butter, sugar and essence in small bowl until light and creamy. Add egg gradually and beat well. Transfer to large bowl.
3) Using a metal spoon, fold soda, sifted flour and choc chips into creamed mixture. Mix until smooth.
4) Drop level tablespoons of mixture onto prepared trays, allowing for spreading. Flatten mixture slightly. Bake 12 – 15 minutes or until lightly browned and cooked through. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

Tips: To prevent the cookies from spreading too much, refrigerate the dough for 1 hour before rolling them into balls and flattening them slightly on the baking tray (lined with baking sheet).

Black Forest Cake~

Today, i embarked on my largest baking project so far~ Once again, i followed the recipe from Florence's blog; Do what I like - Black Forest Cake. After four and a half hours of preparation, baking, assembling and washing up, my very first black forest cake emerged~

i baked this specially for my godparent's anniversary celebration, hopefully they will like it ya (gosh... so nervous, wonder what the verdict will be...).

i used Lindt 70% dark chocolate (manually shaved the chocolate block ya), fresh cherries and some walnuts to decorate the whipped cream layer of the chocolate chiffon cake. i added some blue berries together with cranberry & blueberry jam (no added sugar), 1 tablespoonful of light cream cheese and mixed in the whipped cream to make the filling.

Upside down chocolate chiffon cake~ (i forgot to flip it back the right side up when the picture was taken :p)

Lindt 70% dark chocolate~

Keeping my fingers crossed ya, hope they will all like it~ :p

Oreo Walnut Cupcake~

The plain vanilla Oreo Cupcakes were pretty well recieved by my friends ya, so this time i decided to play around with the flavour of the cupcake. i caused a little mishap during the preparation of the batter ya, accidentally added too much banana extract (*oops!*)

This is the first time i included walnut into the oreo cupcakes ya. And they came out soft, slightly moist and simply yummie-0-icious~ (other then the intense banana aroma -_-).

The original recipe comes from BakingSheet - Oreo cupcakes.

Tau Sar Piah~

It's been sometime since i last baked Tau Sar Piah ya. i followed Florence's - Tai Yang Bing recipe to make the pastry and Precious moments - Tau sar piah recipe for the fillings ya. It rather time consuming to bake Tau Sar Piah ya, other then the water and oil dough preparation, you have to boil and soften the mung beans before stir-frying them in onion/shallot oil.

Recipe:

Ingredients

Water Dough

• 50g bread flour
• 120g cake flour
• 40g shortening/lard
• 20g corn oil
• 65ml water
• 20g icing sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt

Oil Dough

• 105g cake flour
• 50g shortening/lard

Filling

• 90g oil
• 10 shallots - thinly sliced
• 150g sugar (i added 100g sugar)
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp white pepper
• 300g mung beans (soaked for 2 hours, steamed and mashed)

Egg wash: 1 egg lightly beaten with 1 tsp water

Method

Water dough

1. Sieve all the flours into a big mixing bowl. Make a well in the middle and add in all the rest of the ingredients for the water dough.
2. Mix till a dough is formed and knead this dough till it is smooth and shiny. Cling wrap dough and rest it for 30 minutes.
3. Divide dough into 30 pieces of 12g each.

Oil dough

1. Mix all ingredients together till a piable dough is formed. Cling wrap dough and rest it for 30 minutes.
2. Divide dough into 30 pieces of 4g each.

Filling

1. Add sugar, salt and white pepper to the mashed beans.
2. Heat oil, fry the shoots till brown and fragrant.
3. Pour in the bean mixture. Fry till mixture become dry and able to form into a ball. Divide filling to 12g ball size.

Wrapping

1. On a lightly floured surface, roll out a water dough, wrap an oil dough with this water dough and form a ball.
2. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough. Roll it up like a swiss-roll. Turn the dough 90 degrees and roll out the dough length wise again. Roll it up as swiss-roll.
3. Flatten the dough out and wrap it around the filling and form a ball shape.
4. Repeat the same procedure for the remaining water and oil doughs as well as the fillings. Place pastry doughs on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Apply the egg wash and sprinkle some black sesame seeds onto each of them. Bake at 180 degree celsius for 20 minutes.
5. Remove them from the oven and allow to cool for 5 to 10 minutes before serving or allow them to cool completely before storing in an airtight container. Enjoy!

My parents liked them ya, not too sweet, just right~ Enjoy~

Fruitcake Balls~

This is a simpler alternative to fruitcake ya. These fruitcake balls doesn't require any baking at all~. All you have to do is mix the ingredients accordingly, roll them into balls and refrigerate before serving ya.

These fruitcake balls could also be dipped in dark chocolate for an added chocholatie feel~

Coffee Cinnamon Rolls~

They're fresh from the oven~ It's my first attempt with cinnamon rolls. i had a rolling fun time baking them ya~ Once again i followed the recipe from Florence's - Do what i like blog - Cinnamon rolls.

Together with a hot cup of coffee/tea/milo, and a fresh coffee cinnamon roll~ awww~ perfect teabreak snack ya :p~

i added coffee powder to the dough ya, that's why the rolls are brown compared to florence's perfect cinnamon rolls~

Spaghetti~

What's cooking in the kitchen this morning? Spaghetti~ It's been sometime since i last cooked it ya~ i added mince pork, onions, shitake mushrooms and additional sauces to the Prego parmesan mushroom spaghetti sauce to make 'longan's spaghetti sauce'~

__________________________________________________________

i had an assistant to give me a hand in baking an all time favourite cookie, dark chocolate oatmeal cookies.

Tai Yang Bing~

i was going through Florence's blog archives last evening when i found her recipe for Tai Yang Bing (Taiwanese Sun Pastry). i had most of the ingredients in the kitchen, so i gave a shot at the recipe ya. After 3 and a half hours of dough preparation, and baking, 'viola' here it is:

i didn't glaze the dough with egg wash, which explains the pale appearance ya- The pastry is really flaky, has a smooth texture and is not too sweet ya, lotsa 'mouthfill' ya~ You can make minor adjustments to the fillings (i.e. tuna or mung bean paste instead).

Oatmeal Cookies~

The recipe's once again from Allrecipes, Kristen's awesome oatmeal cookies and they are exactly how the author described them to be ya, crispy on the outside and slightly chewy on the inside~ yummie~ :p~

P.S. i reduced the sugar by a third and used only brown sugar instead of a combination of both white and brown sugar. There's a tinge of sweetness at the end, just right ya~

Shortbread~

These are really simple to bake and they are so good, light and melts in the mouth~ (according to my parents). Here's the recipe from Allrecipes - Scottish shortbread IV (this entry has many good reviews ya). In addition, i included 1 teaspoon vanilla essence and a pinch of salt to give it alittle more flavour ya~

Chocolate Mung Bean Paste Bon Bons~

Ha~ They weren't suppose to be bon bons ya. My initial intention was to make a thai dessert called Loog Choob (miniature fruits made from mung bean paste cooked in coconut milk). But i had trouble shaping them into fruits, so i gave up the idea and transformed them into bon bons. I shaped the mung bean paste into little balls, left them in the freezer for 1 hour then dipped them into melted chocolate before refrigeration.

The taste of the chocolate and mung bean paste blended quite well together. i reduced the sugar by 1/3 when i prepared the mung bean paste, so these bon bons were just right, not too sweet.

For those who are interested to challenge their creativity, can try the Loog Choob recipe from ThaiTable.com.

Checkerboard Cookies~

These are really cute ya! The recipe's from Do what i like - My checkerboard cookies. i had fun making them ya.

Do check out Florence's - Do what i like blog ya~ Her recipes are clear and concise and every recipe comes with a picture of her baking goodies ya~

Ho! Ho! Ho! ~*Merry Christmas*~

Tang Yuan~

Oh! It is 'dong zhi' (winter solstice) today. In olden China, people used to get together and eat 'tang yuan' also known as glutinous rice balls; a tradition that has been around up till now. And as usual, every winter solstice, my mum would 'sor yee', which means to roll up glutinous rice dough into balls and boil them in sweetened soup. She likes to add a little red food colouring to the glutinous rice dough ya.

These glutinous rice balls are filled with sasame seeds and ground walnuts ya. They were alittle over boiled but nevertheless still yummie ya~

~*Happy winter solstice*~

Fruit cake Part 2~

This is my second attempt with fruit cake ya~ And thank goodness it came out satisfactory, way better than my previous attempt ya. I followed the Yochana's cake delight - Light fruit cake recipe exactly this time and it took an hour and a half hour to bake the cake till the center is slightly firm to touch.

Hopefully my relatives will like the fruit cake ya~ (keeping my fingers crossed)

Linzer Torte Cookies~

These didn't come out the way they were suppose to be ya...keke... that's because i misunderstood the recipe...oops~ Nevertheless they still tasted good ya, ha~

For those who are interested to try out the recipe, here's the link; All recipes - Linzer Torte Cookies.

P.S. i used pineapple fillings instead of jam ya~

Fruity Yoghurt Ice cream~

i was so excited when i saw the recipe in the 'Mind you body' section in the papers yesterday and tried out the recipe as soon as i got home from grocery shopping. It's not as creamy as the typical ice cream, but it's much healthier and you can adjust the sweetness of the ice cream to your preference ya. The only down side is the ice crystal formation during the freezing of the yoghurt ice cream. i think it's probably because i didn't stir sufficiently during the preparation step to break up the ice crystals ya.

For those who missed the recipe in the papers yesterday, here it is.

Christmas Pudding Yoghurt Ice cream
Ingredients
· ½ Cup dried or candied cherries (i added Phoon Huat candied mixed fruits)
· ½ Cup dried raisins
· ½ Cup green candied cherries
· 1 kg 99% fat-free unsweetened yoghurt
· 8 tbs white sugar
· 1 Cup cream (optional)
· Zest from orange (i added 1 teaspoon lemon paste extract instead)
· 1 tsp cinnamon powder & 1 tbs rum

Method:

1. Chop all the dried fruits & leave aside. Place yoghurt, sugar & cream in a bowl and whisk the mixture thoroughly.
2. Add cinnamon & rum to the bowl, whisk again. Add chopped fruit & stir using a spoon.
3. Place bowl in frezzer for at least 1 hour in coldest section.(should be half-frozen by then). Stir mixture thoroughly using a spoon till smooth & light. Return bowl to freezer.
4. After another hour, remove from freezer and stir again to break up ice crystals for smoother texture. Cover and return to freezer to serve as & when needed.
5. Bring out 15 mins before serving to allow youghurt to soften a little before scooping out. Ganish with toasted almonds before serving.

You can actually add some mango essence and mango cubes to make a mango flavoured yoghurt ice cream too ya~ Enjoy~

Spicy Shepard's Pie~

i made a simple one dish meal today, Spicy Shepard's Pie~ it's actually shepard's pie with minced chicken fillings and a spicy mashed potato layer above. i cooked the minced chicken with Campbell's creamy chicken with mushroom soup ya.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Mashed potato:

• 5 Potatoes (about the size of your fist)
• 2 tbs fresh milk
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 tbs sin sin brand spicy chilli sauce
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbs salad cream

Fillings:

• 250 g minced chicken (or minced beef or minced pork)
• 1 can of Campbell's creamy chicken mushroom (and 1/4 can of water)
• 1 large yellow onion (diced)
• 2 tsp chopped garlics
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 tsp sasame oil
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp chilli pepper spice

Method

Mashed potato:

1. Boil the potatoes in a pot of boiling water till soft. Peel off the skin and mashed the potatoes in a bowl.
2. Add in freshmilk, pepper, chilli sauce, salad cream and salt. Mix well.

Fillings:

1. Season the minced chicken with pepper, chilli pepper spice and sasame oil. And leave it for 30 mins.
2. Add olive oil to a dry pot and heat with medium fire. When oil is hot, stir fry the garlic and onions for 2 mins. Add in the mince chicken and stir fry for another 3 mins.
3. Pour in the can of campbell's soup and water and let the minced chicken simmer for another 10 mins at low heat, stirring occasionally.
4. Pour the minced chicken into a round aluminium pan (like above) or pyrex bowl. And cover the fillings with the mashed potato.
5. Bake the shepard's pie in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 10 mins. Let it cool on a wire rack for 3 mins before serving.

Desserts at Tcc~

i was at TCC (boat quay branch) with J & M yesterday for their desserts. We had the 'White wine sabayon' and 'Dark devotion' . Both were good ya~ but i prefer the latter better.

1. White wine sabayon; a light creamy texture, coated with grounded croutons and nuts like layer with a tinge of white wine.

2. Dark Devotion; warm chocolate lava cake topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

The dark devotion was heavenly ya. The combination of the melted vanilla ice cream together with the oozing chocolate lava and warm chocolate cake... ooh~ so ooh lah lah~ :p~~~

i highly recommend the Boat quay branch TCC. The cosy, comfy ambience and good service, makes the wonderful TCC experience ya~ :)

Chocolate Vodka Balls~

The recipe's from All recipes - Chocolate Rum Balls I. i didn't have enough rum at home, so i substituted it with peach flavoured absolute vodka and added a mixture of chopped walnuts, cashew nuts and gram nuts instead. Oh, one word of caution, these are rather 'potent' ya, with a strong vodka bitter taste. It'll definitely taste better with rum instead ya. They can be coated with melted chocolate for an added chocolatie flavour ya~

Enjoy~

~*hick*~ :x oops~

Gingerbread Trees~

After 2 posts of CNY goodies, it's time for X'mas delights~ Ginger bread Trees plus frosting sugar~ My initial intention was to make gingerbread men ya, but i couldn't find the mould and so had to switch to gingerbread trees instead. Keke... pardon mi for the awful frosting design, i was rushing against time to complete them ya~

Pineapple Tarts~

These just came out from the oven~~~~~~~ i stamped out the dough while mum added the pineapple fillings. i finally got the pineapple tart pastry right! In the past they used to be overbaked or dough-y ya~ The most crucial step in making pineapple tarts would be the rubbing of the cold butter into the flour ya~

Kuali - Malaysia Recipes website provides a wide range of recipes for asian cuisine, desserts, festive goodies and lots more ya. The recipe for the Pineapple Tarts came from there too. Oh, i didn't had time to make the pineapple jam filling, so i bought them ready-made from Phoon Huat ya.

Cashew Nut Cookies~

Keke... it's a little too early for Chinese New Year goodies ya. But i wanted to try out the recipe to see what i can bake for CNY, which is just 2 months away ya~ These are much better than the Gram Nut Cookies ya!

The original recipe comes from Kuali - Malaysia recipes - Hup Toh Soh recipe, but i made some modifications to transform them into cashew nut cookies~

Recipe:

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup castor sugar


• 1 cup cooking oil


• 60g chopped cashew nuts


• 2 cups flour


• 1 tsp baking powder


• 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda


• 20 Cashew nuts (untoasted)


• 1 egg , lightly beaten for glazing


• 1 tsp almond essence

Directions

1. Sift flour, baking powder, bicarbonate soda and salt into a mixing bowl. Add sugar and chopped cashew nuts. Combine well. Gradually pour in the oil and mix well. Knead to form a smooth dough.


2. Split the cashew nuts into halves.


3. Divide dough into 50g portions. Roll into balls and place them on a baking trayed lined with baking parchment paper. Place a halved cashew nut on the dough ball and press down slightly.


4. Brush them with the lightly beaten egg mixture. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 ºC for 14 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy~ :)

Dark Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies~

These cookies may look scarily dark brown but do not be fooled by their appearance, they are really good ya~ nice & crunchy and best of all they are not too sweet ya~

The recipe's from Epicurious - Dark Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies. For dark chocolate & cookie lovers, do try these out ya~

Lunch at Din Tai Fung~

Many Singaporeans are familiar with Din Tai Fung and their famous Xiao Long Baos (Steamed Pork Dumplings). i had lunch with my parents at Din Tai Fung, Wisma branch, this afternoon. And as usual being the lunch time peak period, we had to queue for a table. Luckily, with their efficient queue system, we only waited for 7 minutes ya.

And what did we have?

1. Spinach tossed with sasame seeds

2. Vegetarian delight with special vinegar dressing
3. Braised tofu with minced meat 4. Hot & sour soup 5. Steamed pork rib soup 6. Xiao Long Bao (Noticed that there are only 9 of 'em? i ate 1 before taking the picture ya~)

7. Noodle soup with shrimp pork wan tan
My favourite is their appetizers; the spinach tossed with sasame seeds and the vegetarian delight with special vinegar dressing.

Awww... it was indeed a satisfying lunch at Din Tai Fung ya~