Anncoo Journal

Nian Gao 年糕~ CNY 2012

2012-01-30T10:30:00.000+08:00

Nian Gao, Year Cake or Chinese New Year's cake is a food prepared from glutinous rice and consumed in Chinese Cuisine. It is considered good luck to eat Nian Gao during Chinese New Year because 'Nian Gao' is a homonym for 'higher year'. The Chinese word‘ 黏’(nian), meaning 'sticky', is identical in sound to 年,meaning 'year' and the word ‘糕’(gao)，meaning 'cake' is identical in sound to高,meaning 'high'. As such eating nian gao has the symbolism of raising oneself in each year year(年年高升nian nian gao sheng).

Here I steamed the Nian Gao together with white grated coconut and serve them within 10 minutes. This method is healthier than pan fried and you can also dip them with ground peanut like Muah Chee.

Nian Gao 年糕

Pour half packet of white grated coconut on baking tray with a little bit of salt.
Cut nian gao into small slices and lay over it. Steam at high heat for 5-6 mins.

Let the nian gao to rest for a few minutes as the nian gao is very sticky after steaming.

Coat nian gao evenly with a pair of chopsticks.

Done!

I'm submitting this post to :
Aspiring Bakers #15: Auspicious Dishes for CNY (January 2012) hosted by Wen of Wen's Delight

Wordless Wednesday

2012-01-25T16:00:00.000+08:00

I am very much smittened with this Pelidanthus Tithymaloides or Slipper Flowers which look like a 'bunch of little birds' perched among the bracts. I fell in love head over heels when I first set eyes on this plant two years ago. I finally bought a pot of this plant home on Chinese New Year Eve.

Took a picture of this pretty white flower in my garden that started blooming at one corner. Thank you Cindi for the info ~
This is Cat's Whiskers ~ The Cat's whiskers is native to tropical areas of Asia and has spread to the East Indies, Indochina and Indonesia. It is also cultivated in Java and Sumatra. The plant owes its name to the four strikingly long stamens, which stick out, as long as a pen, looking like a cat's whiskers sticking out from the white to pale purple flowers lip. The flowers are in spike-like flowery whorls, which is expressed by the epithet: Lat "aristatus" (= with ears). The genus name Orthosiphon comes from the Greek and means "upright tube." The perennial, herbaceous plants will grow up to 60 inches and has purple, four-sided stems that are coarsely toothed with pointed leaves, arranged in decussate.
http://www.koop-phyto.org/en/medical-plants/cats-whiskers-orthosiphon.php

'Fui Gui Cai' ( 福贵菜) or 'Ta Cai'(塌菜) a special type of Chinese vegetable only available in the local market during Chinese New Year. It looked just like a big bunch of 'xiao bai cai' (小白菜) all stuck together. I love to give this a quick stir fry with garlic and oyster sauce. This is also good for hot pot or steam boat. Taste wise, it's almost similar to the texture of xiao bai cai.

It's actually called Tatsoi (Brassica narinosa/Brassica rapa var. rosularis/塌棵菜/ 瓢儿菜/乌

塌菜/塌古菜 in Chinese and タアサイ or 塌菜 in Japanese). It's also known in English as

spinach mustard, spoon mustard or rosette bok choy. :)

Thanks for the info from Criz Lai of CRIZ BON APPETITE

First time I saw this vibrant, bright green coral vegetable at the local market. It is known as Romanesco Cauliflower. The staller told me to cut it into florets and blanch them into hot boiling water for 2-3 minutes. Can use to use them as salad, hotpot or stir fry. I added it into soup. Very delicious, have a little crunch when you bite into them.

Chinese New Year ~ 2012

2012-01-23T08:00:00.000+08:00

Wishing all my Readers and Friends

A Happy, Prosperous, Healthy and Joyous Chinese New Year

新年快乐

大吉大利
恭喜恭喜

Koi Fish Jelly ~ CNY 2012

2012-01-19T15:45:00.000+08:00

In the blink of an eye we'll be celebrating the Lunar New Year in just a few days. Here I'm again posting Koi Fish Jelly with brighter colour which represent wealth and prosperity. 年年有余 nian nian you yu ~The word 'fish' 鱼or 'yu' 余 means literally every year having surpluses and it is a must have dish (steamed fish) for new year dinner.

I'm taking a break for a week from blogging and be back end January. Wishing all readers especially our Chinese readers a happy and healthy year of Dragon!

I'm submitting this post to :
Aspiring Bakers #15: Auspicious Dishes for CNY (January 2012) hosted by Wen of Wen's Delight

Koi Fish Jelly

Ingredients:

500ml Water
100g Sugar
150ml Fresh milk
9g Agar agar powder
2-3 Pandan leaves
2 Fish molds (from Sunlik)
12 Black currants

Using scissors to cut black currants into half and roll into tiny nibs with your finger tips as fish eyes. Tie pandan leaves into a small knot.

Boil water, sugar, agar agar powder and pandan leaves together, keep stirring water until boil at medium heat. Off heat and stir agar agar liquid for another 2-3 minutes. Discard pandan leaves.

Put agar agar liquid under double boiler or at low heat to prevent agar agar liquid set quickly. ~ stir occasionally.

Using a tweezers and dip black currant into agar agar liquid then place black currant on the fish mold eyes. It will sticks quickly.

Take 2 tsp of agar agar liquid into a sauce plate and add a drop of coloring into it (any color you prefer) and mix well. (I used 2 colors ~ cherry red and lemon yellow)

Using the back of the teaspoon，smear the colored liquid quickly on fish mold body ~ mix any color you like. (if the colored liquid has set, add a little hot agar agar liquid to dilute it),

After the colored liquid set on the fish mold, reboil the plain agar agar liquid. Off heat and pour fresh milk into it and stir for another 2-3 minutes and gently pour it into molds (cool down the liquid if it is too hot).

Chill agar agar Koi fish in fridge for at least 2-3 hours or overnight before removing from the fish mold.

You may also like to refer here for the details of making Koi Fish Jelly

祝大家在新的一年里健康辛福快乐！

note: My friend Sarah Jane is also selling the koi fish silicone mould @ www.siliconemoulds.com Please check out for more.

Pineapple Shaped Tarts ~ CNY 2012

2012-01-16T09:30:00.000+08:00

Chinese New Year is just around the corner and we're ushering in the year of the Dragon. As always I've been very busy in the kitchen baking. Pineapple Tarts are my family and friends favourite. I've been repeatedly using the same recipe every year and this year I've made them into cute little shapes of pineapple. Place the Pineapple Shaped Tarts into a pretty box and your friends will be very happy to receive this 'ong lai' 旺来which translated literally in Fujian means 'prosperity has come' and also believe that this will bring them good luck after eating them.

Pineapple Shaped Tarts

Ingredients:
250g Cold butter
1 Egg
75g Custard powder
140g Icing sugar
440g Plain flour
1 tsp Honey
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1/8 tsp Egg yellow colour

1 kg Pineapple jam (roll jams into small balls, about 10g each)

Method:

In a mixing bowl put cold butter (cut cubes), honey, vanilla extract, egg yellow colouring, egg and icing sugar together and mix roughly till mixtures crumbly (30 seconds). Then add in the plain flour and custard powder and mix the mixtures for another 30 seconds.
Place mixtures on to dusted flour table and knead to a smooth dough.
Divide dough into small portions (about 10g each) and wrap with pineapple jam.
Roll the tart into an oval shape and use a small scissors to snip the surface to form a spiky look. Then insert a clove at the top.
Bake at 180C for about 12 mins.

Enjoy Baking!

Earl Grey Tea Cookies

2012-01-09T09:00:00.000+08:00

My friend C sent me a Chinese cookbook 新手餅干教科书when she was in Taiwan for holidays few months ago. There are many easy and interesting recipes in this book and I've already tried a few of them. When Angel of Cook.Bake.Love sent me some Earl Grey Tea during Christmas, I suddenly remember there is an Earl Grey Tea Cookies recipe in this book too. I knew I needed to try it out! These cookies are so crispy, fragrant and delicious that tastes sooo good and its didn't last long in our house. Going to bake another batch next week as Chinese New Year is exactly two weeks from now.

Thank you friends! 朋友！谢谢你们送上的礼物！

Earl Grey Tea Cookies

Ingredients:
150g Butter, softened
100g Icing sugar
1 Egg yolk
60g Ground almond
200g Plain flour
50g Fresh milk
2 Earl grey tea bag

Method:
Heat up fresh milk (not boiled and off heat), add Earl Grey tea leaves in it. Cover and leave to cool then run Earl Grey tea through a sieve and set aside (keep the tea leaves).
Beat butter and icing sugar till light and fluffy. Add in egg yolk and mix well.
Slowly add in Earl Grey tea and mix till combined (add one to two tablespoon of plain flour into it if batter is too wet).
Add in the remaining tea leaves and mix well.
Mix plain flour and ground almond together and pour into the batter in two batches and mix well to a soft dough with a rubber spatula.
Put soft dough into a plastic bag, press flat and place soft dough in refrigerator for 30 minutes or freezer for 10 minutes.
Take out dough from refrigerator and knead it to a soft dough again (do not over knead) and fill into piping bag fitted with a star tip half full. Pipe out cookies onto the prepared trays (you can use cookie press if you prefer).
Bake at preheated oven 180C for about 13-15 minutes until the cookies are lightly golden.
Leave cookies to cool on wire rack and store them in an airtight container.

Enjoy Baking!

Jade Fried Rice

2012-01-05T09:00:00.000+08:00

A great way to use up your leftover ~ carrot, ham and spinach to make this healthy fried rice. You can also add some sweet corn into it to add extra colour to make your kids to enjoy this meal.

Jade Fried Rice

Ingredients: (serves 3)
500g Cooked rice
3 stalks Spinach (菠菜）
3 Large eggs
1 Onion - chopped
1 Small carrot - boil to cook and dice
4 slices of Ham - cut to small pieces

3/4 to 1 tbsp Light soy sauce
dash of pepper
pinch of salt or add to taste (optional)

Method:
Wash spinach until clean, blanch in boiling water quickly until soften, dish out and soak in cold water, strain excessive water and cut finely.
Put in blender together with eggs to blend to paste, pour out and set aside.
Heat oil in wok, saute onions until fragrant, add in diced ham and stir fry until well mixed.
Combine cooked rice with spinach paste together with ham and onion, mix well with soya sauce.
Make sure the wok is very hot, add enough oil then pour in the rice mixture, stir fry continuously with medium heat until rice turn fluffy, dry and fragrant, off heat.
Serve fried rice immediately.

Enjoy!

Lemon Cheesecake

2012-01-02T09:00:00.000+08:00

Happy New Year 2012 everyone!! I hope you had an enjoyable holiday season. This is my first post of the year 2012 ~ Lemon Cheesecake. Lemon is the perfect flavour for cheesecake. I'm sure no one can resist this extremely light and refreshing hint of lemon dessert. This is also perfect to serve with a cup of mint tea.

Lemon Cheesecake

Ingredients

Line and grease a 8" springform cake pan

100g Marie biscuits, crushed

80g Melted butter

Combine crushed biscuit crumbs and melted butter together in a mixing bowl. Press the biscuit crumbs onto the base of the prepared pan and chill in the refrigerator for later use.

250g Cream Cheese
30g Sugar
3 Egg yolks
65g Whipping cream
1 Lemon zest
3/4 tbsp Lemon juice
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
1/2 tbsp Orange contreau
20g Butter, melted
2 tbsp Plain flour, sifted
3 Egg whites
35g Sugar

Method:

Cream the cheese and sugar together and slowly add in whipping cream, beat till creamy at medium speed.
Scrape bowl and add egg yolks one at a time until all combined then add lemon zest, lemon juice,vanilla extract and orange contreau ~ beat to mix well.
Scrape bowl, lower speed add in melted butter and plain flour, mix well and transfer cheese mixture to a large bowl.
Whisk egg whites and sugar till peak form. Use a rubber spatula to fold egg whites to cheese mixture.
Pour cheese mixture into prepared cake tin.
Steam bake at 160C for about 1 hour. Cool to room temperature and chill cheesecake before serve.
You may like to mix some cocoa powder and snow powder together and dust on cheesecake.

Enjoy!

Would like to share some night shots of Marina Bay taken during the Christmas holiday.

Happy New Year 2012!

2011-12-31T10:45:00.000+08:00

As the new year

renews all the happiness

and good tidings ...

Hope the joyful spirit

keeps glowing ...

in your heart ...

Forever!

Happy New Year 2012!

Wishing you a very Happy and Healthy New Year!!!!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-23T01:13:00.000+08:00

Wishing All Friends and Readers A Very Merry Christmas & Prosperous New Year. I'm taking a little blog vacation until New Year. Hope everyone have a wonderful and relaxing holiday. See you in 2012.

Christmas Snowball Cookies

2011-12-21T09:00:00.000+08:00

Christmas is only 4 days away and I chose this Christmas Snowball Cookies or Almond Snow Balls recipe from my favourite book Oskashi ~ sweet treats made with love. Don't ask me how many recipes I've tried, I just love the easy and simple recipes in this book ♥. I'm sure many of you have this book and love it very much too. These Snowball Cookies or Almond Snowballs are very yummy with the almond fragrance that just melts in your mouth. You can let your kids to help you around and have fun. You can roll the dough into small balls so that they be easily popped into your mouth. Hope everyone have a wonderful Christmas!☺

I'm submitting this post to:

Aspiring Bakers Event #14 - Creative Christmas (2011) hosted by Hankerie

White Christmas Recipe Challenge organised by Very Good Recipes via Quay Po Cooks.

Christmas Cookie Exchange-Linky Party organised by At Home with Rebecka

Almond Snowball Cookies

Ingredients:
150g Plain flour
120g Butter, softened
50g Icing sugar
a pinch of salt
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
50g Ground almonds

Method:

Preheat oven to 160C. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
Beat butter, icing sugar, salt and vanilla extract until softened.
Fold flour and ground almonds into butter mixture using a spatula.
Wrap dough with cling film and refrigerate for about 20 minutes.
Roll chilled dough into a long cylinder about 3 cm in diameter. Slice roll and weigh the pieces to check they are uniform in size, about 8g each.
Shape dough pieces into balls and place in alternating rows on prepared baking tray to ensure good distribution of oven heat for even baking.
Bake cookies for 20 minutes, then remove from heat and leave to cool on a wire rack.
Once cooled, dust cookies with icing sugar and store in an airtight container to keep them crisp.

Enjoy & Have a Merry Christmas!

Thank you Friends！朋友！谢谢你！

2011-12-20T23:30:00.000+08:00

This is a special post to thank my blogger friends for sending me all these lovely Christmas gifts. Thank you very much friends, you've made my Christmas so special this year.

Jessie~ Jessie-Cooking Moments

Thank you Jessie, you can read my mind... I love the colour of the tea towel very much and the decoration sealers are so cute too.

Rachel first published book 'Kawai Bento'~ 温馨小厨

Congratulations Rachel! You're so sweet and thoughtful for sending me your first book. All your bentos are so cute! Readers, if you're interested in making bento, this is the book for you, it is available at the book store now.

I'm so glad to have been able to meet 东东，Angela, Esther and Hanushi, on last Friday 16th Dec. We had a good time together chatting and exchanging gifts for our first meet up. Hope to see you all again soon in 2012.

Black sesame powder and muffin liners from Esther~ 爱丝特の烘焙记录

Tibits and cute bookmark from Simply Hanushi

Cute cake pans and mooncake mould from ~ 东东 ~The Kitchen 70's

Spatula and delicious madelines from Angel ~ Cook.Bake.Love

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!

Dragron Fruit Chiffon Cupcakes

2011-12-19T09:00:00.000+08:00

This is the 3rd time I baked this Dragon Fruit Chiffon Cupcakes. Firstly because I love the super cottony soft texture and the mild taste of dragon fruit in the cake and secondly I don't understand why I can't get the pretty red colour after they have been baked even though I've increased the dragon fruit puree. As I was eager to get an answer, I left a message on facebook asking anyone who knows the reason. I'm so glad to receive a feedback from Criz Lai of CRIZ BON APPETITE that I'm sure many of you are also curious to know the answer. Thank you very much Criz for the answer, really appreciate it.

Criz wrote: "Actually the answer to your question is quite simple. It's the use of baking soda. The addition of this ingredient in baking would discolor any naturally colored juices through heat. That's the reason why some would add in some food coloring to have a better color presentation. Baking soda has been widely used as a whitening agent such as in toothpaste and more. :)"

By the way... nice creation you have there. Alternatively, you could add in some slightly sweetened fresh cream with some freshly cubed pitaya in between the cake~ :)"

Dragon Fruit Chiffon Cupcakes

Ingredients: (Thank you Elin of Elinuv's TIDBITS Corner for sharing this lovely recipe)
3 Egg yolks (use large egg 70g each)
25g Caster sugar
70g Dragon fruit puree
40g Corn oil
1/4 tsp Vanilla extract
55g Self raising flour
2 tbsp Corn flour

3 Egg whites
1/8 tsp Cream of tartar
60g Caster sugar

The cake is so springy to touch. When lightly pressed, the cake will spring back :)

Method:

Whisk egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in dragon fruit puree, corn oil and vanilla extract. Light mix in self-raising flour and cornflour.
In a separate clean bowl, whisk egg whites, cream of tartar and caster sugar until fluffy and stiff. Carefully fold the egg yolk mixture into the beaten egg white until well combined.
Spoon batter into muffin liners.
Bake in preheated oven at 170C for 10 minutes then reduce temperature to 160C and bake for another 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and invert cake immediately. Leave undisturbed until completely cooled.

Enjoy!

Apricot Slice

2011-12-16T09:00:00.000+08:00

Made this simple, delicious and vibrant Apricot Slice for afternoon tea. Everybody loved the light tangy taste of the dried apricot and can't wait for their second helping. I think this would be great to serve on Christmas holidays as you can wrap the Apricot slices and store them in the fridge for about a week and then allow them to cool at room temperature half an hour before serving. As apricot pairs well with almond, I suggest you change the topping to almond flakes because the diced dried apricot almost turned black even I sprinkled them after 15 minutes of baking. Anyway I'm definitely going to make this again ~ A keeper for sure!

Apricot Slice

Ingredients:

150g Soft butter
175g Caster sugar
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
1/4 tsp Salt
3 Large eggs
175g Plain flour
100g Dried apricot

Method:

Dice dried apricot and mix with 1 teaspoon plain flour, set aside.
Beat soft butter, sugar, salt and vanilla extract till white and fluffy at medium speed.
Lower speed add eggs one at a time and beat well until incorporated
Stop machine and pour in plain flour and fold well with a rubber spatula.
Lastly add in dried apricot and mix well.
Pour batter into a 8 inch square tray (lined all sides up) and bake at preheated oven 170C for about 30 mins or skewer inserted comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Christmas Giveaway Announcement (2011)

2011-12-16T00:00:00.000+08:00

Are you ready to find out who won the giveaway?

I'm pleased to announce the 4 Lucky Winners are .... drum roll....

Entry #10 ~ Malaysia ~ Amelia's De-ssert

~~~~~

Entry #59 ~ Singapore ~ Peng's Kitchen

~~~~~~

Entry #104 ~ Hong Kong ~ Anne, Made In Hong Kong

~~~~~

Entry #149 ~ Silent Reader ~ Alice from Singapore

~~~~~

Congratulations to all the 4 Lucky Winners. Please leave your mailing address at my Contact above and I'll send the Christmas gifts to you all as soon as possible.

Thank you Friends and Readers for joining this Christmas Giveaway. I want to take this time to thank you all for your continued support to Anncoo Journal. Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Easy Brownies

2011-12-12T09:00:00.000+08:00

How can you have Christmas without chocolate! Chocolate lovers know that receiving chocolate as gift is always exciting. Chocolate brownies are the best dessert to serve or wrap as a gift for the festive holidays. My today's post is Easy Brownies. It is a soft and fragrant piece of cake that valrhona chocolate and cocoa powder are being used. Walnuts are added in the brownies with chocolate crumbles as topping that give a nutty and crisp bites. If you prefer the brownies to be sweeter, you can also add some chocolate chips into it or substitute the chocolate crumbles for chocolate ganache topping. The addition of rum or mint is also a classic combination. Do give a try with mixing and matching the flavours to suit your taste and share this wonderful brownies to your family and friends for Christmas.

Easy Brownies

Chocolate crumbles
45g Plain flour
12g Valrohna cocoa powder
25g Sugar
30g Soft butter

Mix all the chocolate crumbs ingredients well with finger tips and set aside.

Brownies
4 Egg whites
130g Melted chocolate (65g Valrohna chocolate & 65g semi-sweet chocolate)

130g Soft butter
125g Sugar
4 Egg yolks
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract

150g Walnuts, slighty crush

140g Plain flour )
2 1/2 tbsp Valrohna cocoa powder } sieve together
1 tsp Baking powder )
1 tsp Baking soda )

Method:
Whisk egg whites till stiff and fold in melted chocolate with a rubber spatula.
Beat butter, sugar and egg yolks till creamy and pour into egg white mixture, mix well and add in walnuts.
Add sifted flour mixture with 3-4 tablespoon fresh milk, fold well.
Pour mixture into a 10 x 6 1/2 inch or 8 inch square (lined all sides) tray and sprinkle chocolate crumbles on top.
Bake at preheated oven 170C for about 40-45 mins or test with a skewer till it comes out clean.

Enjoy Baking!

The Christmas Giveaway is still open till Wednesday 14 December 9.00pm (S'pore time).
There's still a chance for you to enter the giveaway if you've not leave a comment yet.
Please click here to enter to try your luck :)

Christmas Giveaway ~ This Cake Cup Is For You

2011-12-07T09:00:00.000+08:00

As 2011 is coming to an end, I would like to thank all of you for reading and commenting on my posts for the year. I'm having these cute Cake Cups as Christmas giveaway to 4 lucky winners. One each from Malaysia, Singapore, overseas and one especially for my silent readers. I know you're always here to read my blog and some of you even emailed me to inquire more about my bakes. I really appreciate that everyone of you are so supportive of Anncoo Journal.

To enter this giveaway, please leave a comment saying who you are and from which country. This giveaway ends on next Wednesday 14th December 9pm (Singapore time) and the winners will be announced by Friday 16th December.

Good luck everyone!

Sweet Potato Tarts for Christmas Eve

2011-12-05T09:00:00.000+08:00

Another week has gone by and in twenty days time will be Christmas eve. I'm sure everyone is very excited over this festive season. Have you planned what kind of food or dessert to be served on the Christmas eve dinner table?

Here is another interesting recipe that I got from a newspaper cutting. The Japanese French dessert Chef Tomoko is from the famous bakery shop Patisserie Glace in Singapore. She uses the root vegetable sweet potato to make an ever-popular French Classic Mont-blanc.

As I like to snack on sweet potato, I definitely do not wish to miss out this yummy dessert and made it into tarts instead. The sweet potato cream and paste turned out so well that I kept digging the filling with a spoon and tasted it even before piping it into the tartlets. The smooth and creamy blended sweet potato just melted in my mouth in seconds .... so yummy! I'll definitely be making this again.

I'm submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #14: Creative Christmas Bakers

(December 2011) hosted by Hankerie

Sweet Potato Tarts for Christmas Eve

Ingredients: (makes 8 medium size tarts & 16 mini tarts)
Sweet Tart
250g Plain flour or use 300g plain flour without the ground almond
50g Ground almond
165 Butter
75g Icing sugar
1/4 tsp Salt
3 1/2 tbsp Water

Mix pastry ingredients till crumbly, add ice water into it and knead to become a dough. (Please refer to my Blueberry Pie for more details)
Shape it into ball and wrap it with aluminium foil. Put dough in freezer for about 15 minutes.
Roll the pastry dough flat into about 3mm thickness between two plastic sheets. Use a round cutter to cut dough and place it into tart mould.
Press the dough evenly in mould and trim excess dough with a sharp knife.
Prick some holes with a fork to release air from the pastry and place the tart moulds in the freezer for another 10 mins or for a day or two.
Take out tart moulds from freezer, line with aluminium foil and blind bake medium size tarts for 30 minutes and mini size tarts for 20 minutes at preheated oven 180C. Remove aluminium foil immediately from tart moulds after baked and leave tart pastry to cool.

Sweet Potato Paste
700g Sweet potato (Japanese potato)
70g Sugar
40g Butter
1 Egg yolk
160g Whipping cream or fresh milk

Wash and scrub sweet potato and steam at high heat till soft.
Remove skin and put sweet potato in a food processor together with sugar, butter, egg yolk and whipping cream and blend till fine paste, set aside. (measure 200g for making sweet potato cream)

Sweet Potato Cream
200g Sweet potato paste
100g Whipping cream
1 tbsp Sugar

Making Sweet Potato Cream
Whip cream with sugar on medium speed until stiff peaks form,
Add sweet potato paste into the whipping cream and mix to combine to sweet potato cream.
Add sweet potato cream into a piping cream and pipe into tart shells.
Chill for 30-60 mins to let cream set.

Spoon the remaining sweet potato paste into a piping bag and pipe on top of sweet potato cream.
Chill sweet potato tarts and dust some icing sugar or snow powder before serve.
**Sweet potato tarts can be also served immediately.

Enjoy!

Almond Cranberry Cookies

2011-11-30T15:00:00.000+08:00

As Christmas is about 3 weeks away, I think it is time to start making some new flavoured cookies for sampling. Not only for Christmas but also for Chinese New Year which falls on 23 Jan 2012. How time flies. In less than two months, we'll be celebrating Chinese New Year. For today's Almond Cranberry Cookies, I used the leftover cranberries from my Cranberry Yogurt Chiffon Cake. The recipe was adapted from the book of 孟老师的100多道手工餅乾. These cookies are made using the rub-in method just like for short crust pastry. You don't need a mixer to mix the ingredients, very easy! The crunchy cookies have an almond aroma and a slight tangy taste of cranberries. I would prefer to add in a little more dried cranberries to give an extra tangy taste the next time I make these cookies again. The recipe is definitely a keeper for sure.

Almond Cranberry Cookies

Ingredients:

35g Dried cranberry
35g Almond flakes
100g Plain flour
35g Icing sugar
20g Ground almond
50g Cold butter, cut to cubes
1 tbsp Fresh milk

Method:

Toast almond flakes at 160C for 5 mins and leave to cool.
Blend almond flakes and dried cranberry separately in the grinder and mix them together in a bowl.
In large bowl sieve in plain flour, icing sugar and mix together with ground almond. Add in cold butter and rub with your finger tips and both of your hands till mixture becomes sandy.
Add 1 tablespoon fresh milk into the cranberry mixture, mix well and add into the flour mixture. Mix well with a rubber spatula and knead into a dough.
Roll out the dough in between two plastic sheets to about 1 cm thick. Cut out shapes using your preferred pastry cookies cutter and place them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
Bake at 170C for about 15-20 mins or till golden brown. Remove from heat and cool on wire rack then store cookies in an airtight container.

I'm sending this entry to 'Only' Cakes & Cookies hosted by Pari of Foodelicious.

Happy Baking!

You may like to wrap a special Christmas gift to your loved ones, please click on the image and check on my tutorial.

No-Bake Tofu Cheesecake

2011-11-28T09:00:00.000+08:00

I made this pretty No-Bake Tofu Cheesecake before the weekend. You won't believe that this easy cheesecake was really very healthy, it's eggless and no cream added which made it light and not heavy. I blended together all the ingredients till smooth, then add in the gelatine, mixed in some green tea powder to make marble effect.

You'll be surprised to find that the texture of this No-Bake Tofu Cheesecake was very smooth, with an almost melt in your mouth effect along with a slight hint of green tea flavour. Absolutely delicious!

No Bake Tofu Cheesecake

Line and grease a 8" springform cake pan

100g Marie biscuits, crushed

80g Melted butter

Combine crushed biscuit crumbs and melted butter together in a mixing bowl. Press the biscuit crumbs onto the base of the prepared pan and chill in the refrigerator for later use.

Filling

300g Pressed Tofu (momen tofu)

15g Gelatine powder

70g Water

2 tsp Green tea powder mix with 5 tbsp hot water

250g Cream cheese (room temperature)

200g Natural yogurt/sour cream

60g Soya milk (reduced sugar)/fresh milk

100g Icing sugar

1/2 tsp Vanilla extract

Method:

Wrap tofu in cheesecloth and press out water from tofu by placing a heavy object on top for about 15 mins.
Soak gelatine powder in water and leave aside for about 5 minutes.
Mix green tea powder with 5 tbsp hot water. Set aside.
In a food processor, blend cream cheese, tofu, yogurt, soya milk, icing sugar and vanilla till very smooth.
Heat gelatine powder mixture in a double boiler till melted and add to cream cheese mixture and blend well.
Pour 3/4 cream cheese mixture into one bowl and 1/4 to another. Mix green tea mixture to 1/4 plain filling, mix well.
Spoon plain and green tea cream cheese filling alternately into pan, till all the mixtures are used up and gently shake the pan a little.
To make swirls, gently run a chopstick in circular motion.
Chill cake in refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight.
For perfect slices, cut cheesecake with a hot knife.

Enjoy!

Cranberry Yogurt Chiffon Cake

2011-11-23T17:15:00.000+08:00

I want to say thank you to Cherry Potato for sharing this yummy cake recipe. There is no reason why I should say 'no' to this Cranberry Yogurt Chifon Cake. It is so easy to make this moist, soft and tangy chiffon which is tangy and full of lemon flavour and cranberries. I've put the batter into cupcake liners instead of a chiffon pan like my Mini Tofu Chiffon Cake ~ no moulding and no washing of chiffon pan! :D

Cranberry Yogurt Chiffon Cake

Ingredients: makes 14
5 Egg yolks
40g Caster sugar
65g Canola oil/salad oil
2 tsp Lemon juice
130g Natural yogurt
130g Plain flour (sifted)
lemon zest from one lemon
7 Egg whites
90g Caster sugar
95g Dried cranberries (cut to small pieces & sprinkle with 1/2 tbsp flour)

Method:

In a large bowl, mix egg yolks, sugar and oil well with a hand whisk. Add lemon juice, lemon zest and yogurt into it, mix well again.
Whisk egg whites till frothy, gradually add in the sugar in batches, mix well. Continue beating till egg whites are stiff but not dry.
Use a hand whisk to mix 1/3 egg whites with mixture.
Gently fold in the rest with a rubber spatula till well combined.
Lastly gently fold in the cranberries pieces into mixture.
Spoon batter into cupcake liners up to 3/4 full evenly and bake at 180C for 15 mins, then lower temperature to 160 for another 20 mins or skewer comes out clean.
Invert cake immediately on a wire rack to cool completely before unmoulding.

Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Cupcakes

2011-11-21T09:00:00.000+08:00

I made this Sweet Potato Cupcakes two days ago and it was the best treat for everyone at home. This recipe was adapted from my favourite book Okashi, sweet treats made with love. It was a very healthy steamed cake, no eggs or butter required. So easy to make and adding sweet potato in the cupcakes make them extra soft and delicious. This is definitely a keeper and I'll make with purple sweet potato next time.

Sweet Potato Cupcakes

Ingredients: recipe with slight modification - makes 6
230g Sweet Potato
50g Brown Sugar
120g Plain flour (sift together with baking powder)
1 tbsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Sea salt
120g Soy milk (I used reduced sugar soy milk)
1 tsp Vanilla extract
20g Canola oil or salad oil
30g Raisins

Method:

Line muffin pan with paper cases. Set aside.
Wash and peel sweet potato into small cubes. Place in a pot and add 2 tablespoon sugar. Pour in just enough water to cover. Simmer until sweet potatoes soften and drain. Measure 60g sweet potato and mash with a fork.
Place brown sugar, sea salt and mashed potato in a bowl and beat well.
Add soy milk, vanilla extract and canola oil and mix well with a hand whisk.
Add flour mixture and fold well with a rubber spatula. Add 3/4 of the cubed sweet potatoes and raisins to batter and fold in.
Spoon batter into prepared paper cases. Top each with remaining pieces of sweet potatoes.
Heat water in a steamer until boiling, then steam cupcakes over high heat for 20 minutes or until well risen. Remove from steamer and leave to cool on a wire rack.
Serve cupcakes warm or at room temperature.

I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #13: Enjoy Cupcakes! (November 2011)

hosted by Min of Min's Blog.

Before I sign off, I'm so happy Sarah Jane from Silicone Moulds.com, Chris from Yummy Bakes and Biren from Roti n Rice tried my Italian Apple Cupcakes recipe and liked them. Biren even tweaked the recipe to a healthier version using buckwheat flour and oat flour. I definitely want to try this gluten free recipe for sure and Congratulations to Biren, her picture of GF Buckwheat Italian Apple Cupcakes was featured on TasteSpotting yesterday..Ya!!

Readers, please will hop over to their sites and I'm sure they'll be delighted to receive your lovely comment. :))

Frangipane and Lemon Tart

2011-11-18T12:00:00.000+08:00

When I saw the beautiful picture of Frangipane and Lemon Tart from Donny Hay magazine, I told myself I have to make it because I love almond. I'd used my own sweet tart pastry as base with some grated lemon zest and the filling pastry cream from Donna Hay was pretty simple to make. The smell was awesome when the frangipane was in the oven and I really love the end result. The base was crisp with a hint of lemon flavour and the frangipane was very fragrant because more ground almond than flour was being used. The texture was soft like cake. I am definitely going to try to make this again but with fresh fruits as topping.

Frangipane & Lemon Tart

Sweet Tart Pastry (for detail please refer here)

200g Plain flour

110g Butter

50g Icing sugar

1/4 tsp Salt

1 tsp Finely grated lemon rind

2 1/2 tbsp Ice water

Mix all ingredients till crumbly and add ice water to form dough.
Shape it into a ball and wrap it with foil then store in freezer for 20 mins.
Place pastry on to the ring, pressing it to fit the bottom and sides so that no air bubbles lurk under the pastry, but taking care not to stretch it.
Roll across the top of the ring with the rolling pin. This rolls away any overhanging pastry.
Prick the pastry at the bottom of the case with a fork.
Return the pastry dough to the freezer for another 15 mins or you can keep the pastry dough until next day or up to a week.
Take out pastry from freezer and quickly line it with aluminium foil and blind bake with pie weights or dried beans, to keep the bottom flat. Bake at preheated oven at 175C for 20 mins. Remove pie weights and foil immediately after baked.
Cool down the pastry.

Frangipane

100g Butter, softened
~~110g~~ Caster sugar (I used 75g)
1 Egg
1 Egg yolk
120g Almond meal (ground almond)
35g Plain flour
20g Flaked almonds

Beat butter and sugar until light and creamy.
Gradually add the egg and egg yolk and beat until just combined.
Use a rubber spatula to fold in almond meal and plain flour into egg mixture until just combined.
Spoon mixture into the pastry case and top with flaked almonds.
Bake at preheated oven 180C for about 30 minutes or until the frangipane has set.

I'm submitting this post to Weekend Herb Blogging #310
hosted by Christina from La Cucina de Cristina

Christmas Tree On The Box

2011-11-15T11:00:00.000+08:00

W

ith Christmas only a few weeks away, many of you would probably have created a gift list. Besides giving Christmas gifts to your loved ones, pretty wrapping is also another way to make the recipient feel that he or she is 'extra special' to you. My post today is showing you how to transform a square or a rectangular box or even a magazine to look like a X'mas tree on the box. Pictures tell a thousand words and I'll let the pictures do the talking as the tutorial will show you step by step on how to wrap a gift box in detail. Hope you'll enjoy this post and get ready to wrap a pretty gift for Christmas.

Christmas Tree On The Box

Here's what you'll need

Double sided coloured or two different coloured wrapping paper that is large enough
to cover them.
Scissors, double sided tape, ribbon, cute Christmas tag.

Move your mouse over the image to pause the slide show

Hope you like it & have fun!

Honey Cupcakes

2011-11-14T09:00:00.000+08:00

Hi Everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. This is the Honey Cupcakes that I've mentioned earlier in my previous post How To Make Coloured Sugar. It is a very simple recipe and honey was added in the cake. Just remember not to overmix the ingredients while mixing or else after baking you'll get a tough cake. To make the cupcakes more presentable, I've whipped up some fresh topping cream with whipping cream and sprinkled with some yellow coloured sugar but for long lasting decorations, I suggest you to use butter cream or meringue icing instead. These Honey Cupcakes are great for giving away or served in a party to impress your guests.

I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #13: Enjoy Cupcakes! (November 2011)

hosted by Min of Min's Blog.

Honey Cupcakes

Ingredients (makes 10)
125g Butter (softened)
110g Caster sugar
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1 tbsp Honey
2 Eggs
185g Plain flour (sieve together with baking powder)
1 tsp Baking powder
125ml Milk

Whipped cream
120g Fresh topping cream
60g Whipping cream (milac cream from PH)

Method:

Preheat oven to 170C.
Beat butter, sugar, vanilla and honey until light and creamy.
Gradually add the eggs and beat until well combined.
Add flour and milk alternately and beat until just combined.
Pipe or spoon the mixture into muffin tins lined with paper cases and bake for 25-30 mins or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Allow to cool on a wire rack.
Whisk fresh topping cream and whipping cream together to peak form.
Place whipped cream in a piping bag with a #14 plain round tip and pipe in circular motion on cake.
Store cupcakes in refrigerator and sprinkle with coloured sugar before serve.

Enjoy!

Anncoo Journal

Nian Gao 年糕~ CNY 2012

Wordless Wednesday

Chinese New Year ~ 2012

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Jade Fried Rice

Lemon Cheesecake

Happy New Year 2012!

Merry Christmas

Christmas Snowball Cookies

Thank you Friends！ 朋友！谢谢你！

Dragron Fruit Chiffon Cupcakes

Apricot Slice

Christmas Giveaway Announcement (2011)

Easy Brownies

Christmas Giveaway ~ This Cake Cup Is For You

Sweet Potato Tarts for Christmas Eve

Almond Cranberry Cookies

No-Bake Tofu Cheesecake

Cranberry Yogurt Chiffon Cake

Sweet Potato Cupcakes

Frangipane and Lemon Tart

Christmas Tree On The Box

Honey Cupcakes

Thank you Friends！朋友！谢谢你！