FABULOUS SUGAR

Paris 2010 - While on walkabout

2012-01-30T22:46:00.000+08:00

We were heading somewhere... I cannot quite remember where anymore. I do know we had a bite to eat at a McDonald's (yes, not a very inspired choice in a city filled with culinary delights, but it was convenient) with a rather strange washroom concept. You could only use the washroom if you had bought a meal at the restaurant. The receipt comes with a four-digit code which you key into a panel at the side of the washroom's entrance, 'et voila' the door opens and you can go inside to do your thing.

Anyway, before I digress even further, we went on a bit of a walkabout of the city and these were some of the sights we saw before ending at the Jardin du Luxembourg.

The Sorbonne

The Pantheon

The building facing the Pantheon

Paris 2010 - The bird I thought my mother

2012-01-30T20:46:00.000+08:00

Hmmmm yes... I have strange notions about my mother appearing to me in bird form. This is the second time it's happening. The first was just after her passing. I cannot ignore the notion. It doesn't come along with every bird I see... just two... so far.

Paris 2010 - Square Andre Lefevre and the old old church

2012-01-30T20:39:00.001+08:00

So we were walking aimlessly and then I saw this old old building. I was sure it was a church, but we had to walk right round it to be sure and yes it was. Though I confess I still have no idea WHAT church it was.

It was hauntingly beautiful. There is perhaps something very reverent about old old churches. Something that cannot be put into words and yet you feel it all around you when you step into one. It's like a living breathing thing that envelopes you so completely, silences your tongue and gives birth to awe.

Paris 2010 - Notre Dame and Charlemagne who gave me a fright

2012-01-30T20:07:00.003+08:00

The great Notre Dame de Paris. How do I describe its glory? From intricate stained glass jewels to its sculptures to the little chapels that stand like little alcoves of serenity along the sides of the main area of worship to its magnificent architecture to the haunting echo of the choir during mass and so much more.

The Bird Man is what I think of him as. There he was at the foot of Charlemagne standing quite still feeding the birds. I stood and watched him for awhile. Why? I don't know. I just did.

And this is... Charlemagne the great Frankish king who gave me a fright and made my heart beat wildly out of fear. You can't quite tell from this photo, but he is quite menacing. One look at the expression on his face and you will wonder what it should be like if he suddenly came alive and rode off the platform... and then you'll think - I don't ever want to see that day for he has the look of death upon him.

Looking out onto the waters of the Seine that surround the Ile de la Cite - the centre of Paris - just next to Notre Dame de Paris.

Paris 2010 - The Eiffel Tower at almost dusk

2012-01-29T23:12:00.001+08:00

Better late than never I suppose. So here they are. Photos of the Paris I saw, but cannot say I fell in love with like many others. Perhaps it was the stolen wallet, perhaps it was that I didn't quite see the 'romance' in it all or perhaps I was simply tired. I'm not sure, but I do wish to visit again just to make sure Paris and I are/aren't meant for each other.

Built in 1889 by Gustave Eiffel as the entrance arch to the 1889 World's Fair, La Tour Eiffel has since become one of the world's most recognised and visited structures - the symbol of Paris.

Beautiful isn't against the fading blue sky? I didn't get to see the lights that come on after nightfall. It was a long spring day. I chose not to wait in favour of dinner and a warm bed. I did however, manage to sit on the ledge of the water canal and eat some delicious freshly made crepes filled with Nutella.

The other side of the canal.

Lemon Drizzle Cake and hope for a better tomorrow...

2012-01-29T19:46:00.000+08:00

Evening

Rainer Maria Rilke

Translated by Stephen Mitchell

The sky puts on the darkening blue coat
held for it by a row of ancient trees;
you watch: and the lands grow distant in your sight,
one journeying to heaven, one that falls;

and leave you, not at home in either one,
not quite so still and dark as the darkened houses,
not calling to eternity with the passion of what becomes
a star each night, and rises;

and leave you (inexpressibly to unravel)
your life, with its immensity and fear,
so that, now bounded, now immeasurable,
it is alternately stone in you and star.

It will be tomorrow in a few hours. I can't say I'm looking forward to it with enthusiasm despite the lovely cakes I've had to tide me over the weekend. I think I will need Edmund again, but we'll see. Perhaps a slice of this for dinner will sort me out.

Lemon Drizzle Cake

Adapted from BBCGoodFood

250g butter, softened and a little kept aside to butter the cake tin

225g castor sugar

3 lemons, zested and juiced

Vanilla beans from 1 vanilla pod

4 large eggs

200g self raising flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

50g ground almonds

Icing sugar

Grease and line a 20cm round cake tin.
Sieve flour, ground almonds and baking powder together. Set aside.
Cream butter, sugar, vanilla and three-quarters of the lemon zest with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy.
Beat in eggs one by one, beating well after each addition.
Fold in the flour mixture gently by hand until just combined. Give the batter a quick mix with the electric beaters (5 - 7 seconds).
Fold in three-quarters of the lemon juice gently by hand until completely absorbed into the batter.
Pour batter into the prepared tin and bake at 150 Celsius until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
While the cake is baking, mix the reserved lemon juice with enough sieved icing sugar to get a thick, white, spreadable icing. The icing should not be too runny.
Pour the icing over the just baked cake and place it back in the oven for about 5 minutes to dry a little.
Remove from the oven and let the cake cool completely. The icing will form a thin crust on top of the cake. Sprinkle with reserved lemon zest and serve.

Notes:

I used a smaller round cake tin and cupcake cases instead of a 20cm round cake tin.
I also accidentally left the cake in with the icing a little too long so it started bubbling and made a bit of a mess on the oven floor. This idea (not the mess!) is from Tamami. If you click on the link, you will see that she has given step-by-step instructions on how to get the perfect shiny set icing. I'm of course, a half-past-six baker so I simply mixed and did.
And yes, I have tried Jamie Oliver's recipe for the same cake. It's a lovely cake by itself. It's got a more full-on mouth-puckering lemon flavour going for it as well as syrup poured in and an icing on top, but I found the poppyseeds distracting.
I much prefer this cake. The flavour is more elegant and nothing distracts from the moist lemony crumb. Perfect with a cup of hot tea.

Plum Honey Cakes

2012-01-28T22:13:00.002+08:00

It's the end of a long, tough week. I'm tired... to the bone. I have panda eyes leftover from last night's crying. No conversation. That's what I needed. So I put on The Royal Ballet's version of The Nutcracker and let the music and dance wash over me like a balm. I was somewhat soothed but it didn't quite take all the hurt away. Sleep came slowly but surely punctuated only by a cup of hot, strong coffee this morning and then it was back to bed.

I am feeling better now. Not all healed, but just better. Perhaps because I made these. I ate two straight out of the oven and another two as an after dinner sweet with tea. I suppose my baking is like calm in the eye of the storm and the baked goods are a cushion against the trying times. Whatever it is I'm glad it's back to stay.

That's enough dwelling. It's time to talk of these cakes. A few weeks and some plums ago I went looking for a plum cake recipe... and promptly got myself into trouble with many references to Christmas Cake (having begun its debut to the world as Plum Cake). It wasn't what I was looking for, so I kept searching. The epiphany came when I searched for a Nigel Slater plum cake recipe and found that someone had made some Honey and Cinnamon Plum Cakes from one of his cookbooks.

I promptly fell in love with how the cupcake cases and the colour of the plums were so matchy-matchy. Made me want to eat them straightaway. I read the entire blog post until I reached the comments and read 'The consistency is more of a pudding than a cake."

Oh oh... I didn't want a pudding thing. I wanted a cake thing. So here's what I did.

I halved the recipe and meddled with it by using the usual creaming method, removing the golden syrup entirely for a stronger honey flavour and changed the spice mix to suit myself. It went into little cases and into the oven. While baking it made the whole kitchen smell of sweet honey and glorious spices. It came out of the oven, went straight into my mouth and I felt like I had come HOME.

I made these again today. To make myself feel better. I've four sitting in my stomach right now, making me feel warm and cozy inside. Tonight I feel like conversation and entertainment, so I'm off to Edmund's.

Plum Honey Cakes

Adapted from This Little Piggy Went to the Farmer's Market

250g plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

Scant 1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon ground mixed spice

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Pinch of salt

130g butter, softened

130g soft brown sugar

2 large eggs

6 tablespoons dark, clear honey

4 tablespoons full cream milk

3 medium-sized plums, cleaned and quartered

Measure the flour, baking powder, baking soda and spices. Sieve twice onto a clean newspaper, sprinkle salt and set aside.
In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until pale and creamy.
Add in the eggs one by one beating well after each addition.
Beat in the honey.
Fold in the flour mixture gently by hand until just absorbed in.
Fold in the milk by hand until it is fully incorporated into the batter.
Drop teaspoonfuls of the batter into cupcake cases.
Press two pieces of the quartered plums into each cupcake. (I got 12 cupcakes out of the recipe above)
Bake at 150 Celsius until a skewer poked through the centre of the cakes comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and cool completely.

Notes:

I do not preheat the oven anymore. I find that my cakes bake more evenly without the preheating. It could be because the oven is a 'hot' one and it heats too quickly, which in turn cooks the outside of the cake too quickly than the inside.
I like to give cake batters a very quick (5 - 7 seconds) mix with the electric mixer after folding in the flour by hand as I find it helps the flour absorb better.
I let these cakes brown on the top a bit as it makes the crust slightly chewy and has fast become my favourite part of the cake.

Bitten by muffins

2012-01-24T22:43:00.001+08:00

It's the end of the Chinese New Year holidays, it's raining outside and tomorrow I go back to work. Life feels better than it did a week ago and I have the results off my baking therapy sessions sitting in the kitchen i.e. Delia Smith's Classic Christmas Cake and Apple Muffins.

Let's leave Delia aside for today and talk about the muffins. These are my FIRST attempt at muffins and I've found a new love. They were quick to put together (the only 'long' bit being peeling and cutting the apples) and quite delicious straight out of the oven. I overdid the mixed spice, so the muffins seem to smell of cinnamon and coconut - not my favourite smells or flavours - and yet is soft, moist and so damned indulgent.

In fact, I'm thinking about having another soon... very soon with a nice hot cup of tea. A great way to slide into work tomorrow methinks.

Tucking into muffin No. 1

Apple Muffins

Adapted from Cherry on a Cake

240g plain flour + 1 tablespoon baking powder + 1/4 teaspoon mixed spice + a pinch of salt

100g castor sugar

1 large egg

1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence

3/4 cup full cream milk + 2 tablespoons natural yoghurt

125g butter, melted and cooled

1 red apple, cleaned and chopped

2 tablespoons rolled oats

Streusel Topping

60g plain flour + scant 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

50g cold butter

50g soft brown sugar

1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon mixed spice

Handful of walnuts, chopped fine

- Place all the ingredients in a bowl and rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs.

Place 10 muffin cups on a flat baking tray.
Sieve flour, baking powder, mixed spice and salt together. Set aside.
In a bowl, beat sugar, vanilla and egg with an electric mixer until frothy and thick.
Beat in the milk/yoghurt mixture and then the melted butter.
Gently fold in by hand the dry ingredients, apples and oats until just combined. Do not overmix.
Spoon into prepared muffin cases, top with streusel and bake for about 20 - 25 minutes on 160 Celsius until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Right, I'm off for that second muffin and thank you Zurin for this lovely recipe.

The engagement cake

2012-01-20T22:02:00.002+08:00

I took the day-off today. A day full of long, lazy hours and no looking at the clock. This is what I have to show for it. The engagement cake. It's a moist Spice Cake wrapped in white fondant and finished with lovely posies from Cake Connection.

Please pardon the bad lighting in the photo. I only finished in at 7.30pm while it was pouring cats and dogs outside. Now I can sleep in peace. Till another day then.

Happy New Year

2012-01-13T07:56:00.001+08:00

It's the New Year. Christmas is long gone and I have only one measly cake to show for it. Two failed attempts at fruitcake and one at shortbread made me simply stop Christmas baking. My baking was a reflection of my state of mind at the time. What a year. Work, work and work, stress, frustrations and not quite as much time for baking as I would have liked. I'd like to think that things would be different this year. For the first time in years, I have some new year resolutions, so hurray for that. One of it is to bake more, and the other is to sail through life like Patsy Stone with help along the way from chilled champers!

One of the few recipes from last year which has never failed me was this. It's my take on Tish Boyle's Solid Gold Carrot Cake from The Cake Book, tweaked to suit my palate.

Carrot Cupcakes

240g plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/8 teaspoon mixed spice
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Mix all together and sieve. Set aside.

200g castor sugar
Grated zest of 2 large oranges
- Mix this together. Set aside.

4 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon orange essence

1/4 cup full cream milk
1 cup vegetable oil
120g butter, melted

200g carrots, grated fine
100g walnuts, chopped and toasted
A handful or two of raisins

Beat sugar, eggs and both essences with an electric mixer together until well combined.
Beat in milk, oil and butter. Mix well until combined.
Fold in the flour mixture gently by hand.
Add carrots, walnuts and raisins.
Pour into cupcake cases and bake at 150 to 160 Celsius until a skewer poked through the middle comes out clean.

To satisfy a little craving

2011-11-07T16:31:00.000+08:00

I've not been able to get THIS ice-cream anywhere at home, and yet was craving the boozy flavours of rum and raisin. The next best thing was to bake a cake with these flavours. However, I didn't want slices of anything... more like moist little morsels to pop into the mouth with a cup of hot tea on the side. So here's what I baked-up.

Moist and boozy on the inside

Rum, Raisin & Vanilla Bean buns

170g butter, room temperature

115g castor sugar

225g self-raising flour

3 eggs, large

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Vanilla beans scrapped from 1 vanilla pod

125g seedless raisins, chopped small

8 tablespoons dark rum

Chop raisins, place in a container and pour in 7 tablespoons of the rum. Let it soak overnight.
Preheat oven at 120 Celsius. Line a medium-sized cupcake tin with cupcake cases.
With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar with both types of vanilla until pale. About 2 minutes.
Mix in eggs one by one beating well after each addition.
Fold in flour by hand until just absorbed into the mixture.
Fold in the soaked raisins, including the rum from the container as well as the remainder 1 tablespoon of rum.
Half fill the cupcake cases with the cake batter.
Place the cupcake tin into the oven and increase temperature to 160 Celsius for about 20 - 25 minutes once a skewer inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.
Repeat with the next cupcake tin until all the cake batter is used up.
Let it cool in the tin. Store in airtight containers.

Brown Butter Shortbread

2011-11-07T15:21:00.000+08:00

After my success with the other shortbread, I made this recipe which I found on Lottie + Doof. I'm not sure yet how Toad liked this one, but it was a hit with K from the office. K said it would be lovely to eat dipped into a cup of strong, hot coffee. He also said that it was better than the other one. I'll let you be the judge of that. As for me, this is another winner from Alice Medrich.

Brown Butter Shortbread

Adapted from Lottie + Doof

180g unsalted butter

90g dark muscovado sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

180g plain flour

Turbinado, Demerara or granulated sugar for sprinkling

Melt butter in a heavy-based saucepan. Let it simmer on low fire until the butter turn a little brown and you can see some light brown specks at the bottom. The liquid should smell like toasted nuts and caramel. Once it does, remove saucepan from the heat and immediately place on a wet cloth to stop the cooking.
Remove from heat and stir in salt, sugar and vanilla essence.
Fold in flour with a wooden spoon. Mix gently until a soft dough forms.
Pat into a round or rectangular fluted baking tin with a removable bottom and leave to stand overnight.
When ready to bake, switch the oven on to 150 Celsius.
Place the baking tin on a baking tray (just in case some of the butter leaks out from the bottom during baking).
Bake the shortbread for about 45 -50 minutes.
Remove from the oven, sprinkle with the extra sugar and let it cool for about 10 minutes.
Remove shortbread from the tin carefully to avoid breaking it and cut the shortbread into squares or wedges.
Place on a lined baking tray apart from each other and return to the oven for 15 - 20 minutes.
Cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container.

Note:

Making brown butter can take a little time. As long as you remember to melt the butter on low heat and just allow the butter to take its' time to brown you should be alright. Do NOT leave the butter on the stove unattended. Once the butter has melted, it can very quickly burn.

And then there was shortbread...

2011-11-05T12:23:00.001+08:00

I have shortbread baking in the oven right now and the smell is... (inhaling deeply) intoxicating to say the least. Tonight I've tried an Alice Medrich shortbread recipe. After the well-received Cocoa Brownies which I adapted a little to suit Toad, I've been keen on trying out more of her recipes. I found this recipe on Smitten Kitchen.

Here is the recipe, adapted to metric measurements.

Twice-Baked Shortbread

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

180g unsalted butter, melted and still warm

5 tablespoons castor sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Vanilla seeds scrapped from 1 vanilla pod

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

180g plain flour

Turbinado, Demerara or granulated sugar for sprinkling

Melt butter in a heavy-based saucepan.
Remove from heat and stir in salt, sugar, vanilla essence and seeds.
Fold in flour with a wooden spoon. Mix gently until a soft dough forms.
Pat into a round or rectangular fluted baking tin with a removable bottom and leave to stand 2 hours or overnight.
When ready to bake, switch the oven on to 150 Celsius.
Place the baking tin on a baking tray (just in case some of the butter leaks out from the bottom during baking).
Bake the shortbread for 45 minutes or until lightly golden.
Remove from the oven, sprinkle with the extra sugar and let it cool for about 10 minutes.
Remove the shortbread from the tin carefully to avoid breaking it and cut the shortbread into squares or wedges.
Place on a lined baking tray apart from each other and return to the oven for 15 - 20 minutes.
Cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container.

Note:

I only left it to stand for 1 hour. I was impatient. Alice is right in saying to leave it as long as overnight because when I made the Brown Butter Shortbread recipe later, it made all the difference. The 'long' leaving allows for the butter to absorb completely into the flour, which 'shortens' and dries-out the dough which in turn makes for a delightfully crunchy, crumbly and melt-in-the-mouth texture.

Spiral Curry Puffs - Take 2

2011-10-31T00:30:00.001+08:00

I'm calling this post Spiral Curry Puffs - Take 2 simply because Take 1 didn't happen! You cannot believe how much work goes into this dough until you try it and of course, the dough from Take 1 ended-up in the dustbin because I'd not rolled it right, cut it too small, was a complete mess-of-a-failure and couldn't even be used as curry puff dough or anything else for that matter!

Yes, lots of exclamation marks in the above paragraph. I felt like an exclamation mark myself just after I had to dump the dough after slaving over it for two hours. Two hours! Two hours of when I could have been mixing up a batch of shortbread from one of Alice Medrich's recipes. Aaaaaaarrrrgghhh...

Right then, now that that is out of the way let's get down to the curry puff story.

The curry puff story began when Girl started buying curry puffs for the Toad on days when she could and thought he hadn't had his lunch. The first curry puffs came from a stall at BB round the corner from Triple Round. In fact, Girl still buys Toad curry puffs from there to this day. The Toad liked his 'samosas' as he called them before bring told that they were curry puffs la.

One day, while Girl was out for lunch at a BB kopitiam, Chinese Uncle came along with a yellow tray full of goodies and pastries. There were curry puffs in the tray and Girl bought them for Toad whom she knew was coming to BB later in the day. That was the end of it.

See... Toad had developed an addiction for curry puffs by then, and when he had the yellow tray curry puffs, the world of curry puffs as he knew it changed. Sigh. Girl had forgotten that there are curry puffs and there are CURRY PUFFS. The yellow tray ones were CURRY PUFFS and took Toad's addiction to a whole new level of CRAVING. Curry puffs were not enough anymore. He wanted CURRY PUFFS!

Of course Chinese Uncle with the yellow tray hasn't been found again during lunch at BB. So how? Poor Girl decided to attempt Spiral Curry Puffs. Though as of today, she's ashamed to say it's not quite CURRY PUFF yet. On the other hand, she's quite pleased with herself for actually making it and having it turn out (somewhat) despite having trouble rolling the pastry, overfilling it with potatoes and making a mess of this crimping-the-edges business.

Girl will be taking the curry puffs in the photo above into work with her for Toad in hope of helping him satisfy a CRAVING even if it is in a small way.

Meanwhile, Girl hasn't told him about the fabulous crispy curry puff stall in the Food Hall basement of Takashimaya in Singapore or even Old Chang Kee. (grin) Perhaps he could be persuaded to take a holiday down south soon!

Some things to remember/do before attempting to make the pastry:

The pliability of both the water and oil dough must be similar. Chill both doughs a while if need be.
Do not let the oil dough leak out of the water dough during the rolling stages. Roll gently but firmly using a small rolling pin for better control.
Learn and practise crimping the edges of the puffs.
Cook the filling first and let it cool while you make the pastry.
It is better to use vegetable shortening/Crisco/ghee/clarified butter/cooking oil instead of butter in this type of pastry.

Take 2 pastry recipe came from this website - Do What I Like - while the rolling directions came from this website - Corner Cafe. Please go to these websites for detailed instructions on wrapping and rolling the dough. The photos and step-by-step instructions are excellent.

Spiral Curry Puffs - Flaky Pastry

Adapted from Do What I Like

Water Dough

210 g plain flour

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

15g Crisco

1 egg, lightly beaten

95ml warm water

Oil Dough

100g - 160g plain flour

60g Crisco

Make the filling. Set aside to cool. (recipe in a separate post)
Water Dough - Rub shortening into the flour and salt until breadcrumbs form. Make a well in the middle and mix in the egg and water bit by bit. Once the dough leaves the sides of the bowl cleanly, knead lightly until it forms a smooth, pliable ball.
Oil Dough - Rub shortening into the flour until coarse breadcrumbs form. With your fingers, bring the dough together to form a soft ball. Knead lightly until the dough leaves the sides of the bowl cleanly adding pinches of flour if necessary to bring the pliability of the dough to be similar with that of the Water Dough.
Place both balls of dough in fridge for about 15 - 20 minutes in a bowl covered with clingfilm.
Remove dough from fridge and divide both types of dough into two equal parts.
Roll out one half of the Water Dough into a circle. Place a ball of Oil Dough in the middle. Wrap the Oil Dough and seal the edges.
Do the same for the remaining pieces of dough.
Follow the instructions in Corner Cafe or Do What I Like for wrapping, rolling and shaping the dough.
Place filling in the centre of the rolled circle of dough. Do not overfill.
Fold over the pastry carefully and crimp the edges shut.
Continue until the pastry and hopefully all the filling is finished.
Heat enough oil in a wok for deep-frying.
Deep-fry the curry puffs two at a time until done and drain on kitchen towels.
Place on a clean plate and serve immediately.

1-2-3 Butter Cookies

2011-10-30T21:46:00.001+08:00

It really is that simple, I promise.

1-2-3 Butter Cookies

100g icing or castor sugar

200g butter, cold and cubed small

300g plain flour

Preheat the oven at 130 Celsius. Line a baking tray or two with baking paper.
With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar for 2 minutes.
Fold in flour gently by hand until just incorporated.
Chill dough for 15 - 20 minutes.
Remove from refridgerator. Divide dough into two. Put one half back in to chill.
Place the other half of dough between two plastic sheets and roll out about 4 - 5mm thick.
Working quickly but surely, cut into your favourite shapes using a biscuit cutter. Place shapes on prepared baking tray.
Once the first half of the dough is used up, take out the remaining half and do the same until all the dough is used up. (You may need 2 baking trays if your shapes are larger)
Place tray in the oven and increase the temperature to 150 Celsius.
Bake for about 20 - 25 minutes until the bottom edges start browning slightly.
Remove from oven. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.
Store in an airtight container.

Note:

The actual recipe comes from a magazine cut-out which was given to me a long time ago. I cannot remember which magazine it came from as it was already cut-out when passed to me. If anyone of you knows where it is from, please let me know as I would like to give the magazine due credit. I have also adapted the method to suit my own style of mixing biscuit dough.
I used icing sugar instead of castor for a finer texture.
I used unsalted butter in this batch and missed the salt terribly. Lesson learnt. I will use salted butter next time, or add in 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt. Yes, I have two feet firmly planted in the I-like-using-salted-butter-to-bake-for-better-flavour camp.
I made an orange-poppyseed flavoured biscuit with 1 tablespoon orange blossom water, 1 tablespoon poppyseeds and the grated zest of 1 orange.
For a vanilla biscuit, add in 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla essence or seeds scrapped from a vanilla pod at the creaming stage.
This is a versatile dough. You can flavour it any way you like.

A little dash of rum...

2011-10-25T21:37:00.000+08:00

There are so many lovely recipe websites out there, but none so good as my favourite BBCGoodFood. They have lots of simple, yet gorgeous recipes that I love. I found this particular recipe when I was looking for Mexican Wedding Cookies. I certainly didn't need any encouragement to even try this recipe as it included RUM.

I simply couldn't keep my hands off the dough. I pinched away at it and it of course, found its merry way into my mouth! The flavour of rum is strongest before the actual baking (ahem... hence my pinching) and very mild in the finished biscuit. Perhaps an extra tablespoon of rum the next time I try this recipe? Let's see. The Toad loved them, so I just might make some more tomorrow... with the extra dose. Cheers!

Little Almond Cookies (or Rum Biscuits as I personally like to call them)

Adapted from BBCGoodFood

50g almond nibs, toasted

100g butter, softened

2 tablespoons castor sugar

1 tablespoon dark rum

140g - 175g plain flour

Vanilla seeds, scrapped from 1 vanilla pod

Icing sugar, to coat

Preheat the oven at 140 Celsius. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
Cream butter, sugar, vanilla seeds and rum about 1 minute with an electric mixer.
Gently fold in the flour until mixed through. (I only needed 140g of plain flour)
Gently fold in the toasted almond nibs.
Bring it together into a soft dough.
Roll dough between sheets of plastic to about 4 - 5mm thick.
Using a biscuit cutter, cut out small circles and place onto the lined baking tray.
Bake at 150 Celsius for about 20 - 25 minutes until the biscuit is just set with a tiny bit of browning along the edges. Remove from the oven.
While still hot, coat in icing sugar. Let them cool completely on wire racks. Once cool, coat in icing sugar again.
Store in an air-tight container or wrapped up individually in tissue/glass paper for a more fancy look.

Lime Meltaways

2011-10-25T20:12:00.000+08:00

They're beautiful aren't they these snow-dusted lovelies? Reminds me of Christmas. The flavour is all at once sweet, slightly mouth-puckeringly-sour from the lime juice and melts in your mouth. I've made them more than a few times over the years. So here's the recipe and a big thanks to Martha Stewart for it!

Note: I've changed the original cup measurements to metric as I prefer to weigh my ingredients for consistent results.

Lime Meltaways

Adapted from Martha Stewart

180g butter, softened

100g icing sugar, sifted

225g plain flour, sifted

15g cornflour, sifted

1/4 teaspoon salt

Zest from 3 limes

2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lime juice

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

1/2 teaspoon sweetened lime paste (optional)

Green food colouring (optional)

Icing sugar, to coat

Cream salt, butter and icing sugar about 2 minutes with electric mixer.
Add in lime zest, vanilla, lime paste and juice. Mix about 1 minute.
Gently fold in by hand the plain flour and cornflour.
Add tiny drops of green food colouring into the dough mixing gently until you achieve the intensity of colour you like, then stop.
Divide the dough and roll in two separate pieces of baking paper. Twist the ends close and leave it in the fridge for 2 hours or overnight.
Preheat oven to 150 Celsius. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
Remove a roll from the fridge and cut into slices with a sharp knife. Place slices on the lined baking tray, leaving some space in between each one as they will expand a bit. (Leave the remaining roll in the fridge for the time being)
Put the baking tray into the oven and bake for about 20 - 30 minutes until the edges of the biscuits just turn a little brown. Remove from the oven and let it cool on wire racks.
Continue with the remaining roll in the fridge or leave it for a biscuit craving later in the week.
Once cool, coat in icing sugar on all sides, place in paper cases and store in an air-tight container.

Alice Medrich's Cocoa Brownies

2011-09-27T09:29:00.005+08:00

The cocoa makes them quite dark and my poor photography skills didn't help either!

This was a fabulous recipe find. The last time I tried it, it was with castor sugar. This time round I chose to use light and dark brown sugar instead. It turned out less sweet and gooey than before with a defined bittersweet chocolate flavour but still as good. The Toad liked it and I was happy that this tweaked recipe wouldn't increase his blood sugar too much.

Alice Medrich's Cocoa Brownies

Adapted from Alice Medrich and The Wednesday Chef

140g butter

170g light brown sugar

80g dark brown sugar

80g good quality dutch-processed cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

65g plain flour

Preheat the oven at about 130 Celsius. Line an 8' x 8' square baking tin with foil overhanging on the sides for easy lift after the brownies have baked and cooled.
In a heavy-based saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Remove pan from the stove.
Stir in both sugars, cocoa, salt and vanilla. Mixture will look grainy.
Check the sides of the pan. If it's warm to the touch and you can place your palm on the side, the eggs are ready to go in.
Add eggs one by one, beating vigorously after each addition. The mixture will come together to look smooth and glossy.
Fold flour in gently until it disappears into the mixture.
Pour the mixture into the lined baking tin. Smoothen it out in the tin.
Bake at 155 Celsius until the top has a 'crackle' effect and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. About 25 - 30 minutes.

Be careful not to overbake this or the brownies will taste and smell a little burnt. I've changed the method of mixing the brownies to suit my laziness and do it all in the one saucepan. I don't even bother sieving the flour. Sigh. Easy recipes with not too many ingredients and fantastic results are what I like. No slaving over the hot stove for me.

If you'd like to try out the original recipe, you can find it at The Wednesday Chef. Luisa Weiss has posted measurements both in cups and metric.

Oooops... I almost forgot to say that I got the flower and circular shapes, by simply cutting the brownies with pastry cutters. The texture of this brownie makes it easy to cut with the cutters. You'll have scraps to eat up though, which won't be pretty but will still be as delicious!

Majulah Singapura!

2011-09-16T17:42:00.000+08:00

Yes, I was there during the Presidential Elections. Yes, I was happy to see a wave of change sweep through our neighbouring nation. Yes, it was a wonderful holiday filled with food and family. Yes, I had some lovely food i.e. homemade stringhoppers with curried chicken; homemade roti jala with kheema; perfectly marinated lamb cutlets; gorgeous roast chicken with bacon; melt-in-the-mouth curry puffs; a luscious lemon meringue tart; the largest profiterole I've ever seen; a sublime mixed berry and apple crumble; and last but not least the most outstanding ice-cream I've ever had - Waitrose's Carribean Rum & Raisin - which was boozy, moreish and simply magical.

Here are some photos of food from my holiday (only the ones I bothered to take photos of... hehehehehehe) and a recipe to try.

Profiterole from Food for Thought

Mixed Berry and Apple Crumble from Food for Thought

Coffee Cake and Rock Buns, which I baked

Curry Puff from a shop in the basement of Takashimaya

Coffee Cake

4 ounces self-raising flour

4 ounces castor sugar

4 ounces salted butter, room temperature

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

2 tablespoons of your favourite instant coffee dissolved in 2 tablespoons of hot full cream milk

2 tablespoons full cream milk

Preheat oven at 120 degrees Celsius.Grease and line a smallish baking tin of your preference.
Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
Add in eggs one by one mixing well after each addition.
Add in vanilla and coffee/milk mixture and beat until just combined.
Gently fold in the flour by hand.
Gently fold in the additional milk by hand until well combined into the cake batter.
Pour into baking tin.
Bake for about 25 - 30 minutes at 160 degrees Celsius or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Remove cake from the oven and let it stand in the tin for about 10 minutes.
Turn cake out onto a wire rack and let it cool completely.

Deeper, darker...

2011-08-15T21:20:00.000+08:00

So I have itchy fingers sometimes. This means I can't quite leave a recipe alone, even if it is a good one. What did I do? I took the Crunchy Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe and tweaked it. All in the name of using my newly purchased organic muscovado sugar of course. (wink, wink)

I'm happy to say that this cookie tasted like I thought it would. While the original recipe has a straightforward vanilla-sugar-chocolate-chip taste, this one has deeper caramel-toffee undertones. I'd like to think as one being perfect for a cup of tea and the other for coffee.

In case you're wondering - yes - I'm reading 1000 Years of Annoying the French by Stephen Clarke courtesy of the Toad. It's a thick book, so I've taken to reading a chapter every night before going to bed... hence the shadows in my photo of the cookies.

Deeper, Darker Chocolate Chip Cookies

160g plain flour

35g corn flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch of sea salt

130g salted butter, at room temperature

60g castor sugar

20g light brown sugar

10g dark muscovado sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 egg

100g semi-sweet mini chocolate chips

30g toasted walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven at 120 Celsius.
Sieve plain flour, corn flour, baking powder and sea salt together. Set aside.
Cream butter and three sugars until pale.
Add in egg and vanilla essence. Cream for 1 minute, until well combined.
Gently fold in the sieved flour mixture by hand.
Add in chocolate chips and walnuts. Fold this in gently by hand as well.
Cover mixing bowl with clingfilm and chill dough in the refrigerator for 30 - 45 minutes.
Remove dough from refrigerator.
Make small round balls and place about 2 inches apart on a baking paper lined tray.
Bake at 150 Celsius for about 15 - 20 minutes until the edges turn a light golden brown.
Cool cookies on the tray for about 10 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Once cooled, pack cookies away into an airtight jar.

Aglio Olio my way

2011-08-13T23:53:00.005+08:00

This has become one of my favourite meals for dinner. It's simple, quick and delicious. I suppose you could call it an 'instant' homemade meal. It takes just a wee bit longer than two minutes - the time needed to cook a packet of Maggi mee - but the results are far better. Won't you try it?

Aglio Oglio with Bacon

Angel Hair pasta

Bacon

Chilli Flakes

Garlic

Olive Oil

Parmesan

Bring a saucepan of water to boil. Once boiling, put in the pasta. Cook until al dente (about 2 minutes). Remove from stove and drain the water, reserving some.
While waiting for the water to boil and the pasta to cook - chop the garlic and cut up the bacon.
Pour a little olive oil into the now empty saucepan and put it back on the stove.
Once the oil has heated through, add in the bacon.
Cook bacon for about 1 - 2 minutes, then add in the garlic and chilli flakes.
Continue cooking for about 5 minutes until the bacon becomes a little deeper in colour.
Add in the drained pasta and splash in some of the reserved water. Mix thoroughly until everything is well combined. (add a little more water if the pasta becomes very dry)
Once the water has just about evaporated, remove from the stove immediately and transfer to a bowl.
Sprinkle on some parmesan and it is ready to eat.

Naughty butter...

2011-08-12T21:18:00.000+08:00

There was a beautiful just-baked wholemeal loaf cooling in the kitchen, and I wanted something different to go along with it. Something that would work like a charm and put an instant smile on my face. This was it.

Chef at Home is one of the few shows I watch on television these days. I enjoy watching Michael Smith messing about in his kitchen (except when he's doing Asian food, and then I'm not sure he's doing it right). Anyway, to cut a long story short I remember an episode where he makes chocolate French toast for his son and jazzes-up some butter to go along with it for the adults. His version of what I call naughty butter was a mix of butter, marmalade and a splash of Grand Marnier.

My version of naughty butter is similar with a twist.

Marmalade Rum Butter
125g salted butter, at room temperature

6 heaping tablespoons English marmalade

2 tablespoons gold rum

Icing sugar, to taste (optional)

Put all ingredients into a bowl.
Whisk together until mixed through and creamy.
Pour into a clean container.
Put it in the fridge and use as you would normal butter on toast.

Do give it a try. It's super simple and terribly naughty!

Contemplations

2011-08-10T21:17:00.001+08:00

I love this pretty plate. Eight of which I lugged back home from Cambodia.

Work has been difficult. A long month in and out of the office and a nagging migraine that got worse with an unappreciated email from a colleague made me send a note off to the Toad in desperation last weekend. I received a reply saying to 'contemplate the world universe and all that' and to 'rest'. So I did. I'm proud to say that two loaves of bread got made, as well as these lovely cookies.

Yes, I should confess. I belong to the minority that loves crunchy chocolate chip cookies. My favourite store-bought chocolate chip cookies are Famous Amos. I love them so much that I have been looking high and low for a recipe that will hit the spot like Amos' cookies do. Some years ago, when the franchise brought in a no-chip version that was chock-full of macadamia nuts, I went wild. I visited a Famous Amos outlet almost every day to get my fill of them. Alas, it was not to last as that particular version suddenly ceased to exist after a few months. Perhaps I was the only person who liked them without the chocolate chips?! Who knows?

Anyway, after many experiments I'm sad to say that I haven't quite found a recipe that even comes close to Famous Amos.

Nonetheless, when I did bake these for the first time, I thought to myself - now here's a chocolate chip cookie I'll be baking again and again. Bake them again and again I did. While they are not quite Amos' they still taste great to me. Especially on the day after. Most importantly, they are crunchy cookies... and can be quite addictive if you're not careful. Be warned!

The recipe is from Bakertan of Baking Library, who in turn got it from Bakingmum. I've re-written the recipe here for ease of reference and also because I changed it a little to suit my taste, however you should check these two blogs out as they have some lovely recipes.

My little lovelies.

Crunchy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from Baking Library

150g plain flour

45g corn flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch of sea salt

125g salted butter, at room temperature

65g castor sugar

40g light brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 egg

150g semi-sweet mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven at 120 Celsius.
Sieve plain flour, corn flour, baking powder and sea salt together. Set aside.
Cream butter and both sugars until pale.
Add in egg and vanilla essence. Cream for 1 minute, until well combined.
Gently fold in by hand the sieved flour mixture.
Add in chocolate chips and fold this in gently by hand as well.
Cover mixing bowl with clingfilm and chill dough in the refrigerator for 30 - 45 minutes.
Remove dough from refrigerator.
Make small round balls and place about 2 inches apart on a baking paper lined tray.
Bake at 150 Celsius for about 15 - 20 minutes until the edges turn a light golden brown.
Cool cookies on the tray for about 10 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Once cooled, pack cookies away into an airtight jar.

Please note that the oven I have at home is a hot piece of equipment, which means I always have to keep the temperature lower than usual or everything that goes into it just burns to a crisp.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I do!

Sunday biscotti...

2011-07-12T07:50:00.000+08:00

Over the recent weekend mornings, I've been rudely awakened by a very enthusiastic bird that sits close to my bedroom window and whistles at top volume right about 6.45am. I found him very annoying at first, because the weekend is when I catch-up on sleep after a busy week of running around like a headless chicken.

Today, I decided to wake-up with Mr. Annoying and thanks to the early morning, have biscotti sitting in the oven at 8.30am! It's a pseudo-candied fruit biscotti. I've been feeling like home-made biscotti for some time now, but since I haven't tried to make it before and with me running around like said headless chicken most days, I'm just too tired to experiment very much anymore over the weekends.

Today, I caved-in. I got an idea of the recipe from here. No, I do not have the array of candied fruits like that in the beautiful pictures accompanying the blog post, so I made do with red and green glace cherries as well as some mixed peel. To make up for not having REAL candied fruit, I let the fruit soak overnight in some sweet sherry. I also halved the original recipe, tweaked it a bit and converted the measurements to grammes for my ease. It still makes quite a lot of biscotti.

How did it turn out? Absolutely lovely... and very addictive, with or without tea or coffee in attendance!

Lovely jewel-studded dough

Fruit Biscotti with Sherry

90g castor sugar

380g plain flour + 1 teaspoon baking powder + a couple of dashes ground nutmeg and mixed spice (sieved thrice)

350g glace red cherries, green cherries and mixed peel soaked overnight with 2 tablespoons of sweet sherry

Grated zest of 1 lemon and 1 lime

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

125g salted butter

Cream eggs and sugar about 1 minute.
Add in butter and vanilla essence. Cream. Mixture will look a little curdled.
Gently fold in flour mixture by hand.
Then gently fold in fruit.
Leave dough in the fridge for about an hour to rest.
Remove dough from fridge. Shape into logs and place on a tray lined with baking paper.
Bake at 160 Celsius for about 30 - 40 minuutes.
Remove from oven and let it cool.
Once cool, cut logs into slices with a very sharp knife.
Place slices on baking tray on their sides.
Bake 10-15 minutes on each side until they are crisp and dry.

Ready to be baked

A working girl's dinner

2011-05-04T07:58:00.000+08:00

Work has been ridiculous lately. I hardly have time to bake anymore, which is a pity as baking is my ultimate cure-all for stress. These days I barely even have time to make dinner. Here's a simple, healthy thing that I like to throw together on the nights when I am really exhausted after a long day at work.

Baby Spinach, Feta Cheese & Tomato Salad

Baby spinach

Feta cheese in olive oil (ready-mixed with spices/olives/sundried tomatoes)

Tomatoes

Arrange baby spinach in a bowl.
Add cubed tomatoes.
Top with feta cheese and drizzle with the olive oil.
EAT!