Cookies & Cakes

Moved!

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl) — Tue, 21 Oct 2014 08:07:00 +0000

Alright! I'm not sure if anyone's reading this blog, but I'm moving over to post at Third Takes the Cake.

Simply because Cookies n Cakes just sounds boring. At least for now. Who knows, I may be back! But till then, head over to the other side! The site looks exactly the same. Heh. Cos I like the simplicity. At least, for now.

I'm quite fickle-minded. ^-^

(Quite) Thin Crust Pizza

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl) — Sun, 19 Oct 2014 13:36:00 +0000

Ham and Bacon Pizza with Arugula

Dad's been complaining that our herbs have outgrown their little pots, and it's time to use them up. He didn't want his hardwork to result in dead herbs. :P

So, after procrastinating for a few weeks, I decided to make pizza today! It was a great decision because I didn't have any plans to meet anyone today.

Grace Jie loved the pizza base. And the pizza in general, possibly because mom actually got some cheese and I sprinkled some for them before baking their pizzas.

Mine, of course, are dairy free. They still taste and look good (in my opinion):

The same pizza but without cheese! ^^

Recipe from Tasting Table. I didn't change the recipe, but did change the way I handled the dough, simply because..... I didn't read the instructions. LOL! At least it was still tasty!

Anyway, instead of splitting the dough into pieces and letting it rise for 2 hours, I let it "rise" at room temp for 2 hours after taking it out of the fridge (I put it into the fridge overnight so insects/pests won't get to it), separated it into pieces, floured generously then let it rest for maybe 10 mins before working on it.

I couldn't really get the crust to be super thin because it would tear or the sauce would seep through, so yea. But I didn't get any complaints from the family (who prefers Thin Crust Pizza anytime), so I guess it was fine! ^^

Citrus Poppy Seed Muffins

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl) — Sun, 19 Oct 2014 11:00:00 +0000

My sis came back from Canada about 2 weeks ago, and she brought back some interesting flours / grains / seeds.

One of them was poppy seeds. I think she got the idea from the Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins they sold at the cafes in Canada.

I've actually made it once a few years ago using poppy seeds I found in Australia's supermarket. I don't even remember which recipe I used then. But I was excited to make it again simply because I love lemons. :D

Today, I used a recipe from Baking Bites that I had bookmarked for years. It's called Ctirus Poppy Seed Muffins because it uses Orange and Lemon, but the taste of Lemon really stands out. :)

To be frank, I was a little hesitant to make MINI muffins because in my past experience (MANY years ago), the muffins tend to dry out. Probably because I was using baking timings for proper sized muffins. How stupid I was to blame it on the size of the muffins, when it was my inexperience in baking that caused me to just stick to the recipe without realising I should have changed the conditions in which the muffins should bake.

I've made some tweaks to the recipe (as usual. I just can't resist. :P)

RECIPE
Mini Citrus Poppy Seed Muffins
~ Adapted from Baking Bites

Serving size: Makes 27 mini muffins
Prep time: 30 mins
Cook time: 45mins (3 batches)

2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup orange juice + 1/3 cup lemon juice*
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp orange zest
1 tbsp lemon zest
1 tbsp poppy seeds
coarse sugar, for topping {optional, since I forgot all about it}

*Note: I used a little more orange juice than lemon juice as 1 orange came up to slightly more than 1/3 cup orange juice. But I kept the total amount of juice the same. Baking Bites actually highlighted that we could stick with one time of citrus (as in, all orange or all lemon).

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350F (175C). Line mini muffin tray with paper liners.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour (sifted, just to make sure there are no lumps so it makes my mixing less stress-free later on), sugar, baking powder and salt.
In a large bowl, whisk together olive oil, juices, egg, vanilla extract, citrus zests and poppy seeds. Add in flour mixture. Whisk until no streaks of dry ingredients remain. (Don't over mix!)
Divide batter evenly into prepared muffin cups, filling each 3/4 full (almost to the top since the muffin cups are so tiny). Sprinkle with coarse sugar, if using.
Bake for 12-15 minutes, until muffins are set and spring back when lightly pressed. Allow to cool in the pan for 2-3 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Personally, I think they taste better if I bake till they've slightly browned on the top.

Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Pancakes

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl) — Sat, 18 Oct 2014 03:00:00 +0000

Pancakes for breakfast this morning! I went for something simple this weekend because I've been tired out from baking macarons everyday (and failing miserably at that). I absolutely need a break from super sweet treats because I've been wolfing down the failed macaron shells at an unhealthy pace. :D

I originally wanted to make some Earl Grey Chiffon today, but since I've been using up the eggs at an (again) unhealthy pace, I figured I should just bake something real simple. So, pancakes it was.

I used an old hotcakes recipe that I had edited over and over again. And given that I actually had self-raising flour in the pantry, it was a breeze to make (I don't have to weigh out any baking powder/soda so that's just one step less). I did, however, decided to make my life a little tougher by whisking the eggs until they reached the ribbon stage because I wanted fluffier pancakes.

Truth be told, I have no clue if that made a difference, because it's been a LONG TIME since I made this recipe and I can't remember the texture.

The texture. Could be lighter. Perhaps because I used water instead of milk.

I also added a tsbp of cinnamon powder to the mix because I wanted to give it a different twist. And as usual, chocolate chip. Original recipe from Un Pastiche.

Perhaps it's time for me to learn to make compotes for pancakes.

Chocolate Coconut Flour Pancakes

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl) — Sun, 12 Oct 2014 11:09:00 +0000

Since I've been stalking people on instagram quite a bit, I found this interesting recipe for Chocolate Coconut Flour Pancakes.

I have a pack of coconut flour stashed away because I had a close friend who had to stay off gluten and I wanted to see if I could come up with breads / basic food that he could eat. That was some time back, and I didn't really succeed. Plus he wasn't open to the idea of changing his diet.

In any case, I've been looking for ways to reduce my intake of wheat, because over the past year or so, I noticed that it takes my body a lot more effort to digest wheat, if it's even able to do so. I had originally read in the blood type diet that people of my blood type should steer away from wheat, but because I LOVED bread so much, I chose to ignore it.

About half a year back though, the osteopath I've been seeing for my back problems recommended that I stay off wheat because wheat causes "damp" and may be retarding my recovery process. So that, I did.

And boy, did I feel the difference! I didn't feel indigested all the time. ;) So yes.

Anyway I decided to test out this recipe because Casey had also written a rather detailed post about How to achieve the perfect pancake "Fluff Factor".

After reading a few of her posts, I felt ready to give it a go.

As much as I wanted to follow the recipe to the tee, I didn't because:

I have no clue where to purchase cacao powder, and
I didn't want to buy carton egg whites, even if I knew where to get them (which I actually don't)

But her instructions on the How to achieve the perfect pancake "Fluff Factor" post really helped me to figure out the right proportions.

In particular, her first tip: KEEP THE BATTER THICK.

The amount of liquid should be a minimum, only until the batter reaches a thick and only SLIGHTLY pourable consistency so it would essentially hold it's own shape. Her key ratio: 1 egg + 1/2 cup liquid to 3 tbsp of coconut flour. I didn't actually measure the amount of liquid since I used 2 eggs instead of 1 to replace the carton egg whites, but I eyeballed it and decided it was possibly enough and figured I could always add more water late. :D

I also stuck to her tip about using only 2 HEAPING TBSP of batter for each pancake.

The recipe turned out well, to my surprise since I changed the recipe around quite a bit. Cyn felt that it was not bad, but it resembles a thin chocolate cake more than a pancake. (She loves fluffy pancakes that are light and have the ability to absorb the maple syrup). This turned out to be a little denser than normal pancakes, but still delicious!

I rarely post recipes because I usually just link to the original source and my modifications are usually small (like reducing the amount of sugar since I find most desserts are too sweet for my liking).

Today, though, I made quite a bit of changes to the ingredients list, so I thought it may be helpful to share the changes I made.

RECIPE
Chocolate Coconut Flour Pancakes
~ Adapted from Casey's Whole Kitchen

Serving Size: 1
Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 15 mins (depends on how many pancakes your pan can cook at a time. I used a tiny pan that can only cook one each time)

Ingredients:

3 tbsp coconut flour (used Bob's Red Mill)
1 tbsp Hershey's cocoa powder (original was raw cacao powder)
1/4 tsp baking powder
2 large eggs
1 tbsp coconut milk
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp honey (to taste. I would add more the next time as the pancakes were still a little bitter)

2 handfuls of chocolate chips for batter + 1 handful to sprinkle over (optional, can increase or reduce the amount according to your personal preference)

Instructions:

In a medium sized bowl, sift the coconut flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder together, then whisk to combine.
In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, vanilla extract and honey until combined.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and whisk until the flour absorbs the liquid and the batter is completely smooth. I figured I can't over-mix this batter since there's no gluten in coconut flour. So I went ahead and whisked till it was really smooth.
Add in chocolate chips, if using, and mix thoroughly.
Let the batter sit for 3-5 minutes so the coconut flour can fully absorb the liquid.
Heat a pan over medium heat. Add a little olive oil (or any oil you usually cook with) so the pancakes won't stick to the pan. Turn the heat down to medium-low and pour a heaping 2 tbsp of the batter onto the center of the pan, using the back of a spoon to make them round, but DO NOT spread the batter out very thin. Each pancake should be 2-3 inches in diameter, at most. (I kind of gave up attempting to make the pancakes round cos the batter just stuck to the spoon.)
Casey's trick to fluffy pancakes: to NOT spread the batter out thin, but keep the pancakes small, thick, and cook "low and slow." Meaning, let each pancake cook on low heat for 3-4 minutes on one side, or until the bottom is fully cooked at the top begins to look "set."
Once the bottom is fully cooked (it should stop sticking to the pan and you'd be able to remove it easily), flip and cook on the other side for another minute or so.
Serve the pancakes! I sprinkled another handful of chocolate chips over the pancake stack, and they slightly melted due to the residual heat from the pancakes. Drizzled with maple syrup, these taste amazing! :)

Pandan Kaya Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl) — Sat, 11 Oct 2014 11:07:00 +0000

I've been on a little personal mission to IMPROVE on my recipes. First, it was the Orange Chocolate Chip Muffins (which, btw are still not good enough because my parents can't seem to taste the orange though I could).

The second, would be this Pandan Kaya Cake. This is the first time I'm making this recipe at home, since the time I obtained the original recipe from a Creative Culinaire course I attended maybe 5 years ago? I can't remember the steps at all, so I'm really just working on basic understanding of what I think the recipe is saying. :D

The cut out cakes

I didn't do too badly, except I wanted to use the homemade pandan extract I made (and froze), but it didn't seem to work out. I'm guessing we can't freeze these extracts? My cake didn't turn green at all, so I resorted to adding a little pandan paste. :(

The pandan kaya jelly-like filling, which I may have overcooked. :P

For the pandan kaya filling, I just used pandan paste because of what happened to the cake. Lol!

I think I overcooked the filling a little, cos I'm not used to using a whisk to mix custards. I'm more used to using a wooden spoon to test if they're done. Heh. It got a little lumpy as it cooled down a little, so I'm guessing I need to pour it into the mould IMMEDIATELY after it's ready.

Yay to extra pieces of cake!

Since my cake ring ain't tall enough, I had an extra little piece of cake. Which is nice cos I get to taste the cake before others do. :D

INSIDE: Checkered Pandan Kaya Cake

I'm quite happy that the checkered design came through, but I realised I should have sliced each layer thinner and maybe cut into rings of 2 sizes instead so the design is more obvious (and you don't get such HUGE chunks of the pandan kaya jelly).

Got to make it again! ^^

Orange Chocolate Chip Muffins (refining)

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl) — Thu, 09 Oct 2014 14:30:00 +0000

Decided to refine my recipe for Orange Chocolate Chip Muffins. I really have no idea where the original recipe's from, but I've edited it quite a bit. From ingredients to the way it's made. It was previously too dry. So instead of 33g oil for half batch, I used 42g oil today. The cake was softer and more moist.

I'm having a major issue with the HEIGHT of the muffins though. I can't get it to rise high enough, though I beat the eggs to almost ribbon stage. I also filled the cupcake holders all the way (100%!). Perhaps I need to really whip the eggs to almost stiff peaks.

Reviews:
Dad - doesn't like it. He doesn't like chocolate desserts though he likes chocolate. Strange, but he repeats that EVERY SINGLE TIME I make chocolate desserts or desserts with chocolate in them. It puzzles me, but seriously, can I not make things that I like to eat, instead of always pandering to his tastes?

Mom - can't really taste the orange. Overpowered by the chocolate. This is a perennial problem. Personally, I can taste the orange, but both parents can't. Got to up the orange zest quantity!

Honey-Lavender Biscotti (with a touch of orange zest)

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl) — Wed, 08 Oct 2014 14:00:00 +0000

I finally got down to using some of the lavender sis bought a few months back. I'm kind of allergic to Lavender so I've been procrastinating a little.

After first bake. It's firm, and bounces back up when you press on it.

I love this recipe because it doesn't use any oil. And it doesn't crumble at all when I cut into it. Perhaps because after the first bake, its firm, but not crumbly.

Dad and Mom said they can't really taste the lavender, and that they could only taste orange... But that's strange because I could taste the lavender.

Anyways, Dad LOVES the biscottis. So that's great!

Pandan Chiffon Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl) — Mon, 06 Oct 2014 15:50:00 +0000

I'm on a Pandan craze because there's still more pandan extract left from my previous bakes!

Finally, I am able to test out this Pandan Chiffon Cake recipe that I've bookmarked for the longest time. I wanted to make it with fresh coconut milk, but I can't seem to find it anywhere though I've read that I should be able to find it at NTUC. -_-

Doesn't matter though. I decided to trudge on ahead and make the chiffon cake using Kara coconut cream (comes in a tetrapak).

I did make one change to the recipe - instead of blending the pandan leaves with the coconut milk to squeeze the juice out, I mixed 70g coconut milk with 25g of pandan juice/extract that I made. Simply because I didn't want to redo this squeezing process. Perhaps this is the reason why I felt that the taste of pandan was a little too mild. I could probably add 5-10g more pandan juice/extract the next time!

Although I usually use chiffon recipes adapted from the book Okashi, I decided to just follow this recipe to the tee, including the use of cream of tartar.

Lo and behold! The cake rose nice and high!

The top cracked a lot, but hey, that's hidden on the bottom of the cake. I wish I could get a nicer crust on the cake (it's all stuck to the pan) and a cake that doesn't crack so much. Perhaps I need to lower the temperature to reduce the cracks on the top of the cake. BUT... how am I to get a yummy brown crust on the cake? Hmmmmm...

REVIEWS:
Cyn loves this pandan chiffon cake. Prefers it over the pandan sponge though she loves that too.
I personally think there could be more pandan taste (perhaps INCREASE the amount of pandan extract).

NOTE: The cake can't keep for long. I made this on Sunday. By Wed morning, the coconut milk seemed to have caused it to spoil a little. The cake had a musky smell. :(

Pandan Sponge Cupcakes with Gula Melaka Swiss Meringue Buttercream - Take 2

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl) — Sun, 05 Oct 2014 15:40:00 +0000

I made Pandan Sponge Cakes again today. Simply because I can't believe I can't get more pandan juice!

Using more tricks I found online, I decided to add more water and use my Philips blender instead. The only thing about making pandan juice/extract in this manner is that you have to refrigerate the juice you've squeezed out of the blended pandan leaves, and let the pandan extract settle to the bottom. Then, pour out the water and only use the left over pandan extract at the bottom.

After squeezing the juice out of the pandan leaves once, I threw them back into the blender, added more water, whizzed and squeezed more juice out of them. I read that you can do it 3 times (depends on your threshold since the extract gets more diluted with each turn) but I only did it twice because my hands were too tired.

I left some cakes unfrosted since my dad seems to be allergic to sugar

I used the same recipe as the previous time. In fact, I didn't even make the buttercream again though I had to re-whisk it as it had separated. I just took a bit of the buttercream, melted it in the microwave (on high for 10 secs) and streamed it into the remaining buttercream while whisking it.

And it became REALLY smooth. I'm in love.

Smooth Gula Melaka Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Note to self: The author didn't lie when she said you HAD to use Hokkaido cupcake liners. When I used normal cupcake paper (my parents suggested that since they felt it was a waste to use such pretty cupcake holders on them LOL), the centres SUNK.

REVIEW: The cakes are MUCH better using pure pandan extract (i.e. 10g). Yummy and the cupcakes are in a pretty natural green. Love them!!

Pandan Sponge Cupcakes with Gula Melaka Swiss Meringue Buttercream

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl) — Fri, 03 Oct 2014 15:15:00 +0000

Inspired by my friend's instagram post on Pandan Cupcakes with Gula Melaka Buttercream, I sought to search for recipes online.

I didn't want to use a butter cake for the cupcake since that's more fattening. So, I found a pandan sponge recipe at kitchentigress.com, and a Gula Melaka Swiss Meringue Buttercream recipe at cooklovesgod. I'm partial towards Swiss Meringue Buttercreams because they are lighter. ^^

I decided that pandan paste hasn't been giving me good results, so I finally got down to making my own pandan juice. Following instructions from kitchentigress.com, I got 50g of pandan leaves, washed it and whizzed it in my food processor.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get any sort of juice out of it, even after adding a little water (though she did say we shouldn't add water). I then mashed the already whizzed pandan leaves in my mortar & pestle, and managed to get.... 5g of pandan juice/extract.

Since I REALLY wanted to make the pandan cupcakes, and the recipe called for 10g of pandan extract, I used the 5g of pandan juice/extract I made, and added 3g of pandan paste to it (figuring that the pandan paste I have is probably more concentrated).

The result, as you can see, are cupcakes that are super green. They may also more dense: they fell out of the cupcake holders when I turned them upside down to cool - I did that because they started to sink in the middle, and I though, like Chiffon cakes, this might help to reduce the sinking centres.

Since they fell out of the cupcake holders, I decided to turn them upside down when frosting them. I just felt that the green bottoms were prettier than the brown tops, since the greens would give a nice contrast to the brown buttercream. ;)

The Swiss Meringue Buttercream was great, but was a tad sweet. May have to reduce the amount of sugar the next time. The taste of Gula Melaka was HEAVENLY though. ^^

The only issue I had with the Swiss Meringue Buttercream was that it kept separating. So I had to use this trick I read online - take half / 1 cup of the curdled buttercream, melt it in the microwave for 10-15 seconds, then stream the melted buttercream into the remaining buttercream while whisking it. This trick worked like a CHARM.

This sponge cake has a tendency to sink in the middle. So, perhaps I should consider using the pandan cupcake recipe at cooklovesgod.. though dad LOVES the taste of this spongecake from kitchentigress.com (even without frosting!).

Blueberry Orange Vegan "Cheesecake"

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl) — Sat, 20 Sep 2014 05:00:00 +0000

I've been seeing A LOT of raw vegan cheesecakes on instagram, and felt like I should give them a go. They look pretty and who'd say no to a healthy dessert? Alright, truth be told, many would because they'd think it wouldn't taste good. But not me!

So I googled around and found a few recipes. I studied them and found that they are all rather similar, but I eventually settled on this one because it used homemade coconut butter and did not require the use bananas (I just didn't want to buy bananas) or alternative sugars.

The unfortunate thing, though, was that I couldn't get my food processor to make the coconut butter. It kept overheating, and there was nothing I could do to turn it into coconut butter. I was tempted to add some water but it seemed fr the author's post that there shouldn't be moisture? ╯﹏╰

Since making my own homemade coconut butter failed rather miserably, I got my hands on Coconut Oil at Cold Storage. $13-$14 for 375ml! That's about 1.5 cups.

Expensive Coconut Oil

Because the recipe uses 1/2 cup coconut oil and I didn't want to use up 1/3 of the bottle, not knowing if it would turn out as expected, or if my food processor would overheat again, I halved the recipe.

That was a great decision, in my opinion, cos that produced one 6 inch cake and two small (prob) 3.5inch mini cakes.

Not very pretty, but I wanted to remember how tall this cake is. It actually looks taller than it actually is.

I could probably have made a super tall 6 inch cake, but I liked the idea of small cakes so I could taste them without cutting into the big ones. In the end, though, I think the tiny cakes are cuter. Seems like I need to buy more straight edged moulds. I made one in a round muffin cup (lined with aluminum foil so I could remove the frozen cake with ease - again a great idea cos I could just peel off the paper. Only thing was that the edges of the cakes were crumpled.

I also made two changes to the recipe - I used BAM dates (from NTUC at Clementi Mall) and replaced lemon with orange.

Whizzing up the base

To be honest, I didn't have much hopes for this cake, because I was tasting it while whizzing up the ingredients. The base tasted ok, just super nutty. I reckon you need to use nuts that you love to eat raw.

The filling was terrible before it was chilled. I could only taste the coconut oil, and couldn't taste the orange at all.

BUT!! After it was in the freezer overnight, I unmoulded it and let it defrost a little on the counter (actually I was just taking photos of it. *laughs*), it tasted great! ^^

Grace Jie and Mom said it was delicious too!

Lychee Chiffon

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl) — Sun, 14 Sep 2014 10:49:00 +0000

Not the most fulfilling weekend in terms of baking. It all started from the fact that my Kitchenaid Food Processor just won't make me some coconut butter. (◞‸◟) Is it not powerful enough? Do I need a vitamix blender?

Undeterred, I decided to bake something else. I've been wanting to make Lychee Chiffon for a while now. So since I finally got my hands on some lychee essence few weeks back, Lychee Chiffon it was! I do hate using artificial flavoring, but I didn't have much of a choice since many recipes claim that the taste of fresh lychees isn't strong enough.

I just want to say... Lychee essence tastes like crap. 😂 Gonna use fresh (or maybe canned) lychees next time and see how it goes.

Flaky Skin Mooncake

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl) — Sat, 06 Sep 2014 09:08:00 +0000

Ready for the oven

It's the last weekend before Mid Autumn Festival! So, this is my final batch of moon cakes.

Flaky mooncakes this time. I used a different recipe this year, choosing this Taro/Yam Flaky Mooncake recipe. But for the first batch, I added some green tea powder because I love green tea desserts! But to be honest, somehow this recipe doesn't seem as flaky / crispy as the previous recipe I used in previous years.

Love the Melon Seeds!

I also decided to spruce the mooncakes up this year by making them look like rabbits and pigs, because I've been seeing so many photos of these cuties online! It's a little time consuming, but I love how they turned out.

Since dad and mom don't like green tea desserts, I woke up early this morning to make half a batch of the plain version. Thank God I had some lotus paste left over!

I think they look better before going into the oven. Maybe I should make my snowskin mooncakes look like this next year. ^^

But there just wasn't enough lotus paste. So, I filled the remaining dough with homemade red bean paste. I differentiated these by making them look like little bunnies!

Rabbits wanna-be. Dad thinks they don't look like rabbits.

Oink! I'm out from the sauna!

Ready to hop

So now, we're all ready for celebrations tonight! Happy Mid Autumn Festival! ^^

Snowskin Mooncakes

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl) — Sat, 30 Aug 2014 06:53:00 +0000

It's Mid Autumn Festival again!

I've been lazy this year, so I had actually planned NOT to make any mooncakes this year. We're all getting older and don't really like sweet stuff anymore. However, my dad (despite him being 34 years older than me) still has a sweet tooth, so I made a small batch (read: 33 small mooncakes).

Thank God I made it, because in that way, I could keep up with the tradition of giving a box to my Grandma, Uncle and Aunt. Between the 3 of them, there were only 8 pieces. I reckon that's more than enough since it's only about a week more to Mid Autumn!

I'm loving the design on this new mooncake mould, BUT I no longer have it because it was a little defective but the store ran out of stock. -______- I hope they sell this design again next year!

Pandan Flavoured Snowskin Mooncake

Sis2 prefers the pandan flavour, so I always make 2 batches - one white, one green. I personally prefer the white one but if I don't make the pandan one, she wouldn't eat any. So, 2 batches it is! ^^

To be honest, I made this when I was actually a little unwell. So I kept adding too much water to the dough. It's depressing because I know it could have been nicer. Now it's a little too sticky. (◞‸◟)

That said, the mooncakes got wiped out in 5 days, so that says something? Heh.

Cinnamon Rolls

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl) — Mon, 25 Aug 2014 15:32:00 +0000

I made some Cinnamon Rolls using a No Knead Sweet Bread recipe on Sunday, because Da Jie asked me to make some. It's been a while since I've made Cinnamon Rolls.

I'm not sure why, but the last few times I've made this bread, the texture isn't good. It's rough and dry.

Too little oil? Too little water?

I need to find the original recipe again (no clue where it came from) and tweak all over again. T_T

I also need to learn how to cut my cinnamon rolls so they don't turn out ugly.

Apple Pie Puff Pastry

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl) — Sat, 23 Aug 2014 07:00:00 +0000

We made Sardine puffs again last Sunday. As usual, the can of sardines wasn't big enough to use up all the puff pastry.

So I thought to myself: Maybe I would make some apple pie?

I figured if I chopped up some apples and mixed in some cinnamon & sugar, it should taste similar to an apple pie. I did a quick search online and it seems fine. Ok, actually quite a few recipes required us to cook the apples with the seasoning first... but I was short of time, and really tired from rolling out all that puff pastry. So, I decided to just chop the apples and throw them into some cinnamon and sugar. *laughs*

I was worried the cinnamon taste wouldn't come through strong enough, so I sprinkled some cinnamon sugar on top. Turned out messy looking.

I also cut 3 little vents on each pie. I wasn't sure why, but I recalled that most recipes I had read about apple pies require cutting of vents. So I did the same.

But guess what? I really liked the taste of the apple pies. It's refreshing, and I liked that there's still a little chew in the apples. ^^

So fast forward to this weekend... Because my family is on a crazy snacky mood for the 3rd week now, we had sardine puffs and apple pie again. 1 hour after lunch. We are seriously crazy. We were stuffed, but no, we had to snack.

I requested Mom to keep a few pieces for the apple pies and so she decided to use a smaller can of sardines (we were also only using half the puff pastry (got to love puff pastry squares - faster to roll out and you can opt to only use a portion of the entire pack!).

Glazed, and ready to hop into the oven

Freshly baked

Nom nom!

I'm actually starting to prefer the apple pie to sardine puffs. Maybe because it's sweet. ;)

However, Mom and Er Jie don't like cooked fruits. So there's no way I can make a big batch of those. Then again, variety rocks. So we'll just continue to make different flavoured puffs.

Marbled Matcha Castella (Kasutera) Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl) — Sat, 23 Aug 2014 06:21:00 +0000

I decided to make Castella Cake again last night. The recipe from JustOneCookbook worked great, but Er Jie got bored of the taste after 2 slices!

So, instead of just making the plain Castella Cake, I decided to make Matcha Marbled Castella, taking the idea from Anncoo Journal. I didn't use her recipe for the Castella Cake itself, since the one from JustOneCookbook worked fine (and was loved by all).

To create the green tea batter, I took 1/2 tbsp of match powder, dissolved it in 2 tsbp hot water as indicated in the recipe from Anncoo Journal, then mixed it into 120g of the batter. Strangely though, the green tea layer turned out very light (compared to the colour I saw at Anncoo Journal). The mixture was also very watery. I wonder if I could have added just 1 or 1.5 tbsp of hot water instead.

I found the green tea taste a little too faint, but I guess it's good in a way because mom doesn't like green tea cakes (that's the main reason why I didn't use the recipe for fully Green Tea Castella, though I think it would have been yummy).

Oh, I also reduced the sugar in the cake by 18g, because Dad commented that it was too sweet the last time.

For some reason, my 6 eggs were heavier today: 320g. The first time, they were 300g.

I must have done something right this time, because the cake didn't stick to the baking paper. All four sides are nicely baked!

Ok, I know that I'm supposed to slice off the two sides to look like a real Castella cake, but I find that a waste of perfectly good cake. Since it's just for the family to nom on, I kept it as it is. ;)

Reviews:

Cyn: Liked it. Preferred this to the previous one because this is less moist and less dense. Loved that it's a marbled cake.. so sometimes you taste the green tea, sometimes you taste the nice honey flavoured castella. She could also tell it was slightly less sweet, but felt that it brought out the other flavours better this way. Good! *update: Cyn ate the cakes again today, so it must be better. Side note: the shorter cake tasted better in her opinion cos there was more green tea in each slice. I guess it's because the pan is wider and hence the green tea batter spreads out more evenly?*
Mom: Ate two slices in a row. I'm guessing it was good.
Dad: Still felt it was too sweet, but reckoned it was the honey he was tasting.

Poh Piah

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl) — Sun, 17 Aug 2014 07:30:00 +0000

So, dad finally got me a voltage converter for my food processor. Happy~ Now my food processor is up and running!

I never expected the converter to be this bulky (and heavy)

I obviously had to make good use of the food processor now that it's finally working (after sitting in the store room for a little more than a year).

Pretty in Pastel Pink!
(Ok, mom and Er Jie felt it was a sickly colour. In their words, it was lak sek, ie the colour looked faded)

So, after much brainstorming, Mom suggested that we make Poh Piah. Great idea! We haven't had it for maybe 10 years (maybe more), since it's hard work to grate the vegetables.

With the food processor, it was chop, throw in, whizz. DONE!

The only problem we had was finding Poh Piah skins. We were hoping to be able to find some closeby, but no. We had to drive out. (Thank God for Google)

Nonetheless, Mom and I had a good trip out (bought some breakfast for Dad and Sis), and came back to create a yummilicious lunch.

So here's our lunch. Mom whipped these up really quickly. She's an amazing cook.

Happy days! With the right tools, everything is much easier.

Flourless Orange Chocolate Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl) — Sun, 17 Aug 2014 06:31:00 +0000

So this is the second thing I decided to make with the food processor.

Now that the food processor is up and running, I had to make up for lost time! ^^

This recipe from Nigella Lawson blends the entire orange. Kind of interesting! And with the food processor, everything just seems so easy. Whizz and it's done!

Adding everything right into the food processor and blend! Love the simplicity of the recipe.

The texture seems a bit dense, and there are still lumps from the almond meal.

I reckon I need to whizz the almond meal a little more so that it breaks down.

Review:
Sis2 said that the taste is great, but the grainy texture is a little distracting.
Sis1 loves it. Dad seems to like it too!

Red Bean Pancake 豆沙锅饼 - Take 2

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl) — Sat, 16 Aug 2014 05:30:00 +0000

Made red bean pancake again today because the last time I made it, the pancake was too thick. So today, instead of 2 pancakes, the same recipe which resulted in 200ml worth of batter, gave me 4 thinner pancakes. (My skill ain't good enough to get the batter thinner than that)

Waiting to be fried a second time

I may have been a little too greedy with the filling

Left: Before frying for a second time. Right: After frying & going into the toaster oven.

Unfortunately though, I probably didn't use enough oil to fry it a second time because it wasn't crisp. I had the same problem the last time.

Truth be told, I was about to use the 3 tbsp of oil mentioned in the recipe, but Mom commented that it looked like a lot of oil so I took out about half to 3/4 of the oil. Sobs.

I noticed, though, that if I brushed some oil on the pancake and put it in the oven toaster, it would crisp up for a bit.

Will need to make this again! I really love red bean. ^^

Sardine Puffs and Cinnamon Sugar Twists

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl) — Sun, 10 Aug 2014 09:00:00 +0000

Mom's been following an "Airfryer" Group on Facebook for a while now. One of the things that people have been making are Curry Puffs / Sardine Puffs, made easy with Roti Prata dough.

Er Jie has actually (once) made Curry Puffs using puff pastry, and that's what we sought to do. (Puff pastry is to-die-for, in my opinon.)

So, we ended up with a round of crazy feasting for the 2nd day of the National Day weekend!

I think added onions to the canned sardines, and glazed the top of the pastry. I don't know any more of that since my job was just to roll out the dough. :P

This was post-breakfast, so we had to have a late lunch. *laughs*

Castella (Kasutera) Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl) — Sun, 10 Aug 2014 04:00:00 +0000

Because it's National Day weekend, I feel extremely festive. It's kind of weird because I'm no longer schooling and so we don't really hold celebrations for National Day.. But it's just feels so holiday-like.

So anyways, this cake needs to rest in the refrigerator for a minimum of 12 hours after baking, in order to retain its moisture. At least that's what the recipes I've read on this say. So, I actually made this yesterday and patiently let it sit in the refrigerator overnight.

I was actually worried about the cake sinking because the author of the recipe I followed said it could be an issue. Thankfully, the cakes rose perfectly, and didn't sink. The crust was wrinkly, but I can totally live with that. ;)

I usually reduce the amount of sugar in recipes by at least a quarter (because as I age, my taste buds don't quite take to overly sweet desserts. But in this case, I followed the recipe to the tee. Simply because I wanted to be sure that if it flopped, it's because I have bad techniques, and not because I decided to play around with the recipe.

I'm really thankful that I own a kitchenaid mixer, because the instructions were super specific as to the speed I'm which I should mix the ingredients at each step. Happy!

I love my mixer

I would love to make this again, but maybe with a matcha spin the next time. I saw a recipe for Castella with Matcha Swirls! A matcha Castella sounds delicious too, but Mom & Dad don't like Matcha cakes. So, I got to weigh the pros and cons here! Or maybe.... An orange spin to it. They love orange cakes. Hmm!

Red Bean Pancakes 豆沙锅饼

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl) — Sat, 09 Aug 2014 03:17:00 +0000

Happy National Day, Singapore!

Although this ain't a Singaporean dish, I wanted to make it because I wanted to use up the red bean paste that I made a few weeks back. And what better way, than to make some red bean pancake?

So I found this recipe that claims its the "easy version" of the traditional shanghainese snack.

I learnt a few things from this simplified recipe...
1) Not to use grape seed oil in place of normal vegetable oil.. It leaves a strange after-taste.
2) Just because the recipe says "cook half of the pancake batter", it doesn't mean you have to follow it to the tee. The recipe didn't state the size of the pan to use. And when I cooked half of the batter, the pancake turned out rather thick. For westernized pancakes, that's something good. But for our purposes here, the aim is to get a THIN layer of batter.

So that's my 200ml of batter. I cooked 100ml in (what is in my opinion) a medium sized flat bottomed pan. And got 2 thick pancakes.
In fact my pancake was too small to wrap around the 10x15cm red bean paste rectangles. So I just sandwiched one red bean paste in the middle. *laughs*

It looked rather decent, methinks. But I really could have done with a thinner pancake. :)
I mean, the ratio of pancake to red bean paste looks like 2:1. That's not right! ^^

Well, I'm going to make this again. The next time, I will use canola oil. And make thinner pancakes. Hopefully it would look like the real thing the next time!

The Science of the Best Chocolate Cookies and Skinny Double Chocolate Muffins

noreply@blogger.com (Cheryl) — Sat, 19 Jul 2014 09:09:00 +0000

So I've been wanting to make cookies again, but I was always too lazy to whip out the mixer and chop chocolate blocks into chocolate chunks.

But because my chocolate was about to expire, it is TIME!!

So, thankfully I found this recipe at Serious Eats. It turned out great (I LOVE soft cookies). I didn't change the recipe at all, except to replace 170g of the butter with margarine, and the rest with shortening).

The only problem was that Cyn said that there was an after-taste on the tongue. And I can't figure out why. :(
XY said it was nice tho. (I think she'll love anything with good chocolate in it. haha)

I've also been wanting to make these Skinny Double Chocolate Muffins. And since the yogurt I specially bought to make these were also going to expire in another week (laughs, I'm such a procrastinator), I decided to make it!

It was surprisingly good. Cyn actually said she preferred these to brownies, despite it having less chocolate and fat! :)