Books on Making Truffles

Made another trip to the library yesterday afternoon and got my hands on some chocolate truffles making books. And yes! Truffles will be next on my list of attempts! Hopefully my truffles attempt will be good enough to be served at CNY 2009 and for Valentines' Day!

Kueh Makmur

This is my first attempt at making Kueh Makmur. It was a fun but tiring experience due to the soft dough which was difficult to handle even after putting into the fridge. However, the end result is a melt-in-mouth texture which is delicious! Seems like all Chinese New Year cookies are difficult and time-consuming to make!

(Recipe adapted form Yochana's Cake Delights)
Dough Ingredients:

• 250g Butter
• 100g Ghee
• 50g Sugar
• 1 Egg
• 450g Plain Flour
• 1/4 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Salt

Filling Ingredients:

• 300g Roasted Groundnuts (Blend coarsely)
• 120g Castor Sugar
• 4-5 tbsp Creamy Peanut Butter (Original recipe called for 3 tbsp)

Method:

1. Cream butter, ghee and sugar till creamy. Add in egg
2. Add in flour, baking powder and salt and mix till a dough is formed. Rest in fridge for 30min (Although I've put it in for nearly 40min and still get a soft and difficult to handle dough)
3. Using a teaspoon size measuring spoon, scoop a tsp of dough and put a small ball of peanut filling into the flattened dough. Roll it into a oval shape and use a pincher to create leaf-like design
4. Bake in preheated oven at 150C for 20min
5. Remove and cool a little before sprinkling some Snow Powder on the cookies

Ginger Breadmen & Ginger Cookies

Saw a recipe publised on The Sunday Times Lifestyle section last weekend and had the urge to bake gingerbreadmen. This is my first try in making thes little men.

Ingredients:

• 4.5 cups Plain Flour


• 1 tsp Baking Soda


• 1.5 tsp Ground Ginger


• 1.5 tsp Ground Allspice


• 1 tsp Salt


• 28g Unsalted Butter (at room temp)


• 180g Dark Brown Sugar (i use Redman Brown Premium Sugar)


• 160g Honey


• 2 Eggs

Method:

• Preheat oven to 190C
• Sift flour, baking soda, ginger, allspice and salt into large mixing bowl. Leave aside
• Cream butter, brown sugar and honey with an electric mixer for 2 min on high speed until a smooth mixture forms
• Add in eggs gradually and mix for 2 min on high speed until a dough is formed.
• Remove dough and flatten dough into a disc, wrap in aluminium foil/ cellophane and freeze for 30min
• After freezing, roll dough to 4mm thickness and cut into shapes with cookie cutters
• Transfer cookies onto baking tray lined with parchment paper taking care to space apart
• Bake for between 8 - 10 min until firm
• Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely before decorating with Royal Icing (Recipe below)

Royal Icing Recipe

Ingredients:

• 90g Egg Whites


• 1/8 tsp Cream of Tartar


• 450g Icing Sugar, sifted

Method:

1. In a clean bowl, beat together Cream of Tartar and Egg Whites at high speed for a min until frothy


2. Add Icing Sugar in gradually and continue to mix on low speed for 1 - 2 min until icing holds a soft peak. Add colouring if desired

Choco-Matcha Yogurt Muffins

This is another variation of the Yogurt Muffins that I had made last weekend. This time, I've added cocoa powder to 1 portion of the batter and Matcha powder to the other portion. I like the soft texture of the muffins although it is a little too oily. Should I reduce the butter?

Cocoa Walnut Balls

Today has been a long rainy day and I've decided to stay at home and bake these little cocoa balls. However, they taste a bit bitter as I had burnt the walnuts whilst toasting in the oven. How careless of me!

Ingredients :

• 95g butter
• 35g icing sugar
• 110g cake flour
• 15g cocoa powder
• 50g walnut

Method :

1. Toast the chopped walnuts and leave aside to cool.
2. Cream butter and icing sugar till white and fluffy.
3. Fold in sifted flour and cocoa powder well.
4. Add in chopped walnuts and mixed well.
5. Wrap the soft dough onto an aluminium foil and put inside the fridge for 20 mins.
6. Round dough into tiny round balls
7. Bake on parchment paper at 190 degrees for 15 mins.

Books on Cakes, Muffins and Cookies!

Went to the library yesterday afternoon and got my hands on some great recipes books on cakes, muffins and cookies! I was totally impressed by the appetising pictures in the books and couldn't wait to try my hands at making them!

Choco-Chips Yogurt Muffins

This is the last baking item on my list this week. Choco-Chips Yogurt Muffins! Delicious and soft! I've made some minor changes to the original recipe (eg: 1 used the entire bottle of Marigold Low-Fat Plain Yogurt - 150ml instead of 125ml as suggested as I'm too lazy to measure it out) and also I've sprinkled some left over baking choco-chips on top of the muffins.

(Recipe Adapted from Yochana's Cake Delights)

Ingredients:

• 250g Butter
• 200g Sugar
• 3 egss
• 150g Yogurt
• 1.5 cups Self-raising Flour
• 1 tsp Vanilla Essence (Original recipe uses Vanilla Extract)

Method:

1. Cream butter and sugar till creamy
2. Add in eggs one at a time, mix well with each addition
3. Fold in flour alternatively with yogurt
4. Add in vanilla essence and mix well
5. Spoon into muffin cups and bake in preheated oven at 170C for 25min
6. Cool before serving

(Yield 9 large muffin cups)

Coco Crunch & Oats Cookies

Tried out another new cookies recipe today adapted from Yochana's Cake Delights. Great tasting cookies. It's not the normal type of crunchy cookies most probably because of the incorporation of oats although its more of a chewy centred cookies.

(Recipe Adapted from Yochana's Cake Delights)

Ingredients:

(A)

• 125g Butter
• 1 tbsp shortening (Crisco Brand)
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 80g Castor Sugar
• 1 tsp Coffee Paste (Instant Coffee + drops of water)
• 1/4 tsp Baking Soda

(B)

• 30g Oats (Nestum Instant Oats) - Toasted in oven
• 30g Cocoa Crunch (Crushed)
  

(C)

• 150g Plain Flour
• 30g Corn Flour
• 1 tbsp Rice Flour

Decoration: Baking Chocolate (Melted), 1 beaten egg and Nestum Oats

Method:

1. Beat Ingredients (A) till creamy


2. Add in (B) and (C) and mix into a dough (the dough was rather crumbly in texture)


3. Roll dough into small oval shape, dipped into beaten egg and roll over Nestum Oats.


4. Place on baking tray lined with greaseproof paper and bake in preheated oven at 140C for 30 mins


5. Cool the cookies before coating half the cookie with melted baking chocolate


6. Place in paper cups to serve

(Yield 25 approx.1.5" long cookies)

Green Tea Cookies

Saw this recipe at a blog and have been very tempted with its simple recipe. I've never eaten Green Tea Cookies before and was really excited about trying it out. My excitement could not be contained till tomorrow and immediately after work, I went grocery shopping for Green Tea Powder at Phoon Huat.

I got down to work on the cookies the moment I got home and it was a satisfactory and fun process with all the mixing and cutting with cookie cutters. The final result is a very fragrant cookies with a light lingering tint of green tea. Great cookies that I will definitely make again for Chinese New Year!

(Recipe Adapted from Oh For The Love of Food)

Ingredients:

• 65g Icing Sugar
• 140g Salted Butter
• 240g Plain Flour
• 3 Egg Yolks
• 1.5 tbsp Green Tea Powder
• Some Fine Sugar (for coating)

Method:

1. Mix icing sugar and green tea powder till combined
2. Add butter to the icing sugar/green tea mixture and cream till smooth
3. Add in flour and mix till well combined
4. Add egg yolks and mix till fully incorporated and a dough is formed
5. Place dough on Aluminium Foil and roll into a round disk
6. Chill in freezer for at least 10 min
7. Roll out dough to approx.1/2" thickness and cut out with floured cookie cutters
8. Coat each cookie with fine sugar
9. Place on baking tray lined with greaseproof paper in preheated oven at 180C for approx.12min or till edges are slightly brown

(Yields approx. 45pcs of 1.5" cookies)

Carrot Cake

Today has really been a fulfilling Sunday. I've managed to make 3 items in 1 afternoon! This is the last of the day - Carrot Cake American Style!

I'm not a huge fan of spices and this recipe calls for Cinnamon Powder thus I was rather hesitant in baking this cake. However, after the persistant urging of my sis, I decided to give it a try.

The cake did not meet my tastebud on the day itself, however, it was surprising good after having been put in the fridge overnight. The smell of cinnamon was not too overwhelming and the initial sourness of the cream cheese topping tasted just right. This is indeed a traditional yet perfect pairing of cake and topping!

(Recipe adapted from Yochana's Cake Delights)
Ingredients (Carrot Cake):

• 3 eggs
• 150 gm. Milk
• 300 gm. Sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 180 gm. cornoil
• 1 tsp. Vanilla essence
• 285 gm. cake flour
• 1 tsp. Baking powder
• 1 tsp. Bicarbonate of Soda
• 1 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon Powder
• 200 gm. Carrot - shredded
• 100 gm. Walnuts - coarsely chopped

Ingredients (Cream Cheese Topping):

• 250 gm. Cream Cheese
• 60 gm. Butter
• 120 gm. Icing sugar
• 1/2 Lemon zest - grated
• 2 Tbsp. Lemon Juice

Method (Carrot Cake):

1. Whisk eggs and sugar till creamy.
2. Add in milk gradually and then the salt.
3. Add in cornoil slowly till well mixed and add in vanilla essence.
4. Add in the sifted flour mixture - cake flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of
   soda and ground cinnamon.
5. Use a spatula to mix in grated carrot and chopped walnuts.
6. Pour into a rectangular tin and bake at 180C for about 60 mins. or till cooked.
7. Cool cake completely before spreading the cream cheese topping.

Method (Cream Cheese Topping):

1. Cream the cream cheese till smooth.
2. Add in butter and continue creaming until well blended.
3. Add in lemon zest and lemon juice.
4. Mix till well combined and spread on top of cooled carrot cake.

Pineapple Tarts

I love Pineapple Tarts very much. It was the only thing that I look forward to during Chinese New Year and I would definitely give each house's Pineapple Tarts a try whilst house-visiting during that period.

After my house got itself a new standalone oven this year, then I began searching for my favourite tart recipes. This batch of Pineapple Tarts wasn't my first try, however, it was a new recipe that entice me to try it out. (According to my aunty, this is a melt-in-mouth recipe).

Yap. After trying it this afternoon, I fully agreed with her. Simply delicious.... Although my tarts do not quite make it to the looks category, nevertheless, it still taste simply gorgeous!

(Recipe Adapted from my Aunty's Friend - Jennifer)

Ingredients:

• 500g Butter
• 1 tbsp Vanilla Essence
• 100g Caster Sugar
• 100g Milk Powder (Full Cream)
• 2 Egg Yolks
• 1 Egg White
• 700g Plain Flour
• 1 pkt of Red Man Pineapple Filling Paste

Extra Egg Yolk for Glazing

Method:

1. Cream butter and sugar till creamy
2. Add in egg yolks, egg white and vanilla essence and mix well
3. Fold in flour and milk powder till fully incorporated. (This step is sure a challenging task to me as I find it difficult to fold in such large amt of flour!!)
4. Roll dough into small round balls and Pineapple Filling into slightly smaller balls.
5. Flatten dough and put filling into the dough and roll it into a ball.
6. Put into small paper cups and glaze with egg yolk
7. Bake at 170degree celsius for approx 15min or till golden brown.
8. Cool completely before storing

Tips:

• In order to make tarts of the same size, use measuring spoons as gauge. Use a "1 tablespoon measuring spoon" for the dough and a "1 teaspoon measuring spoon" for the filling. (Note: The tarts will be slightly on the large side.)

Fried Milk Balls

I've tried this dessert in a tiny restaurant at Zhuhai, China in Aug this year. Before that, I've never imagined that milk could be fried! The sticky white milk inside the fried batter was a somewhat a cross between tofu and almond jelly (firm yet springy with slight milky aftertaste). It was whilst surfing the net for some unique finds that I came across this recipe for Fried Milk Balls and decided to try it this weekend.

The recipe is rather simple. However, after boiling the milk mixture, the final gluey, sticky look wasn't much appetizing although there's still a slight milky aroma to it.

Anyway, the verdict is that the dish could be better if it has a stronger milk taste. It might be because I've added low-fat fresh milk instead of full-cream milk which I suppose the recipe might have meant when it simply say "milk".

(Recipe Adapted from "Angie's Recipes")

Ingredients:

• 50g Cornstarch
• 250ml Milk (Better to use Full-Cream Milk)
• 20g Granulated Sugar

Batter Mixture:

• 75ml Water
• 100g Plain Flour
• A pinch of Salt
• 1 tsp Baking Powder

Method:

1. Mix sugar and cornstarch in saucepan and gradually stir in milk, stirring constantly over medium heat till gluey texture formed. Spread in a dish or plastic container. (I couldn't find a square dish and have to make do with a round plastic one). Refrigerate uncovered for at least 3 hours till firm (I've not read this part carefully and had covered it whilst refrigerating it overnight. not sure whether it make any difference..
2. To prepare batter, mix water, flour, salt and baking powder together. Cut the milk into small pieces and coat each piece with the batter mixture before frying them till golden brown.
3. Serve whilst hot.