Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween !

Halloween Icons
Very excited as tonight my kids will be going treat a trick. This year my kids are more ready and dressed up for it.

Halloween orignated from Ireland but very much celebrated in America. Halloween was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) - commemorated the passing of the dead

The American tradition of "trick-or-treating". On Hallowmas the poor folks would go door to door to beg for food and receive food in return for their promise to pray for the family's dead relatives on All Souls Day.

The tradition of dressing in costume for Halloween. On Halloween, when it was believed that ghosts came back to the earthly world, people thought that they would encounter ghosts if they left their homes. To avoid being recognized by these ghosts, people would wear masks when they left their homes after dark so that the ghosts would mistake them for fellow spirits. On Halloween, to keep ghosts away from their houses, people would place bowls of food outside their homes to appease the ghosts and prevent them from attempting to enter.

Pumpkin carving for America's Halloween celebration. Well there's many version of Jack-O-Lantern. Here's one ...
Irish folks have a legend of a drunken farmer name nicknamed "Stingy Jack", whose dealings with the devil led to him being turned back at both the gates of heaven and hell upon his death. Forced to wander the darkness of purgatory, Jack made an o'lantern from a turnip and lump of burning coal to guide his lost soul. History of the Jack O lantern

My favourite

Just bought this yesterday

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Marble Cake

On saturday i did my mom favourite cheezy bread. The outcome was good and mom was very happy about it. Didn't get the picture taken :(

On sunday, my baked was marble cake. In fact this was the recipe i used, making my very 1st butter cake. Wander why such a small piece of cake right ? what happen to the rest of the cake. Well I baked that for my sister in law hubby birthday (again last minutes). With the left over batter, made them into cupcake.

Ingredients :
250 gm butter
230 gm castor sugar
4 eggs
250 gm self raising flour
1 tsp vanilla essence
6 tbsp UHT milk
1/2 tsp chocolate paste

Method :
1. Bake in 180c for about 50 mins
2. Beat Butter & sugar till white and fluffy
3. Add in eggs one at a time, alternating with flour
4. Add vanilla essence & milk
5. Portion out some batter and mix with chocolate paste

Take a step back what is the difference between these marble cake and the other marble cupcake ? Well i could said was the qty of egg used and milk difference. Other than that is the texture difference, to me both of the cake are equally good. Some of my friends have difference preference on those 2 cakes.

Go ahead and give it a try and see what is your liking.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Pandan Milk Bread

Here's where i got my inspiration Happy Cup. When it was baked the bread is kinda of soft and nice, i even spread some killiney kaya over it. Yummy ! I ate it right away after it was cool :p it was past mid night liao. It was supper for me after all the baking & washing up.

This morning when mom tried and said she misses my usual baked bread texture (using Alex Goh recipe) Hmmm will give it a shot again but ... i still got the luncheon bread recipe to try .... oh dear, i just can't decide now. I got too many things i wanted to bake and do now.... Probably will just depend on my mood mood than.


Though this recipe is eggless but it was very tasty.

Ingredient
178g milk
50g caster sugar
5g salt
250g bread flour
4g Instant yeast
38g canola oil
2 drop pandan paste

Method
  1. I used the BM pre program to knead the dough (abt 1.5 hr)
  2. Give a punch b4 shaping the dough into 12 mini balls and let it rest in room temperature for 15 mins
  3. Flatten dough and roll out to swiss-roll style
  4. Place dough on to the paper cup and let it proof for the 2nd time in enclosed area
  5. Finally brush the dough with milk & sugar before sending it into the oven
  6. Bake at 190c for 20 - 25 mins

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Marble Cupcake


Ingredient
250 gm butter
220 gm castor sugar
7 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
300 gm self raising flour (sifted)
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/2 tsp chocolate paste

Method
  1. Beat butter with sugar till white and fluffy
  2. Add in 1 egg at a time
  3. Add vanilla & evaporated and mix well
  4. Fold in the sifted flour
  5. Scoop out some mixture into a separate bowl and mix with the chocolate paste
  6. In the small paper cup pour in some chocolate mixture and fill the rest with the butter mixutre
  7. Bake at 170c for 20 mins

* I've some batches sprinkle with colourful star & heart shape and others with chocolate chips. Personally i like chocolate chip. Yum yum

Monday, October 20, 2008

Best Brownie

After taking the 2 bites brownie, very tempted to make mini Best Brownie . Finally here is my last night bake and it taste best with the yummy ice cream.


what i did was.. cut down the sugar by half and reduce the bake time to 12 mins

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Chinese Dumpling 锅贴






Dumpling making by Ms Puay
I'm impressed, got style Oooo... some more got picture to proof her fine skill.

The skin pastry ingredient :-
2 cup of plain flour (multi purpose flour)
1 cup of water (hot water)

Method
Knead into a dough and let them rest of half hour. Roll into 2 long roll and cut into little piece of 1 inch length.

New Toy

Here's a new toy from Daiso yesterday

Wandering why did i buy this dumpling mould .... All b'cos of Ms Puay fault.

Monday, October 13, 2008

A Time to Share Chocolate Chip Cookies

After MacRitchie Reservoir walk, only got enough engery to bake one Chocolate Chip Cookie. Gonna push back the baking of mini brownie to the next round.

Safety Check ! Gonna be really careful now to ensure that the Hersheys Chocolate chips & Mini M&M cooking chocolate are not made in China. I'm happy after checking they're product of USA and so i started my baking. Using the same recipe i posted last round Chocolate Chip Cookie

Viola ... A joint effort from Brina & Me

Here's the sharing for B&B teachers & friends

A Day at Macritchie - HSBC TreeTop Walk

My family went for a hard day walking at macritchie reservoir wanted to visit the HSBC TreeTop Walk. The journey to the bridge was 4.9km. We spend 1-4.30pm just walking and walking (so much complain from me) We even lost our way after going thru the TreeTop walk ... thankfully my mom didn't come along. Lots of walking in conclusion we had a good time though everyone was sweaty and exhausted. Kinda of positive that I think will not be back there so so soon.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Chocolate Coco Crunch

Tap this picture from Juliah blog on her Chocolate Coco Crunch. Another easy to do 1-2-3 NO Bake recipe, this time sharing by Juliah. (Thanks Thanks)

Ingredient
Nestle Coco Crunch
Melted Chocolate

Method
  1. Mixed the Coco Crunch with melted chocolate
  2. Place them onto the paper cup
  3. Leave aside to set

I just love Hari Raya, so many hidden talents reveal.

Audrey vs Beach

Hahahah ... Who said only Audrey look like bedroom slipper, Beach can also ... See for yourself

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Oreo Choc

Today Nuraini brought this to office for sharing. I'm super impressed by her mom baking this Oreo Choc. It tastes yummy.

A simple and easy to make. Thanks Nuraini for sharing this recipe with us.



Ingredients

Crushed Oreo
Melted Tulip brand cooking chocolate

Method
  1. Place some crushed oreo onto the small aluminium cup
  2. Pour over the melted chocolate
  3. Leave aside to set

An easy 1-2-3 (1 oreo choc, 2 ingredients & 3 steps method) COOL !

* Last but not least, A big Thank You to Juliah & Yanti for taking the photo shoot for me.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is my favourite easy to make cookies. Got this recipe sometime back from a forgotton source. Many has tried and the comments was good. Hmmmm it's very crunchy and yummy, my kiddos loves it a lots. Shall upload the picture later when i bake them, as for now just sharing with you this wonderful keeper and hope you'll have fun baking it.

Ingredients
125g butter
70g castor sugar
70g brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 egg
260g self raising flour (sifted)
130g chocolate chips (to your desire amt)

Method
  1. Cream butter & sugars till smooth
  2. Add egg and essence
  3. Fold in sifted flour and chocolate chips
  4. scoop out the mixture and place it on the line tray
  5. Bake at 180c for 15mins or brown

Sweet Bun

Bake this yesterday. very greedy i did a double portion (1/2 aunty ching & 1/2 our family). This is my favourite bread recipe obtained from Alex Goh Basic Sweet Bun Dough. A bread that don't disappoint me.

Ingredients A
480g Bread flour
120g Plain flour
110g sugar
10g salt
20g Milk powder
4tsps instant yeast

Ingredients B
1 Egg
300ml Cold water

Ingredients C
60g Butter

Method
  1. Mix A till well blended
  2. Add B and knead to form a dough
  3. Add C, continue to knead to form a smooth and elastic dough
  4. Cover dough with clear film. Let it prove for 50-60 minutes, or till it doubles its size
  5. Use finger to pressed into the dough. It should show a clear finger tip mark but the dough should not sink. Now it's ready to use making bread and bun

* I use my BM with the dough kneading.

For making of sweet bun. Divide the sweet bun dough into 60g portions and mould into a ball. Leave it to rest for 10mins.

Put a few dough and decorate in a round baking tray and have it greased. Put in a warm place to prove for 45 mins.

Brush with egg wash and bake at 190c for 12mins.

* with the basic sweet bun dough you can be creative over what kind of bun flavour you like, such as cheese, ham, hot dog, raisin etc.... Just like what you can find at the bread shop. Basic dough, many variety. Btw I uses this recipe for my old posting for Cheese stick too.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Quiche

Baked quiche yesterday but mei mei broke the bowl, so bye bye quiche. Mei Mei felt so so sad and keep saying sorry mom, i shouldn't have done it. She's so remorseful, of course i must forgave her and i didn't even scold her for that. She's such a sweetie.

So this early morning i did a quick bake of the quiche for son. Just to make up for it (it's his favourite).

Here's how it look. Simple and easy to bake


Ingredient
1pc harsh brown
1 egg
milk (I didn't measure so just aga aga - 1/4 cup)
butter
pepper & salt to taste
Shredded cheese
ham (optional)

Method
  1. Mash the harsh brown
  2. place it in the bake dish and bake 190c until brown
  3. Drip some butter and sprinkle some pepper & salt on the baked harsh brown
  4. Sprinkle some shredded cheese
  5. In a bowl beat in the egg, milk, dash of pepper & salt
  6. Finally add in the egg mixture onto the bake dish
  7. Bake until brown

Paper Sponge 鸡蛋糕

Another bake using Alex Goh recipe

Look nice nice hor...

Ingredients A
5 eggs
5 eggs Yolk
250 g sugar

Ingredient B
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Ingredients C
270g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder

Ingredients D
50g evaporated milk
50g corn oil

Method
  1. Whip ingredients A until light and fluffy. Add in ingredient B, mix until well-blended.
  2. Add in sieved ingredients C, mix until well-combined
  3. Add in ingredients D, mix until well incorporated
  4. Pour the mixture into the greased and lined cupcake mould
  5. Bake at 190c for 20 minutes