Whisk & Bake

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-12T18:22:00.001+08:00

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lemon Bars! - The Ultimate Lemon Butter Bar

2011-01-28T10:48:00.000+08:00

Oh i could not wait to make these! I love almost anything that has lemons in it, these were no exception. If i had to choose between a lemon dessert and a chocolate one, i will always lean towards the lemon.

These lemon bars are delicious. Sweet, tart lemon curd on top of a lovely crunchy shortbread, heaven! In England i always loved having lemon drizzle cake with a cup of tea, these bars were equally as good with my cuppa :)

This recipe is particularly good. It does take a little effort, but it is well worth it.
You can find the recipe here.

Digestive Biscuits

2011-01-25T16:33:00.001+08:00

I love digestive biscuits, such a great everyday biscuit and perfect with a cup of tea. Digestives are very popular in the UK, not only as a biscuit but usually used to make the base of a cheesecake or banofee pie (yum). I think these are called Graham Crackers in America.

I got the recipe from this blog.

Please see below for my recipe alterations.

Ingredients:
1 cup + 2 Tbsp. rolled oats
1 cup + 2 Tbsp. wholewheat flour
7 Tbsp. unsalted salted butter
1/3 cup white natural cane sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp milk
Preparation:
In a food processor blend both flours until they resemble course sand. In the meantime melt the butter at low heat until almost all melted. Add the butter, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla and milk to the flour mixture and quickly blend them until well combined.

Form a ball using your hands and gently flat it down, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 140°C.

Flour your working surface and with a rolling pin flat the dough until 1/4-inch thick.
Cut the biscuits with a 2-inches cookie cutter and place them on a lined baking sheet.
Cook them for about 10 minutes or until the sides start getting golden brown.
When ready let the biscuits rest for a couple of minutes and then place them on a wire rack until cool.

I really liked these biscuits but they do taste different from the commercial digestives. These were a bit more 'oaty' than i expected, i might try them again with only wholewheat flour to see the difference.

Gingersnap Biscuits

2011-01-12T22:24:00.002+08:00

Every time we used to visit my Grandmother in England, she always had ginger biscuits in her biscuit tin. I loved it! Every time i eat these now it takes me back to when i was a little girl spending time with Grandmother Kathleen. She was so kind and patient. I had a Winnie the Pooh Bear (this was before disney bought the rights) that went everywhere with me, she knitted several outfits for my beloved Winnie!

I was tempted to buy a pack of these gingersnap biscuits at the supermarket but I felt I wanted to do more to keep my memory of my Grandmother alive and decided to make them instead.

4oz self raising flour
2oz butter
2 1/2 oz sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp baking of soda
1 tbsp golden syrup or light corn syrup
Additional granulated sugar to sprinkle on top.

Place dry ingredients together in a bowl, whisk and set aside.
Melt the butter and golden syrup together in a pan and stir.
Pour the butter mixture into the dry ingredients and mix to make a stiff dough.
Using your hands, roll the dough into walnut sized balls.
Place the balls on a lined baking tray and press each one down slightly (i use my fingers for this). Sprinkle sugar on top of cookie.

Bake approximately for 10 - 15 minutes, or until golden brown at 180C.

Kladdkaka - Swedish Sticky Chocolate Cake

2011-01-06T10:37:00.001+08:00

Simple ingredients. Simple method. So delicious! Crisp on the outside and soft, sticky, gooey goodness inside. This is fine on its own but would be great with whipped cream and either strawberries or raspberries. Yum!

This has become a go-to recipe if a need to make a super quick dessert or afternoon tea treat. Recipe below or here.

Ingredients
1/2 cup all-purpose/plain flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
pinch of salt
2 eggs
1 1/3 cups sugar (i prefer slightly less sugar and use 1 1/4 cup)
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter, melted

Method
Preheat oven to 300F or 150C. Lightly grease an 8-inch pie plate.

Sift together the dry ingredients and set aside. Stir the eggs into the sugar until smooth. Add the flour mixture, and stir until just combined (30 strokes max). Pour in the vanilla and the butter, stir until well combined. Pour onto prepared pie plate and bake. I never really look at baking times as every oven is different. I look for a set centre, and use a tooth pic to check doneness.

Norwegian Cinnamon Rolls

2011-01-06T09:51:00.001+08:00

I love cinnamon rolls. Love them.

When i lived in England i used to visit my Aunt and Uncle in Norway fairly regularly as the flight was only a couple of hours from gatwick airport. Norway is such a beautiful country, the landscape and the people. I haven't visited for six years and i do miss it.

My aunt makes the most delicious chocolate cake (i'll post about this another time) and cinnamon rolls. Unfortunately i lost the recipe she gave me but was thrilled to find this recipe by Nigella Lawson that is very close to it. These are very, very good, especially when still warm straight from the oven! These do not stay around long in my house at all!

I do add more flour than the recipe calls for (i keep adding more flour until i get the springy, smooth consistency i want) and instead of making them all in a pan, i use cupcake/muffin cases.

Enjoy!

For the dough
600g all-purpose/plain flour (i used approx. 700g)
100g caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
21g (3 sachets) easy blend yeast or 45g fresh yeast
100g unsalted butter
400ml milk
2 eggs

For the Filling
150g unsalted butter, softened
150g sugar
1 1/2tsp ground cinnamon

Method
Combine the flour, sugar, salt and yeast in a large bowl and set aside.

Melt the butter and whisk it into the milk and eggs, then stir it into the flour mixture. Mix to combine then either knead by hand or use the dough hook of a food mixer until the dough is smooth and springy. Form into a ball, place in an oiled bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave it to rise for about half an hour. Preheat your oven to 180 C.

Mix all the filling ingredients into a paste. Prepare paper cases.

Roll dough on a floured surface into a large rectangle. Spread filling all over the rectangle. Roll the dough into a log. Slice off 1 inch rounds and place into prepared paper cases. Just before they go into the oven, i like to top them with a little more of the filling paste.

Bake and enjoy!

Happy New Year 2011

2011-01-01T03:35:00.000+08:00

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Pineapple Cupcakes

2010-10-21T20:08:00.001+08:00

Hmm, what to do with two cans of chopped pineapple that's been sitting in my pantry for what seems like years? Eid-ul-fitr is over so no need for pineapple tarts. Something quick and easy to put together because the kids have to be picked up from school soon. A quick search on the web and i found a recipe for these pineapple cupcakes.
I'm really annoyed that i didn't bookmark the site or make note of it. I just quickly jotted down the recipe and ran to the kitchen to make them.

Recipe for Pineapple Cupcakes
2 Cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 can (8oz) crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 cup raisins

Whisk oil, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in the sugar, pineapple, and raisins. Fold in the flour, baking soda, and salt. Pour into cupcake cases and bake until a toothpick inserted into the centre of a cupcake comes out clean.

I burnt my tongue eating these too soon out of the oven....but worth it! These were so yummy! Its a lot of batter and we had cupcakes for days :)

I loads away to family and it seems everyone liked them just as much as i did. I didn't make and icing/frosting for these and they were yummy and full of flavour as they were.

So if you're ever wondering what to make with canned pineapples.......make these!

Nancy's Butterscotch Brownies

2010-08-11T21:57:00.000+08:00

Even though i'm not a part of TWD anymore I still like visiting blogs of other TWD members. Nancy's blog is one of my favourites. When i saw this recipe posted on Nancy's blog i ran straight down to the kitchen to see if i had all the ingredients. Of course i did, these brownies only require basic ingredients that most people would have in their kitchens. Yay, a great tasting dessert with few ingredients and not much fuss!

Please check out the recipe here and have a look at the rest of Nancy's fantastic blog.

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

2010-08-11T21:12:00.000+08:00

What a great way to wake up, eating these delicious cookies. Most of them were eaten by my 3 year old son.

This recipe is from Williams Sonoma and you can find it here.

I didn't have any coconut so i doubled up on the oats. I substituted half the amount of all-purpose flour for wholewheat flour.

Lemon Bread with Pecans

2010-08-11T20:54:00.000+08:00

I have not been active on my blog and I apologise. I have had to back out out the two groups that i love participating in, Tuesdays With Dorie and Craving Ellie in my Belly. We are still living in Malaysia and loving it. I grew up here in KL (Kuala Lumpur) and it has been fantastic being able to reconnect with family and friends. My husband is enjoying his sabbatical and is just starting to look at rejoining the rat race. Most of our belonging are still packed away in storage, including my beloved cookbooks and baking equipment, boohoo!!! Don't feel too sorry for me though as I have been able to do some baking, just not as much as i'd like to. I've been pretty lazy at posting but i'll try and post my backlog over the next week.

First up..... this gorgeous Lemon Bread. This recipe is courtesy of Williams Sonoma and you can find the recipe here.

Yummy Lemon Bundt Cake

2010-01-29T19:49:00.000+08:00

I had to give in to my lemon cake craving! When i used to live in Brighton, England, every so often my lemon cake craving led me to a cafe called Mock Turtle. This is an old victorian tea room hidden down an alley that locals flock to for the best cakes and afternoon tea in town. I cannot emphasise how delicious their lemon cake is, ahh the best :)
Moist and delicate crumb with a crunchy topping, bliss!

So..... now living on the other side of the world and desperate for lemon cake, what is a girl to do? I searched the internet for lemon cake recipes and just couldn't find one that i thought would fit the bill, until i founf this one.

This cake was delicious and very easy to make. I made double the amount so that i could give some away to family. I made one large bundt and also mini bundts stuffed with dates. My family loved this cake!

Much as i love this cake, it was not quite the same as the one at Mock Turtle. This cake was a little more dense. Alas i think its not just the cake i miss, the atmosphere of the cosy tea room and cool sea breeze is missed too. Nevermind, its a good reason to go back and visit.

You can find the recipe here or below:

Ingredients:
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon extract
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

Glaze:
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon water
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
3/4 cup sugar

Directions:
Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.

In another mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in extracts.

Add flour mixture to creamed mixture, alternating with milk, starting and ending with the flour. Stir in lemon zest. Pour into a greased and floured 10-in. fluted tube pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the centre comes out clean.

Cool for 10 minutes; invert onto a wire rack. Cool 10 minutes longer. Place rack on waxed paper. Combine glaze ingredients; drizzle over the warm cake. Cool completely before serving.

Delicious!

Christmas Cupcakes

2010-01-06T09:52:00.000+08:00

I have been meaning to write these up for the longest time. I made these just before christmas. I taught my first baking class and thought these would be great to make. Ok, my students were all cousins of mine, but they had all approached me to show them how to bake something. It was a fun day but i was exhausted by bedtime. I was glad i chose these as they had a great time decorating the cupcakes.

The recipe i used was an Ina Garten one taken from SmittenKitchen. You can find the recipe here. I made two batches so that everyone could take some home. These were delicious and were gone after 1 day! I gave one to a friend and he was blown away and thought they were from an upscale bakery. I hope you have as much fun making these as i did :)

CEIMB - Confetti Chili

2009-12-04T07:04:00.000+08:00

I was very excited to make this as i've never made my own chili before. My mother makes a great one so i've never really had to. I decided to make double the quantity as we always have lot's of family coming over on the weekends.

I normally try and stay away from buying canned goods but my son's kindergarden is trying to raise money for animal shelters by doing a recycling drive, so i gave in and bought all the canned beans and tomatoes i needed.

I did make a couple of changes. I didn't buy enough canned tomatoes so i used cream of tomato soup and cherry tomatoes. I also left out the chili peppers as i wanted my children to be able to eat it too. It all came together very easily but i needed a much longer cooking time to get the consistency i wanted.

Thank you so much to I'll eat you for a great pick. We really loved this chili, so good, especially with a little cheddar cheese on top. Please check out her blog or here for the recipe.

I apologise for no picture, i'm having issues with my camera and as soon as its sorted i'll post one.

Heath Cookies

2009-11-22T20:00:00.001+08:00

The recipe for these cookies are courtesy of Elise from Simply Recipes. Its a fantastic site and you can find the recipe for these cookies here.

I used the bag of Heath Toffee chips as I haven't found the bars here yet. These cookies are so good. My mother is one of 14 siblings and every sunday most of my aunts, uncles and cousins come over for a big family catch up. Its great but a little over-whelming for my husband who grew up in a very small family. I served these to my family and they practically inhaled them.

CEIMB - Peach French Toast Bake

2009-11-20T07:22:00.000+08:00

Sorry, a little late this week. Thank you Liz for a great pick pick for this weeks CEIMB.

I used raisin bread, left out the lemon juice as i didn't have any lemons left, and added lot's of cinnamon and nutmeg. The smell in our house this morning as it was baking was amazing. There is none left, all gone, delicious!

Please check out Liz's blog, The Not So Skinny Kitchen for the recipe or here.

CEIMB - Carrot, Green Apple & Mint Salad

2009-11-13T11:23:00.000+08:00

Ok, so its not the prettiest looking salad.......but it tastes so good!!
I thought there was no way i could get this recipe wrong; the ingredients were simple and the method even more so. Yet i did. I was in such a rush to make this that i didn't pay much attention and instead of grated carrots and apple, it ended up finely chopped. I know in the photos it looks like mush but it was actually really crunchy :)

It tastes great, although i think i was a bit too enthusiastic with the mint. I would happily make this again (in its correct form). Thank you Jessica, from The Singleton in the Kitchen, for a wonderful pick for this weeks CEIMB. Its perfect for the year round summer days we have here. Please check out Jessica's wonderful blog here.

I'm back! - CEIMB Linguine with Shrimp

2009-11-06T08:04:00.000+08:00

I can't believe how long it has been since i have written, or even looked at my blog!
We moved from Singapore to Malaysia. After much searching for the right schools for my boys we found a lovely international school for my 4 year old and a great kindergarten for my 2 year old. They are settled and happy, so we are too! My husband was made redundant from his job in Singapore and he finally ended his ten year relationship with his company last week (he worked out of the office here since we moved). He's enjoying some much deserved time off before rejoining the rat race in a couple of months. I think some mini vacations might be in order ;)

I had put my food blog to the back of my mind and when my box with all my beloved cookbooks was mistakenly put in long term storage by the moving company..... i was devastated. You see we're staying with my mother temporarily until we know our next move and majority of our belongings are in storage. I had specifically told the movers that my book box, under no circumstances, was not to go into storage. Sigh. They don't sell those books here in the bookshops and i don't really want to pay a fortune ordering them and having them shipped here to Malaysia. Regretfully TWD is off the cards right now. Luckily for me, CEIMB and Daring Bakers have online recipes so i can continue to participate in these where possible.

I was kicked into getting back into my baking/cooking groove by Sara. When she emailed me saying it was my turn to choose the dish for CEIMB it was great. But hmmm.......how am i going to choose the recipe? I didn't have the full choice of the book but i managed to have a good look through the recipes on the food network and chose the Linguine With Shrimp.

I don't know why i didn't have the forethought to read the recipe and ingredients properly before making this. I didn't realise it called for wine (for religious reasons i don't consume alcohol) so i thought i'd just leave it out. I forgot to save some of the pasta cooking water so sautéed the prawns and asparagus in the lemon juice instead. I used wholewheat spaghetti instead of linguine and also added some chilli flakes, i need some spice ;)

I really liked this. It was simple and tasty. I won't say quick as it took me 30 minutes (yes i know i'm hopeless at this) to de-shell the prawns. Please checkout the rest of CEIMB's bloggers posts here and checkout the recipe here.

The Daring Bakers -Milan Cookies

2009-07-27T20:44:00.000+08:00

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

I am super excited about this..... its my first Daring Bakers challenge! I joined the Daring Bakers a few months ago but either forgot or was not able to participate. I managed to squeeze this in before i started to pack up my baking things. I made these last week and brought them with me to a playdate...... huge hit! I did want to make the Mallows too but ran out of time.

Everyone who tried these really liked them, i had none left! The changes i made to the recipe were to use orange extract instead of lemon. I don't have lemon extract and don't want to buy anything right now. Once we move i can start stocking up on ingredients again.

Piping the cookies took a while to master. A little messy but i just about got there in the end :)

Thanks Nicole for a great challenge!

CEIMB - Aromatic Noodles with Lime Peanut Sauce

2009-07-16T23:51:00.000+08:00

I haven't participated in CEIMB in ages. I did actually make the Vegetable Cheese Strata a couple of weeks ago but it was such a disaster i didn't blog about it.

I've been looking forward to making this dish for a while. I made two substitutions, red wine vinegar for the rice vinegar, and baby corn for the snap peas. The sauce was very easy to make and very quick. I was sure the chilli flakes i used weren't going to be spicy enough so i put quite a bit in (yes i do have very spicy noodles now).

Apart from my veggies being a bit to undercooked, i really liked this. The sauce is great, maybe a little less chilli next time though ;)

Great choice Beth! Please check out her blog Supplicious and here for the recipe.

Tuesdays With Dorie - Brioche Plum Tart

2009-07-14T17:51:00.000+08:00

This will probably be my last TWD for a while. We don't move until the end of the month but I'm starting to panic that time is running out! Thankfully Malaysia is very close to Singapore so our belongings going by sea will reach us two weeks after we leave. When we moved here from England it took almost two months for our shipment to arrive.

Some friends held a barbeque for us on saturday and i thought it was a great excuse to make the plum tart and have it for dessert. I made a batch of the brownies from last weeks challenge too.

The tart came out really well (well better than i expected) although a little darker than i would have liked. I should have covered it with the foil tent much earlier. The brownies went down really well, lot's of people asking for the recipe, and they were finished before the meat was even served! There was one slice of the tart left which i quickly grabbed so i could taste it. Delicious! I'd love to make this again using different fruit.

Halfway through the barbeque the heavens opened and it poured with rain. Everyone was huddled under what little covering we had except for a dear friend Dudley who carried on cooking the meat. What a trooper! Eventhough we were all soaked (especially Dudley), everyone had a great time. Good food, great company and a rainstorm to remember our last barbeque in Singapore :)

This weeks challenge was chosen by Denise from Chez Us. Thanks for the great pick Denise!

Tuesdays With Dorie - Katherine Hepburn Brownies

2009-07-07T22:15:00.001+08:00

These last few weeks have been a whirlwind and i've barely had time to participate in TWD or CEIMB. I also joined the Daring Kitchen but i've yet to bake or cook along with them yet. We've been traveling back and forth to Kuala Lumpur as we have recently been told that my husbands job has been impacted by the global recession. So we will leave Singapore at the end of this month and move up to KL and stay there for a while until we figure out our next move. I've been spending my time trying to decide what will go into storage and what we bring with us. Anyone that knows me well, knows i am not very quickest of people doing this sort of thing as I tend to mull over everything.

I'm glad i was able to make these. I did have all the ingredients so there was no excuse not to! Very easy to make and very yummy, rich but good. I got 16 squares, ate one and gave the rest away to neighbours.

Thank you for the great pick, Lisa of Surviving Oz.

Tuesdays with Dories - Honey Peach Ice Cream and Parisian Apple Tarts

2009-06-17T12:11:00.000+08:00

I have never made ice cream before and actually have never thought about making it. When i saw this on the rotation for June i already knew i wasn't going to make it. Far too complicated and would probably turn out bad anyway.
The only thing that changed my mind was reading Marthe's note on the P&Qs. Marthe gave a link that explained how to make ice cream without an ice cream maker. I was inspired!

Fresh peaches were far too expensive, $10 for 3 peaches! Canned peaches would have to do. The only change i made to the recipe was to puree all the peaches. Everything seemed to go well until i put the custard in the freezer. Everytime i took it out to churn, it was still soft and wasn't freezing. Then i realised that i was supposed to keep the custard uncovered during the churning process. Doh! Ok, no big issue and was easily sorted.

I had some friends over for tea and served the the tarts and ice cream. They loved the tarts but the ice cream was so-so. The texture was good but i'm not sold on the flavour. Maybe i'll try pear and honey next time.

Thanks to Tommi of Brown Interior for choosing this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tuesday with Dorie - Parisian Apple Tarts

When i was a poor student in London, some time ago i might add, i never had much in the fridge. One day all i had was some puff pastry, severely bruised apples, sugar, cinnamon and butter. This weeks challenge is almost exactly what i made. It was so delicious i have made it numerous times since, and using other fruits too. So i hope you'll forgive me for making it the way i always do, using raw sugar and including cinnamon. Its just not the same without it.

Great choice Jessica! Please visit her blog My Baking Heart

Tuesdays with Dories - Chipster Topped Brownies

2009-05-27T08:01:00.000+08:00

I made these last week and brought them to a friends place as dessert for dinner. I made some in my muffin pan and the rest of the batter went into my square baking pan. The ones in the muffin pan turned out pretty well and were a huge hit. I had to throw away the one in the square pan. The cookie part was done but the brownie part was just brown goo. I did put it back in the oven at a lower temperature but the top got burnt and it didn't taste very good.

I didn't actually taste these, but everyone who ate them said they were really good.

Thanks for the great pick Beth. Please visit her blog Suppilicious for the recipe.

CEIMB - Thai Style Bocourti with Coconut Curry Broth

2009-05-21T17:45:00.000+08:00

My mother is from Malaysia and my father is English. I love curry (and steak and kidney pies) and grew up eating this and other glorious malay food. I only wish i could cook malay food like my mum can. So its no surprise that when i told Mum i'd be cooking a thai fish curry she looked skeptical. You see, as well as being hopeless at cooking malay cuisine, i'm not fond of fish. I love shellfish, but not fish. I'm not allergic, its just that i don't like a strong tasting or smelling fish, and i don't like it cooked soft. It has to be really done before i'll eat it - no sashimi for me!

Its funny how things have different names in different countries. I don't know how many times i have an ingredient list in hand and i'm walking around the supermarket looking for something only to find its called something else. I had no idea what cilantro was and figured it was some sort of vegetable. The supermarket staff didn't know so i had to call my husband and he didn't know, but he did google it for me. Ahh... coriander. I did know it, just by a different name. Here are some others, eggplant - aubergine, capsicum - peppers, scallions - spring onions. THere are more but i can't think of them right now.

Only a couple of changes, i couldn't find light coconut milk so just used normal, and the halibut was a little expensive so i bought bocourti fish instead. Also, i didn't steam the baby spinach, i just added this into the sauce.

Mum did keep a watchful eye over me and was concerned a couple of times. Apparently there are different kinds of curry powder for meat and for fish. Well i didn't know (i bought the meat curry powder), oh well. She also said that tamarind would be a much better sour taste than the lime juice. She was also wondering where the chillies were. A curry with no chilli, she couldn't believe it. I had to add a teaspoon of sugar as the sauce was just too sour.

I really liked this, mum did too but she did say it would be much better with some chilli, i agree :)
The fish was good, firm and boneless (thank goodness). I really enjoyed it.

Big thanks are due to Liz from The Not So Skinny Kitchen for this great choice. Please check out her blog and her recipes, i think i'm going to try and make her cinnamon crumb cake :)

Tuesdays with Dories - Fresh Mango Bread

2009-05-19T16:30:00.000+08:00

This weeks Tuesdays with Dorie pick comes from Kelly from Baking with the Boys.

I was really intrigued by this. The only fruit bread i've ever had is raisin bread so mangoes are definitely different. Luckily mangoes are a local fruit, nowhere near as expensive as imported berries. I got my two cups from one large sweet mango. My inlaws left last wednesday but i was expecting more family on friday. I haven't seen my cousin for 12 years and she is visiting from Perth, Australia with her two kids so a busy weekend ahead. I knew that if i do what i normally do, bake on monday, i'd end up not participating as i'd get too carried away showing my cousin the sights. I thought i'd better get my skates on and get down to baking and CEIMB on the one day i had.

It all went together very easily and didn't take very long at all. I obviously don't pay any attention to what pan or pan size i'm supposed to use. The batter overflowed in the oven, a lot! It didn't make a very pretty loaf but it tasted very good. I tried it once it cooled down and there was a very strong taste of ginger, more like gingerbread. The ginger toned down the next day and you could really taste all the other flavours. It was a big hit, tasty and really moist.

Thanks for a great pick Kelly. Please check out her site here for the recipe.

CEIMB - Jerk Chicken with Cool Pineapple Salsa

2009-05-14T17:01:00.000+08:00

I'm really glad to get back into the swing of things. Lol, after 2 weeks off i have been baking and cooking up a storm :)

When i read the title of this weeks recipe i thought it sounded nice, then i read the ingredients for the salsa. Cucumber and pineapple, together? Hmm. Oh well, give it a try.

I live in a condo in Singapore so there isn't the same level of privacy you get in a house, and after 2 years here i'm still getting used to it. Anyways, i was dicing the cucumber and pineapple, my kitchen window was open and the little girl a floor below was singing at the tops of her lungs Kelly Clarkson's Miss Independent. It kept me so entertained that i just kept on chopping and ended up with double the quantity i needed for the salsa.

I really liked this, i wasn't expecting to but it was really good. I had the chicken and salsa with couscous and raisins and it was great. My kids wouldn't try it but my husband, picky eater that he his, finished his plate.

Thank you Jen from Notes From the Table for this weeks pick. Please visit her site for the recipe.

Tuesdays with Dorie - Tartiest Lemon Tart

2009-05-13T13:55:00.001+08:00

I'm back!! My inlaws are heading back to Chicago tonight so i thought i could quickly do this tart before they leave. I've been looking forward to making this recipe, chosen by Babette Feasts . I used shop bought shortcrust pastry (bid mistake). I really wish i had taken the time to make my own pastry. The filling was great, a bit bitter but i still enjoyed it. I'll definitely make this again, with the proper crust.

Apologies for the short post but we're packing and trying to get some last minute shopping done :)

No TWD and CEIMB

2009-04-30T10:18:00.000+08:00

Sorry but i won't be participating in TWD or CEIMB this week and maybe next week too. My in-laws are here visiting from Chicago so we'll be showing them the sights of Singapore and Malaysia. If i am able to fit in TWD and CEIMB, i'll definitely join.

Happy baking and cooking :)

CEIMB - Balsamic Chicken with Baby Spinach and Couscous

2009-04-23T20:36:00.000+08:00

I've been looking forward to this recipe, it promises a good meal that is quick to prepare and cook. This weeks CEIMB was chosen by Marthe of Culinary Delights, please check out her blog for the recipe and all the other yummy food she makes :)

I only had two variations for this recipe, i used chicken drumsticks instead of breast (my husband couldn't remember which part i needed, i guess i should be grateful he didn't come back with fish or some other kind of meat) and i added raisins to the couscous.

I really, really liked this dish. Great mid week meal and i love the sweetness of the raisins in the couscous with the slight tangy balsamic sauce. Great choice Marthe!

Cloverleaf Rolls

2009-04-22T20:04:00.000+08:00

I really want to be a good breadmaker. There is nothing nicer than freshly baked homemade bread. The smell is intoxicating.
One of the things i really miss from England and Europe is the bread. There are a few places in Singapore that sells good bread but its good, not great. I really miss the granary bread from England, bird seed bread my husband calls it. He dislikes grainy bread as he says he's likely to crack a tooth. I love the texture.

I've only ever baked a couple of loaves and its always been the standard white, i'm not confidant enough to try wholemeal or grain bread. I will get there, i just need to practice more.

Anyway, i was on epicurious and saw these rolls and they look so adorable i couldn't resist.

I didn't have any poppy or sesame seeds so i topped mine with some fluer de sel. I made some in normal muffin pans and also made some mini ones from my mini muffin pan. Everything tastes better as a mini ;)

Cloverleaf Rolls
3 tablespoons warm water (105–115°F)
1 (1/4-ounce) package active dry yeast (2 1/2 teaspoons)
3 tablespoons sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
1 cup whole milk
2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 to 2 cups all-purpose flour
1 large egg, lightly beaten with 2 teaspoons water
About 1 tablespoon poppy seeds and/or toasted sesame seeds for sprinkling

Special equipment: 2 muffin pans with a total of at least 18 (1/2-cup) muffin cups

Make dough:
Stir together warm water, yeast, and 1 tablespoon sugar in a small bowl until yeast is dissolved, then let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If mixture doesn't foam, discard and start over with new yeast.)

Melt 3/4 stick butter in a small saucepan, then add milk and heat to lukewarm. Stir together yeast mixture, remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, butter mixture, bread flour, and salt in a bowl with a wooden spoon until combined well, then stir in 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, or enough to make a slightly sticky dough.

Butter a large bowl. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface, kneading in more all-purpose flour as needed to keep dough from sticking, until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes (dough will still be slightly sticky). Form dough into a ball and put in buttered bowl, turning to coat. Let dough rise, bowl covered tightly with plastic wrap, in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Make rolls:
Butter 18 muffin cups with remaining 2 tablespoons butter.

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide into thirds. Working with 1 piece at a time (keep remaining portions covered with plastic wrap), cut off tablespoon pieces of dough and form pieces into balls. Put 3 balls into each buttered muffin cup. Let rolls rise, loosely covered with a kitchen towel (not terry cloth), in draft-free place at warm room temperature until almost doubled in bulk, 30 to 40 minutes.

While rolls rise, put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 400°F.

Brush rolls lightly with egg wash and sprinkle with seeds. Bake until golden, 15 to 20 minutes. Serve warm.

These were good albeit a little plain. Next time i might add some honey or more butter. My oldest son ate almost all of them!

Tuesdays with Dorie - Four Star Chocolate Bread Pudding

2009-04-21T18:36:00.000+08:00

I really didn't know if i was going to make this weeks challenge. I didn't get much sleep last night and am very tired (eyelids starting to droop as i write). Then i thought of every one else making the effort and felt i should too.

I didn't have plain chocolate so i used milk chocolate and cut back a little on the sugar. I used raisins and scattered a bit of white chocolate on the top.

Thank you to Lauren of Upper East Side Chronicle for this pick, it was an unexpected hit (for me).

I wasn't expecting to like this, but it was delicious! I couldn't wait and burnt my tongue, haha, serves me right. I could only have one small portion before my chocolate headache set in, it was worth it though. My kitchen smelt delicious too!

Check back on thursday for this weeks Craving Ellie in my Belly.

homemade semolina pasta with sun-dried tomato cream sauce

2009-04-21T10:47:00.000+08:00

I have made my own pasta before but using plain flour. It was good but i thought it was time to make it more authentic using semolina flour.

Recipe is courtesy of Bob's Red mill -

3 cups semolina flour
1 tsp salt, optional
4 eggs
4 tbsp water
4 tbsp olive oil

Combine the flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the eggs, water and oil. Using the dough hook, mix to a stiff dough. Keep going until the dough starts to look elastic. Wrap dough in a plastic bag and leave to rest for 20 minutes.

On a floured surface roll the dough out to desired thickness and cut into desired shapes. Add to boiling hot water, drain then serve with sauce below:

Sauce recipe courtesy of allrecipes:

1 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon pine nuts

Heat the cream and butter in a saucepan over medium heat until almost boiling, but do not boil. Add mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses, and stir until melted. Stir in the sun-dried tomatoes, and season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and serve over pasta with a sprinkling of pine nuts.

YUMMY!

CEIMB - Lamb Stew with Orange

2009-04-16T11:05:00.000+08:00

I am so excited! This weeks choice for Craving Ellie in my Belly was my choice, yay! Gosh it was a tough choice. I kept flicking through the book and kept going back and forth between quite a few recipes, but i always came back to this one. You see i love lamb, and seeing as its spring in England (i do miss living there) i thought it would be really appropriate to have spring lamb.

I added few extra ingredients to the already long list. I added lamb shank as well as the lamb cubes, some cinnamon and some allspice. I also increased the quantities so some other ingredients. Additionally, instead of chicken stock i used mushroom stock and a beef bouillon cube. I love this kind of cooking, all in one pot :)

I actually made this the same day i made my chocolate amaretti torte for TWD. When my friend Sandy stopped by to pick up her cake i let her try some of the stew and she really liked it.

I had the stew with brown rice and i absolutely loved it! The lamb was so tender and all the different flavours coming through..... delicious! I am definitely going to make this again.

I really hope all the other CEIMB participants enjoyed this and looking forward to next weeks Balsamic Chicken with Baby Spinach and Couscous chosen by Marthe from Culinary Delights.

Tuesdays with Dorie - Chocolate Amaretti Torte

2009-04-14T17:31:00.000+08:00

After checking out two nearby supermarkets for the required Amaretti cookies with no luck i decided to make my own. I had no idea they were so easy to make. An added bonus was having had the good sense to freeze some egg whites, so i didn't even have to crack any eggs :)

The cookies were lovely, all gone now of course. Half used for the torte, a few for me and a small tupperware for my baking buddy Sandy. Recipe below:

Amaretti
Makes 36
1 3/4 cups almonds
1 cup icing sugar
2 egg whites
1/2 tsp almond extract
icing sugar to dust

Pulse the almonds with half of the sugar in the food processor. Using a mixer or whisk, beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks.

Add the remaining sugar and continue to beat until stiff peaks form. Gently fold in the almond extract and almond sugar mixture. Using a pastry bag (or if you're like me, a ziploc bag with the end cut off) pipe the mixture out in rounds the size of walnuts. Sprinkle with the icing sugar and leave cookies to air for 2 hours.

Pre heat oven to 350F and bake for 15 minutes or until pale and gold.

Super easy and great with coffee, ice cream, and this weeks TWD - Chocolate Amaretti Torte!

I was making the cake and it was as easy as Dorie promised. My food processor stopped working midway, luckily at the point where the chocolate and crushed cookies need to be mixed into the batter. No big drama. I forgot to buy more dark chocolate so ended up using a mixture of dark and milk.

I made two 4 inch cakes and they looked and smelt great. I only had milk chocolate to make the glaze and made it with one spoon of sugar instead of two. This was insanely good. It never set and was very runny but very good with ice cream ;)

I gave one cake to my friend Sandy. She served it to her family for dessert and they enjoyed the cake and glaze with ice cream and strawberries, yum!

I tried a small slice and its very rich and moist. I did like it but not as much as i liked the glaze/ chocolate sauce :)

This weeks pic is by Holly of Phe/MOM/enon, thanks Holly! Please check out her website for the recipe.

Check back on thursday to see my pick (YAY!) for this weeks CEIMB.

Tuesdays With Dorie - Banana Cream Pie

2009-04-07T16:26:00.001+08:00

I have heard so much about Banana Cream Pie (i've never tried it). My husband, who is american, confirms that eating pie is a huge part of american culture. I love apple pie, strawberry pie, most fruit pies actually.

I was a little dubious as i imagined the pie being really gooey and i wasn't sure if i'd like the texture. The more i thought about it, the more it reminded me of Banoffi Pie. I am very familiar with this as we used to live in Brighton, England, which is very near to where it was invented. So banoffi pie is a very popular dessert in the south of England. Anyway, the more i started to reminisce about banoffi pie, the more excited i got about making this pie (i love banoffie pie)

I was glad that i didn't have to run out to the supermarket for anything, for once i had all the ingredients. Making the pie crust was easy. Making the custard, hmmm, i definitely overcooked it. I didn't have time to make it again so it would have to do. The topping was very easy too, i used vanilla bean paste instead of extract. I loved the little black spots in the white cream.

I have some family staying with me and it was great having extra tasters as my husband doesn't actually like eating pies. I couldn't find my fluted pie pan so used my muffin pan and made little tartlets/pie-lets. Eventhough the filling was a little overdone, this was delicious. I'll definitely make this again. My family members loved it too, overcooked custard and all :)
I apologise if it doesn't look like a traditional pie but it was very easy for single servings.

Thank you so much to Amy from Sing for your Supper for the great pick. Please check out her website for the recipe.

TWD - Coconut Butter Thins

2009-03-31T20:18:00.000+08:00

This weeks recipe was chosen by Jayne of The Barefoot Kitchen Witch.

I only got around to baking these this morning, last minute i know! Really straightforward to put together. I left the dough in the fridge for two hours. I didn't measure the dough for the 32 cookies, i just eyeballed it, and of course now i wish i had made smaller cookies :)

Most of mine spread but that was ok because they didn't last very long. That's right... all gone. My son ate three as soon as they cooled down, i brought some to a playdate and the feedback was good. I managed to save two for my friend Sandy (in exchange for two of her cinnamon rolls), she liked them but said she wished the macadamia nuts were bigger.

I really liked these, perfect with a cup of tea, or coffee, or anything really. I couldn't taste the coriander but I'm sure if i didn't add it it wouldn't be as flavourful.

Great choice Jayne, thanks for a great pick :)

TWD Blueberry Crumb Cake and CEIMB Chicken with Mango Barbecue Sauce

2009-03-28T22:20:00.000+08:00

Apologies for the late and combined posts, my youngest son was in hospital with Gastroenteritis.
THANK YOU for the well wishes and prayers, we are very grateful to have him home and he is almost back to his usual self. :-)

TWD

I can't eat a lot of chocolate (i get headaches) and when i saw this weeks choice i was so relieved! There were so many chocolate choices last month and more to come next month, this and the yogurt cake are a welcome break :) I was really excited to make this! My friend Sandy loves blueberries so i promised her the cake, less a slice for me.

The only change i made to the recipe was to use pecans instead of walnuts. Everything seemed to go well. It looked great going into the oven and i was eagerly anticipating the first taste.

An hour went by and the middle of the cake was still jiggly and was very brown on top. Uh-oh. 20 minutes later and it was done. I cut a bit out and it was really soft and mushy at the bottom. I had no crumb topping on top, it wasn't even crunchy. I ate it with some double cream and rather than a cake, it seemed more like a pudding.

I wasn't thrilled by this and i'm not sure if i'll give it another go but i am glad i made it. Thank you for the pick Sihan!

CEIMB

I'll admit it, i was a little dubious. Mango barbecue sauce? When i told my husband what i was making for dinner, he gave me the same reaction. I was super confident 'don't worry, you'll love it. I have a feeling its going to be really good!'. Haha, i don't know why i put this pressure on myself.

I did make some slight changes to the recipe. Instead of pounding the chicken i left the breasts, browned them on the griddle, then put them into the oven to finish cooking. Additionally, after trying the sauce i found it far too tangy, so i added some ketchup and it was much better.

For my husband, i served it with broccoli and mashed potatoes, and i had it with boiled potatoes and broccoli. Delicious! I love the sauce and will make this again, and again, and again :)

THe reason why i don't have a nice picture of the final dish is because, well, we were so hungry and it was so good, it was all gone before i remembered. Sorry!

Thanks Aggie for the great pick!

No TWD

2009-03-23T14:37:00.000+08:00

I sorry but will have to post my TWD and CEIMB late this week. My youngest son has been hospitalised with a virus called gastroenteritis. So far he's doing well but he needs to stay a couple more days. I'll be back with you soon.

Happy baking and cooking :)

CEIMB - Greek Style Stuffed Peppers

2009-03-19T21:29:00.000+08:00

My first CEIMB post, yay! Its kind of nice that my first recipe was very straightforward and was baked in an oven :)

The recipe was chosen by Ali from the healthy hostess.

I was a little unsure about the recipe when i saw the list of ingredients, bulgar wheat (never tried it), zucchini (or courgette as i know it, and not that fond of it), and red peppers (hmm). Well its my first CEIMB and i'm not going to give it a miss, and i do want to get over any irrational fears or apprehension of certain foods that i have.

I loved the preparation of this. Everything except the peppers, tomatoes and cheese, gets mixed altogether in a bowl, stuffed into the pepper halves then topped with the tomatoes and cheese. How easy is that? I did add the juice and some zest of a lemon as i still have lemons left over from my TWD French Yogurt Cake, and i also added some mozzarella cheese. I actually made double the recipe as I have family staying with me at the moment. Somehow i ended up with more stuffing then peppers so i just filled all the gaps with it too.

So in it went into the oven and an hour and a half later it was time to tuck in. I served it with brown rice and it was really yummy. Next time (yes i will be making it again) i will add some chilli and allspice to bring out the flavours a little more.

Thanks for a great choice and entry into CEIMB :)

Craving Ellie

2009-03-18T11:37:00.000+08:00

OK, so the name of my blog isn't so appropriate anymore. I love baking, that hasn't changed, but i also love cooking.

I have now joined the cooking group Craving Ellie in my Belly. I am very excited about this and am looking forward to joining in with my first recipe. Keep a look out for it!

Tuesdays With Dorie - French Yogurt Cake with Marmalade Glaze

2009-03-17T22:25:00.000+08:00

I have been excited to make this recipe ever since I saw the recipe rotation for March. I read the P&Q's and almost everyone said it was an easy and straightforward recipe and tasted delicious. I made the cake as per the recipe and it was very straightforward. The recipe called for Lemon Marmalade which i could not find anywhere (to be honest i didn't know there was such a thing as lemon marmalade, i thought it was only oranges). I wanted to keep the lemon flavour strong so didn't use the orange marmalade and skipped the glaze. I decided to make lemon curd to go with the cake. I don't why but having never made lemon curd before i had the notion that it was really complicated with lot's of steps. How wrong i was! So easy, i will definitely make this again!

Instead of one big cake i used my 4 inch spring-forms and was able to make 3 cakes. One for me, one each for my friends Sandy and Tracey. The only thing with my cake, and this seems to happen to every cake i make, they domed and cracked. I'd love to make a perfectly flat topped cake. Hmm, i'll have to keep practicing ;)

The first bite i took i liked it but wasn't too impressed by it. Then i took some of the yogurt i had left over and a spoonful of the lemon curd and ate it together with the cake.......

.....absolutely delicious! As you can see from the photos, both my sons really like this cake. Actually, they liked it before i baked it, they were fighting over the batter :)

My heartfelt thanks go to Liliana of My Cookbook Addiction for choosing this recipe. Please check out her site for the recipe.

Lemon Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Icing

2009-03-14T23:37:00.000+08:00

My sons' school was planning a Family Day and when they asked if i'd bring something, I had to stop myself from shouting 'CUPCAKES'! I love making cupcakes but I'm still practicing and trying to get it right. Usually i get the texture or icing wrong so the pressure was on to make these good. They were going to sell these after all.

The colour theme for the Family Day was yellow, so Lemon Cupcakes was a pretty easy choice. I had thought of a simple glaze but wanted something creamy, buttercream just doesn't hold well in this heat and humidity, so yellow tinted cream cheese icing it was to be!

These were so good, they almost didn't make it to Family Day, my son kept sneaking one after another out of the kitchen when i wasn't looking.

Lemon Cupcakes

Ingredients:

2½ cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

8 oz (2 sticks) / 230 g unsalted butter, slightly softened

1½ cups sugar

2 eggs, room temp.

3 egg yolks, room temp.

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp lemon zest

¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

½ cup milk

Method:

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, and set aside.

Beat the butter on medium speed until creamy, gradually add the sugar, increasing the speed slightly until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks one at a time. Beat in the vanilla and lemon zest. Gradually beat in the lemon juice on low speed (the batter will appear curdled at this point, but will smooth out after you all the dry ingredients). Beat in the the dry ingredients alternating with the milk and mix well. Fill the muffin cups almost to the top and bake in 350°F (180°C) for 18-20 minutes.

Cream Cheese Icing

Ingredients:

1 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
3 ounces unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp orange extract

Method:

In a bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla and orange extract, then gradually stir in the confectioners’ sugar. Store in the refrigerator after use.

Tuesdays With Dorie - Vanilla Cup Custard

2009-03-12T22:19:00.000+08:00

I was really looking forward to making this until two things happened.......

....the first was my sons and my husband getting the flu. Not just any flu, Manflu.

Secondly, i read the P&Q's. I felt so disheartened and really felt that if the recipe wasn't good then i wasn't going to waste any precious caregiving time making something that wouldn't be eaten ;)

It was monday night and i'm not sure what happened but i had a change of heart and decided to give the Lemon Cup Custard a chance. I didn't have any lemons, lemon extract or lemon oil, so made the Vanilla Cup Custard. I took Dorie's advice and used Almond Extract in addition to Vanilla Extract.

I liked this recipe a lot. It was light, sweet but not overly sweet, not quite a dessert but more like something to cleanse the palette (i mean this in a good way). I didn't find it eggy, as some people did, i think this was due to the almond essence. A few spoonfuls were enough for me until i ate it spread on top of digestive biscuits (graham crackers), really good :)

Thank you Bridget from The Way the cookie crumbles for choosing this weeks recipe. You can get the full recipe here.

Sniffle, sniffle

2009-03-12T10:52:00.000+08:00

Apologies for not adding any posts, my husband and sons have both been home sick with flu. I did make the Custard for this weeks TWD and also a couple of other things (luckily i made them before the sniffles started). I shall be posting and uploading pictures later today.

Rice Krispie Treats

2009-03-02T18:55:00.000+08:00

I had not eaten these since I was a child and I forgot just how good they are. I made these the other day for a birthday party, I needed to bring something that was wheat-free. Instead of cutting them into squares I used my muffin tray, so much easier!

These were a huge hit, I wish I had made more :)

Ingredients

6 cups Rice Krispies
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 (10 ounce) package regular marshmallows or 4 cups miniture marshmallows

Method

Grease a muffin pan or baking pan.

Measure out Rice Krispies into a large bowl and set aside. Melt the butter or margarine in a large saucepan. Once melted, add the marshmallows and stir until melted.

Remove the saucepan from the heat and add the rice krispies. Mix together quickly and press the mixture in to the prepared baking pan.

As soon as it has cooled its ready to eat, yum!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

2009-03-02T17:45:00.000+08:00

Ok, so i should be doing the Chocolate Armagnac Cake for TWD this week chosen by Lyb of And I do the Dishes, but i really can't handle another recipe with chocolate in it. Judging by the picture in From my Home to Yours it looks really, really, rich and chocolaty. Additionally, it has Armagnac in it and as I don't drink.... well its not really a recipe for me.

I saw this recipe on smittenkitchen and my goodness they looked so good i absolutely had to make them. I haven't had a good, i mean really good, oatmeal raisin cookie in a while so here goes!

The recipe was so easy to follow and it didn't make a huge batch of cookies which was great. I did overbake some of them a little but these are really good. I think it is missing something though, maybe a little more cinnamon.....

My oldest son who has a very sweet tooth did not like these at all. I think it had to do with the raisins and him thinking the cookies were healthy. However my husband loved these!

Tuesdays With Dorie - Caramel Crunch Bars

2009-02-24T23:09:00.000+08:00

My friend Sandy looked at the recipe rotation for February and all she said was 'Make sure i get some of those Caramel Crunch Bars!'. Most weeks she is part of my group of friends that taste and review my baking efforts, so I made sure some were put aside for her and her kids. They loved them!

Whitney from What's left on the table chose this weeks recipe. I'm not sure if i would make this typically but i'm so glad i did, they are delicious! I love the cookie part, so moist and yummy! I can't really handle dark or milk chocolate very well, i get headaches, so i have just taken my paracetamol (as i have just eaten a few of these).

My youngest son was watching me make these and was fascinated with the melted chocolate being spread across the base. I didn't catch him in time and he dipped his finger into the chocolate!

I didn't have any adequate pans so i bought some disposable foil baking pans and used two 7x7 inch pans. It worked really well and the base wasn't too thin.

As well as distributing some amongst friends and neighbours, i brought some to a playdate my kids and I were attending this afternoon. One mum asked if she could take the whole plate home. A successful baking attempt, yay! My husband and I are really trying to lose weight and get fit so I really shouldn't be eating all this deliciousness but everything in moderation I say :) I haven't that many I promise!

Tuesdays With Dorie - Devils Food White Out Cake

2009-02-17T23:38:00.000+08:00

I haven't been a part of Tuesdays With Dorie for very long, and I've only had the book since i joined the group. I have always thought the cake on the cover looks fantastic, and I couldn't wait to make it.

Well thankfully i don't have to wait anymore as Stephanie from Confessions of a City Eater picked it for this weeks challenge. Hurrah!

I had thought of halving the recipe and using my 4 inch springform pans, again, but decided to make the full recipe. I still used the 4 inch pans and made cupcakes with the leftover batter. The only change i made to the recipe was to add white chocolate chips at the end instead of milk chocolate.

This has been a good week for me, bakingwise. The cake and the icing came out beautifully. It looks and tastes fantastic. The only thing i don't really like is the slight metallic aftertaste from the icing, but has that stopped me eating it......No!

So thank you Stephanie for this weeks pick, great choice :)

Oh and thanks are also due to my husband, Eric, who took the photos.

Valentines Day - Butter Cut-out Cookies

2009-02-16T19:29:00.000+08:00

My son loves these cookies, and he could eat the whole batch if he was allowed. He also loves helping me to decorate them. Cleaning up after isn't so great, sprinkles all over the floor, but its worth it.

I love this recipe, its so simple and quick to make, and there aren't that many ingredients!

Source: How to be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson

Makes anywhere between 40 and 60 biscuits, depending on the size you cut.

175g soft unsalted butter
200g caster sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
400g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

2 baking sheets, greased or lined

Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and moving towards moussiness, then beat in the eggs and vanilla. In another bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and mix gently.

Lay two large pieces of clingfilm on the counter and divide the dough equally between each. Press down lightly to form discs then wrap up tightly and refridgerate for at least one hour. (You can freeze one of the discs of dough if you don’t want to bake a large amount of cookies. Defrost it overnight in the fridge before using.)

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Lightly sprinkle the counter with flour, place a disc of dough on it, and sprinkle both the disc and a rolling pin with more flour. Roll out to a thickness of about 5mm. Cut into shapes, dipping the cutter into flour as you go and place the biscuits a little apart on the baking sheets.

Bake for 8-12 minutes, by which time they will be lightly golden around the edges. Cool on a rack and continue with the rest of the dough. The cooking time depends on what size of biscuits you’ve cut.

Ice however you’d like. I use glacé icing.

Simple glacé icing

300ml icing sugar, sieved
2 tablespoons boiling water
food colourings of your choice

Put the boiling water into a bowl and add the icing sugar, stirring well to make a thick paste. Add a few drops more of water if you need to. Colour however you’d like.

White chocolate, peanut and pecan cookies

2009-02-11T13:51:00.000+08:00

I decided against doing the Floating Islands from Tuesdays With Dorie this week. It sounds delicious but I really needed to make something that someone else would eat, not just me. I'm trying to get fit and lose weight!

So I made two batches of the cookie dough from Dorie's recipe for Chocolate chip cookies, my husband's favourite. One batch i did make with chocolate chips, for him, and the other batch i added half a cup white chocolate chips, half a cup reese's peanut pieces, and chopped pecans.

Oh my goodness, these are soooooo goood!! I gave some to a friend who is a real chocoholic and she loved these!

Tuesdays with Dorie - World Peace Cookies

2009-02-04T18:11:00.000+08:00

I wasn't too sure about the recipe this week; i wasn't sure if i could handle that much chocolate in a cookie. I know most of you will think I'm weird but i really can't eat a lot of chocolate, otherwise I'm in bed with a headache for the rest of the day. I really had my fill of chocolate with last weeks Chocolate Gingerbread. Nevermind i thought, i'll still bake them and distribute them amongst my friends.

I followed the recipe and didn't have any problems, except for the almost overwhelming urge to put an egg into the batter. I used Fleur de Sel, which my lovely friend Sandy brought back for me from her holiday in France. After a couple of hours in the freezer, i tried to slice the cookies. Ha ha, i ended up having to use a huge serrated knife, and i still ended up with crumbled dough and bits of chocolate everywhere.

I'm not sure if i left the cookies in the oven too long, or if my oven was a little too hot, but my cookies really spread and were very flat. I had problems even trying to move the cookies to the rack as they just crumbled and broke. Hmm. So i just left them to cool on the baking sheet to cool.

I didn't like them. I found them too rich and too chocolaty. I portioned them off in preparation of handing them out to my friends.

This morning i thought i'd try it again to see if it would taste any different. Well, i've already eaten two whilst writing this blog ;)

They are delicious, and light! Ooh, i don't want to give them away now!!!!

Birthdays

2009-02-03T13:50:00.000+08:00

Both of my sons celebrate their birthdays in January. My oldest turned four and my youngest turned two. This is the first year we decided to hold a joint party for them (the first of many i think). As we had lot's of kids and friends attending I wasn't brave enough to bake the cake myself so bought this gorgeous and delicious cake from food infinity. Ramin and Haris were so excited when they saw the cake, it was perfect!

As well as the party with most of their friends, on their actual birthdays we had family over and had cake (which i did make).

My oldest son requested vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream icing, his favourite.

For my youngest son i made the Pink Lady cake from Deb's fabulous blog, smittenkitchen. This was so good. The cake was light and the icing was so creamy and yummy. I had to stop my oldest son, Ramin, from licking it off the cupcakes. I used my mini springform to make the cake and also made cupcakes.

Tuesdays with Dorie - Chocolate Gingerbread Cake

2009-01-28T15:45:00.000+08:00

Sometimes when there are so many things going wrong, you know you should have quit while you were ahead. Lol, that is how I feel about this weeks challenge.

I have been preoccupied this week (that's the excuse I'm sticking to). This weekend we had a joint birthday party for my two sons and it was great. We had family visiting and caught up with friends we don't get to see very often. So I completely forgot about this weeks challenge until tuesday evening and then realised i didn't have any buttermilk. I had contemplated using yogurt but thought against it. So after a trip to the supermarket this morning to stock up on dark chocolate and buttermilk, i got home and started making the batter.

So far so good.

As i was pouring the molasses into the measuring cup i saw there was only enough for a third of a cup. Arghhh! Ok, not that big of a deal, and topped it up with honey. I pour the batter into the mini springform pans and breathe a sigh of relief. About ten minutes later i wonder why there's a bowl of chopped chocolate on the counter top. Doh! Its too late to mix it into the batter so i sprinkled it on top of the cakes and hope for the best. I check on the cakes after ten minutes and some of the batter has overflowed onto the baking sheet (lucky i used one!).

So its out of the oven and even though it doesn't look very pretty, it smells great. I try a piece that broke off when it overflowed and it is really good. I like the fresh ginger. I am not neat in any way and am very jealous of those of you that can produce spectacular looking food. I will post pictures with icing when i've made it.

Tuesdays with Dorie - Berry Surprise Cake

2009-01-20T23:10:00.000+08:00

This weeks challenge was the Berry Surprise Cake. A genoise cake hollowed and filled with a cream and cream cheese filling with fruit, topped with whipped cream and fruit. This sounded like a dream and i couldn't wait to make it!

I love strawberries and as I can get them in season here, i decided to use them. I made the cake the night before and followed the recipe exactly. I was so disappointed when my cake completely sank. It had high sides and was only an inch thick. So the next morning i made another cake and hoped for the best, but it was not meant to be. THe only variation i made on the recipe was the syrup. I added a tablespoon of strawberry jam to the water and sugar mixture and let it reduce a little.

I trimmed the sides and decided to make a layer cake. I was in such a hurry to assemble the cake as i had friends arriving to try it, so it was a rush job.

My friends really liked it but I'm not sure if i'll be making this one again. The cake was very dense and heavy, and I'm not sure about the taste of the filling. I don't think the cream cheese goes with the strawberry. It wasn't bad, just not to my liking. If I do make it again i will use blueberries or raspberries and will try to make the cake properly. I wish the cakes hadn't sunk, it would have been good to try it as it should have been.

ps - i've just tried the cake again (one day later), and really, really like it. Maybe it needed time for the flavours to settle. Or my taste-buds were off yesterday ;-)

Chocolate Chip Cake

2009-01-09T22:28:00.000+08:00

It was my son's birthday recently and the thought was to bake a cake and bring it to his school for the kids to share. Of course I didn't think of doing this until 2 hours before he was due to leave for school. So I found this recipe on Recipezaar that looked easy, tasty, and most importantly, i had all the ingredients!

This recipe is incredibly easy. The first nine ingredients are mixed together and that's the batter. The last three are mixed to make the topping and middle. So i poured half the batter into the cake pan and topped with the cinnamon sugar and chocolate chips, added the rest of the batter, and added the remainder of the topping.

I couldn't believe everything was going to well. I still had an hour and a half, plenty of time. The cake took a lot longer than the 30-35 minutes stated on the recipe. It took just over an hour, and all the chocolate chips sank to the bottom of the cake. So i covered the cake with icing sugar and thought it looked ok. By this time the cake was still too warm to bring so after that, i left it behind.

I called some friends over when I got back to try the cake and its really good! The chips sinking to the bottom have made a sort of chocolate chip crust. Ha ha, i don't know what i did but i hope i can do it again!

Ingredients

2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups sour cream
3/4 cup margarine or butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 (6 ounce) package chocolate chips (mini or regular)

Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease (not oil) a 13 x 9 pan.

In large bowl, combine first 9 ingredients. Mix well by hand or use a mixer at medium speed for about 3 minutes. Pour half of the batter (about 2 1/2 cups) into the prepared pan. In separate small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle half of the sugar mixture and chocolate chips (1/2 cup) over batter. Repeat with remaining batter, sugar mixture, and chocolate chips. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Tuesdays with Dorie - French Pear Tart

2009-01-06T23:35:00.000+08:00

I have always been to scared to make a fruit tart. I thought it would be too time consuming and labour intensive and then end up with something tasting like cardboard and destined for the bin.

So I was a little nervous with this weeks challenge, but excited too. When we lived in Brighton, England, we used to buy tarts from a fantastic french patisserie called Real Patisserie. My favourite was the plum or strawberry tarts and my husbands was the pear tart. Oh I do miss that place.

This time I had no problem making the pastry. In fact, everything went very smoothly. The only hiccup i had was with the pears. I live in Singapore and there's is no guarantee that the supermarkets will have the exact type of fruit you need. Since I couldn't get the fresh Bartlett or Anjou pears mentioned in the book, i bought the only can of canned pears i could find. It was a large can so i was expecting large pears but there were a lot of little pears. So if the design of the pears on my tart look a little strange, that it why :-)

The tart was time consuming, definitely not a last minute dessert. It was delicious and well worth the time and effort. I did think it was a little too sweet so next time, yes there will be a next time, i will add less sugar.

10 minutes after it came out of the oven, half of it had already been eaten. Seal of approval received from my husband and my mother.

Thank you Dorie for this weeks challenge. It may not be the most visually appealing tart but I am very proud of it, and it didn't end up anywhere near the bin ;-)

Yorkshire Pudding

2009-01-06T23:21:00.001+08:00

My son, Ramin, would be quite happy to eat nothing else but these for days.

This is the best recipe I have used. The yorkshire puds are light, crispy, and the perfect accompaniment to roast beef, roast chicken, anything really.

Serves 4 to 6 - Recipe adapted from Don't Sweat the Aubergine by Nicholas Clee

115 g self-raising flour

1 egg

A pinch of salt

280 ml milk

Put milk, egg and salt together into a bowl. Add the flour, a tablespoon at a time, whisking gently with a balloon whisk as you do so. The batter should have the consistency of single cream. Cover and leave to rest for at least 30 minutes.

Heat the oven to 220C, and put a thin layer of canola or sunflower oil into a roasting or yorkshire pudding pan; put the pan into the oven for at least 5 minutes, to get the oil hot. Add the batter and cook until it has risen and is golden brown (about 20-30 minutes).

Tuesdays with Dorie - Buttery Jam Cookies

2008-12-16T23:04:00.000+08:00

Apologies for not participating with the last two recipes, we took advantage of the school break to visit some family in Malaysia.

This promised to be an easy and simple recipe...... and it would have been, had I not got distracted with my sons causing havoc. I ended up having to do another batch, each time I put a cookie sheet in the oven, I lost track of time and ended up burning them. So I'm running behind on time and will post the pictures up tomorrow.

The cookies are really yummy and once the first tray had cooled my sons quickly ate them all up!

Tuesdays With Dorie - Thanksgiving Twofer Pie

2008-11-25T23:23:00.000+08:00

This week was a little challenging for me. I am not found of pumpkins and the thought of making a pumpkin pecan pie didn't exactly thrill me. I decided to give it a go.

I failed miserably with the dough. It just wouldn't come together and after trying a patchwork effort with it in the pie dish, i burnt it while trying to part-bake it. I think someone was trying to tell me something. I resorted to my own recipe for sweet shortcrust pastry and it worked well.

Apart from the dough the rest of the recipe was very easy to follow. I had to double the baking time though as the pie filling was very unstable when i first tried to take it out. It was still very liquid. So as well as doubling the baking time I increased the oven temperature a bit too. 5 minutes later, success!

I served it at a playgroup meet that I was hosting and what a success. It was delicious, it reminded me a bit of treacle tart back in England. It was very good and my friends certainly enjoyed it; Some took a slice home for their husbands to enjoy.

- Oops, i forgot to mention that the only deviation I made from the recipe was that I omitted the rum (i don't drink or consume alcohol). It was still delicious ;-)

TWD Arborio Rice Pudding - Vanilla

2008-11-18T21:46:00.000+08:00

This is my first Tuesday with Dorie and i'm glad i'm starting off with this recipe.

It has been years since i last made rice pudding. Its an interesting recipe as i've never made rice pudding using this method (i guess i've been doing it wrong all along!). I've always baked my rice pudding and have always thought of it as an 'ok' dessert. I couldn't understand why some friends would rave about rice pudding. Now i know!

I had no problems at any stage of the recipe. I was out of vanilla extract so i used vanilla bean paste instead. The pudding looks great with all the little vanilla seeds. Before it started to thicken, the look of it reminded me of vanilla ice-cream.

It never really did thicken to the consistency i would have liked, but the taste was spectacular. Best rice pudding i have tasted. I think my two sons are really going to like this.

strawberry vanilla cakelet or muffin

2008-10-21T20:21:00.000+08:00

I have been looking for recipes lately that incorporate fruits. I love eating almost anything with fruits but except for crumble, have never made a fruit dessert. So with my fingers crossed, i hope my effort is at least edible.

I was browsing at the Pantry Magic shop in Holland Village the other day and found some silicon baking molds. I had no clue what to do with it but i knew i had to buy one. I got home and found inspiration at the bottom of my freezer (i knew they'd come in use one day). I just had to wait for the strawberries to thaw out :-)

Oh my goodness was i glad i made these! Not only did my kitchen smell divine, but they were so cute, and delicious. Slightly crisp on the outside but all soft and gooey strawberry on the inside, yum! Not only did my husband and children eat them, they asked for more! It wasn't long before they were all gone.

I did find the recipe was a little bit too sweet, until i tried it with some clotted cream. Ohhh heaven!

Adapted from Williams Sonoma

Made 12 molds/cakelets

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla paste or 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs, separated and at room temperature

Approximately 12 strawberries, chopped

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Centigrade.

Grease and flour your cakelet mold or you could also use cupcake cases.

In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and set aside.

Using a measuring cup for the milk, combine the milk and vanilla and stir. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and 3/4 cup of the of the sugar and beat 3-5 minutes until light and fluffy. Stop occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl and incorporate into the mixture. Add the egg yolks one at a time.

Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour and milk in three additions, alternating. Beginning and ending with the flour. Beat each addition just until incorporated and scrape down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Fold in the strawberries.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Add the remaining sugar and mix. Gently fold the egg mixture into the batter until just combined, you will see some streaks of white.

Divide the batter among the molds or cupcake cases and bake until tops are golden, about 15-20 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the center and if its done it will come out clean.

Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before inverting to cool completely.

Serve with cream or ice-cream, yum yum!