Wishing Everyone A Merry & Joyous Christmas!

It's my most favourite time of the year again.... It's Christmas time! So what have you got planned? Any "chestnuts roasting on open fire" and "Jack Frost nipping at your nose"? Over here, you would probably see the former being roasted by a roadside seller using charcoal over a big wok anywhere and the only "Jack Frost" nipping at your nose is probably from the blast of chilly cold air-cond. Anyhow, now matter where you are, Christmas is as lovely anyway so long it already happened in your heart.

So here's wishing everyone a truly wonderful and blessed Christmas!

Christmas, a time for sharing and a time for giving gifts,
But most importantly, it is a time for remembering the greatest gift ever given,
Emmanuel.

And here's the recipe to the wonderful flourless chocolate cupcakes you see above. Especially good when served warm with cold ice-cream but just as delectable simply topped with macadamia nuts or frosted with chocolate ganache.

Easy Flourless Dark Chocolate Cupcakes
(Makes apx. 10 cupcakes)
100g dark chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup butter
1/2c + 1/4c sugar (increase if choc is bitter)
1+3/4 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
1/2 cup good quality cocoa powder
Method:
Preheat oven to 175c. Grease muffin pans and dust generously with extra sifted cocoa powder (if you find that you are using a lot, take some from the portion allocated above in the ingredients).
Melt the chocolate and butter together in a medium bowl set over a simmering pot of water, or zap in microwave for a quick fix. Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar, vanilla, eggs and cocoa. Mix well.
Pour into muffin pans and bake for 15-16mins or until done. Cool in pans for 5 mins before turning them out to be cooled completely on wire racks. If you are frosting, make sure the cakes are completely cooled before frosting.

Opera Cake "Wannabe"

Chocolate Opera Wannabe Cake
This is a cheater's guide to making an Opera Cake. In fact, I wouldn't really call it a classic Opera Cake. A more apt description would be "Chocolate Opera Wannabe Cake". Well, when time and ingredients do not permit one to bake an almond sponge base, one would have to make do with a normal plain sponge. Here's what I did:

Slice the baked and cooled sponge cake into a few layers, and spread a layer of Baileys-flavoured chocolate hazelnut buttercream. Chill it for awhile then top with a layer of chocolate ganache. Chill again till the chocolate ganache hardens. Repeat the above. On impromptu, I also added a generous sprinkle of crushed peanuts and biscuit crumbs in between the layers to make up for the feeling of a "slightly crunchy almond sponge cake". Once done, frost and decorate the cake with leftover buttercream, chocolate ganache and biscuit crumbs.


Chocolate Opera Wannabe Cake

The cake (sans baking time) and frostings took me a matter of minutes to prepare. The frosting and decorating? A matter of hours, no thanks to clumsy and amateurish fingers as well as unco-operative hot and humid weather.

My Favourite Moist Chocolate Cake (No-bake)

Moist Chocolate Cake topped with dark chocolate fudge
Rich and luscious, moist yet fluffy; these are the words to describe my favourite chocolate cake. Not only mine, but my family's too. Best of all, the recipe is really simple and easy. It requires no baking, but is steamed instead. Therefore, it is also suitable for those who do not have an oven. And if you do not have a mixer, no worries. Just boil and stir. Too good to be true? Try it yourself and you shall see...

Recipe for Steamed Moist Chocolate Cake
A
1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup good quality cocoa powder
1 cup unsalted butter (250g)
¾ tsp instant coffee powder
B
3 large eggs (lightly beaten)
½ cup condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla extract (vanilla essence will do)
C
1 ¼ cup plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder

Mix A together and cook over low fire until sugar is completely melted. Stir constantly to prevent burned bottom. Set aside to cool.
Mix A and B together until well-blended.
Sift C together and add into the mixed liquid mixture. Mix well until there are no lumps of flour to be seen.
Pour into a greased 8" (and lined) round pan and steam over high heat for 45 minutes to an hour. Check for doneness by inserting a skewer into center of cake.
Cool in pan for 5 mins. Remove from pan carefully and let cool completely on rack.
Serve plain or with chocolate fudge. Cake is also suitable for frosting.
*Recipe courtesy of my SIL.

Baking: Peanut Butter Chips Brownie Cups

Peanut Butter Chips Brownie Cups
This blog started out as a baking blog but lately, the ratio of food review posts to baking posts have shrunk to 10:1 (??). *Sigh* Where has my unstoppable drive for baking gone?

Anyway, to finish up the container of Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate Cocoa Powder and a packet of Reese's Peanut Butter Chips (both items bought from HK) before I have to throw them out from the pantry, I came across this recipe that uses both items. And much to my delight, it happens to be a really easy recipe too.
And I was not disappointed with the end result either. Best served warm, the slightly moist dark chocolate center with the slightly crusty top paired so well with the yummy peanut butter chips!

So, so delicious.....

If only both Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate Cocoa Powder and Reese's Peanut Butter Chips are available locally. (If you happen to know where I can get them locally, please, please let me know. TQ)

Wishing All A Happy & Healthy New Year! Gong Xi, Gong Xi!

It's just one day away to the Chinese Lunar New Year of the Rat. Here's wishing all


"A Happy, Healthy & Prosperous New Year!"

And also showcasing one of the last birthday cakes that I baked for a dear one in recent months, which as far as I could remember was my first mousse cake.


Mango Mousse Cake
The cake consists of 2 layers of soft sponge sandwiching a thick layer of mango mousse filled with mango cubes. The cake was then frosted with fresh whipped cream and topped with slices of fresh mango. Not bad for a first try, I dare say. *grin*

Recipe for Mango Mousse
150 gm. mango puree (blend finely then pass through sieve to remove fibre)
1 Tbsp. gelatine powder + 50 gm. water (soak together for 5 mins and then stir till dissolve)
2 egg yolks
30 gm. sugar (can adjust to taste)
150 gm. non-dairy whipped cream
some cubed fresh mango
Boil mango puree and sugar together till boiling. Remove from the heat, add in egg yolks and stir till smooth. Put back onto stove and then add in gelatine mixture and stir till dissolved. Leave to cool till lukewarm. Fold in whipped cream. Chill till ready to use.

Quick & Easy! Chocolate Almond Cream Cake

My darling Julius turned 2 months not a couple of weeks back. I suddenly felt the urge to bake to mark the occassion so I baked a really quick and easy simple Chocolate Almond Cream Cake. But poor Julius, he won't be getting any of it (I didn't want to encourage him to have a sweet-tooth although his mistress is already one). Chocolates are bad for dogs anyway...

To make the cake, combine 2 cups of water, 600g of sugar, 35g cocoa powder, 1t baking soda and 250g chopped butter in a heavy-bottom pot and heat without boiling till all the sugar is dissolved. Then, bring the mixture to a boil and let it simmer for about 5 mins. Turn off heat and let it cool a bit. Transfer to a mixing bowl and stir in about 450g of sifted self-raising flour and 4 eggs. Beat till mixture is smooth. Pour into a greased and lined 8" pan and bake at 175c for about 45-50 mins or when cake is done when tested with skewer. Cover top with foil if it browns too fast. Cool for about 5 mins in pan before removing it and transferring to the rack to cool completely before frosting. Once completely cooled, slice into 2 layers before sandwiching them with buttercream.

For the buttercream, beat 125g softenend butter, 125g margarine and 80g icing sugar together till light and fluffy. Add in about 100g melted cooking chocolate (cooled) and mix till even. Frost cake and sprinkle with chocolate rice and toasted almond flakes.

And so the baking continues....

Banana Walnut Yogurt Cake
And so the baking continues, although sporadically....

Yet another version Banana Cake, I am forever in the quest of trying new variation recipes of Banana Cake. This once is a good one! Highly recommended!

Banana Walnut Yogurt Cake (recipe adapted from "Do What I Like" blog
100g butter (softened)
50g castor sugar + 40g brown sugar (or you can just use all castor sugar)
2 eggs lightly beaten with 1 tsp vanilla
320g mashed ripe banana with 1 tbsp lemon juice
125ml plain low-fat yogurt or normal yogurt
Sift together the following 4 ingredients:
130g plain flour
60g cake flour
1 tsp baking soda
1+1/4 tsp cinnamon
Coarsely chopped walnuts or other nuts, toasted for an extra crunch (optional) ,

Method:
1. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
2. Beat in the egg mixture by thirds till well blended.
3. Beat in the mashed banana and yogurt till well blended.
4. Fold in the sieved ingredients, in 3 times.
5. Make a cut in the middle lengthwise using a wet knife. Sprinkle the walnuts on top.
5. Bake in a lined loaf pan at 175C for 55-60 minutes or till a skewer inserted comes out clean. If top browns too quickly, cover with aluminium foil.


Green Tea Chiffon Cake with Wolfberries
In addition, I was playing around improvising chiffon cake recipes and came up with Green Tea Chiffon Cake with Wolfberries ('kei chi' in Chinese). Sounds healthy, eh? I like!

More Remedies for a Sweet Tooth

More remedies for a sweet tooth.....




Molten Flourless Chocolate Cake (recipe based on Nigella Lawson's but adapted to make it flourless with a molten chocolate center) and a nice Frozen Mango Cream Pie (all you need is cream, condensed milk, fresh mango and crushed biscuit base and ta-da!)

"Not-So" Recent Bakes

Aarrggh! Have been lagging in updating my blog, baking-related entries included. Oh well, better late than never, right? Anyhow, these are some of the by-products from my kitchen experiments...

From Left to Right: Coffee Walnut Cake, Multi-Treasure Pumpkin Tongshui and Gula Melaka Chiffon Cake.

Here's the recipe for the Coffee Walnut Loaf

Coffee Walnut Loaf (based on recipe from The Australian Women's Weekly)
35g toasted chopped walnuts (add more if you like)
125g butter, chopped
1 cup castor sugar (or substitute 1/4 to 1/2c with brown sugar)
125ml low-fat milk
2T Nescafe Gold
200g Self-raising flour
1/2t cinnamon powder (optional: add more)
2 eggs, beaten lightly
1/2t vanilla (optional)
* Whole walnuts for decoration (optional)
Method:
1. Combine butter, sugar, milk and coffee in a microwaveable bowl. Zap in the microwave until all is melted. Stir to combine evenly. Set aside to cool a little.
2. Sift flour and cinnamon into another bowl. Slowly stir in eggs, butter mixture, vanilla and chopped walnuts until just combined.
3. Pour the mixture into a greased and lined loaf pan. Sprinkle whole walnuts on top.
4. Bake in preheated oven at 160c for about 45 mins or until skewer comes out clean when tested. Cover top with aluminium foil if it browns too quickly.
5. Turn onto wire rack to cool completely.

Baking Cookies: Ebony & Ivory

Ebony: Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

The school holidays are here again. As a treat to the little ones at home, I baked some cookies to keep their sweet tooth satiated. Nothing works better than classic chocolate chip cookies. I baked 2 types using new recipes and nick-named them Ebony (Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies) & Ivory (Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies). The former was soft and chewy, and the Peanut Butter chips very, very addictive. The latter was one of the more successful crispy-type CC cookies recipe that I have tried, mainly due to the amount of shortening used (I think). However, you should note the shortening is basically flavourless so that the end results are less fragrant than one that uses all butter. I would suggest increasing the butter:shortening ratio (through test & trial) or increasing the amount of vanilla essence (or use premium quality vanilla paste) to give the cookies more fragrance and flavour.

Recipe for Ebony (Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies) based on Cookie Madness recipe.
1/2c butter softened
3/4c sugar
1 large egg
1t vanilla
2c plain flour
1/3c unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 + 1/8t baking soda
1/4t salt
1 generous cup (or more) of Reese's Peanut Butter Chips (optional: mix with chocolate chips)

Cream butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Mix together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt and add to creamed mixture. Add in in peanut butter chips. Chill for about 30 minutes and drop by tablespoonfuls onto silpat or baking sheet lined with non-stick paper. Bake at 175 celsius degrees (pre-heated) for 8-10 minutes. Cool on sheet for a couple of minutes before transferring them to wire rack to cool completely. Store in air-tight container.


Ivory (Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies) based on recipe from The Canadian Baker
1/4 c softened butter + 1/4c shortening
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 /2 T vanilla
1c plain flour
1/2t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1 c semisweet chocolate chips
(optional: 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans)

1) Cream butter with shortening and slowly add in sugars. Cream until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
2) Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Add into (1). Mix till just combined. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.
3) Chill for about 30 minutes and drop by tablespoonfuls onto silpat or baking sheet lined with non-stick paper. Leave some space in between cookie doughs (it will spread) and lightly flatten with fork.
4) Bake at 190 celsius degrees (pre-heated) for 8-10 minutes, or until edges are golden but center still looks slightly underbaked.
5) Cool on sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring them to wire rack to cool completely. Store in air-tight container.

Simplest Banana Bread

I so like quick and easy recipes and this is one of them. To make,



Mix 2c plain flour (sift if you want), 1c sugar, 1T baking powder and 1/2t salt in one big bowl.

Then add 1c mashed ripe banana (about 3 medium ones), 1/3c milk (full or skimmed), 1/4c corn oil, 1 egg and 1t vanilla paste to the mixture. You can also add optional ingredients such as chocolate chips or nuts here.

Still together till just-mixed but do not over-mix.

Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake for about 1 hour at 175c (pre-heat the oven first) or until skewer comes out clean when tested. Cool for 5-10 mins in tin then turn cake onto rack to cool completely.

Voila!

Double Favourite (Pumpkin Chiffon Cake)

If you don't know by now, I love all things pumpkin. And since I like chiffon cake very much too, I decided to bake a 'different' chiffon cake other than the usual "pandan" flavoured ones that I usually bake for my family. I adapted this recipe based on another recipe from Aunt Yochana's blog. Result is rather good but with just a light taste of pumpkin (i would have prefer a stronger taste of pumpkin). Also, the pumpkin that I used wasn't very sweet so the cake turned out just a little bit too bland. So do adjust the sugar level to your preference after tasting the pumpkin. Initially I was worried that my little 20cm chiffon cake pan would not fit a chiffon cake that has 6 eggs but surprisingly, it managed to hold it all together (the cake rose just a little over the tip). Then again, this might be because the recipe uses just plain flour and no rising agent, relying instead on the volume of the egg whites for height; so make sure you beat the egg whites till stiff peaks.

Pumpkin Chiffon Cake
(A)
6 egg yolks
150g mashed pumpkin* / pumpkin puree
150g coconut milk
60 ml. corn oil
1 t vanilla essence
1/4 t salt
50 g fine sugar
180 g cake/superfine flour (sift 1-2x)
Toasted pumpkin seeds (optional)
(B)
6 egg whites
1/2 t cream of Tartar
100g fine sugar

Method:
(1) Combine all the wet ingredients in (A) together until well-mixed.
(2) Add in flour, salt and sugar and combine until well-mixed.
(3) Whisk egg white until foamy. Add in tartar and whisk until mixture is white.
(4) Add in sugar slowly in 3 parts while whisking the egg white. Whisk until stiff peaks.
(5) Add pumpkin seeds to (4) and stir to combine. Fold in 1/3 of (4) into egg yolk mixture. Blend carefully (manually). Then fold in this mixture into remaining egg white mixture.
(6) Fold/blend carefully and slowly so that mixture is evenly combined. Take care not to deflate the beaten egg whites.
(7) Pour into chiffon cake pan (ungreased) and bake** for 45 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 170-175c or until cake is done when tested with skewer.
(8) Immediately invert the pan onto a wire rack and let it cool completely (apx. 1 hr) before removing the cake carefully from pan.

Note(s):
* If you do not like the mashed pumpkin to contain fibres, strain it through a sieve to remove them before using it.
** To get rid of air pockets inside the cake, bang the cake pan firmly on the counter top 3x before putting it into the oven.

Month of Birthdays! Chocolate Cookies & Cream Cake

April, I nickname it the month of birthdays. At least 5 important birthdays happening during this month itself, out of which 3 are of my nephews and niece (talk about precise family planning - hehe). But out of all these birthdays, I only managed to bake 1 birthday cake for one of my nephews.


Chocolate Cookies & Cream Cake
Ingredients
(1) 1 prepared sponge/chiffon cake, sliced evenly into 3 layers
(2) 1 tube of chocolate cream cookies (such as Oreos or any other brand), coarsely crushed with cream
(3) Prepared butter frosting (see below for recipe), divide into 2
Method:
1. Add (2) into 1 portion of (3). Coat evenly.
2. Spread the above evenly in between the sliced cake layers.
3. Coat the remaining frosting evenly all around the cake. Decorate as wished.

Chocolate Butter Frosting: (based on recipe from Cookie Madness)
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup plain flour
3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk
250g butter
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled
Method:
1. In a saucepan, stir sugar, flour and cocoa powder until well-mixed. Add milk and stir until smooth or evenly-mixed.
2. Turn heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly until mixture thickens and starts to boil.
3. Reduce heat to low, cook for another 2 minutes, stirring all the while.
4. Remove saucepan from heat; cool completely.
5. Beat softened butter until creamy on medium speed. Gradually beat in cooled milk mixture, vanilla and melted chocolate until fluffy.

Oreos Yogurt Cupcakes

Oreos Yogurt Cupcakes
This recipe is actually for a healthier version (aka lesser fat) classic butter cake. However, it is pretty versatile and you can play with it to make it into variations according to ones liking. For this cake, I used the recipe here since it comes with much rave from the baker/blogger. And rightly so for this cupcake turns out to be so soft and fluffy with bits and pieces of oreos throughout. If you want to have more bite, just chop the oreos into chunks but if you want a finer texture, then just crush it into fine crumbs. I combined both. You might want to up the sugar level particularly if you are serving to kids.


The lady dons a hat
Looks like the cupcake is wearing a hat. So fashionable!

When One Thing Becomes Another...(Marshmallow Chocolate Rice Crispies)

I wanted to make some crunchy rice crispies bar. A real simple & easy recipe. Just melt some butter with some marshmallow, dunk in some plain rice crispies, stir together then pour and flatter out in a pan. When cooled, just slice into bars and serve - a sure delight to the kids.

But, the marshmallow refused to co-operate. Granted this time, I took the easy way out and used the microwave to melt the butter and marshmallow. The butter obediently melted but the marshmallow gave one hell of a fight. Instead of melting together with the butter into a smooth and creamy sugary and snowy goodness, it turned into a brownish and rubbery slush sitting in a pool of melted butter. Yuck! And no matter how long I zapped it in the microwave, it remained in that erm, 'slushy' form.

I finally accepted the fact that I failed in melting the marshmallow but rather than wasting the butter, I scooped out the marshmallow slush, melted a fistful of dark chocolate chips into the still-hot melted butter, added a squirt or two of honey followed by the rice crispies. Stir to coat everything evenly. In mini paper cups, add a 1/4t of the prepared rice crispies. Then add some choc chips and 2 mini marshmallow. Top with more prepared rice crispies and more choc chips if you wish. Bake for about 7 minutes in a preheated oven (160c). Remove from oven, cool for about 15 minutes and top with another mini marshmallow. Cool completely before storing in air-tight container.

Not exactly what I set out to make, but the end result was just as good if not better than the original plan. :o)

Boiled Cakes (Classic Moist Chocolate & Eggless Fruit Cake)

No, I didn't mean to say that these cakes do not require baking but rather, the preparation method involves only boiling instead of mixing using the cake mixer. Just dump and boil - literally...

Not too long ago, I had the chance to sample a Fruit Cake baked by my sister's MIL. It was simple and it was delicious. No complicated flavours. In fact, my mom raved about it (and that speaks a lot since my mom hardly praised any cakes). That made me realised that I have never baked a proper Fruit Cake before so I set about baking one. I had numerous recipes in my collfection but finally decided on this one by Yochana based on its simplicity (surprise! surprise!). This recipe does not require soaking the fruits overnight or keeping the cake steeped in alcohol over a period of time. Simply boil, bake and eat. Of course, this will not qualify it as an authentic Classic Fruit Cake but it was good enough for me.

Boiled Eggless Fruit Cake
The cake was moist although it has a dense texture. Not really the same from what the auntie's moist and fluffy rich fruit cake. This is more like a moist mixed fruits quickbread. My mom didn't quite like it because (1) it was overly spiced (I guess I was too heavy-handed with the spice); and (2) it was not fluffy. Hmmppff..., next time, I shall just bake a mixed fruits butter cake for her.

As the Fruit Cake was done in no time, I decided to try another easy recipe that uses the boiling method.

Boiled Classic Chocolate Cake (FAVOURITE RECIPE)
Recipe courtesy of Rusti, I was so glad that I decided to give it a try. As described, it was EASY, moist, fluffy, reasonably rich and just simply delicious! This will definitely be one of my top favourite recipes for a simple, plain and fast chocolate cake!

Wonderfully Martha's (Marble Buttermilk Pound Cake)

Having recently (and finally) acquired Martha Stewart's The Baking Handbook, I wasted no time in putting it to good use.

By default, I had actually used a recipe from this book before but that was when I loaned it from another blogger's website. This cake looked so wonderful in the book, simplicity at its best.


I daresay mine was not too bad compared to the original either. The only problem I had was that there were bits where it was slightly underbaked, probably due to my oven's (unreliable) temperature. Anyone knows where I can get a good oven thermometer? About time I get one and lay my suspicions to rest.

Speaking of her chocolate chip cookies (as mentioned above), another variation that I have tried is to turn them into Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies. Just add strong coffee powder to the mix and lessen the vanilla. In addition, I froze the dough by rolling them into a log with cling wrap and keeping them in a cylinder tube. When you want to bake them, just slice and bake. The ones below were baked for a friend. I tried one piece and it tasted yummy with the addition of coffee powder although it was more crispy than chewy this time (probably because I baked them longer this time). I hope my friend thought so too.

Ong Lai! Ong Lai! (Pineapple Butter Cake)

Pineapple is considered by many as an auspicious food item for the Chinese Lunar New Year. In the Hokkien dialect it is called "ong lai" which means prosperity comes. Not that I am superstitious, but it is nice to make something with pineapple just for the occassion. And that was how I ended up baking a Pineapple Butter Cake for someone to show my gratitude for a favour done. It was a rather last-minute decision. I didn't have any idea on what to bake initially and it was too late to go out and get anything else since it was the eve of CNY and most provision and baking supplies shops would be closed. A quick scan of what I had in the pantry and my eyes settled on a can of pineapples. Aha! Pineapple Butter Cake. Simple and apt for the occassion.

The recipe was kind of improvised by yours truly. I was pretty worried about how it would taste initially since I have not baked this before. Luckily, I had some extra batter which I poured into muffin cups so I ended up with a couple of cupcakes. Hmm...., not bad at all. Buttery and fluffy cake with chunks of pineapple throughout.

Here's the recipe.

Pineapple Butter Cake
Ingredients:
1 prepared 9x5" butter cake** (recipe below):-

2 eggs + 1 egg white
175 g Butter, softened
100g castor sugar (or adjust to your preference)
150 g plain flour
0.75 tsp baking powder
90ml liquid (juice from canned pineapple)
1/4 or 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2c pineapple chunks (cut into smaller pieces) well-drained and coat with a little flour from above***
1T pineapple jam (optional)

Method:
1. Beat butter and sugar till white and creamy.
2. Add eggs, one at a time to beat.
3. Sift flour, baking powder together and add into batter to mix.
4. Add juice, vanilla essence and pineapple jam and mix till combined. Do not over mix.
5. Add pineapple chunks and mix till combined. Do not over mix.
6. Pour into greased 9x5" loaf tin.
6. Bake in preheated oven 175 C for 30-40 mins or until done*.

Notes:
* As baking time and temperature varies with different ovens, it it better to test with skewer for doneness from 30 mins onwards. Cake is done when skewer comes out clean when inserted in the center of the cake. If top browns too fast, cover with foil.
** For quick fix, buy those ready packed pre-mix from baking supplies shop. Follow the instructions but just substitute liquid with pineapple juice. Last 3 ingredients listed on top to be used as in the above recipe.
*** This is to prevent the pineapple chunks from sinking to the bottom of the cake during baking.

So what are you baking for CNY? Part II

In continuation of my previous post, I found time to bake more CNY cookies before CNY comes around. Not that I really need to bake as there are already tons of different CNY cookies at home. But somehow, it seems more befitting that I bake some CNY cookies for my family.

Here are 2 more new recipes that I tried this year, courtesy of Yochana.

Satay Fish Cookies (FAVOURITE RECIPE)
Crispy, crunchy and slightly savoury. I just found a new favourite!

Note: I added at least 20g extra satay fish (the crispy type). Too lazy to roll them out so just rolled them into balls. Easy!


Seaweed Cookies

I made a mistake with this recipe. I halved the recipe but forgot to half the icing sugar required. As a result, my dough was too dry and tough to pipe out. So I rolled them out and cut them using a cookie cutter. Not bad, a very crispy and crunchy type of seaweed-flavoured butter cookie.

Hmm..., I wonder if I got time to bake some more?

Note: The above recipes can be found on Yochana's blog. Link provided above and side bar.

So what are you baking for CNY?

Lately, I have been receiving a few enquiries from friends who knew of my interest in baking. They asked me, "So what are you baking for Chinese New Year?" I felt ashamed in replying, "So far, nothing." With CNY about a week more to go, time is running out for me particularly when I have been too ambitious in preparing my "CNY To-Bake List". I think I had at least 6 different types of cookies that I planned to bake. But like I said earlier, with CNY about a week more to go, I think I need to be more realistic and trim the list down to maybe 4 selections. Or perhaps 3. Hmm...., or maybe just 2.

But at least, I already baked my 1st batch of CNY cookies. Ta-da....., Green Peas Cookies (not green bean or mung beans).

A friend introduced me to these cookies last year which I enjoyed very much. Then later, I found a stall in a shopping mall that sells very good green peas cookies - the melting type. Sadly, they no longer sell them. Recently, I found a recipe for these cookies and to my delight, the recipe looked so simple to make (and they really are!). This version results in a very crunchy cookie, particularly since I did not blend the green peas too well, rather roughly grounding them into coarse bits.

Using a good oil is important (such as sunflower, canola or soya that does not have a strong scent), otherwise the cookies will stink of oil (I can't stand the smell of blended cooking oil such as Knife or Neptune. I also added some vanilla essence, just in case.

May have to bake another batch since I almost finished the first batch by myself *grins*. Well, at least 1 down and another 1 or 2 more to go...

Link to recipe.