East Meet West

I had received this order to make 7 different flavours of macarons in one good. And the flavour is like Asian Vs the West. As you can see from the order, they have the west flavour like Rose, Lavender and Mocha. While on the other hand, we have Green Tea, Black Sesame, Lychee and Durian.


I personally loves the Rose and Lavender Batch as it's so sweet in colour and aroma. When you bite on it, you will really be drag into the dream of macarons...... or we said, addicted to it.

This creamy little treat will be good for those durian lover, you can taste local flavour in french goodies..... the aroma and taste of the D24 Durian do make a grade for this.....

Green Tea Macarons goes well with either Dark Chocolate Ganache or Red Bean Butter Cream, but so far seems like all the order are requesting for Dark Chocolate Ganache. Personally I feel, Red Bean Butter Cream is much nicer than the Dark Chocolate.... :) Mocha Macaron is a mixture of Cocoa and Coffee which then sandwich with Dark Cherry Butter Cream with a dose of liquor.

Lychee Macaron is kind of light in fragrant and taste, I added some lychee flesh in the butter cream to enhance the crunch when bites. Em... lastly, we had the very oriental Black Sesame Macaron which is kind of bitter and nutty taste. I used pure grind black sesame seeds in both the shell and butter cream paste to make it more nutty taste. Good choice for those who love black sesame and it's really lower the sweetness of the macarons.

My 1st Macaron Order

This is my 1st batch of Macarons Order from one of my blog reader. I am really overwhelming to receive this confirm order other than those enquires. I really appreciate that she is willing to give me a chance to share my baking products with her and her friends. Iris, thank you for your valuable feedback too! :) The flavour that she order are:

a) Rose Macarons With Rose Scented Cream
b) Pistachio Macarons With Pistachio Cream
c) Green Tea Macarons With Chocolate Ganache
d) Chocolate Macarons With Chocolate Ganache(a token from me)

This is the Lavender Macarons that most of the blog readers enquiry about from the emails to me. I made a batch with two different flavour using Rose Scented Butter Cream and Lemon Lavender Scented Butter Cream.

Assorted Sweet Potato Huat Kueh

Get to know this delicious "Huat Kueh" from my boss wife Veron. When I first taste it, I knew that I am going to do a batch of this. The texture is so moist and soft which is very different from those traditional huat kueh that we used to eat. Even if it is left in room temperature for a day or in the fridge it still taste soft and moist. This huat kueh doesn't required any yeast or baking powder and yet, but it can yet achieve the soft and fluffy texture.


For my version, I added assorted Sweet Potato instead of one type. I love vibrant colours for my food and since I am able to find 3 different types of sweet potato at the stall, I might as well give it a try. As you know the purple sweet potato had a very nice colour and it's rather kind of saltish taste which balance off the sweetness of the huat kueh and the orange sweet potato.

I also add in the yellowish Japanese Sweet Potato which is fragrant and great in texture. Besides starch, sweet potatoes are RICH in dietary fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, and vitamin B6. Despite the name "sweet", it is actually a good food for diabetics, as preliminary studies on animals have revealed that it helps to stabilize blood sugar levels and to lower insulin resistance. For those who loves sweet potatoes you might want to give this recipe a try. It's very easy, just mix, stir, pour and steam.

Ingredients: (make about 7 - 9 cups 100ml size disposal cups)
250g Self Raising Flour
250ml Coconut Milk
1 Medium/Large Egg
1 Big Pieces Of Gula Malaka(Palm Sugar)
50 ml water
3-4 Small Sweet Potato(about 300g)

Methods:
1. Wash and steam the sweet potatoes until soft, peel off the skin and use a fork or finger to roughly break into pieces then set aside to cool.
2. While steaming the sweet potato, place the 50ml of water and gula malaka(if possible break it into pieces so that it will melt easily) in a small saucepan and simmer over low heat until the gula malaka is completely dissolved into sugar syrup.
3. Set aside for it to cool before using.
4. Pour the self-raising flour into a big mixing bowl, then make a well in the center and pour in the coconut milk and use a balloon whisk to whisk a few times before adding in the egg.
5. Kept on whisk until the egg is incorporate into the batter then pour in the gula malaka syrup and whisk well.
6. The mixture will be sort of like a pancake batter, lastly add in the sweet potato pieces(reserve some for the topping) and use a spatula to stir till combined.
7. Spoon the mixture into a aluminium cup(100ml) then top with some extra sweet potatoes and steam over medium/high(depending on the steamer that you use, I steam mine over medium heat on stove) heat for about 20 minutes.

Notes:
a) You must wait for the water to BOIL 1st before placing the cup mixtures into the steam, and do not open the cover of the steam in between the steaming time or else the Huat Kueh will not have the "Open Mouth" effect.
b) You can find fresh coconut milk in 250ml packet from most of the supermarket at the noodles/doufu sections.
c) You can use either one type of sweet potato or assorted depend on your preference.
d) The weight of the Gula Malaka is about 150g - 200g depending on the size that you purchased.(if is possible, strained the liquid after boiling to remove any big particulars or lumps in it)

Vanilla Vs Mocha Macarons

Finally I have completed my last batch of Macarons experiment baking for the moment. Although I still have a few flavour which I would like to try on, but I am kind of tired on the sifting and folding of these goodies..... Maybe after some other bakes it will refresh my ideas on improving new flavours on these goodies. Actually I still have Carrot & Pumpkin Macarons which I would like to experiment and share with my baking pal Evan who always inspired me on her macaron making. Thank Pal, hope your new flavour of macarons will be on sales soon.... :)


These two flavour above are:

Vanilla Macaron With Blueberry Butter Cream
The vanilla fragrant on the shell really boots up the aroma of this macaron. Is like before you give a bite, you already feel that you are eating an vanilla ice cream with blueberry topping.......

Mocha Macaron With Black Forest Butter Cream
For mocha lover, here you are. A mixture of Cocoa Powder and Coffee really make this shell taste great! When you give a bite, you will taste the mocha shell sandwich with some black cherry cream that is cherry brandy scented.......

A Gift For A Friend

Hahaha, this is a post on macarons again. This is my 3rd Batch of macarons to send as a gift to one of my forum pal. Hope that she and her family will find these up to standard :)


This round I made 3 different flavour for her, and instead of using all Almond Meal for all the shell, I change to Ground Pistachio for two of the shells. These 3 flavour are:

a) Coffee Pistachio Macarons With Black Forest Butter Cream
b) Pistachio Macarons With Blueberry Butter Cream
c) Pandan Macaron With Kaya Butter Cream

Overall for these 3 new flavour, I personally prefer the Coffee Pistachio Macaron with Black Forest Butter Cream. Because the combination of coffee and pistachio really brings out the extra fragrant of the shell. While the black forest butter cream that contain splash of cherry bandy which further more enhance the overall fragrant and texture.

Chocolate Fudge Brownie With Assorted Nuts

Try making this Chocolate Fudge Brownie With Assorted Nuts using Betty Crocker® Ultimate Fudge Brownies pre-mixed packet. This is recommend by one of my blog pal Evan. The texture of the Brownie is very moist and chewy and I really love the taste and texture compare to some store bought brownie.

For this recipe, I add in an extra 50g mixture of Walnut and Macadamia nuts to make it a combination of crunchy and chewy texture. But I guess I had slightly over baked the brownie as the bottom layer is slightly drier than the upper portion. But overall I love this pre-mixed pack and I will want to give their other flavour a try too.

Assorted Flavour Macarons - 马卡龙系列

Finally I had fulfill my dream of Macarons making by doing the all those wonderful Assorted Flavour in a few batches and putting them into a gift. For this assorted flavour, I made a total of 7 different colours. I really loves my food to be in vibrant colours.


These are made by me as a gift to some of my special friends and boss. I really hope that these will brighten up their day and as well suits their taste bub. Cross my fingers and hope that they will love these.... :) The 7 Assorted Flavour are:

1. Apricot Macaron With Apricot Butter Cream
2. Blueberry Macaron With Blueberry Butter Cream
3. Coffee Macaron With Coffee Butter Cream
4. Green Tea Macaron With Red Bean Butter Cream
5. Lavender Macaron With Rose Scented Butter Cream
6. Poppy Seed Macaron With Lemon Butter Cream
7. Rose Macaron With Rose Scented Butter Cream

Look at all these wonderful colour, my dear son loves them so much that he don't even allow me to lay my hand on them. He gets to choose those colours that he wants and he loves that Pink Rose Macarons the most.

Out of the 7 assorted colours, I love the colour of this blueberry flavour. It's really special and it gives me the feel of those European Tea Snack feeling. It's kind of cooling colour combination with that little bit of pink & purple blueberry filling being sandwich on two pieces of Aqua blue. Em... really loves this......

These are the 3 new flavour that I had did for this batch of assorted flavour. And my favourite from the list of 3 is the Blueberry Macaron which I am so attracted to it's colour.

Double-Boiled Ginseng Chicken Soup

Wow... at least, you see a new post at this blog of mine :) This blog had being vacant and waiting for my post for very very long time. Since those unhappy times of mine, I had not being posting any of the food recipes which I think I should do something before this blog collapses...... :)


As usual, for those reader who had being following my blog for sometime, you will knew that I love SOUP. Especially those long stew soup which make me feel comfort after a tiring day of work. It's had be so long..... since I had make any of those SOUP that I long for. I love double-boiled herbal soup. especial with black chicken. But then this round, I didn't managed to grab any so I just replace it with 2 Chicken Drumsticks and it taste just as good as it is.

Ingredients:
2 Fresh Chicken Drumsticks, wash and remove fats
5 Red Dates
4-5 Pieces Of Dried Huai Shan
1/2 Tablespoon Of Gou Qi Zi
1 Medium Stick Of Dang Shen, cut into 1" pieces
3-4 Dried Soup Ginseng(can refer to the link for picture)
5g Dried Longan, optional

Methods:
1. Wash the chicken drumstick, remove fat and skin then blanch in boiling water for a few minutes, remove and rinse with water then set aside.
2. Rinse all the dry herbs then add about 700ml water in a small pot and boil the herbs for about 5 - 10 minutes over medium heat.
3. Next add in the chicken drumstick and bring it to boil again.
4. Pour the soup and ingredients into a double boiler and place it in a bigger pot/slower cooker and add enough water to cover about 3/4 of the double boiler pot.
5. Double-boiled over Auto heat(slower cooker) for about 3 - 4 hours then serve during meal before rice or before bedtime.

Notes:
a) The purpose of adding dried longan is to enhance the sweetness and taste of the soup.
b) If you are not sure about the double-boiled procedure, please refer to this link for picture.