Betty Crocker - Our Favourite Cake & Cookie Mixes

[Betty Crocker] Homemade cookies with LOVE

Think about it this is the 11th Mother's Day that I am celebrating with the family and this year my boy gave me a special handmade gift; Assorted Chocolate Chip Cookies which he made solely on his own. And to spread the love for this special occasion, he even packed the cookies into gift bags for his granny and grandma as well my bestie whom is also his schoolmate mum.

Fun Recipe Ideas using The Laughing Cow Cheeses

[Main] Cheesy Penne with Salmon and Broccoli

Dairy products such as cheese and milk are often considered as a natural source of calcium to strengthen children's teeth and bones. With that our fridge is always packed with bottles of fresh milk and array of cheese in all form such as cheese spread, sandwich cheese and belcube cheese.

The Laughing Cow cheese products have been around for many many years. It’s known for its superbly smooth and creamy taste. So in this post I would like to share a quick pasta lunch recipe which can be easily prepared in less than 20 minutes using their cheese spread and sliced cheddar to create a delicious white cheese sauce. Besides that there are also a few fun ideas of adding cheese into your daily diet. 

[Wordless Wednesday] Soy Milk Egg Tart Recipe

[Wordless Wednesday] Double Chocolate Loaf Cake Recipe

*For Double Chocolate Loaf Cake:-
- 100g 70% Dark Chocolate, roughly chopped
Add half add into the batter and use the remaining for toppings.

[Wordless Wednesday] Corn Bread Muffins Recipe

8th Anniversary of Cuisine Paradise

Today Cuisine Paradise adds another year onto the blog stats where we celebrate our 08th Anniversary. Time flies and it's seems only a few weeks ago when I wrote about our 07th Anniversary flashback post and yet now we are into the eighth years of blogging.

Although there were ups and downs along the way during these 8 years but I am thankful for a group of supportive friends and readers who are always there to show us full supports as well as their kind words and encouragements which makes us grow stronger each year.

Assorted Cakes For Tea

It is the month of April again, and by the end of this month Cuisine Paradise will be celebrating it's 8 years old Birthday. Day after days it's has being more than 2,800 days since our 1st post till now which shows how fast time past. From a blog that shares simple homecook dishes and parenting journey till what we had today, I sincerely appreciate each and everyone for your kind comments and support. Although I could not update the blog as often with a daily / weekly post like what most bloggers do but I hope to try my very best to maintain it as often as I could too.

Here I have 3 different Tea Cake recipes which I would like to share with you and I hope you would find them useful or even add them into your cake recipes collection.

Pumpkin Granola Bar

My family loves granola and our my favourite granola supply come from "maameemoomoo" who always surprise us with her innovative flavoured granola like honey, pumpkin and chocolate. And since we have missed out Sherie's pumpkin granola during Halloween orders, I decided to try making something similar to satisfy our craving. So with a twist and some research which I Google, I manage to bake some decent Pumpkin Granola Bar instead.

Although my granola bar might not taste as good as Sheri's but at least I happy with the end result and also it's a challenge for me to bake something with such a long ingredients list too.

Kiwifruit Compote

If you still remember, last month I have shared a post on Blueberry Vs Raspberry Compote (recipes here) where you could used it as topping for yoghurt, pancake, crepe, cheesecake and etc. Here since I have some extra kiwifruit from my #14daysofZespri goodie bag, I decided to make some Kiwifruit Compote to go with toast or crackers for a healthier snack.

KIWIFRUIT COMPOTE

For your information, I used this Kiwifruit Compote for my "Kiwifruit Yoghurt Parfait" which featured in the other post HERE.

(Makes: 1/3 Cup       | Preparation: 2 minutes      | Cooking: 3 - 5 minutes)

Ingredients:

• 2 Ripe Zesperi® Green Kiwifruit
• 2 Tablespoons of Caster Sugar
• Zest Of 1 Lemon
• 1/2 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

Method:-

1. Peel the outer skin of the kiwifruits and cut it into 1.5 cm cubes.

2. Put all the ingredients into a heavy duty saucepan, simmer over medium low heat until the sugar melt and kiwifruit soften. (Do not overcook the berries else the compote will end up to be with too much juice)

3. Remove from heat and serve warm with pancakes or crepes. Or alternatively you can stored cool compote in sealed container in the fridge for up to a week.

Indeed this can also be a very addictive quick snacks due to it's sweet and sour refreshing taste plus a hint of citric aroma from the lemon rind. To bring the taste, you can also pair it with some smoke or cheddar cheese.

This is our all time favourite cheese cubes and best is they comes in different flavour each box!

For more interesting recipes using Kiwifruit, you can visit Zespri website @ http://www.zespri.com.sg/

Deep-fried Banana with Popiah Skin

This is a yummy finger food that mum taught me while we are having a conversation about how to use those banana that I always stock up for our weekly fruit supply. She mentioned that she saw a Taiwan cooking clip from youtube which use fresh "popiah skin" to wrap banana with some Japanese mayonnaise and deep-fried till golden brown.

So without hesitate, I bought some fresh popiah skin and start making some for our morning tea.  After which when I posted this photo on my "Instagram", someone comment that it looks similar to one of their Philippines dessert which is known as Turon or Banana Lumpia.  And when I did a Google, it shows that Turon is a Philippine snack made of thinly sliced bananas and a slice of jackfruit which dusted with brown sugar and rolled in spring roll wrapper and deep-fried.

Taiyaki (たい焼き)

Taiyaki (たい焼き) is a Japanese fish shaped pancake which is commonly filled with red bean paste that is made from sweetened azuki beans. But in these day, there are many other fillings such as custard, chocolate, cream cheese or even sausage in it.

As usual the creative and wonder members in Munch Ministry facebook group always bring up interesting kitchen gadgets to share with the rest of the members and just recently, there is a rave in making these cute Taiyaki in the group due to some promotion on the Taiyaki Pan shown above.

TAIYAKI

(たい焼き)

All related Photos and Recipes of Taiyaki are ©Copyright by Ellena Guan of Cuisine Paradise. All rights reserved.

These yummy little treat is actually very easy to make at home if you have a Taiyaki Pan. What you required is to get hold a pack of Pancake Premix plus some Instant Fillings such as Cream Cheese, Nutella, Peanut Butter, Kaya and etc.

(Make: 6 |            Preparation: 3 minutes |             Cooking: 20 minutes)

Ingredients:
150g (1 sachet) Morinaga Pancake Premix
1 Large Egg, 60g
100ml Fresh Milk
1/2 Tablespoon Cornflour
Some Nutella, Peanut Butter, Cream Cheese or etc
1 Taiyaki Pan

Method:-

1. Whisk egg and milk together in a mixing bowl or jug till combined. Add in 1 sachet of Morinaga pancake premix and stir till the mixture resemble cake batter.

2. Lightly brush oil on both inner sides of the Taiyaki pan. Preheat it 30 seconds before ladle a small amount of batter(refer to the step-by-step photo above) to the preheated pan (on one deeper print side).

3. Add your desire fillings such as 1 tablespoon of nutella/peanut. Next pour a little more batter just enough to cover the paste. Close the pan and cook for 1 minute 20 seconds on medium low heat.

4. Flip the pan over, cook for another 1 minute or more, open the pan slight and check the colour of the fish. Careful not to overcook and burn it as they should be golden brown on each side.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NOTE:-

~ To get a nice evenly golden brown colour for your Taiyaki, the "secret" lies on the heat and timing for cooking the Taiyaki.

All related Photos and Recipes of Taiyaki are ©Copyright by Ellena Guan of Cuisine Paradise. All rights reserved.

Above is my first batch of assorted Taiyaki (たい焼き) made using Morinaga Pancake Premix filled with some of our favourite spread such as Cream Cheese and Nutella . And all these are made in less than 30 minutes where you can prepared a delicious and healthy breakfast or snack for your kids. I am sure nobody will be able to resists a piping hot Taiyaki with crispy outsider layer and soft inner texture with oozing filling in their mouth.

Homemade Muah Chee In 15 Minutes

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Muah Chee which also known as "麻糍" is a very common street food found in local Pasar Malam(night market) which cost about S$1.00 - S$2.00 per box. Since young this has being one of my favourite local snack other than Popiah(spring roll) and Nonya Kueh.

And from what I heard from the older generation they used to make "muah chee" by steaming the glutinous rice flour mixture rather than those shortcut methods that was invested using some modern kitchen gadget such as microwave. So with easy to follow recipe(s) and modern gadget(s) it is not difficult to make our own homemade muah chee as when we like.

MUAH CHEE

(麻糍)

Here with the help of my Happy Call Pressure Pan(HCP) I could easily make my favourite muah chee anytime of the day in less than 15 minutes time. You could control the texture of the muah chee from the amount of water use. For example; to achieve a softer texture the ratio of flour and water will be 1:1 whereas if you prefer more "Q(chewy)" texture you could reduce the water from 1 to 3/4 cup. If you are looking for new flavour you could also add in 1 - 2 tablespoons of black sesame powder into the glutinous rice flour and stir till combine with water.

This is the sample of the peanut powder that I used for making this Muah Chee, you can read more about this HERE.

Chinese version of this post and recipe is available at this link HERE.

(Serves: 2-3 | Preparation: 5 minutes | Cooking: 5-7 minutes)

Ingredients:
1 Cup Glutinous Rice Flour
3/4 - 1 Cup Water
1/2 Teaspoon Sugar
1.5 - 2 Tablespoons Shallot Oil/Cooking Oil

Peanut Coating:
1.5 Cup Peanut Powder
1 - 2 Tablespoons Caster Sugar, optional
1 Tablespoon White Sesame Seeds, optional

Method:-

1. Prepare shallot oil either using microwave method(HERE) or directly from the HCP. (saute 4 thinly sliced shallot with 2 tablespoons of oil in HCP over low heat till golden brown, remove the shallot and leave the oil in the pan)

2. Place glutinous rice flour and sugar in a mixing bowl, slowly stir in water with a whisk till well combined.

3. With HCP on medium low heat together with the shallot oil, slowly swirl in the flour mixture and stir it using a wooden spoon/chopstick or spatula till it begins to form a soft dough.

4. Lower the heat and continue to toss and cook the dough for another 3 - 5 minutes (depending on the heat) till the dough is smooth and slightly transparent on its surface. Remove and set aside on a oiled plate/container.

5. Using kitchen paper towel, wipe off the oil from the HCP and add in the sesame seeds. Toss it over low heat for about 2 minutes(stirring in between) before adding the peanut powder and stir till fragrant(another 2 minutes or so). Set aside to cool for about 3 minutes before stirring in the caster sugar and mix well.

6. Transfer the cooked glutinous rice dough to the peanut mixture, toss well and cut it into bite size pieces and serve.

Lastly if you don't have any HCP or non-stick pan but would like to try making this Asian snack, you could either use the Microwave Method from Little Teochew website(HERE) or Steaming Method at Anncoo Journal(HERE). I am sure either one of this would enable you to have some decent homemade Muah Chee for family gathering or party.

Caramel Popcorn

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Popcorn or popping corn is corn (maize) which expands from the kernel and puffs up when heated. There are many techniques for popping corn from either normal kitchen pan/pot, microwave to large scale popcorn machines. Usually Popcorn is eaten in movie theatres that served in choices such as salted or sweetened. But now instead of having it only in the cinema, we could also easily make them at home or purchase in major supermarkets.

About a year ago "Garrett Popcorn" which is a chain of popcorn outlets open it's first outlet in Resort World Sentosa and now they have many other outlets located in Singapore too. (detail HERE). I love their Caramel Flavour with Macadamia Nuts where I could enjoy my favourite nuts and popcorn coated with delicious caramel.

CARAMEL POPCORN

My boy prefers popcorn which is sweeten like those sold in the "cinema" compared to those available in the commercial shops (either nuts, chocolate,  cheese, colouring and etc). And since it is pretty easier to make "popcorn" at home using minimum ingredients and a cooking pot (or home type popcorn machine), we always "pop" some whenever we crave for them.

(serves: 4 | Preparation: 5 minutes | Cooking: 10 minutes)

Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
1/2 Cup Corn Kernel

Caramel Sauce:
1/4 Cup Honey
1/4 Cup Golden Syrup
3/4 Cup Caster Sugar
100g Butter Chopped

Method:-

1. Line a big baking tray with baking papers, allowing 2cm overhang at long ends.

2. Heat oil in HCP(or any cooking pan) over medium heat. Add 2 - 3 corn kernels to test the heat. (Oil is hot enough when corn turns slowly in a circle)

3. Add remaining corn, cover and lock the pan(if using HCP). Shake pan gently when corn starts popping.

4. Remove from heat when corn stops popping. Transfer to a bowl and discard un-popped corn.

5. To make Caramel Sauce:- Clean the pan using kitchen paper towel after removing the popcorn. Place honey, golden syrup, sugar and butter in the pan. Stir and cook over very low heat for about 6 minutes or until sugar dissolved.

6. Next bring the mixture to boil without stirring for another 5 minutes or until light golden.

7. Work quickly, pour mixture over popcorn and stir to combine. Rest caramel popcorn in prepared lined baking tray to cool completely.

8. Break into pieces and served or stored in air-tight containers.

Although this recipe is done using Happy Call Pan (HCP) but you still can apply the same method using any heavy duty pan/pot to achieve the similar results. Have a lovely weekend everyone!!! Cheers!