Swiss Roll with Vanilla Buttercream

Yeah! I've managed to make a swiss roll successfully after two failed attempts.. What was the problem? They cracked while I was rolling them. I waited for the sponge cakes to be cooled before rolling them, but by then they had sort of hardened, making them difficult to be rolled up. So on my third try, I decided to roll the sponge cake when it was still slightly warm, and it worked!

For the swiss roll recipe, please visit bigheadmagicmad.

Peanut Cookies

I used Aunty Yochana's Almond Biscuits recipe to make these Peanut Cookies. These Peanut Cookies has become one of my all time favourite cookies.. the taste is buttery and they melt in your mouth. Once you have one, you can't stop yourself from having more.. very addictive! For the recipe, you can get it from here.

Recipe source: Yochana's Cake Delight by Aunty Yochana

Sausage/ Hot Dog Buns

I became interested in bread making recently, and wanted to do something that was not too difficult. The first thought that came into my mind was to make sweet buns or milk buns. As I had two packets of sausages in my chiller, I ended up making sausage/ hot dog buns. I used Happy Home Baking's Sweet Buns recipe to make the buns. Instead of kneading the dough by hand, I used my electric mixer with the attached kneading hooks to get the job done. I was quite satisfied with the end result.. sweet, soft and fluffy buns =)



Spiral Curry Puffs

M. and I miss having those nice curry puffs filled with chicken curry and potatoes from Old Chang Kee in Singapore.. sigh... For the time being, we would just have to make our own curry puffs =). I made these spiral curry puffs for the first time recently. It was a little tedious to do the spiral curry puffs instead of the normal type of curry puffs, but it was worth the hard work because the crust turned out to be very crispy.

Ingredients A

280g flour
220ml water
1/2 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp shortening

Ingredients B

230g flour
160 ml shortening

Fillings

800g potato
300g chicken
200g onion
some minced curry leaves
few boiled eggs, cut into small pieces (optional)

Seasonings

20g curry powder
20g sugar
salt to taste
1/2 tbsp chicken powder

Method

1. Cut potatoes, chicken and onions into small pieces.
2. Mix Ingredients A until they are well combined and smooth. Set aside for 30 minutes. Flatten the dough.
3. Mix Ingredients B and blend well.
4. Heat up some oil in a wok, fry the Fillings (except the boiled eggs) until fragrant, add Seasonings and fry well. Set aside.
5. Wrap Ingredients B with Ingredients A, flatten the dough with a rolling pin. Roll up the dough and cut into pieces. Flatten each piece.
6. Place about 1 tbsp of fillings and a small piece of boiled egg onto each piece of dough. Fold into half and pleat to seal the edge.
7. Fry the puffs in hot oil until golden brown.

Recipe source : "Nonya Kueh Passions" by Andrew Koh

Char Siew Bao (Chinese Steamed Bun With Roast Pork)

I found a chinese steamed meat bun recipe by My Kitchen recently, and using some leftover frozen char siew, made these steamed buns. I am so pleased that they came out great! The buns came out soft and fluffy, just great with a cup of coffee or tea. I made extra buns which were later stored in a ziploc bag and frozen =). I will definetly make these again sometime soon, but with a different filling like red bean paste or lotus seed paste.

Thin Crust Pizza

M. and I had homemade thin crust pizza last weekend. Before that I did some research on a few food blogs and this recipe by Happy Home Baking caught my attention. The pizza dough was made with both wholemeal and bread flour. The thin crust pizza turned out pretty good.. most of all we had fun arranging the toppings on the pizza dough before baking.. From my understanding, to achieve a crispy thin crust pizza, one shouldn't overload it with toppings. M. had a Hawaiian Pizza (Ham and Pineapple Chunks), while I topped my pizza with tuna, pineapple, onions and olives.. yummy!

Pineapple Tarts

M. had to work till quite late yesterday, and I had all the time in the world to bake =)

I've been thinking about pineapple tarts lately, and decided to bake that. Baked two types of pineapple tarts, both the 'opened' and 'closed' types. Both tasted yummy! I prepared the pineapple jam paste the night before, using canned pineapple chunks. Personally, the taste is about the same as using fresh pineapples.. For the pastry dough, I tried this recipe taken from this cookbook, "The Best of Singapore Cooking" by Mrs Leong Yee Soo.

More pictures below :

Pineapple Jam Recipe

Ingredients :

4 cans of pineapple chunks, drain the chunks and blend or chop up roughly

1 cup of sugar (more or less to suit your taste)

1 cinnamon stick

5 cloves

2 segments of star anise

dash of cinnamon powder (optional)

1 tbs of butter

1 tbs lemon juice (optional)

Method :

1. Heat up butter in a heavy bottom saucepan.

2. Place all the remaining ingredients in the saucepan and cook over moderate heat till almost dry and thick.

3. Halfway through cooking the jam, do a taste check. Add more sugar if necessary, and lemon juice.

3. Cool and store overnight in the refrigerator till ready to use.

Dough Pastry Recipe

Ingredients A :

340g flour

1/2 tsp fine salt

1 tbs fine sugar

225g butter

1/2 egg

Ingredients B (to mix together) :

27ml iced water

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 or 2 drops of yellow food colouring

Method :

1. Sift flour with salt and sugar.

2. Rub butter into flour till mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

3. Beat egg lightly and add to the flour. Add Ingredients A to form a pastry dough. Chill for about 1/2 hour.

4. Roll pastry to 0.5cm thickness on a floured surface.

5. Cut with a special tart cutter or any round cutter.

6. Fill tarts with pineapple filling.

7. Cut thin strips from left-over pastry to decorate top.

8. Place tarts on a greased tray and bake in oven at 175 deg. celcius for about 15 minutes.

9. Reduce heat and bake for another 10 - 15 mins, till light brown.

10. Remove tarts and cool on a wire rack before storing in an airtight container.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

I made some sinful Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins today.. This easy to follow recipe is from "Chef Wan Baked Treats" by Chef Wan. However, I reduced the sugar amount as the ripened bananas and chocolate chips were the main sweet ingredients in this muffin recipe, and i did not want the muffins to turn out any sweeter. The taste turned out about right for me.

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar (I reduced it to about 3/4 cup instead)

1 egg

1 cup ripe bananas, mashed

1 tsp baking soda

2 tbsp hot water

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup chocolate chips

bananans (cut into chunks) and chocolate chips to decorate

Method

1. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and mashed bananas.

2. Mix baking soda with hot water and pour into butter mixture.

3. Fold in flour and salt. Stir in chocolate chips.

4. Spoon batter into greased muffin cups. Top each muffin with two chunks of banana and sprinkle with chocolate chips.

5. Bake in preheated oven (about 180 deg celcius) for about 20 mins.

Recipe Source :  "Chef Wan Baked Treats" by Chef Wan

Chocolate Chips and Peanut Butter Cookies

My hands were itching to bake again, but this time I just wanted to do something easy and simple. I found this easy to follow recipe from one of my cookbooks and baked these chocolate chips cookies in less than an hour.These cookies are very addictive, especially if you have a sweet tooth.

Ingredients

1. 250g butter, cubed and softened

2. 310g soft brown sugar (I reduced it to 280g instead)

3. 1/2 cup peanut butter (you can use either smooth or crunchy peanut butter)

4. 3 tsps vanilla essence

5. 2 eggs

6. 310g plain flour

7. 200g raw peanuts (I did not add this)

8. 250g dark chocolate, roughly chopped (I used 200g chocolate chips instead)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 deg celcius. Line baking trays with baking paper.
2. Beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy.
3. Mix in the peanut buuter and vanilla.
4. Add the eggs, one at a time and beat well.
5. Stir in the flour, peanuts and chopped chocolate.
6. Place a teaspoon of the mixture well apart on the baking trays.
7. Bake for about 12-15 mins until lightly browned around the edges.
8. Leave on the trays for 5 mins before cooling on a wire rack.

Recipe Source : "Jumbo Choc-chip and Peanut Cookies" by "Gorgeous Biscuits" (Periplus Mini Cookbooks)

Biskut Dahlia (Daisy Biscuit)

I miss having those melt-in-the mouth butter cookies topped with bits of maraschino cherries. I went online and managed to find the recipe of this cookie called "Biskut Dahlia" in Malay. Tada.. the one I've been looking for.. But sadly, it called for custard powder which i did not have. I decided to make do with the recipe which came with the packaging of the mould used for making this "Biskut Dahlia". The outcome? It was good... ;)

Ingredients

250g butter

90g icing sugar (added additional 1 tablespoon)

1 egg yolk

1/4 tsp salt

320g all purpose flour

120g corn flour

2 tbs milk

1/2 tsp rose essence (substituted with 3/4 tsp of vanilla essence)

chopped maraschino cherries for decoration

Method

1. Cream butter with sugar, egg yolk, salt and rose essence until fluffy. Add in milk and mix well.

2. Fold in both flours. Mix until dough becomes soft and not sticky.

3. Place mixture into the piping mould and pipe it on a baking tray lined with baking paper.

4. Decorate with chopped cherries and bake in preheated oven (at about 175 deg Celsius) for about 15 minutes or till golden brown.

Pandan Chiffon Cake

I bought a tube pan when i was back in Singapore a few months back. Didn't have the guts to bake a chiffon cake until recently. From my understanding, baking a chiffon cake isn't that easy..

After doing a bit of research online, I managed to find a Pandan Chiffon Cake recipe from Baking Mum that was quite easy to follow. I did everything according to the instructions, at the same time keeping my fingers crossed.. The result was fantastic! Soft and cottony.. M. said that it tasted somewhat like Bengawan Solo's. This really made my day!

Recipe source: Baking Mum

Chocolate Thumbprints

I baked these cookies "Chocolate Thumbprints" for my friend Susan. This recipe is from "Gorgeous Biscuits" by Periplus Mini Cookbooks. I simply adore this little book! The recipes are easy to follow, especially for people who are new to baking.

Ingredients

250g butter, cubed and softened

1 cup (125g) castor sugar

2 tsp vanilla essence

3 cups (370g) plain flour

2/3 cup (80g) cocoa powder

4 tbs milk

4 tbs orange marmalade

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 deg celcius. Line a baking tray with baking paper. 
2. Beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add the vanilla essence and beat in.

3. Sift the flour and cocoa into the butter mixture. Add the milk and mix to a soft dough.

4. Roll level tablespoons of the mixture into balls and lay well apart on a baking tray lined with baking paper.

5. Make a deep indent in each ball with your thumb and fill with the marmalade.

6. Bake for 20 mins. Leave for 5 mins, then cool on a wire rack.

This recipe makes about 40 pieces.

Recipe source: "Gorgeous Cookies" by Periplus Mini Cookbooks

Ang Ku Kuih (Part I)

When I was back in Singapore last December, there were sales going on everywhere in the shopping malls. Bookstores were no exception, and I managed to purchase five cookbooks. =)

I have been wanting to make nonya kuihs for quite a while, and I saw this book "Nyonya Kuih Passions" by Andrew Kow at a cookbooks section in a departmental store. Flipping through the book, I was mesmerised by the pictures of many colourful kuihs in it. Needless to say, I bought it =)

A few days ago, I made Ang Ku Kuih for the first time. The result came out quite all right, but I feel that the skin of the Ang Ku Kuih could be more even (could see the bits of the filling showing through the skin after the steaming process). Perhaps it was the wrapping of the dough skin.. would definitely need more practice. Other than that, the taste was nice.. M said it reminded him of Muah Chee (I used peanut paste as the filling). I have another recipe on Ang Ku Kuih using sweet potatoes and glutinous rice flour to make the dough skin. I will experiment on this recipe soon and see how the result will turn out. Till then, this is the Ang Ku Kuih recipe that I would like to share.

Ingredients

Part A
250g glutinous rice flour
30g sugar
250ml water
75ml oil
a few drops of red food colouring


Part B
50g rice flour
125ml water


Filling*
300g dried mung beans
250g sugar


*You can use different types of fillings such as peanut paste and red bean paste for Ang Ku Kuihs.


Others
About 20 pcs of banana leaves - cut to fit size of mould (to be cleaned and scalded with boiling water before use).

Method
1. Soak mung beans for 3 hours and steam them for 1 hour. Mash mung beans.
2. Fry the minced mung beans with sugar until well combined.
3. For Part B, cook rice flour with water.
4. Mix Part A with B to form dough, add the oil last. Divide dough into 25g each.
5. Wrap filling with dough. Place the dough into an Ang Ku Kuih mould to set it in shape.
6. Turn out each cake on to a pieace of banana leaf.
7. Steam for 8-10 minutes over medium heat.

Note: I brushed the Ang Ku Kuihs lightly with oil while they were still hot.

Recipe source: "Nyonya Kuih Passions" by Andrew Kow