Mini Christmas Pudding

In less than two weeks from now we will be celebrating Christmas.  Have you done your shopping and plan your Christmas menu or baking any goodies to be given as gifts?

As usual, though I don't really celebrate Christmas, to get into the Christmas mood, I be baking my favourite Christmas Cake or you can called it mixed dry fruit cake or Christmas pudding, or even steam fruit cake.  They are all the same to me.

This year, I have made few batches earlier and all were distributed out to families and friends.

I have also try making it some into small mini moulds which was supposed to be given away for my reunion friends get together but unfortunately I have been unwell so I have to cancel my trip back to my hometown.

                    I think this mini ones looks nicer and presentable in serving too.


If you intend to make this, you can follow the recipe here (Christmas Pudding) or here (Steamed Fruit Cake).  But, instead of going into the steamer for 4 hours, you can choose the bain marie method (steamed bake) to cut short the cooking time.

Oh, please note that I usually will macerate my mixed dry fruits in brandy (you can use Rum) overnight.

Once the cake is cooked, and, let the cake aged for at least a day or two before consumin as to let the flavour mature.  As I have read in the internet, it is more better to make this Christmas Pudding two months before the big day or at least one month ahead.....or the earlier the better! 

Well, for me....once my cake been done and matured for two days ....it will be gone in just a few days!  Don't think I am able to let it mature more than a week.....LOL.  It is just toooo delicious.  Unless someone help me to hide the cake where I don't know where of..... 

                             If only I have some custard to go with it.......and that would 
                             be so perfect!!

Almond Biscotti (Delia Smith)

Have you tried baking Biscotti before?  I love biscotti especially with lots of almonds inside.  
Biscotti is used to describe as a long, dry, hard,  twice-baked cookie with a curved top and flat bottom meant for dunking into coffee or wine.  The traditional biscotti recipe uses no form of yeast or fat (butter, oil, milk) as I have read. 

I have baked biscotti years ago (here ~ Almond Biscotti), and in fact that recipe I have tried for a few times just because I wanted to achieve in cutting the biscotti in thin slices.  Believe me, it is no easy task cutting into that thinly slices. 

I wanted to bake that recipe again for giving it as a gifts but on second thought, I should try out other recipe too.  There are tons of recipes to choose from the internet .... some uses whole egg, some with butter, some with vegetable oil, and some with egg whites. 


And while searching for a simple recipe, this recipe from Delia Smith caught my attention as ground almond was part of the ingredient.  So I have no hesitation to try this out and what is great about this is, it makes for a small portion to try out first.  

ALMOND BISCOTTI

Ingredients 
110g plain flour
3/4 tsp level baking powder
pinch of salt
25g ground almond
50g whole almonds, skin on (I added 80g)
75g golden caster sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Few drops of almond extract

Method
Preheat your oven to 170°C.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl, then add in the ground and whole almonds and sugar. Give it a good mix, then add the egg and the almond extract, and mix it together with a wooden spoon and then using your hands to bring the mixture together to form a smooth dough.

Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and, using your hands, roll it into a log about 28cm long. Put it on the lined baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes. Transfer to a cooling tray and leave till completely cold.

Reduce the oven temperature to 150°C.
Using a serrated knife or a very sharp knife,  cut the biscotti into slightly diagonal slices about 1cm wide. Then place them back on the lined baking tray and bake for another 15 minutes on each side until pale gold and crisp. 

Transfer them to the cooling tray and when cold, store in an airtight container.

Yields about 15 pieces

Original recipe from Delia Online

                      

  I am linking this post to the Bake Along event # 72 created by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours,  Lena of Frozen Wings and Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids

 

I'm linking this post to :
Cook & Celebrate Christmas 2014 hosted by Bake For Happy Kids, Eat Your Heart Out and Domestic Goddess Wannabe.

An InLinkz Link-up

Jam Doughnut Muffins

Yesterday I was up early in the morning and was gearing up to make a steamed nyonya kuih.  I spend in front of the stove for more than an hour steaming the kuih layer by layer....and in the end...the kuih was a disaster!!  Thought I could have a beautiful kuih lapis to share with you.  So tired in the end....

Anyway, I made something more easier today.  This muffin can be ready in just less than an hour.

Jam-Doughnut Muffins

(adapted from "How To Be A Domestic Goddess", Nigella Lawson)

Ingredients

125ml milk

85ml corn oil or vegetable oil, plus more for greasing

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

200gm self-raising flour

60gm caster sugar

12 teaspoons strawberry jam (or any of your favourite jam)

Coating

scant 1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C and grease a 6-hole muffin pan.

With a fork or hand whisk, beat together the milk, oil, egg and vanilla extract. Stir this into the flour and 60gm sugar to just combine. (It doesn’t matter there are lumps as if you overbeat the batter, the muffins will be hard and tough.)

Spoon the mixture into each muffin mould so that its just under a third full. Then with a teaspoon add a dollop of strawberry jam - about the size of a fat lima bean- then top with more muffin mix so that the cases are just about full.

Put them in a preheated oven and cook for about 20 minutes or until the tops feel springy and resistant and the muffins have puffed up into little toadstools.

For the coating :  Melt the butter. Combine the extra sugar and the cinnamon in a large bowl. When the muffins are cool enough to handle, brush each muffin with the melted butter, then roll in the cinnamon sugar. Serve while still a little warm.

                            I did not make the melted butter and coat with the sugar to my muffins 

                            instead I just lightly dust with icing sugar.  It is as good eating it as it is.

                            

 

                             This jam doughnut muffin is best eaten when it is still warm.

                             You can always warm up the muffin in your microwave if you have

                              left over.

  I am linking this post to the Bake Along event created by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours,  Lena of Frozen Wings and Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids

  

                             

An InLinkz Link-up

Kuih Kodok (Mashed Banana Fritters)

Made this easy Banana Fritters for my tea break today as I have some left over banana.  Instead of making banana cake, this is super quick and super easy too.

KUIH KODOK (MASHED BANANA FRITTERS)


Ingredients
150g (net weight) ripe bananas (pisang emas)
½ tsp salt (or less)
1 tsp sugar
5 tbsp self-raising flour
1 tbsp rice flour
1 tbsp Quaker oats
A pinch of bicarbonate of soda

Method

Mash ripe bananas well with a fork and combine with salt, sugar, self-raising flour, rice flour and oats. Sift in bicarbonate of soda. Mix until well combined into a batter.

Heat wok with enough oil over medium heat. Spoon a tablespoon of batter and drop into the hot oil. Constantly turn the fritters around until they are golden brown. 

Remove with a slotted ladle and drain on several layers of absorbent kitchen paper. Serve immediately.

Recipe sourced from kuali.com

Chocolate Macaron With Salted Caramel

When was the last time I made macarons?  Oh....that was years ago in 2011.  It was my first time trying out to bake macarons.  I can't believe it too....first time trying out and everything was smooth sailing for my macarons.  But.... it wasn't so the next time I try out again.  Never been successful after that. 

Well, for me, I can say is baking macarons can be based on "luck".  Sometimes, the expertise can have their macarons cracked on top, right?

There are many ways to bake macarons; the French, Italian and Swiss.  Which type you are most comfortable with?

If you are keen to try out baking macaron, why not try making it in small amount ingredient.  Here I have used Kim of Macaron-Fetish as the ingredient yield only small amount and if it was not success, you won't have to worry of wastage and you can try out again too.

My sister has made macarons using Kim's recipe.  Do check out her gorgeous Kitty Macarons.

Chocolate Macaron Shells
(Yields 12 filled macarons)

Ingredients
1 room temperatured egg white(39-40g)
50g icing sugar
30g ground almond
30g castor sugar
1/2 tsp cocoa powder

Method:
Put ground almond, icing sugar and cocoa powder in a food processor or a small blender. Blend them finely. 

Sift the blended mixture and set aside. 

With an electric beater, beat the egg white, start from low speed and increase slowly to maximum speed. Beat until frothy (you will see lots of fine bubbles).

Now it's the time to add in the castor sugar, add half of the sugar, continue to beat in maximum speed for around 2 minutes, add in the other half, continue until you get very stiff peak. 

Mix the dry ingredients into the eggwhites. This process is called Macaronage. Start folding with a rubber spatula. When you get a smooth shiny mixture, stop folding, lift the mixture with spatula, if the mixture falls back slowly in the bowl means you're good to go. You could also check if the lines formed from the liften mixture, they should slowly disappear in within 30 seconds. At this stage you're good to go. Do not over fold, it will be too liquid and becoming very hard to pipe. 

Line the baking tray with the parchment paper. 

Fill your piping bag , pipe your macaron (about 2 cm diameter) it should spread a bit as it settles. The point should slowly disappear if the mixture is the right consistency.
If not you could hit the bottom of the tray to smooth the point out).

Let your macaron sits for about 30minutes. This will depand on the humity in your house and the day. Try touching the macaron softly, after 30mins. it should not stick to your hand.

Heat your oven to 150 C on the (heating on the top only). When the oven is ready, put your macaron at the very bottom shelf. Bake for 12 minutes, check them in the mid time of 6 minutes, the feets should already start forming. Turn the baking tray to the opposite direction to allow even baking. When the 6 mins is up, change the heating setting of your oven to Bottom only. This will help cooking the macaron and rise the feet more. Bake for another 6 minutes. You can test if the macaron is cook, touch softly on the shell and when the macaron doesn't slide on the feet, it's cooked. if it's not add another 1 mins each time and check. 
* (I baked my macarons using upper and lower heat.  You need to know your oven temperatures and adjust accordingly).

Let the macaron cool down before removing them. You could wet your working area and slide the baking sheet on it to speed up the cooling process, but do not let it sit there too long, if not the macarons will become soggy. Other wise you can leave them cool at room temperature and remove them.


For the filling for my macarons, I have filled it up with Salted Caramel Sauce.

Check out the Salted Caramel recipe here.

       Here, I used the egg carton box and painted it with food colouring.  How's that?
       I like to keep all those unwanted stuff....but I got complain of keeping 
       of those "rubbish" around...... grrrr......

                        In a glance, the macarons look like eggs sitting in the egg carton, right?

                               

I am linking this post to the Bake Along event created by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours, lena of Frozen Wings and Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids

An InLinkz Link-up

Salted Caramel Sauce

Lately I have seen few bloggers have been raving about this Salted Caramel Sauce.  Was it good?  I got to try out since I have some left over whipping cream and it is just nice to use it all up.

Salted Caramel Sauce

Ingredients:
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
6 tbsps (90g) salted butter, cut up into 6 pieces
1/2 cup (120ml) heavy cream (I used dairy whipping cream.)

1 tsp salt

Method:

Heat granulated sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula. Sugar will form clumps and eventually melt into a thick brown, amber-coloured liquid as you continue to stir. Be careful not to burn.

Once sugar is completely melted, immediately add the butter. Be careful in this step because the caramel will bubble rapidly when the butter is added.

Stir the butter into the caramel until it is completely melted, about 2-3 minutes.

Very slowly, drizzle in 1/2 cup of heavy cream. Since the heavy cream is colder than the caramel, the mixture will rapidly bubble and/or splatter when added. Allow the mixture to boil for 1 minute. It will rise in the pan as it boils.

Remove from heat and stir in 1 teaspoon of salt. Allow to cool down before using or pour it into a container to store it.  Don't worry if the sauce seems a bit too thin at first, it will thicken as it cools. 

Cover the caramel tightly and store for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator. Warm the caramel up for a few seconds before using in a recipe.

Recipe sourced from Faeez of Bitter Sweet Spicy

                                                                           Yum !!

Leopard Print Orange Cupcakes

I came across someone posting this Leopard Print Cuppies the other day in the Facebook Group members page.  Looking at these pretty leopard print top of the cupcakes captivated me immediately and I just got to try it out too.

I'm sure these Leopard Print Cuppies makes a good choice for children's parties too and to impress your guests.  These cuppies are spongy and light and with some orange zest added, it just taste absolutely yummy!

LEOPARD PRINT ORANGE CUPCAKES

Ingredients 
Meringue 
5 egg whites (medium size)
80g caster sugar
10g corn flour

Yolk batter 
5 yolks
20g caster sugar
60g vegetable oil (canola or sunflower)
50g milk (warm) (You can substitute with orange juice)
1 tsp vanilla extract
90g cake flour

1 orange zest 

Spot batter
1 tsp Chocolate powder
1 tsp Black powder or Charcoal powder

Method

Place cupcake liners into your muffin pan.  Set aside. 

Combine the caster sugar and corn flour together.  Place the egg whites in a bowl and using your electric hand mixer, whisk the egg whites in medium speed till frothy, add in the corn flour sugar mixture gradually continue to beat until stiff peak.  Set aside.

In another bowl, using your hand whisk, lightly beat the egg yolks, then add in the sugar and whisk till combine and thick.  Add in the oil, followed by the warm milk and vanilla extract.  Mix till all well blended.  Sift in the cake flour and mix till all combined.

Gently fold 1／3 of beaten egg white into egg yolk batter, use cut and fold method until well blended. Then pour the batter back to the rest of the egg white and fold until mixture is well blended. 

Scoop out 2 tablespoons batter each for the chocolate and black spots into a small bowl.

(Add in 1 tsp of cocoa powder and 1 tsp black powder to the bowls and mix till combined).  Pour batter into piping bag to draw spots on the cupcakes.

In the main batter, add in the orange zest and mix to combined.  Pour the batter into the cupcake liners just below the liners.

For chocolate colour spot and drop round and long spots onto the cupcakes.  After that, for the black colour spot, just draw on the edges on the chocolate spots.  

(Tips : Please make sure that these two colours batter are slightly thicker than the main white batter). 

Bake the cupcakes using water bath method in 110 celcius for 25 minutes, 140c for 10 minutes and last 5-10 minutes raise the temperature to 160c.  

Remove from oven and let cool.

Recipe sourced from this link (SingaporeHomeCooks)

Please check out this Original Chinese link (BrendaWang) to view her tutorial pictures 

  

Pumpkin Pie

October now ~ Pumpkin month too and seeing lots of pumpkin recipes in the internet recently.  

PUMPKIN PIE

Ingredients

Pie Dough:
250g plain flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
226g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
2 egg yolks
3 tablespoons milk

Filling:
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
110g brown sugar
2/3 cup heavy cream
7 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk
6 1/2 tablespoons evaporated milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Pinch ground clove
Pinch salt
2 eggs
1 egg yolk

Directions

Make the Pie Dough: In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, sugar, and salt and mix to combine. Add the butter and continue mixing until the mixture holds together when you clump it, and there are pecan-sized lumps of butter still visible.

Meanwhile, whisk together the yolks and milk in small bowl.

Add the yolk mixture to the flour mixture and mix until a dough forms. Transfer the dough to a sheet of plastic wrap, wrap well and store in the refrigerator for several hours. (The dough will keep for several days in the fridge and several weeks in the freezer.)

On a lightly floured work surface, roll half of the dough into a 11 to 12-inch circle about 1/8 inch thick. Line the pan with the dough and crimp the edges. Chill the pie shell for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.

Line the pie shell with aluminum foil and fill with dried beans. Bake the shell until golden brown, about 45 minutes. Remove the foil and beans.

Meanwhile, make the Filling: Lower the oven to 160 degrees C. In a medium saucepan, mix together the pumpkin and sugar. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until reduced and thick, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the cream, milks, vanilla, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, salt, eggs, and yolk. Pour the filling into the pie shell and bake until set, about 45 to 55 minutes. 

Cool and serve

Recipe sourced from Food Network

                             Overall , I'm quite pleased with the pumpkin filling as I can smell

                              the aroma of the spices and the pumpkin.

                        I thought I want to put a creepy ugly looking edible mice on my pie for the 
                      halloween feel....unfortunately I haven't got that ingredient to make it.. so....

                        

This post is linking to Little Thumbs Up event (Pumpkin), 

organized by Bake For Happy Kids and My Little Favourite DIY，

 hosted this month by Eileen's Diary .

Sago Ruby With Grated Coconut

Do you like sago desserts?  Oh..... there's another name for sago....tapioca pearl.   I remember there was a time when I was in overseas, I asked the shop assistant for sago, and they don't know what I am talking about.  Lucky there was another customer overheard me and told the shop assistant.... "tapioca pearl".   

Sago Ruby With Grated Coconut

  

Ingredients

(A)

150g Sago (washed and drained)

6 tbsp sugar

1 ½ cups water

2 pcs pandan leaves (knotted together)

Few drops of red food colouring

(B)

½ piece grated young coconut

1/8 tsp salt

Method

Mix the ingredients B together and steam over medium heat for 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.

In a medium saucepan, bring sugar, water and pandan leaves together to a boil until sugar dissolves.  Add in sago and red food colouring, stir constantly until parboiled, and turn off heat.

Pour parboiled sago into a preheated 8” round steaming tray.  Steam over low heat for 15 minutes and set aside to cool.  Using your small spoon, scoop out a spoonful of the sago and roll it all over to coat with the grated coconut.  

 

 

Red Bean & Sesame Seeds Ring Bread

It has been quite awhile now I have not bake any bread or buns.  Probably just lazy to knead the dough and trying not to "slave torture" my mixer too.

I was "spring cleaning" my handphone gallery pictures and came across one picture my sister send to me thru Whatsapps long ago.  This pic was from one cookbook she borrowed from the library;  Dean Brettschneider - Global Baker.  From the look at the picture, the red bean ring bread look so gorgeous and delicious but..... I don't have the recipe!  Aah....ha.....I remember my good buddy friend, Hui has this book...hence I whatsapps her to forward me the recipe!

And here goes, today my Red Bean & Sesame Seeds Ring Bread

Red Bean & Sesame Seeds Ring Bread

Ingredients

Dough

300g bread flour

5g salt

25g sugar

1 tsp active dried yeast (or instant yeast)

1 small egg (about 50g after cracked)

150ml fresh milk

Zest of 1 orange (optional)

1 tbsp fresh coriander, finely chopped (optional)

Sesame seeds, for coating

180g ready made red bean paste

Egg Wash

1 small egg

2 tbsp water

Method

Mix everything together and knead till it is no longer sticky and becomes smooth and elastic.  Cover and let it rest for 45 minutes to 1 hour or doubled in size.

Knock the dough back in the bowl and gently fold back onto itself and cover to rest for another 30 minutes.

Divide the dough into two equal size.  Place one dough on working surface and roll out into a large rectangle to the size approximately 30cm long x 25cm wide.  

Using your palette knife, spread half the red bean paste over each dough.  Then, roll up the dough from the long edge to form a swiss roll shape.  Ensure that the seam is sealed properly.

Lightly brush the egg wash all over the dough surface.   Coat the dough surface all over with the sesame seeds.  Then shape the dough into a ring and pinch both ends together to close up the ring.

Place the ring on your baking pan with grease proof paper, seam side down.  Using your shape knife or scissors, cut through the dough 1cm-1.5cm apart .  Cover with plastic wrap and let it proof another 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 180 Celcius.

Bake the loaves for 12-15 minutes till golden brown.

Recipe extracted from Dean Brettschneider - Global Baker with changes

 This recipe yields two bread rings.

                          If you love red bean paste, you will absolutely love this red bean bread.