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Thursday, June 25, 2009
, 10:48 PM
peanut butter & jelly cupcakes with cream-cheese frosting!
RECIPE (+2 photos)
Serves: 20 cupcakesTime: 30min prep (incl frosting), 20min bake
Ingredients
Butter, 60g
Flour, 1 cup
Vanilla extract, 1tsp
Brown sugar, 1 cup
Peanut butter, 150g
Buttermilk*, 0.4 cup
Baking powder, 1.5tsp
Eggs, 2
Strawberry jam
Frosting
Cream cheese, 200g room temp
Sugar, 1cup
Milk, 2tbsp
Butter, 100g
*substituted with milk + a dash of lemon juice
1. Mix butter, brown sugar and peanut butter till creamy
2. Add eggs, then vanilla extract
3. Add the flour, then buttermilk
4. Spoon into cupcake moulds with the strawberry jam as filling
5. Bake at 180C for about 17-20min
6. Mix together the filling and frost cooled cupcakes
(modified from original recipe here)
before frosting
sideways angle
The original recipe was followed veeeery lazily because Andrew and I were lazy / lacking in amount of ingredients lol. Also, we accidentally added almond extra first instead of vanilla extract. It didn't destroy the taste but I would definitely make it next time without the almon extract, lol. Other than that, it was a much simpler recipe than I thought looking at how complex the original recipe page looked.
It was pretty yummy, even though I felt that the flavours (peanut butter, strawberry, cream-cheese) kinda clash. Too many different flavours. I think if I used frosting in the future I would use peanut butter maybe? Or skip the strawberry jam...but anyway I was reminded of how much I love cream cheese frosting. I just want to make more cream cheese frosting vanilla cupcakes.
VERDICT: 7.5/10
Labels: BAKING
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Wednesday, June 17, 2009
, 4:58 PM
allspice makes this crunchy cookie ever so nice
RECIPE
Serves:Ingredients
All-purpose flour, 3 cups
Baking powder, 1 tsp
Salt, 1 tsp
Cinammon, 1 tsp
All spice, 2 tsp
Nutmeg, 1tsp
Sugar, 1 1/2 cups
Butter, 1 cup
Egg, 1
Vanilla extract, 1 tsp
Chocolate chips, 2 cups
1. Preheat oven to 200C
2. Cream butter and sugar, then mix in egg and vanilla
3. Mix in dry ingredients, then chocolate chips
4. Bake for about 10min or until golden brown
(modified from original recipe here)
Pretty much the same recipe as before, but with a change in the dosage of spices. Namely, doubling of allspice as I felt Famous Amos cookies weren't that sweet...if you remember this recipe was supposed to be the Famous Amos imitation recipe...its still not there yet, but the next time I think I'll reduce the sugar & play with the dosage of spcies again. Oh when I said I doubled the dosage of the allspice, it was actually in relation to the cinammon. I just realised after looking at the recipe I used tsp instead of tbsp as in the original. >.>
Anyway, as Famous Amos cookies, fail. As regular cookies, absolutely delicious. Tash said that tasted Christmassy because of all the spices. I really like spiced baked goods nowadays, I think it adds an extra dimension. (:
VERDICT: 7/10
Labels: BAKING
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Saturday, June 6, 2009
, 10:20 AM
Chocolate spiced with a little cardamon
JUNE 1, 09
RECIPE
Serves: 9x4cm tinIngredients
Butter, 3/8 cup (I prob had in a little more)
Sugar, 3/4 cup
Vanilla extract, 1 tsp
Eggs, 2
Cocoa powder, 1/4 cup
Flour, 3/8 cup
Baking powder, 1/2 tsp
Cardamon, 1-2 tbsp (dont quite remember...)
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F
2. Melt the butter, and mix in all wet ingredients
3. Mix all dry ingredients, and combine with the wet
4. Bake for about 20 min or until pick inserted comes out clean
(modified from original recipe here)
The best thing about this brownie is the cardamon, which adds a whole new dimension of flavour to an otherwise plain ol' chocolate brownie. It also helped that for the first time in a long while (I'm finding this oven isn't really that awesome in making cakes after all -_-) the texture of the brownie was right. Possibly a little more cakey than a typical brownie would be as the proportion of eggs is a little higher than what was required, but at least not wet and dense inside like a lot of my cakes have been turning out... :( I halfed the original recipe (as best as I could) though, so if you want it closer to the texture it ought to be I say stick to the original recipe.
So the tale of the cardamon. I thought a chocolate brownie was too boring and was wondering if there was any spice I could add to make it more interesting. I remembered Jakob's cardamon buns (instead of cinammon buns) & figured I could try some cardamon. I added it pretty liberally but couldn't taste very much. However, once baked the taste became a lot stronger. Sooo yummy.
VERDICT: 8.5/10
Labels: BAKING
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Sunday, May 17, 2009
, 9:20 AM
vanilla-flavoured cookies with a cinammon sugar crunch!
MAY 17, 09
RECIPE
Serves: 20 2.5cm cookiesIngredients
1 3/8 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cups granulated white sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Coating
1/3 cup (66 grams) granulated white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1. Whisk together flour, salt and baking powder
2. Beat eggs and sugar till smooth, then add egg, then vanilla extract
3. Combine the wet and dry mixture and refrigerate till firm enough to roll into balls
4. Make 1inch balls and roll them in the cinammon sugar coating, then flatten and line on the baking tray*
5. Bake for about 9 minutes or till golden brown
*these cookies really spread so make sure to keep maybe 3cm space between cookies!
(modified from original recipe here)
Ooh yummers. So easy to make (basically using just the key baking ingredients) and so delicious too. Crunchy at the sides and soft in the middle, with a slight tang of cinammon (I could do with more cinammon taste though). Its similar to some other vanilla-flavoured cookies I've made before, but what really makes this special is the cinammon coating. I didn't actually follow the recipe for the cinammon coating because I already had some cinammon sugar mixture leftover from my cinammon bun experiment, so I used that instead.
VERDICT: 8/10
Labels: BAKING
@ , 8:50 AM
delightfully spongy pandan cake
MAY 17, 09
RECIPE
Serves: 2 15x8cm pans?Ingredients
7 eggs, separated
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup liquid vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup coconut milk
3 tsp. pandan extract
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp lemon juice
1). Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
2). In a small bowl, combine coconut milk , pandan extract and ovalette (using ovalette is optional). Add the green food coloring to mixture if using. Set aside.
3). With an electric mixer OR by hand, beat the egg yolks, sugar, vegetable oil and vanilla until well combined. Beat in coconut milk/pandan extract mixture.
4). Combine flour, baking powder and salt (If using cake flour).
Sift the self-rising flour (or cake flour, baking powder and salt mixture, if using) three times into a large bowl. Make a well in the center of sifted dry ingredients, and whisk egg mixture into the flour mixture.
5). With an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and beat until firm peaks form. Fold the beaten egg whites into the flour/egg yolk mixture in two batches using a balloon whisk or rubber spatula.
6). Gently pour the batter into cupcake moulds and bake for about 9 minutes or until the cake feels spongy to the touch.
(modified from original recipe here)
the 7 egg yolks for the recipe!
So this one was definitely an improvement from the last! I think the taste is almost down pat...I have yet to let the Singaporeans try this though. The texture was also pretty good for the cupcakes (top pic). However, for the actual cake (2nd pic, cut into bite-sized pieces) which I baked for about 30min at 180C the top got badly burnt while the insides were still kinda soft and mushy...nowhere near as bad as the chocobanana cake though.
Main changes to the original recipe would be reducing the egg by 1, as I found it too eggy the last time. The next time I try this recipe I MIGHT go for 6 eggs to see if that improves the taste (I'm worried the egg balance in the recipe might be thrown off though). Also, as I didnt have cream of tartar I subsituted it for lemon juice as suggested here.
Now the main problem I have to worry about is to get the cake more spongy and less wet...also how to stop the cake from caving in hideously after removal from the oven (seriously, it caves right in!)
VERDICT: 7/10
Labels: BAKING
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Saturday, April 25, 2009
, 12:57 AM
A deliciousness only to be enjoyed in South-east Asia
JULY 24, 09
RECIPE
Serves: 35 cupcakesIngredients
8 eggs, separated
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup liquid vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup coconut milk
3 tsp. pandan extract
1/4 tsp. green food coloring (use if you don't have pandan paste) optional
1 cup self-rising flour OR 1 cup cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder (add ONLY if using cake flour)
1/2 tsp. salt (add ONLY if using cake flour)
1). Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
2). In a small bowl, combine coconut milk , pandan extract and ovalette (using ovalette is optional). Add the green food coloring to mixture if using. Set aside.
3). With an electric mixer OR by hand, beat the egg yolks, sugar, vegetable oil and vanilla until well combined. Beat in coconut milk/pandan extract mixture.
4). Combine flour, baking powder and salt (If using cake flour).
Sift the self-rising flour (or cake flour, baking powder and salt mixture, if using) three times into a large bowl. Make a well in the center of sifted dry ingredients, and whisk egg mixture into the flour mixture.
5). With an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and beat until firm peaks form. Fold the beaten egg whites into the flour/egg yolk mixture in two batches using a balloon whisk or rubber spatula.
6). Gently pour the batter into cupcake moulds and bake for about 6-7 minutes or until the cake feels spongy to the touch.
(modified from original recipe here)
Pandan basically refers to the extract of the pandan leaf, which comes from the screwpine tree and is only found in several parts of the world, most significantly in South-east Asia, which is why this delicacy is not really known outside of it (to my knowledge). More details can be found at the website where the original recipe is from.
So when I used the original recipe, I found that the egg taste was wayyy too strong and the pandan taste almost non-existent, not to mention it wasnt sweet enough...so I added 1/4 cup sugar and 2 more tsp of pandan...the final product was better, but its still not quite like what I'm used to back in Singapore. The cakes also tasted more pandan-y and less eggy when cooled. But I did find it strange how I had to use so much more pandan extract than stated in the recipe though! Is the pandan extract I have really so diluted!?
Also, the tops of most of the pandan cupcakes (instead of making pandan cakes like is most commonly found in Singapore, I made cupcakes) caved in after being removed from the oven, which is something I need to work on finding the cause for...maybe it's because I skipped the cream of tartar?
As for the texture...the first batch had better texture I believe...it was more spongy. The next few batches were kinda moist...I'm not sure if this has to do with the mixture having to stand for a while while the first batch baked. Maybe I should have tried baking it for a longer period of time...but the tops were already brown and I didnt want it to fry.
Whatever it is, this is a recipe for me to Work On. I'm interested in tweaking stuff the next time I try it to make it perfect. I think I've almost got the taste down! Maybe I'll try to remove an egg, as well as slightly less sugar than the extra I added in...
VERDICT: 5/10
Labels: BAKING
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Tuesday, April 21, 2009
, 10:00 PM
Chocolate sponge cake with a cinammon bite
APRIL 17TH, 09
RECIPE
Serves: 12x5cm poundcake trayIngredients
3 eggs, separated
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 cup self-raising flour, sifted
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1.5 tsp cinammon
(modified from the amazing Never Fail Sponge Cake recipe I snitched from somewhere on webspace 4years ago, which was the first successful cake I made in my life...)
1. Preheat oven to 180C. Place egg whites in a clean, dry bowl. Beat until stiff peaks are form. Gradually add sugar and beat until thick and glossy.
2. Add egg yolks and beat well. Gently fold in flour, cocoa powder and cinammon powder.
3. Bake for about 10-15min or until cake springs back when touched.
I pretty much knew this cake wouldn't fail. It's called the never-fail sponge cake for a reason, and the only modifications I made were adding the cocoa powder and cinammon so as not to end up with a plain ol' sponge cake. The taste was not too bad but nothing to scream for. It needed something to match with to make it nicer, like cream, which I didn't have enough time to buy. I used strawberry jam instead as a glaze but I personally thought that was too sweet...Also, it wasn't really very spongy. I gotta work on that problem...
Tash the birthday girl liked it though. I'm glad (:
VERDICT: 6.5/10
Labels: BAKING
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Saturday, February 14, 2009
, 12:47 PM
Delicious Chinese-style delicacy of pie tarts with egg custard filling
RECIPE
Serves: 50Ingredients
TART
1 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
6 cups all-purpose flour
2 cup butter
2 egg, beaten
2 dash vanilla extract
FILLING
2/3 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cups water
9 eggs, beaten
1 dash vanilla extract
1 cup milk
(Preheat oven to 200C)
1. Mix sugar and flour, then mix in butter with a fork till it's in small crumbs
2. Stir in egg and vanilla till mixture becomes a dough (add flour if too wet, butter if too dry)
3. Shape dough in 1.5inch balls and press them into the tart moulds
4. Heat the water and sugar in a medium sauce pan until the sugar is fully dissolved, then whisk the eggs in and add vanilla and milk
5. Pour the egg custard filling into the tart moulds and bake for about 15-20min or until the crust is lightly brown
(modified from original recipe here)
Just like Pam said, egg tarts are actually surprisingly easy to make! The only problem is that it's extremely time consuming having to shape the pie tarts into the foil.
I took some tips from people who reviewed the original recipe and lessened the amount of sugar in the pie crust, and it turned out absolutely perfect! Exactly like those from the Chinese bakeries. I had to make two batches of pie dough though (already adjusted on my recipe), as the amount for the pie dough in the original recipe is no where near enough. Make sure the butter is sufficiently softened (not melted!) before mixing it in, or you'll have a problem achieving a good texture (not too wet and greasy or hard) for moulding.
I think it's also a good idea to keep watch on the oven for the first batch put in, because overbaking causes the egg custard to wrinkle up and develop burnt patches which do not look particularly delicious. Also, use aluminium foil moulds or anything that is stiff enough to retain its shape in the oven. For the first few batches I used normal cupcake cups (without a muffin pan too!) and had problems with egg custard spilling all over the place.
These egg tarts were a huge hit with most people, for being a delicacy that pretty much none of my friends here (from Japan to America to Europe) had heard of or even tried before. Hmm, I'm sensing a hole in the market! ^o^
VERDICT: 8/10
Labels: BAKING
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Wednesday, December 31, 2008
, 7:13 PM
Crunchy and choc-chippy and deliciously cinamonny/clovey
DEC 3, 08
RECIPE
Serves: 30-40 cookies?Ingredients
All-purpose flour, 2 1/2 cups
Baking powder, 1 tsp
Salt, 1 tsp
Cinammon, 1 tbsp
All spice, 1/2 tbsp
Sugar, 1 1/2 cups
Butter, 1 cup
Egg, 1
Vanilla extract, 1 tsp
Chocolate chips, 2 cups
1. Preheat oven to 200C
2. Cream butter and sugar, then mix in egg and vanilla
3. Mix in dry ingredients, then chocolate chips
4. Bake for about 10min or until golden brown
(modified from original recipe here with input from Claire!)
they look so cute all rolled in balls!
pity they don't keep this shape :(
They may be crunchy and choc-chippy and deliciously cinamonny/clovey, but they're still failed Famous Amos cookies (again!). I think I ought to give up trying to imitate those delicious cookies...
As a random note, I think at least a quarter to half a cup more flour is needed on top of my already modified recipe for the cookie to keep its shape, because even though I balled them all nicely they flattened all entirely in the oven. ;_;
VERDICT: 7/10
(notice my verdict always seems to hover around the same grade ha)
Labels: BAKING
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Monday, December 29, 2008
, 8:12 PM
Salty scones-like shortbread with sweet strawberries and creammmm
DEC 2, 08
RECIPE
Serves: 12 piecesIngredients
All-purpose flour, 2 cups
Sugar, 2tsp
Baking powder, 4tsp
Salt, 1/2 tsp
Butter, 1/4 cup (cool but not hard)
Milk, 3/4 cup (full fat pref)
Topping:
Strawberries, as many as you wish
Sugar, 2 tbsp
Whipped cream
(Preheat oven to 400F/200C)
1. Mix strawberries with sugar and crush gently. Set aside
2. Add flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a bowl.
3. Cut cool butter into the bowl and work into ingredients till it disappeared
4. Add milk and mix with fork till a rough ball of dough forms. Do not overwork dough.
5. Turn onto floured surface and roll till 3/4 inch thick
6. Cut into 3 by 1 inch rectangles or whatever size you wish really
7. Bake for 10-12min or until tops are golden
8. Split cakes while warm, add strawberries and whipped cream, and serve!
(modified from original recipe in the Toronto Star)
another shot where you can see the shortbread pieces better
This was really easy to make, and quite different from what I expected! Although I kinda got the idea I had the wrong impression of what kind of shortbread this was after realising it asked for only 2tsp of sugar, I was still surprised that this tasted very much like what I consider scones. It actually tasted really good on its own, but I also enjoyed the mixture of the salty shortbread and sweet strawberries and cream. Everyone who tried it seemed to enjoy it too.
The Toronto Star recipe actually came with instructions for making the cream sauce from cream, milk, sugar and vanilla, but I was lazy so I spent 350yen on a bottle of whipped cream I finished in one go. Oh wells, I saved tons of time and the possible trouble of failing in the cream sauce.
I wouldn't make this again for myself because I prefer my sweets sweet, but if someone liked it I would definitely make it again and save some for myself. ^_^
VERDICT: 6/10
Labels: BAKING
@ , 7:54 PM
NOV 27, 08
These were the most failed cakes I have ever made in my life, along with the castella. After this experience, I finally realised that it was impossible to make normal cakes with the oven toaster here and I should stop bothering to even try. As I mentioned before, the cakes do not rise and remain strangely wet/dense/seemingly uncooked.
The chocolate cake was the grossest thing I'd ever seen when first removed from the oven. After the overbaked crust fell right off the inside was revealed to be an extremely lumpy thing reminiscent of the failed castella, but even worse because for some reason it was incredibly, incredibly oily. I should have taken a picture of it for remembrance's sake ha. At least the swiss roll just looked typically dense (you can see so even in the picture right), but it definitely was not helped by the over-runny cream which refused to cream up (well this one is not the oven's fault at least).
The chocolate cake was saved by coating it in lots of melted chocolate which kinda masked the grotesque-ness of the cake and made it seem like eating some kind of mud cake with the cake part purposedly wet. Andrew (it was his birthday present) seemed to like it, and I must admit it wasn't too obviously a failure. However, no matter how much I dolled up the swiss roll it was a doomed failure (let me just add the cream itself tasted good though). Byeong-uk couldn't finish bear to finish it and had to throw it out. >.> In fact after this horrible baking experience when I was trying to teach him how to bake he lost faith in my baking abilities for quite some time...
Labels: BAKING
@ , 6:36 PM
Showing off the new cookie cutters I bought from Yokohama. ♥ Yokohama! Land of cheap shopping and pretty harbour sights!
Labels: BAKING
@ , 5:54 PM
Sweet with a chewy crunch!
DEC 17, 08
RECIPE
Serves: 40 cookiesIngredients
All-purpose flour, 2 3/4 cups
Baking powder, 1 tsp
Butter, 1 cup softened
White sugar, 1 1/2 cups
Egg, 1
Vanilla extract, 1 tsp
(modified from original recipe here)
1. Preheat oven to 375F/190C
2. Cream the butter and sugar till smooth
3. Beat in egg and vanilla, then the dry ingredients
4. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden-brown
Easy, delicious recipe. Very good if you're an 甘党 (have a sweet tooth) like me. My only gripe with this recipe is that it's not really the recipe for using cookie cutters. The Christmas tree and gingerbread man cutter did not turn out nice at all. I was trying to make Christmas sugar cookies, which are all about fancy shapes and decorations! The next time I make a sugar cookie I'm going to look for one that's specifically meant for shaping.
VERDICT: 7
Labels: BAKING
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Monday, December 15, 2008
, 9:06 PM
The traditional Christmas crunchy gingerbread cookie!
DEC 13, 08
RECIPE
Serves: 50Ingredients
Flour, 3 1/4 cup
Baking powder, 3/4 tsp
Allspice, 1/2 tsp
Ginger, 1 tsp
Cinammon, 1/2 tsp
Salt, 1/2 tsp
Butter, 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks, est 150g)
Brown sugar, 1/2 cup
Egg, 1
Honey/kuromitsu*, 1/2 cup
*brown sugar syrup
1. Mix all dry ingredients together
2. Cream butter till soft, then beat with sugar till fluffy
3. Add egg and honey and beat till well-blended
4. Work in dry ingredients
5. Refrigerate for an hour, then allow to stand at room temperate for 5-10 minutes
6. Mould and bake in oven at 200C for about 10-12min or nicely brown
(modified from original recipe here)
I love the taste of gingerbread cookies, especially straight out of the oven. They have a crunchy outside but are beautifully soft inside, and I looove the taste of the ginger and other spices. I think spicy cookies are severely underrated. Remember my spicy oatmeal cookies?
So anyway, being in Japan where it's hard to find anything not common to the Japanese palate, let alone read and translate what I'm buying, I made many a substitution to the original recipe. First off, I have no idea what kind of sugar I'm using because I can't find it in my Japanese-English dictionary, but I know it's neither brown nor white sugar. It's light brown in colour though...Also, not having molasses I've substituted it with kuromitsu one time and honey another. I didn't find any major difference in taste either time. Lastly, I used allspice instead of the individual spices because a good substitute for allspice is made by combining most of those spices anyway and I had allspice in my cabinet. And of course, there's no temperature setting for 180C so I had to put mine at 200C. I'd recommend you keep to Elise's setting though if you have a normal oven.
I've no idea why Elise's gingerbread cookies are so dark brown though. Even when I used this recipe back in Singapore I could never get it more than golden brown. But in an attempt to make my cookies simulate hers I left several batches in the oven for too long. Gingerbread cookies don't get obviously burnt (i.e. charcoal black) like most other cookies but just turn a dark shade of brown, but you can still taste it. Also, for some reason these cookies seem to rise quite a tad too much, some even splitting at the top. Can I blame the toaster oven? I already reduced the baking powder for this secound round...
Everyone I offered cookies too said they were good. (though honestly, who does say otherwise, unless it really sucks horrifically, like the last 2 cakes I made which convinced me never to make a cake again in the Hoshien ovens). Interestingly enough, many people here I've offered the gingerbread cookies too (Japanese, Chinese, Korean) are only tasting it for the first time. Some don't even know what gingerbread cookies are. They seem to like it though.
VERDICT: 7/10
Labels: BAKING
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Saturday, November 1, 2008
, 2:00 AM
Simple, tasty and effective Halloween cookie!
OCT 31, 08
RECIPE
Serves: 40 cookiesIngredients
Butter, 1 cup (225g) softened
Egg, 1
Vanilla extract, 1.5tsp
Sugar, 1 cup
Flour, 2 2/3 cup
Baking powder, 1 tsp
Salt, 1/2 tsp
Blanched almonds
Red icing / strawberry jam
Preheat oven to 160C / 325F
1. Mix sugar, butter, vanilla extract and egg
2. Mix in flour, baking powder, salt
3. Chill for 1/2 hr
4. Mould into finger shape, squeeze edges to create knuckle, use a knife/blanched almond to create the indentations of a finger, dip a blanched almond in red icing/jam and press it into the edge of the 'finger'
5. Bake for 12-15min until slightly brown
(modified from original recipe here)
does it not look much more witch finger-y before baking?
Well it would be effective if the dough had actually kept its shape in the oven. As you can see, my fingers look less like witch fingers and more like obese, squashed fingers with really bad nails lol. Do check out the original website to see an example of a beautiful turn-out. I think my dough was too liquid, possibly because I melted the butter (by accident - stupid microwave settings) instead of softening it & used an egg instead of egg replacer. Possibly after the first batch failed I should have tried to freeze the dough longer / use more flour / try to save the cookies' aesthetically but I was too lazy.
Two things to take note of. Using red icing would probably be a better choice than strawberry jam because it keeps its colour in the oven unlike the jam which just turns a dark brown-black, but I personally prefer the taste of jam (less sweet) so I'm just gonna pretend this is dried blood. :P Also, be careful not to leave the fingers in for too long because besides getting burnt, they tend to crack, which makes them look even uglier (by that I mean less like a finger)
They taste amazing though. Kinda similar to the previous entries' vanilla butter cookies but sweeter. I'll keep working on their aesthetic accuracy for next year's halloween. :D
VERDICT: 7/10
Labels: BAKING
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Tuesday, October 28, 2008
, 1:51 PM
It's hard to get sick of this mild and crumbly cookie
OCT 28, 2008
RECIPE
Serves: 50 1.5cm cookiesIngredients
Flour, 2 3/4 cups
Sugar, 1 cup
Baking powder, 1/2 tsp
Salt, 1/2 tsp
Butter, 1 cup (225g)
Egg, 1 beaten
Vanilla extract, 1.5-2 tsp
*Honey, 2 tbsp
*I don't find honey changes the taste very much, but at least for this experiment it made the texture of my cookies smoother
1. Preheat oven to 160C/325F
2. Mix the dry ingredients together
3. Cut in butter till the mixture resembles cornflour
4. Add the wet ingredients and combine
5. Shape into balls and flatten the tops on the baking tray
6. Bake for 15min or till golden brown
(modified from original recipe here)
Easy to make and easy on the stomach. I initially found them a little tasteless (and some people did say more sugar wouldn't hurt) but most people liked it and I really do like the slightly salty and buttery taste, as well as the crumbly texture. These are actually supposed to be like those Chinese almond cookies you find in Chinese bakeries but I didn't have almond extract so I tried how it would taste like with vanilla extract. The result is something somewhat reminiscent of Danish butter cookies (those are way yummier though) or shortbread.
My main problem was with the texture. On the first night I made it the batch with honey in it had a much smoother, nicer texture whereas the batch without was more ridged and cracked more easily. However, when I froze both batches overnight and continued baking the next day, the first few batches had very ridged textures as the cookie dough was still hard from the fridge and so kept its shape well. However, after I warmed the dough on top of the oven in the hope of achieving a more liquid texture I ended up with a rather gross looking lumpy-ish looking mixture where the butter/oil refused to mix back with the rest of the ingredients. It's hard to describe...the texture of these cookies were slightly smoother but still very cracked.
The picture you see is of the first few cookies from the 2nd-day batch.
VERDICT: 7.5/10
Labels: BAKING
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Saturday, October 25, 2008
, 1:20 AM
Castella should not taste like custard mochi
(created using this recipe)
Talk about utter fail. This was seriously the weirdest thing I have baked in my life. It tasted like some strange super eggy custardy mochi thingy. Seojon said it tasted like satsaimo (sweet potato). And I thought baking this would be as easy as pound cake...after re-reading the instructions I wonder if maybe I was supposed to whisk the eggs longer so that they became lighter and fluffier. Well whatever it is I'm not going to use this recipe next time. I feel safer with JustHungry or Recipezaar.
I was going to blame the shitty toaster 'oven' thing they have at my dorm, but the cookies turned out okay (thanks to Seo, Caroline & Andrew) so. Despite the fact that there are only like 5 temperature settings and the oven is so large you can make like 4 tiny cookies at a time. Will blog about the cookies tomorrow when I finish making them - it's going to be a loooong time consuming process, this is.
VERDICT: 2/10
Labels: BAKING
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Wednesday, September 10, 2008
, 7:54 PM
Chocolate and peanut butter marbled brownie for a light but sweet snack
JULY 11TH, 08
RECIPE(+2photos)
Serves: 1 8-9" round panIngredients
BROWNIES
1/3 cup butter
2 squares unsweetened chocolate
2/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
TOPPING
1/3 cup peanut butter
2 tablespoons butter, softened
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1 egg
*preheat to 350F/175C
1. Melt butter and chocolate together. Set aside to cool.
2. In a small bowl mix flour, baking powder and salt together.
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs and sugar together until light. Add the vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture, and the cooled chocolate mixture.
4. Pour into a greased 8 inch square pan.
5. Beat all topping ingredients together until smooth.
6. Drop spoonfuls of peanut butter mixture over the brownie layer. Run a knife through the cake to marble.
7. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool, and cut in squares.
(modified from original recipe here)
the same shot as above but in different lighting
fresh from the pan!
This was a little on the dry side (and the peanut butter taste wasn’t as strong as the peanut butter brownie. I made it such a long time ago I don’t quite remember anymore but I believe it was dry because I left it in the oven for too long and forgot about it. Unlike the peanut butter brownie, however, it’s not as rich or sweet and as such I couldn’t stop myself from constantly popping these brownie bites as snacks.
VERDICT: 7/10
Labels: BAKING
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Tuesday, September 2, 2008
, 1:54 AM
Banana goodness with a crunch of cinammon!
AUGUST 21, 08
RECIPE
Serves: at least 18Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 bananas, mashed
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup melted butter
Crumb topping
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter
*substituted melted sugar for vege oil & brown sugar for white
(modified from original recipe here)
1. Preheat oven to 375F/195C
2. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside
3. Beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter
4. Stir dry ingredients into the banana mixture and spoon into muffin-cup liners
5. Mix together the 'topping' ingredients till the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal then sprinkle liberally over muffins.
6. Bake for about 20min or until toothpick inserted comes out clean
Oooh, these were so very delicious. Though I actually don't think it tastes very different from the banana bread I made a few days prior, besides being slightly sweeter. It has the same moist texture and banana goodness, but the addition of cinnamon and brown sugar crumbs on the top does add a lovely zing and crispness to the overall yummy-ness.
What else is there to say? Just follow this recipe and see for yourself how wonderful this muffin is. Oh; and it doesn't matter if you leave your bananas so long the whole peel has turned black and you actually have to cut off some brown-black flesh when you peel the banana; the rest of the banana is rich with (unsaturated!) sugar and mushiness perfect for banana-baked goodies.
I'm glad to add that the crumb topping turned out better this time then my last attempt for green tea muffins, when it either dissolved entirely into the muffin or didn't dissolve at all and simply fell off when I moved the muffin. I still had some of the latter non-dissolving problems, but that's always better than dissolving right? You can always brush off the excess.
VERDICT: 8.5/10
Labels: BAKING
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Monday, September 1, 2008
, 10:41 AM
Versatile and relatively easy to make Chinese buns
AUGUST 12, 08
clockwise from bottom: sausage bun, sausage bun + cheese, adzuki steamed x2, adzuki baked
inside texture of the meat bun; pretty authentic-looking eh?
(modified from original recipe here)
I made this ages ago and no longer remember exactly what modifications to the original recipe (which definitely needs adjustment) I made, so I'll post my recipe up the next time I try this again. Which I'm sure I will. I love Chinese buns!
This recipe was initially for a steamed bun with adzuki filling, but as usual I decided there was no point in baking if you couldn't experiment as much as possible with as little ingredients as you can use. So I both steamed and baked the bun, as well as filling it with adzuki, pork (marinated in a sauce I found off allrecipes overnight), sausage as well as without filling.
So. I should do more research before I make something for the first time. Especially something quite out of the normal as bread making, since the last time I handled yeast was half my lifetime ago at least (and for a science project, at that). I followed the recipe to the T and did not wonder that the dough was impossibly sticky and messy. Yes, there are some doughs which should turn out like that (like sourdough, as my research found later). However, these Chinese buns are supposed to have a nice, doughy ball.
After steaming (in cupcake liners on a baking tin on a wire rack submerged in water in a wok; you really don't need a steam plate) the bun's texture was actually okay and it tasted good with the adzuki, though horrible on its own because it was sour and bland.
So I followed the (very helpful) suggestions made by a commenter on the original recipe and added more flour, sugar and baking soda to neutralise the sour taste, and boy was it alooot better. Well, at least I could knead the dough. I still couldn't get rid of the sour taste so the recipe failed as mantou but with filling inside the moist fluffy texture of the dough was a great vehicle for whatever filling was inside.
The steamed bun with pork filling tastes similar to the pork buns I've eaten before, but I really don't like garlic in my food. Maybe I don't mince it enough or put in too much, but argh the taste is always so strong and yuck.
Baking the buns was a semi-success. I have a feeling this bun recipe isn't quite made for baked Chinese buns as somehow the texture wasn't quite right – maybe if I had left it in the oven longer so the outside got crispier it would taste more like those from the bakeries? It just tasted like lightly toasted, very bready bread (with filling).
For one of the sausage buns I sprinkled sugar and parmesan cheese over the top in a half-hearted attempt to emulate the cheese buns at Chinese bakeries. Obviously it failed. Most of the cheese and sugar didn't melt into the bun and simply fell off the bun once I took it out of the oven. I liked the sausage bun though.
Unfortunately, whatever combination I liked I felt was more due to the merit of the filling than the bread. Ah wells.
VERDICT: 7/10
Labels: BAKING
@ , 1:59 AM
Great banana taste in a wonderfully chewy yet soft cake-bread
AUGUST 15, 08
RECIPE (+1photo)
Serves: 1 loaf pan!Ingredients
3 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted butter
1/2-3/4 cup sugar*
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
*I actually don't remember how much sugar I used...
Preheat oven to 350F/175C
1. Mash bananas
2. Mix butter into bananas
3. Mix in the sugar, egg and vanilla
4. Mix in the dry ingredients
5. Pour mixture into a loaf pan and bake for about 1hr (or depending on texture you're seeking)
(modified from original recipe here)
Fresh out of the oven!
Delicious! I'm a little hazy on the distinction between banana bread and banana cake, but I think banana bread is supposed to be a little more tough and chewy than what I produced (probably due to the substitution of brown sugar for white; which I've been doing for most recipes now that I've only maybe 3 cups of white sugar left in my cupboard and 4 bags of brown sugar). It doesn't bug me much though, because I really love the moistness and slightly chewy texture of the banana bread.
I don't remember how much sugar I used but it was definitely less than the amount stated in the recipe. In fact, I made a testcupcake without any sugar whatsoever (hoping to be healthy with baking? er...why do i bother?) but well, though the texture is great and it's not bad, I have to say I do like my bakedgoods sweet. However, as I tried to add as little sugar as possible, one of my friends did comment that it wasn't as sweet as it could have been.
Putting the banana bread in the oven for longer might reduce the moistness of the banana bread, but I had already put it in for about an hour plus and I didn't want to overbake the outside.
Unfortunately, I wouldn't make banana bread much as I don't usually eat bananas and buying bananas a week in advance (to allow the bananas to ripen to sugary mushiness!)of my anticipated baking is too much forethought for me to handle.
VERDICT: 8.5/10
Labels: BAKING
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Sunday, August 31, 2008
, 11:37 AM
Chocolate chips and the faint taste of butterscotch
AUGUST 22, 08
RECIPE (+1photo)
Serves: (at least 45, but I forgot the exact number)Ingredients
3/4 cup butterscotch chips
5 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 cup honey
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1. Melt butterscotch, butter, sugar and honey in pan
2. Cool, then beat in egg and vanilla
3. Stir the dry ingredients into the mixture
4. Mould the cookies as you wish and bake in preheated oven at 350F/175C for 8-10 minutes
* I just rolled them into balls and pressed them flat onto the baking parchment paper
(modified from original recipe here)
Now that I'm back in Singapore, I've lost my appetite. Or more accurately, I've become like how I was before I left Singapore - a lover of junk food and an otherwise picky eater when it comes to proper meals. Strange how I touch down and immediately it's like the past year never happened. Old habits old faults all come flooding back to my fingertips. I thought I'd matured but I guess I haven't really.
So I haven't stepped into the kitchen for more than 2min in Singapore, partially because I don't know what I have in this kitchen, and partially because I know we don't have very much and I don't want to buy spices and sauces when I'm only going to be here for few weeks. So I'll just just finish up with posting recipes of some of the last few stuff (especially bakedgoods) I made in TO and then we'll see how it goes in Japan. I hope I regain my food fever. :(
From my butterscotch cookies experiment, I've concluded that I'm sticking to butterscotch chips instead of melting them into the actual batter. I prefer the sudden sweet shock of sinking into a butterscotch morsel than a whole cookie tasting blandly of butterscotch (of course, I did put in ¼ cup less butterscotch than I should, as I ran out of butterscotch chips). I also don't particularly like the taste of honey in cookies. Honey should be on waffles or mixed with water for a drink.
The dough is putty-like and would be perfect for cookie cutters. As you can see, the appearance turns out quite lovely, although biting into it reminds of crispy cookies that have gone soft (so, like a soft cookie but not quite moist enough to be a soft cookie) which I do not much like.
Vin (fellow baking partner!) and I added chocolate chips (well, we actually just diced semi-sweet baking choc) as it seemed too plain/bland on its own, but this recipe is still not going to be anywhere near my favs. People did say they were good, but you know, when you give someone something as a gift, they can't really be expected to tell you to your face it sucked.
VERDICT: 7/10
Labels: BAKING
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Wednesday, August 27, 2008
, 6:52 AM
Coarse cornmeal muffins with a sweet filling of jam
AUGUST 23RD, 08
RECIPE
Serves: 15Ingredients
Cornmeal, 1 cup
Flour, 1 cup
Brown sugar, ½ cup
Baking powder, 2 tsp
Salt, ½ tsp
Canola oil, ¼ cup
Milk, 1 cup
Egg, 1 beaten
Optional:
Jam, choc chips, or whatever you please
*I used blueberry & strawberry jam
1. Preheat oven to 400F/200F
2. Mix cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt
3. Add egg, oil and milk and stir gently till incorporated
4. Bake for 15-20min or until toothpick inserted comes out clean
(modified from original recipe here)
Swapped brown sugar for (white) sugar and melted butter for canola oil as did not have both. Found the amount of sugar was too little for my taste doubled the amount. Still, if it had just been a plain muffin without the strawberry and blueberry jam I filled their centres with, it would have been too bland for me.
The texture was also rather coarse, which my dad did not like. I personally was not bothered by the texture, which reminded me a little of scones and made me feel like I was eatin healthier!
One thing that interests me is why the jams (particularly blueberry) always burst the surface/sides of the muffin in contrast to the adzuki filling (which I realised belatedly would have been great for the muffins!) which I've put in muffins/buns before. I guess it could be because the adzuki filling is more paste-like whereas the jams are quite watery and thus run easily.
Although looks-wise these muffins turned out beautifully, rising high and with bursting-with-yummy cracks (different from the I-messed-up-the-recipe cracks) splitting the tops of some of them, I personally would not make them again (though that wouldn't stop me from eating them) because they're not sweet enaough for me. I might try cornmeal muffins with honey in the future; I'm interested to see if the honey sweetness will positively affect the muffin.
VERDICT: 7/10
Labels: BAKING
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Tuesday, August 12, 2008
, 11:48 PM
Red-tinted chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting.
RECIPE
Serves: 1 9" round cake; you do the mathTime taken: 1hr prep, 40min baking, 3hrs decorating (conservative estimate too!)
*Not posting my version of the recipe because seriously, look at the cake in the original baker's website and look at mine. Whose recipe do you want to follow!?
(modified from original recipe here)
Oops, I forgot to take a picture of the inside and I'm too lazy to dig up the leftovers from the fridge now, but it was basically a two layer cake divided by cream-cheese frosting that was more burgundy-brown than red. This gives you an idea of what it should look like. Keyword: should.
So, who's heard of red velvet cake? Who's eaten it before? I haven't, and believe me, this is the last time I make something I've never even tried before. If you've been keeping up with my past few entries, you'll have realised by now that this is the cake I almost screwed up by adding in an extra cup of sugar by accident because I thought I must have under-added a cup since the test cupcake wasn't 'sweet enough'. That resulted in a very flat cupcake with a dolefully wet/pockmarked looking surface. I managed to remedy this (somewhat) by adding more flour and baking powder but the cake ballooned in the oven, though it flattened entirely after cooling. Also, I suspect the incorrect proportions caused the cake to bake unevenly, being brown and crumbly near the edges but dark red and soggy in the centre (even right below the crust - why!?).
The second screw-up was the cream-cheese frosting. I don't know what possessed me to use the largest granulated sugar stock I've seen instead of fine sugar when I had it in the cupboard, but you can guess it didn't dissolve so you could crunch into the sugar when you ate the frosting. Eww. I also found the frosting a little too sweet for my taste...Finally, I thought the cake had a strange aftertaste I didn't quite like - acidic, maybe? Possibly because I substituted milk + vinegar for buttermilk? (also melted butter for vege oil; but that couldn't have caused the taste) No one else picked it up though...
On to the frosting. I don't know why I always cause myself such hell, seriously. I spent the whole afternoon on the frosting instead of studying for ECO206. I always underestimate the length of time to decorate my baked goods. And the Sg flag has TWO colours, wtf. YT said it looked like glutinous rice ;_; but that was because of all the water the external surface got subjected to as I dipped the frosting knife in warm water constantly because a) the frosting didn't stick to the knife b) I realised the water helped smooth the surface of the frosting. As you can tell by YT's comment (and I did realise this too, a little belatedly), b) was not really a good thing. Maybe one day when I become more expert at frosting I'll post an entry on frosting tips/process.
(OK just to give a different perspective, everyone who tried the cake said it was good, BUT they probably couldn't say it was bad/not that good after all the effort I went through)
And the only reason I made this cake was because I thought it would be quick and easy, not to mention symbolic for National Day because of the red colour...
(I think I'll try making another red velvet cake after I've actually tried one from a store so I know what it should taste like)
VERDICT: 6.5/10
Labels: BAKING
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Tuesday, August 5, 2008
, 2:29 PM
These vanilla cupcakes with cream-cheese frosting are perfect if you're looking for something sweet without the heaviness of chocolate
AUGUST 4, 08
RECIPE (+5photos)
Serves: 25 medium-sized cupcakesIngredients
CUPCAKE
Butter, 2 sticks (room temp)
Sugar, 1 1/3 cup
Eggs, 3 large
Sour cream, 1/2 cup (room temp)
Flour, 1 1/2 cup
Cornstarch, 1/4 cup (or tapioca starch)
Salt, 3/4 tsp
Baking soda, 1 tsp
ICING
Cream cheese, 1 cup (room temp)
Unsalted butter, 1 1/2 sticks (room temp)
Sugar, 3/4 cup
Vanilla extract, 2/3 tsp
1. Preeat the oven to 350F.
2. Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in the eggs
4. Add the sour cream and vanilla.
5. Sift together the flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking soda in a bowl.
6. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture until just combined.
7. Fill the cupcake liners to the 2/3-level with batter, and bake for 30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean and the edges are slightly golden-brown. (be careful not to let them overbake)
8. For the icing, mix the butter, cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until smooth.
9. Spread generously over cooled cupcakes
(modified from original recipe here)
these may be plain, but they are also plain good! plain vanilla ftw!
the red&green collection centered around a large turquoise marble
close up of the turquoise marble collection.
the brown chips are butterscotch.
the inside.
for athena. i really enjoyed this last weekend in the kitchen (& out) with you! (:
Nowadays I'm not so much into chocolatey stuff (don't get me wrong, I still love my chocs) because it's too rich. So now I go for milder sweets, and this cupcake just hits the right spot for me. I love it both plain and with the cream cheese frosting (not the frosting on its own though, unlike the chocolate ganache for Lebowitz's devil's food cake which is bloody good to lick off your finers, this frosting is just too sweet).
For me, when I left the cupcakes in for exactly thirty minutes, when the edges were slightly golden-brown but the top still quite white, I got the perfect texture of crisp on the outside and beautifully moist on the inside (especially the centre). I think upping the tapioca starch quotient (mainly because it's easier to tell people to add 1/4 tapioca than 1/6) might have helped with that. I'm not sure exactly what use the sour cream has in this recipe, but if I can in the future I'd like to try it without the sour cream to see if it has any adverse effects, especially because I usually don't house sour cream in my kitchen. (I'm not one for dips or sauces)
As for appearances, this is undoubtedly my most gorgeous creation yet. Having the right piping equipment really does wonders. As you can see from the picture, there is no over-arching design as I was trying to experiment as much as possible. The ones with solid red-pink and green colours were created solely by swirling with either a spoon, some with the help of a fork or chopsticks to create stronger swirls.
The marbled turquoise ones were piped, and the frosting colour was created by swirling blue and yellow food colouring together, which was an idea that occured to me today while I was pondering the impossibility of icing the cupcakes with four different colours (I have 4 food colourings). That would result in too little icing to pipe; not to mention I'd have to wash the piping thing 4 times...and though I picked blue and yellow arbitrarily, I don't think I could have made a better choice. I LOVE turquoise and all pastel colours!
I don't know if you can see from the picture, but I used 3 different icing tips (once again, experimentation - you can see I don't do decorating much, ha) to see which one had the nicest effect. I finally hit on the crescent shaped one, which produced an effect somewhat reminiscent of rose petals. Sweeet! And if you'll look at the cupcake covered in red frosting with green dots, that's supposed to be a flower with leaves, haha. The frosting was getting too liquid and unweildy by then to make nice leaves, but I think I can work on this idea for the future.
I like the roses & the one-direction zigzag (bottom left in top pic) Which is your fav? I want to know!
VERDICT: 10/10
Labels: BAKING
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Monday, August 4, 2008
, 2:25 AM
Rich, fudgy peanut butter brownies with a layer of semisweet chocolate ganache
RECIPE (+1photo)
Serves: 18 browniesIngredients
1 sticks (1/4 pound) unsalted butter, softened
7/8 cups sugar
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 large eggs
1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips (9 ounces) [optional]
GANACHE
10 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter
*this amount is enough for a 2-layered cake, so you might want to 1/4 or 1/5 this recipe
1. Preheat oven to 350F/175C
2. Beat butter and sugar together till light and fluffy
3. Add peanut butter and beat till incoroporated
4. Beat in eggs and vanilla
5. Mix in flour
6. Mix in chocolate chips if desired, then pour mixture into a buttered breadloaf tin
7. Bake for about 40min till pick inserted comes out clean (it's ok if it feels a little soft)
8. Beat the ganache ingredients together and pour it over the cooled brownie. Leave the ganache to solidify (freezing speeds it up!) then cut the brownie into squares
(modified from original recipe here)
look how hard/baked the sides are. the brownie fell solidly out of the baking tin like a block!
Another debilitatingly delicious dish created with Athena, with my kitchen partner & suitemate for this weekend. I do so love peanut butter, and if I get the right brownie slice, the texture of the brownie is oh so smooth.
Why do I say, the right slice? Because the brownie didn't actually turn out that well. It had a 1" depression in the center, and about 1cm in on all sides were hard-ish, like overbaked cookies. You can see those in the second photo. I'm not sure why it turned out like this...maybe it has to do with the egg yolk we left out, or that the butter wasn't soft enough so the brownie mixture wasn't very liquid.
Also, I'd probably leave out the choc chips (I used semisweet and white choc) the next time I make this recipe. There's enough choc with the ganache I feel, and I can save the chips for something else which really needs chips (like cookies!). It was a liiitle too sweet and rich. And sometimes all you could taste was the choc and not the peanut butter.
VERDICT: 8/10
Labels: BAKING
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Wednesday, July 30, 2008
, 8:50 AM
A Japanese twist on an old favourite!
JUNE 13, 08
RECIPE
Ingredients2 large eggs
1 cup flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 tbsp green tea powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
Red bean (adzuki) paste 1/2 - 1 cup
1. Preheat oven to 350F/180C
2. Cream butter in a bowl.
3. Add sugar and vanilla essence to the butter and mix well.
4. Gradually add beaten eggs and stir well.
5. Sift flour, baking powder, together and add the flour to the egg mixture
6. Pour half the batter into muffin cups (large is a good size), press in a ball of red bean paste, and pour batter in to almost the top.
7. Bake for about 20 (?) minutes or till toothpick inserted comes out clean.
(modified from original recipe here)
another shot
and what's inside!
This is actually the same recipe as the Never Fail Pound Cake, but with green tea powder instead of vanilla extract...A LOT of green tea powder. Most of the green tea recipes I see call for 1-2 tbsp max of green tea powder, but I swear I could upend the whole bag of powder and still only get a trace of that beloved green tea scent. Maybe the powder I'm using is not concentrated enough; I have no idea.
As for the adzuki paste...I'm actually a huge traditionalist who believes by making all my ingredients from scratch, there are things I'm just too lazy to do. For example, I would never grate my own pineapple to make the filling for pineapple tarts when I can buy pre-cut chunks in a tin and just add the sugar. However, if you'd like to make your own adzuki paste, you can find recipes online. It's not too difficult, just time-consuming.
Anyway, these muffins are delicious, if mainly because of the adzuki filling. (since you can't taste much of the green tea)
VERDICT: PASSED
Labels: BAKING
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Saturday, July 26, 2008
, 4:49 AM
Delicious soft, chewy & sweet cookie!
Deliciously sweet, soft & chewy cookies!
JUNE 17, 08
RECIPE
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips/whatever chips you please!
1. Preheat the oven to 325F/165C
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
4. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
(original recipe from here)
Wow these are good. I finally understand why people like soft, chewy cookies.
Yeah, you can probably tell this was my first time making them. I felt I needed something diametrically opposite from the Triple C to balance out my baking spectrum.
I think this is the recipe I used...I don't even remember anymore, because I made it a month ago. I might have swapped more brown sugar for white to make it softer, but I don't even remember at this point.
The only thing I do remember, and that I should mention to first-time softcookie-bakers, is not to get too worried when the cookie centres feel almost dangerously soft and to leave the cookie in for longer. After leaving them out to cool for a bit, they will firm up to become the soft, chewy centres that make this cookie soon.
The best thing about these cookies? They taste just as good (possibly better) a few days old. I was seriously addicted to these cookies. Mmmm.
VERDICT: PASSED
Labels: BAKING
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Wednesday, July 23, 2008
, 1:16 AM
Crunchy & chewy oatmeal cookies with a tantalising taste of spices!
JULY 22, 08
RECIPE
Serves: 40 1.5" cookiesIngredients
Butter, 3/4 cup/1 1/2 sticks (softened)
Brown sugar, 1 cup
Egg, 1 large
Vanilla extract, 1 tsp
Flour, 3/4 cup
Baking soda, 1/2 tsp
Salt, 1/2 tsp
Cinammon, 1 tsp
Cloves, 1/2 tsp
Oats, 2 cups
Rice kripies, 3/4 cup
(Preheat oven to 180C/350F)
1. Cream the butter and brown sugar with a mixer till smooth.
2. Blend in the egg and vanilla extract.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, cinammon and cloves together
4. Mix the dry mixture into the wet till fully combined
5. Stir in the oats and rice krispies
Variations: Raisins and nuts should go well with this recipe (as they were originally called for). Chocolate chips and jam are a bad call as they either a) overwhelm the taste of the spices (semi-sweet choc, butterscotch) b) are underwhelmed by the spices (white choc, jam)
& if you really like these spices, add more!
(modified from original recipe here with inspiration from here)
So the recipe I posted is the 'perfection' of the actual experimental recipe I tried. For my recipe I put in 2 1/2 oats and 1 cup rice krispies, and as you can see from the picture, the texture is bad. I like my oatmeal cookies smooth with a bumpy texture of oatmeals under the surface; NOT 90% oatmeal&krispies with a pathetic 10% batter barely holding the solid ingredients together.
In my first experimental batch, where I had one cookie with different solid ingredients in it (which is why I can report on the good variations above), I only had 2 cups of oatmeal and that was perfect.
Also, an enlightenment to share (you'd think with all these enlightenments, I'd be reaching kitchen nirvana soon). If you don't want to pay for an electric mixer, at least invest in a hand mixer. I don't know how I lived for a decade using a wooden spoon/metal spoons/forks to mix my ingredients. A hand mixer just makes everything so much faster AND blends things so much better. Of course it doesn't compare to an electric mixer, which I cannot do without when whipping eggs&sugar into foam. You have to have crazy armstrength/patience to do that with a hand mixer (and it's impossible with a fork - I've tried).
Final word! I do love these cookies. I like the mix of crunchy & chewy, and the spices - those are what really make the cookie.
VERDICT: PASSED
Labels: BAKING
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Monday, July 21, 2008
, 1:40 AM
I classify these two attempts as failures, but I'm just posting it up here as a stop in my cooking journey.
Lapis Surabaya
JULY 14TH, 08
I actually don't know if I've eaten Lapis Surabaya before but I'm pretty sure it isn't as cakey as the one I made. I intended to halve the recipe but forgot to halve the flour and sugar, which resulted in this pretty good, but definitely not Lapis Surabaya cakey thing.
Also, a lesson to be learnt. Halving/thirding/quartering recipes isn't really the way to go. The ingredient measurements get so miniscule precision is almost impossible, not to mention there is so little batter there isn't even much to bake and it's much easier to burn the final product. Which did happen to the edges of the yellow cake; it ended up tasting like those egg cookies that are popular in Asia. The brown yellow is the same as the yellow with cocoa powder mixed in.
Angel Food Cake
drizzled with chocolate, sugar & cinammon
JULY 14TH, 08
Meh, it didn't taste like an angel's food. It tasted like food dragged through a swamp. The texture, I mean. The taste was fine, but the cake had a heavy, slightly rubbery texture to it which is NOT at all like the light and fluffy angel food cake. The texture (not taste! don't be mistaken) was like a heavier version of my Japanese cheesecake, which led me to wonder if it really was the tapioca starch playing the devil. Or did it have to do with over/under-beating egg-whites?
Definitely got to try these two recipes again!
VERDICT: FAILED
Labels: BAKING
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Saturday, July 19, 2008
, 6:49 PM
A sinful treat.
RECIPE
Ingredients4 Mars Bar (or any chocolate bar you prefer)
Flour, 1/2 cup
Cornflour/tapioca starch, 1/4 cup
Milk
Oil
1. Add enough milk (about 1/2 to 1 cup) to the flours to create a mixture with the consistency of thin cream
2. Heat the oil till a lot of bubbles appear when you dip a fork in
3. Dip the (refrigerated) Mars Bar into the mixture
4. Deepfry the coated Mars Bar for about 10 seconds until the it turns golden brown
[the batter may be refrigerated and reused again!]
(modified from original recipe here)
This is a very easy dessert, and tastes fabulous with vanilla ice cream. Technically you can use any chocolate bar you like but I tried with Kit Kat and I've come to a conclusion only chocolate bars with a chewy, caramelly-type centre are really good because it melts a little after deepfrying and that complements the crispiness of the skin.
I'll still be staying away from this dessert though. The amount of oil used scares me (I'm not a fan of deepfrying, though I like deepfried food). Not to mention my exciting experiences making this. The first night I dropped the Mars Bar in and the oil splashed out and started a 5second fire on the stove. The next afternoon the smoke from the remaining batter in the boiling oil set off the fire alarm. I think I actually may kill myself in the kitchen one day...
No photo because I accidentally deleted it (well that photos was of fried kitkat), but this is what it looked like.
VERDICT: PASSED
Labels: BAKING
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Sunday, July 13, 2008
, 3:49 PM
And a great base for decorating too.
JUNE ?, 08
RECIPE
INGREDIENTS2 large eggs
1 cup flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tbsp vanilla essence/powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1. Preheat oven to 350F/180C
2. Cream butter in a bowl.
3. Add sugar and vanilla essence to the butter and mix well.
4. Gradually add beaten eggs and stir well.
5. Sift flour, baking powder, together and add the flour to the egg mixture. Pour the batter into a buttered loaf pan.
6. Bake for about 30-40 minutes.
(modified from original recipe here)
So originally it was green tea pound cake, but really you can substitute the green tea powder for anything else (vanilla, almond, peppermint...), and I felt it was important to emphasise how brainlessly easy this recipe was. Another great thing about this recipe (with vanilla essence at least) is that it's a great for decorating on. Although it also tastes really good plain, anything added onto the cake adds to the flavour rather than subtracting from it (and when you're using icing, you're always worried about making the cake sickly sweet).
This particular pound cake was decorated with melted semisweet choc chips, raspberry jam & coconut flakes soaked in yellow food colouring. It's supposed to be the German flag, made in support of Germany for the Euro 08 (though I made it right after they lost to Croatia in a very uninspired match). Thank you Germany for having a simple flag. It only took me half an hour. And I've spent up to 8hrs decorating brownies before. My decorating skills still haven't improved much, sadly. Look at how uneven the white border icing is.
Labels: BAKING
@ , 3:13 PM
Failed Famous Amos cookies / crunchy cookies with white, butterscotch and chocolate chips
JUNE ?, 08
RECIPE
INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup butter
1 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups (total) semisweet chocolate, butterscotch & white chocolate chips
1. Thoroughly cream sugars, margarine, oil, egg, milk and vanilla.
2. Add dry ingredients, nuts and chocolate chips.
3. Drop by teaspoon onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 8-12 minutes. (Cookies are light in color when done.)
(modified from original recipe here)
Although the title calls it the Triple C, & everyone I've given it to has sung praises (one of my coworkers sometimes randomly asks me when I'm next making them choc chip cookies) of it, in my mind it's really just the failed Famous Amos cookies. :( I've spent hours scouring google for a successful recipe imitation Famous Amos cookies...possibly though, a huge mistake I made was to use 3 kinds of chocolate chips instead of just semisweet, as that does make a large difference in the taste (I usually buy Famous Amos' Choc Chip Cookies). However, even so the appearance (too smooth) & texture (a little too crunchy? maybe too much white sugar) & colour (too light) isn't right.
Oh well, I'll be home in 43 days, and THEN I can get my hands on true Famous Amos cookies.
Labels: BAKING
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Sunday, July 6, 2008
, 8:55 PM
(Thanks for all the comments, guys! I replied to some of them. Go check! Esp Sonya.)
Who said you can't use garlic&herb cream cheese in cheesecake?
JUNE 26TH, 08
RECIPE
INGREDIENTS
7 ounces garlic&herb cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup whole milk
1/2 cup superfine sugar (caster sugar)
3 eggs, separated
1/4 cup cornstarch (don't use flour)
2 1/2 cups boiling water
1. Preheat oven to 350F/190C.
2. Spray a 9-inch cake tin with cooking oil spray.
3. Beat cream cheese with milk to soften.
4. Add half of the sugar, egg yolks, cornstarch and lemon juice.
5. Beat until smooth.
6. Beat egg whites in a separate bowl until foamy.
7. Gradually add remaining sugar and cream of tartar, beating on high speed until soft peaks form, about 8-10 minutes.
8. Gradually fold beaten egg whites into the cream cheese mixture, stirring gently.
9. Pour into cake pan and smooth the surface.
10. Place cake pan into a larger roasting pan and place in lower rack of oven.
11. Pour enough water into the roasting pan to come half way up the side of the cake pan.
12. Bake 35-40 minutes, until a pick inserted in the middle of the center comes out clean.
13. You can eat like this, or you can put jam on top of it.
14. Put the jam in a sauce pan with the water on a low heat and warm up until it's melted.
15. Then spread the glaze on top of the cake.
16. If the surface becomes too dark while baking cover with a piece of tin foil, but be careful not to open the oven door until it has been in the oven for at least 20 minutes.
(modified from original recipe here)
Vindicated! HA to all of you who said garlic&herb cream cheese would taste bad in cheesecake. Although I only used it because that was the only cream cheese I had in my fridge and was too cheapskate/lazy to go and buy cream cheese, I actually like the strange mix of sweet & herby. Although I did get varying comments on this cheesecake, from the uh, strange variety to the you're getting better at baking kind.
Honestly, I'm not even sure if I like garlic&herb cheesecake more than the traditional (Japanese, not western) cheesecake, because I haven't eaten that in so long I don't quite recall its taste (although I know I liked it).
Also, the cheesecake texture was WRONG. It was kinda sticky (think mochi) instead of being light and fluffy. I'm not sure if that's because I subsituted tapioca starch for cornstarch (though my preliminary research suggests they are pretty good substitutes...) or if my ingredient amounts were out of whack due to my attempted thirding of the recipe (I had only one egg left that day, ha).
And yes I got rid of lemon juice & cream of tartar because I don't have them. As for that cream of tartar, I've been (halfheartedly) looking for it for ages, but I just can't seem to find it. Cream of tartar is used as a stabiliser to give more volume to egg whites, but removing it has never adversely affected my recipes before.
desperate times call for desperate measures,
even if the cheesecupcakes turn out strangely shaped.
Why did I bold line 10 of the recipe? I don't know about you, but I have a tendency to skim through recipes instead of reading them through properly once and am left flailing over the unexpected, like when my muffin tin is too big for any of my pans. This was indeed a night of recipes calling for strange steps, from the beating eggwhites over simmering water for my coconut cookies to dumping the cheesecake into hot water...essentially steaming the cheesecake, which does make sense.
Gotta try this recipe again! This time, with traditional cream cheese (because I want to keep herb&garlic to spread on my bread, haha) and hopefully I can resolve the sticky texture issue. Then to move on to western cheesecake!
Labels: BAKING
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Saturday, July 5, 2008
, 5:40 PM
The most amazing rich & moist chocolate cake ever.
RECIPE
Ingredients
CAKE
9 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup strong coffee (or water)
1/2 cup whole or low-fat milk
GANACHE
10 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter
CAKE
1. Preheat the oven to 350F/180C
2. Butter two 9" x 2" cake pans (optional: line the bottoms with circles of parchment paper).
3. To make the cake layers, sift together the cocoa powder, cake flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a bowl.
4. Using an electric mixer or by hand, beat together the butter and sugar about 5 minutes until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated. (remember to scrape down the sides)
5. Mix together the coffee/water and milk. Stir half of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture, then add the coffee and milk. Finally stir in the other half of the dry ingredients.
6. Divide the batter into the two prepared cake pans and bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.
FROSTING
1. Melt the chopped chocolate with the water in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally until melted. Remove the bowl from the pan of water.
2. Cut the butter into small pieces and whisk them into the chocolate until completely melted and the ganache is smooth. Cool until spreadable, which may take about 1 hour at room temperature.
3. Run a knife around the inside of each of the cakes which will help release them from the pans. Tilt one cake out of the pan, remove the parchment paper from the bottom and invert it back onto a cake plate. Spread a good-sized layer of icing over the top. Top with the second cake layer and spread the top and sides with the remaining icing as decoratively as you want.
Storage: Cake is best the day it is made, although it's fine the next day. Store at room temperature under a cake dome. Just be sure to keep cake out of the sun in the meantime.
(modified from original recipe here)
Main modifications I made were to shorten Lebovitz's instructions (because I like short, snappy recipes). Otherwise I left the recipe as is for people who want to follow the original, though personally I deviated on several points, notably:
1) Didn't want to buy cake flour, so substituted in slightly less than a quarter cup of tapioca starch (which again was substitute for cornstarch in this recipe); worked like a charm - I'm never buying cake flour again!
2) Used baking chocolate because it's usually easier to handle/was cheaper anyway & melted it in the microwave; in all my baking years very rarely have I had the patience to melt chocolate the traditional over-simmering-water way.
And some notes of importance: although the cake may feel dangerously soft, it is probably safe to take it out after both 25min/passing the toothpick test. It's supposed to be a moist cake anyway, and it does firm up slightly after removal from the oven. My worry over it's squishiness caused the bottom of my cakes to become slightly burnt. Also, always cool cakes before taking them out of the pan; it's much less prone to falling apart and it's also easier to frost/ice as it's less crumbly.
And my final two-cents; this cake is seriously AMAZING. I couldn't stop eating it. Plus it's so easy to make. Who needs to go to cake shops anymore?
P.S. Suggestion; Possibly 1.5 all ingredients and create a third layer to make those lovely towering cakes like in Futures
Labels: BAKING
