Cashew cookie with chocolate Nutella ganache (Kuih Raya)

I am bad... for neglecting my blog again.. :( I've been so busy the past couple of months. A trip back to Sunny City for a month. Then when I came back home, I had to start packing and cleaning the apartment cos we were moving out. At the new place, lots of unpacking, organizing, laundry and etc.. (even now still got a lot of things to do.) We out of the cyber world for a while and when we got the service back, the Internet connection was always giving me problems. :/ I got it fixed now but for the wifi, still going crazy on me. Well, good thing still got another alternative to connect to cyber world. :)

Anyhoo, I made this cookie for Eid this year. I meant to post it after Eid but I just didn't had the time.  I'm not sure what is the actual name of this cookie so I just called it cashew cookie with chocolate nutella ganache. This recipe you need to use the aluminum candy cups instead of the paper cups. I brought back some when I was in Singapore as it was much easier to get it there. The recipe is from my girl friend in Singapore. For the cookie mix, I used my home made cookie recipe. I used recipe from Crisco's website =)

Cashew cookie with Chocolate Nutella Ganache

Ingredients:
500 gm cookie mix
40g gm cashew, blend very fine
250 gm butter, soften
Chocolate ganache 

Method:
In a mixing bowl, stir butter and a little cashew. Add cookie mix, bit by bit.
Add the balance of cashew and mix well. Make little round balls and place in the aluminum candy cups . Press slowly into the cup - 1/2 of the cup only as the other half for chocolate.

Bake at a preheated oven 350°F for 10-15 mins or until brown. (Bake all the cookies first before adding the chocolate.)

Prepare the chocolate ganache. Then using a pastry bag or just scoop with teaspoon and fill to the top of aluminum candy cups. Let the chocolate harden before store them in a air-tight container. 

Kuih Tart Nenas (Pineapple Tarts)

I've been using different version of recipes to make Kuih Tart Nenas (pineapple tarts). I have posted a recipe before but I think this version is very good.

Recently, I found a kuih tart recipe in one of my FB group. She shared her late mom's recipe with us. After I got all the ingredients, I give it a go..  ohmygosh!!!!! Both me and hubs felt that the kuih tart were perfect. They melt in your mouth and the sweetness is just right.  On the day, I made the kuih tart, I'm telling you... I have not even finished baking all the tarts, and  the tarts on the first tray were all gone!! <<now you see it, now you don't>> LoL!!! I gave hubs to try a few and next thing, I know, its almost gone so I just finished the last 4 tarts in that tray.. LoL!!!! 

I’m happy to share my findings and would encourage you to try out this excellent recipe cos I think it’s very good.  Thank you Lily for sharing the recipe. :)

Original Pineapple Tart (by the late Hajjah Rohanna Abu) 

Ingredients:

Pineapple Fillings

2 pieces of pineapple (to be grated and sieve the juices out)

350gm sugar

1 cm cinnamon stick

3 pcs cloves (take out the send on top)

3 pcs cardamom 

Cook all the above (EXCEPT for sugar) for ½ hr. Mix in the sugar and cook on very low fire. The fillings will be ready when it is slightly darker in colour (at this point if you want to add a dash of yellow color to the pineapple mixture) 

 [ I wanted to give a few different colors. I used the yellow, green and blueberry color. ] 

here is a video of how to cut the pineapples:

Pastry

1 medium size egg  ( I used large egg )

250gm soft butter, room temp - (I leave the butter overnight in a mixing bowl and seal it with cling-wrap)

50gm self raising flour

350gm all purpose flour

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 tsp white caster sugar

A dash of yellow color

Method to make Pastry

In a big mixing bowl, lightly beat egg, butter, yellow color, caster sugar with a spatula.

Add the self raising flour & all purpose flour and stir with the spatula until all mix well.

When all done, use your fingers to mix dough thoroughly but DO NOT over knead the pastry as this will cause the pastry to break when making the tart. Wrap dough in plastic foil and keep in fridge for 20 mins. 
(I forgot to put the yellow color earlier. I added later and the color was uneven.. ;P)

When ready: 

Line pastry board with a plastic sheet and place a small portion of pastry on it. Cover pastry with another sheet of plastic. Roll dough to about 4mm thick. Use tart mould to cut out the tart, place on ungreased baking tray. Continue until all the pastry is used. Then roll a small ball of filling, flatten slightly and place on center of tart. Decorate the top by placing bits of cut-out pastry . Bake in pre-heated oven at 350ºF for 15-20 mins or till tarts are a nice golden brown.

I bought a few different kuih tart moulds in Singapore cos I know I won't be able to get these easily in US.

Orange Chocolate Crisps

Aidilfitri is around the corner. How time flies and soon Ramadan will be leaving us. This year, it would be just me and hubs. We would love to be in Singapore with the family but not this year. It's just me and hubs here. Anyhoo, I baked just a few kuih raya (raya cookies) for us.  I remember, when I was in Singapore, I would baked so many different types and at the end, there would be like almost 10 different kuih raya.  Also with the ones that my relatives gave us, there would be like 15 or 16 kuih raya, not including the cakes (kek lapis, etc)... haha.. But before raya, some of the kuih raya would be gone.. coz there are plenty of cookie monsters in the house.. LoL!!!!!

On another note, i know... yes.. I've been neglecting my blog... <sigh>... well, here is a recipe for orange chocolate crisps. I can't remember where I got this recipe but it was in my recipe book. Happy Ramadan. :)

Orange Chocolate Crisps

 

Ingredients:

⅔ cup white sugar

⅓ cup brown sugar

½ cup butter (1 stick)

1 egg

1 tbsp milk

1½ tsp grated orange peel

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp baking powder

2 cups crisp rice cereal, crushed to 1 cup

1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease cookie sheet beat white sugar, brown sugar and butter until creamy. Add egg, milk, orange peel and vanilla essence. Beat well. Combine flour, baking soda and baking powder. Add to butter mixture, mix well. Stir in crushed cereal and chocolate chips. Drop by level tablespoons, 2 inches apart onto prepared cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 9 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned. Let stand 1 minute before removing to racks to cool.

Makes 3½ dozen.

Happy Baking! :)

Baked Scallops

I had made baked scallops and simple fried rice for dinner the other night. Yums!

Baked Scallops Recipe

Ingredients:

4 tbsp butter, melted

1½ lbs bay scallops, rinsed & drained

½ cup seasoned dry bread crumbs

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder

½ tsp paprika

½ tsp dried parsley

3 cloves garlic, minced

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C). Pour melted butter into a 2 quart oval casserole dish. Distribute butter and scallops evenly inside the dish. Combine the bread crumbs, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, parsley, minced garlic and Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle this mixture over the scallops. Bake for 20 minutes or until scallops are firm.

Karipap Lapis (Curry Puff)

These puffs tasted so good! They remind me of the curry puffs that I always get from Polar (pastry & cake cafe) in Singapore. I was looking at my recipe file last week. The file that I had compiled in Singapore many years ago. So I was flipping thru the papers, I saw Karipap Lapis, then I knew I have to make this!

 Ingredients:

Puff pastry - check the recipe HERE

Filling:

200 g ground beef/chicken

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 onion, diced

200 g diced potatoes

1-2 tbsp curry powder

salt to taste

cooking oil

water

Heat oil and saute minced garlic until almost crisp. Add the meat and curry powder. Saute well. Add the potatoes and enough water to cover the potatoes and meat. When the potatoes are almost cooked, add the diced onions and salt. (I added some peas too). Cook until dry. Remove and let it cool before using.

Unfold pastry sheet onto floured surface. cut round from the pastry with a 3 inch (8 cm) cutter. Spoon heaped teaspoons of the mixture onto one side of each pastry round, leaving a border wide enough for the pastry to be folded over. Brush the border with egg white. Fold the pastry over to make a half moon shape, pressing to seal. Transfer to the baking tray and brush top of the pastry with beaten egg. Bake in a preheated oven of at least 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) to get the maximum puff from your pastry for 15 minutes, or until golden.

I also tried to make some Vol-Au-Vents. The fillings on Vol-Au-Vents is from the curry potato & chicken filling and mushroom filling.

 Vol-Au-Vents

Homemade Classic Puff Pastry

Making puff pastry is time consuming but it's so worth it! The picture of the left is my first attempt to make homemade puff pastry. I was glad that the pastries turned out great. 

The main ingredients for puff pastry are flour, butter, water and salt. The most important thing to remember  when making puff pastry is everything gotta be chilled;  the ingredients, utensils, cool surface and including yourself. :-) 

Puff pastry consists of many fine layers. Between every layer of dough, there's a layer of butter. During baking, the melting butter will be absorbed by the dough. The moisture from the dough is converted into steam and the expanding air lifts the pastry, keeping the layers separated. Thus, this makes the pastry crisp and flaky:)

So for my first attempt, I decided to follow the recipe from Not Without Salt. She shared step-by-step pictures and video to make puff pastry too. Cool! ;)

Classic puff pastry

Ingredients:

13 oz (390 g) all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp (7 ml) salt
3 oz (90 g) unsalted butter, cold
7 fluid oz (210 ml) water, cold
10 oz (300 g) unsalted butter, softened

To form the detrempe (dough), sift the flour and salt together in a large bowl. Cut the cold butter (3 oz) into small pieces and then cut the pieces into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.

Make a well in the center of the mixture and add all the water at once. Using a rubber spatula or your fingers, gradually draw the flour into the water. Mix until all the flour is incorporated. Do not knead. The detrempe should be sticky and shaggy-looking.

Note: The detrempe can be made in a food processor. To do so, combine the flour, salt and pieces of cold butter in a food processor bowl fitted with the metal blade. Process until a coarse meal is formed. With the processor running, slowly add the water. Turn the machine off as soon as the dough comes together to form a ball. Process with the remainder of the recipe.

Turn the detrempe out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough a few times by hand, rounding it into a ball. Wrap the dough tightly in plastic and chill overnight.

To roll in the butter, first prepare the softened butter by placing it between two sheets of plastic wrap. Use a rolling pin to roll the softened butter into a rectangle, approximately 5 inches by 8 inches (12.5 cm by 20 cm). It is important that the detrempe and butter be of almost equal consistency. If necessary, allow the detrempe to sit at room temperature to soften or chill the butter briefly to harden.

On a lightly floured board, roll the detrempe into a rectangle approximately 12 inches by 15 inches (30cm by 37.5 cm) Lift and rotate the dough as necessary to prevent sticking.

Use a dry pastry brush to brush away any flour from the dough’s surface. Loose flour can cause gray streaks and can prevent the puff pastry from rising properly when baked.

Peel one piece of plastic wrap from the butter. Position the butter in the center of the rectangle and remove the remaining plastic. Fold the four edges of the detrempe over the butter enclosing it completely. Stretch the dough if necessary; it is important that none of the butter be exposed.

With the folded side facing up, press the dough several times with a rolling pin. Use a rocking motion to create ridges in the dough. Place the rolling pin in each ridge and slowly roll back and forth to widen the ridge. Repeat until all the ridges are doubled in size. Using the ridges as a starting point, roll the dough out into a smooth, even rectangle approximately 8 inches by 24 inches (20 cm by 50 cm). Be careful to keep the corners of the dough as right angles.

Use a dry pastry brush to remove any loose flour from the dough’s surface. Fold the dough in thirds, like a business letter. If one end is damaged or in worse condition, fold it in first; otherwise, start at the bottom. This completes the first turn.

Rotate the block of dough 90 degrees so that the folded edge is on your left and the dough faces you like a book. Roll out the dough again, repeating the ridging technique. Once again, the dough should be in a smooth, even rectangle of approximately 8 inches by 24 inches (20 cm by 60 cm).

Fold the dough in thirds again, completing the second turn. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes. Repeat the rolling and folding technique until the dough has had a total of five turns. Do not perform more than two turns without a resting and chilling period. Cover the dough completely and chill overnight before shaping and baking.

A short video from Ashley Rodriguez.

Notes:

Puff pastry is cooked when the bottom of the item is browned and the pastry does not collapse into itself.

• Use a very sharp knife to cut puff pastry. A blunt knife will crush the layers together and prevent the pastry from rising to full height.
• Do not get egg wash or milk wash on the sides of the pastry. This will glue the layers together during baking and result in uneven lift.
• Excess flour left on the item will burn easily in the oven. Dust it off with a soft pastry brush.
• Always bake puff pastry in a very hot oven (220°C/425°F). A hot oven ensures the moisture in the dough turns into steam, which is what makes puff pastry rise.
• Puff pastry should only be baked for a short time. 15 to 20 minutes usually suffices. This is dependent on the oven and recipe used.
• Open the oven flue during baking to allow steam to escape and the pastry to dry, or failing that, open the oven door near the end of the baking.
• When using puff pastry as a base, small holes can be cut into the pastry allowing airflow to reach the under side (sometimes referred to as puffin' holes).
• Puff pastry can be refrigerated for a week, or frozen for three months. Stored puff pastry will have less lift than fresh pastry.

 

Kawaii Panda Bread

This is a Japanese bread. It's called Kawaii Panda Bread... It looked so cute. I kept thinking about it ever since I saw the photo. Finally, I made it on last Thursday. It was quite a challenge, a lot of hard work and time consumed since it was my first time.

I found the recipe from Makansutra Blog Street!. Originally the recipe is from Taro Taro at www(.)cookpad(.)com. Thank you to Ms Lorriane Koh for the translation. Since I did not have green tea powder in hand, I substituted it with pandan essence. After all that hard work, I was very pleased with how my panda bread turned out. The bread taste really good but I feel I need to make it a little more lighter. Hubby said I did a great job and even suggested to create other animals' face... haha..

Spread butter over a slice of a warm fresh bread... ...Oooo... yummy! ;)

Ingredients:

For the dough

3 cups of all purpose flour

3 tbsp of sugar

1 cup of milk together with 1 egg yolk

¾ tbsp of salt

1 ½ tablespoon of butter

2 ½ tsp dry yeast

For the coloring of the Panda face

1 tbsp green tea powder mixed with 2 tsp hot water (I used pandan essence)

3 ½ tsp of Cocoa powder mixed with 1 ½ tsp of hot water

Method:

Warm the milk and egg mixture by placing it in the microwave for 30 seconds. Set aside.

Mix the flour, sugar, salt, butter and yeast together in a bowl.

 

Then add the milk and egg mixture. Mix together for about ten minutes. The dough should be soft but not sticky. Divide the dough into three portions – two about equal in size to each other, while the third should be sized about 1/3 of the other two. (Refer to image.)

Place one of the larger pieces in a bowl and add in the green tea. Mix together till the green is evenly spread out. Cover the green dough with cling wrap and set aside.

Take the smallest piece of dough and mix in the cocoa powder. Cover the brown dough with cling wrap and set aside. Do this for the white dough as well. Leave the dough pieces for about an hour (in a warm, covered surrounding) till they double in size.

Now it’s time to craft the panda face. Take the white dough and separate into three pieces – two about equal in size to each other, while the third should be sized about 1/3 of the other two (as you did earlier).

Take the brown dough piece and separate into four equal pieces.

Use one of the larger white pieces to form the face. Use two quarters of brown dough to form the eyes. Place the smallest white dough piece in the middle of the two brown “eyes”, to keep them in place. Flatten the other big white dough piece and wrap it around tightly. 

As for the other two brown dough pieces, roll them into “ears” and place them on top. Divide the green dough into two – the bigger piece is about 4 times the size of the smaller piece.Place the smaller green part in the middle of the ears. Flatten the bigger green part and wrap it tightly around your creation.

Place the whole piece into a lightly greased loaf pan, cover and let rise until doubled, for around 40 minutes.

Preheat the oven for half an hour at 400° F (200° C) in the meantime. Once the dough is doubled, place it in the oven for 30 minutes.

HERSHEY'S Ultimate Chocolate Brownies

I asked hubby if he wants chocolate chip cookies or brownies. He said brownies with a big grin on his face! I was looking for the recipe in my favorite recipe book and guess what! I didn't have any brownies recipes at all. I thought I might just make chocolate chips cookies but when I looked at the HERSHEY'S semi-sweet chocolate chips packet, there's a recipe for brownies. Yay! (I didn't even think about it at first) 

The brownies turned out great, not dry. I did a little change. Instead of using 2 cups of white sugar, I used 1 cup of white sugar and 1 cup of brown sugar. For the frosting; in the middle of mixing, I did not have enough powdered sugar. So I took some of the white sugar and blend in my small blender. I thought I had it good but not good enough.. When I mixed those sugar with my not-done-yet frosting, it didn't turned out so smooth, a little grainy.  Well, we enjoyed the brownies and the smell lingering within the apartment. Yum-Yum!! :)

Ingredients:

3/4 cup HERSHEY'S cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

2/3 cup butter, melted and divided

1/2 cup boiling water

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup HERSHEY'S semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

One-bowl Buttercream Frosting

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan.

Sift together cocoa and baking soda in a large bowl, stir in 1/3 cup butter. Add boiling water, stir until mixture thickens. Stir in sugar, eggs (make sure to stir quickly when adding the egg) and remaining butter. Stir until smooth. Add the flour, vanilla and salt; blend completely. Stir in chocolate chips and pour into prepared pan. 

Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool completely in the pan on a rack. Frost with One-bowl Buttercream Frosting. Cut into squares. Makes about 36 brownies.

One-bowl Buttercream Frosting

6 tbsp butter

softened 2-2/3 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup HERSHEY'S cocoa powder **

1/3 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Beat butter in a medium bowl. Add powdered sugar and cocoa alternately with milk, beating to spreading consistency (additional milk may be needed). Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting. 

** I did not add the cocoa powder in my frosting.

Yorkshire Puddings

My first home-made Yorkshire Puddings. It was easy to make. It was funny when I opened the oven door and saw that my Yorkshire Puddings rose on one side. hehe.. but seriously they were delicious. I used the recipe from Steamy Kitchen. :) 

Yorkshire Pudding

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

3/4 tsp table salt

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups milk, at room temperature

3 tbsp beef fat

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk and salt. Sift in the flour in three stages, each time whisking until flour disappears before adding in more flour. Let rest at a room temperature for 30 minutes and up to 3 hours.

When the roast is finished, spoon out 3 tablespoons of beef fat. Turn oven to 450 degrees F. Stir 1 tablespoon of the beef fat into the batter. In a muffin pan, fill each cup with 1/2 teaspoon of the remaining beef fat. 

When oven has reached temperature, place muffin pan with fat into oven for 3 minutes until smoking hot. carefully take out pan and pour batter into each cup, filling to 2/3 full. Immediately return to oven and bake for 20 minutes. Do not open oven door during baking or the Yorkshire Puddings will collapse. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F and bake an additional 10 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven, pierce each Yorkshire Pudding with toothpick to allow steam to escape and prevent them from collapsing.

Chocolate Glaze I

The photo on the right is a chocolate cake. Do you think it is from the box or I had made it from scratch? .....What do you think? If you guess from scratch, well I'm sorry, wrong answer. It is from the box. The cake was soft, moist and delicious. My hubby enjoyed the cake too and he was wondering what else did I put in the cake. hmm.. I've added extra ingredients to make it yummier... chocolate chips and maraschino cherries. To finish it off, topped with chocolate glaze. Yum-Yum!!!

My recipe for today is the chocolate glaze. I found the recipe from Allrecipes.com. It is super quick, easy and fast. The chocolate glaze is delicious but it was not enough so I had to double the recipe for my cake. And even though it is cold today but I just can't help it.. gotta have a slice of the cake with my Blue Bell Ice-Cream (Cookies & Cream). :)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

2 tbsp butter

1 tbsp corn syrup

In a double boiler, melt together butter, chocolate and syrup. Alternatively, you can melt the chocolate in the microwave and then blend in the other ingredients. Pour glaze while still warm over cake. 

Pineapple Tarts (Kuih Tat Nenas) - Eid Mubarak 1432 -

Wishing my friends and readers 

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri / Eid Mubarak 1432 

I'm sharing a recipe that is considered as "festive" cookies in Singapore. Be it be during Eid or Chinese New Year. These tarts are small bite-sized pastries filled or topped with pineapple jam in the middle. 

There are many shapes but I preferred in the typical shape of flat open tart with pineapple jam in the center. Besides the flat open shape, there are other two favorite shapes; rolls filled with jam that are open at the ends under a lattice of pastry and jam-filled spheres (using cloves as the decor).

Ingredients for Jam:

1 ripe pineapple - grated and drained

170g sugar

1 heaped tsp sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 tsp egg color food coloring

2 cloves

1 cm piece cinnamon

Mix all above ingredients together in a pan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until it turns a golden color and the consistency is thick like jam. Leave to cool, removing cinnamon and cloves. Pre-roll the pineapple jam into balls

Ingredients for Pastry:

250g plain flour - sifted

400g unsalted butter

1 egg yolk

1 level tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Beat together for 5 minutes the butter, egg yolk, vanilla essence and sugar, then fold the sifted flour and mix to form a soft dough.

To make TARTS:

Roll out pastry between sheets of plastic or wax paper to a thickness of about 3mm and cut into rounds using cutter. Arrange the tart shell neatly on the baking tray. Place the pre-rolled pineapple jam balls in the center of each tart shell. Bake in a pre-heated moderate oven 350 deg F or 176 deg C for about 20 minutes or until light brown. Cool well before storing in airtight container.

Oven-baked potato wedges

Oven-baked potato wedges.. I like to flavor them any way I want. This is a simple and no mess recipe. Feel free to spice them up.. :))

I used 6 russet potatoes (or potato type of your choice). Wash and pat dry. Place the whole potatoes (do not poke) into microwave-safe covered dish. Microwave on HIGH for 3 to 4 minutes. Let them cool before you cut them. Then cut each potato lengthwise into 8 even wedges. Coat wedges with 5-6 tablespoon of olive oil.

For the seasonings, I have chosen; 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon dry basil, 1 teaspoon dry thyme, 1/4 teaspoon cumin powder. Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Mix with 1 teaspoon of cornstarch. You can use fresh herbs if you like. I do not have fresh ones so the dry ones works. Then coat the wedges with the seasonings.

Arrange the potatoes and garlic in a single layer on a baking sheet. Do not let the fries touch while on the baking sheet, let some space between them, otherwise they will steam and become soggy.

Bake for 10 minutes in a preheat oven at 400 degrees F until the potatoes are crisp, rotate and cook an additional 10 minutes until dark golden brown on all sides.

Transfer to a plate and serve with mayo or any dipping of your choice. :))

Pizza time!!!

Usually, we would order pizza to be delivered. But yesterday when hubby said let's have pizza for dinner, I agreed. I also suggested to make our own and be creative with the toppings. I have the ingredients and toppings, so why not give it a go, right...
As I was gathering the ingredients, I thought to myself, it would not be fun to make pizza by yourself so I asked hubby if he wants to join me. He said "yea, sure". We had fun and hubby did mentioned that it was his first time to make his own pizza. He did a great job. :))
This dough recipe is very simple and after baking our pizza turned out very nice. 

Pizza Dough

Ingredients:

1 (.25 oz) packet active dry yeast

1 cup warm water (105 - 110 degrees F)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 1/4 cups bread flour plus extra for dusting
1 tsp salt
2 tsps white sugar

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let it stand until creamy, for 10 minutes. Stir the olive oil, 2 cups of bread flour, salt, white sugar. Mix in the remaining flour, little by little, stirring well after each addition. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes.
Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with damp cloth and put in a warm place to rise until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes.

On a lightly floured surface, pound the dough down with your fist or palm of your hand. Meanwhile preheat oven to 350 degrees F. (After I pound it down, I divided the dough into smaller pieces and let it rest for 5 minutes before flatten them with my fingers). Form dough into a round and roll out into a pizza crust shape. Cover with your favorite sauce and toppings and bake in preheated oven until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Ready to go in the oven for baking...

After baking, ready to eat. Yum-yum!!!!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

The last two days, I was a little busy trying to revamp my blog.. Now, I'm very happy with the new design but still have a few things I need to finish up.  Well, what do you think??? hehe.. :)

When I visited other bloggers' websites, I was wondering how they do this and that in their blog. For hours, I was searching for Help. I saw the answers but I have to edit in the html editor. To tell you the truth, I am clueless about designing web page using html editor. It's just too confusing. However, I decided to give it a try. I followed as instructed, but in the end, it was all wrong.. It was a little frustrating but at the same time I think it was funny. I thought I could do it.. Not!!! ha..ha.. After all that, I realized I can do without editing from the html editor. *wink* 

Anyway, here is what I baked for hubby on Valentine's Day. Red Velvet cupcakes. Bright red with chocolate flavor, topped with cream cheese frosting and sprinkles. They taste even better the next day. 

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Makes 12 Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups sifted cake flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp regular or Dutch-proceed cocoa powder

1/4 unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cups granulated white sugar

1 large egg

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 tbsp liquid red food coloring

1/2 tsp white distilled vinegar

1/2 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line 12 muffin tin with paper cupcake liners.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt and cocoa powder.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with hand mixer, beat the butter until soft (abt 1-2 minutes). Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy (abt 2-3 minutes). Add the egg and beat until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add vanilla extract and beat until combined.

In a measuring cup, whisk the buttermilk with the red food coloring. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter mixture, in 3 additions, beginning and ending with the flour.

In a small cup combine the vinegar and baking soda. Allow the mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter.

Working quickly, divide the batter evenly among the 12 muffin cups and smooth the tops with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 18-23 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out clean. Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes and then remove from the pan. Let cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1/4 pure vanilla extract

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1/3 cup cold heavy whipping cream

In a bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the vanilla and confectioners' sugar and beat until smooth. Using the whisk attachment, gradually add the heavy cream and whop until the frosting is thick enough to pipe. Add more sugar or cream as needed to get the right consistency.

Spread the frosting with a knife or offset spatula or use a large 1M Wilton open star decorating tip to pipe the frosting.

Notes:

If you are unable to get buttermilk, you can make your own buttermilk by adding 1 tablespoon of white distilled vinegar, cider vinegar, or lemon juice to 1 cup of milk. Let this mixture stand 5 to 10 minutes before using.

Source: Joy of Baking

Red velvet cupcakes and card (red) for hubby.

Box of chocolate, lovely card and rose for yours truly. 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Hubby likes cookies and he likes peanut butter (I like them too. hehe..).. Put two into one... tah..dah... Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cookies... Hubby loves them and he said these cookies are great. I saw this recipe last Christmas but I was not able to make them. 

I'm glad that I finally made them. I was a little disappointed because my cookies cracked when I pressed the chocolate PB cup into the cookies. :( But no matter, overall,  they definitely taste good. This is a great recipe and I will make these again and again... :))

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup white granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 tbsp milk

40 miniature chocolate covered peanut butter cups, unwrapped (freeze or put in the fridge before use)

Preheat oven at 375 degrees F. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, salt and baking powder. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter, peanut butter, white sugar and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg, vanilla essence and milk. Add flour mixture; mix well. Shape into 40 balls and place each into an ungreased mini muffin pan.

Bake for about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press each miniature chocolate covered peanut butter cups into each ball. Decorate quickly if desire. Cool carefully before removing from the pan.

Source: Allrecipes

Latest Updates: I was invited to this sweet treat linky party.. It's awesome and the pictures simply making you drooling for the sweet treats...  Must check this out Sweet As Sugar Cookie .
Thanks Lisa. :))

Cream Cheese Bread

I'm thinking of those individual buns with cream cheese filling, tuna filling, mushroom filling, curry potato filling, hmm.. yum-yum.. I wish there's at least a bakery shop here like the ones in Singapore, so I can go in and grab(purchase) the ones I want and leave happily.. hehe... Since there is none here, I used my tool; Google for recipes and make it myself. ;) Then I found Cream Cheese Bread recipe from The Merlin Menu. Although this is not exactly what I was thinking in my head, but I did it anyway. They actually turned out great. Perhaps next time, I'll try to make those types that I have been craving for.. hehe ;) Well thanks Ron for sharing the recipe. :))

Cream Cheese Bread

Yield: 2 braids

Ingredients:

1 package (2 1/4 tsp) instant yeast

1/4 cup lukewarm water

1/2 cup lukewarm milk

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, room temperature

1-1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg, lightly beaten

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Filling:

8 ounces cream cheese

1/2 cup sugar

3 tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour

1 egg, lightly beaten

2 teaspoons vanilla

Dough

In a small bowl, combine sugar, milk, water and yeast and let rest until it becomes bubbly. In a large bowl, add the balance of the ingredients and the yeast mix. Knead them together until you've made a soft, smooth dough. Place dough in a greased bowl, turn over, and cover with a moist towel. Allow the dough to rise, covered, for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until it's puffy (though not necessarily doubled in bulk).

Filling

While the dough is rising, prepare the filling by mixing all of the ingredients together until smooth. Chill untill ready to use.

Assembly

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured board, punch down and let it rest for 5 minutes. Divide it in half. Roll each half into a 12 x 8-inch rectangle. Transfer rolled dough to baking pan spread with parchment paper. Spread half of the filling lengthwise down the center third of each rectangle. Cut 1-inch-wide strips from each side of the filling out to the edges of the dough. Fold about an inch of dough at each end over the filling to contain it, then fold the strips, at an angle, across the filling, alternating from side to side. (*i know, I didnt follow the correct measurements.. opss! hehe). Secure with toothpicks.

Baking

Allow the braids to rise, covered, for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, till almost doubled in size. Brush with a glaze made from 1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water, and sprinkle with sparkling white sugar, if desired; then bake the braids in a preheated 350°F oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from the oven, and cool on a wire rack. 

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

My first home-made honey whole wheat bread. I really like this bread and even after a few days, it is still delicious. You'll get two loaves with this recipe. I wrapped the second one with aluminium foil and put in a ziplock bag. Place it in the freezer until I'm ready to use. This is an easy and good recipe. As they said whole wheat bread is a healthy choice for your family! :)

Honey Whole Wheat Bread, by Betty Crocker recipes.

Ingredients:

2 packages regular active dry yeast

1 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees F)

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup unsalted butter

3 tsp salt

2-1/2 cups very warm water (120 to 130 degrees F)

4-1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2-1/4 to 3-3/4 all-purpose flour ( you might not have to use all)

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water, set aside. In a large bowl, mix honey, butter, salt and very warm water cool 5 minutes.

After the honey mixture is cooled, beat in 3 cups of whole wheat flour with electric mixer on low speed, scraping bowl frequently until moistened. Beat on medium speed 3 minutes, scraping bowl frequently. Beat in remaining 1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour and dissolved yeast. With a spoon, stir in 2-1/4 to 2-3/4 cups of the all-purpose flour until dough pulls cleanly away from side of bowl.

Place dough on floured work surface, Knead in remaining 1/2 to 1 cup all-purpose flour; continue kneading 5 to 10 minutes until dough is smooth and springy. Grease large bowl with cooking spray, place dough in bowl, turning dough to grease all sides. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and cloth towel. Let rise in warm place, 30 to 45 minutes or until doubled in size.

Generously grease 2 (8x4 or 9x5 inch) loaf pans with cooking spray. Gently push fist into dough to deflate; divide in half. Shape and place each dough in the loaf pans. Cover, let rise in warm place another 30-45 minutes to until doubled in size.

Heat oven to 355 degrees F. Uncover dough, bake for 30 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F; bake 10 minutes longer or until loaves sound hollow when lightly tapped. Immediately remove from pans to cooling racks. Lightly brush the tops of loaves with melted butter to prevent crust from getting hard. Cool completely.