Variety

We were invited to my aunty's place for dinner on Saturday (together with my parents). I knew I cannot go empty-handed, so I decided to bake Blueberry Chiffon cake for her. Besides bringing just a normal cake, I thought we should have desserts too. So I baked my tart dough, only to realise that it was too thick and a bit salty(??). So I quickly did a non-baked cream cheese tart. I also baked my puff pastry for vol-au-vents.

1. Egg Mayo Sandwich. I did a simple egg mayo for breakfast. Added a pinch of mixed herbs to give it a "herby" taste. This is Aloysius' all time favourite!


2. Blueberry Chiffon. Same recipe, same cake, but for different people.



3. Puff Pastry. Cut these out to make vol-au-vents as appetiser for dinner later. I mixed my salmon as the filling for the vol-au-vent.




4. Strawberry Cream Cheese Tarts. I scurried through my stack of recipe, looking for a suitable recipe for tarts after my baked tarts didn't turn out ideal! Fortunately, I found a blueberry cream cheese tart from HHB. Since I've already made blueberry chiffon, I decided to use my strawberry jam instead. After I pressed the crumbs into the paper cups, I realised that my yogurt has already turned bad!! Oh dear! Contingency contingency! Anyway, I proceed with the recipe without the yogurt and added about 7 tbsp of full cream milk (bit by bit to see the texture) into it, then add the gelatin. After that, I dropped a little strawberry jam into each cup and swirl them to give marble effect. I managed to make 14 reg cupcake size and 12 mini cupcake cream cheese tarts.

Exciting Day!

A week filled with activities and bakings! I was rather busy this week with my own activities, in the office and at home baking. However, of all the happenings, the best was today's bake: Macaroons! I've finally found the right recipe to bake the macaroons. I've not dared to try so far, after my one failed attempt. I didn't have the guts to try again. However, when I saw this recipe from Martha Stewart's website, I thought it sounded easier than my previous attempt. So I decided to give it a try again since I have some whites in the fridge after my Orange Lapis Cake some weeks back! :p

I am very happy with what I've gotten for my macaroons! Here is how I've made it.

Thursday's Bake: Sardine Puffs & Some Vol-au-Vents'




Friday's Bake: Yam & Corn, Sausage and Cheese & Sugar Buns



Saturday's Bake: Parisian Macaroons


Here is the recipe for Parisian Macaroons, extracted from Martha Stewart's Website.
Ingredients:
Makes about 16 filled macaroons [I made double of this]

1 1/4 cups plus 1 teaspoon confectioners’ sugar
1 cup (4 ounces) finely ground sliced, blanched almonds
6 tablespoons fresh egg whites (from about 3 extra-large eggs)
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar
Macaroon Filling (Recipe below)

Directions:
1. To make the macaroons: Preheat the oven to 180C. In a medium bowl, whisk together confectioners' sugar and ground almonds. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip egg whites with salt on medium speed until foamy. Increase speed to high and gradually add granulated sugar. Continue to whip until stiff glossy peaks form. With a rubber spatula, gently fold in the confectioners' sugar mixture until completely incorporated.

2. Line baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. Fit a pastry bag with a 3/8-inch #4 round tip, and fill with batter. Pipe 1-inch disks onto prepared baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between cookies. The batter will spread a little. Let stand at room temperature until dry, and a soft skin forms on the tops of the macaroons and the shiny surface turns dull, about 15 minutes.
[For me, the batter was quite stiff, it doesn't spread at all! I also didn't have the "soft skin" form on my macaroons, though the top was dried after 15mins.]

3. Bake, with the door of the oven slightly ajar, until the surface of the macaroons is completely dry, about 15 minutes. Remove baking sheet to a wire rack and let the macaroons cool completely on the baking sheet. Gently peel off the parchment. Their tops are easily crushed, so take care when removing the macaroons from the parchment. Use immediately or store in an airtight container, refrigerated for up to 2 days or frozen for up to 1 month.
[For me, I only baked each batch for about 10mins or lesser. My macaroons' size were rather small. When the top starts to brown, I'd take them out from the oven. The macaroons came off very easily from the baking paper!]

4. To fill the macaroons: Fill a pastry bag with the filling. Turn macaroons so their flat bottoms face up. On half of them, pipe about 1 teaspoon filling. Sandwich these with the remaining macaroons, flat-side down, pressing slightly to spread the filling to the edges. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
[For me, I use teaspoon to fill up the fillings. I half the filling recipe and still left quite a lot. I divided the fillings into four to add flavours-Chocolate, Green Tea, Orange & Coffee.]

Variations:
1. To make coffee-flavored macaroons: In step 1, add 2 drops brown food coloring to the egg whites after they are whipped. In step 4, blend 1/2 cup macaroon filling with 1 1/2 teaspoons espresso powder dissolved in 1/2 teaspoon warm water for the filling.
2. To make cassis-flavored macaroons: In step 1, add 2 drops purple food coloring to the egg whites after they are whipped. In step 4, use 1/3 cup good-quality cassis jam for the filling.
3. To make pistachio-flavored macaroons: In step 1, add 2 drops green food coloring to the egg whites after they are whipped. In step 4, combine 1/2 cup macaroon filling with 1 tablespoon pistachio paste for the filling.

Macaroon Fillings:
Ingredients:
Makes 3 cups [I halved this recipe & still have half leftover]

3 large egg whites
1 cup sugar [should reduce]
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces

Directions
1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk egg whites and sugar. Set mixer bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and heat mixture, whisking often, until it feels warm to the touch and sugar is dissolved, 3 to 5 minutes.

2. Transfer bowl to the mixer, and fit with the whisk attachment. Whip on high speed until mixture is stiff and shiny, 3 to 5 minutes. Add butter, one piece at a time, and continue mixing until butter is thoroughly incorporated. The filling can be kept, covered and refrigerated, up to 1 week. Bring to room temperature before stirring.

3. Variations: To make hazelnut-honey filling: In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup of macaroon filling with 1/3 cup finely ground hazelnuts and 2 tablespoons good-quality honey.

I hope those of you who likes macaroons would give this recipe a try. Or those who is like me, fearful of failing, should try too! It was really a great achievement for me!

My Saturday Dinner

I planned my Saturday dinner since Thursday, inviting my parents and sisters over to my place for dinner. Partly is because want to relieve my mum from cooking every Saturday, secondly was because I felt like making pizzas as I still have bacons left in the fridge. :p
So my menu for Saturday was:
Appetizers - Lobster Bisque & Vol-au-vent.
Main - Pizzas (& leftover Fried Bee Hoon from lunch)
Dessert - Strawberry Mille Feuille.

This is what I made for dinner.

Preparing the lobsters to be steamed. Bought these on Friday evening at Giant.

Lobsters were shy after steaming. :p The before and after.

Made egg mayo for my Vol-au-vents.

Specially for my children - Chao Shao Pizza!

This is for me actually - Spicy Bak Kwa Pizza!

This is bacon & sausages pizza.

Similar to the previous one, except without olives. I baked a total of 7 pizzas! But we only finished 5 in total.

Finally, it's dessert. These are called Mille Feuille. I used strawberries, whipped cream & choc ganache.

Cross section of my Strawberry Mille Feuille.

I was so tired after preparing for the whole day! But I'm happy that my family enjoyed it and appreciate it. I don't mind doing it every week too! ;)

Puff Pastry

I've always like puff pastry, like Chicken puff, tuna puff and curry puff. However, ever since I knew how puff pastry is being made from my course, it's just so sinful to be eating one.
However, since most of us like puff pastry, I thought I might as well try to make one myself. I've not tried it since the course. Here is the process.

Mix flour, sugar, salt and butter in a mixer.

Bought this puff pastry margarine at Gim Hin Lee on Tuesday. Enough for one dough.

When the dough is ready, place the pastry margarine in the centre.

Then wrapped it up and seal it tightly.

Roll out the pastry, and fold it like a blanket, 3 folds.

Then fold the other side into 3 folds also.

After that, roll it out flat again.

Then fold it like the previous time. This is the second fold.

I used a cookie cutter to cut out the shapes. Brushed lightly with eggs on the surface only.

Bake it in the oven and see it transformed into layers! This is for vol-au-vent.

Baked a container full of puff pastries.

Cross section of a Egg Mayo Vol-au-vent.

An Egg Mayo Vol-au-vent.