DURIAN CREAM PUFFS (the pictures, at last!)

Making the choux pastry - stirring in the beaten eggs



Spoonfuls of choux pastry on lined tray



This 'yucky - gooey' mixture IS the mashed durians mixed with the whipped cream.



The puffs, after baking and before filling



Close-up view of a durian puff, dusted with icing sugar......YUMMMMM!!!!!

Egg custard tarts

OK, so the tarts didn't look that 'pretty' BUT.......they tasted GREAT!!!
I think I left them in the oven for too long and the temperature was a bit high, so the egg custard puffed up but when I removed them, the custard 'sort of' deflated, hence, the 'crinkled' look!

EGG CUSTARD TARTS 10 Sept 08

Pastry:
160g plain flour
40g rice flour
100g butter/vegetable shortening
¼ cup icing sugar
1 egg yolk, beaten
¼ cup ice water

Filling:
3 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup (60g) caster sugar
1 ½ cups (375ml) milk
yellow food colouring (optional)
½ tsp vanilla essence (optional)


METHOD

1. Make pastry using the rubbing-in method. Leave to rest.
2. Roll pastry to about 3mm thickness.
3. Cut and fit greased 12-hole (10cm) tart pan.
4. Place filling ingredients into a wide-mouthed jug and beat till smooth.
5. Pour the filling into the pastry-lined tart pan till almost full.
6. Bake for 10min at 210C then 10-15min at 200C, until the custard has set.
7. Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.


NB: You can brush the pastry bases with beaten egg white (yolk used in pastry) before pouring in the filling. If you replace part of the milk with cream, say ½ cup of cream, the tarts will ‘become’ Portuguese egg tarts.

Original recipe fm Tok Suan (DPA) for 24 small egg tarts
Pastry:
3 cups (375g) flour
180g lard
5 tablespoons hot water

Made on Tuesday 28 October 2008 using 150g plain flour, 50g rice flour for pastry(no egg yolk; used cold water to bind pastry) and 4 eggs / 500ml (2 cups) milk. Produced 16 tarts. Yummy! Next time, try using half rice / half plain flour.

Mango Galette

(Used leftover pastry from spinach/ricotta/feta quiche to make mango galette. Recipe below )


MANGO GALETTE

Pastry
Brown sugar
Ground almonds
2 ripe Mangoes

Glaze
Apricot jam
Lemon juice

1. Roll pastry out. Place on baking tray. Make decorative ridge around edge of pastry (to retain the filling ingredients)
2. Sprinkle pastry with ground almonds and brown sugar.
3. Place sliced mangoes (cut in halves and sliced just before using) decoratively on top of filling. Press in lightly.
4. Bake at 180C for 30-40 minutes, till pastry is golden and mangoes are soft.
5. Cool and brush with glaze, if desired. (warm jam over stove; remove and add lemon juice. Sieve)

Spinach, ricotta and feta quiche

SPINACH, RICOTTA AND FETA QUICHE (Makes 2 quiches)


Pastry
300g plain flour
150g butter
pinch of salt
ice water

Filling
2 bunches of baby spinach (blanch 1min in boiling water, squeeze out excess water then shred the spinach )
250g ricotta
250g feta
½ cup grated cheddar cheese
5 eggs, beaten
½ cup milk
chopped parsley / spring onions
cayenne pepper
fresh ground black pepper
ground nutmeg


Pastry

1. Make pastry (rubbing-in method) and refrigerate for ½ hour.
2. Roll out and line 2 loose-bottomed flan tins. Refrigerate for another 10mins
3. Bake blind at 200C for 10 min. Cool

Filling

1. Mix all the filling ingredients except nutmeg in a large mixing bowl.
2. Pour into quiche bases, sprinkle with ground nutmeg.
3. Bake at 180C for 35 min or until golden brown. Leave in tin for 5 minutes.
4. Serve hot on its own or with fresh garden salad.

Apple Crumble Slice

Sorry - no recipe for this. I got the idea for the apple crumble slice from one of the blogs on the internet when I was searching for another recipe.

Basically. I made a short crust pastry for the base, then baked that for 10-15min till golden. Then, I 'slapped' on a layer of home made plum jam which one of my friends had given to me. I then topped that with some stewed granny smith apples (stew with a bit of sugar, cinnamon and lemon rind) then finished it all with a crumble made with plain flour and butter, then sprinkled it with almond flakes before baking in a moderate oven for 20-30min till golden. Serve warm with cream or ice cream or custard. Also delicious on its own.

Scones with homemade jam and cream

FORGET the 'best ever scones' recipe that I posted last year!

This recipe is even BETTER! I call it the 'Better than the Best Scones' recipe. Would you believe that after a few decades of using the New Zealand Edmonds cookbook scone recipe where I had to rub butter into the sifted dry ingredients before mixing in the milk, I 'discovered' this wonderful light scone recipe in a very obscure section of a magazine? In fact, I didn't even realise that I had the recipe as it was part of a few pages that I tore out from some magazine at work (errr......they were going to throw out the mag so I thot I should salvage some 'good' stuff from there!)
Anyway, I was thumbing through some of my recipes when I came across this - something light to serve with Lipton's tea for the afternoon, so I gave it a try and.....voila, the rest, as they say,is history, !!!

I tell my friends that they don't have to go out for Devonshire teas anymore as they can make these super scones themselves in a matter of minutes!

Give it a try and tell me what you think! So far, I have had rave reviews from everyone who tried the recipe (the bakers as well as the tasters)

BETTER THAN THE BEST SCONES

Ingredients:
3 cups self-raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup milk
¾ cup cream



Method:

1. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl
2. Make a well in the centre, then pour in combined milk and cream, mixing quickly with a butter knife to form a soft, sticky dough.
3. Turn the dough onto a floured bench and, using your hand, press out evenly to 3cm thickness.
4. Cut dough into 5cm rounds and place close together on a greased baking tray.
5. Bake for about 13 min at 200C/180C (fan forced oven) or until browned lightly. Tap scones underneath to check done-ness (hollow sound)
6. Cool on cake rack. Best eaten warm with whipped cream (beat 300ml cream till doubled in volume. Add 1 tsp sugar) and home-made raspberry jam. Scrumptilicious!!

ONDEH-ONDEH KELEDEK

'Keledek' is Malay for 'sweet potato'

This recipe was one of many that I saved from Domestic Science (Home Economics) class back in my secondary school days. I used 1.2kg of sweet potato (quadrupled the recipe) when I made the ondeh2 on 18 Oct. Yielded 66 ondeh2. The only problem with making them on your own is that you can't make the sweet potato balls and boil them at the same time. (Could do that when we were in S'pore and I had a fantastic Filipina domestic helper. The ondeh2 were perfect then!) Anyway, this time, I made the balls first, placing them on floured plates before boiling which resulted in some of the gula melaka melting before cooking and oozing through the green dough. Tasted great all the same, though! No complaints from the tasters. (I think I gobbled down at least a dozen of them - probably a lot more!)

ONDEH ONDEH KELEDEK

½ kati (300g) white sweet potatoes ½ tbsp tapioca flour
1 tbsp flour ¼ piece gula melaka
½ tbsp gran. Sugar 1/6 coconut (grated white)
1-2 tbsp thick pandan juice pinch of salt
1. Scrub the sweet potatoes and clean and boil or steam them in their jackets till cooked.
2. Chop up the gula melaka and mix it with sugar
3. Mix the coconut with a little salt.
4. Skin and mash the cooked potato and mix in the sieved flour to get a pliable dough.
5. Add the pandan juice to get a good green colour
6. Turn the dough out on to a floured board and divide it into small pieces the size of small marbles.
7. Make a hole in each piece and put in some sugar
8. Shape into balls and boil in boiling water till they float to the surface of the water.
9. Drain them well and toss them in the coconut
10. Serve ondeh-ondeh in little baskets made from banana leaves or on a clean plate.

WALNUT 'N DATE CAKE

Recipe for the walnut and date cake with lemon cream cheese icing will be published at a later date. Have yet to type the recipe!


TUESDAY 28th Oct 2008

OK ...I've got the recipe typed up so here it is.........

WALNUT & DATE CAKE
Ingredients
• ½ cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup chopped dates
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp golden syrup
• ¾ cup boiling water
• 200g butter
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch salt
Icing
• ½ cup cream cheese
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 8 walnut halves

Method
1. Preheat the oven (not fan-forced) to 180°C. Grease a 23cm square cake pan and line.
2. Combine walnuts and dates in bowl with baking soda, golden syrup and boiling water. Stir well.
3. In another bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and creamy.
4. Beat in eggs one at a time.
5. Sift in flour, baking powder and salt. Stir well.
6. Combine with warm walnut and date mixture.
7. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 50-60min until top springs back when lightly pressed.
8. Icing: Beat cream cheese until soft. Sift in icing sugar, beat well. Add lemon juice. Spread on to cake, decorate with walnut halves.

* Recipe fm Tina Soh circa 1979

ROAST PORK 'N CHAR SIEW

TIRAMISU

TIRAMISU
4 egg yolks
½ cup brandy or coffee liqueur (Kahlua / Tia Maria)
500g mascarpone or cream cheese
4 egg whites
½ cup sugar
1 large packet finger biscuits (Saviordi)
2 cups strong coffee - cooled
21 oz semi sweet chocolate, grated OR cocoa
1. Blend egg yolks, liqueur and cream cheese well.
2. Beat egg whites till stiff. Add sugar a little at a time & beat until stiff.
3. Fold egg whites into cheese mixture.
4. Dip ½ the biscuits in the coffee (count to 6). Line tin.
5. Spread half the blended cheese mixture over the cookies. Sprinkle with grated chocolate or cocoa.
6. Repeat with other half of biscuits and cream mixture.
7. Refrigerate overnight.

DATE SQUARES

YUMMY DATE SQUARES!!

Ingredients:
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed *
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch salt
• .
• Date Filling:
• 250-300g chopped dates *
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda +
• ½ teaspoon vanilla (optional)

Preparation:
Combine filling ingredients in saucepan; simmer for about 5 to 10 minutes, or until mixture is thick. Set aside to cool.
Mix flour, oats, sugar, butter, soda, and salt; press about half of mixture in a greased and floured 9 X 13-inch pan. Spread filling over the oat layer. Add remaining oat mixture and press well.
Bake at 180C for 20 min, till golden

NB: Made on 30/9/08. Verdict: - Good!
* Measurements have been changed / reduced
+ added

Carrot Cake

Made this carrot cake with marzipan carrots for York Peng's birthday.
Had fun making the carrots - like playing with plasticine!
Sorry, no photo showing the two layers of carrot cake sandwiched with
the cream cheese icing - too busy cutting and eating the cake!

Ingredients

• 1 cup (150g) plain flour
• 1 cup wholemeal flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 ½ cups raw sugar
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup cooking oil
• 3 cups grated carrot
• 1 cup sultanas (optional)
• ½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Icing:

• 60g unsalted butter, softened
• 250g cream cheese, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ cup icing sugar, sifted
• 1 cup chopped nuts
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

Method

1. Preheat the oven (not fan-forced) to 180°C. Grease a 23cm square cake pan and line the base.
2. Sift and mix dry ingredients.
3. Add oil and stir well.
4. Stir in beaten eggs then add carrot, sultanas and walnuts. Mix thoroughly.
5. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 40-45min or until cooked. Remove from the oven and cool in pan for 5 minutes, then turn out on a wire rack to cool completely.
6. Meanwhile, beat all ingredients for the icing, except the nuts. Ice cake when it has cooled. Sprinkle chopped nuts on top of cake.

Chocolate heaven cake with chocolate truffles and chocolate glaze

Don't look too closely! You'll see the defects! Had a couple of 'mishaps' in the kitchen after decorating the cake. Won't tell you what but I managed to 'save' the cake.

The things a wife has to go through for her hubby's 50th birthday ........ I don't know......

Siew Pau

Ingredients
• 1 cup (150g) plain flour
• 1 cup wholemeal flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 ½ cups raw sugar
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup cooking oil
• 3 cups grated carrot
• 1 cup sultanas (optional)
• ½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Icing:
• 60g unsalted butter, softened
• 250g cream cheese, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ cup icing sugar, sifted
• 1 cup chopped nuts
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
Method
1. Preheat the oven (not fan-forced) to 180°C. Grease a 23cm square cake pan and line the base.
2. Sift and mix dry ingredients.
3. Add oil and stir well.
4. Stir in beaten eggs then add carrot, sultanas and walnuts. Mix thoroughly.
5. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 40-45min or until cooked. Remove from the oven and cool in pan for 5 minutes, then turn out on a wire rack to cool completely.
6. Meanwhile, beat all ingredients for the icing, except the nuts. Ice cake when it has cooled. Sprinkle chopped nuts on top of cake.

Teochew Yam Paste Moon Cakes

Ingredients
Filling:
1 kg cooked yam, mashed – I microwaved the yam
300g castor sugar (reduced fm 500g)
180ml oil
25g melon seeds (kuaci), toasted
25g olive nuts (lum yan), toasted

For the flaky pastry:

Water Dough (A):
375g plain flour, sifted
50g castor sugar
150g corn oil

Combine:
165ml water
1 tsp lime juice – I used lemon juice

Oil Dough (B):
280g plain flour, sifted
150g shortening - I used butter
Method
To make the filling: Cook mashed yam with sugar and oil until mixture turns dry and leaves the sides of the wok. Add in melon seeds and olive nuts and mix well. Leave to cool.

Divide paste into equal portions. Roll each lump into a small ball to be used as filling.

To make the pastry:
For water dough(A): Mix flour, sugar, corn oil and water. Knead into a smooth dough. Leave aside to rest for 30 minutes to an hour. Divide into 100g portions.

For oil dough (B): Combine flour and shortening into a dough. (add 1-2 tabsp water to combine) Leave aside to rest. Divide into small portions of 60g each.

Wrap oil dough within the water dough. Flatten and roll up swiss-roll style. Flatten length-wise and roll up swiss-roll style again. Cut into halves. Leave aside for 20 to 30 minutes.

Press the spiral centre lightly to make an indentation and flatten out the sides with a rolling pin (you should get a dome-shaped pastry).

Use this to wrap a portion of filling by pleating the edges together. Tuck in the edges neatly.

Place pleated side down on a greased baking tray and bake in a preheated oven at 180ºC for 25 to 30 minutes or until pastry is cooked.

Pandan Chiffon Cake

Beating the egg white



Mixing egg yolk /pandan mixture into flour



Egg whites folded into the egg yolk mixture



Batter in tin prior to baking



Baked chiffon cake, straight from the oven, before turning over the tin



Chiffon cake baked in kugelhopf tin

Sliced pandan cake (sorry pix didn't turn out well!)

PANDAN CHIFFON CAKE -this recipe has been adapted fm the original which uses 9 egg whites and 6 egg yolks as my chiffon tin is not big enough - the batter overflowed from the tin when I used 9 egg whites

6 large egg whites
½ tsp cream of tartar
125g castor sugar
4 egg yolks
80g vegetable oil
½ tsp pandan essence
¾ tsp vanilla essence (optional)
85g coconut cream
135g cake flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder (heaped)
½ tsp salt

1. Whisk egg whites and cream of tartar till stiff.
2. Gradually add sugar and whisk for another 5-7min
3. Combine yolks, oil, cream and essences in a bowl and beat lightly.
4. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl.
5. Make well in centre of flour and pour in egg/oil/coconut cream mixture.
6. Bring flour in from sides and beat till smooth.
7. Fold in 1/3 of the stiff egg white mixture and blend well. Then, add the rest of the egg white and blend.
8. Pour batter into ungreased chiffon cake tin
9. Bake at 160C for 50-60 min till cake springs back when pressed with finger.
10. Remove from oven, invert cake tin over lid and leave for ½ hour before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

Pandan Muffins

choc chip cookies, sour cream cheesecake and pandan muffins - all made in one morning

Recipe adapted from American muffins recipe that I copied from somewhere ages ago.

AMERICAN MUFFINS

Ingredients

• 225g (1 ¾ cup) plain flour
• 3 ½ tsp baking powder
• 100g sugar
• pinch of salt
• 250ml (1 cup) milk
• 1 egg
• 120ml (1/2 cup) corn/sunflower oil
• ½ tsp vanilla essence

Method

1. Preheat the oven (not fan-forced) to 200°C.

2. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.

3. Add the sugar.

4. Mix egg, oil, essence and milk together, then pour into dry ingredients. Blend quickly (mixture will be a bit lumpy)

5. Spoon into paper cases placed in patty tins (3/4 full) and bake for 15-18 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool in pan for 5 minutes, then turn out on a wire rack to cool completely.

6. Makes 15 medium or 12 large muffins

Variations

Blueberry and lemon

1. Add 200g blueberries and rind of ½ lemon
2. Chocolate chips

Use 175g flour and 40g cocoa

100g choc chips

½ tsp vanilla essence

3. Breakfast muffins

100g wholemeal self-raising flour

125g plain four

75g sugar

100g chopped apricots (dried)

1 tabsp honey

4. Cranberries/Raisins

Add a handful of dried cranberries/raisins

5. Pandan

Add a few drops of green pandan essence instead of vanilla essence and substitute part/all of the milk with coconut milk/cream

a

Baked cheesecake with sour cream topping

chocolate chip cookies

2 cups plus 2 tbsp all purpose flour (2 1/8 cups)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter (12 tbsp / 170g), melted and cooled until just warm
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 - 2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, whisk together butter and sugars. Beat in the egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture, followed by chocolate chips.
Drop by (scant) 1/4 cups onto the baking sheet and pat lightly so the cookie is an even thickness, not a ball shape. Cookies will spread as they bake and this ensures a more even spread.
Bake at 325F for 15-17 minutes, until just turning light brown all over. The edges should only be very slightly more brown, if at all, from the rest of the cookie. Allow cookies to cool before removing them from the baking sheet.
Makes 18-24 large cookies.