JAPANESE COTTON SOFT CHEESECAKE

JAPANESE CHEESECAKE


TABLE DECORATION (ROSES AND IVY FROM THE GARDEN)


ROAST TURKEY ASIAN STYLE WITH GLUTINOUS RICE STUFFING

Well, it has been a while since I last posted anything on this blog! Christmas/CNY kept me REALLY busy .......before I knew it, it's almost Easter.

Mind you, I have not been lazy with my cooking and baking. We had a Christmas eve 'do' at our place (BBQ mainly) and I even roasted a turkey! (pix attached) Of course, there was Christmas cake but I forgot to take a picture.

After Christmas, we went to KL/S'pore for a 2 week break during which I bought a large chiffon cake tin. So now, I bake my pandan chiffon cake in the large tin, using 9 eggs (again, didn't take photos - how silly of me!)I even made kuih lapis as I had leftover coconut cream the week before(no pix, sori!) and cupcakes with butter cream icing last week - yummy! Recipe fm colleague - no photos :-( Also made a fudgie chocolate cake yesterday while waiting for my popiah dough to rest - see other post on my success with the skins.

Anyway, I did remember to take some pictures of the Japanese cheesecake that I baked sometime during CNY - didn't have any shots of the sliced cake as we were too busy cutting and eating! So, here you are ........

Oh, I almost forgot to post the recipe for the cheesecake :-0

400g cream cheese
200ml (1 cup) milk
100g butter
¼ tsp salt (I leave this out as it makes the cake a bit salty)
60g superfine flour (I use plain flour)
25g cornflour
6 egg yolks
1 tsp lemon paste or ½ tsp lemon essence (I use 1 tsp lemon juice and grated rind of ½ lemon to substitute)
6 egg whites
150g sugar
¼ tsp cream of tartar
Method:
1. Melt cheese, milk, butter and salt in double boiler. Cool. (Sieve into a basin to remove lumps.)
2. To above, fold in sifted flours, egg yolks, lemon paste and mix well.
3. Whisk egg whites with cream of tartar till foamy. Add sugar and whisk until fluffy but not stiff.
4. Add cheese mixture to egg white mixture and mix well. Pour into 10” round tin.
5. Bake over water bath for 1 to 1 ¼ hours @ 160C

EL’s Notes: (tried and tested)
1. Line bottom of tin with greased greaseproof paper.
2. If using springform pan, wrap outside of pan with aluminium foil to prevent water from bath seeping into tin. (The std size springform pan is a little small and the cake may overflow while cooking. Adjust quantity of ingredients to 300g cream cheese, 150ml milk, 75g butter, 4 eggs, 40g & 20g of the flours and 100g sugar)
3. Use only fresh eggs at room temperature, otherwise the egg whites will not rise successfully and the cake will be anything but light.
4. Not necessary to place hot water in the water bath. Works well with tap water.
5. Check the cake after 1 hour. It’s done if a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

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!!

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 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

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DURIAN CREAM PUFFS (for all the durian lovers)

This is my recipe for durian cream puffs. U'll need lots of patience to make them but watch'em disappear and wait for the accolades fm yr family and frenz! Absolutely shookalicious!!

Sorry for the imperial measurements. The choux pastry recipe's been with me for over 30 yrs! (Back in those days, we didn't use metric units of measurement) If anyone really wants me to , I'll convert them to metric - just give ma a holler!

Choux Pastry

9 oz flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

6 oz butter

6 large eggs, beaten

¾ pint water

1 tabsp sugar

½ tsp vanilla

pinch of salt

1. Heat water and butter in a saucepan on the stove. Bring to the boil.

2. Add sifted flour and baking powder at once.

3. Remove from heat. Beat with a wooden spoon to combine.

4. Mix in sugar and vanilla essence. Cool mixture.

5. Beat in eggs a little at a time with the wooden spoon. (batter will be stiff)

6. Spoon (or pipe) batter onto greased trays.

7. Bake at 200C for 25 min.

8 .Remove trays, slit puffs, scoop out uncooked dough. Return to oven to dry puffs out – 5 min.

Durian filling

500g durian meat (mash with fork)

500ml cream, whipped

icing sugar (optional)

1. Whip cream till stiff. Add 1 or 2 tabsp sifted icing sugar, if desired.

2. Whip again to dissolve sugar (do not over-whip or cream will turn into butter!)

3. Stir in durian meat

4. Fill cooled puffs with the durian cream filling. Enjoy!!

Made 84 puffs on 30 Jan 2004

Made 88 puffs on 27 Aug 2004

Original recipe for Custard puffs

Choux pastry

3 oz flour

½ tsp baking powder

2 oz butter

2 large eggs

¼ pint water

pinch salt

Custard (for original recipe)

1 ½ cups milk

4 tabsp custard powder

4-5 tabsp sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Prepare custard according to packet instructions.