Halloween Cuppies!!

Boo! It's gonna be Halloween again! We don't really celebrate it in Singapore but I know of some places that do. And I find people in Singapore are less adventurous and "shy" to dress in an OTT kinda way so when I DO see people who are really dressed up, I'm entertained..hehe! Haven't got the chance to bake any halloween cakes or cupcakes this year but here are some pictures that I have baked previously for a friend!=)

Mummies unite!!!

This mummy looks kinda cute instead of scary!eheheh!

Mr. "Frankie"

Chomp! Chomp! Chomp!

Chocolate for mud, how cool is that!^_^

Blooody handss! =_=

The set of Halloween cupcakes! =) 

Rasta Cupcakes

These cupcakes were butter cupcakes with Nutella filling; topped with buttercream frosting. The birthday gal was into the Rastafari or 'reggae' stuffs so with the requested number of cupcakes, I did the Rasta man, the marijuana leaf, the flag and the peace sign using Wilton fondant but I used the coloured ones. Really salute those bakies who actually make their own fondant. I wish I could but I don't have a KitchenAid and I don't have a big working table..blechz! Anyhow, here are the pics!! Enjoy!!;p

Buttercream in red, green and yellow!

8 cuppies in the box, "Rasta-ed"! hahahaha!

The marijuana leaf..

The Rasta man..I love the dreadlocks!have always wanted to make my hair like this but thinking of the smell...hmmm....decided not to! ;p

Kuih Makmur

I have had loads of first-time bakes this year and the experiences that I have encountered have taught me to be a better baker, one year on (since I moved into my new place and have a proper oven!). Am really glad to have this platform where I can share the lessons learnt from my blunders in the kitchen and to allow all of you to try the 'tried and tested' recipes! ^_^ If only I have more time in hand...I will bake, bake, bake, bake! Problem is, who is gonna be my guinea pig??hahahah!

Anyhoo, back to the entry proper....'Kuih' is a Malay word that simply translates to: a general term that may be used to describe cookies, cakes, pastries and delicacies. 'Makmur' on the other hand means prosperity. So simply put, 'kuih makmur' is a "prosperity cookie" baked during the festive season. The former is rather apt coz you would want to wish everyone prosperity during the festivities!=) 'Kuih makmur' has a melt-in-the-mouth outer texture with a peanut filling and covered with icing sugar before serving.

I tried to bake kuih makmur for the Eid season last month during Ramadhan (fasting month for the Muslims) 'coz I have always loved eating kuih makmur. But it is rather difficult to find a good kuih makmur 'coz I like the ones that are not too big, generous amount of peanut fillings, melt in the mouth, no weird after-tastes, delicious taste of butter and of course, no burnt fillings please!! Heh! So, what better way to reach my makmur satiety than to bake them myself!heehee!

It was a very hands-on cookie so pardon me for the lack of pictures 'coz I didn't wanna get the stuffs around me all sticky! The recipe that I have used is my own, put together just to suit my personal preference! Here goessss!=)

Ingredients
Skin
1. 500g all purpose flour
2. 200g ghee
3. 50g butter
4. green food colouring (optional)
5. icing sugar

Filling
1. 400g roasted and chopped groundnuts
2. 200g of peanut butter
3. 2-3 tablespoons of castor sugar
(Mix and set aside)

Method
1. Dry-fry (without oil) the flour till slightly crispy
2. Melt ghee and butter and leave it to cool slightly
3. Add the ghee+butter solution into the flour bit by bit, knead to form a dough firm enough to work with
(Do not have to use up all of the ghee+butter mixture and you can add the colouring at this stage if you wish)
4. Preheat oven for 10mins at 160-170 Degree Celcius
5. Pinch a ball of dough, place filling into the centre and shape it into a leaf
6. Use a roller to form the leave indents (roll lightly), you can use the pincer but I do not have one so I modified mine!ehehehe!
7. Grease the tray before placing the 'kuih makmur' onto it
8. Bake till cooked
9. After cooling, sprinkle icing sugar and serve

Ready to be baked!^_^

Added too much of the liquid that the skin was quite thin! That's why the filling can be seen from this angle

Close-up

Baked and expanded

Good enough to eat on its own without the icing sugar



All readddyyy!! Woohoooo!

*** Flour is dry-fried to make it lighter and to attain the melt-in-the-mouth texture

*** The 'kuih makmur'  will expand slightly after baking so do not mould it too big else, it'll be too huge and will also look less appealing!

*** Store in an air-tight container


 A rather simple recipe so do try it out! Good luck! =)

Cotton Soft Japanese Cheesecake

The title itself makes you drool doesn't it?hehhe! Since I was a young girl, I have always loved eating this particular soft and delicious cake that can be found at those neighbourhood bakeries. Then, I didn't know that I was eating Japanese cheesecake until lately when I picked up baking. Have always wanted to try this out but didn't have the time 'coz it involves lots of steps (to me!); so when the opportunity came last night I didn't waste a second to go on a little Japanese "baking adventure"!

The recipe that I had used is from:
http://www.dianasdesserts.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/recipes.recipeListing/filter/dianas/recipeID/2312/Recipe.cfm
I had snapped pics of the process and verdict is right at the end! Enjoy!;p

First, melt the cream cheese, butter and milk. I had cut up the butter and cream cheese into smaller cubes so that it will melt easier.

Cream cheese, butter and milk; melted and well-combined



Added in the flour, cornflour, egg yolks and lemon mixture. I whisked everything till smooth.

Egg whites before beaten. Do ensure that there are no traces of egg yolks at all.

Do Not stop when the egg whites are of this texture or your cake won't be light at all! I had taken this pic as a Warning..hehehehe..

Egg whites beaten till soft peaks.

After adding sugar, I beat the egg whites till stiff peaks. I think I can see a heart shape. Can you?ehehehe..;p

After adding the sugar, mixture will turn shiny and glossy. It is called 'meringue'. (At this juncture, you can add in cornflakes, mix well, put them into tiny cups and bake at 180 Degrees Celcius and you'll get Cornflakes Meringue but that's another recipe..*winks*)

Stiff peaks

This is a mistake that I had done. I had actually taken 1/4 of the egg whites and whisk it into the mixture first before folding in the rest of the egg whites. OMIT this step! Egg whites should just be folded in, not whisked into the batter!

 

Step one of folding the egg whites into the batter. Scrape from the sides and to the centre.

Repeat the process quickly and evenly. Do Not stir.

Final batter should look something this. It's ok if there are lots of air bubbles. This is normal considering that we have just folded in the beaten egg whites. To make the air bubbles rise to the top, tap the pan on your table counter twice before placing it in the oven.

Slightly burnt as I was watching TV!-_- Cake will pull from its sides but this is normal too. Ensure that you have greased your pan well so that it will pull from the sides instead of shrinking.

Warm from the oven. There are no 2 different textures as mentioned in the website by some who had tried th recipe.

It was still very hot but I couldn't resist tasting just a bit from the cake!heheheh!;p

My very first Japanese cheesecake! WeeeeHooo!!!;p

Ok, here's my verdict. I think it was a successful first attempt. The cheesecake tasted good, the texture was soft and apart from the slightly burnt top, I think I did quite alright. However, I didn't manage to get the cotton soft texture and I think that was caused by me overbeating the batter at one of the steps mentioned above. Here are the correct steps (adapted from baking911.com):

1. Beat the yolks till pale

2. Fold in the flour + cornflour alternately with the lemon juice, ending with the flour mixture

3. Fold in the beaten egg whites

DO NOT overstir, overbeat or pat down the egg whites when mixing as this will result in a very dense cake

Other than that, this recipe has been a delight to bake and I will definitely try it again! Do try this recipe too and let me know how you did! Good luck and happy baking! ^_^

Gingerbread with hazelnut ganache

This was actually baked during the fasting month. I didn't want the common chocolate almond and so tweaked a recipe that I have and turned it into theseeeee!! ehehehe! The recipe was for a gingerbread man that I baked for a school event (will post the pics soon I hope!;p), changed it a little here and there, added hazelnut and created my own ganache and voila!

It was a very crunchy cookie but it wasn't quite a favourite for many; maybe because of the spices but I love it all the same!eheheheh! I can't remember where I got the recipe from but it was online and basically most of the gingerbread recipes were similar. Don't really know why the chocolate ganache was not the "dry" kind, will try to find out and post it here!

Meanwhile, do try out this recipe!;p

Ingredients

Cookie Dough

(Get ready aluminium cups)

- 21/2 cups of all purpose flour

- 1 cup of granulated sugar

- 1 teaspoon of baking soda

- 1/2 cup of powdered hazelnut

- whole hazelnuts for the middle of the cookie

- 1 teaspoon of powdered cinnamon

- 1 teaspoon of powdered ginger

- 1 teaspoon of powdered spices (5 spices, usually comes in a bottle so you don't have to literally find 5 different spices!)

- 2 eggs

Hazelnut Ganache

- some powdered hazelnut

- 1 cup of heavy whipping cream

- 1 cup of baking chocolate

- 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

- 1 cup of sugar

- 1/2 cup butter

Method

- mix everything (except whole hazelnuts) to form cookie dough

- heat up oven at 180 Degree Celcius for 10 minutes

- take a whole hazelnut, roll it into a small ball of cookie dough and press it down into aluminium cups

- bake for 10-15 minutes (not too long or it will be very hard)

*** if not too sure whether cookies are baked, insert a small toothpick in the middle. If it comes out clean, ur cookies are done. Don't panic if cookies seem soft coz it will hardened when cooled***

- cool cookies

- for ganache: melt butter with chocolate

- remove from double boiler and stir in the rest of the ingredients till well-mixed

- lastly, pour over the cooled cookies and put in the fridge

- serve the next day!

*** keeps for a month in the fridge, not longer than that! else you will have to eat green, mouldy cookies instead!hehehhe!***

Happy trying!!=)))