Weekend bakes...

I had an order for 50 packs of cookies. The customer wanted a mix of double chocolate chip cookies and triple chocolate chip cookies. I topped E cookies with some hearts so that its a little prettier :)

E cookie bag was perfect. Each cookie was able to "stand" nice and tall! :D

I also made some cupcakes for B's b'day coz he absolutely loved the little devils.

He's always so full of praises for these cupcakes and will insist that he wants the same flavour every time! Anyways, I made extra cupcakes for my nieces n nephew too. This little 1 enjoyed the cupcakes too!

Me: Hello princess! Pls pose for the cam? *she gave a smile*

Such concentration!

Me: Another 1 plzzzzz.....*Princess looks up and frown* Haha. I guess, she was
irritated :p

A hot bowl of soup on a cold rainy day.

I was browsing through last month Food & Travel and this soup caught my eyes...I made some changes though. I like its rich and creamy taste. Next time, I'm gonna try with pumpkin :)

Ingredients (serves 4)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
750g cauliflower, trimmed, cut into florets
2 cups chicken/vegetable stock
2 cups water
1/4 cup cream or creme fraiche

Method
Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and fry till soft and fragrant.

Add cauliflower, stock and water. Cover. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low.

Simmer, partially covered, for 30 minutes or until cauliflower is tender. Set aside for 20 minutes. Blend soup until smooth. Return to saucepan.

Add in cream and stir over low heat until hot.

Season with salt and pepper.

Serve with croutons and garlic bread.

Rice Dumplings

My uncle had been requesting that I make some Zongzi for him. I was not able to do it coz I had a hard time finding E bamboo leaves. I called up my mother's good fren aka aunty Susan and I was told that E leaves are not easily available unless E festival is approaching. I kinda gave up with E search and told my uncle to wait till the festival approaches. About 2 weeks later, Aunty Susan brought over 2 big packets of bamboo leaves. Apparently her mother had these 2 packs and she asked it from her mother :p So, my uncle wish was fulfilled :)

Zong, or zongzi is a traditional Chinese food, made of glutinous rice stuffed
with different fillings and wrapped in bamboo leaves.

E dumplings were filled with black pepper beef, chesnut and mushrooms. I love
it!

My aunty told me that uncle said that my rice dumplings are really delicious unlike those found in geylang... What more do I need? *happy dance* :p

Anyways, I still have lots of leaves left. I'm planning to make more soon! I wanna try nyonya dumplings next.

Orange + Yogurt + Cream

This dessert was created coz I had some unsweetened Greek yogurt in the fridge and some cream that I had to use up before it reaches its expiration. I also had some really sweet California navel oranges. I hate to blow my horn but this was really good! Both me and mom are fans of yogurt, maybe that's why we enjoyed this tremendously :) For those of you who love yogurt, give this a try!

Ingredients:

2 cups plain yogurt

1/2 cup heavy cream

2-3 Tbsp icing sugar

Juice from 1 orange.

Muesli (You can use cornflakes, biscuits or any of your favourite cereal for the base)

Fruits of your choice. (I used cubed oranges and strawberries)

Method:

Whisk cream and icing sugar till stiff peeks.

Add in yogurt and orange juice. Mix well.

In a glass, place some muesli as the base.

Top with cream mixture and top with fruits.

Serve chilled!

Oeufs en cocotte - Eggs en cocotte

I've got to say that this is such a fancy name for eggs baked in a ramekin/dish! :p

I saw these on Nigella's express and it looked so yumzzz...then again, Nigella makes everything looks good! She said that her mother used to cook it for her as a child and she enjoys this as a simple comfort food. I was of coz intrigued! A few days later, I was flipping the pages of Nigella's Express and I saw these again! I had all the ingredients and there was no excuse not to give it a try. Furthermore it was super duper simple! Mom would say "close your eyes also can cook!" :p

Anyways, the eggs were really nice and creamy. Perfect with toasted bread or maybe even garlic bread? Hmm, I'm gonna try that some other time! :)

Ingredients:

2 eggs
2 tbsp heavy cream
salt+pepper for tasting
a few drizzle of truffle oil (I omitted this coz I don't have white truffle oil. You can of coz use olive oil or even butter)

Directions
Generously brushed E ramekin/dish with butter.
Crack the eggs in E ramekin/dish.
Sprinkle salt and pepper on E eggs.

Top with cream and truffle oil.
Put the ramekin into a baking dish and pour hot water around the ramekin(hot water bath)
Put it in the oven and bake for no more than 10 min. depending on how rare you want your yolks.
Once cooked to your liking, take out and serve with your favourite bread.

Purple 'n' Sweet

Usually in a Muslim engagement, E future groom’s family will come laden with trays of gifts consisting of apparels and food. The future bride's family would reciprocate in the same manner. These cupcakes were 1 of the gift from the future bride's family to the future groom. I'm glad that nowadays my cupcakes are getting special appearances in weddings, engagement and other memorable occasions. It feels good to know that these cupcakes are part of sum1 special day....

Chocolate velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting

On top of the world.

Last week, when my cousins came over to help me with the packing of the cookies, 1 of them stand by the window and was telling me that I can see a lot of Singapore from my home. She was pointing out of the window and she said "tht is bedok north...tht is bedok reservoir, eunos, tampines.....etc2" I thot she was crazy and just let it be. I was home alone today and it was raining. I looked out of the window to see the clouds and I saw this....

I have been staying in this house for quite some time and I only noticed this today? I kinda like the view; totally different from my previous home. I'm on the 15th floor.....and today it feels like Im on top of the world!! :p

On another note, I saw Jamie's making his own version of muesli. I was tempted to give it a try too. I didn't follow his recipe as I made use of whatever Ingredients I had. Most of the ingredients of muesli are healthy. Eat in with milk or even yogurt for a healthy and quick breakfast.

Add some milk and breakfast is done!! :D

Ingredients:

1.5 cups rolled oats2

1/2 cup ground bran

1/4 cup chopped dried apricots

1/4 cup chopped dates

1 cup almond flakes (toasted)

a handful of banana chips (slightly crushed)

2 tbsp sunflower seeds

2 tbsp raisins

1/4 cup brown sugar (Optional)

Method:

Combine all the ingredients.

Serve with milk, yogurt or even ice cream!

This will keep for a good couple months in an airtight container.

Great as a base for cheesecakes too!

*Feel free to play around with the ingredients. Pecans, walnuts and your fav choice of dried fruits.

An enormously popular dessert...

Personally I feel that the top layer of hard caramel is very very important. That's the characteristic of a Creme brulee aka "burnt cream in French. Without the caramel crust, I think it as a baked custard! Dorie described it as the "characteristic crackle" :p

I have been looking for a kitchen torch so that I can make the perfect creme brulee. Any idea where I can buy affordable kitchen torch/blowtorch for home use? :)

Anyways, this is from Dorie's Baking: From my home to yours. It's a good recipe. My brothers easily ate a few of these and mom loved it too! For a small eater like her, eating a few of these is a big thing indeed :P

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup (119ml) whole milk
3 large egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp pure vanilla extract ( I added this)
About 6 tablespoons (75g) sugar or sifted light brown sugar, for topping

Method:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 200ºF/ 93ºC.

Put the six baking dishes on a baking sheet.
Bring the cream and milk just to a boil.
In a glass measuring cup or in a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks, sugar and vanilla together until well blended but not airy. Still whisking, drizzle in about one quarter of the hot liquid---this will temper, or warm, the yolks so they won’t curdle.

Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remainder of the cream and milk.
Give the bowl a good rap against the counter to De-bubble the custard, then strain it into the baking dishes.
Bake the custards for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the centers are set.

Tap the sides of the dishes, and the custards should hold firm.

Lift the dishes onto a cooling rack and let the custards cool until they reach room temperature.
Cover each custard with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, preferably longer. (The custards can be kept covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.)

*For the sugar to be successfully caramelized, the custards need to be thoroughly chilled.

Dorie's Tips

"The most efficient way to caramelize the sugar topping is to use a blowtorch. If you don’t have a torch, you can chill the custards very, very well, then set them in an ice-cube-filled roasting pan and run them under the broiler. You won’t get as even a coating with the broiler as you would with the torch, but you’ll still get the flavor
and the pleasure of a crackly sugar crust over cream custard."

"The best baking dishes for crème brûlée are shallow, ideally just an inch (2,5
cm) high, about 4 inches (10 cm) in diameter and holding about ¾ cup of liquid.
Porcelain, pottery or glass gratin or baking dishes are perfect, but if you
don’t have them, you can use ramekins or even disposable aluminum foil pans, an
unglamorous but effective solution "

Ps: Thank you Nk for entrusting me with these precious baking dishes belonging to your late mom. E fact that it made its way into my new home goes to show that, I treasure these dearly :)

Tahir's B'day

We had a small get-together on Saturday to celebrate my eldest brother's
birthday. I cooked a simple yet cozy dinner of chicken rice. I also made creme
brulee, corn on the cob, grass-jelly 'n' watermelon dessert and Tiramisu which is
my brother's favourite :)

Just sharing some of the pics....

The happy little guests :p

Tying Up Loose Ends

Ni hao, salam namaste, vanekum, sawadekap, bonjour and konichiwaa! I hope every1 are in the pink of health! :) I'm sorry for not replying to emails and comments. It was really a busy period for me.

Anyways, we are almost done with E unpacking and stuffs. Just need to tie up some loose ends...

In the midst of moving into a new place, I was busy with
the wedding favors too. It took me 11 days to complete all 10,000 cookies.
Burnt and badly shaped cookies ain't included :P
All were packed in cookie bags and sealed with the help of my cousins! It
was really funny though coz my cousins get very happy when some or the cookies
are broken coz they get to munch on those! They even had a plate by E side to
place all the "rejected cookies" :p

The 200 jumbo wedding cupcakes were quite a chore coz quite an amount of work
were involve.

My cousin sew the "wraps" for the cupcakes plus the ribbons too....everything was done manually! Believe it or not. I started baking at 3pm and I completed everything at 8am the next day. It was a sleepless night. From the baking of the cupcakes to making the ganache, wrapping the cupcakes....adding on the ribbons, frosting it and finally decorating it!

I then took a 2 hr much needed break and started on another order. By 4pm, I was
done with a 1kg vanilla cake, 60 red velvet cupcakes and 65 vanilla2 cupcakes. It
was really in a rush and I hardly get to snap pics.

The b'day celebrant who was celebrating here 21st b'day was such a sweetheart! She was a total stranger but she was so nice and sweet! She even emailed me some of her pics with my cakes! I didn't even need to request her to do so. She has been the perfect customer from the day she enquiry about my cakes till the day she returned my tiers. She even took such great care in handling the tiers that I officially declare that she's the best customer in the world! :p Anyways, I can't share all the pics she sent coz I believe most are personal pics. I shall just share those which are share-able.

Vanilla2 ordered by Sk for her best-friend engagement.