Martha's Cookies

A virgin attempt at these cookies. I needed new cookies for my hari raya list, thus I'm trying out new recipes. Both the recipes were from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook. I just made some modifications.

These were specially created for the little ones and the child in us all.


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This was actually called snicker-doodles but I decided to rename it. It was really really lovely. I remembered seeing this on a blog (can't rem which) and thought it looked interesting. I then came across these cookies in Martha's book and I had to give it a try. I received quite a number of positive feedback. My aunt and cousin said that it reminded them of Auntie Anne's cinnamon pretzel. These were crunchy though. I really loved these.....E great flavour of sugar cinnamon coating and sandy buttery flavor which makes eating one just about impossible!

Another 1...

So this was the other themed brownie. This won't be the last coz she already ordered her 4th brownies. She said that Im famous among her friends now. I just have to say that I am overwhelmed. After her fourth order in less than 10days, I'm starting to worry. Err did I accidentally dropped in some addictive drug in the brownies that is causing this repetitions? :p

Loved the little flowers!

Anyways, the next theme is Bollywood. Its like OMG BOLLYWOOD! I'm a big fan of bollywood and bollywood would mean songs, dance, romance, good looking heros/heroines, changing 5 clothes in 5 minutes :p Bollywood would of cause mean SHAHRUKH KHAN too! :p But how do i put bollywood on a brownie? I really need to think...

Filled Madeleines

I made madeleines again. I made it into petite fours. It was mom's idea that we filled these with durians! Mine was filled with blueberries :) It was really delicious. You wouldn't have realised that these were madeleines! It was so soft and rich :) Recipe can be found here.

My mom was fasting and I decided to make some snacks for her to break her fast. She love puff pastries, so here it goes...
The 1st time I had a bite of this pastry was when my mami bought back some from Macau. I was head over heals in love with these! Those sold at Cheers taste pretty darn good too.
It's really easy to make anyways. You can make your own puff pastry or buy ready made.

Ingredients..
500g ready made puff pastry

Filling
200g whipping cream
300g milk
100g sugar
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
1 tbsp vanilla essence (I used quite an amount coz mom dislikes the smell of eggs)

Method..
Roll pastry to a rectangular shape about 3mm thick. roll it up like a Swiss roll. chill until firm.
Divide the pastry into 25g portions. Flatten the pastry and roll it into about 3mm thickness. press onto the tart moulds.


Filling:
Cook whipping cream and milk until its a little hot.
Stir in sugar until dissolves. Cool a bit and add into the beaten eggs and egg yolks.
Mix until well blended.
Lastly add in the vanilla essence. set aside to cool.
4. pour the filling into the pastry tarts.
Bake at 220 degrees for 20-25 mins.

Just roll the sausages with some pastry and give it a egg/milk wash. Bake at 200Degrees for about 20 minutes.

Bubblegumlicious

Another brownie order. This time her theme was "bubblegum". I wasn't very sure as to how I should go about it. Thanks to Nk who told me to go for bold bubblegum colours. I guess it looks quite nice :p I have another brownie order for this Saturday. This time the theme is White Ice Princess. And yes, the brownie was ordered by the same lady. Her 3rd brownie order in 1 week! I'm really A.M.A.Z.E.D. It is scary though coz I put more expectations on myself with every order. I should be getting better right? I hope that is the case.

Hawaiian Green

I had an order for a brownie on Saturday. Most of the time, I topped my brownies with just chocolate ganache. This time round, E customer requested for a green frosting coz they had a hawaiian green theme! It was exciting for me....took me back to my art n craft days :p But I was never good at art and I guess it shows. :p I have been seeing too many of Suyin cakes and her cakes always look soooooo real! I wished mine looked more real though.....

Anyways, later in the day the customer get back to me with some nice compliments and she said that the decos were really cute. I guess towards the end of E day, that matters the most. As I am typing this post, I have another brownie cooling down on the dining table. In fact it's an order from the same customer. I'm contented somehow. Repeat orders speak volumes.

Btw, I know that the little doll "asset" is way too overwhelming for her size. heeeeee.... It was intended to be that way. A lot of ladies are into "enhancing" nowadays....so I thought I enhance hers too! *Cheeky grin*

A traditional sweet from France

I have been wanting to bake madeleines but I wasn't able to lay my hands on a madeleine pan. Anyways, finally I got down to baking some and it was a breeze. My mom totally loved it and my brother kept popping 1 after another in his mouth; despite protesting by saying that I'm trying to give kuih bahulu a fancy name by calling it madeleines! Haha. Yes2, I do realise that madeline do resembles the traditional bahulu but it is not really the same. The traditional Bahulu uses quite a lot of sugar and it contains no butter wherelse madeleine has quite an amount of butter, thus it taste really rich :)

Anyways, I used Donna Hay's recipe.

It turned out really good. My mom is already bugging me to make more! Infact, I dare say that it's way softer and more spongy than Delifrance Madeleine. Do try it! Btw, the silicone pan was worth the investment. It was a dream using it. The madeleine came off so easily :)

Ingredients:
4 eggs
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 1/4 cups plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
180g butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla (I added this)

Method:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Place eggs and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 8-10 minutes or until very pale and thick.
Sift flour and baking powder over the mixture and continue to beat at low speed until smooth.
Mix in butter , vanilla and beat until combined.
Grease madeleine pan/pans and spoon in the mixture.
Bake for about 10 mins or till golden.
Enjoy!

Just a little shopping...

I went to buy some baking stuffs last week. There wasn't a need to carry kgs of flour, heavy blocks of butter...etc! It was leisure shopping, so it was fun! I practice a little self restrain though coz I always go CRAZIE in this kinda stores and I end up buying things that is of no use at all! Anyways, these were my buy for the day. I was hoping to buy more decorating stuffs but BIY had nothing much to offer that day.

A lot of chocolate transfers!

This cost close to $40 which is ridiculous If I may say. BIY has great stuffs, but their prices are way above Phoon huat, Sun Lik...etc2.

I just needed the filling tip but then I keep misplacing my 1M tip, so I bought E whole set!

Okay, I don't really need this but it looks useful :P I guess besides mini brownies, I can make petit fours too.

This I NEED! I have been wanting to buy a madeleine pan for agesssss! It's always out of stock apparently! The moment I saw this, I literally grabbed it! :p

Now, I dunno why I bought this. I mean...just look at the groom's hair!!! :S

I wanted this for more than a year now. I just love the effect it gives on fondant.

Love the black pearls/dragees! $8.50 might seems expensive for a bottle, but trust me...it's so worth it. I bought a bottle June 2008 and I still have some left!

Been wanting to try this...

Rosemary Chicken

Serving dinners right from the oven is quite fuss free. Less preparations, minimum cleaning ups, and most of the time, food cooked in the oven is more healthy.

So dinner was grilled chicken with grilled assorted vegetables. Peppers, onions, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes and mushroom. Simplicity as its best...

The grilled chicken was inspired by Jamie Oliver's Lemon, garlic and rosemary grilled chicken. I gave it a slight twist by adding black pepper, light soy sauce, olive oil, nutmeg and. It was obviously yummmz! :D

Recycle...

Made this coz I had a loaf of bread that was basically untouched. It wasn't possible for us to finish it before its expiration date, so I decided to make this. Gave it a slight twist by dusting some milo on it. I made some with dried oregano too :) Love to eat these by dipping 'em in a glass of milk.

Ingredients:

Bread, preferable a few days old. (Cut as desire)

Butter

Fine sugar

Milo

Method:

Spread some butter on bread. Sprinkle with some sugar and milo too if you prefer.

Bake in preheated oven at 170Degrees celsius.

Bake for about 45 mins or till crispy.

Once cool, store in an airtight bottle.

Enjoy with a glass of milk or a good cup of tea, coffee or even milo!

Going Mediterranean

Last night dinner was,

Grilled assorted vegetables

Half a ciabatta

And grilled lamb

Delishhhhhhhhh!

Backdated

I know I have been missing in action way too often but I c.a.n.t h.e.l.p. it :(

Anyways my brother is going through a speedy recovery and I'm back home :)
It was supery dupery busy 2 weeks though!

It all started with my 2nd brother throwing a thanksgiving. I cooked for 120 people. The crowd didn't even reach 100 people but I guess no complains coz it meant more food! I was too busy and tired that I didnt remember to take any pics!! Anyways, it also falls on my brother b'day so we had a "cake cutting ceremony" My sister in law and uncle b'day were 2 days later, so we celebrated their b'day too! I baked 2 cakes. The blueberry cake was meant for my brother and sister in law and the durian cake was for my uncle. Somehow, uncle came with a chocolate mousse cake from Carlton, so we ended up having 3 cakes! No 1 complained though ;) I received quite a number of compliment for the durian cake and I was obviously please despite the fact that I screwed up on a few things :p I wanted to top the cake with more durian but I didn't have enough durian! Sighs....another time I guess!

My brother is officially 40 now.

Congratulations Bro! How does it feel to be 40? :P

An order of 21 cupcakes for a 21st B'day

They wanted a pink and girly theme...

I had some extra cupcakes and I served it to guests who came over to visit my brother.

1 of the lucky guest was this little 1...

Full and happy! :p

There were of coz another order for 50 people. Lots of savouries and 6 different types of cupcakes. I didn't snap a single pic so I guess I shouldn't talk about it :p

Amidst all these busyness, we had a mini bbq at my 2nd bro's place.It was just basically me and the kids bbqing away on 1 fine evening. We barbequed tandoori chicken, prawn/sotong balls, potato wedges, sausages, shitake and peppers on sticks and prawns. Super simple yet fun.