My Domestic Bliss

Hello I'm back!

2011-10-04T08:00:00.000+08:00

Hello there! Those of you reading...I'm back after a hiatus. Things happen... life got in the way, so blogging took a back seat! Can't say I don't miss blogging though!

I leave you with some photos taken since the last time I was here. There are many more bakes which did not have the opportunity to pose for the camera...there just wasn't enough time for photo shoots! And then I thought I had misplaced my micro lens...but recently found it in my daughter's handbag!!

So I shall leave you with these - the macaron tower above was for a hantaran. A customer liked it so much that she asked me to replicate it for her Eid open house (below).

Macarons and more macarons...these photos are the decent ones. Most of the time I bake at night and the lighting is terrible, so I chose not to post them here hehe...

These ones below were taken in the afternoon. Natural light is always the best!

I received quite a lot of carrot cake orders for Eid..here are two of them...

And below, macarons photos taken in the evening. No amount of photoshopping will rectify the bad lighting! arrrghhh...

Till then... write you soon!

Baking with Dorie: Cream Puff Rings

2011-10-03T10:15:00.001+08:00

Hello October! And hello to blog readers whom I've not written for, for what seemed like ages! I wouldn't have known this blog actually has a follower until I receive smses and emails asking me about my silence! Thanks for reading My Domestic Bliss!

This month it's my turn to host Baking with Dorie where a group of us bake a recipe chosen by the host from Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours. And I have chosen Peppermint Cream Puff Ring from page 290-292. But I ommitted the peppermint as I couldn't find any!

I also did not have sliced almonds on hand, so I used hundreds and thousands!

Here's my Cream Puff Ring with the recipe below. Also check out my fellow BWDs here!

Peppermint Cream Puff Ring
By Dorie Greenspan

For the Pastry
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup whole milk
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 large eggs

For the Cream
About 1 1/3 cups heavy cream
40 fresh mint leaves
6 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup cold creme fraiche or sour cream
Peppermint extract (optional)

For the Glaze
2 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 tbsp heavy cream
2 tsp light corn syrup
3 tbsp sliced almonds, toasted

Getting ready:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Draw a 7- to 8-inch circle on a piece of parchment paper, turn the paper over and use it to line a baking sheet. Fit a large pastry bag with a 3/4-inch diameter plain piping tip.

To make the pastry:

Bring the water, milk, butter, sugar and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the flour all at once and mix it in with a a wooden spoon, then keep stirring energetically until the dough comes together in a shiny mass. The bottom of the pan will be covered with a thin film of flour. Cook the dough for another 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly, then transfer the hot dough to the bowl of a stand mixer or another large bowl.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat in 3 of the eggs on at a time, beating until each is fully incorporated beore adding the next. Whisk the remaining egg in a small bowl and very gradually add enough of the beaten egg to form a dough that is thick, shiny and silky.

Spoon the warm dough into the pastry bag, position the tip above the outline of the circle and pipe a ring of dough about 1-inch thick. Pipe a second ring of dough inside the first ring and just touching it. Pipe a third ring of dough on top of the circle where the first and second rings of dough meet If you have any extra dough, pipe out as many cream puffs as you can or use the dough to make a few eclairs. (The cream puff dough must be piped out as soon as it is mixed. However, if you'd life, you can pipe out the ring and freeze it for up to 2 months beore baking it; don't defrost it, just add about 10 minutes to the baking time.)

Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees F.

Bake the ring for another 20 to 25 minutes (total baking time is 35 to 40 minutes), or until it is puffed, brown and firm. Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and let the ring cool completely.

To make the cream:

Bring 1 1/3 cups cream and the mint leaves to a boil in a medium saucepan. Pull the pan from the heat, cover and let steep for 1 hour, then pour into a bowl and refrigerate until cold, about 3 hours.

Strain the cream into a measuring cup and add as much additional chilled cream as needed to measure 1 1/3 cups.

Use a serrated knife and a very gentle sawing motion to slice off the top of the pastry ring in one piece pull out and discard any soft dough from the inside of the base. Carefully place the pastry ring base on a platter.

Working with a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer in a medium bowl, whip the cream and 1/4 cup of the sugar until the cream holds firm peaks. Stir the remaining 2 tbsp of sugar into the creme fraiche and, using a rubber spatulat, gently fold the creme fraiche into the mint whipped cream. Taste the cream, and if you'd like a stronger mint flavor, add a drop or two of extract.

Spoon the mint cream into a clean pastry bag and pipe large rosettes into the base, keeping the rosettes close to one another. Pipe a second row of rosettes on top of the first row, piping the top rosettes between the bottom rosettes. Refrigerate the base while you make the glaze.

To make the glaze:

Melt the chocolate with the cream and corn syrup in a small heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring until the glaze is melted and smooth.

Using a small icing spatula, spread the glaze over the top circle of pastry. Sprinkle the toasted nuts over the glaze, and press them down gently. Carefully set the rign on top of the base - don't press down, you want to top to rest light on the whipped cream - and refrigerate the cake for at least 1 hour before serving. Covered lightly and kept away from food with strong odors, the ring can be refrigerated for up to 8 hours.)

Makes 12 servings

Pure Magic at Pantry Magic Kuala Lumpur!

2011-08-14T23:40:00.002+08:00

Have I managed to get your attention yet? And oh... wipe that drool off your mouth now... haha!!

If you're like me, you'll be mesmerised at what's in store at Pantry Magic Kuala Lumpur, located in Jalan Telawi, Bangsar which opened its door just over 2 weeks ago. I am so so glad Pantry Magic is here in Kuala Lumpur! It is definitely a first of its kind here in town.

Entering the store, I didn't quite know where to start looking..everything looked so good and each utensil, each pot, each spatula was calling my name to give them some attention! It was as though I was lost in my fantasy world! Honestly, it was a bit embarrassing... I think my mouth was wide open gawking at the items in the store!

Thank God the ladies of Pantry Magic did not mind! Meet the three lovely ladies behind Pantry Magic Kuala Lumpur - sisters Farah and Tania, and their childhood friend Eisya. They were all so nice and welcoming and did not mind when I asked if I could take photos for this blog.

The trio at work - Eisya baking some cookies; they were for the customers! Farah behind the counter and Tania stacking a set of colourful porcelain mixing bowls (which yours truly got a set for herself!)

Tania and Farah described themselves as passionate cooks whose project three years ago was to convert their childhood friend, Eisya into one! And that they did successfully!

The three of them then decided to share a business together, and after looking around, applied to be a Pantry Magic franchisee about a year ago.

Tania said, "We generally love cooking and meeting people and want to share our passion and spread the love!" Believe it or not, the trio uprooted themselves from Perlis to Kuala Lumpur to live out their dreams.

"If you want to be successful, you have to take risks and have to make sacrifices," said Tania.

Well, one thing is for sure - I really felt their genuine love for the art of cooking and baking at the store! I will let the pictures do the rest of the talking. Enjoy!

tea towels in various gorgeous designs

Red Velvet and Double Chocolate Macarons

2011-08-10T07:30:00.004+08:00

I love the stark contrast of the bright red and white of these Red Relvet macarons. Don't you?

With just a hint of cocoa and deep red colouring for the shells, with luscious cream cheese filling, these red velvet macarons are a show-stopper!! Definitely not for the faint-hearted!

Below are some Double Chocolate macarons, a favourite among many (my fav too!)

Macs oh! macs... can't live with them, can't live without them! :D

Pavlova

2011-08-08T13:01:00.003+08:00

I listed Pavlova as one of my to-do bakes for 2011 earlier this year, but I never got around to baking it... until I received an order from my favourite customer (ehem ehem tersedak tak you!) for a Pavlova for her hubby's birthday! I was excited but scared at the same time!

I did not have a recipe for Pavlova, so I went to my to-go site when looking for recipes or simply inspiration for bakes - Joy of Baking. It looked simply enough and I whipped it up while waiting for another customer to come collect her Red Velvet cake.

Click here for the recipe.

The recipe says to spread the meringue on the baking paper, but I knew mine was going to be a mess if I did that... so I cut a huge hole in my plastic piping bag and piped the meringue around the earlier drawn circle. I filled up the circle with the remainder of the meringue and tidied it with more piped meringue... they looked like clouds in my dreams!

photo below of the piped meringue before it went in the oven...

After about 70 minutes in the oven, it was done... but I kept it in the oven with the door ajar until it was ready to be garnished a few hours later.

Below is the final product, with dollops of whipped cream and fresh strawberries and kiwis. Thanks for the order, Soraya!

Baking with Dorie: Crème Brûlée

2011-08-03T13:00:00.000+08:00

Crème Brûlée is French, and any French dessert must be good, oui?

These are absolument renversant - absolutely amazing!

Cream, milk, sugar, vanilla and egg yolk makes one creamy and satisfying dessert!

This month's Baking with Dorie bake was chosen by BWD founder Grapefruit. Take a peek at her beautiful Crème Brûlée, recipe included here.

For me personally, Crème Brûlée is an icon for desserts! It's been on my to-do list for ages and I'm glad Grapefruit chose this recipe for BWD.

I wish I had a blow torch to play around with, but I didn't - so I used my broiler to caramelise the sugar. I didn't get a thick layer of burnt sugar but the crunch was there!

I wish I took better photos, but these were shot at 5am this morning and I don't have good lighting in the house! Can't wait to have some for iftar later!

Say...Korova!!

2011-08-01T22:19:00.002+08:00

Kueh Raya? Heheheh... we've only been fasting for a day and here I am presenting you with an Eid cookie nominee!!

I love these cookies, or more aptly, sables. They have a deep chocolatey flavour and sandy in texture. I make them all year round - kids absolutely adore them and I dare you to stop at just one!

As in the previous year, I am taking (small) orders for this cookies, but I think your family will appreciate it more if you make them yourself to bawak balik kampung! Go here for the recipe. They are also known as World Peace Cookies - I wrote about them here.

So, what are you waiting for? Go make some today!

This and that...

2011-07-28T21:10:00.000+08:00

Been doing a lot of French meringue macarons lately. The thing about my French mac; they are always grainy! I wish they aren't but those who are prefer them don't mind at all. The yellow, chocolate and hazelnut macs were a birthday gift!

And then there's Red Velvet again! Two RVs were ordered, referred to me by Kitchen Guardian - thanks, Yani! Two of the same three-layer RVs to indulge in for an office party.

Yes, I'm in love with French meringue macarons again! And I love it when the bottom doesn't stick to the baking paper! Makes life so much easier!

And below is to me one of the best tasting cakes that I bake - Boston Cream Pie - sponge cake with French pastry cream and chocolate ganache (yes, it's a cake with an identity crisis!) Thanks Soraya for ordering this and thanks for your understanding - the cake layers moved out of its place! I'm glad you think its yummy nevertheless... I sakit perot already ya know!! Next time no more three layers...just two!

And more French macarons...

I'm so glad it's Friday tomorrow! Enjoy your weekend y'all!

Untitled

2011-07-16T20:13:00.002+08:00

Yes, untitled. Well, actually this blog post has a title. It's titled 'Untitled'. Hmmm...I think I really have no more creative juice left in me whatsoever..not a single drop! But blog I must coz I have pictures to show and stories to share!

By the way, the photo above is actually of my macaron shells rejects! They did not make the cut - either too small, no same-coloured pair, total lop-sided on one side (redundant?) or burned at the bottom. I was arranging them in the 'rejects' container and thought they actually look good together!

And below are those which made the cut... and as usual, they are not quite perfect either! :-)

Well, in the quest of macaron perfection, I purchased these Mastrad macaron baking sheets below from Bisous À Toi via Kitchen Guardian. Oh! how I dreamed of perfect looking, same-sized macarons!! All my macaron worries would be over, I told myself...when I get my hands on these babies! Then reality checked in and I knew that macaronnage is the most important thing in macaron-making... still I wanted these! And so on Wednesday night I went to collect these from my mac buddy, the Kitchen Guardian (more than the guardian of her kitchen, she is the epitome of a superwoman to me!) Read her post on this here.

What do you know, my macarons stuck to the silicone sheets and I had the shortest feet ever! I am not blaming the sheets, though...I just need to get used to using silicone sheets. I don't own any Silpat, the non-stick baking mat and have always relied on the trusty Tesco brand baking paper. Mastrad oh Mastrad... I hope it won't be a long and stressful relationship between the two of us! He he!! But despaired I am not!

left; the piped mac batter. right; baked macarons...short feet and their bottoms stuck to the sheets!

Well, not only was I excited to collect my Mastrads from KG the other night, I was also looking forward to these... the KitchenCraft kitchen thermometer which KG so kindly bought for me as a gift and...

...this Jill Colonna book, Mad about Macarons!! Aaaah...I can't put the book down..so many recipes, so many photos to drool over!! Thank you Yani!! XOXO!!

And oh boy! am I excited about finishing up my MAD bakes...two more weeks and I'm free as a bird!! That ought to give me back my creative juices!! :P Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Wedding Cupcakes for the lovely Nadia...

2011-07-05T20:00:00.004+08:00

I am a lover of weddings! Aren't you?

The sweetest bride-to-be Nadia ordered some vanilla and coconut cupcakes to compliment her wedding cake which was to be baked by her mom! Isn't that just so sweet? Nadia is such an unfussy bride...so unlike me when I was one!! LOL...she was open to all suggestions but in the end I followed her order to the tee and we're both glad I did!!

Don't you think the Victoria Sandwich Cake by Nadia's mom look splendid? I love the entire look of free and easy, no-fuss backyard garden wedding. And the little ladies ogling the cake table are too cute!

By the way, Nadia was kind enough to send me a thank you email for the cupcakes and included the photo above taken by her friend!

Here's wishing the newlyweds a blessed and blissful marriage!

Baking with Dorie: Strawberry Cobbler!

2011-07-03T22:45:00.004+08:00

It just feels soooo good writing this BWD post. It's been a looong time since I baked with my fellow BWDers. I am guilty of four bakes in a row of no-show!! (cringe)

Well, I'm here now and this has been something that I had looked forward to!

The recipe is originally for cherry and rhubarb but I substituted them with strawberries - I don't like cherries (thank God as they are super expensive in this side of the world) and I know I could look for rhubarb (imported!) but I didn't want to invest my time in getting something I wasn't sure I would like (and I am rather picky, yikes!). So, good ol' strawberries it is!

I halved the recipe and used a 7x5 inch dish. The strawberries fit perfectly but I didn't have enough biscuit to cover the fruit! So I resorted to making another half-recipe of biscuit which made me have more than ample dough. And what I did differently from the recipe - I omitted ground ginger and since I didn't have wheat flour, I used rolled oats! It worked just fine - in fact, I love the texture!

Loved watching this bake in the oven! The juice oozing out from the dish is a sight to behold. We had this warm from the oven. I don't think they would still taste as good at room temperature.

Thanks to Ryan of The Behr Necessities for choosing this recipe from Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours for BWD's July bake. For the list of BWD blogs, visit here.

Strawberry Tarts, Red Velvet and Macarons...among others!

2011-06-29T23:11:00.000+08:00

After days of being sick, and mom hospitalised...and need I mention some drama at the office (hmmmm...) I needed something to cheer me up! And what better way than to publish some colourful photos of my recent bakes! To those of you who have emailed for MAD redemption... I will slot you in, I just did not have the time nor energy to reply to all your emails! but worry not ok!

And to those whom I have re-scheduled their pick-ups due to me having to attend to mom in the hospital over last weekend, thank you very much for your understanding and kind prayers! Alhamdulillah...praise to the AlMighty, she has undergone the much needed heart procedure successfully 2 days ago and is recovering.

These strawberry tarts were made with recipe adapted from Dorie Greenspan. I can't live without Ms Greenspan's lovely recipes in Baking: From My Home To Yours. Get the book, get the book!! The same customer also ordered some Red Velvet cupcakes. Lined up together in a box, they complement each other!

And of course, some (not-quite-perfect) macarons again...macam tak ada modal lain! haha!!

Here's to better days ahead!

Macarons again!

2011-06-19T21:15:00.001+08:00

Time flies when it's the weekend! Back to the grind again tomorrow, but for now I'm enjoying what's left of my Sunday evening!

I'm scrambling for words to type, so let's just look at 'em pictures of my less than perfect macarons! Have a great week ahead y'all!

Portuguese Egg Tart

2011-06-15T22:57:00.001+08:00

I love egg tarts, but had never tasted the famous Portuguese egg tart - one which uses puff pastry as the crust. For the past week, an ex-colleague has been posting and rambling about her love affair with Portuguese egg tarts from Bak*r's C*ttage on a social networking site. I was curious! I started looking for the recipe on the internet and found various kinds for making the custard; some uses milk, some whipping cream, some half and half and I even found one which uses condensed milk and evaporated milk! From my reading, I summed up that the custard is not unlike French pastry cream - my favourite filling! One constant thing I found in all recipes was that puff pastry was used. Store-bought puff pastry. Yippee!! :) Sounds easy...bake some egg tarts, I must!!

Before I baked my own tonight, earlier in the day a colleague volunteered to get some of 'em egg tarts from the bakery for us who have been salivating over the photos posted by our friend. They were delicious! More reason for me to try bake some on my own!

I finally settle on this recipe, because the writer, Andrea Nguyen did some thorough research on this dessert and provided some interesting background - I like food that can tell a story! Please visit the link provided for the recipe and how-to.

The custard recipe was enough for 10 egg tarts for me. For the puff pastry, I used Kawan brand puff pastry squares. I just needed five sheets which I halved to get 10 tart base. Go to the recipe link I provided above for the how-to.

I like this recipe's filling - I used half a cup of milk and half a cup of heavy cream. They are very creamy indeed! But I prefer Bak*r's Cottag*'s puff pastry crust slightly better though. Still, these were delicious and an easy dessert to be made and served warm out of the oven for your guests.

Happy baking!

A little bit of everything...

2011-06-14T21:05:00.004+08:00

I miss baking for pleasure! Yup, that's the sentiment of the day! Ever since the MAD deal, I have been baking crazy every weekend, and left me with little time to try out new recipes and bake at my own pace. But I really shouldn't complain for I've met some wonderful people through MAD and look forward to meeting more till end of July - that's when the redemption period ends. I can't wait, though! My daughter is sitting for a national-level exam in September and already this week she is sitting for her Junior School Leaving Assessment trials. I gotta spend more time with her rather than my oven!

The MAD deal has also opened up other doors for me. Similar online group-discount-buying companies have approached me, including Group*n and D*al4Re*l. There's no thinking twice about it, I just have to say no for now. I am rather flattered to be approached though, so thank you for the interest!

Enough ramble..here are some photos taken recently. And really, I have NOT been taking much photos of my macarons. I feel rather sick looking at macarons these days hahaha!!

Here are some French macarons...they are rather grainy. The ground almonds from my baking supplies shop have been really grainy lately. But some tells me they simply adore the rustic effect!! To each his/her own! I must say, the grainy effect does not affect the taste...in fact, I think the texture makes it more tasty!

I like lining up the macs in six - that's the amount of macs in a box for the MAD deal. These are not yet filled.

There have also been requests for Red Velvet cake. I love tall cakes and so that's what I bake! Three layers of velvety-smooth moist cake with layers of cream cheese!

And I've been making quite a bit of sushi rolls these days. The kids love them and they're super easy, not to mention super fast to make!

I'm no sushi expert, but the rolls are called makizushi and the cone-shaped ones are temakizushi. Someone correct me if I'm wrong! I learned to make these simple sushi rolls from a roomie from college who had a Japanese boyfriend!

I filled the them up with tempura shrimp and chicken strips and cucumber! These I've been making out of memory since eons ago. Cook some Japanese rice and then flavour them with some vinegar and a little bit of sugar. Place the nori sheets (seaweed) on the bamboo mat and spread and flatten the rice. Fill strips of condiments of your choice and roll them up before cutting them horizontally. Try them out!

Oh of course, I just gotta have my sushi with wasabi! Got a tube of Japanese wasabi from my neighbourhood Korean store.

Ok, from Japan we move to America! Below is a Strawberry Shortcake I made awhile ago. Found these photos in one of my folders - they are Martha's recipe. But instead of topping them off with whipped cream, I made lemon glaze. I love lemon!

And below are some macarons using Italian meringue - see how much smoother they look compared to the French macarons? I make both French and Italian meringue macarons... they both taste yummy, although I have regular customers who insist on the grainy and gerutu French macs!

And lastly... a shot of my colours. I use gel food colouring for my bakes. These colour up my kitchen!

Phewhhh...am so glad I am finally getting a blog post out! Till then!!

This crazy thing called baking!

2011-05-29T21:44:00.000+08:00

It's been crazy! I've been baking six out of seven nights in a week and the orders keep coming in! And how do I say no, especially to repeat customers who have been so sweet (you know who you are!) I've had little time to write up a blog post, but tonight I just have to ~ Soraya, this is for you! :)

A short one, as I have to go bake some six dozen macarons, four dozen carrot cupcakes and 2 dozen red velvet cupcakes for tomorrow. It may not be a big amount for professional homebakers (now, isn't that an oxymoron?!) but for a part-time baker like me, it is! I haven't been snapping photos of my bakes either and the ones above are some that I managed to take in the past week.

Have a good week ahead!

Happy Friday!

2011-05-20T08:27:00.001+08:00

A short one...here's wishing you a happy happy Friday! It's my firstborn's 12th birthday today - on request, she brought red velvet cupcakes to school. She has invited 10 of her friends to come over tomorrow and mommy still haven't the slightest idea what to do coz' mommy has been extremely occupied meeting the orders of the MAD deal. Whatever it is I do, I sure hope she won't be too dissapointed. Looks like no sleep tonight!

I'm posting these photos of the macs I baked this morning, 2am till the time came to go to work...some are for a hantaran order, some for MAD pick-up later today. I love the colours!

Ok, gotta go attend that meeting!

What's red and velvety soft?

2011-05-18T00:00:00.002+08:00

One doesn't have to be a food fanatic to guess, right?

Extremely moist, this is a great recipe from Paula Deen - a personal choice compared to the one I've used before by Martha Stewart.

Tight crumbs and may I add again, delightfully moist! This recipe is a winner! Check it out here.

And making this cake this time around, I found out that this recipe is closest to the authentic Red Velvet cake recipe so famous in the southern states of the US.

So what apparently makes a red velvet cake authentic? Here are some essentials:

1. The cake must have some cocoa, but not too much because it is not a chocolate cake.

2. The cake must have red food coloring; beet juice does not add the right kind of red.

3. The cake must have cream cheese frosting.

4. There should be pecans. (This was news to me.)

5. You must use high-quality ingredients, including White Lily flour, a Southern specialty flour.

6. Precise measurements and meticulous attention to detail are key for this cake; therefore, it must be made in small, easy-to handle, family-sized batches. (Mass-produced batter just doesn't cut it. Sorry, large-scale bakeries.)

7. You must use a hand-held electric mixer, not a stand mixer: Larger machines can over-mix the batter, which sometimes prevents the cake from rising properly.

8. Red velvet cake batter needs vegetable oil, not butter or shortening. Oil yields a very moist cake.

Ok, so I got 6 out of 8 right! No White Lily flour over here and hmmmm...I did not have any pecans at home! So, can I get an 8 out of 10 for this?

For the things that matter...

2011-05-15T16:11:00.003+08:00

I spent my Saturday baking, baking and more baking for my wonderful newfound customers. The exposure given to me by milkadeal was quite overwhelming. Not only were they placing orders for the deal, they were also enquiring about this and that, and placing orders for my macarons and wanting them the next morning or even the same afternoon! Some wanted to know if they could drop by my shop. What shop?? hehe...

Another who ordered a box of macarons asked me 30 minutes before pick-up time if I could bake her another box. It was quite funny to me...I told her making macarons are not like making pisang goreng! (banana fritters). LOL.

But it was all worth it for so far, all of my customers are just so sweet...just like the macarons they ordered!

And while I was busy baking, and the kids were in school at their extra classes, I grabbed a book my BFF recently gave me for Mother's Day - Words That Matter: Everyday truths to guide and inspire, published by The Oprah Magazine.

A book of quotes and Aha Moments, I like them all...but here are some I'd like to share wth you:

"To fulfill a dream, to be allowed to sweat over lonely labor, to be given the chance to create, is the meat and potatoes of life."

--- Bette Davis, actress

Ms. Davis sure was talking to me then, hehe...sweat over lonely labor; she can't be more right about how I was yesterday! But I so love being given the chance to create...I don't mind lonely labor!

Another that I like:

"The only courage you ever need is the courage to live your heart's desire."

---Oprah Winfrey

And one more, one more!

"Try more things. Learning to swim won't stop you from reading Shakespeare. Finding your voice won't stop you from writing novels. You should be cooking from all four burners."
---Breena Clarke, novelist

And so, as I was arranging the macarons in their little boxes, I feel good about following my heart's desires and cooking from perhaps not all four yet, but definitely more than one burner.

It's a Deal!!

2011-05-12T01:19:00.001+08:00

I am, first and foremost a home baker. I bake out of passion and pleasure, and started taking baking orders from friends when they like what I bake. Then I started to bake for friends of friends. More baking means more recipes and more time in the kitchen for me to perfect and test my skills. Still, it doesn't take much of my time and I manage.

About a month ago, I was approached by Milkadeal, who wanted to feature me and my bakes. I was surprised and excited to be 'found' via this blog. I mean, besides a handful of my friends, who reads this blog!! LOL.

A lot of convincing was done by Jolla Chong from Milkadeal. Truthfully, I was scared!! What if, what if?!!? But as they say, the rest is history. We cut out a deal and here it is! RM16 for four (4) carrot cupcakes and six (6) macarons!! Is that a great deal or what!! check it out here!

So this is the packaging that the cupcakes and macarons will come in. I love the little macaron box! Don't you?

With four more days to go (to purchase the deal) and 170 orders and counting, I'm feeling so many things! Excited and scared too...but that's where the fun is!! Bring it on!

Italian Meringue Macarons!

2011-05-09T10:47:00.000+08:00

I have always used the French method when making my macarons, but when I saw KG's Italian method macarons and the step-by-step tutorial by Sue, I was, you can say...curious!! The shell looks much smoother than the French ones and it is more, for lack of a better word...durable! And so with words of encouragement from my mac-making buddy KG, I attempted the Italian method macs and yes, it came out beautifully!

But the question is....which ones are more tasty? Well, tastes are definitely a personal choice and I can't speak for the rest but for me, the French macarons win! I love how they are brittle and break easily in your mouth. These Italian ones are more cookie-like, but having said that, they are not hard at all - the shells have a little crunch that I believe some may take to their liking.

Still, I luv luv luv their smooth shells, something I have not been able to acquire successfully when making the French method. The only way for me to get a shiny smooth shell with a French method is if I were to overfold it, but the shells will be way too flat and wet inside and we don't want that! So, I don't mind the little spots on my macs and I hope you will not mind either!

And...my Milkadeal deal went on live this morning! For try-outs of My Domestic Bliss' bakes - hop on over to their site where you will get 4 carrot cupcakes and 6 macarons for RM16 for a limited period only (OMG was that hard sell or what??) LOL..I need some getting use to this!

Thanks for coming over this blog and have a nice day!

Proud to be a mom!

2011-05-08T13:58:00.001+08:00

My daughters Maira & Misha, aged 12 and 10 respectively, knocked on my room door this morning when I was just getting out of the shower. They yelled out from outside, "come and have a look at your cake...it's ugly!". Yup, they were just as busy as I was in the kitchen this morning preparing a Mother's Day cake for me when I was making some macarons - using Italian meringue for the first time...wait for the post!!

I came out and saw a heart-shaped cake in bright red!! They were of course joking - the cake was beautiful!!

And, the best surprise was when I cut the cake. Have a look!!

more rainbow surprise...

Gorgeous, don't you think? These girls of mine are also into baking like their mommy. Their staple bakes are butter cake such as these (they sometimes throw in chocolate chips in the batter too) and French Yogurt Cake. And they make wonderful cakes too, mind you! They love to bake and bring them over to school for friends and teachers. I love it that they love to share their bakes. It's a big part of what makes baking wonderful.

To all the wonderful mommies out there, Happy Mother's Day!! Gotta run and take mommy's girls out for lunch :)

Mini Swedish Visiting Cake

2011-05-04T06:19:00.001+08:00

I have lost track of how many times I've made this unfussy, delightful cake. If you often only have about 40 minutes to prepare, bake and serve a cake; let me tell you, this should be in your repertoire.

Traditionally baked in an iron skillet, I chose to bake mine in mini tart tins this time, for a pop-in-your-mouth effect. I love how they look individually and I think I am going bake them this way a lot.

I've written about them previously here, with link to the recipe included. I do hope you'll try making them!

....and I am into film grain effect of my photos!! :)

Traditional Madeleines

2011-04-29T23:47:00.003+08:00

This is one of the French pastries that I've been wanting to make. They're really simple to prepare, yet has strong characteristic; thanks to their distinct scallop shape. They are also quite similar in look and in taste to a traditional Malay little cakes called bahulu. Thus, I dub these bahulu Peranchis, or the French bahulu. I won't get sued, will I?

I think they are as pretty as their name! Named after a local woman in Commercy, France, read about the history of Madeleines here.

They are also really tender and light little cakes and personally, I think best to be eaten with a cup of tea. I think coffee would just kill the sweet, fragrant mild taste of the lemon zest in them.

I just recently got myself the mould from a famous baking supplies shop here in Kuala Lumpur. The shocking purplish pink silicone mould has been irresistable to me since the first time I saw them sometime back, yet at the same time I had reservations about getting them. I must add that they are inexpensive and of course, it has been known that sometimes inexpensive tools can affect the quality of your bakes, but these really serve their purpose and I can't be happier! Come to think of it, I don't own any expensive kitchen tools. NONE! Of course, I would love to get a better Madeleines mould - a French one would be great; one which has a more pronounced scallop shape. But for now, I'm happy with what I have! :)

I used Dorie's recipe for this and here they are:

Traditional Madeleines

adapted from Dorie Greenspan, Baking: From My Home to Yours

2/3 cup all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
½ cup sugar
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¾ stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Working in a mixer bowl, or in a large bowl, rub the sugar and lemon zest together with your fingertips. Add the eggs. Beat the eggs and sugar together until pale, thick and light. Beat in the vanilla. Gently fold in the dry ingredients, followed by the melted butter. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the batter and refrigerate it for at least 3 hours.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter and flour12 full-size madeleine molds.
Spoon the batter into the molds. Bake for 11 to 13 minute. Just before serving, dust the madeleines with confectioners’ sugar.

Lemon Blueberry Bread ~ Happy Friday!

2011-04-28T23:52:00.002+08:00

I can't believe its gonna be Friday in a few minutes. For some reason, I wish it wasn't as there are still so many things to be completed at work this week! OMG, was that me talking? LOL!!

It's been a stressful week, and in times of duress, people can get very very edgy! How ironic that in busy times like these, there are bound to be people who can't do anything else but try their very hard to hit on your nerves! aaahhhh...the occupational hazard of any working person.

So what do I do when dealing with stress? I bake!! This will be for my dear colleagues who have been working hard day and night tirelessly for the last few weeks. I hope they will enjoy this for breakfast or a snack... when they actually find time for a break!

This recipe is from Joy of Baking , a simple one but nonetheless uses my favourite ingredients in a cake - lemon and blueberry.And I love dessert that disguises itself as breakfast food! The smell of something with lemon baking in the kitchen is just heavenly. Sweetly fragrant! And you know what? I actually ran out of sugar! But I had plenty of brown sugar, so that's what I used - and I lessen it by 20g.

Have a great weekend ahead and here's the recipe!

Lemon Blueberry Bread

1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (85 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest (outer yellow skin of the lemon)
1/2 cup (120 ml) milk
1 cup fresh blueberries

Lemon Glaze: (I did without)
1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

for how-to, go here.

Matrimonial Macarons

2011-04-26T19:59:00.000+08:00

In Malay culture, asking for a woman's hand in marriage is not the job of the man, but his family's! In fact, the man's family will ask for the woman's hand in marriage through her family too! Of course in this day and age, this custom called merisik acts only as a ritual, serving as a pre-event to the actual wedding, as arranged marriages are pretty much unheard of.

The merisik is then followed by an engagement ceremony called bertunang, and lastly the holy matrimony called nikah where the couple are married off in accordance to religious observance.

During merisik, the man's family will bring with them a tepak sirih , a betel leaf container and some gifts consisting of sweet treats or fruits, usually in an odd number.

So, where am I leading to? Well, last Sunday I was a member of the merisik party for my nephew, who is planning to tie the knot in November. This mini macaron tower was what I contributed as one of the gifts. Chocolate and almond macarons with strawberries and tiny daisies to go along.

And I am submitting this part-chocolate macaron tower to April's MacTweets! This month's MacTweets is all about chocolates! I used my favourite chocolate macaron recipe by David Lebovitz and filled it up with bittersweet chocolate ganache. Chocolatey indeed!

Also some more macarons for matrimony... a colleague tied the know last weekend and requested cream and pink macarons as gifts for the groom, known as hantaran during her nikah ceremony.

They were filled with peanut butter and raspberry jam. Yumms!

Tandoori Shrimp and Chicken with Mint Sauce

2011-04-23T17:31:00.002+08:00

Tandoori is a firm favourite at home. I usually make chicken tandoori, but this morning the shrimp caught my attention at the grocery store - since I'm making the paste for chicken tandoori, I thought why not add in some shrimp as well!

The truth is, it's been awhile since I baked some tandoori at home and my eldest who can eat tandoori everyday (no kidding!) was asking me two evenings ago if I was going to make some soon! So what's a mom to do? Bake some tandoori, of course!

And so it was a carbo-free lunch this afternoon - I did not get any naan bread to go along with the meat and the kids did not mind. The tandoori fan had four pieces!

I made mint sauce to go along with it - I added some yogurt to the original recipe and it was perfect. Honestly, I can have spoonfuls of the sauce on its own! Here, I diced some cucumber and tomatoes and used the mint sauce as dressing.

The tandoori chicken recipe was taken from a famous Malaysian food blogger site, Mat Gebu. I have translated the recipe into English below:

Chicken Tandoori

Ingredient A

500 grams chicken pieces

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon tumeric powder

Ingredient B

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1 1/4 teaspoon coriander powder

1/4 teaspoon cumin powder

1/2 teaspoon paprika

red colouring (optional)

Ingredient C

1 inch ginger

3 cloves garlic

1 red chillie

1/2 tablespoon cooking oil

slices of lime

Method:

In a large bowl, add lemon juice, salt and tumeric powder to chicken pieces. Marinate for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile pound Ingredient C with mortar and pestle and add them to a bowl filled with Ingredient B. Mix B and C together. Add B and C mixture to the bowl of chicken and marinate further for 30 minutes.

Put them on the oven grill and brush some cooking oil. Bake at 200C until done.

Serve with lime slices.

Mint Sauce

1 cup packed fresh mint leaves (250ml
1 shallot finely chopped
1 small fresh red Thai Chile,coarsely chopped,seeded (1 to 1 ½ teaspoons) (5to7ml)
1 large garlic clove, chopped
¼ cup fresh lime juice (60ml)
2 tablespoons water (30ml)
2 teaspoons sugar (10ml)
¾ teaspoon ground cumin (4ml)
¾ teaspoon salt (4ml)

Strip mint from stem and add to blender with chopped shallots, garlic, chili, sugar, water, cumin, salt and squeeze in lime juice. Blend and pour into a bowl for dipping.

is best eaten the day it is made (the colour will turn overnight). Keep chilled, covered.

Makes about ½ cup (125ml)

Milk Chocolate Chunk Muffins

2011-04-12T20:30:00.001+08:00

I love recipe books and I'm lucky I have friends who love buying them for me!

This is from one of the recipe books given to me by my BFF some time ago (I lost track!). It's a delicious book, with all things chocolate, aptly titled CHOCOLATE by Donna Hay.

To be honest with you, I have not been baking much from other books apart from Baking From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan. I am biased, I know. I just can't help it! Almost all of the recipes from her book that I have baked from have proved themselves to be keepers, so naturally I gravitate towards her book when wanting to try a new bake.

Then last night my daughter asked me to bake some chocolate cupcakes to take to school - my favourite chocolate cake recipe involved taking out the mixer to cream the butter and the sugar and I ain't got neither the time nor the energy to do that last night, so I took out Donna's book to look for a recipe which uses oil - which means no mixer is involved, simply whisk everything up together.

This caught my eye... prepared in 15 minutes and baked in 20. Done in 45 minutes!! My kind of recipe, definitely.

I baked them in mini paper liners and the recipe yielded 30 cupcakes - enough for my daughters to share with their friends. Ran out of liners and the leftover batter fit nicely into two ramekins. I had them for breakfast - they are mildly sweet and the milk chocolate chunks added a fun factor. I'm not too sure they're my favourite chocolate cupcake recipe though! But here's the recipe if you want to try it for yourself!

Milk Chocolate Chunk Muffins

adapted from Donna Hay ~ Simple Essentials: Chocolate

Ingredients

2 cups flour, sifted

1/3 cup cocoa powder, sifted

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup cater sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2/3 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup milk

1 cup chopped milk chocolate

Preheat oven to 180C (350F). place dry ingredients in bowl and combine. In separate bowl, combine eggs, vanilla, oil and milk and whisk together. Stir liquid mixture into dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Fold in chocolate. Spoon into muffin pan lined with paper cups. Bake for 20-25 mins.

Baking with Dorie: Bill's (not-so) Big Carrot Cake!

2011-04-11T00:44:00.001+08:00

My two-layer cake may not be as big and tall as Bill's, but I bet you they taste just as good!! And for that, thanks to Dorie's friend, the late jeweler Bill Bartholomew.

And because Bill's cake look so HUGE in the photo, I opted to make half a recipe. Or so I planned. I measured everything in half - sifted the dry ingredients, chopped the walnuts, grated the carrots bla bla bla. Put 3/4 cups of sugar into a big bowl (a half recipe would require 1 cup, but I decided to reduce the sugar further) and then poured the canola oil in. Oooooopppppssss... instead of half a cup for half the recipe, I poured a full cup for a full recipe!! and I really didn't realise the mistake I made in measuring the oil until I became suspicious of the runny oil and sugar mixture. I'm just so glad I realised that before adding the other ingredients! I tell you, this has happened to me a few times before!

The plan was to make half the recipe into cupcakes to bring along when I visit my BFF who had a son last week. But I am SO glad I had to make a full recipe because the carrot CAKE and the carrot CUPCAKES tasted somewhat different! Same recipe, but the texture is more pronounced and much better enjoyed as a slice of cake! Mine was very nutty - I omitted raisins and doubled the amount of walnuts.

I sooped out 24 minis and used the rest of the batter to make two 7-inch cakes. I also reduced the amount of icing sugar in the cream cheese frosting by half - they were already very sweet! I gave some of the cupcakes to my two neighbours and took the cake to BFF's.

This cake is sooo sooo good!! Thanks to Rebecca of Beurrista for choosing the recipe this week for BWD. Check out the rest of my fellow BWD'ers entry this week here. After all this time, I'm still so in love with my Baking From My Home To Yours!

A Macaron Croquembouche for a birthday surprise!

2011-04-08T15:54:00.001+08:00

I just love a creative challenge! When there are none, I create one for myself! And so I was thrilled when a friend asked me to make a macaran tower or a croquembouche for her client 's birthday and delivered as a surprise to her office.

This is my second macaron tower - made the first for my mom's 70th birthday last December - had always meantto blog it..maybe I will someday, hopefully before her next birthday!

I always think less is more, so this was really a simple design - I think the sweetest thing about the croquembouche have to be the pretty flowers!

Macs and a new toy = a self-confessed, self-indulgent post!

2011-04-04T21:36:00.000+08:00

After drooling for quite sometime now looking at photos taken with DSLRs, I finally got myself one last Friday!

Yup, been taking my bake photos using a low-end Canon point and shoot - up until last December when my screen went berserk on me and I've since then been borrowing my 12-year old daughter's Canon PowerShot! Not anymore! :P

And among my first subjects were my favourite confectionery at the moment - sweet macarons!

I had quite a bit of macarons order over the weekend and true to the title of this post, here are some photos of my macs taken with my new toy - totally self-indulgent, totally loving it! If you're still reading this, bear with me, will ya!

Matcha macarons, straight out of the oven!

Macarons in assorted colors - pink ones are flavored with rose; yellow ones to be filled with lemon cream; peach ones to be filled with orange cream, tan-colored macs are coconut filled and purple ones with peanut butter and raspberry preserve...

Delphinium blue macs to be filled with blueberries!

I'm loving it!

David Lebovitz' French Chocolate Macarons with Milo filling

2011-03-29T18:44:00.003+08:00

This recipe from David Lebovitz was the first ever macaron recipe I baked from, almost a year ago. I'm glad to report that the look of my macs have improved quite a bit since then, if I may say so myself...

Don't believe me? Below is the proof!! Photo taken May 26, 2010!!

LOL!!!!! Don't they look like two choc chip cookies sandwiched together?? Bumpy and crispy - very cookie-like! Those were the days!! (can't stop laughing!) They tasted wonderful nevertheless!

Well, macaron recipes don't differ much from one another - the secret lies in the technique. And even after you think you've mastered one favorite technique, you may find yourself at a dead end from time to time (my experience at least!). I'd like to think macarons keep me humble!! So, thank you, Mademoiselle Macaron!!

This time around, I thought it'll be great to add a surprising twist to these macaron shells and added Milo to the chocolate ganache filling. Here's how I did it; 2 parts heavy cream, I part milk chocolate and 2 parts Milo powder. It makes a silky, smooth chocolatey filling!

Here's the recipe for the macaron shells:

Chocolate Macarons

Adapted from David Lebovitz

Macaron Batter

1 cup (100 gr) powdered sugar

½ cup powdered almonds (about 2 ounces, 50 gr, sliced almonds, pulverized)

3 tablespoons (25 gr) unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

2 large egg whites, at room temperature

5 tablespoons (65 gr) granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 350º F (180º C).

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and have a pastry bag with a plain tip (about 1/2-inch, 2 cm) ready.

Grind together the powdered sugar with the almond powder and cocoa so there are no lumps; use a blender or food processor since almond meal that you buy isn’t quite fine enough.

In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, beat the egg whites until they begin to rise and hold their shape. While whipping, beat in the granulated sugar until very stiff and firm, about 2 minutes.

Carefully fold the dry ingredients, in two batches, into the beaten egg whites with a flexible rubber spatula. When the mixture is just smooth and there are no streaks of egg white, stop folding and scrape the batter into the pastry bag (standing the bag in a tall glass helps if you’re alone).

Pipe the batter on the parchment-lined baking sheets in 1-inch (3 cm) circles (about 1 tablespoon each of batter), evenly spaced one-inch (3 cm) apart.

Rap the baking sheet a few times firmly on the counter top to flatten the macarons, then bake them for 15-18 minutes. Let cool completely then remove from baking sheet.

Sweet, Spicy and Fruity : Cinnamon Macarons with Durian Ganache for MacTweets!

2011-03-28T20:21:00.000+08:00

This month's MacAttack on MacTweets is Sugar and Spice and Everything...Fruity!! These are definitely SWEET, with a hint of spice and FRUUUIITY!!

I am not a big fan of spice in my desserts, save for hints of allspice and cinnamon. It took me a long long while to come up with a choice of spice in my macs and... boring old me stuck to cinnamon! Having said that, I knew I wanted to have Durians as my fruity filling and since they're in season, here I am featuring South East Asia's King of Fruits! The sweet and succulent fruit"s distinct taste perks up each bite!

For those who have never seen the durian fruit, here they are:

Photo of durian taken from here...

Durians - you either love and are crazy over them, or you don't. The fruit comes with a strong, sweet and fragrant (to those who love them, like me) aroma. On the contrary, those who loathe them think they smell like a bad stench. To each their own. Truly, they are real gems and no other fruits comes close to or have similar qualities to durians.

These macs are really sweet!! The white chocolate ganache, added with the sweet and soft durian flesh makes such creamy filling!!

Baking with Dorie: Brrrrrrrownies!!

2011-03-28T20:20:00.001+08:00

These are the coolest brownies ever! Yes, pun intended!

Fudgy and slightly chewy (I used mint chewies rather than patties as the latter wasn't available to me), they satisfied my craving for chocolatey fudge yet at the same time made me feel less guilty, thanks to the light, cooling effect from the mint chewies. Very clever!

My brrrownies look rather messy in the photo - that's because I only gave them 5 minutes to cool before cutting them! Impatient me!

This week's BWD recipe from Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours was chosen by The Rookie Baker - you can check out the recipe at her blog . Check out the rest of the BWDer's Brrrrrrownies at their respective blogs here.

Allspice Crumb Muffins

2011-03-19T15:57:00.002+08:00

Fluffy and tender cake, with a hint of spice topped with just-the-right-amount-of-sweetness-streusels. A winner!!

I was looking for a simple recipe to bake for a Saturday breakfast. My criteria of a simple recipe: no mixer involved, baking time of between 15-20 minutes, no greasing any pan and if possible, a dump-all-ingredients-into-a-bowl kind of recipe!

And where should I look to for a guaranteed winner recipe - where else but Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours. I was browsing through the biscuits/scones and muffins section and voila! found a perfect recipe - simple enough but has an extra 'star' quality to it - streusels!

Wasted no time in getting all the ingredients ready and in a matter of 15 minutes, they were ready to be popped in the oven. Twenty minutes later - these babies were baked!

Allspice Crumb Muffins
adapted from Dorie Greenspan

For the Streusel

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
5 tablespoons cold butter

For the Muffins

2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 stick butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

To make streusel: put all ingredients together and work the butter with your fingers until youget irregularly shaped crumbs. Set aside in refrigerator.

To make muffins: In large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, allspice, salt and brown sugar. In another bowl, whisk melted butter, eggs, milk and vanilla tiogether. Pour liquid ingredients into dry ingredients and quickly stir to blend. Divide batter into muffin cups and sprinkle streusels over each muffins. Bake for 20 mins.

A Belated Baking with Dorie: Honey-Nut Scones

2011-03-17T20:33:00.000+08:00

This post is three days late and I must apologise to those who came via BWD to look for this week's recipe! I have had no luck with getting on blogger.com for days and let me tell you, boy! it's super frustrating!! I am typing this as fast as I can with the hope to publish it as soon as I can before the connection is broken. I have been told the 8.9 magnitute quake and tsunami in Japan affected the networking system in my region.

And since we're on the topic, my condolences goes out to the people of Japan especially those who are directly affected by the catastrophe, with the lost of dear ones and a place to call home. Let's pray they be given the strength and perseverence to take them through these difficult times.

And now back to this week's bake - Honey-Nut Scones chosen by yours truly! I love breakfast food and I think this is also perfect for tea, or any time of the day for that matter!

These were sooooo easy to put together too, you need not take out your mixer nor your sifter. God given fingers are all you need!

They tasted exactly how Dorie described them, "hearty, homey warmth, a light sweetness and a touch of rustic about them".

In her words again, "their texture is a bit rougher and slightly more crumbly that that of standard scones".

The walnuts added a great crunch - their scarceness provided a wonderful surprise of tasteful crunch when they finally find their way in your bite.

And one more thing I love about these is the fact that they keep well and tasted as fresh as they did out of the oven, 12 hours later! (baked these at night and brought them to work the next morning).

Honey-Nut Scones

by Dorie Greenspan

from Baking from My Home to Yours

1 large egg

2 tablespoons honey

1/2 cup cold whole milk

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick (4 oz) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

GETTING READY: Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat.

Stir the egg, honey and milk together.

Whisk the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Drop in butter and using fingers, toss to coat pieces of butter with flour and rub until mixture is pebbly. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir with a fork just until the dough comes together. Don't overdo it. Stir in chopped walnuts.

Still in the bowl, gently knead the dough by hand, or turn it with a rubber spatula 8 to 10 times. Turn the dough into a lightly floured surface and divide it in half. Working with one piece at a time, pat the dough into a rough circle that's about 5 inches in diameter, cut it into 6 wedges and place on the baking sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the tops are deeply golden and firmish to the touch. Transfer them to cool for 10 minutes before serving or wait to cool at room temperature.

Brownie Buttons: Happy 1st Anniversary, BWD!!

2011-02-28T22:58:00.000+08:00

This week's bake coincides with Baking with Dorie's first anniversary as a group!! Happy Anniversary to my fellow BWDers, Grapefruit who is also our founder, Chaya, Laurie, Rebecca, Mia, Jen and Elizabeth.

We collectively chose Brownie Buttons on page 106 of Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. These were ready in a spiffy and so yummy too!!

Instead of white chocolate frosting as suggested by Dorie, I went the easy way out with Nutella and and sprinkled some decorative pearls for a festive look! For the recipe, go to Grapefruit's blog.

Happy 1st anniversary, BWD!

Feb Macs!

2011-02-25T23:55:00.000+08:00

Phewhhh!! After about an hour trying, I finally managed to get signed into blogger.com! Amost given up but managed to type this just in time for February's Mac Attack.

I don't celebrate Valentine's Day but February is a momentous month for me as I did get engaged on 14 February, 14 years ago; my second daughter was born on the 3rd; and a life-changing event also happened on 21 February, four years ago. It is a special month indeed.

So here are my macs! I experimented with color this time - lots of red and they turned out to be reddish pink! I wanted a deep red macarons but was afraid too much coloring (I only have liquid) would water down my meringue.

The filling is my favorite of all time - coconut cream, made of white chocolate ganache and dessicated coconut. The cream coloured filling was added with red tint (my daughter insisted!) - they don't provide a nice contrast between shells and filling, but they will do!

Baking with Dorie: Coffee Break Muffins

2011-01-31T20:37:00.002+08:00

Many thanks to Grapefruit of Needful Things for choosing this recipe from Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan for our BWD bake this week!

Honestly, it was a lazy Sunday afternoon for me yesterday - the gloomy, rainy weather did not motivate me to get up from the couch to prepare a batch of muffins. But I'm so glad I did! It took just a few minutes to put everything together and it came out beautifully from the oven 18 minutes later! And I'm happy to announce that it became my dinner (still on the couch) with a tall mug of Earl Grey tea. Bliss!

The muffins were moist - instead of 1 cup of strong coffee in the batch, mine was 1/2 cup of really strong coffee and 1/2 cup of evaporated milk. And I added 3/4 cups of chocolate chips for some texture and I can't be happier with the additions I made.

Do check out other BWD blogs here! The recipe is from page 15 of Baking from My Home to Yours and on Grapefruit's blog.

Buah Melaka

2011-01-24T00:00:00.109+08:00

Little chewy balls with a surprise centre and fluffy coating!

A favourite tea-time treat!

These are pleasantly soft chewy balls made from glutinous rice paste with sweet gula Melaka or palm sugar filling and coated with fluffy, slightly salty grated coconut.

These are firm favourites among children and adults alike - their tiny size makes it irresistable to pop one after another into your mouth.

I also think this is one of the kuih Melayu or Malay desserts that young girls learn to make from their moms from an early age. As there are many steps, albeit simple ones that this gems require, an extra pair of hands is always welcomed in the kitchen.

Here is the recipe!

Buah Melaka

for the dough
200 gm glutinous rice flour
screwpine juice made from three medium-sized leaves and 100 ml water
90 ml - 110 ml hot water
few drops of green colouring

for the filling
100 gm gula Melaka or palm sugar, cut into tiny pieces (I think brown sugar would work too!)

for the coating
grated coconut from 1 shell, lightly salted

Method:

In a medium-sized bowl, add screwpine leave juice to glutinous rice. Add hot water in a steady slow stream, pausing as you mix them well. It is better to be cautious than to have too soft of a dough. Add drops of green colouring to your preference. You should be able to pinch the soft dough and form small balls. If dough is too soft, worry not - add small amounts of glutinous rice flour until you get the right consistency. On the other hand, if dough is too tough, add hot water.

Pinch a small amount of dough and make into a small ball (about 10 gm). Using your index finger, create a well and place small amount of palm sugar. Press the palm sugar with the tip of a spoon to ensure it is neatly tucked in the well. Close the well and gently form it into a ball.

Drop the balls into boiling water in a semi-deep pot. The balls will sink to the bottom. After a while, the balls will rise up to the surface - use a sieve to spoon them out and gently shake the sieve to remove excess water. Drop the balls into a shallow bowl of lightly salted grated coconut. Pick the bowl up and rock it in a circular motion to move the balls around and ensure they are thoroughly coated with coconut. Serve with your favourite cup of tea. Even better, share some with your neighbours!

This recipe makes about 35-40 small balls.

Aneka Kuih Melayu

2011-01-22T21:55:00.001+08:00

Pulut Inti ~ steamed glutinous rice with coconut milk, topped with shredded coconut in palm sugar and wrapped in banana leaf

Serimuka Durian ~ steamed glutinous rice base, with top layer of durian flavoured coconut milk-based custard.

Talam Berlauk ~ a savoury dessert of rice flour and coconut milk custard, topped with slightly spicy shredded dried shrimp and garnished with fried shallots, sliced chili and spring onion.

Talam Suji ~ semolina custard base and coconut milk and palm sugar custard top.

NO - I did NOT make all of the above, but a dear friend, Sheema did!! For the benefit of non-Malay speaking readers, the title Aneka Kuih Melayu means Variety of Malay Desserts. Well, desserts may not exactly represent what kuih is because we eat kuih not just for desserts, but for breakfast, tea and everything in between.

I was the beneficiary of these wonderful treats at a birthday outing for our dear friend today. I have no clue how to make any of them!! I do intend to learn and have made a resolution to attempt more traditional Malay cakes and desserts this year. I'll need a LOT of help from my friend Sheema, I'm sure!!

I hope you enjoyed the photos!!

Rendang Ayam

2011-01-17T19:56:00.000+08:00

Rendang Ayam or Chicken Rendang is one of the speciality and must-have dish during Eid , better known as Hari Raya in Malaysia. When I was growing up, they were only available then, when mom would cook chicken and beef rendang by the kilos (sometimes up to 20!!) to serve family and friends. Refrigerated, they keep well for days too.

Rendang is now available most of the time, not just during Eid. Being the sentimental that I am, I had resisted the idea of eating rendang outside of the festive season!! However in recent years, I have given up resistance LOL. I think part of it is because my children loves them so much. Their grandmother often make rendang for us and we'd always have frozen rations in the refrigerator.

I love my mom's rendang, but have recently discovered another way of preparing it from a colleague, Fatimah. While mom's rendang uses dried red chillies which gives it a deep brown color, this recipe only uses green cili padi. I love this even more (shhhhh...don't tell mom!!).

Here's the recipe!!

Rendang Ayam

1 whole chicken, cut into 10 pieces (about 1 kg)

(To blend in food processor)
8 stalks lemongrass
10 shallots
6 cloves of garlic
2" ginger
2" galangal or blue ginger
1" turmeric
20-30 cili padi (the more, the hotter!!)
3/4 - 1 cup water

40 gm kerisik
300 ml coconut milk (I used packed, low-fat)

1 large turmeric leaf (sliced thin)
6 kaffir lime leaves
Salt and sugar to taste
4 tablespoons cooking oil

Clockwise, from top centre: lemongrass, shallots, garlic, turmeric leaf (under shallots and garlic), cili padi, galangal, ginger, tumeric, kaffir lime leaves.

Below: turmeric leaf sliced thinly. Mom would disapprove of this - she'd cut hers much thinner!

Below: pre-packed kerisik. To make your own, go here.

In a large wok or wide pot, pour processed ingredients, chicken and coconut milk and cook over medium heat. Stir occasionally and bring it to a boil. When the spice and coconut milk mixture turns into a thick, liquid gravy; add kerisik, salt and sugar to taste, kaffir lime leaves and sliced turmeric leaf. Keep on stirring occasionally to avoid gravy from sticking to the wok. As the chicken begins to dry up, add cooking oil and stir for 2 minutes. Turn off heat. Traditionally served with nasi impit during the festive season, rendang is also eaten with warm rice. I love to just have the thick gravy with bread!

This is my second Muhibbah Malaysian Monday post and I can't wait to see the other Malaysian dishes cooked up by participating bloggers during the round-up early next month! Thanks to Shaz of Test with a Skewer and Suresh of 3 Hungry Tummies!!

Baking with Dorie: Apple-Coconut Family Cake

2011-01-17T00:45:00.000+08:00

Apple. Coconut. Family. Cake. Sounds inviting, doesn't it?

My kids looked forward to this bake as they loved the Brown Sugar Bundt Cake from Dorie which I made using apples. I've made the cake a few times already based on their request and now they seem to associate apples in a cake with yumminess.

They didn't quite fancy this cake, however. I think there could be too much apple in the cake (I used very large apples) which made it very very moist, rather soft and you can say slightly mushy, not that it is a bad thing in a cake - just not to the kids' liking. With only a small slice gone from the whole cake, I took it to work the next day to a very appreciative lot. I think this is a cake for grown-ups :)

This week's BWD was chosen by the talented Mia of Bright Morning Star. Hop over to Mia's blog or page 214 of Dorie Greenspan's Baking from my home to yours for the recipe.

I followed the recipe thoroughly but instead of brushing the baked product with apple jelly which I didn't have, I smothered some raspberry jam on it. I must say the cake does have the 'family' cake look, whatever that's supposed to be!! :)

Cream Puffs of my childhood

2011-01-11T08:25:00.000+08:00

When I think of a sophisticated dessert from my childhood, it has got to be Cream Puffs made by my mother's younger sister, Mak Su. Growing up, I never saw or had them anywhere else, unless when she makes them. Small mountains of fluffed pastry, a creamy filling, dusted with confectioner's sugar. They were truly special.

It's one of those things I've always wanted to make but they somehow seem unachievable and daunting to the untrained baker like me. But very early this year, I listed them as one of my 10 to-do desserts in 2011 - a list I named 10 Personal Favourites/Must-Try-To-Bake Desserts 2011. Yeah, I am corny that way. Poyo! I guess I can cross one out of the list now.

I'm not sure if you can use the name Cream Puff and Profiteroles alternately, but growing up, I've always called them Cream Puffs. I am under the impression that Cream Puffs are dusted with icing sugar while Profiteroles are glazed with chocolate ganache. Someone out there, please correct me! But what's in a name if they both taste so soooo good, right?? They are, basically the same thing after all - made from the same choux pastry.

The recipe was taken from Joy of Baking, the pastry cream recipe is Martha's (refer here) while for the chocolate ganache, I mixed some whipping cream and couverture bittersweet chocolate.

The recipe says it yields 12 shells, but I got 20!! And they were not tiny!! With 20 they're just the right size...

Bingka Pandan

2011-01-10T02:14:00.006+08:00

I don't make much of traditional Malay desserts, but I love eating them!!

In actual fact, I am intimidated to make them!! I don't know why, but I hope to not be anymore, as they are many wonderful bloggers out there who are simply wonderful with their tutorial of Malay desserts, it's a shame not to try making them! This particular recipe is one given to me by a colleague and I am ever grateful to her for it. My kids love this!

Bingka Pandan or Bengkang in northern lingo, is a traditional Malay dessert which uses the most basic ingredients like flour, sugar, eggs, a bit of butter and of course, the key ingredients in many Malay desserts, the daun pandan or screwpine leaves and santan or coconut milk.

The result in three words - smooth, creamy and yummy!! (I wish I have a better photo of this - these were taken sometime ago, not to be meant as blogging photos. The bingka pandan I made yesterday dissapeared before I could even get the camera!)

Bingka Pandan

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

2 cups coconut milk

3 cups juice of screwpine leaves

1 cup granulated sugar

4 large eggs

3 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon salt

a drop or two of green colouring

1 tablespoon (heap) of sesame seed (I used poppyseed)

Method:

Preheat oven at 170C. Butter a 9x9 baking pan (I used Pyrex). Prepare the screwpine leaves juice. I used 15 medium-sized leaves - cut them into small pieces and put them in the food processor with 3 cups of water.

Strain the mixture and you will get this:

Mix all of the ingredients (except for sesame seed) in a food processor. Depending on the size of your processor, you may need to do it in two batches. Pour mixture in greased tin.

Bake for 30 mins. Remove tin from oven and sprinkle sesame seed. Return tin to oven in a rotated position. Bake for another 50-60 mins. Let cool for a minimum of two hours before cutting (the longer you wait, the better it is) unless you don't mind getting frustrated with a soggy blob. They still taste great, anyways. Yes, it has happened to the impatient me!!

By the way, just to demonstrate the coconut milk I used, here's the photo below.

And...I am excited to announce that I will be submitting this post to Muhibbah Malaysian Monday, a blog event hosted by Shaz of Test with Skewer and Suresh of 3 Hungry Tummies. Looking at previous Muhibbah Malaysian Monday makes me patriotic all over!! Heeeee...

Sumptuous!! Seared Salmon with Spinach and Creamy Roasted Peppers

2011-01-03T11:57:00.001+08:00

When I first saw this at Nancy's blog, I knew I had to make this. I love salmon, I love cream sauce and I heart spinach - just the perfect combo!!

Actually, salmon is such a tasty fish that needs little seasoning or sauce. You just need to lightly season it with salt and pepper, pan-sear it and you'll have a great tasting meal on its own!

The roasted peppers in the cream sauce gave it an interesting twist. Yumms!! You may find the recipe here.

Happy New Year to you reading and I hope to post more non-desserts on this blog this year!!

Baking With Dorie: World Peace Cookies

2011-01-02T21:00:00.000+08:00

This week, it's Rebecca's turn to pick a recipe from Baking from my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan for our Baking with Dorie group.

This is THE BEST cookie ever. Period.

I have blogged about this before, do check it out here.

For the recipe, hop over to Rebecca's blog and do check out the BWD blogroll for members' bake this week!!

Mac Attack: Ginger Coffee Macs with French Pastry Cream

2010-12-25T02:12:00.001+08:00

For December's Mac Attack Challenge, Mac Tweeters went Savory Sweet for the holidays!! It took me quite awhile to complete the challenge and I scrambled to post this on time! I had a few options which I kept in mind and this included chili macs, curry macs and allspice macs among others. I was also intriqued by Jamie's suggestion to prepare the macs as hors d’oeuvres (isn't that interesting?). After much deliberation, I went with Ginger (a feisty spice) and Coffee (a perfect flavor for cold winter days) with French Pastry Cream filling (a sweet and sophisticated custard perfect for the holidays - or so I imagine - I don't celebrate Christmas and its summer all year round here!!)

So here they are - my Ginger Coffee Macs with French Pastry Cream. I think I may have added too little ginger powder in the dry ingredients as the spice isn't really noticeable, although they blended quite well with the coffee to cut down the sweetness of the crust. Add French Pastry Cream and voila!! Everything tastes better with French Pastry Cream (I'm biased!).

Happy Holidays everyone!!

Baking With Dorie: Sablés

2010-12-23T19:32:00.004+08:00

According to Dorie, the Sablés that we made this week is "the master recipe" adapted when she "learned to make sablés in Paris working with some of the city's best pâtissier". Wow!! How can one pass trying out this recipe!

This week's recipe was chosen by Laurie of Cookin' up North. You may find the recipe posted on her blog here or page 131 of Baking from my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan.

I made half the recipe and ended up with one log and about 20 cookies. They are buttery and sandy and my eldest daughter can't get enough of it! Mine turned out golden brown although Dorie's sablés look creamy and pale. We love them anyways! And they make your kitchen smell super terrific too!!

The bejeweled log. So pretty!!

Check out the other BWD bakers here!

Mac Attack: Pistachio Sprinkled Macarons for Falling for Macarons...It's Fall!

2010-11-23T17:04:00.002+08:00

I've wanted to participate in the MacTweets Challenge for a couple of months now, and finally...here I am!!

I am so glad to have 'made' it this month of November, with the MacAttack #13...Falling for Macarons ... It's Fall!

For those who don't know, it's summer all year round where I live so you could say I had to use my imagination and memories of the four Fall seasons I experienced during my college years in the US to soak in the Fall mood for this challenge.

Coincidentally, Fall was my favorite season!! I love the warmly colored autumn foliage of greens, yellows, orange and reds. This inspired my pumpkin-colored macarons sprinkled with pistachios (love the green!).

Pistachio sprinkled macarons with chocolate ganache filling

The macaron madness has definitely caught on me and I'm so glad I found the MacTweets blog and looking forward to future MacTweets challenges!!

Baking With Dorie: Applesauce Spice Bars

2010-11-22T00:11:00.008+08:00

This week it's Chaya of Chaya's Comfy Cook Blog's turn for hosting BWD and she has chosen Applesauce Spice Bars on page 117 of Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. Hop over to her blog for the recipe!

I loved preparing this week's bake as it did not take any time at all!! And the ingredients of apple, pecan and cinnamon made the kitchen smell terribly wonderful as they were baking in the oven.

A little note: I omitted the raisins and substituted applesauce with homemade apple puree. Plus there were not enough glaze to cover the entire bar, so I made double the recipe.

A lovely snack to have with tea, the minimal ingredients yielded 32 little bars!! I saved a few pieces for home and took a dozen bars to my sister's place and the rest will be shared with the lovely people at the office!

See how the other BWD bakers did this week here.

Baking With Dorie: My Favorite Pecan Pie

2010-11-08T23:56:00.003+08:00

Pies are foreign imports from where I come from and this one is definitely all-American!

I had my first taste of pecan pie as a kid when an American restaurant called Jimmy Dean's Diner opened in town (I think it closed down just after a couple of years, though). I was totally in love with it!! When I went to college in America, pecan pie was so within reach and my love affair with the sweet, succulent pie continued. How can this not be everyone's favorite pie?

So when it came my turn to pick a recipe from Dorie's Baking From My Home to Yours this week, I chose pecan pie which I think is perfect for a Fall bake.

And... my homemade pie tasted exactly the way I remembered it!! Delicious!! And made more perfect with ice-cream :) What a great flash from the past!

You may scroll down for the recipe or better yet, get Baking From My Home to Yours where you'll be immersed with wonderful recipes from cookies to cakes, pies to puddings and even ice-cream!! This recipe is on pgs 326-327.

I played around and made mine minus the chocolate, cinnamon and expresso powder as I wanted to bake the original pecan pie. I also made one and a half batch of Dorie's Good for Almost Everything Pie Dough as my pie dish was 9 and a half inches instead of 9'. I didn't want to stretch out the dough, plus knowing how good the pie crust is, I didn't want to end up wishing my pie had more crust to go with the filling :) I think the pie crust and filling ratio was perfect.

Some of our BWDers were not able to bake this on time this week, but do hop over to blogs of those who did here.

And here's the recipe for the fabulous Pecan Pie!

My Favorite Pecan Pie

1 9-inch single crust made with Good for Almost Everything Pie Dough (page 442), partially baked and cooled

3/4 cup light corn syrup (use 1 cup if you want a sweeter pie - I went with 3/4 cup)

1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

3 large eggs, preferably at room temperature

2 teaspoons instant espresso powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups pecan halves or pieces

3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 220 degrees. Put the pie plate on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.

In a large bowl, whisk the corn syrup and brown sugar together until smooth. Whisk in the melted butter, then add the eggs one at a time, beating until you have a smooth, foamy mixture. Add the espresso powder, vanilla, cinnamon and salt and give the batter a good mix.Rap the bowl against the counter a couple of times to pop any bubbles that might have formed, then stir in the pecans and chocolate. Turn the filling into the crust.

Bake the pie for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, make a foil shield for the crust by cutting a 9-inch circle out of the center of an 11-or 12-inch square of aluminum foil.

Lower the oven temperature to 175 degrees. Place the foil shield on top of the pie—the filling will be exposed, the crust covered by the foil. Bake the pie for another 15 to 20 minutes (total baking time is 30 to 35 minutes), or until it has puffed (the middle and the edges should be fairly evenly puffed), is beautifully browned and no longer jiggles when tapped. Transfer the pie plate to a rack, remove the shield and cool to room temperature.

Good For Almost Everything Pie Dough

1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

3/4 tsp salt

1 1/4 sticks (10 tablespoons) very cold (frozen is fine) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-size pieces

2 1/2 tablespoons very cold (frozen is even better) vegetable shortening, cut into 2 pieces

About 1/4 cup ice water

Put the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor fitted with a metal blade; pulse just to combine the ingredients. Drop in the butter and shortening and pulse only until the butter and shortening care cut into the flour. Don’t overdo the mixing — what you’re aiming for is to have some pieces the size of fat green peas and others the size of barley. Pulsing the machine on and off, gradually add about 3 tablespoons of the water — add a little water and pulse once, add some more water, pulse again and keep going that way. then use a few long pulses to get the water into the flour. If, after a dozen or so pulses, the dough doesn’t look evenly moistened or form soft curds, pulse in as much of the remaining water as necessary, or even a few drops more, to get a dough that will stick together when pinched. Big pieces of butter are fine. Scrape the dough out of the work bowl and onto a work surface.

Shape the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour before rolling. (If your ingredients were very cold and you worked quickly, though, you might be able to roll the dough immediately: the dough should be as cold as if it had just come out of the fridge.)

To roll out the dough: Have a buttered 9-inch pie plate at hand.

You can roll the dough out on a floured surface or between sheets of wax paper or plastic wrap or in a rolling slipcover. (I usually roll this dough out on the floured counter.) If you’re working on a counter, turn the dough over frequently and keep the counter floured. If you are rolling between paper, plastic or in a slipcover, make sure to turn the dough over often and to life the paper, plastic or cover frequently so that it doesn’t roll into the dough and form creases.

If you’ve got time, slide the rolled-out dough into the fridge for about 20 mins to rest and firm up.

Fit the dough into the pie plate and, using a pair of scissors, cut the excess dough to a 1/4- to 1/2-inch overhang. Fold the dough under itself, so that it hangs over the edge just a tad, and flute or pinch the crust to make a decorative edge. Alternatively, you can finish the crust by pressing it with the tines of a fork.

To partially or fully bake: Refrigerate the crust while you preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Better the shiny side of a piece of aluminum foil, fit the foil, buttered side down, tightly against the crust and fill with dried beans or rice or pie weights. Put the pie plate on a baking sheet and bake for 25 mins. Carefully remove the foil and weights and, if the crust has puffed, press it down gently with the back of a spoon. For a partially baked crust, return the pie plate to the oven and bake for about 8 minutes more, or until the crust is very lightly colored. To fully bake the crust, bake until golden brown, about another 10 minutes. Transfer the pie plate to a rack and cool to room temperature before filling.

Baking with Dorie: Pumpkin Muffins

2010-10-26T22:55:00.000+08:00

I feel like such a good girl eating these. They are soooo healthy-tasting!!

They aren't sweet at all, in fact you can barely taste the sugar. They are mild-tasting, sweet-spice flavored, good old-fashioned muffins.

This week's Baking with Dorie (BWD) recipe was chosen by Elizabeth of Gluten-Free Baking. Elizabeth did her's gluten-free, so if you're looking for the recipe, head over to Chaya's blog at My Sweet and Savory or Page 13 of Baking from my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan.

Honestly, these are about the healthiest thing I've ever baked!! And I love the crunch from the sunflower seed sprinkles.

I had some with some jam as per the serving suggestion by Dorie. Even then it still tasted healthy!! Thanks, Elizabeth!! ;-)

In two week's time, we're baking My Fav Pecan Pie chosen by yours truly!! If you'd like to join us, send an email to needfulthings at ymail dot com.

Baking with Dorie: Kids' Thumbprints

2010-10-11T22:29:00.001+08:00

Four words: I love these cookies!! I hate that I love them because I know I'll keep on opening the cookie jar to get "just another one" (thank God I only made half a batch!). Yup, I made them tonight and am totally in love with them!!

The peanut butter cookies are delighfully crisp and the rolled-on chopped nuts (I used almonds) and the strawberry jam filling complemented one another so well. Crisp yet soft cookie, a nutty and roasty outer shell plus a sweet, sticky filling. You gotta love them!!

Thumbs up (pun intended) to Grapefruit of Needful Things for picking out the recipe this week. Please head over to her blog for the recipe. You may also find it on page 163 of Baking: From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan.

Do check out the blogroll here to see what all the other fabulous BWD bakers did with this weeks' recipe.

Baking with Dorie: Milk Chocolate Mini Bundt Cakes

2010-08-30T23:59:00.001+08:00

I love chocolate cake, and I'm sure most people do. Unless you belong to the very tiny minority who doesn't like chocolate, I guess.

Being a chocolate lover, I had high hopes for this cake. Although it pains me to say this, (yes, it does!) this cake was a little dissapointing for me. My fault for expecting the cake to explode with chocolatey-goodness, I guess. Dorie did mention in her book, Baking: From my home to yours (pgs 188-189) that this cake has a "mild chocolate crumb".

But I like the swirl!! The chunky walnuts, cocoa powder and sugar mixture tucked inside the cake saved the cake big time. In fact, I think I may try lining my favourite chocolate cake recipe with Dorie's swirl too.

As for the glaze, I used my regular chocolate ganache recipe of 1 part heavy cream : 1 part bittersweet chocolate as I didn't have any light corn syrup.

Thanks to our BWD member The Rookie Baker for choosing this recipe. You may get the recipe from Dorie's book or The Rookie Baker's blog post here. I may not have loved this recipe, but many of fellow BWDers enjoyed them. Check out the BWD blogroll here.

Another issue I had with this cake is I can't seem to get the mini bundts out of the pan and boy, that is really frustrating!! I had GENEROUSLY greased the pan but it just didn't work. See the mini bundt in the photo up there? It is actually a broken piece which I had to assemble carefully for the photo shoot.

So this is what I did with some of the broken cake pieces:

I layered them with ganache, whipped cream (which Dorie suggested serving them with!) and topped them with the swirl.

Baking with Dorie: Brown Sugar Bundt Cake

2010-08-17T13:05:00.001+08:00

This post is a day late. Things have been pretty crazy around the house.. I'll spare you the details. But I so wanna hug Chaya for choosing this recipe! I just love it when something that sounds so modest and looks so plain can taste TERRIFIC!! I love this cake!! I know I say this all the time, but I mean it all. In all honestly, this is amongst the best coffee cake that I've made. Even better than the Blueberry Crumb Cake we baked two weeks ago, which was my choice by the way.

The cake is oh-so moist!! I used only all-purpose flour for the cake (didn't have any nut flour) and instead of buttermilk, used low-fat yogurt - which I thought would make my cake somewhat less moist, but am so glad it didn't. And since I have apples at home, I used them to subsitute the pears. And the last addition which I think contributed to the yumminess of this cake is the almond nibs. Perfect!! I ommitted the dried prunes/raisins as I find dried up fruits to be yucky :)

I was also pleased that my cake literally fell off its silicone mould. Of course, I had generously buttered and floured it this time. I was so dissapointed with it the last time it 'ate' my cake. Aren't silicone moulds supposed to omit the 'butter and flour' steps in baking? Ah well...

Again, many thanks to Chaya for choosing this recipe. Visit her blog here for the recipe, taken from Page 179 of Baking: From My Home To Yours, by Dorie Greenspan. Also check out the BWD Blogroll to see how the rest of the BWD bakers tackled this. By the way, our group has grown in size with two new members since our last bake and I'm simply delighted!!

If you'd like to join us, send an email to BWD founder Grapefruit at needfulthings at ymail dot com.

Baking with Dorie (Rewind): Split Level Pudding

2010-08-12T17:30:00.002+08:00

After having two spoonfuls of this pudding, I exclaimed "this is the best recipe ever from Dorie!". Until my daughter reminded me that I say that everytime I try a new recipe from Baking: From my home to yours. That actually made me pause for awhile before scooping another spoonful of the cold, creamy, smooth vanilla and chocolate pudding into my mouth . I am in love yet again.

Honestly, I did not expect this to be sooo good. I mean, a pudding is a pudding. I guess I never tried THIS pudding before... AMAZING. Don't believe me? Forget about my daughter's remark. I really really think this recipe is the best recipe I've made that's from Dorie before. Among other recipes. :D

The texture of the vanilla and chocolate pudding is smooth and not lumpy at all. Think baby food without the yuck. Confession: when I saw the photo in BFMHTY, I did wonder if I could enjoy something that looks like it was made for a 6-month old. My doubts were a waste of time, of course! And I'm so glad I shaved a bit of chocolate for topping. It adds a nice texture to the smooth pudding.

The recipe is from Pages 384 and 385 in Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From my home to yours. You may also get it here. This was a recipe chosen earlier by a member of Baking with Dorie Greenspan group when I hadn't joined yet, hence the 'rewind'.

I cheated a whole lot in making the vanilla pudding, doing away with the food processor. In essence, I made the pudding using simple steps not unlike the vanilla pastry cream I made for my Boston Cream Pie, which by the way is by Martha Stewart from her Cupcakes book. You may duplicate the steps found here, while still using Dorie's recipe. It is much simpler to do. I didn't even bother to run the ready pudding under a sieve either, and they still came out nice and smooth. Try it today!

Boston Cream Pie

2010-08-11T08:00:00.000+08:00

Never mind that this cake has an identity crisis (it's not a pie at all!), it's one of my favourite cakes of all time. Well, I think I'm just in love with pastry cream, so anything that comes with it is a dream come true.

The first time I made this cake was in the form of cupcakes - read about it here. Since then, I had been dreaming to make this in a cake form, with scattered berries on top for a juicy summery feel to it.

Let's just say, my love has only grown for this sponge cake layered with crème pâtissière and topped with chocolate ganache!

This recipe was from Martha Stewarts's Cupcakes book. You may also get the recipe here.

Baking With Dorie: Blueberry Crumb Cake

2010-08-02T12:30:00.010+08:00

This week, it's my turn to choose a recipe for the Baking with Dorie (BWD) group. I will let you know that it is certainly no easy feat!! Do I choose something I KNOW I can make (successfully) or do I chose something challenging that I WANT to make, but risk having a disastrous end result.

In the end, I chose something that I KNOW I will LOVE and can definitely MAKE.

I love this cake!

Coffee cakes are my favourite kind of cake. They're a no-fuss, non too fancy cake that can be enjoyed in the morning, noon, day and night. And what better way to start your day with a cake!! Dorie is right - it IS easy to get attached to this cake. Simple, yet flavorful with hints of cinnamon and nutmeg. You can't really taste the spices though but you know it's there. There's lemon zest in this too. I think I may increase the amount of cinnamon and lemon zest next time I make this. The steusels are the perfect topping for this cake. And, although Dorie wrote to remind us not to be tempted to increase the amount of walnuts in the topping (scarcity makes them even more delightful, she says) I went ahead and scattered about two tablespoons of chopped walnuts after spreading the crumbs. And it worked for me!! I must add that the crumb-to-cake ration was perfect too. Just the right amount!!

my personal favourite is to have it with a cup of tea

I used my fingers to prepare the crumbs (I don't have a food processor). I think it took me less than 2 minutes to put them together and I only needed to wash my hands afterwards ;-)

One thing that I would like to note here is the direction to butter the pan. It just says butter the pan, without the 'flour the pan'. I contemplated for a good 5 minutes if I should flour it, then decided Dorie knows best. And of course she does!

The recipe for this cake is from pages 192-193 on Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. If you haven't bought the book yet, do it now!! I promise you won't regret it.

To see how other BWD bakers made the Blueberry Crumb Cake, check out the blogroll here. On August 16 2010, we'll be baking Brown Sugar Bundt Cake, from page 179 (picked by Chaya). If you'd like to join us, send an email to BWD founder Grapefruit at needfulthings at ymail dot com.

Blueberry Crumb Cake
by Dorie Greenspan in Baking from My Home to Yours

For the Crumbs:
5 tbsp unsalted butter at room temp
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar (packed)
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts*

For the Cake:
1 pint (2 cups) blueberries (preferably fresh, or frozen, not thawed)
2 cups plus 2 tsp all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
2/3 cup sugar
grated zest of 1/2 lemon or 1/4 orange
3/4 stick (6 tbsp) unsalted butter at room temp
2 large eggs, at room temp
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350. Butter an 8-inch square pan and put it on a baking sheet.To make the crumbs: Put all the ingredients except the nuts in a food processor and pulse just until the mixture forms clumps and curds and holds together when pressed. Scrape the topping into a bowl, stir in the nuts and press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface. Refrigerate until needed. (Covered well the crumb mix can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.)

To make the cake: Using your fingertips, toss the blueberries and 2 tsp of the flour together in a small bowl just to coat the berries; set aside. Whisk together the remaining 2 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Working in the bowl of a stand mixer or in another large bowl, rub the sugar and zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and aromatic. Add the butter and, with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat the sugar with the butter at medium speed until light, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one by one, beating for about 1 minute after each addition, then beat in the vanilla extract. Don’t be concerned if the batter looks curdled — it will soon smooth out. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture and the buttermilk alternately, the flour in 3 parts and the buttermilk in 2 (begin and end with the dry ingredients.) You will have a thick, creamy batter. With a rubber spatula, gently stir in the berries.

Scrape the batter into the buttered pan and smooth the top gently with the spatula. Pull the crumb mix from the fridge and, with your fingertips, break it into pieces. There’s no need to try to get even pieces — these are crumbs, they’re supposed to be lumpy and bumpy and every shape and size. Scatter the crumbs over the batter, pressing them down ever so slightly.

Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, or until the crumbs are golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the cake to a rack and cool just until it is warm or until it reaches room temperature.

Baking With Dorie: Creamiest Lime Cream Meringue-less Pie

2010-07-19T22:59:00.003+08:00

Creamy, creamier, creamiest!! I am still feeling guilty a couple of hours after sharing a slice of this tangy, silky smooth lime cream pie for dessert tonight. The amount of butter that went into this is still haunting me!! :) Calories aside - if you like strong, tarty citrus flavors, you'll love this luscious pie.

Thank you, Elizabeth for choosing this recipe. Again, another excellent choice!

As you can read from the post title, my pie is meringue-less. We are not meringue people in my household. I substituted lightly whipped cream for the meringue topping. I think Dorie would approve :)

Making this pie wasn't as easy as A-B-C, but I wouldn't say it was labor-intensive either. I prepared a cracker crust using McVitie's digestive biscuits, to replace graham crackers which I could not find here. This option is definitely simpler than making Dorie's Good for Almost Everything Pie Dough (recipe here) although I truly adore the pie dough.

And, even if you don't have an instant-read thermometer to ensure the lime cream is cooked at 180 degrees F, you can still make this successfully. I did :) I timed my whisking duration to 10 minutes as per Dorie's suggestion (and developing muscles at the same time). I am so happy I pulled this through, after a not-so-successful experience with my last BWD challenge.

The full-flavored tanginess of this pie comes from the zest of three limes and three-quarter cup of lime juice (I needed nine limes to get that amount of juice), plus some finely grated fresh ginger. Zing!!

You may find the full recipe and how-to for the Creamiest Lime Cream Meringue Pie on pages 337-339 of Baking: From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan. You may also find the recipe on BWD founder, Grapefruit's blog here.

For a gluten-free version of this pie, make your way to Gluten-Free Baking 101. And do check out the rest of the BWD bakers' blogs to see their take on this challenge.

Our next BWD challenge is on August 2 and it will be the Blueberry Crumb Cake, picked by me!! :) If you'd like to join us, do send an email to Grapefruit - needfulthings at ymail dot com. Come, come bake with us!!

Chocolate Biscotti

2010-07-13T23:39:00.006+08:00

I've always considered Biscotti to be a sophisticated, almost stuck-up, grown up cookie. A cookie to nibble at, accompanied by equally stuck-up, fancy-sounding coffee. Ooopsss.. I did not offend anyone, now did I? (ah, well...who reads this blog anyway :).

I seem to be having the cookie itch these days - I go about all day thinking about baking them!! And so Chocolate Biscotti (pg 144) was what caught my fancy tonight as I was flipping through Dorie Greenspan's Baking from my home to yours.

I wanted a quick-to-go recipe, one which did not require me to refrigerate the dough for a couple of hours before baking them. This fits the bill - and I had all the ingredients like chopped almonds and chocolate chips ready at home.

It was pretty fun making these - especially making two huge fat logs from the dough, baking them for 20 minutes, cutting them into slices and then baking them again for another 10 minutes. By the way, Biscotti means twice-baked!

Boy, do they smell so good baking in the oven!! While my kids dunked their Biscotti in milk (how un-sophisticated is that!!), I dunked my chocolatey sticks in my favourite local coffee, Kopi Cap Hang Tuah. Just a piece or two with your fav beverage makes a complete breakfast, tea-time enjoyment, or any-time treat in my opinion.

Melting Moments: a melt-in-your-mouth shortbread

2010-07-12T23:40:00.004+08:00

I realized that ALL of the bakes I've featured on this blog came from Baking from my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan. Yes, I am a Dorie fan ever since I was introduced to her by a dear friend. But I DO own other baking and cookbooks, those which I have acquired myself or given to me by family and friends (70% given by family and friends - thank you!! :-D)

This melt-in-your-mouth shortbread is a recipe from The Perfect Afternoon Tea Book by Anthony Wild and Somona Hill. I bought this book a couple of months back when I was looking for ideas to host an all-ladies afternoon tea party. I love the book!! It not only contain 70 recipes for tea-time treats which include biscuits, cakes and pastries, it is also laden with 270 GORGEOUS photographs of classic English tea party. I LOVE IT!! Also in the book is a historical introduction to the English afternoon tea, tea party etiquette and the art of brewing tea. Need I say more? :) Just the kind of book I love to browse through when in need of some inspiration.

Alright then. Since this post is about the cookie and not the book, I'll go ahead and describe the shortbread :)True to its name, the flaky shortbread melts in your mouth while the coating of rolled oats give it a nice crunchy surface. This is the best butter cookies I've attempted so far and is definitely a keeper!!

Chewy, Chunky Blondies

2010-07-11T22:04:00.001+08:00

I love making simple desserts, especially so on a lazy weekend. And these are effiortless!!

Brownies are about the simplest thing to bake and their counterpart, Blondies are equally undemanding too. Their not called Chewy, Chunky Blondies for nothing - the addition of choc chunks, coarsely chopped walnuts, coconut and in this case white chocolate chunks (the original recipe called for butterscoth chips or Heath Toffee bits) make this such a chewy delight.

I halved the recipe and thus shortened the baking time to 20 minutes. My cake tester was clean when I inserted it into the middle of the pan, but I wanted my blondies to turn more golden brown as the recipe stated and left it in the oven for another three minutes. Still, I think these are just a tad bit underbaked - Dorie's looked much dryer in the book. Nevertheless, they are chewy and chunkylicious buttery goodness!!

The recipe is from page 109 from Baking from my home to yours.

Baking With Dorie: Caramel-Peanut-Topped Brownie Cake

2010-07-05T01:33:00.009+08:00

This week, BWD bakes Caramel-Peanut-Topped Brownie Cake (pages 264-5), chosen by BWD founder Grapefruit.

I realised as I was preparing to bake this that this cake was really simple to make, and although the measurements were different, the steps were exactly the same as the brownies I made last weekend. One addition to the recipe this time was light corn syrup, which I did not have any!! And I couldn't find it at my regular baking supplies store either. So, I had to improvise and made my own, using the recipe I found here.

I halved the recipe and baked it in a cute four-inch cake pan, and got a tall, fluffy, mini cake. I did not expect the cake to rise double the height of the batter, but was glad it did as I love tall cakes.

The challenge was in making the caramel sauce!! I've made caramel a few times before, but was still intimidated this time around. In the book Dorie warned not to halve the caramel recipe, as it would be tricky to deal with the small amount of sugar...but I went ahead and made a quarter of the topping. Turns out, I DID have hiccups making the caramel... the amount of sugar was too little to turn into a nice liquid substance. My topping was more like peanut toffee!! So I quickly added a bit more sugar, butter and water..waiting for the liquid to turn amber on the stove. As soon as I had the right color (almost!), I added peanuts and spread it on the cake.

And you know what...my caramel hardened as I was photographing it. Like toffee!! It was quite a challenge to cut the cake.. as you can see, I don't have a sliced photo of the cake :( I would have loved to try making another round of caramel and giving it a go until I get it right, except I made this at 11pm on Sunday after a weekend of activities. And although technically I have another night to give it a go before posting this, I can't afford to as I'm going out of town for work tomorrow. I do, in all seriousness feel like a failure. Sigh.

I went ahead and carefully cut the cake... hey, I needed to taste the cake so I can write about it here, right? Still slightly warm... it was very fluffy and slightly dry-ish. But I bet it'll taste different at room temperature, and better yet tomorrow, as all cakes do. By the way, the caramel was supposed to seep through the cake to make it moist... errr... no luck with my caramel, I suppose!! Lesson learnt: never leave baking challenges to the last minute!!

Thanks, Grapefruit for picking this recipe - the recipe is posted on her blog here. I am excited to see the BWD bakers' version of this recipe. Take a peek here.

Classic Brownies

2010-06-27T18:00:00.000+08:00

I made these quick and easy to prepare, loved by all brownies yesterday. It had a unanimous vote when I asked the six tween girls (two of them mine) if they wanted cupcakes or brownies for treats upon completing their school homework. All of them shouted at the same time, "BROWNIES!!".

Now, who doesn't like brownies...they come in various textures - fudgy, gooey and cakey - a cross between a chocolate cake and a cookie.

These were adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Classic Brownies recipe, on page 88-89 of Baking, From my home to yours. I followed the recipe as is, but omitted the optional expresso powder. They were brownie-licious!!

Now, as I was preparing my brownies, BFF called to see if they could drop by and I quickly measured the ingredients for a second batch... you can never have too much brownies!!

The six girls came back from their swim in the pool and devoured 'em brownies... and since I made two batches and did not want to have so many leftovers in the house, I put four brownies each in plastic bags to send home with each girl. This morning, I made another batch (yes, that's batch #3) as my daughters said they only had two yesterday and wanted to enjoy some some more. I later sent half of the batch through my daughter for her friend (daughter received invitation to join friend's family for lunch and movie to celebrate her birthday).

I have six brownies left on the kitchen top and have been on my best behavior not to go near them!! :)

Baking With Dorie: Summer Fruit Gallette

2010-06-21T00:00:00.019+08:00

* I almost fell off my chair when moderating comments one morning - Ms Greenspan herself left one!! Of course, this is my fav post thus far :) Having said that, I am equally elated to receive comments from anyone of you!! so keep the comments coming :)

These rustic-looking gallettes are amongst the prettiest things I've ever baked. They are so lovely to look at, and what a pleasure it was making them!!

Thank you Elizabeth of Gluten-Free Baking 101 for choosing this week's Baking with Dorie (BWD) recipe, from pages 366-7 of Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home To Yours.

The recommended fruit for this recipe were apricots, nectarines, peaches, plums or rhubards. Now, these are all imported fruits from where I came from and not necessarily easy to find. I chose raspberries and blueberries for my galette filling - I knew the contrast of their colours would make pretty desserts. I must say this was a very expensive bake for me!! :) But it was all worth it.

A litte bit about gallettes, according to Dorie, by its very nature, a galette is rustic and not meant to be perfect. It's a round pie dough folded over the edges of a filling, and what makes it so charming are its pleats, bends and wrinkles. Charming indeed!!

This recipe came without a picture, so I had to google for some and also, of course used the Cranberry Lime Gallette recipe on pages 364-365 for reference. I think the look of my galettes look pretty close to Dorie's but then again, with these rustic gallettes, anything goes!!

These were quite simple to make, but you'll need to have some time to spare to refrigerate and let the dough rest before baking. And my, I just love Dorie's Good for Almost Everything Pie Dough (page 442). I foresee myself baking tons of goods using this dough recipe!!

I made a single crust and divided it into three to get smaller galettes; a raspberry gallette, a blueberry gallette and a mixed raspberry and blueberry one. I love the raspberry galette the most - the blueberry one was a bit too sour for my liking, but my second daughter loved it very much. The poured custard was great to add some sweetness to the sour fruits.

I served them as they were. I had actually wanted to sprinkle them with some confectioner's sugar but I forgot!! Now come to think of it, they would have been great with vanilla ice-cream or whipped cream too.

Look at the gallettes before they went into the oven. Aren't they pretty??

I am just loving baking along with BWD. I never would've thought of choosing this recipe to bake. Thanks again to Elizabeth and of course, our hard-working founder Grapefruit!!

Check out BWD's blogroll to see how the other bakers tackled this.

This week, it's my turn to post the recipe. Here goes:

Summer Fruit Galette by Dorie Greenspan

from Baking From My Home to Yours

Good For Almost Everything Pie Dough for a single crust, chilled (pg 442)

2-3 tablespoons jam or marmalade

about 2 tablespoons graham cracker crumbs

Fresh summer fruit: about 10 apricots, 8-10 nectarines, 8 ripe but firm peaches, 8-10 firm plums or 2 stalks rhubarb

Decorating (coarse) or granulated sugar, for dusting

For the Custard

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1/3 cup sugar

1 large egg

¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Getting Ready

Center rack in the oven and preheat to oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment (see below) or a silicone mat.

To make it easier to move the pie dough onto the baking sheet, roll the dough between sheets of parchment paper ( in which case, you can use one of the rolling sheets to line the baking sheet) or wax paper or plastic wrap. Alternatively work on a well-floured surface, taking care to keep the dough moving by turning it and flouring the surface often.

Roll the dough into a large 1/8 inch thick circle. Using a pastry wheel or a paring knife, time the dough to a 13 inch diameter. Using a cake pan or a pot lid as a template and the tip of a bunt kitchen knife as a marker, lightly trace a 9 inch circle in the center of the dough- this is the area for the filling.

With the back of a spoon or a small offset spatula, spread some of the jam over the circle- how much will depend of the jam flavor you want. Sprinkle over the crumbs, adding a little more than 2 tablespoons if you think you’ve got particularly juicy fruit. Put a piece of plastic wrap or wax paper over the dough and refrigerate it while you prepare the fruit.

Wipe the apricots, nectarines or plums clean with a damp towel and cut in half; discard the pits. Blanch peaches for 10 seconds in a pot of boiling water, transfer them to a bowl of ice water to cool, then slip off the skins. Halve and pit the peaches or peel rhubarb to remove the strings, and cut into 1 to 2 inch pieces.

Arrange the fruit on the dough, cut side down if using stone fruits, then gently lift the unfilled border of dough up and onto the filling. As you lift the dough and place it on the filling, it will pleat. If you’re not in a rush, freeze the galette for 15 minutes to give the crust a rest.

Brush the dough very lightly with a little water, then sprinkle it with a teaspoon or two of sugar. Bake galette for 25 minutes, or until the crust is brown and the fruit is soft.

Meanwhile, make the custard

Whisk together the melted butter, sugar, egg and vanilla in a bowl; set aside until needed.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven (leave the oven on), and carefully pour the custard around the fruit. Depending one how much juice has accumulated and how much space you have between the fruit, you may not be able to pour all the custard into the galette, but even 2 tablespoons can give the right effect. Pour in as much custard as you can, then carefully return the pan to the oven.

Bake for another 12 to 15 minutes, or until the custard is set- it shouldn’t jiggle when you gently shake the pan. Cool the galette on the baking sheet on a rack to cool. The galette can be served when it is just warm or- my preference- when it has reached room temperature. Dust with confectioners; sugar just before serving.

Good for Almost Everything Pie Dough
For a 9 inch Single Crust

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

3/4 tsp salt

1 1/4 sticks very cold unsalted butter, cut into tbsp size pieces

2 1/2 tablespoons very cold vegetable shortening, cut into 2 pieces

About 1/4 cup ice water

Put the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor fitted with a metal blade, pulse just to combine the ingredients. Drop in the butter and shortening and pulse only until the butter and shortening are cut into the flour. Don’t overdo the mixing- what you’re aiming for is to have some pieces the size of fat green peas and others the size of barley. Pulsing the machine on and off, gradually add about 6 tbsps of the water- add a little water and pulse once, add some more water, pulse again and keep going that way. Then use a few long pulses to get the water into the flour. If, after a dozen or so pulses, the dough doesn’t look evenly moistened or form soft curds, pulse in as much of the remaining water as necessary, or even a few drops more, to get a dough that will stick together when pinched. Big pieces of butter are fine. Scrape the dough out of the bowl and onto a work surface. Shape the dough into a disk and wrap it. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour before rolling (if your ingredients were very cold and you worked quickly, though, you might be able to roll the dough immediately: the dough should be as cold as if it had just come out of the fridge).

Baking With Dorie (Rewind): Lots-Of-Ways Banana Cake

2010-06-16T13:38:00.008+08:00

I remember making my first banana cake when I was 17, with the recipe I found in my mother's drawer. It was for a family gathering we were having later that night. And guess what? An aunt, Mak Mok who came for the potluck dinner also came with a banana cake!! I remember another aunt, Mak Ngah and a few other older cousins were telling me that mine tasted better than Mak Mok's!! Of course, I know now that they were being very nice and wanted to encourage me to bake...

This recipe is slightly different that the one I made almost 21 years ago (you would've guessed my age by now, right?).

Lots-Of-Ways Banana Cake was the chosen recipe by Grapefruit of BWD in April. I am on a mission to bake of all BWD previous challenges before I joined the group and hope to complete it by the time my turn to chose a recipe comes in August.

The texture of this cake is very soft and delicate, but they were not crumbly. Their softness were more of the melt-in-your-mouth kind of soft. I subsituted coconut milk with sour cream and sweetened shredded coconut with unsweetened dessicated coconut. I would've loved to add chopped walnuts or pecans but ran out of them. I think the the nuts would definitely add a nice crunch to the soft cake.

I made a one-layer cake and baked it in a 7-inch round cake pan, instead of the 9-inch recommended, just so I could get a taller cake. I believe banana cakes fall under the 'plain and rustic cake' category (my opinion, solely) and thus need not be frosted nor iced. I simply dusted some cocoa powder and the barely there bittersweet taste complimented the cake beautifully.

You may find the recipe on pages 205 & 206 of Baking from my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan or here.

Baking With Dorie: Lemon Cup Custard

2010-06-07T17:57:00.135+08:00

This was my first time making my own custard from scratch and they turn out to be very very easy!! The ingredients were minimal too, but yet I was still intimidated in the beginning, by just looking at the preparation steps one needed too make. I guess the bulk of my anxiety was from the fact that I didn't think my cups would stand the oven temperature, but I'm so glad they did!!

Like Grapefruit wrote in her blog on this recipe here, I had read how the TWD bakers had an issue with the egginess of this recipe, but that did not cause me much concern, as I am ok with egg... in fact, as I'm writing this, I recall that the taste of this lemon custard is very similar to the custard on my favourite store-bought egg tarts (which I can now bake myself, yeay!!).

The truth is, these custards ARE eggy. I let my daughter have the first taste and immediately after having a spoonful, she muttered, telur - which means egg. I then had a taste... the texture, not the taste caught my tastebud first. It was smooth, almost like soft tofu!! It was mildly sweet with a lemony flavour... not bad at all. Oh, let me tell you we had these when it was warm. Later, after having refrigerated them, my daughter asked for some... had a taste and asked me to warm them up. I must agree that they taste better warm!!

I made one half recipe lemon and the other one half, the orange and star anise version.

This version is wonderful too... the subtle orange and spice flavor is very familiar, yet I still can't recall where and when, and in what food I've had a similar taste of these before. My kids preferred the lemon version though. This may be the gourmet version of the simple cup custard.

Thanks, Grapefruit for picking out this recipe. I can now proudly say I know how to make my own custard and may make these again when entertaining. I will however, use very tiny cups just in case my guests can't stand too much egginess!! ;-)

Baking With Dorie (Rewind): Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

2010-05-30T23:38:00.002+08:00

I have decided that if I really wanted to be a full, active member of Baking with Dorie (BWD) which I was officially welcomed into on May 12, I should catch up on all of the group's bake since its first one on March 1.

Thus, I will attempt a BWD Rewind - baking all six chosen recipes that the group members have picked and baked prior to May 24 (when I baked my first BWD). And, I hope to complete all six recipes before August 16 - that's when we'll be baking along to my recipe of choice!! I think I can manage that ;-)

For my first BWD Rewind, it's Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins, chosen by both founding members of BWD, Grapefruit and Susi. Check out Grapefruit's take here and Susi's here.

I thought of baking half a batch, but since we were having some family gathering in the morning, I went full batch and got exactly 12 muffins from the recipe. I usually can't wait to sample the first cupcake/slice of cake immediately after they come out of the oven, but I was patient with this one, probably because I was occupied with ~~chowing down~~ putting away WPC cookies in cookie tins (I can't seem to stop ~~eating~~ baking 'em WPCs!!)

I took these to mom's and I was surprised that my health-conscious mother (she doesn't eat cake and as a result looks 15 years younger than her real age.. errr what does that say about me - a cake eating person who bakes almost daily??) out of her own willingness took one muffin and declared they were very nice (she scraped the lemon drizzle off, though). And...a few minutes later said she'll have another one!! I was curious to know if they were THAT good, but decided to wait till morning to have them for breakfast.

My verdict - these are made for breakfast or an afternoon snack. They were pretty good, but I wouldn't go so far as to have one after the other. The texture is soft and light (I used low-fat yogurt instead of sour cream). And although the cake calls for zest and juice of one lemon, the lemon flavor was quite mild. A lemon lover, I was hoping for a stronger sweet citrus taste.

The poppy seed added some surprise crunch in every bite and these muffins would be nothing without them.

Guess what? The next day my mom had these again for breakfast. I'll definitely make these again... for her!!

Peace, love and a happy tummy

2010-05-27T00:34:00.003+08:00

Yes, I agree with Dorie's neighbour that the world would be a more peaceful and happier place if everyone had one of these everyday. I'd just like to add that it'll also be a much heavier place, no doubt!! Happier, and heavier!! Or at least just heavier around the area where I live, as I just can't stop eating these!!

I think this is the best cookies I've baked so far - much more superior than the chockablock cookies I baked several weeks ago. This time is was perfect!! In the beginning, I was a little afraid I might be dissapointed as I kinda suck at baking cookies. Cakes, I can manage - but I never seem to get the right freshly crisp texture I love in a cookie. I've baked from friends and family's fav recipes, but I always get dissapointed with the way mine turns out. But not anymore!!

Two of my best buddies have tried making these before and they loved it, but somehow I wasn't very convinced as:

1. I suck at cookies

2. the appearance of the cookies isn't anything to shout about

But I guess, never judge a book by its cover!! And never judge a cookie by its appearance (or lack of).

These cookies are just the way I like mine - crisp and crunchy and oh! so chocolatey. I am not a fan of chewy cookies. These are so so good!! My greediness led me to prepare 2 batches of dough and boy, am I glad!! And of course, I couldn't wait 3 hours for the rolled up and wrapped dough to be refrigerated (Dorie says to shape the dough in logs, wrap them in plastic and refrigerate for at least 3 hours) - I baked 9 cookies immediately after I was done with the recipe. And it was heavenly.

I followed the recipe to a tee - except I used dark couverture chocolate instead of bittersweet and mountain salt from the Himalayas instead of fleur de sel. I love the sandy texture and the saltiness which brings out the best of the chocolate.

I also experimented by adding some chopped almonds (as I love nuts in cookies) - see photo below. They are great too, but I love them more without the nuts. I shouldn't have tried to mess up Pierre Hermé original recipe - who am I kidding, right??

Have no doubt about these cookies and bake them today - they're at page 138-139 of Dorie's Baking From My Home To Yours. It is also available online. Here's the recipe in metric measurement - Dorie's been so kind to convert it for us. But do buy the book - it's just so worth it!!

Baking With Dorie: Tender Shortcakes

2010-05-24T00:00:00.005+08:00

This was a very special bake for me as it was my maiden Baking with Dorie bake!! Susi from Susi's Kochen Und Backen Adventures chose this recipe (pgs 423 & 424). Thank you, Susi!!

BWD was introduced to me by my friend Jenny, who is a member of another baking group, TWD. And since TWD is now a closed group, she suggested that I join BWD, whose co-founder's blog Needful Things she stumbled upon.

The rest is history and here I am baking along my first bake!

This was my first time baking shortcakes (so many firsts, huh?? hehe) and the likes of it i.e scones and biscuits. I was a little intimidated at first as I am no great baker, and have only started baking as a hobby about a year and a half ago.

But reading Dorie's recipe soon calmed me down. It appeared simple enough for me to attempt, there were no complicated steps and the ingredients were pretty basic. It was actually very very easy!!

These biscuits were tender, but perhaps mine were not flaky enough. They were light and not dense but I was left searching for that flaky texture that Dorie described in her book (on pg 20, "flakiness is the hallmark of great biscuits and scones). Mine were pale, golden, cracked, cratery, raggedy and crumbly - yes. But not quite flaky!! I did handle my dough with enough 'neglect' as advised though. I am curious to know if the other BWD bakers had the flakiness quality about this shortcakes.

Having said that, the lack of flakiness had in no way interfered with how these tasted. I wouldn't say mine were awesome, but they were good - especially when eaten with the lightly whipped cream and berries. I would say the accompaniments take the cake!! Thanks, Susi for picking this recipe. Thanks for being involved in one of my many 'firsts' ;-)

I made 3/4 of the recipe as I only had a small can of cream in the pantry, thus had to adjust the amount of the other ingredients. I made 15 small shortcakes and was happy to bring them on my visit to my sister's house. And as I had to make a stop at my mom's to take her along to sis', I was pressed for time and only managed to snap a few photos!

I'm looking forward to the next BWD bake!!

My book is here!!!

2010-05-13T20:55:00.000+08:00

Look what I got in the mail today!! My book is here, my book is here, my book is here!! I'm so happy... Ok, gotta go... I'm gonna be busy tonight ;-)

Swedish Visiting Cake

2010-05-12T14:27:00.067+08:00

The saying 'less is more' is so true in the case of this cake. Simpler is definitely better!! 10 minutes (or maybe even less!) was all that was required and the minimal ingredients was the plus factor. Who would've thought something so simple can be so sinful!! I LOVE THIS CAKE!! now, of course the recipe's great -- it's Dorie's!!

I first baked this cake about a month ago, after my friend Jen posted her TWD weekly bake on her blog. The cake name itself made me curious and after I went to Nancy's blog, I was ready to get in the kitchen and bake my own!! I love simple, unpretentious, wholesome goodness cake such as this.

I've made this cake 5 times in 2 weeks. Yes, I love it that much!! The one shown here was my second bake, where I doubled the recipe and baked it in a pie dish. I wish I have a cast iron skillet so I could bake in it as suggested by Dorie. What I can say is, skillet or no skillet, this was a hit!!

I love everything about this cake - the dense texture, the crunchy almond top and the fragrant citrusy lemony sweetness. I brushed my cake with some honey, as my cake looked a little dry (left it in the oven a tad too long). The intention was to have a slightly damp and moist look (to make it look good in pictures, of course! but without me knowing, the mild honey taste actually complimented the overall cake. And that was great!

Chockablock Cookies

2010-04-30T00:05:00.031+08:00

I have been looking for the perfect cookie recipe for ages!! This could be it... though not quite there yet for me as the sweetness of these cookies were greatly reduced, both intentionally and unintentionally:

I almost always always reduce the sugar of any recipe by about 30%
I used golden syrup instead of molasses and didn't realize I only had about 2 tablespoons left in the little jar and that's what I had to do with
I used unsweetened dessicated coconuts instead of sweetened shredded coconuts

And thus what could be the perfect cookie became somewhat not quite, just because it lacked that sweetness that makes a cookie so irresitable. I'm thinking now I should've added some brown sugar to make up for the lack of golden syrup. Ah well, this only gives me a reason to bake more of these soon!!

These cookies were baked by a group of great, inspiring bakers of the TWD group last week. A few months ago I didn't even know who Dorie Greenspan was (and how could I not?? however living in Malaysia probably has ~~everything~~ something to do with it). But that's in the past!! I need to thank my amazing dear friend Jen, whose passion and skills in the kitchen (as well as entertaining, photography bla bla bla skills) is ever inspiring!! Thanks for leading me to Dorie, girl!!

And I do need to mention that I got this recipe, thanks to a member of TWD - Mary of Popsicles and Sandy Feet - check out her Chockablock Cookies here. Thank you, Mary for sharing with non-TWD bakers like me (I have yet to have the book in my possesion... Amazon is in the midst of shipping it to me from half-way across the world).

Now back to the cookies :-)

I love the richness of the texture - bumpy, nutty and crunchy. The dessicated coconuts bring out the crunchiness of the cookie, I think.

This recipe yielded about 55 cookies for me and they have been distributed between my two girls and I to be shared with friends in school and my colleagues at work. I love sharing food!!

Albeit the lack of sweetness, these cookies are still very good (and healthier too!!).