Two Colour Sweet Potato Glutinous Rice Balls Soup (双色番署汤圆)

X'mas Honey Cookies

This post is linked at Cook and Celebrate: Christmas 2015 hosted by Yen from GoodyFoodies, Diana from The Domestic Goddess Wannabe and Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids.

Recipe

Ingredients
110g unsalted butter
45g icing sugar
20g honey
60g self-rising flour
120g plain flour
1tbsp corn flour
1/4tsp salt

Steps:
1. Preheat oven at 160C.
2. Cream butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add honey and beat until well combined.
4. Sift all the flours and salt together.
5. Fold in flour mixture into Step 3 to form a soft dough.
6. Wrap up dough and rest in the fridge for 15mins.
7. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface.
8. Dust cookie cutter with some flour and cut out cookies dough.
9. Place cookies dough on a greased tray.
10.Place stencil on cookies dough.
11.With a clean small paint brush, dip into cocoa powder and brush it on the stencil lightly and slowly.
12.Once complete, bake cookies dough in a preheated oven for 12-15mins until slightly firm. (Adjust oven temperature accordingly. Honey was used so cookies will be in darker brown.)
13.Cool on wire rack and store in an airtight containers.

Strawberry Yogurt Cake

This post is linked at Cook and Celebrate: Christmas 2015 hosted by Yen from GoodyFoodies, Diana from The Domestic Goddess Wannabe and Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids.


Recipe

Ingredients
125g strawberry yogurt
3tbsp veg. oil
40g cake flour
10g corn flour
3 egg yolk

3 egg white
55g caster sugar

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 175C.
2. Line base of a 6 inches round loose base pan with grease proof paper.
3. Wrap tin base and surrounding with foil, set aside.
4. In a big mixing bowl, mix yogurt and oil together.
5. Sift in cake flour and corn flour together and mix till smooth.
6. Add in egg yolk and mix till smooth batter.
7. In a clean mixing bowl whisk egg whites till frothy.
8. Gradually add in sugar and whisk till soft peaks form.
9. Fold in 1/3 of the meringue into egg batter till combined.
10.Then fold in the rest of the meringue lightly in two portions until well combined.
11.Pour cake batter into prepared pan, smooth surface and tap pan on tabletop to burst air bubbles.
12.Steam-bake cake in a preheated oven for 15mins, reduce temperature to 130C and bake for another 25mins. (Adjust oven temperature according to your house oven heating power.)
15.Remove cake tin from oven, loosen side and remove cake from tin.
16.Leave it to cool on a wire rack.

Checkerboard Cookies

Recipe

Ingredients
Plain dough:
80g unsalted butter (cold butter)
60g icing sugar
1/4tsp salt
20g egg
1/4tsp vanilla paste
130g plain flour
15g corn flour

Cocoa dough:
80g unsalted butter (cold butter)
60g icing sugar
1/4tsp salt
20g egg
110g plain flour
20g corn flour
15g cocoa powder

Steps:
Plain dough:
1. Sift flour, salt and corn flour together, set aside.
2. Cream butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Slowly beat in egg until well combined.
4. Fold in flour mixture into Step 3 and mix to form a soft dough.
5. Wrap up dough and rest in fridge for half an hour.

Cocoa dough:
1. Sift flour, cocoa powder salt and corn flour together, set aside.
2. Cream butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Slowly beat in egg until well combined.
4. Fold in flour mixture into Step 3 and mix to form a soft dough.
5. Wrap up dough and rest in fridge for half an hour.

Assemble:
1. Remove both dough from fridge and place each of them on a grease proof paper. (floured grease proof paper)
2. Roll it individually into rectanglar about 0.5cm thick, try to shape both dough about the same size.
3. Transfer plain dough onto cocoa dough by flipping the grease proof paper which has the roll out plain dough.
4. With a rolling pin, roll it slightly to make them stick together.
5. Wrap up the cookies dough and chill in the fridge for an hour till harden.
6. Remove cookies dough and cut into long strip of the same thickness.
7. Arrange them as you prefer.
8. Wrap up the cookies dough again and chill in the fridge for an hour till harden.
9. Remove cookies dough and cut into slices about 0.4cm thick.
10.Preheat oven to 180C.
11.Arrange cookies dough on a greased tray.
12.Bake in a preheated oven for 12-14mins until slightly firm.
13.Cool cookies on wire rack and store in an airtight containers.

Cranberry Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies

Recipe

Ingredients
80g unsalted butter (cold butter)
50g icing sugar
1/4tsp salt
20g egg
110g plain flour
15g corn flour
20g ground hazelnut
40g cranberry


Steps:
1. Sift flour, salt and corn flour together.
2. Mix ground hazelnut and cranberry into flour mixture and set aside.
3. Cream butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Slowly beat in egg until well combined.
5. Fold in flour mixture into Step 4 and mix to form a soft dough.
5. Place dough onto a plastic wrap, shape into a long square block.
6. Wrap it up and rest in fridge for an hour till it harden.
7. Preheat oven at 180C.
8. Remove cookies dough from fridge, remove plastic wrap and cut into thin slice about 0.3cm thick.
9. Arrange cookies dough on a greased tray.
10.Bake in a preheated oven for 12-15mins until slightly firm.
11.Cool cookies on wire rack and store in an airtight containers.

Mango Yogurt Cake

It was supposed to have a cute little hello kitty picture on the crust but I mess it up so just left a big brown patch on the surface. :(

This post is linked to the event Little Thumbs Up (November 2015 Event: Mango) organised by Zoe (Bake for Happy Kids) and Mui Mui (My Little Favourite DIY) and hosted by Jozelyn Ng (Spice Up My Kitchen).

Recipe

Ingredients
125g mango yogurt
3tbsp veg. oil
40g cake flour
10g corn flour
3 egg yolk

3 egg white
55g caster sugar

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 160C.
2. Line base of a 7 inches round loose base pan with grease proof paper.
3. Wrap tin base and surrounding with foil, set aside.
4. In a big mixing bowl, mix yogurt and oil together.
5. Sift in cake flour and corn flour together and mix till smooth.
6. Add in egg yolk and mix till smooth batter.
7. In a clean mixing bowl whisk egg whites till frothy.
8. Gradually add in sugar and whisk till soft peaks form.
9. Fold in 1/3 of the meringue into egg batter till combined.
10.Then fold in the rest of the meringue lightly in two portions until well combined.
11.Pour cake batter into prepared pan, smooth surface and tap pan on tabletop to burst air bubbles.
12.Steam-bake cake in a preheated oven for 20mins, reduce temperature to 130C and bake for another 30mins. (Adjust oven temperature according to your house oven heating power.)
15.Remove cake tin from oven, loosen side and remove cake from tin.
16.Leave it to cool on a wire rack.

Pineapple Filling for Tarts (Using Bread Maker)

This is what I had made during the weekend, pineapple filling with the help of my long...forgotten bread maker. I had read from some blogs that bread maker was useful in cooking delicious jams and I also came across a blog which used bread maker to cook pineapple jam for pineapple tart too. So during this holiday I must give it a try. I was hoping bread maker can ease the cooking process.

After this testing, bread maker do help the initial cooking process of reducing the liquid but it take a longer...time. I had to cook the pineapple puree 3 times using the 'Jam' mode (total about 3 hours++) in order to reduce the liquid and lastly cooked it on stove over low fire for another 1/2hour or so. I don't mind the long cooking time as I don't have to watch over the fire.

Recipe

Ingredients
2 pineapple (without skin around 1.5kg to 1.6kg)
190g sugar (adjust according to the sweetness which you preferred)

Steps:
1. Cut off pineapple core and cut it into chunks.
2. Put them into food processor and process it into puree. (I used the purse button as I prefer to have some fiber in the jam.)
3. Pour puree and sugar into bread maker container.
4. Press menu, choose 'Jam' mode and press 'start'. (1 cycle is 1hr and 5mins)
5. After the first cooking cycle, stir and restart for 2nd cycle.
6. 2nd cycle completed, stir and restart for 3rd cycle again. (You may skip 3rd cycle if you think the liquid is reduced and you can finished it up on stove.)
7. After the 3rd cycle, pour the pineapple puree into a wok.
8. Cook over low fire stirring till it caramelize and thicken. (slightly dry)
8. Dish out and set aside to cool.
9. Transfer jam into an air tight container and store in fridge.