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Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Tangy Buttermilk Cheese loaf

Needed to finish up d bal cheddar cheese so I decided on this recipe to try. Yield a really moist loaf & taste good even on its own.
  • 1 1/8 cup Buttermilk
  • ¾ cup extra sharp cheddar (grated)
  • 1½ tsp sugar
  • 1½ tsp salt
  • 1½ tsp yeast
  • 3 cup bread flour

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Chocolate chips cookies

Hayden requested for cookies 2days ago & with time on hand, I decided to give it a try today. With so many choices on web, I decided on this recipe from JoyofBaking but changed d raisin to chocolate chips instead because I have so much left over. Half all d ingredients for my 1st cookies attempt in case it didn’t turn out right.

As I dont have mixer, I used d mini food processor & it got 'burn' out after 5 pulse! OMG! Show hubby d smoke that's coming out of d processor & here's what he said "maybe it's time u go ahead & get d KitchenAid instead" YES!

Never knew baking cookies can be so easy! 1st batch was great & it came off easily from d baking pan. But for some reason unknown, had problem getting d 2nd batch off & I cracked all of them in d end(as u can c from d pic). 3rd & 4th batch were ok through. Mmmm... cant remember what I have done diff..



MIL complained why I gave such 'heaty' food to Hayden but who cares when Hayden loves it.. ;-p

Ingredients

  • 1 cup (130g) all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
  • ½ cup (105g) light brown sugar
  • 85g unsalted butter, softened
  • ½ large egg
  • 30 ml low-fat milk
  • ½ cup chocolate chips

Mix all well & spoon onto baking pan. Bake @ 170c for ard 10mins for each batch. Allow to cool down be4 puting into container.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Lemon cream cheese bread

Realised there’s still some cream cheese filling left in d fridge & decided to finish it up tonite for d yogurt bread. Also trying to finish up bal lemon zest & grated cheddar cheese, thus, all these r gg into d bread. At 1st, dough was quite wet so I added 1tbsp bread flour. Then, I realised dough didn’t rise well during d 1st proof in d ABM. 15mins into d 2nd proof phase, again, didn’t raise well. Was thinking of switching off d ABM & giving it more time to proof, but decided against it due to d fact that it’s alrdy 11pm now. So with fingers crossing, I went back to check again when it’s 10mins into baking phase & it has raise very nicely! Phew!
So now it’s tasting time. With so many weird additional, am really not sure how it will turn out. But end result is actually ok. Cant really taste d cream cheese but definitely smell very lemony & d cheddar cheese is a great add-on too.

Ingredients
  • 2 cups bread flour
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • ½tsp salt
  • ½tsp yeast
  • 100g cream cheese filling
  • 60g fresh milk
  • 1 large egg
  • 30g butter
  • 1 lemon zest (optional)
  • ¼ cup grated cheddar cheese (optional)

Put all ingredients into ABM in order suggested by manufacturer. Select basic 500g loaf bread cycle & light crust setting.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Blueberry breakfast scones

With yesterday’s cheesecake failure (well, not really failure. Just a bit wet due to d unthraw raspberries), I decided to search my to-do list for another new recipe to try out & decided on Bill Granger’s Blueberry breakfast scones. However, after reading HHB’s comments on d stickiness of d dough, I decided to made few slight modification.
Next rd, might want to increase d amt of d blueberries. But other than that, a SUPER, SUPER, SUPER EASY, SOFT & TASTY scones! We all loved it! It’s alrdy 9+pm but we all took a slice each! Another good scone recipe for keeping! T Q Bill Granger, for sharing!

Ingredients (modified)
  • 250 g all-purpose flour
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • A pinch of salt
  • 100 g cold unsalted butter, cubed
  • 1 large egg, lightly beaten
  • 1/3 cup whipping cream
  • 1/3 cup blueberries, frozen
  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
  2. Pulse flour, sugar, baking powder & salt in a food processor until combined.
  3. Add butter & pulse until it is roughly combined.
  4. Pour mixture into mixing bowl & fold in egg & cream. Gently mix in blueberries w/o breaking it.
  5. Turn dough onto a baking tray & press into a 1-2cm thick circle. Cut into 8wedges to allow even baking in-&-out.
  6. Bake for 20-25 mins or until golden. Served warm for best result.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Peanut butter & Raspberry Cheesecake

Never tried baked cheesecake be4 & hands r itching to give it a try. So I went recipe searching on web & found this interesting recipe for my 1st attempt. But as usual, I made some modifications due to limited/unavailable ingredients.
As u can c from d pic, d top got burned & after slicing off d burned top, there's lots of cracks on d surface of d cheesecake. Might want to use fresh raspberry cause frozen ones give out water which caused d cheesecake to be slightly runny (as seen in d pic of d inside).


Ingredients
Base

  • 100g diestive biscuits, crushed into crumbs
  • 43g melted butter
  • 50g nutella, top with frozen raspberries
Combine biscuits with melted butter & press mixture into a 16cm spring-form cake tin. Spread nutella over biscuit base, making sure to leave ard 2cm gap all around edge. Set raspberries in d centre of d base.

Fillings

  • 325g cream cheese
  • 75g caster sugar
  • 2 large Eggs
  • 100g crunchy peanut butter

1. Set the oven to 160C. Combine biscuits with melted butter & press mixture into a 16cm spring-form cake tin.
2. Place cream cheese & sugar into blender & pulse till smooth. Add eggs & pulse again.
3. Transfer mixture to a bowl & fold in peanut butter.
4. Pour d peanut/cheese mixture over raspberries/nutella & bake for abt 1 hour or until it is set & springy.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Orange Cupcakes

Have to leave d hse really early tomorrow morning to attend a local ‘village’ wedding, so went searching for a new recipe to try out for BF-on-d-move. In d end, I decided on another Rachel Allen’s recipe – lemon cupcakes. However, hubby does not want to feed Hayden too much lemon, so I changed lemon to orange instead (even though d required amt is actually quite little). Also omitted d toppings as d whole family (including Hayden) does not enjoy frosting/icing.
End result – a super, SUPER EASY & soft cupcakes with a tiny hint of orange! Great additional to my must-keep recipes list!

Ingredients ()r what I have replace/changed

  • 125g Butter, softened
  • 125g Caster sugar (brown sugar)
  • ½ large Lemon, finely grated zest only (1 orange)
  • 2 Eggs, beaten
  • 150g plain flour (cake flour)
  • ½ tsp Baking powder

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180C (160c). Line muffin cups with paper cases.
2. Whiz all ingredients together in a food processor.
3. Divide mixture between d paper cases & bake ard 10–15 mins, or until risen & golden. When cooked, centre of each cake shld be slightly springy to touch. Remove cakes from oven & put on a wire rack to cool.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Chocolate & vanilla marble cake

Really love d marble effect of this Rachel Allen's cake recipe, enough to give it a try even through I don’t have a mixer. Man! Such hard work whisking d cream, then d sugar! But I did it & end result is quite worth all d hard work trying to cream d butter by hand!

However, cant really c much of d marble effect on my cake. Guess I didn’t draw enough swirls through d cake. Also, I changed d timing & temp as my oven burned easily. () r what I have changed/replaced.

  • 225g Butter, softern
  • 225g Caster sugar (brown sugar)
  • 4 Eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 225g Plain flour (cake flour)
  • 2 tsp Baking powder
  • 50ml Milk
  • 50g Cocoa powder (40g only)
  1. Preheat oven to 180C (160c).
  2. Cream butter in a large bowl till soft. Add sugar & beat until mixture is light and fluffy.
  3. Whisk eggs & vanilla extract together in a small bowl. Gradually add eggs to butter mixture, beating all the time.
  4. Sift in flour & baking powder & fold in gently to mix, then add milk & mix gently to combine.
  5. Tip half of the cake mixture into another large bowl & fold in sifted cocoa powder.
  6. Place cake mixtures into baking pan/tin by alternating spoonfuls of d vanilla batter with d chocolate batter, then with a chopsticker or similar implement, gently draw swirls through d cake mixture to ‘marblise’ it. Don’t overmix or u won’t have that wonderful marble effect.
  7. Bake in d oven for 45mins (25mins) or till a skewer inserted into d middle comes out clean.
  8. Turn cake out onto a wire rack & allow to cool be4 serving.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Banana Honey bread

Just got back from SG & didnt have time for groceries shopping, so with whatever I have in d freezer, I realised I can try out Jamie Oliver's banana honey bread recipe. But 5mins after d ABM started, I realised that d dough was actually quite dry so I added another 2tbsp of water & some butter.
End result - a soft & strong banana smell loaf. But taste wise, u can only really tasted d banana after finishing/swallowing d bread.

  • 500g bread flour
  • 2tbsp runny honey
  • 15g dried yeast
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 30g butter
  • 1½ large banana mashed & top w/water to make up 350ml

Put all into d ABM & select basic setting to start. Note that I prefer light crust so I actually stop d ABM after 40mins of baking.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Blueberry Streusel Scones

I really love scones & with time on hand, I decided to give this Blueberry Streusel Scones a try as tomorrow’s bf instead of bread. However, the dough came out quite wet, might be due to d unthaw blueberries, which gives out more water during mixing. Thus, it’s quite diff to knead d dough into a circle. So, I tried to pat it into my 15cm round & 5.5cm thick baking pan instead. After 20mins in d oven, with d top slightly burned, I took it out but realized d inside is still uncooked due to d thickness. So I cut it open & put it back for another 20mins. D toppings got too burned to eat but at least d inside r done.
End result – a very soft, soft tasty scone! Even through its thick, it’s very soft & not too sour at all. Hubby also liked it as he took a slice as dessert.

Streusel Topping:
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • ¼ cup all purpose flour
  • ½ tsp ground cinnamon
  • 2 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Cut butter into small pieces & coat with flour be4 placing all ingredients into a mini food processor. Pulses till crumbly. Note that leftover streusel can be stored in a covered container in the fridge for a few weeks.

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 6 tbsp cold, unsalted butter, cut into pieces
  • 1 cup fresh blueberries
  • 1 large egg, lightly beaten
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • ½ cup milk
  1. In a large mixing bowl, sieve flour & baking powder together. Add in salt & sugar & mix them well. Cut butter into small pieces & coat with flour be4 placing them into a mini food processor. Add more flour & do 3 pulses. Then add them back into d flour & whisk ard be4 putting d flour-butter mixture into d fridge for minimum 30 mins.

  2. Lightly beat d egg be4 combining with milk & vanilla extract. Remove flour-butter mixture from fridge. Gently fold in the blueberries be4 adding d liquid mixture & stir until just combined. Mixture will be sticky, moist & lumpy. Gather up the mixture & place it into a zip-lock bag. Give it a few light kneading so that it comes together to form a dough. DO NOT over work d dough. Place dough bag into fridge for abt 30mins.

  3. On a lightly floured surface, dust hands with some flour & pat out d dough into 1 ½ inch thickness circle. Place dough on baking pan.

  4. Sprinkle toppings onto scone & bake at preheated oven at 200degC for abt 15-20 mins or until d tops r golden brown. Remove from oven & place on a wire rack. Serve warm.

  5. They should keep well overnite too. Covered & can be stored for a few days (if it last).

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Chocolate Chip Muffins

After trying to finish as much ingredients in d fridge for d HMB, there’s still some bal whipping cream to be utilize. So I decided on this Chocolate Chip muffin recipe to use it up. Original recipe yield 12 regular sized muffins but I split it up into lots of tiny muffins & 11 smalls.







End result - muffins didnt raise nicely but both testers (hubby & MIL) said quite soft & fluffy with crispy top due to d toppings.

  • ½ cup unsalted butter, melted & cooled
  • 2 large eggs
  • 240ml whipping cream
  • 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2/3 cups white sugar
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 cup chocolate chips

Topping (mix together):

  • 1 tbsp white sugar
  • ½ tsp ground cinnamon
  1. In a bowl whisk together eggs, milk, & vanilla extract.
  2. In another large bowl shift together flour, sugar, baking powder, & salt.
  3. Stir in the chocolate chips.
  4. Then fold wet ingredients into dry with a rubber spatula, along with the melted butter.
  5. Stir only until ingredients r combined. Do Not over mix or muffin will turn out tough.
  6. Fill pre-line muffin cups with batter & sprinkle a little topping on each muffin.
  7. Place in pre-heated oven & bake @ 180C for abt 15-18mins.
  8. Move to a wire rack & let cool for abt 5 mins be4 removing from muffin cups.

Water Roux Starter Hokkaido Milky Loaf

Thot of giving d water roux starter another attempt so I decided on this ‘proper’ water roux starter Hokkaido Milky bread from Angie’s. However, this recipe required Crème fraîche, which is a soured cream containing abt 28% milk fat. It’s slightly soured w/ bacterial culture, but is not as sour & thick as sour cream. I was not able to find that so I used whipping cream. Also, instead of all-purpose flour & Rye flour, I have used bread & cake flour instead! Should really label my flour containers!
With so many modifications, I decided to add 2 more diff,
cream cheese fillings & wolfberries! But d dough was too ‘stiff’ to hold d fillings & most of d fillings flow out of d dough during baking process! As for d wolfberries, it's d reason why d loaf is orange in color!
End result - a very soft & healthy (goodness of d wolfberries) loaf with strong cream cheese smell! Hayden loves d smell so much that he requested for a bit be4 he goes to bed! Try & c if u can locate d fillings from d pics.
Cream Cheese fillings:
  • 113 g cream cheese, room temp
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • ¾ tbsp all-purpose flour

Process d cream cheese in a food processor till smooth. Add sugar & process just until smooth & creamy. Add egg & process just until incorporated. Do not over process. Stir in the flour. Set aside.

Modified HML (water roux starter)

  • 300 g Bread flour
  • 50 g Cake flour
  • 30 g Milk powder
  • 120 g Water Roux Starter
  • 55 g Brown sugar
  • 14 g Fresh yeast
  • 5 g Salt
  • 1 Egg
  • 30g Low-fat Milk
  • 50 g Whipping cream
  • 30 g Soft butter, diced
  • 15g wolfberries
Put all HML ingredients into ABM, select basic setting & start. During d 2nd rising process, take out d dough, open a hold in d centre & pour in d fillings be4 closing up d hold. Put back into d ABM & continue baking. Stop d machine just 10-15mins be4 program stops cause by now, crust is brown enough. Let cool be4 removing from pan.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Blueberry Cheddar Cheese Pancakes

Having problem getting Hayden to eat again. Not sure if this is part of his growing process or what.. sigh.. Usually, he will drink a bottle of milk when he wakes up in d morning but today, after asking for d bottle, he actually didnt want to drink it. So last min, I rushed to d kitchen to check what I have in d fridge for a quick bf recipe & saw d cheddar cheese. That's when I remembered I had BH's Blueberry Cheddar Cheese pancakes recipe on my to-dos so here goes.
End result - very light & fluffy indeed! & as usually, since Hayden hate to c 'black' thingy in his food, I opt out blueberry from his spoon of batter. I only put 1 tbsp of batter for each of his pancakes & he ate 5 pieces! GREAT! Surprisingly both hubby & MIL preferred it w/o d blueberry too!

Due to d rush, I have modified d recipe abit.

  • ½ cup flour
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • ¼ tsp baking soda
  • Pinch of salt & cinnamon
  • 1½ tbsp sugar
  • ½ cup cheddar cheese
  • 1 small pkt milk (ard 110g)
  • 1 egg (lightly beaten)
  • 1 tbsp butter (melted, or oil)
  • ¼ cup blueberries (I used frozen)
  1. Put all ingredients into a big mixing bowl & whisked them together.
  2. Heat up d pan & spoon batter into pan.
  3. Cook till both surface is golden brown.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Mangyle Vest_II

Just a update on hubby's vest, I have finished d back & is now starting d front. Actually, am done half way on d front when hubby saw d pattern & told me he doesnt like d way it gathers up on d inside of d vest! So I had to undo & re-start again. Here's just a shot of how d pattern looks like on d outside & inside be4 it was undo. As u can c from d pic, d outside is ok for d inside looks very messy. I have to redo & try to hide d cross-over color yarn so that it will look presentable on d inside too.! so fussy!

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Cheese loaf 汤种芝士面包

d 1st attempt with d water roux starter (65°C湯種) was not as good as expected, likely because I modified a 'normal' recipe instead of using a ‘proper’ water roux starter recipe. So I went in search again for a proper recipe in order to use up d bal water roux starter & decided on this cheese roll from Angie's blog. But instead of making it into rolls, I just put everything into d ABM for a loaf. And according to d original recipe, I have enough of water roux starter to make 2 loafs so 1 dough goes into d freezer for future lazy-day baking.

End result – a very soft & bouncy loaf!

In d past, I always have problem trying to cut d bread into thin/even slices across. So most time, I press down too firm on 1 end & d loaf usually takes a while to bounce back or didn’t bounce back at all. As for this cheese loaf, it actually bounces back almost immediately after I released my hands! Very NICE!
However, it does not keep as well as d Hokkaido Milky bread cause it's a bit harden on d 3rd day. Cant wait to try out d bal frozen dough to c if freezing d dough changes any texture at all.