Seduction Brownies

Tomorrow is Halloween & Hayden is required to bring 1 dish to his sch party. So here I was, searching for a easy recipe to try out, when I went back to Cookie Baker Lynn’s blog. She really loves brownies & as I was browsing through, I saw a rather simple recipe that I think I shd be able to handle so here goes - Seduction Brownies.
It’s really a very easy recipe but am not sure why my brownies does not look like d original pics. At first, I thot it might be because I didn’t prepare d ganache (didn’t want d kids to get too much chcocolate). Then I realised d round baking pan might be d reason. D brownie came out with BIG cracks all around & d inside r still slightly wet. I was still trying to figure out whether to consider this a failure when Hubby happened to walk in & saw it. He’s a chocolate fan & requested for a slice so I cut 1 for him to taste. He loved it! MIL also tried a bite & find it very bitter at first, followed by a sweet taste after it has ‘flow’ down her throat. Interesting cause I have alrdy reduced d amt of sugar. Mmm….
But now with a slice in my hubby’s tummy & cracks all over it, I cant send this to Hayden’s sch. So I baked another 1, this time using d same size pan as stated in d original post – 20cm square baking pan. This time, d brownie looks so much better than d 1st attempt & there is no visible cracks on d brownie after it’s be remove from d oven! Hurray! Even though it still looks flatter as compared to d original pics but shd still be consider a success (at least to me) ;-p

Hubby's ofc gals commented d rd brownie is not soft enough. However, Hayden's sch loves d flatter brownie. So I guess I shd be baking this in d square pan next time.
115g unsalted butter
115g unsweetened chocolate chips
¾ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
¾ cup or 105g all-purpose flour
½ cup or 65g chopped almonds

1. Preheat oven to 140C. Butter an 20cm square baking dish.
2. Melt butter & unsweetened chocolate in a double boiler, stirring often.
3. Once melted, remove from heat be4 stirring in d sugar, followed by eggs & vanilla extract.
4. Fold in d flour & nuts, stirring just till incorporated. Scrape batter into prepared pan & smooth d top.
5. Bake for 25 mins. Cool completely on a wire rack be4 cutting.

清热滋阴杂菜汤

This is just another soup therapy from Violet Fenying 陈粉樱's blog. I have always love to visit her blog simply because she posts lots of soup therapy recipe that's provided by 郭美伶医师(Dr. Guo Meiling) TCM. The recipes are usually very simple & easy to prepare. You just need to ensure that u know where to get some of d Chinese ingredients that’s usually required. But in this recipe , most can be found in normal supermkt.

清热滋阴杂菜汤

材料 (ingredient) (as shown in d pic)
(a)
排骨 : 500克 (洗净, 川烫过) Pork ribs, 500g (wash, scalded)

(b)
姜 : 1块 (拍扁) Ginger, 1piece (pat flat)

(c) 洗净, 切段 wash & slices
莲藕 : 1节 Lotus root, 1 section
牛蒡 : 1条 Burduck, 1 stick
玉米 : 2条 Corn, 2 stick
胡萝卜 : 3条 Carrot, 3 pc

方法Method
1) 将川烫过的排骨放入砂锅中, 加入水盖过表面
Put scalded ribs into casserole & add enough water to cover d surface of d ribs
2) 放入拍散的姜及材料3, 大火煮开后, 转慢火煮1小时 至汤汁变成白色
Place rest of ingredients into casserole & bring to boil. Then switch to low heat & simmer for 1hr or till it turns into a white sauce.
3) 加入盐调味即可 If desired, add salt be4 serving

功能Function
滋补清热, 常食用可补益身体
Nourishing & clear internal heat, beneficial to health/body when consume frequently
助消化, 保持大便通畅
Aid digestion, also helps maintain smooth stool

Peanut Butter Bread

This is another recipe from HHB's blog & it’s an ABM recipe! I printed it out immediately & give it a try. It produced very wet dough but since no shaping is required, I didn’t add any additional flour to bal it out.

End result – a very soft & nutty loaf. Hayden & Hubby loves it but MIL commented that it tasted weird.

• 300ml low-fat milk
• 3 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
• 1 tbsp veg oil
• 450g (3 cups) bread flour
• 1½ tsp salt
• 2 tsp caster sugar
• 2 tbsp dried skimmed milk powder
• 1¼ tsp instant yeast

Put ingredients according to ABM manual & select Basic White setting with light crust. Start.

Yogurt Bread

I have tried 3 diff yogurt bread recipes so far & have not found a ‘GREAT’ keeper yet. So when I saw this recipe on HHB’s blog yesterday while waiting for d honey buns to finished baking, I decided to give it a try next day (which is today). However, I decided to change some of d wet ingredients because I need to finish up d bal drinking yogurt. Also, her post mentioned dividing d dough into 3 loafs but to me, d dough seems too small to be divided into 3 but I decided to follow ‘instruction’. Also, 8mins into d kneading phase in d ABM, I noticed that d dough is just too wet so I added 4 tbsp of cake flour. It also took longer than usual on d 2nd proofing.
End result – very soft but I cant taste d mixed fruits yogurt flavour at all!

• 250g bread flour
• 15g sugar
• 3g salt
• 1 tsp yeast
• 130g mixed fruit flavoured drinking yogurt
• 25g egg (about half an egg)
• 30g butter
  

Put all ingredients into d ABM & select basic white with light crust. Start.

Honey Buns

Saw this simple recipe from HHB’s blog & decided to give it a try. However, after reading further on her posting, I decided to reduce d wet ingredients in order to ensure d dough would be more manageable. Sure enough, d finished dough was quite manageable even though I need to flour my hands more often as compared to other bakes. I even managed to put some mini dark chocolate chips inside 1 of d dough.
However, after 2nd proofing, d dough didn’t seems to have rise high enough but am running out of time so I decided to go ahead & bake it. Big mistake cause d buns didn’t seems to raise well after baking. But lucky, d inside of buns were soft & fluffy. However, I cant really taste d honey at all… Not sure if I shd increase d honey portion next time… mmmm…

• 300g bread flour
• 4g salt
• 1 tsp instant yeast
• 1 egg lightly beaten plus enough milk to make 175g
• 50g honey
• 30g unsalted butter

1. Place all ingredients except d butter into d ABM, select Dough & press start. Add d butter after 8mins into d kneading phase. Let ABM continue until d cycle end (which in my case, inclded d 90mins 1st proofing).
2. Remove dough & press out d trapped air as give it a few light knead. Divide into 9 equal rounds & cover with cling wrap, leaving it to rest for 10mins.
3. Flatten each dough & press out d trapped air be4 shaping them into a smooth round ball. (can knead chips or other fruit bits in this phase)
4. Place dough seam side down onto a 20cm by 20cm square baking tray that’s sprayed with veg oil. Loosely cover with cling wrap & let it proof for 60 mins or until double in size.
5. Bake at preheated oven at 180C for abt 15-20 mins until the bread is golden brown all over. Cover surface with a sheet of aluminum foil if surface is browning too quickly. Remove from oven, unmold immediately & let cool on wire rack.

Blueberry Lemon Coffee Cake

Was just browsing ard d web when I chanced upon Kevin’s blog & drawn by some of his bakes. I was very interested in 1 of his BF recipe – Blueberry & Lemon Coffee cake. However, with 2 toddlers ard, am not sure if coffee cake is d right thing for them until I found out that a coffee cake does not necessarily have coffee! D name mainly suggest serving d cake with coffee! Great, since tomorrow is Sunday, I decided to give this recipe a try.
It’s really a very simple cake. However, hubby & MIL prefer me to reduce d amt of sugar so I decided to omit d toppings. Also, as mentioned in my past few bakes, I believed weather temp plays a part in d batter so instead of adding all d milk at 1 go, I pour it in part by part & stop when I feel that d batter is wet enough. So there will be some slight diff betw my ingredients as compared to d originator – Kevin’s.
End result – OMG! It tasted really GOOD! I wld actually considered this a success bake even though it’s flatter as compared against Kevin’s cake given d fact I actually used a smaller pan (8’x8’). I really love it! MIL commented that she can tasted very strong lemon but hubby brushed that aside & said it’s actually very nicely done, very light & fluffy. ;->

Ingredients:
2 cup flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
90g butter (soften)
2/3 cups sugar
2 eggs
100ml milk
1 cup wild blueberries
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind

Directions:
1. Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
2. Cream butter & sugar in a bowl.
3. Mix in eggs.
4. Fold d flour mixture & milk into butter/sugar mixture.
5. Fold in blueberries.
6. Pour mixture into a greased 8' x 8' baking pan. Sprinkle grated lemon rind over d top.
7. Bake in a preheated 170C oven for abt 35 mins.
note - Kevin also mentioned this coffee cake freezes well so it can easily be store away in d freezer for another time.

Milo FunnyFaces Cookies

Was directed to this recipe by BH & decided to give it a try tonite. However, with MIL nagging abt giving d 2 toddlers too much chocolate, I decided to try replace with marshmallows instead. But what a horror when I checked d cookies 10mins into d baking process – those cookies that r stuffed with marshmallows r cracking open & marshmallows r flowing out of d dough! (pic1) Yuk!
And even after lowing d temp from 140C to 130C, I noticed that my entire 1st batch was burned only after 15mins in d oven! Argh!
So in d end, I have to throw away d entire 1st batch. For d 2nd batch, I decided to just follow d recipe & insert chocolate chips into d dough. However, I lower d temp in order to ensure no burned cookies again.

(1)
180g butter, soften at room temp
80g Milo
(2)
200g cake flour
25g corn flour
25g milk powder
(3)
100g chocolate chips
some chocolate rice
some Koko Krunch

Method:
1. Pre-heat oven to 130C. Line baking tray with baking paper and set aside.
2. Sieve (2).
3. Cream (1) be4 adding (2) to form dough.
4. Divide dough into 10g each. Put 3 chocolate chips into each piece of dough & roll into balls.
5. Prepare d faces as u c please.
6. Bake at 130C for abt 20 mins.
7. Leave to cool on wire rack before storing in an airtight container.

山药豆腐羹_Yam bean curd soup

MIL told my mum abt all d soup recipes that I have been trying out from the web that’s quite beneficial to our health so I went & get another interesting/easy recipe to let my mum try out. Her comment – too blend for her taste bud. Sigh… so diff to please...

山药豆腐羹

材料1
香菇 : 6 – 8朵 (洗净, 泡软后切丁, 保留浸泡的水) dried mushroom, washed, soaked until soft be4 dicing, reserve d water that was soaked
高汤: 适量 broth, moderate quantity

材料2
鲜山药 : 300g (去皮, 切丁) Fresh yam, peel & diced
嫩豆腐 : 1盒 (切成与山药同样大小) tender bean curd – 1box (cut into same size as fresh yam)
盐: 适量 salt: moderate quantity

材料3 (调均成粉浆) mix well
粟米粉 : 1tsp corn flour
水 : 2 tbsp water

材料4
鸡蛋 : 3个 (打散) eggs, beat well
芫荽1 – 2棵 (洗净切末) Coriander, 2 stalks, washed & minced

材料5
胡椒粉 : 适量 pepper: moderate quantity

方法
1) 锅中加入高汤, 冬菇水, 冬菇丁, 煮滚10分钟
Add (1) into pot & boil for 10mins
2) 加入鲜山药丁, 豆腐丁, 续煮5 – 10分钟后, 加盐调味
Add (2) & continue to boil for 5-10mins. Add salt if desired
3) 汤再沸腾时, 用粉浆勾芡至浓稠状, 淋入蛋液并撒香菜末, 胡椒粉即可
Once boiling, thicken with (3) be4 adding (4) & if desired (5) too.

功能
健脾滋肾，能补益身体而不燥，适合一家大小常食用
Strengthen spleen & nourish kidney, replenish d body & yet no too dry/parched. Suitable for whole family (elder or youngster) regular consumption.
尤其天气燥热时或工作忙碌常熬夜，觉疲倦、口干、咽干、手足心热、睡眠不安，大便干燥等
In particular, good to consume on dry/hot weather. Also good for those who:
a) have lots of late nites;
b) feel fatigue often;
c) have dry mouth/throat
d) have heaty/warm hands/legs
e) have un-peaceful/disturbed/restless sleep
f) are constipated; etc

Gula Melaka AgarAgar

With 2 toddlers at home, I decided to give this dessert recipe a try after reading abt it from BH’s blog. However, after taking note that my MIL prefer tougher agar agar, I reduced d liquid amt.End result - a tough agar agar, MIL commented too tough & Hayden does not like it. But both my mum & my nephew took 3 pieces each! Guess 1 cant make everyone happy…

Ingredients - Milk Layer
1 tbsp agar agar powder
500 ml water
80g condensed milk

Method
1. Put d water in a saucepan & turn on d heat, then whisk in agar agar.
2. Cook until agar agar is dissolved, then add in d condensed milk.
3. Pour into a cake pan to cool be4 popping into d fridge to set. Once it’s set, use a cutter to cut out the pattern & remove d cut-out with a toothpick. Lease aside in another bowl. Put both back into d fridge while you prepare d brown layer.

Ingredients - Brown layer
7g agar agar powder
600 ml water
100g gula melaka
35g sugar

1. Boil all d ingredients together until dissolved.
2. Pass ½ of d mixture through a fine sieve onto d prepared milky layer pan. Pop back into fridge to harden.
3. Place d previous milky cut-out shapes into small jelly moulds & fill up with bal brown layer. Leave to cool be4 putting into fridge to set.
Once set, remove from pan/mold & serve.

三杯鸡_SanBeiJi

With my mum & nephew in town, I went surfing for something interested to try out & decided on this recipe from Baking Mum. And in order to explain why this dish was called 三杯鸡, I went online to locate the story behind this dish & found out that there r many versions on the origins of 三杯鸡. However, the name was derives from the 3 cups of sauces required – soy sauce, rice wine & sesame oil. Even though it does not really required 1 cup each. But I decided that this is d best way to explained to 2 toddlers.

End result - both MIL & mum commented that more wine shd be added.

Ingredients:

• 800g boneless ckn thigh
• 10 slices ginger
• 15 cloves garlic
• 2 stalk spring onions (cut into 2 inch pieces)
• Branch of basil leaves

Seasonings:

• 45 ml sesame oil
• 45 ml light soy sauce
• ¼ cup Chinese cooking wine + 2-3tbsp for serving
• 1½ tbsp sugar (can change depending on 1 preference of sweetness)
• 1½ tbsp mirin
• 1½ tsp cinnamons
• ¼ tsp five spice powder
• 1 tbsp tomato ketchup
• 1 tbsp apple vinegar
  

1. Place ginger, spring onions, chilli at d bottom of a pot.


2. Place chkn piece on top be4 pouring all the seasonings ingredients into d pot.


3. Cook chicken uncovered for abt 15 mins over high heat.


4. Add in bunch of basil, cover pot & continue to cook until sauce thickens. D thickness of d sauce r dependable on individual’s preference. Turn off fire once that right thickness is reached.


5. Sprinkle more wines into d pot & stir well be4 serving.

English Muffin_II

Sunday is coming again & I’m still trying to figure out what kind of BF to make. I was surfing thru d web & chanced upon HHB’s post on her scones. In her post, she mentioned abt how 1 can still have freshly baked scones in pj without losing much beauty sleep by refrigerating d dough overnite. That’s when I remembered d last rd of soft & fluffy English muffin & decided to c if I can do d same.

And with last rd of sticky experience, I decided to change d recipe/method a bit to c if it can be better managed. Instead of pouring all d ingredients into d ABM immediately, I only pour in ¾ of d wet ingredients. After 5 mins into d dough setting, I checked for wetness be4 pouring in another 1-2tbsp of d wet ingredients. That way, I wont get a dough that’s too sticky to manage. All this was done last nite ard 10pm. By d time d dough cycle is done, it is alrdy 11+. That’s when I drop d dough into a greased bowl, covered & pop into d fridge overnite.

Next morning, I got up only ard 8+ to remove d dough out from d fridge, rolled out, cut into circles & let rise in room temp while I go wash up. After which, I heat up d frying pan & started ‘cooking’ d muffins. This is really better! It’s more manageable than my previous attempt with d rather sticky dough & d muffin shape r more rounded as compared to my previous attempt too! They tasted a bit diff due to d diff ingredients but yet still soft & fluffy! YES!

• 80ml low-fat milk, warmed
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp yeast
• 26g unsalted butter, soften
• 2 cups + 4tbsp Bread Flour
• Pinch of salt
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 100ml buttermilk

Too bad all 15 muffins were gone be4 I remembered to take any more pics! Argh!

Pumpkin Muffins

I have always wanted to try baking something with pumpkin but was quite put off on d process of making pumpkin puree. Then 2 days ago, I saw Blessed Homemaker’s post on her pumpkin muffin & decided to give it a try since I have 2 butternut squash on hand. So I went ahead & prepared d puree using d baking method on that very nite.

Preparing d squash puree - cut squash in half lengthwise, remove seeds & stringy fibers. Place cut-side down on a baking pan with 1 cup of water. Bake at 150 degrees C for ard 30-45 mins (depending on size). Scoop out the pulp & puree in a food processor until smooth. By d time I finished pureeing, it’s alrdy ard 11pm so I decided to freeze d puree until I have time to bake d muffin.

Now, 2days later, with time on hand, I decided to go ahead & give d muffin recipe a try. However, in d mid of measuring d ingredients, I realised I did not have enough sugar! OMG! But since I have alrdy thawed d puree, I decided to go ahead. Thus, I was very careful when it’s time to fold d wet mixture into d dry ingredients. D wet mixture was poured part by part into d dry ingredients till d batter is ‘wet’ enough. This yields 9 muffins & 1 can really tasted d sunflower seed oil. This batch is also darker in color because of d brown sugar.

While d 1st batch of muffins were baking in d oven, I was cleaning up d kitchen when my eyes kept falling onto d bal wet mixture. Since it will be such a waste to throw it away, I decided to use it up by using icing sugar instead. This in turn yields 2 muffins. This rd d batter is much ‘wetter’ than d previous batch & d sunflower seed oil taste is stronger too.

(A) Dry Mix (+ r d ingredients for 2nd batch)
250g cake flour + 70g cake flour
1½ tsp baking powder + ¼ tsp
½ tsp baking soda + pinch
126g brown sugar + 20g icing sugar
¼ tsp salt + pinch

(B) Wet Mix
110ml pkt milk
130ml whipping cream
100g sunflower seed oil
2 eggs

(C) 140g pumpkin puree

Method
1. Preheat oven @170C. Prepare muffin cups.
2. Mix (A) in a bowl.
3. In another bowl, whisk (B) till smooth.
4. Add (C) to (B).
5. Add wet mixture to (A) & stir till just blended.
6. Spoon onto prepared tin. If desired, sprinkle some chocolate chips on top.
7. Baking for 15 - 20 mins or until cooked.
8. Cool on rack.

Yoghurt Panna cotta

I found out abt Bill Granger when I was searching for a good/easy scone recipe. After gg through some of his recipes & shows, I realised he always tries to provide simple & easy recipes to suit any novice who’s interested in learning to cook/bake. N because of that, I became a fan! So there’s another simple dessert recipe 'Yoghurt Pannacotta' from Bill Granger. I dont really know what Panna Cotta meant until I researched for it on Wikipedia. It actually & literally meant "cooked cream" in Italian.
I actually made this 2 days ago but posted-phone d posting cause am missing 1 ingredient for d topping. However, after 2 days, I still have not got d rose-water. So I decided to replace it with honey instead. It’s really a very easy dessert to prepare. Taste a little heavy (due to d cream), bit sour (due to d raspberries) & sweet (due to d honey) all at 1 mouth. Great add-on after a light meal!

• 185 ml Cream
• 55 g caster sugar
• ½ tsp Vanilla extract
• 1½ leaves Gelatine
• 250 g Honey yoghurt

1. Place cream, sugar & vanilla extract in a saucepan over a medium heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved, then just bring to the boil before removing from heat.


2. Soak gelatin leaves in cold water until soft. Squeeze out excess water & drop it into the hot cream mixture & whisk until dissolved.


3. Add yoghurt & whisk until smooth. Strain mixture through a fine sieve.


4. Divide mixture betw four 100 ml cup, cover with plastic wrap & chill for minimum 3 hours, or until just set.

Toppings

• ½ cup of frozen rasberries, thawed
• ½ tbsp icing sugar sifted
• 1 tbsp honey, runny

Place half of d rasberries in a glass bowl & crush with a fork. Stir in the icing sugar & taste for sweetness. Fold in remaining raspberries & d honey. Chill until ready to serve. To serve, place spoonfuls of the honey rasberries on top of each pannacotta & serve immediately.

Raisin Cookies

After d last failed cookie attempt, I thot of gg back to d recipe that worked – Joyofbaking's Raisin Cookies. This time, I followed it closely, except that I ran out of milk & vanilla extract, so I still had to changed some of d ingredients. Also, previous attempt was a bit too sweet for me so this rd, I reduced d sugar amt too. I also took d advice from Shopoholic2802 & chill/cool d batter in d fridge for at least 2hrs be4 baking them in d oven.
End result – they were so much closer to how d original cookies look! YES! Even without d vanilla extract, d cookies do tasted so much better than my previous attempt on this same recipe!
Ingredients

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salt
• ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup (70g) light brown sugar
• 85g unsalted butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 20 ml whipping cream
• ½ cup diced raisins

Mix all well & pop it into d fridge for at least 1-2hrs be4 spooning tspful onto baking pan. Bake @ 160c for ard 8mins for each batch. Allow to cool down be4 putting into container.

Mixed Mushroom Soup_蘑菇什锦汤

Just saw this post this morning & decided to give it a try even though am missing 1 ingredient - water chestnut. Smell strongly of d dried beancurd skin but overall, tasted ok.
Mixed Mushroom Soup_蘑菇什锦汤

材料 Ingredient (1)
腐竹 : 50g (泡软, 切段) Yuba, soaked until soft, cut into sections
黑木耳 : 50g (泡软, 撕成小朵) black fungus, soaked until soft, then tear into small pieces
胡萝卜 : 1条 (洗净, 去皮, 切片) carrot, washed/peeled & sliced
马蹄 : 150g (去皮, 切片) water chestnut, peeled & sliced
姜 : 3 – 5 片 ginger slices

材料 Ingredient (2)
鲜冬菇 : 150g (洗净, 切片) fresh mushroom, washed & sliced
瘦肉 : 200g (洗净, 切片, 加少许酱清, 粟米粉拌匀) lean meat, washed & sliced, mix with little soya/corn flour

材料 Ingredient (3)
盐 : 适量 Salt, moderate if desired
麻油 : 适量 Sesame oil, moderate

方法 Method
1) 锅中加水适量, 加入材料1, 煮5 – 10 分钟
With enough water to cover ingredients (1) in a pot, cook for 5-10mins
2) 加入材料2煮至肉熟, 加盐调味
Add (2)& cook till meat is done. Add salt if desired
3) 熄火前再加麻油即可
Turn off heat be4 adding sesame oil

功能 Function
补气益胃，清热生律，和中润肠。
Rep vital breath & beneficial to stomach, clear heat & regulate inner temp, harmonise & moist intestines
可经常食用，尤其是中老年人及体质燥热、大便易干燥者
Suitable to regular consumption, esp d elderly & ppl with dry/hot physical, or ppl having dry stools
或天气炎热、过食燥热食物时食用
Also suitable on hot weather, or when excessive heaty/dry food were consumed.

Thai Jellyfish salad (Yam naem khao tod)

When I 1st tried this salad, I was so in love! Using d limited Thai language that I know, I tried to ask d street vendor for d name but I never got it (guess I need to practice d language more). Few mths later, I finally mgd to find out from another customer buying from d same street vendor that this salad is called Yam naem khao tod (Yam Naem for short). She even bother to explained that it’s best eaten with betel leaves due to d its medicinal properties.

I really love this salad that can be bought along d streets of Bangkok for only THB25. In fact, it’s so good that I have it almost every day for lunch after my Hot Yoga session.

The balance of fish sauce, lime juice, sugar & salt listed here are guidelines. Thai salad is an individual dish that you will find you might like with more of any 1 ingredient than what the recipe calls for.

• 2 cups jelly fish, shredded
• 1 tsp sugar
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• ¼ cup Scallion
• ¼ cup ginger, sliced into thin slices
• ½ cup peanuts, toasted
• 1-2 tbsp fish sauce
• dried peppers flakes, optional

Cut jelly fish into shreds, soak in water for 2 hour, take them out, soak in warm water for 4 hours & shift into ice water. Before eating, take them out, squeeze water out & place on a plate. You can also microwave the jelly fish for 30 seconds be4 adding them to the salad to kill any residual bacteria.

Just put them all into a mixing bowl & mix them well. They r usually wrap in either lettuce, basil, or betel leaves be4 putting into 1’s mouth.

Optional - for a vegetarian, omit jelly fish & substitute soy sauce for fish sauce. You can also replace jelly fish with dried shrimp. Some also prefer tamarind in place of lemon juice.

English Muffins

Sunday is usually d day we don’t go out for BF so I was browsing through Cookie Baker Lynn’s blog & saw this simple/easy English muffin recipe & decided to give it a try. However, as mentioned in previous post, I believed that our weather temp might play a very important part in any dough related baking. Therefore, I decided to try & error by adding ingredients part by part so that I can stop as & when I c fits. Thus, ingredients r a little diff from d original.

As stated in d original post, it does yield a very sticky dough & I really have a very hard time trying to cut it into circles. By d time I put them onto d frying pan, their r in all kinds of odd shape. Also, as advised by Lynn, I didn’t add cornmeal in order to ensure my frying pan’s surface does not get scratch.

End result - OMG! Never taste such soft & fluffy English muffins! I just cant stop eating it even after finishing d 3rd piece! Yum, yum! However, I never get that little "cut me" divot. Maybe next time…

• 180ml low-fat milk, warmed
• 30ml whipping cream
• 23g unsalted butter, soften
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 cups + 4tbsp Bread Flour
• 1 tsp yeast

1. Place ingredients in ABM following manufacturer's instructions & set d "dough" setting. The dough shd be very soft & a bit sticky so do check after 5mins into kneading & add flour/milk if required.


2. After d cycle is complete, trf dough to a floured surface & roll it out until its abt 1/2-inch thick. Cut out circles with a floured 3-inch cutter. Re-roll & cut out leftover dough until it’s all finish. Cover muffins with a damp cloth & let rest for abt 20 mins.


3. Heat a frying pan over low heat. Do not grease, but sprinkle with cornmeal if desired. Cook each side for abt 7 mins. If possible, try using a larger pan so that you'll be better able to keep up with d rising muffins. Check after 3-4 mins to ensure muffins r browning gently. If they seem to be cooking either too fast or too slowly, adjust temp of frying pan.
   
4. When muffins r brown on both sides, trf to a wire rack for cooling, & proceed with d rest.

Brownie Bites

I was really quite disappointed with most of my bakes recently. Of course this does not included those that were baked in d ABM, which has been gg on quite well so far. I was told that most of my failures might have been due to my little understanding of d oven that I am using. Friends told me that I need to really ‘learn’ how d oven really works, that meant besides reading d manual. So nowadays, I tried to stand by d oven whenever am baking to c if I can ‘understand’ it.

N with no success in past cookies testing, I decided to give this brownie recipe from Cookie Baker Lynn’s blog a try instead. It’s a very easy recipe & I still have problem with it due to my oven. D temp is always giving me problem.

1st batch of bigger size brownies were too dry after only 10mins @ a lower temp of 150c. 2nd batch of smaller size brownies were better but still consider dry in d middle, given d fact that brownie shd be rather wet in d middle. I also reduced d amt of sugar cause we dont really like too sweet.

Am really starting to think maybe am not suitable/capable of baking anything else but bread with ABM! Sigh…

• 113g unsalted butter, cut into chunks
• 58g unsweetened chocolate bits
• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• pinch of baking powder & salt
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1½ tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 150C.


2. In the saucepan, melt butter & chocolate over low heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture is smooth. Transfer mixture to a medium bowl & set aside to cool.


3. Sift flour, baking powder, & salt together into another bowl.


4. Stir sugar, eggs & vanilla extract into d cooled chocolate mixture until well combined be4 adding flour mixture. Stir until blended.


5. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling them only 2/3 full. Bake for 8-10 mins, or until set but still soft in d center, because brownies r supposed to be wet.


6. Let brownies cool in muffin cups on a wire rack for abt 10 mins, be4 removing them completely.

Vanilla Butter Cookies

Am still testing few cookie recipes hoping to find 1 that will work. Tonite, am testing on this recipe from Cookie baker Lynn's blog. However, am not sure if it's due to weather or temp (even though I have alrdy lower d temp), d batter spread out too fast d moment it's popped into d oven. Thus, most of d cookies' edge were burned badly.
End result, cookies were all very flatted & brown in color ;-( looks nothing near to what d original looks like at all! Guess I shd consider this a failure, right? Sigh…


Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 tsp salt
• 1/6 tsp baking powder
• 110g unsalted butter, softened
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 egg

1. Preheat to 160C.
2. In a mixing bowl whisk together flour/salt/baking powder until well mixed.
3. In another bowl beat butter till smooth be4 adding sugar & vanilla extract. Continue beating for abt 2 mins until mixture is well combined.
4. Add eggs & beat until well mixed.
5. Then add flour mixture & mix just until blended.
6. Scoop ard 1 tbsp of batter & put them abt 3 inches apart on cookie sheets. d batter will spread out as it bakes.
7. Bake two sheets at a time for 8-10 mins, or till d edges turn golden brown.
8. Move sheets onto cooling racks & let cool for 5 mins be4 transferring cookies to d racks to cool completely. Repeat with remaining batter on cooled cookie sheets.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Hayden’s sch is requesting for Halloween Bake sale donation so I went searching for something new to try out & decided on this interesting recipe from 101 Cookbooks. Supposed to end with a slightly dusty looking mixture but as u can c from d pic, not dusty at all. So am really not sure if I have done this correctly or not.
Ended with batches of rather soft cookies. But Hayden, hubby & MIL said taste great!

(1)
1 cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp fine grain sea salt
(2)
½ cup chunky natural peanut butter
½ cup maple syrup
1/6 cup extra virgin olive oil
¾ tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 150C. In a mixing bowl combine ingredient (1).
2. In another large bowl combine ingredient (2). Stir until combined.
3. Pour flour mixture over peanut butter mixture & stir until barely combined - still a bit dusty looking.
4. Let sit for five minutes, be4 giving 1 more quick stir.
5. Then drop by heaping tbspful onto parchment-lined baking sheets. Press down on each one gently with the back of a fork. Bake for 10+ mins will be enough. Over-baking will make them too dry.
6. Let cool 5 mins & transfer to a cooling rack.

Portuguese Sweet Bread

Was surfing through d web & found this simple & interesting recipe to try out. Produce a rather high loaf, nearly hit d top of my ABM cover. Very, very soft loaf! Not as sweet as d name but good enough for m family. But very difficult to cut due to d height of loaf, ended with several uneven slices.

• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 28g unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• ¾ tsp salt
• 3 cups bread flour
• 2½ tsp active dry yeast

1. Add ingredients in order suggested by your manufacturer.
2. Select "cake" setting.

Blueberries Cake

With so many good reviews on this banana cake from Baking Mum, I decided to give it a try. But instead of banana, I used blueberries since I have so much in d freezer.
As usually, even under watchful eyes, d top of d cake still got burned. ;-( But after slicing off d burned top, d inside looks ok & taste moist/soft. MIL said a bit crumpy but overall, good.

Ingredients
(1)
90g soften unsalted butter
65g brown sugar

(2) 1 Egg

(3)
25g whipping cream
½ tsp vanilla essence

(4)
125g Cake flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
110g thawed blueberries

Method:

1. Cream (1) till light & creamy.
2. Pour in egg slowly & beat till creamy.
3. Add in (3) & mix well.
4. Fold in (4) till well combined. Do Not overmix.
5. Pour into an 6" round tray & bake @ 150C for abt 45mins or till cooked.

糯米饭 Glutinous Rice

Hubby saw this recipe in d Staits Times & wanted me to give it a try. He even cut up d article & pasted it onto my to-do book (too bad he didnt incld d chef's name). But at 1st glance, I was put off by d long list of ingredients so I never really looked at it again till 2days ago, hubby asked what happened to his 糯米饭. So I decided to take a closer look at d recipe. Only then did I realise that most of d ingredients can be found in my kitchen. I only need to get d glutinous rice! So here goes.
It’s so EASY! I never realised how easy it is to cook 糯米饭 & it’s so tasty! Even Hayden who was recently having bad appetite problem, finished 1½ bowls! YUMMY! So yummy that even though am on diet, I also cant refrain from taking a bowl of it! There goes my diet but to me, it's worth it! ;-p

Serve 2-3 pax
(1) 2cup glutinous rice (soak 1hr, drain & set aside)

(2) Soak till soft, then drained. retained at least 150ml water for later use
¼cup dried shrimp
8-10 pieces dried mushroom, thinly sliced
5-6 pieces dried scallops

(3)
¼cup thinly sliced shallots,
2tsp olive oil

(4) Mix well
1tsp light soya sauce
1tsp sesame oil
1tsp oyster sauce
1tsp sugar
pinch of salt & pepper to taste

(5) Toppings
¼cup roasted peanuts
1 stalk chopped scallion (spring onion)
1 red chopped chilli

1. Heat up wok, fry (3) till golden brown.
2. Add (2) & stir-fry abt 5mins.
3. Add (4) + (1) & stir-fry addl 5mins.
4. Add water & mix well. Allow rice to cook further 2mins.
5. Trf rice into bowl & steam abt 30mins or till rice is cooked.
6. Remove rice & served with toppings.

Dried Tomato Orange loaf

Am still trying to finish up whatever bal dried pdts I have on hand & went online searching for recipes. Saw this interesting recipe & decided to give it a try. However, made some modification to use up whatever I have on hand. I also blended d dried tomatoes because Hayden don’t like to c bits in his bread.
End result – very moist loaf but cant really taste d tomatoes.

• 1 1/8 cups buttermilk
• 28g soften butter
• 2 tbsp honey
• 3 cups bread flour
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp salt
• 7g active dry yeast
• 1 orange zest grated
• 1 cup sweetened dried tomatoes

番茄丝瓜汤 Tomato & loofah soup

Hayden still has not much appetite so I decided to give this recipe a try. d tomato taste is very strong & it's actually quite ok without adding salt/sugar.
番茄丝瓜汤

材料1
丝瓜 : 300g (去皮, 洗净, 切成滚刀块) Loofah (peeled, washed, cut into chunk)
番茄 : 400g (洗净, 川烫后剥皮, 切块) Tomato (wash, peel away skin after scalding in hot water, then diced)

材料2
黑木耳 : 20g (洗净, 泡软) Black fungus (washed, soaked until soft)

材料 ingredient 3 (拌均) mix well
瘦肉 : 200g (洗净, 切片) Lean meat (washed, sliced)
酱清 : 1 tsp light soya sauce
胡椒粉 : ¼ tsp peper
玉米粉 : 1 tsp corn flour

方法
1) 烧热锅放少量油 (可用橄榄油) 投入材料1翻炒几下
Heat up pot with small amt of olive oil, stir-fry (1)
2) 加入黑木耳略炒一下, 加水适量煮滚
Add (2) & stir-fry few more rd be4 adding 1l water. Bring to boil
3) 加入肉片, 添加盐, 白糖调味, 再滚2分钟, 熄火, 可随意添加少量麻油
Add (3) & boil another 2mins be4 switching off heat. Can also add small amt of sesame oil / salt / sugar if desired.

功能
有健胃消食, 清热润燥的功效 Helps strengthen stomach & digestion system, efficacy in clearing inner heat & moisted inner dryness
天热或食用燥热食物或熬夜时出现口干咽干, 没有胃口,皮肤干燥, 大便硬或不畅等
Suitable to consume during hot weather, or when 1 consumes too much heaty food, or when dry mouth/throat arise due to lots of late nite, or when 1 has no appetite, or dry skin condition, or hard/unsmooth stool, etc..