Pear & Ginger muffins

Packers will be coming tomorrow to pack all d stuff, thus, tonite will be my last bake post unless it’s ABM baking related cause I don’t have oven in SG. For my last bake, I selected this recipe simply because I happened to have most of d ingredients on hand. & for tonite’s bake, I even happened to have a friend over to help out, who also became d 1st to taste it.
End result – very soft & tasty batch of muffins! Hurray! My last bake is successful! For this recipe, I actually reduced d amt of sugar & taster said that d sweetness is just right, coming mainly from d pears. Do note that it’s best eaten while still a bit warm out from oven.

• 1¾ cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup granulated sugar (I used brown sugar)
• ½ cup plus 6 tsp packed light brown sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1/3 cup whipping cream
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp honey
• 2 eggs
• 1½ cup peeled & diced pears,
• ¼ cup candied ginger, diced

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Whisk d flour, sugar & baking powder in a large mixing bowl.
3. In another bowl, mix sour cream, oil, honey, & eggs well be4 gently fold in into d dry mixture. DO NOT OVERMIX (note that this can be done d nite be4)
4. Fold in the diced pear & candied ginger. Again DO NOT OVERMIX.
5. Spoon batter evenly among the muffin cups to 2/3 full.
6. Then sprinkle d top with ½ tsp brown sugar & bake for 20mins. Remove & allow to cool be4 eating.

Chocolate Cheesecake

In 2 days time, we will be packing & moving out of Bkk! Time really flies! 3yr in Bkk (including 9mths of baking) & with no future plan of getting an oven in SG, d only regret that I have is – why I didn’t try out this Chocolate Cheesecake sooner! OMG! Hubby’s ofc gals felt that it tasted just like d cheesecake from Secret Recipes! WOW! Maybe this is really a good reason to get a new oven?

Base Ingredients

• 100g digestive biscuits, crushed
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 45g unsalted butter (melted)

Mix all well & press on d bottom of a 16cm spring form pan.

Fillings Ingredients

• 110g dark chocolate (chopped)
• 2 tbsp whipping cream
• 250g cream cheese (room temperature)
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 egg (room temperature)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Melt chocolate in the heavy cream in a double boiler.
2. In another bowl, mix cream cheese & sugar well be4 adding in d egg & vanilla extract.
3. Then fold in d chocolate mixture. If u prefer a cake with marble effect, dont overmix.
4. Pour fillings into the spring form pan.
5. Bake in a preheated 150C oven until it is set, ard 45-60 mins.

Raspberry Coffee Cake

Another day of trying to ‘utilise all bal ingredients’. Long, long ago, I saved this recipe on my to-dos cause I love d simplicity of it. But then, I realised I cant find d main ingredient – Bisquick mix, in d local supermkt & recipe was 'shelved'. Then last wk, for some forgotten reason, I ‘researched’ on d word Bisquick & found out what Bisquick mix is made up of! Thus, tonite, I finally get to give this simply/easy recipe a try. Of course again, I made some changes. For example, instead of a green apple, I used frozen raspberries. And because of d frozen raspberries, I reduced d milk amt to cater for d liquid that will be released from d frozen raspberries during baking.
End result – quite a bland cake, 1 can only taste a bit of saltiness here & there (although am not sure why since I only added ¾tsp of salt). D top is a bit crusty but underneath is a very soft cake. Both Hubby & MIL prefer yesterday’s peach-a-berry tart as compared to this cake. In fact, Hubby's ofc's gals thot I forgotten to put in sugar! That's how bland it was!

• 2 cups Bisquick mix*
• ½ cup low-fat milk
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup frozen raspberries (unthawed)

* replaced with 2cups flour + 3tsp bking powder + ¾tsp of salt + 2tbsp melted unsalted butter

1. Preheat oven to 190C.
2. Grease 9" round pan. Mix all ingredients & spread ½ batter onto pan.
3. Put in d raspberries & spread d rest of d batter onto of it.
4. Bake 30 mins or until golden brown, testing with a toothpick.

Peach-a-Berry tart

Another interesting recipe for me to utilize some of my bal ingredients – Peach-a-Berry pie. As usual, I made some changes in order to finish up my ingredients. Also, recipe requires 2 pie crust but I only used 1 as base, thus, my pie is kind of ‘topless’, looking more like tart than pie.
End result – a very ugly looking pie but taste GREAT! D sour taste of d raspberries adds a very nice ‘touch’ to d overall sweetness of d pie. D bal streusel topping that I added on top also added a crusty ‘bite’ to d pie, which to me, is a nice additional too. But might slice up d peaches next time in order to make it look better. Or maybe it's supposed to look so ugly, thus, d need for a 2nd crust to cover it up... mmmmm

• 1 can of halves peaches – drained
• 1 cup frozen raspberries – thawed & drained
• ½ cup white sugar
• 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 pie crust
• ½ cup Streusel Topping

1. Preheat oven to 190C.
2. Gently mix peaches & berries with sugar, flour, & cinnamon. Transfer all onto d pie crust. Sprinkle with streusel toppings be4 spreading thin slices of unsalted butter across d top.
3. Bake 50 mins in d preheated oven, until crust is golden brown.

Nutella Cheesecake w/pie crust

OMG! I have 3 blocks of Phil cream cheese to finish up within 1 wk be4 our big move back! OMG! Thus, shortlisted these 2 recipes for testing. Recipe does not required blueberries but I added whatever bal I have in my freezer to finish it up.
End result – d crust does not goes well with d cheesecake fillings cause it needs to be bake longer. Thus, will definitely need to blind bake it first if planning to use it for cheesecake fillings again. Other than that, both testers love it. In fact, Hubby took 3 slices!
Pie Crust ingredients

• 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ tsp salt
• ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter, chilled
• 4tbsp ice water

Whisk flour & salt in mixing bowl be4 cutting d cold butter into d mixture with a pastry blender. Stop once mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Drizzle ice water over flour tbsp by tbsp until d dough comes together. Wrap dough in plastic wrap & chill for minimum 30mins be4 rolling it out into crust base. Blind-bake it for at least 20mins @ 170C be4 adding fillings.

Cheesecake Fillings ingredients

• 1 block (250g) Philadelphia Cream cheese, softened
• ¼ cup sugar
• ¼ tsp vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp nutella
• some frozen blueberries

Whisk cream cheese & sugar until well mix. Then add egg & vanilla till well blended. Lastly, stir in nutella. Don’t over-mix so that u can c a slight marble effect. Pour fillings onto crust & tap it to even out d fillings across d crust. Bake in d pre-heated oven for 20min @ 170C. Allow to cool be putting it into d fridge for 2 hrs or overnite be4 serving.

Apple Soup

Another simple recipe from Mon's Crazy Kitchen, again, to use up bal ingredients.
End result – a very, very sweet soup due to d apples. Might increase more onions next time through.

• 5 small Gala apples (cut into chunks)
• 15 red dates (de-cored)
• 1.4 liters water
• 450g ribs (washed & scalded)
• 1 Yellow onion (peeled & cut into chunks)

Put all ingredients into d pot & bring to boil. Lower heat & simmer for abt 2hrs.

Peanut soup w/ribs

Another easy recipe from Mon's Crazy Kitchen to use up bal ingredients. I only used 5 med size scallops & its alrdy sweet enough for my family.

• 5 med size dried scallops (can increase to ¼cup if desired)
• 1½ cup peanuts (washed)
• 1.4 liters water
• 500g ribs (washed & scalded)

1. Pour d water into d pot & soak d scallops in it for ard ½hr.
2. Then put rest of ingredients into d pot & bring to boil.
3. Lower heat & simmer for abt 2hrs or more if u prefer softer peanuts.

Hayden’s 1st sch dance

Today was Hayden’s 1st sch dance! He did well till he saw me in d front trying to capture pix of him dancing. He actually stops dancing & started shouting “Mummy! Mummy! That’s Mummy!” OMG! OMG!

ABC Soup

As we are due to move back SG in 2 wks time, am trying to finish up all the ingredients in the kitchen/fridge. So I went surfing for recipe again & found this interesting soup recipe. However, I was not able to locate d reason why it’s named “ABC soup”. As stated in most blog/post, d main ingredients do not all start with the letters A, B and C, so most ppl also do not know why it’s called “ABC soup” too.

Anyway, it’s super easy enough for me to give it a try & end result – a very sweet tasting soup indeed!

Ingredients (Serves 2-3)

• 400g pork ribs
• 1.5 liters water
• 2 small onions (cut to chunks)
• 3 small carrots (peeled & cut to chunks)
• 4 stalks celery (cut to chunks)
• 1 sweet corn (cut to chunks)
• 10 cherry tomato (optional if u prefer a little tangy taste)

Directions
1. Blanch pork ribs in boiling water for about 5 mins be4 rinsing with cold water. Remove & set aside.
2. Put all ingredients into a pot. Bring to boil be4 lowing d heat & simmer for another 2hrs.

Cinnamon Cranberries bread

As mentioned in my previous post, am trying to finish up as much bal ingredients as fast as I can be4 d big move. Thus, I modified this recipe a bit to include whatever I can ‘throw’ in.
End result - very tall & soft loaf with only a slight tangy lemon after-taste.

• 1 cup low-fat milk
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter
• 3 cups bread flour
• 4 tbsp sugar
• 1½ tsp salt
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2½ tsp yeast
• ½ cup dried cranberries
• Grated zest of 1 lemon

Put all ingredients into d ABM according to made. Select basic with light crust setting & start.

Cornflakes Cookies

When I saw BH’s post on d cornflakes cookies, I was very eager to try cause I, too, has many bags of cornflakes in my freezer. However, as usual, I made some modification due to limited ingredients on hand. For example, recipe requires self-rising flour & since I have none, I decided to search d web for a solution & found this instant fix recipe.
End result – very crispy cookies but a bit too sweet for my family. Can u c d star cornflakes?
(A)
100g unsalted butter (melted)
1 normal size egg (ard 53g)
¼ cup sugar + 1/8 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

(B)
1¼ cup all-purpose flour
1½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1½ cup cornflakes

1. Mix (A) & (B) in separate bowl first. Then mix them together well in a big mixing bowl.
2. Use 2 tsp to round d cookie dough onto small paper case.
3. Bake at preheated 160C oven for 10-15 mins.
4. Let cookies cool in pan for 5 mins be4 moving it to cool completely on a wire rack.
5. Store in air-tight container.

Water Roux starter loaf

Had some water roux starter left & decided to use it for the bouncy cheese loaf again. However, this time, I didn’t sprinkle any cheese on top. Also I adjusted some of the wet ingredients cause I only have 70g of water roux starter.
End result – still bouncy & fluffy! Am so happy that I gave this another go!

• 200g Bread flour
• 100g Cake flour
• 2tsp (6g) yeast
• 1tsp (6g) Salt
• 2tbsp (30g) Sugar
• 1 large Egg (est. 60g)
• 60ml low-fat milk
• 70g Water Roux Starter + 10g whipping cream
• 45g unsalted Butter

Put ingredients into ABM as per manufacturer's instruction & select normal white bread setting with light crust.