Mini Donuts_II

Hayden kept asking for d donuts this morning so I decided to give it another go. But this time, I made some modification to try out using self-rising flour instead of all-purpose flour. I also added thicken cream cause I do not have large egg on-hand. Success! At least half of d batch were. I think it’s mainly because I was still afraid to fill d hole too much, thus, d uneven result. But at least half looks ‘tall’ enough & even color throughout.

Adjusted ingredients

• 75g self- rising flour
• 35g sugar
• 2 tbsp coco powder
• 60ml fresh milk
• 15ml thicken cream
• 1 egg
• 2tbsp unsalted butter (melted)

Method same as previous rd.

SB Marshmallow Cake & Milk Cupcakes

Hayden’s birthday is today so last nite, with no oven, I decided on making d SB marshmallow cake for his sch. However, I was only able to make a much smaller one so to ‘top’ it up; I also steam some milk cupcakes to bring along.
For this rd, I decided to use orea cookies as base since most of his classmate will be under 3yrs. However, even though I have made this quite a number of times, I was still unable to ‘catch’d right timing & thus, some of d cut strawberries sunken into d cake since it's not 'frozen' long enough. I tried to ‘save’ it but d cake is alrdy in ‘unsaved’ mode. I still went ahead & ‘cover’ it up with d jello. Hopefully, none will notice it.
As for d steam cupcake, I used 2 diff flavor pkt milk for a colored effect - Strawberries & Milo. Also, this time, I top up d batter till almost overflowing & mgd to get d ‘smiling’ effect after steaming! Job Well Done!
Hayden took 1 as BF & loved it! This is really a big improvement cause he rejected d last rd of unsmiling cupcake. Hurray!!!

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.

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.

Oreo Cookie Bread

Another new & interesting ABM bread recipe. End result - loaf didnt rise as high as stated in d original post. It’s soft but not that creamy. Not sure if that’s because I replaced the egg with whipping cream since I run out. No matter what, Hayden loves it!

• 250g bread flour
• 170g fresh milk
• 25g whipping cream
• 20g sugar
• 3g salt
• 55g oreo cookies (crushed)
• 10g unsalted butter
• 1tsp yeast

Add milk into ABM be4 adding d cookies. Then add rest of ingredients according to manufacturer's instructions. Selec basic setting & start.

SB Marshmallow Cake_III

Hubby’s ofc gals requested for d Strawberry Marshmallow cake so I checked for ingredients. No normal UHT milk but lots of strawberry pkt milk, no red/pink color jello but got blue (berries flavour) color jello… mmm… I went ahead & made it. So here’s a diff color version of d SB MM cake (no-bake).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Summer Berries Cheesecake (no baking)

Hubby's ofc gals requested for blueberries cheese cake & since I have some frozen summer berries left, I decided to give these 2 recipes (No-bake Cheesecake & Fluffy 2-step Ckeesecake) a try by combining them together into 1 cake (bery ambitious ;-p). Made lots of changes though..
End result – a very colorful berries cheese cake! & taste more like ice-cream cake instead. Both hubby & MIL loves it but I will need to wait till tomrw if hubby’s ofc gals share d same comments..

Base (8x8) (adapted from SB MM Cake)

• 200g digestive biscuits
• 80g melted butter

Crushed & mix well together. Press into pan & refrigerate for later use.

1st layer

• 250g cream cheese - soften
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 200g frozen summer berries
• 150ml whipping cream
• 100ml whipped cream

Blend all together till smooth be4 pouring onto d prepared base. Put into freezer for ard 15-20min.

2nd layer

• 200g cream cheese – soften
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 100ml whipped cream

Blend all together till smooth be4 pouring on top of d 1st layer. Put back into freezer for ard 15-20min.

Jello layer

• 50g jello
• 200ml water
• 2 tsp gelatin powder

Boil all till dissolved. Spoon onto cake & put back into fridge to chill.

Optional: u can place fresh fruits onto cake be4 spooning d jello layer.

SB Marshmallow cake again

Since I still have some ingredients left, I decided to finish all on d strawberry marshmallow cake again. However, after finishing d base & leaving it in d fridge, I realized I only have 90g marshmallow instead of d required 150g. But I decided to go ahead & apportion rest of d marshmallow fillings accordingly. Thus, I ended with a thinner middle layer, which actually works out fine because then, it's not as sweet as d 1st attempt. Great!

Adjusted Marshmallow filling:
90g Marshmallow
180ml UHT milk (full cream milk)
120ml Whipping cream
1.5 tsp Gelatine powder

Strawberry Marshmallow Cake

Tomorrow is Hayden's sch end-term party & he's required to bring a dish. So I tried out this cake recipe that's been on my to-dos for d longest time. However, as there is no timing stated at all in d original web, mine 1st attempt was horrible! D marshmallow filling was not hardened enough when I pour in d jello filling! Thus, most of d jello fillings flow into d marshmallow filling, leaving behind only a very thin layer of jello to cover d sliced strawberries. So thin that some of d strawberries r sticking out! So to 'save' it, I used up d bal ½pkt jello & this time, I spooned it onto d cake & mgd to cover all d strawberries. Therefore, if u look closely at d cut cakes, u can c that some has mixed color in d marshmallow fillings.

Base:

200g digestive biscuits
80g melted butter
Crushed biscuits & mix well w/butter. Press into a 8” tin. Refrigerate for later use.

Marshmallow filling:
150g Marshmallow
300ml UHT milk (full cream milk)
200ml Whipping cream
2 tsp Gelatine powder
Put all the ingredients into a pot & boil over small fire till gelatine is dissolved.

Jello topping:
½ pkt Jello
200ml Water
2 tsp Gelatine powder
Boil all ingredients until dissolved.

Assembling the cake:
Pour marshmallow filling into d prepared baking tin w/biscuit base. Put in freezer until slightly harden but not totally frozen. Take it out & arrange sliced fresh strawberries. Put it back to freezer to harden a little. When slightly harden take it out & spoon d cooled Jello on top. Put in fridge to chill. Cut into small pieces to serve.