♥~Food Paradise~♥: June 2013

Friday, June 21, 2013

Kueh Dahlia aka Daisy Biscuits

Didn't really bake a lot this week because of the horrible haze... Wasn't breathing well enough as I am asthmatic, but I realized that actually if I just sit down and do nothing, I feel more breathless and also restless. So, even with a super heavy haze today, I got up of my chair and bake... In fact, when I make myself busy with baking, I feel better... So, if you are asthmatic, as long as your asthma does not attack you, you should not be just sitting there and do nothing, get yourself busy, and you will feel better...

My hubby was complaining there isn't any "snacks" for him to eat when he watches soccer at night... So I decided to bake something very simple and I believe not only he will eats, the kids will also finish it in no time..

Kueh Dahlia, or Daisy Biscuits are actually very popular during the Hari Raya, normally the Malays will either bake or order this cookies for the festival..

Before baking... Instead of using cherries, I used chocolate chips (I forgotten to get any cherries from the supermarket :p)

Using the "pump" that I bought from JB, the pump is a challenge, coz the pump is small, and it is very stiff, I have to use my "bull strength" to pump each flower.. Hubby says I should buy a butter cookies presser next time for this cookies... Yah!!! I have a sponsor for that....

After baking... The texture is so soft yet crispy... It really melts in your mouth... I baked about 60 of it (the recipe is for 40, but I made smaller).. Before baking, I thought its enough for hubby 2 nights supplies for his soccer snacks, after baking, I realized it looks like very little,,, I told him I'm going to bake the second batch, but he says no need, its enough for him....

The moment I reached home, before the match, at 10pm... All gone.... Well......

Anyway, I'll bake again next week... More this time.....

Adopted the recipe from cornercafe.wordpress.com/

[Ingredients]

170g (6 oz) butter, softened

105g (3.75 oz) caster sugar, sifted

1 egg yolk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

170g (6 oz) cake flour, sifted

85g (3 oz) custard powder, sifted

5 or more red glacé cherries

[Preparation]

1. Preheat oven to 170°C. Have the butter very soft almost at the verge of melting but not melted; in winter cold weather, place butter in the microwave at its lowest setting and heat at 30 second-interval until the required consistency. Cut each glacé cherry into 8 tiny pieces.

2. Beat butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Beat in egg yolk and vanilla. Lastly fold in flour and custard powder until a soft but stiff dough formed.

3. Transfer dough into a piping bag fitted with a 2cm star nozzle. Pipe out daisy shapes about 5cm wide each. Place a tiny cut cherry in the middle of each flower.

4. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until firm; don’t let the biscuits brown too much.

5. Remove from oven and let cool before storing in airtight container.

Friday, June 14, 2013

Special color for my rainbow cake

16 June is my dad's 63rd birthday.... I was trying to do something special for him this year as he is someone who is not fancy with sweet cakes... Went thru a few recipes online... Found this "Rainbow Cake" interesting and very challenging... So, I decided to bake him a "Rainbow Cake" for his birthday... Did a trial one which wasn't that successful because of sugar wasn't really well controlled (too sweet)...

This one, the trial one... Too sweet & lesser layers...

His actual one... Sweetness not so, but still have to cut down a bit more...

Know what??? My dad ate the cake... In fact, every year during his birthday, we bought from the bakery, he will only either eats the fruits or just the chocolate on top of the cake... But this time, he ate 1 BIG slice of "Rainbow Cake"... 1 BIG slice... He said nice and the sugar level is acceptable.... My hubby says sugar still high, must cut down more....

I'm so happy... I can bake my very own birthday cake, still, I have to master more on the frosting and the decorations skills.... My next cake will be my girl's 16th birthday party cake on 29 June... Same, she requested "Rainbow Cake"... This time will be must bigger... I really have to keep my fingers cross... Wish me luck everyone...

Friday, June 7, 2013

My very own chocolate twist loaf

TGIF.... It's Friday... Yes....

Using my last sachet of yeast left in the cabinet... No more buns for the time being... (Been baking a lot of buns recently)... This time, I try loaf bread.... Plain loaf too boring... Left a bit of chocolate powder, use up la.... Plain chocolate? Chocolate powder not enough also??? Aiyah!!! Twist it and can have both plain and chocolate....

When I was rolling the dough, the work was tough.... The dough tends to bounce back and I have to use alot of strength to widen it... After a few rounds of rolling, I cut into 3 portions to pleat it like my gal's hair... Let it rinse the 3 round.... Put to bake and it become like this...

See??!!! Taste is good and the bread is so fine and soft.... Don't need to spread anything on it and it taste perfectly well...

Ingredient :

Tangzhong of 25g of flour & 125ml of milk

375g bread flour

100g flour

35g milk powder (omitted as use milk)

75g castor sugar (use a bit more for sweet taste)

3/4 tsp of salt (omitted)

1 sachet of yeast

1 egg (lightly beaten)

150ml warm milk

40g butter

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Up to date now...

I was very pissed of with this friend whom I know for more than 20 yrs last night... Reason??? I don't feel like saying coz I think it's not worth for me to mention her here...

After a night sleep, I have decided to bake again to make myself happy..... Some of you may use exercise to make yourself happy, some may eat a lot of junk food.... Some even went shopping to spend alot of money to buy branded goods to make themselves happy... Me?? Bake... I will feel very happy to make myself happy... Real happy...

I made tuna buns today, using the same tangzhong method and chunks tuna... The outcome is still the same... Soft... I have been falling in love to bake bread nowadays....

Roti boy or Roti mummy

Went thru some bread recipes online, came across something call roti boy coffee buns.... At first I thought it is going to be something only a bakery chef can do it... Well... After reading thru at few times (I wasn't that hardworking when I was in school), I tried it out....

Using Owl 3in1 white coffee for the top and I may say, I passed... Again, with my 3 kids + 1(hubby) at home, it finished off before the next day...

Tangzhong method bread making

PTo go further, I tried using tangzhong method to bake my bread this time.... It's a special method to make my bread even softer and finer...

Tangzhong :

25g of flour

125ml of water / milk

Put to heat for boil and reach 65 degree... Or thicken the paste...

Ingredient for the above amount of tangzhong :

375g bread flour

100g flour

35g milk powder (omitted as use milk)

75g castor sugar (use a bit more for sweet taste)

3/4 tsp of salt (omitted)

1 sachet of yeast

1 egg (lightly beaten)

150ml warm milk

40g butter

Bread - normal method (sausage buns & chicken ham buns)

I'm not that adventures, but enjoy going further and further for my baking...

Alot of people says bread making is not easy especially using bare hands to knead the dough... I agree, but that didn't stop me from trying... The first attempt of bread making was kinda of failed... (Didn't use enough of strength to knead and time used was short)... I didn't give up... I try again this time, I used longer time to knead the dough... Not only longer time, I also use stronger strength to throw the dough and knead with 2 hands... (That was tired... Really tired)... Hahahahaaa!!! I succeed.... And it finished in no time....

Cookies Monster in Action

My daughter has been asking when am I going to bake cookies for her... I remember the last time I bake was when she was just about 5 years old... (That was more than 10 yrs ago)...

Tried out both chocolate and butter cookies...

Verdict :

Chocolate cookies : melts in your mouth..

Butter cookies : can be improve...

Ingredient :

Butter

Sugar

Flour

Vanilla essence

Egg

Baking powder

Chocolate powder (chocolate cookies)

Chocolate chips (optional)

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Chicken pie

Since I can make egg tarts... Of course, making chicken pie is not an issue....

The same pastry I used for egg tarts, using the same mould and same way...

Ingredient :

Pastry

Eggs

Butter

Flour

Sugar (Juz a bit)

Fillings :

Chicken

Black peppers

Peppers

Sasame oil

Onions

Salt

Indonesia Gado Gado

Have been craving gado gado for a very long time...

Many years back, when my late father in law was still healthily working (that was more than 10 yrs back), he will definitely buy me a packet of Gado Gado from the old hill's street hawker centre.... I heard from my late father in law saying that the stall owner was from Indonesia, that is why his Gado Gado is so authentic...

Now, if you need to find someone who sell as nice as the old Hill's Street Stall is so difficult.... So, instead of finding high and low, I decided to make my own Gado Gado.... It taste the same... And all of us enjoy....

Custard tart vs Egg tarts

LFather taught me how make egg tarts... But his version of egg tart is custard tart... I don't like custard at all, so are my kids... He keeps saying egg tart is something very difficult... Not easy to manage and do... I don't believe it... I tried out on my own...

See the difference between the custard tart and egg tarts???

Custard tart look nice, but taste : :(

Egg tart look ok, but taste : :)

Chocolate chips banana cake

OWho don't like banana??? (My girl hate banana)... Banana is my favorite... Always has left over banana after prayer... Before I started baking, banana will always left for days and mosquitoes flying into the house... Now... No banana were left for more than 2 days after prayer...

Made this 2 weeks ago... The banana day...

Chocolate chipa Banana cake

Ingredients :

Banana

Flour

Baking soda

Sugar

Eggs

Vanilla essence

Milk

Banana balls

Ingredients :

Banana

Flour

Eggs

Baking soda

Honeycomb cake

We went Parkway Parade for shopping one Saturday... There is this shop selling all kinds of cakes from Indonesia... The lady from the shop told us their cakes are "freshly" flew in from Medan, Indonesia... "Freshly" flew in??? How to be fresh when it takes a few hours of flight and what about checking in??? How fresh is their fresh???? This inspire me to bake my very own honeycomb cake the next day...

See it? Very "comb" and it works so well... So this is really fresh...

Mixed fruit cake

Hubby's favorite.... Simply his favorite tea break and supper snacks... Used to buy from the bakery, ever since I started baking, he has not really walked into the bakery....

Ingredients :

Flour

Butter

Baking powder

Sugar

Vanilla essence

Mixed fruits

Eggs

Digestive biscuit cupcakes

Most of us enjoying eating digestive biscuits as tea break. I try to use it as one of the baking ingredient for this cupcake. I added in some Oreo and chocolate chips...

Overall was not that good because it turned out to be quite dry and after keeping till the next day, it become a bit hard...

Tom Yam fried rice

The very first time when we tried this was when we were in Penang for holiday... Since then, my girl has been pestering me to cook this for her....

Very simple ingredients :

Prawns

Sotong

Chicken sausages

Eggs

Cabbages

Tomyam paste

Cooled rice

四大天王

When you visit any seafood restrurant in JB, you will definitely find this dish to be their "signboard" dish... 招牌菜.

Using petai (臭豆), long beans, egg plants & lady fingers... Of course, Sambal and dried shrimps....

Something very Malaysian, but in some parts of Singapore, they do sell this dish... It's something very simple and of course, its easy to prepare... Try it...

Pineapple upside down cake

Tried this, it was something very simple... The can pineapple rings were something very sweet... In order to make it balance and low sugar... The cake has to cut down on the sugar side... Overall, it is quite nice only thing is the cake become very moist after a while because of the juicy pineapple rings...