Langues de chat

Black & white chocolate bits cookies

Recipes : ( from Good food magazine - Aus )
Ingredients :
- 125g unsalted butter , softened
- 110g caster sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 300g plain flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tbsp milk
- 95g white choc bits
- 95g dark choc bits
Method :
Preheat oven to 180 degree C . Line 2 baking trays with baking paper . Beat butter , sugar & vanilla until light and fluffy . Add egg and beat until combined . Sift in combined flour & baking powder and stir lightly . Add milk and choc bits , stir to combine .
Roll heaped tbsp of mixture into balls . Place on prepared trays and flatten slightly , allowing at least 3 cm between each cookie for spreading . Bake for 15 mins , until light golden . Stand on trays for 5 mins , then transfer to a wire rack to cool .

White chocolate and macadamia nuts blondie

Recipe :
Ingredients :( from Food & Travel mag )
- 125g butter
- 200g white chocolate , chopped in pieces
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 2 eggs , lightly beaten
- 1 cup plain flour
- 100g macadamia nuts , chopped
Method :
Grease and line a 20 x 20 cm cake pan . Pre-heat oven to 180 degree C . Melt chocolate & butter in a medium bowl set over a pot of simmering water . Remove from heat & set aside . Add in sugar , eggs , flour & nuts , mixing well to incorporate all ingredients . Pour into prepared pan . Bake for 30 to 35 mins . When cool , cut into triangles . Dust with cocoa powder , if desired .

Plum jam

Another lovely recipe from Okashi - Keiko Ishida , I really love this book . Jam is actually not my thing but this plum jam changes it all . The taste is just right ,not so sweet that you can still taste the sour from the the plum . Yummy !

Recipe : ( Okashi- the sweet treats made with love ) . I did some addition to the original one .
Ingredients :
- 500g red plum
- 250g caster sugar
- Extract juice from 1 lemon
- 1/2 tsp pectin powder
Method :
Deseed plums and place in a saucepan . Add sugar and lemon juice , bring to a boil , skimming of scum that floats to the surface . Reduce heat and leave to simmer for about 1 hour over low heat , stirring occasionally , until volume has reduced by 3/5 .Add in pectin powder and cook for 10 mins further . Fill sterilised jam jars with hot jam and seal tightly .

Unripe rice butter cake

Unripe rice is a very famous street food in Hanoi . It reminds me of my childhood in Hanoi. This rice can be made into many yummy desserts or can just simply eat with banana . Now while leaving far away , I am still lucky enough to have the dried one to satisfied myself whenever i think of it .



Recipe :
Ingredients :
- 4 eggs ( I use 55g eggs )
- 200g cake flour
- 170g caster sugar
- 200g unsalted butter , softened
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 80ml fresh milk
- pinch of salt
- 50g dried unriped rice , soaked till soft in hot water .
Method :
Put Soaked unriped rice and fresh milk together into a blender , blend till mixed well . Put aside .
Cake flour , baking powder , salt , all mix together , sift well .
Preheat oven at 170 degree C for 10 mins .
Beat butter with sugar until butter becomes light and pale in colour . Add in eggs 1 at a time , mixing well after each addition . Change mixer to low speed , put in flour mixture and followed by the milk mixture . Whisk till all just combined , becareful not to overmix . Pour batter into greased pan . Bake in preheated oven until the cake is done , about 40-50 mins .
Enjoy baking !

Milk buns

Japanese milky madeleine

Recipe : ( from Okashi sweet treats made with love )

Ingredients :( makes about 18 )
- 120g pastry flour
- 20g corn flour
- 15g milk powder
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 15g honey
- 1 tbsp hot water
- 100g unsalted butter
- 50g double cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 140g eggs
- A pnch of salt
- 150g caster sugar
Method :
Preheat oven to 170 degree C . Sift together flours , milk pwder & baking powder . Combine honey and hot water in a small bowl . Place butter , cream and vanilla in a bowl & heat over a double boiler until butter is melted . Set aside . In another bowl , beat eggs & salt with a whisk . Add sugar , place the bowl over a double boiler and mix well . When egg mixture is warm , use an electric mixer to beat on high speed until light and fluffy . Reduce speed to medium & continue beating for about 1 min . Add honey and mix well . Gently fold in flour , milk powder & baking powder mixture with a spatula . Add cream and butter mixture and fold until just incorporated . Pipe batter into prepared baking cups . Bake for about 25 mins until madeleines are light golden in colour . Cool on a wire rack .

Banh Khuc - Traditional Vietnamese sticky rice cake

Baked potato

Steamed water chestnut cake

Recipe : ( from Steamed cake & Kuih Muih )
Ingredients :
* A :
- 30g wheat starch
- 30g tapioca flour
- 100g water chestnut powder
- 200g caster sugar
- 250ml thick coconut milk
- 150ml water
* B :
- 8 water chestnuts , peeled , chopped
Method :
Mix all A , cook in a pot over boiling water and stirring until thicken , add in chopped water chestnuts , stir well . Spoon the mixture into greased steaming tin , level the surface and steam in the preheated steamer at high heat for 20 mins . Remove the tin from heat , leave to cool , cut and serve .

Passionfruit chiffon

Recipe :
Ingredients :
* Egg white mixture :
- 4 egg whites ( I use 60g eggs )
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
- 75g sugar
* Egg yolk mixture :
- 4 egg yolks
- 65g cake flour
- 5g corn flour
- 50ml passionfruit juice
- 35 ml corn oil
Method :
* Eggyolk mixture : Sieve flours into a mixing bowl . Add in egg yolks , passionfruit juice and corn oil . Mix with a balloon whisk until mixture becomes thick and smooth .
* Eggwhite mixture : Put eggwhite into mixer bowl , make sure the bowl is clean and dry . Beat at medium speed till eggwhite become foamy , add in cream of tartar .Slowly add in sugar , increase the speed to high , continue to beat till the eggwhite becomes stiff peak .
Put 1/3 of the eggyolk mixture in to eggwhite , fold slowly until you can't see the different between 2 colour . Add in the balance egg yolk , repeat the folding . Pour the batter in to tube chiffon pan , bake in the preheated oven at 170 degree C for 45 mins .
Tip : for the 1st 15 mins , I use only lower heat to let the cake rises and change to both heat to continue till the cake is done .
Once the cake is done , take it out from the oven , turn it up side down to let it cool completely before you take it out .

Baked mooncake with lotus paste filling

Traditional baked mooncake

 

Recipe : ( adapted from Fly me to the moon ) , to make 10 mooncake - 120g each :

Ingredients :

* Skin :

 - 200g sugar syrup

 - 50g groundnut oil

 - 1 tsp alkaline water

 - 1/4 tsp baking soda

 - 320 g all purpose flour

* Filling :

 - 600 g green bean paste , divide into 10 portions

 - 10 salted egg yolks

* Glaze :

- 2 egg yolks mix with 2 tsp of  water , beat well , sieved .

Method :

* Skin : Sugar syrup mix with oil , alkaline water and baking soda , mix well and leave overnight . Mix sugar syrup mixture into the flour and knead till become dough . Leave to rest for 30 mín before shapng .

* Filling : Salted egg yolks soak in rice wine with few slices of ginger for awhile . Take them out and steam for 10 mins . Flatten the green bean paste and wrap in the yolks , shape into balls

* Divide the skin dough into 10 portions , 50g each , shape into balls . Flatten it and wrap in the filling . Floured the moulds and put the mooncake balls in , press it down to get the imprints . Unmould ít on greased baking tray placed with baking paper . Bake in preheated oven at 200 degree C for 5 min . Take it out , spray water on the faces and leave it to cool down . Glazed with egg yolk and put back into oven , bake for further 5 mins . Take out and leave to cool on rack .

Mooncake for a new beginning

This is my very first post for this blog . I actually having one in Vietnamese , but this blog is to make sure my kids understand as they are not really good in Vietnamese . I think as a starting , I should say something about myself . Well , I am just a very simple lady who is satisfied with what I have now : a warmly family with 3 lovely kids and thanks to my sweet husband for all that .
  Before married , I must say I don't know how to cook as I have my sis to do all the chores for us . First few years of our marriage I didn't do much of that because we were very lucky to have a good cook to cook for us and for our kids as well . But everything changed after we moved back to Singapore . We started our own family life , and that means I needed to start to take care of things in our own home . First starting it was not easy for me to learn everything from the scratch , but lucky me , my mother in law is a good cook , so I have learnt a lot from her , and luckier , my husband is very easy with food . He tried everything I made and give me more and more confident to discover more about food . Time flies , I now I really enjoy doing things in my kitchen , cooking , baking .... and the happiest part is the moment I  see my kids enjoy the food that I make for them .