my buttery fingers

Singapore

2011-07-23T00:52:00.000+08:00

Merlion Park

Hi everyone! I just came back from a trip to Singapore! Since I haven't been baking much lately, I've decided to share some of the delicious food I had there!

Singapore is a multi-cultural city and its cuisine has Chinese, Malay, Indian, Nyonya and Western influences so I was able to eat lots of different things hehe. So we shall let the photos speak for themselves:

Hainanese Chicken Rice: I've had chicken rice three times in Singapore, and in my opinion "Five Star Hainanese Chicken Rice" had the best. Juicy and flavourful chicken + perfectly done rice - good enough to eat by itself or coupled with the chili, ginger or soya sauce.

Nasi Lemak: Coconut rice accompanied by ikan bilis (fried anchovies), peanuts, fish cake, fried chicken wings and an egg. And of course a generous dollop of sambal chilli sauce. The rice is very fragrant, but not too heavy to eat despite the addition of coconut milk to cook the rice.

Char Kway Teow: Stir-fried noodles with black sauce, bean sprouts, chives and preserved sausages. It's done over a strong fire so some bits were charred, but in a good way that it makes the noodles more tasty.

Laksa: noodles, fishcake, prawns, egg, bean curd and sprouts cooked in a spicy coconut milk soup. Slurp slurp.

And of course, the baker in me had to go try out some famous dessert places in Singapore too :D

Canele Patisserie Chocolaterie: I sampled two cakes - Le Royale (chocolate hazelnut mousse cake) and the Macha (green tea mousse + matcha biscuit + chestnut cremeux + almond crumble) - they are both heavenly! I wish I could go back and sample all their cakes!

Obolo Patisserie: Their macarons are simply awesome, mostly because of the huge amount of filling in them :) The cakes here are New York Cheesecake, Le Cassis and Mango Passionfruit Cheesecake. I love how they are all intricately decorated! The cakes did not disappoint either - smooth cheesecakes but not too heavy.

Flor Patisserie: A shop opened by the Japanese Chef Yamashita. We had the Strawberry Souffle Cheesecake and the Berry Berries. Both were light and refreshing!

Tom's Palette Ice Cream Parlour: they serve freshly made home-made ice cream, in a myriad of flavours - salted egg yolk, chamomile, durian, melt and sizzle candy, rosemary and apple....I had the salted yuzu and salted caramel cheesecake flavours - I was in ice cream heaven, nuff said.

I also got the chance to have a chat with the owner, and he really does have a passion for experimenting flavours with ice cream - very inspiring. I say the hour or so spent in that shop was definitely one of the highlights of my trip!

So that's about it with regards to food I had in Singapore! Check out my Flickr Photostream for other pictures I took!

Lemon Cream Puffs

2011-06-22T00:32:00.000+08:00

I've been trying to blog once a week this summer. Since the last time I wrote here, I started two summer jobs! So life has started to become busy again. Today I asked my boss if I could work at home instead, so it was kinda like a day off for me. So I baked.

I've been spending alot of time flipping through my cookbooks and thought that cream puffs might be a good idea since I haven't had one since last summer! I chose the lemon cream puffs because it isn't a flavour that is offered at Beard Papa and it is a very summery flavour, perfect for the 30C+ temperature in Hong Kong right now.

These puffs are made of choux pastry spiked with some lemon zest, and there are two fillings inside - lemon curd and sweetened whipped cream.

This is my first time making lemon curd and it's pretty similar to making the custard for ice cream! I'm glad that I didn't end up with any scrambled egg bits. However I found it to be a bit tart from my liking and my sister thought that it was a tad too buttery. I think I would prefer a meyer lemon curd, but I don't think any grocery store in Hong Kong sells them!

Nevertheless, the whipped cream helped balance out the tartness of the lemon curd so the cream puff was still a delight to eat! I still haven't mastered how to make the choux pastry bake up really nice and crispy, so it was not as crunchy as I liked it to be.

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Lemon Cream Puffs

Adapted from Chou Cream No Hon by Junko Iida

Makes 10-12 cream puffs

For the choux pastry

60g cake flour

40g unsalted butter, diced

50ml water

50ml milk

2g sugar

1g salt

2 eggs

2 tbsp lemon zest

Method for making the choux pastry is same as the one here, add in the milk with the water and stir in the lemon zest last. Oven times and temperatures are the same.

For the lemon curd

2 eggs

2 yolks

150g sugar

100ml lemon juice

80g unsalted butter, diced

Whisk together the eggs, yolks and sugar in a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat, whilst stirring until the mixture thickens slightly.

Off the heat, whisk in the lemon juice. Continue heating whilststirring until the mixture thickens to a pipeable consistency. Remove from the heat, mix in the butter until thoroughly incorporated. Cool the lemon

curd over an ice bath, stirring occasionally.

For the whipped cream

100ml whipping cream

15g sugar

Whip the cream and sugar to stiff peaks.

Assembly

Cut off the tops of the puffs, around 1/3 from the top. Pipein the lemon curd using a plain tip.

Using a star tip, pipe a small mound of whipped cream on top.

Serve immediately or the shells will become soggy.

Hehe my sister took this picture of Yoshi, waiting to devour the cream puffs :)

Matcha Souffle Roll Cake

2011-06-14T14:16:00.000+08:00

Alrighty, here comes the first food post of 2011! Even if it's already June!

Since I got back to Hong Kong, I've been more keen on making desserts that involve more Asian flavours. I've baked this matcha roll cake and two batches of matcha mochi cakes already! Maybe it's because I've had way too many chocolate and maple glazed doughnuts from Tim Hortons throughout the year that I kind of want to switch to other flavours!

This is my first time making a roll cake because I always found it to be scary, trying to roll up such a fragile cake - I mean, I'm bound to accidentally squish it somewhere or make all the filling leak out!

Flipping through my beloved collection of cookbooks that I couldn't bring to Canada, this was the first recipe that caught my eye. It's another one from a Japanese cookbook that is translated into Chinese. I really like these cookbooks because they often contain recipes that are hard to find online, and usually the flavours are very suitable to the Asian palate as they never too sweet and heavy.

The roll cake turned out to be a success! The cake was really soft and cottony, and since it only uses vegetable oil it was very light but at the same time, it was also quite moist. The filling is a simple sweetened whipped cream spiked with matcha - can't go wrong with that, as it reminds you of matcha ice cream! It complemented the cake very well - a little bite of heaven in your mouth.

Matcha is really one of my favourite flavours in summer because it is just so refreshing, and the vibrant green colour really cheers you up. One tiny complaint is that I couldn't find Japanese canned ed beans (anko) at the grocery stores near me, because a thin layer of red bean filling on the cake, topped with the cream would be perfect!

Oh well, I guess that's another excuse to make this again when I can get my hands on the red beans!

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Matcha Souffle Roll Cake
adapted from 'wa sweet recipe' by Fukuda Junko

Makes 1 cake roll baked in a 29cm x 29 cm pan

Cake
4 eggs, separated
70g sugar
30ml vegetable oil
60ml water
80g flour
10g matcha powder

Cream Filling
1tbsp matcha powder
2tbsp sugar
1tbsp hot water
150ml whipping cream

Optional: 100g red bean paste (in original recipe, I forgot to buy it), matcha powder and icing sugar for decoration

1. Preheat oven to 190C, sift together matcha powder and flour, line baking pan with parchment paper.
2. Prepare the cake: Whisk the egg yolks and 30g of the sugar together, add in the oil, combine, then water and finally the flour/matcha mixture. Lightly whisk until well combined.
3. Whip the egg whites with half the remaining sugar until frothy, add the remaining sugar and whip until soft peaks form.
4. Using a whisk, mix in 1/3 of the beaten egg whites with the flour mixture. Mix in the remaining egg whites with a light hand to prevent losing air bubbles. Switch to a spatula and fold the mixture until no streaks of white remain.
5. Spread the cake mixture onto the pan and even off the top. Bake at 190C for 12-15 minutes
6. Let the cake layer cool down slightly and cover with cling film or a moist tea towel, let rest until completely cool.
7. Prepare the cream filling: combine the matcha powder, sugar and hot water to form a smooth paste. Let cool.
8. Whip the whipping cream with the matcha paste mixture until it reaches a spreadable consistency.
9. Gently peel off the parchment paper from the cake and lay it on a sheet of cling film slightly larger than the cake itself. If using red bean paste, spread it over evenly onto the cake. Spread the cream filling evenly on, you might not need all of it (eat it - yum yum), leaving a slight border on one edge. Roll the cake up tightly, wrap the cling film around it and chill in the freezer for at least an hour.
10. Sift on icing sugar and matcha powder for decoration if desired.

Finally...Back to Blogging!

2011-06-11T18:31:00.003+08:00

(This is going to be a long post with good and bad news, but please bear with me!)

Um...Hello? Is anyone out there?

It's been a year since I last posted. I mean, one school year. Last August I began university in Montreal, and that was when I last posted - as a happy little freshman, enjoying the first week of school and new found freedom. But it didn't stay long like that.

I think the reason as to why I stopped blogging is pretty obvious - school. Although I've always taken my studies very seriously, I used to think I was pretty good at balancing school and fun, and baking did use to be what I did to take a break. But being it university just doesn't permit you to do so. When everyone around you is really hardworking, it's so hard to not follow. I don't even remember exactly why 'school' suddenly became so important to me.

My first semester was just...sad. Being away from home for so long meant that I was really homesick - sometimes I didn't even have an appetite (this is very rare for me) and I was so stressed out that I lost a lot of weight (first time in a few years!). Blogging was nowhere near the top of my priorities when you have textbooks to read, assignments to complete, groceries to buy, dinner to cook, apartment to clean, laundry to do...and the list goes on. Not to mention the depressing snow storms that I'm not used to at all!

But I'm glad that my second semester was a lot better, because the support of my family (through skype), my new friends as we got closer, my fellowship small group and of course, Jesus :) so I think I did manage to adapt to university life after all, and I got to know myself more. I really want to say a huge THANK YOU to those people who have been there for me for this past year - and you know who you are!

ANYHOW, I am now back in Hong Kong for summer! Which means - back to blogging! I sincerely apologize for the long hiatus! That's the good news, and now comes the bad:

A few days ago when I was Googling my blog's name (as I was too lazy to type in the url on my sister's computer), I came across a Facebook page, as I thought coincidentally, named "My Buttery Fingers" too. Being curious, I clicked the link...only to find a strangely familiar 'About Me' section.

I proceeded to click on the link to the blog itself...and I was just utterly speechless. The owner of the blog took the liberty of not only copying my blog name, but also my tagline, and the EXACT same About Me section, only replacing my name and age with her's...what the heck?!

This was me when I saw the words 'my buttery fingers' on that site.

I don't even know where to start. At the very least, I am extremely annoyed and upset about someone copying from my site. And come on, why would you even need to copy the About Me page?! I guess this person doesn't really know herself. Maybe I should feel sorry for her because she has zero creativity and brainpower to even write an introduction about herself?

I don't want to link that site, but if you want to see it for yourself a simple search on Google will lead you there. I already emailed the blog owner, only to get a reply with no sincere apology and even a sentence from her that sounded as if it was perfectly alright to copy MY work. She still has not changed or deleted the content copied from me, and has downright refused to change her blog name because she is, apparently a "legal business". Pft.

Does anyone have suggestions as to what I can or should do now?

Well, I am certainly not going to shut down my blog just because a silly imposter has decided to copy my work. I just think that my readers should be aware that I am not the one plagiarizing (because I created this blog earlier than she did). I am going to continue and share my work as I have before on My Buttery Fingers, so watch out for new posts with delicious desserts and photos!

Thank you for your support!

PS: My Buttery Fingers (this blog, the real one) now has a Facebook page! Feel free to go give it a 'Like' if you enjoy reading my blog :)

Blueberry Muffins - Blogging from the Land of Maple Syrup!

2010-09-07T22:08:00.011+08:00

Bonjour from Montreal! This is my first post since I've arrived in Canada around two weeks ago. I've started to settle in already - adapting to the colder weather, cooking for myself, getting around the city and - the most tedious parts - cleaning my room and doing the laundry. Nonetheless, I have been really enjoying my time here in this beautiful city (especially the frsh air, green grass and blue skies!) both during frosh week and just going around with friends. Here are some pictures taken around Montreal:

But the best part is that I have an oven in my apartment!! That means I'll get to contin

ue baking here! I was so happy to see it when I moved in. During grocery shopping the other day I finally picked up a few basic ingredients and I whipped up these blueberry muffins to share with my roommates.

In Hong Kong I never really had any good blueberries before because they're really expensive, but here they're considerably cheaper and a lot fresher too. I like eating my berries in a product more than by itself, so blueberry muffins were the perfect thing - easy to make and delicious to eat. I'm glad all my roommates like them (well they were gone by the end of the day) - permanent taste testers for this year!

These muffins are light, just sweet enough to balance the tang of the berries and have a delightfully, slightly crunchy top. I had some trouble figuring out how the oven works, and it seemed like they were not baking. I peeked inside the oven and it turns out that there is no heating element on the top, but somehow the tops browned as well. Can anyone help out here?

I also splurged and got myself a stick blender, so I've been whipping up berry-banana smoothies everyday for breakfast too. It's a real handy tool and I love it to bits! With the freedom to cook and eat whatever I want now, I'm sure I will be trying out many new recipes and dishes - can't wait to share them all with you, successful or not!

Anyway I have a class soon (yes I'm blogging in the library again) so I'll leave you with the link to the recipe from Smitten Kitchen. The only thing different I got was that the recipe made 12 muffins instead of 9 or 10 for me. And they are awesome drizzled with maple syrup :)

Matcha Cheesecake, Apologies and an Announcement

2010-08-16T00:36:00.009+08:00

Hello everyone!

First comes the apologies - I know I've been an extremely bad blogger this year/summer. Yes, I promised that I'd post more frequently after IB was over...but who knew that summer was going to fly past so fast?

Which leads me into the "announcement" - in the blink of an eye, I am about to embark on the next phase of my journey in life. In two days' time, I will be leaving Hong Kong for university (college) in...wait for it...*drum roll*....Montreal, Canada! So My Buttery Fingers will be moving it's base kitchen over there too!

My last month was basically filled with shopping for clothes and supplies, seeing friends off, packing things, sorting out things for college, helping out at my church's English class and a camp - hence the lack of blogging.

I really don't know what the state of my "kitchen" in Montreal will be like - will there be an oven? An electric mixer? Are there spatulas around? It's impossible that I move my tools over there so I'll just have to make do with what's waiting for me there. I'll most likely be on a much tighter budget for groceries as an overseas student, so it would be necessary to save up for baking :(

As for the recipe for this post, I bring you this baked Matcha Cheesecake I made quite awhile ago. It's from a Japanese cookbook dedicated to cheesecakes my sister gave me for my last last birthday, which she insisted I bake from. This cheesecake is not too rich but still has a great creamy texture. The matcha taste stands out quite well - with it's always refreshing taste, it makes these luscious squares fit for eating in summer.

The recipe also comes with a white chocolate topping on top, but I found it quite unnecessary as the taste didn't stand out quite well and baked into quite an unattractive colour! I would omit it next time.

Hope you'll all enjoy this for now! Next post will be from Canada (land of maple syrup, yay) !

Matcha (Green Tea) Cheesecake
Adapted from Cheese Cake Book by Junko Fukuda, Yasuyo Shida and Kumiko Yanase (Original Recipe in Chinese)

Base
80g Digestive biscuits, crushed into fine crumbs
30g Unsalted butter, melted

Filling
250g Cream cheese
80g + 2 tsp Sugar (measure separately)
50g Whipping cream
1 Egg
1 tbsp Flour
2 tsp Matcha powder
1tbsp Brandy (I used rum)

White Chocolate Topping
20g Whipping cream
100g White chocolate, chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 160 C.
2. Mix digestive biscuit crumbs with melted butter, press into 8-in square pan. Chill until the filling is prepared.
3. Using a mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar together until smooth and creamy. Beat the egg in a separate bowl and mix it into the cream cheese mixture. Sift in the flour and combine.
4. Set aside 25g of the cream cheese batter. Beat in the brandy, matcha powder and the 2tsp of sugar into the remaining batter. Pour in the matcha batter into the pan, smoothen the top and chill until needed.
5. Place the cream and white chocolate into separate microwaveable bowls. Nuke the cream for 10-20 seconds until very hot, and the chocolate for 20 seconds. Mix the hot cream into the chocolate and blend well. Set aside until cool, and then mix in the previously set aside cream cheese batter.
6. Drizzle or pipe the white chocolate batter onto the matcha batter into a pattern. There might be some leftover white chocolate batter. Bake the cheesecake for 35-40 minutes. Cool the cake in the pan until it reaches room temperature, chill for 2-3 hours. Remove from the pan and cut into squares.

Taiwan Gradtrip (Food) Diary: Day 4 - Kaohsiung

2010-07-26T21:47:00.004+08:00

Hi guys - I just got back my 8D7N graduation trip to Taiwan! We travelled to three main destinations in Taiwan: Kenting National Park, Kaohsiung City and Taipei City. The trip was amazing - was filled with fun, adventure, laughs and of course, wonderful food which I am desperate to share with you! In the next few posts I will write about where we went, what we did and the food we ate - sort of like a travel diary so I can remember this fantastic trip. I hope you'll find it entertaining and helpful if you decide to travel to Taiwan in the future!

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4

Itinerary: Day 4

Breakfast at hotel > British Consulate at Takao > Ramen Lunch > Fisherman's Wharf > Taiwan Sugar Museum > Shopping at Dream Mall > Liuhe Night Market

To be completely honest, I don't think Kaohsiung has that many places to visit as a tourist and the places we went on Day 3 were not very interesting, maybe it's because the whole day was rainy and dreary (but I'm going to talk about them anyway for the sake of remembering what we did). Picture above is taken at the Formosa Boulevard MRT Station.

Do: Former British Consulate

This beautiful building was built a long time ago, and it is now a museum type of building that has exhibitions displaying information about Kaohsiung's historical relationship with Britain. It takes a few flights of stairs to get up here, and you will be rewarded with a stunning view of Kaohsiung's port. (Info + directions)

Lunch: Ramen Place We Stumbled Upon

We sort of got lost on our way trying to get to the Fisherman's Wharf, and we found this little ramen place on the street and it did not disappoint. I had a Pork Ramen with Shoyu Tamago (soya sauce eggs). The soup was very good - flavourful and rich, whilst the ramen was perfectly chewy. The pork slices were also very tender. NT100 for the ramen, eggs and coke with free refill - very reasonable price!

Do: Fishermen's Wharf

A few restaurants along the harbour and that's pretty much it. We spent some time playing arcade games inside the tiny shopping centre instead! (Info + directions)

Do: Taiwan Sugar Museum

This is the old site of a sugar factory and houses some displays about sugar refining. Lined with trees and flowers, it's a great place to walk around and photograph. There was even an underground tunnel to walk through - the kind where people used to go into during bombings! There is also a shop selling lots of food - ranging from ice cream, black sugar syrup to egg rolls. I bought a red-bean yeast ice dessert (NT 35) - it tasted a little strange, as the yeast ice had an alcohol flavour. I still don't know exactly what it was!

Do: Shopping at Dream Mall

We originally wanted to take a ride on the Ferris wheel on the roof of the mall, but it was raining again so didn't go. The mall is packed full with a wide range of shops, but since most of the stuff was available in Hong Kong we didn't buy much. There is a food court in the basement selling a wide range of food. The curry rice I had there was mediocre through...but the bakery there sells awesome custard-filled buns! (Info + directions)

Eat: Liuhe Night Market

This is the best thing about Kaohsiung! Amazing food condensed along two short streets :) The day we went was just after the Dragon Boat Festival, so there was a parade going on and we even got to see fireworks! Now onto the food:

Deep Fried Cheese
This is basically some mozzarella cheese wrapped with a spring roll wrapper then deep fried. The crispy skin gives way to a delightfully creamy centre, and it came with a wasabi-mayo dipping sauce, yum. NT60/5 pieces

Deep Fried Cuttlefish
The cuttlefish pieces were a bit too salty for my liking but was quite chewy. Very fragrant as it was tossed with deep fried garlic. NT30/packet

Fishballs in Soup
The fish balls were bouncy and chewy and tasted quite fresh. They also sell pork balls, dumplings and vegetables in soup. NT40/bowl

Pepper Beef Buns
My first pepper beef bun in Taiwan. Peppery and juicy beef filling with a crunchy bread shell, yummy!

Papaya Milk
The perfect refreshment after all the deep fried food! I've always loved papaya milk, but the papaya milk in Taiwan is just like ambrosia - chock full of papaya flavour and all the sweetness is from the fruit and not from sugar. I want one right now! :p NT40/cup

Also alot of other things to taste - kebabs, Turkish icecream, seafood, fruits...if only I had a bigger stomach! (Info + directions)

Taiwan Gradtrip (Food) Diary: Day 3 - Kenting/Kaohsiung

2010-06-28T18:03:00.006+08:00

Itinerary: Day 3

Breakfast > Packed up > Lunch at Kenting Main Street > Travel to Kaohsiung (2-hour van ride) > Checked into hotel > Dinner at beef noodles shop > Walk along Love River and take Boat ride

We didn't do much this day as we had to travel back to Kaohsiung for the next part of our trip. We were going to visit Kenting Farm in the morning, but it was raining too hard for us to go out :( I thought I would be able to live up my Pioneer Woman dream by taking photos of cows and pastures :(

Eat: Lunch at Yi Ben Lo Mei

This is a place that specialises in soya sauce dishes. It's a casual restaurant where the customers can pick their own ingredients from the variety of meats, vegetables and noodles, which is then cooked up with their specialty soya sauce.

I chose to have vegetables, an egg, some pork balls with mushrooms and some noodles. I really liked their sauce as its slightly sweet, not too salty or heavy and it had hints of spice. The noodles were the best; they had a texture similar to that of the noodles in Mi Goreng (Indonesian noodles) and it really mopped up all the sauce, so it was very tasty! Price depends on what you pick to eat - probably around NT100-200.

Eat: Dinner at Gang Yuan Beef Noodles

My, my...even mentioning the words "beef noodles" can make me salivate instantly...I really miss it from Taiwan! First we ordered some cold cucumber sticks with garlic, sesame and chilli oil, which were very tasty and refreshing.

As for the beef noodles, we had the tossed variety this time and it was just absolutely delicious! The noodles were thick and chewy - my kinda noodles - and the sauce was just thick enough to slightly coat the noodles. The beef was tender and well-flavoured. Perfect eaten with a dash of chilli oil.

We shared a bowl of noodles between two, and a plate of cucumbers between 4 - NT63 each.

Do: Love River, Kaohsiung

This river is supposedly a landmark of Kaohsiung, but it wasn't very interesting to see. A boat ride at NT80 each takes you up and down the river, but when we went it was almost Dragon Boat Festival so we only travelled up half the river.

Eat: Macarons from Le Petit Prince Bakery

The macarons were quite dissapointing - they a bit too dry and crumbly, not much flavour and very little filling. NT120 per bag.

Taiwan Gradtrip (Food) Diary: Day 2 - Kenting

2010-06-19T13:06:00.020+08:00

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3

Itinerary: Day 2

Breakfast > Sightseeing around Kenting [ChuanFan Rock (船帆石), Elulanbi Lighthouse (鵝鑾鼻燈塔)] > Lunch at HengChun Ancient Town > Dead Coral Beach (星砂灣) > MaoBiTou Park (貓鼻頭) > Water Activities at ChuanFan Rock Beach (船帆石沙灘) > Dinner at Amy's Cucina

Do: Sightseeing Around Kenting

ChuanFan Rock (船帆石)
A rock that is apparently eroded to look like a ship's sail. From the side as seen on the photo, it is supposed to look like President Nixon's profile. It was raining like nobody's business when we passed by, so we only took photos from the car.

Elulanbi Lighthouse (鵝鑾鼻燈塔)
This was built by the British when they were in Taiwan. A small trail from there leads to the most southern point of Taiwan (which again we didn't go due to the rain). It was still pouring like mad, so we were all donned in kiddy yellow plastic raincoats!

Dead Coral Beach (星砂灣)
The beach is not composed of fine sand, but rather, thousands of irregularly shaped pieces of dead coral that has been washed onshore! We had a fun time finding corals that resembled certain objects...and finally the sun came out at this point.

MaoBiTou Park (貓鼻頭)
The views from here was just incredible - you could see a huge stretch of where the South China Sea meets the Luzon Strait.

Eat: Lunch at HengChun Ancient Town

Braised Pork Noodles and Soya Sauce Eggs

We wouldn't have noticed this humble, dimly-lit noodles store if our driver had not pointed it our for us. Apparently it has been cooking up these bowls of delicious noodles for 60 years already - the old lady cooking them up told us that the bowls used have been there as long as the shop has been in business!

Their eggs were just awesome - lightly drizzled with a thick, slightly sweet, oyster sauce reduction, and went really well with the eggs. There is a choice of either noodles in soup or tossed noodles in a sauce. I went for the tossed option - the braised pork was very flavourful and tender. The noodles were a tad too soft for my liking, but tossed with the sauce, a few dashes of black vinegar and chili sauce, it was good enough for me to finish the whole bowl. (NT40/bowl of noodles; NT 40/plate of 4 eggs)

Tofu Dessert
This is a milk-flavoured tofu pudding dessert, with red bean soup. I loved the milky flavour of the tofu, and it went really well with the generous amount of red beans. They also sell their tofu with a huge variety of other toppings. (NT35)

Do: Water Activities

So, after sightseeing and our stomachs taken care of, we went to do some water activities at ChuanFan Rock Beach (船帆石沙灘). We thought it would be something chilled; but in fact the activities were REALLY exhilarating. We were screaming, shouting, and holding on for dear life! In fact, our triceps and bicpes and back muscles hurt for a few days - even wearing our backpacks hurt. Nonetheless thinking back it was really fun - despite me falling into the water upon a particular sharp bend! (NT450/per person, 3 different rides, around 1.5hrs)

Eat: Dinner at Amy's Cucina

Amy's Cucina is a restaurant located towards the end of Kenting Main Street. The eight of us ordered food to share:

Pizza: We ordered two flavours, Supreme and Mexican Beef. Both had lots of cheese (yay), and I particularly liked their chunky tomato sauce - it was chock full tomato flavour and was laid on quite thickly. Base was a bit too dry.

Baked Seafood Rice: They were very generous with the seafood - prawns, clams, scallops and fish...delicious combined with the creamy white sauce and golden brown cheese topping.

Creamy Pesto Chicken Pasta: The pesto cream sauce was the best - the fresh basil scent and flavour really came through. Chicken pieces were a bit dry.

Spaghetti Carbonara: Lots of bacon and a very rich sauce. Nothing too special, but it's all good as it's hard to find a decent Carbonara in HK!

Baked Cheesecake: Perfect for me as the had the slightly sour lemon flavour that I love to balance the richness of the filling, and the browned top made it look very appetizing. Base went well with the filling, not too sweet and quite buttery.

We shared all of this, NT200 each.

Eat: Mangoes!!

Yes, even something as simple as mangoes is worth writing about. Our driver treated us to these mangoes, and oh, I haven't had such sweet and fragrant mangoes for a long long time! They were really juicy too, and none of the ones we had were sour. Perfect end to the day!

Note on Transport: We hired a driver and 8-person van for the day, which cost us NT5000 in total. They will also help plan your day and recommend what to do so you can get the most our of your day. Service time is around 8-9 hours. A great option for us car license-less students!
(Leader Travel Service Co, leader1388@yahoo.com.tw)

Taiwan Gradtrip (Food) Diary: Day 1 - Kenting

2010-06-18T13:43:00.018+08:00

Hi guys - I just got back my 8D7N graduation trip to Taiwan! We travelled to three main destinations in Taiwan: Kenting National Park, Kaohsiung City and Taipei City. The trip was amazing - was filled with fun, adventure, laughs and of course, wonderful food which I am desperate to share with you!

In the next few posts I will write about where we went, what we did and the food we ate - sort of like a travel diary so I can remember this fantastic trip. I hope you'll find it entertaining and helpful if you decide to travel to Taiwan in the future!

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3

Itinerary: Day 1

10am flight from Hong Kong to Kaohsiung > Took a rented van to Kenting National Park (2 hour ride) > Hotspring at SiChongQi area (四重溪) > Dinner and Snacks at HengChun Ancient Town (恆春鎮) > ChuHuo Scenic Area (出火) > More snacking along Kenting Main Street

Accommodation in Kenting

We stayed at a hostel called Farm Guest House (牧場旅棧), where the eight of us stayed in a small hut to ourselves. It had two bedrooms, two toilets and a little 'living room' area, and the hut was adorably decorated with a cow theme! They also provide delicious breakfast, which were freshly made, toasted sandwiches as well as pudding, milk tea and soy milk. The location was perfect for us - less than 10 minutes walk from the busy Kenting Main Street, but just far away enough for some peace and quiet.

Do: Hotspring

There are many hot springs clustered around the SiChongQi area. The Japanese-style one we went to had around 6 pools, with varying temperatures. Some hot springs require you to be nude, so remember to ask before entering! Ours cost NT220 for unlimited time.

Eat: HengChun Ancient Town

Beef Noodles

Our driver recommended this shop to us. We didn't want to stuff ourselves just yet as we wanted to leave room for food later in the night, so we ordered a plate of vegetables (NT100) and 4 bowls of beef noodles (NT80/bowl) to share. The soup base was my favourite component; very rich, mildly spicy and was packed with the aromatic flavours of spices. The noodles were not chewy enough for my liking, and the beef was quite flavourful and tender.

Deep-fried Chicken and Sweet Potato Chips

Whilst walking around the main street, we spotted this small shop that sold freshly fried food, and we ordered some to share. The chicken and chips were fried upon ordering and was then tossed with some parsley and pepper-salt. I loved the chips as the sweet, tender centre contrasted really well with the seasonings. The chicken was succulent and surprisingly, not overcooked. Unfortunately it wasn't open yet when we went back for more :( (NT160 total)

Green Beans Shaved Ice
Our driver treated us for this, how nice! A specialty of the town, it consisted of a small mountain of shaved ice on a bed of chewy, tapioca 'noodles' and nata de coco drizzled generously with a sticky syrup and cooked green beans. It was a bit too sweet for our taste buds, but it was very refreshing!

Do: Fireworks at ChuHuo

The ChuHuo Special Scenic Area's attraction are the spontaneous flames on the ground. We brought fireworks from HengChun and ignited them here, where we did some "Fireworks Painting". Don't worry, it is perfectly safe and none of us got hurt. When we went pass the area the next time, the flames were still burning brightly despite the rain!

Eat: Kenting Main Street

Kenting Main Street is the heart of the area and was bustling with locals, tourists and vendors. There are numerous numbers of stalls selling a range of local snacks, restaurants offering a variety of cuisines (Japanese, Italian, Thai) as well as many shops selling beach clothing and souvenirs.

Green Tea and Milk Tall Soft Serve Ice Cream
A refreshing treat to kick off our crazy food night! It was very very tall, and despite being slightly too watery, the green tea flavour really came through and was perfect with the milk taste. (NT 30)

Grilled Meat and Sausages
I had a grilled sausage, which tasted more like a Chinese preserved sausage so it was a bit too heavy and a tad oily, hence took up valuable stomach capacity! I'd definitely recommend sharing this. They also serve grilled glutinous rice sausages, lamb and pork ribs. (NT30/sausage)

Korean BBQ Beef (Bulgogi) Roll

This is my favourite find on the whole street - it's just SO good! The seaweed is the Korean kind - crispy and salty - which wraps around shredded lettuce, kimchi, corn and a generous amount of juicy bulgogi. The meld of salty, sweet, spicy and savoury is just perfect! They also have other choices of chicken and pork. (NT60)

Mini Dorayaki
This stall sells a myriad of dorayaki (Japanese pancake sandwiches) flavours, such as red bean, custard, black sesame, peanut, strawberry and chocolate. The pancake is quite fluffy and not too sweet, but overall it was a bit dry. (NT100 for 7)

Fresh Milk
The owner claims that the milk is fresh from the nearby Kenting Farm. The consistency is similar to that of Hong Kong milk, but a little more rich and creamier. I love drinking milk, so it was still good for me. (NT30).

And after all the crazy eating, we went back to our hostel and had a good night's sleep.

Chicken and Mushroom Risotto

2010-05-29T11:46:00.007+08:00

Well, I'm finally back - I've officially finished the IB Diploma on Monday and my summer holiday has started! But strangely enough, and I really don't know exactly why - I haven't been dying to bake after exams. (Gasp!)

Maybe it's because prom is coming up next week and I want to make sure my dress fits, or because there's no one to share my bakes with, or because I gained an absymal number of pounds from too much snacking during revision, or simply because I was just exhausted after 4 weeks of hell and all I wanted to do was just...sleep.

However I did do some cooking. I really ought to try a few new dishes this summer, and learn a few Chinese dishes off my mum, because once I'm off to uni I'll have to feed myself, and I can't just eat brownies and cookies all day! At the moment I'm very keen on trying some Japanese and Korean dishes. Anyway, I made this Chicken and Mushroom Risotto for dinner the other day and it was not bad at all!

It's the first time I've made risotto using the stir-stir-stir-over-the-stove method (I tried oven-baked risotto before) and I must say it's pretty tiring, standing over the stove for almost an hour making this dish! It just seemed forever before the rice would absorb the stock become soft.

But the result was totally worth it. Even without the addition of cream, the risotto was still perfectly creamy but not heavy, the rice was done just right - soft with just a bit of bite. I used shiitake and white button mushrooms which gave a lovely blend of mushroom flavours. I can't wait to make risotto again - probably one with sun dried tomatoes next!

(Also fingers crossed that my baking crave will come back soon :S I really want to use this summer well and try baking new things!)

Chicken and Mushroom Risotto
Serves 4

250g arborio rice
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
300g mushrooms, sliced
4 chicken fillets, cut into bite size pieces
1L chicken stock
20g butter
3 tbsp olive oil
40g parmesan, grated
salt and pepper to taste

1. Fry the chicken pieces in 2tbsp olive oil until golden brown and cooked. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
2. Heat the remaining oil and butter in a large pan, add the garlic and onions and cook until onion is translucent. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, bring the stock to a simmer.
3. Add the sliced mushrooms to the onions and stir around to coat them with oil. Cook until mushrooms soften and release their juices.
4. Stir in the rice. A ladle at a time, add in the hot chicken stock and stir the mushroom-rice mixture until all the stock is absorbed. Repeat until rice is cooked - chewy, but not yet mushy - taste to check.
5. Season risotto with salt and pepper, and stir in the cooked chicken pieces. Stir in the grated parmesan. Plate up the risotto, and sprinkle on more parmesan prior to serving.

A Temporary Farewell

2010-04-21T10:04:00.006+08:00

For those who check out my Flickr photostream from time to time, you may have seen a sudden bombardment of random school photos - class photos, photos of people dressed up as soliders or fictional characters and photos with 200-odd heads peeking at you.

As you may have guessed, last week was my last ever week of high school and the whole of Year 13 dressed up according to different themes for each day - we had "Uniform with a Twist Day", "Fictional Characters Day" (my friends and I dressed up as red card soldiers from Alice in the Wonderland), "LAIRE Day" (which is basically everyone dressing up as warriors of sorts and we had a whole year 'battle' at lunchtime) and on the last day, we all wore our KGV Class of 2010 shirts that one of our classmates designed.

I guess the title of this post has two meanings. To my readers, I'm going to be having my first exam in exactly 13 days from today, so I will be initiating a baking and blogging ban on myself. It's going to be hard on me, but these exams, strictly speaking is going to determine the next phase of my life - university. Maybe it's the Chinese genes or something, I'm quite a study freak, so in the next 6 weeks my life is going to be revolved around study notes and past papers. My last exam is on May 24th and I promise that I'll be posting then, so a temporary farewell!
To my year group and myself, it's sure been hard to say farewell to high school. After all, it is the place we have gone to everyday and grown up in for the last 7 years. We've all changed so much, matured so much, experienced so much and learned so much more than we would have imagined upon of first step into KGV. To quote from our Head Girl's extremely fitting speech on our last assembly - "I came to this school a one man wolf pack." I think this line really says it all, and I am so glad that in these 7 years I have met so many people, made friends with so many people, cried and laughed and argued with and baked for so many people!

I really could not ask for anymore; I'm sure this is going to be a temporary farewell, even though we all part our ways for our next phase in life, I'm going to remember my high school life in my heart and that will certainly never leave me. And here I'd like to make a shout out: "Thank you, KGV Class of 2010 for making my high school life truly memorable, I had the time of my life. I wish everyone of you the best of luck in the future. I love you all!!"

And of course, I wouldn't have imagined to not bake anything for my last ever high school lessons! Here are the things I baked throughout the week, and coming to think of it...it's the last ever time I will for my classmates and friends :(

For our English Tea Party, I made a fruit tart - a sweet tart crust filled with vanilla bean pastry cream and topped with strawberries and peaches. My teacher also baked us a cheesecake, YTH baked chocolate cupcakes and we also had crisps, and Earl Grey tea to make it a real 'tea' party!

For Biology, I baked some chocolate cupcakes. I tried to make a caramel cream cheese frosting, but it failed as the caramel was bitter (I just fail with wet caramels) so I woke up at 5am to make another frosting. Because I was totally still half asleep and lacking creative juices at that time, I decorated them with white chocolate piped into some diagrams we learn in Biology. They're so badly done I'd probably get no marks, but Biologists, can you guess what they are? :)

For French, I baked madeleines. I took the fuss to bake them early in the morning too, so they tasted really fresh when we had them. I love the lemony flavour of classic madeleines as it balances the butter and sugar out. Can't stop munching on them!

I also baked some Chocolate Coffee Sandwich Cookies. The filling is a white chocolate ganache with some instant coffee. I totally forgot to take photos of these, so photo courtesy of my friend A. (form class buddy :D) Recipe from Joy the Baker.

Well this is it for now...I'll be back in late May!!

Caramel Macchiato Cupcakes

2010-04-10T12:38:00.006+08:00

I can't live without coffee, and I'm not joking at all. I need caffeine to keep me awake and pump me up for revision purposes. But I don't just drink coffee for stimulatory purposes, I also enjoy the flavour of coffee and the enticing aroma always makes me feel awake despite all the sleep deprivation IB students are subscribed to.

Recently my favourite coffee is the Caramel Macchiato from McCafe (don't judge me - McCafe is actually not bad! And its prices are more reasonable than Starbucks for a student...). The bit I look most forward to is sipping the foam layer that is drizzled with caramel, and then slowly enjoying the caramel-infused coffee.

During the week of school just before Easter holidays, I had my very last high school Chemistry lesson, and one lunchtime during that week our teacher took us out for lunch at Starbucks. I had an iced caramel macchiato and it immediately confirmed my plan of baking caramel macchiato cupcakes for my last Chem lesson, especially when I've had this teacher for 4 years already!

The coffee cupcake was amazingly tender, moist and soft with a strong coffee aroma and taste. The sprinkle of cacao nibs gave the cake a chocolatey undertone. The cupcakes were great to eat on their own fresh from the oven!

The cakes were then topped with a luscious mountain of vanilla-kahlua infused whipped cream and generously drizzled with homemade caramel sauce. The lightly-textured cream rounded off the ensemble of coffee and caramel flavours very well. All my friends agreed that the cream was the best part - almost a replica of Starbucks' whipped cream, I think we all wanted to have extra servings of the cream! These were well received by everyone...maybe because it's was the famillar scent of our best friend Coffee?!? :)

My teacher had two of these cupcakes and he said that they were amazing - I couldn't be more happier. Sometimes the feeling is just so great when you receive compliments for something you've made, especially when you put in effort, patience and love - which I think will definitely be conveyed to the person eating it!

Caramel Macchiato Cupcakes
Based on recipe from FoodMayhem

Makes around 14 cupcakes

Coffee Cupcakes
2 1/2 (313g) cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 (180ml) cup strongly brewed coffee, cooled to warm
1/4 (60ml) cup milk
1 tbsp Kahlua
12 tbsp (170g) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (200g) sugar
3 eggs
1 rounded tsp instant espresso
Cacao nibs, for sprinkling

Whipped Cream Topping
200g (around 1 cup) whipping cream
3 tbsp (40g) sugar
1tsp vanilla extract
1-2 tsp Kahlua (Optional. Don't put too much, or the cream will be too soft for piping)

Caramel Sauce
(this makes more than needed, use remaining as an ice-cream topper or a mix-in for coffee)
1/2 cup (100g) sugar
3 tbsp (43g) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
4 tbsp (60g) heavy cream

Make Coffee Cupcakes
1. Place rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 F/175 C.Place paper liners in muffin tin.
2. Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl and set aside. Combine coffee, milk, and Kahlua in a cup and set aside.
3. Cream butter and sugar together in a stand mixer (with the paddle attachment) or large bowl with a hand mixer on medium speed, until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat eggs in one at a time.
4. Reduce speed to low and beat in one-third of the flour mixture, then half of the liquid mixture. Scrape down sides, then beat in another third of flour mixture, then the rest of the liquid, then the remaining flour mixture. Mix in the instant espresso.
5. Fill cupcake liners until 3/4 full. Sprinkle on some cacao nibs if using.
6. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, before removing them to a wire rack. Cool completely before frosting.

Make Caramel Sauce
1. Warm the cream up in a small microwaveable bowl in the microwave. Set aside.
2. Spread sugar evenly across the bottom of a heavy bottomed saucepan and put over medium-high flame. Try not to touch the sugar but watch carefully as it melts.
3. As soon as it is browning, you can start to stir. When it looks like all of it has browned lightly, remove the pot from heat and stir in butter. Be careful because it will bubble up.
3. Bring it back to the flame and stir for a few seconds until smooth. Remove from the heat again and add the warmed heavy cream, again careful of violent bubbling. Stir rapidly until smooth. Set aside and allow to cool to lukewarm.

Make Whipped Cream Topping and Assemble
(Do not make this until the cupcakes are thoroughly cooled)
1. Whip the cream and sugar until soft peaks form. Add in vanilla and Kahlua and whip until medium peaks form.
2. Transfer to a piping bag with a star tip and pipe on top of each cupcake.
4. Drizzle the cool caramel sauce over the cupcakes with a spoon, or for a neater pattern, transfer to a squeeze bottle and pipe over. Serve immediately or store in the fridge for up to one day.

Chocolate Raspberry Cake

2010-04-02T19:19:00.016+08:00

Once upon a time, Wendy had a friend, M. that loves bunnies. She had her 18th birthday a few weeks ago in March. Although officially an adult, she still adores bunnies, but Wendy reckons that she loves chocolate more. So Wendy baked her a chocolate birthday cake...with a silly looking bunny piped on top. M. was happy with her belly full of chocolate cake and a devoured bunny. The End.

Sorry for the lame paragraph above. I am now neck deep into revision for final exams (well at least I should be - only 1 month left!), and my head is full of things to do with chemical reactions, biological processes and mathematical equations and surprisingly, not of cakes, cookies and desserts. Not even chocolate, let alone words and inspiration for blogging. As I tweeted a while ago, this "update-once-a-month" habit is not exactly healthy...I promise to make up for it during summer!

But I did bake a chocolate cake with raspberry filling for M.'s 18th, and it was delicious. The chocolate cake layers were not too heavy yet was full of chocolate flavour, and the tangy raspberry filling paired it really well by balancing the sweetness. The smooth and rich dark chocolate ganache frosting rounded each decadent slice of cake off perfectly.

The decoration is a little childish and haphazard...if I had the time I'd probably spend time experimenting with fondant and colours and mould a 3D fondant bunny on a bed of green grass and purple flowers, but the reality is that I had no time and resorted to piping things with a pink-tinted buttercream. Hey, at least the bunny did look like a bunny! :p

My only complaint that the cake layers are very fragile - I mean very fragile...when handling the layers I broke off quite a huge chunk of one layer and had to cement it on the cake using the ganache. Also, when the cake is sliced, there were a lot of loose crumbs (see above photo), so it seemed like we were eating chocolate soil - but scrumptions chocolate soil!

Nevertheless, I love this raspberry-chocolate combination - I can already foresee raspberry ice cream with chocolate chunks, raspberry-chocolate mousse, or raspberry cream cheese muffins with chocolate chunks....mmmmm!

P.S. - Referring my last post, the Matcha Mochi Cakes - as I said I would bake different flavours after my French Orals, and I did! (But totally forgot about posting the variations on) The chocolate and black sesame variations are now on, so if you enjoyed those mochi cakes as much as I did - have an encore with different flavours :)

Chocolate Raspberry Layer Cake
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Printable Version

For me, this made a 9-inch three layer cake

For cake layers
3oz (85g) fine-quality semisweet chocolate such as Callebaut ( I used Varlhona)
1 1/2cups (355ml) hot brewed coffee
2cups (400g) sugar
2 1/2 (313g) cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups (130g) unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3 large eggs
3/4 cup (177ml) vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups (355ml) well-shaken buttermilk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla

For ganache frosting
1/2 pound (227g) fine-quality semisweet chocolate such as Callebaut
1/2 cup (119g) heavy cream
1 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoons light corn syrup (I replaced with golden syrup)
1/4 stick (28g() unsalted butter

For raspberry filling
(I'd probably halve this next time; I had alot left over)
2 10-ounce bag (567g)frozen raspberries, thawed (I used the same amount of raspberry puree as fresh or even frozen raspberries are very expensive here)
1/2 cup (100g) sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch

Special equipment: two 10- by 2-inch round cake pans (I baked three 9-inch layers)

Make cake layers: Preheat oven to 300°F/150°C. and grease pans. Line bottoms with rounds of wax paper and grease paper.

Finely chop chocolate and in a bowl combine with hot coffee. Let mixture stand, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.

Into a large bowl sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another large bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs until thickened slightly and lemon colored (about 3 minutes with a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a hand-held mixer). Slowly add oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and melted chocolate mixture to eggs, beating until combined well. Add sugar mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined well.

Divide batter between pans and bake in middle of oven until a tester inserted in center comes out clean, 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Cool layers completely in pans on racks. Run a thin knife around edges of pans and invert layers onto racks. Carefully remove wax paper and cool layers completely. Cake layers may be made 1 day ahead and kept, wrapped well in plastic wrap, at room temperature.

Make frosting: Finely chop chocolate. In a 1 1/2- to 2-quart saucepan bring cream, sugar, and corn syrup to a boil over moderately low heat, whisking until sugar is dissolved. Remove pan from heat and add chocolate, whisking until chocolate is melted. Cut butter into pieces and add to frosting, whisking until smooth.

Transfer frosting to a bowl and cool, stirring occasionally, until spreadable (depending on chocolate used, it may be necessary to chill frosting to spreadable consistency). (Deb says that stirring this over a bowl of ice water does a great job of cooling it off quickly and evenly.)

Make Filling: Puree the raspberries in a food processer, blender or immersion blender. Press the puree through a fine-mesh strainer with the back of a spoon, removing the seeds. Heat the puree in a small pot with the sugar and cornstarch until mixture boils, stirring constantly. As it boils, it should quickly thicken. Let it cool completely.

Assemble: Place one cake layer on serving plate/board. Spread some of the raspberry filling (around 1/2 cup) on one layer. Gently top with another layer, and spread with more filling. (I had alot of filling left over; it can be served with cheesecake or over icecream). Spread the chocolate ganache frosting on top of the cake and sides.

The cake keeps, covered and chilled, for 3 days. Bring cake to room temperature before serving.

Matcha Mochi Cakes

2010-03-05T22:16:00.007+08:00

2nd April 2010 Edit: New flavour variations added below - so now it's Matcha or Black Sesame or Chocolate Mochi Cakes! Enjoy :)

Hi everyone! It's been almost a month since the last post, but I won't go on talking about how busy I was (read: IB) but instead, I'm going to talk about these lovely Matcha Mochi Cakes I made yesterday...because baking is the most interesting aspect of my life :)

It was just another library day when I was inspired to bake these cakes. My friends A., P. and I were going to the library the other day, and he wanted to get some food so we went to a bakery nearby. Upon seeing a tray of little cakes labelled 'Green Tea Mochi Cake', it rang a bell in my head - I remembered that I had seen a recipe before for mochi cake! I had a bite of the cake - it had a slightly chewy texture that I loved and immediately proclaimed that I had to recreate the cake. And here it is!

Please don't be intimated with the name - it almost seems oxymoronic, as mochi is usually chewy whilst cakes are meant to be fluffy in texture - but it really is the texture of the cake that makes it unique. These cakes really combines the best of both Western and Asian dessert worlds - baked in a cupcake pan, it resembles a normal cupcake on the outside.

When you bite through, you first break through a layer of fine cake crumbs on the outside, and then your teeth gets to sink into the soft, chewy centre that greatly resembles a Japanese mochi. The red beans dotted within also adds a bit of contrast, lending a mellow sweetness to the cake that blends really well with the matcha. P. also added that the cake's subtle smell of glutinous flour reminded him of traditional Chinese nian gao (the orange rice cakes eaten during CNY).

I'm not going to lie, this cake shot straight up to my favourites list upon my first bite; not to boast but I think this version is better than the one from the bakery! I'm hooked and I cannot wait for next week after my French orals where I will bake these again, since mum has alot of glutinous flour left over from making homemade radish cake and nian gao for CNY.

I'm already thinking of different flavour combinations as this recipe is versatile and easy to make...currently I have black sesame, and maybe a coffee-chocolate chip one too! Y. also gives other variations on her post - thank you for such an awesome recipe!

Matcha Mochi Cakes
Adapted from Lemonpi
Printable Version

Makes around 12 cupcake-sized mini cakes

220g mochiko [I also used Thai glutinous rice flour as Y. suggests]
5g matcha powder
85g unsalted butter, melted
155g caster sugar
187g evaporated milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder
Cooked red beans (possibly canned, see below) (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 175C. Grease and flour a cupcake pan.
2. Sift the mochiko, matcha and baking powder together.
3. In an electric mixer, whisk the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy. Fold in the melted butter, then the evaporated milk. Fold in the dry ingredients. (Note: I tried to fold the ingredients in, but it just wouldn't mix so I just used the mixer to get everything together)
4. Split the batter between 12 cupcake holes, using around 1/4 cup per cake. If using red beans, gently dot them on, using around 1 tsp per cake. No need to push them down, they will sink themselves.
5. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool the cake on a rack, then remove from the pan.

If served warm from the oven, the cakes also have a slightly crunchy crust and taste even better!

Black Sesame Variation: Omit matcha powder and red beans from above recipe. Add in 30g Black sesame paste in with the evaporated milk, and 1-2tbsp ground black sesame seeds in with the dry ingredients. Sprinkle with toasted black and white sesame seeds before baking.

Chocolate Variation: Omit matcha powder and red beans from above recipe. Use 200g mochiko, and add in 25g cocoa powder. Fold in/sprinkle on cacao nibs or mini chocolate chips if desired.

Red beans

I used these canned red beans, which are cooked beforehand so they are slightly 'saucy' straight from the can. To use in these cakes, gently rinse them in a sieve and let them drip dry. Pat them dry with a paper towel, and toss with around 1/2-1 tsp of the glutinous flour (this prevents them from sinking straight to the bottom and sticking to the pan) If you don't like red beans, I think mini chocolate chips will also be a good pairing with the matcha.

My New Favourite Brownie

2010-02-09T09:53:00.005+08:00

I think I've found my favourite brownie recipe. It contains no 'chocolate' as such but is made with cocoa powder - but still yielded amazing results! I've been tempted to try this recipe since seeing it on Lemonpi, but held it off until a few days ago, when you know, I missed mixing and weighing ingredients - this baking itch that just had to be scratched. I wanted to bake something that can be done quickly, but also giving satisfying results.

Maybe some may start question - "a good brownie? with no chocolate? Is that possible?!" Well it is indeed! I love this brownie recipe to bits! I hate to admit, but I think that the best brownie texture comes from Betty Crocker's brownie mix - it has the chewy, semi-crispy crust that I associate with perfect brownies - but a) call me a food snob, but I never bake with mixes and b) brownies from box mix have near to no chocolate flavour at all, just a bland crumb coloured brown that is not appealing at all.

But oh my, this brownies hit all the right criteria for the brownie I'm searching for. It has that delicate crust on top, and the crumb is not cakey but not too fudgy and cloying either - it was just...perfect. The chocolate flavour was right there, and I cut down some sugar so the sweetness was just right. I really can't believe that humble cocoa powder can give such great results -another reassurance that I don't need to spend a fortune on good chocolate for good brownies and I don't need to turn to box mix to get that perfect brownie texture! Since they are so easy and take so little time (probably shorter than time spent writing this post) and equipment to make, I'm seriously considering that I bake these once every few weeks to share at school or something - everyone loves brownies and I'm sure it's bound to put a smile on their face if you share!

Regarding printable recipes: it seems that the file is very blurry, but if you click 'Download' or Print' on the top left corner, you can save/pring the actual file which is perfectly readable.

Cocoa Brownies
Adapted from Alice Medrich’s Bittersweet, via Smitten Kitchen and Lemonpi
Printable Version

Makes 16 or 25 brownies, depending on size you cut them

10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks, 5 ounces or 141 grams) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups (9 7/8 ounces, 280 grams) sugar (I cut this down to 200g – 1 cup/ 7oz)
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (2 7/8 ounces, 82 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder (natural or Dutch-process; I used Valrhona)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, cold
1/2 cup (66 grams, 2 3/8 ounces) all-purpose flour
2/3 cup walnut or pecan pieces (optional)
I also added in around two tablespoons of mini chocolate chips I wanted to use up

1. Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F/160°C.
2. Line the bottom and sides of an 8×8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper or foil, leaving an overhang on two opposite sides.
3. Combine the butter, sugar, cocoa, and salt in a medium heatproof bowl and set the bowl in a wide skillet of barely simmering water. Stir from time to time until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth and hot enough that you want to remove your finger fairly quickly after dipping it in to test.
4. Remove the bowl from the skillet and set aside briefly until the mixture is only warm, not hot. (It will look somewhat gritty or lumpy, it’s fine)
5. Stir in the vanilla with a wooden spoon. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously after each one.
6. When the batter looks thick, shiny, and well blended, add the flour and stir until you cannot see it any longer, then beat vigorously for 40 strokes with the wooden spoon or a rubber spatula. Stir in the nuts, if using. Spread evenly in the lined pan.
7. Bake until a toothpick plunged into the centre emerges slightly moist with batter, around 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool completely on a rack.
8. Lift up the ends of the parchment or foil liner, and transfer the brownies to a cutting board. Cut into 16 or 25 squares.

Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream

2010-01-23T10:02:00.012+08:00

In the first month of 2010, four of my friends have already turned 18. I made these cupcakes the other day for them, as super belated birthday presents as it was impossible for me to bake during exams.

Coming to think of it, 2010 is going to be a very special - a roller-coaster year for me. I'll be sitting my IB final exams. I'll be graduating from high school, after seven years there. I'm determined to have a crazy, fruitful, fun and full-of-baking summer to make up for last year. I'll be saying farewell to my friends I've known for many, many years, some whom I have been pals with since we were 4 years old, and we will be parting our own ways to enter the next stage of our lives at university. I myself am likely to be going overseas for university, and enter a journey myself into a foreign country which I am very excited for. (Wait - What if there are no kitchens in the residencies, let along an oven? Oh no!)

And finally, of course I'll be turning 18, an adult, too - I wonder if anyone will be there to bake me a cake...

...Back to these cupcakes. Who could resist a light yet chocolatey cupcake rounded off with a swirl of shiny, intensely chocolatey frosting. This is my first time making Swiss Meringue Buttercream, and it was a success! As per usual, I was a little scared to try the recipe before, as it requires whipping for at least 15 minutes and I was afraid that my ageing hand-held mixer might give up on the job. In the end, I had nothing to be afraid of - after 10 minutes of whipping the egg whites with the butter, watching it turn into a slosh, and then voila - clotting into a silky smooth buttercream.

As for the flavour of the buttercream, I was impressed! Unlike classic buttercreams, it was not cloyingly sweet or rich as the bittersweet chocolate alleviated some of the sweetness. It also had lovely light marshmallowy touch to it, and the texture was just a perfect match to the cupcake itself. Not to mention that it pipes like a dream too - even an incompetent cupcake decorator like myself thought that it was very easy to work it. A few friends and I do think that it's still a tad too buttery, so maybe next time I'll cut the butter down.

I used my favourite chocolate cupcake recipe, and once again it did not disappoint. They are really easy to whip up, and even though it only uses cocoa powder, if you use the best-quality cocoa you can get your hands on (I use Valrhona), the end result is still amazingly chocolatey and its light texture means that it's a great compliment to many frostings and fillings.

And on a final note, I've decided to add printable versions (PDF format) of recipes from posts from now on! I will also convert the ingredient measurements into metric measurements (or vice versa if necessary). I personally always work by metric weight, and since I convert the units for every recipe anyway, I might as well post it up too. The online converter I use can be found here - I find it a very handy tool, as it converts measurements specifically for each food. I hope the new feature will be useful to you, and please do notify me if you spot any mistakes - I'll be happy to correct them!

Chocolate Cupcakes
From Cupcake Bakeshop

Printable Version

Makes 12-15 regular cupcakes, or around 40 mini cupcakes

1/2 cup (1 stick, 113g) butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups (200g) sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
3/4 cup (103g) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (43g) unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup (120ml) milk
1 teaspoons vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).
2. Beat butter until softened. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until well combined.
4. Measure the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder into a small sized bowl and whisk to combine.
5. Measure out the milk and vanilla and stir to combine
6. Sift in about a third of the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar and beat to combine. Add about a half of the milk/vanilla and beat to combine. Continue adding, alternating between sifted dry and wet and finishing with the dry.
7. Scoop batter into cupcake cups about 2/3’s full. Do not fill with more than that or cupcakes will overflow. Turn oven down to 350°F (170°C) degrees and bake cupcakes for about 22-25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen and Use Real Butter

Printable Version

Makes enough to generously frost 12 regular cupcakes

4oz (113g) bittersweet chocolate
6.3oz (around 1.5 sticks, 180g) unsalted butter, room temperature [I think I will cut down to 150g next time)
2 egg whites
3 oz (80g) sugar

1. Melt the chopped chocolate over a water bath or in the microwave. Set aside and let cool.
2. Place egg whites and sugar in a heatproof mixing bowl.
3. Set bowl over 1 inch of water in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk gently until mixture reaches 140°F/60°C (or until sugar has dissolved and mixture is no longer grainy when you rub it between your fingers)
4. Remove from heat and using an electric mixer, whisk on medium speed until egg whites are cool to touch (this takes a while – should be cooler than your hand).
5. Continue beating, gradually add soft butter by tablespoon pieces and continue to beat. It will first look watery or separated, but after 10-15 minutes, it will come together.
6. Once desired, pipe-able consistency has been reached, fold in cooled chocolate until well incorporated.

S'mores Brownies

2010-01-13T14:46:00.003+08:00

Ok, I really shouldn't be blogging right now - but I miss it too much. I have one more exam, in fact, the hardest one - Chemistry tomorrow, then a TOK presentation (where me and my partner are planning an all nighter for) on Friday...then I'm free!

Meanwhile, take a look at these S'mores Brownies I made with my friends during YTH's birthday party! I've never had a S'more before, but the idea of chocolate, marshmallows and graham crackers is very appealing. I think the brownie showcases this flavour combination very well, and they were super easy to make. The digestive biscuits (I've never tried a graham cracker before either, and supermarkets here don't seem to stock them) add a great crunchy texture to the soft brownie and the sticky marshmallow.

Recipe is adapted from Joy The Baker. I kept to all the measurements except that I drastically cut down amount of sugar - I think I used only a quarter to a third of the total amount.

Oh, and since this is the first post in 2010 at My Buttery Fingers, I wish everyone a (very belated) Happy New Year!

Tiramisu Cake

2009-12-30T11:28:00.007+08:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! This year, my Christmas was pretty quiet as my family ditched me for a holiday in Taiwan, whilst I spent three days alone at home revising and eating instant ramen for my Christmas dinner. The most enjoyable thing I did was probably going to my dear dear dear friend, YTH's birthday party.

YTH is one of my high/secondary school friends, but over these 6-7 years, I think we've become pretty close friends. (YTH: I hope you agree!) She's one of those people that will know what I am thinking of on one moment of eye contact, and we usually share the same views and thoughts on the many things we discuss. She's also the first one I always consult when I have a problem, and she's always there to listen when I come across baking disasters. She also loves to write - take a look at her blog, and she'll take you through the torturous IB journey we're on right now, but not without hints of humour and sarcasm that always make me smile when I read.

Of course, I wouldn't even dream of showing up without a birthday cake. Since most of us are pretty sleep deprived and rely heavily on caffeine, I thought I'd might as well include it in the cake. Originally I wanted to make an Espresso Fudge Cake (since YTH always gets a Mocha whenever we're at Starbucks or PCC), but I didn't have much time on my hands, so I settled on making a simpler - but equally caffeine loaded - Tiramisu Cake.

This time the production of the cake went quite well, as only two main components were needed to be made - the yellow cake layer, and the filling/frosting mascarpone cream. I found the yellow cake to be a little dense and dry, and I think by soaking it with more espresso-rum syrup it will give a texture that is more similar than the classic Tiramisu.

As for the filling and frosting, I can only say that I should have doubled the amount, because it is the best part of the cake! A smooth and creamy mascarpone concoction that is lightened with whipped cream and spiked with kahlua and espresso, I found it hard to restrain myself from eating it by the spoonful! Assembled along with the soaked cake layers and some finely chopped dark chocolate, the cake did resemble the flavour and texture of Tiramisu.

I really do like the idea of Tiramisu in the form of a cake, but next time I think I'll just go back to using lady fingers, but assemble the dessert inside a cake ring.

Although the cake itself tasted pretty good overall, the thing I'm most proud of is the decoration. Try looking at the first photo upside down - the design looks the same, because it's an ambigram! The idea was inspired by an ambigram that YTH drew a long time ago....Did I mention that she's an amazing calligrapher? The neatness of her handwriting is pretty scary, our Physics teacher once said that he thought it was typed!

The decoration was made by using a paper stencil. First I printed off an ambigram (from an ambigram generator that found using Google) and carefully cut out the text. Then I simply placed it onto the cake, and sieved over copious amounts of cocoa powder. Then comes to difficult bit - removing the paper stencil without spilling cocoa powder over the design. I found that the best way to do this is to use a pair of thin wire 'pliers' (pardon my English, I don't know what's the exact name of the tool), pinch one end of the stencil, and remove it quickly and swiftly in one direction so the cocoa spills on the 'dark' bit of the design, and not onto the 'light' bits.

This way of decorating probably works best for simple designs and shapes - hearts, stars smiley faces, or a single alphabet letter and numbers.

Or, you can make this cake for your New Year parties, and use a design saying '2010' for the decoration! And speaking of 2010, this will be the last post of 2009 - so I'll see you all again in 2010, and cheers to a better, happier and more fruitful year with more baking for everyone!

Tiramisu Cake
From Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours

For the cake layers:
2 cups (250g) cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 sticks (10 tablespoons, 142g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (200g) sugar
3 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup (180g) buttermilk

For the espresso extract:
2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
2 tablespoons boiling water

For the espresso syrup:
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup (66g) sugar
1 tablespoon amaretto, Kahlua, or brandy (I used rum)

For the filling and frosting:
1 8-ounce (224g) container mascarpone
1/2 cup (60g) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon amaretto, Kahlua, or brandy (I used Kahlua)
1 cup(238g) cold heavy cream
2 1/2 ounces (70g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped, or about 1/2 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips

Chocolate-covered espresso beans, for decoration (optional)
Cocoa powder, for dusting

Getting ready:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9×2 inch round cake pans, dust the insides with flour, tap out the excess, and line the bottoms of the pans with parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.

To make the cake:
Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add the sugar and beat for another 3 minutes. Add the eggs one by one, and then the yolk, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Beat in the vanilla; don’t be concerned if the mixture looks curdled. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk, adding the dry ingredients in 3 additions and the milk in 2 (begin and end with the dry ingredients); scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed and mix only until the ingredients disappear into the batter. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.

Bake for 28 to 30 minutes, rotating the pans at the midway point. When fully baked, the cakes will be golden and springy to the touch and a thin knife inserted into the centers will come out clean. Transfer the cakes to a rack and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unmold them, and peel off the paper liners. Invert and cool to room temperature right-side up.

To make the extract:
Stir the espresso powder and boiling water together in a small cup until blended. Set aside.

To make the syrup:
Stir the water and sugar together in a small saucepan and bring just to a boil. Pour the syrup into a small heatproof bowl and stir in 1 tablespoon of the espresso extract and the liqueur or brandy; set aside.

To make the filling and frosting:
Put the mascarpone, sugar, vanilla, and liqueur in a large bowl and whisk just until blended and smooth.

Working with the stand mixer with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, whip the heavy cream until it holds firm peaks. Switch to a rubber spatula and stir about one quarter of the whipped cream into the mascarpone. Fold in the rest of the whipped cream with a light touch.

To assemble the cake:
If the tops of the cake layers have crowned, use a long serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion to even them. Place one layer right-side up on a cardboard round or a cake plate protected with strips of wax or parchment paper. Using a pastry brush or a small spoon, soak the layer with about one third of the espresso syrup. Smooth some of the mascarpone cream over the layer – user about 1 1/4 cups – and gently press the chopped chocolate into the filling. Put the second cake layer on the counter and soak the top of it with half the remaining espresso syrup, then turn the layer over and position it, soaked side down, over the filling. Soak the top of the cake with the remaining syrup.

For the frosting, whisk 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons of the remaining espresso extract into the remaining mascarpone filling. Taste the frosting as you go to decide how much extract you want to add. If the frosting looks as if it might be a little too soft to spread over the cake, press a piece of plastic wrap against its surface and refrigerate it for 15 minutes or so. Refrigerate the cake too.

With a long metal icing spatula, smooth the frosting around the sides of the cake and over the top. If you want to decorate the cake with chocolate-covered espresso beans, press them into the filling, making concentric circles of beans or just putting some beans in the center of the cake.

Refrigerate the cake for at least 3 hours (or for up to 1 day) before serving – the elements need time to meld.

Last Minute Christmas Cookies

2009-12-24T17:17:00.006+08:00

Actually this post is a little late - I was meant to publish this before I went Christmas carolling, but I couldn't upload my photos and I was running late, so here I am posting this on the early minutes of Christmas Day! But any rate, enjoy these cookies :)
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Following on to my previous post - Yes, I did have time to cram in a few more cookie baking sessions! Since we only have a day or so left until Christmas, I thought I'd summarise the three other cookies I baked for this year's holidays in one, short post.

I think any of these recipes would be perfect as a last minute addition to your cookie can, or to be packed as gifts (I baked the latter two recipes in one morning and they are set to be given off tonight), or just to be bookmarked and made another time next year!

World Peace Cookies

Man, who hasn't heard of these before? A rich, crumbly cookie loaded with dark chocolate bits, everyone is bound to like them. The dough can be stored in the freezer, and baked straight from their frozen state after slicing, so you can enjoy fresh cookies anytime your heart desires this holiday! The recipe can be found on Smitten Kitchen.

Lemon Cranberry Shortbreads

Recently I've learned to like dried cranberries, after eating a bun from a local bakery that had cranberries with linseeds. Anyway, I knew I had to bake these the moment I saw the recipe - I mean, a citrusy, fragrant lemony shortbread - one of my favourite flavours, since it balances the richness of the butter - is bound to appeal, and with my latest favourite food - dried cranberries added? It went straight onto my holiday cookies list. The original recipe asks for the dough to be pressed into a pan, baked and then sliced into bars. I didn't have such a big pan (even if I did it wouldn't fit into my puny oven anyway), so I chilled the dough, rolled it out and cut them into hearts instead.

Chocolate Shortbread Men

This can be said as my substitute for gingerbread men, since I really haven't acquainted a taste for the spiced cookie yet. The shortbread recipe used to make these men have been tried out by me for a billion times - it is definitely fool proof. Only involving four basic ingredients, the dough is very versatile indeed and tastes wonderful. I've included the original recipe below and some of the variations I've tried before.

And lastly, a warm Merry Christmas to you all! Whilst I may be hiding behind my books and revising for my mock exams this holiday, I hope everyone of you will enjoy the holiday with your loved ones!

Lemon Cranberry Shortbreads
Adapted from dandysugar

3 lemons
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) (170g) butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (60g) confectioners’ sugar
2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour
1/2 cups (60g) dried cranberries, roughly chopped
1/8 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 300° F (150 C). Line a baking tray with baking paper, set aside.
2. Grate all the zest from the lemons and combine with the granulated sugar in a small bowl. Rub the two together until sugar is moist and fragrant.
3. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars together until creamy. Add flour and mix on low speed until a crumbly dough appears. Add the cranberries and use your hands to form a soft dough. Shape the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.
4. Roll out the dough tp around 1/2 cm (1/4 inch) thickness. Cut out shapes, transfer onto the lined tray and bake for 10-12 mintues until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack before packing.

Basic Shortbread Recipe
Adapted from BBC Good Food

325g plain flour
200g chilled salted butter
125g/4½oz golden caster sugar
2 tsp good-quality vanilla extract
2 large free range egg yolks

1.Tip the flour into a food processor. Cut the butter into small pieces and drop them into the bowl, then whizz until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Add the sugar, vanilla and egg yolks and whizz to a small dough. Chill the dough for an hour.
For those like me who don't have a food processor:
Put the flour into a large bowl, and cut butter into 1cm cubes. Rub the butter into the flour until incorporated and the mix looks like coarse breadcrumbs. Mix in the sugar, vanilla and egg yolks and use your hands to press everything into a dough. If it is too dry, add a couple drops of water. Chill the dough for an hour (or shape into a log beforehand for slice/bake cookies).
2. Preheat oven to 180 C. Roll out the dough and cut out shapes or slice the dough, arrange on lined cookie sheets. Bake for 15-20minutes until golden brown.

Variations:
Chocolate: Replace 2tbsp of the flour with cocoa powder. Decorate cookies with chocolate chips if desired.
Lemon: Grate in the zest of one lemon into the sugar and rub until moist and fragrant before combining with everything else. Omit the vanilla.
Coffee: Add in 1-2 tsp espresso powder to the dough along with the sugar.
Pinwheel Cookies

Christmas Stained Glass Cookies

2009-12-19T11:16:00.018+08:00

Every year at Christmas, I try to bake or make something special for my friends. The last few days of school before the holidays just seems incomplete without giving out my edible presents to everyone - it's equally important as singing in the Carol Concert, writing Christmas cards and adorning ourselves in Christmas colours! Last year I made Kahlua and plain chocolate truffles, and the year before were iced shortbread cookies. Because I'm school life is still pretty hectic now, I thought I'd stick to simple cookies that everyone would be sure to like.

First up are Stained Glass Cookies, the classical combination of shortbread with a clear pane of coloured sugar that lets whatever light shine through. I vividly remember seeing these cookies in a cookbook way back at my primary school library, and wondering how on earth do you make cookies with a translucent red, yellow or green centres. Back then, hammering fruit candies in a plastic seemed very daunting to the 10-year old me, which is probably why I haven't attempted these Christmas cookies until now.

I must admit that making these cookies were very fiddly indeed - the clumsy me just had to let something slip along the way, so I had candy shards falling onto the floor (well at least it wasn't the hammer falling onto my toes) and fingers accidentally touching hot trays from the oven. Sometimes I messed up the smaller cookie cutout and had to scrap that and start rolling again. The cookies are removed from the oven halfway through the baking time to put the candy in the space (this avoids the colours being discoloured and too many bubbles forming), and pushed into every nook and cranny using a toothpick.

But the end product was worth all the effort. Even though my cookies were not as pretty as the ones I saw in that cookbook, and the colours were not as vivid as I envisioned it to be (maybe because the Fox fruit candies I used were light in colour), I was thankful that they actually looked like a cookie with a window of glass in the middle. I couldn't help but grin with satisfaction as saw the beautiful cookies as I pulled out each batch.

To be honest, I took a bit of risk in making these cookies as the purist within me kept on saying that the buttery and crumbly cookie would clash with the fruity flavours of the candy, but my taste buds and my everyone that tasted it confirmed that it did not. The flavours melded together well and was a delight to eat up those stars, angels and hearts.

I also had fun in tricking some of my friends when they asked 'Oh my goodness, how did you transparent thing in the middle? It's so pretty!!', and I informed them that it was glass - and some believed! Of course, I assured them that it was just candy, or else no-one would have dared to try them!

And on the last note, I'd like to thank the readers who commented on my last post - it did give me a lot of encouragement to blog regularly (fingers crossed) again - I really appreciate it! Here's a virtual cookie for you, you and you for reading My Buttery Fingers :)

Stained Glass Cookies
Adapted from Simply Recipes

Makes 20-40 cookies, depending on size (I got 44 cookies)

1/2 cup (1 stick. 114g) butter
1/2 cup (100g) sugar
1/4 cup (36g) brown sugar
1 tablespoon maple syrup (Original recipe called for molasses - I don't have or know what it is, would anybody like to enlighten me?)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
2 cups (250g) flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
30-40 hard candies, preferably in several flavors/colors (I used Fox fruit candies)

1. Pre-heat oven to 375°F (190C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat.
2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugars until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add maple syrup and vanilla extract, mixing until incorporated. Add egg and mix until light and smooth, about 1 minute on medium speed.
3. Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Fold dry ingredients into wet mixture. Use electric mixer to blend just until flour is incorporated. Divide dough in half and flatten into two disks. Wrap disks in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least an hour and up to 2 days.
4. Remove any wrappers on candies and separate them by color into plastic bags (Place a towel in between to avoid bag tearing). Using a mallet to crush candies (they don't need to be all powdered - slightly larger shards will still melt fine).
5. Place one disk onto a floured surface (Elise suggests rolling in between waxed paper, which is of course less messy -but I stick to rolling on a floured surface to save paper) and roll to 1/4-inch (0.5cm) thickness. Use cookie cutters to cut dough into desired shapes.
6. Transfer cookies to prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart. Using a smaller cookie cutter or a knife, cut shapes into centers of cookies, reserving these center bits to add into extra dough. If cookies will be hung as ornaments or decorations, poke a small hole in the top of each cookie before baking
7. Bake for 4 minutes and remove from oven. Use a spoon to sprinkle the crushed candy into the hollowed-out centers of the cookies, using a toothpick to fill up to the edges. Carefully remove candy that has landed onto the cookie to avoid colouring of the dough.
8. Bake for 5-6 minutes more. The candy should be melted and bubbling and the cookies just barely beginning to brown. Remove baking sheets from oven and place on wire racks to cool. Allow cookies to cool on pans at least 10 minutes; otherwise, the candy centers may separate from the dough. When cookies are completely cooled, remove and store in an airtight container. String with ribbon if you want to hang as an ornament.

Cookie-topped Cream Puffs (and a little rant)

2009-12-04T18:21:00.010+08:00

I feel guilty. I feel ashamed. I feel uncommitted to my blog, because it's been more than a month since I've opened up this post editor and written something. After watching 'Julie & Julia' two weeks ago (yes, it finally is screening in Hong Kong! And Meryl Streep is awesome), it reminded me that I was a food blogger too. Not that I totally forgot the fact that I had a blog, but I felt that I had neglected it. And I felt real bad.

Baking was meant to be a passion. It is still, but sometimes I simply do not have any time or energy left after school work. But trust me, after spending hours and hours working on an Extended Essay in the library, and trooping back home heaving a boulder-weighing school bag, the welcoming hot shower and cozy bed is way more attractive than say, the butter in the fridge. Which is why I've completely abstained from baking, and blogging, for so long.

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Alright, enough ranting. I feel so much happier after I've vented out my frustration, and I'm sure you all understand! Thank you for the patience in reading the un-baking-related words above :)

Back to this post's main intention, which is to present some delectable cream puffs I made, the moment I threw down my school bag after EE deadline day. My first attempt at choux pastry was nearly half a year ago. The cream puffs from that attempt were good, but real ugly in appearance! Quoting myself from that time - "can't wait to recreate a cream puff that tastes as good as, or better, than the ones from beard papa!", I was indeed determined to get the hang of making a neat cream puff.

And I sort of succeeded! On this second attempt, I chose to make Cookie-topped Cream Puffs, a replication of the same flavour they sell at Beard Papa. It's a classic choux pastry shell, filled with vanilla pastry cream and a cookie topping.

My rendition turned out to be pretty identical to the store bought ones, as all my friends from fellowship (where I bought them to) were squealing "Oh!! They taste just like the ones from Beard Papa!!". Which is when I decided to grab one myself before the were all gone and bit into it. The choux shell's flavour was enhanced with the chocolatey cookies sablee-like crumbs on top and the rich, vanilla bean-speckled pastry cream helped meld the whole thing together perfectly.

So if you, like me, have a special affinity for cream puffs, please do try this twist on it! I'm sure you'll love it these scrumptious little sweets!

Cookie-topped Cream Puffs
Adapted from Chou Cream No Hon by Junko Iida (Original recipe in Chinese)

For the choux pastry
30g cake flour, sifted
30g bread flour, sifted (If you don't have cake and bread flours, I'd suggest just using 60g all-purpose)
40g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
100ml water
5g sugar
1g salt
2 eggs (around 100g)

1. Preheat oven to 200C. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment.
2. Place water, butter, sugar and salt into a small saucepan and heat over medium flame until butter is all melted and water is at a rolling boil.
3. Remove from heat, and add in the flours in one go. Mix together with a heatproof spatula until a dough forms.
4. Back on the heat, stir the dough continously until a thin layer of dough coats the base of the pan.
5. Transfer dough into a large metal bowl. Slowly add in the egg whilst mixing with a spatula until the egg is absorbed and formes a soft dough. An indicator is the formation of a 'triangle' when you lift the dough up using a spatula. Set aside the left over egg if not all of it was added.
6. Using a piping bag with a 1-cm tip (I just snipped off the end of a plastic bag), pipe around 10 mounds of dough, each around 4cm in diameter.
7. Brush over the left over egg, and with a wet finger, lightly press down any peaks on the dough.
8. Bake at 200 C for 30 minutes until golden brown.

For the chocolate cookie topping
20g cake flour
5g cocoa powder
25g unsalted butter, softened
25g sugar

1. In a small bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.
2. Fold on the flour and cocoa powder.
3. Press together the dough, and shape it into a log with 2-cm diameter. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.
4. Slice into 10 portions (or enough slices for the number of puffs you got using the recipe above). Place them on each mound of dough, and bake as per instructions above.

For the pastry cream
1/2 vanilla pod
250ml milk
40g sugar
3 egg yolks
25g cake flour
20g unsalted butter, cut into chunks

1. Split the vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape out the seeds.
2. Place the vanilla seens and pod into the milk in a small saucepan, along with half the sugar. Heat until the mill is just about to boil.
3. Whisk together the egg yolks and remaining sugar in a large bowl. Sift in the cake flour and whisk until well incorporated.
4. Remove the vanilla pod from the milk. Add the milk into the egg yolks in portions, stirring well after each addition.
5. Strain the mixture back into the saucepan. Cook mixture over low heat, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens into the consistency of thick cream and bubbles start to form.
6. Remove from heat and beat in the butter chunks.
7. Let cool completely before chilling and filling the cream puffs.

Alfajores

2009-11-06T17:59:00.010+08:00

It seems like my excuses to bake are getting more and more ridiculous. This time, it's something along the lines of "I made two cans of dulce de leche and I can't go on eating it on toast every morning for a month even though it tastes great. Therefore I must bake alfajores." I'm glad that I decided to bake them, but another baking glitched occured!

On a whim, I decided to make dulce de leche again, using the boiling can method. I've tried the oven method, but I think that it's a more waste of energy as the oven has to be on for a long time, whilst the boiling method allows you to make a few cans at once AND I can actually do homework whilst it cooks by itself! Win-win! Yes, some say that boiling the cans are prone to explosion - but fortunately it hasn't happened to me yet, so I'm sticking to the pot method.

But the first time I made dulce de leche, I was so anxious for the result I forgot to let the cans cool before opening them, so the moment my can opener cut through the top, a squirt of hot, sweet, sticky caramelised milk spewed out. Thank God it hit the wall and not my face.

So one day, me being a less-than-attentive student during English class, I got distracted and typed in 'alfajores' into food blog search, spending a a good 15minutes sifting through the pages until I found a recipe that sounded like my imagination of an alfajor - a slightly crunchy shortbread with a tender crumb, melding into the lovely sweet, caramelly filling.

The components of my dream alfajor were made without any problems. The cookies were perfectly fine - buttery, tender and all. The dulce de leche was heavenly - I ate a good portion of a can just by the spoon or on saltine crackers. But my final product was a bit disastrous.

I have no idea why, but after I sandwiched the cookies together, the filling seemed to 'melt' and a few seconds later, the cookies were sliding off each other! I frantically tried adjust them properly, and used much less filling in my remaining ones - but they still slipped off. I have no idea why, maybe my cookies weren't completely cool yet. Or maybe because I store my dulce de leche in fridge, the temperature difference was too big so it softened quickly. Aghh - I was a bit annoyed at that point as my dream alfajores have been ruined, not to mention that there was dulce de leche dripping everywhere :(

But despite their ugly appearance, the alfajores were really delicious! It was everything I imagined it to taste like. To make them more easy to handle and eat (as by now, the filling has leaked to coat the sides sticky), I placed each alfajor into a paper muffin case to give out at school.

Some friends asked what the filling was, and I think I answered a tad too enthusiastically as I started to babble on about how good dulce de leche is, how easy it is to make, and urging everyone to make it. I also had a very intersting conversation in Biology class where I insisted on the correct pronounciation of 'alfajores' (ah-faa-ho-res) and 'dulce de leche' (dul-chay-de-lay-chay), as well as asking my friend who studies Spanish how to say "Ugly But Tasty Alfajores"...if I had remembered what she said, it would have been the title of this post!

Alfajores
Adapted from Desert Candy

Makes around 16 sandwich cookies

115g butter, room temperature
55g sugar
1 egg
1tbsp dark rum
1/2tsp vanilla essence
140g all-purpose flour
65g cornstarch
1tsp baking powder
1/4tsp salt

around 1/2 cup dulce de leche, for filling (see below)

1. In a large bowl, with a mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the egg, rum and vanilla and beat until well blended.
2. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, cornstarch, salt and baking powder. Beat into butter mixture until well blended. Press the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill until firm, about 30 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 170º C. Unwrap dough. On a lightly floured surface, with a floured rolling pin, roll out dough to about 1/8 inch thick. With a floured, 2- to 3-inch round cutter, cut out cookies. Place about 1 inch apart on greased or lined baking sheets. Gather excess dough into a ball, re-roll, and cut out remaining cookies. Chill cookies in the freezer for around 5 minutes until dough is firm.
4. Bake until cookie edges just begin to brown, about 10-15 minutes. Let the cookies cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then use a spatula to transfer them to racks to cool completely.
5. Turn half the cooled cookies bottom side up and spread each with around a teaspoon dulce de leche. Top with remaining cookies. Cookies are best on the second day, they keep well for 2 weeks in an air-tight container at room temperature.

Dulce de Leche
Place one can of condensed milk (or any number of cans you can fit in your pot) into a large pot and fill with water until the cans are completely submerged. Turn on the stove and let the water boil. After water has boiled, turn down to low heat and let the heat work its magic - remove after 2.5 hours. Make sure the cans are always completely submerged during cooking.

Let the cans cool completely before opening to avoid hot sticky caramel landing on yourself or anywhere else. Then, take a spoon and eat a spoonful of bliss before transferring the rest into a jar to keep in the fridge.

Spider Cupcakes

2009-10-31T12:18:00.004+08:00

This may be a bit late for Halloween - it's still the 31st here, so maybe just in time! Halloween's not a huge thing here in Hong Kong - I've never even dressed up before for Halloween! Usually my friends and I would go to the annual Halloween Bash at Ocean Park (a theme park), but this year we're just all too busy, so I baked a batch of Spider Cupcakes to mark the occasion.

Of course, the last thing I'd like to dress up as, or see during Halloween are spiders. But I wouldn't mind having a spider morphed from a chocolate cupcake, with a generous slather of chocolate frosting, and sprinkled with more chocolate. I think they look cute, no?

The chocolate cupcake recipe I used was from Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours, and the idea for decorations were from Bakerella. I was a bit disappointed with the cupcake because the crumb was very loose and the chocolate flavour was not deep enough. I defiantly going to stick to my favourite chocolate cupcake recipe in the future. The glaze, however, was nice and hassle-free to make. Made up of simply 3 ingredients - melted chocolate, butter and icing sugar - it tasted wonderful and had a lovely sheen to it.
To transform the cupcakes into scary, chilling arthropods, I used chocolate shavings or Varlhona crunchy pearls as the 'exo-skeleton', strawberry licorice for the legs and M&Ms for the eyes. I know that the heart-studded cupcake liners are hardly Halloween-ish, but that's all I had at home!

So after the transformation, I preserved them in a box in the fridge over night, and bought them to school for my friends to catch and devour. (In fact, some of my friends actually ate REAL spiders in Cambodia during Challenge Week! Cool, right?)

And finally as a Biology student, I do actually know that spiders have 8 legs (...but not without asking a friend first!), but I couldn't fit on 4 pairs - so theoretically all my spiders were disabled spiders!

I'm amazed by some of the Halloween creations other food bloggers have created. Here are some of my favourites: Brain Clot Cupcakes from Annie's Eats, Sugar Cookies from Sweetopia and Coffin Cookeis from Bake at 350. I'd love to try out some of those next year!

Here's me being a 'ghost', taken by myself using the self timer on my camera. If you're out for Halloween, it'd be something fun to do! Check out Photojojo for the tutorial. Aaand, Happy Halloween to you all!

(I'm not writing this post at home, so I do not have the cookbook with me - I'll update the recipe later. If you would like to see my favourite chocolate cupcake recipe, see my old post.)

Black and White Chocolate Birthday Cake

2009-10-22T20:34:00.008+08:00

What's a birthday without a cake, right? Usually, if time permits, I'd try my best to bake cakes or other treats for my friends when their birthday comes. Hmm, let's count. The last one was a chocolate chiffon cake. Then it was a chocolate cheesecake. Oh, and the chocolate espresso mousse cake. Two of those, in fact. Chocolate cupcakes, chocolate tarts...Can we sense a theme here? :D

But for A., whom this cake was for, of course it had to be chocolate too - only both Black and White chocolate. As this year is the last time I'm going to celebrate my friends' birthdays with them before we go our own ways for uni, I promised myself that I have to bake them each a big, special birthday cake.

But making it special is not as easy as it sounds. This is the first time I've ever made a birthday cake with mulitple layers and fillings and frostings. Heck, I only bought my first offset spatula two days before! Even with my planning beforehand, I still encountered some problems, partly due to my clumsiness but mainly because I've never made such a cake before, I totally did not know what to expect and I panicked alot when...

...I was slicing the cake layers. I held the knife in one hand, and stared at the cake layer that was barely an inch high. How on earth do I slice that in half without accidentally slashing in the wrong direction? I took a deep breath, and gently sawed through the cake later. Phew. Although the layers were not particularly even, at least they held up! As the cake layers are quite soft and fluffy, I quickly stuffed them into the freezer to make sure they didn't snap in half of something. So the first scare was over.

...I frosted the layers. I'm not sure why, but I had a huge problem with the white chocolate whipped cream. See that ugly white layer in the photo above? Yeah, that. It was perfectly fine after I initially whipped it up - it was smooth and just firm enough to spread, but as per the recipe's instructions, I chilled it for around 2 hours. And after that, I took it out. I prodded it through the plastic wrap. The surface was firm. Not good.

It turned out that somehow, the cream had curdled in fridge, and I didn't have a backup plan. So I went ahead and used it for the middle layer, but it just looked too way bad and unappealing to be the frosting. So I sprinted down to the supermarket, grabbed another carton of whipped cream, ran back and whipped up some lightly sweetened cream and used it to frost the cake instead. It took me ages to get the frosting right, as I've never frosted a big cake before and it was hard to get the crumb coat right, to get the top and sides smooth.

But finally, the cake was done. The top was simply decorated with homemade white chocolate curls and some store bought dark chocolate shavings. I quickly photographed it, and went to sleep - tired, yet happy that I found an alternative to the white chocolate cream disaster. But I was anxious too, as I was very very scared that the white chocolate cream I used for the filling would separate over the night, and mess up the whole cake.

But the next night, after our long day of Challenge Week golfing, 9 holes, a barebeque... it was cake time! We took the photos, sang the song, the birthday girl made her wishes...and finally it was time for me to slice and serve the cake. I took a deep breath in my brain, and cut the cake into slices. All was well. I simply cannot describe how relieved I was to see that the slices came out nicely and the white chocolate cream filling was perfectly fine! And it was actually somewhat symmetrical with the layers looking fairly intact!

So everyone had their slice, and everyone said it was goooood. I felt satisfied and bubbly and excited and happy to see that everyone enjoying it, and that my first layered cake was successful, that everything turned out fine eventually albeit the glitches in the process. So I rightfully dug into my slice to taste the fruit of my labour.

Well, since the cake was made with a fluffy buttermilk white cake, a rich dark chocolate pastry cream, real white chocolate cream and well, more sweetened whipped cream (and of course the love and effort I put in too), it was just simply decadent. The smooth creams complemented the cake well, and the sweetness was just right so the flavours of both chocolates came through. In fact, I was glad that I used whipped cream for the frosting, as it helped round all the layers together nicely and so the cake is not too heavy and cloying.

If you're a chocoholic for both chocolates that's looking for a cake to bake, why not this? The recipe is from Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours. The recipe can be found on this site. (Sorry, I'm too tired to type it all up :P In fact, A. was the person who helped me order this book from Amazon, so what's better to bake a cake from that book for her?)

Happy Birthday for the nth time A.! I'm really really glad you liked the cake!

Although layered cakes are probably a no-brainer for practically everyone but me, to myself, it seems like I've reached a mini baking milestone. And honestly? I can't wait to bake the next big-special-birthday cake!

P.S. Actually I had my 17th birthday a few weeks ago too, in case anyone wondered why the 'About Me' section has changed :)

My Favourite YouTube Channel - Cooking with Dog

2009-10-14T22:53:00.008+08:00

Apart from baking, I enjoy cooking very much too. One thing I like the most that you do in cooking but not baking is chopping. I feel empowered with a nice, sharp kitchen knife - for example, there's a sense of satisfaction I get when I manage to chop up an onion into a neat mince, despite having tears rolling down my face! Another important thing is that I get to learn a lot from my mum when we're working together in the kitchen. The tips and tricks that are passed down the family from daughter to daughter is always valuable, as you probably won't be able to find them anywhere else.

Occasionally I'd be in charge of making dinner, using the opportunity to try dishes that made my mouth water the instant I saw them on the Internet, or say, practice cooking more so I don't have to survive on just instant noodles when I get to uni! This is what I made for dinner last night:

So, back to my favourite YouTube channel. I stumbled across it a few months ago, and after watching my first video - I was hooked. Literally. I have been known to procrastinate by watching video after video on Cooking with Dog. In short, the videos teach you how to make everyday Japanese dishes, demonstrated by a lovely Japanese woman, and hosted by a dog called Francis.In this post I'd like to introduce you to this wonderful channel and show you some of the dishes I've made:

Hamburg Steak, also known as Hanbagu - my latest dish. It's a Japanese recreation of the American Hamburger, but it's a little thicker and very juicy, and is served as a main dish.

I think my go at it was pretty good - the patty was indeed very juicy and the onion gravy was absolutely delicious - it smelled great with the addition of butter, but wasn't very oily or heavy. The potato wedges were also pan fried, but the potato was parboiled, cooled slightly then cut. I was surprised that even by cooking them in a pan, the exterior was still very crispy and it's much quicker than roasting them in an oven. However, a glitch did occur - I severely over salted the broccoli, so it was inedible. Oops!

Yaki Gyoza (Pan fried dumplings). My sister and mum helped out a bit with this as we wrapped them together one afternoon. Frying them in sesame oil gives a lovely, enticing fragrance to the gyozas and by using the method, the skin crisped up very nicely. Hard to resist eating a whole plateful! I like to dip them in some soya sauce mixed with Chinese black vinegar and a dash of sesame oil.

Omurice, which was my first attempt at making something from CWD. Okay, the ketchup blob was a fail, because I was pouring from the bottle, not from a squeeze bottle. But apart from that, I remember that the tomato fried rice was delicious even on its own. I was so glad that the omurice came together well - i.e. I didn't tear the egg or overly brown the surface. The lady makes it seem so easy on the video, but in fact, it's actually really hard to control the size of the egg sheet, how much rice to put in, and keeping it intact when flipping it over is actually very hard!

Technically, a dessert: Shiratama (chewy glutinous rice balls). There isn't an actual video on it, but one day I had a huge urge to try make shiratama, and I followed the instructions on their video on Tofu Dango. I simply mixed roughly equal amounts of Japanese glutinous flour (shiratamako) and water, shaped them into balls and boiled them until they floated and were cooked.

These little balls are chewy, the perfect accompaniment with ice cream as it provides a great textural contrast. Here, I ate them with Goma (black sesame) ice cream that was scooped with a mini ice cream scoop so they are around the same size as the shiratama, and with a sprinkling of ground black sesame seeds. An alternative to the normal wafers or cookies, adding a nice twist to your otherwise plain bowl of ice cream!

So, I hope that you will watch some of the videos from that channel too and try your hand it some of the dishes!

Do tell me if you have any other favourite cooking channels that you would recommend! I'm never tired of watching videos on cooking or baking :)

Sun Dried Tomatoes - Pastas and Flatbread

2009-10-11T20:04:00.007+08:00

I love tomatoes. Whether it be just eating them in raw slices, or cooked with eggs (Stir fried tomato eggs, a Chinese dish), or in tomato soup, or in the sauce in a pasta dinner...but one thing I have been longing to try is sun dried tomatoes. I've come across this ingredient many times before both in cooking and baking recipes, but I only bought my first jar of sun dried tomatoes in oil and the dried ones a month or so ago, after years of wanting to try one (although it may be a basic staple in western households, they were actually really hard to get hold of in Hong Kong!)

When I got home with my beloved jar, I immediately popped open the lid, snipped half a tomato, and ate it. Mmmm. The flavour is hard to describe - sweet, yet a little sour, with a deep flavour that I was hooked with at the first instant. With the ones in oil, I made the Sun Dried Tomato Pasta Salad from Pioneer Woman and a Pesto Pasta from Use Real Butter. Both were delicious as they contained my newest favourite condiment and well, Parmesan cheese.

As for the baking side, I bought another variety of the sun dried tomatoes - the dehydrated packaged ones and used them for a Sun Dried Tomato Flatbread. Thinking about it, the last time I made bread was way back in...April! I was sure excited about making this, and I thought the dough wouldn't be hard to handle, but unfortunately, the dough was super sticky and I had to add around a whole extra cup of flour to get the dough firm enough for me to even knead it.

So, when the kneading was done (which took a while, but I'm not complaining - the action of kneading is just so relaxing and allows me to punch, whack and tear it as much as I want) I let it rise (which took a while too, because I forgot to preheat the oven to create the 'warm environment' for the yeast to do its thing) and finally, it was done and the whole flat smelled heavenly! I pulled it out of the oven just to find that the sun dried tomato pieces I placed on top were burnt. But fortunately, it didn't stick down, so I picked them off, resulting in the ugly surface. I immediately cut off a bit to try, and it was so good.

So taste wise, it didn't disappoint! The mildly sweet tomato pieces in the bread was a great contrast to the crunchy sea salt on the surface, and the dried basil really rounds the whole thing off with a lovely, mellow, Italian flavour. And the texture is something between a thick crust pizza and bread, but slightly crunchy crust is definitely the best bit!

I still have a few dried tomatoes left, so I think I'm going to make more bread with them too - maybe some tomato buns. Since I'm on Challenge Week and half term holiday (which means no school for two weeks, but nonetheless, a heap of work to be done), hopefully I can set aside more time to bake and update this space more!

Sun Dried Tomato Flatbread
Adapted from Donna Hay Magazine, via Evan's Kitchen Ramblings

2 tsps active dry yeast
1 tsp caster sugar
1 1/3 cup lukewarm milk
2 1/2 cups plain flour (I had to add almost an extra cup of flour)
1 tsp table salt
1 tbsp olive oil + extra for brushing (I used the oil from the jar of oil soaked sundried tomatoes)
1/2 cup/1 oz sundried tomatoes, rehydrated and snipped into small pieces
sea salt, for topping
dried basil, for topping

1. Place the yeast, sugar and milk in a bowl and mix to combine. Set aside in a warm place for 5 mins or until bubbles appear on the surface.
2. Place the flour, salt, tomato pieces, oil and yeast mixture in a bowl and mix until a smooth dough forms. Knead on a lightly floured surface or a standmixer fitted with a dough hook for 5 mins or until smooth & elastic. (I kneaded by hand, took around 20 minutes and adding extra flour to get it to the right consistency)
3. Place dough in an well-oiled bowl and cover with a tea towel and set aside in a warm place for 30 mins or until doubled in size. Punch dough down to release air. Press dough in baking tray, brush with olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and dried basil. Bake in a preheated oven of 180C for 15 mins or until golden.

I'm Back, with Matcha and Cocoa Snowballs!

2009-09-27T16:59:00.008+08:00

It's been a month. A month since school started, meaning a long lonely month without any baking done. I miss my spatula dearly. I miss carefully weighing out ingredients. I miss the familiar 'ding' sound the oven makes when the baking time is over. I miss taking photos of the end product and then munching it away with satisfaction.

Being a Year 13 student is not easy, the work just comes crashing on us like waves and never stops. Even baking has to step aside as I prioritise university applications, personal statements, tests and internal assessments first.

The list is endless.

But thankfully, I finally got the chance to breathe, take a break and bake something last week. My friend C., whom I've known since kindergarten, keeps on reminding me during our French lessons to bake and update my blog. She's one of the few people that reads my blog (she even showed her mum!), and it's always nice to know that other people appreciate what I do. So a shout out here to C. - Thank you for all the encouragement! :D

The name of these little treats might be a little confusing - the snowballs, in fact are just matcha and cocoa cookies dusted in icing sugar, so they resemble snowballs. But texture wise, they resemble snow too - because they melt in your mouth. They are so addictive it's hard not to pop these small little cookies into your mouth one by one until they're all gone!

They are incredibly easy to make, and I really enjoyed making them as I weighed the dough out equally and rolled them in my palms until each was a perfect sphere. Unfortunately, maybe the oven temperature was not correct or maybe because I didn't chill the dough overnight, they flattened out a bit so they are more like, snow domes. The dough is quite versatile too - I'd imagine that the matcha and cocoa powder can be swapped with espresso powder to create a coffee flavour.

Once they were properly cool and well dusted with icing sugar, I packaged them into small plastic bags as (extremely belated) birthday gifts - one for C., and the other for A., whom I chat to every single Biology lesson. So, Happy 17th to those girls!

Right, so back to work for now. I hope that I'll get to do some more baking soon!

Matcha and Cocoa Snowball Cookies
Adapted from Vanlily Sweetie Life (original recipe in Chinese)

Makes 25-30 (both flavours combined)

90g Butter, at room temperature
Pinch salt
30g Icing sugar
50g Ground almonds
100g Cake flour
6g Matcha powder
10g Cocoa powder
Icing sugar, for dusting

1. Using a wooden spoon, beat the softened butter and icing sugar until well combined.
2. Sift in the ground almonds and cake flour, mix well.
3. Spilt the dough in half. Gently knead the matcha powder into one portion, and the cocoa powder into the other portion.
4. Wrap the two doughs separately with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes. (original recipe says to chill overnight)
5. Preheat oven to 170 C.
6. Working with one dough at a time, take 10g of dough and shape into balls. Place them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat until all the dough is shaped.
7. Bake for 15-30 minutes until lightly coloured.
8. Let cool for a while, and transfer them to a cooling rack. Whilst the cookies are still warm, dust them with icing sugar.
9. When thoroughly cool, dust again with icing sugar and store in an airtight container.

Matcha Shortbreads + 7 Things

2009-08-22T14:35:00.014+08:00

I'm back to school! Year 13, my last year of high school. We started school on Friday (strange, eh?) and on Thursday I was so sick of writing my extended essay I decided to ditch it and went to bake instead. I think I definitely deserved that baking session because I was working non-stop for the last week already!

I digress. Back to these shortbreads, these wonderful shortbreads. I know that they were all the rage around two years ago amongst many food bloggers, and I am the extremely untrendy latecomer that chose to bake these two years later on a whim. But I'm glad I did, because after the first bite, the recipe went straight to my keepers list. And of course I'm talking about the famous Kelli's Green Tea Sweets!

They are buttery and crumbly, and the green tea flavour was prominent enough to be noticed, but not overpowering that the whole thing tastes bitter. And the texture is lovely too - delicate and melt-in your mouth, but surprisingly both the dough and baked cookie held up really well. The shade of green came out perfectly - I thought that the matcha might have lost its colour after baking - I think the colour is very pretty! Along with the teeny crunch from the granulated sugar, it's currently ranking high in my favourite cookie list.

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I also recieved the 'Kreativ Blogger' award from 17 and Baking (another teenage baker - yay!). Thanks Elissa!

I'm supposed to write 7 things about myself...

1. I'm planning to study Biochemistry. Yeah, that's what I want to study at uni. Wish my luck in my uni applications (which are starting like....now!) - I am currently working through my personal statement.

2. I wish I could write better. I wish I was able to write more enticing posts, describe food better, but unfortunately, writing is not my forte at all!

3. I have a younger sister. Her name is Venus, and she eats alot of the stuff I make. We laugh at silly things together.

4. The thing I really hate in the world now is IB. Yes, I cannot express my hatred for this thing enough. The workload is so high it's incomprehensible. Normally on a school day, I sleep at 12 at the earliest, and the worst so far - I've stayed up until 3am, working.

5. I'm a Scout! Yep, I am currently a member of my Venture Scout troop, in a Scouts group I've been at since I was 10. I really love camping, because it's just so relaxing and fun when you go crazy with your friends in the middle of nowhere.

6. I really, really, really want to learn how to make macarons. I've only had 3 macarons before in my whole life, and I want to try making them. Unfortunately, after years of thinking 'I'll make it during the holidays' I still haven't gotten round to making them. - Sigh -

7. I love The Pioneer Woman. Pioneer Woman Cooks! was the first food blog I read, I still remember that the post was the Chocolate Sheet cake. Now, I read all the sections of her site, and I secretly wish I can live at a her ranch too.

Aaaand, I'm passing this along to Happy Home Baker, Florence of Do What I Like, Elyn of e's joie and Doreen of Desserts. Yum.
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Have you tried these matcha shorbreads yet? If not, I think you should go make them now!
Alright, I'm going back to work - I'll try to squish in a few posts about some of my other bakes/makes from summer soon!

Matcha Shortbreads
From Lovescool

3/4 cup (2.25 oz; 90g) Confectioners sugar
5 oz (142g) Unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 3/4 cup (8.5 oz; 219g) All-purpose flour (I used cake flour because I ran out of All purpose)
3 Large egg yolks
1.5 TBS Matcha (powdered green tea)
1 cup (200g) Granulated sugar (for coating)

1. Preheat the oven to 350F (175 C). Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
2. Whisk the confectioner’s sugar and green tea together in a bowl. Add the butter and green tea/sugar mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix until smooth and light in color.
3. Add the flour and mix until well combined.
4. Add the egg yolks and mix just until the eggs are fully incorporated and a mass forms.
5. Form the dough into a disk and chill in the refrigerator until firm (about 30 minutes).
6. Roll the dough out to ½” (around 1cm) thickness.
7. Cut the dough with a leaf cookie cutter.
8. Toss each cut cookie in a bowl of granulated sugar to coat.
9. Place the sugar-coated cookie on a parchment lined pan. Bake at 350F (175 C) for 12-15 minutes, or until slightly golden around the edges.

Chocolate Espresso Mousse Cake

2009-08-10T11:15:00.005+08:00

This cake was made for a dear friend, that I've known since I was 10. I got to know her in Scouts. We see each other once a week, hangout on Saturday afternoons before our weekly Scout meeting, experienced hikes and camps together and it's been the same for 7 years! And, a few weeks ago it was her 18th birthday.

We just hanged out at her house with our normal group of friends, played some crazy twister and the UNO stacking tower, where the losers had to pick out a punishment from a bag. One of them involved kissing a plant, and I won't mention the crazier and disgusting ones here! We cut the cake at midnight, left a few slices for her parents and polished off the remaining next morning.

The recipe is from Tartlette, but I made a few modifications and additions to it. This chocolate cake is really a keeper, because it's moist and chocolaty, but also with a lovely soft texture that's not too dense. It would work really well with many other cakes. Maybe it's just the clumsy me, but I think its a bit fragile because I always tend to break it a bit when handling it! I brushed on some simple syrup spiked with rum to keep it moist because I made the cake layers one day in advance before assembling it.

The mousse is really nice too, albeit a bit rich for our palates. I think I'd cut down on the butter next time. However, it is again simple to make - no need to whip any egg whites and such. It also had a great silky and airy texture that accompanied the cake well. Because I was really scared that the mousse would melt or something in the sweltering heat whilst I was transporting it, I added some gelatine to set it a bit. I added some Varlhona crunchy perles for a bit of contrast, and a simple chocolate ganache glaze to top everything off.

And sorry for the lack of posts recently - in less than two weeks time I'm back at school, and I've got way too much stuff I haven't done. In fact, I'm writing this at the Central Libary right now, where I'm supposed to be working hard on my EE. (Hi Peter!)

Anyhow, I have been baking and making things - so I will eventually get around to posting those, so more will be coming soon!

Chocolate Espresso Mousse Cake
adapted from Tartlette

Serves 12

Cake:
1 stick (113gr) butter
1 cup (200gr) sugar
1/2 cup (45gr) natural cocoa powder
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups (185gr) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon (5gr) baking powder
1 teaspoon (5gr) espresso powder
1/2 teaspoon (2.5gr) baking soda
1 cup (250ml) warm water

Preheat oven to 325F. Butter two 8-inch round baking pans, sprinkle some flour into the pans, shake it around and tap the excess off. Line the bottoms with two 8 inch circles of parchment paper. Set aside.
In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the butter and sugar until light and creamy. On low speed, add the cocoa and mix until incorporated. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape the bowl with a spatula to make sure they are properly mixed in. Add the flour, baking powder, espresso powder and baking soda and mix on medium-low speed while slowly adding the warm water and mix until smooth. Divide the batter between the prepared pans and bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool to room temperature and unmold the cakes.

Soaking syrup:
15g sugar
15g water
1 tsp rum

Heat the sugar and water in a small saucepan over low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Let cool, stir in the rum and set aside.

Mousse:
6 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup (62.5ml) whole milk
1 teaspoon espresso powder
1/2 stick (55gr) butter
1 egg yolk
1 cup (250ml) heavy cream, cold
1 tbsp kahlua
8g gelatine powder
15g water
30g Varlhona crunchy perles (optional)

In a bowl set over a pan of simmering water (make sure that the bowl fits snuggly over the pan and does not touch the water), melt together the chocolate, milk, espresso powder and butter. Remove from the heat and let cool to lukewarm. Meanwhile, sprinkle the gelatine over the water in a small bowl and let it bloom. Heat the bowl in a microwave for 10 seconds to liquefy the gelatine, stir until gelatine is dissolved. Whisk in the egg yolk, kahlua and cool gelatine mixture. In a mixer, whip the cream to medium peaks and fold it into the chocolate mixture. Lightly fold in the crunchy perles.
Ganache glaze:
70g semisweet chocolate, chopped
100g heavy cream
5g butter

Place the chopped chocolate in a bowl. Scald the cream and immediately pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit alone for 30 seconds, then stir until the mixture is smooth. Stir in the butter.

Assembly:
Prepare an 8-inch mousse ring (I don't have a mousse ring so I used a pan with a removable bottom). Place a cake layer on the bottom and soak the surface with the soaking syrup. Pour in the mousse and let it set for 10 minutes or so in the refridgerator. Soak both sides of the second layer with syrup and place it on the mousse. Pour over the ganache glaze and let the whole cake set, for at least 2-3 hours. Decorate as desired.

- I've actually made this cake before way way back in March for another friend. Last time, I added a crispy chocolate feuilltine layer to the mousse to add some extra texture, so you might want to add that if you make this cake.

Corn, of the Popped Variety

2009-07-20T19:38:00.011+08:00

I'm not a huge fan of popcorn. I don't buy it at the movies, because I think it's always just slightly warm, and the freezing air conditioning in cinemas the cools the whole tub of popcorn before the movie even starts. And I believe that popcorn must be eaten fresh and hot, when the caramel is still slightly soft.

Now, but this popcorn - it's the real good stuff. Freshly popped. Nice, warm and crunchy. Just sweet enough so it's not cloying, with a sprinkling of salt to add an extra something to your taste buds. Lightly coated with butter to make it even more tempting to gobble up the whole bowl.

(Random point: Hmm my fingers look really dark here. And short. And stubby...)

And, it takes less than 10 minutes to whip up. (But it also disappears in 10 minutes.)

I think I've found the perfect homemade snack for homework sessions. Heck, it's so good and easy to make, I might actually pop my own corn for the movies!

Homemade Popcorn
Adapted from Joy the Baker

1/2 cup popcorn
1/8 cup vegetable or grapeseed oil
Knob of butter
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt (adjust according to your own taste)

1. Heat oil and butter in a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat. Make sure that it’s a pan that you can easily lift and shake in the air. Yea… you’ll also want to have two pot holders on hand.
2. Once the oil is hot, pour in the popcorn, sprinkle sugar on top and cover.
3. It will take a few minutes for the first pops, but once the popcorn starts popping, shake continuously until the popcorn is popped. This means that, once the popcorn really starts going, you’ll want to grab the pot with your pot holders, securing the lid, and shake the pot above the flame of the stove for a few seconds, return to the heat, and repeat this process several times throughout the popping process. This will prevent the popcorn from sticking to the bottom of the pan and burning.
4. Transfer to a serving bowl and salt lightly. Mix with a big spoon. The sugar will still be hot, and the popcorn may be sticky. Don’t burn your hands on hot sugar. The popcorn will dry as it cools. Makes 8-10 cups.

Ice Cream Dorayaki

2009-07-12T17:53:00.010+08:00

Wow. It's been three weeks since I've updated My Buttery Fingers! Although it's summer, I haven't been baking much. Here are some excuses: It's too hot. I have too much school work to do - EE, university applications, homework, revision and more revision. And work experience (for me, that's two weeks at a lab. It's really fun though!)

I might have not been in the mood to bake, but I was definitely in the mood for ice cream. More ice cream, I should say - but that's the only thing I've been churning out, so I apologise for the bombardment of posts about ice cream on my blog! But again, everyone screams for ice cream...right?

But this post isn't just about ice cream. It's about a twist on Dorayaki, a Japanese snack which is basically two pancakes sandwiched with a slather of red bean paste (anko). Here, its been transformed to an ice cream sandwich of some sorts - I've made Dorayaki filled with Matcha (green tea) and Red Bean Ice Cream.

Matcha ice cream is already a family favourite after making it a few times last summer. It's really refreshing, and the subtle bitter aftertaste is a great match with the creamy base, making it popular with the adults too.

Red bean, however, was a new attempt. And I was glad I made that attempt, because the ice cream is SO GOOD. I understand that beans in ice cream may not be something everyone would like, but please please please let me tell you about it: it's creamy, it has a great texture with the soft beans contrasting with the smooth, red bean infused ice cream base, and the rich milky flavour is just the perfect match with the mild sweetness of the red beans.

The fluffy and fragrant little pancakes are also great with the ice cream. I think the final product looks really cute! Maybe I'll try making mini ones next time. These can be made ahead so they are ready when you are craving for a refreshing afternoon snack or dessert - just wrap them individually in cling film and store in the freezer. I'm sure that other Japanese ice cream flavours would be a great pairing too - black sugar, tofu or black sesame.

But of course, the ice creams are also wonderful eaten on its own. A quote from FoodWishes.com:
"Stop Screaming for Ice Cream and Start Making Some." Enjoy! :D

Matcha (green tea) Ice Cream
Adapted from Ice Cream Book, by Junko Fukuda (original recipe in Chinese)

3tbsp Matcha powder
150ml Milk
2 Egg yolks
70g + 3tbsp sugar (measure separately)
120ml Whipping cream

1. In a small bowl, whisk together 3 tbsp of sugar with the matcha powder until smooth.
2. In a separate large bowl, whisk together 70g sugar and the egg yolks until pale yellow.
3. Heat the milk in a small saucepan until just about to boil.
4. Mix the yolks and the milk, adding the milk in small portions (so you don't end up with scrambled eggs!)
5. Pour the rest of the mixture (the custard) back into the pan. Heat the mixture over low heat, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens - it should coat the back of a wooden spoon.
6. Take a few tbsp of the custard and mix it with the matcha-sugar mixture. Dissolve it into the rest of the custard base. Strain the custard.
7. Place the bowl over an ice bath to cool, stirring occasionally. Chill the mixture until thoroughly cold.
8. Mix the cream into the cold ice cream mixture.
9. Churn the ice cream in an ice cream maker, for around 20 minutes (time may differ according to your machine).
10. Transfer to an air tight container and chill until ice cream sets.

Red Bean Ice Cream
Adapted from Ice Cream Book, by Junko Fukuda (original recipe in Chinese)

100ml Milk
2 Egg yolks
55g sugar
150g Red bean paste (anko) (tsubushian - the type that still has some whole beans in it)
150ml Whipping cream

1. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar and egg yolks until pale yellow.
2. Heat the milk in a small saucepan until just about to boil.
3. Mix the yolks and the milk, adding the milk in small portions (so you don't end up with scrambled eggs!)
4. Pour the rest of the mixture (the custard) back into the pan. Heat the mixture over low heat, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens - it should coat the back of a wooden spoon.
5. Strain the custard. Place the red bean paste in a large bowl, and mix in the custard.
7. Place the bowl over an ice bath to cool, stirring occasionally. Chill the mixture until thoroughly cold.
8. Mix the cream into the cold ice cream mixture.
9. Churn the ice cream in an ice cream maker, for around 20 minutes (time may differ according to your machine).
10. Transfer to an air tight container and chill until ice cream sets.

Ice Cream Dorayaki
Adapted from Ice Cream Book, by Junko Fukuda (original recipe in Chinese)

Makes 10 pancakes/5 sanwiches
2 eggs
80g sugar
1tbsp honey
2tbsp water
100g cake flour
1/2tsp baking powder
Oil for greasing pan (something mild like vegetable oil, NOT butter - it think it's too rich)
Ice cream of your choice

1. Beat eggs and sugar together until pale in colour. Mix in the honey and water.
2. Sift in the flour and baking powder, mix together gently until no lumps remain.
3. Chill mixture for one hour.
4. Before frying the pancakes, mix the batter thoughrougly again. Have a wet cotton towel ready. Heat a non stick frying pan over medium heat and brush on a thin layer of oil. Remove the pan from heat and place on the wet towel to cool down the pan.
5. Using a ladle or measuring cup, pour in some batter to form a 10cm circle. Put on a lid, and cook the pancake over extreme low heat.
6. When bubbles appear on the pancake, flip it and cook until slightly brown. Cool on a wire rack. Repeat with rest of the batter.
7. Leave the ice cream to soften for a bit. Sandwich the ice cream in between two pancakes of similar size and shape, shaping it with your hand to even out the ice cream. Freeze again to harden the ice cream.
8. If not consuming immediately, wrap each dorayaki individually in plastic wrap and store in freezer.

A Spoonful of Summer

2009-06-27T13:39:00.006+08:00

Last week, school closed early for the summer because a student caught swine flu, which meant my summer holiday started a week early. The first thing I did was go camping at the beach, have a barbeque, go to the beach for the second time, make this and two other ice creams (coming soon!). Temperatures are getting as high as 32 C already. Now, summer is truly in the air.

If you go to to any supermarket here now, you'll see staff arranging cartons and cartons of huge strawberries onto the fruit aisle. In Hong Kong, practically everything we eat is imported, and these strawberries are from America. So before everything is gone, I grabbed a carton, lined up to pay for it, and began to brainstorm as to what to do with these juicy jewels.

Eventually, I chose a recipe out of my new ice cream book and decided to attempt sorbet for the first time. Surprisingly, this recipe has an ingredient that I haven't seen before in ice creams or sorbets - gelatine. But I think it was the addition of it that made the texture cottony soft and not overly frozen. A scoop of this is packed with the sweetness of strawberries, the tanginess of lemon juice, and lightly spiked with a little booze. What's more, it's also low in fat.

Now go grab some strawberries, churn yourself a batch of this refreshing dessert and cool off from the heat!

Strawberry Sorbet
Adapted from Ice Cream Book by Junko Fukuda (Original recipe in Chinese)

30ml + 3tbsp Water (measured separately)
70g Sugar
300g Strawberries, hulled and halved
2 tsp Lemon Juice
1tbsp Rum
5g Gelatine

*Amounts of sugar and lemon juice can be adjusted accordingly to suit the strawberry's sweetness or tartness

1. Place the 3tbsp water in a small, microwaveable bowl and sprinkle on the gelatine. Leave for it to bloom.
2. In a small saucepan, place the sugar and the remaining water and cook until the sugar is dissolved. Set aside to cool.
3. Place the strawberries, lemon juice, rum and the cold syrup into a blender. Whizz until the the mixture is homogeneous. Transfer into a large bowl.
4. Place the gelatine mixture into the microwave and heat it on medium for around 30 seconds (or less) until the gelatine is thoroughly dissolved. Slowly mix it into the strawberry mixture.
5. Place the bowl on top of an ice bath and cool, stirring occasionally. The mixture should thicken slightly.
6. Churn the mixture for around 20 minutes or until frozen.

First Ice Cream of 2009

2009-06-19T11:06:00.009+08:00

What time is it?

Summer time!

Sorry for the bad 'joke'. I quote my friend for this...but it did make me laugh! But back to the point. Its summer time, its time for the beach, time for 10 hours of sleep, which also means time for ice cream!

I've had an ice cream maker at home for ages, but I never really tried making proper ice cream until last summer. I tried out many new things last summer because my holiday was super long (since I just had my GCSE exams) and had nothing much to do, so I baked a lot and tried many new things!

The first flavour of ice cream up this year is something special that I haven't tried before - Goma (Black Sesame) Ice Cream. This Japanese flavour gives off a rich nutty aroma, contrasting with the creamy texture of the ice cream. Two forms of black sesame is used to enhance the flavour - sesame paste and ground sesame seeds, which resulted into an ice cream that is way more flavourful than the store-bought ones. Even my mum who doesn't have much of a sweet tooth loved it!

Pardon me for the poor photos - it's actually really hard to take good photos of ice cream here because of the hot and humid weather (even the aircon doesn't help much). But do try this ice cream flavour - it's just so good. See, the bowl was licked clean precisely one minute after the photo shoot!

Goma (black sesame) Ice Cream
Adapted from Ice Cream Book, by Junko Fukuda (original recipe in Chinese)

60g Black sesame paste
180ml Milk
2 Egg yolks
70g + 2tbsp sugar (measure separately)
120ml Whipping cream
1tbsp Ground black sesame seeds

1. In a large bowl, whisk together 2 tbsp of sugar with the black sesame paste until smooth.
2. In a separate large bowl, whisk together 70g sugar and the egg yolks until pale yellow.
3. Heat the milk in a small saucepan until just about to boil.
4. Mix the yolks and the milk, adding the milk in small portions (so you don't end up with scrambled eggs!)
5. Pour the mixture (the custard) back into the pan. Heat the mixture over low heat, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens - it should coat the back of a wooden spoon.
6. Strain the custard. Mix the custard with the black sesame mixture, adding the custard in small portions (or the mixture will separate).
7. Place the bowl over an ice bath to cool, stirring occasionally. Chill the mixture until thoroughly cold.
8. Mix the cream and ground sesame seeds into the cold ice cream mixture.
9. Churn the ice cream in an ice cream maker, for around 20 minutes (time may differ according to your machine).
10. Transfer to an air tight container and chill until ice cream sets.

Click here to see the ice cream maker I have (links to amazon). I wouldn't recommend it though, because for some reason the lid doesn't fit on properly to the bottom canister, and the whole top bit wobbles when I switch the machine on.

This was the brand of sesame paste I used. I think I'll use the remaining to make a black sesame chiffon cake.

It's Tea Time!

2009-06-17T19:53:00.006+08:00

I love tea. I'd prefer it any time over soft drinks or juice. I love drinking many types of tea, from the slightly bitter Chinese Pu-erh tea after dinner, Japanese green tea (Matcha) whilst eating sushi, or a rich, creamy mug of Hong Kong milk tea. The post title refers to my two most recent bakes - Earl Grey Tea cookies and Matcha Chiffon Cake.

These cute little cookies are of the shortbread variety, but the method of making this is different to the pinwheel ones I made previously. I really love these cookies because when you take a first bite, it might seem that the tea flavour is not strong enough, but after a second, third bite, it tastes just like drinking a cup of milky Earl Grey Tea. They do not have a strong orange-y flavour either. You really can't resist munching on one...then another one...until the whole plateful is gone!

I first tried making chiffon cakes last year. At first I was really scared of whipping egg whites, but after making countless of these cakes (my mum loves them because they're not too sweet, and because of the soft and cottony texture), I think I've mastered the art of making a perfect chiffon. This particular matcha chiffon has a fresh and clean fragrance, and the ever-so-slight bitter aftertastes balances the sweetness perfectly. I've included some of my humble tips on making chiffon cakes below.

Both of these treats are great for snacking, and of course perfect consumed with a cup of your favourite tea during a relaxing afternoon! What is your favourite type of tea to use when baking?

Early Grey Tea Cookies
Adapted from Vanlily's blog (Original recipe in Chinese)
Makes 16-20 small cookies

1 teabag Earl Grey tea (I used Twinings)
1tbsp Milk
70g Butter, at room temperature
30g Icing sugar
Pinch Salt
120g All purpose flour
1/4tsp Baking soda

1. Put the milk into a small microwavable bowl and nuke it for around 10 seconds to warm it up. Cut open the tea bags, put the leaves into the milk. Cover and leave to infuse for around 30 minutes.
2. Beat butter and icing sugar with an electric mixer until soft and fluffy, beat in the tea-milk mixture
3. Sift in the salt, flour and baking soda. Gently fold into the mixture with a rubber spatula until a soft dough forms.
4. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill for 30mins.
5. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 180C. Gently flour your work surface and rolling pin. Roll out the dough gently until around 5mm thick, use cookie cutters to cut our shapes and transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Place the baking sheet, cookies and all into the freezer for around 5 minutes.
6. Bake for around 15-20minutes until pale golden. Remove and cool on a cooling rack, where they will crisp up.

Matcha Chiffon Cake
From Chiffon Cake Book by Junko Fukada (Original recipe in Chinese)
Makes one 17cm cake (plus some extra batter)

3 Egg yolks
80g Sugar
50ml Vegetable oil
60ml Water
80g Cake (low-protein) flour
10g Matcha (green tea powder)
4 Egg whites

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Whisk egg yolks, 1/3 of the sugar, oil and water together.
2. Pour in sifted flour and matcha, whisk until totally incorporated and no lumps remain.
3. Using an electric mixer, whip the egg whites until foamy. Pour in half the remaining sugar, beat for 2 more minutes, add in the rest of the sugar and beat until soft peaks form.
4.Place 1/3 of the beaten egg whites into the flour mixture. Use a whisk to quickly mix everything together.
5. Add in the rest of the egg whites, incorporate gently but quickly. When some white streaks remain, swap to a rubber spatula and fold gently until the mixture is homogeneous.
6. Pour the mixture into the chiffon cake tin (you may need to slightly grease it beforehand to prevent sticking, but I skip this step). Rap the tin against the table a few times to get rid of large air bubbles.
7. Bake for 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
8. The cake must be cooled upside down; stick the tin on a tall heavy bottle, leave until cake is completely cool before removing it from the tin.

Tips for making chiffon cakes
- When mixing the yolk mixture, ensure that no lumps remain to ensure a smooth batter after adding egg whites. You don't want to be deflating the mixture whilst attempting to get rid of those lumps!
- An indication as to when the whites are ready, a small 'peak' will form when you pull up your beaters. After reaching that stage, whip for another minute on low speed to stabilise the air bubbles.
- Mix gently when incorporating the two mixtures. Usually, just to be on the safe side, I use a spatula upon the second addition.
- If your cake is being stubborn and refuses to leave the tin, use a thin sharp knife or thin offset spatula and run it around the cake. it should pop out really easily.

Back to Basics

2009-06-13T14:53:00.011+08:00

Sometimes the most basic baked goods - in this case, muffins and cookies - are good enough to satisfy cravings for sweet things or satisfy my sudden urge to bake during a busy week.

These muffins are Banana Coffee Muffins, with a sprinkling of oatmeal. The best way to use up spotty, ripe bananas! Initially I was a bit afraid of adding coffee into these (as I don't think coffee goes well with fruit), but I decided to be daring and throw that in. Also because I've been recently obsessed with oatmeal, I added some into the mix and sprinkled some on top - just to pretend that I'm 'health conscious'.

The muffins were delicious piping hot out of the oven with a noticeable, but not overpowering hint of coffee. The oatmeal also added some extra texture - something different from the tender crumb of the muffins.

The Pinwheel Shortbread Cookies were baked for the last day of lessons at school. The recipe is my all time favourite shortbread recipe (see below) that I've used for many many times before with success. They are quite rich and buttery with a slightly crunchy texture. Many of my friends thought they were really cool - some even thought they were store bought!

Banana Coffee Muffins
Adapted from Simply Recipes
Makes 12 muffins

3 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup (75g) melted butter
2/3 cup (120g) sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
2tbsp instant coffee powder, mixed with 2 tbsp hot water
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cup (190g) flour
1oz (30g) oatmeal, plus more for sprinkling

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl.
2. Mix in the sugar, egg, espresso and vanilla.
3.Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in.
4. Add the flour, mix until it is just incorporated. Gently mix in the oatmeal.
5. Pour mixture into a prepared muffin tin. Sprinkle more oatmeal on top if desired. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Check for doneness with a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin. If it comes out clean, it's done. Cool on a rack.

These muffin liners are cute, no?

Pinwheel Shortbread Cookies
Adapted from BBC Good Food

Vanilla Dough
160g plain flour
100g salted butter, cold, cut into 1cm cubes
50g sugar
1tsp vanilla essence
1 large egg yolk

Chocolate Dough
140g plain flour
20g cocoa powder
100g salted butter, cold, cut into 1cm cubes
50g sugar
1 large egg yolk

1. Prepare the vanilla dough. Place flour and butter into mixing bowl, rub together until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs and the butter is completely worked into the flour. Add vanilla and egg yolk, mix together gently until a ball of dough forms. If it is too dry, sprinkle in a few drops of water. Alternatively, place all the butter and flour food processor and pulse together until butter disappears, add the rest of the ingredients and pulse until a dough forms. Wrap dough with cling film and chill whilst you prepare the chocolate dough.
2. Prepare the chocolate dough as above, adding the cocoa in with the flour.
3. Unwrap the vanilla dough and place into a large Ziploc bag. Roll out into a square with uniform thickness. Repeat with the chocolate dough.
4. Place the chocolate dough on top of the vanilla dough and roll up tightly, Swiss-roll style, but gently so you don't deform the log. Chill for 1 hour.
5. Preheat oven to 180C. Line a baking tray with parchment.
6. Remove dough from the fridge. Slice into generous 5mm (1/4 inch) slices and place them slightly apart on baking sheet.
7. Bake for 20 minutes until the biscuits are just turning pale golden around the edges, then transfer to a wire rack to cool. The biscuits will keep fresh for up to one week stored in an airtight tin.

Bacon Brocolli Mushroom Quiche

2009-05-29T21:06:00.004+08:00

I still vividly remember the first ever time I tasted quiche. It was year 10 food tech lesson, we were making mini quiches - tiny tiny ones baked in mini muffin moulds. We used ready-made Pampas shortcrust pastry, and the filling was simply milk, egg, cheddar and bacon bits. I was initially a bit skeptic about some custardy-looking filling in a pastry shell. But I was blown away after I popped one of those in my mouth. It was really tasty, even if its just a simplified Quiche Lorraine with bacon bits.

Yesterday, it was Dragon Boat Festival for us Chinese people, and as a public holiday, we had a day off school. I wanted to bake, of course! But something savoury. Initially I had planned to make this quiche for lunch...but I slept way over and ended up waking at 11am instead of 9. So this became our afternoon tea instead. This is the second time I've made a proper quiche before, and also the first time with milk only (i.e. no cream), but surprisingly the filling was still creamy, and filled with broccoli, bacon, mushroom, onion and Gruyere - it was delicious (and lower in fat, and healthy too, with the veggies added)! My mum, sister and I finished a whole 23-cm tart in 15 minutes flat!

The recipe was from Use Real Butter (one of my favourite food blogs - especially the extemely detailed posts for Chinese food, Kaweah and the stunning scenery photos of the Rockies!). But then I realised I didn't have shortening at home, so I switched to a shortcrust pastry recipe from BBC Good Food instead. I rolled out the pastry very thinly, because I'm scared of uncooked soggy crusts. I also baked it in one 23-cm tart and one 17-cm dish.

I took the small one (in the white dish) for lunch today, reheated in the microwave - still yummy! Pictured above are my friends snagging bits of my quiche haha. I was suprised that the pastry didn't go soggy though. Much better than the boring canteen lunch boxes (they almost dish up the same stuff everyday...I much prefer homemade food nowadays).

Quiche
Shortcrust Pastry Shell
Adapted from BBC Good Food

175g plain flour
80g cold butter , cut into pieces
1 egg yolk
5 tsp cold water
Pinch salt

1. Processor Method: put the flour, butter, egg yolk and 4 tsp cold water into a food processor. Using the pulse button, process until the mix binds.
Hand Method: Using a pastry cutter or your fingers, work/rub the butter into the flour until it dissapears - it should resemble coarse breadcrumbs. Make a well int the centre, sprinkle in the salt and add the yolk and water. Using your hands or a wooden spoon, gently mix until a ball of dough forms.
2. Tip the pastry onto a lightly floured surface, gather into a smooth ball, then roll out as thinly as you can.
3. Line a 23 x 2.5cm loose-bottomed, fluted flan tin, easing the pastry into the base (I also lined a 17-cm dish with the pastry). Trim the pastry edges with scissors (save any trimmings) so it sits slightly above the tin (if it shrinks, it shouldn't now go below the level of the tin).
4.Press the pastry into the flutes, lightly prick the base with a fork, then chill for 10 mins. Put a baking sheet in the oven and heat oven to 180 C.
5. Line pastry case with foil, shiny side down, fill with dry beans and bake on the hot sheet for 15 mins. Remove foil and beans and bake for 4-5 mins more until the pastry is pale golden. If you notice any small holes or cracks, patch up with pastry trimmings. You can make up to this point a day ahead.

Filling
Adapted from Use Real Butter

3 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups milk
4 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/2 medium onion, minced and sautéed
5 white button mushrooms, sliced and sautéed
1/2 head broccoli, chopped and blanched
1 cup gruyère, shredded
1 tbsp flour
1/4 tsp salt

Reduce oven to 160 C. In a large bowl, stir together the eggs, milk, onion, bacon, broccoli, mushrooms, and salt. In a separate bowl, reserve 2 tbsp of the cheese and toss the remaining cheese and flour together. Add the cheese to the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Pour into pie crust, sprinkle on the reserved cheese and bake 35-40 minutes (Mine only took 30minutes). Let quiche rest out of the oven for 15 minutes before serving (As Jen says, resting prevents any oozing of filling)

Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti

2009-05-26T12:20:00.005+08:00

Exams are over for me, but that does not mean that work is over (Biology IA, English World Lit Essay, Extended Essay...the list never ends). However, it does mean that I can manage to allocate a little more time for baking, instead of stuffing my face into a Biology or Chemistry or Maths textbook all the time.

I had some hazelnuts that I had to use up. And I haven't made biscotti before, so Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti it was! Biscotti, meaning 'twice-baked' in its Latin name, is an Italian cookie. The dough is shaped into a long, wide log and baked for once to cook the outside. It is then cooled, and sliced into long fingers and baked again to crisp up the interior.

The original recipe I used was for pistachio biscotti, but I replaced it with hazelnuts. Me, being the lazy person I am, didn't shape the dough on a floured surface, but I just patted the dough into a pile, turned it onto the parchment paper and just shaped it with my hand and spatula into a rough-ish log, as pictured above.

The final product was wonderful straight from the oven - because of my mediocre slicing skills, some of the thinner biscotti snapped and I tried the broken pieces. The cookie was nice and crunchy, with pockets of melted chocolate chips and the lovely aroma of hazelnuts. I ate a few for breakfast the next day (despite keeping in a Ziploc and an airtight container, they became a bit soft), dunked in milk, and my sister had them dunked into her coffee. A happy start to a school day!

Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti
Adapted from Martha Stewart's Cookies via Use Real Butter

2 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda (I reduced to 1/2 tsp for my elevation)
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup shelled pistachios (try 3/4 cup) - I used the equivalent amount of hazelnuts, which I toasted, skinned and halved.
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (just under) - I used the full half cup :)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
2. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. Beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy.
4. Add eggs, beating on low speed until well combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl if necessary.
5. Add the flour mixture and beat to form a stiff dough. Mix in the hazelnuts and chocolate chips until just combined.
6. Transfer the dough to the parchment paper and form into a slightly flattened log, about 12×4 inches. Bake until slightly firm, about 25 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes.
7. Reduce the oven to 300°F. On a cutting board, with a sharp serrated knife, cut the biscotti diagonally into 1-inch thick slices.
8. Arrange the cookies cut side down on the baking sheet. Bake until crisp but slightly soft in the center, about 8 minutes.
9. Move to a wire rack and cool completely. Store in a container at room temperature up to 1 week. Makes 1 dozen.

Mini Chocolate Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

2009-05-22T19:59:00.008+08:00

Exams. Are. OVER!

I'm finally back to baking, after two long weeks of school exams. By the end of my first week of Higher exams, I was already dreaming of what to bake. I was browsing some of my bookmarked recipes during my revision time allocated for Maths! Should I make some refreshing Matcha ice cream? Or bake some chocolate chip cookies that I knew everyone would like? A nice and simple chiffon cake might be good. Ah or I can bake some bread again to get rid of my stress whilst kneading...

Finally, I settled on something I haven't made before -Mini Chocolate Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting after stumbling by this post at Baking Obsession. I haven't made cream cheese frosting before so I though it'd be a nice try at something new!

I didn't use the recipes stated on the site. The chocolate cupcake I used was from Cupcake Bakeshop. I've made this recipe several times, and it is my favourite basic chocolate cupcake so far - rich and chocolatey but not too heavy - a perfect pairing with any frosting. It is also a breeze to make! As for the frosting, I adapted the recipe from Simply Recipes.

I brought these to school today (I baked 48 of these babies - I dare not think what will happen if my sister and I ate them all alone!) - and they we're a big hit. Everyone was squealing 'Omg they're sooo good!'. Which made me very happy, because at first I was scared that no-one would like the tangy frosting paired with the chocolate cupcake. I think this cupcake size is the best too - you won't feel guilty for picking up one...another one...and another one!

Baking really is the best stress relieving activity for me. Despite being very tired afterwards, it totally relaxed and forgot how I messed up some exams too :)

Chocolate Cupcakes
from Cupcake Bakeshop

Makes 48 mini cupcakes
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temp
1-1/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs, room temp
3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoons vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Beat butter until softened. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until well combined.
4. Measure the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder into a small sized bowl and whisk to combine.
5. Measure out the milk and vanilla and stir to combine
6. Add about a third of the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar and beat to combine. Add about a half of the milk/vanilla and beat to combine. Continue adding, alternating between dry and wet and finishing with the dry.
7. Scoop batter into cupcake cups about 2/3’s full. Turn oven down to 350 degrees and bake cupcakes for about 22-25 minutes (8-10 minutes for minis) or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from Simply Recipes

1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick) at room temperature
8oz Philly cream cheese (1 package) at room temperature
2 cups icing sugar, sifted (I used around 1 1/2 cups)
Grated zest of one large lemon
1-2 tsp lemon juice

1. With an electric mixer, beat the butter and cream cheese together, about 2 minutes on medium speed until very smooth. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure even mixing.
2. Add the lemon zest and juice. Mix to combine. Slowly add the icing sugar. Keep adding until you get to your desired sweetness or consistency. (I chilled the frosting for 1/2 hour before using due to the hot/humid weather here, so piping would be more manageable)
3. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a nozzle and decorate the cupcakes. (I used a large star tip).

Cream Sauce Pasta

2009-05-17T21:30:00.003+08:00

Sorry for the lack of updates! I haven't been baking much lately, because I am doing my school exams. I've just finished one week of my IB Higher Level exams, and this week, I will be doing my Standard Level ones. And on Thursday, when they all are done, I will bake again! Can't wait! :D

On Saturday it was only me and my sister, so I quickly made this pasta with ingredients from the fridge. I've been using this recipe for a long time, and it is really simple to make and it's tasty! Feel free to use whatever ingredients you have - here I used chicken fillet, mushroom and peppers. I usually use what I have on hand - bacon, sweet corn, onions, sausage...

Cream Sauce Pasta
The recipe is not a proper recipe, everytime I make this I don't measure out the ingredients - I just judge by eyesight and by tasting as I go along!
Serves 2-3

For the sauce:
250ml Heavy (whipping) cream
200-250ml Chicken broth
300g Dried pasta (any type, cooked to your liking)
1tsp cornflour
Salt, pepper
1 clove garlic
1 shallot (omit if using onion)
2tbsp olive oil

Chicken fillets
Bell peppers
Mushrooms

1. Prepare your chosen ingredients: cut/slice the chicken into bite size pieces, thinly slice peppers, slice mushrooms.
2. Mince the garlic and thinly slice the shallot.
3. Heat olive oil in a large pan; toss in the garlic and shallot and cook slightly until fragrant.
4. Add raw meat, and toss until cooked on the outside/slightly golden brown.
5. Stir in the cream, add the broth. Stir well.
6. Add in any vegetables or cooked ingredients. Cook until starting to boil.
7. Taste the sauce and season to your liking.
8. Dissolve cornstarch in a tablespoon or so of water; stir into sauce to thicken it.
9. Gently mix in pasta into the sauce to coat pasta well. Dish up and serve!

Serradura (aka Macau Sawdust Pudding)

2009-05-05T19:59:00.010+08:00

Sawdust Pudding. Doesn't sound very appealing, does it?

Apparently, 'serradura' translates to 'sawdust' in Portuguese. And the 'sawdust' in this dessert is actually...

Crushed Tea Biscuits! (Marie Biscuits)
Serradura is actually a layered chilled dessert made up of a sweetened, vanilla whipped cream and crushed biscuits. The creamy layer is a perfect match with the slightly rough biscuits.

This dessert, I believe, originates from Macau. The first time I went to Macau (just a 45-minute speed ferry journey), I bought this dessert from shop that first sold them, and I I felt like I was on the clouds. It had a lovely creamy, yet airy texture, but the biscuits are a wonderful interruption. But too bad no cafe in Hong Kong sold them back then :(

Recently, I found a cafe that replicated this dessert and did it justice. Well, it was even better than the Serraduras in Macau. (The other ones I've tried before are just no match - the cream not flavoured enough, too sweet, tastes like raw cream, wrong type of biscuits used...) Remembering that I've once seen a recipe for this before, I decided to re-create it in my kitchen.

As a first attempt, it wasn't bad, but I just couldn't replicate the exact flavour. Still investigating as to what the magic ingredient is. Vanilla seeds, maybe?

Recipe for Serradura (Macau/Sawdust Pudding)
From Cat's Blog (originally in Chinese, I've translated it here)

Ingredients
250ml Whipping cream
80g Marie biscuits (I used 100g)
50g Condensed milk
Vanilla essence (I used 2 tsp)

Method
1. Crush Marie biscuits finely. (I used the bash-it-in-a-Ziploc-with-rolling-pin method because I don't own a food processor)
2. Whip whipping cream to soft peaks. Add vanilla essence and condensed milk (Suggests you add 2/3 first, taste, then add more if it needs sweetening). Continue whipping until stiff peaks.
3. Transfer the cream into a piping bag. (fitted with a plain 1 or 2 cm nozzle)
4. Place a layer of biscuit into your vessel (individual moulds, mousse rings or cups) and pipe a layer of cream on top. Repeat until vessel is filled. (Suggests that don't put too much biscuit, or the cream will adhere to only the top bits and the dessert will look messy)
5. Chill in the freezer for two hours. When serving, leave it out for a bit (around 10 minutes) for it to soften.

*My sister was hanging around whilst I was shooting these - and requested that I put one of her figures (Toni Toni Chopper from manga 'One Piece') in a photo...I quite like the result :)

Recipe Index

2009-05-03T18:30:00.043+08:00

Bread
Matcha and Chocolate Buns
Sun Dried Tomato Flatbread

Brownies
Cocoa Brownies
Smores Brownies

Cakes, Cupcakes and Muffins
Banana Coffee Muffins
Black and White Chocolate Cake
Caramel Macchiato Cupcakes
Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Chocolate Espresso Mousse Cake
Matcha Chiffon Cake
Matcha Souffle Roll Cake
Mini Chocolate Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
Mochi Cakes - Matcha, Black Sesame, Chocolate
Spider Cupcakes
Tiramisu Cake

Cookies
Alfajores (Caramel/Dulce de Leche sandwich cookies)
Basic Shortbread
Chocolate and Hazelnut Biscotti
Earl Grey Tea Cookies
Lemon Cranberry Shortbreads
Matcha (Green Tea) Shortbread Cookies
Matcha and Cocoa Snowball Cookies
Pinwheel Cookies
Stained Glass Cookies
World Peace Cookies

Ice Cream and Frozen Desserts
Goma (Black Sesame) Ice Cream
Ice Cream Dorayaki
Matcha (Green Tea) Ice Cream
Adzuki (Red Bean) Ice Cream
Serradura (Macau/Sawdust Pudding)
Strawberry Sorbet

Other Sweets
Cookie-topped Cream Puffs
Lemon Cream Puffs
Homemade Dulce de Leche (milk caramel)
Homemade Popcorn

Savouries
Cream Sauce Pasta
Bacon and Brocolli Quiche
Japanese dishes: Hamburg Steak, Gyoza and Omurice

Matcha and Chocolate

2009-05-01T10:40:00.007+08:00

This was made two weeks ago, during my Easter holidays. No, I wasn't having a wonderful time relaxing, but I was slaving on my Geography coursework (which is now finished, thankfully).

I needed some stress relief. I hadn't baked in ages. So I decided to make bread. You know, the kneading and punching of dough is the best way to vent your frustration, and despite all the arm power used to knead, it is actually very therapeutic.

Many may ask that bread is so easily available at bakeries, why bother spending hours kneading, proofing and shaping just to make a few measly buns? Well, I personally think that fresh, piping hot homemade buns are just the reason why I do it. And, because I still think that being able to make soft, fluffy and tasty bread makes me feel pro, so I'm satisfying my inner ego as well :)

Okay, back to the recipe. Every time I want to make bread, I always turn to Happy Home Baker for her recipes. This time I chose this recipe, which seemed easy enough to make without me needing to run down to the supermarket to buy whipping cream or other ingredients.

So, the final product was wonderful fresh from the oven. The chocolate chips go really well with the refreshing taste of matcha, and the texture of the buns were just what I was looking for. And I'm pretty pleased with the result, maybe because the bottoms were not over baked and didn't turn dark brown. I blame this on my tiny, temperamental oven; sometimes I need to decrease baking temperatures by almost 20'C to get things baking without getting charred!

So, this was my first official food post on this site. Thanks for visiting my blog, and comments are very much appreciated!

About

2009-05-01T09:52:00.008+08:00

Hi there everyone!

My name is Wendy and I am a (16) 17-year old IB student from Hong Kong. I've started this food blog because of my love for baking and the art of food photography. After getting enthralled by some gorgeously-styed photos on flickr and following (for a few years) some fantastic food blogs, I wanted to have mine too, but just never really got the time.

Well, My Buttery Fingers is actually not my first blog. I started one two years ago when I was 15 (still a carefree teenager with no work to do...), but I had to stop posting because I was doing my GCSE exams and I couldn't afford to procrastinate. Click here if you want to check it out.

Now I am doing the IB Programme, meaning I have to juggle six subjects (along with a plethora of other things) with baking and photography. But somehow, (on a whim?) I've decided to start fresh with this blog, because I figured out if I don't start now, I'll regret it. Being a busy high school student might mean that my posts here won't be as frequent as others, but I hope that will not discourage myself to keep posting as much as I can!

As a newbie into the food-bloggosphere, My Buttery Fingers is probably no different to other blogs. Prehaps no-one will even read this. Maybe the name is too lame that no-one will click it. But I don't mind, because its good enough for me to share my 'two cents' and to be part of this blogging family :)

Here are some other places where you can find me in the virtual world:
Check out my other photos on Flickr
Follow me on Twitter
Email me at 'wendy.au.yeung92@gmail.com'

Thank You for reading this (lengthy) introduction about the girl behind My Buttery Fingers! - Wendy

All Text and Photos (c) Wendy Au Yeung 2009