Easy Muah Chee

Recipe adapted from Fun at Sassy's Kitchen.

Ingredients
1 cup glutinous rice flour
1 cup of water
1 tsp sugar
Premix sugared peanut powder


Instructions

1. Mix flour, water & sugar until mixture is smooth.
2. Put into microwave for 3mins.
3. Cut pieces of muah chee and mix into sugared peanut powder.

Traditional Baked Mooncake

Recipe adapted from The Fatty Rie.

Ingredients:
*6 x 125g baked mooncakes

Crust
150g hong kong flour
90g golden syrup
30g canola oil
1/2 tbsp alkaline water

Filling
Lotus paste or any paste of your choice
20g to 30g melon seeds
6 Salted eggs

Egg Wash
1 chicken egg yolk + 1 tbsp milk, beaten and sift


Method:
1. Salted egg yolks preparation - Crack the eggs and remove the yolks, then soak the yolks in canola oil for about 15-20 mins, to remove the fishy smell.  After removing the yolks from the oil, use kitchen paper towel to dab dry the yolks.

2.   Place the melon seeds and egg yolks on lined baking tray.   Bake in preheated oven at 140C for about 8-12 mins. Once the yolks turn slightly lighter in color, and the melon seeds toasted, you can remove from oven and cool completely.   Set aside.

3.   Mooncake dough preparation - Sieve the flour into a mixing bowl, and create a well in the middle.  Add in golden syrup, oil and alkaline water.  Mix the ingredients into a dough and let the dough rest for about 30-35 mins.

4.   Lotus paste preparation -  Mix the toasted melon seeds into the lotus paste, and roll the paste into ball shape, then make a hole in the centre and place 1 yolk in it.  Gently roll the lotus paste back into a ball shape.  Set aside.
*Note:
a)  use plastic gloves as the paste can get very sticky
b)  lotus paste + yolk filling = 75g

5.    Divide the mooncake dough into 50g portions.

6.   Take 1 ball of the mooncake dough, flatten it and wrap the lotus paste in it, sealed the ends and roll it into a ball shape.

7.   Flour the mooncake mold generously and knock out excess flour, then imprint the prepared dough (from #6), and transfer it to lined baking tray.

8.   Bake in preheated oven at 180C for 5 mins.  Remove from oven and cool it for about 2-3 mins. Brush gently with egg wash, then return the mooncakes back into oven to continue baking for another 10-15 mins, or golden brown coloured.

9.   Once done, remove from oven and cool completely before storing them for about 3-4 days to to 回油 (crust soften).

Baked rosemary chicken & potatoes

Recipe adapted from Delishar.

Ingredients
4 Skin on, bone-in chicken legs, pat dry
6 small potatoes (Granola Potatoes), washed & quartered
1 yellow onion, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 tsp dried oregano
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 german sausages
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce

Salt and black pepper to taste
Some lemon wedges
Some cherry tomatoes
Chopped cilantro

Method

Preheat oven to 190C.

Mix rosemary, oregano, garlic, worcestershire sauce, and oil together in a large mixing bowl.

Add chicken, onion, and potatoes into bowl.  Toss to coat.

Lay everything out onto a large baking dish.

Rest the chicken on top of the potatoes.

Season with salt and pepper.

Bake on middle rack for an hour, uncovered.

Serve with lemon wedges, cherry tomatoes and garnish with chopped cilantro.

Almond & Melon Seeds Crisp

Recipe adapted from Evangeline Diana Lee.
A great recipe to clear the egg whites after making the Pineapple Tarts!

Ingredients
100g almond flakes
50g melon seeds
3 egg whites
2tbsp vegetable oil
70g castor sugar
40g plain flour
Black & white sesame seeds to sprinkle


Method

1. Lined baking tray and preheat oven at 180C.
2. Mix egg whites, sugar, oil & flour until well-combined.
3. Add in almond flakes & melon seeds and mix well.
4. Transfer mixture into baking tray and spread them thinly & evenly over the tray. 
5. Sprinkle the sesame seeds over the mixture.
6. Send to bake for 18mins.
7. Once baked, quickly lift the baking paper to a heat-resistance surface (eg: silpat or wooden choping board) and cut them into squares or rectangular shapes. Note:  they will turn hard once cooled.
8. Then transfer to cooling rack and leave to cool completely before storing them in air-tight containers. 

Original recipe.

Before baking.

Fresh out from oven!

Baked, cut & packed!

Pineapple Tarts (melt-in-the-mouth)

Tart recipe adapted from Nasi Lemak Lover.

Ingredients
*Makes about 100 tarts

350g butter (I used salted)
100g condensed milk
510g plain flour
2 egg yolks

700g Pineapple filling (I used store-bought types, but if you prefer to make them yourself, you can take a look at this Kenneth Goh's recipe that just required 30mins to make!)

Eggwash: 2 egg yolks + 1tsp water + 1tsp oil

Optional (depending on design): Sesame seeds & green coloring


Method

1. Roll pineapple jam into balls of 8g each (Tip: wet your hands while rolling, it'll prevent the jam from sticking to your hand) I did this the night before baking the tarts, and store them in an airtight container and left it in the fridge.
   
2. Cream butter and condensed milk with mixer, until light & well-combined.
   
3. Add in egg yolks, one at a time.
   
4. Then mix in sieved flour (half by mixer, and the other half manually).
   
5. When the mixture comes to a soft dough, roll each dough into balls of 10g.
   
6. Shaping into balls:
   (1) Flatten a piece of dough on your palm, then place a piece of the roll pineapple filling in the middle. Seal the edges of the dough and roll it into a round ball shape.
   (2) Apply egg wash and sprinkle some sesame seeds in the center.
   
7. Shaping into pineapples:
   (1) You need to color a small portion of the dough with green coloring.
   (2) Flatten a piece of dough (original) on your palm, then place a piece of the roll pineapple filling in the middle. Seal the edges of the dough and roll it into a round ball shape.
   (3)  Press a skewer lightly across the ball to create the lines.
   (4) Using a small flower plunger, cut out 3 small flowers from the green dough.
   (5) Stick them on the sides of the ball to create the leaf.
   (6) Apply egg wash.
   
8. Shaping into nastar:  Transfer dough to the nastar plunger and pipe out a strips of dough, add a piece of pineapple jam, roll up and cut off extra dough.
   
9. Send to bake at 160C for 20mins.
   
10. Once baked, leave to cool completely then store in airtight container.

The jams I used.

Roll them into balls of 8g each.

Pineapple Balls: before baking.

Pineapple Balls: baked!

Pineapple shapes: before baking.

Pineapple shapes: baked!

This is the flower plunger that I used to make the leaf on the pineapple shape tarts.

Nastar: before bake

Nastar: baked!  For this shape, I did it without eggwash.

This is the plunger that I used for the nastar shapes.

Illustrations on the nastar shaping.
Photo credits to Food4Tots.

All baked & packed!

Buttercream

Recipe adapted & modified from Baking Biatch.  Can withstand room temperature for around 2-3 hours.

Ingredients
*makes around 2 cups of buttercream

115g unsalted butter - room temperature
110g margarine - room temperature
2 cups icing sugar - sieved
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp vanilla essense
some milk (if necessary)
Desired coloring


Method
1. Cream butter, margarine, vanilla essence and salt till pale and fluffy.
3. Add in sieved icing sugar by 2-3 portions and mix until well-combined.
6. Add milk by the teaspoon (if needed) until reach desired consistency.

DIY Vanilla Extract

Ingredients
3 sticks vanilla beans/sticks
125ml alcohol (good to use volka, otherwise any other neutral flavour alcohol is ok too)
1 bottle


Method

1. Scrap the seeds/beans from the vanilla sticks.
2. Put the scrapped sticks into the bottle and fill with alcohol.  Note to use a bottle with a suitable height as we need the alcohol to cover the sticks.
3. Seal and label the bottle.  The sticks need to be soak for at least 5 weeks.
4. Give the bottle a light shake daily.

Baked Rice

Another easy peasy way to whip up a quick lunch :)

Ingredients

1 bowl cooked rice

1/2 canned cream of mushroom

2 slices of ham - slice into smaller pieces

2 hotdogs - slice into smaller pieces

1 egg

Dash of pepper

Pinch of salt

Some mozzarella cheese

Some parsley flakes

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Mix rice with cream of mushroom and seasoned with salt & pepper.  Transfer to aluminium tray (if using ramekin bowl, lightly grease the bowl).
3. Spread sliced ham & hotdog over rice.
4. Sprinkle cheese over, leaving a small hole in the center, beat an egg into the hole.  Sprinkle some pepper and salt over egg.
5. Send to bake for 20mins.
6. When done, sprinkle some parsley flakes over and serve hot! 

Easy Pizza

Great way to whip up a quick and yummy meal!

Ingredients

1 wrap

2tbsp pasta sauce

1 ham - shred into smaller pieces

2 hotdogs - cut into smaller pieces

Some mozzarella cheese

Parsley flakes 

Method

1. Lined baking tray with aluminium foil and preheat oven to 180C.
2. Spread pasta sauce over wrap.
3. Spread ham & hotdogs over sauce.
4. Spread cheese.
5. Send to bake for 8-10mins.
6. Once done, sprinkle parsley flakes over pizza and serve hot!

This is the wrap I used.

This is the sauce I used.

Belgium Waffles

Recipe by Daniel Leong, shared by Kelly Ko.

Ingredients

*Makes 8 small waffles

220g cake flour

40g sugar

2g yeast

1/4tsp salt

25g butter

1 egg

240g milk

1/2tsp vanilla extract

Method

1.  Melt butter, set aside.

2. Mix all wet ingredients (except melted butter) and yeast together and mix well until no lumps.

3.  Add in sieved flour, sugar and salt.  Stir until well combined.

4.  Add in melted butter and mix until well combined.

5.  Cover and set aside to ferment for 1 hour.

6. Pour into waffle maker and cook for 4mins.

Original recipe

Tiramisu (Egg & Alcohol free)

The original recipe is from my dear friend, The Baking Biatch!  Super easy to make & yummy!
I tweaked the recipe a bit because I'm serving this dessert to the kids..so I omit the alcohol :)

Ingredients

*Makes a 23cm x 23cm tub

42 pcs ladyfinger biscuits 

2 cans of Nescafe original coffee

Some cocoa powder for sieving

Cream mixture

500g mascarpone cheese (for a slightly different taste, you can also replace with cream cheese too)

2 tbsp vanilla extract

4 tbsp caster sugar

4 tbsp milk

4 tbsp thickened cream 

Method

1. Mix all the cream mixture ingredients together until well combined (I used a wooden spoon).
2. Pour coffee into a bowl, dip both sides of the ladyfinger biscuits in it, and lay it cross the tub.
3. Spread a layer of the cream mixture on top of the lady fingers.
4. Sieved cocoa powder over the cream mixture until it covers the mixture.
5. Repeat step#2-4 for the next layers.
6. Send in to chill and set in the fridge for at least 6 hours (I left mine overnight)

Baked Seaweed Crackers

We usually had this during the Chinese New Year period, and everyone at home loves this :)  Not difficult to make and it's also a more healthy version because there's no oil use at all!  And super crunchy!

Ingredients
*makes around 2 jars

20 pieces of popiah skins
10 pieces of grilled seaweeds (i use 'Big Bang' brand)
1 egg - beaten


Method
*Greased and line baking tray
*Preheat oven at 180C

1.  Lay 1 piece of the popiah skin on your rolling mat.

2.  Brush a layer of eggwash.

3.  Lay a piece of seaweed and press down firmly.

4.  Brush another layer of eggwash on the seaweed.

5.  Lay another piece of popiah skin on top, and press down firmly.

6.  Cut into desired shapes, and lay them on the baking tray.  They could be side by side but not stack up.  Send to bake at 180C for 8mins, or till they are light golden colours.  

Wilton Decorator's Cream

There are many types of buttercream recipes around, and this is one of my favourite to use, because it is make up of shortening instead of butter, hence it doesn't have a very strong buttery taste, and it doesn't melt easily.  Best of all, it also does not harden hard in the fridge :)

Ingredients
*Yield 3 cups
207g white vegetable shortening (I used crisco.  You may also substitute with butter or margarine)
1tsp vanilla extract
2tbsp milk
500g icing sugar
1/2 egg white
Pinch of salt

Method

1. Cream shortening, vanilla and milk. Then add in egg white, continue to cream until well combined.
2. Add in dry ingredients and mix until well combined.
   * For softer consistency, add 1 tsp of water at a time and mix well, until you reach the desired consistency. 

These are some of the decorations that I piped with this recipe :)