Rolled Chocolate Cream Puff with Custard Filling

Another way to make cream puff :)
Recipe is from Hestí's site

 

Rolling choux is officially not easy for me, hence the not so round roll LOL

 

 

 

What you need:

For the choux:
150g butter
120g plain flour
30g cocoa powder
250ml fresh milk
2 tbsp fine sugar
1/4 tsp salt
4 large eggs

For the filling:
200g sweet condensed milk
600ml water
3 tsp fine sugar (original recipe 6 tbsp but I found 3 tsp is enough)
35g corn flour
35g plain flour
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 egg yolks
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter

Method:

Choux:

1. Cook butter, milk, sugar and salt over medium low heat, stir continuously til boiling
2. Add in flour, stir vigorously til smooth. Off heat and let cool
3. Add in egg one by one, beat well each time
4. Scoop batter into piping bag, and pipe in lines on a lined baking sheet (give about half a cm gap)
5. Bake in preheated oven of 200degC for 20-25 minutes (do not open the oven door during baking)

Filling:

1. Bring all ingredients to the boil in a pot (except butter). Keep stirring throughout the process
2. After boiling, off heat. Add in butter and stir well
3. Let cool by covering the custard with cling wrap (do not leave space between the custard and the pot)

How to assemble:

1. After the choux cooled, flip and spread the filling on it
2. Roll just like when you make swiss roll using baking paper
3. Tighten and keep in the fridge for 30 minutes
4. Cut and serve

What I did with the remaining choux dough...

I'm submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #34: Choux Party (August 2013) hosted by Jasline of Foodie Baker

 

I'm also submitting this post to  Little Thumbs up (Egg) organised by Doreen from my little favourite DIY and Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, hosted by Yen from Eat your heart out, at this post

 

 

 

 

A friendly reminder:

The giveaway is now opened. Closing date is 5 September 2013

Please view HERE for details :)

Perak MFF - Kampar Stir Fry Fun Jai with Long Beans

Another dish I saw caught my attention
It's something new to me and I like it. My mum said, not bad - quite nice, with chilli paste would be more yummy. I a kind of agree with what she suggested, adding some spiciness will give extra kick :)

Recipe is from Wendy from Table for 2.... or more

Somehow on that day after I was done with the cooking I was super lazy to take out my camera, so I just took some pictures with my mobile phone, fresh right after cooked LOL

 

 

What you need:

 

For the noodle dough:

100g rice flour

375g water + 1/3 tsp salt

180g rice flour + 20g plain flour

 

For the vegetables:

1 heaped cup of sectioned long beans

2 cloves of garlic, bruised and chopped finely

1/3 tsp salt

1/2 cup water

1 tbsp oil

 

To cook with the noodles:

4 shallots, thinly sliced

3 tbsp oil

 

Seasoning:

3 tbsp light soya sauce

1 tsp fish sauce

1/2 tsp oyster sauce

1 tsp dark caramel sauce

dash of white pepper

1/2 cup water

 

Method:

 

Make the noodle:

1. Mix water with 100g rice flour. Cook over medium heat, stir til thick. Off the heat and pour the remaining flours. Mix until sticky dough forms. Leave to cool, it will not be sticky but tacky
2. Bring a saucepan of water to boil
3. Oil one side of a cleaver (I do not own one so I used dough scraper)
4. Flatten dough on the oiled side of the dough scraper, about 8mm thick
5. Use another dough scaper (lightly oiled on the cutting edge), slice dough into the boiling water
6. When the dough strips float, let simmer for another 10 seconds and use a small strainer and pick them up into a colander
7. Rinse noodles under running tap water, set aside, let cool

Prepare the long beans:

1. Heat wok til real hot, put in salt, then oil
2. Add in garlic, stir quickly and then add in long beans
3. Toss and cook til some parts of the long beans browning
4. Add in water and simmer over medium heat (lid off) til softened

Frying the noodles:

1. Heat wok and put in oil. Sautee shallots til golden
2. Put in noodles and toss lightly
3. Add in long beans and seasonings, toss lightly
4. When the liquid looks absorbed, off the heat and let it warmed in the wok

 

For step by step pictures, you may view Wendy's site, it's really helpful :)

 

 

 

I'm submitting this post to Malaysian Food Fest (Perak) hosted by WendyinKK from Table for 2 or more

 

 

A friendly reminder:

The giveaway is now opened. Closing date is 5 September 2013

Please view HERE for details :)

 

Totally Chocolate Chocolate Chips Cookies (Nigella Lawson) & Three Years Blog Anniversary Giveaway

My blog was 3 years 2 days ago! :))
It was 27 August 2010 when I started this blog. Time flies, huh? :)
This time, courtesy of Zespri, I have 5 sets of Zespri premiums as giveaways

Big umbrellas and bags full of goodies :)

 

What's inside the bag...

 

This giveaway is open for those reside in Singapore only
My apology for the restriction. The bag is not too bad, I still can compress it, but the umbrella will be a problem, it's bulky and quite heavy...


Okay, now how to participate...
1. Those who haven't followed my blog, please click follow
2. Leave a comment in this posting, just shout "I love Zespri (green/yellow/both green and yellow kiwis!" ---> Choose one from the three options, example: "I love yellow kiwis!"

And that's it!
The giveaway will open from 29 August which is today and the last day will be 5 September
To pick the winners, I am now trying to use Random.org (wish me luck for this, I'm a computer idiot - anybody want to teach me? LOL)
In any case I can't figure out how it works, my kids would be the judges :P
I'll announce the 5 winners about 3 days after closing date :)


Okay, now the bake of the day :)
Aren't they marvellous? They are for you, chocolate lovers!

 

 

Okay fine, they are not so pretty looking, but once you sink your teeth in it, you'll just go hhhmmmmm...

These cookies are truly chocolate addicts' dream come true
It's super loaded with chocolate I don't think anymore chocolate can be added!
Absolutely heavenly! And just like what suggested by Nigella, I can't agree more, these are a must for broken hearted souls
Well, you do not have to have your heart broken to enjoy these cookies :)
And I tell you, this is seriously one of the best chocolate chips cookies I've ever eaten
Chewy chocolaty, just delicious!

Recipe is from HERE

What you need:
(makes 33 cookies @2tbsp dough)

150g dark chocolate (I used Cadbury 70%)
125g plain flour (original recipe 150g)
2 tbsp corn flour (original recipe never used this)
30g cocoa powder (I used Valrhona)
1 tsp baking powder (I used double acting)
1/2 tsp salt
125g soft butter
90g light brown sugar
50g white fine sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cold egg
350g semi sweet chocolate chips

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 170degC.
2. melt dark chocolate with microwave, set aside
3. Mix flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt together in a bowl
4. Beat butter and sugar til just blended. Add in melted chocolate and mix together
5. Beat in vanilla extract and cold egg, mix
6. Add in dry ingredients gradually. Lastly, stir in chocolate chips
7. Place each tablespoon (mine is 2 tbsp. each) of batter on a lined baking sheet (about 5cm apart) Do not flatten them (Actually I flattened them slightly hence the flatter shapes)
8. Bake for 15 minutes until the sides of the cookies are lightly firm to the touch. Leave to cool slightly on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack to harden as they cool

Note:
In this recipe, I reduced the plain flour and replaced with corn flour to achieve more chewy texture (inspired by Jasline from Foodie Baker)
We love chewy chocolate chips cookies :)

 

I'm submitting this post to Cook Like A Star, organised by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, Joyce from Kitchen Flavours and Anuja from Simple Baking where this month guest chef is Nigella Lawson

 

 

I'm also submitting this post to  Little Thumbs up (Egg) organised by Doreen from my little favourite DIY and Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, hosted by Yen from Eat your heart out, at this post

Perak MFF- Sitiawan Fuzhou Egg Noodles

My kind of dish, I have to try!
That's what I thought when I saw Ivy from Simple Beautiful and Healthy Living posted this dish
I was really sure my family will enjoy this dish, but I wasn't too sure if they would like the noodle and I wasn't too sure either if I could make it successfully LOL
Hence I decided to just make half recipe
Boy I was wrong, DH and the kids enjoyed this dish so much as much as I did :)
The noodles were springy the kids called it tasty chewy noodles LOL I guess it's a little chewy cos some of the pancakes were a little too thick :)

Don't ask me what the weird panda doing there, it's Ian's request to put that as the prop of the day LOL

What you need: (half recipe)

For egg noodles batter:
250g tapioca flour
95g plain flour
355ml water
1 egg
***if you do not wish to use egg, add 40ml water. Ivy mentioned that addition of 1 egg can give more springy noodles, so I used 2 eggs and 315ml water

Method:

1. Put all ingredients into a bowl, stir til smooth
2. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a non stick pan (I used kitchen roll, dipped in oil and just wiped the pan with it)
3. Pour 1 ladle of batter into the wok and fry until both sides are cooked. Repeat the whole process for the remaining batter
4. Roll the pancake individually and use scissors to cut it.  Place the freshly cut egg noodles into a serving bowl and add your choice of soup into it

Note:
The balance of egg noodles can be stored in the fridge or frozen for future use.  However, for refrigerated egg noodles, you need to add it into the soup to be cooked for a while before serving

Looks like popaddum huh? Soft poppadum LOL

Roll and cut

 

I cooked the soup following Ivy's recipe, too. However, you may use any soup of your preference

What you need for the soup:

prawns - deshelled and marinade with salt
fishballs
cut shitake mushrooms
sliced chicken meat - marinade with sesame oil and light soya sauce (the marinade is my addition)
bokchoy, cut
ikan bilis (anchovies) stock
some chopped garlic
cooking oil, salt (I used garlic salt), pepper
Ivy used shredded black fungus, also light soya sauce for the seasoning, but I omitted

Method:

Heat oil in a wok or pot and saute garlic until fragrant.  Add all the ingredients except fish balls and vegetables.  Stir fry until aromatic and add anchovies stock
Cover and bring it to a boil
Add fish balls and vegetables and cook until vegetables and fish balls are cooked
Add seasonings and ladle the soup into a serving bowl filled with freshly cut egg noodles

 

 

So good to know I can make homemade noodles even though I do not own noodle maker :)

The next time I make this noodle I will use 1 egg and see what's the difference in texture

 

 

I'm submitting this post to Malaysian Food Fest (Perak) hosted by WendyinKK from Table for 2 or more

 

I'm also submitting this post to  Little Thumbs up (Egg) organised by Doreen from my little favourite DIY and Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, hosted by Yen from Eat your heart out, at this post

 

 

Ice Kacang - Again!

The second ice kacang I made this month! :)
Looking at Wendy's post HERE, I was reminded that I still have most of the ingredients in the fridge
So I made again :)
Not so much different from the first ice kacang I made actually, with some other ingredients added, no sweet condensed milk and coloured syrup :)
Today was hot, so it's just perfect to enjoy this icy cold dessert :)

This time added red dyed pearl sago and cendol :)
 

 

 

I didn't have enough ice to create a higher pile! :(

So good, so refreshing! :)

 

 What you need:

unsweetened grass jelly, cubed
cendol, drained
azuki beans (I used store bought)
sago pearls cooked in red dyed water til translucent, rinse with running tap and soak in ice water for awhile
canned cream corn
evaporated milk
dark gula melaka syrup (palm sugar)
crushed ice

Method:
Put 1 heaped tbsp of grass jelly, cendol, azuki beans, sago pearls in a bowl. Top up with crushed ice
Drizzle with palm sugar syrup and evaporated milk
Top with 1 tbsp cream corn. Serve immediately

Dark gula Melaka syrup:
50g dark brown sugar + 50g palm sugar (or 100g nipah gula Melaka)
100ml water
1 pandan leaf, shredded

Method:
Bring to boil and let simmer til all sugars melted. Strain and let cool
***The syrup was real dark but it didn't make the ice kacang mixture dark enough. Perhaps I should have poured more. But I was worried it would make the dessert too sweet :)

Ritzy Chicken Nuggets (Nigella Lawson)

Another fabulous express recipe from Nigella
Marinated up to two days is required though, but it's still express to me
Using Ritz crackers is such a brilliant idea for a fuss free cooking!

 

 

Taste absolutely amazing with superb texture, too! Marinating the chicken pieces in buttermilk overnight produced such soft tender and flavourful chunks

Recipe is from HERE

What you need:

2 chicken breast @250g approximately
284ml buttermilk (I used fresh milk with 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice to make it 284ml)
200g Ritz biscuits
a pinch of salt (I added)
vegetable oil for deep frying

Method:

1. Put the chicken breasts one at a time into a freezer bag so that they lie flat. Bash with a rolling pin until the chicken is quite thin, and then take it out and slice into strips or squares, whichever you prefer . Repeat with the other chicken breast
2. Put the chicken slices into a freezer bag with the buttermilk and leave in the fridge to marinate for up to 2 days
3. When you are ready to cook them, heat the oil in a large frying pan. Put the Ritz crackers into a bag, seal the end, then bash them as above and, once they have broken down a little, roll them with a rolling pin still inside the bag
4. Tip the crumbs into a wide shallow bowl, and then shake off the excess buttermilk from the nuggets and dip them in the crumbs. Coat them well before laying gently in the hot oil, and cooking for about 2 or 3 minutes a side until they are golden brown
5. Transfer to some kitchen towel on a plate to blot the excess oil

My kids were crazy about these nuggets (so are their mummy and daddy LOL) Ian kept on coming back to the dining table and munched on them :P

I'm submitting this post to Cook Like A Star, organised by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, Joyce from Kitchen Flavours and Anuja from Simple Baking where this month guest chef is Nigella Lawson

Chocolate Banana Muffins (Nigella Lawson)

 

I was a kind of craving for something with banana. But also chocolate. And something easy to make, too - just not in the mood for something tedious only to satisfy my sudden craving. So this recipe was chosen :)

 

 

Recipe is from HERE

What you need:


3 overripe bananas, mashed
125ml vegetable oil
2 large eggs
100g soft light brown sugar
225g plain flour
3 tbsp cocoa powder (sifted)
1 tsp baking soda

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200degC. Line a 12 regular size muffin pan with cupcake case
2. Mash the bananas by hand or with a freestanding mixer. Still beating and mashing, add the oil followed by the eggs and sugar
3. Mix the flour, cocoa powder and baking soda together and add this mixture, beating gently, to the banana mixture, then spoon it into the prepared papers
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 15–20 minutes, by which time the muffins should be dark, rounded and peeking proudly out of their cases. Allow to cool slightly in their tin before removing to a wire rack

This recipe is considerably easy. You can do the mixing either by hand whisk or electric mixer. And all are to mix just til combined. Anybody can make these muffins, even those never bake before
And the best part is, the texture of these muffins are light, soft, fluffy and moist. A little different from the usual muffins. It's like in between muffin and cupcake. I like :)

The taste develops overnight, it's much better the next day
The sweetness is also just right, not too sweet. Well, the end result is highly dependant on the sweetness of the banana used. Generally, overripe ones will give enough sweetness to the muffins
If you want to make it slightly richer, adding dark chocolate chips (or chopped dark chocolate) will be great. I should do that next time :)
Semi sweet chocolate chips or chopped milk chocolate are not advisable though, unless you like a real sweet muffins :)

Overall, I'm satisfied with these muffins :)

 

 

I'm submitting this post to Cook Like A Star, organised by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, Joyce from Kitchen Flavours and Anuja from Simple Baking where this month guest chef is Nigella Lawson

I'm also submitting this post to  Little Thumbs up (Egg) organised by Doreen from my little favourite DIY and Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, hosted by Yen from Eat your heart out, at this post

Scotch Eggs With Cornflakes Coating

I am not sure about you, but I have the habit of collecting cut out recipes from whatever resources I find... Newspapers, magazines, inserts, promo leaflets, boxes from food ingredients I buy... anything :) I have a high pile of them, the height is getting close to the stack of my recipe books LOL

With so many great recipes from other bloggers and recipe books, also my ever so long to do list, this stack of cut out most of the time untouched :) Not forever though
At times I still flip them through, especially when I need inspiration while doing my weekly plan of what to cook for the family. Yes, most of the time I plan ahead my family's meal :)

Ok, this great idea I found at the back of Kellog's corn flake box. I tried and yes it's good, real good :)

Another habit of mine - I always tick those recipes I've tried successfully LOL

What you need:

5 eggs (the picture shown in the cut out used quail eggs, I used normal eggs) - hardboiled, shells removed
200g chicken meat
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 shallots, chopped
1/2 tsp turmeric powder (original recipe used 3g turmeric root)
5g ginger
2 pcs kaffir lime leaves, sliced
2 red bird's eye chillies, sliced (I omitted)
1 stalk spring onion, chopped
1 red chilli, finely diced (I omitted)
1 tsp plain flour + more for coating
1/2 tsp salt
pinch of white pepper
1 egg, lightly beaten
corn flakes, for coating, crushed
oil for deep frying

Method:

1. In a food processor, process together the chicken, garlic, shallots, turmeric, ginger, kaffir lime leaves and chillies if using, until the meat develops a bounciness and elasticity
2. Remove mixture into a bowl and stir in spring onion, plain flour, salt, pepper, combining everything thoroughly
3. Wrap meat around whole de-shelled eggs
4. Coat the eggs with the beaten egg, then flour, coat again with beaten egg, then coat with crushed corn flakes
5. Deep fry the eggs til exterior is golden brown

I'm submitting this post to  Little Thumbs up (Egg) organised by Doreen from my little favourite DIY and Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, hosted by Yen from Eat your heart out, at this post

 

 

I'm also submitting this post to Cook-Your-Books #3 hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours

 

 

Pasta with Ham, Peas & Cream (Nigella Lawson)

There's no a week passes without me cooking a pasta dish, that's my kid's request order LOL They love pasta so much they never get sick of it!
I always in search for pasta recipes. Cook Like A Star is a great means, with so many guest chefs featured :)

This month is Nigella Lawson's month. This is her pasta recipe I tried, and it's wonderfully accepted by my family :)
Not only delicious, but it's so easy to make, too. In fact, I have bookmarked many of express recipes from her site. Now I'm so tempted to purchase her book, Nigella Express :)

Recipe is from HERE

 

 

What you need:

 

200g farfalle pasta (I used fusilli)

100g frozen peas

150ml double cream (I used cream)

150g diced ham

2 tbsp. grated parmesan cheese

 

Method:

1. Cook the pasta according to packet instructions in plenty of salted boiling water, and then after 5 minutes add the peas to the pasta water
2. When the pasta is cooked, drain with the peas
3. Put the dry pan back on the heat with the cream, ham and Parmesan and warm it through
4. Add the pasta and peas back to the pan, tossing everything together well

 

 

 

I'm submitting this post to Cook Like A Star, organised by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, Joyce from Kitchen Flavours and Anuja from Simple Baking where this month guest chef is Nigella Lawson

Perak MFF - Lempeng Pisang

I love any kind of desserts or snacks with banana
So, this attracted my attention when I saw this posting by Elin from Elinluv's Tidbits Corner
And I managed to find time to make some, too :)

I agree with Elin, this is really bananalicious :)

This is really good, soft and sweet from the banana mixture and crunchy from the coconut, love it :)

What you need:
(Original recipe is from Home Kreation)

10 bananas (I used medium sized overripe Cavendish bananas)

1/2 cup flour

sugar - if you think the bananas u use are not sweet enough

fresh grated coconut + 1 tbsp sugar & a pinch of salt

banana Leaves - washed & wiped dry

 

Method:

1. Mash bananas (coarsely) & add sugar to taste if necessary
2. Add in flour & mix well
3. Spread some amount of  banana mixture on a piece of banana leaf
4. Spread 1 tbsp coconut on top. Fold & place on a grill pan (I used Happy Call pan). Cook both sides
5. Repeat wrapping & cooking process with the remaining batter

Nom nom nom....

I'm submitting this post to Malaysian Food Fest (Perak) hosted by WendyinKK from Table for 2 or more

ABC August 2013 - Braided Strawberry Cheese Bread

Finally I baked for Avid Baker's Challenge (ABC), my third one this year
I must apologize to Hanaa for not participating for quite awhile
Hanaa, I promise I'll make it up slowly by baking those listed in ABC this year that I haven't done :)

Bake for this month is braided lemon bread, recipe is from King Arthur Flour
I replaced lemon curd with homemade strawberry jam

Okay, this bread has so many great reviews and oh yes, I can't agree more
This bread is so good! But, I wasn't proud with my braid hehehe...
It's not neat at all and jam leaked out in some corners...
it's actually a mock braid, pretty simple way to do achieve similar look to braid but still I couldn't manage to do a nice one LOL

 

 

Love the color though :)

 

Soft, fluffy, delicious bread - and yes, it stayed that way the next day :P

 

Hhhmmm... nom nom nom...

 

 

Recipe can be found HERE

For the step-by-step mock braiding tutorial, please view HERE

 

The dough was quite wet and sticky at first but overall was pretty easy to manage

The sponge dough did do magic! Also the addition of plain yoghurt (I used low fat) played a big part in giving this bread brilliant texture

This dough recipe is indeed a keeper! I will definitely make again :)

 

Filling was delicious! Strawberry and cheese is a perfect match, we all know that

The cream cheese mixture was yummy! It's simply a mixture of cream cheese, sugar, sour cream (I replaced with plain low fat yoghurt), fresh lemon juice and flour

 

I made half recipe and baking time was 25 minutes

 

 

 

 

 

Please visit Avid Baker's Challenge (ABC) to view other members baking this wonderful bread. We are currently baking from King Arthur Flour website. Want to join? Please contact Hanaa

As this recipe uses egg, I'm submitting this post also to  Little Thumbs up (Egg) organised by Doreen from my little favourite DIY and Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, hosted by Yen from Eat your heart out, at this post