No Cook Overnight Oats (2 Recipes)

Lately overnight oats is seen everywhere. Reading so many positive reviews, I want to try, too! And yes, I can't agree more. It's yummy and addictive
So glad to know that it's healthy, too!

These two recipes I'm going to share used Farmers Union greek yoghurt
I find it's a little too creamy for me - without affecting the yumminess factor, of course
I still have a few varieties I'd like to try, I will use Marigold low fat plain yoghurt and see the difference :)

The basic recipe I used is from Ellena from Cuisine Paradise

What you need:

6 tbsp organic rolled oats
1/2 cup greek or low fat plain yoghurt (I used greek yoghurt for these 2 recipes)
1/2 cup fresh milk (I used low fat high calcium)
1 tbsp chia seeds
===> Mix all ingredients above in a glass jar with airtight lid

With the basic recipe above, you may add on many varieties according to your preference :)
The two varieties I made here...


First - overnight oats with orange and berries

 

 

Here I added the basic recipes with cuts of orange segments (I used red flesh cara cara oranges), strawberries and blueberries. Stir into the oats mixture and close the lid. Keep refrigerated overnight. Drizzle about 1/2 tbsp of raw honey before serving

 



 

 

Second - overnight oats with peanut butter and cocoa

 

Into the oats mixture, I added 1 heaped tbsp of creamy peanut butter and 2 tsp of Valrhona cocoa powder. Stir and close the lid. Keep refrigerated overnight. Drizzle about 1/2 tbsp of raw honey and sprinkle some semi sweet chocolate chips before serving

 

 

I strongly urge you to give this a try. It's one yummy breakfast menu that can be eaten as all day snack too :)

This post is for  Little Thumbs Up organised by Bake For Happy Kids, and My Little Favourite DIY, hosted by Tze from Awayofmind Bakery House at this post

AFF India - Mango Lassi

Ppppsssstttt!!! Let me share a secret, I am not a big fan of Indian food. Only to name a few that I don't mind having - prata, naan and dosai. That's it!

Perhaps I'll give my hands on naan in a day or two. But for now, this is what I have made for this month's Asian Food Fest - mango lassi
Believe it or not, this is my first time trying it out. Never had it before! Don't laugh! LOL

Easy and quick to prepare - checked. Delicious - checked
Sweet, creamy and refreshing, yum!
I can't believe this is one of the popular treat in India. To me, this is one healthy and delicious mango smoothie :)

 

 

What you need:

 

1 large mango (I used Thai honey mango)

1/2 cup plain yoghurt

1/4 cup fresh milk

1-2 tsp raw honey

 

Method:

1. Mix all ingredients in a blender and blend til smooth
2. Keep refrigerated before consuming

I am submitting this post to Asian Food Fest - Indian Subcontinent hosted by Alvin from Chef and Sommelier

Also, this post is for  Little Thumbs Up organised by Bake For Happy Kids, and My Little Favourite DIY, hosted by Tze from Awayofmind Bakery House at this post

ABC May 2014 - English Digestive Biscuits

This month's Avid Baker's Challenge bake is something that I never think I will bake myself - digestive biscuits!
Til now, I'm satisfied enough with Mcvities and Marks & Spencer
But hey, there's an opportunity here to experiment - why not? At least, I've tried, right? It's good to experience any kind of bake at least once - in my opinion
So, here is my homemade English digestive biscuits :)

This biscuits is so good, and it's especially good with a glass of cold milk!

And you know what, it's so easy to make! The only thing that I need more practice is the shaping (as usual LOL)

 

 

 

Recipe can be viewed from King Arthur Flour

 

The changes I made:

• I used 100% whole wheat pastry flour
• I omitted icing sugar and replaced with 1/2 cup brown sugar
• I kneaded the dough by hand

 

Frankly, I like the taste better than the store bought ones I normally purchase. yes, it's that tasty! :)

 

 

 

This post is for Avid Baker's Challenge May 2014, a baking event hosted by Hanaa from Hanaa's Kitchen where we bake each month using recipe from King Arthur Flour

 

 

This post is also for Little Thumbs Up organised by Bake For Happy Kids, and My Little Favourite DIY, hosted by Tze from Awayofmind Bakery House at this post

 

 

Soft Cinnamon Pretzel - In Just 30 Minutes!

This is my second soft pretzels. The first one I baked, it took me about an hour and a half. This recipe saves 2/3 of the time. Yes, only 30 mins! And the result is very very close!
I am a happy girl :)

I always like my soft pretzels fat! And I sprinkled way too much of cinnamon, but I love cinnamon, so that's good!:)

Recipe is from Sally's Baking Addiction

What you need:
(below is half recipe with some modification, yielded 4 fat pretzels)

3/4 cup lukewarm water
1 1/8 tsp active instant yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp sugar
1 3/4 cup + 1/8 cup bread flour
1/8 cup bread flour (or plain flour) for kneading
3 cups of water
1/4 cup of baking soda
1 tbsp butter, melted
some mixture of brown sugar and ground cinnamon for sprinkling

Method:

1. Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water, stir with a spoon about 1 minute. Some clusters of yeast will remain. Add sugar, stir
2. Mix salt and flour. Stir in 1 3/4 cup flour mixture gradually. Add in the remaining 1/8 cup flour. You will find the dough is not sticky anymore. Poke it, if it bounces back, it's ready for kneading
3. Preheat oven to 220degC. Line baking sheet
4. Knead the dough on floured surface for 3 minutes and shape into a ball. Cut into 4 parts (the number of parts depends on how big / small you want your pretzels to be)
5. Roll one part of the dough til forms a long rope. Take the ends and draw them together so it forms a circle. Twist the ends and bring them towards you, press them down into pretzel shape
6. While doing the kneading, boil the water and sprinkle baking soda, stir
7. Dunk the pretzels one by one for about 30 seconds each
8. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and brush the pretzels with melted butter, sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture
9. Put it back in the oven for another 5 minutes

Texture is the same as those recipes with proofing, soft with slight chewiness

One thing is, this pretzel is best eaten on the day of baking. It's a little harder the next day but reheating will give back the soft texture :)

 

This post is for LBT
The challenge for this month is soft pretzel

Look, I've wasted quite a bit of cinnamon sugar mixture :)

3rd Anniversary Bake Along #60 Healthy Flourless & Sugarless Chocolate Cake

Wait for me, wait for me! How can I miss baking for Bake Along special edition? It's the 3rd anniversary! How time flies!
Also, the theme is something I must not miss, cos it's chocolate cake! I love many kinds of cake, but to me, chocolate cake is still ranked highest :)

Ah, so many chocolate cake recipes I have, couldn't decide which one I wanted to try when I suddenly came across this recipe
What a good chocolate cake, isn't it? No flour, no sugar. And its easy to make, too. And the first factor made me so intrigued was the use of black beans! Now, how cool is that?
And so I did....

When I saw the cake after cooling it down in the pan for 10' mins, I was expecting a brownie texture kind. But I was wrong, this is a chocolate cake. Soft, fluffy, moist. Similar to devil's food cake, if not better. It's definitely richer, more chocolaty and fudgy. Oh so good!

Unless you only like light airy chiffon kind of cake, you definitely will like this cake
And not too worry, there's NO trace of the black bean at all. Not in the texture, taste or smell. None!

One thing that I might alter a bit in the future is I will not use water and blend the beans using food processor instead. With water the cake was a little too wet for me
And I will use coconut oil instead. We'll see how it turns out
Oh, I will try the chocolate buttercream, too :)
Lastly, I will definitely make full recipe. I want tall cake! :)

So, here it is...

A slice of heaven :)

 

Nom nom nom... Next time, I make you taller, okie? LOL

 

Recipe is from Healthy Indulgences

What you need:
(I made half recipe, below is the full recipe)

1 1/2 cup cooked black beans
5 large eggs (for half recipe, I used 2 medium egg and a mixture of 1 tbsp of flaxseed meal + 3 tbsp water - wait for 5 mins before using the mixture -> a replacement for an egg)
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
some water
6 tbsp unsalted butter OR 5 1/2 tbsp coconut oil (I didn't have coconut oil so I used canola)
1/2 cup honey OR 1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons Truvia (I used raw honey)
6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted (I used Valrhona)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 165degC. Prepare a 9" round pan - greased and floured (for half recipe I used 6" and I got a rather short cake, perhaps 4" would be better)
2. Drain and rinse beans in a strainer or colander. Shake off excess water
3. Place beans, 3 of the eggs, vanilla, stevia (if using) and salt also water into blender and blend on high until beans are completely liquefied, and no lumps at all
4. Whisk together cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder
5. In a bowl, use a mixer to cream the butter with honey until light and fluffy. Mix in the two remaining eggs, beating for a minute after each addition (Since I used canola oil which is liquid - unlike coconut oil which is paste like, I beat the egg first then added oil and honey)
6. Add in the bean mixture and continue beating. Finally, stir in cocoa powder and beat the batter on high for one minute, until smooth
7. Pour batter into the pan. Drop the pan a few times on the table to pop any air bubbles
8. Bake for 45 mins. Cake is done when the top springs back when you press on it
9. Remove cake to a cooling rack to cool for 10 mins. Turn out cake from pan, and flip over again on to cooling rack
10. This cake is claimed to be at the best flavour after kept overnight

The original recipe halved the cake and spread chocolate buttercream in between as well as the top of the cake (it's a healthier chocolate buttercream recipe!)
(I halved the cake and spread Nutella instead and sprinkled the top of the cake with icing sugar - these two made the cake not so healthy anymore LOL)

 

 

This post is for Bake Along #60, an event organised by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours, Lena from Frozen Wings and Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids

 

 

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, BAKE ALONG! MANY MORE BAKES TO COME :)

Dorayaki - Finally, The Recipe That Works!

First time I tried making dorayaki was close to 3 years ago and I wasn't too pleased with the result
Finally, after a few times experiments, I discovered the recipe that gives me dorayaki with the texture I want :)

 

 

Giant dorayaki LOL - I used chocolate custard as filling as Abby only like red beans in Japanese mochi and Ian dislike red beans totally

 

Nom nom nom... soft, fluffy and yummy!

 

Recipe is derived from Dailydelicious and Nami from Just One Cookbook

What you need:

4 eggs
140g sugar
2 tbsp honey
160g cake flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp water
enough oil for greasing

Method:

1. Sift cake flour and baking powder together, set aside
2. Mix well eggs, sugar and honey in a bowl and beat til fluffy
3. Add in flour mixture and mix well. Keep in the fridge for 15mins
4. Stir in 1/2 tbsp of water one at a time, it should be thicker than pancake batter, otherwise it won't be fluffy
5. Heat a non stick pan on medium heat, dip paper towel in oil, coat the pan. It should be slightly oiled but not visible to get nice texture
6. Drop batter about 30cm above the panto create 3 inches round of pancake. When the surface bubbles, flip and cook the other side
7. Transfer to a plate and cover with damp towel to prevent from drying. Repeat the process til batter finished
8. Scoop filling and place at the centre part of the dorayaki, cover with another piece of dorayaki on top and slightly press the centre so the filling spread and then continue to press the sides gently
9. Immediately wrap in clingwrap individually til ready to serve

For the chocolate custard recipe, please view HERE

Oishi!

 

 

 

My wish to all mothers out there (including myself), HAVE A GREAT MOTHER'S DAY! :)

Brownies In A Mug - 5 Ingredients

I've been beaten up by the ridiculously hot and stuffy weather. It made me lost my mood to do anything in the kitchen, also in front of computer. Hence my absence in this blog for the past a week, hibernating most of the time in my aircon room
Today weather is slightly friendlier. So, I'm back :)

This easy brownies is delicious. Soft, moist, not too sweet and pretty chocolaty. Minimum ingredients used and easy to make, too
Original recipe uses microwave to bake. I'm having reservation in baking using microwave. I still prefer conventional oven. So I chose the latter

Recipe is from Eugenie Kitchen

What you need:
(the original recipe is for 1 mug, I tripled it and used muffin tin to bake in the oven)

90g all purpose flour
150g light brown sugar
6 tbsp cocoa powder
6 tbsp butter, melted
180ml fresh milk

Method:

1. In a bowl, mix flour, sugar and cocoa powder. Slowly add in melted butter and milk. Mix well with whisk
2. Pour batter in lined muffin tin til 3/4 full (mine just 1/2 full to resemble typical short brownies LOL)
3. Bake in preheated oven of 180degC til test skewer comes out clean
4. Once it's out from the oven, while it's still hot, arrange chocolate chips on top of each brownie

Nom nom....

 

This is a really good option when you have sudden craving for brownie, or something chocolaty :)

This post is for Little Thumbs Up organised by Bake For Happy Kids, and My Little Favourite DIY, hosted by Tze from Awayofmind Bakery House at this post

SunMoon Giveaway Result!

Using Random.Org, here are the winners:

1. Cheryl Chiang
2. Huishan
3. Amie Hu
4. Preciouz
5. Saralyn

Congratulations! A representative from SunMoon will contact you via email :)

Fruits & Vegetables Smoothies (1)

I am into smoothies only for the past 3 weeks. Perhaps it's because I saw many are making too, and I'm basically one fruits and vegetables lover
One thing for sure, smoothies is delicious and it's definitely easier and faster to gobble up a pile of goodness - fruits, vegetables - those you like and/or not, also you can even add on your daily supplements in it

Basically, you use some base liquid - water, milk or even tea. Then you can just add in whatever fruits and/or vegetables you feel like having or what you have in your fridge
After that you can add in any preferred natural flavouring and/or sweetener - honey, cinnamon, vanilla extract, raw cacao, or even nut butter
Before consuming, you may top with fruit chunks or any kind of seeds or nuts
Believe it or not, I always feel so stuffed after my smoothies it can last the whole morning til lunch time :)

This is not my first smoothies, actually. But the first one I share here in this blog. I surely will have many more coming up :)

Here's what's inside my this orangey smoothies (I actually had this for my lunch!):

1 small banana
1/2 forelle pear, skin on - diced
orange segments from 1 orange
1/2 medium carrot - grated
1 tsp flaxseed meal
150ml water
50ml apple juice from SunMoon fruits cup
18g protein powder - Nutrishake from Oriflame (strawberry flavour)
1 tsp collagen powder from Unicity
1 tsp chlorophyll powder from Unicity
For topping:
peach cut from SunMoon fruits cup
sprinkle of chia seeds

Method:

1. Blend everything til smooth
2. Add topping and consume immediately

 

This post is for Little Thumbs Up organised by Bake For Happy Kids, and My Little Favourite DIY, hosted by Ann of Anncoo Journal at this post