Honey White Bread (Barefoot Contessa)

This is one awesome bread, seriously! Must try! Must must must! :)
Yummy, soft and fluffy, this brioche like bread is really a keeper!

 

 

Look how soft and fluffy this bread is

 

 

 

 

Recipe is from Barefoot Contessa

 

What you need:

 

1/2 cup warm water

15g dry yeast

1 tsp sugar

1 1/2 cup warm whole milk

6 tbsp (90g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 1/2 tbsp honey

2 extra large eggs

5 cups plus 2 tbsp bread flour

1 tbsp salt

1 egg white, lightly beaten

 

Method:

1. Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water, keep aside for about 5 mins
2. I used breadmaker to bake this bread. Pour yeast mixture in breadmaker bowl, followed by milk, honey, eggs. And then add in dry ingredients - bread flour and salt
3. Let the machine do the kneading and first proofing
4. Grease two 9 x 5-inch loaf pans with butter. Divide the dough in half, roll each half into a loaf shape and place each in a prepared pan. Cover again with the damp towel, and allow to rise again for an hour, until doubled in volume
5. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180degC. When the dough is ready, brush the tops with the eggwhite and bake the breads for 40 to 45 minutes, until they sound hollow when tapped. Turn them out of the pans and cool completely on a wire rack before slicing

 

 I made one loaf with cheese filling and topping. I used grated cheddar. Yum yum, especially eaten with Nutella :)

 

 

 

 

This post it for Cook Like A Star 2nd Anniversary Cooking Party March & April 2014 hosted by Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids, Mich from Piece of Cake and Joyce from Kitchen Flavours, where we can cook or bake like Donna Hay, Barefoot Contessa, Jamie Oliver, Masterchef, Martha Stewart, Delia Smith, Curtis Stone, Nigella Lawson, Ree Drummond and Bill Granger

 

 

 

 

Lemon Yoghurt Cake (Barefoot Contessa)

This cake is yummy! No wonder so many good reviews about it
So moist and soft. Sweet and tangy. Addictive!

Update:
Rebaked this recipe using the proper pan size and I got pretty result and better taste and texture too :)

Recipe is from HERE

What you need:

1 ½ cup all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 cup plain whole-milk yoghurt

1 1/3 cup sugar, divided (I reduced to 170g and 50g - as suggested by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids)

3 extra-large eggs (I used 65g with shell)

2 tsp grated lemon zest (2 lemons)

½ tsp pure vanilla extract

½ cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

For the glaze: (I skipped)

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 175degC. Grease an 8 ½ x 4 ¼ x 2 ½-inch loaf pan (I used 20cm square pan). Line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease and flour the pan
2. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt into one bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the yoghurt, 170g sugar, the eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula, fold the vegetable oil into the batter, making sure it’s all incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes (mine was about close to 35 mins as my cake was lower), or until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean
3. Meanwhile, cook the 1/3 cup lemon juice and remaining 50g sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside
4. When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan (I poked the cake all over) While the cake is still warm, pour the lemon-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in. Cool
5. For the glaze, combine the confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice and pour over the cake (if using)

This post is for Little Thumbs Up, an event organized by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen of my little favourite DIY. Every month we bake / cook with one chosen ingredient in it, and this month the theme is lemon and the host is Grace from Life can be simple at this post

Bake Along #50 Nutella Rugelach (Barefoot Contessa)

Rugelach? What's that? That's what I thought when I saw the Bake Along to do list
I googled and I was looking at those little cute croissant-like munchies
Oh it's pastry with filling.. But when I read again.. Oh it's cookies, Jewish cookies
Okay, whatever it is, wherever it's from, it looks real good so I wanted to give it a try

Saw several recipes.. Dorie Greenspan, Ina Garten, Nigella Lawson..
Which one should I try? Think think think...

Then I read... Oh, many mixed reviews about Dorie's recipe.. Perhaps I should just cross this out for my first time trial
Ina's recipe looks good with many rave reviews, so is Nigella's
After much consideration, I finally chose Ina's recipe, since I have had many Nigella's cooking lately :)

I wasn't too pleased with the result. Not the taste, no.. Believe me, this was just delicious and addictive!
I'm talking about the shape. The crescent shape
The dough was soft that more refrigeration required than what stated in the recipe. After 3 hours chilling, I took the dough out and rolled, it took so fast to get the dough to turn soft again, and it's worse after spreading the Nutella
I tried to roll and it's just impossible. So I put the whole round sliced to 12 triangles back to the fridge and kept chilled for about 45 minutes (I reckoned it's still not long enough, perhaps 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours will do just fine)
It helped in making rolling the dough easier but still it turned soft too fast so I had to move quickly hence the not so satisfying end result :P

What you need:
Source HERE
(below is half recipe)

Pastry:
114g cream cheese at room temperature 

114g unsalted butter at room temperature

1/8 cup granulated sugar

1/8 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract 

1 cup all-purpose flour (I used cake flour, inspired by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids)

For the filling, I chose the easy way out, the surely loved Nutella :)

Original filling recipe:
1/8 cup light brown sugar, packed 
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon

3/4 cup raisins

1/2 cup walnuts, finely chopped

1/4 cup apricot preserves, puréed in a food processor

For sprinkle:
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
1 tsp cinnamon powder

1 small egg beaten with 1 tablespoon milk, for egg wash

Method:

1. Cream the cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light. Add 1/4 cup granulated sugar, the salt, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour and mix until just combined. Dump the dough out onto a well-floured board and roll it into a ball. Cut the ball in half, wrap each piece in plastic, and refrigerate for 1 hour (I did for 3 hours)
2. On a well-floured board, roll each ball of dough into a 9-inch circle. Spread Nutella over it. Press Nutella lightly into the dough. Cut the circle into 12 equal wedges—cutting the whole circle in quarters, then each quarter into thirds (At this point, I found the dough was too soft to roll, I was struggling to do the rolling, so I refrigerated the whole round for another 45 minutes - yes, blame it to Singapore hot humid weather! Note: In the future I will chill longer, perhaps 1 hour 30 minutes, cos even after 45 minutes chilling, even though better but I still found it's not in perfect texture to roll)
3. Starting with the wide edge, roll up each wedge. Place the cookies, points tucked under, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Chill for 30 minutes
4. Preheat the oven to 175degC
5. Brush each cookie with the egg wash. Combine granulated sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle on the cookies (I didn't do this) 
6. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove to a wire rack and let cool

I must say this was one delicious cookies. With Nutella as the filling, it's really difficult to resist them, including the kids, too :)

It was pretty late when I finished baking the first half, so I kept the other disc in the chiller
I plan to use the original filling this time, perhaps tomorrow, we'll see :)
Hopefully I will have more luck in making better crescent shape hahaha...

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

 

 

Last but not least, announcement!

The giveaways for my 3rd year blog anniversary has officially ended

Stay tune for the result tomorrow :)

2nd Anniversary Bake Along #44 - Lots Of Berries Coffee Cupcakes (Barefoot Contessa)

Happy birthday Bake Along! Time flies so fast!
2 years and 43 bakes so far, wow!
I have counted and I have actually missed out 15 bakes! Ooppss! :P
Anyway, those missed out bakes are in my to do list. Slowly I'll make it up LOL

Here are some yummy cupcakes burst with berries
Hopefully it's all right since I didn't do any decoration this time
I used a combination of strawberries and blackberries
Recipe is from Barefoot Contessa which I saw at Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids
Very delicious cuppies, the sweetness from the cake and the tanginess from the berries blended so well together in every bite
These were not muffins to me, the texture is more to cupcakes

 

What you need:

12 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 extra-large eggs, room temperature

1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 cup sour cream (I replaced with plain yoghurt)

1/4 cup milk

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp kosher salt

2 half-pints mixture of fresh strawberries and blackberries

(I quartered the strawberries)

 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 175degC. Prepare muffin pans
2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy (high speed). On low speed, add eggs one at a time, then add vanilla, yoghurt, and milk
3. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
4. On low speed add flour mixture to the batter and beat until just mixed
5. Fold in the berries with a spatula gently til well mixed
6. Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin pans, filling each cup just over the top, and bake for 30 min, until the muffins are lightly browned on top and a cake tester comes out clean

 

I was pretty fortunate to get these batch of blackberries. They were firm and sweet. And the best of all, the price is really attractive I grabbed two punnets and I regretted I didn't take more LOL

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

Bake Along #25 - Anniversary Chocolate Coffee Kahlua Layered Cake (Barefoot Contessa)

Wow! How time flies! Bake Along is 1!

It has been a joyous experience to be able to take part in this event
Thank you to the hosts, Joyce, Lena and Zoe for the wonderful idea and the continuous effort and making superb recipe choices :)
Great experience to meet many new friends sharing the same passion, learning together doing what we love... Isn't it just wonderful?
It is so coincident that today, 29 May, is my 8th wedding anniversary :)

So, for these two wonderful events, I baked this chocolate coffee cake from Ina Garten which has made me salivating when I saw Zoe and Kit baked this cake
Agree with them, this cake is superb!
Moist, fine texture, chocolatey, the sweetness is just right, the coffee fragrant is a plus point and I added with a hint of kahlua, it's a pleasant bonus :)
I used Valrhona cocoa which makes the chocolate cake tastes so much better :)
Another pleasant surprise is the buttercream
It's so smooth, creamy and yummy! Really a keeper!
And another plus point - which is my favorite, it's relatively easy to make!

What you need:

For the cake:

210g plain flour
400g caster sugar
3 eggs
85g Valrhona cocoa
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
250ml buttermilk
125ml vegetable oil (I used canola)
1 cup hot coffee (I used 3 tsp Nescafe instant coffee powder mixed with 250ml hot water)
1 tbsp kahlua

1. Preheat oven to 180degC
2. Grease 2 x 20cm round pans, line with parchment paper and butter + flour the pans
3. Sift flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt in one bowl
4. Mix buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla in another bowl
5. With mixer on low speed, add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients
6. Still on low speed, add in coffee and kahlua, stir just to combine, scrap the bottom occasionally
7. Pour batter into pans, bake for approximately 45 minutes, til skewer comes out clean
8. Cool in pans for 30 minutes, turn onto cooling rack, cool completely
9. Place 1 layer, flat on top, spread frosting on top, place second layer on top, rounded side up, spread frosting all over cake as desired

For the frosting:

(I made 1/2 of the recipe below and it's sufficient)
170g chopped dark chocolate (70%)
226g unsalted butter, room temperature
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
150g icing sugar, sifted
1 tbsp instant coffee powder, dissolve in 2 tsp hot water
1 tsp kahlua

1. Melt chocolate over a pan of simmering water, stir til just melted, let cool completely
2. Beat butter on medium high speed til yellow and fluffy - approximately 3 minutes
3. Add in egg yolk and vanilla, continue beating for another 3 minutes
4. Turn mixer to low speed, gradually add icing sugar, beat in medium speed, scraping down the bowl if needed, til smooth and creamy
5. In low speed, add chocolate and coffee, as well as kahlua to the butter mixture, mix til blended
6. Spread immediately on cooled cake

I'm linking this to Cook Like A Star blog hop event, hosted by Zoe, featuring Barefoot Contessa as the celebrity chef for the month of May

Happy anniversary to Bake Along, also to me and my dear hubby XOXO

Below is more layered cake from other Bake Along friends....

Oven Fried Chicken (Barefoot Contessa)

This is the first recipe struck me when I browsed through Ina's recipes
I saw this and read the review, and I knew I had to make this
And I did, and I was glad I did
It's awesome! I love it, the whole family love it! Yummy!
I especially like to eat it with peri peri sauce my sis bought from Nando's
Plus a bowl of hot rice, and enough...who needs KFC? LOL

Crispy outside, and I mean, really crispy and tasty, too - and juicy inside

I think that should be the best 2 description for perfect fried chicken, isn't it?

And the best part is, it's not as sinful, since it's baked after lightly fried

This is the first time for me marinating chicken with buttermilk overnight, the result really worth the wait!

 

 

You may view the original recipe HERE

I modified the recipe after reading some comments, and this below suit me prefectly :)

 

 

What you need:

 

 

1 chicken, cut into 8 pieces

 

 

Marinade:

2 cups buttermilk (I used fresh milk + 2 1/2 tbsp of lemon juice)

1 tbsp Mc Cormick all purpose seasoning

1tbsp garlic powder

 

 

Coating:

1 cup plain flour

1 tbsp salt

1 tsp pepper

2 tsp Mc Cormick all purpose seasoning

1 tsp garlic powder

1. Mix all marinade, put chicken part in it, cover with cling wrap and marinate overnight in the fridge
2. Mix all ingredients for coating
3. Take out chicken parts from the marinade, coat evenly with coating mixture
4. Deep fry for around 2-3 minutes each side over medium heat
5. Pat dry with kitchen towel to remove the oil
6. Preheat oven to 180degC
7. Line baking tray with non stick baking paper, arrange the fried chicken on it and bake for around 15 minutes, take out from the oven, turn the chicken over to the other side and bake again for 20 minutes
8. Serve hot

I'm linking this to Cook Like A Star blog hop event, hosted by Zoe, featuring Barefoot Contessa as the celebrity chef for the month of May

Below are the links of great bloggers joined the event, please hop over to their sites to view their yummy treats :)

Indonesian Grilled Fish Fillet (Happy Call) (Barefoot Contessa)

I came across this recipe when I was browsing for Ina Garten's recipes in yummly.com
I was curious how the taste is cos it's stated Indonesian but when I saw the seasonings, I was not very certain it would be the Indonesian taste :)

I prepared this dish for dinner this evening, it's quite nice, not the authentic style, but it's nice in its own way
However. I found it too salty
The next time I make this, I will omit the salt

What you need:
(modified to suit my preference and portion)

500g fish fillet (I used premium sutchi fillet)

Marinade:
40ml soya sauce
30ml canola oil
1 tsp grated lemon zest
30ml lemon juice
10g finely minced ginger
2 garlic, finely minced
1 tbsp dijon mustard

dark sweet soya sauce to brush during grilling

1. Mix the marinade ingredients and put fish in it and marinade for minimum of 4 hours, overnight will be the best
2. Prepare Happy Call pan, brush a little oil on top and over medium low heat, grill the marinated fish around 5 minutes each side / til cooked, brush each side with dark sweet soya sauce
3. Place on serving plate, and cover with aluminium foil for 10 minutes before serving

Nice to eat with hot fluffy rice :)

I'm linking this to Cook Like A Star blog hop event, hosted by Zoe, featuring Barefoot Contessa as the celebrity chef for the month of May