Homemade Bak Kwa (Chinese Pork Jerky) & Gong Xi Fa Cai!

My first attempt on homemade bakwa :)
Abby, DH and I finished everything in two days. Ian was not keen in trying - not yet :)
After all, this snack is too irresistible to say no to LOL

Worried too much I would get thick bak kwa, I got too thin ones LOL

Recipe is from Sonia from Nasi Lemak Lover

What you need:

450g minced pork (at least with 10% fat)
100g sugar
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1/2 tbsp Chinese rice wine
1/2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 tsp dark caramel soy sauce
1/8 tsp Chinese five spices powder 
a dash of pepper
3/4 tsp salt or to taste
2 tbsp honey

Method:

1. Put all ingredients in a big bowl and start mixing them with a pair of chopsticks. Blend and stir the mixture in one direction until the meat becomes gluey so the meat will not break out). Keep in the fridge for several hours (I kept overnight)
2. Spread the marinated minced pork thinly onto the baking tray (using fingers to spread)
3. Bake at pre-heated oven at 160degC for 15mins. Remove from oven. Increase the oven temperature to 240cdegC
4. Wait to slightly cool, cut into squares scissor, place them in the same baking tray
5. Grill (top heat only) one side at 240degC for 10mins (mine was about 5mins - I guess it's because mine is thinner), remove from oven, flip over another side, wait oven back to 240degC and grill until golden brown with slight burnt
6. Remove from oven and transfer to serving plate

Enjoying mum's homemade bak kwa with her self made decoration at the background :)

 

 

Going to have a short break and will be back mid next week. To all, GONG XI FA CAI :)

Cheddar Cheese Pound Cake

This cake is so easy to make and very well received by my family
Very cheesy, soft and fine - yummy cake!

 

 

Recipe is from HERE

 

What you need:

(A)
250g butter
230g sugar

(B)
4 eggs

(C)
80g grated cheddar cheese

(D)
100ml milk
280g cake flour
1 tsp baking powder

 

grated parmesan cheese for topping

 

Method:

1. Preheat oven at 180deg C. Line 2 loaf pans 
2. Cream (A) till light and fluffy
3. Add (B) and cream till smooth and light
4. Add (C) and mix till well combined
5. Add (D) and mix till well incorporated
6. Pour into prepared loaf pans and top with shredded cheese
7. Bake at 180deg C for 45mins

 

Don't skip the parmesan cheese topping. It's really delicious and crunchy! 

This lovely buttery cake is for Little Thumbs Up organised by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen from My Little Favourite DIY, hosted by me, Alice from I Love.I Cook.I Bake

 

Bake Along #57 (CNY Cookies) - Three Cheese Cookies (Kaasstengels - Eggless)

These super addictive cookies are so cheesy and so easy to pop into your mouth
Crisp and crunchy with slight chewiness on the inside - perfect texture
A combination of edam, parmesan and cheddar cheese - who can resist?

These cookies is famously called "Kaasstengels" in Indonesia
It's Dutch for 'cheese sticks'

This time I tried eggless dough, but prior to baking egg wash applied
So I can't say it's purely eggless cookies

Can I say that the shape resembles gold bar? Hence the perfect choice of cookies for Chinese New Year :)

 

Recipe is from Ricke from Just Ordinary Kitchen

What you need:

300g butter (original recipe used a combination of butter and margarine)
350g plain flour
50g corn flour
2 tbsp milk powder
100g grated aged edam
100g grated parmesan

1 egg yolk - lightly beaten
grated cheddar cheese

Method:

1. Sift together plain flour, corn flour and milk powder. Set aside
2. Beat butter til soft - about 1-2 minutes
3. Add in edam and parmesan cheese, mix with wooden spoon
4. Add in flour mixture, mix with wooden spoon
5. (to mix in the cheese and flour, please do not stir in circular movement, but use cutting, pressing and scrapping movements)
6. Shape into a big ball and flatten with rolling pin til about 1cm thick
7. Cut into little rectangle shapes and arrange on a lined baking sheet
8. Brush with egg yolk and sprinkle grated cheese on top
9. Bake in preheated oven of 150degC for about 20 minutes til golden brown (original recipe was 125degC without specific timing mentioned)

Note:
This eggless recipe yields a crispy and crunchy cookies on the outside with a slight chewiness on the inside
Those who prefer softer texture, 2 egg yolks are to be added and beaten together with butter

These cookies are for Bake Along , a baking event organised by  Joyce from Kitchen Flavours, Lena from Frozen Wings and Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids
Too bad today is the last day of submission, as I still have a couple more cookies to bake :)

 

 

Also, these cookies are for Little Thumbs up organised by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen from My Little Favourite DIY, hosted by me, Alice from I Love.I Cook.I Bake

 

 

Bake Along #57 (CNY Cookies) - Crunchy Butter Cookies



These butter cookies is really delicious, crunchy and buttery, we all love it

I believe this will be well accepted in any festive season

 

 

 

I can't remember the source of the recipe

Here it is...

 

What you need:

 

A

200g butter

150g icing sugar

 

B

4 egg yolks

1/2 tsp vanillin

 

C

300g plain flour

100g milk powder

 

Method:

1. Preheat oven 150degC
2. Beat A in medium speed for 10mins
3. Change to low speed and add in B, beat for a while only
4. Off beater, add in C and mix well
5. Flatten the dough between 2 plastics using roller for approx. 0.5cm and shape as desired
6. Bake for 15mins or til the cookies are lightly browned

 

 

 

 

These cookies are for Bake Along , a baking event organised by  Joyce from Kitchen Flavours, Lena from Frozen Wings and Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids

We are now baking Chinese New Year cookies all the way to 27 January :)

 

 

Cheesecake Bread

This is the kind of bread you will go hhhmmm in every bite
The bread was so fluffy and soft and the cheesecake topping was so delicious and creamy with raspberry jam on top making it just perfect!

Yum yum yum!

 

Recipe adapted from Cathy's Joy

What you need:

For bread:
250g bread flour
45g caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp instant yeast
10g cream cheese
100g egg whites
20g shortening

For cheesecake:
I made 1.5 half recipe as follows:
225g cream cheese
53g castor sugar
27g egg yolk
57g melted butter

I skipped dessicated coconut and chopped walnut as topping for the cheesecake as the original recipe used. Instead I used raspberry jam

Method:

For cheesecake:
Beat cream cheese til soft, add in sugar and beat til creamy and fluffy
Add in egg yolk, mix well. Add in melted butter and mix til well blended
For the bread:
Using breadmaker, put cream cheese, egg whites followed by flour, sugar and salt
Lastly add in yeast and let the machine start kneading
After 5 minutes, add in shortening and let the machine do the rest of the kneading and first proofing
Divide dough into 25 equal portions, shape into small balls and proof for another one hour
Pour cheesecake batter on top, and spread evenly with spatula. Add in about 1/2 tsp of raspberry jam on each of the bun
Bake in preheated oven at 160degC for 25 minutes

Note:
This bread is so so so addictive. Best eaten warm!

 

 

This bread is for Little Thumbs up organised by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen from My Little Favourite DIY, hosted by me, Alice from I Love.I Cook.I Bake

AFF Hong Kong/Macau - Macanese Minchi

Saw this dish at Peng's Kitchen and I knew my family and I would enjoy it
Yes, they did! So delicious when mixed all the ingredients to eat

Recipe adapted from Sonia from Nasi Lemak Lover

What you need:
(I made half recipe below)

100g ground beef
200g ground pork
(original recipe calls for more beef but we do not fancy beef hence the changes in the amount)
2 medium potatoes, cut small cubes
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
1 garlic, chopped
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp light soya sauce
1 tbsp dark soya sauce
1/4 tbsp worchestershire sauce
1/4 tsp cumin powder (I didn't use)
a dash of black pepper
1/4 tsp sugar
salt

Method:

1. Deep fry potatoes til golden brown, set aside
2. Use 3 tbsp of the oil to sautee garlic and onion til fragrant and soft
3. Add in bay leaf, both meat and stir fry and break the meat, fry on medium high heat til meat turned color
4. Add in light and dark soya sauce, stir
5. Lower heat, cover for a few minutes (I did for about 5 minutes), check to make sure it doesn't burn
6. Add in Worcestershire sauce, black pepper, cumin powder (if used), salt, sugar and lastly, fried potato cubes. Stir well
7. Serve with rice, vegetable (I used French beans, blanched and sprinkled with garlic salt) and fried egg

Note:
As my family and I do not fancy beef, we still can smell the beef. In the future I will still prefer to use only ground pork

I am submitting this post to Asian Food Fest (Hong Kong/Macau) hosted by Annie from Annielicious Food

ABC January 2014 - Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies

Our first bake of the year for Avid Baker's Challenge (ABC)
This year of 2014 we continue baking great recipes from King Arthur Flour (KAF)
And the first bake chosen was this delicious fudgy chocolaty with yummy cheese topping brownies

 

 

I followed the recipe making half recipe with some changes:
For the brownie batter:
* I used 180g sugar (reduced from 224g for half recipe)
* I omitted chocolate chips
For the cheese batter:
* I used 60g caster sugar (reduced from 75g for half recipe)
* I used 1 tbsp plain flour (reduced from 29g for half recipe)
* I used whipping cream instead of heavy cream

For full recipe, it's required to use 9" x 13" pan
I did half recipe and used a rectangle pan which was a little too small. Hence the tall brownies. Luckily it didn't overflow during baking :)

Please view the full recipe HERE

My family loves this indulgence. DH still mentioned that it's a little too sweet to his liking but I found it's just nice. Who can enjoy brownies with no sweetness at all, anyway? LOL

This post is for Avid Baker's Challenge January 2014, a baking event hosted by Hanaa from Hanaa's Kitchen

 

 

 

 

You see the birthday decoration on the brownies?

I would like to dedicate this bake to Let's get Baking Together (LBT) to celebrate its 3rd year birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY LBT :)

 

 

 

Lastly, this post is also for Little Thumbs up organised by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen from My Little Favourite DIY, hosted by me, Alice from I Love.I Cook.I Bake