A little late.. but that's just the way it is^^

I've always been a late bloomer, a slow starter, a non-traditionalist.

Yes, these are mooncakes. Yes, it's pretty late.. way past the festival, I know. I wasn't convinced to make any, not till I saw the cute piggy mooncakes all over the blogsphere. However piggies are really beyond me after looking at the how-to.. I can't even make anything out of play-dough!

But I'm reminded of how much I used to love traditional piggy mooncakes that come in plastic baskets.. and I had a re-look into traditional mooncake recipes. And they seem really easy (?) ~ was it possible?

My interest was piqued, but I was convinced to make it next year. However, walking into a baking supplies shop this week that had all the ingredients and moulds still out .. I just couldn't resist ^^. And I had some anko I wanted to get rid of too. ^^

So I made mooncakes with lots of dough and minimal filling ~ my kind of mooncake ^^ using mel's traditional mooncake recipe, which she adapted from here and here . ^^

Anyways, I couldn't wait, so I broke one and tasted.. I know I'm supposed to wait for 2-3 days.. but no problem, it tastes pretty good! However, the anko filling is really way too sweet despite my using that tiny bit of it ^^|| Wish I had omitted the sweet sweet anko!

I can't wait to taste the finished product after 3 days! I just know the skin's going to be good ~ just the way I like it ^^

Hello September! ^^

There's nothing like waking up on a lazy Sunday to a friend's well wishes for a good day, and crusty bread and coffee for brunch! Definitely one of life's greatest pleasures, in my opinion! ^^

Crusty rye bread with cream cheese, raisins and apricots (recipe adapted from latartinegourmande)

~ makes 3 loaves
2 cups bread flour
1 cup rye flour
2 tbsp butter, diced, room temperature
1 cup water (or milk ^^)
2 tsp active dry yeast (or 1.8 tsp instant yeast ^^)
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
50g walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped (I forgot to add ^^||)
50g raisins
50g dried apricots, roughly chopped
125 g cream cheese, diced

1. If using active dry yeast, sprinkle them on top of 4 tbsp of lukewarm water and leave to froth for 5 mins. Slowly add to flour, sugar and salt mixture.

2. If using instant yeast, just add to flour, sugar and salt in a bowl and mix together till well blended.

3. Add diced softened butter and water (or milk) to the dry ingredients, and mix together.

4. Knead with hands/electric mixer till dough is elastic (window pane stage) and forms a ball.

5. Cover and let it rise till it doubles in size.

6. Punch down and add dried fruits and nuts. Knead the dough till all the dried fruits and nuts are well combined.

7. Divide dough into 3 pieces and roll them out. Put cream cheese in the center and fold and pinch the dough edges together. Roll dough over so that the folds are at the bottom. Place them on the baguette tin and leave to rise for a bit (20-30mins).

8. Preheat oven to 410F or 210C, and place an empty tray on the lowest rack.

9. Make a few slashes on the surface and spray some water on the rolls before putting them into a well-heated oven. To get crusty rolls, spray some water into the oven and throw in some ice cubes into the empty tray to get the "steam-effect" right after putting the rolls into the oven. Remove the tray (of water) about 20 minutes into baking. 

10. Bake for 30-35 minutes (or longer) till the loaves are nicely golden and sound hollow when tapped. Remove and leave to cool.

I'm really happy to find success with this recipe again! ^^ I've not dared to attempt this bread again since the first (and only!) time I made it last year ~ which I thought was a fluke (!!!) ~ and left it at that so that I can retain sweet, happy memories of my "success", haha! ^^

But recently, I found the baguette tin of my dreams at a "decent" price! And it is SOOOOO worth it! ^^ Just look at the cornmeal effect at the bottom of the loaf in the pix above! Worth eating "roti" for a while after the splurge, haha! ^^

Carrot cream cheese cake

This is a cake that sounds and looks better than it tastes, if that's possible ^^||! Well, at least in my mind, that is.

Don't get me wrong, this is a good cake (recipe from houseofannie) ^^. It's just that I had built up the wildest, imaginary taste and flavor for this cake in my mind.. soft, gooey cream cheese swirling in the midst of cake.. just like my favorite rye bread dotted with lots of cream cheese and dried fruits ^^. Alas, the actual cake fell a little short of the one that I had dreamt of. No fault of the recipe.. it's just me.

I've made carrot cakes using the butter creaming method before and the cakes were numero uno good! So I had a higher than high expectation for this cake with the addition of cream cheese in the cake batter itself! But this is a slightly different recipe, and I now know I made a few mistakes, which I must remember whenever I make carrot cake again.

1. Use brown sugar! Previously I had only used brown sugar in all my bakes ~ hence all my carrot cakes looked golden brown, not golden yellow! And tasted a little different too..

2. Cinnamon. I forgot this time round ~ hence the lack of a subtle layer of zing..

3. Use more carrot! This recipe called for 200g, I used a bit more ~ 2 medium carrots.. And it's still not quite enough! Use at least 3-4 medium ones!

Back to this cake. The cream cheese (go all out ~ use 250g! ^^) in the cake is a wonderful idea! Cake looks amazing when sliced! ^^ And tastes delish too! The subtle cream cheese filling goes really well with the cake. ^^ Check out houseofannie for the recipe.

Well, it's finally Sunday today.. my last cook-and-bake-out marathon day. I'm happy to report I've had a really productive holiday.. cooking and baking to my heart's content ^^! And not spent on mall crawling ^^||.

And to end the long weekend with a bang, I have melt-in-the-mouth (I hope ^^!) maple chipotle pork ribs baking in the oven ~ Cheers! ^^

Bacon and brie quiche

Not too long ago, during a period of "uninspiredness", I asked my muse, big pig, to give me something, anything.. off his mind. He said, "bacon and brie".

Bacon and brie (and spinach) quiche
Pastry (recipe from Dean Brettschneider's Sausage, Sun-dried Tomato & Potato Tart)
160g flour
120g butter, diced
a pinch of salt
2-3 tbsp fresh milk

Filling
150-180g bacon, sliced thinly
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
a handful of spinach (fresh or frozen)
125-200g brie, chopped roughly (use more! ^^)
5 eggs
1 1/2 cup fresh milk (or heavy cream, if not on diet ^^)
salt and pepper, to season

1. Prepare pastry. Blitz flour, butter and salt together with an electric mixer or processor, till they resemble breadcrumbs. Add fresh milk and mix till a dough is formed. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 mins or overnight. Or shortcut by rolling out pastry immediately and place on greased 22-cm round or rectangular tart tin, prick the base and then cover and refrigerate ^^.

2. Bake-blind pastry shell at 200C for 15-20 minutes. Remove foil and weights and bake for another 5 mins. Or just use as it is, straight from the refrigerator, no baking required.. it works too! ^^

3. In a non-stick pan, cook sliced bacon till brown and fragrant. Remove and leave to cool.

4. In the same pan, saute onions for at least 40 minutes on medium heat for caramelized onions. Add a bit of water to soften onions if you wish. When it's nicely softened, remove and set aside to cool.

5. Wilt spinach quickly in a pot of boiling water. Drain and squeeze out the water from the spinach. Leave to cool.

6. In a bowl, mix eggs, fresh milk, salt and pepper till well blended.

7. To assemble, place spinach evenly on the pastry shell, followed by caramelized onions. Then add cooked bacon. Dot chopped brie all over. Gently pour the egg mixture over.

8. Bake in a preheated oven of 200C for 40 minutes, or 220C for 30 minutes, till golden.

This is another fabulous quiche that had big pig "wincing" deliriously ~ yes, it's that good! ^^ You'll just have to believe it as I didn't have any.. I didn't want to take any "joy" off big and baby who really dig this!

Of course, I had another quiche made just for me ^^!

Some tomatoes, some leftover bacon and minced chicken meat.. a big sprinkling of grated cheddar cheese ^^ ~ and voila! a baby quiche just for me.. and fatty. ^^

It feels really good to be baking like this ^^. Now, what should I do next? ^^

Deliciousness ~ kuih akok ^^

I've been a bad girl! Not cooking nor baking for the past few weeks..

Well, I just couldn't resist all the deliciousness at the pasar ramadans! I've been having a whopping good time pasar ramadan hopping, checking and bingeing (of course! ^^) on all the yummies on offer! ^^ A whole month of bliss, aah...! ^^

Of course my happy run had to come to an end.. but there's the long weekend hols to look forward to ^^ Yay!

So to celebrate the first day of the long hols and to make up for lost time, I decided on a marathon cook and bake-out! ^^

Kuih Akok Kelantan (recipe from aziejaya, original from myresipi)
~ makes 12 pcs
5 eggs
200ml coconut milk (I like Kara coconut milk ^^)
100ml water
120g gula melaka, chopped roughly (I used gula melaka from Terengganu which comes in discs)
30g all purpose flour
3 pandan leaves, tear/cut into smaller pieces
a pinch of salt

1. In a pan, bring water, gula melaka and pandan leaves to a boil, or till gula melaka has dissolved. Remove from stove.

2. Add coconut milk to the gula melaka water.

3. When mixture is cooled, add eggs and flour. Mix well. Sieve mixture into a bowl/pouring jug.

4. Preheat oven at 200C and place WELL-OILED (more is necessary to ensure cakes doesn't stick to bottoms) muffin tin into oven as well.

5. Divide mixture and fill up muffin tins evenly. Bake for 20-25 minutes for a nicely browned kuih ^^.  

This is my current favorite malay kuih ~ I just love the browned/burnt crust and moist, pudding-like insides (note the holey, crumpled, ultra-soft texture in the pix above) ~ overtaking my all-time kuih bakar by a whisker ^^

I had to make this kuih because I missed out on it the last weekend at the pasar ramadan in tg lumpur when I was back home in kuantan. To appease my craving, I decided to have a go at this kuih during the hols. And believe me, this tastes as lusciously good as the stall-bought ones! ^^

They say the best akok is sold in Kelantan, so I guess a trip to Kota Bahru is in order. But till I get there, this recipe works just as well! ^^

A celebration tart ^^

This started out as a spinach and capers tart. But along the way, it got sidetracked with the addition of bacon, caramelized onions and cherry tomatoes!

And became celebration tart ^^ since it was a mouthful to name all the yummy ingredients ^^||, plus it was indeed made in celebration of big pig's good results in his AP World History. ^^

Celebration tart (recipe adapted from Dean Brettschneider's PIE and strandsofmylife)
Pastry (recipe from Dean Brettschneider's Sausage, Sun-dried Tomato & Potato Tart)
160g flour
120g butter, diced
a pinch of salt
2-3 tbsp fresh milk

Filling
100-150g bacon, sliced thinly
2 medium onions, sliced thinly
2 handsful of spinach (fresh or frozen)
2 tbsp capers
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup fresh milk (or heavy cream, if not on diet ^^)
cherry tomatoes, halved (as many as you like ~ put lots, yums ^^)
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese (or a handful, or 2 ^^)
1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese (a handful, or 2)
salt and pepper, to season

1. Prepare pastry. Blitz flour, butter and salt together with an electric mixer or processor, till they resemble breadcrumbs. Add fresh milk and mix till a dough is formed. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 mins or overnight. Or shortcut by rolling out pastry immediately and place on greased 22-cm round or rectangular tart tin, prick the base and then cover and refrigerate ^^.

2. Bake-blind pastry shell at 200C for 15-20 minutes. Remove foil and weights and bake for another 5 mins. Or just use as it is, straight from the refrigerator, no baking required.. it works too! ^^

3. In a non-stick pan, cook sliced bacon till brown and fragrant. Remove and leave to cool.

4. In the same pan, saute onions for at least 40 minutes on medium heat for caramelized onions. Add a bit of water to soften onions if you wish. When it's nicely softened, remove and set aside to cool.

5. Wilt spinach quickly in a pot of boiling water. Drain and squeeze out the water from the spinach. Leave to cool.

6. In a bowl, mix beaten eggs, fresh milk, salt and pepper till well blended.

7. To assemble, place spinach evenly on the pastry shell, followed by caramelized onions. Then add capers and cooked bacon. Sprinkle grated parmesan cheese all over filling. Gently pour the egg mixture over. Dot the halved tomatoes all over the filling and top with some grated cheddar cheese.

8. Bake in a preheated oven of 200C for 40 minutes, or 220C for 30 minutes, till golden.

This tart may be made with big pig in mind, but this just became my favorite tart! And all because of the cherry tomatoes! I love its sweetness and flavor that perfectly balances the savory of this tart.

Well, I'm happy to report that big pig loves this. Well, all of us did! My carnivorous baby pig couldn't even taste the spinach at all ^^. Neither could we of the capers! And my spinach stayed very much green even post-baking! ^^

This is a delish tart I'll be making again ~ a keeper! ^^

Tiramisu for you?

I had a request for tiramisu last week.

But I couldn't quite bring myself to do it immediately. I procrastinated because I had major reservations about making tiramisu. More so when it came from a friend's son who was recovering from a bout of viral infection. I was worried about the use of raw eggs! ^^||

Besides, I just don't have the best/perfect recipe for tiramisu yet ^^||!

The few times I made tiramisu, my piggies didn't exactly "ooh-and-aah-ed" over it, so I knew the quest continues.. Nevertheless, they still wiped it clean each time ^^!

Anyways, after much googling and using pasteurized eggs, I decided to have another go at tiramisu ^^

Tiramisu (recipe adapted from browneyedbaker)
~ makes 12 servings 
2 cups espresso
4 tbsps rum
4 egg yolks (use pasteurized eggs ^^)
1/2 cup sugar
1 pound mascarpone (I used 500g ^^ since a tub came in 250g)
3/4 cup whipping cream
36 savoiardi / ladyfingers / sponge biscuits
some cocoa powder
grated dark chocolate

1. Mix in 2 tbsps rum to the 2 cups of espresso.

2. Using an electric mixer, beat egg yolks at low speed till combined. Add sugar and beat till pale yellow at medium speed for about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Add remaining 2 tbsps of rum and mix till well blended. Fold in mascarpone and beat till smooth, around 45 seconds.

3. In another bowl, beat whipping cream till firm and soft peaks form.

4. Put 1/3 of the whipped cream into the mascarpone mixture and mix till well blended. Fold in the rest, and set aside mixture.

5. Dip ladyfingers one at a time into the coffee mixture, flip over and remove. Do not submerge ladyfingers in the coffee mixture. Arrange the soaked ladyfingers in a single layer into a 9x13inch glass dish (I arranged them into 3 medium rectangular tubs and 1 freestyle on a plate ^^).

6. Next, spread half the mascarpone mixture over. Dust with some cocoa powder (use a strainer/sieve). Repeat the same steps with layering on soaked ladyfingers, mascarpone mixture and cocoa powder. Cover and refrigerate for 6-24 hours before serving. And if you like, sprinkle with grated chocolate before serving. ^^

The result? "It's horrible.. just horrible! You can't take them to your friend or even chubby pig!", says baby pig.. "But you can leave them all here with us! We'll have them!" *evil laugh*

Ooh, that conniving little pig! My heart totally sank when I heard "horrible" and then soared with joy when I knew he enjoyed it.. A LOT! Big pig thinks it's very good too ^^ So does mama pig! I reckon it must be the rum.. they are suckers for anything with rum! ^^

Well, I just had some and I think they're DIVINE! Fatty hubby loves it too! I think I just might have hit gold with this recipe! ^^

Hope my friend's boys.. and chubby pig (+ chubby big brother + chubby mama) enjoy the tiramisu too! This delicious recipe makes a lot for sharing! ^^

p.s. I made yummy financiers with the leftover egg whites ^^