tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28894388284885473912024-02-07T12:02:40.180+08:00love melody, love bakinga diary of the bakes and recipes i attempt...
a place where i share my random thoughts and rantings of my life...love melody, love bakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07470300312050220456noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889438828488547391.post-57465173373801680952011-12-07T16:53:00.000+08:002011-12-07T16:53:19.133+08:00upset :(am really upset... by so many many things... <br />
<br />
i made some cupcakes end-oct and happily, i thought i will be the first few to submit my entries for <a href="http://sze-min.blogspot.com/2011/11/aspiring-bakers-13-enjoy-cupcakes.html">AB</a>, but i totally missed it!!! <br />
<br />
was admitted to hospital for a good 8 days from 9 - 16 Nov, so there goes (almost) 2 weeks of chance of posting my bakes... afterwhich, it was a crazy catch up period for work, meeting with a 'lost and found' sec school friend, preparing X'mas present etc... and during my medical leave on the last 2 days of Nov (was planning to do my post then) had to rush to the hospital with my dad and sis who was about to give birth! what an exciting month i had right? <br />
<br />
i am drafting this post from office right now.. coz i am totally moodless (is there such a word?) to work... upset over work, over colleagues who are forever not understanding, and the list goes on... for the first time in my 20+ months into this job, i had the sudden thought to just quit and leave! but my current situation does not permit so... <br />
<br />
ARRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!<br />
anyway, just to share the cupcakes i made... made these for dear's birthday as a surprise, but was kinda dissapointed with the response i had from him (i am just to lazy to write about it).... recipe, please see the post before this...<br />
<br />
all the cupcake toppers were made by yours truly (except for the '33' candle which i got from Daiso)... printed them in color, cut them out and sort of laminated them... but all were of course thrown away after the cakes were shared by dear and his colleagues...i also made them a tad bigger using some pretty cupcake liners for a few friends...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnz1lwQviRhk54ATDlcJk97KHQPP4b9rvyq3ToBqQTZFFNX0kcqm6W-7A0WDQAmcvuce80itcprOxddjONBDN2hqvw7NswMSPyWc_vxOVoX1DzvlFxq8bbntyXnCyLqAN5_OOswuRotevw/s1600/Cupcake1frostedJPG.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240px" mda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnz1lwQviRhk54ATDlcJk97KHQPP4b9rvyq3ToBqQTZFFNX0kcqm6W-7A0WDQAmcvuce80itcprOxddjONBDN2hqvw7NswMSPyWc_vxOVoX1DzvlFxq8bbntyXnCyLqAN5_OOswuRotevw/s320/Cupcake1frostedJPG.JPG" width="320px" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHTd4Z6kEIgXaQoX7kr3hHgyky_4SfWmq_X4-fCE-heo6kQ5jLoESFJxpc_NIHN1vEO8i6pN1_DYuXZ6pNz_3nGK35_4NgdVMjPM7fqqyb4A6J5HXxbtwT4H8Z0SfK0YkK2lC8hLsQslNo/s1600/Cupcake4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240px" mda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHTd4Z6kEIgXaQoX7kr3hHgyky_4SfWmq_X4-fCE-heo6kQ5jLoESFJxpc_NIHN1vEO8i6pN1_DYuXZ6pNz_3nGK35_4NgdVMjPM7fqqyb4A6J5HXxbtwT4H8Z0SfK0YkK2lC8hLsQslNo/s320/Cupcake4.JPG" width="320px" /></a></div><br />
just when my mood starts to get a bit better, i hear thunder rumbling and the coldness of the office starting to set in... sigh... what a day...love melody, love bakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07470300312050220456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889438828488547391.post-49069450385837969412011-10-27T15:56:00.000+08:002011-10-27T15:56:37.813+08:00my baking diary #39 red velvet cupcakes and pandan chiffonnope, this is not the surprise i mentioned in my earlier post, but a step to it.. haha... think it should be up in my next post... <br />
<br />
it was a public holiday, and i din go out with dear coz he was busy preparing for his exam... so whatelse to do when i have a whole day at home, other than to bake!! i pre-empt my mum on my baking since last sunday, and was glad she din nag at me... afterall, i am back at work, and my health is alot better :) except for this wound on my knee coz clumsy me had a fall when alighting from the bus... hate to have injuries on my knees, elbows etc coz these areas usually have a lot of movement i.e. the bending, straightening etc... and coz my immunity level is lower than usual, it seems to take a longer time to heal...<br />
<br />
anyways, i was glad i get to satisfy my baking urge! haha....<br />
<br />
i like the <a href="http://lovemelody-lovebaking.blogspot.com/2011/04/my-baking-diary-27-vanilla-and.html">chocolate and vanilla cupcakes</a> i learnt from my previous baking class.. but want to expand more varieties to it, and hence, my attempt on red velvet cupcakes... i got the <a href="http://needmorenoms.blogspot.com/2011/06/red-velvet-cupcakes.html">red velvet cake recipe</a> from <a href="http://needmorenoms.blogspot.com/">Norms I Must</a>, coz i saw <a href="http://cathy-joy.blogspot.com/2011/08/mini-red-velvet-cakes.html">Cathy</a> trying it as well... <br />
<br />
end result? i like it! though i only took a small bite.. but my mum and colleagues said the cakes taste good... so must be good! haha... coz my colleagues are rather honest and give me real comments on my bakings :)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirxgxRt2298VLNA-4Ytj6pC7fgr8Y0tzVK8aegGs6TQKg7Sc4DCnMd2Jh63gy-8W9Xrzpx0SqBZIq1_KjeqPs3sXdbqrp3CaUeov0rluWI3jGAS_4y9OUgL1zm1ttFQLS46QriLqUzRb0u/s1600/Red+Velvet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200px" ida="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirxgxRt2298VLNA-4Ytj6pC7fgr8Y0tzVK8aegGs6TQKg7Sc4DCnMd2Jh63gy-8W9Xrzpx0SqBZIq1_KjeqPs3sXdbqrp3CaUeov0rluWI3jGAS_4y9OUgL1zm1ttFQLS46QriLqUzRb0u/s200/Red+Velvet.jpg" width="133px" /></a></div>i thought the mixture look abit too red before it went into the oven, but after it was baked, i find the shade quite nice wor...<br />
<br />
i topped the cupcakes with <a href="http://needmorenoms.blogspot.com/2011/04/chocolate-cupcakes-with-cream-cheese.html">cream cheese frosting</a>, also from <a href="http://needmorenoms.blogspot.com/">Norms I Must</a>... i am glad i halved the recipe coz it was just nice to frost the 16 cupcakes i churned out... but i guess due to the heat from the oven, my warm hands, the frosting turned out a tad too runny... and i should have used the simple, round piping tip... so with all these, my frosting turned out really ugly so i just sort of smooth and spread it on the cupcakes..<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipKUWipckySmEn4wC5rroTB6HBJ-yQ5OTMa7dwIqSUUPi4v_PYZ0onbRLbpra_O9mVIIBGkd1J1kqSPtzVDtXUOi11g-Zv6SiR6fqvvTbBSPL41A654z-ctfLziARZK6JUJNcd5tOSHg_5/s1600/Pandan+Chiffon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200px" ida="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipKUWipckySmEn4wC5rroTB6HBJ-yQ5OTMa7dwIqSUUPi4v_PYZ0onbRLbpra_O9mVIIBGkd1J1kqSPtzVDtXUOi11g-Zv6SiR6fqvvTbBSPL41A654z-ctfLziARZK6JUJNcd5tOSHg_5/s200/Pandan+Chiffon.jpg" width="133px" /></a></div>while looking for some cupcake ideas, i chanced upon another recipe from <a href="http://needmorenoms.blogspot.com/">Norms I Must</a> - <a href="http://needmorenoms.blogspot.com/2010/09/pandan-chiffon-cake.html">Pandan Chiffon</a>! My colleague was pestering me to give her a chiffon cake recipe as her girls love chiffon cake... I gave her the recipe to the <a href="http://lovemelody-lovebaking.blogspot.com/2011/02/my-baking-diary-24-raindow-chiffon.html">rainbow chiffon</a> i baked before, but being her first time baking chiffon, she was worried she will get it wrong... This <a href="http://needmorenoms.blogspot.com/2010/09/pandan-chiffon-cake.html">recipe</a> from <a href="http://needmorenoms.blogspot.com/">Norms I Must</a> uses less ingredients, so if she really gets it wrong, the wastage is reduced... So i made a copy of the recipe for her, and for myself...<br />
<br />
I could not resist trying the recipe out since it look rather simple... so while my red velvet cupcakes were in the oven, i quickly gathered the ingredients for the pandan chiffon.<br />
<br />
result? with the recipe, i made a small chiffon (the pan from daiso) and 6 paper cups... other than the missing brown crust one will usually find on a chiffion (maybe my oven was not hot enough?), i was shocked at the shrinkage, as you can see from the picture at the bottom left... but the taste was good - soft, slightly moist... i wonder if its because my mum packed it in container before it was really cooled down, the top of the cake seems a little moist and sticky in the evening when i gave one to my niece... but the taste was still good! the one i churned out from the mini tube pan, i gave it to my colleague and ask her to bring it back for her gals (though it seems too small to be shared by 2, so i gave her 2 red velvet cupcakes too)...<br />
<br />
1 more day to the weekend... am looking forward... haha :Dlove melody, love bakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07470300312050220456noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889438828488547391.post-28352377601801178352011-10-21T11:53:00.000+08:002011-10-21T11:53:20.444+08:00my beading diary #2 can you identify what this is?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXJRmTocxgnx9ZMPWr-RO8tSd0DleytN31iMS6W86CsOLJo9h2Phzz6e1zqF_D8bBwp16bwk0OzcXkFUJfHklxUcm3YpExkvcuQUlSNRt-BZATLp6oAyvJjsoNGnDL9Fpyt0zf2zTBONqo/s1600/Cupcake.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200px" rda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXJRmTocxgnx9ZMPWr-RO8tSd0DleytN31iMS6W86CsOLJo9h2Phzz6e1zqF_D8bBwp16bwk0OzcXkFUJfHklxUcm3YpExkvcuQUlSNRt-BZATLp6oAyvJjsoNGnDL9Fpyt0zf2zTBONqo/s200/Cupcake.JPG" width="150px" /></a></div>At one glance, when you look at this little thing, are you able to identify what it is?<br />
<br />
I was showing it to my mum and asking her what does she think it is, when my niece of 3 years old shout out "CUPCAKE"! Not that bad on my first attempt at 'baking' a felt cupcake.... haha!<br />
<br />
I chanced upon this <a href="http://www.cupcakestakethecake.blogspot.com/">blog</a> when i was blog surfing the usual baking blogs... and was really hooked on to the nice pictures of cupcakes like <a href="http://cupcakestakethecake.blogspot.com/2011/10/cupcake-art-theberry.html">this</a> and <a href="http://cupcakestakethecake.blogspot.com/2011/10/diy-felt-cupcake-placemarkers.html">this</a>...<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
So being me, addicted to all kinds of hobbies and crafts, can't resist attempting the <a href="http://cupcakestakethecake.blogspot.com/2011/10/diy-felt-cupcake-placemarkers.html">felt cupcakes</a>... But as there was no dimensions given, i did my own 'agaration' (estimation)... and really it was kind of last min, i used a ribbon as the cupcake casing....<br />
<br />
<br />
<div align="left" class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCU3Vg6RPwyGwiKESMH_0fuQe-9AZhxU9Y7s0O1rLVToKFuohMOmLB2aApvwzluyQJY2OqbFyhJhBWGsMA4c-lSqdawYpy1-uayg4S-r1pW4g1ccVMHLSjXZV7AbBW9Dz8YJK3x4azcSBA/s1600/Cupcake1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200px" rda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCU3Vg6RPwyGwiKESMH_0fuQe-9AZhxU9Y7s0O1rLVToKFuohMOmLB2aApvwzluyQJY2OqbFyhJhBWGsMA4c-lSqdawYpy1-uayg4S-r1pW4g1ccVMHLSjXZV7AbBW9Dz8YJK3x4azcSBA/s200/Cupcake1.JPG" width="150px" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;">The above was a plain cupcake... And with some 'toppings', here you go, another version :)</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;">Am planning for a real baking session soon, for a surprise!! Praying hard nothing will come and disrupt my plans... Look out for my next post.</div>love melody, love bakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07470300312050220456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889438828488547391.post-53257859737038657522011-09-15T12:31:00.004+08:002011-09-15T12:41:15.921+08:00my baking diary #38 Agar agar Mooncakesi had wanted to publish this post on 12 Sep, but alas, was busy over the weekend and Monday... hope its not too late to wish all fellow bloggers and readers a Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, 中秋佳节快乐.<br />
<br />
though i like baking, the thought of baking my own mooncakes have never strike my mind... guess all along, i thought baking mooncake is a very tedious and long process... but after seeing all the lovely mooncakes, moontarts and snowskin mooncakes, i am looking forward to the mid-autumn festival next year, where i can try my hand on baking my own mooncakes...<br />
<br />
i am not a fan of mooncakes actually, will only take a small piece or 2 to try it out every year... but one of my favourite was the walnut moontart by Habourview restaurant (or something like that), and i would get that for my mum ... But since last year, i could not find it in the shopping centres where they have lots of different hotels, bakeries promoting their mooncakes... This year, i bought Carlton's moontart, thinking it should be very similar... Well, its very similar in terms of look (i did not taste it myself but bought it for mum and dear's mum), but the yolk in the moontart was soooooo little compared to the restaturant one which i recalled had a whole yolk in each moontart (which explains the price of almost $6 - $7 each if i did not remember wrongly)...<br />
<br />
even though i did not bake any mooncakes, but i am glad agar agar mooncake does qualify for this month's Aspiring Bakers, so i went around looking for mooncake moulds :) Requested my colleagues to lunch at the Kallang Bahru market so i can get the moulds at Kitchen Capers (though i find it rather expensive, i still bought 5 moulds which cost me a total of $10!).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWO3Whm-7JBt5KopUr-XBBUYfMXnloIWkKCpdIFbLsGLwqYk3DXxcX8L-qZLFknBXSStKaTVFGS9fKRQG2sB9I5t9k8ZxXsBuptbba-XzDR9rX9Bv8omEaSQAcOCVY0OEsmCzidsvnLflq/s1600/mooncake1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWO3Whm-7JBt5KopUr-XBBUYfMXnloIWkKCpdIFbLsGLwqYk3DXxcX8L-qZLFknBXSStKaTVFGS9fKRQG2sB9I5t9k8ZxXsBuptbba-XzDR9rX9Bv8omEaSQAcOCVY0OEsmCzidsvnLflq/s320/mooncake1.JPG" width="213" /></a></div><br />
Coconut Milk Agar Agar...<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-P4zkYmTkAUehObcLG_v2VH6rVewGLz302iVxHPt8RPe_HL1Ps42Knf-fl4xP4QRbaB4FmVef6P4d4UAjkNqLWCJm1Y4W08Rrny_qFUTyIupdkjmCbKz9_VHW__Nl8fk-GAh94boyjMiu/s1600/mooncake2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-P4zkYmTkAUehObcLG_v2VH6rVewGLz302iVxHPt8RPe_HL1Ps42Knf-fl4xP4QRbaB4FmVef6P4d4UAjkNqLWCJm1Y4W08Rrny_qFUTyIupdkjmCbKz9_VHW__Nl8fk-GAh94boyjMiu/s320/mooncake2.JPG" width="212" /></a> </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Agar Agar with mixed fruits...</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
<br />
<u><strong>Agar Agar Mooncakes</strong></u></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">1 pkt agar agar powder (i used swallow globe brand agar agar powder in white)</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">1 litre water (for coconut milk version - 500ml coconut milk and 500ml of water)</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">250gms sugar (i usually adjust according to taste as i prefer it less sweet - healthier?)</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Colorings of your choice (if you are using white agar agar powder like me)</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Mixed fruits</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">1. Disolve 1 pkt of agar agar powder in 1 litre of water. Add sugar and bring to boil over low heat</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">2. Pour into mould (i usually cool it down a bit first) and allow it to cool completely before putting it into the fridge</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">As i usually use white agar agar powder, i will divide the liquid into different batches so i can do up lots of colorful agar agar... I had wanted to try putting in different fillings into the agar agar (like those ang ku kueh agar agar) like cream style corn, blueberry fillings, chocolates etc.. But due to time constraints, i only made coconut milk agar agar and agar agar with mixed fruits...</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div>Here's some more pictures of the agar agar i made... did not have enough mooncake moulds, so i used some of the other moulds i had... Can you spot the Hello Kitty ones?<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtwxOFElBp4eGr3wIYzlz6g0Za_KvpbngMsF28dVlFpaouEDUI7-JLTmX9iwgL_4B6qUbj0i0muQlW5PG3ivrxDH34TzO_QNGaJndqgL7DlxxB4C3SIT-7FUVGldmQhLAY5U2bl-TiBsT3/s1600/mooncake3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtwxOFElBp4eGr3wIYzlz6g0Za_KvpbngMsF28dVlFpaouEDUI7-JLTmX9iwgL_4B6qUbj0i0muQlW5PG3ivrxDH34TzO_QNGaJndqgL7DlxxB4C3SIT-7FUVGldmQhLAY5U2bl-TiBsT3/s320/mooncake3.JPG" width="212" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitqFY_l1v8ou6bTbi5LHddCwGxPfeJebssG1ZliJeh0ThtqQAg45HYZ5_Zn76GZqz5Oanx2cWEH7omQQJttEsR2D_pnIhSv9KNmbr5FJKayvAe105BW0IXCCyJeCjA8en1Q82GpjHqOWzt/s1600/mooncake4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitqFY_l1v8ou6bTbi5LHddCwGxPfeJebssG1ZliJeh0ThtqQAg45HYZ5_Zn76GZqz5Oanx2cWEH7omQQJttEsR2D_pnIhSv9KNmbr5FJKayvAe105BW0IXCCyJeCjA8en1Q82GpjHqOWzt/s320/mooncake4.JPG" width="212" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">These mould had chinese character on it... But i ran out of the coconut milk liquid to differentiate the characters... I used Hosen mixed fruit can, and used the papaya balls inside as a 'yolk' for these agar agar.. do look quite like a 'mooncake with yolk' huh? </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And if you noticed, most agar agar were pink and purple in colour! this is because my niece was sitting in the kitchen while i was doing the agar agar and she asked me to do pink, red and purple colour... </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Wm_zcid2eHWU3p7w7QqEyWcpkPEaf5f1fOoJ0Os6AllMTynoNMZhfTdQ60tlM5wafbXHUgeSq8AupAuEg1J_KEnfCBgcs3Xw6xBQOVLiWXszXunjDOrn1kJztLpj7F8pHwDzvi3HrauL/s1600/mooncake5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Wm_zcid2eHWU3p7w7QqEyWcpkPEaf5f1fOoJ0Os6AllMTynoNMZhfTdQ60tlM5wafbXHUgeSq8AupAuEg1J_KEnfCBgcs3Xw6xBQOVLiWXszXunjDOrn1kJztLpj7F8pHwDzvi3HrauL/s320/mooncake5.JPG" width="212" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4h-elv5Mj-R0094hFpzr1a1G88B3tOUUCp-60LERRJAtd-kv_ATAXDMnuc16u6C7nHJc6k8Hmrmos4-6oy6kHqqwMh7Tya4Msd4asQLus8MZBjETdlPwKR6bEUcgTAgKLIt3i18_uehET/s1600/mooncake6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4h-elv5Mj-R0094hFpzr1a1G88B3tOUUCp-60LERRJAtd-kv_ATAXDMnuc16u6C7nHJc6k8Hmrmos4-6oy6kHqqwMh7Tya4Msd4asQLus8MZBjETdlPwKR6bEUcgTAgKLIt3i18_uehET/s320/mooncake6.JPG" width="212" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Most of the agar agar mooncakes were packed and given away...</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6kAnevm_qHmKauh-EDUMGXAvL9Ce2UwPcLpr1Chn3cQXwmBdFT9GMv0j-7ZHgDsWJIntPuvFgtI-fHXbTbIQDVY428yH7-4KfUmMFycje4w-4ayo-rl_UguLVJ2mYZ5BY31pGhY_spu3T/s1600/mooncake7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6kAnevm_qHmKauh-EDUMGXAvL9Ce2UwPcLpr1Chn3cQXwmBdFT9GMv0j-7ZHgDsWJIntPuvFgtI-fHXbTbIQDVY428yH7-4KfUmMFycje4w-4ayo-rl_UguLVJ2mYZ5BY31pGhY_spu3T/s320/mooncake7.JPG" width="212" /></a></div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"></div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
<br />
<br />
I am submitting this to <a href="http://happyhomebaking.blogspot.com/2011/09/aspiring-bakers-11-mid-autumn-treats.html">Aspiring Bakers #11 : Mid-Autumn Treats (September 2011)</a> hosted by <a href="http://happyhomebaking.blogspot.com/">Happy Home Baking</a>!</div>love melody, love bakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07470300312050220456noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889438828488547391.post-19878037521268557772011-09-06T17:12:00.002+08:002011-09-06T17:39:45.020+08:00my baking diary #37 lavender chiffon cakeit has been a while... a long while actually, since my last post on baking... the last i baked was in May! no choice, due to my (sudden) operation and being down with sickness, i was sort of banned from baking.. so much so that my mum actually moved my oven to another location in the kitchen which makes it more troublesome to bake! if i need to bake, my mum will have to shift stuff here and there, so there is no way i can bake secretly! <br />
i have been feeling loads better but do get tired and restless on occasions after my treatment etc... but had the urge to do some baking! so while i was clearing some stuff (and giving to my colleague for her hari raya baking), i told my mum i wanna bake! but i will keep a simple so maybe just a chiffon cake. surprisingly, no objection from her! so i went ahead and plan to bake on the hari raya holiday as i was scheduled for a medical appointment the next day and did not had to work.<br />
<br />
been wanting to do a lavender chiffon after my colleague, S, gave me a packet of lavender flower tea way back in Feb/Mar and seeing <a href="http://cathy-joy.blogspot.com/2011/03/osmanthus-chiffon-cake.html">Cathy's Osmanthus Chiffon Cake</a>, i was very tempted to do a lavander version of it! but there are just so many nice bakes fellow bloggers are doing, it just got push back in the to-bake list! i also got my hands on a box of earl grey tea recently, so i wanted to see how the lavender chiffon will turn out like before i attempt an earl grey version!<br />
<br />
and ta-dah! here's my lavender chiffon!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIX8QO9icDUJOkezmhC1r1n4E-fNo6ZTMGSQWInPhp3BYZ37_Kg1_5XCIfjuW-aqbxKVfJw5dJ-kAke3EyieHX-AllHskYK03ctsLJltJre-f8sDTi3p8kyggoNLDywJZS1FM2J0hWutAG/s1600/chiffon1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150px" nba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIX8QO9icDUJOkezmhC1r1n4E-fNo6ZTMGSQWInPhp3BYZ37_Kg1_5XCIfjuW-aqbxKVfJw5dJ-kAke3EyieHX-AllHskYK03ctsLJltJre-f8sDTi3p8kyggoNLDywJZS1FM2J0hWutAG/s200/chiffon1.JPG" width="200px" /></a></div>it rose quite nicely when it was in the oven despite having some crack lines... but think my tube pan is a bit too big... <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVvjHjP1suhosvhTBh45Hht-tkMH577Ani52JF1y_nSbOpSIAR6bxptfdip3vjHWEiUGxOAXVse59PCXTGVNuQfJ1QY8-ZufcV4mri_K2TKozzeeOECVkK04gHW-0TWJ2oRDSp4xp5Q153/s1600/chiffon2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150px" nba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVvjHjP1suhosvhTBh45Hht-tkMH577Ani52JF1y_nSbOpSIAR6bxptfdip3vjHWEiUGxOAXVse59PCXTGVNuQfJ1QY8-ZufcV4mri_K2TKozzeeOECVkK04gHW-0TWJ2oRDSp4xp5Q153/s200/chiffon2.JPG" width="200px" /></a></div>the ugly side when i unmold it :( seem to have lose some 'baking touch' after resting for so long... my batter was not mixed properly, hence, could still see some yellowish batter (p/s: i added some purple colouring to the original yellow batter coz its meant to be lavender mah...) Was i also too impatient in not waiting for it to be really cooled completely?<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5DhWMLvw5vbh4TV7m6gsqXTNjlFVcaugFZ7FfL6Q2hfUvOUcLkvg9CPykhM0pgD0WR3CxYDwSf99oeHf9frHAQDrerG2xg8CKdm34QvNXmNSxtsmMWjuOWx7ab6rcbOxIEnOKUPj60dqb/s1600/chiffon3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150px" nba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5DhWMLvw5vbh4TV7m6gsqXTNjlFVcaugFZ7FfL6Q2hfUvOUcLkvg9CPykhM0pgD0WR3CxYDwSf99oeHf9frHAQDrerG2xg8CKdm34QvNXmNSxtsmMWjuOWx7ab6rcbOxIEnOKUPj60dqb/s200/chiffon3.JPG" width="200px" /></a></div>the side view... i only tasted a small small portion of this slice coz i am supposed to cut down on sugar intake, and also i am more keen in baking rather than eating it! my mum and bf's feedback was the lavender fragrance is there (rather strong actually) but the cake wasn't sweet enough... <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
i bought slightly more than 2/3 of the chiffon cake to the office the next day as i had to go back and settle some stuff before being on MC for the rest of the week... guess what? they were a hit with my colleagues! i wonder if they are just being nice, but i was really all smiles when i saw them enjoying the cake and telling me it taste nice! so hopefully soon, i will be able to attempt an earl grey one for them :)) <br />
<br />
i followed <a href="http://cathy-joy.blogspot.com/2011/03/osmanthus-chiffon-cake.html">Cathy's Osmanthus Chiffon Cake</a> receipe for this, except that i omitted the wolfberries and replaced osmanthus with lavender instead... the lavender can be reduced to perhaps 1 or 1.5 tbsp if you do not want the fragrance to be too strong...<br />
<br />
next up! a trip to the shops to get some mooncake moulds! hope i can get them! *cross fingers*love melody, love bakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07470300312050220456noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889438828488547391.post-79396695120944243562011-08-04T22:42:00.000+08:002011-08-04T22:42:27.066+08:00my beading diary #1 beaded cardholdertaking a break off baking (cant understand how my parents can associate my illness with baking :( ) but i am planning to bake soon! some of my supplies at home are expiring soon, so hopefully this excuse will work! haha!<br />
<br />
now that i am not baking during my 2 months mc, i have to turn to my other hobbies like reading and beading... spend a couple of days tidying up my beading material trolley... as i havent been beading for a while, dust accumulated and hence, have to empty out the 4 drawers and wipe all the boxes and bags one by one... still have some sorting out to do, coz i have been buying new materials every now and then, but have not been diligently been packing them into the right boxes...<br />
<br />
aside to <a href="http://cathy-joy.blogspot.com/">Cathy</a> and <a href="http://thesweetylicious.blogspot.com/">Jasmine</a> if u are reading this post... i have yet to send the <a href="http://lovemelody-lovebaking.blogspot.com/2011/04/my-baking-diary-29-what-did-i-baked.html">cupcake rings</a> to u! i still remember it! so sorry! I will be going to get some stamps and post them out real soon! btw Jasmine, i dun think u have me ur add for me to mail the ring to u wor... pls email ur addy to me at <a href="mailto:peihwa82@gmail.com">peihwa82@gmail.com</a> :)<br />
<br />
i love to make 3D figurines using crystal beads... some of the previous ones i made are all packed up in boxes as i am sourcing for some new furnitures and fixtures for my bedroom... made a Sanrio Tuxedo Sam character, but got the sailor hat on the wrong side :( gotta undo it another time and redo.. will post a pic when i am done ya!<br />
<br />
in the meantime, here's a pic of some cardholder i made previously and recently... these cardholder holds a ezlink card snugly and are made of acrylic round beads... its quite time consuming to do these, as all are tollay handbeaded by urs truly :) <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4ye8_DYZ-okT2CO-6JgyQsrWNID5XKNfoDkKeW1bd9OaA8vqBnBHVwGV1Zra9I9lPZlxGmVCnHd7150mEXxGnkYqiHuNKr2uKRijGE5pxSBqKslCIJtSMuK8N-638R-TtS9ul78ECD7F1/s320/cardholder.JPG" t$="true" width="320" /></div>love melody, love bakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07470300312050220456noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889438828488547391.post-7246845571882504992011-07-10T21:42:00.000+08:002011-07-10T21:42:44.327+08:00my baking diary #36 agar agartaking a break off baking, but can still do some non-baking stuff... coz of my recent illness, it had gave me a chance to meet up with friends i lost touch with for a couple of years, in particular my dear polymates...<br />
<br />
we been through alot together during our 2 years as classmates and project mates... working on projects after school, weekends etc... last we met was kim's wedding like 2 - 3 years back... after which, we were all busy with our own life, be it work, family, etc... <br />
<br />
knowing i am not feeling well (i am feeling loads better acutally) and that i am on 2 months MC, we took this time to meet up... since i cant bake, i decided to make some agar agar, and try out the new piggy silicon mold i bought!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLONnoH3AbsRCRz6mJLKHTegaWi4nFa9vSQ9j5pcLnSMwXatkbBCG0Havd9lqIC4P13io3ddFQRKpkGzECNCxsPv0MR-K39bNO3cco0rNebpRbYHmoj1YRpRdmFAXEQsfUXgQKVzDA72pV/s1600/piggies+agar+agar.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" m$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLONnoH3AbsRCRz6mJLKHTegaWi4nFa9vSQ9j5pcLnSMwXatkbBCG0Havd9lqIC4P13io3ddFQRKpkGzECNCxsPv0MR-K39bNO3cco0rNebpRbYHmoj1YRpRdmFAXEQsfUXgQKVzDA72pV/s200/piggies+agar+agar.JPG" width="133" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGhRxZoJXwc8sl3akIb1szrDRmoJXccbrTMJSaUHHB1jB86hspnuFAQJpQk9_7_8IBJ7oZSDj0XT0EX3y6xujTAq5Uf2Gvb8U-tVggF6nL1d1QW94jcgaiEMtHtEAMn-rP08Q-kw4TnGEi/s1600/agar+agar.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" m$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGhRxZoJXwc8sl3akIb1szrDRmoJXccbrTMJSaUHHB1jB86hspnuFAQJpQk9_7_8IBJ7oZSDj0XT0EX3y6xujTAq5Uf2Gvb8U-tVggF6nL1d1QW94jcgaiEMtHtEAMn-rP08Q-kw4TnGEi/s200/agar+agar.JPG" width="133" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Though i did not make alot, but i spend quite sometime on doing these agar agar... piggies' eyes, ears, nose, and all the different colourings to make it all really colourful! i like the piggies ones especially, so cute right?</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I hope to get some baking done soon, before i start losing interest in it... haha</div>love melody, love bakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07470300312050220456noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889438828488547391.post-22125198207962965022011-06-24T21:02:00.000+08:002011-06-24T21:02:43.926+08:00hiatus...though i will be staying at home, yes not working, since early June to early August, its not the best time for me to do any baking... am supposed to be resting and recovering from an recent operation... though i may feel ok, but my parents will definitely not agree to me doing any baking due to whatever reason they can think of... sigh... its so boring staying at home with nothing to do... and i feel tired if i am out too often (though doctor do not encourage staying at home)...<br />
<br />
how i miss baking when i see all the bakes fellow bloggers are posting... *drools*<br />
<br />
hopefully i'll recover soon enough with minimum follow up visit required...love melody, love bakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07470300312050220456noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889438828488547391.post-17582073192820821962011-05-30T21:49:00.000+08:002011-05-30T21:49:13.405+08:00my baking diary #35 randomssss....in a blink of the eyes, the month of May seems to slipped past me without me noticing it... there were many ups and downs, and too many for me to list down in details... <br />
<br />
upon S's request, i baked cookies and cupcakes for her son, J's, 1st birthday... i dun think it was very well done as i did not realise i ran out of Valrhona cocoa powder, and had to use Van Houten... I did not managed to taste the cupcakes as they were snatched up rather quickly by the guests... Also, my estimation was wrong, and filled up the batter a bit too much... resulting in the cake overflowing, and making the cups looks messy...<br />
<br />
it was a rather last minute request, and S asked for Elmo themed cupcakes - other than a set of sesame street cupcake rings i bought previously, i din have another sesame street related stuff... tied up with work and all, i din exactly had time to go sourcing for nice toppers and even a bday present! so the thick-skinned me told S these will be my bday present for her son :P<br />
<br />
other than chocolate ganache, i dunno of other frosting i could use as i dun really like the idea of using buttercream... but now wanting all my cupcakes to be all chocolatey, i chanced upon Wilton's ready icing at PH and hence bought one to try... here's the cupcakes i frosted with the ready icing, topped with cupcake rings :) feedback from the guests - icing was too sweet... only then, did i recall i could have used cream cheese frosting! but i though the color combination turned out rather well...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDYrO9jeyMdiQ_dSK74-pXTrGiPifeG-g0Wr5z4mLgoREn_542sw7uxta15ZFHMxif30c5YQmEozm2BSlVVKGqozA8VauH_o6OE_3I7WUhwO5vzKGP4M6ezHgRsurekj1gGdthMez2Ivix/s1600/Jun+sesame+street+cupcakes.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDYrO9jeyMdiQ_dSK74-pXTrGiPifeG-g0Wr5z4mLgoREn_542sw7uxta15ZFHMxif30c5YQmEozm2BSlVVKGqozA8VauH_o6OE_3I7WUhwO5vzKGP4M6ezHgRsurekj1gGdthMez2Ivix/s200/Jun+sesame+street+cupcakes.JPG" t8="true" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="left">the rest of the cupcakes were coverd in chocolate ganache... again, my piping were not successful, hence, i could only spread the ganache on the cupcakes... but this helped to cover the 'ugly' mess i made of the cupcakes... i save the 'overflowed' cupcakes by pressing them into the cups... and topped the chocolate ganache with cherries and sweet sugar decos.... and of coz not forgetting, a msg for the b'day boy!</div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeKgNqzhQ7kXd2ehC5jWkPhPB5WOPgZa0TlNdqyE1OpHEVRI-SBzxvcBZaFzB9-9R52dDFMRiv6G1_jGaHHT6lsTyrIX_AnVonRVVvw1-1twB9wNzP0_in2xogMzL3DyRVGDtBe706yppH/s1600/Jun+bday+cupcakes.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeKgNqzhQ7kXd2ehC5jWkPhPB5WOPgZa0TlNdqyE1OpHEVRI-SBzxvcBZaFzB9-9R52dDFMRiv6G1_jGaHHT6lsTyrIX_AnVonRVVvw1-1twB9wNzP0_in2xogMzL3DyRVGDtBe706yppH/s320/Jun+bday+cupcakes.JPG" t8="true" width="320" /></a></div><div align="left"></div><div align="left">S was showing the cupcakes to most of her guests, and even told them to book me 1 month in advance if they wanna order! some guests (who were ex-colleagues) did ask me if i could do something similar for their kids' b'day! but i dare not take up the orders coz i might not have time to do it... so told them to check with me when the date approach...</div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">here's the cookies i baked... S wanted a mix of characters in each cookies bags, and i had to bake these cookies over a spread of 2 days (with my niece sneaking into the kitchen and taking them from my rack!!)</div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFnZRNlPxfdpF02aRwkJd-6UPJxPE-SYvEaRcHnp7rMFu0qbrxbQP5ELnId8sAlil5eU3ttpG3otD0LfL86qaBK1DZIJ3bRURI6P7Mqik8lc6NtF9D2djVPkIrVy0UyYFkYeUJFwzp1iEH/s1600/Jun+bday+cookies.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFnZRNlPxfdpF02aRwkJd-6UPJxPE-SYvEaRcHnp7rMFu0qbrxbQP5ELnId8sAlil5eU3ttpG3otD0LfL86qaBK1DZIJ3bRURI6P7Mqik8lc6NtF9D2djVPkIrVy0UyYFkYeUJFwzp1iEH/s200/Jun+bday+cookies.JPG" t8="true" width="133" /></a></div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">during that week when i did all these baking, i had to work late and possibly due to the earlier antibiotics i was taking for my infection, i ended up with some form of indigestion... for a whole week (coming to 2), i had to put up with a bloated stomach... repeated visits to the co's GP doesnt seem to work, and finally, the doc referred me to a Gastro doc... i m heading to Mount E to see the doc this coming Wed, hope things will be fine... as usual, my parents attribute this to the bakings i did... so basically after the cupcakes i baked, my oven had been on hiatus... i hope all the things around me will settle down soon - work, my health, etc etc, so i can start baking again...</div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">i m looking forward to an enjoyable June, coz its my bday month! short getaway at bintan, more cupcakes baking with my new book - Beautiful Cupcakes by Chef Kevin Chai, and lots more!!! </div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">signing off now, coz am experiencing some discomfort in my stomach again...</div><div align="left"><br />
</div>love melody, love bakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07470300312050220456noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889438828488547391.post-89400841561517771722011-05-09T22:02:00.004+08:002011-05-09T22:09:45.139+08:00my baking diary #34 chocolate chip and double chocolate chunk cookies and #35 chocolate and fairy cupcakes<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">I spend my whole of polling day in the kitchen baking... except for that short period where i walked to the polling station with my parents to cast our votes... there was a polling station right at the void deck of my block, but we had to make a trip to a school located 3 bus stops away to cast our votes! And we din take a bus, we walked there! Ok lah, walking through the void decks of the other HDBs etc, the distance wasn’t really that far... but still, i thought it was rather unproductive coz there was a polling station right at the void deck of my block and another one in the schools diagonally opposite! My mum said the other aunties (old grannies) were complaining coz they have to walk so far instead of being able to cast their votes downstairs... anyway, its all over, and i am glad the votes garnered at the grc i am living in, managed to let the ‘different voice’ get more seats :) i was resting at home the whole of Sunday but din hear any vans coming to say ‘Thank You for Your Votes’, wonder if they left us out??</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8tV07H4Fcf30YwWHUYaoD8diUNcfAGf13j6Va1hw-B6lGptEqw2CySMF5hKyjVDlKKhSF0ILzROEl0ue1iN1j5bdcchwxhXGkC38aFy9d8UfbK_RnYT6EzIUE6DQNA5DbtOEWy_gHIQFI/s1600/chocolate+cookies.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8tV07H4Fcf30YwWHUYaoD8diUNcfAGf13j6Va1hw-B6lGptEqw2CySMF5hKyjVDlKKhSF0ILzROEl0ue1iN1j5bdcchwxhXGkC38aFy9d8UfbK_RnYT6EzIUE6DQNA5DbtOEWy_gHIQFI/s200/chocolate+cookies.JPG" width="149" /></a></div>Anyway, like i said, i spent the Saturday baking, and yes, really the whole day... after i took my breakfast in the morning after i woke up, i started on my chocolate chips cookies... this was done with the Betty Crocker mix which i bought when i first started baking... the mix is expiring in Jun, so its time for me to work on it rather than throwing it away... while the cookies were still going into the oven in batches, i worked on another Betty Crocker mix – double chocolate chunk cookies... Saw this as a value pack along with a brownie premix, so bought it to try as well... since using premix save me quite a fair bit of time in ingredients preparation, i did both :) but after trying the cookies, mum commented she still prefer the oatmeal cookies, and asked when i will do them... seeing its Mothers’ Day the next day, i told her i will bake it in the evening... <br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
#34 Chocolate Chips and Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies </div><br />
<strong><u>Betty Crocker Chocolate Chips Cookies </u></strong><br />
1 pkt Chocolate Chips premix <br />
½ cup butter <br />
1 egg <br />
<strong><u>Betty Crocker Double Chocolate Chunk </u></strong><br />
1 pkt Double Chocolate Chunk premix <br />
¼ cup vegetable oil <br />
2 tablespoon water (can add another 1 - 2 tablespoon of water if the dough is too stiff) <br />
1 egg <br />
<br />
For both cookies:<br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div>1. Mix all ingredients and stir till a soft dough is formed <br />
2. Drop by tablespoon (or teaspoon in my case) on to baking sheet <br />
3. Bake in pre-heated oven at 170C – 175C for 8 – 10 minutes <br />
4. Cool on hot baking sheet for a min or 2 before removing and store upon completely cool<br />
<br />
There you go, using premix is the easier to satisfy any baking cravings! <br />
<br />
I am submitting this to <a href="http://testedandtasted.blogspot.com/2011/05/aspiring-bakers-7-chocolate-delight-may.html"><span style="color: #cc0033;">Aspiring Bakers #7 - Chocolate Delight (May 2011)</span></a> hosted by Doris from <a href="http://testedandtasted.blogspot.com/2011/05/aspiring-bakers-7-chocolate-delight-may.html"><span style="color: #cc0033;">Tested & tasted</span></a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
#35 Chocolate and Fairy Cupcakes<br />
<br />
After votes were cast and dinner taken, it was time to start baking again... i could not make up my mind to bake cupcakes or oatmeal cookies for my mum... in the end, i decided on cupcakes... while half way through my chocolate cupcake baking, i came across the Green’s Fairy Cupcake premix (again!)... I got this in either Dec last year i think, wanting to try them out for my niece’s birthday... it ended up sitting in the cupboard (and got packed into a box coz my mum complained my ever-increasing baking stuff i am bringing home!), till i saw it on Saturday! So there and then, i decided to bake this Fairy Cupcakes and the chocolate cupcake which i was halfway through, instead of doing another vanilla cupcake which is going to take me time to prepare the ingredients and i can also bake some oatmeal cookies for my mum! <br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwO0xOmgBS44GusMjNl8gI3lB1AAuWQXjki8j-o9J_QZ8NHXxHYjBDo1jHtvwGbkuyT8X1FWD50izE_8Mk3QM5GtGO551iG9U-F5oU8tx-4I-o9nr68GkPJShcan12vtYWKhj6fVIqac13/s1600/chocolate+cupcakes.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwO0xOmgBS44GusMjNl8gI3lB1AAuWQXjki8j-o9J_QZ8NHXxHYjBDo1jHtvwGbkuyT8X1FWD50izE_8Mk3QM5GtGO551iG9U-F5oU8tx-4I-o9nr68GkPJShcan12vtYWKhj6fVIqac13/s200/chocolate+cupcakes.JPG" width="150" /></a></div>Chocolate Cupcakes (from the baking class i attended at Paisley & Cream)<br />
3/4 cup plain flour<br />
1/4 cup cocoa powder<br />
1/4 tsp baking soda<br />
Pinch of salt (i omit this)<br />
60gms unsalted butter, soften<br />
2/3 cup caster sugar<br />
1/2 tsp vanilla extract<br />
1 egg, lightly beaten<br />
1/2 cup milk<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
1. Preheat oven to 170C - 180C<br />
2. Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt and set aside<br />
3. Beat butter and sugar until light and creamy<br />
4. Mix in egg and vanilla essence<br />
5. Mix in flour and milk alternately into batter, starting and ending with flour (i.e. flour, milk, flour, milk, flour)<br />
6. Scoop batter into cupcake liners or cups<br />
7. Bake for 25 mins or until springy to the touch<br />
8. Apply a layer of glaze (i.e. apricot glaze mix with water) on the top of the cupcakes to retain the moisture<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbdIIve4rpebJqYmEe3HgKD0X3Nujt3EBFwpdBRrGtI7UIiv_TLPriIVEYQY22MgluW0gi7NAUxXVxL78KZRopPt5FLG0Hlmy3O547Edxpfa9d4KKAub2K3kMPDhbA6h6mCObxi-KNW2rm/s1600/fairy+cupcakes.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbdIIve4rpebJqYmEe3HgKD0X3Nujt3EBFwpdBRrGtI7UIiv_TLPriIVEYQY22MgluW0gi7NAUxXVxL78KZRopPt5FLG0Hlmy3O547Edxpfa9d4KKAub2K3kMPDhbA6h6mCObxi-KNW2rm/s200/fairy+cupcakes.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><strong><u>Green’s Fairy Cupcake</u></strong> <br />
1 box of Fairy Cupcake mix <br />
Vegetable Oil <br />
Water <br />
1 Egg <br />
<br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
<br />
1. Mix all ingredients on slow speed till combined. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">2. Mix on high speed for 2 mins </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">3. Scoop the batter into cupcake liners and bake in pre-heated oven at 170C for 10 - 12 mins</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">4. I apply a layer of the apricot glaze on these cuppies as well, and hence, the glossy finishing you see in the picture above</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The box of premix came with 12 cupcake liners, a pack of pink icing sugar and edible sugar dust glitter. But i used the mini cupcake lines along with the new cupcake tin i bought on a recent shopping spree at PH, so i had about 20 mini cuppies </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I only used the pink icing to decorate a couple of the small cuppies (see the cuppies with heart and stars) and attempted to use it for writing a message... i should have put a layer of choc ganache before i wrote on it, but working into the night while watching out for my oatmeal cookies in the oven and keep an eye on the tv for the election results, i was just trying to finish my baking as soon as i can! </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZQcg_dOQRiOpCXm-NDx9B7JSCOGXwCN9PaWQpUjFXeyTgEUH5zVh5acvVIjtMhTR4TrEhak_Cbx78lHSrmDakvMwQJ77wdiKL6us1ertRoSqZhrrozduQxpGkyAT8vCoKo5Rua8qYAwL1/s1600/cupcakes.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZQcg_dOQRiOpCXm-NDx9B7JSCOGXwCN9PaWQpUjFXeyTgEUH5zVh5acvVIjtMhTR4TrEhak_Cbx78lHSrmDakvMwQJ77wdiKL6us1ertRoSqZhrrozduQxpGkyAT8vCoKo5Rua8qYAwL1/s200/cupcakes.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">i tried to frost some chocolate ganache, but still fail.. think coz of the hot weather (and my poor piping skills), i cant seem to get the chocolate ganache in the right condition to pipe nice flowers on the cupcakes.. so again, i just spread it on the cupcakes, and scatter the colourful sugar decos...</div><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
I am submitting this to <a href="http://testedandtasted.blogspot.com/2011/05/aspiring-bakers-7-chocolate-delight-may.html"><span style="color: #cc0033;">Aspiring Bakers #7 - Chocolate Delight (May 2011)</span></a> hosted by Doris from <a href="http://testedandtasted.blogspot.com/2011/05/aspiring-bakers-7-chocolate-delight-may.html"><span style="color: #cc0033;">Tested & tasted</span></a>.<br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
Well, i dunno if my mum was appreciative of what i did, coz i ended up with a severe abdominal and gastric pain the next morning (yes, on Mum’s Day!) and my mum had to attend to (almost) every need of mine... helping me apply medicated oil on my feet (coz they were getting cold with the pain i was enduring), cooking porridge for me, making Milo on my request (which was rather often – i lost track of how many cups i had in that single day!), going to the market to buy bee hoon soup for my dinner, and of course listening to how i moan and groan over my pain... and my mum attribute all these to my whole day spent on baking! Though after seeing the doc it was due to the side effects of the antibiotics i was taking, resulting in gastric... and think she only ate one of the mini cuppies, before packing some off to my nephew who was over at my aunt’s house (across the road)... we are bringing her out for a dim sum lunch this week to make up for it coz my sis was also busy with her studies during the weekend (and to avoid the crowds)... </div>love melody, love bakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07470300312050220456noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889438828488547391.post-49942293501221228712011-05-05T22:19:00.000+08:002011-05-05T22:19:56.692+08:00my baking diary #33 no-bake cupcake pop!<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUzDK7Kl4RSLPRMdWZgzV9YwxicWkOtkgFZqKaQA7x2xbQcuslFQnW3meSoLpLe30AwALR29-YIJeiN53lFy_cs0lGr_ALZepgJZtTNp0g2KYXwQBVlKoKldsvneTZrAJMInwfSgxzfh4h/s1600/cupcake+pop.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUzDK7Kl4RSLPRMdWZgzV9YwxicWkOtkgFZqKaQA7x2xbQcuslFQnW3meSoLpLe30AwALR29-YIJeiN53lFy_cs0lGr_ALZepgJZtTNp0g2KYXwQBVlKoKldsvneTZrAJMInwfSgxzfh4h/s200/cupcake+pop.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg49p8oHCk6YEBSQ5ZmS3avxcAzREQAEfjh1X9Fotzd5ceDgFBZv1PXwmEiFy0EDV7XSOc6J1B2YSNQwviQLq8F0AsoS-0-e_ntErjGJTlY6va2wTpkv1JX1aZZkwoyKUqhIzTDBslAexnG/s1600/new+stuff.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg49p8oHCk6YEBSQ5ZmS3avxcAzREQAEfjh1X9Fotzd5ceDgFBZv1PXwmEiFy0EDV7XSOc6J1B2YSNQwviQLq8F0AsoS-0-e_ntErjGJTlY6va2wTpkv1JX1aZZkwoyKUqhIzTDBslAexnG/s200/new+stuff.JPG" width="150" /></a></div>attempted cupcake pops this time round, with the cupcake pop mold i bought since January... instead of a cake pop, mine is a no-bake version from the creator of the cupcake pop mold, <a href="http://www.mylittlecupcakepop.com/">My Little Cupcake</a>.<br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">though in the mood for some baking, but wasn't totally in the mood - not sure if you understand what i meant, haha... partly because of some personal reason, guess it wasn't a good time to work on these cupcake pops... i was anxious to see how the output will be like so did not really monitor the time required to chill the dough closely... result? my dough were soft and some gave way when i try to put the stick in :( out of 12 cupcake doughs, only 5 managed to stay on the stick and be a cupcake pop... or rather a round ball pop! coz the dough was soft, after dipping it in chocolate and candy melts, i cant see the cupcake shape anymore!!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">but tastewise, its rather ok. I dont fancy the candy melt coz there a weird taste to it (it may be me only) but for kids (esp my nieces), i guess they don't mind :)</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">and not knowing how it wil turn out, i only use the rainbow coloured rice for topping... will definitely try this out again one of this day, and hopefully i get some pretty cupcake pops then!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://www.mylittlecupcakepop.com/">No-bake Cupcake Pop</a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">1 packet Oreo (1 packet of Oreo in US is 42 pieces of Oreos)</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">1 block of Creamcheese (8oz) - i use Philadelphia creamcheese</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Melted chocolate (for dipping the base of the dough)</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Melted Candy Melts (for coating the top of the dough)</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Any toppings of your liking - chocolate rice, mini choc chips, m&ms, etc...</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">1. Grind the oreo cookies</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">2. Mix the ground oreo cookies and creamcheese using hand till it form into a dough. It should be of a playdough consistency</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">3. Chill the dough for about 15 mins after which, roll the dough into balls of about 1"</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">4. Chill the rolled doughs again </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">5. Place the dough into the mold, close and press, open and take out the cupcake shaped dough (if you do not have a cupcake mould, you can just roll the dough into round balls or just shape it with your hands)</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">6. Chill the cupcake shaped dough and prepare the chocolate and candy melt for dipping</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">7. Dip the base of the cupcake into chocolate, and poke the lollipop stick in. At this stage, you can use some egg trays to help hold the cupcake pop</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">8. Holding the cupcake pop from the stick, dip the cupcake into the candy melt to coat the cupcake, and top with your desired toppings</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">For a more detailed instructions, please pop over to <a href="http://www.mylittlecupcakepop.com/">My Little Cupcake</a> and watch the video :)</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">In line with this month's theme, I am submitting this as an entry to <a href="http://testedandtasted.blogspot.com/2011/05/aspiring-bakers-7-chocolate-delight-may.html"><span style="color: #cc0033;">Aspiring Bakers #7 - Chocolate Delight (May 2011)</span></a> hosted by Doris from <a href="http://testedandtasted.blogspot.com/2011/05/aspiring-bakers-7-chocolate-delight-may.html"><span style="color: #cc0033;">Tested & tasted</span></a>.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">This coming Saturday is Polling Day... have you made your choice? Me? I am residing in the constituency where the seats are the hottest (its obvious where right?) and yes, i have already decided which box i wanna cross on Saturday... But this, is just part of my agenda for the weekend holiday... I have already listed down the bakes i am going to attempt! Look out for more posts soon :)</div>love melody, love bakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07470300312050220456noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889438828488547391.post-11133530575564452182011-04-25T21:37:00.003+08:002011-04-25T21:49:09.953+08:00my baking diary #30 pizza, #31 smoked duck crepe rolls and #31 no-bake cheesecakes!after a short hiatus, i finally had time to do some baking - not the usual cakes or cookies, but some minimal baking to make sure my oven is still in a good, working condition :P<br />
<br />
#30 Quick and Easy Pizza<br />
<br />
my next visit the dentist is in mid-may, so i will get to have my usual bakes on most saturday morning when dear is working... had wanted to bake some oatmeal cookies, but dear requested for pizza... so pizza it is! and i did not even get to taste the pizza! dear finished it up on his own!!!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXfxx6-n2ptSm4kkNFq-Lrms9E_8DYBePZEZc10yBeyJ1GjkkEq3uKxrUTNV6lZzrzzfedi9WjYOe03EDAq8siQZoOxHjSCYyKmd9RyL8wHzJobsntFgBiYmpdIP9iV7_yRVZuM-4p7Ivo/s1600/pizza.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXfxx6-n2ptSm4kkNFq-Lrms9E_8DYBePZEZc10yBeyJ1GjkkEq3uKxrUTNV6lZzrzzfedi9WjYOe03EDAq8siQZoOxHjSCYyKmd9RyL8wHzJobsntFgBiYmpdIP9iV7_yRVZuM-4p7Ivo/s200/pizza.JPG" width="150" /></a></div> <img border="0" height="200" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzrbX1FVWZTkxzPIHiq0IRiO5EvkQzLzNItIKRBeRUW2vqUtQGbCPpeapkYLxhho9nLzg9avLpTMVBA6YZXPHKrwWWsO8eDnY1xT3XmO26ms-ZELCUXsfxKiBTbB0ztnJL4Er9OtVMGKTd/s200/pizza+crust+premix.JPG" width="150" /><br />
<br />
i prefer an 'hawaiian' style pizza topped with ham and pineapple chunks, but not dear.. so this time, the pizza is only ham and cheese... realised i forgot about the cheese in the morning, so a trip to the supermarket after having breakfast at the market near my place... being a supermarket in the market area (prime supermarket btw), it is rather small and hence, products they carry are rather limited... could not find my usual cheese, and was rather panicky till i set my eye on this block of kraft cheddar cheese! only solution, so i gotten a block and grate it myself...<br />
<br />
there are recipes for doing the pizza crust - i tried a couple myself but thought it was too tedious to do it up from scratch (i am just plain lazy since i stopped baking for a while...) so i used a packet of Betty Crocker pizza crust premix! Read about this in a forum, and though a premix, still gives a diy feel to it... <br />
<br />
<u>Quick and Easy Pizza</u><br />
1 packet Betty Crocker pizza crust premix<br />
Pizza or Pasta sauce (i used the tomato pasta sauce)<br />
Cheese<br />
Ham (and whatever toppings you want)<br />
<br />
1. Mix the pizza crust premix with half cup hot water (not boiling water). I add in some mixed herbs into the mix for some flavoring (but not sure how the taste turn out since i did not get to eat it!)<br />
2. Stir the mixture till dough is form. Leave it for 5 mins or so before you start working on it - this will make the dough much easier to handle<br />
3. Flour surface and hands before kneading out the dough to desired size<br />
4. Place dough in baking pan, top with pasta sauce, cheese and ham<br />
5. Bake in preheated over for about 10 - 12 mins<br />
<br />
Note that one packet of premix churns out about a 9" size thick pizza crust. I split the dough into 2 and hence made 2 smaller and thinner pizzas<br />
<br />
I am submitting this to <a href="http://needmorenoms.blogspot.com/2011/04/aspiring-bakers-6-say-cheese-april-2011.html">Aspiring Bakers #6: Say Cheese! (April 2011)</a>, hosted by Jean of <a href="http://needmorenoms.blogspot.com/">Norms I Must</a><br />
<br />
#31 Smoked Duck Crepe Rolls<br />
<br />
next up on what i did over the weekend... smoked duck crepe rolls! <br />
<br />
the more common one is Peking Duck rolls, which we usually see at most restaurant... hmm, price for some may be on the high side, so how often does one order this dish whenever we dine at restaurants...<br />
<br />
this was first introduced by my colleague, C, when we had a popiah party in the office for J's farewell! Since its a popiah party, of course we had to had popiah and kueh pie tees... Wanting to provide more varieties, C suggested preparing some smoked duck which we can wrap with popiah skin...<br />
<br />
the smoked duck provides an alternative to peking duck, and it's really quick to fix this up at home!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPq2ug59VvCqiobUbBkMQcC6m_h22KaXLMNtOZz61iU-F-2DVnOV5qyjAC4KbHR5fy4062YwAX_u_tIT3AErC3292YbfaPmLi9jUs43gLCi3xXF6DCGpWCtz8tqfCcYccqrBY1ZVZf1HHl/s1600/smoked+duck.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPq2ug59VvCqiobUbBkMQcC6m_h22KaXLMNtOZz61iU-F-2DVnOV5qyjAC4KbHR5fy4062YwAX_u_tIT3AErC3292YbfaPmLi9jUs43gLCi3xXF6DCGpWCtz8tqfCcYccqrBY1ZVZf1HHl/s200/smoked+duck.JPG" width="133" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<u>Smoked Duck Crepe Rolls</u><br />
<br />
1 box of frozen smoked duck meat (note this is breast meat so no bones!)<br />
1 packet of crepe<br />
Zucchini<br />
Sweet sauce (or hoi sin sauce)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
1. Microwave the frozen smoked duck meat according to instructions on the box (alternatively, some supermarkets like NTUC does sell ready cooked duck meat at the deli section) and slice<br />
2. Cut the crepe and zucchini into suitable size. <br />
3. Apply some sweet sauce on the crepe, top it with the smoked duck slices and zucchini<br />
4. Roll it up (and pop it into your mouth!)<br />
<br />
a quick and easy dish to put together!<br />
<br />
#32 Oreo and Mango no-bake cheesecake<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv9MjJOAdy9ZfsptWF6kO6SerYJ9LBa3bkPPEnqkGjEPxVXGzk7DH0fRydSegUtMF0sWMHzhXSlCxdYKFnzEV-27S7QwhMKt7-KhbcfUzub2fbp_35XWHh2gJEFYDdTOK_OtakoiLzlRz-/s1600/cheesecake.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv9MjJOAdy9ZfsptWF6kO6SerYJ9LBa3bkPPEnqkGjEPxVXGzk7DH0fRydSegUtMF0sWMHzhXSlCxdYKFnzEV-27S7QwhMKt7-KhbcfUzub2fbp_35XWHh2gJEFYDdTOK_OtakoiLzlRz-/s200/cheesecake.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>set my mind to prepare this for aspiring bakers after the theme was announced since its a chesse theme this month! but only got around to doing this after a month!! <br />
<br />
i got this recipe from Kraft, but modify it, especially the amount of sugar required.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Cheesecake (adapted mainly from <a href="http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/philadelphia-peaches-n-cream-110364.aspx">Philadephia Peaches N Cream no bake Cheesecake</a>)<br />
<br />
Digestives biscuits and Oreo cookies (without the cream) - Amount largely dependent on how big your baking pan is and how thick you like the base to be<br />
<div class="table-row"><div class="column1"><div class="textarea"><span class="ingredientNodeIndent" rel="v:ingredient"><span class="ingredientNode" typeof="v:ingredient"><span class="ingredientNodeInner" property="v:name">Butter, soften (i use moderate amount to make sure the biscuit mixture sticks together)</span></span></span> </div></div></div><div class="table-row-gray"><div class="column1"><div class="textarea"><span class="ingredientNodeIndent" rel="v:ingredient"><span class="ingredientNode" typeof="v:ingredient"><span class="ingredientNodeInner" property="v:amount">Sugar</span>, divided</span></span> </div></div></div><div class="table-row"><div class="column1"><div class="textarea"><span class="ingredientNodeIndent" rel="v:ingredient"><span class="ingredientNode" typeof="v:ingredient"><span class="ingredientNodeInner" property="v:amount">4 blocks </span><span class="ingredientNodeInner" property="v:name">Philadelphia Cream Cheese</span>, softened</span></span> </div></div></div><div class="table-row-gray"><div class="column1"><div class="textarea"><span class="ingredientNodeIndent" rel="v:ingredient"><span class="ingredientNode" typeof="v:ingredient"><span class="ingredientNodeInner" property="v:name">Dry Gelatin</span></span></span> (i used Knox Gelation - see picture below)</div></div></div><div class="table-row"><div class="column1"><div class="textarea"><span class="ingredientNodeIndent" rel="v:ingredient"><span class="ingredientNode" typeof="v:ingredient"><span class="ingredientNodeInner" property="v:amount"></span></span></span></div></div></div><div class="table-row-gray"><div class="column1"><div class="textarea"><span class="ingredientNodeIndent" rel="v:ingredient"><span class="ingredientNode" typeof="v:ingredient"><span class="ingredientNodeInner" property="v:amount">Cubed Mangos</span></span></span></div><div class="textarea"><span class="ingredientNodeIndent" rel="v:ingredient"><span class="ingredientNode" typeof="v:ingredient"><span class="ingredientNodeInner" property="v:name">Whipped Topping</span>, thawed</span></span></div></div></div><br />
1. Crush or grind Digestives or Oreo cookies - i usually divide my recipe into half so i can do the cheesecake in two flavours<br />
2. Mix crushed bisuits or oreo with some sugar and soften butter (note: you can refer to Kraft webby for the exact measurement, but i usually go with gut feel as i want to control the level of content in my cheesecake)<br />
3. Press the mixture into pan and chill in the fridge while working on the cream cheese mixture<br />
4. Mix soften cream cheese and sugar till well mixed<br />
5. Mix in dry gelatin (i used about 2 - 3 pkts of gelatin for 4 blocks of cream cheese. and this gelatin does not require any water, can use as it is)<br />
6. Stir in cubed mangos (or coarsely chopped oreo cookies or other fruits) and whipped topping and mix well<br />
7. Scoop mixture into the chilled biscuit base and leave in fridge to set (for at least 4 hours or overnight)<br />
<br />
this is the usual recipe i turn to when doing cheesecake... started on this way before i got my oven since this is a no bake cheesecake... have made a couple of varieties over my attempts - peach cheesecake or topped with blueberry fillings.... otherwise, keep it plain for an original taste!<br />
<br />
I am submitting this to <a href="http://needmorenoms.blogspot.com/2011/04/aspiring-bakers-6-say-cheese-april-2011.html">Aspiring Bakers #6: Say Cheese! (April 2011)</a>, hosted by Jean of <a href="http://needmorenoms.blogspot.com/">Norms I Must</a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm_pNuWr8fOG2_b6dwOYIhVeXgnYzGsA_T5WRRHcwhpvJPapXCyztbXcknz58k1eL8OmakBstYSMXlksP4-7W93_bTGqcBNFPkhx4V5xAca1p7HvYr-b-F4sQlryXbpZGR-h8wmk5vUtDB/s1600/gelatine.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm_pNuWr8fOG2_b6dwOYIhVeXgnYzGsA_T5WRRHcwhpvJPapXCyztbXcknz58k1eL8OmakBstYSMXlksP4-7W93_bTGqcBNFPkhx4V5xAca1p7HvYr-b-F4sQlryXbpZGR-h8wmk5vUtDB/s200/gelatine.JPG" width="150" /></a></div> i like this brand of gelatin - its fine enough to be used in the cream cheese mixture, without giving a 'sandy' taste... i tried using other gelatin mixed with water before, but did not like the texture of the cheesecake... so far, i only managed to locate this particular brand of dry gelatin at Sheng Siong.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQb0Uy_xlwOZ-uQ4XQ1VbXODxzBvqZ8CXlpMbFZn6S-4NERy1_D44MBwgCJEb5oeckopiZSCIYbTnru_CVRkf5g1e2KUWiSgcsTng43KSnonAUfmW-pzeK7HDvzjBJYLSs-iN88ay6sLjh/s1600/sun+lik+purchase.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQb0Uy_xlwOZ-uQ4XQ1VbXODxzBvqZ8CXlpMbFZn6S-4NERy1_D44MBwgCJEb5oeckopiZSCIYbTnru_CVRkf5g1e2KUWiSgcsTng43KSnonAUfmW-pzeK7HDvzjBJYLSs-iN88ay6sLjh/s200/sun+lik+purchase.JPG" width="200" /></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
sneaked a quick trip to Sun Lik today since i had some time to while away before a meeting at 4pm! got some sugar decos, so will be working on some cupcakes this weekend if possiblelove melody, love bakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07470300312050220456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889438828488547391.post-17274912692365380232011-04-18T22:13:00.001+08:002011-04-18T22:36:45.644+08:00my baking diary #29 what did i 'baked' over the weekend?usually, Saturdays are my baking days, as it's the weekend... however, these few saturdays were spent at the dentist instead... due to my wisdom teeth, it causes some decay to my molar... and now, i gotta do root canal to 'save' my molar... spent a bomb on it and had to experience pain and numbness. over a spread of 3 saturdays, i had about 6 - 7 injections into my left gum... sigh... finally, the root canal is done... a month from now, its a trip to the dentist again to do a crown for my molar...<br />
<br />
so after spending the mornings at dentist, what else could i bake? a trip down to chinatown, and i found some pretty and lovely 'ingredients' for my 'bakes'... presenting my "strawberry and chocolate cupcakes" and "raspberry macarons"<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicTkyV34tzua3tZ5zAEStpgQaZtP_bbjlyiIj9AvWSEr38Ih0et2HlJNVl4lB8tRSNHNZm_LEbZCmy77e3bDV7EopjrfILmpqB4HF9lqKWG0HENumGaNUL-__3UfMdxutUcQQq4KZ1K7o8/s1600/cupcake+rings.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicTkyV34tzua3tZ5zAEStpgQaZtP_bbjlyiIj9AvWSEr38Ih0et2HlJNVl4lB8tRSNHNZm_LEbZCmy77e3bDV7EopjrfILmpqB4HF9lqKWG0HENumGaNUL-__3UfMdxutUcQQq4KZ1K7o8/s320/cupcake+rings.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9HGYMXv5HqYhKaWJP67AKt5uA9QGglKV5mVuNd0oqCtKVPp0C7fWSE0nnUfnXf1j8aG7jLeMmpqdPLZX24GpItgkONJJWBD-WLD3s0PVZUDC-0CKhQTdPvdCMjcsRTKGuYRhLA9afQCeh/s1600/macaron+rings.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9HGYMXv5HqYhKaWJP67AKt5uA9QGglKV5mVuNd0oqCtKVPp0C7fWSE0nnUfnXf1j8aG7jLeMmpqdPLZX24GpItgkONJJWBD-WLD3s0PVZUDC-0CKhQTdPvdCMjcsRTKGuYRhLA9afQCeh/s320/macaron+rings.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br />
i am into rings recently, especially 3D types of rings with cute cakes and all... was told by the shop staff that there will be more lovely cakes and sweets available, so i will be making a trip to chinatown again!<br />
<br />
i would love to give these 'bakes' away (if anyone wants them in the first place) if you would like one, please <a href="mailto:peihwa82@gmail.com">email </a>me your name and address details, so i can mail it to you...<br />
<br />
i have 3 "strawberry" and 2 "chocolate" cupcakes and 3 "raspberry macarons" to be given away... you can indicate your preference over which you want, but i will allocate it based on first come first serve...<br />
<br />
work is also getting busier this week coz M is on leave... though we have a new gal on board, but will need to give her time to adjust and pick up things... whenever i have time, i will log online to check out the blogs... but am being a silent reader for the time being...love melody, love bakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07470300312050220456noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889438828488547391.post-35199420195512176282011-04-13T21:36:00.000+08:002011-04-13T21:36:09.415+08:00my baking diary #28 tri-flavoured melt in the mouth cookieshappy news... my colleague P is finally back from her 1 month mc... and the new girl is coming next Mon... the past 2 months have been tough...<br />
<br />
bad news... M is going on her holiday for a week, so during this week, i will have to juggle between my work, covering some for M, and also have the new girl to shadow-study me (like what my boss said)... but i am glad things are settling well... the initial period when J left, along with all the rushed jobs, was really very stressful for me.. resutling in such a long cough... now i can finally take a breather, my cough is so much better... <br />
<br />
had a sudden bout of sharp pain in my abdominal during the weekend, and went to the doc on monday... turned out to be a sort of infection... and my sugar level rather high from the test as well... doc was concerned, so i had to see him today to draw some blood for testing.... *praying hard things will be fine*<br />
<br />
there are lots of things i wanna bake... cake pops, cheesecakes (for Aspiring Bakers), the oatmeal raisin cookies, cupcakes and more... but the problem is, i have no time!! had plans to meet K and D for lunch, hence squeeze in time last evening after work, and baked the 'melt in the mouth cookies' for them... after baking the plain and chocolate version the last time, i have been wanting to try baking it in green tea flavour... <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGJo1gWRRLz9VPQ78XFhbzTvu8Q32YuvpDwW3F0D0fZDRRdurQYLFfq4WgbMuqTNNBXXTMAb6mkjFMfr-24fJ20JJjRjX8DMHNGP24uHjwDwzuwfG2pRT0C0u0-s0Ip_2Y-JNvXJ3-xat4/s1600/melty+cookies+packed.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGJo1gWRRLz9VPQ78XFhbzTvu8Q32YuvpDwW3F0D0fZDRRdurQYLFfq4WgbMuqTNNBXXTMAb6mkjFMfr-24fJ20JJjRjX8DMHNGP24uHjwDwzuwfG2pRT0C0u0-s0Ip_2Y-JNvXJ3-xat4/s200/melty+cookies+packed.JPG" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinaStdFZOyNASX-v5JiadYAmQVxbTCb2uZtRCcr__gsZg5pxO-XUO6Y5cYXSMZKfDuFLj0fTo188pjCXwz0AFvSRRjmXKapisngT8S-aH9Hg7ywTU34hpZ_dt1oxyfqvj-KU7nD_M6Kq5y/s1600/melty+cookies.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinaStdFZOyNASX-v5JiadYAmQVxbTCb2uZtRCcr__gsZg5pxO-XUO6Y5cYXSMZKfDuFLj0fTo188pjCXwz0AFvSRRjmXKapisngT8S-aH9Hg7ywTU34hpZ_dt1oxyfqvj-KU7nD_M6Kq5y/s200/melty+cookies.JPG" width="150" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div>so this time, i baked them in 3 flavours... plain, chocolate and green tea... from there, i mixed and matched them.... chocolate version gave a more overwhelming taste, hence, when put together with either plain or green tea version, only chocolate can be tasted... green tea on its own is not too bad... <br />
<br />
Melt in the mouth cookies<br />
125gms butter (can be salted or unsalted...)<br />
40gms icing sugar<br />
125gms potato starch<br />
80gms plain flour (replace with 20gms cocoa powder + 66gms plain flour for chocolate version; 10gms green tea powder + 70gms plain flour for green tea version)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">1. Beat butter and icing suger till fluffy and light in colour</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">2. Sift in potato starch, flour (and cocoa powder or green tea powder) and mix to form a dough</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">you can do the cookies in the size you like.. for me, the plain and 2-flavoured version are 1/2 tsp size, whereas the tri-flavoured ones are 1/3 tsp of each flavour and rolled together</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">3. Place the rolled doughs on baking paper and press lightly using a fork (dip the fork in water before pressing on the dough)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">4. Bake the cookies at 150C for 20 minutes (don't have to wait till the cookies turn brown) and transfer to cooling rack to cool before storing them</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">i packed these cookies in the lovely heart-shaped containers... first saw Jasmine using these containers over at <a href="http://thesweetylicious.blogspot.com/2011/02/mont-blanc-cake.html">The Sweetylicious</a>, and found them at Phoon Huat... Finally found a use for them... After packing them and bringing them to the office, lunch appointment was cancelled :( but at least it was a chance for me to bake... :)</div>love melody, love bakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07470300312050220456noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889438828488547391.post-18394313779475809302011-04-02T15:12:00.001+08:002011-04-02T15:15:43.028+08:00my baking diary #27 vanilla and chocolate cupcakesto make sure i remember what i learnt during the baking class, i tried baking the cupcakes today... i prefer to make a smaller version, hence i used the smaller cup cases...<br />
<br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF50mgXKQT0VgCRaSAWC2vuruqSxOpSqcw1CELLZsbTKrp_6cCiCA0-npkZ2zFEPbspLoZya_-I2btW-LJ8-iCSFLgo-6S9xRZf7CVid0b-rVMeWloppJTJe9nO80bUXsHFNs-2pl66cOi/s1600/cuppies.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF50mgXKQT0VgCRaSAWC2vuruqSxOpSqcw1CELLZsbTKrp_6cCiCA0-npkZ2zFEPbspLoZya_-I2btW-LJ8-iCSFLgo-6S9xRZf7CVid0b-rVMeWloppJTJe9nO80bUXsHFNs-2pl66cOi/s200/cuppies.JPG" width="200" /></a>these are the chocolate and vanilla cuppies, before they are frosted... the colour seems a shade darker because of the apricot glazing... not sure if its because of the different brands of butter used, i thought the shade of my vanilla batter was much lighter than what was achieved during the lesson... i'll try again using the same butter used in class and see if there's any difference... the chocolate one was all right - i bought the valrhona cocoa powder for this cuppies, instead of using the van houten one i had...</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMX49pe0cc4MrgSBcvHHEFrgB_-qOt78UnyJ_bdAq8azhCErNVYRatEgJlDY3L2VpNcMyOC3taHawemuFuzwDAv7Ms33u5Zthc_ynlCGfFAeg9RenCr6h6COLaIH23MI5pVpThaAYIz2Bx/s1600/frosted+cuppies1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMX49pe0cc4MrgSBcvHHEFrgB_-qOt78UnyJ_bdAq8azhCErNVYRatEgJlDY3L2VpNcMyOC3taHawemuFuzwDAv7Ms33u5Zthc_ynlCGfFAeg9RenCr6h6COLaIH23MI5pVpThaAYIz2Bx/s200/frosted+cuppies1.JPG" width="200" /></a>i made chocolate ganache last night, hoping to pipe some nice flowers for the cuppies... but guess its different working in a kitchen and working in the airconditioned classroom - the temperature sort of melt the chocolate ganache, making it difficult to pipe the frosting properly... if i use it straight out from the fridge, its too hard to pipe out :( but of course, the main problem is me! my piping skills sucks big time! haha... just gotta keep practising i guess...</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxrD7WCej_mG_ufo_iAmrLLKJZigRnamJKSZxKyHZz19_7yv28O8qiPm_kj6C9HB9GfV0CVACdjmpnP1RH_GBk3ZrW78RY1J-BdZ31rCffsjTAibQnAnstgqLOH-Zr01t3olbQLMebSEbL/s1600/frosted+cuppies2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxrD7WCej_mG_ufo_iAmrLLKJZigRnamJKSZxKyHZz19_7yv28O8qiPm_kj6C9HB9GfV0CVACdjmpnP1RH_GBk3ZrW78RY1J-BdZ31rCffsjTAibQnAnstgqLOH-Zr01t3olbQLMebSEbL/s200/frosted+cuppies2.JPG" width="200" /></a>anyway, i don't wanna present my cuppies with such ugly frostings, and seeing the chocolate ganache melting to a more liquid condition, what i did was basically spreading it on to the cuppies! and topping it up with the sugar decos etc... this turned out pretty well... </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">i will post up the recipe later, as i need to back-up my iphone and get it replaced due to some malfunctionings... and going to meet dear for our movie tonight <3</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>love melody, love bakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07470300312050220456noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889438828488547391.post-87731395653131519262011-04-02T01:25:00.035+08:002011-04-04T21:13:38.152+08:00my baking diary #25 butter cookies, #26 chiffon cake and award!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: purple;">Many thanks to</span> <a href="http://preciousmoments66.blogspot.com/">Edith</a> <span style="color: purple;">from</span> <a href="http://preciousmoments66.blogspot.com/2011/03/long-overdue.html">Precious Moments</a> <span style="color: purple;">and</span> <a href="http://bakeforaqueen.blogspot.com/">Nancy</a> <span style="color: purple;">from</span> <a href="http://bakeforaqueen.blogspot.com/2011/04/my-first-award.html">Bake for a Queen</a> <span style="color: purple;">who passed this lovey award to me... this is my first award! and it motivates me to bake more and keep up this interest of mine!</span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiksmuipIQ4cbOwFcFpZM7wACJb8UNbFetg8Vq0eQMWnm9aY2xwgG4qIa7YZW3ga9RHkKMxyMe5k-ko-l57Jj6lHlxvIc2DiEe1tUCGjnxom0boLUYbF7cOJwqXeZudc3BwLtKHiCECxHnd/s1600/One_Lovely_Blog_Award.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="200" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiksmuipIQ4cbOwFcFpZM7wACJb8UNbFetg8Vq0eQMWnm9aY2xwgG4qIa7YZW3ga9RHkKMxyMe5k-ko-l57Jj6lHlxvIc2DiEe1tUCGjnxom0boLUYbF7cOJwqXeZudc3BwLtKHiCECxHnd/s200/One_Lovely_Blog_Award.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: purple; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here are the rules to abide for accepting this award :</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: purple; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. Post linking back to the person that gave you the award.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: purple; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. Share 7 random things about yourself.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: purple; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. Award 15 recently discovered blogs.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: purple; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. Drop them a note and tell them about it</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
<br />
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u><em>7 Random Things about Me...</em></u></span><br />
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Arial;">1. I love 'My Melody' character from Sanrio, hence my blog name... Though a fan, i don't (and can't afford to) collect lots of MM stuff... But knowing my likes, friend and families usually get me MM related stuff for birthday, X'mas etc... :)</span><br />
<span style="color: purple;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Arial;">2. I move on from hobby to hobby rather fast! Reading is one of my hobbies which i never grow out of - i will tend to buy books whenever i step into Popular (now its recipe books!). Other interesting hobbies include collection (unopened) tissue packets with cute and pretty packaging, cute characters plasters (and i still have them though it way past their expiry dates!), and phone cards (those in sets) versus the boring stamps, coins etc (hope i don't offend any of the readers!). I still have these items with me though i am not adding any more into my existing collections... The most recent hobbies prior to baking was Gashapon (turning capsules and collecting those keychains, mini toys and whatever) and accessories making/beading... i am still doing accessories/beading stuff like figurines etc from time to time... I have this whole trolley of beading materials i bought (and they do cost me a bomb if you were to add up everything!) and lots of those japanese beading books... I tend to 'invest' alot whenever i pick up a particular hobby... The newest hobby? Yes, baking! Hope this will last (and i am guessing it will!)</span><br />
<span style="color: purple;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">3. </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Can i add on additional hobbies as another random item? Other hobbies includes paper crafts (i bought this set of alphabets and those cute puncher!), cross stitching, reading and collecting comics books etc... Basically, i am a 'craft-y' person... Hence, like to prepare handmade gifts for birthdays, X'mas etc...</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Arial;">4. I always have an interest in baking ever since home economics classes in secondary school, but the home oven at that time wasn't working, so no chance to bake... I am glad i can now get an oven and more baking tools now that i am financially independence (this explains why i feel that my baking hobby will last long)!</span><br />
<span style="color: purple;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Arial;">5. I like Harry Potter - both books and movies... I read the books countless times, and at least watch each of the movie at least twice (if not more!) and am looking foward to the last one which will be release in July 2011!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Arial;">6. I love to shop online - clothes, cute stationaries, baking stuff etc...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Arial;">7. I ran out of random items about me though i think there could be more (but i don't know what to write!)... If there is anything in particular you wanna know about me, ask me! Haha</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Arial;">I find it difficult to pass this award to 15 recently discovered blogs - most of the blogs i am following seems to have been awarded recently... and mainly, there are more than 15 blogs which i recently discovered and i am still discovering many more lovely blogs... </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: purple;">~above updated 4 Apr 2011~</span></span><br />
<br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">following up with my last post, my boss came back from his business trip, which means more work for me (in terms of more meetings, appointments, etc)... hence, did not have time to bake after a long working day... was staying late in the office rather frequently, so even on weekends, i need to spend more time catching up on sleep, spending time with dear, getting errands run... so again, no time to bake... i could only read up on other blogs in between travelling from place to place, or when i have that little time during work... seen so many nice bakes, but i can't do any... and i totally missed the March Aspiring Bakers! Did not manage to submit any post for that! Will make it a point to do something for April Aspiring Bakers!!!</span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#25 Butter Cookies</span><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">last week, i baked continuously for 3 evenings, all for my dearest niece, YX's, 3rd birthday... i do feel kinda guilty for only making butter cookies for her party favour, when i made butter cookies and </span><a href="http://lovemelody-lovebaking.blogspot.com/2011/02/my-baking-diary-20-horlicks-doggies.html"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">horlicks doggies</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> for XH's 1st birthday... but i din have much of a choice, was too tied up with work... and although only butter cookies, i had to forgo at least 2 - 3 hours of sleeps for that 3 days to bake for her!</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg24dXO4yjnEYPqcu-k4-hp4xDkZDItLfgi4CaH7GeI-V1aWaUMpexsNo3m1I0e0VDxqEDtfO6y6J8ER71iAI37uC6JJVnnkj8O82yNjcw6n-tY6styPFkNmuPqNwEgPvVdVVxmziIpJa1E/s1600/Cookies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="132" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg24dXO4yjnEYPqcu-k4-hp4xDkZDItLfgi4CaH7GeI-V1aWaUMpexsNo3m1I0e0VDxqEDtfO6y6J8ER71iAI37uC6JJVnnkj8O82yNjcw6n-tY6styPFkNmuPqNwEgPvVdVVxmziIpJa1E/s200/Cookies.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">i used the </span><a href="http://cathy-joy.blogspot.com/2011/02/love-binds-us-together.html"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">butter cookie recipe</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> from </span><a href="http://cathy-joy.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cathy</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">... it's really a breeze working with this recipe coz the dough does not require any chilling before you can cut it into your desired shapes, and does not stick to the rolling pin!</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">after doing it for 3 continuous day, i can almost memorize the process (coz i prepare and weigh all ingredients for 3 batches on day 1).</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But as these cookies were for YX to bring to childcare for her schoolmates, i reduced the sugar level a little more, and also, i used those edible sugar decos to top the cookies...</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://cathy-joy.blogspot.com/2011/02/love-binds-us-together.html"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Butter Cookie</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (recipe from </span><a href="http://cathy-joy.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cathy's Joy</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">)</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">90g Butter</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">75g sugar (i reduced this to 70gms)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 egg yolk</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1/2 tsp vanilla essence (i used vanilla essence for 2 batches of cookies, and orange essence for 1 batch)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">135g plain flour</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">45g corn flour</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. Cream the butter and sugar together for one minute.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. Mix in egg yolk and vanilla essence (or orange essence). </span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. Stir in plain flour & corn flour. Knead briefly.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. Roll out the dough (i find that rolling between 2 sheets of baking paper is easier to handle the dough) to about 2-3mm thick and cut into shapes with cookie cutters.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5. Bake at 180°C for 15mins.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This recipe is definitely a keeper, and i will be doing it soon to try my new Rilakkuma cookie cutters!</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#26 Rainbow Chiffon (again!)</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrh5OBikjtL2SMl-7SF2EnrCYuhVXcicTRHrEv_craBV7Qj7gBZ147IL2BkrOm72qMyr6TAUUs2GE2NkmzwqLH1WgBRdJTLjys7ytSDmsF7vfnVBLwlJgEyczwFnjmawknqPVADKlsVH7W/s1600/rainbow+chiffon.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="150" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrh5OBikjtL2SMl-7SF2EnrCYuhVXcicTRHrEv_craBV7Qj7gBZ147IL2BkrOm72qMyr6TAUUs2GE2NkmzwqLH1WgBRdJTLjys7ytSDmsF7vfnVBLwlJgEyczwFnjmawknqPVADKlsVH7W/s200/rainbow+chiffon.JPG" width="200" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">yes, its rainbow chiffon again... i dun seem to get sick of this, and i found this rather easy to bake... hence, on a friday evening where i got to leave office early (erm, early in this case means leaving on the dot, able to catch company bus and reaching home before 7pm provided i dun spend too much time doing retail therapy at Phoon Huat!!)... so my mum asked me if i am baking tonite, my reply was "do you want to eat chiffon cake? if yes then i bake lor".. and with my mum's reply, here's the chiffon cake for breakfast tomorrow :)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can get the recipe </span><a href="http://lovemelody-lovebaking.blogspot.com/2011/02/my-baking-diary-24-raindow-chiffon.html"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, or the orginal </span><a href="http://www.chunkycooky.com/2011/02/valentine-rainbow-chiffon.html"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">... it's up to your own to decide what colours go into the chiffon... for mine, i chose yellow, green, purple and pink... I bought mango and lychee flavours from Phoon Huat sometime back, and hence added some into the yellow and pink coloured portions... the mango fragrance was rather strong when i was mixing the batter, but after it came out from the oven, it was not as strong...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbOos0oybqtQcgOZvnd-iabwYjpqptW2Eke0WNy_iS_cPljYOXbjVWtlzLiNldB7BlSSqhroYhE2BhsDNDRH1dYjwUUJZQDudGKDTyvfPO_Q2o7TuuvDMWXrgPK2LDnRfO9m4AAgWjeWF8/s1600/rainbow+chiffon+slice.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="150" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbOos0oybqtQcgOZvnd-iabwYjpqptW2Eke0WNy_iS_cPljYOXbjVWtlzLiNldB7BlSSqhroYhE2BhsDNDRH1dYjwUUJZQDudGKDTyvfPO_Q2o7TuuvDMWXrgPK2LDnRfO9m4AAgWjeWF8/s200/rainbow+chiffon+slice.JPG" width="200" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the top of the cake seem to sunk down - was this because i unmould it when it was not really cooled down yet? and also, i wonder why my chiffon doesn't have the brown crust around the cake which i seen on other blogs... anyone care to advise why? </span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and working with a bigger pan is much more difficult then the smaller one, hence the batter wasn't that even... but taste wise, still ok lah :)</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">work has been really stressful recently, like what i mentioned in my earlier post... hence, what's the best remedy to destress? Retail Therapy!! But recently, my retail therapy does not include clothes, shoes or bags... but instead, its all about baking, baking and more baking!!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK4XOqNuadtByrLv_H61iOh_kduZVKZxquFPqEl1qkP2q0ZqmUjIkPCPV1-JftoqZ39fku34sro_rgLid7Nlz5HUIdEDFs2GNvL3jkEM3RDLdXiOl_h5DpesBgxiw_HRiPaOEYjvt2INMm/s1600/retail+therapy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="228" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK4XOqNuadtByrLv_H61iOh_kduZVKZxquFPqEl1qkP2q0ZqmUjIkPCPV1-JftoqZ39fku34sro_rgLid7Nlz5HUIdEDFs2GNvL3jkEM3RDLdXiOl_h5DpesBgxiw_HRiPaOEYjvt2INMm/s320/retail+therapy.jpg" width="320" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">these are the newly acquired stuff, tools, ingredients... which includes silicon mould - for madeleines, donuts and a silicon baking mat! i also got this thing for cookie cutters... haha, just can't resist buying cookie cutters - rilakkuma, princess tiara and a whole box of 100 cookies cutters which include shapes, alphabets etc... the lastest latest item acquired, is the I Love Macarons recipe book by Hisako Ogita! Tapped on Sis's order and got this from Amazon.com... Flipping through the pages, the macarons are really cute and pretty... I am going to bake more butter cookies so as to get egg whites to do my macarons!! </span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDLtlfbLh7Oj4b-tvboXmaooe86erGe4mkt14xzDlVzfi_SLg89tKx_Gzsk1ru2bkQQT1MfTdFM9nccHnIDySC76fE4yLl3FEv6cxUDOenT36MBBGraJ8xZGzZvSzlwbDsxRX8W9JaggnT/s1600/cupcakes+p%2526c.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="150" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDLtlfbLh7Oj4b-tvboXmaooe86erGe4mkt14xzDlVzfi_SLg89tKx_Gzsk1ru2bkQQT1MfTdFM9nccHnIDySC76fE4yLl3FEv6cxUDOenT36MBBGraJ8xZGzZvSzlwbDsxRX8W9JaggnT/s200/cupcakes+p%2526c.JPG" width="200" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">i went to a baking class on monday with my friend, D. we got the voucher from insing.com sometime back in Feb for this baking class at Paisley & Cream for only 50 bucks! we had initially planned to go for the class in eary Mar, but due to my work commitment, could only attend the class during end-Mar. </span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During the class, we learned to bake vanilla and chocolate cupcakes, and do chocolate ganache and buttercream frosting... it was really fun decorating the cupcakes! So much fun that i decided to bake the cupcakes this weekend, and to make sure i really learned the techniques of baking as well! so, lookout for my next post ya!</span></div></div><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div>love melody, love bakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07470300312050220456noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889438828488547391.post-19399986055125042572011-03-17T21:33:00.001+08:002011-03-17T21:35:08.210+08:00my baking diary #misc.... chiffon and more chiffoni seem to miss out alot lately... on baking, reading fellow bloggers' bakes, my own life, my time with family and dear... basically everything.. all because we are 2 man (or woman) short at work... a colleague left last day of Feb, so her workload was split among the remaining 4 of us till we get a replacement... then another had to go for her operation in early Mar, so more workload to be split among the remaining 3 of us... all these on top of going for more appointments coz i am now a backup for BD, meetings, demanding and unreasonable customers contributed to late nites in the office... sigh... made me very very tired, seriously lack of sleep... where got time to bake? even on weekends, i dun seem to have much energy with my cough that seems to be going and coming back for the last 3 - 4 weeks...<br />
<br />
this week has been slightly better, coz my boss is travelling, so no appointments/meetings this week... and i can still see the evening daylight on my way home :) to satisfy my chiffon (and baking) cravings, i bake my mini chiffons again!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnEljqrtIgq6bIkJxgraeEWfeaFYTXbZgpzblfdYvwYS_LCUTlP3QDqBXGinaU7ygjzqpYRGkhq40LSqtjX-KqFka9T2JiOqXfJOxh78IowCdq4EiIHDHqvrdh1PQf8oCjYo9BCX2CdNOq/s1600/chiffon+pandan.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnEljqrtIgq6bIkJxgraeEWfeaFYTXbZgpzblfdYvwYS_LCUTlP3QDqBXGinaU7ygjzqpYRGkhq40LSqtjX-KqFka9T2JiOqXfJOxh78IowCdq4EiIHDHqvrdh1PQf8oCjYo9BCX2CdNOq/s200/chiffon+pandan.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"> this is the same recipe as the <a href="http://lovemelody-lovebaking.blogspot.com/2011/02/my-baking-diary-24-raindow-chiffon.html">rainbow chiffon</a> i made before, just that this time i used pandan paste and pink colouring... think i unmould it without waiting for the cake to cool completely, hence, some part of it sticked to the pan resulting in some holes in the cake :( but overall, the taste is good, and i am definitely going to make more chiffon cakes (and wanna try my new chiffon cake pan as well, haha)!! as i did not have enough eggs at home, i could only do a half recipe, which is the 3 mini size cakes... my mum and i finished 1 and a half cake right after i unmould it, and the remaining half was eaten by my dad this morning, and of course, 1 to the office to share with my colleagues... A couple of them requested for me to bake a bigger one coz each only got a mouthful of the mini chiffon... haha...</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">these are some of the stuff i made, think 2 weekends back, but did not post them... my colleague gave me a packet of lavender to use for my baking coz she liked the osmanthus cookies i baked previously.. but after the rainbow chiffon, i seem to be falling in love with chiffon cake, so used the lavendar in them instead! wanted to put in a purple colouring, to go with the lavender, but no matter how i mix, the colour just doesn't seem to turn out... but i do like the lavender fragrance of the cake, and the texture was soft and fluffy...</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">also made sushi - dear's request... i dun make really fanciful sushi, usually only crabstick and tuna sushi... but coz i left office late, could not get inari skin from the supermarket... and ran out of the sesame seasonings... </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">all in a day, i also made some grapefruit agar-agar... that's about all.. i am so looking forward to this weekend and next week coz i have planned some bakings.... sushi and chiffon cake this coming saturday... next week will be baking some cookies for YX's 3rd birthday, to be given away at the childcare she attends... just gotta pray hard work goes smoothly, and no late nights!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4N2PszQSP9R6cR8PxQG1epTbLquq-wv67FAjFFiNjzYJJZybpH9FjnhxplB8ICJWgCnKQHFm_qP7vr-uYuTV3P3qbQy06DYIj8LOBfEptsxsf0dH7fjAiRAYy9cA3A8wE4BDV4WCSNCs5/s1600/lavender+chiffon+round.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4N2PszQSP9R6cR8PxQG1epTbLquq-wv67FAjFFiNjzYJJZybpH9FjnhxplB8ICJWgCnKQHFm_qP7vr-uYuTV3P3qbQy06DYIj8LOBfEptsxsf0dH7fjAiRAYy9cA3A8wE4BDV4WCSNCs5/s200/lavender+chiffon+round.JPG" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq3phCJQFzGM0tW9zjUS5YUIVjF6zWEkcdD3aaStYIH4qEMuEQmqpzTr9gY-DuQoblhArfl3PfVH9tD659GL6wuOJqQHFXlBvGZZ9Cc8VoJwqbMSNbR6VdwIGLSqGPh5Qpp2ZDp775g5I9/s1600/lavender+chiffon+star.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq3phCJQFzGM0tW9zjUS5YUIVjF6zWEkcdD3aaStYIH4qEMuEQmqpzTr9gY-DuQoblhArfl3PfVH9tD659GL6wuOJqQHFXlBvGZZ9Cc8VoJwqbMSNbR6VdwIGLSqGPh5Qpp2ZDp775g5I9/s200/lavender+chiffon+star.JPG" width="150" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp1t9ZHe0II7euvPjy9Pf9q6WohVAiB_o97YIhF-8m2pnOWGLzDQMi5neVfAL-nuYcudEEXbVPHNxz8b0MloKHxkggEus7wwAxRt_KkqENKScgVYBl1HYwZk-qWQXn-yiouvz1LTzDx2SA/s1600/sushi.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp1t9ZHe0II7euvPjy9Pf9q6WohVAiB_o97YIhF-8m2pnOWGLzDQMi5neVfAL-nuYcudEEXbVPHNxz8b0MloKHxkggEus7wwAxRt_KkqENKScgVYBl1HYwZk-qWQXn-yiouvz1LTzDx2SA/s200/sushi.JPG" width="150" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzCcTh6v9_pb2Zf0FiDeaU9W1zmCVV6R4T70-oJFKc8f1LaOPEMa0MNBedvb4KYx3TVFl0yAdZaN8P2GsVMGrj0gj-ON11GG9fl6qk9A4AvP6SU9mA7hOd0pzOQiodwYK-4lAGac1rPNlN/s1600/grapefruit+agaragar.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzCcTh6v9_pb2Zf0FiDeaU9W1zmCVV6R4T70-oJFKc8f1LaOPEMa0MNBedvb4KYx3TVFl0yAdZaN8P2GsVMGrj0gj-ON11GG9fl6qk9A4AvP6SU9mA7hOd0pzOQiodwYK-4lAGac1rPNlN/s200/grapefruit+agaragar.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div>love melody, love bakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07470300312050220456noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889438828488547391.post-12946011217709170672011-02-26T16:13:00.007+08:002011-05-05T22:37:20.113+08:00my baking diary #24 raindow chiffon<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">i am waiting for my 'scones' to be baked while i am typing this entry... this is my 2nd attempt at baking the 'scones', but the result seems so different from my 1st attempt!! but that's going to be in another post, provided i even wanna blog about it... sad :(((((</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDrmbji0cDuqvnsFpZO-cHrz58Ghi9S_KuIWoAwR8raiCCxX08vIwRCvzG2zfjAsIy2aNQIcHLqXHtenB3FB6A3SYo-iJbHQJ057MUQpqg93aL_x7RS2OCekBiGTp0Cb0uJmwMfsBpRl4N/s1600/chiffon.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="150" l6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDrmbji0cDuqvnsFpZO-cHrz58Ghi9S_KuIWoAwR8raiCCxX08vIwRCvzG2zfjAsIy2aNQIcHLqXHtenB3FB6A3SYo-iJbHQJ057MUQpqg93aL_x7RS2OCekBiGTp0Cb0uJmwMfsBpRl4N/s200/chiffon.JPG" width="200" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">anyway, what i did on a saturday morning was..... Rainbow Chiffon!! i had wanted to try baking chiffon cake for quite sometime, but never gotten around to doing it till i saw </span><a href="http://www.chunkycooky.com/2011/02/valentine-rainbow-chiffon.html"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chunky Cooky's post</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">... its just too sweet and colourful, so i had to try my hands on it...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">but this being my first attempt, don't expect a very nice cake... haha... i halfed the recipe, and use mini pans for it... bought a heart and star shaped mini pan from NTUC, and the round tube pan was from Daiso... the half recipe was just enough to fill all 3 mini pans...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8NbnO0iIUf29VeCb5yCQZBUFaXcfiqFwDwMUKiR8QDb1hD-DJeuJtnjRbvBqr4bB3VmRAaipLsNXBc8BnrPyh4Ss6K9A6DUsBJCLOTonF5nG21aJczddJPvEvp7zpC5VgeoFE5Y-hNwSw/s1600/chiffon+heart.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="150" l6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8NbnO0iIUf29VeCb5yCQZBUFaXcfiqFwDwMUKiR8QDb1hD-DJeuJtnjRbvBqr4bB3VmRAaipLsNXBc8BnrPyh4Ss6K9A6DUsBJCLOTonF5nG21aJczddJPvEvp7zpC5VgeoFE5Y-hNwSw/s200/chiffon+heart.JPG" width="200" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the heart shaped one for Dear <3</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmkldo0kLfGgAJAFi13mxt5soabqvO9_WnGqshn_FuY9ClX7vzSX8IZ76IM5BQsCJ2kivBVkmu8ZhhSRCvG0SfREy-OCYqwTYHnzvbcnYl0VXT2ngBwBPEgaJuLbK0jNLjwRrTAifnXxWQ/s1600/chiffon+star.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="150" l6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmkldo0kLfGgAJAFi13mxt5soabqvO9_WnGqshn_FuY9ClX7vzSX8IZ76IM5BQsCJ2kivBVkmu8ZhhSRCvG0SfREy-OCYqwTYHnzvbcnYl0VXT2ngBwBPEgaJuLbK0jNLjwRrTAifnXxWQ/s200/chiffon+star.JPG" width="200" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the star shaped one...</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi91QrNS31LCqIzw-mRFxUGZYzcBxBNArDhC9X52Zm55l7gDyaHkZO6MQesiNpgwQfbnuvhtyMPDlw7L4XW6yQY02TFq0FkLrG3O7tXkyRRrKvYB2HNbG5q9NEOcwseJ8naCY3aCAZa-iZ4/s1600/chiffon+round.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="150" l6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi91QrNS31LCqIzw-mRFxUGZYzcBxBNArDhC9X52Zm55l7gDyaHkZO6MQesiNpgwQfbnuvhtyMPDlw7L4XW6yQY02TFq0FkLrG3O7tXkyRRrKvYB2HNbG5q9NEOcwseJ8naCY3aCAZa-iZ4/s200/chiffon+round.JPG" width="200" /></span></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">this is the round shaped one using the tube pan...</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://www.chunkycooky.com/2011/02/valentine-rainbow-chiffon.html"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rainbow Chiffon</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (recipe from </span><a href="http://www.chunkycooky.com/"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chunky Cooky</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">)</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Egg Yolk Batter</span></u></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 egg yolks</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 tbsp cooking oil</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">30ml milk</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIrnVJyD9pMBPIwExq26u3DfF7qS8OBUR_PoG93vde7gmt2p_LkI5fUnlZs1paw9orXgQsfNkqBTAiQxzKwWwzgD2h4eOs_hBw5eRzk_RS3L7GQSfXlwuSh4ZA82QkhlCTq04Q8IOXjp7y/s1600/chiffon+round+cut.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="150" l6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIrnVJyD9pMBPIwExq26u3DfF7qS8OBUR_PoG93vde7gmt2p_LkI5fUnlZs1paw9orXgQsfNkqBTAiQxzKwWwzgD2h4eOs_hBw5eRzk_RS3L7GQSfXlwuSh4ZA82QkhlCTq04Q8IOXjp7y/s200/chiffon+round+cut.JPG" width="200" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">25gms caster sugar</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">few drops of colouring of your choice</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">55gms self-raising flour</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Egg White Foam</span></u></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 egg whites</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1/4 tsp cream of tartar</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">50gms caster sugar</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(do note that i halfed the recipe... just doubled up or pop over to </span><a href="http://www.chunkycooky.com/2011/02/valentine-rainbow-chiffon.html"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chunky Cooky</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> for the full recipe!)</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. Combine egg yolk, oil, milk and sugar in a mixing bowl. Fold in the flour until combined till batter is formed</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. Divde the egg yolk batter into the no of portion for your colouring. I dvided mine into 3, and add Pink, Orange and Blue colouring to the batter</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. Beat egg white and cream of tartar until mixture forms soft peaks. Gradually add in suagr and beat till frothy and form stiff peaks</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. Divide the egg white foam into equal portions as the egg yolk batter (3 in my case) and gently fold in egg white foam into each of the egg yolk batter until blended</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5. Pour the mixture into ungreased tub pan and bake in preheated oven at 170C for 30 - 40 mins or until cooked</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6. Remove from oven, invert cake until completely cooled</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">i am going to submit the heart shaped rainbow chiffon to </span><a href="http://ellenaguan.blogspot.com/2011/02/aspiring-bakers-4-love-in-air-feb-2011.html"><span style="color: #a9005c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Aspiring Bakers #4 Love In The Air (Feb 2011)</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> hosted by Ellena of </span><a href="http://ellenaguan.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: #a9005c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cusine Paradise</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">...</span></div>love melody, love bakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07470300312050220456noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889438828488547391.post-19975512905513887332011-02-24T23:11:00.000+08:002011-02-24T23:11:09.461+08:00my baking diary #23 green tea and chocolate madeleines<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMP8egiVIdY7q-ky5X42KUav1bse4S9QovEkpLFg8NhiJ-L3ibCt5onKetFPysOAnCziSA0A6xAcHUePL8u5JkgNF0x2PcU74mCs2s63IR4FX3E-b9HRZ0k55s6O4ag7srWdLieZRrYP8J/s1600/madeleines1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" l6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMP8egiVIdY7q-ky5X42KUav1bse4S9QovEkpLFg8NhiJ-L3ibCt5onKetFPysOAnCziSA0A6xAcHUePL8u5JkgNF0x2PcU74mCs2s63IR4FX3E-b9HRZ0k55s6O4ag7srWdLieZRrYP8J/s200/madeleines1.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>its not often that i get to bake on a weekday... not that i am tired from work, but because of my inquisitve niece, YX... with her around, the time i need for preparation or baking can be doubled! coz mum is not feeling well, so sis brought YX home so mum can rest better... <br />
<br />
since i googled for a couple of madeleine recipes, now's the best time to try the madeleine pan i got from daiso!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiTjbFZREZxQ_stxqAjyG3pXssTDtVw89yflyDU3FMuOkINKH190yB5_xrVFTzSz49Dx6bW-tu1pPH9q_v2zTbbopL5WyK_pyCh2W81VTME-SCOWAhFI2qe4zpes073Ri2vKTgD6dIhr5m/s1600/madeleines2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" l6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiTjbFZREZxQ_stxqAjyG3pXssTDtVw89yflyDU3FMuOkINKH190yB5_xrVFTzSz49Dx6bW-tu1pPH9q_v2zTbbopL5WyK_pyCh2W81VTME-SCOWAhFI2qe4zpes073Ri2vKTgD6dIhr5m/s200/madeleines2.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>this madeleine recipe is from <a href="http://ellenaguan.blogspot.com/">Cusine Paradise</a>, which i thought was relatively simple as i have the required ingredients at home... <br />
<br />
but though i followed the recipe and instructions exactly, i am not sure why the shell-side of the madeleines do not have a smooth finish compare to the back of the madeleines... and i thought madeleines are supposed to have the 'hump' on their back?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgihj5Qaz1ixz6Go1hM6bnFr2Eq5XfZiG1T7kTKo5FYvV7aq7N7iW4fUioC2svurL87810YkH0VrEkK7h64tfYPaLxZv4kMEIBrIy8qr6i7-Ism-pksFo579Ar02XX5Oz0JatiSs83Rzj41/s1600/madeleines3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" l6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgihj5Qaz1ixz6Go1hM6bnFr2Eq5XfZiG1T7kTKo5FYvV7aq7N7iW4fUioC2svurL87810YkH0VrEkK7h64tfYPaLxZv4kMEIBrIy8qr6i7-Ism-pksFo579Ar02XX5Oz0JatiSs83Rzj41/s200/madeleines3.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>as i only had one madeleine mould, i had to bake mine in a few batches... i noticed that madeleines from the last two batches have a slight 'hump' compared to the first two batches... it could be due to leaving the batter to sit while baking, and hence, the 'hump' can be developed coz i noticed for certain recipes, the batter is supposed to be left aside for a couple of hours or even overnight before baking to achieve the 'hump'.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpz288fVMuZQKLQofaOY_I0QQNKR8WJO5w50bSwhBHeE7g7vAgxMSCX7wecn7iOUODncEdo_kyX4xEi7AgM7faDryPwOBuXfqqPTR6Ry0nE1wSqGiAmZH6Yt-rIS8UDpMdkJNDnFLotETy/s1600/madeleines4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" l6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpz288fVMuZQKLQofaOY_I0QQNKR8WJO5w50bSwhBHeE7g7vAgxMSCX7wecn7iOUODncEdo_kyX4xEi7AgM7faDryPwOBuXfqqPTR6Ry0nE1wSqGiAmZH6Yt-rIS8UDpMdkJNDnFLotETy/s200/madeleines4.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div align="left">but overall, i find the texture of these small cakes rather soft and nice... mum like it too and even took one before she took her medicine (coz her med is to be taken after food)... and she even asked to set aside a couple for YX to bring to childcare tomorrow... </div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">i am going to try out the other madeleines recipes i googled... but if you want something simple, you should give this a try!</div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left"><a href="http://ellenaguan.blogspot.com/2010/06/matcha-madeleines-with-azuki-bean.html">Green Tea and Chocolate Madeleines</a> (recipe from <a href="http://ellenaguan.blogspot.com/">Cusine Paradise</a>)</div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">45ml melted butter</div><div align="left">45gms plain flour</div><div align="left">3/4 tsp of green tea powder or cocoa powder</div><div align="left">40gms caster sugar</div><div align="left">1 medium egg</div><div align="left">1/2 tsp baking powder</div><div align="left">some chocolate chips (for the chocolate madeleines, but you can put them in the green tea ones too)</div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">(this is a half recipe - i did one lot for green tea, and one lot for chocolate)</div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">1. Preheat oven to 180C and grease the madeleine pan with some melted butter</div><div align="left">2. Sieve the flour, green tea powder (or cocoa powder) and baking powder and set aside (i did not sieve these, hence, there are some tiny lumps in my madeleines :( )</div><div align="left">3. Mix the egg and sugar together till pale and thicken</div><div align="left">4. Mix in the flour mixture in two or three batches, then slowly add in the melted butter and stir till well combined (mixture should be thick and gluey, and not too runny)</div><div align="left">5. Spoon the mixture to fill the pan to 3/4 full and top with some chocolate chips (you can top some azuki beans for the green tea ones, but i omit this)</div><div align="left">6. Bake for 10 - 15 mins, depending on the size of your madeleines. The madeleines are ready when it spring back whe lightly pressed, or insert a skewer and it comes out clean. </div>love melody, love bakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07470300312050220456noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889438828488547391.post-15574895769809274982011-02-20T23:14:00.000+08:002011-02-20T23:14:07.845+08:00my baking diary #22 macarons!!ok, i caught a fever... a macaron fever!!! wahahaha!!!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl7K1rhyphenhyphenS3-2vQ1Oeg76FjJR1lkKdTl2-0n5xNoNxOqd0dhB6SfE0qrct8TUCD6nuh5Z0aXkhw337m4MCQinG8HBA4iP1_TDDpJhyuuXIedvq8SYLNBDR7flJ9VlhZCRYZbfw1N7xOnbv0/s1600/macs3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" j6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl7K1rhyphenhyphenS3-2vQ1Oeg76FjJR1lkKdTl2-0n5xNoNxOqd0dhB6SfE0qrct8TUCD6nuh5Z0aXkhw337m4MCQinG8HBA4iP1_TDDpJhyuuXIedvq8SYLNBDR7flJ9VlhZCRYZbfw1N7xOnbv0/s200/macs3.JPG" width="150" /></a></div>baking macarons shot right up to the top of my 'to-bake' list after reading <a href="http://cathy-joy.blogspot.com/2011/02/chocolate-macarons-with-lemon-curd.html">Cathy</a> and <a href="http://j3sskitch3n.blogspot.com/2011/02/matcha-macaroons-with-green-lemon-curd.html">Jess's</a> posts... <br />
<br />
my first attempt went to a chocolate macaron recipe i found on another blog... but since you don't see any picture here, i am sure you know the outcome of it right? ya, i failed... no feet, cracked surface and sticks to the baking parchment... <br />
<br />
since i still have some leftover egg whites, i decided to try <a href="http://j3sskitch3n.blogspot.com/2011/02/matcha-macaroons-with-green-lemon-curd.html">Jess's recipe</a> the next day... and ta-dah! SUCCESS!!<br />
<br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKzjU5Q-Mwps2bb8IMngqQaouc94oM4e_3tqN4ZQqtSieLVF7T7UZ01gkNCJALNsrkQgikYd-zQbcn-tgkYrKxk0xoIjZI_-I3f2G4iUr9r-KLhy7LjuA8_aqZBZpk9x0BshrTBQMOoye1/s1600/macs1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" j6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKzjU5Q-Mwps2bb8IMngqQaouc94oM4e_3tqN4ZQqtSieLVF7T7UZ01gkNCJALNsrkQgikYd-zQbcn-tgkYrKxk0xoIjZI_-I3f2G4iUr9r-KLhy7LjuA8_aqZBZpk9x0BshrTBQMOoye1/s200/macs1.JPG" width="150" /></a>these 2 shells are from the first batch that went into the oven... i was soooooo <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSw-pNDVjFDFBcAm9W6ZOocISd1y07Toyb2KAtVXVJSGTsiOKl2VDNVTupQMdfVLGk-2XHyX-V_-6DJQ62TaI1O5rDbkbJzC38WW_14D-JcPq2S82MI-GZL-vCsSmxFf_waLZqy6vcHZI_/s1600/macs2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a>happy at the sight of the feet ppearing though it was only 2 out of the 12 shells i piped, and coz of my poor piping skill, the feet only appear at one side and made it lopsided... but that doesn't matter to me... what matter was the feet!! haha!! </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR7jKDWcrbrCCXZQh9k9NOpaVGUi5QGxp7RrRiP3jvXHgdsFF2bm_8KGiPmwwKSMHzH_G5Tylxi6_MOkjjVbFk-bSlWrbDKKmhyCvIWT0JkHXadDbQaJ7lhe8pddAmBiC1vAH1gXfEOr6o/s1600/macs2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" j6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR7jKDWcrbrCCXZQh9k9NOpaVGUi5QGxp7RrRiP3jvXHgdsFF2bm_8KGiPmwwKSMHzH_G5Tylxi6_MOkjjVbFk-bSlWrbDKKmhyCvIWT0JkHXadDbQaJ7lhe8pddAmBiC1vAH1gXfEOr6o/s200/macs2.JPG" width="150" /></a>the subsequent batches that was baked, most were successful, with feets... but with my poor piping skills, they did not turn out with nice even size, and like before, a couple only had feet on one side... but nonetheless, this recipe is definitely one you should try!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">not knowing how my macarons will turn out, i did not think of the filling that i wanted... i followed Jess's recipe and baked green tea macaron shells... so i wanted something tangy to counter the sweetness... after going through the stuff i have, i decided to mix some lemon zest with Hershey's semi-sweet chocolate chip and 2 tsp of thick cream (since i seen thick cream being used in most chocolate ganache)... i find that the semi-sweet choclate and lemon zest do complement the green tea macaron shell rather well... </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">the only down side? the testing of the failed chocolatey shells and the heat from the oven after sitting right in front of the oven monitoring the feet and bake - it worsen my sore throat and cough... i am almost losing my voice and coughing much badly then before, so its back to a visit to the company doctor again tomorrow... but then, i am a happy girl with my few pretty macarons... :D</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">oh and do pop over to <a href="http://j3sskitch3n.blogspot.com/2011/02/matcha-macaroons-with-green-lemon-curd.html">Jess's blog</a> for the recipe ya... now, i m off to rest :P</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div>love melody, love bakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07470300312050220456noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889438828488547391.post-15568939534833331712011-02-18T14:51:00.001+08:002011-05-05T22:39:55.059+08:00my baking diary #21 butter cookies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj36OjP7mRLaOQFKOJdnROU2SgeYuJNf1fTPobXcSY6Ltn0kye7U8etc8FySNEFopkjQViO-7UwbGxTBeZrMmdCgjfmf1VNaKmC5hOvxvEmHftRsILGt8IG2zAPOobMf_fLjViJJKPCE4yP/s1600/Butter+Cookies.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" j6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj36OjP7mRLaOQFKOJdnROU2SgeYuJNf1fTPobXcSY6Ltn0kye7U8etc8FySNEFopkjQViO-7UwbGxTBeZrMmdCgjfmf1VNaKmC5hOvxvEmHftRsILGt8IG2zAPOobMf_fLjViJJKPCE4yP/s200/Butter+Cookies.JPG" width="150" /></a></div>this is gonna be a short post... these Mickey butter cookies, along with the <a href="http://lovemelody-lovebaking.blogspot.com/2011/02/my-baking-diary-20-horlicks-doggies.html">Horlick Doggies</a>, are packed into sweet little cookies bags (i forgot to take pictures of those, coz it was nearly 2am by the time i was done packing!) are going to friends/schoolmates of little XN... She turns 3 today! Happy Birthday XN!! <br />
<br />
for these butter cookies, i used <a href="http://www.sugar-inc-cake.com/">Sugar Inc's</a> 'reduced sugar butter cookies' since these are meant for kids... as you will need to subscribe to Sugar Inc's mailing list in order to get the recipe, i am not going to post it here... if you would like to try this out, do subscribe to Sugar Inc's mailing list, <a href="http://www.sugar-inc-cake.com/">here</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
i made some slight adjustments to the recipe, which includes further reducing the amount of sugar required since these are meant for 3 years old kiddies, as well as lowering the temperature coz i would prefer a lighter golden brown shade....<br />
<br />
and a lesson i learnt from this attempt (and from Jess), when the instructions call for chilling of dough to firm it up before cutting out the desired shape, do roll the dough between plastic sheets before chilling them! maybe i am the only one who really follow the instructions, i.e. chill the dough before rolling it to the desired thickness... but by rolling it before chilling, it is really much easier to handle! i used the same recipe when i made the butter cookies in Jan for XH's birthday... but i remember i had to flour the cutters everytime i wanna cut of the cookies, and trying to lift the baking paper from the sticky dough... this time round, i used plastic sheets instead and did not even have to flour my cutters! when you first roll the dough between the plastic sheets, it might stick a little... but after its chilled, the plastic sheet comes up clean when you lift it off the dough. so, this is how i am going to roll and chill my cookies from now on!<br />
<br />
i would like to get some views from fellow bakers on how much these cookies should be priced... just plucking a figure and based on what i calculate for this order, if 3 butter cookies alone in a cookie bag, i thought $1 per bag is quite a reasonable price, with say a minimum order of 30 bags (since this will be the rough number of cookies i get from 1 recipe)... For non-bakers, like one of my colleague, they seem to find it a tad too pricey... but i do have to spend a fair bit of time cutting the cookies and making sure the prints are in place and comes out nice...<br />
<br />
What's your view? I am not turning my baking hobby into a business, but just wanna gather some info coz other colleagues are asking me to bake for their kids' birthday...<br />
<br />
(erm, so this post is not as short as i thought it will be :P )love melody, love bakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07470300312050220456noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889438828488547391.post-67928069151901923462011-02-15T22:59:00.002+08:002011-02-16T00:00:40.920+08:00my baking diary #20 horlicks doggies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpLIEXYnxp4CcHrZ__7fJwEv0-o88hOU_Kg5TJs15g8JSleNFzriOzJTXInjB8bUh1E86cnUPILWVT3QCdUFqua5wtNoW1lf6NSpu91PcLIWHi7MErM55f-bNQ1lo5wlhyphenhyphenNCHDPC5PaIPl/s1600/Horlicks+Doggies.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpLIEXYnxp4CcHrZ__7fJwEv0-o88hOU_Kg5TJs15g8JSleNFzriOzJTXInjB8bUh1E86cnUPILWVT3QCdUFqua5wtNoW1lf6NSpu91PcLIWHi7MErM55f-bNQ1lo5wlhyphenhyphenNCHDPC5PaIPl/s200/Horlicks+Doggies.JPG" width="150" /></a></div>this is not my first attempt on horlicks doggies... guess largely due to the cute appearance and a not so sweet taste (to some kids its totally not sweet!), it appeal to adults! yes, adults! D tried baking once, and told me her colleagues like it, but not her 2 boys coz its not sweet! My colleague, P, who is a dog lover, just refuses to try this cookie!<br />
<br />
sis requested for these cookies for XH's 1st b'day party favour in Jan, and guess i will be making it again for YX's 3rd bday in march... <br />
<br />
this batch is for XN, sis's colleague's daughter who is turning 3 this coming Friday... after she got a pack of the cookies from XH's bday, she asked me to quote her for some order... i find it kinda hard to put a price to it... i mean, ok, i can calculate the cost of ingredients, packaging etc... but how about the time i spent in baking these? i am actually planning to turn entrepreneur with this by taking in some small orders for party favours, agar agar etc, so one of these days, i gotta sit down and really think how i should price my bakes and all!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://happyhomebaking.blogspot.com/2007/01/horlicks-doggie-cookies.html">Horlicks Doggies</a> (recipe from <a href="htp://happyhomebaking.blogspot.com/">Happy Home Baking</a>)<br />
<br />
180gms butter, soften<br />
80gms Horlicks<br />
200gms top flour or cake flour<br />
25gms corn flour<br />
20gms milk powder (i omit this and add on 20gms of Horlicks instead)<br />
Chocolate Chips (i used Hershey's semi-sweet mini choc chips)<br />
Chocolate Rice<br />
Koko Crunch<br />
<br />
1. Preheat oven to 140C. Line baking tray with baking paper and set aside.<br />
2. Sieve top flour, corn flour and milk powder (if you are using it)<br />
3. Cream butter and Horlicks for about 3 minutes at low speed. Do not overbeat.<br />
4. Mix in the flour mixture and beat for 1 minute to form dough<br />
5. Divide dough into 10gms each (i used a 1/2 teaspoon to measure instead). Put 3 chocolate chips into each piece of dough and roll into balls (i put 5 chocolate chips coz mine is mini and semi-sweet)<br />
6. Place Koko Crunch as ears, chocolate rice as the eyes and a chocolate chip as the nose<br />
7. Bake at 140C for about 20 - 25 mins depending on your oven (mine took about 20 mins)<br />
8. Leave to cool before storing<br />
<br />
Other then Horlicks, i have tried doing a batch using Milo, which were equally nice... Instead of using Koko Crunch for the ears, for a contrast in colour, you can use the Koko Crunch Duo which comes in white and milk chocolate... Alternatively, you can also use other cereals like Cookie Crisps for the ears, which gives a bear outlook...<br />
<br />
If you prefer cookies with more buttery taste like Dear, you can increase the amount of butter used. But the dough will be much softer to handle... You can chill them for a while for easier handling... Also, it tend to spread more if you use more butter, so do take note to spread them out on the baking paper...<br />
<br />
these were my sweet surprises yesterday...<br />
a bouquet of roses that was delivered to the office... and a watch in the evening... thanks Dear... <br />
Love ya <3<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmgISbe90_fYBY2c7UmNOsbpM-qSLWMprrvqt9CTSP1uVtquCoSi9_wKkbas9psFzeyUYeVtMfNXSbf3pRCLG_PExTLezZB5aIwAmwypYB5Jt1VuBhfjz03c5aj4fWAujTCcg413cxTqEb/s1600/Vday+Rose.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmgISbe90_fYBY2c7UmNOsbpM-qSLWMprrvqt9CTSP1uVtquCoSi9_wKkbas9psFzeyUYeVtMfNXSbf3pRCLG_PExTLezZB5aIwAmwypYB5Jt1VuBhfjz03c5aj4fWAujTCcg413cxTqEb/s200/Vday+Rose.JPG" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwhiMMHguNA0dumecv29CnikbcMJINxSh-LvpB54TFJqDMdqRZVTiQsJnGi1OnD874ggYODBtGWyAbQTYaDLaSYvtpyxov773PEAk6SEt9SVeOMgUZC9Q3-M31F-ntUGZBz0dueFWNYW5Z/s1600/Vday+Watch.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwhiMMHguNA0dumecv29CnikbcMJINxSh-LvpB54TFJqDMdqRZVTiQsJnGi1OnD874ggYODBtGWyAbQTYaDLaSYvtpyxov773PEAk6SEt9SVeOMgUZC9Q3-M31F-ntUGZBz0dueFWNYW5Z/s200/Vday+Watch.JPG" width="150" /></a></div>love melody, love bakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07470300312050220456noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889438828488547391.post-7642011860266313632011-02-14T01:12:00.005+08:002011-02-15T23:02:08.721+08:00my baking diary #17 osmanthus butter cookies, #18 chocolate shortbread and # 19 pistachio & almond cookies<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">over the weekend, i made 3 different bakes... all with heart-theme, so as to submit them to </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://ellenaguan.blogspot.com/2011/02/aspiring-bakers-4-love-in-air-feb-2011.html">Aspiring Bakers #4 for February 2011</a></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">!! Of course, as Valentine's Day is round the corner, these heart shaped bakes are also for my Dear... the rest will be shared with my colleagues, who are the 'guinea pigs' of my bakes! haha!!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>#17 Butter Cookie (Basic Dough) with Osmanthus</strong></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOizRMsJScr4_ZYd5mL0jotPhPusm3YxUoP0ctmJC3MFPEUvgtTARK9GozZI5vQF6YCoHdHCfu0V7lacFMjQfwz8_QvM0GPeuhmb2Dnw3a8UtQ10Pp2pQ7ocrzKFpN2BhN8vmR4M6rUDAE/s1600/Butter+Cookies+-+Heart.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOizRMsJScr4_ZYd5mL0jotPhPusm3YxUoP0ctmJC3MFPEUvgtTARK9GozZI5vQF6YCoHdHCfu0V7lacFMjQfwz8_QvM0GPeuhmb2Dnw3a8UtQ10Pp2pQ7ocrzKFpN2BhN8vmR4M6rUDAE/s200/Butter+Cookies+-+Heart.JPG" width="200" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As mentioned in my previous post, received a '1 Dough, 100 Cookies' receipe book from D during X'mas.. Been busy with CNY bakes so have yet to give it a try... I identified several which i wanted to try... but after trying 2 recipes, i wonder if i should continue... the dough were rather hard to handle, despite the chilling... or was it me?? </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_VCv_S3nXTck6M0TmxUkKvc_0lPeq51ECKQfh6vWes3aWAb0MVmxiwGrJ-NS9FVVPT6bBN7IHrfXLpxeZt-HvGLBFNvLrITfrUrtvxkRsCyKyoTNMVZLZR3C9JIY243o5jhLZSbjr-GBO/s1600/Butter+Cookies.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_VCv_S3nXTck6M0TmxUkKvc_0lPeq51ECKQfh6vWes3aWAb0MVmxiwGrJ-NS9FVVPT6bBN7IHrfXLpxeZt-HvGLBFNvLrITfrUrtvxkRsCyKyoTNMVZLZR3C9JIY243o5jhLZSbjr-GBO/s200/Butter+Cookies.JPG" width="200" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is the basic cookie dough... I got some osmanthus from </span><a href="http://esjoie.wordpress.com/2011/01/09/cny-goodies-osmanthus-cookies/"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">e's joie</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> sometime back, wanted to try the recipe for CNY... But i had too much to do, hence, i added the osmanthus to the basic recipe... I also had the intention to use this recipe to fulfil the cookie orders, find the dough to soft to handle.. I had to flour the surface and rolling pin quite a fair bit, and not forgetting the cookies cutters! </span></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I would prefer something easier to handle, considering i am going to bake the cookies in the evening after work.. so need something i can finish within the night and not having to sacrifice too much of my sleep :P </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Other then making them into heart shaped with messages for Dear, i also used all the cookie cutters i bought, wanting to take nice nice pictures so i can use this take orders... but thought the colour of the cookies varies, and some prints were not obvious, so i gotta re-do this again another day... Can you spot the characters in this picture?</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYsHHfUF99T2-tau6hMt7KatT-CyMf1lIt9Qq5skcAuQZKF0tRQMjiKZSsfxoe9uNAIlLmButWfKenVcbWnPvKmBlCQi9jDFpGzibw3Fo1oHTU7uM2fzYM0eaDvtxUmTYUNzGJYo3cqh2l/s1600/cookiebook.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYsHHfUF99T2-tau6hMt7KatT-CyMf1lIt9Qq5skcAuQZKF0tRQMjiKZSsfxoe9uNAIlLmButWfKenVcbWnPvKmBlCQi9jDFpGzibw3Fo1oHTU7uM2fzYM0eaDvtxUmTYUNzGJYo3cqh2l/s200/cookiebook.JPG" width="150" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you want to try the recipe, here you go... </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u>Basic Cookie Dough</u> (from 1 Dough, 100 Cookies by Linda Doeser)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">225gms butter, soften</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">140g caster sugar*</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 egg yolk</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 tsp vanilla extract</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">280g plain flour</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">salt</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dear's commented the cookies were a little too sweet, hence you might wanna reduce the sugar level...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the basic cookie dough, there wasn't any steps indicated... after checking the whole book, the steps are rather similar, so i just followed one of them...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. Preheat the oven to 190C*</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. Mix butter and sugar using a wooden spoon*, then beat in egg yolk and vanilla extract</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. Sift together the flour and salt into the mixture and stir till combined</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. Halve the dough, shape int balls, wrap in clingfilm and chill in the refrigerator for 30 - 60 mins*</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5. Unwrap the dough and roll out between 2 sheets of baking parhment to about 3mm thick</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6. Stamp out cookies with cutter and put them on baking sheets</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7. Bake for 10 - 15 mins, until golden brown</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8. Leave to cool on baking sheets before transfering to cool on the wire racks</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*the batch with all the cute character cutters were baked in 190C... but i thought it was too high as the colour of the cookies turned out rather 'too golden'and not consistent (could be due to my oven too i guess), so i lowered it to 170C for the heart shaped cookies... i prefer the colour of these heart cookies :)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">i did not notice earlier i was supposed to mix the butter and suagr using a wooden spoon, and used an electric mixer instead... wonder if i overmix it, hence, the soft dough... i did not halve the dough nor wrap it in cling wrap, just placed the whole bowl of dough into the fridge and chill it... after which, i halve them and while working on one half, the other remain in the fridge... i have to alternate working with both halves as after a while, it became too soft to handle... and stick to the baking paper alot when trying to roll them.. please note you have to flour the baking paper, rolling pin and cookie cutters generously! as i reduce the temperature to 170C for the heart cookies, it took me a longer time to bake, about 20 - 25 mins... </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>#18 Chocolate Shortbread </strong></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0qcOyhEa59k7omjQU2fzcY7S1oWfYFXacZoE4hhKhwO9bFT3G8k_bebxJbieirfQjjP8DXqlTM0uyewarhT1TMuyNHu9qJW3dU49e8faRld_p3bO-zKgFstSPDJZrnPM_uy5QfqZYxKw0/s1600/Choc+Shortbread+-+Love.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0qcOyhEa59k7omjQU2fzcY7S1oWfYFXacZoE4hhKhwO9bFT3G8k_bebxJbieirfQjjP8DXqlTM0uyewarhT1TMuyNHu9qJW3dU49e8faRld_p3bO-zKgFstSPDJZrnPM_uy5QfqZYxKw0/s200/Choc+Shortbread+-+Love.JPG" width="150" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had wanted to bake a raspberry buttermilk cake for v-day, but after seeing </span><a href="http://bakeforhappykids.blogspot.com/2011/02/chocolate-shortbread-for-valentines-day.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BakeForHappyKids+%28Bake+for+happy+kids%29"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">this post </span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">on </span><a href="http://bakeforhappykids.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bake for happy kids</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, i was contemplating which i should do... if i were to go with the first, i had to get raspberry and buttermilk... if i were to do the chocolate shortbread, i had all the ingredients (except for the chocolate ganache) on hand... hence, i decided to go with the latter... and ta da... here's what i made!! </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">if you compared my bakes to Zoe's the most obvious different will be the colour... i wonder why... Zoe's was so pretty with a nice whitish colour, but mine turn out rather golden... could it be due to my oven temperature?</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyi7r6xWoADmBoCzGrM3Y2w-J9qAhug5V7GqpxT2b2hm2XTESyiqXoRBwPvSFmqki5VBL9L3ym_WWnblevVORWy-f-9t7xKSho5p4fM3Dj7mzBOnF7pcfcltKk2jN0hCdfes2WdAmw3E2D/s1600/Choc+Shortbread+-+Flower.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyi7r6xWoADmBoCzGrM3Y2w-J9qAhug5V7GqpxT2b2hm2XTESyiqXoRBwPvSFmqki5VBL9L3ym_WWnblevVORWy-f-9t7xKSho5p4fM3Dj7mzBOnF7pcfcltKk2jN0hCdfes2WdAmw3E2D/s200/Choc+Shortbread+-+Flower.JPG" width="150" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">i cut a total of 8 hearts and 30 flowers, so i can make 4 hearts and about 15 piece of the flowers... but mum took one without asking me, so i am left with 14 and a half... she say it taste buttery... but i cant really comment how it taste coz i have yet to eat one.. i usually don't eat what i bake, till perhaps the next day or so... i will update with comments on the taste..</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">while i was spreading the shortbread with Nutella, my elder niece, yx, walk into the kitchen and asked me what i was doing and requested for a piece... i wanted to gave her that half piece, but she insisted that i have to sandwich it up with another half like what i did for the rest! mind you, she is only turning 3 next month! i got no choice but to accede to her request, so i am left with 13.5 pieces now... </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yx walked out to the living room, muching the little flower... wonder if it really taste nice or was it because of the Nutella, she finished everything up herself, refusing to give my dad a bite! my mum told me she seem to really enjoy it, so i set aside 2 pieces for her to bring to childcare tomorrow... but her 2 pieces was not topped with chocolate drizzle as she had just recovered from a bout of cough recently...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Here's the <a href="http://bakeforhappykids.blogspot.com/2011/02/chocolate-shortbread-for-valentines-day.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BakeForHappyKids+%28Bake+for+happy+kids%29">recipe</a> from <a href="http://bakeforhappykids.blogspot.com/">Bake for happy kids</a>:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">50g butter, at room temperature</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">25g Icing sugar</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 tsp vanilla extract</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">55g plain flour</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">20g almond meal</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 egg white</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(i doubled up the recipe)</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. Line Baking tray with baking paper. Preheat oven to 170C</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. Using an electric mixer, beat butter, icing sugar and vanilla until light fluffy </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. Add flour and almond meal. Stir until combine. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. Turn dough onto </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Refrigerate for 20 min or until firm. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5. Roll out dough to 5mm thickness and cut into shapes. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6. Brush </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">shortbread with egg white and bake for 20 min or until light golden brown. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7. Allow to cool completely on tray.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Instead of sandwiching a chocolate ganache, i used Nutella instead :) but here's how Zoe made the chocolate ganache:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thick chocolate ganache</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">50g dark chocolate</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">30ml double cream</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. Mix both chocolate and cream together and microwave them in low power until the chocolate melts</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 Allow the ganache to cool to room temperature and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">apply onto one side of the shortbread and sandwich another one on top of the ganache. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. Place the sandwich shortbread on a wire rack or baking </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">paper. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. Using a microwave in low power, melt dark chocolate and drizzle on top of the sandwich shortbread. Allow chocolate to set. (I melt some Hershery's semi-sweet chocolate chips and use it for the drizzling and wordings instead)</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>#19 Pistachio and Almond Cookies</strong></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJijWyXXcDww4x3aC80whg1hSr2eIIn6MkLFWI1semGEU7EECberGQQjhOw2BUmGqxxH4mLow7OJthkk0ifN9cYcymWZdLnsPFrkxrVZAPXmaYzKgkub_0xM5mTXVRFa97aEA-LfWjcvxf/s1600/Pistachio+%2526+Almond+Cookies+-+Love.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJijWyXXcDww4x3aC80whg1hSr2eIIn6MkLFWI1semGEU7EECberGQQjhOw2BUmGqxxH4mLow7OJthkk0ifN9cYcymWZdLnsPFrkxrVZAPXmaYzKgkub_0xM5mTXVRFa97aEA-LfWjcvxf/s200/Pistachio+%2526+Almond+Cookies+-+Love.JPG" width="150" /></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP6Zqy9CYhN3v4QwlpDLEmC2rU6W06GbnP_M_XhuSi6G_wu71ZRHRG3-Jc7UDS3NB2uyW4s3eiU4tPUkR-qRiTCExxZq8FA0Xl8fcpIdxcwVPJpbGoq4U3Q886ynyw3pIHie2bn8kR2TrZ/s1600/Pistachio+%2526+Almond+Cookies.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP6Zqy9CYhN3v4QwlpDLEmC2rU6W06GbnP_M_XhuSi6G_wu71ZRHRG3-Jc7UDS3NB2uyW4s3eiU4tPUkR-qRiTCExxZq8FA0Xl8fcpIdxcwVPJpbGoq4U3Q886ynyw3pIHie2bn8kR2TrZ/s200/Pistachio+%2526+Almond+Cookies.JPG" width="150" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">i thought i might have overmixed the butter and sugar in the earlier basic cookie, this time i used a wooden spoon instead... end result? the dough is still very soft to handle... i only managed to cut some with the heart shaped cutter, and the rest, i just scoop the dough, roll and flatten! </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">this was not the very cookie i wanted to bake, but seeing i am rather short of time and since mum bought some pistachio for cny, all ingredients were available on hand... despite chilling them for more than 30 mins (and i think in total more than 60 mins!), the dough is still too soft to roll and cut into desired shapes... though the process in doing it was rather tough, glad the cookies, especially the heart shape ones turned out rather nice... a nice shade of golden brown... mum is usually the first taster of my bakes if Dear is not around... her comments? cookie is crunchy and crispy... the buttery smell is not as strong as the chocolate short bread (though i told her this recipe used more butter!) </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">as you can see from the second picture, the rounds one were the later batch, which i gave up trying to cut them into shapes... and i seem to have left them in the oven a tad too long, hence, the colour are slightly darker (but not burnt!)...</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the instructions called for topping the pistachios after the dough is rolled, but after the first batch of heart cookies, i mixed in the remaining pistachios into the dough, hoping this will help to firm up the dough a bit, and hence for the round cookies you don't see the pistachio toppings...</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYsHHfUF99T2-tau6hMt7KatT-CyMf1lIt9Qq5skcAuQZKF0tRQMjiKZSsfxoe9uNAIlLmButWfKenVcbWnPvKmBlCQi9jDFpGzibw3Fo1oHTU7uM2fzYM0eaDvtxUmTYUNzGJYo3cqh2l/s1600/cookiebook.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYsHHfUF99T2-tau6hMt7KatT-CyMf1lIt9Qq5skcAuQZKF0tRQMjiKZSsfxoe9uNAIlLmButWfKenVcbWnPvKmBlCQi9jDFpGzibw3Fo1oHTU7uM2fzYM0eaDvtxUmTYUNzGJYo3cqh2l/s200/cookiebook.JPG" width="150" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u>Pistachio & Almond Cookies</u> (from 1 Dough, 100 Cookies by Linda Doeser)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">225gms butter, softened</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">140g caster sugar (i reduced this to 100gms this time round)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">1 egg yolk, lightly beaten</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">2 tsp almond extract</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">225gms plain flour</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">55gms ground almond</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">55gms pistachio nuts, finely chopped</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">salt (i omit this as the pistachio were already lightly salted)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">(considering the short time i had, i halved the recipe)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">1. Put the butter and sugar in a bowl amd mix well with a wooden spoon, then beat in the egg yolk and almond extract</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">2. Sift together the flour and a pinch of salt into the mixture, add the ground almonds and stir till thoroughly combined</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">3. Halve the dough, shape into balls, wrap in clingfilm and chill in the refrigerator for 30 - 60 mins</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">4. Preheat the oven to 190C and line tray with baking sheets (note i lower temperature to 170C)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">5. Unwrap the dough and roll out between 2 sheets of baking parchments (i used plastic bags after the dough sticked too much to the baking paper! was rather easy when the dough is still cold but gave up after the first batch!) to about 3mm thick</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">6. Sprinkle half the pistachio nuts over each piece of dough and roll lightly with the rolling pin. Stamp out cookies with a cutter and place them on the prepared baking sheets spaced well apart</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">7. Bake for 10 - 12 minuts (in my case was about 15 - 20 mins). Leave to cool on the baking sheets for 5 - 10 mins, then transfer them to wire rack to cool completely</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">i am going to submit all 3 bakes to <a href="http://ellenaguan.blogspot.com/2011/02/aspiring-bakers-4-love-in-air-feb-2011.html">Aspiring Bakers #4 Love In The Air (Feb 2011)</a> hosted by Ellena of <a href="http://ellenaguan.blogspot.com/">Cusine Paradise</a>... and its time to drift off to dreamland! </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Happy baking everyone :) and Happy Valentine's Day! <3</span></div>love melody, love bakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07470300312050220456noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889438828488547391.post-65505638883210213382011-02-11T09:52:00.000+08:002011-02-11T09:52:51.807+08:00my baking diary #16 more agar agar...<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFXYGeYybZeBQR5gdkXCIL-u5rHRuy54QsDeGRzlWNznuWGLxezYRm-XW_dpFpKnt206cN7Tb8A46AofjuZRDhdJfcYTZsmiyxF7URa1LwYijyydBN5sbJkj660wnx_dqXtOTDmQJLxH4W/s1600/Bunny+Agar.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFXYGeYybZeBQR5gdkXCIL-u5rHRuy54QsDeGRzlWNznuWGLxezYRm-XW_dpFpKnt206cN7Tb8A46AofjuZRDhdJfcYTZsmiyxF7URa1LwYijyydBN5sbJkj660wnx_dqXtOTDmQJLxH4W/s200/Bunny+Agar.JPG" width="150" /></a>havn't got back the momentum for baking after CNY... but made some agar agar coz we are having a CNY cum gambling session at J's place tonight!! </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div>the bunnies mould which i forgotten during CNY!! bought this specially since its the Bunny Year... but forgot about it coz the mould was not in sight... hence my earlier post was only fishes and pineapples...<br />
<br />
hmm, the white bunnies does not look very obvious... while trying to put them in the office fridge, my colleague asked if that was a cow!! OMG!!! think something is wrong with his eyes... it may not look at bunny at one glance, but it sure does not look like a cow right?? <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqGPTeBz2eTOE2JePGTpLQYzLuj24Pe_sRBgTPQ2fOWJ10NM7cMtnH682XsGnq4nFOBLgxkYQd3w_J0jd5HCpUhSuF4b0kO4HGYVUmTJKvC2JFKcpnKV7waEuBPR1ik4pFdpxnXiqg1Mze/s1600/Fish+Agar.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqGPTeBz2eTOE2JePGTpLQYzLuj24Pe_sRBgTPQ2fOWJ10NM7cMtnH682XsGnq4nFOBLgxkYQd3w_J0jd5HCpUhSuF4b0kO4HGYVUmTJKvC2JFKcpnKV7waEuBPR1ik4pFdpxnXiqg1Mze/s200/Fish+Agar.JPG" width="150" /></a></div>i included green agar agar cut in 'grass' shapes... but think i should have just put in a layer of green agar agar on the plate, which save me time of having to cut the 'grass' and made me nearly late for work this morning! also included a couple of roses :)<br />
<br />
of course, i had to make these cute fishes again.. this time, 3 are in coconut milk (those white ones) and 3 are just in the normal agar agar mixture (those translucent ones) coz i am not sure which my colleagues will prefer... oh, and yes, i made the pineapples again too.. just that they are not in the picture coz the will cover up all the fishes....<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnz2nArslqNgmjmD0DMudlvHr55UKzzpnT3UD8EZT3peKBP2z-0UqYt7y1n8FOGmwn6UOKZA1EXgnBTba8rojjcmSLIDuLj1cH0BEu7Y4Iwaq1vV4FVAzD1tyVOBp8O24kqwFK33WVetXt/s1600/Cookie+Mix+Big.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnz2nArslqNgmjmD0DMudlvHr55UKzzpnT3UD8EZT3peKBP2z-0UqYt7y1n8FOGmwn6UOKZA1EXgnBTba8rojjcmSLIDuLj1cH0BEu7Y4Iwaq1vV4FVAzD1tyVOBp8O24kqwFK33WVetXt/s200/Cookie+Mix+Big.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>and this, is just a bigger version of the cny cookie mix... <br />
<br />
hope i can bake some v-day stuff this weekend :Dlove melody, love bakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07470300312050220456noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889438828488547391.post-37744466290785231302011-02-06T22:27:00.000+08:002011-02-06T22:27:14.324+08:00my baking diary #15 Happy Bunny Year!!<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Happy Bunny Year to All on the 4th day of the Lunar Year!! Hope everyone will have a healthy, wealthy and properous year ahead!!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Been wanting to post the agar-agar i made for CNY, but as usual, short of time... after receiving nice comments on the Hello Kitty coconut milk agar-agar i made for xh's 1st birthday, mum suggested that i make more and bring them to aunt's house during CNY visiting....</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">bought the mini koi fish and pineapple moulds from Kitchen Capers during lunch sometime back... coz i thought "Nian Nian You Yu" and "Ong Lye" is rather auspicious for the festive season... Came across the big koi fish mould at Phoon Huat, and since its only a couple of dollars, thought it would look more presentable! </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp_DOl_pBKvCinUSf03PYWdhkKavJ7hSfwNNuN1k2dwpM1pa1mhYrRvHO0DwdSjU0X_fgezeCs8hksQAHgl6RCYn4ZHK81datC622QseMZl5o23Ad1mScxIBvSHlKrlDaRyZDXB0sqiWMx/s1600/Fish1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp_DOl_pBKvCinUSf03PYWdhkKavJ7hSfwNNuN1k2dwpM1pa1mhYrRvHO0DwdSjU0X_fgezeCs8hksQAHgl6RCYn4ZHK81datC622QseMZl5o23Ad1mScxIBvSHlKrlDaRyZDXB0sqiWMx/s200/Fish1.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">My initial plan was only to dab some orange colouring as most koi fishes are orangy-white in colour... But after seeing <a href="http://anncoojournal.blogspot.com/">Anncoo</a>'s post on her <a href="http://anncoojournal.blogspot.com/2011/01/koi-fish.html">colourful koi fish agar-agar</a>, i can't help but add in a couple more colours! </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">This was the first batch of koi fish agar-agar i made to bring to Dear's place as dessert after the reunion dinner... But even before dinner, a couple of Dear's siblings had already tested them... Comments received were good, as the coconut milk actually gave a very nice fragrance, and <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS_LmC_I-pCa9sX-c6JzftePPZfWAAjnrElsxLqfNicmM9njJxi4nCIvmAw1XQ7fubp8w73iX8WBostgSk98hEO2f5VZjk_XTPINxEbpVZJgqtTpyPo0hBxzq8HgAR8tzzHQlJQ-nS0OiT/s1600/fish2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS_LmC_I-pCa9sX-c6JzftePPZfWAAjnrElsxLqfNicmM9njJxi4nCIvmAw1XQ7fubp8w73iX8WBostgSk98hEO2f5VZjk_XTPINxEbpVZJgqtTpyPo0hBxzq8HgAR8tzzHQlJQ-nS0OiT/s200/fish2.JPG" width="200" /></a> </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">the agar-agar- wasn't too sweet.... Dear's brother even commented that they look too good to be eaten! </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I had wanted to try Ann's method of putting in raisins as eyes, but forgot on that very night i made them, so the fishes are 'eyeless'... guess this is the reason why i feel that they dun look that complete....</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibaOMlVhqsJNdYzlWA7SHAI9XZsLYqKxynIRkboZKQwL8xSHYlxVhPJjHBsYAuO9g8i3ggPD_H2fhoZ3uIEx5Fi6mfSIJ8PItOttiAjgZo247EfB0gMSCrLOeq_B9fYCcJNaxlis29rxDQ/s1600/fish5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibaOMlVhqsJNdYzlWA7SHAI9XZsLYqKxynIRkboZKQwL8xSHYlxVhPJjHBsYAuO9g8i3ggPD_H2fhoZ3uIEx5Fi6mfSIJ8PItOttiAjgZo247EfB0gMSCrLOeq_B9fYCcJNaxlis29rxDQ/s1600/fish5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibaOMlVhqsJNdYzlWA7SHAI9XZsLYqKxynIRkboZKQwL8xSHYlxVhPJjHBsYAuO9g8i3ggPD_H2fhoZ3uIEx5Fi6mfSIJ8PItOttiAjgZo247EfB0gMSCrLOeq_B9fYCcJNaxlis29rxDQ/s200/fish5.JPG" width="150" /></a>this was the second batch of agar-agar i made on new year's eve...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVrAeQxpVMXETpt1tPBk_Bdt5YUh5Nm5TlSxyuZMcKd0Kyw-GZOy0sHix5nL8ZSifUMuVy_TCrr8oNnCnfV7eR6rnzE_H9nbjiJa7QW0ylDd2j3VzkvugeiP9bAejvOrTooZ2TSztmQKQQ/s1600/fish3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVrAeQxpVMXETpt1tPBk_Bdt5YUh5Nm5TlSxyuZMcKd0Kyw-GZOy0sHix5nL8ZSifUMuVy_TCrr8oNnCnfV7eR6rnzE_H9nbjiJa7QW0ylDd2j3VzkvugeiP9bAejvOrTooZ2TSztmQKQQ/s200/fish3.JPG" width="200" /></a> instead of using raisins as eyes, i decided to use brown colouring to complete the eyes instead... so this batch of agar-agar making took me a long long time... </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">i had to add different colourings to different batches of agar-agar, hence, by the time i completed some, the agar-agar would have harden in the pot, and i have to boil them again to achieve the liquid form... </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">but with the 'eyes' i thought they look so much better, though i think it would look even better with black eyes?</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">though i used a couple of colours in making the koi fish agar-agar, the hardest to make was not the fish... but the pineapple!! </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">from the ribbon to the stem and the fruit... i have to hold the mould at slanted angles to make sure the colour does not run... in order to ensure they can 'harden' fast enough to start on the other colour, i had to cool the mixture in a bowl first, but gotta work fast in order to pour them in the mould! confused? think if you do agar-agar, you will understand what i am trying to say...</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">i actually bought a mould with four mini bunnies for the occasion as well! but i totally forgotten about it as it was not with the fish mould... i wonder why... but never mind, perhaps i can make them for this friday's gathering at J's place... </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP3J7QIq1BMCmA7slyk9nBZ3CDaQKm_QBMqP61wRf5OuSeNfcahoREfi19BoDN0FOHmGxrLEC0idFZUYapQPukMCywsJ6T8QWuTZxF-AMi12Y9QHPtAewiU4ZGKgQOTDWPLlqpDZtxKvxc/s1600/cookiebook.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" h5="true" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP3J7QIq1BMCmA7slyk9nBZ3CDaQKm_QBMqP61wRf5OuSeNfcahoREfi19BoDN0FOHmGxrLEC0idFZUYapQPukMCywsJ6T8QWuTZxF-AMi12Y9QHPtAewiU4ZGKgQOTDWPLlqpDZtxKvxc/s200/cookiebook.JPG" width="150" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Now that the CNY festive baking period is over, its time to start on other cookies (but i still have some leftover pineapple paste, a packet of kueh bangkit premix, a packet of butter crunch cookie premix)... i got an order to fulfil - baking some cookies (butter cookies and horlicks doggies) as party favours for my sis's colleague's daughter... and i wanna bake some cookies for v-day as well... not forgetting yx's 3rd birthday in March... exploring icing cookies for J's daughter 3rd birthday with her (most likely) princess theme in mind...</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Next on my to-do list, is to bake some cookies i have shortlisted from this "1 Dough, 100 Cookies' book that i got from D as a X'mas pressie...</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Ok, back to reality after the long weekend... its back to work tomorrow...</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"></div>love melody, love bakinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07470300312050220456noreply@blogger.com5