Cheeezecake with Johnny Bravo

WILL UPDATE THIS LATER ~!=D

Brownie for Baby (3

Beloved B2's birthday breakfast surprise, 110809, was coming up!(yes i know this post a a LITTLE late) she loves my cakes, so i thought i'd do somethin special for her;

Nutella Brownie

It was pretty alright. Not perfect, but standard's there =D

Wanna try it out ? Just follow the exact steps and ingredients as the Peanut Butter Blondie in my previous post, but replace the peanut butter with nutella. Enjoy~

♥♥

Pris's Peanut Project

Another project for Food Science & Project Knoledge. Woots !~ (This time, zero sarcasm) I mean, seriously; a project on food ? How much more fun could a project get!(Y) This is life. At it's best. Anyway, I chose to work on the key ingredient of my most favouritestest food item(peanut butter) .....yeah, you must have guessed it- PEANUTZ !
I did a whole 2k + word report on it, including a recipe which I had to come up with and present to the class on the day of presentation. Lets skip all the farty stuff and get to the point; what I made ->

CHOCOLATE CHIP PEANUT BUTTER BLONDIES:

The ingredients to fit a 8x8 inch pan and steps to make the blondies are as follows:


Ingredients

 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

 2 cups dark brown sugar (I prefer dark, so that’s what I use)

 1/2 cup  peanut butter

 2 eggs

 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

 1 teaspoon baking powder

 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

 1/2 teaspoon salt

 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

 1/2 cup peanuts

Steps


Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch by 13-inch pan and set aside.

In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and brown sugar, stirring constantly until smooth. Remove from the heat, and stir in the peanut butter.

(notice that i'm sprinkling a pinch of a secret ingredient, or 2, which enhances the taste of chocolate. should be used in any chocolate dish. make a wild guess ?)

Allow to cool while combining the dry ingredients – flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt – in a large mixing bowl.
Add the eggs, one at a time, to the brown sugar and peanut butter mixture, mixing well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and stir to combine. Pour the mixture into the prepared dry ingredients, and stir to create a thick, smooth batter.

Transfer the batter to the prepared pan, spreading the batter evenly to the edges of the pan. Sprinkle with the milk chocolate chips and peanuts, lightly pressing them into the batter.

Bake for 25 minutes. Allow to cool in the pan. Cut into 1-2 inch squares and serve (with milk, if you like).

43 & ever gleeeee~

12//5/10; Daddy invited the family over for a pot-luck dinner, to watch the World Cup and celebrate the 43rd birthday of the family clown, Uncle raji! Since everyone was making smth, I decided to do smth too. Smth sweet, in conjunction to the savoury that everyone else was doing. Smth from Jamie Oliver's kitchen, slightly modified XD...

TOFFEE APPLE TART

> Shortcrust Pastry (recipe as follows)
> 2 x 397g cans of condensed milk (or 2 jars of Merchant Gourmet Dulce de toffee)
> 4 medium-sized apples
> heaped tsp cinnamon

[looks simple ? it is... but its a long process]

 Shortcrust Pastry

>1 tsp vanilla essence (or 1 vanilla pod if you have it. I don't think SG has it tho' =.=)

>4 1/2 oz. butter (if unsalted, add a pinch of salt)

>3 1/2 oz. sugar
>9 oz. flour
>1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice (or zest of 1/2 a lemon)
>2 egg yolks
>2 tbsp cold milk or water (I used 1 tbsp each)


Directions

Put your unopened tins of condensed milk in a high-sided pan, ocvered with water. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer constantly for about 3 hours with a lid on top. It's very important to remember to keep checking the pan, as you don't want it to boil dry - otherwise the tins will explode. It will give you the  most AMAAAAAZING toffee. Put the tins to one side and allow to cool.

First of all you need to make the pastry. Cream together the butter, sugar (and salt if needed) and then rub in the flour, vanilla essence (seeds, if you're using the pod), lemon juice(or zest) and egg yolks - you can do all this by hand or in a food processor. When the mixture looks like course breadcrumbs, add the cold milk or water. Pat and gently work the mixture together until you have a ball of dough, then flour it lightly and roll it into a large sausagggggee (shape) - *don't work the pastry too much otherwise it will become too elastic and chewy, not short and flaky as you'd want it to be. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and place in the fridge to rest for at least an hour. Remove it from the fridge, slice it up and line a 28cm/11-in circular tart mould with the slivers (I used a 13x11x9in rectangular one, however, as I was too lazy too go down to purchase the recomended one. As a result, neither the dough nor toffee was enough; the dough should have been able to cover the sides, and the toffee should have been able to top the apples and hide them). Push them together, then tidy up the sides by trimming off any excess. Place the tart mould into the freezer for an hour. Preheat oven to 180degrees/350H/gas 4, then take the pastry case out of the freezer and bake for around 15 min or until lightly golder. Remove from oven and place to one side. Peel and quarter the applesand remove the cores, the slice to desired sizes (all should be off equal sizes to ensure equal cooking) and toss in the cinnamon. Smear the caramel from both tins of condensed milk over the pastry base. Place the apples on top any remaining juices over. Cook at the bottom of the preheated oven for about 40 minutes, to give you a crispy base and bubbling toffee over the apples. Serve with vanilla ice cream while still hot. BEEEEEEEA-UTIFUL !!!!!!!~

The adults found it way too sweet, but the kids couldn't get enough ^^

<3

50, the youth of old age

Daddy turned 50 today. Yet, he's still young at heart! More of the bestest friend than a daddy to me, I <3 him sososo much ^^ I decided to do smth special for him, and surprise him when he got back from work in the wee hours of the morning. I baked him a cake, low in sugar, perfect for him. He really was stunned when he opened the door to a whiff of freshly baked goodness and "Happy birthday to you.......". My mom and i received one of the tightest bear hugs, and  henceforth indulged in the cake. It was truly amazing, thus i'm gonna share this recipe with you;


FLOURLESS HAZELNUT TORTE, with cream cheese icing
> 3 eggs, separated
> 1/2 cup sugar(I replaced this with 1/2 c gula melaka)
> 1/2 cup finely chopped hazelnuts, toasted
> 3/8 cup dry bread crumbs
> 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
> 1/8 teaspoon salt
> handful of chocolate chips

Cream Cheese Icing

> ~1/2 cup cream cheese
> 4 tbsp sugar (I used fructose)
> ~3/4 cup whipping cream

> Additional hazelnuts, halved, optional


Directions

In a large bowl, beat egg yolks and sugar(/gula melaka) until light lemon-colored. Stir in the chopped hazelnuts, bread crumbs and lemon juice.

In another bowl, beat egg whites and salt until stiff peaks form(Recommended: use an electric beater for this unless you're really strong and can whisk really fast, like me); fold into hazelnut mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.

Spoon into a pan(I used a heart-shaped pan, which is approximately half the size of a 9-in pan) Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

In the mean time, whisk the sugar into the cream cheese till well-blended. Stir in enough whipping cream to form the mixture into a smooth paste. Set aside 1/2 the mixture and add more whipping to this mixture till it becomes more runny(less viscous). *Tip: Add whipping cream little by little.

Cut cake horizontally into two layers. Place bottom layer on a serving plate; top with 1/2 of the cream cheese mixture. Top with remaining layer and mixture. Garnish with halved hazelnuts if desired. Yield: 10-12 servings.

**double the ingredients will be fit for a 9-in. pan

Happy Valentine's Day (3 (BELATED BELATED)

& WE MEET AGAIN!
Well not that i've been really busy, but i've certaintly been rather lazy =X its been decades since I last updated. I guess i'm guilty of being a sloth at heart...
Well nevertheless, I have some Valentine's goodies to update you on. I know its been a thousand and two years, but hey! Better late than never right :D

For my lovely 118, class of '11, I did some chewy, chunky.....

MAPLE MELAKA BLONDIES:

->1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled

->3/4 bar of gula melaka

->1/2 cup maple syrup

->2 tsp vanilla extract

->1 egg

->7/8 cup all purpose flour

->1/4 tsp salt* (only if the butter you're using is unsalted, else salt can be omitted)

->1/2 cup shredded coconut

->handful of chocolate chips(I used semi-sweet. I think i'll give white a go the next time round =P)
 

Preheat oven to 200 C. Grease 8-inch square pan.
In a large bowl, combine butter, gula melaka, maple syrup, vanilla, egg, and whisk till smooth. Then add in flour and salt* just until no streaks of flour remain. (Do not overmix, or the outcome of your blondie's texture would be cakey, which isn't very desirable. Blondies better suit a slightly dense texture, 'chewy, chunky', as I describe it above.) Stir in coconut and chocolate chips so it will be evenly distributed.
Finally, pour the batter into youre prepared baking dish and pop into the oven for around 23min, then insert a toothpick in the middle. Your blondie is ready when the toothpick comes out decently coated( not too clean, with a little bit of batter stuck to it, but you know its perfect). Cut it up to desired sizes after cooled =D
NOTE: Upon, inserting baking tray into oven, IMMEDIATELY switch temperature to 175 C.

There's no need for a description on the apricot cheesecake brownie(above) I did for my CNY/V'day family gathering. I felt that the outcome wasn't satisfactory =( Although it did finish up :O

The Marriage of Citrus and Le Coconute

HAPPY BELATED BLESSED BIRTHDAY to vik's mom, Ranuka =D {08/02}
A sweet a son as he is, vik wanted his mom to have a great birthday celebration, and a delicious cake. He was also kind enough to take into consideration the fact that his gmomma was a pure vegan. Thus, he asked if I could sell him a suitable cake for the occasion. Of course, I willingly agreed.
I gave it some thought, and finally decided on an ...

EGGLESS ORANGE COCONUT CAKE^^:
•1 3/4 cups white self-raising flour*
•1/2 tsp. baking powder

•1/2 cup sugar(i used brown, for a richer taste and a healthier alternative too)

•3/4 cup butter

•1 1/4 cups milk

•1 tbs. grated orange rind/zest

•1/2 cup dessicated coconut

•4 tbs. sour cream**
 
•cashewnuts, halved or roughly chopped(enough to cover the entire surface of the cake)
_____________________________________________________________________________
*To make your own self rising flour - for every 125g/5 oz./10tbsp of plain flour, add 2 tsp baking powder. Then sift the flour several times.
**1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar plus enough whole milk to fill 1 cup (240 ml) (let it stand 5-10 minutes)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ICING:

•75ml orange juice


•3/4 tsp orange peel (grated)

•140g dried schredded coconut

•~200g icing sugar(I used fructose, for a healthier alternative. It is hovever, much more costly)
 
DIRECTIONS:
 
Preheat the oven to 160C/325F/gas mark 3


[I used a 8x8 pan]

Combine the coconut and milk and stand at room temperature for 1 hour.
Grease and line the loaf tin.
Cream the butter, rind and sugar in medium-sized bowl until light and fluffy; stir in the sour cream and mix well.
Transfer this mixture to a large bowl and stir in half the coconut mixture with half the sifted flour and the baking powder.
Then stir in the remaining coconut mixture and flour. Stir until smooth. Pour mixture into the prepared tin.
Sprinkle cashewnuts over then use a spatula to press in a little.
Bake for about 1 1/2 hours.

Allow to stand for ~15 minutes, before turning on to wire rack to cool.
Spread cooled cake with icing; decorate with orange wedges if desired.
[Orange Icing: Ensure that a thick but spreadable consistency is achieved.

                                                                            TADAAAAAA~

And That's How the Cookie Crumbled

AWESOME NEWS GUYS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I applied for Culinary & Catering Management @ Temasek Poly and guess what ....... I GOT THE PLACE !!!=D This got me having a total mixture of feelings ....of course I was delighted I got what I always wanted. At the same time however, I knew I'd miss my dearest friends to bits. Deep down in my heart, I know I can never find any replacements for those gems <3 The tears I shed held a variety of emotions. I decided to bake some goodies for my beloveds as a 'farewell' gift before I left the sch, in case I were to confirm my decision of transfering(I've decided to stay till early march at least, before poly starts, if I were to go).
I was also unsure though, whether i'd be doing the right thing by transfering. I'm still praying hard for a beam of enoightenment=)
Anyways, back to the goodies.

 I baked some apple crumble muffins for them. Here the recipe for 6:

-> 1 cup all-purpose flour


-> 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

-> 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

-> 1/4 teaspoon salt

-> 1/4 cup butter

-> 1/2 cup white sugar

-> 1 egg

-> 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

-> 3/4 cup chopped apples



-> 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons packed brown sugar

-> 1-1/2 teaspoons all-purpose flour

-> 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

-> 1-1/2 teaspoons butter
 
 I got this recipe from HERE. I made a few modifications though. An apple muffin without any spice in the batter itself ? That just doesn't make any sense. Hence, I added an pinch of nutmeg and a little more cinammon, to the batter. Also, I used brown sugar instead of white sugar for the batter(as always), and 1/4 cup more of apples(green apples). For the butter, I assumed that the recipe refered to the unsalted version. Thus, I omitted the 1/4 tsp of salt as I was using the usual version.
 
1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 6-cup muffin pan.


2.In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

3.In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar and eggs until smooth. Mix in vanilla. Stir in apples, and gradually blend in the flour mixture. Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin pan.

4.In a small bowl, mix brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture is like coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over tops of mixture in muffin pan.

5.Bake 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Allow to sit 5 minutes before removing muffins from pan, then cool.
 
Just like other muffins I bake, I always set the temperature higher, then lower it. In this case, I lowered the temperature to 175degrees celsius, upon insertion into the oven, to ensure that the top turns out slightly crisp, with a light, moist and fluffy interior. P.S. 190 refers to the original recipe yield of 12 muffins.
 
 
 

I made similar muffins(above) for the picnic I just had with my new class, but used red apples instead. Everyone loved it=D

BANGKOK '10m! pictures tells a gazillion words =)))))))

green apple-basil-carrot-pineapple-some other stuff health concoction

deep-fried springroll stuffed with carrot, taro, sweet potato, radish

rack of lamb red curry

the best tom yum soup we tried

stir-fried morning glory

breaded catfish

for the sweet-toothed =D

rabbit-shaped folded napkin !

ginger martini

A PLATE OF ORGASM-INDUSERS: clockwise from top left: raspberry sorbet with white choc ribbon, banana chocolate mouuse with crunchy caramel nougat, dark chocolate layer cake, warm chocolate fondant<3 -Diplomat bar @ Condrad

tom yum martini

MEAT

Aunty Anne's pretzel-wrapped cheesy chicken sausage skewer

Mac's @ Bangk's

spiced squiddy bbq skewers

@Condrad Hotel. part of continental buffet breakfast =P

@Condrad Hotel. part of continental buffet breakfast=P

basil-crusted grilled tomatoes (Y)

a Thai fruit. I forgot the name. I think it starts with L though

@Cream & Fudge. peanut butter ice cream + raspberry sorbet w/ white & black whole hazelnuts and cherry pie filling

siew mais=)

<3 cinammony stuff

grassy brownie! (green 'grass' topping made from boiled egg white+syrup

deep-fried cotton fish w/ mango salad

soft-shell red curry mmmmmmm

Thai-style radish cake; beats S'pore's hands down, to much dismay

roti prata w/ honey and gingko nuts

roast duck red curry

Hershey nuggets

rice crackers w/ miced pork & shrimp dip (Y)

Masaman beef curry

@ the Gourmet market, Siam Paragon

fruit samosas(apple) w/ fruit dip(mango/strawberry)

Best phad thai i tried, from the airport

mango sticky rice, a famous thai dessert

berry yoghurt freeeezzze~

FUNGRY ? XD