These brownies are so easy to bake. I made these last weekend for my steamboat gathering with my friends and these brownies received good responses! It's slightly crisp at the top and fudgy and moist at the bottom. Some brownies sold outside are hard and dry and the cost like 3 bucks a piece??? Why not bake it yourself at home. They are super easy to make w just some simple ingredients that you prolly can find them at home and this recipe is almost foolproof! They are easy to store. Just pop them in an air tight container and they can be kept for a couple of days. I completely forgot about the cocoa powder until they are sitting in the oven and the best thing is they still tasted incredibly good!!

Ingredients ( adapted from Laura Vitale)
5 ounces of Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
7 ounces of Bittersweet Chocolate, melted
1 Cup of Sugar
2 tsp of Vanilla Extract
¼ tsp of Salt
1 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
2 Large Eggs
2 Tbsp of warm Water
1 tsp of Instant Espresso Powder
2/3 Cup of All Purpose Flour

steps:
1) Preheat oven to 350. Spray an 8 by 8 inch square pan with non stick cooking spray and lay the bottom with parchment paper. Set aside.

2) In a small cup mix together the warm water with the instant espresso powder, set aside.

3) In a large bowl whisk together the sugar and butter until fluffy. Add the eggs, vanilla extract and espresso mixture. Beat until all is combined.

4) Add the melted chocolate and whisk, add the dry ingredients and mix everything together until it’s incorporated but don’t over mix.

5) Pour batter into your prepared pan and bake for about 40 to 45 minutes or until when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with moist crumbs but not wet batter.

6) Cool for about 5 minutes in the pan and then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Cut into bars and serve

Check out my subsequent attempts!

 

To be honest, I love rice a lot. In the past, i used to ask the school's canteen aunty to add more rice for me whenever i order caifan from her. I can't imagine my meals without rice seriously. But now, I am avoiding it as much as possible. Not because I don't like them anymore, but the fact that they are...carbohydrates. If you cut down on carbo, you can rly slim down a lot. Trust me on this. Now you know why I avoid rice. Hee. I can rly go on and on about diet n exercise. But I shan't bore you any further with that. Haha. So i turned to other alternatives, salad. I spammed salad for the past two years and it isn't that bad after all. It was tough at the start when I switched to a no rice diet. As time passed, I got more used to it and kinda like it eventually. But I still love rice. To enjoy rice with lesser guilt, consider rice salad. I got this idea from Laura Vitale. Made some minor changes to her recipe with whatever ingredients i have on hand. This is definitely a healthier choice compared to your ordinary weekday chicken rice or Seafood horfun pack home dinner. I used canned food as it's more convenient. To make the dish healthier, you could use fresh ingredients  from the market. Although this looks as if it contains a lot of rice, it doesn't. They can be stored for a couple of days in the fridge. You cld prepare these for tmr's lunch at work or dinner for your kids if you are working OT!!



Ingredients: (Servings: 2-3, Serve cold. )

3/4 cup of rice- cooked*
1 can Corn Kernels ( Can/fresh)
1 can Tuna chunks in light Olive Oil ( You cld substitute with other alternatives like Shredded Steamed Salmon etc...)
1 cup Cherry tomatoes
Cranberries
3-4 tbsp of extra virgin Olive Oil. ( ensure rice stays moist)

Steps:

1. In a large bowl, Add corn and tuna to the rice. Mix well.
2. Toss in cherry tomatoes and cranberries.
3. Add olive oil.

I have been thinking all about the mango sago from"Ah Chew Desserts, 阿秋甜品"  ever since my virgin visit with my colleagues. Their mango sago  is fabulous with the fragrant taste of the coconut milk and juicy mango cubes. I finished the whole bowl to myself despite having a super sinful and filling dinner at Astons before that. Although it was delicious, it was ultra sinful because of the rich coconut milk and is mega damaging to your weight and waist! Hence, I've decided to re-create a healthier version. However, i couldn't find mango in my supermarket that day and so i substituted with honeydew instead. To make mango sago, you simply have to replace honeydew with mango in the below recipe. I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #20: Asian dessert buffet! (June 2012) hosted by Moon of Food Playground. Please refer here for more details. This is my first time participating in Aspiring Bakers and I am pretty excited about it!! I looked up online  and scribbled notes and information from everywhere (until i am was very confused) onto a piece of paper and combined them into this recipe! The use of soy milk is going to make this dish so much healthier.



Ingredients: ( Makes approximately 3-4 bowls)

I dragged my family to Chinatown Siahuat two weeks ago. That place is fabulous. I can absolutely spend the whole morning there. My awesome mum helped me restock quite a number of baking utensils and i finally replaced my old n short chiffon tin with a brand new 20 cm chiffon tin from SiaHuat. I really think that chiffon tins are overprice. After my pandan chiffon cake,  I finally re-bake my orange chiffon cake after my first attempt in a normal cake tin! The cake wasn't too dry nor moist. Just the right texture for chiffon cake!! Do give it a go!!

Ingredients: ( Slight amendments from SmallSmallBaker to fit 20 cm chiffon tin )

4 yolks
26.6g sugar
40g Vegetable oil
53.3ml Orange Juice
approximately zest of 1-2 oranges
66.6g flour
4 egg whites
66.6g sugar
6.66g corn flour

steps:

1. Whisk egg yolks and sugar until the sugar dissolves. |
2. Gradually add in vegetable oil, followed by Mandarin orange juice and zest.
3. Sift cake flour twice and add into egg yolk mixture. Mix until just combined. Set aside. 4. In another bowl, whisk egg whites until foamy.
Add in combined sugar and corn flour mixture gradually and continue whisking until stiff peak form.
5. Gently fold in the egg white into the egg yolk batter (in step 3) in 3 batches.
6. Pour the batter into an ungreased chiffon tin. Give the tin a few slight knocks on the tabletop to remove air bubbles. Bake in preheated oven at 170 deg C for 35 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and invert the tin immediately onto a cooling rack.
8. Unmould the cake only when it is completely cool.



Soft, moist n fluffy ^^

Whats for breakfast on Wednesday? Instead of our usual peanut jam and nutella sandwiches, my family had steamed banana cakes for breakfast. In fact, 1 steamed banana cake has lower calories than 1 serving of our usual peanut jam sandwich. I love steam cakes from four leaves, breadtalk and not forgetting the colourful ones sold at pasar Malam, top with some orange sugar and coconut flakes. I was tryng to make the cake rise into 4 corners at the top (like huat kueh) but I failed. My mum brought some really sweet bananas back from my grandma's kampong. I was contemplating between banana steamed cakes and banana muffins. I was pretty lazy that day so I went with the simpler recipe. It is amazing such an easy recipe can yield such a delicious and moist banana cake. I'll make this again! I slightly edited the recipe to suit my family. I like my banana cake to have chunks of banana in it so i added more bananas than what the original recipe called for and i did leave some chunks of bananas in my mashed banana mixture. Since i added more bananas, i reduced my sugar intake from 100g to 70g. Sweetness was just nice . All you need are a couple of ingredients which you most likely already have on hand. You can always pop them in the fridge and steam them the next morning. That was what I did! Enjoy these hot n fluffy banana cakes.

!

Hot, fluffy and chunky banana cakes ^^

Ingredients: (7-8muffins) [  Original recipe adapted from here ]

2 Eggs
70sugar
3  ripe bananas, mashed with some chunks (300g)
150g Self-raising Flour
1/8 tsp Baking Soda
75g oil (any flavorless oil)

Steps:

1. Sift together self-raising flour and baking soda, set aside.


2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together Eggs and sugar till ribbon stage.


3. Mix in mashed bananas, beat till combine.


4. Gently fold in flour mixture and Oil, taking care not to deflate the eggs and sugar mixture.


5. Pour Batter into muffin pan, lined with muffin cups.


6. Steam over high heat for 15mins or till an inserted skewer comes out clean.

I shall submit this  toAspiring Bakers #20: Asian dessert buffet! (June 2012) hosted by Moon of Food Playground too. Please refer here for more details. Tangyuan Is one of my favourite desert! I have completely forgotten it's existence until my best friend brought me to eat Tangyuan from 记得吃. One bite and the fillings gushed out. Their tangyuan is served in ginger tea. It's unusual but I love their ginger tea. The more ginger the better. Another place I often get my tangyuan craving fixed is Mr Bean. Tangyuan+bean curd. 250 calories a bowl and it is rly filling for me.. But there's tons of sugar in it. However, their quality seem to drop as time goes by. Thick skin n little filling. No longer delicious anymore. Since then, I hardly patronise these shops for their tangyuan. Lazy to travel to get ahballing from Chinatown, I get the frozen tangyuan from the supermarket. The Chinatown brand has pretty decent tangyuan. The skin isn't too thick and the filling isn't too little. It's definitely better than those served in 记得吃 right now. If you are not a fan of peanut soup base for your tang yuan, try this brown sugar ginger tea!! One sip down and you feel your body warming up. Best served during cold and rainy days! (:


Ingredients:
-Approximately 5 pandan leaves (cut into small pieces)
-600 ml water
-Several pieces of Sliced ginger (depends on how "spicy" you want your tea to be)
-1.5 tbsp brown sugar (adjust according to yr own taste n preference)
- 6 frozen tangyuan
Steps
1. Bring the water to boil in a pot.
2. Add pandan leaves, ginger and brown sugar and let it simmer under medium low heat for about 15 mins.
3. Remove the pandan leaves and ginger from tea, pop in your frozen tangyuan and cook according to directions stated. Usually they are cooked once they rise to the top.

Sesame Chinatown Tangyuan. Okay, the focus should be the SOUP, not the Tang Yuan!! But look at how proportionate the skin and fillings are!!

I can't wait to share this recipe and i urge you to try this because this cake is heavenly delicious. It's dense, ultra rich & chocolatey. Nobody knows it's a healthier version. And... the best part about the  cake is that... A SLICE ONLY CONSIST OF 164 CALORIES! Can you believe it??? This is absolute good news to those who are on diet and weight conscious people.  INDULGE WITHOUT A PINCH OF GUILT. I can't emphasise enough how amazing this cake is! Although it takes a little extra effort but it's all worth it. I am definitely going to make this again. Definitely.

Ingredients ( Adapted from EatingWell)

• 7 ounces 60-70% bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped


• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably natural


• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour


• 2/3 cup plus 1/4 cup sugar, divided


• 1/8 teaspoon salt


• 1 cup nonfat or low-fat milk


• 2 large egg yolks, at room temperature (see Tip)


• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract


• 3 large egg whites, at room temperature


• 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

Preparation

1. Position rack in lower third of oven; preheat to 350°F. Line the bottom of an 8- or 9-inch cake pan (1 1/2 to 2 inches deep) with parchment paper and coat the sides of the pan with cooking spray. Put a kettle of water on to boil for Step 6.


2. Place chocolate and cocoa powder in a large bowl.


3. Combine flour, 2/3 cup sugar and salt in a small heavy saucepan. Whisk in just enough of the milk to form a smooth paste. Mix in the remaining milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon to prevent burning (especially around the sides and bottom edges of the pot), until the mixture begins to bubble. Boil gently, stirring constantly, for 2 to 2 1/2 minutes (the mixture will get very thick and then you may notice that it thins ever so slightly as the starch cooks). Scrape the hot mixture immediately over the chocolate and cocoa. Stir until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth. The batter will be very thick. Stir in egg yolks and vanilla.


4. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually sprinkle in the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, beating on high speed until the egg whites are stiff but not dry.


5. Gently fold about one-fourth of the egg whites into the chocolate batter to lighten it. Gently fold in the remaining egg whites until no white streaks remain. Scrape the batter into the cake pan, smoothing the top.


6. Set the cake pan in a larger baking pan and place on the oven rack. Pour enough boiling water into the baking pan to come a third to halfway up the side of the cake pan. Bake until the surface of the cake is slightly crusted and springs back when gently pressed, 25-30minutes. (The cake will still be quite gooey inside.  I inserted a toothpick but it didnt come out clean.  )


7. Leavve your cake to cook and preferably refrigerate (strongly encourage) it for a couple of hours before cutting it. I cut mine after it has cooled slightly and the cake was in a mess! It was so crumbly.

To serve: Soak the blade of a thin knife in a cup of very hot water until warm. Slide the knife around the sides of the pan to release the cake. Place a piece of wax paper on top of the cake. Invert a plate over the wax paper and invert the pan onto the plate. Remove the pan and peel away the paper liner. Place a serving plate over the cake and turn the cake right-side up again; remove the wax paper. Dip a sharp knife in hot water and wipe it dry before cutting each slice.

Note*

- store in the refrigerator in an air tight container fir up to two days

I baked my favourite Red Velvet Cupcake again- using a different recipe. I love Red Velvet Cupcake but i can't seem to get it right. My first few attempts ended up with a slightly dry texture and a hard top.Fortunately, the red velvet cupcake this time round is soft moist and fluffy. The chocolate ganache is baked right into the mix.  I really love this cake. It tastes good even without the cream cheese frosting.  Ever since my Chocolate Cupcake with Peanut Butter Filling , i've been hooked onto making filling cupcakes. Needless to say, i filled these red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese filling and top them with cream cheese frosting. If you aren't a cream cheese lover, you probably want to forgo the cream cheese filling. That is because this cupcake is a really rich and heavy. Some may love it, some may find it too overwhelming. Again, it depends on individual preference. I have a problem with my cream cheese frosting. I have never succeeded making a good frosting that is able to hold it's shape. Oh well, this time's is better than the previous times but it certainly can be improved! I used a cherry red food colouring. The colour is too mild and it looked more brown rather than red. Get a deeper red food colouring.




106.6g sifted cake flour
133g sugar
2/3 TBSP unsweetened cocoa powder
2/3 tsp baking powder
1/3 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Wet Batter Ingredients

 1/3 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
1/3 cup sunflower seed oil
1/2 TBSP red food coloring
1/3 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/3 tsp distilled white vinegar

Chocolate Ganache

28.75g  bittersweet chocolate baking bar
20.8g heavy cream

Cream Cheese Frosting (makes 4 cups)
2oz Philadelphia cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup salted butter, softened
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract •
2 cups sifted confectioners powdered sugar •
1/2 TBSP heavy whipping cream, very cold

Make Cream Cheese Frosting:

1.  Meanwhile, make cream cheese frosting. Using a stand mixer or electric handheld mixer, combine softened cream cheese and butter. Beat until well blended and smooth.


2. Add vanilla extract. Beat well.


3. Using flat beater attachment, add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, beating well in between to really incorporate the sugar. This process will ensure a smooth texture.


4. Add 1 TBSP very cold heavy whipping cream. Using whisk attachment, whisk thoroughly for fluffiness.


5. Using a spatula, scrape frosting into a pastry bag (fits perfectly into a 16" pastry bag). Chill in refrigerator until cupcakes have cooled completely before frosting. Chilling the frosting also helps it gain more structure when piping since we softened the cream cheese and butter earlier.

Assembly:

Using a small knife to cut out a cone in the cupcake. The trick is to insert the knife about 3/4 into the cupcake – not straight down, but at an angle towards the centre of the cupcake. Hold the knife in place and turn the cupcake, so that you will cut out a cone.

Cut off 3/4 off the cone, keeping the small round disks and snacking on the extra cones. Scoop about a teaspoon (depending on your preferred amount of filling) the cream cheese filling into the middle of the cupcakes. Replace the chocolate cake disks and press it down gently.

Use a decorating tip that's appropriate for your cupcake size. Start from the outside and pipe full swirls going into the middle, releasing pressure right before finishing off the peak. For a nice crust on the frosting, allow cupcakes and frosting to sit at room temperature uncovered for 30 minutes

Sprinkle with some Shaved chocolate or cocoa powder.

Ice Cream palours are on the rise now. In the past, there's only the popular few; Haagen Daz, Anderson's etc... A couple of years later, Island Creamery and Udders were trending within my circle of friends. Before i realize, there are so many palours everywhere right now. Competition is fierce and the icecream( ie: Teh Tarik, horlicks, Bandung, caramel, etc...) they offer are more or less  similar in every palour. Despite so many unique flavours coming up, my favourites are still Rum n Raisin from Haagen Daaz and Strawberry Cheesecake from BnJ. I like the rest too!! So, this is my 1st home-made icecream: Tobelrone icercream from Small Small Baker. At first, i was pretty doubtful about making icecream without a maker. But after seeing so many fantastic reviews i decided to give it a go. Get the original recipe from Small small baker! The  color of the pics i saw was light brown. Unfortunately, this toblerone icecream melts very easily. Does anybody know why? I am trying to figure it out too. I thinkcchocolate chips doesnt really work well here. The chocolate chips are too hard. :< Ohya, I just bought an icecream maker on groupon last week for 29.90 instead of 79.90. Good deal? It will only be available for collection in a month's time. Cant wait to collect and make more icecream. :>



Ingredients

3 egg yolks
40g sugar
1 tsp corn flour
170g fresh milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
100g toblerone chocolate (or cooking chocolate)
220g non-dairy whipping cream
50g chocolate chips
Method
1. Beat egg yolks, sugar and corn flour until sugar has dissolved and pale.
2. Add in fresh milk, vanilla essence and toblerone chocolate. Double boil the mixture and stir and cook at low heat until chocolate has melted and slightly thicken. Remove from heat and leave to cool.
3. Whisk non-dairy whipping cream until stiff and fold into the cooled milk mixture.
4. Stir in chocolate chips and mix well.
5. Pour into a container and freeze overnight. Whisk the mixture again until smooth and freeze until set

I bookmarked the recipe a million years ago and i only baked this last weekend. The perfect combination: Pandan + Coconut. What can be better than this? The fragrant smell of the pandan cake absolutely filled my living room while it's baking in the oven. My chiffon cakes are always so short. I guess partly is because of my chiffon tin. I have been wanting to get a higher chiffon tin but i just couldnt bear to spend that few bucks since this is still working well. Just that my current tin is shorter and wider? Hmm. Chiffon cakes. They looked no big deal at first sight. In fact, they are the opposite. In my opinion, i think they are harder to tackle compared to cupcakes and muffins. I guess to bake anything successfully, its essential to understand the objective behind the steps! Sadly, I am still far away from mastering chiffon cakes. This is my 4th attempt baking chiffon cakes! Check out my coffee chiffon cake here. Back to my pandan chiffon cake, its a little too moist. The problem lies here. Original recipe calls for 1tbsp of homemade pandan paste. I didnt want to use the artificial pandan paste bought in stores, so i dilligently pound my pandan leaves. However, it requires a long time ( about a day) for the pandan solution to settle because we only want the concentrated part of the pandan solution. I was too excited and couldnt wait for a day so i substitute that with 75 ml of my pounded pandan solution. My cake ended up slightly too moist but the pandan taste was fantastic. Since this was my 1st attempt with Pandan Chiffon, i decided to use the instant coconut milk from the store. But i believe that fresh coconut milk will certainly provide a better flavour.





Pandan Chiffon Cake [ Original adapted from Small Small Baker ]
Ingredients (makes 16cm chiffon tin)
(A)
2 egg yolks
20g sugar
A small pinch of salt
30g vegetable oil
40g coconut milk
75ml of homemade pandan solution ( Original recipe calls for 1tbsp of pandan paste.)
(B)
55g cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
(C)
3 egg whites
45g sugar
Method
1. Whisk egg yolks, sugar and salt until the sugar dissolves. Put coconut milk in saucepan and let it simmer under low heat for about 2-3 mins.
2. Gradually add in vegetable oil, followed by coconut milk and pandan paste, and stir until well-mixed.
3. Fold in sifted cake flour and baking powder until well-mixed. Set aside.
4. In another bowl, whisk egg whites until soft peaks form. Add in sugar gradually and continue whisking until stiff peak form.
5. Gently fold in the egg white into the egg yolk batter (in step 3) in 3 batches.
6. Pour the batter into an ungreased chiffon tin. Bake in preheated oven at 170 deg C for 30 minutes. (I bake at 180 deg C for the first 10 minutes, then reduce to 170 deg C for the next 20 minutes, for my 6 inch tin.)
7. Remove from oven and invert the tin immediately onto a cooling rack.
8. Unmould the cake only when it is completely cool.

These are my Scottish Almond Shortbread. (Apart from the calories,) Shortbread is definitely one of my favourite snack. I love the buttery and a slight pinch of milky taste of this almond shortbread. Next time, I'll up the almond so it'll be more crunchy! If you prefer a strong almond flavour,you may want to add more ground almond. I was so excited to see my Almond Scottish Shortbread that I did not refrigerate the dough until firm before sending them into the oven. Refrigerating the dough until firm enables you to cut them into interesting shapes with a cookie cutter. I merely baked them in an 8inch square tin and cut them into little cubes for easy distribution and to fit my containers!!



Ingredients:

A:
125g butter
125g butter cup canola gold butter
85g icing sugar

B:
190g plain flour
75g corn flour
60g ground almond
1/2 tbsp milk powder

C:
Chopped Toasted whole almond. ( I used sliced almond)

Steps:
- Preheat oven to 170 degree C
- Mix A until well blended
- Add in B until well blended
- Toss in C until well incorporated.
- Line yr 8 inch square tin w parchment paper and lightly grease it.
- Pour yr batter into the tin and use a knife to slice the batter into yr desired shapes that you intend to divide later. - Pop them into the preheated oven and bake them for 25-30 mins/ until slightly golden brown.
- Run your knife along the lines you have sliced previously.
- Leave it to cool for about 15-30 mins before removing them from the tin. (if not, they will fall apart! )

Alternatively, click here for my plain traditional shortbread recipe!