Baileys Cheesecake

2010 has come to an end. Maybe it’s time for some reflection haha A recap of the resolutions made a year ago:

1. Lose Weight - #1 resolution every year lol - I gained everything that I’ve lost in the last quarter of the year. Gg

2. Less partying, and I mean much less. House parties are fine since it happens rarely. - Check. Less indeed. Think I’m getting too old for clubbing.
3. Complete my 21km half marathon within 2h 30mins in Adidas Sundown Marathon and 42km marathon within 6h 30mins in Standard Chartered. - Check…and yay!! & Double yay!!
4. Be a more sensitive and considerate person - Probably only increase only +1 stats to the sensitivity meter :S
5. Enjoy my singlehood and settle down only if the person is the right one. - I hope he is!
6. Keeping to saving the usual amount, if not more for the rest of the year. - mmm. Shopping is too good. Not checked.
7. 2 trips for 2010 - One to a beach resort and one for sightseeing - Check. Bangkok, Bali, Phuket hehe

New ones for 2011 heh?

1. Lose weight and maintain till year end. - I’m sure this resolution is in your list too =P
2. Continue to run. Reduce mileage to 10 - 15km per week. - To save my knees!
3. To continue expanding my life.

4. Save more!

So there, I’ve promised.

Lots of talented chefs in the dept

It's a yearly affair for my department to have potluck on New Year Eve. Think my favorite of all the potlucks was the Teriyaki Chicken Pasta, it was so good that I had two servings. My contribution was a mere 9" chilled cheesecake which well, wasn't big enough to feed our headcount of 80+ people hehe. And how can a celebration go without any booze? So there we go, booze in a form of a cheesecake. Creamy yet light moussey Baileys cheesecake with crunchy chocolatey oreo crust. Happy 2011!

Baileys Cheesecake (modified from Anncoo Journal)

Ingredients:

Biscuit Base:

150g Oreo crumbs

130g Melted butter (to use 100g)

Method:
1. Grease a 8" round spring-form cake tin.

2. Mix biscuit crumbs together, add in melted butter.

3. Use hand to mix biscuit crumbs mixture and form it to a dough.

4. Press biscuits crumbs mixture at the base of the cake tin. Put cake tin in fridge for later use.

Cheese Filling:

375g cream cheese, room temperature

80g icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
6 tbsp Baileys irish cream

15g gelatin powder
3 tbsp water

400g heavy cream
60g dark chocolate, melted (I use 65%)

Method:

1. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, icing sugar, vanilla and Baileys till thick and smooth.
2. Soak gelatin powder in 3 tbsp water and transfer to double boiler.
3. Slowly add dissolved gelatin to cream cheese mixture and mix well.
4. Whip up heavy cream till peak form (not too stiff).
5. Use a hand whisk and mix the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture and blend well.
6. Pour cheese filling onto prepared cake tin and spread evenly.
7. Add dollops of melted chocolate onto the cheese filling and make swirls and marble patterns as desired.
8. Chill cheesecake in fridge for >4h or overnight before serving.

Out-of-This-World Brownies

Right. It looks like a disaster, I mean it IS a disaster. Got boyfriend to bring my cold brownies home one night before the BBQ and condensation setted in and the candy cane started smearing like a crying girl's mascara over the ganache. This is honestly much worse than Jess's Christmas tree turning blue. I know these brownies look like abomination on its own, but I assure you it tastes better than it looks.

The only modification I did for the brownies (in the holy spirit of Christmas muahahaha) is to spread a layer of ganache and sprinkle 70g of coarsely crushed candy canes over and let it set in the fridge. These brownies are ultra rich and deeply chocolatey with the generous amount of chocolate used. It's one of the most fudgy brownies I've made so far, dark chocolate fans will be thrilled to sink their teeth into these lovely brownie bites.

this is the season to be jolly, FATlalalalalalalala~

On a side note, I need to start dieting. Have been feasting non stop and eating like a pig for few days in a row. Gonna have a few more celebrations and BBQs lining up this week. Not looking forward to Grandma or aunties saying that I've gained weight during the coming Chinese New Year gatherings. hurhur.

Out-of-This-World Brownies (adapted from Sherry Yard's Desserts by the Yard)

Ingredients:
105g all purpose flour plus 2 tbsp flour
1/4 tsp salt
113g unsalted butter
28g unsweetened chocolate (I use Hersheys)
198g bittersweet chocolate (I use 64% Tainori)
2 eggs
200g sugar

Method:
1. Place a rack in the middle the oven and preheat oven to 180°C. Line an 8" square baking pan with aluminum foil and spray with pan spray.

2. Sift together flour and salt and set aside.
3. Melt butter and both chocolates (either in microwave or on the stove). Stir with a rubber spatula until smooth. Allow to cool to tepid (32°C).
4. Using a stand or hand mixer, beat the eggs and sugar until fluffy.
5. With a whisk, gently eat in the butter and chocolate. Fold in flour.
6. Scrape batter into prepared pan and place in oven. Bake for 25 to 30 mins, rotating the pan from front to back halfway through.
7. Brownies should be slightly firm to the touch and a crust should form on the top. A toothpick will not come out clean. Allow to cool in pan to room temperature before serving.

Peppermint Mocha Blossoms

It's Christmas! My celebration, if you call that 'celebration', was pretty simple yet blissful. Spent the afternoon baking, then had dinner with boyfriend at Sizzler's then some shopping at Phoon Huat and Popular and home sweet home. Both of us are not keen in crowd squeezing with the mass in town.

Boyfriend helped me out with the afternoon baking, he had the all-important role of unwrapping the peppermint kisses and QC if they were intact. And for those which were not, he also assisted in the elimination of them, i.e. eat them :D

I know I've swore off cookies baking but these cookies are too cute to miss, especially during this festive season. It's simple yet the results are rewarding. First the cookies are so adorable, great for gift giving and parties. Secondly, the recipe is versatile, you can swop the Hersheys kisses on top for different flavors and adjust your cookie recipe accordingly. Lastly (my favorite reason), pressing down the kisses onto the puffy cookies were so fun! +100 stats to the fun element. You have to watch out for the mashy kisses after cooling the cookies to room temperature though. I put them into the fridge to harden them up again before serving.

These cookies are awesome!!! These are like the cookie form of Starbucks' Peppermint Mocha. Blend of rich chocolate, stimulating coffee and refreshing peppermint. The creamy and smooth peppermint kiss in the middle is like a surprise when you hit the middle of the puffy cookie. My mom was so fond of them that she instructed me to reserve more for her instead of giving them all away at a Xmas BBQ I'm going to later. I'm already looking forward to making them one more time before the year ends.

Am submitting this entry to Aspiring Bakers #2: Christmas! (Dec 2010). And not forgetting, Merry Christmas to everyone and your family! :D

Peppermint Mocha Blossoms (adapted from My Kitchen Addiction)
(makes approximately 24 cookies)

Ingredients:
113g unsalted butter, softened
150g granulated sugar
1 tbsp instant espresso powder
1 egg
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
210g all purpose flour
15g cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
25g granulated sugar to coat cookies
24 Hersheys Peppermint Kisses

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 190°C. Lightly grease your baking sheets, or line with parchment and set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugar and espresso powder until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in eggs, one at a time, and then add the vanilla and peppermint extracts.
4. Meanwhile, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl.
5. Gradually add the flour mixture into the creamed mixture until the dough comes together.
6. Roll tablespoons of the dough into balls (23g for me) and coat with granulated sugar. Place onto baking sheet and bake for 9-10 mins.
7. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2 to 3 mins before pressing a Hersheys Kiss into the centre of each cookie. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Chocolate Spice Muffins

Took leave a day before Christmas Eve to whip up a mass muffins baking for my colleagues. Made a variety of muffins from my past tested and trial-ed recipes. Settled on a few including this one. Chocolate spice muffins! To warm everyone up a little, in the heart at least. Crusty muffin top accompanied by spicy cocoa flavors and dried mixed fruits. The recipe is a holiday season keeper.

Little xmas tags I've made. Ripped the angry muffin picture off google.

Muffins galore~

It was fun baking loads during this holiday season. Kinda disappointed that I didn't have the time to practice for a log cake this year, but I'll do that in the coming year.

Chocolate Spice Cranberry Muffins
(makes 12 muffins)

Ingredients:
1 egg
70ml vegetable oil
240ml milk
200g sugar
140g all purpose flour
135g whole wheat flour
20g cocoa powder
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
70g dried mixed fruits

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line 12 muffin paper cups on the muffin tray.
2. Whisk together egg, oil, milk and sugar
3. In a separate bowl, whisk flours, cocoa powder and baking powder, salt and stir in egg mixture
4. Fold in mixed fruits and scoop batter into muffin
5. Bake for 30mins and transfer to wire rack to cool

Chocolate Banana Studded Cake

When I first started baking, I casually mentioned that I couldn't attempt certain recipes because they call for a food processor and I don't have one at home to my boyfriend. And that silly boy went to purchase a hugeass food processor soon after. And because of my tight schedule and I very soon forgotten about where those food-processor-recipes I wanted to make went to, so the brand new machine was left at the corner of my table for the longest time. He nagged at reminded me on and off that I should start utilising the processor...and so I did!!...for his special day.

Happy Birthday to the world's greatest bf :)

/burp

The recipe is written as per Rose Levy Beranbaum's book, but I made the ganache the night before so that it has enough time to set for frosting consistency. It was still kind of thin for my liking, but nevertheless taste great, how can ganache go wrong anyway. I have quite a good amount of leftover ganache, so you might want to reduce the ganache recipe if you are only planning to smear a thin layer on the cake like mine.

Was kinda messy with the ganache and the studding. Hand picking the mini chocolate chips one by one and meticulously (well, not that much as you can see from the pictures) placing them on the frosted cake took me about half an hour or so. Think I ought to place strips of parchment paper underneath the cake the next time I do frosting as the dripping wet ganache makes my cake look like it's wearing an evening gown.

The cake tastes awesome. The fruity banana flavor really makes this cake special from the typical chocolate cake. I also like how the cake is so velvety and fine crumb-ed. Somehow, everything I've made from this book turns out amazing. And the chocolate chips on top provides an extra bite to the cake.

Chocolate Banana Studded Cake (adapted from Rose Levy Beranbaum's Rose's Heavenly Cakes)

Ingredients:

Batter:
42g unsweetened (alkalized) cocoa powder
88g boiling water
112g ripe banana, peeled and lightly mashed
90g sour cream
2 large eggs, room temperature
3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
156g cake flour
200g superfine sugar
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
142g unsalted butter, room temperature

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 175°C. Prepare a 9" round cake pan, encircled with a cake strip, bottom coated with shortening, topped with a parchment round, then coated with baking spray with flour
2. In a medium bowl, whisk the cocoa and boiling water until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap to prevent evaporation and cool to room temperature, about 30 mins. To speed cooling, place it in a refrigerator. Bring it to room temperature before proceeding.
3. In a food processor, process the banana and sour cream until smooth. Pulse in the cocoa mixture, eggs, and vanilla and process briefly just to blend.
4. In a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the flat beater, mix the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt on low speed for 30 secs.
5. Add butter and half the banana-cocoa mixture. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Raise the speed to medium and beat for 1 1/2 mins. Scrape down sides of the bowl.
6. Starting on medium low speed, add the remaining banana-cocoa mixture in 2 pats, beating on medium speed for 30 secs after each addition to incorporate the ingredients and strengthen the structure. The batter will be light but creamy.
7. Using a silicone spatula, scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface evenly with a small offset spatula.
8. Bake for 35 to 45 mins, or until a wire cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean and the cake springs back when pressed lightly in the centre. The cake should start to shrink from the sides of the pan only after removal from the oven.
9. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10mins. Run a small metal spatula between the sides of the pan and the cake, pressing firmly against the pan, and invert the cake onto a wire rack that has been coated lightly with a nonstick cooking spray. To prevent splitting, reinvert the cake so that the top side is up. Cool completely.

Ganache Studded with Chocolate Chips:
227g dark chocolate, 60% to 62% cocoa, chopped (I use 55% Valrhona)
232g heavy cream
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tbsp liqueur of your choice or extra cream (I use Baileys)
325g chocolate chips (I used only about 100g)

Method:

1. In a food processor, process the dark chocolate until very fine.
2. In a 2-cup or larger microwavable cup with a spout (or medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring often), scald the cream (heat it to the boiling point; small bubbles will form around the periphery).
3. With the motor of the food processor running, pour the cream through the feed tube in a steady stream. Process for a few seconds until smooth. Pulse in the vanilla and liqueur or cream, if using.
4. Scrape the ganache into a glass bowl and let it sit for 1h. Cover with plastic wrap and allow it to cool at room temperature for several hours, until the mixture reaches frosting consistency. The ganache keeps for 3 days at room temperature, for 3 weeks refrigerated, and 6 months frozen.
5. When the cake is completely cool, spread a little ganache onto the 9-inch cardboard round or serving plate and set it on top. If using the plate, slide a few wide strips of wax paper or parchment under the cake to keep the rim of the plate clean. Frost the top and sides of the cake with ganache.
6. Stud the cake all over with chocolate chips, pointed ends in. It will take about 45mins to place chips close together. Fewer chips more widely spaced also are very attractive. Or, if desired, form a design with a combination of dark and milk chocolate or peanut butter chips. If using the paper strips, slowly slide them out from under the cake before serving.

Cocoa Banana Muffins

Remember Project: Cookies? It's in operation! Colleagues came to my place and baked a few hundred cookies for my department's Xmas gift giving. Given the number of cookies baked, you can roughly estimate how big my department is ya.

Filled up jars of cookies...and that's not all of it

Some play after all the hard work

After today, don't think I'll be baking any cookies for a long while. The scent of cookie dough makes me sick :S

Was utterly down later in the day, felt like an useless douchebag. Decided to make myself useful by baking. The numerous beating and mixing in this recipe made me go, Really?? a couple of times when I was following through the steps. This is the first time I've beat and mixed so much for a muffin. The muffins turned out surprisingly soft and pudding-ish in texture. Bananas and chocolate go so brainlessly well together. It's really hard to screw up anything that blends the two flavors together. Compared to the recent banana and chocolate muffins I've baked recently, I think I like the previous one slightly better because they're more badass...or maybe 2 young lads are more attractive than one middle aged baker.

Cocoa Banana Muffins (adapted from Nick Malgieri's Modern Baker)
(makes 16 muffins)

Ingredients:
210g all purpose flour
46g alkalized(Dutch process) cocoa powder, sifted
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups bananas, peeled and mashed with a fork (use very ripe bananas)
120g sour cream
169g unsalted butter, softened
200g granulated sugar
109g light brown sugar
3 large eggs

Method:
1. Set a rack in the middle level of the oven and preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a mixing bowl and stir well to mix.
3. In a separate bowl, stir together the mashed bananas and sour cream; set aside.
4. Combine the butter, sugar and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until well mixed and a little lightened in color, abt 1 min.
5. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating smooth after each addition.
6. Decrease mixer speed to low and beat in 1/2 the flour mixture. Stop the mixer and use a large rubber spatula to scrape down the bowl and beater.
7. Beat in banana mixture. After batter has absorbed the banana mixture, beat in the remaining flour mixture. Stop and scrape down the bowl and beater again.
8. Remove the bowl from the mixer and use a large rubber spatula to give a final mixing to the batter.
9. Divide the batter equally among the cavities in the muffin pans. Bake the muffins until they are well risen and feel firm to the touch, about 30 mins (I took them out at 27mins). Because this is such a liquid batter, test a muffin with a toothpick or the point of a thin-bladed knife - it should emerge with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it.
8. Cool the muffins in the pan on a rack.

Christmas Muffins - Cranberries & Orange

If I were to design a muffin called Christmas, this will be it...because Cranberries = Christmas! Am submitting this entry to Aspiring Bakers #2: Christmas! (Dec 2010).

This muffin recipe is really easy, made in the festive spirit of healthy living. When I attended the cooking demo by Chef Anna Olson and she said you can basically substitute up to half of flour of whatever recipes we have with whole wheat flour without drastically affecting the texture and taste of the baked goods. That explains why we often see 1 cup flour : 1 cup whole wheat flour in supposedly health conscious recipes.

Muffins are great! In the spirit of being health conscious (since this is a whole wheat muffin), I use low fat milk instead of full cream. Despite that, the muffin remains moist and tender. The orange gives the muffin a refreshing zesty twist accompanied by tarty cranberries' tanginess, it's like eating Marks and Spencer's Cranberry Orange cookie but in a muffin form. This is a fairy tale of tart meeting sweetness, with a satisfying burping happily ever after.

Cranberry Orange Muffins

(makes 12 muffins)

Ingredients:
1 egg
70ml vegetable oil
240ml milk
200g sugar
1 orange's zest
1 tsp of Grand Marnier
140g all purpose flour
150g whole wheat flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
70g dried cranberries (I used 35g, that's all that I'm left with :P)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line 12 muffin paper cups on the muffin tray.
2. Whisk together egg, oil, milk, sugar and orange zest
3. In a separate bowl, sift flours, baking powder, salt and stir in egg mixture
4. Fold in cranberries and scoop batter into muffin
5. Bake for 30mins and transfer to wire rack to cool

Apple Upside-Down Cake

Was recommended this cake recipe by Bakertan. He raved about how good this cake is, so upon chancing on some rare Golden Delicious apples at NTUC, I decided to give it a shot. This is my first upside down cake. Have been seeing these cake recipes in my baking books but didn't have the courage to try them. But guess I gotta break off the cookie-brownie-muffin baking stint and progress further. Also pretty excited to announce that I open ceremony-ed my expensive $26 silicone spatula for this recipe!! /sword fights with spatula

Think I underbaked the cake a little, could use a few more minutes in the oven. But nevertheless, the cake was superb in texture - moist yet light, giving the melt-in-your-mouth sensation upon hitting your tongue. The undertone sweetness of warm brown sugar caramel marries tartiness of Golden Delicious apples, blending well with the moist cake crumbs. This is definitely not going to be the last upside down cake I'm baking.

A little caramel bleeding at the crime scene

Apple Upside-Down Cake (adapted from Rose Levy Beranbaum's Rose's Heavenly Cakes)

Ingredients

Apple & Walnut Topping:
454g apples, peeled, cored and sliced 1/4" thick
1 tsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
72g light brown sugar, preferably Muscovado
57g unsalted butter
66g walnut halves

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 175°C. Prepare a 9" cake pan, encircled with a cake strip, bottom coated with shortening, topped with a parchment round
2. In a medium bowl, toss together the apples, lemon juice, and 2 tbsp of brown sugar. Allow mixture to sit for at least 30 mins or up to 1 1/2h. Drain the apples, reserving their liquid
3. In a small saucepan, preferably nonstick, melt the butter. Use abt 1 tbsp to coat the parchment-lined bottom and sides of the cake pan
4. Add remaining brown sugar and reserved liquid that has drained from apples to the butter remaining in the saucepan
5. Bring to boil, stirring constantly with a light-colored silicone spatula, then stop stirring, but leave the spatula in place to judge the color, and simmer for abt 3 mins, until bubbling thickly and deep amber in color
6. Pour this mixture (do not scrape) into the prepared cake pan, tilting to coat the entire bottom. Don't worry if the mixture hardens; it will melt during baking
7. Place apple slices, overlapping slightly, on the bottom and around the sides of the pan. Set aside
8. Spread walnuts evenly on a baking sheet and bake for abt 7 mins to enhance their flavor. Stir once or twice to ensure even toasting and avoid over browning. Cool completely. Chop coarsely and set aside

Batter:
56g egg yolks, room temperature (abt 3)
121g sour cream
1 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
150g cake flour, sifted
150g superfine sugar
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
128g unsalted butter, room temperature

Method:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk the yolks, 2 tbsp of sour cream and vanilla until just combined
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the flat beater, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt on low speed for 30 secs
3. Add the butter and remaining sour cream, mix on low speed until dry ingredients are moistened
4. Raise speed to medium and beat for 1 1/2 mins. Scrape down sides of the bowl
5. Starting on medium-low speed, gradually add egg mixture to the batter in 2 parts, beating on medium speed for 30 secs after each addition to incorporate the ingredients and strengthen the structure. Scrape down sides of bowl
6. Using a silicone spatula, drop batter in big blobs on top of apples. Then smooth the surface evenly with a small offset spatula while keeping the apples in an attractive pattern
7. Place pan in oven. Bake for 35 to 45 mins or until golden brown, a wire cake tester inserted in the centre comes out clean, and the cake springs back when pressed lightly in the centre
8. Run a small metal spatula between the sides of the pan and the cake, pressing firmly against the pan, and invert the cake at once onto a serving plate. Leave the pan in place for 1 to 2 mins before lifting it off. If any apple slices have stuck to the pan, use a small metal spatula to place them back on the cake
9. Scatter the toasted walnuts on top. Serve warm or room temperature

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies II

Other than baking, I have another passion, and that's running. One of my new year resolutions for 2010 is to complete a half marathon under the timing of 2h 30mins, then a full marathon under 6h 30mins. For the half marathons, I clocked 2h 11mins on Sundown and 2h 19mins for AHM, which was like double YAY! for me. And 5 December was a day that I'll remember for life haha, as I ran my first 42.195km on Standard Chartered Marathon!

The experience is crazyyyyyy. At the start of the 30th km, we were led to this depressing construction site near Marina Barrage. By the 32km, I started to walk because my knees were starting to hurt from the stress. And by 34km, I was going half walking and half jogging already. My feet started to swell and my running shoes got so tight that I had to stop halfway to adjust the laces. By 38km, I couldn't run anymore. Was limping towards the finishing line. LOL Managed to do a 5h 45mins despite all the trauma. Had no issues with the stamina, it's just my legs - it was too painful to run!

Was also touched by all the support I've gotten for the run. Bumped into an old friend of mine while running through the East Coast Park stretch and he actually waited for me during the last dash at Padang and cheered me on. Boyfriend also waited a good hour for me under the blazing sun at my company's sponsored tent. He said he thought he should come an hour in advance in case I finish faster than expected. Silly boy has so much faith in me HAHAHAH!!

Can't expect too glam a shot when your knees are threatening to give way any moment

After the run, I couldn't walk properly - was staggering like a penguin. Haven't had post-run symptoms before, but a full marathon is really insane. Don't think I'll put my legs through the trauma again. It's more of a I've-done-it-before! kind of experience.

Anyway, here comes the cookies which I'm supposed to be blogging about hehe. These are actually made from the same cookie recipe as my previous batch as I was still practising on my Project: Cookies. As usual they turned out chewy. The combination of white chocolate and macadamia nuts is a match made in heaven. Sweet creamy smooth white chocolate complemented by subtle buttery macadamia nuts, along with chewy cookie. Reallyreally good, imo.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies (modified from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours)
(makes abt 90 cookies for me)

Ingredients:
280g all purpose flour

1 tsp salt (1 1/4tsp if you really like salt)
3/4 tsp baking soda
225 butter, room temperature
200g sugar
160g light brown sugar
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
200g white chocolate chips
150g finely chopped macadamia

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 190°C. Line parchment paper on baking trays
2. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda
3. In another bowl, with a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat the butter until smooth for abt 1 min on medium speed
4. Add in the sugars and beat for abt 2 mins or so until well blended
5. Beat in the vanilla
6. Add in eggs one at a time, beating for 1 min before the next one goes in
7. Reduce mixer to low speed and add in dry ingredients by 3 portions, mixing only until each addition is incorporated

8. On low speed, or by hand with a rubber spatula, mix in the chocolate and nuts
9. Spoon the dough by slightly rounded tablespoonfuls onto the baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between spoonfuls
10. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes (15g @ 8.5mins for me), or until they are brown at the edges and golden in the centre
11. Pull the sheet from the oven and allow the cookies to rest for 1 minute, then carefully, using a wide metal spatula, transfer them to racks to cool to room temperature...profit!

Chocolate Chip Cookies III

Remember I mentioned Project: Brownies earlier on? Change of plans. We decided to abandon ship and go for Project: Cookies instead. So this is a test recipe I'm doing for my team. And similarly (and hopefully, keeping fingers crossed), if all goes well, it'll come to something at year end.

This is the trusty base recipe I've used before. It's so versatile that I'm basically just throwing in whatever addons I have in the house. I've also made them smaller so I can save on the baking time, but do feel free to do drop bigger dollops of cookie dough to make bigger, even more chewy cookies. And yes I like chewy cookies - think Subway, but boyfriend prefers crunchy ones, any recipes to recommend?Chocolate Chip Cookies (adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours)

Ingredients:
280g all purpose flour

1 tsp salt (1 1/4tsp if you really like salt)
3/4 tsp baking soda
225 butter, room temperature
200g sugar
145g light brown sugar
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
340g bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or 340g store-bought chocolate chips or chunks

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 190°C. Line parchment paper on baking trays
2. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda
3. In another bowl, with a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat the butter until smooth for abt 1 min on medium speed
4. Add in the sugars and beat for abt 2 mins or so until well blended
5. Beat in the vanilla
6. Add in eggs one at a time, beating for 1 min before the next one goes in

7. Reduce mixer to low speed and add in dry ingredients by 3 portions, mixing only until each addition is incorporated
8. On low speed, or by hand with a rubber spatula, mix in the chocolate chips
9. Spoon the dough by slightly rounded tablespoonfuls (mine were smaller at 10g each) onto the baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between spoonfuls
10. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until they are brown at the edges and golden in the centre
11. Pull the sheet from the oven and allow the cookies to rest for 1 minute, then carefully, using a wide metal spatula, transfer them to racks to cool to room temperature...profit!

Banana Espresso Chocolate Chip Muffins

We had a gathering at my place and one of the guests brought a bunch of ripe bananas for potluck. So the bananas were not exactly that popular, so it was left almost intact by the time everyone left. Knowing my mom's kan chiong spider cum must-not-let-food-go-to-waste virtue, she's probably going to gobble up the whole bunch before everything turns black and she's going to have constipation heehee. To fulfill my role of being a filial daughter teeheehee, I used them instead hurhur. I just got this book as a birthday gift and had bookmarked quite a bit of recipes to try, so here we go!

Baked is a bakery in New York, famous for its fudgy brownies. I once saw their salted caramel brownie on Food Network Channel, damn I wish I was in USA right now! And...well you know baking young men are pretty hot you know! *coughMattLewiscough* I must say these guys at Baked love salt too. I think it's a guys thing to like savory foods. The recipe calls for slightly more salt than other muffin recipes do, so you can taste a slight note of salt here and there. But salt in dessert is in 'fashion' now, think salted caramel, sea salt in ice cream, and sprinkling fleur de sel over cupcakes. Can't wait to try out more interesting recipes from this book.

I'm absolutely thrilled when I pulled the muffins out from the oven. Heavenly banana chocolatey aroma filled the kitchen. Even my dog came to take a whiff of it. Flavorful moist (extremely!) banana muffins with gooey melted chocolate chips, good for sweet treats breakfast or afternoon tea break. The espresso added a pleasant touch of coffee which separates itself from other flat-note muffins. Unlike the usual muffins which taste best upon cooling from the oven, these actually become even more flavorful the next day, so you can prepare them in advance.
Banana Espresso Chocolate Chip Muffins (adapted from Matt Lewis & Renato Poliafito's Baked: New Frontiers in Baking)

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups mashed, very ripe bananas (about 4) (I mashed them just before I'm abt to use them because bananas brown quickly)
100g sugar
54g light brown sugar
113g unsalted butter, melted
60ml whole milk
1 large egg
210g all-purpose flour
1 tsp instant espresso powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tsp salt
170g semisweet chocolate chips

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 175°C
2. Spray a 12-cup muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray
3. In a medium bowl, stir together the bananas, sugars, butter, milk, and egg
4. In another medium bowl, whisk together the flour, instant espresso powder, baking soda and salt
5. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients
6. Pour the wet ingredients into the well and stir just until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.
7. Fill each cup about 3/4 full. Bake in the center of the oven for 20-25 mins, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean (Mine took 27mins)
8. Move the muffin pan to a cooling rack, and let cool for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, remove the muffins from the pan and let them finish cooling on the cooling rack. Muffins can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

Orange Chiffon Cake II

Bookstores are like my new hangout. Poor boyfriend has to stand with me, entertaining himself for the first half an hour by looking at pictures on the cover pages, then start groaning that I'm walking in circles around the same bookshelves hehe.

So recently on one of these eventful Fridays, I saw this lady meticulously checking out then finally pulled out one of the baking books I owned and decided to make it her own. I made a casual remark, 'I have that book, the brownies is good.' Her eyes lit up and she was like, 'Really?! Are they the fudgy or cakey kind?' Then we started chatting about our favorite books, like how Dorie Greenspan's one is good, and how every cake from Rose Levy Beranbaum turns out fabulous. She recommended me a few books which I had already coincidentally chucked them in my Amazon.com wishlist. Now I'm so getting them. And I told her Sur La Table's The Art & Soul of Baking is one of the two favorite baking books (The other one being Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours), and she swiftly took that book off the shelf and told me she's getting it because she trusts me. Before she left, she passed me a couple of 25% discounts off books. Wow. What an awesome lady.

Heh heh. Enough of the chattering, was too excited about the encounter. Anyway, wasn't too happy with my first attempt of orange chiffon cake, so decided to give it another shot. Added a bit more flour to give it more structure, feels like buying more insurance in this case haha.

Thankfully the cake turns out well. No falling off the tin (yay!...and finally) and the incredible thing is, I inverted it and left it uncovered for >12h in the kitchen as I had to rush out for my company's D&D, and by the time I reached home at 3am, it was still moist and fluffy! The orange taste is subtle though, barely noticeable if I did not mention that it's supposedly an orange chiffon cake. Since I can't add more juice to it, orange zest it shall be. More orange zest...more!!

Am submitting my second chiffon entry to Small Small Baker's Aspiring Bakers #1: Chiffon Cakes (Nov 2010). :)

Orange Chiffon Cake (modified from Keiko Ishida's Okashi)

Ingredients:
90g cake flour
5 egg yolks
20g caster sugar
70g orange juice, room temperature (I squeezed fresh orange juice)
50g canola oil
1 tsp of Grand Marnier
orange zest

180g egg whites (mine was 214g)
90g caster sugar
10g corn flour

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 160°C
2. Sift flour twice
3. Beat egg yolks and sugar until well mixed
4. Add orange juice, canola oil, Grand Marnier and orange zest to the yolk mixture and blend well
5. Add flour mixture to yolk mixture until the batter becomes sticky
6. Combine sugar and corn flour in a separate bowl
7. Beat egg whites until frothy and add half of the sugar mixture, and continue to beat
8. Slowly add in the rest of the sugar mixture and beat until egg white stiff peaks and is glossy but not dry
9. Add one third of the meringue into yolk mixture and fold in lightly
10. Pour in rest of the meringue mixture and fold until well combined
11. Pour the batter into 20cm chiffon tin and bake for 40-50 mins
12. Invert the chiffon tin on a wire rack and let it cool for 2h before releasing the cake for serving

Almond Longan Chiffon Cake

Have been seeing Daring Bakers/Cooks off foodie websites like foodgawker.com, so am pretty excited to be submitting this post to Small Small Baker's Aspiring Bakers #1: Chiffon Cakes (Nov 2010)!

Baking chiffon really tests my patience. Have been lucky enough to have successful bakes when I first started out, until recently. I get funny shaped chiffons due them falling off the tin during cooling, they end up looking so funny that my mom and sister can't help but to laugh out loud when they see the odd looking chiffons. I'm going to call them my haha-chiffons, since they don't look tall and fluffy like good chiffons are, they serve the purpose of amusing people. Gonna consolidate a gallery of my haha-chiffons and baking bloopers when I find the time hurhur.

After a few consecutive fail chiffon bakes, finally got a proper one! Thankfully this one worked, else I'm going to be really demoralised. The usual light fluffy cottony texture wins hands down. Refreshing longan backed with an almond under-note. I have no problem distributing my calories, this one's pretty popular over here. On a side note, think I'll take a break from baking chiffons after this month, these cheeky temperamental bakes are a little too much for me to take.

Almond Longan Chiffon Cake (modified from Keiko Ishida's Okashi)

Ingredients:
80g cake flour
5 egg yolks
20g caster sugar
60g water
60g canola oil
1/2 tsp longan flavoring
1 tsp pure almond extract

180g egg whites (about 5 eggs, mine was 195g)
90g caster sugar
10g corn flour

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 160°C
2. Sift flour twice
3. Beat egg yolks and sugar until well mixed
4. Add water, canola oil, longan flavoring and almond extract to the yolk mixture and blend well
5. Add flour mixture to yolk mixture until the batter becomes sticky
6. Combine sugar and corn flour in a separate bowl
7. Beat egg whites until frothy and add half of the sugar mixture, and continue to beat
8. Slowly add in the rest of the sugar mixture and beat until egg white stiff peaks and is glossy but not dry
9. Add one third of the meringue into yolk mixture and fold in lightly
10. Pour in rest of the meringue and fold until well combined
11. Pour the batter into a 20-cm chiffon tin and bake for 40 mins
12. Invert the chiffon tin on a wire rack and let it cool for 2h before releasing the cake for serving

Walnut Chocolate Brownies

Am a huge fan of Anna Olson, hoarding the TV on AFC to catch her show during the first season of Fresh, now the second season is showing, I'm camping by the TV every Tuesday 9pm to catch her. So naturally I was in ecstasy when she announced that she's coming to Singapore for live demonstrations from 20th to 24th Nov. 10th Nov was the first day of registration open to public and by the time I have time to login that night, all the slots were taken up!!! Disappointed.

Byebye Anna :`( I'm so saaaaaad that I'm going to eat a tub of ice cream :( Miraculously, there were slots available a few days later when I check out the website. And I registered for it!! :P

Starstruck. She's SUPER DUPER AWESOME. My only regret is I didn't go earlier so that I can take the front row seats. Think it'll feel weird seeing her on TV again this coming Tuesday now that I've met her in person. She demonstrated the 3 desserts and we were given a serving of them. They all taste great. Think I'm going to try doing them someday.

omgomg when I grow up, I want to be just like her! :P

Invited a kid to help her with the tarts. To showcase how easy her recipes are, imo.

Raisin Butter Tart - a Canadian favorite

Maple Walnut Ice Cream

Apple, Date & Cheddar Muffin

Autographs on my books. I'm really just a school girl at heart. hehe

In relevance to my meet up, I'm making Anna Olson's brownies! She said there was a period of time where she was into this brownie craze and baking them daily until her husband was like, Your brownies are great, STOP! haha. Kinda remind how I'm like when I'm not happy with my bakes, I just keep repeating the same thing, trying out all sorts of recipes till I get it.

I'm kinda hoping these brownies will turn out to be the tall, non fudgy, cakey version which we commonly have over here, due to the recipe's higher flour and eggs ratio. Reduced the sugar by half to further ensure that it will not turn out as fudgy. And indeed, the brownies turn out to be like what I expected them to be. Can use a little more sugar if it's meant to be eaten on its own. I can imagine it being warmed up and served with a scoop of rich dense vanilla bean ice cream. Guess this will be my to-go recipe if I want a version of our local brownie.
Walnut Chocolate Brownies (adapted from Anna Olson's Sugar)

Ingredients:
225g unsalted butter (I use 200g)
92g cocoa powder (I use Valrhona)
350g sugar (I use 180g, will do 250g for the future bakes)
4 eggs, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
175g all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
70g walnuts, toasted

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 175 °C and grease a 8" x 11" baking pan (I use 9" square baking pan)
2. Melt butter over stove and pour into a larger bowl.
3. Sift cocoa into butter and stir in. Stir in sugar
4. Add eggs into mixture, blending well after each addition
5. Stir in vanilla
6. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt (do not sift) and add to cocoa mixture and blend
7. Stir in walnuts
8. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 35 mins, until firm when touched

Japanese Chocolate Cake

Happy Birthday to me! Time files, a year older doesn't necessarily mean a year wiser, at least for me! LOL Sometimes find my maturity pretty much the same since school days. This year has been fun. Appreciate how the people around me celebrated this day for me, planning surprises and all, making me feel special and all. /touched Even papa and mama both dropped me missed calls at the same time, wanting to wish me Happy Birthday.

my team staged an act and told me this is my birthday cake

The actual birthday cake. Don't trust the candles on the cake, I'm 21, really!

little baking bear birthday card which colleagues got me :P

A baker's birthday is a big deal when it comes to the cake, so might as well bake one for myself in celebration of the two folks who worked the hardest 27 21 years ago...my mama and the gynea my papa! Some sinful chocolate cake!

Packed with a deep chocolatey depth from using cocoa powder and melted chocolate. Dense and rich with a crusty baked top. Dark chocolate fans will adore it. It's the kind of chocolate cake which you would want to serve it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or some freshly whipped cream. The only qualm I have of this cake is, it's like Ugly Betty, absolutely fantastic on the inside but not so appealing on the outlook. And the cake is supposed to look like this because the picture in the baking book looks like this too hahahhah

..............and after all that celebration and birthday cakes, it's time for a diet.

Chocolate Cake (adapted from Keiko Ishida's Okashi)

Ingredients:
35g pastry flour
50g cocoa powder (I use Valrhona)
100g sweet chocolate 55% cocoa (I use Valrhona Equatoriale 55%)
80g unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
50g superfine sugar
4 egg yolks
50g whipping cream (I use 33.5% fat)
4 egg whites
110g superfine sugar

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 170°C. Line 7" cake pan with parchment paper
2. Sift flour and cocoa powder twice
3. Melt chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a double boiler
4. Once chocolate and butter have melted, add sugar, egg yolks and cream and mix well using a whisk. Set aside
5. Make meringue. Beat egg whites until foamy. Add half of sugar and continue beating for a few minutes, then add remaining sugar and beat until egg whites are glossy and stiff peaks form
6. Add one third of meringue to chocolate mixture and fold with a whisk
7. Add flour and cocoa powder and fold in thoroughly
8. Add remaining meringue and fold until just incorporated
9. Pour batter into prepared cake pan and bake for about 50mins (56mins for me). When cake is done, remove from pan and leave to cool on a wire rack

Milk Tea Chiffon Cake

I like playing around with chiffon cakes flavoring as they are really versatile. Since I have been craving for milk tea (Ice cream milk tea!!!) recently, milk tea it shall be! :P

Just a bit of reminiscing. When I first started dating my boyfriend, our group of friends visited KOI often. So soon after, he was craving for milk tea frequently. So being the new-girlfriend who wanted to impress her new date, I started making home made milk tea for him. Experimented with various combination to achieve the KOI milky consistency. So he was happily gulping down buckets and buckets of milk tea to find his waistline expanding. My boyfriend has pretty high self awareness of his physique, so he went on a milk tea ban and that was the end of my milk tea adventure.

Despite having baked chiffons for a good number of times, success is still not guaranteed =/ My chiffon fell off from its mould when I inverted it LOL That explains cake's cool Nike-like Let's-Do-It symbol rooftop. Second time it happened. May have to try baking it slightly longer than my usual 40 mins so that it'll cling to the sides more.

And it is not as light and fluffy as the usual bakes. Grrrrr... The milk tea taste isn't apparent as well. I've already used 2 tea bags to infuse the tea leaves flavor but guess there is a better method somewhere out there. Booo. Thankfully the cake is still pretty good on its own. It tastes like.........................a flavorless chiffon cake. HAHAH I'll definitely revisit this with an improvised version soon.

Milk Tea Chiffon Cake (modified from Keiko Ishida's Okashi)

Ingredients:
80g cake flour
5 egg yolks
20g caster sugar
70g concentrated milk tea (Measured out from 2 infused ceylon tea bags into 200ml of water + 20g creamer)
60g canola oil

5 egg whites (weighed mine to be 198g)
90g caster sugar
10g corn flour

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 160°C
2. Sift flour twice
3. Beat egg yolks and sugar until well mixed
4. Add milk tea and canola oil to the yolk mixture and blend well
5. Add flour mixture to yolk mixture until the batter becomes sticky
6. Combine sugar and corn flour in a separate bowl
7. Beat egg whites until frothy and add half of the sugar mixture, and continue to beat
8. Slowly add in the rest of the sugar mixture and beat until egg white stiff peaks and is glossy but not dry
9. Add one third of the meringue into yolk mixture and fold in lightly
10. Pour in rest of the meringue and fold until well combined
11. Pour the batter into a 20-cm chiffon tin and bake for 40 mins
12. Invert the chiffon tin on a wire rack and let it cool for 2h before releasing the cake for serving

Chewy-Dense Brownies

Back from Malacca! Can't say I enjoy the trip too much because it was like a pigging out tour. Bus ride-sleep-eat-bus ride-sleep-eat. Not too good for my waistline. The irony is I lost weight despite having eating loads there. Think I lost muscle mass lying around in the bus all day.
Have been tasked with Project: Brownies by my team at work for this year end, if all go well, it'll come to something by end of this year. We'll see. So I'm back to trying out new brownie recipes which you shall be seeing more of them soon, in search of the chewy and cakey, since I've gotten a few fudgy-s going in my earlier recipes which I'm already pretty pleased. It gets kinda confusing what should be the standard brownie in Singapore. Most of the brownies sold are tall and more towards cakey. They're usually served warm with a scoop of ice cream. Whereas for american recipes, the more fudgy, the better. So I don't know, I'm just going to do what I think is good since I'm the baker hurhur.

So here's my first attempt for my new project. Chewy! Since I have not been doing anything from David Lebovitz for a while, guess I should eh?

Dense and moist brownies they are. It has the right amount of chocolate, in fact my colleagues prefer them over my previous brownies due to the addition of pecans which adds crunchiness and nutty flavor to the brownie and the chocolate is not overpowering. They also raved about the crusty flakey top.

In terms of chewy-ness, it is ironically not the most chewy brownie I had. In fact I think my previous ones are more chewy than these. With that, I actually prefer my previous attempt heh heh. I'm sure I've given it a good vigorous stir during the 30 secs matter-of-life-and-death-brownie-moment. Maybe it will take a minute instead of 30 secs for my skinny arms to achieve the same chewy texture since Mr Lebovitz is a grown up man himself, definitely have more muscles hurhur. Nevertheless, it's a pretty good brownie recipe to add into ice cream as a mix-in as they stay chewy even though I've froze them in the freezer for a bit for picture perfect cuts.
Chewy-Dense Brownies (adapted from David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop)

Ingredients:
113g unsalted butter
113g semisweet chocolate (I use Valrhona Alpaco 66%, even though book recommends 55% to 64%)
250g granulated sugar (I use 230g, like minus 20g of sugar will make much difference :Þ)
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
70g all purpose flour
1/8 tsp salt
85g semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips (I left them out)
75g pecans/walnuts/whatever nuts, coarsely chopped and toasted (only added 55g pecans as there's all I'm left with LOL)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 175°C. Line an 8-inch square pan with aluminum foil, making sure the foil covers the bottom and sides. Spray foil with nonstick cooking spray
2. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over med-low heat. When butter is melted, reduce heat to low and add chocolate, stirring constantly until melted
3. Remove from heat and stir in sugar. Add eggs one at a time, mixing between each addition
4. Add vanilla
5. Stir in the flour and salt, and stir vigorously for 30 seconds until batter is smooth
6. Stir in chocolate chips, if using
7. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes, until the center is barely set. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Store at room temperature