Blackcurrent Cheese Tarts

Gosh! Couldn't believe it that it's been almost 2 months since my last post.. Hmm.. I guess no one reads my blog anymore, thinking that I've either gave up blogging, or baking.. Sheesh..

But nah, I'm still into my fav hobby (ie: baking).. Just that there's been lots of school work to complete, and tests to mug for.. And of course, distractions like facebook games, which can be quite addictive!

Nevertheless, I did bake something, sometime back, just that I did not have the time and effort to blog about it.

Blackcurrent Cheese Tarts! My favourite!

I got the recipe from Aunty Yochana's blog.



And finally I put the tart mould (ordered from Kitchen Capers sometime back) to a good use!


I'm just too ooo ooo generous with the blackcurrent filling, resulting in it sinking in.. Which I think that it's quite ugly... Keke..

Look at the flowy current filling..

My only complain for the tarts is that the vanilla extract I added in is too dark in colour, staining the cheese to a yellowish brown colour, yes, again, it's ugly!

It taste quite good, abeit that it's ugly.. =(

Sharing with you guys the recipe!

Blackcurrent Cheese Tarts

Ingredients

Pastry

• 100g butter
• 60g icing sugar
• 30g beaten eggs
• 200g plain flour
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Cream cheese filling

• 300g cream cheese
• 80g icing sugar
• 1 tsp lemon paste
• 15g vanilla essence
• 50g whipping cream
• 25g cornflour (sieved)
• 2 large eggs

Some blackcurrent jam as topping

Methods

1. Cream butter, icing sugar till slightly creamy
2. Add in beaten eggs, salt, and vanilla essence.
3. Fold in flour and mix into a dough. Leave in the fridge for 20 mins.
4. Press dough into tart mould and cut off excess dough.
5. Bake the tart mould till half-baked and let it cool slightly.
6. Cream cream cheese and icing sugar till creamy.
7. Add in lemon paste and vanilla essence.
8. Add in eggs one at a time , beating well after each addition.
9. Add in whip cream and mix evenly
10. Pour filling into half-baked tarts, scoop a little blueberry jam topping on top of filling and then use a skewer to swirl into a marble effect and bake in preheated oven at 180C for 10 to 15 mins. or till set.
11. Leave to cool before serving.

I brought the tarts to school to share with my friends, and of course to get their comments.. Generally good, and thank so much guys for being so generous w the comments!

Finally done with CNY bakes!

Hello Peepss... I know I MIA-ed for the longest time ever.. Neglecting this little corner of mine.. But no worries, I'm back for good! In fact, back with more pictures and experiences to share! Yippee!

Year of OX is definitely a fruitful one for me.. Not that I start the year with a terrible flu + sore throat + all sorts of rubbish illness... BUT, it's the first time I attempted to bake my own Chinese New Year (CNY) goodies..

I did not bake a large variety like some bloggers/bakers did.. I just bake a suitable amount of goodies and of course at the same time, trying hard to shorten down my "To-Bake-List"..
So CNY is definitely a good reason to indulge myself in baking!


So after my last lesson on friday (ends at 3pm), I rushed down the Phoon Huat and NTUC (AmK) to get all the ingredients.. and sigh, B offered to help me.. But I insisted that I could manage it on my own.. and in the end, I lugged back a total of 10kg loots..

Upon reaching home, I called up B and complained to him that sometimes I really hated myself that I always like to "gek kiang" (Act smart)! Gosh, 10kg was really heavy, and I nearly die from carrying them! Hahha..!

I start the massive baking session on friday evening time, all the way from 7pm-2.30am! I took such a long time because I've have to painfully shape 500pc of peanut cookie by hand! After the first batch of peanut cookie, I really exhausted, so my kind helper Tila came to rescue me! Heheh! Million of thanks!

Kick start the whole session by baking PEANUT COOKIES

Although it is quite tedious to do most of the work by myself, but when I pop one of these self-made goodie into my mouth, I can only feel satisfaction!

These peanut cookies are really lovely, holds it's shape well, melt in the mouth and have a slight crunch.. Lovely is the word to describe! Hehe!

Next up on the list, COFFEE FLOWERS

Another buttery creation! Original recipe calls for instant coffee, but absent minded me, forgot to buy coffee when I'm shopping for ingredients.. Haha.. So I replaced it with milo.. it doesn't affect the taste much.. still as fragrant!

DAY 2

Woke up early in the morning at 9am to fry the pineapple paste.. after frying the first batch, I realised that 5 pineapples yields too little paste, so I rushed off to the market to grab another 5 pineapples... So a total of 10 pineapples.. But I still find that 10 is not enough.. Too little..

Look at the amount of pineapple juice! But my family member didn't drink those.. And I just throw them away.. I find that its quite wasteful so I drank a cup... Any ideas on what to do with these? so next time make pineapple tarts I can utilise this well..

Packed pineapple tarts.. Ready to give it away to B's family!

I'm really really very happy that my pineapple tart turns out to be such a success! Even my really fussy eldest sis said that it's really nice! All of them love the tarts! My dad said that I should make them and sell it out since its so nice.. Hmm.. Should I??

Frying 2 batches of pineapple took my 5 hours in total.. But like I've said, I've a lovely helper to help me with the 2nd batch. Meanwhile I went off to bake other type of goodies..

Made the ever popular CRUNCHY CORNFLAKE COOKIE:

Before sending them into the sauna.. hee..

All a personalised touch to the cornflake cookie for my helper T.I.L.A.. She was really amused when she saw this! Haha.. But I gobble up the L and I as she claims that that's my initials, so I ought to eat them up.. Which I did! hehe!

These cornflake cookies are crunchy on the outside, slightly melt-in-the mouth on the inside.. and the crushed cornflake adds on good amount of texture and crunch when this tiny cookie melts in your mouth.. I was totally amazed by it's texture and mouth-feel (Kou3 gan3).. And so, I pop 6 into my mouth at a go! It's really addictive!

Last but definitely not the very least... ALMOND COOKIES

I made these cookies slightly bigger than the peanut cookie.. I find that this is really nice as well! Almonds in it makes the cookie crunchy and I added lots of barang barang (not indicated in recipes) into the making of these cookies.. Maybe its my luck that all those "any-o-how" addition of ingredients can make these cookie crunchy, yet at the same time "melty"! Hehe! Nice Nice!

Seems like I hit the jackpot this time, cos out of so many recipes that I wanted to make for CNY, I choose some to make, and it turns out to be popular within my family! Hehe!

Of all these bakes, I kept some for my family, gave away some to my granny, and B's family.. Hope they like the cookies.. As they are all BAKE-WITH-LOVE!

Heheh!

Egg-y Tart-y

Burp Burpsss...

Woppes, sorry.. just gobble up 2 egg tarts before posting.. hehe.. Yeah, right, made egg tarts today (actually yesterday too).. So I shall post up yesterday pictures..

I was comtemplating between 2 egg tart recipes, because I like the tart recipe of the 1st and the egg custard of the 2nd, so in the end, I combine both recipe and came up with:




















I use the tart recipe from:

http://auntyyochana.blogspot.com/2008/01/egg-tarts.html

And the custard recipe from:

http://auntyyochana.blogspot.com/2006/09/egg-tarts.html

Both of which originated from Aunty Yochana website, I did some changes here and there to suit my family's tastebuds. I prefer the tart recipe because it uses less amount of butter.. My family and I are not "good friend" with Miss/Mr Butter.. But sad to say that, in baking using butter is inevitable. You want a rich taste, use butter, if not you will have to compromise with the taste..

Thus, in summary, the below is the recipe I used to make these egg tarts.

EGG TARTS

Pastry Crust

100g Butter
40 icing sugar
1 egg
20g milk powder
220g plain flour (I use 200g top flour)
20g custard powder
1/2 tsp vanilla essence


Egg custard

280g fresh milk
160g sugar (I use only 85g of icing sugar)
3 eggs
1tsp rum (I omit this)
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Method

(Tart)

1. Beat butter and icing sugar till well mix. Add in egg and vanilla essence and mix till combined.


2. Add in the sifted flour, milk powder and custard and mix till a pliable dough. Rest dough for 10minutes and press the dough into tart mould.


3. Bake the tart shell for 10 minutes at 175 celcius.
   

(Egg custard)

1. Heat milk and sugar together till sugar dissolves.
   
2. Cool down the milk and whisk in the egg mixture. Do not whisk till frothy.
   
3. Add in the vanilla essence
   
4. Sift the egg custard and pour into the tart mould and bake at 175 celcius till set (no longer wobbles)

I took about 10 - 15minutes to cook the egg tart till set, but this baking time may vary with different type of oven.

The egg tarts are very well-received! I gave some to my granny and my aunty commented that this egg tart is even better than the neighbourhood bakery stall she use to buy from! To me, this is very encouraging and will push me on to bake more stuffs! So happy..!

The egg custard is very smooth and silky.. Not too sweet as well.. very nice!!

And the tart case is crispy and very fragrant!

I packed 4 egg tarts and give away to my driving instructor as I have a driving lesson with him on that day.. Hope he enjoy it as much as I do!

Another happy stuff is that I finally got my silpat mat! This item is on my wish list for a long time, so today I finally got it! Though it is more on the expensive side, but I believe its worth it.. because I want to venture out in making macarons! One of my constant cravings.. Nutty taste, crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside.. Yumms.. Making me hungry!