Double Chocolate Mint Cookie

Bake some cookies for B.. As a gift!

Bake some cookies for him.. Yes, He likes crunchy chocolate cookies.. So I used Gina's (Kitchen Capers) Double chocolate mint cookie recipe, but I made some modifications to it to suit B's tastebuds..

My apologies for the blurred pictures.. It was taken by B.. I forgot about taking pictures, and I only remember that when I reach home at night, so I quickly smsed B and ask him to take a pic for me..

Hmm.. I have no idea on how to describe the cookie... it wasn't insanely crunchy like Famous Amos, but the crunchy-ness is good enough coming mainly from the nuts and chocolate chips.

It has a distinct fragrance cos the itchy hand of mine added some drops of coffee emulco and vanilla essence. I read from a tread in KC (by stephanie) saying that in famous amos cookies, they beat the eggs with coffee oil (which I don't have, so replace with some drops of emulco) and vanilla essence to get the special fragrance that is "so special yet couldn't tell what is it from".

This recipe also uses crushed peppermint sweets (polo), but trust me, I really cannot taste the mint at all, maybe the mint fragrance is being musked by the vanilla+coffee combination.. If I'm trying it out again, I would use fisherman's friend sweets which are really very minty..

The ones that are highlighted in Red are the changes that I've made to the original recipe

Double Chocolate Mint Cookies

Ingredients

115g butter
180g self-raising flour
1 tbsp cocoa powder
80g castor sugar (I use 10g)
50g light brown sugar (I use 80g)
1 egg (I beat the egg with coffee emulco and vanilla essence and left it to stand for 1 hr)
1 tube polo mints (I use 1.5 tube)
1 cup chocolate chips
0.5 cup almond nuts, coarsely chopped (optional)
3 tbsp gound almond

Methods

1. Crush polo mints in a bag. ( I suggest not to crush it till powder form)
2. Cream butter and sugar till creamy.
3. Add in eggs to beat till well mixed.
4. Turn off mixer and fold in flour, chocolate powder, chocolate chips, nuts, and crushed mints.
5. Line baking tray with baking paper.
6. Use a piping bag to squeeze out tiny spots on the paper. (I couldn't pipe out nicely, so I roll a tsp of dough and flatten them slightly)
7. Bake in preheated oven 180C for 15minutes.
8. Remove and cool completely on wire rack.

I seriously salute Gina, and any other people that can pipe out cookies nicely... Cos I seriously can't do that, I will end up with dough that looks like sh*t.. Literally the shape I mean.. Any tips from the pros out there in the cyber world?? I wanna achieve the famous amos style cookies as well!

But nevertheless, B commented that he love this cookie, he said its very nice! But personally next time round I wanna leave in small bits of crushed mint.. I'm sure it would taste heavenly!

Moist and Chewy Chocolate brownie!

Sharing with you guys my favorite brownie!


These brownies are really moist and chewy (the way I like mine to be)!

Add in some chopped walnuts to the extra crunch and textures.. I feel that either walnuts or pecan nuts goes well with brownies.. Absolutely not peanuts or green peas right?

Pack up in a box of 6, really to zooommm off for B!

Recipe adapted from KC, posted by Sophie.

Moist and Chewy Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients

125g butter

200g dark chocolate (use good quality ones)

3 eggs

1¾ cup caster sugar ( I use 50g caster, 50 brown sugar)

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 ½ cups plain flour (sifted)

1/3 cup cocoa powder (sifted)

2 cups chopped walnuts

Methods

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Brush a shallow 8 x 11 inch tin with melted butter/oil and line the base with baking paper, extending over the two long sides.
3. Double boil butter and dark chocolate till melted, add in sugar and mix well. Remove the bowl of mixture and cool it slightly.
4. Add in eggs, one at a time and mix thoroughly with each addition. Add in vanilla essence and mix well.
5. Add in sifted flour, cocoa powder and nuts. Mix well.
6. Pour mixture into the prepared pan, sprinkle some chocolate chips on top, and bake for 30 minutes, allow the brownie to cool in tin before cutting into pieces.

This is really a good recipe that's worth keeping! I really love chewy brownies, actually the love for such brownies starts when I bought a piece of Fudgy Chewy Gooey Brownie from The Brownie Factory at takashimaya basement (its a really small stall, keep your eyes open or you might just walk pass it w/o realising it's pressence!).

The brownie that I tried is their's no.1 best seller! Sticking to the bestseller ensures nothing goes wrong, and yes, the brownies are really chewy! Really nice! Selling at $3.10, it comes in a big piece, so I got only a pc and I shared it with B, and he too thinks that it's nice.

So if you guys likes chewy and moist types of brownies, do try this! You'll love it!

Betty Cocker's Premix

Sometimes the laziness within me forces me to use premix..

Yes, I'm lazy I know.. but what to do when you're lack of basic ingredients to make cookies, but only left with a stick of butter and a bag of premix? (And FYI, I can get a tub of freshly baked, and absolutely delish cookies in 1 hr! (We love things to be speedy, right?)

So say YES to premix, esp Betty Cocker's! I like the one above, as the taste is really good.. Except that its slightly whineeyy bit too sweet..

I usually drop big tablespoon of cookie dough to bake.. It will spread out by itself (thanks to the butter). To get a crispier cookie, bake it for a few more minutes.


So purpose of this post is to share with all, the brand of cookie premix I like to use, and if there's a day where you're stuck in a situation like me, you might want to consider using this to satisfy the cravings for freshly made cookies that are still warm!

Durian/ chocolate cuppies!

My family was invited to go to my uncle's baby full month celebration. As my sis is sponsoring 3 duckies as an add on to the buffet dinner, I wanted to bring along some food as well.. So in the end decided to stick to my forte- baking..

Wanted to bake 40 cuppies, but couldn't decide on the flavor.. I wanted to to bake a variety, but couldn't afford the time, wanna bake a single flavor, but I'm afraid it'll be too boring... So in the end bake 2 different flavors.. DURIAN N' CHOCOLATE!

Bake the Little Devil Chocolate Cupcakes and top with lots of coarsely crushed digestive crackers.. Quite a good move actually as it add on crunchy-ness to the cuppies, and yes.. This cupcake is addictive!

Didn't have time to pack them nicely.. So hehe.. Just stack them up all together in a box and lug them to my uncle hse..

Next up on the list is Durian cupcakes..

Add a tablespoon of cake batter and top with 1 full teaspoon of durian puree..

After baking, I like the golden colour on the cupcake, and yes, its crunchy on the surface, soft inside... And a well hidden "surprise".

Tadah! Surprise revealed! Lots and lots of durian puree! Hmm.. Looks like custard cream right? Hehe..

First bit, your teeth will be welcomed by the crunchy crust, and hit by the softness of the durian flavored cake, then followed by the soft, creamy and slightly bitter durian center, that fills your mouth with the durian fragrance!

*One complaint though... Should triple the amount of durian filling!*

Using a template, I dust the durian cupcakes with cocoa powder.. Tried using Hershey's, but it the colour is too light.. And doesn't complement the colour of the durian cupcakes well.. So I used valhora's cocoa powder.. Nicer contrast.

The guest praises the cuppies! I'm really so glad that they enjoyed the cupcakes (as much as I do)!

On a side note, the durian cupcakes was gone by the first hour, and it was quite a hit among the guest! As for the chocolate cuppies, those who tried gave their comments that it's very chocolate-y, moist and not too sweet.. Even my fussy cousin took 3 piece! Achievement eh? HEHE!

Mommy's Birthday Cake

Made this cake for Mom on her birthday..

This is the first time I make a cake for my mommy.. I wasn't confident with frosting the cake and decorating them, lack of the creative juice in me.. Hehe..

So being her 50th Birthday this year, I raised up my hands and "volunteer" to bake her a cakie, nothing fanciful just a simple blackforest cake but frosted in chocolate ganache.

My mum was really happy when she saw the cake. Actually there's no element of surprise in here, my mom saw me busying frosting the cake and decorating it, so there is no "WOW-reaction" in her face.. All I could see was her beaming away.. Maybe she's proud of me? (I guess so too!)

Sharing with you the pictures:

Did wrote some short messages on the cake board using white chocolate.. But this picture was taken by my sister before writting.. Or rather when I was melting the chocolate, she took this picture.. Haha..

What I wrote was "Happy birthday, Mommy" (In chinese) and drew a big heart shape beside the text! Hehe! (shows that I love my mommY!)

This is exactly the same cake as B's Bday cake, only difference is that I uses chocolate ganache (1/3 milk chocolate, 2/3 dark chocolate) to frost the cake. My family don't really adore creams..

Well, anyway, that day she was really happy, maybe its because all the family members + all the boyfriends was there to celeb with her.. And I believe my cake did make some contribution to her happiness as well! Hehe!

I wouldn't mind all the trouble, as long as my mommy is happy!

Apple Crumble Pie

I made these Apple Crumble Pie on friday night! Finished my marketing paper at the evening, and prepared the dough and crumble filling at night..

If I were to make any tart desserts, I like to prepare my tart shells the day before, store it in the freezer and use them the next day.. I'm really really extremely slow in moulding the tart dough into the aluminum cups.. So I usually start the day before, if not I think just by doing this apple crumble pie might took me 5 hours! (Yah, thats how slow I'm)

As compared to the first time making of tarts, I think I fare better this time round.. I took the advice from Aunty Yochana in avoiding over-handling of dough.. A "just-right" dough should not be oily to touch, and my dough falls under that category! So I'm happy! =)

I always make my tarts in aluminium cups, and I really have the hardest time ever trying to mould the dough in.. Cos I'm afraid that I might distort the shape of the aluminum cups.. (that explains why I work like an old lady) =P

The dough yields lots of tart shells (or maybe I mould them too thin), and it is quite crumbly after baking, so when my family and friends who tired it commented that its hard to hold up the pie..

It might be that I added in too much egg (an accident). Next time round I'll cut down on the butter and egg to yield a crispier shell, or simply I just stick with the Egg Tart shells.. I love them!

The box full of tarts for my friends..

I adapted the recipe from KC, posted by Yangone.

Apple Crumble Pie

Ingredients

(A) Crust

125g butter

225g plain flour

1/2 beaten egg

(B)Filling

4 apples, peeled, cored and sliced

2 tbsp brown sugar

sprinkles of cinnamon powder

lemon juice from a slice of lemon

some water

1/2 tbsp corn flour

(C)Topping

70g butter

1 cup self-raising flour

3 tbsp sugar

Methods

1. Make filling first by cooking the apples with the rest of the ingredients with some water. Add cornflour to thicken.
2. Make the crust by combining the butter, flour and egg to form into a dough. Press dough on to a pie pan. Bake at preheated oven of 180C for about 8mins (or till the base is dry).
3. For the crumble, gently rub the butter and flour to form into crumbs and add sugar and mix well.
4. After crust is baked, pour in the apple filling and sprinkle top with the crumble. Bake at 200C for about 30 - 45 mins (i think) or till crust is nicely browned.
   
   

1 small problem would be that using 4 apples is seriously not enough.. I'm only able to add 1 tablespoon of filling into each tart whereas there's still room for another 1.5 tbsp.. Next time I shall up-up the apples to 6! ( I like my tarts to be bursting with fillings!)

Families and friends gave raving reviews for this pie! And I'm really happy! Brought 11 to school for friends to eat during the group study.. and I went home with the empty box! I'm really so happy that my bakes are appreciated and loved by all

Made a mental note to self, to make this for my maternal grandma family and B's family.

Good things are meant to be shared, right?

Woppes, still have 6 tart shells left, which means, more tarts rolling in!!!

B's granny Chocolate-O-Durian mousse cake

Hey people.. I backed to share with you guys a cake I bake 1 yr ago.. (I didn't have a blog back then).

Baked this cake for B's grandma.. It's her 70yr old birthday.. To the chinese, its considered as quite a big event.. I mean I feel quite embarress to bring out or present this cake.. I mean.. look at the decoration.. So...


The above is the actual cake for B's grandma and it weights about 1.5kg - 2kg.. I know look wises is really ugly and not good enough as bday cake.. *Slap self hard hard*

It was my really really maiden attempt at using whip cream to decorate the cake.. Just simply add mix in pink colouring and green colouring..

Sigh, my piping is really CMI (cannot make it) *slap triple hard again*


I'm like that, if I were to bake a cake for a major event, I'll trial trial to make one for family consumption and to ask them for comments..the picture above is for family consumption..

The blackish thing in between the cake is actually a failed chocolate mousse.. Hehe.. But the durian mousse makes up for the bad ganache failure.. Durian mousse is smooth and bursting with durian flavor.. YUM!

Thank god the 2nd attempt of this cake is a much better attemp.. The chocolate mousse is much much more better, not runny and its smooth. I was so happy that day that I actually assembled the cake w/o much hiccups.. =)

I adopted the recipe from Aunty Yochana's blog.

Choco-O-Durian Mousse Cake

Ingredients

Durian sponge
4 Eggs
250g optima flour
1 tsp ovalette
70g water
1 tsp durian paste
drops of green colouring
70ml corn oil (to be added last)

1. Beat the above ingredients together till thick and fluffy (approx 10mins).
2. Fold in corn oil and pour into a 9" round tin.
3. Bake at 175C for about 45mins or till cooked.
4. Turn cake onto a wire rack and leave it to cool.

Chocolate Mousse
100g good quality chocolate, chopped and melted
200g whip cream, whipped till stiff
20g rum

1. Whip cream till stiff, fold in melted chocolate and rum.

Durian Mousse
2 egg yolks
50g sugar
250g durian flesh
75ml milk
200g whipping cream, whipped
10g gelatin powder
3 tbsp water

1. Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a bowl over simmering water until puffy, stir in durian flesh and cook for a while to warm it up.
2. Soak gelatin powder with water and let it bloom. Microwave for a while until gelatin melts and add into durian flesh mixture. Stir till well combined.
3. Add in milk and stir thoroughly.
4. Gently fold in whipped cream making sure its mixed thoroughly.

Assemble

1. Spread chocolate mousse on top of a slice of cake, and them top up with the other layer of sponge cake.
2. Pour the durian mousse onto the sponge and level it. Top the cake with the last piece of sponge. Chill cake till set.
3. Cream the whole cake with cream and decorate as desired.

Note: I triple the whole recipe. The cake pan I bought is very big, so the first batch of cake batter I pour in just nice for a layer. Which means I bake the cake layer by layer for 3 times.

Comments were good! Those who tried my cake said that its very nice! And this made me so happy!

I myself find that the cake is very nice too! Maybe its because I'm a ultimate durian fan.. Hehe!

Do try this cake!

Examsss...

4 more papers to go.... before ending this sem...

Medical Microbiology
Introduction to Immunology
Molecular Genetics
Marketing for Life Sciences (II)
Bioinformatics
Protein Technology
Bioprocessing Technology

I'm so looking forward to the end of exams.. And till then I'll bake till drop! HEE! But not going to school means that I'll be lazier when it comes to preparing bento.. =(


Updates: Left with last paper to go.. Wish me luck for this killer module.. Cos I'm never "calculator savvy".. Duh, I hate maths all along!

Quiche... When I was 10!

I just realised something...

I made Quiche when I was in primary 4! And that's like when I'm 10 years old! Crazy or what?!

Yes.. I'm seriously not lying! Back then my sister bought this new oven, and I remember it clearly that day after school I reached home I've nothing to eat, so I just any-o-how add in things into aluminium cup, and bake it in the oven.. Seriously, I have no idea how on earth I know how to set the right temp of the oven etc.. (And I'm very sure I did not preheat the oven)

I can vaguely remember that I added in mushrooms, ham, cheese, spring onions, salt, pepper, eggs and milk in....

Why till now then I remember?

Cos recently read up alot on quiches.. Wanna try making them and pack them into bentos.. And after reading it for quite a few times, then it suddenly strikes me that "Hey, I've tried this before!"

Haha! Amazing right?

Steamed Chocolate Milk Custard

I really like those food that has silky smooth texture.. Like soy beancurd, steam eggs custard etc.. This can be justified by the recent posts that I've posted up.. Hehe..


Please pardon me for doing the same range of things over and over again.. I'm trying to explore with new type of food and flavours.. Hee =P

Today after dinner made myself a chocolate-y dessert.. I like this very muchie... Cos I like my chocolate to be slightly bitter.. I don't like sugary food as well and this is not overly sweet.. So it suits my tastebuds very well!

Steamed Chocolate Milk Custard

Ingredients

130mL chocolate milk
30mL water
1.5 tsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp honey
1 egg white

Methods

1. Heat up water in a saucepan, and stir till cocoa powder and honey dissolves. Remove and set aside till cool.
2. Add in the cooled chocolate mixture and egg white into the chocolate milk. Stir well to mix.
3. Strain mixture into a bowl and steam over low heat for 12minutes.
4. Serve warm or chilled

This dessert is a much healthier version of a chocolate pudding.. as it doesn't use cream and butter. And I only use egg whites, which greatly reduces the fat content of this dessert. And trust me, its really smooth.. Really enjoy eating this very much! I guess I will make this whenever the chocolate cravings kicks in!

Updates: I tried experimenting it using chocolate milk (minus the water), and it does make a difference to the texture, its more rough and less silky. In my point of view, it wasn't as nice as the orignal one.