Fast Cupcakes

Okie... may seem like i haven't blogged here in a long time. But does not mean that i've not been baking!! Haha.. did midnight baking again. This time, i tried using Betty Crocker's Blueberry Muffins. Started at 1230am.. ended at 115. Including cleaning!! Of cos, they came out good. Okie, now that i know what they should be like, i'll try making them from scratch one day.

Capella: Modern Italian at CHIJMES

Went to the very romantic CHIJMES for a nice romantic dinner with mr wong. We were a little taken aback by how classy the place is. Felt kinda under dressed. Most of the diners were in shirts and nice dresses but that did not make any difference to the service that we recieved. From the time we were shown our table to the last goodbye, service was impecable. Well the food was just as good, if not, better. Once again, i'll let the pictures do the talking.

Appetisers


Carpaccio di Bue: Thin sliced raw beef with arugala, silver parmesan cheese & virgin olive oil
The beef was 'oh so tender' and the olive oil dressing was fresh and aromatic!


Zuppe del Giorno: Tomato soup
Thick tomato soup. Nothing like your cambell one. Slurp!


Sorbetti: Homemade wildberry sorbet
We were wondering why they would serve sorbet as a starter but what the heck.. it was brilliant. Totally melt in your mouth with an explosion of flavours.Emm emm!

Main Course



Suprema di Pollo: Free range chicken breast stuffed with black truffle accompanied by wilted baby spinach laced with red wine prune glaze

Simply gorgeous. The baby spinich was infused with a right amount of red wine glaze so that it does not steal the flavour from both the tender chicken and the crunchy spinich. The truffle was interesting too. I think it's a kind of olive.


Cernia al Asparagi e Funghi: Sea bass fillet on a bed of asparagus and mushroom salsa accompanied by scallion and vegetable salad, lemon butter sauce

I was wondering where the asparagus and mushrooms were. They were actaully cleverly ground and packed tightly together to form a base for the fish. Fantastic! Such creativity!

Dessert


Pannacotta: Almond-infused cook cream with bitter chocolate sause, seasonal berries compote

They sure kept the best for last. Aaron's eyes were either wide open or tightly shut when eating this dessert. Too much for him to take. The sweet cream was heavenly and with the combination of the bitter chocolate and sour berries. Oooooooooooo........


Coffee/Tea

Well, don't need much explanation. However, they had really good coffee as it was blended from fresh coffee beans. Not the usual 3 in 1 type.


Well folks, what can i say. It was Assolutamente Delizioso




Capella: Modern Italian at CHIJMES
Service: 5/5
Food:4.5/5
Location:5/5
Price: This dinner set cost $60++ per pax. The normal main course menu's range is from about $25-$40

Food Fellowship

If you guys did not notice, the blue moon rose on tuesday night. Why? Bcos angie COOKED! Yeah, she cooked her favourite bacon aglio and invited Yili and teck seng, along with me and aaron. The pic is pretty blur but i guess u noe what pasta looks like.



Simple meal made of pasta, olive oil, garlic and bacon.I tot it was real good. Well done angie!



Us eating over the counter. Can't be bothered to sit down. Found it more fun to eat like that.

Had Ben's and Jerry's Chocolate cookie dough for dessert. Forgot to take a pic as we were all rushing to finish the tub. Slurp.....

Oreo Cupcakes

Okie.. had the urge to bake again. I wanted to bake on monday night at 1130pm but decided to do it in the morning instead. Kinda regretted it. I don't know why but i bake better at night.Okie, more like in the dead of the night. The recipe was taken from sweet decadanze and it's really good. However, i geh kiang and took out 30g of sugar cos i thought the oreos in themselves would be too sweet. The cupcakes were good but not too sweet. Will try again another time with the frosting too.



But seriously, muffins taste better when they are piping hot. They taste ewwwww when eaten cold.

Oreo Cupcakes(Sweet Decadanze)
Rating:3.5/5

Oreo Cupcakes
2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 egg whites, room temperature
3/4 cup milk
1 1/4 cups crushed oreo cookies (10 cookies)

Preheat oven to 175°C.
1.Line 12 muffin tins with cupcake or muffin liners.
2.Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Leave aside.
3.In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
4.Add in the vanilla extract.
5.Add in the egg whites one at a time, making sure each is fully incorporated before adding the next.
6.Working in 4 or 5 additions, alternately add the dry ingredients and the milk to the wet ingredients. Keep the mixer on low speed while doing so.
7.When just combined, stir in the crushed oreos.
8.Spoon batter evenly into liners, filling each about 2/3 full.
9.Bake for 15-18 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
10.Remove individual cupcakes to cool completely on a wire rack before storing in air-tight container if not serving.

Yield : 24 cupcakes

Crispy Chocolate Cornflakes!

So say my kids who made this easy peasy snack with me. Of cos, i did most of the dirty job. Heating the chocolate, bringing it up to the third floor, cleaning up their mess. Thankfully, i had the idea of doing it in the art room instead of my own classroom. Saved me a whole lot of cleaning up. Took the recipe from the lazy chef.

Topic: All about food
Subjects: English, Math, Health Ed, Home econs,Art (All in one lesson)
Time: 2 hours
Learning objectives: Pupils will be able to:-




(1) Follow a recipe and make chocolate cornflakes




(2) Work in groups to come up with a poster to sell their finished product.







Okie kids... back to work... photo taking session over.

So.... here are their ads.

Slytherin



Check out their " buy 1 get 3 free' promotion! The other kids were like " wah.. so good ah?"

Hufflepuff



They won best ad. What to do, popular with their classmates lar..

Griffyndor



Forgot to pay their printers money. Their work was unfinished.

Ravenclaw




I thought they had the best ad. They were the most organised and really did good planning before drawing. This one is teacher's choice.

Well, i hope they enjoyed themselves! I sure did. Hoping to make more of these simple snacks for post exam activities.

Breakfast

As the saying goes,

"Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dine like a paupper"

I actaully wanted to make this cheese omelette long ago when i saw it on another food blog (she bakes and she cooks). Looked really good there. Well, i was going to have a long meeting in the morning so i decided to give myself a good, filling breakfast. I'll copy the recipe from the other blog as it has clearer instructions.



Ooooo... freshly cooked egg with melted cheese folded on the inside



Just pop it in between toasts. You can add some tomatoes if you like.



Look at the cheese!!!!!!!!!!! Wooooo hoooo!!

PS: Sorry for the not so good photos. Took them in the morning while i was trying to eat, bathe, change and watch tv all at the same time.

Cheese Omelette (She bakes and she cooks)
Rating: 4.5/5

Beat the eggs and pour it into a non-stick pan and let it cook a while, making sure the egg spreads evenly around the pan.

Then place a slice of cheese right smack in the middle, allowing it to melt a little, then folding the omelette around it via the 4 sides. Think of it as folding a present. Let it cook for a while and then take it off the pan. Add pepper if desired.

Kueh

Well, I basically love all food. I don't really have a special thing that I enjoy the most. But when it comes to desserts, Thai desserts and nonya kuehs are my favourite. Actually, they are basically the same, sweet and coconutty. So I tried my hand at Kueh Ko Swee. Used aunt Nelly's recipe and was pretty stressed at trying to match up to her standard. I think i can't work very well under stress cos i messed it up. As usual, i had problems following instrucitons. It turned out horrible. So i decided to use the coconut ingredients to make another kueh instead. Kueh Dadar. I helped aunt Nelly make these before so i agar agar know what i'm doing. It's quite a lot of work cos you need to make inti, or coconut filling. Well, it turned out great!! Instead of the usual way of making pandan juice by pulverising pandan leaves with water, i used pandan paste from bake king. The fragrance was great!



The recipe said that it'll make 25 kuehs but i only managed 13 small ones. Maybe i'll double the recipe next time.

Okie... going to have a crash course with aunt Nelly to make kueh ko swee. My mom loves it so i wanna make one batch for her before she goes on holiday to Ireland.

Kueh Dadar (Periplus Mini Cookbooks)
Rating: 4/5

Ingredients:
150g plain flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 small eggs, beaten
150ml of thin coconut milk(or plain milk)
100ml of pandan juice
(just mix 100ml of water with 1 teaspoon of pandan paste)
65ml of water
1 tablespoon of light vegetable oil
1 1/2 portions of inti (see below)
Oil for greesing pan

Method:
1. Sift flour and salt into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre and into this, pour in the eggs, coconut milk and pandan juice. Using a wooden spoon or a balloon whisk, gradually incorporate the flour into the liquid, making a smooth batter free of lumps. (If there are lumps, just strain mixture through a sieve)

2. Thin the batter down with the additional 65 ml of water ad stir in the oil. Mix well. Cover the bowl and allow batter to stand for 20-30 mins.

3. Make inti

4. To fry pancakes, heat a small frying pan over medium heat. Brush the pan with a little oil. Ensure the pan is sufficiently hot before frying.

5. Stir the batter. Pour a tablespoon (or ladle) ful of batter into the pan. Allow batter to set but not brown (aunt Nelly's method). Once air bubbles pop up, turn over and cook the other side.



6. Turn pancake out onto a plate. Continue making pancakes and at the same time, place a spoonful of filling in the centre of the pancake.



7. Fold both sides towards the middle and roll the pancake away from you, neatly enclosing the filling. (It would be better if you did it while it's still hot cos it sticks easier)



How to make inti



Ingredients:
100g of gula melaka, roughly chopped
75ml of water
1 pandan leaf, knotted
100g of grated coconut

Makes 1 cup

Method

1. Place gula melaka and water in a pan and cook until sugar dissolves. Simmer for 10 mins until liquid starts to thicken and become syrupy

2. Add the pandan leaf and grated coconut and continue cooking over low heat for 10 to 15 mins until the coconut filling is thick and glossy. Most of the liquid should have evaporated. Cool and use as desired. Keeps well if stored in a covered container in the fridge.

Muffins!!!

Baked nutella muffins for aaron's mom today. She gave me my first muffin tray so thought i should give her my first batch of muffins. Nice recipe from Evan's Kitchen again. Her suggestion of sifting the flour 3 times before using is pretty good. Gets rid of almost all the impurities and the flour is nice and soft.



Nice eh... samore pics of the finished muffins





He he... a nice little muffin



Which one of these muffins do not belong?? Make a guess...

And the answer is...... this one!!



Well, i filled up all 12 holes in the tray and filled another 2 cups. So i decided to try baking without the tray. ONe was okay but the other turned out a bit.. eh... slanted. But well, it tasted just as good. So i packed all the muffins in a box and sent them over. Hope the family likes it!!!



Nutella Muffins (Evan's Kitchen)
Rating: 3.5/5

ingredients
180g butter
180g self-raising flour, sifted 3x
180g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 eggs
nutella hazelnut spread

method
1. preheat oven to 160 deg c.
2. soften butter. cream with sugar until creamy.
3. using electric beaters, cream further until pale & ivory in color.
4. add in eggs, one at a time and blend until well combined and sugar has almost dissolved.
5. add in vanilla essence.
6. fold in flour with metal spoon quickly.
7. line muffin tray with paper muffin cups, spoon 3/4 batter into cups.
8. scoop 1/2 tsp nutella onto batter and swirl with toothpick or bamboo skewer.
9. bake for 20 mins until cooked or golden brown in color.

Marble Cake 2

Okie... i noe it's early in the morning. I didn't intend to bake this cake but on the way home from the mama shop, i decided to buy one of the missing ingredients. Oh what the heck... might as well do it rite?? So i got down to work at 2350, measuring out the ingredients. Thought i had all i needed when i found out i lacked 30g of sugar!!! Die die die.. well, decided to use the next best thing. Icing sugar.Boh bian leh.. This time, i made sure i creamed the mixture thoroughly til the sugar melted. Then i added the eggs and vanilla. Okie, i remembered to mix only 1/4 of the mixture with coco powder, but then again, hiaz... i used too much of the batter. So, i decided to just leave out the extra batter with coco powder and make something else. Just then, i came across some muffin cups!!! Didn't know i had them... so i happily emptied the remaining coco batter into 3 cups and kept my fingers crossed about it turning out alright. Guess what... the accidental muffins were a blast!!



Cool rite?? The muffins were not your usual ones though cos i used a cake mixture, which is thicker.. but it turned out okie.

Now.. for the big one. The instructions said to bake it for 45mins to 1 hour. Thank God i checked my oven within 25 mins cos it was done!! I'll let the pictures do the talking now...



Nice pattern at the top. Thought the chocolate was just nice...



However, the chocolate didn't get to the bottom of the cake!!! But still.. it tasted yummy!!!! My dad and mom really loved it. Dad even asked for a bigger slice!! Haha.. Okie.. going to take some for my piggy to try. He's not a cake lover though but hope he'll like it....


Chocolate Swirl Cake (Evan's Kitchen)
Ratin: 4/5

ingredients :
180g butter
180g self-raising flour, sifted 3 times
150g caster sugar
3 eggs
1.5 tbsps hershey's cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 tbsp milk

method :
1. bring a little water to a boil and mix in cocoa powder to form a diluted paste. set aside for later use
2. soften butter and sugar in a large whisking bowl. beat with electric beaters until mixture turns pale yellow or ivory in color
3. add in 1 egg at each time, beating well between each addition. beat until sugar has almost dissolved and mixture becomes almost white
4. fold in sifted flour quickly using a metal spoon
5. add in milk and vanilla essence
6. pour in cocoa powder onto the cake mixture and use a chopstick to swirl around
7. grease an 18cm round cake tin with butter or oil. pour mixture in & spread evenly, smoothing edges.
8. bake in a preheated oven of 180 deg. c for about 30 mins until wooden skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean and when cake comes off the edges.

tip : another method for making the marble effect is to separate out 1/4 of the cake mixture after milk & vanilla essence has been added. then add in cocoa powder into the 1/4 cake mixture, and pour back into the other 3/4 mixture. again use the chopstick to swirl around. by using this method, the cocoa is less concentrated & bitter. depending on how u want it, you can also add some sugar into the cocoa powder to further reduce bitterness.