Lots of kisses

I wasn't supposed to bake today. Early this week I visited the ER twice. And I promise Tony I will rest and stay away from kitchen.

We are hosting the new year eve party at our house tonight. And I just can't sit there do nothing. Without Tony knowledge, I did three desserts for tonight. One of which is this Chocolate Meringue cookies.

This is my second attempt of making this cookies. I did a silly mistake on my first attempt by wrongly convert the required temperature to Celsius. I doubled the required temperature. Ouch! Guess what happen? Less than half an hour, my whole house smell burn... it takes two days to completely clear the burn smell in the house.

I love meringues cookies, it's light and crispy. They are easy to make, no complicated ingredient.

Happy baking!


Chocolate Meringues Cookies
adapted from Martha Steward

4 large egg whites
1 c sugar
pinch cream of tartar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder (I recommend using extra dark cocoa)

1. Preheat your oven to 175°F. (Yes, you didn't read wrong, it is very low temperature. I screwed up the first time as I read the temperature in Celsius. )
2. Prep a pastry bag with a large star tip. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment or silicone baking mats.
3. Combine the egg whites, sugar and cream of tarter (you can omit the cream of tartar if using a copper bowl) in a large heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Whisk constantly over the water until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is warm to the touch (about 3-4 minutes).
4. Remove from heat and beat the whites with a hand mixer or your stand mixer, starting on low speed and gradually increasing until stiff, glossy peaks form.
5. Add the vanilla and mix to combine.
6. Sift the cocoa over the meringue to break up any lumps and then fold until no streaks remain. Add the mixture to your pastry bag and pipe rows of quarter sized meringues onto the pans.
7. Bake for 2 hours, until they lift from the pan easily. Allow to cool completely.
8. To sandwich, melt a few ounces of your favorite chocolate and fill a zip top bag. Cut a small opening and pipe small blobs of chocolate onto each cookie. Given their awkward shape, this is best done with the meringues upside down on a baking rack. Allow the chocolate to cool for about 10 minutes and then top with a second cookie. Allow the filled cookies to sit for a couple hours or until the chocolate has set completely and then store in an air tight container for up to 2-3 days.

       

Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011!

Kuih Salat

Yes, it's the time of year, the tree is up the light is aglow. It's time to celebrate the holiday with folks we know! 

Tony invites all his staff over to our house tonight for pot-luck dinner and karaoke. Since most of his staff are Vietnamese and one from Johor, I can't serve without some Nyonya (Malaysian style) desserts.

Kuih (cake or dessert) Talam is a dessert consisting of two layers. The top green layer is the custard with extract of pandan leaf (screwpine leaf), while the bottom layer is made from the glutinous rice.

Kuih Salat

For the rice layer:

1 1/2 c glutinous rice, washed and soaked overnight
200ml coconut milk
1tsp salt
2 pandan leaf, tied into a knot

1. Wash rice in several changes of water until water runs clear. Cover with fresh water and soak overnight or at least 3 hours. Rinse and drain rice.
2. Place in a 8" round or square cake pan (at least 3" height). Combine the coconut milk and salt, then add to the rice. Bury the pandan leaf in the rice and steam over rapidly boiling water for 30 minutes until the grains will no longer have any opaque bits.
3. Remove the pandan leaves and fluff rice up with a fork. Then, using a aluminium foil, press the rice down to form an even, compact layer. Steam for another 15 minutes.

For the pandan juice:

6-8 large pandan leaves
1/2 c water

1. Under the running water, rub and rinse pandan leaves.
2. Cut the leaves into 1" length.
3. Place the leaves and water in an electric blender and process until pulverized.
4. Pour through a find strainer and discard solids.
5. Measure out the required amout of juice as required.

For the custard layer:

3 large eggs
200ml coconut milk
1/2 granular sugar
1/2 c pandan juice
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp all purpose flour

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, coconut milk and sugar. Add in the pandan juice, cornstarch, flour and whisk until smooth.
2. Strain the mixture into a heatproof bowl and sit the bowl over a simmering water. Whisk until custard just begins to thicken. Do not overcook.
3. Pour the custard over the rice layer. Steam over low heat until set, about 20 minutes. Avoid opening the steamer.
4. Allow to cool completely before cutting.

  

  

  

Simple is best

I have been baking a lot in the past couple of weeks. Trying new recipes and frequently finding myself disappointed by the results.

It's been a little frustrating. Especially when I follow every steps in the recipe yet my product turn out totally differently from what it should be.

Though it's disappointing, but it won't stop me from continue to try.

Today, once again, something new, something I wanted to do for a long time - fondant cake. My very first fondant cake, ever.

Playing with fondant and gumpaste is fun! Ryan thinks it's play-doh. Adult play-doh.

Good thing about fondant cake is you can have some of the deco done ahead of time. For this cake, the bow and the letters were prepared days before. This cake was assembled on Wednesday night.

This birthday cake was supposed to take to the office on Thursday but plan changed when I learned Ryan's school will be closed at 12 noon on Thursday and open all day Friday. Huh, so confusing? Weeks ago, I submit my day off request for Friday, thinking school closed on Friday. Well, I guess I was wrong.

 

It was JB birthday on Tuesday, but he only get to cut this cake on Friday. On Friday, I brought this cake to the office, everyone in the office were impressed. They all want to keep the cake the way it is. Simply too good to cut.

I'm pleased with the result of this simple looking fondant cake. I'm even happier when everyone loves it!

Note: I will follow up with another post detailing step by step instruction in fondant/gumpaste decorating. Click here for the bow.

More holiday baking

I know I made some festive cookies for the holiday already, well, what better time to have more festive cookies than Christmas time? The more the merrier.

Shortbread is one of my favourite cookies. Luckily, it is one of the easiest cookies to make and one of the most versatile.

The other day at the office, I get to tried shortbread made from oat flour. And I learned about the origin of shortbread was from Scotland and recipe included oat flour then the English adopted it. In the beginning shortbread was expensive and reserved as a luxury for special occasions like Christmas, Hogmanay (Scottish New Year’s Eve), and weddings. Through the years it developed into an everyday favorite and is now enjoyed all around the world.

Traditional shortbread consisted of three main ingredients: flour, sugar and butter. Today many varieties of shortbread exist, but most still include the traditional ingredients. The type and texture of the dry ingredients greatly influences the consistency of the shortbread. The secret of making good shortbread is to use only high quality butter and pure vanilla extract.

They look very festive during Christmas time with the red strawberry jam poking  through the cut out.

When making sandwich cookies, make sure the cookies are all the same size because if the cookies are different sizes they don't fit together perfectly and the filling will leak out. Also, do not overfilled the cookies with jam, as you want just enough jam to hold the cookies together.

For the cookies, I used this recipe. 

For the filling*:
1/4 c of strawberry jam (or any fruits jam or preserves)
1 tbsp water**

To assemble cookies:
On the bottom surface of the full cookie, drop 1/2 tsp of jam onto the center of the cookie. Place the cut-out cookie on top and gently sandwich them together. If you like to have more jam, fill the cut-out with a little more jam.

Note:
* Make sure your jam or preserve is properly set, not too runny, not too solid.
**Skip the water if the jam or preserve has the right consistency. Only add water if the jam/preserve is solid.

Politically correct recipe: Gingerbread people

"Care to have a piece of gingerbread man? Oh, no. I mean gingerbread person."

Gingerbread men being re-named to gingerbread people?

The gingerbread man's gender has come under threat from political correctness. People these days are trying hard to be politically correct. I guess the intention is to not offence anyone. For these yummy goodies, I doubt most people could care either way whether they are gingerbread people, gingerbread men, ginger women, gingerbread person, as long as THEY taste good.

Is gingerbread man name changed really important? Neh!

I don't usually like gingerbread man, but I gotta tell you, I fell in love with this man. They are soft and wonderfully fragrant with the flavors of molasses, ground ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. I just cannot resist, they are yummy…

Gingerbread men cookies

Ingredients:

2 1/2 c all purpose flour, spooned and leveled
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp coarse salt
1 c unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 c granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/4 unsulphured molasses

Steps:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, ground ginger, ground cloves, cinnamon and salt.
2. In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), with the paddle attachment, beat butter and granulated sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg and molasses and beat to combine, scraping down bowl as needed. 3. With mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture and beat until incorporated. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, 1 hour (or up to 3 days).
4. Preheat oven to 350F.
5. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough to a 1/4 inch thickness. Cut the dough with gingerbread cutter. 
6. Arrange cut out dough 1 inch apart, on two parchment-lined baking sheets.
7. Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes depending on the size of the cookies. Let cool completely on wire racks.

Store cookies in airtight containers, up to 1 week.

There are many ways to decorate gingerbread. Kids like colored royal icing. For royal icing recipe:

2 tbsp meringue powder

1 lb powered icing sugar

5-7 tbsp water

In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat the icing sugar and meringue powder until combined. Add the water slowly and beat on medium to high speed until very golssy and stiff peak, for 7 minutes.

To cover or 'flood' the entire surface of the cookie, the proper consistency is when you lift the beater, the ribbon of icing that falls back into the bowl remains on the surface for a few seconds before disappearing.

Cover the icing with plastic wrap when not in use. Royal icing get harden when exposed to air.

Note: If the icing is too running, add more icing sugar. Add more water if the icing is too stiff.

Make about 3 cups.



Engineer @ work

As we enter the festive month of December, everyone is taken by the Christmas spirit. The tree is up, the lights are aglow, and the air is filled with gingerbread smell.

V and I decided to do something special -  gingerbread house challenge! 

On Tuesday, we have lunch with two other girls. We were talking about the gingerbread, JT already started her gingerbread man last week. She already been baking over I-don't-know how many dozens of gingerbread man. V threw a question, is gingerbread an evil one? That's why we eat them? We have a good laugh but we have no exact answer for that. hmm...I never thought of how and when the gingerbread man started? I always think it has something to do with the fairy tale: Hansel and Gretel story.

I went to JH, cuz he's our go-to guy. He has no answer too.

Regardless of what's the story behind the gingerbread man, V and I already in gingerbread action mode!

Checking the list twice! We are ready to rock!

Don't yell! I know, I know. We cheated. We got the Gingerbread House Kit :P
This kit comes in everything you need, pre-baked roof and wall, candies, icing.

Check out our work in progress:

foundation is laid, walls are built up...   

roof is installed just before snow dumped...

snow storm hits our construction site...roof all covered up by snow.

With a little helping hand, our project is able to finish on time. 

For the finishing touch, V did some lanscaping around the house. I just love these trees. They are cute and yummy.

 Ta-da! Our very first housing project. 

This project is designed by, V.L, P.E and supervised by A.K., P.E.