September 27, 2011

Oatmeal Cupcake

Working in the day time , cooking for dinner after work, taking care of baby at night makes life really hectic in a way . Well all this doesn't stop me from exploring more new recipes. Its been a while since I update my blog , I have to confess that I feel guilty but at the same time , I have to set my priority right which means family come first.

I have been busy taking care of baby Ryan as he was down with fever for the past 1 week. Thank god , everything is over now. So here I am , I am back to cooking and baking again . Yippee!!!!

I have never like eating oat . The smell of oat does not attracts me at all. I was flipping through my recipe book when I found this Oatmeal Cupcake. I was telling myself, this might be a chance for me to really appreciate Oat.

It turn out to be a hit. Believe it or not , I have been baking more than 150 of this Oatmeal Cupcake within a week , and it just vanished from my eyesight within 20 minutes. Gosh , those kids really love Oatmeal Cupcakes eh .



Ingredients 
300g    Butter 
200g    Icing Sugar ( Original recipe calls for 240g of Icing Sugar ) 
4          Eggs 
260g    Superfine Flour 
30g      Milk Powder 
2 tsp    Baking Powder 
90g      Instant Oat   ( Original recipe calls for 60g Instant Oat ) 

Method 
  • Preheat oven to 190C
  • Sift Superfine flour , Milk powder and baking powder. Set aside .
  • Beat butter and icing sugar till creamy and fluffy 
  • Add in egg gradually and mix till smooth 
  • Turn to low speed, fold in flour slowly till well combine. 
  • Using a wooden spatula , stir in the instant oatmeal will well combine. 
  • Scoop into cupcake moulds till 2/3 full and top with oatmeal. 
  • Bake in preheated oven at 190C for 20-25 minutes . Enjoy your cupcake...;) 
Its a worth trying recipe. You will definitely love it. ;)

    Recipe adapted from CHARMING CUPCAKE RECIPE BOOK 


    September 21, 2011

    BABY RYAN SICK ....... :(

    Feeling guilty for being absent from my blog, I have to apologise for being able to post any new recipe for the past 9 days as my precious little king baby Ryan is sick. I promise to be back blogging as soon as my little king get better .... Cheers .. ;)

    September 12, 2011

    HOMEMADE YEAST FREE THIN CRUST PIZZA

    It was a cold Tuesday night , I was craving for pizza for no reason. So , here I go ransacking my kitchen for ingredients I can use for my pizza topping and crust. I was searching high and low for my instant yeast , but I couldn't find any . Gosh , craving for pizza and I must find my way to make it!!!! .... Doink .......... an idea came to my mind : Yeast Free Thin Crust Pizza... Want a glimpse of it ? Here we go...........


    How's that sounds to you ? So I was thinking , hey why not , there is no limitation to making food. LOL... Since its going to be a yeast free pizza crust , I decided to be lazy . I use my new food processor instead of kneading it by hand . Smart eh ?.... shhhhhhhh..... Just to pamper myself once in a while . It turns out to be real crusty pizza, like how I always wanted it to be. ;) I will definitely make it again ..

    Unbelievably crunchy and tasty . Believe it . lol.... I just use whatever ingredients that I can find in my fridge .




     It turns out to be colourful. Heehee.... I am not a big of cheese either , so I opt not use too much cheese on my pizza ........... It is still a tasty pizza though..

    Yeast Free Thin Crust Pizza
    Ingredients

    for Pizza Crust :
    1cup   Plain Flour
    A pinch of Salt
    1tbsp  Olive Oil [ or Corn Oil ]
    1tsp    Double Action Baking Powder
    1/3cup Water

    for Sauce :
    1 1/2cup Tomato Puree
    1tsp        Italian Seasoning
    Salt , Sugar and Pepper to taste

    for Toppings:
    Sausages/ minced meat /ham [any other meat of your choice ]
    Chopped /thinly sliced Capsicum
    Thinly sliced Onion
    Mozarella Cheese / Cheddar Cheese /Any cheese


    Method
    for the Crust :

    • Preheeat oven to 250C. 
    • Mix flour , salt and double action baking powder . Add in olive oil mix well. 
    • Add in water and mix till form soft stretchable dough. 
    • Roll into thin dough and place on a greased or lined baking tray. 
    • Bake at preheated oven for 20 minutes 
    for the sauce :

    • Cook tomato puree over medium heat. Stirring occasionally till boil . Add in Italian Seasoning , salt and pepper to taste. Simmer over medium-low heat for another 5 minutes. Dish up and keep aside. 
    for the toppings :

    • Melt 1/2 tbsp butter in a wok/pan. Add in onion and fry at medium heat for 2 minutes. 
    • Add in meat/sausages and stir-fry till cooked. Add in Capsicum . 
    • Add pepper and salt to taste. Dish up and keep aside. 
    To assemble : 

    • Spread 1 cup of sauce on the baked crust . Add toppings on it and cover it with cheese . [ I am watching my waistline so I did flood my pizza with a thick layer of cheese ] 
    • Bake at preheated oven at 225C for 10-15 minutes until cheese melted and crust turns lightly brown.
    • Hooray!!!... your pizza is ready to be served. 




    September 6, 2011

    NEW KITCHEN TOY!!!!

    What's more rewarding than getting new toys to compliment your cooking and baking effort? I was back in my hometown on Hari Raya Puasa , to find that my mom actually bought me some new toys for my small warm kitchen. I was really excited to try out my new kitchen toys. Yippeee!!!!!!!!


    Check out my new oven . It gives me encouragement to continue with my passion to explore more baking recipes. Wait a minute, hang on there . There is another toy of mine that I really wanna share with you guys. Its my new mixer. It works amazing ... thanks to my mom ........ 


    Well, guess there will be no reason for me not to bake more varieties for my loved one then .... ;) 

    TEOCHEW FLAKY SPIRAL MOONCAKE

    After my first try at making snowskin mooncake , I have the urge to try making a different version of delicious homemade mooncake : Teochew Flaky Spiral Mooncake .

    Attracted by the spiral flaky look of the teochew mooncake , its a totally new challenge for me to try out this new recipe. Again to mention I am not a big fan of mooncake, yet it didn't stop me from exploring more mooncake recipes.Honestly I have not tasted any Teochew Mooncake before. It makes me really want to try this recipe immediately .

    These spiral little mooncake is really tasty . Unbelievably tasty . Once you started eating you won't be able to stop. Heehee .... at least thats what my mom said. My little Ryan loves it too . Thats the best part of all.


    LOL............  Ryan's wanted mama to include his pacifier in the photos . That is his beloved pacifier though.


    TEOCHEW MOONCAKE   

    Ingredients 

    Water Dough
    200g   Plain Flour
    28g     Icing Sugar
    A pinch of Salt
    80g     Cold Butter
    80g     Water

    Oil Dough
    180g   Plain Flour
    A pinch of Salt
    90g     Oil
    1/2 tsp Pandan Essence

    Filling :
    450g   Pandan Lotus Paste
    50g     Melon Seeds

    Method 
    • Preheat oven to 185C . Line a baking tray with grease-proof paper
    • Mix pandan lotus paste with melon seed. Shape the pandan paste mixture into 25g each and shape into round balls 
    for Water Dough :
    • Sift Flour , sugar an salt in a mixing bowl. Cut cold butter into the flour mixture using fingertips or food processor until mixture turns into crumbs .
    • Add in water to form a soft , non-sticky dough. Add flour if it is too sticky, to get the right texture. It should be soft and non-sticky. 
    • No need to knead the dough . It should be able to be shape into soft balls easily without sticking to fingers and hands. 
    • Cover and set aside to rest for 20 minutes. 
    for Oil Dough :
    • Sift flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture , add in oil and pandan essence .
    • Draw in flour from the side to form a soft , non-sticky dough. Same as the water dough, add in flour if the dough is too sticky. 
    • Do no over-mix. Cover and set aside for 20 minutes .
    To assemble :
    • Divide both water dough and oil dough into 10 portion each ( 10 portion water dough , 10 portion oil dough ) 
    • Flatten one piece of water dough and wrap one portion of oil dough in it . Pinch to seal edges.

    • Using a rolling pin, roll it flat into long strip . Roll up like a snail to form a cylinder, turn the dough 90 degrees, with the end facing up. Roll again into a long thin strip
    • Using a sharp knife or pastry cutter , cut the cylinder in the middle into 2 equal pieces. With the cut side facing down , flatten the dough, making edges slightly thinner than the centre. Leave a little hump in the centre in order for the dough to be evenly thick all around when wrapping the pastry
    • Wrap filling and pinch to seal. Try no to tug or pull too hard, otherwise the layers will tear
    • Place sealed side down on lined baking tray and bake for 30minutes until the top and bottom are a light golden brown
    Enjoy your Teochew mooncake. It is really yummylicious!!

    Recipe adapted from House Of Annie

    September 5, 2011

    TINY MINI SNOWSKIN MOONCAKES

    Inspired truly by Happy Home Baking's Aspiring Bakers #11: Mid-Autumn Treat [September 2011]  , I am ready to take up a new challenge : Making my very first Mooncake. Unbelievable , well believe it .

    First I have to tug my baby to sleep before preparing for my first attempt to make Mooncake . So I was humming and patting Ryan to sleep on his playpen cum bed, telling him " baby , mama is gonna make u some delicious mooncake today . So be a good boy now , u go to sleep so mama can work on the mooncake " . Within minutes , Ryan fell asleep. Yippeee !!!!!!!!!!

    Even my bunny can't resist it! Seriously Simply Delicious and yummy. The moment my darling , baby Ryan was awake, I immediately treat him a quarter of this pretty piece of snowskin mooncake. Upon tasting it , he so love the taste of the mooncake , to have him asking for more . Gosh.. seriously unbelievable ....
    I am never a big fan of mooncake . You know how woman should watch their calories intake and all. I have to say , the snowskin mooncake won this time. Feeling guilty and sorry , I just can't resist eating another one after tasting 2 of it.



    Snowskin Mini Mooncake 

    Ingredients 

    For the snowskin :
    75g   Cooked Glutinous Rice Flour 
    50g   Icing Sugar 
    25g   Shortening 
    90ml Cold Water 

    For the Filling : 
    300g   Pandan Lotus Paste
    60g     Melon Seeds

    Method 
    • Sieve glutinous rice flour and icing sugar into a mixing bowl . Rub in shortening to form into crumbs. 
    • Add in cold water and knead a few times to form a smooth soft dough. 
    • Leave dough in the fridge for 15 minutes
    • Dived dough into 20g per piece and shape it into round balls .
    • Mix pandan lotus paste and melon seeds. Divide into 30g balls and set aside.
    • Flatten each dough and roll out into 3 mm thick or 5 cm in diameter 
    • Wrap the pandan paste filling with the flatten dough skin and seals the seams
    • Dust mooncake moulds [ small mooncake moulds of diameter 4 cm] . Place the wrapped dough into the mooncake mould and press the mould . Remove the mooncake from the mould . 
    • Chill the mooncake in the fridge and serve cold. 
    • Enjoy your delicious mini snowskin mooncake 

    I adapted this recipe from Happy Home Baking