Little Bowl

Here are some old recipes that I posted at my previous photo-foodblog; Zairul & Zack’s Fotopages. I decided that I better transfer the recipes I’ve written there before something happens to Fotopages and all of it goes kaappooofff!

Almond Sandies, originaly taken from AllRecipes, Pecan Sandies.

Ingredients:
100 g margarine/butter , softened
80 ml vegetable oil ( I used canola oil )
50 g white sugar
50g brown sugar
50 g confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 egg
3 ml vanilla extract
250 g all-purpose flour
2 g baking soda
2 g cream of tartar
3 g salt
70 g sliced almonds
* 50 g white sugar for decoration

How to make:
1. Cream together margarine/butter, oil and sugar until smooth. Add in egg and vanilla essence.
2. Sift together dry ingredients and then add to the cream mixture. Mix well and add in the almond slices.
3. Roll dough into balls, and place on baking sheets. Sprinkle the sugars on top of the cookies and bake in a preheated oven of 190 deg for 10-15minutes.

Easy! And not to forget, delicious too!

AND, after that I made another dessert, which was a Panna Cotta, a milk-pudding served with fruit compote..

Quote:
Panna cotta is an Italian phrase, literally translating to “cooked cream”. Generally refers to a creamy, set Italian dessert from the Northern Italian region of Piedmont. It is not generally known exactly how or when this dessert came to be, but some theories estimate that cream (for which this region is famous) was historically eaten plain or sweetened with fruit. After years this treat evolved into what is now a gelatin-thickened custard, flavored with vanilla, fruit, or spices and served chilled. -source: Wikipedia- Panna Cotta

I found the recipe after browsing thru some cooking websites and this is the one I used, with a little bit of  altering done to it.

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 cup whipping cream ( I used low fat )
2 cups whole milk
2 tbsp gelatin ( I brought some from Msia nak ganti with agar2 oso can but make it 1 tbsp more)
1 cup white sugar
vanilla beans ( kalau ada )
or
a few drops of vanilla essence

How to make:
1. Dissolve the gelatin with 1/4 cup of water. Meanwhile in a pot, add together whipping cream ( liquid ) or u can use heavy cream/fresh cream, whole milk, sugar and vanilla.
2. Bring to a boil but be careful not to let it spill. Add in the dissolved gelatin and reduce the heat to medium. Boil for another 3-5minutes.
3. Strain over strainer and pour into pudding cups, glass. Chill in the freezer.
4. For fruit compote: You can use fresh fruits or frozen ones. I used frozen raspberries & blueberries, crush with some sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of water. You can also puree the fruits or eat it as whole, according to ur own taste buds la kan

This is by far the EASIEST dessert I have ever made! And the taste is very delicate, smooth and delicious. Easy to make, takes less than 5 things to make it, serves well and best of all, the taste is never a dissapointment! Recommended for those emergency nights of wanting to come up with a great dessert but don’t have the time to make a fancy one.  A 5-star recipe indeed.

<original post can be found here>

Okay…so, continuing from the last post.

After coming back from Malaysia, life went back to normal. I did miss home for awhile though. Coming back from Malaysia with just my daughter (my husband had to go back a week before) was, I could say, not so bad either. It was a night flight so she slept most of the time, and because we’re so used to traveling together, the 2 of us, so everything went quite well.

(マレーシアから帰ってきたら毎日の生活が普段通りに戻りました。確かにちょっとしか帰ってなくて、最初は寂しくて、ちょっぴりホームシックになったが。。まぁ、これは毎回のことですけどね（笑）でもしばらくしたら、またもカップケーキを焼く日に戻りました）

So, after dealing with some personal stuff, I finally had some time to bake again, and since I didn’t have any particular order from anybody, I started to play again with some new flavors.

What I did next was White Cake Cupcake. I had some whipped cream at that time and flavored it with almond extract. Also, because I thought the cupcakes looked rather bare..I couldn’t resist but to draw these cute faces on top of them.

Aren’t they adorable?

(こちらのカップケーキはホワイトケーキからできていて、トッピングはアーモンドエッセンスで味付けしたホイップクリーム。最初の見た目はやっぱり、何か足りないのでは。。って思ってついつい顔を書いてしまいました（＾＾）可愛いでしょう？)

As for the recipe, here it is:

Ingredients:
makes 8-10 mini cupcakes
50g soft butter (柔らかくしたバター）
70g flour　(薄力粉)
20g corn flour　(コーンスターチ）
50g sugar　(砂糖）
1 egg white　(卵白）
2 tbsp (大さじ） cream/milk　(牛乳/生クリーム）
1 tsp (小さじ） baking powder　(ベーキングパウダー）
a pinch of (一つまみ） salt　(塩）

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees.(オーブンを160度に余熱しておく）
2. Mix everything in a bowl and using your mixer, mix it at high for about 1 – 1 1/2 minutes. (全ての材料をボールに入れて、ハンドミキサーで1分-1分半ぐらいHIGHでかける)
3. Divide batter and bake for 20 minutes.(混ぜた材料をカップケーキ型に分けて,予熱した160度のオーブンに18-20分ぐらい焼く）
4. Leave cupcakes to cool and pipe on some whipped cream that you’ve flavored with almond extract/essence.(焼いたカップケーキを冷め、上にアーモンドエッセンスに味付けたホイップクリームをのせて完成です！）

It’s fairly simple, this recipe. And I plan to fill the cupcakes with some sort of fruit puree the next time I make them

Hi everyone!!

I’d just like to share this SMBC recipe that I made just now using egg white powder.

I browsed high and low to see if anyone has ever successfully made SMBC using egg white powder but to no avail. So with just a hunch, I tried and it turned out just fine! (believe me, I had my worries!)

Here’s my version:

Ingredients:
2 teaspoon egg white powder, diluted in 14 tsp of water
(this was the instruction that came along with my egg white powder; egg white:water=1:7, and this i think is the same as 2-3 egg whites)
50g white sugar
250g soft but cool butter

Directions:

1. Whip the diluted egg whites with sugar until u get stiff peaks, or when u turn the bowl upside down, the meringue stays put and doesn’t plop or slide down the bowl.
2. Add the butter gradually to meringue. it WILL be soupy at first, but continue to mix until it starts to settle. If it still curdles, then add a little bit more butter.
3. Add any kind of flavoring/coloring you want to like a normal SMBC

Here is how the texture is like once done.

NOTE:

1. I didn’t heat my egg whites because I heard that egg white powder are already pasteurized and I didn’t want to take any more risk of messing it up :p
2. Use the egg whites according to can/package that it came with. I opt for less water (the package said 1:7 or 1:8)
3. Soft but COOL butter helps the buttercream sets faster, I think.

So, for those who’ve had doubts on using egg wihtes to make SMBC, go ahead and try it today! It worked for me!

I’ve always been a great fan of the peanutbutter-chocolate couple but I was getting a bit tired with the usual Chocolate cupcake with PB frosting that I’ve made oh-so-many times. And the last time I tried making Peanut Butter cupcakes, mine turned out soggy and too sweet.

I thought, well..maybe it’s time I revisit the Peanut Butter Cupcake land and give it another shot. And I did.
And I’m glad I did, because it is heaven on the palms of my hand

Ingredients:
makes 8-10 mini cupcakes
40g soft butter
20g creamy PB
70g flour
20g corn flour
50g sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp cream/milk
1/2 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees.
2. Mix everything in a bowl and using your mixer, mix it at high for about 1 – 1 1/2 minutes.
3. Divide batter and dunk in a chunck of fresh banana. Bake for 20 minutes.
4. Leave cupcakes to cool and the slather some chocolate ganache (or you can even use Hershey’s Syrup) and sprinkle some ground peanuts on top.

I also had one banana left from last night’s dessert so I just cut them up and dump them in each cupcake. The outcome: nice soft gooey banana in a really moist PB cupcake.

I think I will definitely make these again. They’re simple, not too Peanut Butter-ish and are really, really, really GOOD!

Yes. I DO love Peanut Butter and Chocolate everyone..anybody care to join me?