Pineapple & ginger cupcakes

Managed to put this one together without a recipe and it still turned out quite good!

Ingredients: -
115g butter
115g caster sugar
115g self raising flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup crushed canned pineapple
1/2 teaspoon mixed spices/ cinnamon
1 teaspoon grated ginger

Icing
3/4 cup icing sugar
1 tablespoon pineapple juice
1/2  teaspoon softened butter

Method: -
Heat oven to 180C.

Mix butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add in eggs and mix well.

Sift flour into mixture. Mix in crushed pineapple, grated ginger and mixed spices.

Bake until nicely browned.

For the icing, mix all the ingredients together in a heatproof bowl sitting in another bowl of hot water to help the ingredients blend together. The icing hardened up quite quickly so you have to be quick! I wanted to sprinkle chai sugar over the top but the icing already set.

Carnival Cookies

Saw this post on Cook Republic that day and I knew I had to try it! No butter and sugar! Guilt free snacking! :) I think it makes a great breakfast food as well.

It probably would look better with chopped chocolate but I was a bit lazy and used chocolate chips.




Ingredients
3 large over ripe mashed bananas
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup macadamia oil
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup hazelnut meal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cups crushed peanuts
1 cup choc chips
1 1/2 cups popped corn

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C. Line two baking sheets with baking paper.

In a large bowl, combine the bananas, vanilla and macadamia oil. Set aside. In another bowl, whisk together the oats, hazelnut meal, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and mixed spice. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Mix to combine. Fold in the chocolate, peanuts and popped corn.

The dough might appear looser than most cookies, but that is alright. Heap 1 tablespoon worth of cookie dough on to your palm and shape small balls. Place about 1 inch apart on baking sheets. Bake for approximately 15-18 minutes until golden, swapping the baking sheet back to front once during the baking process. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack. Will stay just fine in the fridge for a week in an air-tight container.

Fresh cherry & almond cake

Have been holding on to this recipe for a while and since it is cherry season now, I thought I'd give it a go. It has turned out yummy! I have baked it twice already .

Ingredients: -
1 cup almond meal
1 cup plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
125g unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup caster sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cup fresh cherries, pitted and chopped

Method: -
Preheat oven to 180C. Combine almond meal and flour sifted with baking powder and salt.

Beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each one. Fold in almond meal mixture. Add vanilla and cherries, mixing well.

These can be made into individual cupcakes or a whole cake which is what I have done. Bake about 20 minutes (cupcakes) or 35 minutes (whole cake) or until cooked when tested.

Double chocolate loaf cake

Someone said recently that I bake lots of cookies but not cakes. So I decided to show him and since he is always after chocolate cake, I found this recipe. I also added a heap of craisins that I found in my pantry :)

Ingredients: -
175g softened butter , plus extra for greasing
175g golden caster sugar
3 eggs
140g self-raising flour
85g ground almonds
½ tsp baking powder
100ml milk
4 tbsp cocoa powder
50g plain chocolate chips or chunks

Method: -
Heat oven to 160C. Grease and line a 2lb/900g loaf tin with a long strip of baking parchment. I used my square tin because I wasn't sure if my loaf tin was large enough.

Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, flour, almonds, baking powder, milk and cocoa until smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips, then scrape into the tin. Bake for 45-50 mins until golden, risen and a skewer poked in the centre comes out clean.

Cool in the tin, then lift out onto a wire rack over some kitchen paper.

Pineapple Upside Down cake

Had friends coming over last Saturday and thought of a pineapple upside down cake for dessert while flipping through a magazine. I always look around for a simple recipe because if it is not simple, I probably wouldn't try it. Found this one from Nigella Lawson. It turned out great although I used a square tin instead of the round one.

Ingredients: -
Butter for greasing
2 x 15ml tablespoons sugar
6 slices pineapple from a 425g can, plus 3 x 15ml tablespoons of the juice
Glace cherries for decorating
100g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
100g soft butter
100g caster sugar
2 eggs

Method: -
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Butter a tarte Tatin tin (24cm wide at the top and 20cm diameter at the bottom) or use a 23cm cake tin (neither loose-bottomed nor springform).

Sprinkle the 2 tablespoons of sugar on top of the buttered base, and then arrange the pineapple slices.

Fill each pineapple ring with a glace cherry, and then dot one in each of the spaces in between.

Put the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, butter, caster sugar and eggs into a food processor and run the motor until the batter is smooth. (I mixed by hand so it is the usual order of butter and sugar until light and fluffy, eggs, and then flour, baking powder & bicarbonate of soda sifted in.) Then pour in the 3 tablespoons of pineapple juice to thin it a little.

Pour this mixture carefully over the cherry-studded pineapple rings; it will only just cover it, so spread it out gently.

Bake for 30 minutes, then ease a spatula around the edge of the tin, place a plate on top and, with one deft move, turn it upside-down.

Attempting macarons

Thought I'd give this a try and I think it has turned out better than I expected, given my fear of not being able to get egg whites to the required consistency without a cake mixer. Also had no food colouring so this is not coloured but it is rosewater flavoured :)

There are only a couple that actually look like how it should but at least there are some...

Little apple pies

Thought I'd try out this recipe after watching someone bake an apple pie on TV recently. I can't really be bothered to make an entire large pie, so these mini ones using puff pastry are probably easy enough.

Ingredients: -
2 sheets frozen puff pastry
12 ounces cut up red baking apples (approx. 2 medium sized apples)
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons flour
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 beaten egg

Method: -
Thaw puff pastry according to directions on package. Heat oven to 175C.

Peel, core and chop apples up coarsely. Combine apples with sugar, flour, lemon juice, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Flour surface lightly and cut pastry sheet into nine 3x3 squares.

Place approximately 1/4 cup apple mixture on each square and brush edge with beaten egg. Place second pastry square on the top of the already filled pastry to form a pocket. Press down border with fingers to seal and then press with fork to decorate the edges. Make a 1-inch L shape incision into each pie and fold back the pastry flap.

Place on ungreased cookie sheet and give each one an egg wash. Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until golden.

Result: Not bad at all! The filling tastes quite good although I wish I knew how to fit more in them before baking.

Blueberry intense chocolate cookies

Tried out last week's cookie recipe with a bar of Lindt Blueberry Intense. Wow, I didn't realise that the berry flavours in that bar are so powerful! The cookies now have a lovely fruity taste :) Quite different but still great for my cookie fix this week. I might try using all the different flavoured bars over time!

Itsy Bitsy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cannot remember how I came across this recipe but I am glad I did. They are yummy!

Ingredients: -
5 ounces (approx 140g) good-quality semi-sweet chocolate bar
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (but you can substitute unbleached all-purpose flour)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup walnuts, very, very finely chopped (by hand)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
scant 1 cup natural cane sugar (or brown sugar)
scant 1 tablespoon organic unsulphured molasses (blackstrap)
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup large-grain sugar (for ex: turbinado)

Method: -
Preheat your oven to 350F (175C) degrees. Line a couple baking sheets with parchment paper.

Finely chop the chocolate bar into 1/8-inch pieces, more like shavings really. Try to avoid big lumps and chunks, which make flattening out the cookie dough later more difficult.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, oats, walnuts, and shaved chocolate. Set aside.

Using a mixer (or by hand) beat the butter until fluffy. Beat in the sugar and mix until it is also light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Beat in the molasses, then the egg, mixing until both are well incorporated, scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Beat in the vanilla. Add the flour mix and stir by hand until the ingredients barely come together into a uniform dough.

Scoop out the dough in exact, level teaspoons, then tear those pieces of dough in two before rolling each 1/2 teaspoon of dough into a ball shape. Place two inches apart on the baking sheets. Gently flatten each dough ball into a thin, round patty with two fingers and then sprinkle the top of each cookie with a pinch of large-grain sugar. Bake for 7 minutes or until cookies are golden and fragrant. Remove from oven, and cool on a wire rack.

Makes about 12 dozen tiny, bite-sized cookies.

Strawberry and white chocolate muffins with pepitas

Seem to have a baking bug going these days. Spotted this recipe online and since I have strawberries in the fridge, I decided to try it for breakfast.

Ingredients: -
2 cups self-raising flour
½ cup castor sugar
1 cup milk
⅓ cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
½ cup chopped strawberries
50g white chocolate buttons
3 tbsp pepitas

Method: -
Pre-heat oven to 200C. Combine flour and sugar in a large bowl. Combine milk, oil and eggs in a separate bowl, whisk lightly then stir in strawberries and chocolate buttons. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture, pour in the milk mixture and mix lightly. Spoon batter into six greased muffin tins (½-cup capacity) until three-quarters full. Sprinkle pepitas over muffins and bake for 25-35 minutes or until golden and cooked. Turn onto a wire rack to cool.

I had leftover easter chocolate so I used that instead. The muffins are really moist and not greasy which is really good. The toasted seeds on the top also become crunchy. My muffin tins were smaller and I got 16 muffins.

Earl grey tea cake

Spotted this recipe with my favourite tea in it so of course I had to try it out.

Ingredients: -
Melted butter, for greasing
2 Earl Grey tea bags
60ml (1/4 cup) boiling water
80ml (1/3 cup) milk
100g butter, at room temperature
2 eggs
160g (2/3 cup) caster sugar
190g (1 1/4 cups) self-raising flour

Marmalade icing
230g (1 1/2 cups) pure icing sugar
1 1/2 tbs breakfast marmalade
1 1/2 tbs fresh orange juice, approximately

Method: -
Preheat oven to 180°C. Brush 12 medium (80ml/1/3 cup) muffin pans with the melted butter to lightly grease.

Empty the tea leaves from the tea bags into a cup and add the boiling water. Set aside for 3 minutes. Stir in the milk and then transfer to a large bowl.

Mix butter and sugar until pale and creamy, then add eggs, the tea mixture and flour. Beat until the mixture is pale and creamy (the mixture may look slightly curdled).

Spoon the mixture evenly into the greased pans. Bake in preheated oven for 20-22 minutes or until golden and a skewer inserted in the cakes comes out clean. Remove from the oven and set aside for 2-3 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool.

Meanwhile, to make the marmalade icing, combine the icing sugar and marmalade in a small bowl. Add enough juice to make a very thick paste.

Use a teaspoon dipped in hot water to spread the icing over the tops of the cooled cakes. Set aside for 15-20 minutes to allow the icing to set.

Keep in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Variation: Use a round 20cm cake pan, the base and side lined with non-stick baking paper. Bake in an oven preheated to 180C for 40-45 mins or until golden brown and a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Set aside for 5 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool. Ice as above.

I made mine in a loaf pan and I don't usually bother with icing and it tastes great! ;)

Yay! I finally tried out my ninjabread men cookie cutters today! :)

Tried adding some fresh grated ginger this time but it is still not really spicy. Very yummy though! :)

Oatmeal Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies

Tried a colleague's peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies not long ago. They were so good that I have been thinking about peanut butter cookies for a while. I found this recipe in my collection.

Ingredients: -
3/4 cup butter (170g)
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Method:-
1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees C.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the peanut butter, water and vanilla. Combine the flour and baking soda, stir into the creamed mixture. Finally, stir in the rolled oats and chocolate chips. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto an unprepared cookie sheet.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until the cookies are lightly toasted on the edges. Remove from the baking sheet to cool on wire racks.



They turned out not quite like the ones I had before but they are still good!

Pretty cookies

After the last successful attempt with the ginger & chilli cookies, I thought I would try a little "stained glass effect" with glace cherries. They do look nice don't they? And they taste good still! No chilli in this one though :)

Ginger & Chilli cookies

I have been thinking of doing these ever since I saw these Ginger & Chilli biscuits at David Jones.

I adapted the recipe using a Martha Stewart basic cookie recipe and added in ginger and chilli powder!

Ingredients: -
1.5 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick (approx 113g) unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp mixed spice
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 chilli powder
Crystallized ginger

Method: -
1. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and spices in a large bowl.
2. Beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla.
3. Add flour mixture and beat until combined.
4. Add in chopped crystallized ginger.
5. Divide dough into 2 pieces. Shape each into a log and wrap in parchment/cling wrap. Refrigerate until very firm, about 2 hours.
6. Bake at 175°C until firm, 12 to 14 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

These are almost the texture I have been trying to get from these refrigerated cookie recipes for a long time. They taste good but not very spicy at all. Maybe I should try adding more chilli and ginger next time.

Apricot & oat cookies

For some reason, I felt like rolled oats cookies on the way home so I got some rolled oats, found a recipe and tested it out. :)



Ingredients: -
1 1/2 cups (140g) rolled oats
2/3 cup (140g) brown sugar
200g pkt diced apricots (I used dried cherries and currants)
1 cup (150g) plain flour
2 tbs golden syrup
1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
125g butter, melted, cooled

Method: -
1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Line two baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
2. Combine the rolled oats, sugar, apricots and flour in a bowl. Place the golden syrup, bicarbonate of soda and 1/4 cup (60ml) boiling water in a small heatproof bowl. Stir until well combined. Set aside for 2-3 minutes. Stir in the butter.
3. Add the golden syrup mixture to the dry ingredients until well combined. Set aside for 10 minutes.
4. Roll spoonfuls of the mixture into balls. Place on the lined trays about 4cm apart. Bake, swapping the trays around once, for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining mixture.

They are yummy!

Galettes

Got some puff pastry recently to try out a Strawberry Galette recipe. Turns out that having the pastry handy is great since I can whip up a nice snack really quickly.



Just some apricot jam spread onto the pastry, put on the fruit, glaze edges with milk and bake at 200C until nicely puffed and golden.



I tried it with canned pineapple also and it's yummy too!

Honey fruitcake

I've tried this recipe from Martha Stewart a couple of times now. It is good - much healthier than the store bought ones probably. Although the recipes makes a dozen muffin sized cakes, I've done mine as a whole cake each time just so it seems even more like a Christmas fruitcake. I used a 20cm x 20cm square tin. I also added all kinds of other dried fruit like currants and ginger too! I dropped making the glaze because I think it tastes great on its own already :)

Ingredients: -
* 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 teaspoon coarse salt
* 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter (about 170g)
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1/3 cup honey
* 1/4 cup apricot jam
* 2 large eggs
* 1 cup ricotta cheese or 3/4 cup whole milk
* 1 cup pecans or almonds, toasted and ground
* 1 cup coarsely chopped dried apricots (5 ounces)
* 3/4 cup chopped dried cranberries or cherries (5 ounces)

Method: -
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and 1 teaspoon salt.
2. Beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in honey and jam, and then eggs. Add flour mixture, and beat, alternating with ricotta/milk. Beat in nuts and dried fruit.
3. Press a square of parchment into each cup of a standard muffin tin to create a liner (you can also use baking cups). Divide batter evenly among liners. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. I baked the whole cake for approximately 45 mins to 1 hour. Transfer tin to a wire rack. Let stand for 10 minutes.

Gingerbread men

I saw an article about ninjabread men and this really inspired me to make some gingerbread men because I really do like to eat them anyway.


But since I don't have those cutters, I had to make normal men.

Ingredients: -
150g butter, chopped
1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda, sifted
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon ground ginger, sifted
1 teaspoon mixed spice, sifted
1/2 teaspoon baking powder, sifted
3 cups plain flour, sifted
milk chocolate bits, to decorate

Method: -
1. Place butter, sugar and honey in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil. Remove from heat. Stir in bicarbonate of soda. Transfer to a large, heatproof bowl. Cool.
2. Stir in egg, ginger, mixed spice, baking powder and flour until combined. Divide dough in half. Shape into discs. Cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm.
3. Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced. Grease 3 baking trays. Line with baking paper. Roll 1 dough disc between 2 sheets of baking paper until 3mm thick. Cut shapes from dough, re-rolling dough scraps.
4. Bake, 1 tray at a time, for 8 minutes or until just firm to touch. Stand on trays for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.


Here are my gingerbread men.


And a gingerbread ghost. Hahaha!

Sujee Biscuits

With cooking shows and celebrity chefs being all the rage now, Shawn got into the spirit of things and wanted to make some local food. We've now got a bunch of recipes for yam cake, onde-onde, chee cheong fun and sugee biscuits. We got most of the ingredients after work today and here is the first thing we tried out. Most of the recipes can be found here.

Ingredients
230g butter
150g castor or icing sugar (icing sugar creates shorter texture)
300g plain flour sifted
1 tsp baking powder sifted (you can omit this which results in a slightly more dense texture)
100g ground almonds/almond meal
1 tsp Vanilla or almond essence
Red glazed cherries, cut into tiny pieces for decoration

Method
Set oven to 160° C.
Cream butter, sugar and vanilla or almond essence till pale and fluffy.
Add flour and baking powder and mix with a wooden spoon.
Add almond meal and mix till combined.
Line baking tray with parchment. Roll dough into circles the size of large marbles about 1 inch apart. Top with a piece of cherry and squash down a little.
Bake for about 10 mins or till pale gold - these are not meant to be golden brown. Cool on a wire rack and store in an airtight container.


They are quite yummy!