Mac n Cheese

I was planning to make carbonara.. but my dad wanted to eat mac and cheese.

My mac and cheese turn out pretty well. The best part was making the cheese sauce. Usually, i would just pour most the milk into the butter-flour mixture and they wouldn't really incorporated well. Ya, i was lazy. But today, i added the milk slowly and mixing the sauce until it's smooth. I was very pleased at how nice the sauce came out. :D

I was careful not to overbake them cause i like the fillings to be creamy. I forgot bout my mac and cheese for a while due to facebook games so a part of them was a bit over browned. Haha!

I added tuna and minced chicken. I think it was good combination.

For recipe, please visit here.

Egg Tarts

Egg Tarts~~ Weee~
Found this recipe from Ching and Mikko

Definitely a keeper! *thumbs up
This recipes yields around 21 - 22 tarts (standard size)

Ingredients for fillings:
140 g sugar (i used 120g which is ideal for my family cause they don't like sweet)
288g water
4 eggs
80g evaporated milk

Method:
1. Boil the water and stir in the sugar until melted
2. Let cool for about 5 minutes or so then add in beaten eggs and evaporated milk
3. Sieve the mixture for 3 times.
4. Set aside

Ingredients for dough:-
300g plain flour
8g custard powder
8g milk powder
8g sugar
1 egg
200g butter

Methods:-
1. Melt butter in double boiler. Let it cool for a while
2. Mix flour, custard powder, milk powder and sugar together in a bowl until combined
3. Add in beaten eggs and melted butter. Mix until just combined only (with a spoon)
* Do not overmix them
4. Divide dough into balls of 26g each
5. Press dough into tart moulds
6. fill the moulds with egg fillings
7. Bake in preheated oven of 160 degree celcius for about 20 mins or till egg custards are cooked.
8. Let the tarts cool for a while, turn over the tart and lightly knock them out of the mould.

Tips:
1. Baked tarts in lower tray to avoid overbaking the egg custards
2. If the egg custards started to puff up, open the oven door a few inches because the temperature may be a bit too high.

Oatmeal Almond Muffin

Recipe from Ching

Ingredients

120g butter
200g caster sugar (i reduced to 150g)
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
250 ml milk
1tsp vanilla essense
240g self-raising flour (sifted)
40g almond slices
40g Oatmeal (i used nestum)

extra almond slices for topping

Method:
1. Melt butter and sugar in double boiler until melted
2. let cool and add in eggs, milk and vanilla
3. Add in sifted flour, almond and oatmeal and mix lightly
4.. Pour mixture into muffin cups
5. Bake in pre-heated oven 180 degree celcious for about 25 mins

Jamie Oliver's Bloomin' Brilliant Brownies

It was quite last minute when i decided to make something to bring to Sharlene's house last Saturday. I only had about 2 hours of preparation and cooking available after arriving home after work. I did not have time to go shopping for ingredients. I ruled out chicken pies because the dough needs time to refrigerate. Cookies are not a good idea because you see cookies everywhere especially during this chinese new year. So what to make? Good thing i have a block of cooking chocolate and butter in my fridge. Shu Vun highly recommended this brownie recipe from Jamie Oliver.

I added a little alcohol in my brownies. I do not have any Tia maria or brandy so i used this lychee wine i have call Kui Fei. There is a slight fruity taste in the brownies which i think is just fine.

I didn't have enough time to take a picture of my brownies. But it was really really chocolatey.
So I will use Shu Vun's brownie pic.


Ingredients
• 250g unsalted butter
• 200g dark Fairtrade chocolate (70% cocoa solids), broken up
• optional: 75g dried sour cherries
• optional: 50g chopped nuts
• 80g cocoa powder, sifted
• 65g plain flour, sifted
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 360g caster sugar
• 4 large free-range or organic eggs
• optional: zest of 1 orange
• optional: 250ml crème fraîche

Methods

Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Line a 25cm square baking tin with greaseproof paper. In a large bowl over some simmering water, melt the butter and the chocolate and mix until smooth. Add the cherries and nuts, if you’re using them, and stir together. In a separate bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder and sugar, then add this to the chocolate, cherry and nut mixture. Stir together well. Beat the eggs and mix in until you have a silky consistency.

Pour your brownie mix into the baking tray, and place in the oven for around 25 minutes. You don’t want to overcook them so, unlike cakes, you don’t want a skewer to come out all clean. The brownies should be slightly springy on the outside but still gooey in the middle. Allow to cool in the tray, then carefully transfer to a large chopping board and cut into chunky squares. These make a fantastic dessert served with a dollop of crème fraîche mixed with some orange zest.

**note: i found that 360g of sugar is too much so i only used 50g. The sweetness is just right for those who are not too fond of sweetness.

Baked Rice

It's holiday today! Happy National Day!! ~

I was planning to make spaghetti today but i was too lazy to drive out to buy the ingredients so i decided to make this baked rice instead. The recipe is from HappyHomeBaking.

I was drooling at this dishes for a while now. So upon checking my fridge, i found out that i still have some cream left from the last cheesecake i made and left over rice from last night's dinner. However, i don't have mozarella cheese so i use cheddar cheese instead. The colour doesn't turn out to be as pretty as the dish made by HappyHomeBaking. But the taste is good.

I don't have fresh chicken stock so i used half a cube of chicken stock mix with about 1/2 cup of water. The rice doesn't turn out to be too wet or too dry. I like the texture just fine. =)

Below recipe is copied from from HappyHomeBaking.

**Thanks for sharing the wonderful recipe~

Ingredients:
(serves 4)

1.5 cups uncooked rice
2 chicken thigh
100g fresh mushrooms of your choice , sliced thickly
some minced garlic
1 cup cream (dairy)
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 teaspoon salt (adjust according to taste)
some black pepper
some grated mozzarella cheese
dried parsley

Method:

1. Wash and cook rice with rice cooker.

2. Bring a pot of water to the boil, put in the chicken thigh and boil till the chicken is almost cooked. Let cool and shred the chicken into bite sizes. Reserve half cup of the chicken stock.

3. Heat up a deep pan, with some cooking oil (or butter) stir fry minced garlic and mushrooms. Add in the shredded chicken meat. Add pepper and salt to taste. Continute to stir fry till the mushrooms become soft.

4. Add in the cream, stir well. Add in the chicken stock and bring to a boil. (Note, always add cream BEFORE the chicken stock, otherwise the mixture may not be smooth.)

5.Add in the cooked rice. Stir and let it cook for a few mins or until the sauce is almost fully absorbed by the rice.

6.Place rice into a heatproof baking dish. Cover top with grated cheese.

7.Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200 degC, till the cheese turns golden brown. Sprinkle with some dried parsley. Serve immediately.

Enjoy this wonderful dish~