Matcha New York Cheesecake

It was my friend's Sin Cheah's birthday on 9 September. She is a green tea lover so I decided to make something related to green tea for her. I was having a fever just days before her birthday, hence, I can only do something easy.

Using my previous new york cheese cake recipe. I halves the recipe and made a 6 inches cake. Turned out quite all right. The birthday girl likes it but thinks could do more with the matcha flavour.
 
 

Ingredients required for biscuit base:-
100g digestive biscuits (yield thick base)
50g butter, melted

Cheesecake fillings:-
250g cream cheese, softened
20g butter, softened
65g sugar 
140g sour cream 
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp matcha powder
1 egg, beaten

Methods:-
1. Place biscuits in ziplock bag and roll with rolling pin. Mix the crumbles biscuits with melted butter and the line the prepared springform tin evenly, pressing down. Refrigerate them while preparing the cheesecake fillings
2. Beat room temperature cream cheese together with butter until smooth and no lumps on medium speed. 
3. Add sugar and beat till combined. 
4. Beat in sour cream, yoghurt, vanilla and matcha powder till incorporated.
5. Lastly, beat in egg until combined.
6. Pour fillings into prepared tins. Cover the base of the tins with 2 layers of aluminum foil to avoid water going in.
7. Bake cheesecake in water bath for about 50 minutes. The cake is done when the middle still jiggles.
8. Allow to cool after baked and chill in the fridge for a minimum of 4 hours.

New York Cheesecake

Recipe from Hundred Eighty Degrees

Before Father's day in May, I was hunting for something easy to bake. And cheesecake is the easiest. They turned out rich, creamy, with a hint of tanginess due to the addition of Yoghurt. I cut down the sugar just a little for the family. They love it.

I used the recipe to make 2 x 6 inches cake.

Ingredients required for biscuit base:-
200g digestive biscuits (yield thick base)
100g butter, melted

Cheesecake fillings:-
500g cream cheese, softened
40g butter, softened
140g sugar (I used 120g sugar)
280g sour cream ( use 200g sour cream plus 80g of Greek yogurt )
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs, beaten

Methods:-
1. Place biscuits in ziplock bag and roll with rolling pin. Mix the crumbles biscuits with melted butter and the line the prepared springform tin evenly, pressing down. Refrigerate them while preparing the cheesecake fillings
2. Beat room temperature cream cheese together with butter until smooth and no lumps on medium speed. 
3. Add sugar and beat till combined. 
4. Beat in sour cream, yoghurt and vanilla till incorporated.
5. Lastly, beat in egg until combined.
6. Pour fillings into prepared tins. Cover the base of the tins with 2 layers of aluminum foil to avoid water going in.
7. Bake cheesecake in water bath for about 50 minutes. The cake is done when the middle still jiggles.
8. Allow to cool after baked and chill in the fridge for a minimum of 4 hours.

Easy Snowskin Mooncake

Mid-Autumn festival was yesterday and last week, i made some snowskin mooncake for gift and for the family.This recipe is from Jacyln san and is really easy to handle but probably only lasted 4 days in the fridge. The skin still stays soft on the second and third day. By the fourth day, it is a bit hard and not really nice to eat anymore.


Yield 8 mini mooncakes (50g size)
You will need the below ingredients:-


130 g Hongkong Gao Fun (cooked glutinous flour)
80g icing sugar (i used 70g)
40g shortening
135 - 150g of cold water (please adjust accordingly)
coloring (own preference)

Paste of your preference. I used store bought low sugar durian lotus paste and white lotus paste.

Methods:-
1. Sift flour and icing sugar together
2. Rub shortening into the above dry ingredients.
3. Add cold water gradually and knead until a soft dough is form
4. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and rest in the fridge for half an hour
5. Prepare the paste fillings in 30g and roll them into balls.
6. After half and hour, divide the dough into 8 pieces, about 20 -22g each.
7. Wrap the paste into the dough and used your desire mooncake mould (i used the mooncake plunger type)

Cocoa Brownies

This recipe is an all cocoa brownies adapted from Brooke's Best Bombshell Brownies from allrecipes. 

The original recipes makes a 9 x 13 inches size. I usually half the recipe to make an 8 x 8 inches but i found it to be a little thinner that what I had in mind. So i used a 9 inches instead with yield a fair thickness of brownies. I also use Cacao Barry's Extra Brute cocoa powder. My family prefer the taste from Extra Brute compare to Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder.

To make a 9 inches square, you will need the below ingredients.

Ingredients:
225g melted butter
300g sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
4 eggs
190g all purpose flour - sift
85g unsweetened cocoa powder - sift
1 tsp salt
170g semisweet chocolate chips

Methods:
1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees C. Grease or line a 9 inches square baking tin.
2. Combined melted butter, sugar and vanilla.
3. Add eggs one by one and stir until combined
4. Fold in sifted flour, cocoa powder, salt and chocolate chips.
5. Pour into baking dish and baked for about 30 - 40 mins. 
6. The brownies are done when a cake tester/toothpick comes out with a bit of crumbs stick on it.
7. Cool completely before cutting in.


 
 

Apple Cinnamon Crumb Muffins

I guess I am just in the mood to post. This is from last Christmas.

I remembered I was trying very hard to come up with something nice to give my boss a.k.a lawyer for Christmas. Luck came when someone gifted a apple cinnamon cake to our office. My boss (ex-boss now) kept on telling me how much she love the cake. It was then I realised spice cake is her kind of things. So I went in search of the perfect apple cinnamon muffins recipe. I was short on time and there was no way I will have enough time to test with recipes. 

It was then, I came across the recipe from Two Pea & Their Pod and somehow, I knew that the said recipe will be perfect. I didn't make any changes to the recipe and follow exactly as instructed. Well, except that the amount of my apples seems to be more in comparison. 

So there I was at the office, right before Christmas and nervously sending up the muffin box. I was relief when she told me she loves them. They are delicious and the crumbles top are sweet and nice. She loves them so much she requested me to bake 20 more muffins for her to bring to a Christmas party the following weekends.

So here goes, recipe below (please visit their site for other wonderful recipes):-

 

Ingredients:-

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground all-spice
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup canola oil
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups diced peeled apples (I use Granny Smith)

For the Topping:
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons melted butter

Directions:-

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a muffin pan with paper liners or spray with cooking spray. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and all-spice. In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk, oil, egg, and vanilla extract. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon or spatula until just combined. Do not over mix. Add in the apples and stir until just combined.

3. To make the crumb topping, in a small bowl, combine brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and melted butter. Mix with a spoon until crumbly.

4. Fill the prepared muffin pan with muffin batter, filling each cup about 3/4 the way full. Sprinkle each muffin with crumb topping. Bake for 20 minutes, or until muffins are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Let muffins cool to room temperature and serve.

My Note:

I find it just a bit on the sweet side and would reduce the sugar to about 2/3 cup : )

Chocolate Chocolate Chunk Muffins

All right, there is no excuse. I admit, I has been really lazy. I haven't been baking very much lately and most of my cookbooks has already been moved to my new house, which I will be moving in sometime during July.

Perhaps I will find time to blog about those goodies I baked in the past.

Last Sunday, me and my friends went on a road trip to Seria, which is about 1 1/2 hours drive from town. We went to the beach to watch a sunset and took some really great pictures! The three figures below are my friends.

Anyway, for this road trip, I had prepared my favourite chocolate chunks muffins from Michelle. I usually used dark chocolate for this recipe but these time, I added extra dark chocolates and some cinnamon powder.

My friends love it! I used a smaller muffin liner and the recipe gave me about 17 cups. I saved a few in the fridge and they still tastes good after I brought them to room temperature today. Ate the last 2 muffins today for tea.

Mochis~

Sometime, I would ask my mom , "what's your favourite food?"
She would think for a long time and couldn't come up with an answer.
At times, she would remember that her all time favourite is mochi. Always Mochis.

She would remembered the time when my younger brother went to Miri a few years back and bought back a kinda squash packet of mochis because he had been carrying it with both his hands all the time. Needless to say, my mom was touch.

I personally couldn't consume this kuih too much due to indigestion.

So, this Mochis is for mom. Hope you enjoy! The second type on the left hand corner with coated peanuts are my bro's favourite.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

I am a lazy person. I baked a lot and yet, I feel lazy to write on my blog. Haha! I had been baking chicken pies every week for almost a month now. Feels great to finally do something different for this weekend.

I made red velvet cupcake last night, as requested by a colleague of mine. There seems to be a shortage of red food coloring at the store so I bought cherry red instead. My friend was telling me it should be the same. Well, as it turned out, cherry red colour was darker but it was nice as well.

Red Velvet cakes are pretty but to be honest, I am still not that comfortable at the idea of using food coloring. But my friend pointed out that the chocolate or snacks or candies I consume also has color in them. However, that doesn't make me feel better.

Pushing aside the fact that the cake is red in colour, the sponge is nice. I reduced the sugar to 90g cause I knew the frosting will surely be sweet. Of course, the cream cheese frosting is heavenly and I felt that the sweetness topping pair well with the not-too-sweet cake.

My colleague find the sweetness just right.

I had misplace my piping bag and my newly bought piping nozzle so I had to made do with my old plastic one. *sigh*. Need a lot of practice in piping.

Recipes from Michelle (browneyedbaker)

CNY Panic

Yesterday while I was checking my table calendar in office, I realised that Chinese New year is in two weeks. I sort of panic cause I haven't take my leave, plan my cny bakes, haven't pack for my trip (I am going to Alor Setar for the CNY). And eventhough I won't be celebrating the new year here, I still have to bake for giveaway.

So, tomorrow I will start with Peanut cookies and I will have to cramp the other bakes all next weekend!! Gawd, I am just not ready for chinese new year yet!! Hahaha.

Today's Bake; Egg Tarts & Brownies

I took leave today cause I was feeling tired and lazy. Cause I had been spending a lot of time reading a harry potter fan fic (very good fic indeed) and thought I might be able to take the day off, reading more fic. But i ended up baking egg tarts and brownies since this morning. What the hell! Hahaha. (recipes can be found here and here!)

Mama asked me why did I always bake during my off days. I told her that i would feel weird if I don't bake something. It's true. It's as much a part of my life as breathing and sleeping. All right, maybe i exaggerated a bit there but that's how much I love baking. :D

Today's bake is nothing new. I felt like eating some egg tarts and the last time I made a batch was probably sometime during the beginning of the year or something.

And for the brownies? It is a request from my dear old friend, Jacelyn. She insisted on paying for it and being my first customer but I guess I will try and see if I can convince her not to pay. hmm.... Anyhow, as I was mixing up my brownies this afternoon, I can feel that this brownies is gonna be just perfect. I don't know how I know but I just know. :D I also added 2 tbsp of kahlua.

Anyway, I have to go shower and off to meet the ladies! Hope they like my bake~

Have a great weekend everyone!

Chocolate-Chocolate Chunk Muffins

For the past months, I had been using Nigella's chocolate muffins recipe whenever i anyone request for chocolate muffins. Seems that some of my friends love it although to be honest, the chocolate doesn't feel enough for me. So this one, this recipe posted by Browneyedbaker had long since caught my eyes. The result is not disappointing. They are very chocolatey. The only thing to be blame was that I reduce the amount of sugar to 1/2 cup, therefore resulting in a less sweet muffin. I certainly would not reduce the sugar again the next time I make this. And yes, I will surely make this again and again and again and...

Well, let's just get on with the recipe, shall we?

Recipe is as below (copy from Ms Browneyedbaker -please do visit her lovely site)

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients:
¾ stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1¼ cups buttermilk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit with paper muffin cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

2. Melt the butter and half the chopped chocolate together in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from the heat.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the buttermilk, egg and vanilla extract together until well combined. Pour the liquid ingredients and the melted butter and chocolate over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Do not overmix the batter. Stir in the remaining chopped chocolate. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

4. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.

Mixed dry ingredients together

Whisk the wet ingredients

Pour the wet ingredients + melted butter + melted chocolate into the big bowl of dry ingredients

Fold in chopped chocolates

Into the muffin cup they go~

My notes:
1. Her recipe calls for 2/3 cup of sugar. I used 1/2 cup of brown sugar instead. I would advise, don't reduce the sugar!!!

2. I think adding some chocolate chips would make the muffins even more heavenly!!

3. I use 190 degrees C.

4. I do not have buttermilk so i used 1 tbsp of white vinegar plus milk to make a cup. Let is stand for about 5 to 10 mins before using.

Happy Birthday to Sin Cheah

A birthday cake for Sin Cheah :D

We were lazy and used can whipped cream instead so.... the result did seem a bit sloppy. Pei Hwan sponsored the fruits and her mother help with the arrangements.

Japanese Cotton cheesecake [original recipe]

After the first attempt at the cheesecake, I decided to try again, this time with the original recipe. No reduction. The one with the 4 eggs.

Recipe refer to Passionate about Baking, adapted from Alex's Goh recipe.

More familiar with the steps this time, I took some pictures along the way =b


Ingredients:
(A) 160g Cream Cheese, 25g Butter, 120g Milk
(B) 40g Flour, 30g Cornflour
(C) 4 Egg yolks
(D) 4 Egg whites, 1/8tsp Cream of Tartar, 100g Sugar, pinch of Salt

Method:

1. Grease and line the bottom of two 20-cm oval pans. Wrap outside of the pans in foil.
2. Place (A) in mixing bowl and stir over double-boiler until thick. Remove it from double-boiler.
3. Add (B) and mix until well combined. Add (C) and mix until well blended.
4. Whip the egg whites in (D) until foamy. Then add the remaining (D). Continue whipping until soft peaks. Add it into the cheese mixture from step (3).
5. Pour the cheese filling onto the prepared oval pans. Bake in water bath at 160C for 40-45 minutes or until well incorporated.
6. Remove cake from the oven. Remove the cake from the mould immediately. Set aside to cool.

Notes:
1. I reduced the sugar to 90g.
2. I sieved the mixture after step 3.
3. I used 150C and must have probably took at least 2 hours to bake =_= I am not sure what I did wrong. It was still moist whenever i tested the cake.
4. I cover the top of my cake loosely with an aluminium foil as soon as I saw that the top is golden brown in colour, which is after, about 35 mins.
5. I used hot boiling water for the water bath.
6. I used a 8 inch round cake tin, greased the bottom and side of the cake tin and line paper at the bottom only.
7. For step 6, I used a small spatula to run between the cake and tin, and leave the cake to cool inside the tin.

This egg separator makes life a little easier for separating eggs.

The cream cheese mixture before sieved.

sieved them nice and slow =b

see how they become smoother now?


Beating egg white till soft peak

Poured them into my 8 inch cake tin


Ah, yes. The sponge is definitely taller than first attempt. :D

Japanese cotton cheesecake (75% of original recipe)

I had never made any sponge related cake before cause I have this phobia. Okay, maybe phobia is a little too much. But I am really really scared that my cake would collapse, too dense or dry or... that's why I had always made muffin. Cause they are easy.

My friend encouraged me to try. My mom as well, she told me that she used to make countless failed butter cake until she was eventually satisfied. Oh, she never follow recipe and only estimate by eyes.

So why started with Cotton cheesecake, you might ask? Well, I really want to make a dessert that my family would like. My parents are not big fan of chocolate and I remembered my younger brother told me he prefer light cheesecake compared to those heavier type.

I chose this recipe from wendyywy, who adapted from Alex Goh. Her cakes look really pretty and told. I also refer to another site from The Little Teochew which I find is very very helpful especially for a beginner like me. She offers several tips and tricks. Really really really helpful!

Baked this cake nearly 2 weeks ago but was too busy to post.

Wendy's recipe only calls for 3 eggs. She reduced the ingredients slightly for her 8 inch round cake tin. I only follow her cake recipe and did not do any topping like she did. Please visit her page for her fruit topping's instructions.

[Recipe below copied from Wendy, please visit her site]

Ingredients:
125gm cream cheese

90ml milk

15gm butter

30gm flour

24gm cornstarch

3 egg yolks

3 egg whites
pinch of salt

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

75gm sugar

Methods:
1. In a heavy saucepan, cook cream cheese, milk and butter until thick and smooth. Set aside.

2. Preheat oven at 160C. Boil some water.

3. After the cheese mixture has turned warm and mix in both flours. Stir with a whisk until smooth.

4. Put egg yolks into the cheese mixture and stir until well combined.

5. In another clean bowl, beat egg whites until frothy. Put in cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks, add in sugar gradually and beat until stiff (soft droopy peak that will hold its form).

6. Fold 1/4 of egg whites into cheese mixture, and then another 1/4 of the egg whites.

7. Pour the cheese mixture into the remaining egg whites and fold.

8. Pour batter into a lined pan (you can just line the base and grease the sides, it's not a must to line the sides as well. Springform or regular pan will be fine, but spring form's base must be wrapped.)

9. Place cake pan into a slightly bigger, shallower pan. Fill the bigger pan with boiling water and put in oven to bake at 150C for 45 minutes.

10. Unmould cake immediately upon removal from oven, if not, the cake will shrink a lot. (If you're using a regular pan you can release the sides by running a knife between the cake and pan, and leave the cake in the pan to cool down).

My note:
1. I reduced sugar to 60g which is just right for my family's standard. They don't like it too sweet.
2. I follow Wendy's instruction all the way. Except I sieved the mixture just as Little Teochew advised after step 4 above.
3. I used double boiler method to melt my butter, cheese and mixture in step 1.
4. I was really slow and preparation alone took me one and a half hour! Haha

The outcome of my cake is quite short. Slightly over 1 inches only. For a first timer, I think I might have done something wrong somewhere. I am not sure. But the texture and taste are great. They are soft and cottony. My family love it. So was my brother, who is very picky at food. I cut out 2 small pieces for my fren, Hwan and she told me she loved it! :)

Such great joy when someone tell you that he/she loves your desserts.

Cranberry Orange Muffins

I bought a packet of dried cranberries last weekend (cause I love cranberries) and thought I could make good use of them for baking. I was initially planning to bake cookies but I woke up at almost noon today. And I was too lazy to take out my electric beater. So I settle for muffins. I had been eye-ing this recipe from Pam for a while now. And I finally did it. The muffin was soft and moist, and come out so orange-y. Haha. My parents think it's a bit too sweet for them but despite that, they asked for seconds.

Here goes the recipe. Adapted from Pam, with a slight changes made by me. Just very very slight.

Ingredients:
2 cups of flour
1 cup of sugar (I used 3/4 cup of sugar - will be using only 1/2 cup next time)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp orange rind
3/4 cup of fresh orange juice
1 cup of dried cranberries
1/4 cup of canola
1 large egg
Coarse raw sugar

Method:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees (200 degrees celcius). Coat a muffin tin with cooking spray or you can just use muffin cups like I do.

Place the dried cranberries and the freshly squeezed orange juice in a small sauce pan and heat over medium heat for 5 minutes. This helps plump up the dried cranberries.

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and orange rind together until well mixed. In a separate bowl, add the orange juice, cranberries, canola oil, and egg and mix together. Pour this mixture into the dry mixture and stir until combined.

Pour the mixture evenly into the prepared muffin tin. Sprinkle a bit of course raw sugar on each muffin top. Place into the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack for a few minutes. Enjoy.

My own notes:
I used the whole of 3/4 cup of fresh orange juice to heat up the dried cranberries. After that, I have about 1/8 cup of juice left in the pan (ya I measured them out). I wasn't sure whether I am suppose to allocate extra juice for the batter. I didn't add additional juice into the wet mixture until I pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture.

As expected, my batter was very very dry. So I added another 1/2 cup of orange juice + 1/8 juice (to top up to the same amount as stated in the recipe). And my muffin come out just great!

My baking time was 200 degrees c for 15 mins plus another 15 mins for 180 degrees c. (cause the top was already quite brown)

Chocolate Chunk Cookies

First time trying out this type of recipe, i.e preparing the dough in advance, freeze them and chopped them into pieces.

I especially love using this recipe because I do not need to take out my cake mixer. Ya, I know I am lazy =b always looking for the easiest recipe. My only problem was that I really fail big times in my cutting skill. I was having a little problem cutting through those thick chocolate chunks in the dough and some squares just didn't... make it =A= Look at the picture above, they look so out of shape *orz

The texture of the cookies taste shortbread-ish and again, I really really love the taste of those big chocolate pieces melting in my mouth after I took a bite. It was so addictive I alone finished a whole container. When i was chopping them, I kept thinking, "I am never gonna use chocolate chunks again" But then, I definitely will, especially after I got a taste of them.

I remember waking up at 6 a.m. on a Saturday to bake this. Brought some to the office and was really glad they like it. There I go being long winded again, I am sure you are anxious to check out the recipe.

I came across this recipe in a chinese forum.
Please refer to the link above for a step by step picture instructions =D

Ingredients:
120g butter (room temperature)
60g icing sugar
1/8 tsp salt
30g egg (about half an egg)
1/8 tsp vanilla
180g flour, sieved
45g chocolate (chopped into pieces) or any other chocolate

Decor (optional):
water
sugar/brown sugar

Method:
1. Use a spatula and and beat the room temperature butter until its soft.
2. Add icing sugar and salt and mixed into the butter until well incorporated.
3. Add egg and mixed well. Then add the vanilla
4. Fold in sieved flour and after that threw in the chocolate chunks!
5. Rolled the dough into rectangle log and wrapped them in cling film. Then into the freezer these log go!~ (I freeze overnight)
6. When it's time to bake, preheat the oven with 180 degree celcius.
7. Took the dough out, brush the surface of the dough lightly with water then rolled them in plate of sugar. This step is optional. I personally like the crunchy texture though.
8. Cut the dough into about 6mm in thickness
9. Bake for about 15 mins

Enjoy~~

*doubling the recipe made 2 small containers

*lalalal~

Strawberry Cream Cheese Muffins

I love making muffins because I can easily mix up a batch without taking out my electronic beater. For muffins, dry ingredients are often prepared separately from the wet ingredients. Then the prepared wet ingredients are folded into the dry ingredients.

During the folding process, do make sure that you don't over fold them. Mixture is usually lumpy but that is just fine for muffin.

So, one day, I told Shu Vun that I wanted to bake something different. Not the usual chocolate cake, cheese cake but something different! She recommended the Strawberry Cream Cheese muffins. This muffin give you surprise inside. =D

I found several links on the web and i chose to follow this and this. The latter link shows steps by steps pictures. This recipe is very well received by all my friends and family. They just couldn't get enough of it!

However, i changed the amount of baking powder used because my muffins didn't seem to rise much on the first tries. Taste wise is good. Really good. But i prefer my muffin to be taller. I had made this countless times and it always comes out good, soft and nice!

The cream cheese filling in the middle often cause people to think that the muffin is uncook so be sure to assure your guinea pig, ahem i mean, your friends that they are just cream cheese. Well, that usually happen if you consume the muffin right out of the oven.

Here's the recipe:-

This recipe make about 12 muffins

Dry ingredients:-
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cups of granulated sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

wet ingredients:-
1 cup milk
1/2 cup/113g unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs (at room temperature)

1 cup fresh strawberries (chopped into pieces)

Cream cheese mixture:
4 oz/113g cream cheese (at room temperature)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Methods:-

1. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the dry ingredients and set aside.
2. In another bowl, whisk the wet ingredients together until well incorporated.
3. Make a well in centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients.
4. Fold them until just combined. Mixture may appear to be lumpy but it's fine. Do not overmix
5. Spoon the batter into prepared muffin cases or tin. Fill each cup barely half full only.
6. Scatter a few strawberry pieces into each one.
7. Top the strawberries with about a tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture.
8. On top of that, add on another 1 or 2 tablespoon of the muffin batter.
9. And on top again, press a few strawberry pieces to the batter
10. Bake for about 25 mins or until top is brown in preheated oven of 180 degree celcius

Enjoy this wonderful recipe. =D

Something I think I should mentioned here, hope it's not too late
Note:
1. The batter should be watery
2. If you want to test the muffin with skewer for doneness, remember to poke the side of the cake. If you poke through the middle, the cream cheese section would be forever moist!

Mr Haines' Chocolate Cake

Mr Haines was my Combined science teacher back in year 1997 from STPRI. Our school love to celebrate Teacher's day by holding the day off and having each class organised their own party. Then each teacher would visit each classes and sample the dishes brought by the students.

So, My Haines @ our homeroom teacher would bring his special chocolate cake everytime with nice chocolate icing on top. He didn't only bring it during Teacher's day, he would even bring it if we students requested it. I don't remember how it taste like now, after 14 years. but it does bring back a lot of happy memories from back then. I probably try to bake it once some 10 years ago. Haha. I think he went back to New Zealand several years ago. Wonder how he is doing now?

So it was 4.30 p.m., i was halfway watching Kimi ni Todoke when i suddenly feel bored. Then i look for Mr Haines' old recipe and started to scout for ingredients around the house. I didn't have milk so i substitute with chocolate milk. My cocoa powder wasn't from the best brand and my margarine was the Farm Cow brand (which i never really like). But I'm really dying to bake something. So i go ahead with all those ingredients in hand.



Here's the recipe for any of you who would love to try it.

1 cup hot water
4 tbsp cocoa powder
4oz margarine (really, i would prefer using butter)
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups self raising flour (sifted)
2 cups sugar

Methods:-

1. preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius.
2. Mix together hot water, cocoa and margarine.
3. Add baking soda dissolved in milk, vanilla and eggs into the first step and mix well.
4. Beat in sifted flour and sugar until well combined.
4. Pour into baking pan and bake for about 25 to 30 mins.

Cool and then ice with your own chocolate icing recipe. The cake taste fine without icing of course.

My oven took 40 mins to bake this cake. So each oven's baking time varies. This is a really easy recipe. I didn't even need to take out my electronic beater and just mix everything with my whisk. =D

The result? soft and fluffy. I like!

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.