Another surprise..... Sweet giveaways......

I won something again from Dessert Magazine... It was truly indeed a surprise.. YAY!!!

The Modern Baker: Time-Saving Techniques for Breads,Tarts, Pies, Cakes and Cookies by Nick Malgieri. Nick Malgieri has the magic touch when it comes to baking. This celebrated pastry chef is a teacher’s teacher who knows how to make novice and expert bakers alike cheer at the delicious results of their efforts.

Thanks Dessert Magazine for picking me... :)

DB's January Challenge: Tuiles

The January challenge comes to you from Karen aka Baking Soda at Bake My Day! (from the Netherlands) and Zorra aka Kochtopf at 1x umrühren bitte (originally Swiss now in Spain) . They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

I almost forgot the due date for DB's January Challenge. Funny thing how I remembered about the challenge... I saw one Chinese little gurl ate love letters while waking with her mom and I felt that something got to do with those love letters... Hence, I decided to check at the daring bakers kitchen. I was like... Oh yes.. Oh no.. I have only a few hours... I think I have to thank to my lucky star... it is very easy to make.. I have all the ingredients in hand so took me a short while to make them... Initially, I wanted to make butterflies but had no time so I opt for a round shape.. I cut out the round shape from a plastic container for my tuiles.. Also, I had not much time to make plenty so for the first round, I only made 4 just for this blog but I will make more and post the photos soon. Although the following recipe said butterflies, its just an example, you can opt for different kinds of shapes... Anything you’d like to know and more: http://www.pastrysampler.com/Questions_and_Answers/tuile.htm

Following is a recipe taken from a book called “The Chocolate Book”, written by female Dutch Master chef Angélique Schmeinck.

Yields: 20 small butterflies/6 large (butterflies are just an example)
Preparation time batter 10 mins, Waiting time 30 mins, Baking time: 5-10 mins per batch

Ingredients
65 grams / ¼ cup / 2.3 ounces softened butter (not melted but soft)
60 grams / ½ cup / 2.1 ounces sifted confectioner’s sugar
1 sachet vanilla sugar (7 grams or substitute with a dash of vanilla extract)
2 large egg whites (slightly whisked with a fork)
65 grams / 1/2 cup / 2.3 ounces sifted all purpose flour
1 table spoon cocoa powder/or food coloring of choice
Butter/spray to grease baking sheet

Method
Oven: 180C / 350F. Using a hand whisk or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (low speed) and cream butter, sugar and vanilla to a paste. Keep stirring while you gradually add the egg whites. Continue to add the flour in small batches and stir to achieve a homogeneous and smooth batter/paste. Be careful to not overmix.Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up. (This batter will keep in the fridge for up to a week, take it out 30 minutes before you plan to use it).

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease with either butter/spray and chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. This will help spread the batter more easily if using a stencil/cardboard template such as the butterfly. Press the stencil on the baking sheet and use an off sided spatula to spread batter. Leave some room in between your shapes. Mix a small part of the batter with the cocoa and a few drops of warm water until evenly colored. Use this colored batter in a paper piping bag and proceed to pipe decorations on the wings and body of the butterfly.

Bake butterflies in a preheated oven (180C/350F) for about 5-10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Immediately release from baking sheet and proceed to shape/bend the cookies in the desired shape. These cookies have to be shaped when still warm, you might want to bake a small amount at a time or maybe put them in the oven to warm them up again. (Haven’t tried that). Or: place a baking sheet toward the front of the warm oven, leaving the door half open. The warmth will keep the cookies malleable.If you don’t want to do stencil shapes, you might want to transfer the batter into a piping bag fitted with a small plain tip. Pipe the desired shapes and bake. Shape immediately after baking using for instance a rolling pin, a broom handle, cups, cones….

Check out the rest at Daring Bakers. :)

Chinese New Year Hamper for the bosses.....

I thought of this idea for last year Christmas but someone at work suggested to get a gift for our bosses - the husband and wife team for the Chinese New Year or sometimes called Lunar New Year. Everyone agreed and contributed. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first lunar month in the Chinese calender and ends on the 15th; this day is called Lantern Festival. In Singapore and many other countries , its a 2 day Public Holiday but in China it could be up to 7 days of Public Holidays... ;)

Anyway, I thought of getting them a hamper and souvenir, a photo frame, pictures of them with all the staff would be a good gift.. Instead of getting ready-made hamper from the supermarket, I decided to create my own hamper... I bought cookies, peanuts, egg crackers, yu sheng, longan desserts, chocolates, Chinese tea for the hamper. Lucky thing mom kept some nice baskets. At first, it was hard for me to arranged the items in the basket because, of all the shapes and sizes... With mom's suggestions, I managed to fit all the items in the basket. I wrapped the basket with a clear with some white spots decoration and a "touch" of oranges. hehe..

Here is my first basket hamper looks like. I hope they like it... :)

The front side of the hamper.

The back side of the hamper

I wish to all Chinese around the world, a Happy Lunar New Year and to everyone else a Happy Holidays..... Gong Xi Fa Cai.. :)

Cookie Carnival (December) - Cookie Decorating Contest!!

When I saw the email from Kate, I was so excited. It's something different and FUN!!! It's a cookie decorating contest. YAY!! As usual, in the email, she will provide us with the recipes. This time, she gave us two recipes to make the holiday cut-out cookies. There is 2 categories to win in this contest. 1st is MOST BEAUTIFUL COOKIE and 2nd is SILLIEST COOKIE. She and a couple of other judges will pick a winner and 2 runners up. The prize would be a Cookie Carnival Queen (or king!) button to put on her/his blog and the runners up will get honorable mentions and maybe a couple silly prizes. :)

I used the vanilla roll-out cookies recipe and divide it into 2 portions. The 2nd portion I added some cocoa powder. I know, I should have used the chocolate roll-out cookies recipe but I was really tired when I made the dough. I bought some ready-made icing and gel from the supermarkets. I love using the gel. I should have bought more colors for the gel. I am not so creative so when I was decorating the cookies, I kept thinking what next to do... These are the best I can do.. hehe.. Anyway, it would be nice if I win a prize but if not, its all good. Its all about FUN. I had fun making and decorating the cookies.

CHOCOLATE ROLL-OUT COOKIES - Dorie Greenspan
Yield: Makes about 60 small or 20 large cookies

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Sprinkles or other sugar decorations (optional)
Royal Icing (optional)

Preparation
Sift first 5 ingredients and cinnamon, if desired, into medium bowl. Stir chocolate in metal bowl set over saucepan of simmering water until melted and smooth. Set aside. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl at medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add sugar and beat until mixture is pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg; beat until well blended, about 1 minute. Reduce speed to low and beat in vanilla and chocolate. Add flour mixture and beat on low speed just to blend. Gather dough into ball; divide in half. Form each half into ball and flatten into disk. Wrap disks separately in plastic and chill until firm, at least 4 hours. DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before rolling out.

Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out dough between 2 sheets of waxed paper to 1/8-inch thickness for smaller (2-inch) cookies and 1/4-inch thickness for larger (3- to 4-inch) cookies. Using waxed paper prevents you from adding too much flour, which will make the cookies tough.
Using decorative cookie cutters, cut out cookies. Cold dough is much easier to work with. If it gets warm as you're cutting out the cookies, place the dough—waxed paper and all—in the freezer for about 5 minutes.

Use an offset spatula to peel away the excess dough and transfer the cookies to parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. Gather scraps, roll out dough, and cut more cookies, repeating until all dough is used. If not icing cookies, decorate with sprinkles or other sugar toppings, if desired.

Bake 1 sheet at a time until cookies are firm on top and slightly darker around edges, about 9 minutes for smaller cookies and up to 12 minutes for larger cookies. Line baking sheets with fresh parchment as needed. Cool completely on rack. Decorate cookies with royal icing if desired. DO AHEAD: Cookies can be made 4 days ahead. Store between sheets of waxed paper in airtight containers.

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VANILLA ROLL-OUT COOKIES - Dorie Greenspan
Yield: Makes about 40 small or 15 large cookies

For a lemony twist, reduce the vanilla extract to 3/4 teaspoon and add 1 1/4 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel.

Ingredients
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour€
Sprinkles or other sugar decorations (optional)
Royal Icing (optional)

Preparation
Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl at medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add sugar and salt and beat until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg; beat until well blended, about 1 minute. Reduce speed to low and beat in vanilla. Add flour and beat on low speed just to blend. Gather dough into ball; divide in half. Form each half into ball and flatten into disk. Wrap disks separately in plastic and chill until firm, at least 4 hours. DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled.

Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out dough between 2 sheets of waxed paper to 1/8-inch thickness for smaller (2-inch) cookies and 1/4-inch thickness for larger (3- to 4-inch) cookies. Using decorative cookie cutters, cut out cookies and transfer to prepared sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. If cookies become too soft to transfer to baking sheets, place in freezer on waxed paper for 5 minutes before continuing. Gather scraps, roll out dough, and cut more cookies, repeating until all dough is used. If not icing cookies, decorate with sprinkles or other sugar toppings, if desired.

Bake 1 sheet at a time until cookies are firm on top and golden around edges, about 10 minutes for smaller cookies and up to 14 minutes for larger cookies. Cool completely on rack. Decorate with Royal Icing, then sprinkles or other sugar toppings, if desired. Let stand until icing sets. DO AHEAD: Can be made 4 days ahead. Store between sheets of waxed paper in airtight containers.

Click here to check for the rest of CV bakers. Thank you, Kate for the awesome challenge. :)
I even had some help from my little nephew who just turned 5 years old yesterday. He helped me to decorate one cookie.. It was so cute. :)

My little nephew decorate this cookie with red color gel. I decorate my Singapore flag, but couldnt see the crescent and the 5 stars... hehe..

Here are more photos of my decorated cookies...

Sweet & Simple Bakes (December): Christmas Muffins

This time, the challenge was very interesting. Both Rosie and Maria made a polling system for S&S Bakers to choose their favorite. The following showed the choices and the number of votes:

Christmas muffin - 20 votes
Trifle - 7 votes
Minced Pies - 5 votes
Gingerbread People - 16 votes
Stained Glass Window Cookies - 19 votes

I voted for the gingerbread people, unfortunately, the votes were not high enough. No biggie.. I enjoyed making the Christmas muffin on Christmas eve morning. It was good. Well, I am not really a big fan for muffins but I would say these muffins were good. Moist and doesn't break into pieces. I'm looking forward to bake gingerbread people and stained glass window cookies in the future.

This recipe is sourced and adapted from Nigella Christmas cookbook. A very beautiful book by, The Domestic Goddess’s herself and it definitely is worth purchasing for all the magnificent festive recipes inside.

Christmas Morning Muffins ~ adapted from Nigella Christmas Book
Makes 12

Ingredients
250g (9 oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
2½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
100g (4 oz) caster (super fine) sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Good grating of fresh nutmeg (or ¼ tsp ground nutmeg)
2 Clementine’s or Satsuma’s *see notes*
Approx 125ml (4 fl oz) full-fat milk
75g (3 oz) vegetable oil (or melted butter, left to cool slightly)
1 egg
175g (6 oz) dried cranberries

For The Topping
3 tsp Demerara sugar *see notes*

Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan oven 180°C/400°F/Gas mark 6.
Line a 12-bun muffin tin with muffin paper cases.
Measure the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, caster sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg into a large bowl; grate the zest of the Clementine’s/Satsuma’s over and combine.
Squeeze the juice of the Clementine’s/Satsuma’s into a measuring jug, and pour in the milk until it comes up to the 200ml (7 fl oz) mark.
Add the oil (or slightly cooled, melted butter) and egg, and lightly beat until just combined.
Pour this liquid mixture into the bowl of dried ingredients and stir until everything is more or less combined, remembering that a well-beaten mixture makes for heavy muffins; a lumpy batter is a good here.
Fold in the cranberries, then spoon the batter into the muffin cases and sprinkle the Demerara sugar on top.
Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
The muffins are ready to eat now either plain or broken up and smeared with butter and marmalade.

* Notes**

Cranberries could also be replaced with another dried fruit of choice**

Clementine’s/Satsuma’s*If you’re unable to source Clementine’s or Satsuma’s, 1 orange of zest and juice would be adequate.

* Demerara Sugar is*: Large crystals, golden in colour, which also adds a crunch to baked goods.

*Question*:
I can’t purchase Demerara sugar - what could I use instead?
Granulated Sugar: This is a pure, naturally white, crystalline sugar.
Sugar Cubes: Brown/white, would be a lovely addition instead of Demerara sugar; crunched up and sprinkled over the top of each muffin before baking.

If you wish to bake these muffins on Christmas morning for breakfast; you could measure out the dry ingredients the night before into a bowl and cover over, and also pop the muffin cases into the muffin tin. Then on the day, preheat the oven, add the grated zest to the dry ingredients and whisk up the wet ingredients. Mix the mixture together as above and scoop the mixture into the muffins cases and bake as above.

Check out the rest of the S&B Bakers here!

Enjoy!

Happy 2009!!!

It's the time again for the new year. Time passed quickly for 2008. Looking back, for the past 12 months, there are some things that I would like to forget and some things I will keep in remembrance. I am looking forward to the new year and a new begining with my soon-to-be husband in life.

Hence, I wish everyone a Happy New Year. May 2009 be a joy, prosperous and blessed year for all!

xoxoxo

Lynn