☆Froggie & Penguin Cookies☆

Another cookie day for the girls.

This time, let's try the Froggie & the Penguin Cookies.

To think of it, I had purposely bought the charcoal powder for these cookies. I must say, these charcoal powder was very pricey..and the expiry date was pretty soon in September 2013. So I had to quickly find some recipes using charcoal powder???

Ain't these froggie cookies adorable??

I love the pretty matcha green and the charcoal combination, made the cookies so outstanding.

Mimi couldn't wait for the cookies to be baked and told me that she was very hungry and that she needed to eat the unbaked cookies now.

Nat had also chosen this penguin cookies as she thought that they were very cute.

They were indeed.

Would you bear to eat these cutie cookies??

I had some balance dough left and I let the girls played with them. They were trying to make their own cookie shapes with the rolling and shaping and the decorating. And Mimi was having lotsa of fun, and she thought that these dough were like "playdoh". kekekeke...

Sour Cream - Blueberry Crumb Cake

"Sour cream and lots of butter make the cake tender and moist and offset the bold, tangy flavor of gleaming fresh, juicy blueberries. A crunchy cinnamon-infused crumb topping cloaks the cake, adding a buttery caramel flavour"

And yes, as described by Tish Boyle, these cakes had a crunchy top and they were really moist and tender. A quite unusual combination but they were quite welcomed by us... hehehehe...

I had replaced the sour cream with low fat yoghurt as my yoghurt was expiring soon, and this also explained why I had attempted this bake... Oopsie...hehehehe... I had also reduced the sugar level if you do not wish your cake to be too sweet like me.

Recipe as adapted from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle

Yeilds a 9-inch square cake

Ingredients:

Crumb Topping

121g all purpose flour

50g caster sugar

80g firmly packed dark brown sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt

100g unsalted butter, melted

In a medium bowl, stir the flour, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt until well blended. Add the melted butter and mix with the fork, stirring until the butter is absorbed and the dry ingredients are uniformly moistened. Set aside.

Sour Cream Blueberry Cake

181g all purpose flour

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

142g fresh or unthawed frozen blueberries

242g sour cream

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

142 unsalted butter, softened

200g sugar

2 large eggs

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 175C. Butter and flour the bottom and sides of a 9 inch square baking pan.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt until well blended.

3. In another bowl, toss the blueberries with 1 tbsp of flour mixture until the berries are coated; set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream and vanilla extract; set aside.

4. In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy, 4 to 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the side of the bowl as neccessary. At low speed, beat in the flour mixture in three additions, alternating it with the sour cream in two additions. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the blueberries. Scrape the batter into the prepared pand and smooth the top with a spatula.

Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the batter, breaking up any large lumps with your fingers.

5. Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Place the cake in the pan on a wire rack and cool completely.

6. Cut the cake into squares and serve from the pan.

"Oink Oink" Cookies

Another adorable cookie is here...

"Oink Oink" is here... Eat me!!!

I think my little Oinky has a squarish face instead of a round one...kekeke..
Nevertheless, they still looked good and tested GREAT!!!

Once you get the hang of "playing" with these doughs, you will not stop.

It is pretty fun actually:)

超可愛！小本廚房的手繪幸福餅乾(附贈30分

By 小本

Here is the cookie recipe:

(yeilds about 25 pieces)

(As the recipe is self-translated by me, do bear with me:-p)

70g unsalted butter

(very softened at room temperature)

50g icing sugar

1/2 beaten egg, room temperature

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

1/2 tsp baking powder

130g plain flour

10g milk powder

Method:

1. Cream the butter and icing sugar in a mixing bowl until pale yellow.

2. Add in the beaten egg in 2~3 addition, make sure it blends well.

3. Add in the vanilla essence and mix well.

4. Add in the sieved flour, baking powder and milk powder into the batter, using a spatula to mix to form a dough. Do not over mix the batter.

5. Freeze the dough for 1 hour before using.

I did not managed to snap shot the step by step tutorial of my own, as it was simply impossible as I am a one-man show. So I had attached the instructions and method as from the book.

Runny Rabbit Cookie is here!

Are you as excited as my girls to have these cookies???

These new cookies were a new treat to them. They were so excited about these cute little cookies, and having a fantastic taste, crunchy as well. It was really a hit for them when I attempted these cookies for them last weekend.

I had gotten this recipe from this book I had bought a couple of months ago.

I was really impressed with these cute little cookies but thought they were a hassle as there seemed too many steps to be done...

Finally plucked up my courage and started to attempt this challenging tasks.. Well, come to think of it, it wasn't that difficult. It was just like playing with "plasticine"or "clay". Probably needs alittle more patient than usual as well too.

So adorable ain't them...???
We all loved these cookies very much and the girls were also busy packing up some for the best friends and teachers in school. These cookies I baked over the past 3 days were easily gone in a nip nap.

Try baking some for your kids, and I am sure they will love them as much as we do... :-D

Do you too???

This is the book I had gotten my recipe from:

超可愛！小本廚房的手繪幸福餅乾(附贈30分

By 小本

Here is the cookie recipe:

(yeilds about 25 pieces)

(As the recipe is self-translated by me, do bear with me:-p)

70g unsalted butter

(very softened at room temperature)

50g icing sugar

1/2 beaten egg, room temperature

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

1/2 tsp baking powder

130g plain flour

10g milk powder

Method:

1. Cream the butter and icing sugar in a mixing bowl until pale yellow.

2. Add in the beaten egg in 2~3 addition, make sure it blends well.

3. Add in the vanilla essence and mix well.

4. Add in the sieved flour, baking powder and milk powder into the batter, using a spatula to mix to form a dough. Do not over mix the batter.

5. Freeze the dough for 1 hour before using.

I did not managed to snap shot the step by step tutorial of my own, as it was simply impossible as I am a one-man show. So I had attached the instructions and method as from the book.

So have fun with these cookies...:-D

For other cookies:

Bear, Dog and Watermelon Cookies

曹可爱的饼干。♡Bear Cookie, Doggie Cookie & Watermelon Cookie♡

It is a Cookie Weekend for us this week.

I was looking through some of my cookies book I bought a couple of months.

Finally pluck up the courage to do "such" cookies as I thought, these cookies were very challenging and tedious. Plus the last time I had tried another cookie recipe from another book but it didn't turned out what they supposed to be:-p

Took up this challenge and had a very fruitful result!!!

Ain't these cookies awfully adorable too???

My girls loved these cookies too. They were all waiting by the side to grab a cookie once I'm done with the photo takings...

The Bear Cookie

The Dog Cookie

And the Watermelon Cookie

(Does it looked like one anyway???)

As much as the girls were thrilled over the cookies, so was I.

After all, it wasn't that much of a challenge. All I ever need was time and patience.

Here are the cookies before baking.

 So, how would you like these pretty cookies too??

Not only they looked fabulous, they tasted delicious too!!!

So in ♡♡ with these cookies.

I will post up the step by step pictures in my next attempt.

As the recipe was in Mandarin and some of the the steps were stated wrongly and it took me quite a while to follow up.

Meantime, enjoy!

For other cookies:

Rabbit Cookies

Enjoying our cloudy & rainy weekend with homebaked donuts♡

What are you baking this weekend?

We are having homebaked donuts at home on a cloudy & rainy day.

This time, I am trying a new baked donut recipe from my new recipe book I bought from Taipei.

 Yes, it is delicious and we..., especially the girls loved them very much.

It had a cake-like and soft texture, unlike the ones I had previously tried.

 Needless to say, these girls were very excited as they get to decorate their own donuts.

They were having lots of fun when decorating and eating the deco bits as they went along.

 From an original baked donut to a "dressed-up" donut...

How about that???

And the ones Mummy did verses tne ones the girls' did...

Of course, mummy's ones looked better. But I must say for this time, the girls had did a pretty good job in their deco.:)

Here is the recipe as adapted from

慕斯甜甜圈&烤甜甜圈 by Sachi

Ingredients:

(Yeilds about 25 mini donuts)

160g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

(A)

1 egg

1 egg yolk

85g sugar

1 1/3 tbsps honey

Pinch of salt

70ml milk

35g unsalted butter

1 tbsp canola oil

Method:

1. Grease the donut pan and set aside.

2. Seived the flour & baking powder 3 times and set aside.

3. Melt the butter and oil using double boil method. Set aside to let it cool completely before use.

4. Whisk (A) in a mixing bowl until you get a pale light color. Add in the milk and mix well. Add in tne melted butter & oil into the batter. Mix well. Finally, add in the seived flour and mix until well corporated.

5. Pour the batter into a piping bag and pipe into the greased donut pan.

6. Bake in a preheated oven of 200C for about 12~15 mins.

(I prefer to bake it for 10mins, toss the donuts to the other side and let it bake for another 5~8mins)

7. Let it cool for about 1 min in the pan before tossing them out.

8. Decorate your donuts as desired.

Have fun!!

Having fun with my new gadget...Rice cooker with the "Cake Function"

What do you do on a hot, sunny day?? Feeling lazy and bored.

Well, for me, I decided to "bake" a cake using a rice cooker, which I had never tried before. Of course, everything seems pretty easy and no fuss.

I had "bake" a Banana Cinnamon Cake using the rice cooker.

Look at the excellent texture of this cake. It is really soft and spongey. And look at the color of the bananas. This rice cooker cake simply looked and tasted wonderful. I can't help myself popping one piece after another.

I had bought this book on my recent trip to Taiwan last week. I had bought a quite a number of cookbooks from Taiwan but for sure, I regretted not getting more books as they were relatively cheaper than Singapore and Malaysia.

This book had alot of great recipes and I should be trying them out very soon.

And here is my new gadget...My Panasonic Rice Cooker with the cake function. Hehehe... Come to think of it, my new rice cooker had been hiding in my storeroom for almost or more than a year... Thank goodness I bought my new books and this rice cooker came in handy...♡

Here's Nat. More than happy to help me out whenever I am baking:-)

Recipe as adapted from 

你想吃的甜点电子锅都会做 by Kumiko

Ingredients:

(Yeilds an 18 cm size cake. However cake size varies due to the size of the rice cooker you use.)

Banana Cinnamon Cake

3 eggs

100g sugar (I use 75g)

120g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon powder

40g unsalted butter

3 banana, sliced into 3-cm long

Method:

1. Beat the eggs and sugar until smooth. 

2. Add in the sieved flour, baking powder and cinnamon powder. Mix till well blended.

3. Pour the batter into the greased wok. Put in the bananas into the batter.

4. "Bake" the cake using the rice cooker.

5. Remove the cake once ready. Cool the cake on a cooling rack.

Cutlery Cookies - The Fork & The Spoon Cookies

I was packing up the cupboard in my office and I found these cookie cutter. My colleague had visited China last year and she had bought this cutter for me as a souvenir. This is cute isn't it??? It came just nice for the new cookie that I had wanted to try out.

I realised that recently my girls had been pretty keen on the cookies that I had been trying out.. It had been quite a while since their last thrill on my baked cookies.. Probably this time round, all these new cookies attempts were very cute & interesting??? I would think so too.:-D

The girls were all very excited as these forks & spoons were very cute. And plus the fact that they can dip them into the chocolate sauce. Only one problem was that I couldn't find anything to let my cookies stand while waiting for the chocolate to set in... No choice, I tried using my cooling rack, with its little holes to hold them.

This cookie dough was much more easier to roll on as it did not have any egg contents. I had also cut down on the sugar level as I do not want the cookies to be too sweet.

After cutting out the shapes, I had used the letters to endorsed the girls' name on the cookies...

All of them can't wait to lay their little hands on the cookies and kept asking me if the cookies were ready..

Here's Mimi, she is one of the persistent one... as the elder sisters had to go to bed early for school tomorrow, Mimi had been hanging around the kitchen, waiting for the cookies to be ready..

These little cookies were all nicely packed up for school tomorrow.

While the 3 of them were enjoying the cookies in school, their classmates were also very envying them as the cookies had their names on it... A little time consuming to bake these cookies...but the thought of it, when the cookies were very popular with the girls and that they were gone the very next day, made all the effort worthwhile..:)

Recipe as adapted from 每天都是餅乾日 by 安星美 

Ingredients:

(yeilds about 20 pieces)

120g plain flour

30g almond powder

65g icing sugar (I used 50g)

pinch of salt

20g whipping cream (I used milk)

60g butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla essence

120g chocolate for dips

How to bake:

1. Add the butter, icing sugar & salt in a mixing bowl. Mix well.

2. Add in the milk until well corporated.  Add in the vanilla essence, stir well.

3. Add in the sieved flour and almond powder into the mixture, mix well until you get a dough.

4. Roll out the dough until 0.3cm thick and cut them using the cookie cutter.

5. Bake the cookies in a preheated oven of 170~175C for about 10 mins. Remove the cookies from the tray and let it cool on the rack.

6. Dip the cookies into the chocolate and let it set. Ready to be eaten & packed:)

HAVE FUN!!!

Happy Sssssnake Year 2013 - Have an Orangey Muffin♡

I realised it had been almost 3 weeks since my last bake in January. Nope, I wasn't preparing for the Lunar New Year. My helper had gone back for a 2 weeks vacation and will only be back after tomorrow. So past weeks were more of a "maid" myself, along with the help of my hubby to look after the 3 little monsters and our housechores... hahaha....

How about yours? Had you been busy preparing for the Snake Year too?

 I finally found some time to bake yesterday night after I got home. I was just dying to bake something and this recipe, I had KIV for quite awhile as I did not have oranges at home then. Look at the soft, fluffy texture of these Fresh Orange Muffins. These muffins are not tobe missed!

 Using fresh orange zest, orange flesh & orange juice had made these muffins a very refreshing and delightful taste. In another words, could I just say they tasted like fresh juicy oranges too?

Using the orange flesh, orange zest and sugar, cook on a low heat, keeps the orange flesh in its moist, juicy texture. Filling the orange flesh in between the batter and placing some on top of the batter.

 There, giving me its best color, excellent taste of these no frills, easy baked Orange Muffins.

If you love oranges, I'm sure you will find great pleasures making these muffins... With the moist orange flesh & zest... It's just like eating an orange as it is...♡

 Here, I wish everyone to have a prosperous, healthy & wealthy year ahead!

Happy Happy Ssssssnake Year!!!! 

Recipe as adapted by "Easy Bake" by 梁家榕

(With some slight modifications)

Ingredients

(A)

1 orange flesh, diced into small little cubes

1 orange zest

3 tbsp sugar

Mix all ingredients, cook on low heat. Mix well. Once sugar had dissolved, turn off the heat and set aside

(B)

1 egg

60ml milk

60ml orange juice

60g melted butter (I replaced it with 60ml Canola Oil)

(C)

120g sugar (I used 100g)

175g self raising flour, sieved

Mix all (B) in a big mixing bowl. Combine well. 

Add in (C) into the mixture and blend well.

Scoop 1/3 of the batter into the paper cups & fill some orange flesh. Topped up with the remaining batter, about 3/4 full & topped with some orange flesh.

Bake in a preheated oven of 200C for about 25-30mins.

For the orange glaze, using half the juice of an orange, about 25ml & 1 tbsp of sugar. Cook over low heat. Let it cool before glazing the orange muffins.

Have a orangey orangey Chinese New Year♡

Green Apple Cupcakes ○ So soft & crumbly ○

Another great bake from "Easy Bake! By 梁家榕"

I had been wanting to try this recipe for a while but I hadn't had any green apples in my fridge till today...:-p

As usual, a no-fuss recipe, yeilds about 3 standard size ramekins.

Instead of using plain flour with baking powder, I had replaced it with self-raising flour. 

I might reduced the sugar in future as I think it is a little sweet for me. 

A soft and crumbly Green Apple Cupcake is waiting for you.

I had sprinkled some cinnamon powder on top and it gave the cupcakes a very great fragrance...

Inside the cupcakes were filled with rum-soak diced apples.

And if could see the soft texture of these Green Apple Cupcakes.

Vivian, this is another recipe that you might like too:-) 

Recipe as adapted from Easy Bake! By 梁家榕

Ingredients:

(A)

1/2 Green Apple, diced

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp rum

Diced the green apples into cubes, add in the sugar and the rum. Using low heat, simmer the apples until soft. Set aside for later use.

(B)

1/2 Green Apple

Cut the apples into slices. Set aside for the topping of the cupcakes.

(C)

75g butter, softened

60g sugar (I used 50g)

1 egg

100g plain flour

(I used self-raising and omitted baking powder)

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp vanilla essence ( I used 1/2 tsp)

1/2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp milk

some  cinnamon powder (optional)

Cream butter & sugar until white & creamy. Add in the egg and beat until well combined.

Add in the sieved flour, mix until well blended. Add in the vanilla essence, lemon juice & milk. Mix well.

Coat the ramekins with butter & dust with some icing sugar. Knock out the ecvess sugar.

Scoop 1/3 of the batter into each ramekins. Filled them with the diced apples and topped the remaining batter to about 80% filled. Dust with some cinnamon powder on top.

Bake in a preheated oven of 180C for abt 35-40 mins.

Remove from oven to cool. Remove from ramekins and best to serve warm.