Baked Potatoes

This finger food was prepared on Sunday afternoon as our snack while we were enjoying the movie at home. I like to eat something while watching movie… instead of having chips, baked potato would be healthier. = )

They were 2 types of baked potato here… 1st - Tuna baked potato and the 2nd is Cheese and ham baked potato. They were easy to prepare but time consuming... as you need to bake the potatoes for about an hour to make it soft and after that you need to scoop out the potato one by one. Although it takes longer time to prepare but I really enjoyed doing it! They were yummy, especially the Cheese and ham ones… (>_<)

Ingredients

Bowl A
2 small potatoes
185g can tuna in brie, drained
1tbsp parsley
1tbsp breadcrumbs

Bowl B
3 small potatoes
1 egg yolk
2 slices of ham, sliced
20g vege mix
20ml milk
20g cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper, to taste

Potato mixture for Bowl A

Potato mixture for Bowl B

What to do

(1) Turn oven to 210 degree.
(2) Scrub potatoes under cold water. Pat dry with paper towels and then pierce potatoes all over with a fork – this helps potato to cook evently and to prevent the skin splitting.
(3) Place potatoes directly on the oven rack and bake for 1 hour.
(4) Cut potatoes in half, scoop out flesh with a teaspoon, leaving a think shell.
(5) Mash scooped out potato in a 2 separate bowl; bowl A and bowl B and mix well.
(6) Spoon filling into shells. Sprinkle breadcrumbs on top of potato mixture bowl A and cheese cheddar on top of potato mixture bowl B.
(7) Bake for 15 minutes and serve hot!

Yummy! I love the Cheese and ham ones the most...

Chocolate Cake with Rich Chocolate Ganache

I came across this recipe from Elin’s blog. When I first looked at this chocolate cake, I fall in love with it because it looks so beautiful and delicious!!! I have tried to bake chocolate cakes before and the outcomes were not good so I was anxious to give it another try.

Before I tried the recipe, I emailed to Elin to seek some advice. Elin was so kind; she shared a lot of precious information with me. With Elin’s encouragement, I was ready to give it a go… and found that my cake was so delicious that I have to share it. Here is my **Chocolate Cake with Rich Chocolate Ganache** (recipe taken from Elin’s blog, please click here) Do visit her blog as there are a lot of yum yum goodies there! Enjoy~

This was my first attempt and honestly the outcome was amazing except the outlook as I still cannot manage to pour the chocolate ganache evenly. Considering it was my first attempt, I gave myself a pass! :P The cake was so moist and the combination with the chocolate ganache was really really awesome! Elin, thank you so much for sharing this recipe! They were really fantastic! I will definitely bake this again... Thanks again, Elin! (**;)

My little round chocolate cake... fresh from the oven!

Chocolate Ganache

Oops... the surface is not smooth enough! (*o*)

Do give it a try! You'll like it... ; )

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

I like the soft, fluffy and light texture of Strawberry Sponge Cake that I baked last week. Therefore, I decided to bake lemon cake since I have some lemons in the fridge. I came across Joyofbaking.com and I saw this Lemon Poppy Seed Cake. Now I remembered I had a pack of poppy seed sitting in my pantry for some times. Well, it was a perfect time to try this recipe! = )

"Before"

"After"

Ok, here is my Lemon Poppy Seed Cake. I’ve sliced them into square shape and decorated with some lemon slices on top of the cake. The cake taste really good… a little bit sour. I like the poppy seeds when I bite on them… (It is hard to descript the texture, have a try then you will know what I mean :P) I’ve modified a little from the original recipe to suit myself. You can find the original recipe here.

Ingredients

3 eggs
60ml milk
210g self raising flour, sifted
100g granulated white sugar
1tsp baking powder
1/4tsp salt
1tbsp grated lemon zest (outer yellow skin of the lemon)
30g poppy seeds
150g canola spread, softened

Lemon Syrup

60ml fresh lemon juice
65g granulated white sugar

What to do

(1) In a bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk. Set aside.

(2) In a separate bowl, beat the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, lemon zest, and poppy seeds until combined.

(3) Add the softened butter and half the egg mixture and mix on low speed until moistened. Increase the speed to medium and beat for about one minute. This aerates and develops the cake's structure. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the remaining egg mixture in two batches, beating about 30 seconds after each addition. This will strengthen the structure of the batter.

(4) Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 55 to 65 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

(5) You may have to cover the bread with buttered foil after about 30 minutes if you find the bread over browning.

(6) Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, bring the sugar and lemon juice to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves.

(7) When the bread is done, remove from oven and place on a wire rack. Pierce the hot loaf all over with a wooden skewer or toothpick and then brush the top of the loaf with about half the hot lemon syrup.

(8) Cool the loaf in the pan for about 10 minutes then invert onto a greased wire rack. Brush the remaining syrup onto the bottom and the sides of the loaf. Reinvert the bread so it is right side up and then cool the bread completely before wrapping.

(9) Store at least overnight before serving to allow the lemon syrup to distribute throughout the loaf.

They were delicious! (*o*)

Nutella Almond Cookies

My brain was blocked! :P I had no idea what cookies to bake for hubby’s snack this week. I was checking through my pantry to find some ideas for baking. Then, I found half a bottle of Nutella and a pack of almond flakes. Well, I thought I can combined them and call it Nutella Almond cookies! :P

Sad to say, the outcome was not satisfied because it was not as crunchy as the cookies that I baked last week. I am not sure why… even though the cookies were not crunchy enough, the taste was not that bad though. ^_^

Ingredients

300g self-raising flour

30g cocoa powder

180g canola spread

100g caster sugar

25g Nutella
20g almond flakes, crushed

What to do

(1) Preheat the oven to 170C.
(2) Sieve flour and cocoa powder. Set aside.
(3) Cream butter and sugar until pale and light.
(4) Mix in the flour mixture, Nutella and almond flakes until the dough forms.
(5) Roll into walnut-sized balls, and arrange on a greased sheet.
(6) Flatten the balls with the back of a fork.
(7) Bake at 170C for 5mins, then lower the temperature to 150C and bake for 10-15minutes.

Strawberry Sponge Cake

What could be more delightful than preparing your own freshly baked strawberry sponge cake for afternoon tea? Yeah, I prepared this lovely cake for our afternoon tea. The cake taste soft and fluffy… combined with sweet strawberries and a cup of HOT chocolate in this cold weather… plus heater in the room… hmmm… it was really warm to stay at home with this yummy afternoon tea! It was wonderful… I wish the day can be longer! :D





Ingredients

4 eggs, bring to room temperature
100g caster sugar
4g salt
140g cake flour
30g olive oil
30g fresh milk
5 medium sized strawberries, chopped

What to do

(1) Sift cake flour, set aside. Pre-heat oven to 180degC. Position rack at the lower bottom of the oven.

(2) With an electric mixer, whisk eggs and sugar & salt on HIGH speed for about 5 to 7mins, until the batter double in volume and is ribbon-like (the beater should leave a ribbon-like texture when the batter is lifted up). Turn to LOW speed and whisk for another 1 to 2 minutes. Whisking at low speed helps to stabilize the air bubbles in the batter.

(3) Add sifted cake flour into the batter. With a spatula, gently fold in the flour until well blended.

(4) With a spatula, mix about 1/3 of the batter with the olive oil in a separate bowl. Fold in this mixture into the remaining batter. This method will help to ensure the oil will be fully blended and at the same time will not deflate the batter.

(5) Add in fresh milk and chopped strawberries and mix well with spatula.

(6) Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 20 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Unmold and cool completely.

~Enjoy~

Cornflakes and Raisins Cookies

In the beginning I planned to bake cornflakes cookies for hubby’s snacks. While I was looking for the flour I saw a pack of raisins that I bought quite a long time ago which was still sealed. Cornflakes are quite plain and I thought if I add in some raisins it will be better??? (This is what I thought).

Well, the outcome was not bad! It was so crunchy and you can taste a little bit of sweetness from the raisins. They were perfect combinations! = )

Ingredients

60g butter

50g castor sugar

20g egg (about half an egg)

140g self-raising flour

1/4tsp baking soda
60g cornflakes, crush into pieces
10g raisins, chopped

What to do

(1) Cream butter and sugar till creamy. Beat in egg.
(2) Pour in flour and baking soda till combined.
(3) Pour the crushed cornflakes and raisins into the dough mixture and blend well.
(4) Spoon batter on baking tray with baking paper and flatten the dough by using fork.
(5) Bake for 10 minutes at 170 degree or until cookies turn golden brown.

Chocolate Chips Swirl Bun

I was reading through my frequent food blogs and was attracted by this wonderful bun recipe from Elinluv’s Corner. The buns look so delicious.

It was so fun to see them rising in the oven and the aroma of the chocolate was very nice. It made me mouth watering… I can’t wait to try them! :P Frankly, it was really really good. Like Elinluv said, “Two thumbs up for this delicious bun”. For my version, I’ve modified the ingredients a little in which I added in some chocolate chips. You can find the original recipe here.

Before

After

Closer look!

Smell good + Taste good = Yummy!

Ingredients

300g bread flour
1+ ½ tsp instant yeast
1+ ½ tbsp milk powder
50g caster sugar
½ tsp salt
125ml milk
1 egg
20g olive oil
40 dark cooking chocolate, melted
20g chocolate chips

What to do

(1) Put the bread flour and yeast in a bowl, whisk to combine, add in milk powder, sugar and salt whisk again. Pour in milk and egg into the bowl, use spatula to mix everything together till form soft dough.
(2) Knead the dough until soft, smooth and elastic about 10-15 minutes. In the mean time, put olive oil in a large bowl and transfer the dough into the bowl. Let the dough rise in a warm place until double in size.
(3) Take the dough out of the bowl. Gently press down the dough. Use the rolling pin to roll the dough into rectangle shape. Spread the melted chocolate mixture all over and sprinkle some chocolate chips on top.
(4) Roll the dough up and cut the dough into 8 pieces, and then place into the baking pan.
(5) Let the dough rise until almost double in size again and bake for 15 minutes or until the bread is golden brown.

Cookies Galore!

I baked these cookies over the weekend and made them into 3 variations.

- Cookies dipped into melted chocolate
- Melted chocolate drizzled on top of cookies
- White and dark chocolate chips on top of cookies.

The cookies taste fantastic especially the ones with “messy” drizzled melted chocolate on top. Hmm… yummy! (^_^)

Ingredients

60g butter
50g castor sugar
20g egg (about half an egg)
140g self-raising flour
1/4tsp baking soda
Some dark chocolate (melted) and chocolate chips, for decoration

What to do

(1) Cream butter and sugar till creamy. Beat in egg.
(2) Pour in flour and baking soda till combined.
(3) Spoon batter on baking tray with baking paper.
(4) Bake for 10 minutes.
(5) In the mean time, melt chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water.
(6) After baking, leave cookies to cool in try for 2 minutes before transferring cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Fried Calamari

I haven’t tried out any finger food for my cooking so I’ve decided to try something savory. I’ve been busy surfing the internet for some finger food recipes and came across this easy recipe – Fried Calamari!

It tastes a little bit spicy, sour, crunchy and crispy! Haha… it will be perfect if dip with tartar sauce. Unfortunately I do not have it in my pantry so I substitute with chili sauce. Hmmm…it’s not too bad. (**;)

Below are some photos that I took for this "HUGE" squid that I bought from the market. = )

Ingredients

1kg calamari (squid)
50ml lemon juice
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
64g corn flour
43g plain flour
1tbsp curry powder
1tsp salt
Olive oil, for deep frying

What to do

(1) Wash and cut the calamari into thin rings.
(2) Put the rings in a flat nonmetallic dish and pour the lemon juice on top. Cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Drain and pat dry.
(3) Meanwhile, mixed the corn flour, plain four, curry powder and salt in a bowl.
(4) Heat up the saucepan with oil enough for deep frying.
(5) Dip the calamari into egg whites and dust with the flour mixture, shaking off any excess.
(6) Add the calamari to the oil in batches, deep frying for about 1-2 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

Milky Chocolate Cake

I baked this cake for my colleague’s birthday. I was running out of time as I started my baking after my fitness class at about 8.30pm. I was searching for a simple yet delicious recipe to bake this cake…. and I found this easy chocolate cake. Lucky me! (*o*)

Since it was a last minute decision + lack of time, I was totally clueless about the decoration for the cake. I planned to coat the cake with chocolate paste and decorate with mini M&M (so that it looks colorful). Besides, I chose to bake in a small square baking pan instead of the big round one as the former is easier … “I think”. :P

In the end, the decoration didn’t come out as nicely as I expected. After I spread the chocolate paste on the cake, the cake looked so “horrible” as the chocolate paste was not smooth enough! = ( The only solution that I can think of was to find some goodies to cover the cake. So, I used almond flakes and white chocolate instead of M & M. It was the best way to “rescue” my “ugly” chocolate cake!

I put some of the batter into a muffin pan and some into muffin cups.

Ingredients

200g milk chocolate, chopped
200g butter, softened
220g brown sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
225g cake flour 32g cocoa powder
255ml milk
White chocolate and almond flakes, for decorations

What to do

1. Place chocolate into a heatproof, microwave-safe bowl. With medium heat, stirring every minute with a metal spoon, or until smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.

2. Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition. Add cooled chocolate. Mix well.

3. Sift flour and cocoa powder together. Fold half the flour mixture into chocolate mixture. Fold half the milk into chocolate mixture. Repeat with remaining flour mixture and milk.

4. Spoon cake batter into baking pan or muffin pan. Smooth surface. Bake for 45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Decorate as you desired.

Pineapple Fried Rice

I like to eat any kind of fried rice. This is not my first attempt on pineapple fried rice. Usually I will buy canned pineapple which is easier and more convenient. Well, I was in the mood to prepare pineapple fried rice by using fresh pineapple chunks and serve in a hollowed out pineapple shell. So, I bought a medium sized pineapple from the market last weekend.

I remembered my mum told me that using rice that has been kept in the fridge to fry will be delicious. So, I cooked extra rice the night before so I could use the left over rice for my pineapple fried rice! :P

Ingredients (serves 2)

3 bowls cooked rice
2 eggs
1 cup pineapple chunks
1 piece of chicken breast – cut in thin strips
Few pieces calamari
1 small onion – cut in small cubes
2 cloves of garlic – chopped
½ cup of frozen vege mixed
10g raisins
1tbsp of curry powder
2tbsp of soy sauce
2tbsp of oyster sauce
A dash of salt and pepper

What to do

(1) Heat up about 3 tbsp of oil over high heat in a saucepan.

(2) Add in onions and garlic and stir-fry until lightly brown and fragrant.

(3) Add in chicken, stir-fry until it changes color, add in pepper and vege mixed. Stir fry for another minute and add curry powder, oyster sauce and soy sauce.

(4) Add in rice and pineapple chunks. Stir-fry until everything is well combined and hot. Check seasoning and add salt if necessary.

(5) Serve rice in pineapple shell and garnish with some spring onions.

~Enjoy~ (^_^)