GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Recipe : http://www.joyofbaking.com/GingerbreadMen.html

What I did differently :

• used only 3/4 of the amount of sugar



• used double the amount of ginger powder and half the amount of cinnamon

Pastry cutters

• teddy bear - from Bake It Yourself (http://www.b-i-y.com, $4)


• man and Christmas tree - from Phoon Huat ($1 each)


• round, scalloped round, 6-pointed star - from Cuisipro (can be bought from Takashimaya)

Decorations

• icing sugar + vanillin powder + just enough water to make a thick paste - pipe squiggles and use it as a glue for the other decorations.



• "holly and berries" quins - from Bake It Yourself



• M&Ms minis - from any supermarket



• hundreds & thousands - from any supermarket

Molasses (American) = treacle (British) (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molasses for more info). I used Lyles' Black treacle (in a tin) http://www.lylesgoldensyrup.com/lylesgoldensyrup/default.htm

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PORTUGUESE EGG TARTS

Recipe : http://www.kuali.com/recipes/viewrecipe.asp?r=689



The custard literally ballooned during baking, then sank once it was removed from the oven.
Flaky pastry - first attempt.

Next time, will try baking the pastry 1st before filling with custard.

BOILED FRUIT CAKE

Recipe : http://www.joyofbaking.com/FruitCake.html

I doubled the recipe.

This recipe is called "boiled fruit cake" when in fact, the cake is baked, not steamed. The "boiled" part refers to the boiling together of the sugar, water, butter and some dried fruit.


What I did differently from the recipe

• cranberries 170g (1 packet of Del Monte cranberries), SunMaid raisins - 2 handfuls,no cherries, mixed fruit 500g (recipe : cranberries 130g, raisins 250g, cherries 150g, mixed fruit 350g)


• brown sugar 250g (recipe : 420g)


• I baked the cakes in a bain marie for about 60 mins, then removed them from the bain marie and baked for (almost) another 30 mins.

Yield : 4 small,aluminium foil loaf tins from Phoon Huat

Ta dah!

Mixed fruit (aka candied fruit peel) usually contains

• sultanas/raisins


• citrus peel


• glace cherries


• preserved papaya (aka "chelory" or "paw paw")


• a whole lot of sugar!!

Boiled Fruit Cake - did you like it?

Yes! More! Yes. Ok lah, not great. Not my cup of tea, thanks

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LEMON BARS


Recipe : http://www.joyofbaking.com/LemonBars.html

Actual proportions used

CRUST

• 250g butter
• 280g plain flour
• 50g icing sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• vanilla essence

FILLING

• 6 eggs
• 50g plain flour
• zest of 10 lemons
• 160ml fresh lemon juice
• 300g caster sugar

PAN SIZE : 6.5" x 10"

YIELD : 2 pans

TA DAH!

They're usually sold/served dusted with icing sugar (left that out in the photos)

A little something on lemons (from joyofbaking.com)

Women as far back as Louis XIV's court used to eat lemons to freshen their breath and redden their lips. Waverley Root in 'Food' tells of the Roman belief that eating a lemon is the antidote for all poisons. He tells the story of how two criminals were said to have been thrown to venomous snakes but how the one criminal who had eaten a lemon beforehand survived the snakebites.

Long before we knew that lemons contained Vitamin C, sailors ate them on long sea voyages to prevent scurvy. Christopher Columbus carried lemon seeds on his travels to the New World and planted them when he stopped in Haiti. The Portuguese are credited with bringing the lemon to Brazil (about 1540) and the Spaniards for bringing it to Florida (about 1565). By the 1730s Spanish Friars had started to grow lemons in California and by the 1850s cultivation in California was widespread. In fact, California has such perfect growing conditions that it now produces most of the lemons sold in North America.

Unlike apples and oranges, lemons are almost never labeled by variety. There are, in fact, two popular commercial types; the Eureka and the Lisbon. Producers probably don't bother labeling the varieties because they are so similar in size, color, and acidity. The beauty of the lemon
is that its outer skin (rind) is just as valuable as its juice. The skin contains the lemon's oils and perfumes and even before we had graters, Elizabeth David's in "An Omelette and a Glass of Wine" said that "one of the best lemon graters is lump sugar, although Hannah Glasse (The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, 1747) directed her readers to grate lemon skins with a piece of broken glass".

When buying lemons always keep in mind when you want the lemon's zest to look for lemons that have a rough thick outer skin. These lemons have lots of zest that is easier to remove than it is with thin skinned lemons.

Try to pick the ones that have lotsa oil glands (they look like large,open pores on somebody's face!)

What you can do with excess lemon juice :

http://www.chabad.org/theJewishWoman/article.asp?AID=441389

http://www.rd.com/extraordinaryuses/openContent.do?contentId=23881

Did you like this?

YES! MORE! Yes. Ok lah, not great. Not my cup of tea, thanks.

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OYAKO DON

A little story about the name http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oyakodon

Ingredients

• eggs
• chicken fillet
• sliced onion
• mirin (sweet, rice wine), soya sauce, dashi (stock made from bonito and seaweed)
• takuan (yellow,pickled radish), pepper flakes, chopped spring onion

Well, it doesn't quite look like the stuff you get in a Jap restaurant - but I was cooking this for the next day's lunch .

After reheating it in the microwave oven, the egg, sorta separated from the stock (yikes!). Oh well, Guess this is one of those things you gotta serve fresh from the fire!

Oyako Don - did you like it?

Yes! More! Yes. Ok lah, not great. Not my cup of tea, thanks!

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SPINACH QUICHE

Recipe for quiche : http://www.kuali.com/recipes/viewrecipe.asp?r=1895

• omitted tomatoes (tho brother thinks I should have added them)


• used grated Parmesan instead of Cheddar (cos my stock of Cheddar was mouldy)


• also topped the quiche with a mixture of breadcrumbs, minced garlic and grated Parmesan

Recipe for shortcrust pastry : http://www.kuali.com/recipes/viewrecipe.asp?r=1892

• used butter and cake flour


• did not bother rolling out the dough; just pressed it into the dishes

VOILA!

RASPBERRY OATMEAL SQUARES

Recipe : http://www.joyofbaking.com/RaspberryOatmealSquares.html

I used

• Quaker Quick Cooking Oats (the one that comes in a blue packet)


• raspberry preserves + leftover dried cranberries + leftover frozen raspberries


• white chocolate chips (from Phoon Huat)


• less sugar (doubled recipe = 420g, used only 275g)

Thai green curry paste

No curry powder in this one!

Contrary to popular belief, Thai green curry
(1) is not the same as korma
(2) is supposed to be the hottest of all the Thai curries

There must be something about those green chilli padis they use in Thailand - they are really HIAM!!!
The other thing that gives green curry i's jade-green colour and peculiar taste is the Thai basil leaves - it has a liquorice-like fragrance and flavour

The star of this show : green chilli padi, aka birds' eye chilli.

Hiam rating : not for wusses!

The hot ones are those that are yellowish-green, really small and are quite straight.

Don't get the ones that look like miniatures of the big green chillies (same colour & shape, only smaller)

Tekka market should have the real stuff.

I think these green chillies add bulk and colour. Hiam rating : suitable for wusses

Thai basil, coriander (use the root only) and kaffir lime (use the green part of the skin only)

Clockwise from top : salt, coriander powder (ketumbar), black peppercorns, cumin

From left : young lengjuas, lemongrass, turmericShallots, garlic and shrimp paste

Lightly toast the dried ingredients and grind to a find powder; mix in salt.

Grind dry and wet ingredients till a fine paste is formed.

Ta dah!

A tip : This curry paste will keep for a couple of months in the freezer. Store it in covered ice cube trays instead of a jar. Makes it easier to remove just what you need each time.

Almond macaroons

Ingredients

• 1 egg white
• 50g ground almonds
• 75g icing sugar
• 1 tsp rice flour
• flavour - traditionally, almond essence but no harm substituting with vanilla essence
• edible rice paper, aka rice wafer (bought mine form Cold Storage - 5 sheeets for $3.80 - use wisely!!)

Line baking tray with rice paper. Might be a good idea to line the trays with baking paper first before laying the rice paper over it.

Make sure hands are dry when handling rice paper!

Mix almonds, rice flour and icing sugar.

Whisk egg white till stiff peaks form.

Gently fold in almond/flour/sugar mixture and essence.

Divide and scoop out 12 portions onto the prepared tray.

Bake till brownish bout 10 mins). It will be crispy on the outside and a lil wet inside.

Mother knows best:

To successfully whip egg whites

(1) the white s must not be contaminated by even the tiniest bit of yolk

(2) all utensils must be clean and free from grease

Date-filled cookies

For recipe, see http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/goodbites/Recipe/20041008173228/moreR_html



Custard powder

• a combination of corn flour (aka cornstarch), tatrazine (colouring) and "flavouring"
• invented by Alfred Bird (a pharmacist); see link for short story

http://www.rpsgb.org.uk/informationresources/museum/exhibitions/themotherofinvention/bird.html

Dates

• Not the red or black dates used in Chinese cooking
• I used 450g of unpitted dates
• buy pitted ones from Phoon Huat or unpitted ones from the major supermarkets(which should sell them during Ramadan). Alternatively, they can apparently be bought from the Geylang Serai Market or Arab Street (?))
• add just enough water to cover the dates and boil/cook till mushy
• let it cool then blend to a paste
• if it's still too wet, cook/fry till it's drier

Cream butter till pale.

Add sugar and beat till fluffy and the sugar crystals have more or less dissolved.

In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs with vanilla essence. Add , in portions, to the butter/sugar mixture and beat.

Fold in flour + cornflour + custard powder.

The resulting mixture will be somewhat yellow and not very stiff.

Refrigerate for about 15 mins so that it will be firmer and easier to shape.

Shape a bit of dough into a ball; flatten it on your palm.

Put some date puree in the middle and fold the dough over - make a "curry puff".

Seal and pinch off excess dough.

Gingerly set onto the baking paper/tray and shape into an oval of sorts.

Bake till cooked.

The cookies won't quite turn brown - they'll still be somewhat pale but definitely more golden than when uncooked. Check the underside - if it's still pale yellow, it's not ready.

Ta da!