Recipe adapted from Eddie's recipe

I didn't follow the fillings part strictly as I prefer my mix and match of filling and I prefer the mini size version. 50g size mould :  30g of filling and 20g of skin

The enclosed recipe is the original version from Eddie.

Ingredients

DOUGH

• 70 g peanut oil
• 200 g golden syrup
• 5 ml lye water
• 150 g Hong Kong flour
• 170 g plain flour

FILLING

• 1.5 kg white lotus paste
• 180 g melon seeds
• 15 salted egg yolks
• 1 tsp chinese rice wine optional
• 3 tsp sesame oil

FOR EGG WASH (Edited)

• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 egg white
• 3/4 teaspoon sesame oil
• pinch of salt

Instructions

DOUGH

1. Mix Hong Kong flour and plain flour together in a bowl.
2. In another small bowl, add oil, golden syrup and lye water and mix everything well.
3. Slowly add the golden syrup mixture to the flour mixture and mix evenly until it forms a dough.
4. Cover the dough and set aside to rest for at least 1 hour.

5. Lightly toast melon seeds in oven at 160°C for about 8 minutes. (optional step)

FILLING

1. Mix lotus paste and melon seeds evenly together and set aside.
2. Wash salted egg yolks in a bowl of water and transfer onto a tray.
3. Drizzle a mixture of chinese rice wine (optional) and sesame oil over the egg yolks
4. Steam egg yolks for about 5 minutes on medium flame. You may also bake them for 5 minutes in an airfryer.

ASSEMBLY

1. Weigh portions of dough of 50 g each.
2. For lotus paste filling, weigh portions of 110 g each.
3. Make a hole in the lotus paste ball, insert egg yolk, wrap and roll into a ball.
4. Roll a piece of dough flat and place the lotus paste ball in the centre. Wrap the filling completely by slowly pushing the dough up the sides. Gently roll into a ball and flour it lightly.
5. Press the ball into a lightly floured mooncake mould. Press the mould plunger firmly (holding the base) and gently lift it up to release the mooncake.
6. For wooden or plastic mould, place the ball into the cavity, level it and press firmly. Gently knock the mould to release the mooncake.

7. Spray water all over the mooncakes to prevent the dough from cracking. (Edit: I have tested and found that it is better to leave out this step. You can prevent dough from cracking by lengthening cooling time to 10 to 15 minutes).

8. Bake at 180°C for 10 minutes.

9. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes. (Edit: better to cool for about 10 to 15 minutes). Brush the mooncakes with egg wash.

10. Bake again for another 10 minutes until golden brown.
11. Place on wire rack to cool completely before storing in airtight containers.

Recipe Notes

1. Let the mooncakes rest for 2-3 days after baking to get a richer colour, texture and flavour. The skin will turn soft, shiny and moist as the oil from the mooncake is released.
2. When storing, do not place parchment paper under the mooncakes as that will slow down the maturing process.
3. Amount of filling depends on size of mould.
4. Reduce amount of melon seeds to 100 g or 120 g, if you do not like so much seeds in the filling.
5. Edit: Alternatively salted egg yolk can be rinsed with chinese cooking wine, and brushed with sesame oil before steaming or baking.

Piggy Mooncake

Who misses the super old school kind of mooncake in piglet shape..

Now commercial ones are hard and dry..

Mooncake pastry:

380g plain flour

270g golden syrup (can be reduced to 225g if u prefer less sweet)

75g peanut oil

1 1/2 tsp alkaline water

Filling:

300g red bean paste

Method:

1. Mooncake pastry : 

    Mix all the ingredient till well combined. Set aside for 5 hours. 

    Divide the dough depend on the your mould size. My mould size is 50g, hence use 30g.

2. Filling 20g

3. Wrap the red bean paste with dough then mould it.

4. Bake in preheat oven of 190C for 10 mins. Remove and leave it cool for 10-15 mins. Brush the top with beaten egg yolk. Bake in oven again for 10 -15mins till golden brown.

Allow it to rest for 2-3 days before sampling them. :)

Radish Cake

Craving for a 外脆内燃的萝卜糕？ This is the one which i love..

This taste Lusciously soft when fresh from the steamer and crispy crusted when fried the next day.

The one i have done was the vegetarian version is i adapted from my cookbook.

Recipe is from my lovely cookbook (Chinese Heritage Cooking):

Ingredients (A)

200g    Rice flour

13g      Sago flour

20g      Potato starch

900ml  Lukewarm water

1/2 tsp Ground white pepper

1.25tsp Salt

350g    White Daikon Radish, Peeled and grated (1/2 finely grated, 1/2 coarsely grated)

Ingredients (B)

10 Black Fungus (slices thinly)

1/4 Vegetarian Ham (sliced thinly)

7 mushrooms (sliced thinly)

3 tbspn Sesame oil

Method :

1. Sift ingredients A except water in a large bowl. Whisk in the water till smooth.  Cover and let it stand for 30 mins.

2. Heat the sesame oil in a pan. Fry the vegetarian ham till a bit crispy. Dish out and set aside. Leave the oil in the pan.

3. Add in the mushroom and fry till fragnant. Add in the black fungus and stir fry for while. Then dish aside.

4. Combine the white daikon and rice flour batter in a wok. Stir constantly over medium fire for 12-15 mins, until thickened to congee. Turn off the heat. Add in the mushroom, black fungus and vegetarian ham and mix well.

5. Scrap the mixture into a tin laid (9"/10" is fine) with aluminium foil. Steam it over high heat for 45-55 mins. (I steam mine for 45 mins)

*** Do not over-steam or the radish cake will be too soft. 

6. Allow to cool on rack. Either served warm or let it cool completely and chill overnite...and sliced them into slabs and pan-fried it with some oil till crispy. With or witthout garnishes, yr choice.. ;) can serve with chilli sauce... But we like it with sesame sauce!! Yummilicious!

It has been a long time since i last baked and blog......

Since the Circuit breaker, i have been cooking and cooking and cooking, not so much into baking... here it goes again.. baking engine restarts

Finally i found the recipe which my son loves.. last bake of this cheesecake was back in 2011 then i lost the recipe and i finally found it back.

Recipe is adapted from Olive Magazine online

Ingredients:

Digestive biscuits 8

Butter 50g, melted

Cream cheese 600g

Plain flour 2 tbsp

Golden caster sugar 175g （Reduced to 120g)

Vanilla extract

Eggs 2, plus 1 yolk

Soured cream 150ml pot

Raspberries 300g punnet (I have replaced with blueberry and oreo)

Icing sugar

Method :

1. Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Crush the biscuits in a food processor (or put in a plastic bag and bash with a rolling pin). Mix with the butter. Press into a 20cm spring-form tin and bake for 5 minutes, then cool.

2. Beat the cream cheese with the flour, sugar, a few drops of vanilla, eggs, the yolk and soured cream until light and fluffy. Stir in half the raspberries and pour into the tin. Bake for 40 minutes and then check, it should be set but slightly wobbly in the centre. Leave in the tin to cool.


3. Keep a few raspberries for the top and put the rest in a pan with 1 tbsp icing sugar. Heat until juicy and then squash with a fork. Push through a sieve. Serve the cheesecake with the raspberry sauce and raspberries.

I am a bit lazy to plate nicely for photo taking... will do it the next round i make it.

Famous Amos Alike Cookies... Nom Nom Nom

Famous Amos Alike Cookies

Who doesn't like Famous Amos Cookies?? I believe most of us love the texture, love the Nom Nom Nom taste of the it.

Here it goes (Adapted from Fun at Sassy's Kitchen)

Ingredients A:

200g caster sugar

220g packed brown sugar

225g butter

1 cup of canola oil

1 egg

1 tbspn milk

1 tsp vanilla essence

Dry ingredients:

500g all purpose flour, sieved

1 tsp salt

1 tspn cream of tar tar

1 tspn baking soda

350g semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method:

1. Cream the butter and 2 type of sugar till fluffy. Add in the oil, egg, milk, vanilla essence and continue to whisk till well incorporated.

2. Add in the dry ingredients - sieved flour, baking powder, cream of tar tar and fold in gently till mixed.

3. Fold in the chocolate chips (add some nuts if you like)

4. Scoop a teaspoon of the mixture and place on the lined baking tray.

5. Baked in a preheated oven of 180C for 15 mins.

Be patient! Do Allow to cool before eating to have Nom Nom Nom feel. 

For gifts, pack them individually in cookies bag. DaDaDa!

Ready for Teachers' Day! 

Eggless Tiramisu Flower Pot Cup

Looking for something which is easy for my son to prepare for his teachers' day gift... The in thing now.. Flowerpot... what's good to go with it? Our all time favourite... Eggless Tiramisu ...... Quick and no fuss.. Becos it is eggless!

Eggless Tiramisu Flower Pot (Adapted from The Baking Biatch)

Ingredients:

(A) Cream Mixture

       250g mascarpone Cheese

       1 tbspn caster sugar (original call for 2 tbspn)

       2 tbspn thickened cream

       3 tbspn Kahlua (omitted)

(B) Sponge Fingers - 1 pack

(C)  Coffee

       3 tbspn instant coffee (I used Nescafe Blend37 as I like the aroma of that particular coffee)

       150ml hot water

       5 tbspn Kahlau (Omitted for some..)

(D) Cocoa powder (Valrhona, available at Sun Lik Trading)

Method:

1) Prepare C and set aside.

2) Mix all the ingredients in A till well blended.

3) To fit the fingers into the flower pot, cut the fingers in 3 parts. 

4) Quick-dip the fingers into the Coffee mixture, line it in the flower pot.

5) Scoop a tbsp of cream mixture over the sponge fingers. Dust with a layer of the cocoa powder on top of the cheese mixture.

6) Repeat Step 4 & 5 till it is close to brim of the flower pot. (we laid 3 layers)

7) Chill the cake for at least 4 hrrs.

8) Decorate it with some mint leaves (looks like a plant)

For Gift, we placed in a muffin box which fit perfectly. DaDaDa!

Muffins

Muffins has been my love but i tried a few times n just couldnt get the right texture.......
I have been shelfing it aside not touching muffins...

Till lately, my little one has requested for me to make him some to bring to school and started my search for muffin recipes again!  And this time,  for the first time, i suceeded in making a perfect muffin that suits my n family's taste bud.

Here the recipe goes : (Sally's baking addiction)

Ingredients :
115g unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
100g granulated sugar
50g packed light or dark brown sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature preferred
120g yogurt ( I have used strawberry yogurt)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
220g all-purpose flour ( i used top flour, ran out of all purpose)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
60ml milk (any kind)
250g fresh blueberries (do not thaw if using frozen)
50g Chocolate chips

Method:
od:

Preheat oven to 218°C . Spray two 12-count muffin pans with nonstick spray or line with cupcake liners (this recipe makes 14 muffins. Set aside.

Make the streusel: In a small bowl, toss together the brown sugar, nuts, and cinnamon. Set aside.

Make the muffins: In a medium bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Add the granulated and brown sugars and beat on high until creamed, about 2 full minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add the eggs, yogurt, and vanilla extract. Beat on medium speed for 1 minute, then turn up to high speed until the mixture is combined and uniform in texture. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.

In a large bowl, toss together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and slowly mix with a whisk. Add the milk, gently whisking until combined and little lumps remain. Fold in the blueberries with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. Don't worry if the blueberries bleed a little - my batter was purple in some spots; it looks pretty when baked.

Layer in 1 Tablespoon of batter, then top with a little streusel, then more batter until the muffin tins or liners are full all the way up to the top. You want them overflowing, as shown in the photo above. Top with more streusel. Bake in batches for 5 minutes at 218°C then keeping the muffins in the oven, lower the oven temperature to 177°C and bake for 18-21 more minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The total times these muffins take in the oven is about 23-26 minutes. Allow to briefly cool before serving. Muffins stay soft, fresh, and moist at room temperature for 1 week. 

Make ahead tip: For longer storage, freeze muffins for up to 3 months. Allow to thaw overnight in the refrigerator and