4.

things only i know and that i'll never tell

pickup

Apologies for the blogging hiatus!

I just completed and published the egg tart post which i was in the middle of some time back, which explains the date.

Till the next bake update! :) that is chewy chocolate chip cookies

loves!

messy

ughh. currently have a lot of things to settle

will try blog soon!

Egg Tarts

Egg Tarts Recipe from Aunty Yochana

Ingredients

Pastry:
125g Butter - chilled
50g icing sugar
1/2 egg white
1 egg yolk
200g plain flour
1/2 tsp vanilla essense

Egg custard:
280g fresh milk
150g sugar
3 eggs
1tsp rum
1/2 tsp vanilla essense


Preparation

1. For pastry: beat butter and icing sugar till well mixed.
2. Add in egg white and yolk and mix.
3. Add in vanilla ssense and then the flour and mix into a dough.
4. Bake the tart shell till half cooked, about 10 mins at 175 degrees celcius.
5. Roll pastry dough to desired thickness and cut out and fill moulds
.
6. For egg custard: heat sugar and milk together. Remove heat once sugar dissolves
7. Whisk eggs and pour into milk mixture. Do not whisk till frothy.
8. Add in rum and vanilla essense.
9. Sift the egg custard and pour into tart moulds and bake at 175 degrees celcius for about 10mins.

Note:
I used less sugar than instructed in the original recipe.

It is advised to chill the pastry dough before using and avoid working the dough too much when rolling/cutting/shaping as this might cause the pastry shell to shrink after baking.

After pouring in the custard, bake at a lower shelf to make sure that the pastry will be cooked at 175C. Watch over it carefully, if the custard is about to puff up into a balls, remove it from the oven immediately.

loves <3

Fruit Bun

I have a whole container of dried fruits mix that i bought for a carrot cake i baked last month. Didn't take any photos of that but it came out great, i really liked it, had like 3 slices! My sis brought half the cake to her work meeting and the comments were good! ;D too bad i lost the recipe ): i jotted it down on a piece of paper but i think i might've accidently thrown it in the bin while cleaning up.

Anyways, i really wanted to try baking bread with the kneading and everything so decided to bake some fruit buns. My cousin likes dried fruit so perfect!
Here's my adaptation of the recipe i got from Food For Tots who got it from Daily Delicious haha.

Fruit Bun (makes 9)

Ingredients:
200g bread flour
1 tsp instant dry yeast
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
25g unsalted butter (softened)
140ml skim milk
100g mixed dried fruit
4 tbsp hot water

1 egg + 1 tbsp water for eggwash

Preparation:

1. Soak dried fruit in hot water for 5 mins and drain, pat dry and set aside.
2. Pour yeast and flour into a mixing bowl, whisk to combine. Add Sugar and salt, whisk again.
3. Make a well (large hole) in the centre of the flour mixture, pour in the milk and use a large spoon to stir the ingredients into a soft dough.
4. Turn the soft dough out onto a floured work surface. Rub in butter and knead till the dough is soft, smooth and elastic, about 10 mins)
5. Roll out the dough into a square, sprinkle dried fruits and knead lighty to incorporate the dried fruits into the dough.
6. Place dough to rise in a lightly buttered bowl, covered with a tea towel or cling wrap and leave to rise in warm place till double in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
7. Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
8. Take the dough out of the bowl. Gently knock back the rise dough with your knuckles to deflate it.
9. Divide the dough into 9 pieces. Dust your hands with flour and shape the dough into rolls. Place the rolls on baking sheet, leaving some space between each roll for rising and spreading.
10. Cover the rolls loosely and leave to rise in a warm place for 30mins or until double in size.
11. Brush each roll with egg wash. Bake for about 18-20mins until they are well risen and golden brown.

before and after kneading

For help with kneading, watch this video on YouTube

before and after rising

I had some trouble with the rising. As you may or may not know, it's winter now and recently the temperature ranges from 4 degrees to 18 degrees. I left it on the kitchen for about an hour and there was hardly any difference to the dough. I then placed it in my room with my heater on and after about 4 hours, it finally risen.

As you can see from the photos, i made 8 rolls instead of 9 as my dough turned out smaller. I think i might've over kneaded the dough a bit and also the part with the dough proofing.

Also, i forgot to brush my dough with eggwash as i was in a hurry to bake it and it slipped my mind.

The mini fruit buns i shall call it haha, came out soft and tasted well.. just like a fruit bun! as my cousin phrased it.

It hardened a little over the next 2 days but just pop it in the microwave for about 15-20secs, comes out soft and yummy again ;D

I really want to bake more as it's the hols and when semester 2 starts, things will be getting busy again. But with my sister and younger cousin back in Msia as well as most of the friends, leaves only me and my cousin to eat up. There's a limit to how much a person can eat each day you know haha, so my baking was a bit limited, but but but the sister and younger coussie's returning tomorrow! so goodiee, time for some bakin-lovin ;D

loves!

Pandan Swiss Roll

Ima fan of swiss rolls! tried this recipe from Pandan Swiss Roll from Lydia of MyKitchen. I've also added my own alterations to the recipe.

Ingredients.

Sponge:
4 large eggs
55g castor sugar
100g plain flour
60g melted butter
1tsp pandan essense
few drops of green colouring

Filling:
200g thickened cream
50g icing sugar
desicated coconut
1 tsp pandan essense

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 200 celcius. Line a 10" by 15" baking tray with baking paper.
2. Beat eggs till foamy. Gradually add sugar and beat till fluffy.
3. Fold in flour, butter, pandan essense and green colouring. Mix till combined.
4. Pour batter into baking tray and bake for 10mins.
5. Turn onto tea towel and peel off baking paper once done. Cut off the hard edges. Roll up sponge together with tea towel and leave to cool.
6. For the filling, whip cream till soft peak. Add icing sugar and whip till stiff peak
7. Unroll the sponge cake and spread filling evenly. Re-roll the cake without the tea towel.
8. Chill in fridge before serving.



Notes:

The sponge was rather dry.Also, it cracked like crazy when i tried to roll it up with the filling (following the original recipe which just left the sponge cake to cool without rolling first). However from the photos on Lydia's blog, it seems like she didn't have any problems with this.

The filling was nice, wasn't too sweet.

I dont like anything coconut unless its in curry or the fruit drink itself, but to salvage my swiss roll with all the cracking, i spreaded a thin layer of the filling and covered it with heaps of desiccated coconut haha.

loves.

Chocolate Sponge Cake (Failed Version)

Tried to bake a sponge cake the other day & it came out like this :(

Lol i dont know why it turned out like that, i think i might have overbeaten the mixture.

And also opening the oven halfway baking to check on it, probably caused it to deflate.

I cant find the recipe i used to make it , haha nvm i'll post up one the next time i attempt to make a sponge cake!

flat chocolate sponge cake

____________________________________________________________

Also, it's a very special day today!

It's ...

KOH NIAK SIAN's

18th BIRTHDAYYYYYYY!

whee! :D hope you're having a superfundelicious *haha* time kawan!

sending loads of loveeeeeeeeeeeee to you! <333>

*don't you just love silly photos my dahlin friend ;D

Banana Lemon Layer Cake

lol notice the many holes from using the skewers to check if it was done

Recipe from Complete Baking by Martha Day

Ingredients:

250g plain flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
115g butter (at room temperature)
200g granulated sugar
115g soft light brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon rind
3 medium very ripe bananas (mashed)
1 tsp vanilla essense
50ml milk
75g chopped walnuts

Frosting:

475g icing powder
1/4 tsp grated lemon rind
3-5 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 180 C. Grease and line two 23 cm round cake tins.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt.
3. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Stir in the lemon rind.
4. In a small bowl, mix the bananas with the vanilla and milk. Add the banana mixture and the dry ingrediants to the butter mixtre alternately until blended. Fold in the nuts.
5. Divde the batter between the cake tins and spread evenly. Bake until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean, 30 to 35 mins.
6. Leave to stand for 5 mins before unmoulding.
7. For the frosting, cream butter until smooth, then gradually beat in the sugar. Stir in the lemon rind and enough juice to mak a spreadable consistency.
8. Set one of the cake layers on a serving plate. Cover with about one third of fosting. Top with the second layer of cake. Spread the remaining frosting evenly over the top and sides of the cake.

Notes:
I had some trouble with the frosting. I could'nt get it to a good consistency, i need practiseee!
Also, i overbaked my cake a little and it turn out a little dry. I left it in the oven for about 40-45mins as i was worried that it wasn't done.

The frosting was way too overpowering and lemon-y. I used all 5 tbsp of fresh lemon. So i would recommend using less lemon rind and juice in the frosting.

Overall, everyone enjoyed the cake ;D myself too, i just love banana cakes, not a big fan of lemon thou.

loves!

Pork and Spinach Dumplings

Had the girls over for potluck after exams ended to catch up before everyone but me flies home for winter break :(

I made Pork and Spinach Dumplings! I sorta did a mix of recipes.

I used ready made jiaozi skin bought from Wing Cheong Grocery in Chinatown as i didn't have enough time to make them from scratch.

Pleating the dumpling was a bit tricky to get a hang of but after a couple, its pretty simple.
I got some help from this step-by-step tutorial by UseRealButter.

Clockwise: Shi Mei baked a Chocolate-icecream-marshmellow cake (lol dont ask me how she did that) . Nat made Wintermelon Barley . Kim bought Orginal glazed Krispy Kreme . I made Pork and Spinach Dumplings.

And Ming Mei arrived not long after with her yummy Spaghetti Bolognese!

Everything was so yummy and the company was great ;)

__________________________________________________________

Pork and Spinach Dumplings

Ingredients (makes 35):

350g pork mince

300g cooked spinach (chopped)

50g chives (chopped)

1 packet of JiaoZi skin

1 tbsp + 1 1/2 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tbsp rice wine

1 tsp oyster sauce

some salt , pepper & sugar

Preparation:

1. Boil the spinach till cooked. Drain and squeeze out the water from the spinach using a tea towel.

2. Mix mince, chives and spinach together with soysauce, rice wine, sesame oil, oyster sauce, salt, pepper and sugar.

3. Put the filling on the JiaoZi skin and seal up.

4. Place dumplings in boiling water for about 10mins. They float to the surface when cooked.

note: for more meaty dumplings, use less spinach and more mince.

loves!

let them eat

My blog has been revived haha! and this time i shall TRY to blog more often ;D

Anyways, from the beginning to this year, i discovered many many manyyy foodie blogs and really became addicted to reading them. And i thought why not give it a try myself. I've always had an interest in baking since young and now that i have my very own oven FINALLY to learn and experiment, i'm shall be able to bake wonderful goodies :D

So i really want to join the many inpirational cooking and baking bloggers out there doing what they love and at the same time sharing with others thier culinary journey.

Therefore, together with blogging about my 'exciting' life once in a while (haha!), i'll be posting on my journey to awesome cooking + baking skills and food! Including trials and errors of course lol ;)

wheee! next post coming right upp

tagged by jess

[Instructions: Strike out the ‘NO’s’ OR underline/colour/bold the ‘YES’s’ AND tag 6 people after you’re done. ]

1. Coffee / Tea
2. Noodle / Rice
3. Ocean / Lake
4. Phone / Computer
5. Smsing / Calling
6. Durians / Fried Worms
7. Coke / Sprite
8. Cold weather / Hot weather
9. Pancakes / Waffles
10. Sand / Grass
11. Vanilla / Chocolate
12. Coughing / Sneezing
13. Paper / Plastic
14. Gold / Silver
15. Watermelon / Strawberry
16. Slippers / Shoes
17. Early Bird / Night owl
18. Books / Magazines
19. Tall / Short
20. Heaven Above / Paradise on Earth

I tag: ONG WEN TING! :)

frustration

my alarm has snooze aha!

oh my goodness.

the reason im blogging at 7am in the morning is this.

i woke up at 6.30am today as i had driving class. Dragged myself out of bed because i know i cannot be late as i was going to take my trail driving today.
So, i brushed my teeth and got ready.
Then i realised i didnt have the house key! how am i supposed to get out?!
so i knocked on my parent's room door.
no reply.
knock again.
no reply.
then i realised they went out for jogging alr alamaakkk.
nevermind, go wake my brother up for house key.
After i got the key, i sat down and waited.
Then slowly it became 7.15am. In my head i was thinking alamak why this Mr.Cheng ( my driving instructor) so slowwww ughhhh.

then so ngam got calender hanging on the wall, so i look at it laaa
today is 7th, which is a wednesday.
THEN SUDDENLY OMG. REMEMBERED THAT MR CHENG SAID WEDNESDAY GOT TEST CANNOT HAVE CLASS.
OMGWTHBBQ! WAHPIANG!

faster faster called Mr Cheng's hp

br: Hello Mr.Cheng? this is Bee Rueh ya
mc: Hello oh ya?
br: Today no class right? (didnt wanna seem like i woke up at 6+ in the morning thinking that got class!!! D:)
mc: Today where got class? today got test la! yr class tomorrow
br: Ohh ya ya i know. okay see u tomorrow! :D byeeee
mc: Okay bye

&%!*&$%^!$^%$!!!!!

so yes, i've changed back in my pjs and now i cannot go back to sleep
which is why im blogging
lol

i feeel so scammmeedddd!!!

of jagerbombs and vodka

going to stay away from alcohol for a while.

ughhh

even the smell makes me nauseous
just thinking bout it too

BEERUEH is

officially 18 and LEGAL!

wheeee! :D

knots & nuts.

23rd-25th October 08

Flare Dance Ensemble presents ECLIPSE

31st October 08

Trinity Ball Live from the Red Carpet

was a fun night overall :)

felt a little odd at first. first ball without you guys :(

after party
Trick or Treat Velvet Fridays @ Seven

awesome halloween ;)

note : more photos can be found on my facebk :D

i was fooled.

sneezing baby panda.

LOL seriously freaking funny!

the mum panda was like 'wtf!'

6.26am

oh shit.

it's getting bright outside LOL.

5.27am

am still awake. working on EAP Oral for tomorrow.

reminds self to never do last minute work.