Apple Bread Pudding苹果面包布丁

Hahahaha... sometimes when I think back, I might be outdated... Reason being.. I am always late.. Regardless being the Aspiring Bakers Theme I hosted for October, I didn't even posted any entry for myself, being late for Bake Along, THB, and many others.... hahaha, till sometimes I also can't remembered which recipe I had used...

Today I had an Apple Bread Pudding, topped with raisins & chocolate chips....

I have gotten this recipe from one of the cookbook I had bought from Taipei... Regretted not doing my "homework" in SG to see what books I could have gotten from there... I shall do my "homework" and buy more books when I am in Taipei next March... Hehehehe...

This apple bread pudding was surprisingly easy to prepare and bake.

I hadn't baked bread pudding before, so I wasn't too sure of how I should go about it. Plus the cookbook are in chinese, so taking my time to read and making sure I had followed and gotten the steps and ingredients correct:-p

Well, pudding turned out well and delicious. I was glad that I had added some chocolate chips in the pudding, and I should hve added more as it would really turned out very tempting with a combination of the apple & chocolate chips... I will omit the raisins next time or lessen them as they are not my favourite...:))

It was delicious indeed, and I couldn't help myself finishing one pudding after my photo-takings...

Here, have one too and enjoy....:)

Ingredients:

2 pcs of diced bread

1 apple, cored, peeled & diced

5g butter

1 tbsp sugar

30g raisins soaked in 1 tbsp of Rum

2 eggs

200ml milk (i use lo-fat milk)

40ml whipping cream

20g sugar

Method:

1. Cook the diced apple with the butter under low heat. Add in the sugar and cook for awhile.

2. Put the apples, bread, raisins into the ramekins. Set aside.

3. Prepare the egg mixture. Beat the eggs, milk & whipping cream until well combined. Add in the sugar and mix until the sugar had dissolved.

4. Pour the egg mixture into the ramekins and baked at 190C for about 35-40mins.

Aspiring Bakers #24 (October 2012) : Jellies & Puddings

Updated 1st November 2012
Well, the month of October had ended pretty fast as I would say. But I am proud to say that we have recieved 97 entries in total for the Jellies & Puddings theme.
We have recieved many wonderful entries from all the participating bakers and every single entry had been wonderfully done. Of course for me, I have alot more of recipes to be bookmarked... and girls, Mummy wouldn't just make instant jelly for you in future... hehehehehe... I will be looking forward to host another theme in the near future too.
And do accept my apologies if I had been a BAD host... Hope I didn't:-p
Thank you all once again for joining us in the "Jellies & Puddings" theme.
Till then... :-D

If you are interested in our next theme, please visit Aspiring Bakers #25 - Steaming Hot Cakes (November 2012) hosted by Miss B of Everybody Eats Well in Flanders

Hello everyone! I will be hosting this month's Aspiring Bakers #24 (October 2012) : Jellies & Puddings. I will like to thank Small Small Baker for giving me an opportunitity to host this event.

Being a new baker since last April, I had gotten to known about Aspiring Baker and from then, I had been partcipating in most of the Aspiring Bakers' theme whenever I could. However, my baking lifespan did not last for too long since my eldest daughter had started a new journey in the Primary School, plus having 3 little monsters at home & work, were a challenge from the begining of this year...:-p

Alright, quite enough of myself. As mentioned, I had chosen Jellies & Puddings for this month's theme. I think jellies & puddings are everyone's favourite, including the little ones. My girls love jellies very much whereas I love both of them... For sure, I only know how to buy those premix jelly powder to make jellies for my girls... oops... hehehehe....

Who can join???

Everyone!!!

(if you do not have a blog, just send me a photo and recipe of your bake)

How to join???

Step 1 :
For Jellies, I welcome any creativity on the jellies

For Puddings, it can be baked, steamed or boiled. (Eg.: Creme Brulee, Bread Pudding, Panna Cotta, Rice Pudding, etc)

 

Step 2 :
Post it on your blog between 01 October 2012 and 31 October 2012.
Your post must include the recipe or link to the original recipe. If you are using a recipe from a book, please include the title of the book too.
Any entries that are posted outside the date range will not be accepted.
Any entries that do not include a recipe or link to the original recipe will not be accepted too. 

Step 3 :
Please mention that you are submitting your post to Aspiring Bakers #24 (October 2012) : Jellies & Puddings hosted by Charmaine of MiMi Bakery House and provide a link back to this post HERE.
Entries will not be accepted if the above is not included. 


Step 4 :
1. For those of you whom have a blog, simply click on the "ADD YOUR LINK" at the bottom of this post, and  fill in the required steps below.
2. For those of you whom do not have a blog, simply email mimibakeryhouse@gmail.com 
in the following format:

Your name or nickname:
Your blog name:
Name of your bake/dish:
URL of your post:
URL of your photo (one photo for each entry): 
(alternatively, you can attach your photo in your email).

.

Please use “Aspiring Bakers #24″ as your email subject. You may submit more than 1 entry.
.
The roundup will be posted on 01 November 2012.

If you are interested to find out what’s on the previous Aspiring Bakers #23: Desserts on a plate (September 2012) entries, hosted by Swee San of The Sweet Spot.

Bake Along # 26 - Pear & Maple Crumble

Time had passed by so quickly... Weekends are gone, and back to office tomorrow... *yawn*...

I was hoping I could make it in time to submit my bake in the Bake Along #26. I had came across Lena's post about her Pear & Maple Crumble, and I saw that the link closed in 1 day's time... I was like, should I try baking this today... And I did...

Using whatever I had in my fridge, I managed to make these crumble... just in time before the submission of Bake Along #26 ends...

I had bought the Bon Appetit book from online, and I had gotten it for a very good price. Kinokuniya was like selling it for about S$60+, and I tried to get them from Amazon, which will cost me S$50+... But I got this book from Fishpond at S$30+ plus a S$10 coupon off. It was such a good deal...

I had bought some pears, can't remember what pears they are called, but from China, rather sweet pears. So I reckon these pears will do fine for these crumble. Also I do not have the crystallized giner, I had replaced them with ginger powder. And of course, using almonds...

These pear & maple crumble were very easy to make... No fuss nor mess..:-D

And they were awesome and delicious... The crumbles alone were a good one, I love crumbles very much...

 Hubby and the gals did not really fancy these... not their favourite... I do quite like it very much. While taking the pictures of the crumbles, I had taken a few teaspoons of the crumbles... Yummy as it should be...mmmmm.....

I had used Lena's portion of ingredients as I was rushing for time... By the time I had gotten back home, it was already 5pm. Quickly prepared the ingredients and set them off to the oven. The portion was enought for my 4 ramekins as shown below.

The pear in maple syrup and then, cover with the crumbles, ready to be baked.

Topped with the fresh blueberries, they do go very well indeed... The sweetness of the pear, plus a bit sourish of the blueberries, blends very well... 

 I was glad that this crumble turns out very well. A very surprisingly delicious tea-time snack or dessert. Most of all, it was very easy to prepare:-D

 I had taken the ingredients from Lena as I do not have much time to go through the book, plus my book is in the office... hahaha... pardon me...

I have make some slight modifications to suit my own taste, other then that, you may wish to follow what Lena had used for her ingredients.

Recipe from Bon Appetit

Topping:
83gm plain flour
1/3 cup pistachio nuts, coarsely chopped (I used almond nuts)
30gm castor sugar
38gm cold butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

Combine flour, nuts and sugar together and rub the butter in till moist clumps form. Chill them for about an hour.

Filling:
2 small pears, peeled, quartered, cored and cut into cubes
2 tbsp raisins (I omitted as I do not fancy raisins:-p)
1/2 tbsp plain flour
1/4 cup of maple syrup
3 finely chopped crystallized ginger (I used 1 tsp ginger powder)

Method:
1.Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350F/170C. Place pears, maple syrup. flour and ginger in large bowl, toss to coat. Let stand 15 minutes, tossing occasionally.
2.Divide the  pear mixture to 2 separate oven proof bowls, sprinkle topping over. Bake crumble until topping is crisp , about 30 minutes. Let stand at least 10 minutes before serving.

 While waiting for the crumble to be baked, I have helped the gals make some animal masks. Nat has a school assignment, to make an animal mask. So end up the other 2 gals wanna make one as well. Mimi was so enthusiatic about making her mask, ended up she got bored and restless, she took something else to play...

Do click on the links below to find out what have the Bake-ALong Hosts had did and also the other bakers, on their wonderful works too:-D

Bake Along #22- Creme Brulee - My Forever Favourite!!!

I simply love creme brulee but I didn't try making mine either... I have kiv my creme brulee recipe for a very long time as I did not have any ramekins nor a kitchen torch... So there was I, enjoying every single bits of the creme brulee whenever I go for a buffet lunch that serves creme brulee... hehehehe!!!!

There are plenty of creme brulee I had ever tasted..., but nothing beats the original ones... And of course, with the Bake Along Theme this time, actually motivated me to buy my ramekins & to try out my creme brulee recipe! Amongst so many creme brulee recipes I had, I decided that I should just be humble for now and stick to the original creme brulee.

CREME BRULEE

My creme brulee..., I did not have a kitchen torch to caramelize the sugar topping...thus it didn't look as fantastic... But using the top oven heat works fine too, and most importantly, it tasted as great as it should be...:-D

As I had to take pictures of the creme brulee, the picture below, the creme brulee wasn't chilled overnight as it was supposed to be. So the texture here looks abit soft. If it is chlled overnight, the texture should be slightly firm. Nevertheless, it was still yummmmmy!!!

This picture below, was the 1st batch of creme brulee that I had put in to bake... And I realised that the top part was actually all foam and the egg mixture went half through the ramekins... I was rather disappointed..:(( And I missed out an important point that I should rest the egg mixture for a while before baking them.

And here, the proper creme brulee it should be... I am so pleased with them...

I brought some creme brulee for my colleagues to try and they all said it was fantastic.So mission is completed and passed...hehehehe....

Ingredients:

3 egg yolks

1 egg

90g sugar

500ml whipping cream

1 vanilla pod

1/4 tsp vanilla essence

Method:

1. Cut the vanilla pod open along its length. Scape out tge seeds. Put the whipping cream and vanilla seeds into a pot. Put it over low heat until it boils. Turn off the heat.

2. In another bowl, beat egg yolks and sugar with an electric mixer until pale.

3. Slowly stir in the hot cream mixture from step 1. Mix well. Add on egg and vanilla essence. Whisk further. Strain the resulting mixture to remove any lump.

4. Divide the egg mixture among small ramekins. Cover with aluminium foil. Arrange on a deep baking tray and pour boiling water up to half of the height of the ramekins.

5. Bake in a preheated oven of 160C for 45 mins.

6. Leave it to cool. Refrigerate until chilled.

7. Before serving, sprinkle sugar on top. Burn the sugar with a kitchen torch until it turns golden. Or bake them in an oven with the upper heat filament on for about 3 mins until the sugar melts and browned. Serve.

Here, you can find out the Bake Along Hosts, Zoe, Joyce & Lena, and of course along with the other bakers too:))

How about making your own beancurd??

Recently there had been a overwhelming about this 老伴豆花. And I am a beancured lover too..:-p Wanted to ask my friend buy for me as there is a shop nearby her office. But happened that my hubby came back to fetch me for work... :(

Chilled Beancurd

So my friend told me, nevermind, try making one... I was like huh... how to? She gave me a self-made recipe for Munch Ministry, using gelatine, and the ingredients and method were very easy... So why not, let me try making them...

This is the soya bean milk soaked with gelatine.

Here, the chilled beancurd after refrigerated for at least 4 hours...

"How did it taste like??", my friend asked me...

"Like soya milk jelly, almond jelly like...?", I told her...

The picture from the Munch Ministry, the beancurd was really soft, like beancurd, unlike mine... probably too much gelatine? I will try to reduce the gelatine or perhaps can try using jelly powder instead... hahaha...

Here's the recipe for those of you whom are keen.

Recipe adapted from Munch Ministry

Ingredients:
500ml soya bean milk (Yeos,Vitasoy,etc)

17g creamer powder

2.5 teaspoon gelatin

Method:
1.Soak gelatin in a small portion of soya bean milk for about 10 mins.

2.Heat up the remaining milk in a small pot.(Do not let it boil)

3.Add creamer.

4.Add gelatine (from step 1.)

5.Stir constantly to make sure all are dissolved.

6.Leave to cool in pot for about 10 mins.

7.Pour into desired containers.

8.Put into fridge after everything cools.

9.Ready to be served in abt 4 hours time.

Black Sesame Panna Cotta

If you are a black sesame lover, this will suits you fine:-D

It tasted quite like the black sesame paste dessert, yummy!!!

Not only are they yummy, they are very easy to make as well:))
Ingredients:
2 cups whipping cup (about 500ml)
1/2 cup milk (125ml)
2 tbsp black sesame powder
2 tbsp castor sugar
2 tsp gelatine

Method:
Mix all ingredients and boil under low heat, until gelatine has dissolved.
Leave aside to cool, pour into small cups and refridgerate before serving.

Min Jiang Kueh

Mummy Eileen had once again sent me a very simple recipe to do these Min Jiang Kueh...

Are these your favourite too? It wasn't mine though, but I guess hubby quite like them.

So after Mummy Eileen sent me the recipe, I told her, "OK, I will do them now."

Min Jiang Kueh

It is also very easy to make.

And most of all, it is Min Jiang Kueh!!! :-D

Ingredients:

130g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp yeast

1 egg

25g sugar

160ml water

Method:

Mix all ingredients together to form a smooth batter.

Leave it aside for 30 mins.

Pour batter into a non stick pan, smooth out to get an even thickness.

Cook on low heat for about 6-8 mins.

Remove from pan, spread your fillings. Fold into half and serve.

I will be submitting this to : Aspiring Bakers #12: Traditional Kueh (October 2011) hosted by SSB of Small Small Baker

All time favourite Muah Chee

My friend had sent me a picure of her muah chee she just made...

She said these muah chee are really easy to make, and most importantly, they are soft and yummy!!! She told me to try making them...

Why not...???

MUAH CHEE

This is the first time I make these muah chee, and I wasn't sure how it will turn out...

Well, not too bad isn't it...???

It was indeed very easy to make them and easy to manage with.

I had always thought that making muah chee is a very tedious job.

Guess it's not!!! :-D

Thanks to Mummy Eileen for such a good recipe to keep! ^-^ Ingredients:

110g glutinous rice flour

140ml water

Adequate peanut powder

(this I bought the ready made ones from the supermarket)

Method:

Mix the flour and water together to get a smooth batter.

Pour the batter over a non-stick pan coated with oil.

Cook under very low heat for about 3 mins.

Once the batter has set, it should roll together to form a lump. Toss for a while to ensure it is totally cooked.

Remove and put onto peanut coating, cut to bite size.

I will be submitting this to : Aspiring Bakers #12: Traditional Kueh (October 2011) hosted by SSB of Small Small Baker

Onde-Onde 班兰糯米球 (Glutinous Rice Balls)

ooooo.... Onde-Onde is also one of my favourtie kueh kueh...

I always like the feeling of putting in the onde-onde inside my mouth and try to pop out the sugar syrup out... It is just a wonderful feeling... Don't you??? :-p

Onde-Onde 班兰糯米球 (Glutinous Rice Balls)

Here is some of the steps of preparing the onde-onde.

How did I fair in this onde-onde attempt?

Hmmm, the glutinous wasn't that bad, it is soft and chewy.

Well, as for the sugar syrup part, when I pop the onde-onde into my mouth, either I did not taste the sugar or you still can feel the whole bits of sugar in it...

Duh... so, in this aspect, I had yet to master the skill...

But being a first attempt, this recipe is not too bad, easy to make.

Hope you will have fun in trying out this recipe.:))

Ingredients:

250g glutinous rice flour

200ml pandan juice

100g grated white coconut (steam w some sea-salt)

250g palm sugar (finely chopped)

few drops of pandan paste

Method:

1. In a large mixing bowl, place in flour, add in the pandan juice little by little and knead well till it form a smooth pilable dough.

2. Pinch a small amount of dough(abt size of a calamansi lime), roll it in your palm to form a smooth ball. Make a well int he centre of the dough and fill it with chopped palm sugar. Pinch dough to seal, roll into ball again.

3. In a pot of boiling water, drop the balls in the shimmering pot and when it floats, remove with a slotted spoon and allow excess water to drip off.

4. Drop the balls gently on the grated coconut and coat it evenly, then transfer to a plate to serve.

I will be submitting this to : Aspiring Bakers #12: Traditional Kueh (October 2011) hosted by SSB of Small Small Baker

Kueh Lapis Kukos 九层糕 (9-Layer Cake)

I had tried the 三层糕previously, and it was quite a good attempt. The kueh was really tasty.

Nat loves it as well and she had asked me to make the 九层糕.

I decided to take up this challenge:-p

Kueh Lapis Kukos 九层糕

It was rather easy to make these九层糕, no fuss at all, but it's just that I have to divide the batter into 9 portions.

I have half the amount of the recipe, and used a rectangular tin inside of a 11"x11" square tin as recommended.

If you might have noticed..., my九层糕is actually 8 colors instead of 9 colors...

A couple of reasons actually:

1. I have half the recipe.

2. I had use a slight bigger rectangular tin, thus my portion wasn't enough.

3. I had lost count of my colors... :-p

And also, I had left out orange color, plus I couldn't get the RED RED color as those 九层糕 that was been sold outside... So that why my top layer was orange, instead of RED....

I thought I had everything controlled, dividing the portion into 9 portions... But I was so wrong.... And also I had also forgot the colors I had already poured in...

Blur Blur Blur me.... hehehehehe....

The kueh was really, and perhaps it was the colors of the kueh, Mimi likes it very much but she just want to try it...

My own colorful 九层糕....

Texture of the 九层糕....????

It was almost the same as the 三层糕，but just that the layers can be peeled off:-D

Here is the recipe:

600g fine sugar (I used 500g)

1 litre coconut milk

1 litre water

1 tsp sea-salt

few pieces of pandan leaves

350g rice flour

350g tapioca flour

Method:

1. Mix fine sugar, coconut milk, water, salt, pandan leaves and bring to boil at low heat till sugar dissolved. Discard the pandan leaves, turn off the flame & allow to cool slightly.

2. In a large mixing bowl, mix the rice flour & tapioca flour. Then add the coconut milk mixture, whisk slightly till well blended.

3. Divide batter into 9 portions. Ready to steam layer by layer, by adding in desired colors into each layer such as white, green, yellow, pink, blue, orange, with the final top layer red.

I will be submitting this to : Aspiring Bakers #12: Traditional Kueh (October 2011) hosted by SSB of Small Small Baker

Kueh Talam Pandan 打南班兰糕点

Kueh Talam has always been a all-time favourite kueh for me.

I love the soft texture of the kueh, and the smell of coconut.....

Kueh Talam Pandan 打南班兰糕点

Ok, the recipe has called for 绿豆粉(Green Pea flour). I hadn't seen any Green Pea Flour as yet, and I happened to see my girlfriend make a cookie using green pea powder. So I asked her if she bought the green pea powder, she said she grind it herself.

I have ran out of the 绿豆粉(Green Bean Flour), so I decided to try using the green pea powder instead...:-p

A disastrous maybe....???

LOL.....!!!!

Alright, just ignore me... Here is the recipe:

Ingredient:

Green Layer

60g rice flour

20g tapioca flour

20g green pea flour (绿豆粉) (I used the grind Green Pea Powder :-p)

175g sugar

125ml pandan juice

250ml water

1/2 tsp alkaline water

(I added about 1 tsp of pandan paste to enhance the taste. But perhaps you can add a few drops of green coloring to the mixture to make it more greener.)

Method:

Combine rice flour, tapioca flour & green pea flour, mix it with sugar.

Add pandan juice, water, alkaline water, mix it well till smooth. Cook it under a double-boiler till almost thickens, then pour into a 6"x6" square tin and steam for 20 mins.

Coconut Cream Layer

30g rice flour

30g green pea flour(绿豆粉)

250ml coconut milk

1/4 tsp salt

(I do not have the green bean flour, so I used 50g of rice flour instead)

Method:

Combine the rice flour, green pea flour & salt into a double boil pot.

Gradually add in coconut milk & stir well till smooth. Cook it under a douible boil until thickens, then transfer to the tin and pour over the green layer. Steam for another 20 mins.

Allow to cool completely before cutting into pieces.

Have fun:))

I will be submitting this to : Aspiring Bakers #12: Traditional Kueh (October 2011) hosted by SSB of Small Small Baker