Sweet Decadenze

The Hubby couldn’t wait for me to use some of the cute Disney cookie moulds I acquired recently, so he requested for some cookies to bring to work.  And as usual, I happily obliged; I’m usually more than happy to do some baking (when I’m not busy with other things, that is) so long as food will not be wasted.

It wasn’t difficult looking for a suitable recipe since such cookie cutters are such a rage recently!  Finally, I settled on the recipe found on Happy Home Baking, a blog maintained by a SAHM to two young boys.  Her blog is a rather enjoyable read, and she comes across as a very friendly person with no pretentious air, unlike some other blogs I’ve come across.

Quite expectedly, The Hubby wanted me to use the Pooh and Piglet moulds; those are my favourite too, apart from Chip ‘N’ Dale.

Simple Butter Cookies
180g cake flour
20g corn flour
100g butter, room temperature
80g caster sugar
1 egg yolk

1. Sift together flours in a medium bowl.  Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, add the sugar to the butter in 3 additions and beat till light and fluffy.
3. Beat in egg until combined.
4. Add in the flour mixture in 3 additions and stir with a spatula to form a soft dough .
5. Double wrap dough in plastic wrap, flatten with a rolling pin and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 150°C.
7. Line a baking sheet with baking paper.
8. Remove dough from refrigerator and roll it out on a slightly floured working surface.
9. Cut out dough with slightly-floured cookie cutters.
10. Bake for 15-18 minutes, one tray at a time.
11. Cool on baking sheet for 1 minute, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Yield : 35 cookies

I have to admit that I do not like to bake cookies which requires any form of rolling onto a floured surface and cutting out with cookie cutters.  I find the process much more messy than simply throwing spoonfuls of dough onto the baking tray.  Furthermore, with 2 dogs who shed all-year round at home, I have to take special care to ensure no golden fur gets onto the dough.  However, this recipe has only a few ingredients and steps, thus I am more inclined to try it out.

Finally, I get to use the Chip ‘N’ Dale popcorn bucket I bought in Tokyo Disneyland earlier this year!  It’s so adorable (but I wonder if it is airtight?).

Like the lady whom I got the recipe from said in her own blog post, it is not very easy to achieve the pretty shapes.  In the end, I put my dough on some baking paper and used my hands to knead to the required thickness before cutting out the dough and lifting the whole baking paper to dislodge the dough from both the paper and cutter.  A very tedious process no doubt, but it works for a perfectionist like me who wants perfectly-shaped cookies.

Attended a workshop conducted by Pastry Chef Hannah Wong of The Patissier at Shermay’s yesterday afternoon.  There was no hands-on; it was just a demo and food tasting session.

On the whole, it was a rather hectic session, with Hannah rushing to complete all 3 cake recipes:- Tiramisu, Chocolate Fudge and Pavlova.  I was barely coping with both watching the demo and writing notes on the provided recipes at the same time.

The class was so popular there was hardly room for walking after almost everyone turned up punctually.  And when seated, shoulders were touching shoulders, to say the least.  A conservative estimate - at least 35 attendees.

Watching Hannah do her stuff was a great learning experience.  She did some of her ‘moves’ so effortlessly one would think piping ladyfingers of equal size or spreading batter to a uniform 1.5 cm is literally a piece of cake.  Anyone who has done quite a bit of baking would know otherwise.

- The Patissier’s Pavlova, usually not available unless there are special orders -

I love the tiramisu; it was really fabulous!  I’m not really a chocolate person, so the chocolate fudge cake didn’t really appeal to me.  As for the pavlova, sweet is probably the only word I can use to describe it.  When I have the time, I will definitely try out all 3 recipes, with the tiramisu as top priority, of course.

Throughout the whole workshop, I was resisting the temptation to buy a pack of Valrhona Caraibe (66% cocoa content), a silpat and some ramekins.  And I’m glad to announce that I was able to walk out empty-handed, save for the recipes.  Quite a feat for me, considering that I’d never walked out of Shermay’s without buying any single item before.

I have to confess that I sometimes do not act my age. I collect Pooh Bear soft toys, and I have 3 pairs of pyjamas with Doraemon prints.  I also like Chip ‘N’ Dale a lot, but my obsession with all things cute stops here.  I don’t go ga-ga over Hello Kitty stuff in general, and the furthest I’ll go is to adorn a Doraemon apron when I cook or bake.

It came as quite a surprise to me when I ended up purchasing so many cutesy stuff in Taipei.  Definitely didn’t help with a sister who wasn’t worrying about my pockets while encouraging me to get all the stuff I showed any tinge of interest in.

Apart from cookie cutters of some of my favourite Disney characters, I also bought a Pooh Bear-shaped cake mould, a snowflake-shaped cookie cutter, a gingerbread man cookie cutter and some chocolate moulds.

Excited about using these new baking equipment?  No.

Happy about the buys?  Not exactly.

Then why buy them?  No idea.  It was a spur of a moment thingy, and I’m not even a person into such cutesy stuff on normal days.  I don’t even like cutesy decorations or frills on my cupcakes!

Something tells me that they will probably be stashed to rot somewhere in the house.  Unless I find a use for them real quick. 

This post is long overdue.  And I apologize for that.  Frankly, I can’t even remember which day it was when I attended Valerie’s workshop to learn how to bake these delectable strawberry hearts.

Confession time.  I have been meaning to make these strawberry hearts after attending the class but I have tons of excuses to give for not doing so.  I haven’t found the time to get down to Sun Lik to get the heart-shaped cutters, and I haven’t been seeing nice strawberries on sale.  Excuses, excuses, excuses.

Yes, I have the recipe, but no, I am not sharing it.  If you are interested to learn how to make these strawberry hearts, please email Valerie at valsworkshop@yahoo.com.sg for details on her upcoming workshops.

As for me?  I promise to try bake them really soon.  I have family and friends waiting to taste the legendary strawberry hearts.

I love raspberry to bits, and since I have about 1/2kg left of frozen raspberry pureé in the freezer, I decided to make some of these tiny raspberry swirl cheesecakes.

Raspberry Swirl Cheese Cupcakes
10 whole Oreo cookies, crushed
40g unsalted butter, melted
360g cream cheese, room temperature
200g caster sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup raspberry pureé

1. Preheat oven to 170°C.
2. Prepare 8 cupcake cases (each of 1/2 cup size) and lay them on top of a small cookie tray.
3. Mix the melted butter and oreo cookies in a mixing bowl till bonded.
4. Divide the mixture evenly among the 8 cupcake cases (about 17g each).  Wrap a glass into a plastic bag, and make use of the base to compact the crust.
5. Bake the crust for 5 minutes, then remove it to cool completely.
6. In one large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy.
7. Add in the sugar in a slow, steady stream and beat until just combined.
8. Add the eggs into the mixture one at a time, making sure that each addition is well-incorporated before adding another.
9. Add in the vanilla.
10. Pour the batter onto the baked crust till about 7/8 cup full.
11. Add 1 tsp of raspberry pureé on top of each cupcake and use a wooden skewer to swirl carefully through the cheese batter.
12. Bake for 10-15 minutes until just set.
13. Switch off the oven, leave the door slightly ajar, and let the cupcakes cool completely in the oven before removing.

Yield : 8 large cupcakes

The cupcake cases I used were about the size of 1/2 cup.  If you are using the smaller cases which can fit into the 12-hole muffin pan, then you can probably make about 12 cupcakes.  However, you probably will not need 1 tsp of raspberry pureé for a cupcake that size.

Take note that the baked cupcakes should be kept away from the cool outside air as much as possible while it cools down, otherwise it would sink in the centre.  Also, avoid putting too much pureé in the centre lest the same might happen (due to gravity).

The cheese layer was a still a little soft and jiggly after cooling down; I think I could have baked it a little longer.  But frankly, I quite like this texture - soft and smooth like puddings, and best eaten straight out of the cupcake case with a dessert spoon!

E, a good friend of mine, will be celebrating her birthday next weekend.  A bunch of her gal friends (moi included) decided to carry forward her birthday celebrations to this weekend since we are also meeting up to celebrate my elder dog’s 3rd birthday.

Searching for a cake recipe suitable for E proved to be quite a challenge.  She doesn’t fancy chocolate or creamy cakes, thus I’m left with little options.  Knowing how much she likes tea, I started looking for cakes which use tea leaves as an alternative flavour, something along the line of Earl Grey Tea or the likes, but to no avail.  Since she didn’t comment that she found the Jelly Hearts (which I just learnt to bake a few weeks back) too rich, I thought she might be fine with my final selection of a Raspberry Cheesecake as her birthday cake.

Chilled Raspberry Cheesecake
13 (200g) digestive biscuits, crushed
100g butter, melted
4 tbsp water
1 1/2 tbsp fish gelatin
300g cream cheese, room temperature
125g sugar
350g raspberry pureé (I used only 200g)
125ml whipping cream

Jelly Layer
1  packet of Tortally Raspberry jelly crystals
1 tbsp fish gelatin
200ml hot water
200ml cold water

1. Prepare an 8-inch springform pan.
2. Mix the melted butter and digestive biscuits in a mixing bowl till bonded.
3. Lay the mixture onto the tin until it covers the entire tray, using the back of a spoon to press the mixture down, till about 2 cm thick.  Chill in the refrigerator while preparing the filling.
4. Sprinkle gelatin over water in a bowl and set aside until it turns spongy.
5. Place bowl over hot water until the gelatin mixture turns clear.
6. In another large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth.
7. Add in the sugar and beat the batter until light and fluffy.  Set aside.
8. Add the dissolved gelatin mixture to the raspberry pureé in a separate bowl and mix well.
9. Whip the whipping cream until soft peaks form.
10. Add the raspberry pureé mix to the whipping cream.
11. Combine the raspberry mix with the cream cheese mix.
12. Pour the batter onto the prepared crust and let it set for at least one hour in the refrigerator before pouring the jelly layer.
13. Melt the jelly crystals and gelatin in hot water till dissolved.
14. Add in the cold water.
15. Let cool for a while before pouring onto the chilled batter.
16. Chill overnight until firm before serving.

Yield : 1 8-inch cake

I am crossing my fingers and praying that E likes her chilled raspberry cheesecake.

Proust’s childhood memories with a twist!

I’ve always been more of a tea person rather than a coffee person.  As a matter of fact, I don’t drink coffee at all and I always marvel at how some people around me are able to down cup after cup of coffee to stay awake.  Of the many tea flavours available in the market, my favourite has to be earl grey.  And if you ask me, Gryphon Tea Company’s Earl Grey is simply in a class of its own.

Everyone who is in the know will tell you that madeleines are best eaten fresh out of the oven for they notoriously turn stale rather rapidly.  This not-so-endearing characteristic is the only reason why I put off baking these retro madeleines (recipe found on page 169 of Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan); for I don’t foresee that I will entertaining at home for quite a while.

Because of my love-relationship with tea, I have high expectations of these earl grey madeleines.  And I must say, they hold up to the pressure quite well!  Having them over tea with a cup of brewing earl grey is simply… quite beyond words!

By the way, Gryphon Tea Company’s various tea flavours are available at Shermay’s if you are keen to try them out.

‘Tis rather strange, but I grew up not liking strawberries at all.  I reckon I must had tasted a very sour strawberry when I was really young and developed a distaste for this berry as a result.

Fortunately for me, I grew out of this phase in my early 20s, albeit a little late in life (but better late than never).  That being said, I have to say that we don’t get very nice strawberries here in Singapore.  I haven’t tasted enough of strawberries from all over the world, but to me, the best strawberries I’ve tasted so far were those I tasted in Holland bought from a stall just outside of the Keukenhof Festival.  You can literally taste the smell of early spring in the strawberries themselves - fresh, plump and sweet.

Regretably, I never tasted anything like that since.  The expensive strawberries from Japan (close to $20 per punnet) bought at Isetan come in a close second though, but the price tag just blows me away.  Hence I am not inclined to try out recipes I come across so long as they require strawberries.  This recipe (below) I obtained from Receipzaar is a rare exception.

Strawberry Muffins
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
2 cups chopped strawberries
2 eggs
1 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 tsp sugar, optional

1. Preheat oven to 190°C.
2. Line 12 muffin tins with cupcake or muffin liners.
3. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and 1 cup of sugar in a large bowl.
4. Toss in the strawberries.  Set aside.
5. Beat together the eggs, butter, milk, and vanilla in a medium bowl until well-mixed.
6. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.  Stir until just combined.
7. Fill up each muffin liner with batter till about 3/4 full.
8. Sprinkle 1/2 tsp of sugar on top of each muffin.
9. Bake for 20-25 minutes or when a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
10. Remove individual muffins to cool completely on a wire rack.

Yield : 12 regular muffins

What you get is a sweet (dependent on the strawberries) and moist muffin, and they taste the best when fresh out of the oven.  If the batch of strawberries you bought are a little on the sour side, you can try compensating by adding a little more sugar, say 1 1/4 cup, but nothing more than that or it will topple the balance of the ingredients.

The first time I saw the picture of these cute brownie buttons on page 107 of Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, I knew I have to try making these petite cookies when I have the time to.  Trying this recipe, however, wasn’t on my priority list - I planned to bake some souffles first - until I tasted the brownies from a famous joint (where people would queue for hours to buy their muffins) and thought their brownies are really nothing to rave about.

And so, that was how my enthusiasm in brownies rekindled quite unexpectedly and prematurely.

The preparation steps before sending a typical brownie batter into the oven are expectantly easy.  This recipe is no exception.  It was so quick to prepare that the brownies were baking in the oven and the kitchen was once again specklessly clean in less than half an hour.

This is not to say that I did not encounter any difficulty at all.  The optional glaze of some melted white chocolate swirl atop the brownie buttons looked deceivingly easy to achieve, however they were anything but that.  It is highly possible that the scrooge in me played me out - stinging on the amount of Valrhona Ivoire was apparently not a wise choice.  And so, I had to sacrifice that endearing little swirl in exchange for some decorative sugar.

The Valrhona Guanaja in the brownie itself and the Ivoire as the glazing gives rise to a rich brownie with some sweetening in the form of the glaze.  I really don’t mind this recipe, but I prefer my brownies to have nuts and stuff inside, so there will be some tweaking the next time I bake these little buttons again.

This is another cookie recipe which I didn’t bake recently.  About a year ago, I baked these cookies several times trying to achieve the most perfect cheesecake cookies, but somehow they always become sticky soon after being left at room temperature.  Other than that one complaint, I really like this recipe which I found at bakingsheet.

Chewy Cheesecake Cookies
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup butter, room temp.
1/2 cup cream cheese, room temp.
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Prepare a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper.
3. Sift together the all purpose flour, and baking powder.  Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, cream together the soft butter and cream cheese.
5. Gradually add in the sugar at medium speed until mixture becomes light and fluffy.
6. Add in the egg and salt.
7. Using hand or at low speed, mix in the sifted dry ingredients.
8. Drop doughs of about 1 rounded tbsp each onto the baking tray.
9. Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until cookies are edges are lightly browned.
10. Transfer the cookies to cool on the cooling rack.

Yield : 36 cookies

This is a recipe I intend to revisit at the next available opportunity.  I just have to find a way to ensure that these cookies do not ‘melt’ the moment they cool down or leave the refrigerator.