Sheppard's Pie

This is the easiest dish to cook. You need mashed potatoes, vegetables, meat and cream of mushroom/chicken soup. Short cut version. Instead of cooking the gravy from scratch, I used Campbell soup.

Cooked the vegetables (brocolli, cauliflower, carrots, mushroom) and meat (sausages, chicken or etc) together in the soup. Poured into a baking tin and covered with mashed potatoes. Baked for 20mins @ 175 degree.

Done.

D Chai Boey that I cooked

Finally cooked chai boey on Friday after so many failed attempts in getting the most important ingredient (kiam chai = salted vege) from the market. I cooked a big pot - hmmm can feed 20 people. Had this for dinner yesterday. A ma loved it, her bowl was clean and dry :) I gave them the whole pot after keeping some for myself.

Oreo Cheesecakes

Baked this for GL's birthday. The initial plan was to bake my normal cheesecake until I saw this recipe the other day. It turned out well. Hope she likes it.

For some of the cakes, I removed the oreo's cream fillings as I thought it would be too sweet but without the cream, the base turned out to be too dry (commented by E). So next time stick to the recipe ...hahahahhahaha.

there is tomorrow

did not wake up in time for market this morning. well, there is always tomorrow :)

got to make it tomorrow as i want to eat chai boey... i am craving for one.

quick update - cake and chai boey

the kids love the cake. some even had 2nd helping. this was told by the school teacher. not sure if she wants to bodek me :)

going to make chai boey tomorrow and this means that i need to wake up by 6am to go to market to buy 'kua chai' or 'kiam chai'. hope i can get up. will update more later.

dis is the cake

Ry helping me wit the cake decorations - topping it with sprinkles. Lovely heart for the kids tomorrow.

Well, hope the kids like it. When I told Ry that I was baking choc cake for his school's party tomorrow, he reminded me that his frens dont like anything dark coz they said it is yucky. I told him we will have colorful sprinkles on top and I am sure his frens will like it. Will see tomorrow.

Day Care CNY Party

dis time i am going to bake moist choc cake with colorful sprinkles. the last time, i baked fruit cake for the Christmas party and Ry came home telling me that his frens said that the cake is so dark and plain. guess kids dont prefer fruit cake - well it is an acquired liking.

so dis time i want his frens to tell him that the cake is delicious. actually i dont think ry care at all... him being a kid and a boy. i care. i dont want his school frens to have the impression that his mother 'tak tau' bake :)

Moist Chocolate Cake

There was no plan to bake today due to the weather (very hot lah). I dont know what hit me and I suddenly thought of baking choc cake around 6pm.

Baked 2 cakes with different method of toppings. Both are topped with choc ganache - 1 plain and the other with sprinkles.

Ry ate 2 pieces. I like the plain one better.

Must have fruits for CNY

According to my mum, the 2 must have fruits for CNY are pineapple and pomelo. Every year, she will buy the pomelo for me without fail. I dont remember why pomelo. Pineapple is because it will bring 'Ong'. Pineapple is called 'ong lai' in hokkien. Ong which also means... luck and lai means come in hokkien - ong lai = luck come

I call it the prosperity corner.

note: the pot of strawberry is just for display coz i find that it matches the fruits.

d heat & baking

i was thinking of baking an orange chiffon cake just now in d evening.

however plan was dropped as it was so hot...and i dont think i can stand the heat from baking. so end up surfing the net :)

guess no more baking until the weather is cooler.

Peanut Cookies Recipe

Made peanut cookies for coming Chinese New Year. It is not CNY without this cookies.

I dont have the pictures in this laptop hence for pixs, pls refer to previous post click here

I would like to share the recipe (given by a fren - Chooi Leng). Thanks Chooi Leng for this marvelous recipe.

Peanut cookies

Ingredients:

600g fried peanuts -remove skin and grind finely

600g sifted plain flour

500g sifted icing sugar

450-500ml peanut oil (Tips: Add the oil enough only to form the dough into balls, the original recipe put 500-600ml. I used canola oil, since I do not have peanut oil at home)

1 beaten egg for glazing

Some peanuts for decoration (Tips: Optional-I did not do this but looks nicer if you have them J)

Method:

(1) mix grinded peanut, flour, icing sugar in a mixing bowl and slowly mix in peanut oil until it can be formed into a soft dough and can roll into ball without breaking. (Tips: Knead for some time as the peanut will produce some pure peanut oils itself and the cookies will smell and taste better)

(2) Form into small balls and placed on baking sheet, glazed with beaten egg. You can choose to decorate the top with half peanut

(3) Bake in pre-heat oven at 180C for about 25 mins till golden brown. Remove, leave to cool before storing.

Recipe for Pandan Chiffon Cake

I just realized that I did not post the recipe for this cake earlier because I failed and when I finally succeeded, I was so excited that I totally forgotten about posting the recipe.

I am thinking of baking one this coming Chinese New Year.

For previous post on my success click here

Here is the recipe and tips:

The recipe is from Little Corner of Mine

(A) 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, sifted

1 Tbp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1/2 cup sugar

(B)

1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil

6 egg yolks

3/4 cup coconut milk

1 tsp. pandan paste

(C)

6 egg whites

1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

3/4 cup sugar

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 350'F (175'C).

2. Combine (A) in a bowl. Stir well to blend. Add (B). Beat with an electric mixer until smooth.

3. Beat (C) until moist peaks formed. Gradually add 3/4 cup sugar, beating until stiff and shiny peaks are formed. Fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the egg yolks mixture, fold to mix and then add the rest of the egg whites. Fold gently but thoroughly. Turn batter into ungreased 10" tube pan.

4. Bake for 60 mins or til a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Invert cake and cool completely in pan. When cool, loosen the edges and shake pan to remove cake.

Some tips:

1. make sure the egg whites are beaten really well

2. Separate the yolks from whites, make sure not even one bit is mix - else the white will not whip to stiff peaks

Orange Choc Chips Cake

i have 2kg of self raising flour and 3 oranges - so what do you do with them? of coz, bake a cake :)

the thin dark layer on top of the cake is actually choc chips. Ry loves it.