Monday, 30 January 2012

Lempeng Kelapa

Last weekend was kind of busy for me. I managed to go to Pasar Tani on Saturday, finished a hantaran cake and in the afternoon ferried the little ones to Lorna, and in between dropped the hantaran cake and some macs! Pheww! Yeah, I didn't get to try any new recipes except that I made this Lempeng Kelapa for breakfast yesterday. Hubs asked to serve with Assam Pedas, so I made Assam Pedas Jenahak! I don't know if this is the recipe, but this was how I made them yesterday, like how my mil makes them!


Ingredients
2 cups of plain flour
2 cups dessicated coconut, I used fresh dessicated coconut that I got from Pasar Tani
a pinch of salt
a pinch of sugar
Hot water from the thermopot just enough to incorporate the ingredients together

In a bowl pour hot water on the dessicated coconut, leave for about 3 minutes and stir in the flour. Fold in water to get the consistency like a pancake batter. Heat oil in a wok or frying pan, heat 1/2 a tbsp cooking oil and pour about half a cup batter. Serve warm with Assam Pedas or Sambal Bilis or Curry!

...and here's some bakes and cakes and maacrons that I made last week...about the only orders that I accepted months ago for January (an order-free month!)


Blackcurrent, Dark Choc, Passion Fruit and Lemon White Choc Ganache Macarons for hantaran. Tq Syawal!


Another hantaran macarons, tqs Faten!


Vanilla cuppies for hantaran, tqs Zirah!


A real last minute order, got this order on Thursday at close to 11 pm, to deliver on Saturday afternoon. It was supposed to be a Merisik but turned Bertunang in Bachok Kelantan, I decided to bake the cakes on Friday very early morning and did the rest using ready made fondant (oh thank God, they didn't melt, the air around my house is very humid) on Friday night! Tqs Jihan for this order and the delicious keropoks!


For Mak Tok, Devil's Food Choc Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese and Fresh Starwberries...ordered by the cucu who can afford all the calories, tq Aishah, tq Zirah!



...errr another emergency hantaran...A Red Velvet Cake for Zirah's anak saudara, Tqs Zirah!


Some Macarons for Linda and Ana, tqs lovely people...and also tq Ami Royani for the Devil's Food Choc Cake and Pavlova order which I gave a polystyrene box, as the bakes were going back to Mersing! No photos as it was raining that evening when I got home!


.....last but not least thank you from the Kitchen Guardian for all your support! :p:p:p

Friday, 27 January 2012

New Macaron Flavors!

Well...one gets addicted either in eating macarons or making them. I am addicted to making them, but lately I have also become addicted to eating them!! Because it is only when you savour the taste that you will be inspired to create different flavors. And for macarons, there are myriads of flavors either in the shell or the filling that you can create!

...and because I have decided to take a break from orders this month (err...well, sort of!!)...I had some time to try this new macarons!


Hazelnut Macaron with Coffee Latte French Style Buttercream! Loved coffee, loved hazelnut, loved this one! 


Cinnamon Macarons with Apple Cinnamon Curd in French Style Buttercream! Oh, this reminds me of winter in 28, Walpole Road!


Chai Macarons with Cardamom White Choc Ganache...for those who loved the punch of spicy cardamoms!


Slightly burnt..Pistachio Macarons with Lemon Lime White Choc Ganache! I like this one too!


Camomile Vanilla Tea Macarons with Coconut Salted Caramel filling...the best! The Coconut Salted Caramel reminds me of my grandma's Kueh Wajek!

I will not have the time try new recipes this weekend, I have a wedding cake to do tonight and another cake for Monday. It's a full day with the kids activities tomorrow, and I have a Nikah ceremony to attend on Sunday! So, see you next week, have a nice weekend peeps!

Thursday, 26 January 2012

Sour Cream Maple Banana Cake

Hi you alls! I'm breathing thorugh my personal emails as well as my office emails! But, I have to share with you this recipe that I got just before I left office yesterday! It's easy to make ....I made this last night just before I hit my sack...and baking this cake was literally a bananas in pyjamas agenda, LOL! 

Pictures were taken this morning before I left for work...and please forget my food styling...I was clicking my camera while making Hajar's and Muhammad's milk....haha...that's my life as a kitchen guardian!




Ingredients
  • 100g butter + extra for form, softened
  • 10 tablespoons maple syrup, I had 5 tbsp only, so tonight I'll get some maple syrup to have my cake for supper!
  • 4 ripe bananas
  • 200g muscovado sugar, I used light brown sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 vanilla pods, seeds scrapped, I used 2 tsp vanilla extract...sayang my vanilla beans!
  • 200g all-purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • 100g almonds, ground....macaron makers always have this in their kitchen, LOL
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 200g sour cream
Method:
  1. Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees C and butter a square (20cm x 20cm) form and line the base with baking paper.

  2. Pour 5 tablespoons maple syrup and swirl the form to coat the bottom. Cut 3 bananas (I used 5 small pisang emas) in half lengthways and lay them, cut-side down, in the form.

  3. In a mixing bowl beat together the butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla seeds, and the last banana with an electric whisk. Fold in the flour, baking powder, ground almonds and bicarbonate soda with a spatula, then stir in the sour cream.

  4. Carefully spoon into the form without displacing the bananas. Bake for approx. 45 – 60 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean ( I baked mine for 90 minutes, and left it to cool on my coffee table while snooze off on the sofa and later got up at 3 am to keep my cake!).

  5. Take cake out and poke the top all over with a skewer, about halfway into the cake. Pour the remaining maple syrup over the top and allow to soak for a few minutes.

  6. Carefully turn out of the form upside-down, drizzling the banana-studded top with more syrup. Slice cake and serve warm.

Our breakfast this morning! Muhammad loved this, so much so he demanded those that I packed for my colleagues were left with Aunty Roopa! See you tomorrow peeps with a bit more updates!xoxo

Wednesday, 25 January 2012

Madelienes

...it was a long weekend due to the Chinese New Year celebrations and we were supposed to go back to Ayer Baloi. But, on Saturday I saw one of the tyres of the mpv torn, and we couldn't get that fixed, the tyre needs to be ordered....and so, we were stuck in KL ...boring.....almost...not!

I decided to try new recipe and eat and sleep, that's what we did over the weekend! I made this Madelienes yesterday, made a Berries Tart on Sunday and made several new fillings and shells!...hmm...I feel fat just by reading this! Never mind, let's see....


Ingredients
2/3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
1/2 cup sugar
grated zest of 1 lemon
2 large eggs at room temperature
6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled


Method
1. First melt the butter and let it cool.
2.Whisk flour, baking powder and salt.
3.Rub lemon zest with sugar and vanilla.
4.Break eggs into the lemon vanilla sugar, whisk with a hand mixer or a stand mixer until pale, thick and fluffy.
5.Using a silicon spatula fold in the flour mixture slowly.
6.Fold in the melted butter into the batter until well incorporated.
7.Bake at 200C for about 10 minutes.

While a lot of recipes ask to bake the Madelienes immediately, but Dorie , whose recipe I used, asked to let the batter rest for  several hours. This is to create bubbles so that you would have a bump when you bake those Madelienes.

Well, hubs and Ib and Umar couldn't wait, so I baked some immediately....and baked the rest after 3 hours! What can I say, the latter ones had nice bumps, and were fluffy, and soft and crispy somewhat! Madeleines are like sponge cakes, but what differentiates them were the soft, lemony texture and light cake that make you want more....you just couldn't stop eating them! Well! Those that I made finished instantly when they came out from the oven!


I used this copper bowl that Tina got for me from the Pantry Magic! Love it!


Prepping the batter to chill in the fridge.


My constant companion in the kitchen, Muhammad!



I was so lazy to keep my dishes..it was supposed to be a lazy weekend!


Muhammad is into trains and busses now!


Oh yeah, I made 5 new filling with new shells for my Macarons..this is was Coconut Milk Salted Caramel, simply love it!



# btw this Berries Tart is open for order :p

Since we were still dreaming of Sherina's Berries Tart, I made this on Sunday, I had a slice, Khadijah and Yusof had a slice each, Ib and Umar shared a slice...and the rest belong to hubs, yikes! He goes to the gym daily, so it's ok, I think!


So, what have you been up to over the weekend!? Cheers, see you again!


Thursday, 19 January 2012

Apple Crumble Tart

Hi peeps! You know I bought a whole lot of stuff from Singapore, and one of them is this rectangular tart pans.  I have been looking at this in Donna's magazines and Martha's tart book for a while. And I have almost ordered this online! So, I got 2 of the pans from Sun Lik, kept one and the other one I gave away to my sugarpaste teacher....I wanted to get a few more to give away, but they have run out of stock, ah well next time!

So, I made this delicious crumble tart. I first saw this in Rima's blog and while I was in Singapore Rima made this for an order. It's simple to make with all the ingredients that almost always are present in all out kitchens...I'm asking you to make this tomorrow, you see!


Ingredients

Crust
190g flour
40g caster sugar
1/4 tsp salt
120g butter, from the fridge and chopped
1 yolk

Filling
5 green apples, I used Granny Smith, peeled , cored and sliced
2 tbsp butter
100g sugar
40g raisins
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
2 tbsp plain flour

Crumble
150g plain flour
40g sugar
1/4 tsp salt
75g butter




Method

Crust
Using my hands, I mixed the sugar, salt and flour together. Rub butter with this flour mixture until they resemble bread crumbs, add yolk and lighly knead. Please do not overwork the batter, we are not making roti canai here, ya! Then, I pressed the dough into the tart pan...leanrt this from Saf...and don't worry if they look like they were going to fall apart when baked, they won't! Chill for 30 mins, set your oven at 180C.

Filling
In a large bowl mix all the ingredients together, set aside.

Crumble
Mix flour, sugar and salt together. Add the chopped butter and rub with the flour mixture until they resemble crumbs.

Putting together
Spread the filling mixture in the tart pan, and spread the crumble on top. Bake for about 30 minutes or when you see bubbles coming out from the crumble or the sides of the pan.

Hajar had a portion that I placed in ramekins last night, and I had mine for breakfast this morning. It was absolutely divine, I loved it! Tqs Rima for this recipe!

...and here's some bakes that I made on the last week of December. Tqs beautiful people who have ordered, I couldn't find my 2011 diary with jottings so, I couldn't remember who they were, sorry! 







We will be going back to Ayer Baloi this weekend...enjoy your short break, Happy Chinese New Year! Year of the dragon, and we will all be  a lot of luck (coupled with hard work!) this year! Inshaallah!

Tuesday, 17 January 2012

Brownie Cheesecake and Baking With The Veterans!

Hiya you peeps! I thought that this month would be a quiet month, with very few orders, since I decided to declare an order free month...but, no! I have been busy! Work in the office has started to pile up, Ibraheem and Umar have adept to their new classes and friends, Khadijah has started her Alevels at Taylors under FaMa scholarship and Yusof looks like he's working harder than ever (planning to do Olevels next year!)! Hubs is working harder, and Muhammad and Hajar are getting cheekier by the minutes!

I have started my new year resolution, like climbing the stairs from the 10th floor to my office at level 15, having more positive thoughts...but still not cutting down my coffee and rice, yet....i lurve them!

Anyway...I have not been trying that many recipes that I should have! But I made this on Friday night...decadent Brownie Cheesecake! I got this recipe while blog hopping while waiting for my flight to S'pore in LCCT! Thank you "Browniegirl" for this recipe!


Ingredients

Brownie Layer
125g unsalted butter, chopped
150g 80% cocoa dark choc, I used Belcolade 70% dark choc chips
250g sugar, I used 220g 
2.5 ml vanilla, and vanilla bean, I used 1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
90g cake flour or APF, I used APF
2.5ml salt, I used 1/2 tsp
orange zest, I didn't use

Cream Cheese Layer
250g cream cheese
50ml fresh cream
70g sugar
2.5ml vanilla, I used 1 tsp
1 large egg

Method

1. Prepare a square cake tin 23x23 inches, line with baking paper at all the four sides, grease. Heat oven at 170C.
2.Melt butter and choc, stir in sugar, vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, mix until smooth. Fold in flour that was sifted with salt. Remove half cup of batter, and set aside. Pour the remaining batter into cake tin.
3.Beat cream cheese and cream until smooth. Add sugar, vanilla and egg. Keep beating till creamy. Spread cream cheese batter evenly on the brownie layer and last, dollop brownie batter(that was kept aside) and using a toothpick, create the marble effect. bake for about 25 minutes, until the middle of the brownie is a tad jiggly, remove from the oven and cool.

It's rich and very brownie.....ieee...yup, one can splurge the calories with both eyes shut, hehe!


....and Sunday, I had visitors or rather veteran bakers from far far away Sungai Petani...Aunty Shidah and her daughter, Aunty Hasnah...of course Aida is the coordinator! They came to learn to make Macarons, Red Velvet cake and Pavlova! Aunty Shidah and her daughter Fiza have their own baking workshop in SP!Woot! Cayalah!


....and all this classes started when Aunty Shidah tried my Macarons and Congo Bars! So, I showed them how to make those bakes!


...mmmmm Pavlova! Yup, orders are open for Pavlovas now! I love all the fruits here!


Using parchment papers to bake Macarons! The macaron goddess were around...and the feet were beautiful! Aunty Shidah close this colours!



....what they took home!


and this Red Velvet Cake....my kids cried for their shares of Pavlovas, so there was only a quarter left at the point when Aunty Shida and Aunty Hasnah left! It was a good casual baking session with my aunties!

....some bakes I made last weekend! 



Red Velvet cupcakes ....and...



Macarons...Dark Chocolate using 50% Valrhona buttons, Passsion Fruit White Choc Ganache, Coconut and Blackcurrent White Choc Ganache...tqs Myra! 


....Devil's Food Choc Cake with Cream Cheese sandwiched, coated with Dark Choc Ganache using Valrhona Manjari Buttons and fresh starwberries for Cikmin! Tqs Cik min!


....and some macarons for Kak Ana!

I'll be very busy this weekend, I didn't realise that all and the only confirmed orders in February were meant for this weekend...trust me with my scheduling! Anyway, enjoy your week, peeps!