I AM BACK!

       I've always told my friends, I'm going to write my blog again once my kids are back in school. Yes my kids are back in school ( for 4 months now) but I have been so busy (with I don't know what) that took me so long to write again. I promised to post all my recipes, and my new inventions, my failed projects, and share my tips ( I learned thru failure so nobody else repeats my same mistakes) to make better food for the world.

   I'm going to start with the new found love that I recently found from Lindt's magazine. As a chocolate lover, I was in heaven eating this cookie (especially when it was a little warm, the chocolate was just melting in my mouth), and it's a hubby approved cookie. He doesn't like eating too much sweets, and this is not sweet at all...

  I was looking for the best chocolate for baking on all the websites and happy to conclude that Lindt was the best, and I agree. Luckily for me we do have an outlet here, they sell a bag of 2.5kg baking chocolate for about $45, with no tax. A bar of 100g chocolate cost $2.50 plus tax so it's a pretty good price, considering I bake a lot, and I only use best ingredients I can find, if possible.

 

 So I tried this recipe from the magazine, that you can also find from this Lindt's special season's website. I'm so glad that the sales girl told me about the free book that I can take home, she must know that I really like baking, and chocolate because my basket was overflowing and was getting so heavy, I wished they had a cart. Please note that you need 3 bars of excellence chocolate bars for one recipes, I made a mistake buying just 2 bars, one orange and one mint, hubby likes the mint and I like the orange, so I used the rest of the baking chocolate for the other remaining cookies.

Just be careful when you break it, I tried cutting it but it wasn't a good idea, breaking it apart is easier. Notice how the squares stays in shape better than the baking chocolate? I will go with the square and not baking chocolate, it's more expensive (about 30 cents a piece of squares) but oh it's so worth the money. The cookie is just a plain shortbread, not very sweet, just prefect for me, with a cup of coffee or tea. I think I will have to make another batch soon, as it will be gone before Christmas at this rate.

I hope my family, friends, and the kids' teachers will like it ( if they have a chance to taste it). This will make an impressive gift, it's easy enough to make for beginners, and the best you can get for a chocolate shortbread cookie, whoever who made this recipe is a genius. I give it a 5 star.

Time to try out recipe #9 from the magazine.
 

Happy Halloween

Halloween Cupcakes

I spent whole afternoon making these cupcakes. There's a potluck at the school and I thought the kids will enjoy this. I forgot to pick Noah from school because I was too busy making these.

Halloween Cookies

I made these cookies until 11pm at night. It was fun, I bought this 101 Wilton cookie cutters and I really love them. I am all tired now, and hope that tomorrow will be a good day, with no rain so the kids can enjoy their Halloween day.

My best friend was asking me for recipes, she just got a new oven. I was looking for the recipe in my blog I couldn't find it, I thought I did posted it. Well, here is the simplest, healthiest, yet tastiest muffin's recipe. I make this for hubby and Noah every other week. It freezes so well, you just need to put it in the microwave before eating them. And the best thing is, you do not need a mixer to blend everything, I just use a fork to mash the bananas and a large spoon to fold the flour after.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Good healthy heart recipe

½ cup	Becel margarine
1 tsp.	Vanilla
¾ cup	White sugar
2	Eggs
1 cup	Flour
1 cup	Bran
2 or 3	Ripe bananas mashed (I use 3)
1 cup	Chocolate chips
1 tsp.	Baking soda
½ tsp.	Cinnamon
	Cream together the first 3 ingredients.  Add eggs, then blend in the next 5 ingredients.  Bake at 350ºF for 20-25 minutes.  Makes 12 large muffins (or 24 small muffins for kids, bake for 15-20 mins).  Freezes well. Optional ingredients- walnut pieces.

Beyblade Cake

So this is it, the cake that my neighbour asked me to make months ago. Can't believe how fast time flies. I wanted to make something better, but this is what I made. I wish I had more time to make. Hubby was away for 6 days, so I can't do much with 2 young kids clinging on my legs all the time.

They like my vanilla cake so I made one for them. I  made the fondant beyblades ahead of time, so it will be harden. I put another fondant over the plate to let it dry and harden for the beyblade's stadium. I just cut out the sides of the cake, and wrapped it around the fondant (bowl) and then put icing on it to seal them together. I used yellow because I don't want to use too much red food colouring. The last time I made the firetruck cake, I used the whole red colouring, yellow doesn't need as much. I'm not a big fan of food colouring.

So this was it, the simple cake that I made. I hope that he liked it. I really hope that I have more time and energy to make something more special, but I tried my best. Hope he'll have a wonderful 8th birthday, on the 8th.

Tarts

 I felt like eating tarts, so I made this. The yellow ones are egg tarts, they are so easy to make, while the other pecan tarts have blueberry sour cream filling in it. I wanted to use up my blueberry pie filling so I tried this new invention, it's actually not bad, but I still prefers the egg tart better.

 I used the tenderflake pie shells, when it's on sale you can get it as cheap as $1.99 a box of 12 tarts shell, so I don't bother making pie shells because they are inexpensive and taste good. I will make some real pecan tart, someday when I have the time. I am just lazy, this is fast and convenient. Didn't take me much time.

For the egg tart, I just cracked an egg, and beat gently, add almost the same amount of milk with the egg, with a tablespoon of sugar ( you can add more or less, depending if you prefer it sweeter or not as sweet), and then I pour it into the shells, mine made 6 tarts (with one egg). I used to follow this recipe from Little Corner of Mine's blog, now I just got lazier, skipped everything, yet it still taste good, so I don't bother following the measurements anymore. It will look better without the bubbles if you strain the eggs, but it's just for me to eat..so I didn't bother all those steps.

I baked my tarts in the oven at 350 for 25-30 minutes. For those blueberry tarts, I used 3 tablespoon of blueberry fillings, 1 tablespoon of sour cream, 2 teaspoon of sugar, and I topped it with pecan. It's actually pretty good. The blueberry pecan tart takes a longer time to bake compared to the egg tart, and I still prefer the egg tart, it's my all time favourite.

Vanilla Icebox Sugar Cookies

 My best friend's birthday is coming so I've decided to make these cookies for her birthday this year. She has been a great friend, sending me gifts from time to time, wherever she is. She actually bought me this cute cookie cutter from Japan! This is now my favourite cookie cutter. I hope she likes my gift, I am too broke to buy her flowers, as I am not working anymore. Maybe in a couple years...when I started working again I will not have time to bake, and will have the money to buy. It is very fun to make these cookies, Noah and I enjoyed making them.

This is a really cool idea from Chatelaine. It's just one recipe that you can make 20 different varieties. I did not follow the exact amount to put in the cookies. I just divided the recipe into 4, mixed one with chopped walnut, another with cocoa powder and nescafe, and one with walnut and cocoa powder. I made the remaining ones plain, and added chocolate on top of it, and it was the best ever!

I bought the cooking chocolate (unsweetened) from Bulk Barn, and mixed it in with a little bit of icing sugar, butter and milk, just tasting it as I add them so it will be just perfect. Then I spread it over the cookies. Hubby is not a big fan of chocolate cookies or cakes, but he went back for a second round, so it must be good.. hehe.

This is a really simple cookies, another keeper. I hope my friend and my cousin (who asked me to send her some too for her birthday) like them. I'm not sure if it is a good idea to post them, they might be broken into pieces before they get them.. or get stale... and the postage is not cheap, but it's worth a try.

Well Happy Birthday to my dear cousin ( who probably won't be reading my blog) and my best friend, the one who cheered me up when I was down, surprised me with gifts, one that never forgets my birthday and a dear friend that I will cherish for the rest of my life. Happy Birthday.

Sugar Cookies

Guess who made these cookies? Hard to tell huh? Well, my big boy really wanted to make cookies and decorate them, so here's the result!

I've got the recipe from All Recipe. I like their recipe, they always have good recipes there. Anyway, everybody is getting cookies for Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Noah's school (Montessori) is having a party tomorrow and I told them I was going to bring a cake. This is the 6th cake I made so far. I decided to go with simple, and use the skills I learned from my class. I used the fondant for the snowmen, and buttercream icing for the rest, inside has another layer of cream cheese icing, with banana cake recipe, Noah's teacher's favourite cake so far.

I used tip 47 for the lines and 21 for the weaving basket at the sides of the cake. Tip 21 too for the rosette and 1M for the flowers at the bottom, with tip 3 for the middle part of the flowers and the words. Only took me about an hour to decorate this, compared to the other cakes this is so much easier.

Hope theyèll like my cake, and you have a wonderful Christmas too!

The ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie

This is actually my mother in law's favourite recipe, one that she never forgets to mention, almost all the time, how her oldest grandson really likes them. So I've decided to give it a try, hubby thinks it's just okay,he still prefers the nutty ones that I always make for him, but hubby's never a big fan of chocolate chip cookies. I think this is still the best chocolate chip cookies that I've had, so far.

Here's the recipe ( from Chatelaine Food),

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temparature
1 1/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups dark chocolate chip ( I just used the 1 packet of 250 g)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Lightly spray baking sheet with oil ( I used the butter wrapper instead, works well, save money). Beat butter with sugar until creamy, beat in egg and vanilla, gradually add in flour and dry ingredients until just combined. Mix in chocolate chip.

2. Scoop 1 tbp of dough , placing at least 2 inches apart.

3. Bake in the centre of oven until  cookies are golden around the edges about 8-10 minutes. Remove to a heat proof surface for 2 mins then to wire rack to cool completely,

4. If making ahead, form dough into a thick disc and wrap well. Refrigerate up to 2 weeks  or freeze up to a month. Cookies keeps well in a covered container for 2 days.

I added red and green sugar sprinkles on it so it is more festive~

Chocolate Pinwheel

I've made this cookies before, but usually I do not add colour to it, I thought it is a good idea to put some colour for this festive season. 

For the dough ingredients;

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

dash of salt.

Cream butter and sugar, add eggs until it's flight and fluffy, add vanilla, followed by flour and baking powder. 

Roll it out in rectangular shape as in picture below, on a wax paper. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

In the mean time prepare the chocolate batter.

2 cups semi sweet chocolate chip

2 tbs butter

1/4 vanilla

Melt them in a sauce pan under low heat.

Pour the chocolate onto the chilled dough, spread them evenly. I tried to make it red and green but somehow I did not add enough red, or maybe I should add some yellow to it, anyway I think this colour is pretty. I rolled out the dough and tried to do something different to make it more attractive for little kids.

 This is how it looked like after I rolled them up and cut it into 1.5- 2 cm slices. 

After baking it in the oven at 350 about 13-15 minutes, the house smells like chocolate.. and cookies!

Cashewnut cookies

Cashewnut cookies

Christmas time is almost here. I'm starting to get busy with my cookies. I don't buy gifts, I bake cookies, and give them as gifts, and people usually loves them. I really don't know to get my in laws who has everything already, so this is something that I can do for them, and they like. Of all my cookies, this is one of them that they like, so I'm sharing it here with everybody.

1/2 cup softened butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg yolk
1 3/4 cup flour

Mix butter and sugar, until soft and fluffy. Add in vanilla and then egg yolk. Put the flour in last. Do not put all at once, add more if it's still too wet, or less if it's already to dry...
Roll it out, and use cookie cutter to cut the shape that you like.
Glaze the top of the cookie with the remaining egg white with a brush.
Add split cashewnuts. Grease the baking tray before putting the cookies on it.
Bake in the oven at 350 for 13-15 minutes.
Cool at wire rack, get it out before it gets too cold otherwise it will stick to the tray, but not too hot too because the cookies will be too soft to be moved.

Enjoy the cookies!

Blueberry Sour Cream Pie

This is my first time making a blueberry pie. I got the frozen pie shell from the groceries, and decided to make this pie because I have a bag of frozen blueberries in the freezer. It turned out pretty good, the pie was gone the next day!

Here's the recipe;

1 cup sour cream
2 1/2 cup blueberries
1 cup sugar

Mix them together and put it in the pie shell. Bake it at 400 F for 15 mins or until the centre is set (or harden)
For the topping, I used the apple crumb pie recipe.

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup margarine
3/4 cup flour

Mix them together, but this time I added 1/2 cup of walnuts and it was great. I would add more the next time.
Remove from oven, put the crumbs in, reduce the oven heat to 350 F, bake for another 35 minutes or until it's cooked.

Blueberry pie

This is now my favourite pie recipe, it's so simple and easy yet so delicious, especially with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, that I have yet to buy.

Noah's first failed project, Oatmeal Cookie

Noah wanted to bake more cookies so I decided to bake oatmeal cookies, I made it a couple times before and it's usually good, well except this time. I must have got distracted and forgot to put the flour in, or maybe not enough flour.. or maybe it fell on the floor.. well something went wrong anyway. I tried to put the flour in after and it didn't look right. Anyhow Noah thinks the cookies are good because he made them!

My young assistatnt

Vanilla Buttermilk Cupcakes by Noah

 Noah really wanted to bake something so we decided to bake some cupcakes. My neighbour across the street said he loves vanilla cake, so I used my sifu's favourite recipe, she got from this website --> Vanilla Buttermilk. She also told me that I can substitute the buttermilk with just normal milk plus a tablespoon of vinegar. I found that the taste and texture is a little different but it's still pretty good.

 Noah's really into baking now. Look how serious he is. For the icing, I used the buttercream recipe. I used 1/4 cup of soft butter with 1 1/2 cup of icing sugar and 2 tbs of milk.

 Noah's enjoying his cupcake cone, one that he made by himself, he was so proud.

 Not forgetting the sprinkles. They made the cupcakes more colourful.

Kiana's enjoying watching her big brother making the cupcakes. It's a really good way to keep my kids busy.
Noah kept 2 cupcakes for his teacher, gave away the rest to my neighbour and his friends. He is really helpful and generous.

Blueberry Muffin

My friend told me that her son likes blueberry muffin, so I found a recipe and made this. I had frozen blueberries at home and I thought, maybe it's time to use them up! I did not follow exactly as the recipe, I did not notice it's 400 F, instead of the 350 F that I normally use. So it took me 18 minutes for the small muffin and 23 minutes for the bigger ones. Another thing that I changed in my recipe is, I added a teaspoon of cinnamon. This recipe makes 24 muffins. I made 24 small muffins, and 14 big muffins with this recipe. Hope you like my muffins!

Blueberry or Raspberry Muffins

4 Eggs
1 cup Oil
2 cups Brown sugar
1½ cups Milk
4 cups Flour
4 tsp. Baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon (optional)

Mix in order, the first four ingredients. Mix flour and baking powder into ingredients.

Add blueberries or raspberries

Bake at 400 F for 18 – 20 minutes

Apple Crumb Pie

Whenever I bought apples that are not up to my standard, I make apple pies. I am quick picky about the apples I eat. I got these yellow delicious apples, but they were not as crispy as I like them to be, so I put the in my pie instead. 

To make this apple pie, you'll need;

1 frozen pie shell

6 cup peeled apples

1 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

3/4 cup flour

1/2 cup margarine

Preheat oven to 350 F or 180 C. In a small bowl, mix 1/2 cup sugar and cinammon. Mix together and sprinkle over apples, as in picture.

 Mix flour and 1/2 cup sugar together. Mix in margarine with fork, mix until crumbly. Sprinkle on top of apple mixture.

 This is how it looks like after 50+ minutes in the oven. The recipe said, bake for 45-60 minutes, I like it a little bit more brown. I put a tray underneath the pie because the juice usually overflows, as you can see in the picture. That way my oven won't be too dirty afterwards.

Apple pie is best with a scoop of vanilla ice cream but I didn't have any vanilla ice cream, so this will have to do. What I love most about this recipe, it's so easy to make and the crumbs are so crispy. I've never baked a pie in my life before, until my neighbour brought this pie over and gave me this recipe. This is one to keep.

Pineapple rolls

I might have posted this pineapple rolls before, but we just made it today so I'll just repost it again, if I did post it before. I was babysitting today again, my friend asked me to watch her daughter 3 times a week, not sure how will I be able to cope, but so far so good. I thought it will be great to get the kids to do something, to kill the time, and both of them like baking anyway, so it worked well. What's even better was, her mom finished work earlier today and came to help clean afterwards.

As you can see, it's a bit out of shape, but it very delicious. It's made with love. The kids really enjoy making the cookies. I used pineapple jam that I made, no sugar added. To make the pineapple jam, just cut up pineapple pieces, put in the blender and then cook it in a pot, stirring it often until it thickens. I put some cinnamon to cook it together.

I usually make the jam ahead of time and freeze it, use it whenever I feel like baking. For the pineapple rolls dough, here's the recipe;

150g butter
100g margarine
50g or 1/2 cup icing sugar
2 egg yolks
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
4 cups flour

1. Mix the butter, margarine and sugar in a mixer, beat until light an fluffy.
2. add all the other ingredients except flour
3. Add in flour a little at a time, do not stir too much anymore after adding the flour.
4. Roll it out and you can use cookie cutter or cut a line, and roll the jam in the middle. Add flour if it's too sticky. I don't use the exact amount of flour, just add more if it's too sticky because once you put too much flour it's too hard, and you can't save it anymore.

Preheat oven at 350F or 180 C. Bake it for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove from oven, put on wire rack, let cool. Your have to get it out from the baking sheets immediately, otherwise when it's cool it will be hard and get crack easily.

Shortbread Cookies

Shortbread Cookies

This is a very simple shortbread recipe I've got from my neighbor. I love how it is not too sweet, and it's egg-less too. It is so soft that it melts in your mouth

Here's the recipe;

1 cup butter

1/2 cup Icing sugar

2 cups flour

Just put it in the mixer and bake at 350 until they turn golden brown, about 15-20 mins.

My friend's son turned 4 and his mommy requested for Cars cookies so I made some cars cookies as a gift. I tried to make a cookie bouquet at first but it didn't work as the cookies were too soft and heavy, so I make a cookie basket gift instead.