Tuesday-Poached Pear in Cage

Here's another excellent dessert recipe I made yesterday. There are 3 reasons why I baked this dessert. First: I have three untouchable pears left in my fridge, no ones seem interested to finish them off. Secondly: the lattice pattern and thirdly; the whole idea about poached pear.I looooovvvveeee 'cooked/baked-fruit' as dessert. The combination from fruit aromas mixed with the spices i.e cinnamon and cloves are just heaven..Same goes to this cage puff. BigDaddyO loved it so much and requested me to do another batch of it. he he insyaAllah =p

These puffs were rather less elegant than the one I saw on the internet, [one of mine got a big hole at the back], but trust me, no one will care once they take a bite. he he Google on 'pear in a cage' and you'll end up with few photos on how these puffs should look like..  My puffs are made by amateurish home chef je =p 

Poached Pear in Cage 

{Recipe is inspired and taken from Sprinkle Bakes's Honeyed Pear in Puff Pastry..TQ =D}

Yield: 2 medium sized puff

• 4 small pears-I used 2 pears
• 1 sheet of ready made puff pastry dough, thawed
• 4 cups water-half
• 2 cups sugar-half
• 1 cup honey-I used golden syrup
• 1/2 lemon-omit
• 1 vanilla bean, seeded with hull reserved
• 3 sticks of cinnamon-1 stick
• 6-8 whole cloves-omit

1. Peel pears and core from the bottom. 
2. In a medium saucepan, combine the 4 cups water, 2 cups sugar and 1 cup honey. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. When the sugar has melted, add the pears, vanilla seeds and hull, 1/2 lemon, cinnamon and cloves. Simmer pears until they are fork tender. This can take 20-40 minutes, depending on the ripeness of your pears. 
3. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
4. When the pears are soft, remove them from the pot and allow them to cool slightly. Discard solid pieces from saucepan.
5. Cut 2 medium size of puff pastry in square. about the same size as your pear.
6. Put the pear on the puff pastry [bottom layer]
7. As for the top layer, make several cuts just like below lattice pattern, and stretched it a lil bit, be careful not to tear it, [or you'll end up like mine-the big hole huhu] and put it on top of the pear. secure both end with fork or your hands. 
8. Baked it for 15-20 mins or until the puff pastry turns golden brown. Serve with ice-cream. 

lattice pattern

                                             

Adam cooks on Monday..err..Friday he he

Alas, I'm few days late, but I still wanna squeezed this week "Adam cooks on Monday [ACOM]" today.. Adam and I went to the library last Monday, had our lunch outside, and by the time we were finally home, we both were so tired from the long walk. [Mommy was the one who got tired the most actually, had to carry him around after he tired to walk himself =p] So no cooking mooking on Monday. 

As usual, Adam did the easiest part only, and this time he got to sieve the dry ingredients. I helped him pour the ingredients on the sieve and let him kacau2 with a spoon. Memang mengacau pun after that.. he really kacau me by asking me to carry him around, messing the floor with the butter, sepah2kan my bowls and pots, and nearly tumpahkan tepung yg dah disieve tu.. err..err.. "I'd got to bring him out of my kitchen.." Switched on the TV, luckily Mickey Mouse Clubhouse was on it, and he got excited & left Mommy by herself in the kitchen, with all the 'great' mess T_T 

No baking-making-caking after this..I'll let him spread the Peanut-Butter-Jelly instead. =P I should choose recipe with less preparation time and steps sepatutnya.. Obviously, I'm dealing with a 20 months toddler, who couldn't stand still even for a minute! And ade je new things that will catch his interest.. tu nak pegang, ini nak masuk mulut.. =p 

So here's my version of Steamed Zebra Cake. Mine is a bit hideous, isn't it. The taste is there, but there's no zebra stripes whatsoever inside.. Outside, adelah selai dua stripes.. =P And I forgot to tap the cake pan before I put it in the steamer, so there you go, uneven-rocky-mountainous top cake .. isk isk.

Steamed Zebra Cake {Recipe taken from Rima Bisous A Toi-Thanks!!!}

Yield: 8 pieces [I did half butter only]

Ingredients
(A)

• 8 eggs
• 250g sugar
• 1 tbsp emulsifier
• 1/2 tsp salt

(B)

• 250g flour
• 50g milk powder

(C)

• 50g butter, melted
• 50g fresh milk

(D)

• 75g margarine, melted - I used butter
• 2 tbsp instant coffee mix with a little hot water
• 1 tbsp mocca paste - I used mocca latte paste

1. Heat steamer.. greased a 24cm round pan.
2. Beat ingredients A until thick and fluffy.
3. Add in sifted B.
4. Mix well. Weigh and divide batter into two equal part.
5. Add C to one part, mix well, set aside.
6. Add D to another part, mix well, set aside.
7. Pour plain and mocca batter alternately till finish
8. Steam on medium high fire for abt an hr or till set
9. Remove from pan, slice into pieces. Serve.

Tuesday- Chocolate Coconut Cupcakes {CCC}

I baked a dozen of chocolate coconut cupcakes[CCC] this morning. EARLY this morning. Lately, I've went to bed earlier than I usually had and woke up in the wee wee hours of the morning. 

Tired, perhaps. Or over-ate. =P 

While some people despise the taste of coconut in their food especially desserts like cake, candy or ice-cream, I'm on the other hand, love most food with coconut flavor. Especially those Raya cookies with coconut flakes inside, kuih ketayap, and who can forget the delectable Bounty chocolate bar. :D

Same goes for this cupcake, I love the taste combo even though the chocolate flavor somehow overpowering the coconut's a little bit.Just a lil bit. Maybe I should reduce the cocoa powder to 3 tbsp. Anyway, it's edible hehe. So long Mr. Tong Sam Pah. I spread some cream cheese [left-over from the pumpkin roll] as the cupcakes topping and sprinkled them with toasted coconut flakes. Luckily, the imbalanced taste of chocolate-coconut was saved by the sweet & creamy cream cheese topping and coconut-aroma flakes. :D BigDaddyO'haven't give his take on this cupcakes yet. I packed two for him to munch in his office. 

Anyway, here's the recipe. Give this recipe a try, will you? hehe

Chocolate Coconut Cupcakes [CCC] 

{ Recipe taken from Sweet Paul}

Yield: 12 large cupcakes

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut
• 4 tablespoons good quality cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Beat butter and sugar until pale.
3. Add eggs, one at a time. Mix well.
4. Add flour, coconut, cocoa and baking powder.
5. Mix well.
6. Pour the batter into a 12 cup buttered cupcake tin.
7. Place in oven and bake for 12-15 minutes.
8. Cool on a wire rack.
9. Spread topping and sprinkle with toasted coconut flakes. 

Wordless Wednesday- Asparagus?

United we stand, together we fall...

I'm tiring of cooking asparagus in the same way, stir fried with soy, garlic and ginger. So far, those flavors are match made in heaven for asparagus, to my palate at least. But I'm getting enough of it..

How do you cook your asparagus?