{Friday}- Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

Adam went "Yeay!" after he saw me taking out one of these cuppies from the fridge yesterday. "Ice cream ?" he asked and I replied, "Nope, it's a cupcake in ice cream cone", and he gave me a dazed look. I shouldn't gave him such reply. 

The funny thing is, Adam loves to eat his ice cream from the bottom part of the cone. He would bite his cone upward, slowly moves to the ice cream. I, on the other hand, would have to lick the ice cream to prevent it from melting onto Adam's tiny fingers, and at the end of the day, Mommy was the one who had the ice cream most. The same went to this cupcakes. He got the cone and the cake inside (+1 point), and I ended up with the frosting (-1 point).

Nevertheless, it's the best frosting I've ever made. It has just the right sweetness for my palate :) I dipped 2 frosted cuppies with bittersweet chocolate and the rest were frosted with choc-swirl frosting (put 2 frosting flavors together and swirl it).

FYI, I halved the recipe into 12 cuppies, one half is reserved for my small (with big tummies) family and I passed another half to my new-found neighbor :) 

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes (Chocolate flavor): 
Adapted from Cuppy Cakes's recipe
Yield: 24 ice cream cone cupcakes 

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1-1/2 cups milk

1/2 cup butter

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 eggs

1. mix on low speed everything but the eggs

2. beat on high speed for 2 minutes

3. add the eggs, beat on high speed again for 2 minutes

4. pour the batter into ice cream cones

5. leave a good half inch between the batter and the top of the cone

6. bake at 180 deg for about 20 minutes or until cake testers comes out clean

Fluffy White Frosting
Adapted from Vickie recipe at allrecipe.com

Yield: 1 frosting for two layer 8 or 9 inch round cake 
(I halved it since I only have 12 cuppies)

1 cup white sugar

1/3 cup water

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

2 egg whites

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a saucepan, stir together the sugar, water and cream of tartar. Cook over medium-high heat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is bubbly.

In a medium mixing bowl, whip the egg whites and vanilla to soft peaks. Gradually add the sugar mixture while whipping constantly until stiff peaks form, about 7 to 10 minutes. Frost the cake of your choice.

Black and White Wednesday- Sugar Grains

“If you are bitter at heart, sugar in the mouth will not help you”


Update: The Black and White Wednesday is inspired from The Well-Seasoned Cook's Black and White Wednesday-A weekly Culinary Photo Event.

Tuesday- Meatballs Spaghetti

As you guys can see now, I've changed my blog layout.. again.. :D Mind you, this is just a temporary change.. I'm in the mid of tweaking some codes and scripts and hopefully everything will come up as planned.. Ameen. 

And as for the meatballs spaghetti, that's our dinner for tonight. I used a Prego canned sauce instead of making one, oh please don't judge. It's O-K to cheat..sometimes.. I said sometimes.. The meatballs are homemade tho.. It's from Ramsay's World Kitchen book. I gave a so-so review about it last time (okay, who am I kidding to gave Ramsay with such rating..). But this time, I've added a lil bit more of garlic (powder) and instead of parsley, I've substituted it with some Italian herbs, and it tastes fine now, more than fine. Should I claim the recipe as mine now? 

Meatballs in Tomato Sauce 

(as printed in Ramsay's World Kitchen)

(Serves 4-5)

500g good-quality minced beef 

1 onion, peeled and very finely chopped 

1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped 

50g white breadcrumbs 

25g manchego (or cheddar), grated 

2 tbs chopped flat-leaf parsley, plus extra to finish 

sea salt and black pepper 

1 large egg, lightly beaten 

2 tbs olive oil

For the tomato sauce:

2 tbs olive oil 

1 onion, peeled and finely chopped 

1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped 

120ml dry white wine 

2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes 

100ml water 

1-2 tbs caster sugar 

sea salt and black pepper

To make the meatballs, mix the minced beef, onion, garlic, breadcrumbs, cheese and parsley together in a large bowl until combined. Season well and add the beaten egg to bind, mixing with your hands. Break off a small piece of the mixture, shape into a ball and fry in an oiled pan until cooked, then taste for seasoning. Adjust the seasoning of the uncooked mixture as necessary. With damp hands, shape the mixture into about 16 meatballs, trying not to press them too tightly. Place on a large plate, cover with clingfilm and chill for at least 30 minutes to allow them to firm up.

Meanwhile, make the sauce. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan, add the onion and garlic and fry gently until lightly golden. Increase the heat slightly and pour in the wine. Let it bubble until reduced by half, then stir in the chopped tomatoes, water and sugar. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer for 10-15 minutes, until the tomatoes are soft, then remove the pan from the heat.

To cook the meatballs, heat the olive oil in a large, wide pan. Add the chilled meatballs and fry for 5 minutes, turning frequently, until browned all over. Pour the tomato sauce over them and simmer for a further 10-15 minutes, until the meatballs are cooked through.

Divide the meatballs and tomato sauce among warm bowls and sprinkle with chopped parsley to serve.

Saturday- Sizzling Chicken Noodle with Mushroom

My all-time food court favorite. :) 

I was introduced to this hot pan noodles when I was in high school, ate it for the first time at Jaya Jusco's food court in Melaka, and immediately fell in love with it.  But since I was schooling away from home, I could only indulged it once in a blue moon. Too bad, if only I knew how to cook this hottie earlier. (If only my mom knows how to cook this too...;p)

A few years later, I had a chance to devour it again at Jaya Jusco's food court, but this time in Kinta city, Ipoh. The sizzling noodles, plus the claypot chicken rice, plus everything were so good and super delicious! After five years+ in Ipoh, I'm proud to say that I had the greatest food escapades evah. (Ipoh is well known as a food heaven, a must visit place for a foodie. Oooh I miss Ipoh. I wish I have a Doraemon's Anywhere Door with me now...

When I started my first job in KL, my first few weeks behind the desk alone in a small rented room were spent on an Internet recipes hunt (The company was still new at that time, and everyone was free to do anything except reading a newspaper LOL). I was a new exec, and eating out on regular basis probably isn't a good idea. It's bad for my purse, my inner foodie spirit and waistline. I was eating the same tapau for lunch and dinner everyday, for god sake (KLCC Cold storage's nasi lemak, mihun everyday?) Nevertheless, the whole thing brought me to Myresipi.com. :) I have learnt the recipe from there, and lots of other recipes as well. CC: Kak Yani of Deco Choco! Thank you kak.. (but the terrible lunching sagas were continued until I was posted to Borneo.. phew~) Now, I can  cook my favorite sizzling noodles with both eyes closed, anytime, anywhere!  ;D 

For those who wants to try this recipe, here's the link. Thanks LilydValley for sharing this recipe. 

"One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating."-Luciano Pavarotti

Raya Cookies III: Dorie Greenspan's Linzer Sablés

Fact oh fact:

1. Sablé is a shortbread-like cookie, a French version of butter cookie.
2. The recipe is printed in Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours, pages 134-135 [ooohh I love all her cookbooks, it's like having her in the kitchen, baking with me #lol #annoying #twitter]. You can also view the recipe here. 
3. Syawal is almost over, and here I am, still talking about my raya cookies.. sigh Ms. P visited me twice this month, hmm, and I haven't got much time left for puasa 6.. 
4. Another weekend is coming, enjoy it, dear readers! 

Black and White Wednesday- Rice Pot

Cutting stalks at noontime. Perspiration drips to the earth. Know you that your bowl of rice each grain from hardship comes? 

~Chang Chan-Pao

Raya Cookies II: Nutty Meringue

These airy crunchy cookies are one of my favorite. A tad on the sweet side to be sure, so next time I won't add as much powdered sugar as stated in the recipe... and as I said previously, I'd returned the recipe book before I could pen down the recipe, so no recipe for this one, for now.  


Adam, on the other hand, loves it so much. The repeatable acts of munching and chomping would not stop until I hid the jar from him. What's up with kids and sugar eh? isk


Made with beaten egg whites, I believed these are "RAYA COOKIE OF THE YEAR", apart from the infamous macarons. They seem to be on every table at every house we visited. Well, macarons are expensive to be baked/bought, so people turned to these meringues instead =P With lots of variations, studded with pecan, walnut, raisins, anything under the sky, my favorite would be the one with dark choc chips. They toned down the sweet flavor well. Love it! :) Note to self 2: Meringue and macaron are best flavored with chocolate/anything with bitter flavor. 


Oh btw, high five if you made/bought these cookies for raya too *high five* =P

Raya Cookies: White & Dark Chocolate Chips Cookies

Raya and Cookies? Who started all this cookies trend eh? 

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Last year, I baked around 8 types of cookies, and none of  the jars were successfully emptied. I vowed to bake less this year (down to 5 types), and the same O is about to happen again. I should have learnt my lesson kan.. Okay..may be it's to early for me to pen down my worries, right here, right now. Let's wait until Raya Haji..  =P 

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Do you know that every homemade cookies have their own expiry date?  I googled on cookies storage tips, and found Baking 911: A Complete Storage Guide. Read it! I probably have to throw away my meringues. They are about to go bad. Note to self..bake more choc and chips cookies and biscotti. They last like forever... =P

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Most of my cookies recipes were taken from the library book and Bisous A  Toi. I forgot to snap the recipes (from the book) before I returned it. Isk. More cookies entries coming soon.. 

Black and White Wednesday: The Bread

"Old bread is not hard.  No bread, that is hard."