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? 

Tasty Thursday- Cranberry-Orange-White Choc Chips Scones

Before putting it in the oven...

After taking it out of the oven..

Recipe taken from Eat Real's Scone Four Ways.. TQ2..it's a keeper!!

Tasty Tuesday- Tangerine-shaped Pineapple Tart

Sorry for not being around that much. I've been putting my nose on my sewing machine lately. It's my new found hobby and there're so much things to learn and I'm all excited for it. hehe 

So, what's up? For us, we're going back to Melaka, visiting my parents and siblings this CNY holiday. Oh I miss them so much already..wish I'd a Mary Poppin's umbrella with me right now.. [oh wait, Doraemon's pintu sesuka hati is way easy hehe].. we also planned to go for Adam's med check up and shots at Prince Court Med Centre [PCMC] and maybe spend a night or two at our KL home. 

My sisters have been asking for Adam every time I phoned them this week. They're all excited to meet Adam and eager to spend time with him. [I'll have my own sweet time..yeay..] Adam is the first grandson and nephew of our family and yet, my family didn't get to meet him that frequent. So you could imagine how much my family especially my parents miss him... I bet they'll have some marvelous time together. I can't wait for a picnic, shopping, visit kambing2, hehe, cooking with my mom, my dad's lecture on various topics, my sisters' jokes, laughters and tears, meal times esp dinner and solat jamaah... 

Since my family is really into pineapple tarts and it's CNY celebration, so I made a jar of it [about 100 pieces of big tarts] for them. I totally forgot to count BigDaddyO in since he also crazy over this tarts. So I might have to stay up tonight preparing another batch of tarts for him hehe.. 

The recipe was taken from my previous Flower-shaped Pineapple Tart.

Okay gtg now.. I need to finish off my sewing project, then bake trays of tarts, 2 cakes, and if the weather permits, I might also making some macarons for my family. It's been raining cats and dogs these few days!! Humidity plays a large part in making this little beauties. Soggy day was not a good day to make macarons. It'll take few hours for the batter to dry which normally took about half an hour only. 

okay..can't wait to go back to Melaka and have fun, fun fun.. Org Jasin a.k.a Lurpak, jgn jeles kay haha.. I'll be back with load of photos..and foods :D :D 

 

Friday- Ang Ku Kueh

Since I still have tonnes of banana leaves inside the fridge, so I Google-d out recipes that will make those leaves away hehe and I ended up with Ang Ku Kueh. 

There are lots of Ang Ku Kueh recipes on the net, but I found Sonia's Nasi Lemak Lover version was very helpful with a clearer methods and aided with pictorial. Thanks Sonia! You can get the recipe from the link above. 

It was my first Ang Ku Kueh and I did it while Adam took his afternoon nap. I had all the time that I want to try this new recipe. It turned out well, even though the Chinese character on the top part weren't that clear hehe.. May be I should press the dough into the mould harder next time. 

The kueh was not too sweet, just perfect for my taste buds. and BigDaddyO's. hehe I love this kueh so much but it was very rare to find it in my area.  as long as I could remember, the last time I ate it would be 2,3 years back..

Adam anyway refused to eat it and only get to taste it after the kueh was almost finished. I make 10 kuehs and ate 3 of it.. the rest went to BigDaddyO tummy. hehehe

Thursday- Nasi Lemak 20 cent

BigDaddyO and I watched TV show a couple night ago and we saw this nasi lemak wrapped in banana leaves on it and it drool me big time that night hehe.. Straight away I planned to skip the meal on the menu planner for this nasi lemak. 

So, early in the morning, Adam and I went to the wet market to find banana leaves and it cost me SGD3 for 10 big banana leaves. "Take it or leave it, cannot buy less than that.." and I went home with a bulk of banana leaves with me.. T_T

Nasi Lemak 20 cent is a simplified version of all the nasi lemak we have in town today. Today nasi lemak was so overrated with all kind of side dishes and it's way too much for me. I.e. of side dishes are fried chicken, fried fish, hot dog, sambal udang up to sambal puyuh, all type of veges, all type of fish ball and fish cakes.. way too much..and yet for this nasi lemak 20 cent, it was so original and humble. Only egg, sambal and fried anchovies are allowed inside. And sometimes, cucumber and nuts. 

This 20 cent nasi lemak was very easy to prepare since it would only require nasi yg betul2 lemak and sambal yg betul2 sambal  hehe the rice must has a balance taste of coconut milk, ginger and salt with nice pandan fragrant.. and for the sambal, it must be in between sweet, sour and salty. The extra accessories as fried anchovies, cucumber, nuts and eggs are up for you to put. I forgot to buy egg, so no eggs for the wraps. 

The best part is when you unwrapped the banana leaves. The combination fragrant of banana leave with the rice was so aromatic. Remember to smoke the banana leaves first before you wrapped the rice and etc inside. 

Any nasik lemak recipe [go google..hehe] will do for this nasi lemak 20 cent. the most important is the wrapper, the banana leaves itself. 

that'll make a big different.. and I still have tonnes of banana leaves in my freezer..huhu

p/s: this really reminisce my early school days..my mom always used banana leaves to wrap nasi lemak, nasi goreng, or nasi bungkus for my Ko-Q days. My dad would take the school bags with him [after the school time over] and handed us the wrapped home-made lunch. and then, my sister and I would eat it in a quite canteen corner and wait together until the club session started. ...Oh I miss her..

Wednesday-Pandan and Coconut Ice Cream

This is my first home-made ice cream! I love the taste combination of pandan & coconut, and the taste became even better with nut & choc sprinkles on top. I will try to experiment this recipe with other flavor soon. hihhi..

Adam didn't like it. Baguslah hahaha maybe it's too cold for his tongue..

BigDaddyO [yes, from now on, he'll be address as that] liked it very much but told me it became sweeter scoop after scoop towards the end.. hmm..I guess it was less sweet during solid form and it became more sweet as it gradually melt..hmm maybe..just maybe.. okay...less condensed milk next time.. :)

okay, why dont' you guys give it a try and report back hehe.. here's the recipe..taken from Ellie's Almost Bourdain.. She served this ice-cream with brioche and palm syrup as a dessert and some claimed it's Better Than Sex [BTS] dessert..thee.. There are tonnes of mouth-watering recipes in her blog that I've bookmarked and yet to try.. hehe Thanks Ellie!

Pandan and Coconut Ice Cream Recipe {Source: Almost bourdain}
Ingredients

395 g sweetened condensed milk
300 ml thickened cream
270 ml coconut milk
1 tsp pandan essense
1/4 tsp pandan paste

Method


-Combine all ingredients in an electric mixer and whisk together until thick and light. The mixture should be thick enough to leave a trail on the surface.
-Pour the mixture into a covered container, stick it in the freezer.

Oh how I wish my diet program is over and I could savor all the food that I've prepared more and more and more.. I only allowed myself to eat a scoop of ice cream and really had to refrain myself from opening the freezer door. ;p I could only peep but cannot eat..Hey that's kindda rhyme! ;p

Bekas aiskrim tuk aiskrim 

Monday-New Maid KA

My new Kitchen Maid hehe.. 

I'm still in belek2 mode and still kissing it every seconds haha

 *grinning from ear to ear* :D

Big thanks to Hubby for this lovely, lovely gift. Muah 1000x