Animal Fun

Yesterday after school, I helped my two boys made a batch of these horlicks cookies to be given away as Teachers' Day gifts. How time flies, I could still remembered the same time last year, we made M & M chocolate chips cookies for their teachers, and we made it with a pack of ready-mix!! I'm glad to say that after accumulating a year of baking experience, the three of us can now churn out something more presentable and tasty from scratch ;)

Instead of using Koko Krunch, this time round, we used some Cookie Crisp cereals (the same range of kid's cereals as koko krunch) for the ears. By the way, my younger boy will always check up the cereals shelf whenever we visit the supermarkets. He's not interested in eating the cereals, rather, he just want the little toys that come with the packages. So, I always ended up having different boxes of unopened cereals in my kitchen!

My elder boy made this little piggy. The chocolate chips on the cookie crisps cereals are just perfect for the piggy's nose.


and I made this...it looks more like a bear with the cookie crisps ears.


My younger boy's favourite...he likes to make the doggy/bear(or whatever it is) that comes with a pair of flying ears! He calls this his aeroplane doggy.


another of his creation...and he declared that it's his little mouse...

I had a good time making these cute little morsels, and we were able to get it all done (exclude baking time) all under an hour :)

Mixed Berries Jam-filled Muffins

I have not been in the mood to make any bread for breakfast for this week. The weather has been quite gloomy for the past few days, and it's definitely no good for proofing bread at room temperature. I settled on making a batch of quick and easy muffins. I love baking muffins, it takes up much less time and effort, and yet, always yield very satisfactory results.

It only took me less than an hour to get these muffins onto the cooling rack. I followed a simple recipe that is meant for jam-filled muffins. Instead of using plain yogurt and plain milk, I substituted with whatever I have in my fridge...Marigold's mixed-berries non-fat yogurt, and Meiji's strawberry-flavoured milk. For the filling, I used my favourite Smucker's blueberry jam.

When the muffins were almost done, the jam fillings erupted from the muffins and flowed over like larva.



These muffins are very soft and moist. The crumbs are not sweet, but balance off very well with the sweetness from the blueberry jam. They tasted especially delicious when served warm :)

Ingredients:
(makes about 9 muffins)

210g plain flour
50g granulated sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
60g butter, melted
1 cup non-fat plain yogurt (I used mixed berries flavour)
1/4 cup milk (I used strawberry-flavoured Meiji milk)
some Jam (I used Smucker's blueberries jam)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 220 deg C.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In another bowl, beat together egg and vanilla extract. Add melted butter, yogurt and milk, mix well. Add to flour mixture, stir just until blended.
4. Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling half full. Add 1 teaspoon of your favourite jam to each; top with remaining batter.
5. Bake for 15 to 20 mins.

Recipe source: The 250 Best Muffin Recipes by Esther Brody

Almond Biscotti

My first encounter with biscotti was dated several years back. It has been a while since I last had biscotti. To quell my cravings for these Italian cookies, I tried making a batch based on Audrey Tan's book, LUST - for love of chocolate.

Since it was my first attempt in making biscotti, I didn't expect the dough to be so sticky and wet. After mixing the ingredients to form a super sticky mess, I left it in the fridge to chill for 1 to 2 hrs, according to the recipe. While waiting for the dough to chill, I started searching on the internet to see whether I was on the right track. It eased my mind a little, after reading a few blog postings that the biscotti doughs are usually quite sticky.

I followed one of the tips from a flogger, ie, to use a pair of damp hands to shape the dough into a log as opposite to 'floured hands' as recommended in the recipe. Apparently, the dough didn't stick as much if your hands are slightly wet and damp. Yet, I still wasted some cling wraps, a plastic sheet and two sheets of parchment papers during the entire process. Yes, the dough stuck onto parchment papers like super glue! I had to use a spatula to scrape off as much dough as possible from the parchment sheets.

Fortunately, the energy that went into wrestling with the sticky dough was not wasted as the biscotti tasted great...very crisp and crunchy. The kids, especially the younger one, love the cookies to bits...and I mean literally...he salvaged whatever crumbly bits that he left on the table ;)

I didn't coat the biscotti with melted chocolate as I realised that I've cut them way too thin (the recipe says to slice into 0.3cm slices). These are definitely not the kind of biscotti that I was craving for. If I were to make this again, I am gonna slice them into thick, fat fingers. On the other hand, the thin slices meant that the kids could enjoy the cookies without dipping them into any beverages. I'll certainly try make another batch using another recipe real soon!

Walnut & Raisins Bread

I like my close-up photos when they turn out clear and sharp. However, it is not easy for me to get nice close-up shots as I do not have a tripod. Even if I have one, I would probably be too lazy to use it! I also find it troublesome to rest my camera on tables or what nots just to take a photo. You see, I am the sort who likes to 'Do More with Less'...an extremely nice phrase to describe a simply lazy person ;) So, I rely a lot on my pair of steady hands plus the luck of having sufficient sunlight at the time when I am taking photos...naturally good close-ups are hard to come by! It was rather gloomy most of the time yesterday...but I had luck when the sun decided to peek out from the clouds while I was taking photos of my morning bake...


...a wholemeal, walnut and raisins boule. This rustic-looking bread was made based on a bread machine recipe. I used the bread machine to do the kneading, but let the dough rise in room temperature and then shaped and proof in a colander before baking it in my oven.


Yes, I used a colander as I do not have a banetton or a bread basket (see, I am trying to Do More with Less again!). I've came across a Chinese cookbook that recommends using a colander to achieve the same effect as a banetton. Too bad, I didn't dust the colander with enough flour (see, Doing More with Less doesn't apply here!) and the imprints were not really visible. This also got to do with the somewhat sticky dough. The top part of the dough got stuck to the colander when I tried to invert it onto the baking tray :'(


Nevertheless, it's a truly wholesome and healthy bread, it has got no eggs or milk...and use oil instead of butter. The bread has got a nice crispy crust, and the crumb is rather soft...not the chewy sort that you would aspect from this rustic-looking loaf. The bread is rather plain on it's own..it tasted much better when paired with some jam or butter. This definitely goes into my kids' "healthy but doesn't taste great" list ;)

Ingredients:

300g bread flour
150g wholemeal flour
300ml water
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon instant or fast-acting dry yeast
100g walnut pieces
some raisins, optional

Method:

1. Thoroughly mix together the two flours.
2. Pour water into the bread machine bucket. Add oil and half the mixed flour.
3. Sprinkle with salt and sugar. Cover with the remaining flour mix and place the yeast in the centre of the flour mixture.
4. Fit the bucket into the bread machine and set to Basic function. Add walnuts/raisins when the machine bleeps. When ready, remove the loaf from the bucket and let cool completely before cutting.
5. Alternatively, you can use the Dough function to knead and rise the dough. When the Dough cycle completes, shape dough into a round ball and let it proof for the second time until double in bulk. Bake in pre-heated oven at 180deg C for 30~35 mins until the surface turns golden brown.

Recipe source: adapted from The Complete Bread Machine Cookbook by Sonia Allison

Lunch Box

My elder boy didn't have to attend school for the last 2 days as the Primary 6 students are taking their school leaving exams. In fact it was considered school holidays for most primary schools here. The boys were pleased when their cousin decided to come over to stay. The three of them grown up together...went to the same pre-school, and were with each other almost everyday, before the two elder kids went to primary school. Although they still get to see each other 2 to 3 times a week, they still missed playing with each other.

When I told my niece to bring along a lunch box when she came over to stay, she came with this:


I am not a fan of Hello Kitty (my niece and I prefer the other Sanrio characters), but I still find this super cute!


The three of us had fun putting this together. The kids took turn to make the rice balls and arrange the food items on their lunch boxes.



The triangular-shaped rice ball was wrapped with otah as fillings. The other two were wrapped with a mixture of pork floss and mayonnaise. I like the one with otah fillings as it is very fragrant and tasted very good with rice!

Those chicken wings were marinated with terriyaki sauce and baked with my toaster. My niece was very fascinated with the egg moulds. She was surprised to discover that the egg yolk actually took up the same shape as the mould.

We also used cookie cutters to cut out the carrots...and it was a good idea as my younger boy, who doesn't really like carrots, finished up his portion without trying to 'give away' his share ;)

We completed the set with some konnyaku jelly and Reese's peanut butter cups!


I made a peach tart to give away as gift. It was for Uncle Tan, a school assistant at the kids' pre-school. He's very fond of my elder boy even though he has already left the pre-school for almost 3 years. When I met him a few weeks back, he told me he has not seen my boy for months. I promised I will bring my boy to visit him when he doesn't need to attend school. So the three of us went to the kindergarten to pick up my younger boy...and the two elder kids met their former teachers.


I was quite pleased with this tart as it was much better than my first attempt. Practise really makes perfect, isn't it?