Korean Fare

We had a little gathering at my friend's place over the weekend. We had a full spread of Korean food for dinner. One of my friends cooked the Korean dishes...there were spicy rice cakes, kimchi soup, jajian mien (Korean style), and a few side dishes, such as simmered lotus root, cold tofu, etc. She even prepared cinnamon & ginger tea, though it was not very well received, sorry Ah M, I guess not many people like the taste of cinnamon...including myself ;) I like the spicy rice cake and lotus root most.

I brought these Strawberry Jellyhearts for dessert. It was my 2nd attempt in making these, and I was very happy with the result this time.

The jelly layer is so much better as compared to the 1st attempt. I made the biscuit base and cheese layer in the morning, and made the jelly layer only at night. The cheese layer was fully set by then, as such, there were no bits of cheese floating around, and when set, the jelly layer was almost crystal clear. It gave a very nice reflection when I was trying to take the photos:)

I was also able to achieve nice clean cuts without having to heat up the knife. The only problem was the biscuit base...it was a bit too crumbly...either I didn't use enough butter or I didn't press them firmly enough in the cake pan? By the way, I used an ordinary square pan...I don't own any loose-bottom pans or springform ones. I improvised by lining my square pan with a layer of foil...once the jellyhearts are ready, I simply lift it out of the pan with the foil.

Made a batch of Horlicks Doggies Cookies for my friend. Her kids can't take too much chocolate, so I omitted the chocolate chips that were supposed to be wrapped in the cookies. Nevertheless, the cookies are still as tasty, but they are not sweet at all, as no sugar or eggs are used. I hope her kids will like them :)