An attempt to eat healthy

It’s been a while since I’ve baked anything.  Grateful for the mid-week public holiday, I was kinda desperate to get busy in the kitchen.  In an attempt to try and eat healthy, I thought of baking granola.  Been seeing loads of pictures by instagrammers and recipes on the www, so I was really tempted to try my hand at making some.

I eventually settled on using this recipe from E over at missus C’s reverie.  I figured that the recipe looked relatively simple and something I could manage.  Well, I was wrong….

Breakfast Granola
adapted from missus C’s reverie

Ingredients:

• 5 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• Handful of walnuts, roughly chopped
• Handful of sliced almonds (I used whole almonds)
• 1/2 cup of sunflower seeds
• Handful of dried cranberries
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
• 1-2 tbsp light brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 tsp salt

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. Line an 18×13-inch baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together maple syrup, vegetable oil, brown sugar, and salt. Fold in rolled oats and nuts (except sliced almonds). Mix until the dry mixture is thoroughly coated.
3. Transfer mixture to prepared baking sheet. Spread evenly to form an even layer.
4. Bake for 45 minutes until mixture is golden brown in color. Stirring every 10-15 minutes. Add in sliced almonds and dried cranberries at the last 5 minutes of baking.
5. Let granola cool completely before storing in an airtight container for up to one month.

While the granola was slowly baking, my kitchen was filled with a lovely maple scent.  I was so excited thinking that ‘I did it! I’m going to make an awesome batch of home-made granola good enough to share with friends!’

Turned out I was wrong.  The nuts that I added into the mix?  Well, some of them got burnt along the baking process.  Despite this baking boo boo, the granola still tasted great (enjoyed with yogurt/ ice-cream or on its own as a snack).  So, I had the burnt nuts removed and kept the rest stored away.

I’m not going let this little mishap stop me.  I’m going to try to whip up another batch of these bites.  This time round, I’m going to keep stirring the granola during baking to prevent the nuts from burning and put the baking tray a little lower from direct hit.

Send some luck along my way, wont’ you?

And E, if you are reading this?  Maybe it really is time for you to send me a batch of your granola to try? ;p  Hehe…

Sunday cook-out:: A one-dish meal

The mom-in-law.  She lives with us and does most of the cooking on weeknights.  On weekends, we either eat out or occasionally, we do like to attempt a cook-out.  One weekend, she was out of town, so the Man and I put on our creative caps and wondered what we should be cooking for our Sunday cook-out.

When we were living in Tokyo some 5 years back, I used to trawl the internet for interesting one-dish meals to whip up.  Cooking has never been my forte and one-dish meals seemed like the easiest to make.  I found this relatively simple pork chops and rice recipe.  Made it once for the Man and we loved it!  Copied the recipe down into my cook-book, hoping that one day I will be able to recreate the dish.

Imagine, 5 years on, I decided that it’s finally time to make this dish.  Ingredients seemed relatively easy to get with the exception of canned French Onion Soup which may not be so common on our supermarket shelves.

But I did manage to find canned French Onion Soup at Cold Storage.  So decided to make this dish once again with a few minor tweaks to the original recipe.

Pork Chops and Rice (recipe found online but I can’t remember where since it was 5 years ago)

Ingredients:
a) 1 (10 .5 ounce) can of French Onion Soup
b) 1 cup uncooked long grain white rice
c) 4 pork chops (at least four bone-in)
d) Salt and Pepper

Method:
1) Pre-heat over to 180 degrees Celsius.
2) Put approximately 1 cup of washed but uncooked rice in the bottom of a casserole dish.
3) Cover the rice with one can of French Onion Soup. [Save empty can for later use.]

4) Season pork chops with salt and pepper.  Brown pork chops in a large skillet and set aside.  [We used 2 large cuts of pork-chops instead of 4.]

5) Fill the saved can with water and pour into the skillet that was used for browning of the pork chops.
6) Scrape the fixins from the pan with water and pour into casserole dish.
7) Stir the ingredients in the dish and spread the rice evenly.
8) Place chops in a single layer on top of rice mix.
9) Bake in oven half an hour uncovered.
10) Thereafter, cover with foil and bake for another 30 mins.
11) Serve hot and enjoy!

My mistake for this was that I didn’t follow the instructions to the tee which I should have.  I thought 2 cans of water for the rice was too much so I adjusted and added just half a can of water instead.  That was mistake for the rice turned out to be a little too dry then what I remembered it to be.

So, if you are ever making this and wondering ‘Really? 2 cans of water?’  Trust me, it really is.

But all in all, a really satisfying one dish meal that we served with a side of fresh Japanese tomatoes as a starter.  Hoping to make this again one day.  And this time, I must get it right!

Lazy Sunday Breakie Idea

Sundays are meant for sleeping in or to while away the morning.  But more than often, we get woken from our sleep by Sparky who simply can’t wait to start his day with a compulsory morning walk and his tiny bowl of breakie.  Since I didn’t have to go to Church the last Sunday, I decided to whip up a new breakie recipe – Egg in a bread cup!  Turned out to be real simple and yummy too!

And it’s been a while since I last posted any food recipes, so here’s a step-by-step guide on how to make this super simple breakfast meal:

Cook bacon slices till brown or crisp in a frying pan.

Next, lightly butter each muffin cup.

You could use a cup or a cookie cutter to make the circular shape for the bread.

Cut bread into half and cover the muffin cup with bread.  Use remaining bread pieces to cover the gaps.  We realised that we didn’t flattened the bread enough and we probably didn’t use the right type of muffin tray to make this.  ;p  Brush the tops of the bread with butter.

Now, here comes the fun bit – assembling the egg in a bread cup!

Sprinkle some grated cheddar cheese in each cup.

Add bacon.

Now, carefully add an egg into each muffin cup. We obviously used the wrong size for the muffin tray. Also, apparently we were supposed to use a paper towel to clean around each muffin cup for any excess egg white that may have spilled over.  This step is to make sure the egg cups will be easily removed once baked.

Season with salt and pepper before popping these into a pre-heated oven at 180degrees Celsius to bake them for about 20 minutes (or until the egg whites are set).  We realised that we should have omitted adding the salt as the bacon and cheddar provided sufficient salt into this dish.

Once done, remove egg cups from muffin tray and serve them hot.

Enjoy these breakfast delights for we sure did!

Well, if you are ever strapped for breakfast ideas, I do hope you give this recipe a try!  You won’t regret it!  And if you are planning your next Sunday Brunch party, this recipe might just come in handy along with pancakes/waffles/french toast and Mimosas plus Bellinis. 

[Credit: Original recipe here]

More Kitty Macarons

Yes, I did them again!  Upset that I couldn’t get feet while baking them macarons, I decided to give it another shot baking these macarons at home.  (Note, this was all done when I wasn’t working full-time of course.)

And the result?

They had feet!!!  The humidity was the killer (really)!  But I popped the macarons into a cool room and after about 20 minutes, the shell hardened a little, so I took them out and popped them into the oven.  During the 14 mins odd of baking time, I was really crossing my fingers and hoping that the feet will rise.  They did!  But it was a little lop-sided!  Arh, I guess I can’t really have the best of both worlds.

What do you think?  Not bad for attempt number 2!  I think I need to buy a smaller sieve as well.  As a result, the macaron shells aren’t smooth enough.  Ok, hopefully third time’s a charm if I ever get a chance to make them.  In the meantime, here’s the recipe if you are interested to make them:

Hello Kitty Macarons with Sea-Salt Caramel Choc Ganache
Makes about 14-16 filled bite-sized macarons

For Macaron Batter

• 1 egg white (preferably aged for 3 days) brought to room temperature
• 1/2 tsp of cream of tartar powder
• 1/2 tsp of vanilla essence
• 38g icing sugar
• 36g powdered almonds
• 30g granulated sugar
• 5 drops of gel-based white colouring
• Items needed to draw the face of the Hello Kitty: Black & Yellow Edible Ink Marker and Heart-shaped Candy

Method:

1. Line baking tray with 2 pieces of parchment paper.
2. Sift powdered sugar with the almond powder to ensure that there are no lumps.
3. In a large mixing bowl, add cream of tartar and beat the egg white until they begin to foam. At this stage, add granulated sugar gradually.  Continue beating until very stiff and firm. When you invert the bowl, the egg white batter has to stay put. That’s the time you know when you should stop.  I decided to play it safe and whisked the egg white batter for about 5 minutes before stiff peaks were formed.  Add white colouring and vanilla essence.  Continue to beat the egg whites on high for another 1-2 minutes.
4. Carefully fold the dry ingredients, in 3 batches, into the beaten egg whites with a flexible rubber spatula (ideally).  Stop folding when the mixture is smooth and there are no streaks of egg white.  Test the consistency from time to time by lifting a dollop of macaron paste and dropping it into the mixing bowl. If the macaron paste does not settle smoothly after 30 seconds, continue folding the paste. If the macaron paste smooths out too quickly, you’ve gone too far.
5. Scrape the batter into the pastry bag (standing the bag in a tall glass helps if you’re alone).
6. Pipe the batter on the parchment-lined baking sheets in 1-inch circles, evenly spaced one-inch (3 cm) apart.  In order to get the ear-shaped macaron shell, use the end of a chopstick and gently ‘pull’ the macaron batter out of the circle.
7. Rap the baking sheet a few times firmly on the counter top to flatten the macarons and to remove the air-bubbles in the macarons.
8. Leave the macarons out in the open for at least 30 minutes to an hour. This step is important to allow the top of the macaron shell to dry up so that you get a smooth surface for the macarons.  You will know when to pop the macarons into the oven when you touch the macarons and the batter does not stick to your fingers. Be careful not to leave them out too much for it will give you crunchy macarons and you don’t want that. This step is important and if you skip it, your macarons might flatten .  While waiting, preheat oven to 140 degrees C.
9. Bake for 15 mins and let cool completely before removing from baking sheet.
10. Using the black edible ink marker, draw the eyes and whiskers of the Kitty.  Then using the yellow marker, draw its nose.  For the ribbon, stick 2 heart-shaped candy facing each other.  You could use the white choc ganache filling or any other desired light-coloured filling to act as ‘glue’ for the ribbon.
11. To assemble macarons: spread desired filling on one part of the macaron shell.  Sandwich with the drawn Hello Kitty macaron shell and you’re done!

A couple of notes:

• My genius of a cousin helped print out actual Hello Kitty templates for me so I just laid them beneath my baking paper and followed the template while piping.  It really helped in achieving almost 80% of the character’s shape.
• The humidity in Singapore is a KILLER!  So if you are trying to make macarons, I’d say turn up the air-conditioning for the cool air does help to dry up the macaron shell.
• For the filling, you could basically using whatever you desire.  I had some leftover Sea-salt Caramel Chocolate lying around so I melted those and made a simple ganache out of it for the filling.

~~~
I’ve been busy in the kitchen… Click here to check out my baking adventures in Geneva or here to see what I’ve been cooking in Singapore. 

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My very own Tiffany cake!

My fourth lesson of the Cake Decorating Course saw us baking, icing and assembling our very own fondant cake!  A lot of work and care went into kneading the fondant and paying attention with the details while decorating the cake.  Not a glamorous shot of our work with tissue stuffed in the fondant bow but yes, that’s how the bow gets its shape according to my teacher.

Here are the cakes that we made in class.  Don’t you think the pink cake with the brown bow and polka dots look absolutely adorable?

Couldn’t help but feel a huge sense of achievement with how the cake eventually turned out!  Like the Tiffany & Co jewellery box adorned with a bow, the cake feels like it’s almost too pretty to be eaten.  So I’m gonna be admiring it for a little while longer before I cut it up and share them with friends.  Fingers crossed but I really hope they like it.

And here’s a group shot of my cake decorating buds with our cakes – all obviously happy with how our cakes turned out. 

I’m seriously nervous about my final project but hope it turns out looking decent for it’s gonna be served as dessert for next week’s dinner party.  Otherwise, I’m screwed and will have to make another dessert.   Yikes!  So please cross your fingers and toes for me won’t ya? 

What did I get myself into?

So a friend asked if I was going to be interested to do a cake decorating class with her and her daughter.  I thought, ‘Sure, why not?’  It was one of those things that I didn’t mind doing and with free time on hand, I thought it would be a good way to level up those paltry baking skills of mine.

So this was supposed to be a cake decorating course where we not only learned how to bake a basic vanilla and chocolate cake but also how to decorate a cake properly with butter-cream icing and then fondant.  I was really excited for I often oogled at pretty fondant cakes and wondered when I would be able to try my hand at making some of them.  And remember these gorgeous Chanel cupcakes that the ex-colleagues got for me as a farewell gift last year?  My ultimate goal was to make one of these EVENTUALLY.

I thought it was going to be all fun and games at this cake decorating class that we were taking.  After all, how difficult could it be?  I soon ate my words.  We were cruising in lesson 1 but for the rest of the lessons, we basically needed to do our homework before going to class.

By the end of lesson 2, I learned how to cover a cake with butter-cream icing and decorate the cake with a simple piping gel design.

Pretty pleased with the result but of course, icing of the cake could be improved.

We were told that we had to prepare a 2-tier cake covered in fondant as our final project on lesson 5.  Of course, I’m a little nervous but I chose to go with an Anna Sui type of cake – think chocolate cake covered in purple fondant and adorned with black butterflies.

And over the weekend, it was mad baking at the loft.  A total of 5 chocolate cakes were baked and that’s not all, made 2 batches of butter-cream icing.  All these are now sitting in my freezer waiting to be assembled for my final project.

So fingers crossed and wish me a good luck won’t ya for my final project?  Can’t wait to show you guys the pics of the cake IF it turns out well. 

Keep calm and eat cake..

Yes, keeping cool is needed while making chiffon cakes.  That plus making sure you read the instructions and kinda memorise them before making the cake helps as well.  This was my second attempt in making the cake.  The first ended up tragically (ie: it was flat)!  I was too eager to remove the cake from the tin and that was my ‘downfall’.  The cake went from almost fab to flat within seconds.  After the failed baking incident, I was obviously upset with myself so I began to re-read the recipe again.  Turned out I was supposed to invert the cake tin immediately after taking it out from the oven and then let the cake cool before attempting to remove it.  *face palm*  Arh well, lesson learned and thankfully, cake number 2 turned out almost perfect!  Phew!

Presenting my very first Yuzu Chiffon Cake.  Yes, Yuzu!  As you know I’m crazy about all things Yuzu.  So with some Marigold Peel Fresh Yuzu Juice and a teensy weensy bit of Yuzu concentrate left, I decided to whip up a light chiffon cake celebrating my love for Yuzu! 

Taste test?  It was really, really good!  I believe this might just be a breakfast staple on our table at the loft in time to come.  Looks like I gotta stock up on more bottles of Yuzu concentrate then.  Hehe.

Yuzu Chiffon Cake (Recipe adapted from Happy Home Baking)

Ingredient A:
(makes one 18cm cake)

• 3 egg yolks
• 20g caster sugar
• 90ml of Marigold Peel Fresh Yuzu Juice
• 10ml of Yuzu Juice concentrate
• 40ml vegetable oil
• 70g plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Ingredient B:

• 3 egg whites
• 50g caster sugar

Method:

1. Sieve flour, baking powder together, set aside.
2. Separate egg yolks/whites and bring to room temperature. (It is easier to separate eggs when they are cold.)
3. Place egg yolks in a mixing bowl, add in sugar, and with an electric whisk on low speed, whisk till the mixture becomes very sticky and turn pale.
4. Drizzle in the oil, whisking at the same time till the mixture is well combined. Repeat the same with the Yuzu mixture. Sieve over the flour mixture and using a manual whisk this time, whisk until flour mixture is fully incorporated into the batter.
5. In a clean, dry mixing bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer until mixture becomes frothy and foamy. Beat in the sugar in 3 separate additions on high speed until just before stiff peaks form.
6. Add the beaten egg white into the egg yolk batter in 3 separate additions, each time folding gently with a spatula until just blended.
7. Pour batter into a 18cm (7 inch) tube pan (do not grease the pan).
8. Tap the pan lightly on a table top to get rid of any trapped air bubbles in the batter.
9. Bake in pre-heated convention oven at 170 degC for about 40mins or until the cake surface turns golden brown.  Instead of using a skewer, E from missus C’s reverie taught me to press the top of the cake lightly.  If the cake bounces back (ie: springly), then you know it’s done.
10. I thought this step was really important!  Remove from the oven and invert the pan immediately. Let cool completely before unmould. To remove the cake from the pan, run a thin-bladed knife around the inside of the pan and the center core. Release the cake and run the knife along the base of the pan to remove the cake.

And if you love anything with Yuzu in it, why don’t you give this recipe a try?

Personally, I think it’s just the kind of cake that helps to keep me calm so that I have more energy to shop on!