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!

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. 

Recipe: Molten Choc Cake

The Man, he’s not a desserts type of guy. But there is only ONE particular type of dessert that will win him over and that would be the Molten Chocolate Cake. Even if he is stuffed, he will always find room in his tummy for a good Molten Chocolate Cake! To him a GOOD Molten Chocolate Cake is the type when the gooey chocolate flows out when you cut the cake into half.

It’s been a while since I made him his fave dessert, so I decided that this will be the perfect ending for our stay-in dinner on a Saturday evening.

As I happily shared the pics of a rather successful Molten Choc Cake on twitter and Instagram, Crystal from Expat Bostanions asked for the recipe, so here I am now sharing it all with you all.

Molten Chocolate Cake
(Serves 2 – 4 depending on size of ramekins)

Ingredients:
- Semi-sweet Baking Chocolate: 56.5 g (or 2 ounce)
- Butter: 56.5g (or 2 ounce) plus a little more to grease ramekins [bring butter to room temperature]
- 1 egg
- Caster Sugar: 37.5g
- All-purpose flour: 20g

Method:
1) Pre-heat oven at 180 degrees Celsius.
2) In a double-boiler, melt the Semi-sweet Baking Chocolate. Once chocolate is melted, it will give off a shiny sheen. Remove bowl from heat and add in the butter. Mix well until butter melts fully and set aside mixture to cool.
3) In a medium mixing bowl, beat the egg and sugar until light and fluffy (for about 3 mins by electric mixer). Add in choc-butter mixture, all-purpose flour and mix till flour and choc-mix is well-incorporated into the batter.
3) Butter bottom and sides of ramekins and pour in batter until it’s 3/4 filled.
4) Bake in pre-heated oven for about 10 to 15 minutes. Shorter baking time if you like the inside to be goey and longer baking time if you prefer the inside to be a little harder.
5) Remove cake from ramekins.
6) Serve immediately with a little icing sugar dusted on top OR with a scoop of your fave ice-cream.

Enjoy!!

I can ‘bake’ a rainbow (cake, that is)

My little niece turned 1 recently and to mark this occasion, my cousin went in search for a colorful and fun cake for her little one’s birthday bash.

And it appears that Rainbow cakes are all the rage now here in Singapore.  So I decided to jump on the bandwagon and try to bake up my very own Rainbow cake.

The process may sound all too challenging but after this first attempt, I think that time and effort is needed in order to bake and assemble the cake.  I took the easy way out too, opting to use ready-made cake mix instead of making the cake batter from scratch.  The Betty Crocker Super Moist cake mix worked just fine.

You probably need 2 cake mixes depending on the size of your baking tin.  The white cake mix looked like a relatively new item to me, so I bought it to try thinking that the colour would be alot easier to absorbed since the batter is white.  Between the white and the yellow cake mix, I think I now prefer the white one for it doesn’t use any yolks and the texture of the cake was also much softer than the traditional yellow cake.

The process is time-consuming as each different coloured layer has to be baked separately.

It also became a family affair when everyone chipped in to help out with the making of the cake.  It took us all of 3.5 to 4 hours to complete baking and assembling the cake.

The final result?  A happy slice of cake that brought a smile to my face as I cut up the cake and enjoyed the rewards of our labour.  I used this recipe on instructions on how to assemble the Rainbow Cake and for the butter-cream frosting.  Mid-way while baking the cake, I realised that I didn’t have any vanilla essence at home.  Since I was too lazy to go out and buy it, we improvised and swapped the vanilla essence with fresh lemon juice instead.  The lemon butter-cream frosting worked out fine as well. 

So if I can sing and ‘bake’ a Rainbow (Cake), I’m sure you can too.. Try your hand at baking one and let me know how you feel. 

Chasing those blues..

Whipped this batch of macarons for pals and realised they looked like blue treats for Smurfs instead of humans.  Kinda exotic but fun I guess and that put a smile on my face.

When friends saw these gems, they kinda squealed too.  Blue macarons?  Who makes blue macarons?  Well, me I guess.  Just wanted something fun in every bite.

Hazelnut Macarons with Black Truffle & White Chocolate 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
• 38g icing sugar
• 36g powdered almonds
• 30g granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of gel-based blue colouring
• 1 tbsp powdered hazelnuts (for topping)

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 colouring.  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. [Note: Sometimes I use up to about 40 strokes in order to achieve this consistency.]
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.
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.

For Black Truffle & White Chocolate Ganache:

• 70g White chocolate
• 40ml double cream
• 1/3 teaspoon salt
• 1.5 teaspoon chopped black truffles (I used dried black truffles)

1. Hydrate dried black truffles by placing them in the cream overnight.
2. Heat the cream in a small saucepan until just boiling.
3. Pour the cream over the white chocolate and leave to stand for two minutes. This will give the chocolate time to soften.
4. Stir the ganache until smooth. If the white chocolate has not yet melted then place the bowl in the microwave and heat for 30 seconds. Remove and stir until smooth.
5. Leave the white chocolate ganache to cool until it reaches the desired consistency.
6. Refrigerate ganache till it sets to a pipe-able state and fill/spoon over the cooled macaron shells.

Assembling macarons:

1. Spread the black truffle white chocolate ganache on the macaron shell.
2. Sandwich and you are done!

It’s recommended that you let the flavours sit inside the macaron for 1 day before having them.

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I’ve been busy in the kitchen… Click here to check out my baking adventures in Geneva.