Oatmeal Butterscotch / Chocolate Chips Cookies

Makes about 48 medium cookies (approx. 5 cm in diameter)

This cookie is chewy in the mddile and slight cripiness at the edges and the best part of it is that you can make the dough, use what you need and keep the rest in the freezer for up to a month! Simply leave it to room temperature and bake!

Try not to skip or replace the shortening part as it is the key to achieve the lightness and slight crispiness of these cookies

Ingredients
140g Plain Flour
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Soda
3/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon
200g Unsalted Butter,at room temperature
1 tbsp Vegetable Shortening, at room temperature
150g Brown Sugar
125g Caster Sugar
2 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
3 cups Quick Cooking or Old Fashioned Oats
1 cup Butterscotch chips
1 cup Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips

Method
1. Preheat your oven to 190°C.
2. In a small bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, shortening, brown sugar and regular sugar.
4. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix for just a few seconds.
5. Add the dry ingredients and mix together to combine but do not over mix.
6. Add the oats and divide the dough into 2 portions.
7. Add butterscotch chips to one of the portion and Chocolate Chips to the other portion.
use a spatula and mix everything together.
8. Using a small ice cream scoop or 1/2 Tablespoon, drop the dough on to a non-stick baking sheet, a couple inches apart. The cookie will spread.
9. Bake for approximately 9 – 11 mins or until lightly golden.
10. Let it cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely
11. Store baked cookies in airtight containers.

Yakitori Chicken Meatballs

My son loves meatballs and in order to get him to eat more meat plus enjoying his meals I really need to be creative when it comes to cooking for my little one. :)

I noticed that he loves satay as he feels so grown up holding the satay stick and so far, he has impressed me with the amount of satay he could eat at a go - 6 sticks!

After looking through my recipe collections, I've decided to make the Yakitori Chicken Meatballs on skewers! The yakitori sauce is a little sweet so that would certainly appeal to his taste plus I get to string in some vegetables too :P That sounds wonderful enough for me!

I did not make the Yakitori Sauce from scratch as I do not want to stock more stuff in my pantry. I used a store bought Yakitori Sauce and it was simply delicious! Too bad my helper threw away the bottle before I could snap a picture of it but no worries, I'll be getting another bottle soon and will update this blog with the picture.

This is really easy to make and we made pretty good size meat balls and yields 13 sticks.

Yakitori Chicken Meatballs

Yields 13 sticks
Using Happy Ocher Pan

Ingredients

400g Minced Chicken meat
1 small Green Capsicum; sliced
1 small Red Capsicum, sliced.
2 inch Ginger, grated to extract juice
Bamboo Skewkers (soaked in water for at least 6 hours)

Marinate for the Chicken

1 Egg (whisked)
½ cup Bread crumbs (I used Korean bread crumbs)
2 tsps Corn Flour
2 tsps Plain Flour

½ tsp Salt

1 Tbsp Light Soya Sauce
1 Tbsp Yakitori Sauce (store bought)
2 inches Ginger grated
Dash of Pepper

Methods

1. Marinate the chicken overnight or at least 4 hours
   
2. Use your hands to scrunch the meat, take it up and slap it onto the mixing bowl This will make the meatball really "Q".
   
3. Roll the meat mixture into small balls
   
4. Boil a saucepan of water and squeeze the ginger juice out of the grated ginger into the boiling water
   
5. Place the chicken meat balls in the boiling water for approximately 7mins or cook till the meat balls change colour and float to the surface.
   
6. Scoop it out and set it aside on kitchen paper towels.
   
7. Thread the chicken meat balls into the skewers; add capsicum slices in between the meat balls.
   
8. Brush the yakitori sauce onto the meat balls before placing it into the Happy Call Pan.
   
9. Pour about 4 tbsps of the yakitori sauce into the pan before placing the meat balls into the pan
   
10. Grill the meat balls for 4-5mins, on medium low heat (with lid closed) on one side before turning the meat balls to the other side and continue to grill for another 4-5mins.
    
11. Serve warm and drizzle with more yakitori sauce
    

Macadamia Cake with Lime Syrup

I need to clear my 2011 leave by March this year so I'm clearing my annual leave today!

The thought of just waking up late and simply laze around the house is something I really wish I could do. This is a bigger task than anything I know! My mum used to say that I've a pretty sharp bottom, i.e., it will be extremely hard to get me to just seat down without taking off , bouncing off somewhere or finding something to do. Well, this is exactly what happened today.

I was trying very hard to read my book but just 15 mins into reading, I can literally hear myself thinking..."how about baking a cake today, or perhaps cupcakes ....or ....." the list just went on and on and on.....

I got up and exchanged my book for my recipe folders and after digging through multiple recipes, I've decided to embark making Macadamia Cake with Lime Syrup. Firstly, I love the tangy taste of lime, Secondly, Macadamia contains good fats & lastly, I just wanted to used my newly bundt pan again. hahahahaha...

In total, I used 8 medium size limes for this recipe. My helper was looking at me with questions in her eyes..."wah, so many lime, the cake must be very sour" kind of thoughts which really amuses me. I just love to see how people react to certain items or situation and compare that to their final reaction.

So without wasting more time I managed to gather all the ingredients needed and started to make my cake. The aroma from the cake batter was already tempting me and I just cannot wait to put it into the oven and bake!

The outcome of this cake is simply awesome! The crumbs are really fine and each bite of the cake is full of the nutty macadamia flavour & coupled with the fact that the cake is infused with the lime syrup, it simply gave my taste buds an instant orgasm! No joke, this cake is really good. I think it will be an ideal cake for any pot luck session or to entertain your friends at home. Just whipped up some cream or grab a tub of ice cream & drizzle the remaining syrup over the toppings. Totally Awesome!

Macadamia Cake with Lime Syrup
10" Bundt Pan

Ingredients

200g Macadamia Nuts
185g Self-Raising Flour
½ tsp Bicarbonate of soda
200g Unsalted Butter, softened at room temperature
230g Caster Sugar

4 Large Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 tsps Lime Zest, finely grated (approx. 2 medium lime)
80ml (1/3 cup) Milk

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 160°C. Grease & flour a 10 inch non-stick
   bundt pan.
2. Grind macadamia nuts in a food processor into a fine paste and add
   it into a mixing bowl.
3. Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda over the top and combine well.
4. Beat the butter and sugar using paddle attachment until pale and creamy. This should take about 4 mins.
5. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
6. Beat in the vanilla and lime zest.
7. Mix in half the flour mixture followed by half the milk.
8. Repeat with the remaining flour mixture and milk, until all the ingredients are well combined. Do not overmix.
9. Spoon mixture into the prepared tin and smooth over.
10. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the cake is nicely golden and comes away slightly from the side of the tin. A skewer inserted into the centre should come out clean.
11. Allow the cake to rest in the tin on a wire rack for 10 minutes, before inverting onto the rack to cool completely.
12. Brush with Lime Syrup while the cake is still warm.

Lime Syrup

170g Caster Sugar
3 tsps Lime Zest, Grated Finely (about 3 medium lime)
80ml (1/3 cup) Lime Juice (approx. 6 medium lime)
120ml Water

Method

1. Put the sugar, lime zest, lime juice and 120ml water in a small saucepan and stir over high heat until the sugar has dissolved.
2. Boil for 5 minutes, or until slightly syrupy.
3. Take the syrup off the heat and stir in the rum (if using).
4. Brush the syrup over the entire surface of the warm cake, allowing it to soak into the cake before reapplying.
5. Let the cake cool completely.
6. Decorate the top of the cake whipped cream or vanilla ice cream & drizzle with balance lime syrup.

The cake can keep well. You may store at room temperature for a few days, or refrigerate for a week or even freeze for up to 1 month.

Chicken Satay

I love chicken satay especially those selling at the Satay Club. However, with a 3 years old active boy there is no way we can sit down nicely to enjoy our satay.

I've been wondering about making and grilling my own satay ever since I bought the Happycall pans. The wonders about these pans are the fact that they can cook, stew, bake & grill. So, to give that grilling bit a test and to satisfy my cravings for chicken satay, I decided to make them and see how well it turns out.

The results are just awesome! The satay was grilled so nicely and the best part....all grilled without using oil! Ok, ok, I've already added oil to the meat while marinating but STILL ... no oil during grilling! I only brush on some honey just to make it look more authentic! hahahahah The taste is really nice, not quite close to those from Satay Club but nice enough for me and it is not spicy so kids can get to enjoy as well.

The peanut sauce is really yummy! I think I shall make this peanut sauce again for my Satay Bee Hoon this weekend, that is, if time permits :D

Making the satay sauce is a breeze too espcially now since we can easily purchased ground peanuts from the shelves like NTUC etc... In the past, I had to help my mum to fry the peanuts, skinned it and then pound it to get it to the right texture.

The paste is also not difficult to make. I took the lazy way out of just grinding everything with my chopper /processor. My mum would certainly frown on that as she always insisted that pounding give out a better quality paste due to the release of oil from the various ingredients. I do agree with her but just not in the mood to tone my arms today hahahahaha. So go ahead, you can either pound or grind, up to your convenience :)

Chicken Satay

Makes 35 sticks

Ingredients

400g Chicken Thigh Meat
OR
400g Chicken Fillet Meat

Spice Paste
1 tsp Coriander Powder
1/8 tsp Cumin Powder
1 stalk Lemongrass, only use the white parts
6 Shallots, peeled
2 Cloves of Garlic, peeled
1cm Knob of Galangal (Blue Ginger)
3 Tbsps Cooking Oil
1 tsp Chilli Powder
2 tsps Tumeric Powder
4 tsps Kecap Manis
1 tsp Oyster Sauce
2 tsps Sugar (Palm Sugar is better)
1 tsp Salt
1 Tbsp Tamarind pulp, soaked in 1/4 cup (60ml) warm water, squeezed & strained for juice.
Bamboo Skewers (please soak in water overnight to avoid splitting)
1/2 cup Honey (for glazing during the grilling process)

Garnishes
1 Japanese Cucumber (I prefer Jap. Cucumber to the regular ones)
1 Small Onions, quartered

Methods

1. Cut the chicken meat into small cubes
   
2. Grind/pound the spice paste until nice and fine.
   
3. Add in a little tamarind juice if the paste is too dry.
   
4. Marinate the chicken pieces with the spice paste for at least 6 hours
   
5. Place the marinated meat in ziplog bags and store in the fridge.
   
6. Thread the marinated meat onto the bamboo skewers
   
7. Grill for 3-5 mins on each side, brush some honey as you grill.
   
8. Serve with Peanut sauce.
   

Tiramisu (Eggless & No Alcohol)

After posting my Tiramisu dessert on FB yesterday, a couple of friends asked if I've a recipe for a non-alcoholic Tiramisu.

I did make an alteration to the earlier recipe as I wanted to share it with my 3 year old son :)

Thus, here is a revised version minus the alcohol :D

Tiramisu (Eggless & No Alcohol)

Serves 8

Ingredients

500g Mascarpone Cheese, softened
75g Caster Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
355 ml Really Strong Decaffeinated Coffee, cooled
100g Semi-Sweet Dark Chocolate(I used Valrhona Manjari 64% cocoa)
100ml Heavy Cream / Dairy Whipping Cream
2 Tbsps Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
30 Savogliardi Ladyfingers (do not get those cake like spongy type)

Whipped Cream (Do this 1 hour ahead to firm up the whipped cream)
300 ml Heavy Cream / Dairy Whipping Cream (chilled)
2½ Tbsps Icing Sugar

1. Using the whisk attachment, beat the cream with low speed (no.2) until it gets thick and starts to form peaks. Gradually increase to high speed.
   
2. Slowly add in the icing sugar & whisk until stiff peak. Do not over mix.
   
3. Set aside in the fridge to firm up a little more for use later.
   

Making the Chocolate Ganache

1. Place the chocolate and heavy cream in a microwave safe bowl
   
2. Microwave for 10 seconds. Take it out and stir to see if the chocolate has melted.
   
3. If it is still solid, put it back into the microwave for another 10 seconds.
   
4. Once it has melted and you can stir easily, take it out from the mirowave and stir untill all the chocolate are melted and smooth. Set aside to cool.

Making the Mascapone Filling

1. Using a spatula, cream together the mascarpone, vanilla and sugar.
   
2. Once the mascarpone is well mixed, fold in half of the whipped cream into mascarpone mixture firstto lighten it.
   
3. Once that is done, fold in remaining whipped cream being careful not to over mix

To Assemble

1. Get ready the cocoa powder, chocolate gananche and ladyfingers.
   
2. Dip each ladyfinger into the coffee mixture and lay it in the bottom of your pan.
   
3. Once you’ve completely cover the whole bottom of the pan with the coffee soaked ladyfingers, spread 1/3 of the chocolate ganache over the ladyfingers.
   
4. Pour over half of the mascarpone and cream mixture and spread the cream evenly over ganache covered ladyfingers.
   
5. Dust the top with 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder.
   
6. Arrange the remaining coffee soaked ladyfingers on top of the cream & cocoa powder layer and repeat step 3, 4 & 5.
   
7. Cover & chill for 6 - 8 hours before serving.
   
8. Garnish each serving with fresh raspberries & chocolate shavings.
   

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today is definitely cookies day!

I finished a batch of Snickerdoodle Cinnamon Coated Cookies early this morning and now I just finished a batch of Chocolate Chip Cookies!

It has been a while since I'm going nuts about baking but ever since I started working from home, I've the privilege of time to manage work and my passion for baking & cooking.

These chocolate chip cookies are crunchy. I do not have any nice nuts to add into the cookie today so I just dumped as much chocolate chips as I can squeese into the batter :P

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Yields 48 Small Size Cookies (4-5cm in diameter)

Ingredients

125g Unsalted Butter, softened to room temperature
75g Caster Sugar
60g Brown Sugar
1 Egg

1 tsp Vanilla Extract
150g All Purpose Flour
45g Corn Flour
1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
pinch of Salt
60g Chopped Nuts (Pecans, Macadamia etc)
125g Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips (use 170g Choco chips if not using nuts)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
   
2. Sift plain flour, cornflour, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl. Stir to ensure they are evenly distributed.
   
3. In a mixing bowl with paddle attachment, cream butter with caster sugar and brown sugar until light, pale and fluffy.
   
4. Add egg and vanilla to butter mixture. Mix to get an even mixture.
   
5. Next, add in the dry ingredients. Mix and stop once the flour are combined.. A soft dough should be obtained. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl with spatula
   
6. Stir in the chocolate chips & nuts to ensure a well distribution.
   
7. The dough is very soft and sticky and if you find it hard to handle, chill it for 30-45mins. I did not chill my dough.
   
8. Spoon heaped Teaspoon of dough onto lined cookies trays, leaving some space between each cookie dough.
   
9. The cookie size is about 4-5cm in diameter so do leave enough space in-between cookies.
   
10. Bake cookies for 13 minutes or until medium browned.

Cooling and storing:

Allow cookies to cool on their trays for 2 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack. Cool cookies completely on wire rack before storing in air-tight containers.

Notes:

If the cookies do soften for some reasons, bake them for 10 minutes at 180°C and allow to cool. The crunch will return.

Snickerdoodle Cinnamon Coated Cookies

I've been wanting to bake some cookies for a while and today, I decided to try this recipe call Snickerdoodle Cinnamon Coated Cookies. The name itself is already interesting so I can't wait to taste it!.

The recipe calls for 1 tablespoonful of mixture to be baked but as you can see from the picture, it yields a pretty large cookie measuring 9 cm in diameter! After looking at my first batch of LARGE cookies, I decided to make slightly smaller ones using 1/2 tablespoonful and these cookies came out just a nice size of 7cm in diameter.

I really like the combination and the cookies are really crispy on the edges and chewy in the centre. I just can't stopped myself from having one after another :P

Snickerdoodle Cinnamon Coated Cookies

24 Medium Size Cookies (7cm in diameter)

Ingredients

(A)
150g All Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
1 tsp Cream of Tartar

(B)
113g Unsalted Butter, cool to room temperature
170g Caster Sugar

(C)
1 Egg

1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

For the Cinnamon Sugar
55g Caster Sugar
1 Tbsp Ground Cinnamon

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 175°C. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
   In a small bowl, combine (A) and set aside.
   
2. In a large bowl, using the paddle attachment, cream together (B) until fluffy
   
3. Add the (C) & mix until creamy and combined.
   
4. Add (A) & just mix enough to incorporate all of the ingredients & stop the mixer. Do not over mix!
   
5. In a small bowl, mix together the remaining Caster Sugar & the Ground Cinnamon. Set side.
   
6. Drop by 1/2 tablespoonful or using a very small ice cream scooper into the cinnamon sugar mixture.
   
7. Roll them around to coat and place them on your prepared baking sheets.
   
8. Bake for about 15 minutes
   
9. Rotate the baking sheets half way through for even baking.
   
10. Cool in the baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring onto a wire rack to cool completely
    

Chicken, Mushroom Pumpkin Rice

I've started to plan a weekly menu to ease the load of having to figure out what to cook for the day:) Since we will have at least 3 dishes per meal time, I've decided to dedicate simple One Pot cooking for every Wednesday!

It has been a while since I last made Pumpkin Rice and so I've penned it down as one of the One Pot meals for Wednesday.

My mum used to cook such one pot meals for us such as Pumpkin Rice, Yam Rice & Cabbage Rice whenever she ran out of ideas for the day:) Eating this dish today simply brings back fond memories of childhood home comfort and my mummy's love.

I still missed my mum a lot even thought she had passed on closed to 8 years now. She'll be amazed that I actually managed to pick up cooking after all! hahahahahaa...... I used to be the one to run out of the kitchen the minute I heard a "ping" sound coming from the heated oil in the wok and my mum used to shake her head and wonder out loud why I chose to climb trees instead of learning the art of cooking :P

So, here is my favourite one Pot Rice Meal :D


Chicken, Mushroom & Pumpkin Rice
Servings - 4 persons (2 helpings each)

Ingredients:

3 cups Rice, rinsed and soaked for 20 mins
½ Pumpkin, cut into cubes
2 pkts Chicken fillet, cut into small cubes
5 - 8 Dried medium size shitake mushroom, soaked in hot water for 1 hour (washed with running water, cut into small chunks & keep the soaking water)
25g Dried prawns (pre-soaked for 15 mins, retained water for cooking later)
1 Small Onion, minced
2 tsps Shallots, thinly sliced
1 tsp Sugar
3 tbsps Cooking Oil
3-4 Cups Water/Chicken Stock for cooking (depending on the type of rice used)
Spring onions (for garnishing)

Seasonings for rice (mix all in a bowl)
2 tbsps Light Soya Sauce
3 tbsps Dark Soya Sauce
1 tsp Salt
2 tsps Oyster Sauce
Dash of Sesame Oil & Pepper

Marinate for Chicken
1 tbsp Light Soya Sauce
1 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Sesame Oil
3 tsps Corn flour

Methods:

1. Marinate the chicken with light soya sauce, sugar, sesame oil & corn flour for at least half an hour.
   
2. Fried onions until golden brown. Add fried shallots and move to the side of the wok.
   
3. Add in dried prawns and stir fry under low heat until fragrant. Add in mushrooms and 1 tsp of sugar, stir-fry for a while.Push the dried prawns and mushrooms to the side of the wok, add in chicken and stir-fry until the chicken cubes turn pale (half-cooked).
   
4. Add in pumpkin and continue to stir-fry for a while.
   
5. Add in a little oil if the mixture looks dried.
   
6. Add in pre-soaked rice, fried shallots followed by seasoning and stir until all the ingredients are well-combined.
   
7. Transfer all the ingredients to a rice cooker, add 1 cup of Mushroomwater and 3- 4 cups water/chicken stock to cover ¾ of the rice mixture.
   
8. Cook under low heat and stir occasionally until the rice is cooked thoroughly.
   

Nice & Easy Banana Cake

This is a really simple and yummy banana cake. I made some of these to share with my colleagues and they really like it and many kept asking me for the recipe.

This recipe can be made into regular size cupcakes or mini cupcakes. My 3 years old son loves them in mini size and he can easily finished 5 minis at a go!

Ingredient

180g Salted Butter
180g Caster Sugar
2 Eggs
4 Ripe Bananas, coarsely mashed to get 1 cup
1/8 tsp Banana Essence (Optional)
3 tbsps Milk mixed with
1 tbsp Lemon Juice

(A) Sieve together
240g Plain Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda

Decorations
2 Ripe Bananas, Sliced
1/2 Lime

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease & lined a 25cm x 15cm / 10" x 6 " loaft tin or prepare cupcake pan with liners.
   
2. Cream butter & caster suger till light & fluffy.
   
3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition
   
4. Mix in mashed bananas, banana essence, sour milk and (A) till well combined. Do not over mix.
   
5. Pour into a greased loaft tin or paper cups if you're making cupcakes.
   
6. Squeeze lime juice over banana slices and arrange it on top of the cake / cupcake as decoration
   
7. For loaft cake & regular size cupcakes, bake for about 15-25 minutes till cooked, golden brown & skewer comes out clean.
   
8. For mini cupcakes, bake for about 10-15 mins until skewer comes out clean.
   
9. Remove cake from the oven & leave to cool before serving

Parmesan Crusted Chicken with Mashed Potatoes

Parmesan Crusted Chicken with Mashed Potatoes
Serves 2 Kids

Ingredients

(A)
210g Breadcrumbs
50g Butter, melted
40g Grated Parmesan

(B)

600g Chicken Breast Fillet, sliced in half horizontally
150g All Purpose Flour
2 Eggs, lightly beaten

(C)
150g French Beans, blanched & sliced , set aside

Mashed Potatoes

800g Potatoes, peeled & chopped
60ml Milk
25g Butter, melted
60g Grated Chedder Cheese

Method

Preheat oven to 200 C

Place (A) in a bowl and mix to combine. Set aside

Coat the chicken in flour, dip into the egg & press intot he breadcrumb mixture.

Place the coated chicken pieces on a lightly greased baking tray.

Bake for 15 mins or until cooked through & golden.

While the chicken is cooking, make the mash.

Place the Potatoes in a pan of cold salted water. Bring to the boil & cook for 15-20mins or until tender.

DRain & return potatoes into the pan

Add butter & milk to mash till you get a smooth consistency.

Stir through the cheese.

Arrange the chicken on top of the mash and french beans & serve.

Sardine Rolls

Sardine Rolls
Serves : 2 Kids or 1 Adult

Ingredients

200g All Purpose Flour

100g Unsalted Butter, softened

1 can Sardine
1 Small Onion

1 Lime

1/2 small Red Chilli, remove seeds & minced (optional)
Pinch of salt

1 Egg Yolk (for glazing)
250ml Ice Water

Method

Mashed the sardine, chilli bits (optional) and add onions, salt & lime juice. Mix them well & set aside.

In a large bowl, sieve the flour.

Using your fingers, rub the butter into flour until the texture resembles fine bread crumbs.

Slowly add the ice water to form a soft dough.

Using a roller, flatten the dough into a thin layer (0.5cm thick)

Spoon the sardine mixture onto the rolled out dough and slowly wrap the sardine by rolling from the end. (like making sushi rolls).

Once rolled, cut it into small pieces (about 2.5cm each). Glazed with egg yolk.

Bake in the toaster oven for about 5 -6 mins. Serve!

Super Nice & Moist Chocolate Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes for Bryans birthday recently and thereafter, I've a couple of requests from friends and relatives for the recipe.

These cupcakes are really nice, moist & super chocolatety so if you love a good chocolate cupcake, I urge you to try this! Do fill it up high to 3/4 full as it will not rise much but the taste is really OOMPH!

Chocolate Cupcakes
Makes about 16 regular cupcakes & 12 Medium size Cupcakes.

Ingredients

50g Dutch-processed Cocoa Powder
240ml Boiling Hot Water
175g All Purpose Flour
2 tsps Baking Powder
½ tsp Salt
113g Unsalted Butter, softened to room temperature
200g Caster Sugar
2 Large Eggs
2 tsps Vanilla Extract

Methods

1. Preheat oven to 190°C. Line 16 muffin cups with paper liners.
   
2. In a small bowl stir until smooth the boiling hot water and the cocoa powder. Let it cool to room temperature.
   
3. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
   
4. With a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
   
5. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth.
   
6. Beat in the vanilla extract.
   
7. Add the flour mixture and beat only until incorporated. Stop the mixer and make sure not to over mix.
   
8. Add the cooled cocoa mixture and using a spatula stir until smooth.
   
9. Fill each muffin cup two-thirds full with batter.
   
10. Bake for about 16-20 minutes or until risen, springy to the touch, and a skewer inserted into a cupcake comes out clean.
    
11. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.
    
12. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost with icing.
    
13. You can either spread the frosting on the cupcakes with a small spatula or if piping, use a large Wilton 1M open star tip to make lovely swirls.
    

Mum's Claypot Liver

My mum used to cook this for me when I was a kid as all old folks believed that liver is good for the blood so kids must have more of this hahahaha. I only take liver when it is cooked this way because the liver is nicely marinated and the sauce from this dish is so yummy with white rice!

When I gave birth to my son back in 2008, I started to read up more about cooking liver and if it indeed is good for my son. What I understand is that liver is encouraged but only in moderation as having too much of this can be toxic too. Well, in life, moderation is always the best bet :)

You can either use a claypot to cook it or any frying pan or HappyCall Pan as well. However, do omit the cooking wine if you intend to make this for toddlers or young children.


Mum’s Claypot Liver
(pre soaked the claypot overnight so as to avoid cracking the pot)


Ingredients

Pig’s Liver for 2-3 person
½ tbsp Sesame Oil
½ tbsp Cooking Oil
1 tblsp Chinese Cooking Wine
1 thumb Ginger
Spring Onions (Separate into the white & leafy parts)


Marinates for liver (marinate it for at least 1 hour in the fridge)

2 tbsps Oyster sauce
½ tsps Light Soy Sauce
A pinch of salt for 1 hour


Method

1. Heat claypot & add ½ tablespoon cooking oil and ½ tablespoon of sesame oil for cooking.
   
2. Fry ginger until golden brown, add 1 tablespoon of cooking wine
   
3. Fry the white part of the spring onion first, add liver and stir fry quickly.
   
4. Add in the leafy part of the spring onion and fry briefly for about 1 minute.
   
5. Do not add water to cook the liver as it will dilute the taste.
   
6. Cover the claypot and switch off the stove. Keep the claypot covered & after 5 mins, the liver is ready to be served.