Stone Fruit Tea Cake

When I saw this cake at Wendy’s blog it strikes my interest right away. I thought it look like a pie or a tart but was a cake. I think it was a cross between both of them. Since summer is here we are able to find all kinds of seasonal fruits like berries, peaches, nectarines, plump, apricots etc. I like using it in my dessert. For this cake I used cherries, fresh apricots and blueberries since I have it in my fridge.

Lemon Lemon Loaf

My good friend Choy gave me a cook book called ‘Best of the Best Cookbook’. It is the BEST RECIPES from 25 best chefs of the year. It consist recipes of Giada de Laurentiis, Mario Batali, Bobby Flay, Pauline Nguyen and many more talented chefs. I flip through the books and there are many recipes that I wanted to try out but there is one recipe that stands out among the rest. It is a Lemon cake by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito from their book Baked: New Frontiers in Baking. I like it for the fact that it is a lemon cake and also the cake is made solely with a food processor which I've never done before. . For a lemon freak like me, this is heaven. It's so light-tasting, not heavy or greasy at all despite all the butter. I leave one without the glaze and both tasted just as good. The original recipe makes 2 big loaves but you can always halve it to make a loaf.

Cranberry Oatmeal Bars

I love eating oats and baking with oats. Beside my favorite Oatmeal Raisin Cranberry Cookies I thought I change it a bit today and made it into bars instead of individual cookies. I used cranberries in these bars but it could be made with almost any dried fruits. These little bars are great to snack on and pretty nutritious too.

Chocolate Chips, Cranberry and Macadamia Nut Cookies

Carlos loves these cookies. It has a great combination of sweetness from the cranberries and the saltiness from the macadamia nuts and the chocolate chips just added an extra richness to the cookies. They are perfectly crispy at the edges and slightly chewy in the center.

Ingredients:

3 cups of flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 sticks/226 grm butter – room temperature
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup chopped toasted salted macadamia nuts

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Sift flour, salt and baking powder into medium bowl. By using electric mixer, beat butter, sugar and brown sugar until combined and slightly fluffy. Add in the eggs, one at a time and then vanilla. Mix well.
3. Add in the shifted ingredients and mix just until blended. Using spatula, stir in cranberries, chocolate chips, and nuts.
4. For large cookies, drop dough by heaping tablespoonfuls onto prepared sheets, as for smaller cookies, drop dough by level tablespoonfuls onto sheets. Bake cookies for 20 minutes of until golden brown. Remove and cool the cookies before storing.

Note: You can replace the cranberries with raisins, chocolate chips with white chocolate chips and as for the nuts it can be any kind of nuts to your liking.

Citrus Madeleines

Is Madeleine a cake or are they a cookie? I guess they fall in between a cake and a cookie. I made this with my new Madeleines pan which I bought not too long ago. The previous ones were baked from flimsy silicon pan which I am not too keen to use it again. Since I’ve tried a couple of variations before, this time I made it with lemon and orange. I love anything citrusy so this is a great combination for me.

Ingredients:

1 cup/130 grm sifted cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3 large eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp finely grated lemon zest
1 tbsp finely grated orange zest
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp fresh orange juice
1/2 cup/113 grm unsalted butter, melted, plus more for pans
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting (optional)

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl.
2. Put eggs, sugar, lemon juice, orange juice and zests in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until pale and thickened, about 5 minutes. Mix in butter. Using a spatula, fold flour mixture into egg mixture. Let batter rest 30 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter two Madeleine pans (not necessary if they are non-stick).
4. Spoon batter into prepared pans, filling the molds three-quarters full. Bake and rotating pans halfway through, until edges are crisp and golden it will take about 7-8 minutes. Let it cool slightly in pans on wire racks. Invert, and unmold. Dust with confectioners' sugar, if desired.

Pineapple Tarts

Finally my pineapple tarts made it debut here for this year. . I’ve been busy doing last minutes baking since I came home. For these tarts I made the jam as I find the store bought one too sweet and lack of pineapple taste. Making these is time consuming and it took me over 5 hours do 5 big containers but it is all worth it. What is Chinese New Year without pineapple tarts, right? This year I made 3 different designs. . Which one do you prefer? For the recipe you can refer here .

This is the traditional design.

For this I used a flower pineapple tarts cutter.

For this I just used a normal flower shape cookie cutter and then bake it in small paper cups.

Here wishing everyone a Happy and Prosperous New Year, Gong Xi Fatt Chai and Happy Valentine’s Day.

Hup Toh Sow/Chinese Walnut Cookies

I remember eating this cookie when I was young and never thought of baking it myself until I saw it at No-Frills Recipes blog. I baked it the very next day for Carlos and Diana to munch on while I am away in Malaysia. I did very minor changes to the recipe. I can’t seem to get the dough to bind together so I added a tablespoon of vegetable oil to it. I think the cold and dry weather here play a role to the dry dough. Nevertheless the cookies turns out perfect and taste was just the way I remember it. I am in KL now and I am going to bake this again for CNY. Thanks Cheah for sharing this wonderful recipe with us.

Ingredients:

150 gm margarine (I used butter)
250 gm self-raising flour
80 gm caster sugar
2 oz coarsely chopped slightly roasted walnuts (optional)
1 egg beaten + a pinch of salt, for glazing
1 tbsp vegetable oil (optional)

1. Sift the self-raising flour into a mixing bowl.
2. Cut in the margarine; add in the sugar and the chopped walnuts.
3. Mix thoroughly till the dough does not stick onto the hands. * At this stage I add a tablespoon of vegetable of oil to it.
4. Pinch off some dough and lightly form into a ball, make a small dent in the centre. Place the biscuits onto a baking sheet, leaving some room between each biscuit.
5. Brush them with beaten egg wash.
6. Bake in preheated oven 190 degree C or 350 degree F for about 30 to 35 minutes or till golden brown.
7. Cool completely before storing in cookie jar.

Chocolate Truffles

Here’s an easy Chocolate Truffles that we love and I know you will too. These bite size handmade truffles are rich, elegant and stylish. They are great as holiday gifts or even for parties. Instead of picking up a box of chocolate from the chocolate shop why not make it yourself. They are simply delicious and surprisingly easy to make. You can add any flavors to the chocolate from citrus peel, coffee, spices, vanilla or liqueur. While cocoa powder is the traditional used for coating, these truffles can also be coated in confectioners’ sugar, toasted and chopped nuts, shredded coconut or even shaved chocolate.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup heavy cream
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 tbsp of Bailey’s or any flavor you like
Toasted chopped nuts, cocoa power, chopped candies etc (for coating truffles)

1. Over medium heat brings the cream to a boil to boil. . Immediately pour hot cream over the chocolate and stir until smooth.
2. Stir in the Bailey’s. Refrigerate until chocolate mixture until it is firm enough to roll into balls. It might take2 hours.
3. Using a small melon baller or ice cream scoop, form 1” balls. Then place the truffle into the prepared coating. Move the truffle around to coat. Place the truffles in small paper cups and refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving.

Strawberry Nut Pinwheels

Is Christmas time again and it is time to do some baking. I didn't bake much this year. Just 4 types of cookies for our cookies swap. I baked my usual Oatmeal Raisin Cranberry Cookies , Pineapple Tarts , Russian Tea Cakes and this Strawberry Nut Pinwheels. I adapted this recipe from Taste of Home Best Holiday Cookies magazine.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup/113 grm butter - softened
1 cup sugar (I used 3/4 cup)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups of flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup strawberry jam
3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

1. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla.
2. Combined flour and baking powder and gradually add to the butter mixture. Mix well.
3. Roll out dough between two sheet of parchment paper into 12" square. Remove the top piece of parchment paper. Spread it with the jam and sprinkle with nuts.
4. Roll up tightly like a Swiss-roll style. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm.
5. Pre-heat oven to 375 degree F. Unwrap the dough and cut into 1/4" slices and place the cookies on a well-greased baking pan and bake for 12-15 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Remove to wire rack to cool.

Coconut Jam Slice

This is an old-fashioned favorite that has a light shortbread like base that is spread with a layer of sweet jam and finished with a crispy coconut topping. It is amazing how a few simple ingredients taste so good and it is great to snack on whenever your sweet tooth strikes.

Ingredients for the base:

1 1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp sugar
1 stick/113 gram cold butter – cut into cubes
1 egg yolk

Ingredients for the topping:

1/2 cup of strawberry jam or any jam of your choice
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 egg white
3 cups of unsweetened/deciccated coconut
1 tsp of essence vanilla
1 tbsp of corn flour
Juice of a lemon

1. Line a lightly greased square pan with parchment paper, overhang on both side for easy removal later. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degree F.
2. Put flour, baking powder, salt and butter in a food processor, pulse until fine and crumbly. Add in the egg yolk and pulse until the dough comes together. Press the dough into the baking pan.
3. Bake in the over for 15 minutes or until the edges are slightly brown. Let is cool down for 5 minutes, spread it with jam.
4. Prepare the topping. In a mixing bowl combined the eggs, sugar, corn flour, vanilla, lemon juice and salt. Mix until well combined. Stir in the coconut.
5. Spread the coconut mixture over the jam. Press it down with the back of a spoon.
6. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until light golden brown. Let it cool completely before cutting it into pieces.

Oatmeal Raisin Cranberry Cookies

I’ve made tons of Oatmeal cookies in my baking life but I can’t seems to get the right taste, the crunch or flavor the way I like it. I’ve been tweaking around with this recipe for sometime and I finally got it right. This will be my ultimate Oatmeal cookies. The Cookies were light, crunchy, not too sweet and with the right amount of oatmeal and dried fruits. Just the way I like it. I think this is the best Oatmeal cookies I ever bake if I should said so myself ;)

Ingredients:

2 sticks/1 cup/226 grm butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
¼ cup of sugar
1 ½ cups flour
3 cups of old-fashion oats
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1 tsp of vanilla
1 tsp of cinnamon powder
2 cup raisin
1 cup dried cranberries


1. In a food processor, give the oats a few pulses, then combined it with flour, salt, cinnamon powder and baking soda. Mix well and set it aside.
2. In a mixer beat soft butter with brown sugar for 3 minutes or until well combined Add in eggs and vanilla. Beat for 2 minutes.
3. Add the flour mixture into the butter mixtures until combined. Last add in raisins and cranberries. Mix well.
4. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Drop about 1 tbsp of cookies in a baking sheet and bake in a pre-heated 350 degree F oven for 20-25 min or until golden brown. Cool before storing in an air tight container.

Note : If you like chewy cookies, just bake until the edges of the cookies lightly brown, but if you like crunchy cookies like me bake if for another 5 minutes or until golden brown.

Luscious Lime Bars

If you give me a choice of dessert I will always pick the one that contains lemon or lime. I love everything lemony, I love their scent, I love their color but above all, I love the sour bite to it. I strongly believe that by adding citrus juice it makes everything taste even better.

These luscious lime bars are the alternative to the traditional lemon bars and best of all you can cut it into small bite size squares and picked up and eat it with your fingers.

Ingredients for the base:

1 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp melted butter

Ingredients for topping:

3 large eggs
1 egg yolk
1 cup condensed milk
2/3 cup lime juice
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 tsp of lime zest

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degree F. Line and lightly greased a 8" x 8" square baking pan with parchment paper, overhang on both side (for easy removing your bars later).
2. In a mixing bowl, combined all the base ingredients together. Press it evenly to the base of the baking pan. Bake it for 10 minutes, remove from oven and let it cool.
3. In a mixing bowl, beat eggs and condensed milk until well combined. Add in lime zest, lime juice and mix well. Lastly add in heavy cream and mix well.
4. Pour the topping over the baked base and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the center is set. Cool complete before cutting into it.

Sugar Coated Crispy Snack/Ribbon Biscuit

I suddenly crave for this type of snack which I ate when I was young. I am not sure if we can still buy this back in Malaysia. I don’t know what this snack is call so I can’t Google for the recipe. So I came up with something similar. It turns out pretty good, sweet and very crunchy. Carlos can't stop munching on it. By the way, does anyone of you know the name of this snack or maybe the recipe to share?

Ingredients:

300 grm of flour
½ tsp salt
½ tsp baking powder
3 tbsp of sesame seeds
5 tbsp of cold butter
1 egg
100 ml coconut milk

For sugar coating:

1 cup sugar
3/4 cup water

1. Sift flour, salt and baking powder in a mixing bowl. Beat the egg and mix in the coconut milk. Mix well and set it aside.
2. Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add the sesame seeds. Stir in the egg mixture and mix until the dough comes together. Knead until it forms into smooth dough.
3. Rest the dough for half an hour. Roll out the dough thinly as thinly as possible (about 1/8”) Cut into 2” x 1 ½” rectangle and use the tip of the knife and cut a slit in the middle of the rectangle. Insert one end of the dough into the slit and pull slightly so the dough curls slightly.
4. Heat up some vegetable oil for deep frying. Fry the dough until golden brown. Remove and drain the oil.
5. Remove all the oil from the frying pan. In the same pan, add in the water and sugar. Bring it up to a boil and let the syrup reduce by half. Add in the fried dough and mix well into the syrup to coat and the syrup dried up.
6. Remove the fried dough into a line baking sheet and leave it to cool.


Note: If the dough is too sticky, add bit more flour to it and if it get too stiff add a bit more coconut milk.

Almond Biscotti

This twice baked Italian specialty has become very popular here. Unlike other sweet cookies we are used to, biscotti are crisp and crunchy and taste really great when dunking it in coffee or sweet wine. These traditional biscotti do not contain any butter or oil. It uses eggs to bind all the ingredients together. You can add any types of nuts, dry fruits and flavor that you like to it.

Ingredients:

2 cups of flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract or ½ tsp almond extract
1 cup whole almonds - toasted

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Combined flour, salt and baking soda together. In your mixer whisk eggs and sugar until well combined. Add in flavoring.
3. Gradually add in the flour into the egg mixture until dough is form. Add in almonds. With floured hands divide dough into half. On a lightly floured surface roll each half of dough into a log.
4. Transfer the logs to the prepared baking sheet, spacing the logs about 3 inches apart, and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until firm to the touch and lightly brown.
5. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes. Transfer logs to a cutting board and using a serrated knife slice log into 1/2 inch thick. Arrange evenly on baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, turn slices over, and bake another 10 minutes or until lightly brown and crispy. Remove from oven and let cool and store in an airtight container.

Note: I added some dry cranberries to the second log.

Cheesy Pine Nut Rosemary Cookies

Have you try making savory cookies? Now here is something different for you. They are actually great for appetizers or snacks. Maybe a little bit better than all the other sugary treats in our cookies jars :). This cookies are nutty, buttery, cheesy and with a little hint of rosemary. You can replace the rosemary with other herbs like chives or thyme and you can add other spices like cumin, garlic, paprika, chili power to these cookies. The options are endless!

Ingredients:

1 stick/113 grm/1/2 cup butter
1 ½ cup of flour
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup ground pine nuts
1 egg – separate yolk and white
2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup of pine nuts – for decoration

1. Cream butter and salt and light and creamy. Add in the egg yolk cream until well combined.
2. Add in parmesan cheese, ground pine nuts and chopped rosemary. Mix well. Add in the flour and continue to mix until the mixture comes together into a ball.
3. Take out the dough and lightly floured work surface, give the dough a few knead and let it rest for half an hour.
4. Roll the dough out thinly about 1/8" thick. Cut out into desired shapes. Brush the top of the cookies with some egg white and sprinkle some pine nuts on it.
5. Baked in a pre-heated 325 degree F oven until lightly brown. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Coconut Macaroons

I was looking for something to make with the leftover condensed milk which I used for my Condensed Milk Pound Cake . I remember making coconut macaroons during my school days and decided to make some again. This macaroon has very few ingredients and you probably have it in your pantry. This recipe make a small batch of macaroons and if you want to make more you might need to double the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 large egg whites
Pinch of salt
1/2 can (7 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 bag shredded sweetened coconut (14 oz)

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees F. In a medium bowl, whisk egg whites and salt until frothy, about 2 minutes. Stir in condensed milk and vanilla. Using a rubber spatula, fold in coconut until well combined.
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats. Using a teaspoon and your fingers, form macaroons into 1 1/4-inch mounds about 1 inch apart.
3. Bake until macaroons are golden brown, about 20 - 25 minutes. Transfer the macaroons to a cooling rack. Let cool completely.

Homemade Cheese Crackers

I love cheese crackers especially Cheez-It I can eat it just like that or even put it in my soup. Why bake my own cheese crackers when I can just buy a box of it? Well, I simply like the idea that I am able to bake something I like to eat and also it’s much healthier without all the preservatives. These homemade cheese crackers are the most tender, rich, buttery, cheesy crackers you have ever eaten. It involves very little fuss. Just put everything in the food processor, roll out the dough, cut it and then bake it.

Ingredients:

1 stick butter (113 grm) – at room temperature
1 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cups Flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp of black pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper (less if you prefer less spicy)
1 tsp of paprika
2 tbsp of cold water (more or less)

1. Preheat your oven to 325 degree F. Line a baking sheet with some parchment paper.
2. Put all the above ingredients except water in a food processor. Pulse until it resembles coarse bread crumbs. Slowly add in one tbsp of cold water or a bit more until the mixture comes together into a ball.
3. Take out the dough and lightly floured work surface, give the dough a few knead and let it rest for half an hour.
4. Roll the dough out thinly about 1/8" thick. Cut out into desired shapes
5. Bake for 15 minutes or until the crackers start to get just golden on the edges
Remove the baking pan from the oven, and transfer the browned crackers to a cooling rack.

Bakewell Slice

Bakewell is a traditional English baked dessert which consists of a short crust pastry shell, spread with jam and covered with a sponge-like filling enriched with ground almonds (known as frangipane). This famous British tart made in the picturesque town of Bakewell in the Derbyshire Peak District. It is a delicious dessert and also makes a delightful afternoon treat.

Ingredients for the crust:

1 cup flour
6 tbsp cold butter
1 tbsp sugar

Ingredients for the topping:

6 tbsp of butter
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 cup ground almonds
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup raspberry jam.
1/4 slice almonds

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degree F. Line and lightly greased a 8" x 8" square baking pan with parchment paper, overhang on both side (for easy removing your slices later)
2. In a food processor, process all the crust ingredients using the pulse action until fine and crumbly.
3. Press it evenly to the base of the baking pan. Bake it for 10 minutes, remove from oven and let it cool.
4. To make the topping, beat sugar, butter and eggs until light and creamy. Add in flour and ground almonds, mix until just combined.
5. Spread the raspberry jam to the crust, spread the topping over the jam and sprinkle the almond slices to the top. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.
6. Cool completely before cutting to serve.

Almond Cookies II

This is one of the cookies I baked for Chinese New Year. The taste and method of making this cookies is very similar to peanuts cookies.

Ingredients :

250 grm almonds
450 grm of flour
225 grm icing/powder sugar
220 grm corn oil/vegetable oil
1/2 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of baking soda
1 tsp of salt

Egg Wash

2 egg yolk
a few drop of yellow food coloring

1) Pre-heat oven to 350 degree F. Roast almond for 15-20 min in the oven. In a food processor, ground almond till fine (you can reserve some coarsely ground almond for decoration)
2) In a mixing bowl, mix flour, ground almonds, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix well.
3) Add in oil and knead to make into a dough. Shape the dough round or cut into desired shape.
4) Brush the top with some egg. At this stage you can decorate the top with some almonds. Bake in 350 degree F oven until golden brown.
5) Cool completely and keep cookies in an air-tight container.