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.

Peach Upside Down Cake

I still have a few peaches left in the fridge so I decided to make this simple but flavorful cake. This cake might look like a difficult, fancy cake to make but it’s actually quite easy. Great for entertaining your friends or just dinner with the family. As usual if you can’t find fresh peaches you can always substitute it with plumps, nectarines or even apples.

Ingredients for topping:

4 tbsp butter
3 tbsp brown sugar
3 fresh peaches, peeled and sliced

Ingredients for the cake:

1 stick of butter (1/2 cup or 113 grms)
3/4 cup sugar
2 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tbsp of milk
1 tsp of orange zest

1. Line and greased an 8” round pan. Prepare the topping. Melt the butter and brown sugar. Pour it to the base of baking pan. Arrange the peach slices in a circle over the base. Set it aside.
2. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degree F. Cream butter and sugar together until light and creamy. Beat in the egg one at a time until well combined.
3. Add in vanilla and orange zest. Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Slow down the mixer and slowly add in the flour alternately with the 2 tbsp of milk. Mix until combined.
4. Spread the batter over the peaches and bake the cake for 50 minutes or until golden brown. Let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes before inverting it to a serving plate.

Note : Winners for the Pillsbury Simply..... Refrigerated Cookies Giveaway :

Thank you everyone for participating. Jenn can you please email me your address.

Pillsbury Simply...Refrigerated Cookies Giveaway!

Who can say no to cookies, right that’s why I was looking forward to try and review the NEW Pillsbury Simply...TM Refrigerated Cookies. I baked two batches of them last night, one Chocolate Chips Cookies and the other one Peanut Butter Cookies. They were so easy. You literally just open the packet, put them in the baking sheet and stick them in the oven. After 15 - 17 minutes you have your dose of cookies. Everyone agreed that they tasted just as good if not better than other refrigerated cookies they have eaten. Best of all they are made with wholesome ingredients like flour, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla and have zero grams trans fat, no high fructose corn syrup, no artificial colors or flavors and no preservatives.

I’ve arranged with Pillsbury to give 3 of my lucky readers a Pillsbury tote bag and two coupons and the coupons entitle you to 2 free package of Pillsbury Simply . . . Refrigerated Cookie Dough. And if you can't wait you can also get a printable discount coupon here to save on either variety of Pillsbury Simply.

To win the giveaway, all you have to do is leave a comment telling me what is your favorite cookie. Don’t forget to leave me your email address too so that I can easily and accurately contact the winner.

The giveaway will end on September 6th 2009 at 6.00pm (Eastern Time). The giveaway is open to US only (due to shipping and the coupons can only be use here in the US) I will randomly draw the winner (s). GOOD LUCK!!