A taste from the outback

We have been doing a lot of cleaning and clearing at the moment, though my house seems tidy over all, we were still amazed at the amount of junks hiding in the cupboard, under the bed, behind the sofas....some of these things are brand new unwanted gifts, some of them were the result of impulse buying, and most of them were just junk that we thought it will be useful so we kept them at the time, but we've never really needed them. Even though husband and I are no haorders, some of the junks were difficult to get rid off, especially those that hold sentimental values, like my engagement and wedding flower bouquet. They have been drying quite nicely, and been sitting on the shelf beside my wedding photos, but even dead and dried flowers have their used by date, and lately they have been deteriorate quite rapidly, and the dried patels began to turn into fine, powdery " ash". Husband have been asking me, no, begging me to get rid of the pile of patel ash, and finally, I had but no choice to put them ( unwillingly ) into the big black plastic bag together with other junks.

My pantry is another place with a lot of hidden junks, and gems. I'm absolutely delighted when I found a jar of wattlseeds sitting nicely behind the many other cans of food inside the pantry. I remember searching high and low for it after I read about these particular spice from a cooking book, and finally bought it from the Essential Ingredients, alas, never used it after!! I was so relieved to find that the use by date is still one long year away, and I swear to myself that I'll use it in my next baking. Wattleseeds are Australia native spice, they are edible seeds from wattle plants dried, and ground. They have very nutty, chocolaty and coffee flavours. It was used by the aboriginals for cooking and making bread and has become quite a popular spice lately because of their distinctive flavour, and can be found quite easily from gourmet food store. Because of their nuttiness, i decided to pair them with the coffee and almond crunch recipe, adapted from the October 2008 issue of Australian Good Food Magazines.


Bush Coffee Crunch Cake

Ingredients for the cake

• 170g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 170g caster sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• 1/2 tsp coffee essence
• 100g almond meal
• 1/4 cup strong coffee
• 2/3 cup SR flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp wattleseedes

Ingredients from the crunch topping:

• 60g plain flour
• 40g demerara sugar
• 1/3 cup pecan nuts ( optional )
  
• 40g cold butter, cubed

Methods:

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degree Celsius. Line a 20cm round cake pan with baking paper.
2. To make the topping, mix flour and sugar in a bowl, and rub in cold butter until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Put in the fridge while making the cake.
   
3. Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, one at a time until all combine. Add in the vanilla and coffee essence. Fold in the almond meal, alternating with half of the the strong coffee.
   
4. Sift the SR flour, wattle seeds and baking powder together, gently fold the flour into the egg mixture, and add the other half of the strong coffee.
   
5. Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan, and smooth the top. Scatter the topping and pecan nuts on top of the cake batter, and bake in the pre heated oven for about 1 hour.
   
6. Remove from oven once cooked, and cool completely on a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar before serving.
   

The cake is loaded with heavenly coffee aroma and is very moist with a crunchy nutty toppings. The addition of wattleseeds is wonderful, and gives another layer of nuttiness and mocha flavours to the coffee aroma. It's not overly sweet, and I serve it warm with a dollop of chocolate custard ( ice-cream would have been perfect too! ).



After galloping 2 huge slices of the cake almost all at once, the husband put on a big smile, comforted me and promise me that I can always have fresh bouquet of flowers whenever i like on his credit card, at the same time, he took bags after bags of trash out to the bins. Suddenly, my house is less cluster, and I can see much clearer; it's the man that's should matter, not the moulding wedding flower!!

Mother's Maple Cheesecake

Mother's day was never a big event in our family when I was young. Growing up in a church, it's merely just another event of the many events. Also, my mother was such a practical mum that she never encourage us to buy anythings or do anything special on these days ( or any other days ). I still remember on some occasion, she used to buy our shampoo which were running low, and ask us to wrap it up and give it to her during the sunday school presentation as the sunday school teacher ask each kids to give a present to thank our mother during Mother's day!!! I seldom show my gratitude and appreciation towards her, and always took her for granted.

It was when I leave home to study aboard, and trying to live independently then i truly appreciate my mother. My first year was particularly a hard one, trying so hard to fit in and adapt the new culture, living with a foreign relatives, have to juggle my heavy uni workload, and trying to cook my own meals ( which i never did before!! ) How easy it was when I was living with mum that my only worries was to pass my exam. She would thoughtfully prepare many delicious and nutritious meals which according to her, is good for the brain . My mum is great in kitchen, so much so that we're never have to dirty our hands to cook. I must admit that I never touch any kitchen utensil other than the spoon and the fork ( if that's consider a kitchen utensil at all! ) After many years of living aboard, I've develop a closer relationship with the kitchen utensils, and cooking is not merely just for survival now, but a great enjoyment, and i often found my mum inside me when I'm preparing meals. I tend to do it just like she used to do it, it's a strange thing!! I guess the love of preparing food genes do runs in the family, from my grandmother, to my mother and to me.

I would love to bake my mother this cheesecakes when the parental visit next month. They love cheesecakes as they can't desired anything too sweet, and a good cheesecake is hard to find in Malaysia. I've never baked a whole cheesecakes before, so i decided to do a little experiments and practice well before their arrival. In addition, I can also take this opportunity to treats all those homesick overseas students in my church with my experimental cheesecake, it's very rich and good for the soul, the best we can make do during Mother's day, without our mothers!!



It's not hard to decide which cheesecake to experiment, the autumn wind is chilling, and there were falling maple leaves everywhere, perfect season for a rich, maple cheesecake!


Maple Cheesecake
Ingredients for the crust:

• 8 digestive biscuits
• 1/3 cups pecan nuts
• 85g butter, melted

Ingredients for the cake:

• 600g cream cheese
• 50g caster sugar
• 2 tsp cornflour
• 125ml maple syrup, plus more for later
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice

Methods:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius, or 160 degree if fan force.
2. Grease and line a 20cm round spring foam cake tin with baking paper.
3. Process biscuits and pecan nuts in the food processor until finely crushed.
4. Add butter, combined well, and press the biscuit mixture firmly onto the base of the cake tin. Chilled in the refrigerator while making the cake filling.
5. With a electric beater, beat the cream cheese until they are smooth, gradually beat in sugar, corn flour, maple syrup, eggs and lemon juice until well combine. Do not over beat or else it may cracks, or develop bubbles ( like mine :( ).
6. Pour the cake fillings into the cake tin with the biscuit base. Wrap 2 layers of al foil around the cake tin to prevent water from sipping in from the water bath.
7. Put the cake tin into a large baking tray, and pour boiling hot water around the cake tin. ( your cake tin should sit in the middle of the baking tray, with hot water around it )
8. Bake in the preheated oven for about 1 hour and 3o mins. i check the cake every 10 mins after the 1st hour. When the cake is set but still a bit wobbly in the middle, it is done.
9. Switch off the oven temperature, and cool the cheesecake in the oven with the door ajar, and then take it out and cool it to room temperature before leave it in the fridge overnight.
10. Pour extra maple syrup over the cheesecake before serving. Best serve cold.

Because of my over beating, my cheesecake develop some bubble on the surface, but it's not a fatal one, and I'm overall very satisfied with the taste and texture of the cheesecake. This recipe is adapted from NQN, and she was very kind to give me a few tips and hints for baking this cheesecake as I'm very unsure about the water bath thing. Apparently, the most important thing with baking cheesecake is not to "shock" the cake, ie: the cake dun get shock when first entered the hot oven by baking it gently with the water bath, and the cake dun get shock when comes out of the oven by cooling it in the oven first and then room temp, and then fridge. If the cake is shock, it'll cracks, very much behave like us don't you think?!!!

I think it'll be the perfect welcoming cheesecake for my mum, and hopefully the first bite would shock her taste bud and she'll cracks a big smile!!

Yum Cha Egg Tarts

I was sick on Friday, so when I was asked to make something for the church fate I wasn't very keen, but as I was feeling better on the Saturday, I decided to make something less fussy and easy. A few years ago, a friend of mine, Jenny, make me a batch of these heavenly egg tarts. The custard is glossy, soft and sweet, and the pastry is particularly wonderful. Later when she kindly give me the recipe, i realised the secret ingredient of the pastry : cream cheese! Yeap, it's very yummy and they taste just like those egg tarts from the yum cha trolleys!!



Hong Kong Egg Tarts ( makes about 30 egg tart with a very thin layer of pastry, or make about 14 egg tart with a nice thick crust )

Ingredients for the pastry:

• 125g cream cheese, soften
  
• 125 g butter, slightly salted, cubed
  
• 11/2 cups AP flour

Methods:

1. Rub the butter into the flour and cream cheese until combine.
   
2. Do not add water because the moisture from the cream cheese would be enough to bind the dough. It may appear a bit crumbly in the beginning, but it would be OK.
3. Divided the dough into 2 portion, and wrap with cling wrap. Store in the fridge for about 30 mins.
   

Ingredients for the custard:

• 3 eggs, lightly whisked
• 1/3 cup caster sugar
• 1/4 cup cream
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

Methods:

1. Preheat the oven at 180 degree Celsius.
   
2. Combine everything in a big mixing bowl, whisk until sugar dissolved.
   
3. Pour the custard mixture over a fine sieve into a jug.
   
4. Roll out the pastry, divided the pastry into 30 small equal portion, and press them onto the muffin pan ( which you'll then have 14 egg tarts ), or petty aluminium cases ( which you'll then have about 30 egg tarts ).
5. Bake the pastry in the oven for about 15 mins.
   
6. When the pastry is golden, take them out of the oven, and pour the custard mixture onto each pastry cases. Bake the tarts in the oven for a further 30 mins, until the custard is set.
   
7. Cool on tray, but best serve them warm.
   

Of course, you can skip the blind baking part and just pour the custard onto the unbaked pastry and bake in pre heated oven for 30 mins, but because I'm making very thin pastry layer, I don't want my pastry to go soggy with the custard. But if you're making a thicker pastry layer, by all means, skip the blind baking part.

These egg tarts were very silky, smooth and sweet and the tart is very crunchy from the blind baking. They are best eaten warm! Unfortunately, I have to sell them cold during the church fete, but they're still delicious!

Lest we forget

When I first came to Australia, I was very amused by those delicious oats biscuits normally sold in bulk from
Coles or woollies.




Later than I know that they are called Anzac Biscuits. It's kind of like the national biscuits in Australia, and it's eaten by soldiers who fought in WW1.

Anzac basically means: Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. Every year today (25th April), Australia and New Zealand celebrate this day to honour the armies, who fought in Gallipoli and the fields of Flanders during WW1.

We all know that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, so the mothers, wives and girlfriends of these army troops, bake heaps of biscuits to be sent to their loves ones who fought in Gallipoli. Concern that their loves ones doesn't get enough nutrient, they used a lot of oats in the biscuits, along with coconut, butter and golden syrup. Eggs, which are normally a binding agent in most biscuits, are purposely left out because they want these biscuits to be more sturdy and last longer in order to withstand the long journey to Gallipoli.
More interesting facts of Anzac Biscuits, can be found here.
Although I'm not too much an Australian myself yet, I do take this day to remember and appreciate them, for Australia is a free country today, all because of their sacrifice, and least not forget the little loving biscuits who give them strength and lift their spirit during the war!


Anzac Biscuits

Ingrediants: ( makes about 50 mediam sized biscuits )

• 125g butter
• 2 tbsp golden syrup
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1cup dessicated coconut
• 1 cup plain four
• 3/4 cup caster sugar
• 1 tbsp boiling water
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Methods:

1. Preheat oven to 160 degree Celcius
2. Line a large baking trays with baking paper
3. Place butter and golden syrup in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally.
4. Place all the dry ingrediants: oats, coconut, flour and sugar together in a large bowl.
5. Dissolve soda in the boiling water, and stir into the butter and golden syrup mixture.
   
6. Add wet ingrediants to dry ingrediants and stir until well combined.
   
7. Roll level tbps of the mixture into balls and place about 3 cm apart on the trays. Flatten slightly with the back of the fork, and bake in preheated oven for about 15-18 mins.
   
8. The biscuit will be golden brown, but still soft. It will harden and become crisp once cooled on the wire rack.
   
9. Stored cooled biscuits in an airtight container for up to 1 month.
   

In love with Lebanon

If i were to tell you that I got most my dinner and baking recipe from going to gym will you believe me? I know you'll think that I am joking, coz what on earth will a gym have so many recipes and meal ides?? But it's true. You see, there are 3 big LCD TV in front of me when I was on the treadmill, one is news, one is sport, and the other one will often always be a cooking show, depending on the timing of course. It's really amusing when I was running and shedding those fats, while in front of me, the chef is frying Foie gras !! There are also a lot of women's day magazines around, which also contain a lot of recipes!
So,when I was working out yesterday, I saw this recipe, about making your own chocolate baklava, I was immediately inspired. Especially since I am so hooked on Lebanese cuisinee these days.
I have a good study at the recipe, and decided that I'm going to go with my own style. I make it without the chocolate ( as a traditional baklava normally don't use chocolate ), and using a combination of pistachio and cashew nuts. Because I want to make it more healthy, and less sugary, I did not bother to make the sugar syrup, instead, I use maple syrup with rose water, and just brush the syrup on the pasty rather than pouring the whole syrup over the pastry and let them soak. But I shall includes the recipe for the sugar syrup if you like your baklava toothachiningly sweet.


Pistachio and Cashew Baklava

Ingredients:

• About 9 sheets of filo pastry
• 100g melted butter
• 100g pistachio, shelled
• 100g cashew
  
• 5 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp rose water

Methods:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius
2. Combine the pistachio, cashew and brown sugar into a grinder and grind for about 5 mins in high speed, or until the mixture resembled coarse pebble. ( beware, the texture should not be too sand like ). Add in the rosewater.
3. Use a big wet towel to cover the filo pastry to prevent them from drying out.
   
4. Took 1 sheet of filo pasty, and lay on a dry bench, and brushed the top side of the filo with a very thin layer of butter. Took another sheets of filo pastry, lay it on top of the buttered filo, and continue brushing the top side of the pasty with filo. Repeat with the 3rd sheets of filo.
   
5. Gently scatter a thin layer of ground nuts mixture on the buttered pastry, and rolled it up like a cigar. Cut the rolled up baklava into desired shaped, ( in my case, i just cut them into little tubes about 4 cm long ).
   
6. Put the baklava on a tray lined with baking paper. Brushed the top of baklava with a little butter.
7. Repeat step 4-6 until all the nuts mixture have been used up. The above recipe will yield about 3 long rolled up baklava and about 15 (4cm) cut baklava.
8. Bake in preheated oven for about 20-25 mins, or until the pasty is crisp and brown.

Alternative syrup :

• 5 tbsp maple syrup
• 2 tbsp rose water

Methods:

1. Combine the maple syrup with rose water, heat it in the microwave for about 30 second or until the the syrup is hot.
   
2. Brushed the hot baklava generously with the syrup, let it cool to room temperature before serving.
   

Original syrup:

• 1 cup of caster sugar
• 1 cup of water
• 2 tbsp rose water

Methods:

1. Dissolve the caster sugar in water on the stoves. Stir in rose water.
   
2. Pour the sugar syrup over hot baklava and let it soak for 2 hours before serving.

Beware though because I added sugar in the nut mixture, so the baklava is already sweeten. If you would like to soak your baklava in sugar syrup, it's best to excludes sugar in the nut mixture to save your pancreas from overworking !!



Since figs are good companion to middle Eastern cuisine, and since I've recently bought a bag of figs, I decorated my baklava with it. The figs are beautiful and blushing just like 2 lovers met!

How to survive recession and keep your friends

You know Easter is just around the corner when all the supermarket shelf are being replaced with lot's of chocolate bunnies, chocolate eggs and hot cross buns. Almost everyone will rush in at the very last weekend before Easter to buy these chocolate treats from family and friends. Normally, I would join the crowd and buy a few treats, but I still have about 3 easter eggs sitting in the pantry from last year, and I'm not alone, few of my friends have chocolates from last Easter too. So, I decided to do something different this year, something that is more one of a kind, and perishable. Hence have to be appreciated and consume upon received.
There are so many easter goodies to make as well. I decided to skip the traditional hot cross buns, ( since it's so easy to buy one from anywhere ),and go with something a bit different.
As usual, I like to make simple, easy and delicious treats, and these chocolate easter crackles are just the kind of goodies to make. All in all, you only need some Mars bars and Coco Pops, and it yields about 40 crackers! Now, what a good idea to save money and still be generous!!



Chocolate Easter Crackles

Ingredients:

• 200g Mars Bars, chopped
• 2 tbsp cream
• 4 tbsp coconuts
  
• 3 cups Coco Pops
• 40 mini eggs for decoration

Methods:

1. Place the Mars bars and cream in a heatproof bowl over simmering water.
2. Stir until melted and smooth. ( it will take sometime for the Mars bars to melt )
3. Place coconuts and coco pops in another huge bowl, pour the melted Mars bar mixture and stir until well combined.
   
4. Quickly pile mixture into small paper cases and decorate each with a mini egg.
   
5. Place in the fridge until firm, store in airtight container for about 2 weeks.
   

aren't they look gorgeous? I glam them even further by putting them into small boxes, and give them to special friends.



or simply pile them into a basket and bring it to the office to share!

Happy Easter and Happy Holiday!

Brownies my style

Some people loves to eat brownies that are very googey in the centre,
Some likes it without nuts while others only eat brownies with nuts
Some like their brownies dusted with icing sugar
Some like it dusted with cocoa power
Some like to eat it warm
Some prefers over-night brownies, especially those left in the fridge
children loves it with milk chocolate, grown ups prefer dark, some are crazy for white...
and the list go on..

I love my brownies more like a cake, in fact, i don't really like any dense brownies. I find them too rich for my taste bud. Hence I am using SR flour in this brownies to created a lighter and more cake like texture. So consider you be warned should you love those dense and googey brownies, this is not the type for you!!




Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients:

• 200g dark chocolate
• 125g unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 3/4 cup SR flour
• 1/3 cup milk
• pinch of salt
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius. Grease and line a 20cm square cake tin with baking paper.
2. Chopped the chocolate and butter into cubes, put in a heat proof bowl. Melt the chocolate and butter by sitting the bowl on top of a saucepan of simmering water.
3. When melted, remove the bowl from the heat and stir in brown sugar.
4. Add eggs, and gently fold in flour, alternate with milk. Season with a pinch of salt to further enhance the flavour.
5. Add the chopped walnuts, or any preferred nuts, or go without nuts.
6. Pour the mixture into prepared pan and bake for 20-25 mins. When tested with a toothpick, it should come out clean.
7. Cool the brownies in the pan before turning out from pan. Serve warm or cold.