Brown Sugar & Balsamic Roasted Carrots

Hi

I really love these roasted carrots.  Coated with brown sugar and Balsamic, they are so tender, sweet and citrusy.

It has chewy texture, which outside is firm and inside is soft.  Brown sugar and balsamic vinegar really go well with carrots and they are simply perfect combination.

I alone finished 500g of carrots and they are so totally yum!

Recipe adapted by BBCGoodFood.com

Happy Baking!

INGREDIENTS

500g       Carrots, peels and halved lengthways

2 tbsp     Olive Oil

2 tbsp     balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp     light muscovado sugar

METHOD

(1)Heat oven to 180°C with fan or 160°C without fan.

(2)Cook carrots in boiling water for 10-15mins, until they are starting to soften, but still have some bite.  Drain and pat dry.

(3)Spread the carrots out in a roasting tin, drizzle with the oil and vinegar, then sprinkle over the sugar.  Season well with sea salt and black pepper, then roast or 45mins, turning occasionally, until the sugar has caramelized and the carrots are soft and tender.

For this month, the theme for Little Thumbs Up is Brown Sugar and Molassses.  Therefore, I’m linking the post to this event which is organised by Zoe (Bake For Happy Kids); Doreen(My little favourite DIY) and for August, it is hosted by Jess (Bakericious)

Green Tea Madeleine

Hi

Madeleine is a traditional French tea cake which is distinctive by its petite shell shape, is well liked by all ages and makes an ideal afternoon tea with girlfriends.

Before making my own Madeleine, the only Madeleine I had tasted was from Delifrance.  From then, I started to like this little sponge cake.  The reason why for years I didn’t make my own is because I couldn’t find a cheaper Madeleine pan.  It was until my boys tasted this light and airy little cake, with a little crispy at the side, they like it so much that make me decided to go ahead and invest on this non-stick Madeleine pan.  

I chanced upon this Green Tea Madeleine by Just One Cookbook while searching for Madeleine recipe, and decided to give it a try for this month’s Thumbs Up on Tea.

The outcome wasn’t disappointed at all.  I like it very much but my boys and hubby prefer the original version with some chocolate chips on it.

I have made a few rounds of Madeleine and they aren’t fickle.  They are pretty easy to make.  Batter can be made in advance and kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 days as according to Joy Of Baking.

Happy Baking!

INGREDIENTS

(Yielded 24 pcs)

113g       unsalted butter

133g       granulated sugar (I reduce to 100g)

120g       all-purpose flour

1 pinch   salt

1 tsp        baking powder

1 tbsp      Matcha (Green Tea Powder)

2              large eggs at room temperature

1 tbsp      milk

1 tbsp      confectioner’s (powder) sugar, for dusting.

METHODS

(1)Melt the unsalted butter in a small saucepan over medium low heat.  Be careful not to burn the butter.  Once melted completely, transfer to a small bowl and let it cool.

(2)In a large bowl, add sugar.  Then shift flour, a pinch of salt, baking powder and matcha.

(3)Whisk all together to combine.

(4)In medium bowl, combine 2 eggs and milk.  Whisk together till frothy.

(5)Add the egg mixture into the flour mixture and stir until just combined.

(6)Slowly add half of the cooled melted butter.  Make sure to blend the butter and mixture well before you add more butter.  Mix until just blended and do not over mix.

(7)Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate to rest the batter for 3 hours, or I you have time, overnight (highly recommended).

(8)Remove the batter from the refrigerator.  Fill each mould shell with 1 tbsp of batter. 

(9)Bake at 190˚C for 11-13 minutes or until the madeleine edges looks done and the tops spring back when touched.

(10)Remove the pan from the oven and let it cool for 3 minutes.  Using a fork, gently release the madeleine from the mould and transfer them onto a cooling rack. 

(11)The madeleine are ready to serve when they are slightly warm or at room temperature.  Dust the tops with confectioner sugar if desire.  If you are storing/freezing the madeleine, do not dust with sugar until you are ready to serve.

(12)Store the completely cooled madeleine in plastic wrap and put in a freezer bag for up to 2 months. 

For this month, the theme for Little Thumbs Up is Tea.  Therefore, I’m linking the post to this event which is organised by Zoe (Bake For Happy Kids); Doreen from my little favourite DIY and for July, it is hosted by Cheryl from Baking Tai Tai

A Durian Birthday Cake

Hi

Durian season is here!  You can find durian everywhere, in market and retail fruit stall.   The strong pungent fragrant, it’s either you love it or hate it.  But I guess most people will love it.  It simply drives the durian lovers like me and my hubby crazy :P

D24?  Guess nowadays it’s no longer the best.  Now everybody is going after Mao Shan Wang (Cat Mountain King 猫山王).  It’s the current hottest favourite.  Mao Shang Wang is pricey.  It easily costs average about $15 per kg.  Look at the amount of Mao Shang Wang durians I have on my dining table.  You must be thinking it might cost me a lot on these durians?  Haha!  Not at all.  I didn’t spend a single cent on these durians.  My brother-in-law has Mao Shang Wang plantation in Muar.  Every year, my siblings will get to eat it free.  We’ll either drive to Muar over weekend (about 2.5 hrs drive from Singapore) just to have durians or my brother in law will never fail to pack them in boxes and bring it back for us to enjoy.  

What a blessing!

This is not my 1^st time making durian cake.  I have tried making durian puff too.  You can find my blog on durian Here, Here and Here.

My hubby and I simply love the texture of the thick Mao Shan Wang flesh.  It’s rich and creamy.  Its aroma is sweet and has mildly pungent without being overpowering.

This homemade goodness is definitely a cake to impress and to please.

This cake is specially baked for my sister-in-law’s 29^th Birthday.  

Wishing her happy and cheerful forever!

Coral Seaweed Jelly珊瑚草甜品

Hi

Singapore is all-year summer country.  Therefore, a bowl of cooling jelly is always so welcoming to cool-off the hot day.

This is Coral Seaweed Jelly.  It’s very flavourful.  I love it when I ate it the first time at a friends’ gathering.  The texture is like wobbly ice jelly.  It is lightly sweetened. 

 Through my friend’s recommendation, I bought 2 vacuum pack contains 9 cubes in a pack at one of the wellness shop.  It comes with different flavours.  I chose the one contain brown sugar, red dates and longan.  To enhance the flavours further, I have added wolfberries and dry longan to it.

Apparently I heard it contains a lot of benefit.  It contains high in collagen, calcium and iron.  Collagen! This is what it attracted me :P hahaha! It contains a natural water base fibre that aids in digestion and improve the immune system too.

METHOD

(for 1-2 person)

(1)400ml of water and boil.

(2)Put 1 cube of Coral Seaweed Jelly from the vacuum pack into the boiling water.

(3)Stir until the cube is dissolved.

 (4)When it’s completely dissolved, let it cool down before pouring it into the mould and refrigerate.

Enjoy!

It’s still May.  I’m linking it to Best Recipe fpr Everyone.  Theme is My Favourite Desserts organised by Fion of XuanHom’s Mom and co-hosted by Aunty Young

Chinese Cabbage, Prawn and Egg Soup

Hi

It was a Saturday and only hubby and I were at home.    I was cracking my head what to cook for lunch as we were too lazy to go out in such a hot and humid weather.  I wanted something easy and fast so I could quickly get out of my hot kitchen.

I went through my bookmark on lunch recipe and spotted this from Kimmy, Cooking Pleasure.  Since I have all these ingredients in the refrigerator, without further hesitation, I went ahead to cook this.

This is so simple but yet so tasty.  I really never expected that simple ingredient like these could make such a wonderful soup.  So I decided to put this recipe in my blog.

INGREDIENT

(For 2-3 persons)

200gm                    chinese cabbage 白菜 – rinsed

and cut them thin shreds.

1 small carrot       peeled and cut it in diagonal shape.

1 egg                      lightly beaten with some pepper

                                and soy sauce to taste

200gm                    shelled and devained the prawn

leaving the tails intact

½ tsp                       salt

750ml                     chicken stock

(I boiled my own chicken stock)

                                dash of pepper and sesame seed oil

                                some fried crispy garlic oil (I skipped)

                                some chopped spring onions

METHOD

(1)Heat up the chicken soup.  Add in chinese cabbage and carrots.  Let it boiled and cooked until soft or crunchy according to own preference.

(2)Add in the seasoning to taste and add in the prawns to cook.

(3)Once prawns are cooked, pour in the beaten egg in a circular pattern.  Do not stir, just let it cook for 1-2 minutes or until cooked.

(4)Off the heat and serve hot.  Garnish with spring onions.

Mango Mini Cheesecake

It’s Bake-Along 4^th Anniversary and Congratulation to Joyce, Zoe and Lena for making it thus far!  I’m so glad that I can be part of it to celebrate Bake-Along with you girls and also with the rest of the bloggers.

Here’s my Mango Mini Cheesecake specially made for 

Bake-Along 4^th Anniversary.

Pretty?  I think they’re pretty :P  My good friends Serene and Cindy also think they’re pretty.  Taste good? My sister-in-law said it’s very good and the boys commented it’s the best cheesecake hahaha!  My verdict is the mango topping has overpowered the cheesecake.

It was a wonderful and accomplishing bake.  

I’ve been wanted to bake these mini cheesecakes long time ago when I saw it in Anna (My Bare Cupboard)’s blog.  Her cheesecakes were so beautifully done.  

I got these mini cheesecake tins during my last trip to Hong Kong, which I couldn’t find them in Singapore.  I’m so happy that I can use it to bake for this Bake Along.

It’s not difficult to bake cheesecake.  The recipe is easy.  You won’t get wrong with it.  As for mango topping, I used the leftover ready-made mango puree and top up with some cut ripe mango.

Here’s the recipe, which I adapted from My Bare Cupboard with some of my modification.

Happy Bake-Along!!

INGREDIENTS

1.5 cups finely ground graham crackers (I used Digestive biscuits)

3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

1.5 cups plus 5 tablespoon sugar (I reduced to 100g of caster sugar)

Cream Cheese (I used whatever I have balance in the fridge, which is about 315g)

Pinch salt

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

4 large eggs, room temperature (I reduced to 3 eggs)

METHODS

(1)Preheat oven.  Stir together the smash digestive biscuits and butter and press into the bottom of the mini cheesecake tins.  Bake for about 10 minutes.  Transfer the tins to rack to cool.

(2)Beat cream cheese until fluffy.  Gradually add in the sugar.  Mix in salt and vanilla essence until well combined.  Add eggs, one at a time, beat until just combined after each (do not overmix) and scraping the bowl.

(3)Spoon the cream cheese over the crust in each tin.  Bake until set say about 25mins. 

(4)Transfer the tins to the racks to cool completely.  Refrigerate in tins, uncovered, at least 4 hours, remove from tins.  Refrigerate in air-tight containers up to 5 days.

I’m submitting this for Bake-Along 4^th Anniversary and the theme is Cheesecake.  
This is organised by 3 beautiful ladies from Kitchen Flavours, Bake For Happy Kids and Frozen Wings.