Nut & Seed Brittle

Nut & Seed Brittle

These brittles are known locally as almond crunch, florentine cookies, nutty crunch, bepang and several other names. Whatever you call them, they are favourite all year round. Making it is so easy, you should totally do it!

Ingredients

250g Bienetta/Florentine/Florenta flour 

300g - 400g mixed nuts
I used...

+ 100g almond flakes

+ 100g pumpkin seeds

+ 100g sunflower seeds

A sprinkle of black sesame (10g)

Steps

1) Bake nuts and seeds for 5 mins at 100°C. Mix well with Bienetta/Florentine/Florenta flour once cool. 

2) Pour onto two lined cookie sheets. Sprinkle black sesame.

3) Bake at 160°C for 15 minutes. Rotate the tray after 10 minutes. Leave in over for about 2-5 mins to brown.

While making these yummy munchies isn't hard, packing it can be quite a challenge. So here are few tips to make your life easier.

i) Pour onto one lined cookie sheet if you want thicker brittle with more bite

ii) If it's your first time, halve the recipe and work with only one cookie sheet because you gotta be fast with this thing

iii) Cut immediately after taking the tray out from oven. Caution: HOT!

iv) Use the white baking paper to line your tray. The brown one can be a pain to work with

v) If you're using the brown one, fret not! After cutting, take the whole sheet to cool for a few seconds and turn the thing upside down onto a clean tray or flat surface. Peel the baking paper carefully. Less breaking this way.

Happy baking and munching!

Pandan Cake

Pandan Cupcakes

Ingredients
   
   Cake

* 2 cups flour

* 1/2 tbsp baking powder

* 1/4 tsp salt

* 4 eggs

* 1 1/2 cups castor sugar

* 1/2 cup corn oil

* 1/3 cup dessicated coconut

* 1/2 tbsp pandan paste

* 1/8 tsp apple cider vinegar

   Frosting

* 1 1/4 cups (300g) butter 

* 1 1/2 cups icing sugar

* 1/2 tsp salt

* 1/2 tsp pandan paste

Steps

1. Mix flour, baking powder & salt. Beat eggs then add sugar, corn oil, dessicated coconut, pandan paste & apple cider vinegar

2. Combine all. Spoon batter into cups.

3. Bake at 180°C for 20 mins

   Frosting

1. Beat butter & icing sugar.

2. Add pandan paste & salt

3. Frost!

Ginger-Lemongrass Green Tea

I haven't share drinks recipes here, have I? Hmmm... I love mocktails, teas, frappes and such but maybe because they are super easy to make, I didn't think sharing here is worth it. Pretty sure I posted them in my private Instagram though.

  Anyway, here's a delicious tea for you to try...

Ginger-Lemongrass Green Tea (GLG tea)

Ingredients

• 4-5 cups water

• 1-inch ginger

• 3 lemongrass

• 2 teabags green tea

• honey/brown sugar

Steps

1) Peel, wash & slice ginger. Wash & bash lemongrass using flat side of a knife/pestle. 

2) Boil ginger, lemongrass and teabags in water.

3) Let cool or drink hot. Add honey/brown sugar to taste.

I added 2 tsp of honey and some Sprite ice cubes which I happen to have in the freezer. What a way to ruin a healthy drink, right? 

  Actually, I'm trying to consume (somewhat) more healthily. So, on cheat days when we had fast food, I didn't want to drink the soft drink. What I did instead was poured the soft drink into ice cube trays and use them when I want to jazz up my infused water or tea. Still not healthy but better than  a whole cup of soda at one go, I think :p

  So, try the recipe and happy... making!? Drinking? Idk... just enjoy! Let me know if you like it.

Citrus Cake

Citrus Cake

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups flour

• 1 tsp baking powder

• pinch of salt

• 2 eggs

• 1 cup sugar

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1/2 lemon

• 1/2 lime

• 1 orange

• food colourings- yellow, green & orange

Steps

1) Sift flour, baking powder & salt. Juice the lemon, lime & orange. 

Optional: grate the skins for rinds to decorate cake after baking

2) Beat eggs, sugar & vanilla until well-combined. Separate into 3 bowls filled with juice + colouring. Mix well.

Green lime, yellow lemon & orange (blush) orange!

3) Pour into lined baking pan. Bake at 180°C for 25 minutes.

Note

Leave the poured cake mixture as is for clean look or use toothpick/fork to create swirls.

Remember to tap the pan a few times or your cake will look like above! A bit holey and not dense

Have it just like that or pipe whipped cream onto the cake after cooled. This is a sour-ish cake. Perfect for when you want something different :) 

Happy baking!

Nutty Chocolate Fudge Brownies

Hellooo~

If you love chocolate, you probably love brownies too. I have one surprise brownies recipe that I love but it isn't fudgy enough. It gotta be chilled then only it will have that brownies bite. Left at room temp, it tasted more cake than brownie. Recently, I tasted some melt-in-your-mouth brownies and decided to bake one myself. 

And if you know me even just a little, you'll know that I am lazy love easy and delicious recipes. 

Ingredients

2 sticks butter

2 Hershey's semi-sweet chocolate baking bar (226g)

5 eggs

2 cups white sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1 cup roasted nuts (I used almond & hazelnut)

Steps

1) Melt butter and chopped chocolate bar in a pan or microwave. I suggest using the pan.

2) Beat eggs, sugar, vanilla and flour using electric mixer. Stir in ingredients in step 1 and roasted nuts.

3) Pour mixture into greased and lined brownies pan. Bake at 190ºC for 35 minutes.

That's all, folks!

***

Oh what? The glazing?

Okay I just realised that I haven't share my basic recipes here. Maybe I'll post my go-to basic ganache recipe on a slow day. 

But here's the recipe for a pretty sweet glazing for those without whipping cream in hand.

Ingredients

1 cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips

1 stick butter

6 tbsp condensed milk*

1 tsp vanilla

Optional - 1/2 cup chopped almond

*substitute with evaporated milk/whipping cream and add sugar to control sweetness.

Steps

1) Heat butter, condensed milk and vanilla in a pan. Stop just before it boils.

2) Pour over chocolate chips and stir until smooth.

3) Spread on cool brownie. Sprinkle chopped almond for extra crunch.

Had some shaved chocolate left so I sprinkle dumped them on :D

All decorated like a proper brownies...

Dahlia Rosa (Semperit Rose)

Mom asked if I know how to make 'semperit' cookies. I've heard of it but I had no idea what it looks like. So I Googled and researched a bit. I wanted to surprise mom by baking some. 

  There are a lot of recipes online. The traditional ones looked boring but semperit dahlia caught my eyes. Celebrities innovated the old semperit by adding cream, pandan, cheese and lots of other things. I plan to keep the taste authentic. Well, almost. 

  I mean, if anyone (who had semperit before) eat mine blindfolded, they should still be able to recognise that it is kueh semperit. At the same time, I want to add colour and a mild flavour to mine. I thought pink and yellow will look nice so my choice of flavouring was between strawberry and rose.

Since the cookies are for raya (eid ul Fitr) and air sirap ros is synonymous with raya, I decided on rose flavour and semperit sirap was born! Glamour name- Dahlia Rosa :) OK that was kinda too sinetron. Call it whatever, here's the recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 cup margarine (not butter)
• 3/4 cup icing sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 cups corn starch
• 1 cup wheat flour
• 1/2 cup custard powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla flavour
• 1 tsp rose flavour
• red gel colouring
• edible beads for decoration

Steps

1) Beat margarine with sugar and egg yolk. Add in sifted flour (corn, wheat and custard) and salt, mix well.

2) You should get soft dough. Divide into 2 portions and knead in vanilla flavour in one and a little red colouring & rose flavour in the other. Careful so you don't over-knead or piping will be a challenge without the special semperit dahlia mould

Note: Depending on your dough/batter, you can use normal piping nozzle + bag (cake decorating) or a special semperit mold 

3) Combine the 2 dough, pipe onto baking tray and decorate with edible beads. Bake at 160ºC for 15-20 minutes.

Note: Star tip nozzle. 

          Press, lift OR

          Press and twist, slight twist opposite direction, lift.

Simplified instructions for easy reference

Chocolatey Banana Cake

So last week I shared a moist banana cake recipe. What if we want something with chocolate?

Fret not. Add choc chips and swap the cream cheese with chocolate!

Ingredients


• 1 stick butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 mashed ripe bananas
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup chocolate milk
• 1 1/3 cups self-raising flour
• 1 cup chocolate chips


Steps

1) Melt butter, sugar & vanilla over heat.
2) Stir in mashed banana, egg, chocolate milk & sifted flour. Add chocolate chips.
3) Bake at 160°C for 30-40 minutes.

Frosting

Ingredients

• 1 stick butter

• 1/2 cup cocoa powder

• 2 1/2 cups icing sugar

• 3-4 tbsp chocolate milk

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Steps

1) Beat butter until fluffy. 

2) Add in sifted cocoa powder, icing sugar, chocolate milk & vanilla. Mix well.

3) Store in fridge before frosting


P.s. You CAN choose to spread Nutella on the cake instead of making the frosting :)

Banana Cake: A Postnatal Confinement Gift

I miss the simple time when the gifts I gotta find for friends are either birthday gifts or holiday souvenirs. Then come the tricky wedding presents. Once I get a hold on that, the game changed again. Now, the much more complicated, filled with pantang-larang, gifts for postnatal friends. 

Melawat orang pantang (postnatal confinement) nak bawa hadiah/buah tangan apa?

  Some suggested fruits then another said not all fruits! There are those "cold" fruits that new moms gotta avoid. No, nothing to do with putting the fruits in the fridge. Then there are those conflicting views on fruits like oranges. Some said no way jose while others said go ahead. Rules and more confusing rules.

Why is it so hard? I just want to bring something (hopefully healthy) for the mom!

So I Googled "kek pisang orang berpantang" and found this.

  Baked it for a friend and made some into cupcakes with cream cheese. Result? Tastier and more moist than other recipes I've tried.

Banana cake all wrapped and boxed

Ingredients

• 2 cups cake flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 jumbo eggs
• 1 cup corn oil
• 1 cup white sugar
• 4 cavendish banana
• 1 tbsp white vinegar
• 1 tbsp vanilla

Steps

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda & salt. In a blender, put eggs, corn oil & white sugar. Blend well. Add in mashed banana, white vinegar & vanilla. Blend again.

2. Add mixture to sifted flour. Combine well.

3. Pour into greased cake pan. Bake at 160ºC for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake come out clean.


I left the cake in the switched off oven for about 10 minutes to let it brown a bit more. LOVE the smell!

For the cupcakes, I poured the batter up till about half of the cupcake liners and bake for 10-15 minutes. I let them cool before frosting with buttercream cheese.

  Personally, I think the cake is good enough without any frosting. And I don't even like banana cakes!

Potato Skins: Another Way to Bake Potato

I've shared a cheesy baked potato recipe before. Recently I had a bunch of russet potatoes just sitting there BUT no sour cream. So I found another baked potato recipe and tweaked it to my taste. Read: cheesy and yummy!

Ingredients for 2

olive oil/butter to grease pan & potato skin

2 russet potatoes

1 tbsp butter/margarine

2 tbsp yoghurt

1/4 cup shredded mozzarella

1 tsp salt & pepper

1/4 cup shredded cheddar

cayenne pepper (for sprinkle)

 grated parmesan

Steps

1. Wash & dry potatoes. Poke a few tiny holes to help cooking and place them onto greased/oiled baking tray. Bake for 40 - 50 minutes at 180ºC. 

2. Slice the *hot* potatoes into half lengthwise. Carefully scoop out the flesh into a bowl filled with butter, yoghurt, mozzarella, salt and pepper without damaging the skin. Mix well.

3.  Fill the skins with potato mix. Top with cheddar, sprinkle with cayenne powder. Bake for another 5 minutes then top with grated parmesan before serving.

I used about 1 tbsp olive oil to grease the brownie pan and coat the potatoes skin (I just rolled them in the pan a bit).   

You may choose to substitute cayenne with paprika if you want something milder. Or skip it together if you want something that isn't spicy but I promise the sprinkle is just for taste. I won't be too hot. 

The texture is more smooth and creamy than the other recipe. A bit like mashed potatoes sans the gravy. You can pack them for lunch and you're good until dinner :)

Pasta Udang Masak Lemak

Masak Lemak Prawn Pasta

Udang masak lemak is basically prawn cooked in coconut milk and turmeric. It's *probably* a Malay dish, usually eaten with rice.

There are a variety of masak lemak dishes from crab to pumpkins. So I decided to tweak the recipe a bit and add in... pasta. I used spiral and that tube-like macaroni pasta because despite the coconut milk, I think the masak lemak is quite a light sauce- more to broth, really.

Ingredients for 2 servings

• 2 1/2 cups water

• 2 cloves garlic

• 1 shallot

• 2 inches ginger

• 1 tbsp chili paste

• 1 tsp turmeric

• 2 tsp Maggi Cukup Rasa

• 1 tsp pepper & salt

• 1/2 cup coconut milk (santan)

• 10 cleaned prawns

• 1 cup spiral pasta

• 1 cup macaroni pasta

• chopped coriander (sprinkle)

Steps

1) In a pot, mix in finely blended garlic, shallot & ginger, chilli paste, turmeric, Maggi Cukup Rasa, pepper and salt into hot water. 

2) Add in prawn and coconut milk, bring to almost boil. Add rinsed pasta and cook for about 8 minutes.

3) Ready to serve after a sprinkle of chopped coriander~

It's a bit weird if you're used to having it with rice but interesting kind of weird. Easy to prepare & cook too and that's pretty much what my cooking is all about :

Eggless Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups flour

• 1 cup granulated sugar

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 1 tsp salt

• 1/3 cup cocoa powder

• 1/2 cup oil

• 1 cup chocolate milk

• 1 tsp vanilla 

• 1 tbsp vinegar

• chopped almonds

Steps

1) Sift flour, sugar, baking soda, salt & cocoa powder. 

2) Make a well in the middle and pour the oil, chocolate milk, vanilla & vinegar. Mix well.

3) Spoon into cupcake liners, top with chopped almonds and bake at 180°C for 20 - 25 minutes.

I decorated them using leftover buttercream cheese from my bananananana cake project.

Happy baking!

Red Velvet Soft Cookies

Red Velvet Soft Cookies

I dedicate this recipe to @eyrakmrdn on Twitter who has mad love for red velvet! :)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups + 1 tbsp flour

• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 1 stick butter

• 1/2 cup brown sugar

• 1/3 cup sugar

• 1 large egg

• 1 tbsp chocolate milk

• 2 tsp vanilla extract

• red liquid food colour

• 1 cup white choc chips

Steps

1) Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda & salt. Beat butter until creamy, add brown sugar, sugar, egg, choc milk & vanilla. Combine in sifted ingredients, food coloring & white choc chips.

2) Cover dough with plastic wrap & chill for at least 2 hours, up to 4-5 days.

3) Use forks (important for crunchy outside) to shape cookies & place onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 180°C for 8 minutes. 

Save for easy reference!

Easy Butter Chicken

When I cook, I try to keep things simple and easy. If you're like me, hit that follow button because I'm sooo lazy, I always look for simple but delicious recipes :)

Here's one of my fav... 

Butter Chicken

• 2-3 pcs boneless chicken

• 1 tsp salt

• 2 tsp curry powder

• 1/2 tbsp sugar

• 1 tbsp flour

• 1 egg

• 2 tbsp butter

• 1 tbsp chili paste

• some curry leaves

• 1/2 cup milk

• cheese (cheddar & mozarella)

• chicken seasoning

• 1 tsp sugar

• black pepper

• salt

Steps

1) Clean & cut boneless chicken into bite-size cubes. Marinade in salt, curry powder, sugar, flour & egg for at least 1 hour. Cook for a bit, put aside.

2) In a clean pan, melt butter. Sauté chili paste & curry leaves for 1 min. Add milk & let boil before adding in cheese, chicken seasoning, sugar, pepper & salt.

3) Add in the cooked chicken & stir. Let the sauce thickens.

This recipe works for prawns too! Marinating is optional for prawns. Just put in cleaned prawns into marinade mix and pour everything in after Step 2.

Keep this in your phone!

Basic Egg Soup

This dish is super basic and great for those days when you feel like having something simple. What's better is that you can also make this as fancy as you want it to be. Simply add meat, sea creatures or lots and lots of veggie if you're inclined.

But let's start with the basic!

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp cooking oil 

• 3 cloves garlic

• 2 inches ginger

• 1 egg

• 1 tbsp chicken seasoning

• 2 cups water

• pepper

• salt

Steps

1) Heat oil. Saute garlic & ginger for 1 min. Add water & chicken seasoning. Let boil.

2) Pour in egg, let for about 10 seconds before stirring. If you want to add cleaned & cut veggie, add now.

3) Add salt & pepper to taste.

Save the pic below for quick reference!