Just Imagine - Banana Walnut Cake with Brown Butter Icing

I'm finally here. Do excuse the short post; I write this as she plays shopkeeper with me where I am the shopkeeper that keeps giving her "dollars" back to her once she's had her tea & cake and asks me in a squeaky voice if Bun the bunny can come to the shop. :)
Her imagination is through the roof that I can hardly keep up! It's the daily interactions the kids have with everyone else that they seem to play out with their toys in surprising likeness!

That sweet round thing - Tang Yuan (Sweet Peanut Dumpling in Ginger Soup)

That's one long title!

Today's recipe was adapted from Cook, Snap, Savour's adaptation of Rasa Malaysia. Ever bought an ingredient for a certain recipe and then been left with so much of it you're not quite sure what to do? Well, that happens to me far too often! This time it was glutinous rice flour from the mochi I made, and a sesame and mixed nut mixture from Chinese New Year Dinner.

These little sweet things are called Tang Yuan in Chinese meaning, sweet & round. They're usually made for special occasions though you can find them all year round in various food stalls and the variety offered is astounding!

Christmas Post II - Maple Pecans

Happy New Year!

This holiday isn't something I really celebrate but it's a new year anyhow.
But I'm still on my posts for Christmas. Heh. The problem with baking for friends and family if that you don't wanna post all the gifts until they've been given! Haha.

Anyway, this one was part cookbook & part Pinterest (which is my new obsession). Pinterest is splendid! There are so many ideas on that site and it's fun to repin things that worked. So I've added a Pin-it tab on all my posts.

Wrecked - Pecan Sandies

Well, well, I'm approaching my final of 3 sets of nights. Honestly, night shift wrecks the poor body. It's like your hormones and stuff go kookoo. Sigh.
Baking usually sets things right. So I settled to try my hand hand at one of my first bakesale worthy recipes.
I walked into Times one day on the way home and just picked this book up cos I wanted something to smile about and this just got my beaming! :D

Slackened - White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

So, I've put off posting and it stretched to over a week! A thousand and one apologies to those who do look forward to more frequent postings.

Work has been overwhelming with overtime being inevitable almost everyday of the week.

Anyway, as usual, I've been trying to use up baking goods I've stored up. One of them was white chocolate drops. I'm not huge fan of white chocolate except in white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies but I thought I'd give this a shot.

Going Nutty - Choc-chip Nut Biscuits

Work has been pretty overwhelming but maybe more for the fact that I feel I am just going to work out of obligation and am bewildered at what to do once this job ends (I am in a bond with the hospital ending next May).

Besides that, life has been pretty cushy but just haven't found the time to get this recipe onto the screen. :/ sorry!

This biscuits were great! Like I've said before, I'm not a huge fan of plain chocolate so these biscuits speckled with crunchy nuts were just my cup of tea! :D

From the Greatest-ever Chocolate Cookbook...

INGREDIENTS (makes 36)

• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 tsp double-acting baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 6 tbsp butter/margarine
• 1/3 cup caster sugar
• 1/3 brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup plain semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup hazelnuts, chopped

METHOD

1. Mix butter and sugars in bowl until smooth and creamy
2. Add in egg and vanilla extract
3. In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder and salt together
4. Add flour mixture to batter and beat well until all incorporated
5. Add in the chocolate chips and half the hazelnuts and mix well
6. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C and line cookie trays with parchment paper
7. Spoon teaspoonfuls of the mixture onto the cookie trays allowing space to spread (approx. 5cm apart).
8. Using a wet fork, gently flatten the biscuits and sprinkle the remaining nuts on top of the biscuits and press lightly into surface
9. Bake for 10-12 mins until golden brown
10. Cool on wire rack before serving

Love,

Amy.

MS: Devil's Food Cupcakes

Okay, so I'm not too keen on the name of the cupcakes. But I'd just call them moist chocolate cupcakes.

I'm not too large a fan of plain chocolate. I prefer my chocolate to have things in it; nuts, fruit, nougat etc. And maybe like what J says, chocolate is too easy to do. So many people make stuff with it! Maybe vanilla is more a challenge. That subtle, soft, light sweet thing. (:

Anyway, so I did chocolate. Still YUM. (:

GH: Toffee Bars

Here's another challenge I've taken up. Figured I needed some goals and structure in my baking if I want to improve and expand my horizons of baking.

My mother has a collection of cookbooks from way back in the day when she was a newly wed. Probably mostly wedding gifts and such. Sometimes I enjoy just flipping through them and licking my chops at the delicious recipes I chance upon. As much as I'd like to work my way through all the books, I thought I'd settle with a few choice recipes from The Good Housekeeping Cookery Book.