Long day on Saturday....

Kak Norjanah ordered a whole 8" Blueberry Cheesecake for Hari Raya Aidiladha, to be delivered on 30th December 2006. Made it in the morning before going to the Singapore Expo for the "Books Warehouse" & "Metro Expo" sale.

Blueberry Cheesecake

As we reached Singapore Expo just after 10am, there were ample parking lots & no crowds. Went to the "Books Warehouse" sale first as it opened at 10am. I didn't find any interesting books for myself & only bought for the kids. Dear hubby looked for Stephen King's Dark Towers series to complete his whole collection.


Bought a whole load of stuff at Metro sale.... Mostly for the kids (again!) like baby wipes, toiletries, pyjamas, clothes etc... Oh I almost forgot, I bought a nice & comfortable pair of shoes for only $23. I've always preferred going to Metro sale to other department store sale, as I find that Metro stuff are better & more varieties as compared to the others.

After shopping went to Bedok corner for our lunch where we had fabulous sup kambing (spicy too), rojak & cold sugar cane juice. Then we headed home, where I baked brownies, clean up the house a little bit, prepared dinner & ensure that the clothes for tomorrow are all ready because I have to work tomorrow morning.

It was a long & tiring day for me. But this is part of being a wife & mother. What's important is that I enjoyed myself & always have whenever I get to spend time with the family.

Goodies orders & dinner

I've been busy baking & preparing Mochaccino Mousse Cake & 30 Fruit Custard Tartlets order from friends. Since it's already 7.45pm, don't know if I want to continue baking 2 whole pieces of brownies later. Don't want to be stuck in the kitchen when "Prison Break" starts.

Mochaccino Mousse Cake

Fruit Custard Tartlets

By the way, I've just finished cooking up a quick Spaghetti meal for dear hubby, who SMSed me "feel like having spaghetti today". Since it has been raining (again), I have to miss some of the ingredients for the spaghetti sauce & meatballs. Hope it will still taste good.

Guess I'll just rest for now. Got a long day at work tomorrow (oh, I'm going to the ZARA sale by the way).

More orders on Saturday, which I just have to squeeze in some time to go to the Singapore Expo for the Books Warehouse sale & Metro sale as well (phew!...)

Fruitee Cookies

Have been 'dying' to try this recipe out. But due to the constant rain, I'm unable to get out & buy dried mix fruit for this cookie recipe. Finally, made the decision to head down to my fave store to get my supplies with dearest daughter in tow despite the heavy rain (anyways I need the baking supplies for Hari Raya Aidiladha. Can't get them tomorrow cos I'll be working till late).

So this recipe requires me to store the dough in the fridge for at least 6 hrs or overnight. This is convenient as you can prepare it in advance & put them in the oven just before you need it for any occasion. After mixing, the dough is very, very soft & it is almost impossible for you bake them immediately before storing in the fridge first.

The (pre-bake) dough in clingwrap

1 cup plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup dessicated coconut
1 cup mixed fruit

Method:
1) Sift flour, baking powder & salt and set aside.
2) beat butter & sugar until light & creamy. Add egg & beat again.
3) Stir in flour mixture, coconut & mixed fruit. Mix until dough forms.
4) Divide the dough into portion as you like. Shape into rolls & wrap them in clingwrap (pic above). Refrigerate for at least 6 hrs or overnight.
5) Slice the dough & bake at 175C for 10-12mins or until pale golden.

Fruitee Cookies

The texture of the cookies is crunchy & almost similar as butter cookies, with the addition of dessicated coconut & mixed fruits, of course. You may want to add some nuts too if you like. Overall, they taste great! My mum will definitely love these.

Goodies for Christmas gift exchange

Made some brownies as well as mini fruit tartlets for the Christmas gift exchange in the office tomorrow 22nd Dec 2006.

I am so busy today as I'm preparing a brownies order of 16pcs for Effa aka mypurpleyes, goodie packs & whole brownie for my collegues. Even right now, I'm still not done packing all the stuff.

Anyways, here are the prepared ones.

Mini Chocolate Fruit Tartlets

Mini Custard Fruit Tartlets

Pack of goodies for colleagues

Tom Yam Soup, Blueberry Cheese Cups & Chocolate Cupcakes

Those are what I did for today since I'm not working & it has been raining since yesterday evening. Such a nice cool day to be at home. But still I had to buy some stuff for the Tom Yam soup for dear hubby. So when the heavy rain subsided, rushed down to get some tau pok, cauliflower, prawns, chicken etc.

Food preparation....
Almost ready from the pot.....

To my bowl, ready to slurp...... Yummy! Hot & spicy!

Then made Blueberry Cheesecakes for a friend who ordered a dozen cups to enjoy.

Afterwhich I decided to try out a Chocolate Cupcake recipe for dear daughter & myself.Chocolate Cupcakes

1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup plain flour, sifted
100g of bittersweet chocolate
214g butter
4 eggs
3 tblsp cocoa powder, sifted
1 tsp baking powder, sifted
Pinch of salt

Method:
1) melt chocolate & butter using double-boil method.
2) Add sugar & stir, let mixture cool for 10 mins.
3) Transfer to electric mixer & beat for 3 mins.
4) Add one egg at a time, beating well before adding the next egg.
5) Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder & salt into the mixture & mix well.
6) Scoop into cupcake cases & bake in a preheat oven of 170C for about 25mins or when skewer comes out clean.

Brownies for little Adam

Platter of Brownies

A friend asked me if I could make some brownies for his son's 3rd birthday as a give-away pack. Of course I said OK! I have always enjoyed baking brownies.

So he asked for 20 pcs to be given at 3-yr-old Adam's school for his friends & teachers. I hope they all lurrvve sista's brownies..

Thank you Akai!

For dinner

Fried some shrimps in egg (udang geragau) & had them with rice & (cockles) sambal. Yummy! Haven't had these shrimps for ages and mmmm.... You can also dip them in chilli sauce.

To make these:
Mix the shrimps with a little salt, chopped onions, chopped chillies, 1 egg & a little rice flour. Easy!

I'm bored!

Blueberry Cheesecake

Made some Blueberry Cheesecakes despite my recent wisdom tooth extraction / surgery. I just can't resist staying at home (on Medical Leave) doing nothing; or rather not baking. I HAVE to do something or try new recipes.

So this is it.... my Blueberry Cheesecake converted into mini cups for convenient eating. Delivered some to a good friend as well. Hope she enjoys them as much as I do

Recent adventures...

Have made these goodies & taken these pics for quite a while before posting them in since my last adventure. Well here they are....Baked these Double Chocolate Muffin with Yoghurt using Zu's Quick & Easy Treats recipe. Very moist indeed due to the yoghurt added. Definitely a must-try cos it's simply yummylicious! Baked these as a welcome home treat for dear hubby when he came back from overseas.

Chocolate Mousse

Strawberry Mousse

Mini Cheese Cups

Made these for a couple who is interested (to taste) after looking at the pics.

Chocolate Fruit Cake

Tried this recipe out for dear mum, as she said the picture in my recipe book looks so tempting, what with the fruits & nuts. So did this on the night of 13th Nov'06. As this was my first attempt at fruit cake, I think I might have overbaked this as the texture was quite dry. But nevertheless, mum said it was tasty!

250g unsalted butter or margarine, softened
250g light muscovado sugar
275g plain flour
25g cocoa powder
1 tsp ground mixed spice
4 eggs
200g mixed nuts, such as Brazil nuts, almonds & hazelnuts, roughly chopped
250g milk chocolate, chopped
100g chopped glace ginger
250g mixed dried fruit

Method:
1) Grease & line a 20cm / 8" round cake tin. Cream the butter & sugar together in a bowl until softened.
2) Sift the flour, cocoa & mixed spice into a bowl. Add the eggs & beat until smooth.
3) Reserve 25g of the chopped nuts, 40g of the chopped chocolate & half the glace ginger. Add the remainder to the bowl with the mixed dried fruit & stir until evenly combined.
4) Turn thr mixture into the prepared tin & level the surface. Scatter with the reserved nuts, chocolate & ginger.
5) Bake in a preheated oven, 150C, for 1 1/4 -1 1/2 hrs until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin.