Almond Powder Puffs

This cookie was inspired by the super-sweet Greek sweets I've had over the past year.
DIABETICS BEWARE

They all had lovely textures and flavours, but I just think they're too darn sweet

No offense,

but I don't see the point of using such good ingredients like almonds, pistachios, walnuts etc when it's flavours are gonna be drowned with sugar!

I still do adore a traditional Greek Baklava though? giggles

So, to satisfy my not-so-sweet-tooth,

I call them, 

POWder Puffs!

I think it looks prettier with 2 coats of sugar =)

Just because they're puff-shaped and coated in powdered sugar

They are deeelicious!  And really fun to make with kids one day xP
It's really important that you limit the sugar content IN the cookie itself, because its going to be coated in icing sugar afterwards.

recipe:

280g roasted Almonds

250g butter

1/4 cup sugar

a dash of Vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

a bowl of Icing sugar, to coat

Preheat the oven to 180C

Grind the roasted nuts in a food processor until they are fine

Meanwhile, Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla until they're light and fluffy

Add in the ground almonds and sift in the flour

Mix to form a slightly Crumbly dough that should adhere when pressed

Form small walnut-sized balls and place them on a baking tray

Bake for 35 minutes

Allow them to cool slightly

While still warm, roll them around in Icing sugar

Cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

Chocolate Brownies

Tonnes of brownie recipes out there, all so similar and yet they all turn out so differently

I'm not a fan of anything too fudgy. This brownie has the total YUM factor.

Cakey, slightly fudgy and crunchy-chewy on top, and making it is easy as ever.

recipe:

300g butter

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups cocoa powder

a dash of vanilla extract

6 eggs

1 cup flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 cups crushed chocolate wafers

1 cup chocolate chunks

Heat butter, sugar and cocoa in a saucepan until everything is Just combined. Don't boil it.

Cool it slightly.

Mix in the eggs one or two at a time.

Sift in the flour and baking soda, folding it in.

Pour inro a 9cm x 13cm rectangular tin lined with greaseproof paper.

Sprinkle the crushed chocolate wafers and candy on top

Bake in 180C oven for 35 or 40 minutes when a toothpicks comes out clean and maybe with a few crumbs.

Cool completely before cutting.

Brandied Walnut cake with Orange syrup

I get quite a number of successful recipes from my Women's Weekly recipe book. It's a great book for anyone to get started in Baking.

This recipe in particular, caught my attention. Firstly of all, I'm a big walnut fan. And secondly, it hardly contains any flour, and I was out of flour! (results of baking without keeping track)

This would be lovely with some fresh cream. But my waistline's telling me NOhh



It has a great texture..slightly crumbly, really moist and dense at the same time

recipe:

2 cups walnuts, ground finely

125g butter

zest of 1 orange

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

2 tablespoons Brandy (i used cognac)

2/3 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

Orange syrup:

juice of 1 orange

3 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon brandy (cognac again)

Set the oven to 160C (low)

Line an 8 inch round springform tin with butter and baking paper

Blend the walnuts till its fine. set aside

Cream the butter, zest and sugar till its light and fluffy

Beat in the egg and brandy

Sift in the flour, baking soda and ground walnuts

Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, Place all the syrup ingredients Except the brandy in a small saucepot

Simmer until the sugar is just dissolved.

Turn off the heat

Add in the brandy.

When the cake is out of the oven, brush the syrup all over the top of the cake

Use as much or as little syrup as you like.

Serve warm.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Happy Birthday to two very special people, 

Julian Lee all the way in Australia 

&

Stephanie Lai who lives 10 minutes away <3

This Chocolate Cupcake recipe is just Fantastic! 

why?

because they're moist and delicious and you don't need any eggs ( I always run out of eggs )

Believe me, they're delicious

It's actually a Vegan recipe. But the frosting is a Rich and Velvety chocolate buttercream.

 Having so few ingredients to mix in, these cakes can be ready in no time!

 The hardest part (for me) was sprinkling the peanuts in the pattern I wanted.

This muffin recipe makes 8 or 9 cupcakes.

(I made 3 batches)

recipe:

1 1/2 cup Flour

 1/4 cup Cocoa Powder

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

1 cup Sugar

big pinch of salt

1 cup warm water

2 tablespoons Instant Coffee

 dash of Vanilla

1 tablespoon white Vinegar

1/4 cup oil

Preheat oven to 180C

Sift the flour, cocoa powder and baking soda into a big mixing bowl

Add in the salt and sugar

Mix well

In another bowl, combine the water, coffee, vanilla, vinegar and oil.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients

Mix well until smooth (a few small lumps are fine)

Spoon batter into 8 or 9 cupcake cups (3 quarter full)

Bake for 25 minutes.
They're best texture-wise when COOLED

So eat them only when they're cool.

This Frosting recipe yields enough for 30 cupcakes.

Frosting:

250g butter, softened

300g icing sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

2 or 3 tablespoons room temperature coffee

Beat the butter a little to smoothen it out

Sift in the icing sugar and cocoa powder

 Mix it together, gradually adding in the coffee as you go, until it's a spreadable consistency

Ice Away!

 

Nutella Mochi

Ever had too much sticky rice flour and bottles of uneaten nutella sitting around in your house?

Hehe, I did..and here's what my brain could think of

I've never really been a fan of mochi. The ones in the shop are always kind of tough..

These on the other hand, were soft and not -make you tired- chewy

It tastes pretty fresh and it was really quite quite enjoyable!

I would definitely make this again.

ooh and the sesame oil in the mochi dough was a great touch!

 oh mama =)
recipe:

cocoa powder, to dust

1 bottle of nutella (375g)

250g Glutinous rice flour

2 tablespoons cornflour

2 tablespoons icing sugar

325ml cold room temp. water

2 teaspoons sesame oil

Scoop teaspoons of nutella and drop them onto a bowl of  cocoa powder (prevents sticking)

Roll them with your hands into balls

make about 25 of these

Place them on a tray and freeze for 30 minutes.

Heat up your steamer

Meanwhile, mix both flours, icing sugar, water and oil together

Steam this for 15minutes

You should get a firm, sticky dough

Cool slightly

On a surface, floured with glutinous rice flour, roll out teaspoons of dough into rounds

Place a nutella ball in the middle and wrap it up

Pinch to enclose (you might wanna cut off some if there's too much excess)

And you're done!

Fridge it until its time to eat them

nom nom

Chicken Biscuits

Kampar Chicken Biscuits are deliciously sweet and savoury

No, they don't really contain any chicken (don't know why they're called chicken biscuit then)

To me, the core ingredient, that gives it its distinct taste is the fermented beancurd (foooo yee)

and the 5 Spice. I loove 5 spice =)

I was wrapping them in plastic as Christmas give-aways..

recipe:

300g flour, sifted

170g icing sugar

100g crystallised melon, diced

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp baking powder

1 egg

2 cubes fermented beancurd

a dash of pepper

2 tsp five spice powder

sesame seeds, to sprinkle

Combine everything Except the sesame seeds in a bowl

Mix well until a crumbly dough is formed

form small pebble sized balls

Using a rolling pin, roll out balls in between two pieces of non-stick baking paper.

Place flattened dough onto a baking tray

Bake in a 180C oven for 9-10 minutes.

PeanutButter Crunch Cookies

Those were so crunchy, yet tender..best PB cookies ever=)

Perfect anytime of the day=) nyehehe

These are a definite MUST for chinese new year next year.

recipe:

150g butter

100g white sugar

100g brown sugar

1 egg

120 g peanutbutter (crunchy/smooth it don't matter)

grated zest of an orange (optional)

a dash of Vanilla

200g flour

1 tsp baking soda

cream the butter and sugar

beat in the egg, vanilla, zest, peanutbutter

mix in the flour and baking soda (I wouldn't bother sifting it)

Drop teaspoonfulls of dough onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper.

Be sure to drop them about 2cm apart

 Bake for 12-15 mins in 180C. 

Salty Caramel Cornflake Clusters

The name's a tongue twister xP

love'em cos they look like they're covered in snow

Its actually coconut

I went by faith and didnt use any measures..

1. Simply melt lots of sugar, a few knobs of butter, salt, and a dash of cream in a pot

2. Pour in enough cornflakes so that it gets evenly coated

3. Use two spoons and form balls, placing them on a tray of dessicated coconut to cool and harden.

DON'T TOUCH them with your bare hands, they're crazy hot

4. Sprinkle with salt.

sweet, salty, coconutty..my kind of treat