Sweet Potato and Cheese Muffins - 番薯乳酪马芬

It is moist and soft. The combination of cheese and sweet potato is very good. And as you can see, I like to have my muffins together with flower tea. :)

Recipe:

Ingredients: makes 10
110 g unsalted butter
100 Castor sugar
1.5 egg (1 + 1/2)
40 ml milk

*150g plain flour
*5 g baking powder
*20 g Parmesan cheese powder
*sieved together

120 g (with skin) sweet potato
2 tbsp fine sugar

Some cheddar cheese, shredded

Method:
1)  Cut sweet potato into 1.5 cm cube, steam till cooked.  Add sugar and mix till sugar has dissolved.
 2)  In a mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar till creamy.  Add in egg in 3 - 4 batches. Pour in milk and mix well.
3) Fold in sifted flour till well combined.  Add in (1) and mix well.
4)  Spoon batter into muffins cups till 3/4 full. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top (optional).  Bake at 175 deg C for 20 minutes.

Osmanthus Chiffon Cake - 桂花戚风蛋糕

秋词

桂花飘又来到这小小的园里，
苦的心肠，死的灵魂也有沉醉意
谁的青春谁不怜惜，苦恼又谁人替
往日的欢乐，甜蜜的笑语都永远没有归期.........



The video embedded above has the lyrics of the main ingredient of this recipe - Osmanthus flower. It is alright if you have never heard of this song before... in fact you should feel glad because if the tune doesn't sound familiar to you, you are probably born 20-30 years after me... haha. This song was one of the top hits of my time.

Well, back to the cake. The texture is soft and fluffy, with a slight hint of the taste of the flowers. The osmanthus is not a common ingredient and I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the fragrance of your chiffon cake.

Recipe:  Adapted from famous cuisine issue no.83 (2014)

Ingredients A:
2 tbsp of dried Osmanthus
80 ml hot water
1 tbsp oligose  (I replaced with brown sugar)
120 g egg yolk
35 g cane sugar
1/3 tsp salt
160g low protein flour
1 tsp baking powder
70g grapeseed oil ( I replaced with sunflower seed oil)

Ingredients B:
240g egg white
150g cane sugar
1 tsp fruit vinegar ( I replaced with lemon juice)

Method:

1) Add hot water into osmantus.  Leave to cool.
2) Combine sugar and egg yolk, beat till foamy.  Add osmanthus tea (with flower), flour and baking powder, salt , mix till well combined.  Pour in oil and mix well.
3) In a grease free mixing bowl, beat egg white and sugar, lemon juice till stiff peaks form but not dry.  Add in mixture (2) in 2 to 3 batches.
4) Pour batter into an 8" chiffon cake pan and bake in a preheated oven at 180 deg C for 50 minutes until cooked. Remove from the oven and invert baking pan immediately. Let it cools completely, use a plastic knife to run  around the side of the baking pan. Take out the cake and place on a plate, Cut and serve.

5 Thousand Dollars Breads 2

Top with poppy seeds

The bread is dense and fluffy.  The picture already convinced you.

hehehehe! This is my second attempt in making 5 thousand dollars bread.  I am really delighted to see my end products turning up well and meeting my expectation.   Today, I reduced my baking time from 30 minutes to 20 minutes and temperature from 180 deg C to 170 deg C.   I modified my baking time and temperature because I noticed that bread from my 1st attempt was over baked.  So you have to adjust  your own oven because every oven temperature may vary.

Hehehe.... I have to say agian. This bread is so goooooood! 面包又香又松软，好吃。赞！

Recipe is here.

5 Thousand Dollars Bread -五千元的老式面包

               

After browsing through Victoria  Bakes  and  here, they really made me want to try making this bread so much. I sincerely thank Lee Shifu for sharing her expensive recipe with us. Lee Shifu had spent four years tracking this recipe and spent more than 4 thousand dollars to buy it. I am very thankful because I don't have to spend a single cent nor energy to get this recipe. I also want to thank Victoria for translating and sharing this awesome recipe with us.

These are the sweet buns. They are soft and so good to eat.

Recipe:

Ingredients: (Below is half of the original recipe)
Starter dough:
105 g bread flour
45 g plain flour
12 g castor sugar
3 g instant yeast (1/2 tsp + 1/4 tsp)
120 g water

Main Dough:
105 g bread flour
45 g  plain  flour
48 g sugar
1/2 tsp salt
12 g milk powder
45 g egg
27 g water
36 g unsalted butter, softened

Method:
1)  Mix and combine all the stater dough ingredients together. Allow to sit in a warm place to rise till it looks like "honeycomb". (It took me 2 hours).

2) In a mixer with a dough hook, combine the above with main dough ingredients except butter,  knead till it is shinny and non-sticky.  Add in butter, knead till it is shinny and pliable.

3)  Rest the dough till it doubles in size. ( for my own reference only: about 60 minutes).

4)  After dough has risen, punch down gas and without resting dough ,divide it into 6 equal portions and roll each into round shape. Place them on a lightly greased baking pan (18 cm x 28 cm).

5) Allow to rise till doubles in size (for my own reference only: about 45 minutes - 60 minutes)

6)  Brush with egg wash. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 deg C for 25 - 30 minutes.

Cheesy Pineapple Tarts

Do you want some cheese in your pineapple tarts? Here is the recipe may be you are looking for.

Recipe:

Ingredients:
250g butter, softened
50g  icing sugar
l large egg
*310g plain flour
*20g corn flour
*30g parmesan cheese powder
Note: *ingredients - sift together
1 kg pineapple jam, roll into small balls for later use.

Method:
1) Beat the butter and sugar till light and creamy.
2) Add in the egg and beat well.
3) Add in ingredients * and mix into a soft dough.  Rest the dough for 20 - 30 minutes.
4) Take one small portion of the dough, flatten the dough, place a ball of pineapple jam filling in  the centre of the dough, wrap  and seal, and roll into balls. Place them on the greased baking tray. Brush with egg yolk. Bake in the preheated oven at 175 deg C for 15 - 20 minutes.

Note: I used Chinese tea  leaves to decorate them to look like mini apples.

Oats And Sun flower Seed Cookies

Today I would like to share with you my first attempt of this lightly chewy and  buttery cookies for the Chinese New Year. One of the  main ingredient is sunflower seeds, which is a good source of dietary fibre and Vitamin E, folate and magnesium! A healthier cookie as compared to pineapple tarts and chocolate chip cookies.

Recipe: Source from Cookies, bars & brownies with minor modification

Ingredients:

225 g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp salt
250 g salted butter, softened
180 g light brown sugar
200 g castor sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
2 large eggs
300 g rolled oats
100 g sunflower seeds

Method:

1)  Preheat the oven to 180 deg C. Grease three large baking trays or line with parchment paper..
2)  Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl, sift together.
3)  Beat the butter, both sugars and the vanilla in a large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until just blended after each addition.
4)  With the mixer on low speed, beat in the flour mixture, oats, and sunflower seeds.
5)  Drop teaspoons (tablespoon for big biscuits) of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake for 10 -15 minutes, until golden brown. Rotate the baking tray half-way through for even baking.
6)  Let the cookies cool on the baking  trays until they harden a little, 2-3 minutes.  Transfer to racks and let cool completely. Store in an air-tight container.

Mini Yam Kuih - 芋头巧

First attempt at making this mini Yam Kuih. I brought these kuih along for a gathering.  This is a very good bite-sized snack for a party. Just use a fork to pick up one piece and dip into the chilli sauce and send it straight down your throat. Mmmm... my friends loved it! One of them even packed the remainder home.

Recipe (adapted from Carol 胡涓涓老师)

Ingredients:

- 6 dried mushrooms

- 1 handful of dried shrimps

- 150g yam (without skin)

- 3 red onions, sliced

- 120g glutinous rice flour

- 80g rice flour

- 10g corn flour

- 160cc water

Seasoning:

- 1 tbsp rice wine

- 1 teaspoon light soy sauce

- 1 teaspoon salt

- Sugar to taste

- 1/4 teaspoon white pepper

Method:

1) Soak mushroom, drain and dice into small cubes.

2) Same for dried shrimps.

3) Cut yam into 1cm cubes.

4) Slice onion shallots.

5) Heat up 1 tbsp oil in wok. Place mushroom, dried shrimps and shallots and fry until fragrant.

6) Add yam cubes and fry for 2-3 mins.

7) Add water and seasoning, cover wok and use low heat for 10 mins. Cut off after that.

8) Place glutinous rice flour, rice flour and corn flour into bowl and mix well.

9) Add the yam mixture  into bowl. Using chopsticks, quickly whip mixture into uniform lumps. Allow mixture to cool to prevent scalding.

10) Wet palms with vegetable oil, shape lumps into palm-sized crescent dough or any patterns to your liking.

11) Line and grease tray, place doughs onto tray and steam for 15 - 20 mins over high heat.

12) Serve with garlic/chilli with soya sauce.

ENJOY!