Giant Ginger Cookies

Ginger is a wonderful spice. It's probably not what I'd love to eat when I was younger - but like I've said, the weirdest things happen to your tastebuds when you grow up. Things I didn't fancy much when I was younger start tasting a lot better now! Like ginger.

I love ginger, especially ginger tea! I would always order 'teh halia' (malay for ginger tea) when I happen to be at the coffeeshop but I always prefer the authentic ones made by Indians. That's when you know they use actual ginger infused tea, and not just instant made ones.

Of course, since I like ginger, I have to like ginger cookies... and you know what? I've always wanted to make them but never got down to it. I think it's because it's so hard to find molasses here. But anyways I found them at Tierney's Gourmet at Serene Centre and I was delighted of course.

And so, I made my first ginger cookies. The receipe was from Simply Recipes; I read Elise's post about the giant ginger cookies her friend's daughter made and was sold. I made some myself over the weekend and loved the outcome.

Do remember to include the baking soda though! I forgot to include that at first, but added some to the dough last minute. Also, the recipe did call for a coating of sugar on the dough before baking - but personally, I prefer it without. I tried both results and decided I could do with less sugar because it can overpower the ginger too much.

I liked the taste of the cookies alot. The spices were good. Of course! With cinnamon and cloves, it is bound to taste good... esp when there's ginger too. Now I feel like baking more ginger cookies... in the shape of gingerbread men! Oh wait, then that would be gingerbread wouldn't it? haha... okay I might bake them soon... when i have the time!

Banana Buttermilk Muffins

What happens when you have an ingredient in your fridge that has been sitting there and you're simply dying to use it, lest it turns bad?

You'll do what I do - google the ingredient and see what recipe comes up that might look feasible enough.

I did just that and look what I came up with: Banana Buttermilk Muffins.

Interesting name? Yes, that's because it uses quite a bit of buttermilk (yes the ingredient I wanted to finish up!) and goes well with bananas.

I wanted something healthy and since I had some bananas at home; I thought, why not?

However, I did make some changes to the recipe. I didn't have wholewheat flour, so I used 1/2 cup wholemeal flour and 1/4 wheat germ, just to up the nutritional value of these muffins! And I used raw sugar instead of normal refined sugar. I didn't have walnuts so I omitted them.

The outcome was pretty okay - a little sticky though. I think it's because of the bananas and the fact that I used wholemeal flour, which didn't quite absorb the liquid properly. Anyhow, it tasted quite good and I had some with yoghurt this morning for breakfast! :)

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Banana Buttermilk Muffins

This recipe is from Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Healthful Cooking. They bake up light and full of flavor. The riper the bananas the sweeter the muffins.

1 cup all purpose flour
¾ cup whole wheat flour
½ cup sugar
2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
2 tbsps canola oil
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup walnuts

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Spray 12 regular muffin cups with non-stick cooking spray.
In a large bowl, mix together the flours, sugar, baking powder and baking soda.
In seperate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, mashed banana, oil, egg and vanilla.
Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients and stir just until blended.
Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling about three-fourths full.
Sprinkle tops evenly with nuts.
Bake until lightly brown and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, approximately 15 to 20 minutes.
Allow to cool in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes, then turn out onto rack and cool completely.
These muffins freeze well and can be warmed in microwave.

Of cookbooks, and a kind soul

I have a total of 9 Williams-Sonoma cookbooks sitting on my shelves right now.

And I paid for none of them.

No, I certainly didn't steal them!

How then did I become the proud owner of that many cookbooks without forking out a cent?

It pays to have kind friends I guess.... friends who happen to work in a publishing company.

Haha.... he didn't only give me Williams-Sonoma cookbooks! He gave me this:



YEA! the book i've been eyeing for the longest time...

I mean, every chocoholic must own it. David Lebovitz rocks and I read his blog too. But now, I have this book and I await the day I can make a trip down to Paris and savour all the chocolatey places he has mentioned!

But wait, that's not it!

This dear friend also knows how much I love baking brownies and eating them. So he passed me this 'BROWNIES to die for!' recipe book. By the way, it's not out in stores yet (so I had to remove the picture... sorry!)

Brownies to die for indeed! There's like sooo many variations of brownies in there. It'll take me quite a while to try all the recipes though.

But you'll be the first to know, when I do!

Anyway, it's time to acknowledge this kind and sweet soul!

Mike is his name and he's been such a great friend; what with the moral support and all. He's been the one who's egging me on with my online bakery business! We've been bouncing off ideas and business plans for this dream of mine. He's a great friend I tell you. I'm sure you all would agree! I mean, who in the world would sneak out copies of cookbooks just for you? Mike! I know you're reading this... let me just say a BIG thank you once again! You're an amazing friend.... and a talented one at that. He customises sneakers ya know... So people, if you're thinking of having a special pair of your own sneakers, go look for him! I can vouch for his talent...

From my humble count of 12 cookbooks, I now have more than 25 sitting on my lil old shelf. Wow... thanks Mike once again! :)

Brazil Churrascaria

Reviewed this place recently. I love the interior. It must be the lights. I like how warm the place was - in a cosy sense of course. It was my first visit and I was really impressed.

I'm not much of a meat person but Brazil Churrascaria was a pleasant surprise. With over 15 different meats and cuts, even a carnivore would be full as hell! The passadors were lovely - very attentive and friendly. They'd remember which meats you want or don't want. Of course you can also request to get only one type of meat the whole evening.

Don't worry if you are vegetarian - there's always the pasta and salad bar:



Trust me, this bar alone is sufficient to whet your appetite. The food is yummy and I love the fresh greens and potato salad:



here's a look at the meat, whilst being carved onto my plate:



Now you see what I mean? Check out the amount of meat I have on my plate! Ohhh... and I ate chicken hearts for the first time. Hehe... it tasted quite good actually. I liked the chicken wrapped with bacon, and the tenderloin.. Mmmmm.... I was duly satisfied... but not quite yet. Until this came of course:



My most favourite part of the evening - or rather, of every meal: D-E-S-S-E-R-T!

That's creme brulee, followed by strawberries stuffed with mango icecream, banana pudding, and passion fruit icecream. YUM!

Brazil Churrascaria isn't for the faint hearted. Please visit at your own risk and come with an empty stomach all right?

*Price is at $38++ per person.
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Brazil Churrascaria
14/16 Sixth Avenue
Tel: 6463-1923
Open Mon-Sun: 6-10:30pm

Wholemeal Pikelets

Wanted to make pancakes for breakfast this morning but suddenly remembered about this wholemeal pikelet recipe I saw on Chubby Hubby's site a while ago.

I love anything that's healthy and wholesome and I felt like a healthy breakfast so I tried making these pikelets.

I expected it to be easy. But guess what? It's not that it wasn't easy. There was something wrong with my interpretation of the recipe. No, not the method, but one of the ingredients.

Wholemeal Flour. Now, the wholemeal flour I had, was the strong one. Made from whole wheat grains, it includes bran, and the wheat germ; thus the light brown coarse feel.

Now, I have a feeling, that the recipe called for a not so strong whole meal flour. I googled about the recipe and the flour and found out that I was right. This recipe actually calls for wholemeal all purpose flour. Which is a less stronger version. No wonder my pikelets didn't look anything like Chubby Hubby's.



Well anyway, now I know. Infraredherring made them wholemeal pikelets too and they look so lovely. The site has a more accurate version of the recipe.

Overall, I think my pikelets tasted nice though. It had a very nutty flavour and I ate them with cranberries. Yum. Next time, I'll try it with the right flour. :)

TGIF! Have a good weekend!

My dream kitchen... time to save up!

Okay people, sorry but there won't be any food pictures in this post! You know how we all have this ideal picture of how our homes would look like in the future? I know I always dream about it. But there's one particular room in the house that just has to be fantastic and sorry to say but it'll probably be the most expensive room in my entire house. and yes, it's such an easy guess! of course it's the kitchen! that's what this post is going to be about: my dream kitchen. Bear with me a little all right? :)

I was at a furniture store a couple of days ago and found this:



Now now, isn't that just so fab!!? I have plenty of photos to show you. I've been dreaming about the day this kitchen becomes mine. Look at the rest of the kitchen and tell me it's gorgeous...



steel countertops! and look at this sleek storage space:



and now, the best part, a huge sink! with those kind of detachable spray taps to faciliate the dreaded washing up:



this is the stove area... and see the long table in front? my guests can eat the food straight off the stove, warm and good!:



here's a close up shot of the stove. it's miele by the way. very expensive!



now, the kitchen drawers, they're so functional:



and just look at this Miele oven with espresson machine above it:



the fridge is just to the left of the oven/espresso machine. it's all so convenient!:



Last but not least, and overall view of the kitchen... see those seats there? that's what i'm talking about... my guests can sit there and watch me cook! :



someone please hand me a blank cheque! hahaaa... wishful thinking. not to worry, i'll save up now and hopefully in 10 years time, this kitchen will be a reality! man oh man..... all i can think about is this kitchen! help! i think i've fallen in love.... with a kitchen. no kidding. but guess what? it costs SGD$18,400, excluding appliances. ha. how's that for a dream kitchen?

... and that's a Wrap!

jars of cookies waiting to be delivered..

Happy Valentine's Day ya'll!

This year's valentine's was rather different. In more ways than one of course. The days leading up to it saw me spending most of my time in the kitchen by the oven.

I'm sure you all know why?

Yep, that's because of "Cookies for a Valentine", my first baking project! I sold my cookies via this humble foodblog of mine. It's actually just to 'test waters', seeing if anyone would bite (pun intended!) and guess what? It was a major success!

I was so tired after that of course, but hey, nothing beats a satisfied customer telling you he/she loves your creations! I have gotten very positive responses from them. Maybe I'll even post up their comments? haha..

Thank you ALL for your support. I certainly hope each of you enjoyed my cookies.

Just for fun, here's a lowdown on how much i baked:

7 boxes of Cranberry Shortbread Hearts
7 bottles of Snowball Cookies
5 bottles of Chocolate Chunk Cookies
1 bottle of Citrus Cornmeal Shortbread

It was indeed a flour-y affair! Been baking every night for the past week. Now that it's all over, time to hit the books! I don't figure I'd get As just baking all night long eh? Haha.

Anyway in case some of you guys were wondering, I decided to get nice round flat boxes for the cranberry hearts because the they didn't fit well in the bottles. But the quantity's the same nonetheless



Anyway, I'm in the midst of working out my whole online bakery thing. I have decided on a name already, but until it's confirmed, you guys have to keep guessing! Or better still, if you think you have a cool name for it, email or leave a comment ya?


snowball cookies.. there's so many of them!

I'm actually thinking of continuing these baking projects but more so during the holidays so my studies won't be affected.

In any case, I will keep you guys in the loop all right?

Happy Valentine's Day once again!

V Day Special @ Miss Clarity Cafe

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, most of you might be frantic at the thought of finding that perfect place to bring your date. It usually starts with a romantic candlelight dinner of course. So if you're a student or have a light wallet, what happens? Fret not, because I bring you this awesome Valentine Day Set Meal that won't weigh you down, in more ways than one:


Cream of salmon with garlic crostini & baby greens

This appetiser comes served on a crisp toasted rustic bread that goes oh-so-well with the salmon cream. In case you're wondering, the cream is made by blending egg whites with salmon. A healthier choice and a tasty one at that.


Pesto Minestrone

This minestrone is made from scratch and comes with a good dose of veggies like carrots, zucchini and radish. Very refreshing.

For main course, you have two choices:


Oven baked snapper crusted with wild rice puffs, cassoulet of black eyed pea & balsamic buerre noissette

This is certainly my favourite. And no, those aren't worms! The wild rice puffs add a certain crisp to the tender fish meat. Very flavouful too - love the balsamic buerre noissette (hazelnut butter)


OR


Roasted capon with potato confit & pomnery mustard cream

Capon is sterilised chicken in case you were wondering. Can you taste the difference? Yes, the meat tends to be more springy and light. I simply love the mustard cream! Delicious.

and last but not least, dessert:


Vanilla caramelized honey pineapple with rose & raspberry sorbet & orange chilli crunch

This is a rather unique dessert that I really fell in love with. That thing sitting on the pineapples is actually orange chilli crunch specially made for this dessert. You heard right, there's chilli inside! It's actually not that scary - it adds a fiery kick that's not overpowering at all. Combine it with the sweet pineapple, it's simply divine; so is their homemade sorbet. Chilli's supposed to be an afrodiasiac anyway!

And there you have it... a V Day menu specially created for you lovely couples by the people at Miss Clarity Cafe.

How much does it costs? Just $58.80 per couple. Add an extra $10 if you like a glass of wine to go with it.

In case you're wondering, haha this ain't an advertisement! Just wanted to share something good with you guys. I actually reviewed this V Day Set for another magazine I'm freelancing at. Enjoy ya'll! Give me feedback if you people actually go for it ya? Have a great V Day!

___________________________

Miss Clarity Cafe
5 Purvis Street
Tel: 6339-4803

Baked Alaska

a step-by-step effort, and i helped!

I've been wanting to post up this fiery delight my aunt made for CNY. I've never tried making it myself but watching her do it makes it seem so easy. Well I think it is easy, but you just need to be quick. It's so cool, how the meringue manages to insulate the ice cream and all.

Anyway, here's a picture of the baked alaska on fire:



Cool eh? It was HUGE too I tell ya! She poured whiskey over it and lighted the entire 'igloo'. The kids (my cousins) were so excited and intrigued. What a perfect sweet highlight to end a meal. I'm so gonna try it out myself soon...

Yu Sheng

Happy Chinese New Year ya'll!

Hope your holiday was enjoyable. How was your 'ang pao' collection?

Anyway, my CNY was not too bad, went to have steamboat at grannie's house and yes, there was yu sheng too.

Every year my aunts will prepare their own homemade yu sheng and then when the time comes, we all gather round that huge plate and mix it all up with chopsticks:



It's quite a messy affair as you can see. But hey, yu sheng is tradition, at least in Singapore. I think some Singaporean created it. It's actually a raw fish salad. It's supposed to bring prosperity, good health etc. I hope it works for me! I did have a part to play in mixing it all up... :)

Okay, that said, I'm off. Been so tired - was baking the many orders for Operation Cookies for a Valentine. Someone help me! I could so use a massage right now...

Pineapple Tarts

Wow, tomorrow's Chinese New Year already. Talk about time flying past. I still recall last year's festivities - ah, all the good food, company and photo taking.

Anyway, I wanted to make a few CNY goodies but didn't have time so I stuck to only one choice: Pineapple tarts. I love pineapple tarts and the crumbly pastry always gets to me. It's so addictive! I have always wanted to make my own and this time, I stood up to the challenge.

I even made my own pineapple jam!:



It's no mean feat, let me tell you that. Cutting whole pineapples, grating them and then standing by the stove, letting it cook and dry. I think it took me about 1 and a half hours to get my nice and sticky pineapple jam. Love the result though. Tastes much better than store bought ones. Or maybe i'm just bias. But I did add a stick of cinnamon and star anise - and it tasted darn good.

Now I know why pineapple tarts always cost so much. It's labourious! First you make the jam, then you make the pastry. After which, you still have to cut out the dough and scoop even amounts of jam and so on... Here's a snapshot that pretty much shows you how it's done:



The recipe I used came from The Skinny Epicurean. I guess I was totally inspired by her pineapple tart post. The recipe is simple enough, though I would def. use salted butter next time. The pastry wasn't as tasty as I would have preferred.

Maybe I'll try making thise again next year! :)

Gong Xi Fa Cai ya'll!

Island Creamery

We all love ice cream and more so if it comes in our favourite flavours.

After eating chocolate ice cream for so long, it becomes a tad boring at some times so what better way to engage the masses than to offer local flavours? Island Creamery is one such ice cream place that's doing just that.

It used to be located at a corner of Serene Centre. Well it's still in the building but they've just moved next door to a bigger premise. It was a lovely surprise. You see, I visited the place a couple of times last year while it was still at the small corner. I was pleased to see the shift. Look how lovely it looks now!



Anyway this place is known for serving ice cream in interesting and local flavours. Think teh tarik and tiger beer sorbet. You can't get these flavours elsewhere i tell you.

Just a few days ago I popped by and saw that they had pineapple tart and pulut hitam flavour. I just had to try them both.

Guess what, they rock!



The taste was simply authentic! You could actually taste and bite into real chunks of pineapple tart (my favorite CNY goodie!). As for the pulut hitam, it was akin to drinking a bowl of the real thing. Fantastic. I know the pineapple tart was made especially for this festive season. I hope they keep it on the menu permanently. The thing about their ice cream is that it's made on the premises everyday and very fresh. Not too expensive too. $4 for double scoop.

What are you waiting for? Time to head down and spoil yourself silly. You deserve it! :)

P.S. They sell ice cream cakes and mud pies too! So you can order your next birthday cake from them.
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Island Creamery
10 Jalan Serene,
Serene Centre
#01-05
Tel: 6468-8859

Ten Random Facts About Me

Got tagged by strawberry of Scream for Sourcream Timbits for this quirky meme. Yes, I'll have to reveal ten random facts about me. Most of which you might not have known. Let's see, what shall I start with? This is going to be interesting. Hopefully I don't bore you to death! hehe..

1. I wear braces. Yep, but I'll be taking them off pretty soon. It's been more than a year since I've stuck them metal on my teeth. Have gotten used to them actually. And weird thing is, I'm no longer that conscious of my braces. I still smile widely :)

2. My feet's huge. Don't believe me? Go check out what size I wear. It's so difficult finding nice shoes here in Singapore. Why? Because everyone else has such small feet. Okay, I wear UK size 40, or US 10. Now, is that BIG or not? But I think it's because I'm tall, so it pans out all right I guess!

3. I love running and just last year, I completed a full marathon. Though my timing wasn't superb, I'm just glad I didn't give up. It was a painful experience, but a satisfying one as well! I dig the endorphin rush.

4. I'm not your genteel, soft spoken lady. I'm loud, and I'm all for 'roughing it out'. Yep, hey, I go for kick-boxing classes mind you. I am also into wakeboarding, rollerblading, and anything to do with the outdoors.

5. My favourite colour is PURPLE! And NO, it's not a colour for the sexually-deprived!!! It's a royal hue and I love it. Haha, my friends know that well. I have purple everything! :)

6. Currently a Sociology major at a local university, I also have a diploma in Mass Communications from Ngee Ann Polytechnic. I had an enjoyable three years at Ngee Ann where I did everything from photo journalism to radio production and advertising.

7. My childhood dream was to become a renowned writer and publish my written works. I like to think that I'm half way there, considering that I'm a freelance journalist and have also had my poems and essays published.

8. I interviewed original Americal Idol Kelly Clarkson the last time she was here in Singapore. Yes, face to face - she was right in front of me, in the flesh. She's a sweet lass. I love her new album.

9. I actually have some Indian heritage. Quite hard to believe since I don't look Indian, but I guess that's because it's all watered down! hahaa. but I do have very thick eyebrows though. Actually my paternal great grandfather was Indian. My grandfather's part Hainanese and Indonesian Chinese. My mum's side is completely chinese; hainanese to be specific.

10. I'm Roman Catholic and I am completely in love with the one above. I'm also part of this amazing youth ministry called Amplify. We don't belong to any parish; we're under the archdiocese.

There there, ten random facts about me you don't need to know but now know anyway. hehe. allrighty, I'm gonna be real busy churning out CNY goodies and completing my V-day orders so you'll hear less of me. But don't worry, I'm still here! :)

And now, I'm gonna tag:
Jadepearl of Play-play in the kitchen
Sarah of Cooking with the Headhunter
Babe of Babe in the City- KL
Angie of My Kitchen: My Laboratory
X of x-tension

Banana Coconut Cake

Birthday cakes are fun to make. That's because you know that you're going to make someone smile, and it just brings a special warmth especially if it's homemade. You know someone had actually put some thought into it and made it with love.

I've made quite a few birthday cakes for friends and relatives and I've always stuck with 'safe' choices like chocolate cake and what not. So this time, when Cass asked me to bake one for the January babies of Amplify, I went for a more tropical feel.

I baked a banana coconut cake. I was very sceptical and worried that it might not turn out good. Haha, that's mostly because I actually used a muffin recipe and simply poured the batter into an 8 inch square pan. Yep. Oh , and I used buttercream icing to make it look snow white, as you can see. I decorated the outside with some dessicated coconut and some colourful sprinkles.

You know what? It didn't taste too bad, though I made the mistake of putting it in the fridge for too long. So it was kinda hard. But other than that, I think it made a pretty interesting cake, for once, although it wasn't as light as I would have liked it to be. Would I make this again? maybe, but as muffins, like they're meant to be :) Here's a slice for you curious readers:




Banana Coconut Cake

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 very ripe bananas, mashed (3/4 cup)
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut

preheat oven to 375°F.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Whisk together bananas, butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, and 1/2 cup coconut in a large bowl until combined well, then fold in flour mixture until flour is just moistened.

Pour into cake pan and bake until golden or cooked, about half an hour or so.

To get muffins: simple pour the batter into a muffin tin with 8 (1/2-cup) muffin cups and line the cups with liners. Divide batter among lined muffin cups and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup coconut. Bake until muffins are puffed and golden, about 25 minutes. Transfer muffins to a rack and cool slightly. Makes 8.

GourmetMay 2004
Epicurious.com © CondéNet, Inc. All rights reserved.

Buttercream Icing

1 lb. powdered sugar, sifted
1/4 lb. (1/2 c.) softened butter
1/8 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla or lemon flavoring
3 to 4 tbsp. milk, half & half, or whipping cream

Cream 1/3 of sugar with butter and salt in large bowl. Blend extract, 2 tablespoons of liquid, and remaining sugar into mixture. Gradually stir remaining liquid into icing until desired consistency is reached.

Yield: Enough for 2 (9 inch) or 3 (8 inch) round layers of 1 (13 x 9 x 2 inch) pan.

Potato Tuna Croquettes

Potatoes are simply one of the most versatile foods ever and I love them no matter which way they're cooked. I don't deep fry much but when it comes to croquettes, I make an exception.

Found this recipe in the papers recently and it's different from my other croquette recipe. This one uses tuna and is more like the Malay's bergedel. Anyway cooked this for dinner yesterday and it tasted rather yummy. Try it out why don't you?

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Potato Tuna Croquettes

3 russet potatoes
2 tbsp oil
1 can tuna (170g) drained
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp curry powder
1 to 2 cups bread crumbs
1 egg, lightly beaten
Oil for deep-frying
salt and pepper to taste

Boil potatoes in a pot of water. When they become soft, peel off skin and mash them.

Heat oil over medium-high heat in a pan. Fry onions and garlic until lightly browned. Add tuna, salt, pepper, chilli powder and curry powder, and toss well. Add mash potatoes and mix well.

Roll the tuna mixture into patties. Coat each patty with breadcrumbs, dip into beaten egg and roll again in breadcrumbs.

Heat oil for deep-frying until it's almost smoking. Fry croquettes in batches until they turn golden brown. Lower heat if they brown too soon. Drain croquettes on paper towels and serve hot with tomato or chilli sauce.

Recipe from the 'Today' paper, pg 34, Thursday 29 Dec 2005.

Operation 'Cookies for a Valentine'

Aloha my lovely readers. I cannot believe that in just 3 months time, this blog of mine would be 1 year old.

How fast time flies! Plenty of things has changed for me. I'm back in school, running away from the working world for now, but still as passionate about baking and cooking as before. And man, I've tried so many different recipes and opened my eyes to so many different cuisines out there! I have made so many new friends and even gotten lovely parcels from people all over the world thanks to the Blogging By Mail event.

Amazing stuff I tell you.

Right now, I'm in the midst of planning this whole online bakery thing as I've posted before. Well I'm not going to launch it yet, BUT, hey I have a 'preview' prelude thing coming up. I'm sure most of the local readers will benefit from it :)

What am I talking about?

As you all know, Valentine's Day is coming soon. And I've decided to sell some of my baked goods. I've received requests and well it seems from your comments that some of you actually want to buy my stuff if I ever sold them.

So I'm taking a chance and allowing orders to start flowing! :)

I hope I'll be able to pull it off, what with school just re-opening. This being the case, I cannot accept too many orders so I'll limit it to maximum of 3 jars per person.

Now, what am I going to sell? Cookies of course. I'm sure you all have read about the cookies I've baked. Since this if for V-day, I'm going to have some V-day themed cookies and some normal ones you can give your loved ones. Here's what I'm offering:

________________________________________

1. Dried-Cranberry Shortbread Hearts
2. Citrus Cornmeal Shortbread*
3. Snowball Cookies/ Hershey's Surprise Kisses
4. Chocolate Chunk Cookies

*you can request for heart shaped ones.

_________________________________________

There you have it! I will call this Operation 'Cookies for a Valentine'.

From now until the 31st of January to place your orders. Do note that I'm rather flexible so you can make special requests. Like if you just want to have a few HUGE heart shaped cookies instead of a jar of small ones, let me know. Or other customisation you might have in mind. For example, the snowball cookies as you know, come with a hidden Hershey's kiss. You can request for a dark chocolate or milk chocolate kiss. Make sure you specify.

oh yes, pricing-wise, it's SGD$15 per jar except for the snowball cookies - that would be SGD$20. Why is it slightly more expensive? The ingredients my dear. I'd have to get Hershey's kisses won't I? And just to clarify, I only use quality ingredients for all my cookies so don't worry, you'll be paying for good stuff! hahaa... You might be wondering how big one jar is? Here's a photo:


Measurements: 5 inches tall, with a diameter of 4 inches.

Please place your orders via email: thebakerwhocooks@gmail.com
Don't forget to leave down your contact details too ya.

Collection date of the cookies will depend on how early you order. I'll probably meet you personally to pass them to you - perhaps somewhere central. Again, I'll confirm details really soon or when I reply to your email.

Forgive me if there are any hiccups along the way. It's my first time doing this online and I'm doing this to test-drive the whole online-bakery idea. Thanks for your understanding and thanks for all the support guys! Really appreciate it! Love ya'll!

P.S. In case you don't fancy cookies or want something that's not on that list up there, and perhaps you just want to savour my other baked goods, do pop me and email and maybe we can work something out! :)

Hainanese Rice Crispies

Can you guess what that is?

Yes, it looks puffed up because it is.

Give up?

It's actually rice. Puffed rice to be exact. Think rice crispies and you get my drift.

Some time back, I posted about this snack in a meme I did about Childhood Food Memories and I promised to post about this when my grannie made it for this coming Chinese New Year (CNY).

Now, this isn't your usual rice crispies. The ones my dear grannie makes, they're one of a kind. Till now, I have yet to be able to find it elsewhere. I call it the asian version of the more popular Rice Krispie Cremes and made in a totally different way.

For my family, and for most Hainanese, we call this snack hor gong, or haw kong, it doesn't matter how it's spelt as long as you pronounce it properly. My maternal grandmother used to make them every CNY but for the past 5 years she stopped - simply because it was a labourious effort and she wasn't getting any younger. But this year, she decided to make them again, with the help of 4 of my aunts. As for me, I decided to snoop around a bit and take some photographs. So here I present to you the lady of the show, my maternal grannie!



She's busy measuring the amount of puffed rice to use. Mind you, there were so much rice! And puffing them doubles their quantity. You'll understand as you read on.



Here's the hor gong I was telling you about. This is one of my dearest grannie's speciality. She's a darn sweet lady and rather fine as well. She raised 8 daughters up and till this day, she's still strong and active. Very adorable and kind hearted. Love going to her place - only setback is that my Mandarin isn't that good. But it's okay, we can understand each other. I do understand most of the Hainanese dialect they speak; although I can't speak it.

Okay back to the delicious snack...



Ahhh roasted peanuts. Hey they didn't just buy them pre-roasted okay. My aunt and grannie roasted it themselves, thus the aroma. Trust me, you'll want to pop some in your mouth after taking a sniff.

Okay, so you have roasted peanuts, and you have:



Puffed rice. Loads of it. What do you do next?

Make some caramel of course....



Do note that the caramel contains ginger and lime juice (for that refreshing taste).

It takes skill to ensure you don't over burn the caramel.

After the caramel's ready, add it to the puffed rice, and throw in some toasted sesame seeds and viola:



Okay here's a more detailed picture of how that came about:



Mix the peanuts with the rice, add to caramel, mix well, place it on trays to cool. Then you slice it!

In case you're wondering how the puffed rice is made. I'll show you:



Now, the rice is actually dried under the sun (grannie does it for leftover rice for the entire year, thus the accumulative volume!). It must be really dry or else your rice won't puff.

So you have your dried rice, now, heat up some oil, lots of it, and using a coliander or sieve as you can see, place some rice in it and lower into the oil. The rice puffs up really quick so be careful. Drain all the oil and set aside.

Next, here's another detailed picture of how the rice is added to the caramel, placed in trays and properly sliced:



Tadah! My photo essay of sorts on this yummy Hainanese snack is complete.

It was interesting as this was certainly the first time watching my grannie make this. I love hor gong and missed it so much. Boy am I glad she's making it again. I hope to learn from her and maybe make it myself someday.

I'll soon have some tins of those lovely treats so if you want to taste them, come to my place during CNY visting why don't you? hahaa... you won't regret!