Time For Green Tea And Red Bean..

Exactly as the title says, time for some green tea and red bean macarons. These little treats were made on the behalf of a request from a church friend, and I felt like trying something different, out of my comfort zone. 

You see, I didn't know where to find matcha powder (green tea powder). I've only heard of it here and there so I had no idea what it looks like, smells like or taste like. This bake gave me an opportunity to test another macaron recipe, a different ratio of ingredients.

To be honest, this is not my best macaron bake. I've made macarons a total of five times now and only one has been successful-the second bake: second the best (cliche). But I know now that macarons are a very fragile creation; every little detail of the baking process must be followed as closely and precisely as possible.

Well, they're not that hard to make. Just follow instructions and you'll be fine. They really are pretty little cookie sandwiches...not the kind you can buy at your local supermarkets. 

So if you have the time and patience to bake for a friend or with a friend, this is definitely a worthwhile bake. I know me and my little cousin (a.k.a. sous chef) love to bake together, especially a macaron recipe. When they do turn out with their little feet and all, it just gets us all giddy and jittery because our hard efforts have finally paid off.

This batch turned out a half successful as you can see from some of the pictures, half of them were cracked. But I didn't give up. I just gave it my heart's effort to finish what I started. Everyone enjoyed it (;


Green Tea Macarons With Red Bean Paste Recipe is here. 
Next time I hope I can do more justice to the recipe and its baker.

Flubber-Like Lime

Since the day before yesterday, my sister requested some lime jelly because it's been just so hot and humid these last two days. So I searched the pantry for some lime jelly crystals and found a packet of Aeroplane Jelly-simply the best..."I love Aeroplane Jelly. Aeroplane Jelly for me"... you know that theme song?

Anyways there's not much to it, just follow the directions and add some boiling water to the jelly crystals, pour into some glass cups, wait for it to cool slightly before adding some fruits if desired. 

 Lime jelly. Fresh kiwis. Awesomely green.

 Makes you feel like going for a swim in the swimming pool, doesn't it?

I still have Flubber in mind as I stare into the greenness of this jelly.

Butter Icing On Butter Cupcakes

In the spur of the moment, on a warm week night, I decided to make a classic cupcake recipe because I came across... Aspiring Bakers #13: Enjoy Cupcakes! (November 2011) hosted by Min of Min's Blog. I  pulled out my dad's old recipe book that had been sitting in the shelf and covered in dust for years just to bake some cupcakes to post for this bake up.

This recipe belongs to my dad, who made it during the time he studied a bit of baking. I, on the other hand, have no experience in making cupcakes.   

I know my dad used to be a great cake decorator because I have witnessed it in old photos (which I can't show you but maybe one day I can be just as good). So me and my sister were just trying to do justice to this recipe but I'll leave it to you to judge. Despite the amateur decorations the cupcakes were buttery, fluffy, and delightful.

Behold, the cupcakes await to be eaten...
(someone in the background is eyeing the cupcake)
                                     
Enjoy cupcakes!

Butter Cupcakes

Makes 12

Ingredients:

125 grams of butter at room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

dash of vanilla essence

2 eggs

2 cups self-raising flour

1/2 cup milk

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together.
3. Whisk the eggs together in a separate bowl then pour it bit by bit into the butter mixture, beating the mixture until it is incorporated before adding more egg mix.
4. Add half the flour into the mixture and fold. Then add half the milk and fold. Continue to fold while adding the other half of flour and milk into the mixture.
5. Add the vanilla essence and incorporate into the mixture. Mixture should have a smooth consistency.
6. Line the cupcake baking tray with cupcake holders or baking paper. Divide the batter into 12 cupcake tin hole tray. Bake for about 25-30 minutes or when inserting a skewer into the cupcake, no batter is stuck to the end of the skewer.
7. Serve with desired icing or just as it is. (Note: for buttercream beat 200 grams of butter with 1/2 cup icing sugar and a dash of vanilla essence. Add 3 drops of food colouring if desired.)

Berry Creamy Jelly

The heat of the day awoke me first thing in the morning. It's Spring...
Sunny days,
Pretty flowers,
Roses blooming,
Insects buzzing,
Nice blue skies,
Gardens of beauty.
And though Spring is only going to be around for a little while longer as Summer is around the corner, I won't miss it too much as hay fever will go away with it.

Today was a good day because I wasn't too busy and I felt like making something like a cool refreshing dessert suited to a day such as this. So with a packet of strawberry jelly crystals, some strawberries, and cream, I whipped this up.

The perfect combination-tangy strawberries, sweet jelly and cold ice cream. When the whole family came home from work, school or wherever, everyone seemed parched. This was the perfect dessert.

I tried removing my own jelly from its mold to try something on it. But it didn't turn out well as it split in two. Better start eating it before it runs away. Somehow it reminds me of Flubber, you know, that jelly-elastic-green-thingy?


Creamy Strawberry Jelly
Makes 4

Ingredients:

1 packet of instant strawberry jelly crystals (the packets here come in ~85grams)
500 ml of hot water (to dissolve jelly crystals)
160 ml of pouring cream
1 teaspoon of gelatin
1 tablespoon of hot water (to dissolve gelatin)
dash of vanilla essence
170 grams strawberries (or as many strawberries as you desire)

Directions:

1. Dissolve jelly crystals in hot water and divide among 4 glass serving cups. Refrigerate for half an hour.
2. While the jelly is cooling in the fridge, cut the strawberries in half. Divide these among the 4 cups.
3. After about an 1-2 hours has passed and the jelly has hardened a little, prepare the cream layer by dissolving the gelatin in hot water then add the vanilla essence and cream. Refrigerate for at least 4 hour or overnight.
4. Serve with a scoop of ice cream. 

Strawberry Custard Puffs

The puffs turned out a little flatter than expected and know why...they were slightly under cooked and deflated as a result. It's really important to know your oven, and I don't think my oven is hot enough at times also the front right corner is not as hot as the other three corners of the oven. So better to have the puffs a little browner to make sure it stays nice and puffy rather than flat when you're impatient to wait for it to bake properly. 

Anyways I still continued on with the fillings and things. I don't like wasting materials. Where possible, I try to conserve resources yet I'm not much of a environmentalist but it doesn't hurt us to try and save resources right? It would definitely hurt the environment if we didn't try.

You can see the custard oozing out of this one.


Strawberry Custard Puffs
Makes 9 large puffs

puff
85 grams plain flour
75 ml water
75 ml whole milk
65 grams butter
2 eggs and 1 egg white
1 tablespoon of sugar
a pinch of salt

custard
you can find the recipe here...

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius
2. Sift the flour and set aside.
3. Heat the water, milk, butter, salt and sugar until full on boiling so that the fat disperses on top of the boiling water.
4. Turn off heat and quickly stir in flour with a wooden spoon and continue to add the flour as fast as you can without adding it all at once or the mixture will form clumps. Stir for 2-3 minutes until the mixture forms a dough and comes away from the sides of the pan.
5. Let the mixture cool slightly so the eggs don't cook when added in. Beat the 3 eggs. Add a little bit of egg at a time and stir each time until egg is incorporated in mixture (about 5-6 separate additions). 
6. Pipe them into about 9 dome-looking puffs. 
7. Bake at 220 degrees for 15 minutes then turn down the heat to 180-185 degrees for another 10 minutes. Do not open the oven door during this time as the rising puffs will deflate because you let some heat out. 
8. Make the custard cream and refrigerate
9. Allow puffs to cool. Pipe or spoon the fillings into the puffs just before serving. Best served within the day it is baked otherwise store in a airtight space.