Very brown..with a tinge of gold...

Well, that's the colour that came out of my latest baking experiment!  These are the few recipes that can be salvaged and I have decided to put them here.  As I mentioned in my last post, a few of my "experiments" did not turn out well at all.  These are the better ones.

The first is agar-agar gudir.  My Mum and late Nyai used to make this a lot, especially when the family had gatherings and kenduri.  Theirs always turned out "half" clear and "half" of the santan mixture.  Mine was more of a "quarter" and "three-quarters".....mmmmm.  After some deliberation, I now know that I have to lessen the quantity of the coconut milk.  Tak cuba, tak tahu kan, kan... 

Oh yes, and I just love using gula kelapa or coconut sugar.  I love the taste, the smell and now they come in granules!  What more can I ask for!!  No need to boil them with water and then filter out the impurities.  My morning/afternoon/night coffee is also mixed with this sugar.  Found out good for health things about the gula kelapa too.  For more information, visit this interesting page, My Coco Sugar, and I am sure you'll fall in love with gula kelapa too!

Cookies.  My family love them.  Other than pineapple tarts, we also love choc chip and anything with caramel in them.  This Caramel Cornflake cookies is a sticky-chewy type.  Just like "Sticky Chewy Chocolate" at Swensen's...yummy..mmm a little detour there..  I'll be making more of these next time but will make them a little smaller so that we can just slam dunk them in our mouth..LOL!



This is another recipe using cornflakes.  Had another carton left in the cabinet and so I decided to try out this last recipe.  This is a so-so biscuit.  It looks very crunchy and syiok! but the look is better than the taste.  What I can do next time (if I decide to give it another try) is to maybe add some cocoa powder or choc chips or mixed fruits or even just orange peel.  That might be more to my taste. 

It's the school holidays and the girls will be at home most of the time.  Maybe I can try out a recipe where both my girls can join in the baking fun and assist me in the kitchen.  Let me go through my recipe book and see what we can make together.  Am sure it'll be fun for them!

                     

Nothingness..

It has been more than a week since I last wrote anything in this blog of mine.  I planned to do quite a few things like bake some cookies and a simple cake.  But whatever I made this past week turned out not at all close to the original recipe!  Bummer!....  Not my week at all!  Luckily I halved all the recipes I made as they were all very new to me.  Nak tak nak kena juga habiskan mana yang boleh!  Sayang sekali if I were to throw them away.  None of them tasted very bad, cuma "kurang" sedap aje..haha..

Have some of the pictures saved in my camera.  I think they will remain in the camera for now.  Too "shy" to display them recipes that went haywire.  A few hours ago, I made agar-agar gudir and it is now chilling in the refrigerator.  Will cut it up tomorrow and see the result.  If it turns out ok, will at least have something nice to update.

As for now, I will be putting up Nadyn's picture.  Even the pictures I took of her turned out only "so so".  It's either too bright or a little blur.  Hhmmmm...dunno when this dry spell will be lifted off me.... 

Baking bread

It was raining quite heavily this afternoon.  I like it as it was so cool and calming.  The sound of the falling rain was like music to my ears......aaaahhhh...so nice....  I am not good with the camera, so I was unable to capture "that" feeling into this rainy picture.

After Widya left for school this morning, I decided to bake a bread.  Got the recipe from a friend.  About a year ago, I was sooo into baking bread.  Will try out practically any and every recipe I saw.  The children would say, "Bread again mummy?  What will it be today? Chocolate roll, sardine bun, croissant or baguette??  They are my loyal (..more like the only!!) supporters! hahaha..  The aroma of freshly baked bread is just wonderful.  Munching on the bread when it is slightly warm is so heavenly.  I do not own a bread-maker, so all the mixing and kneading of the dough is done by hand.  When you are enjoying yourself, kneading the dough for about 10-20 minutes is not a problem...No worries!  When proving the dough, one needs a lot of patience.  It is such a delight once you see the dough has doubled it's size! Love, love, love bread...

This is the result of my baking this morning.  It turned out ok as I think the instant yeast that I have in store is expiring soon.  It took quite a while for the dough to rise.  But the taste and texture is lovely.  Soft brown sugar is used in this recipe, hence the light brown/yellow colour of the bread.

Hopefully I'll be able to have this for breakfast tomorrow morning, as last I saw, there's only about half a loaf left....  Well, if not much is left, it gives me an excuse to bake more bread....yay!  Here are some of the bread I baked previously.  Maybe I can try baking one of them tomorrow....hmmm....

It's Monday again

Well, the children are back in school after the weekend filled with fun and laughter.  It was somewhat a stress-free Saturday and Sunday for me as the exams are over.  Wait a minute!  Tomorrow's a public holiday.  It's Vesak Day!  Yay..yay...hooray!

As for this morning, Widya has left for school.  Nadyn is still in bed.  And I am taking this opportunity to update the blog while sipping my yummy hot coffee.  Cannot decide whether to have toast with strawberry jam or the leftover chicken pie in the refrigerator... aaahh, I think the chicken pie is triumphant!  Anyway, here's a picture of the chicken pie I made.  I was too lazy to make or buy puff pastry.  Instead I used short crust.  As this is my first time in making chicken pie, there's still much room for improvement.

 

While I am busy improving my baking skills, Nadyn is also busy with her color pencils.  She's getting much better in coloring pictures as she has more patience.  But I still have to be around her or actually sit beside her when she's doing the work.  Well, it can be quite fun and rewarding watching her at work. 

There's a baking project I have to work on.  Have been looking for some recipes on the internet but have yet to find "the one" that I like.  I still have time to do my R&D as the project is not due till early July.....  Now I'll get back to my yummy coffee and chicken pie.  Have yourself a happy week!

Wednesday......it's midweek!

When I was still in the workforce, I looked forward to midweek because that means Friday's just round the corner.  This will perk me up a little.  It is a "much looked forward to" trivia for me...aaaahhh..the simple things in my working life...  I love Wednesdays!

Ok then.  I baked these lovelies yesterday.  I love the smell when they are still baking in the oven.  Once they are out of the oven, I cool them on the rack and within minutes they are off the rack!  Delicious!  Made them a few times already.  This time I tweaked the recipe a wee bit.  The original recipe is from this wonderful and beautiful blog.  Do try the recipe if you love chocolate chip cookies.  

Recently, I found a new hobby.  I have been doing my research on the internet.  It is amazing how a simple photograph can be edited in so many different ways.  I salute those who make this a profession. 

Have to stop using my laptop for now.  My laundry has been calling me since morning..."iron us pleaseee, we beg youuuu...."

To the polls, and back...

As a dutiful citizen, we did what is required of us on early Saturday morning.  About half an hour later, we were already home and relieved that we've done our part.  Now all we can do is to pray for a better Singapore for all of us to live in.

It was a bright, hot and sun shiny day on Saturday.....  Well, it's been very hot and humid for the past week.  The only thing I like is that the laundry gets dry very fast...but that does not translate to them being ironed very fast too!  My reason (...more like excuse!), the weather is already so warm and plus me doing the ironing, it gets even warmer....(soooo lame an excuse...) LOL!  The "temperature" at home is warmish too as the school exam fever is on.  Too many high temperature around me.  I might just explode!

Well, explode I did not.  Managed to make some of these to release some of the pressure.

When the weather is like this, making anything bread-like is good.  The dough rises easily and quickly too.  Widya loved them but Nadyn said "Mummy.  I like your cooking.  But this one, I don't like".... sigh..I can't satisfy them all.  Luckily there were still some dough left and I made some plain sausage rolls for her.  Nadyn doesn't like pizza.  I think it could be the cheesy smell and taste.  She does like eating those sliced cheddar cheese though and can eat 2 slices at one go! 

Will dig out more bread recipes to try since the surrounding is still warm....

Lapis oh Lapis!

Ha ha....time and again I am featuring my Layer cake.  I just love baking them and not forgetting, eating them!

This is a short update as these were made quite a while back and the pictures were taken way back during the last Hari Raya.  Featuring the All Time Favourite..... Lapis Prune....sweet and sour.  Sour from the bits of pitted prunes that are spread amongst the many layers.  Whenever I open the oven door while making Lapis Prune, the smell is so irresistable (cobaaaan....especially bila tengah berpuasa..hehe..).

Oh yes.  Marble cake is also liked by many.  There are many different recipes out there.  There are also many different colours that you can use.  The method of making the "marble effect" also differs.  I like to use my late Nyai's recipe.  The colours she used were always pink, brown and white. 

Here are the pictures of the Lapis Prune and Marble Cake I made.....

By the way, to those of you who will be voting this weekend, Happy voting!  Choose wisely, ok.  We will all be enjoying another long weekend this week.....Yahooooooo!

Another long weekend

This is the Labour Day weekend.  Lots of people are spending valuable time with their families.  Most of the school going children will be having their examinations next week too. 

As for me, when I have a refrigerator full of eggs and a few cubes of butter and I also do not have to go back and forth to fetch and send the girls to school, I'll usually end up baking something.  This week is Layer Cake for me!  I made these 2 cakes over Saturday and Sunday.  It takes about 2 - 2.5 hours to make each Layer Cake!  You need quite a bit of patience to make them.

This the is the first time I tried making Lapis Pandan.  I got the recipe from here.  She has lots of wonderful recipes in her blog.  This cake is very nice and lemak.  I like the cheerful colour and the aromatic smell of pandan.  Will surely make this again sometime.

Lapis Pandan

After breakfast this morning, I decided to make Lapis Kalimantan which is my husband's favourite.  To me, Lapis Kalimantan is a very majestic cake.  The rich colours of the cake makes it grand looking and the  taste is grand too!  So nyaman lah....



Lapis Kalimantan



Will go "blog browsing" again to check out the many good and yummy recipes to try out!