Sable Viennois

I like my cookies with personalities. I like the naughty and nutty peanut butter cookies and the hippie, carefree oatmeal raisins. I love the crisp and sharp gingersnaps and the fun and happy chocolate chip. Gingerbread biscuits are wise and soft and caring. Snickerdoodles and crazy and kooky. Meringues and sweet and simple. French macarons are elegant and... french.

That being said, i think that the one cookie that REALLy lacks a personality are butter cookies. or shortbread. potato, potahto. So plain! So dry! So bland!

I don't know why i decided that sables, or french butter cookies, would be my first attempt at baking such cookies. To tell you the truth, i didn't know they were butter cookies until i read the recipe. I was lured by the pretty piped cookies i had seen in the picture. (WARNING! do not be lured by pictures. Except for mine. Mine are worth the lure)

But what can i say? The french make everything a little better. The excessive amount of vanilla really gave the little cookies OOMPHFT! and it was not as dry or bland as their shortbread counterparts.

What do you know? i may like butter cookies after all.

P.S. yes, i was baking during my prelim exam period. but do as i say, not as i do! But in my defense, baking is theraputic for me and it really helps me to calm myself down whenever i get the wrong value for 'x' for the umpteenth time.

Phyllo Almond Roll

Yes, I am back.
No, i have not exploded from eating excessive amounts of granola. I'm tougher than that.

My exams are coming up and they're going to last pretty long. I have my prelims then application and entrance examinations then my O levels, so i'll be pretty tight for time.

So I probably won't be baking/blogging as much. I'll be doing much eating though. Eating helps me study better.

In the meantime, for those of us who DO NOT have crazy exams lined up for them (lucky ducks), make this phyllo almond roll. It's like a rose macaroon wrapped up in pastry. And not as fickle. Eat some with vanilla ice cream an it's to die for.

Okay.
Now.
What is the square root of two?

Peanut Butter Banana Granola

I feel like Elvis everytime i eat this.

Be warned though! this recipe makes a measly mount if you are known to consume excessive amounts of toasted oats.
(especially since this one has peanut butter)

The only way i justified finished the whole batch in a day (Alone!) was that it was full of good-for-me peanut butter, and natural sweeteners and nuts. Good, right?

I hope so.

I got a bit carried away with the photography this time round, so i thought i would take all of you on a virtual tour of my new favourite food.

I know your stomach is growling. Man i can hear it from here. Do yourself a favour and whip up a batch so that your tummy will stop that nonsence.

Oven Baked 'Fries'

You want fries with ZERO guilt but still crisp and fry-like?

Well, here it is folks!
The ultimate fry-less fry does exist, and let me tell you, it's even better than the real thing.

Beaten egg whites give them their crisp exterior, and the eggs also help the salt and pepper and spices cling to them.
In fact, if you didn't tell me that these were fry-free, i would have thought this was the full-guilt version!

So breathe out and keep your fat pants in your closet.
This is a fry for all.

Almond Biscotti

What is a cuppa good joe without one of these babies?

I love biscotti.
Whoever came up with the idea of dunking these crisp, nutty cookies into piping hot caffine is a genius.

He deserves a nobel peace prize.

Sugee Cake

This is a typical Eurasian cake.
We have it all the time, anytime. At birthdays and weddings and anniversaries and christmas and new years and every other day we can think of.

Anytime is sugee cake time.

And it's easy to come across a horrid sugee cake.
Too dense, too greasy, collasped, too sweet, too--

un sugee cake like.

Growing up, my grandfather made the best sugee cakes. I swear. In fact, my sister ever proclaimed 'No one can make better sugee cake than grandpa except Jesus."

i struggle to imagine Jesus baking sugee cake, but i am sure he would have loved it.

It uses an unhealthful amount of eggs and butter, but hey. It's sugee cake. You can spare a bit of indulgence.

Pineapple tarts

Alright, arguably, this isn't really a tart.
But it is a cookie that is usually shaped like one. a small, cookie sized tart base with a rounded ball of pineapple filling right smack in the middle. We used to have it every Christmastime.

But the one thing about these 'tarts' is that sometimes, you would have to eat the pastry without the filling or the other way around. And you can't have that! The pineapple filling and buttery, crumbly pastry go so well together it would be a waste to even spend a nibble-full without either one.

S we solved the problem by encasing the whole ball of pineapple filling with a layer of crust. Sort of like a cake ball slash chocolate truffle. Problemo solved!

although, now, it isn't really a tart anymore, is it?

If you really have no clue on what pineapple filling is...
neither do I.

I just get it ready-made fuss-free, from my neighbourhood baking shop.

But if you're up to the challenge, i have found a wonderful recipe for you to make your own.

Or if you're really a lazy potato but still wish to reap the benefits of this crumbly confection, just thicken some pineapple jam. Won't be AS good, but still pretty darn delicious!

Pavlova

Is this a cake? A tart? A pie? A meringue? A giant, sweet, chewy cookie?

I will never know.

But one this is for sure: I love pavlovas. And so simple to make! Everyone always has extra egg whites in their fridge, don't they? Or is it just me?

Instead of freaking out over a batch over macarons, I decided to give Pavlovas a go. We didn't have a giant supply of berries to garnish this dish, but strawberries tasted pretty darn good with this egg white slash sugar concoction.

It will be MAGICAL if you had kiwis, or cherries, or any other berry for that reason. And don't feel the need to stop there. i hear that they are pretty good with caramelised pears. If you've got the time (and patience) for that. Whipped cream lovers can pile 'em high on this. Or if you're just a jam baby, I place several dollops of good ol' blueberry bonne maman on mine.

I made several smaller pavlovas with this recipe because i find slicing a giant pavlova might just result in getting covered in Pavlova dust (tip: it does happen). SO i had one with blueberry jam, one with fig jam, one with marmalade...

Yes, you see where i am going.

Anyway, I would just like to send a little shout out to everyone there reading my blog. It's so humbling to know that there are others out there reading my odd recipes and critiquing my photos. But do not be silent! i am a chatty girl, and i adore comments.

so if you feel like telling me a recipe turned out scrumptious (hopefully) or darn-i-may-need-to-buy-a-new-oven-this-thing-just-exloded bad (hopefully not). DO NOT HESITATE to leave a comment.

i get lonely, you know.

And being a foodie blogger, there is nothing more that i love than reading other people's foodie adventures and expeditions and experiments so leave a link if you have tried out something you think i might like!

Alright. It's pretty late and i'll be having dinner soon. That means dessert after. And we are out of pavlovas. Ah, what to do?

Ricotta and Almond Cake

I love cheesecakes, but i am tired of having the same old classic new york cheesecake time after time.

Gingersnap crust with cream cheese filling? Sure it's delicious, but after a while, aren't your taste buds just crying of any other cake, any other cheesecake?

This is unusual cheesecake number 2. Previously, I tried a Japanese sponge cheesecake. This one is an Italian recipe, and calls for ricotta cheese.

Like mascarpone in northern-Italian cuisine, Ricotta is a favorite component of many Italian desserts, such as cheesecakes and cannoli. There are also kinds of cookies that include ricotta as an ingredient.

We had a tub of expiring ricotta in the fridge, so what could be a better excuse than this to experiment with unusual cheesecake no. 2?

A ricotta and almond cake. If you're out of almonds, walnuts work as well. Actually, the original recipe called for walnuts, i just used all of mine making my coconut maple granola.

Chocolate Cake Pops

I am a terrible mess in the kitchen.

And so you can imagine the chocolate on the walls, sprinkles on the floor, cake bits all over my coutertops while i was making these cake balls.

but despite being a huge setback on your new year's resolution to keep things tidy AT ALL TIMES, these cake pops are worth it.

Nest i am going to try a carrot cake pop. I have to.

The Ganache recipe is over here and One-Bowl chocolate cake recipe is over here.
Hop to it!

One-Bowl Chocolate Cake

This, essentially, is a diet chocolate cake.

What am I doing baking a diet cake when i am in no need of a diet?

Well, i think i have mentioned before that i am not a chocolate-cake lover. Or, in that case, a brownie lover. I love my chocolate but i love it plain. Straight out of the packet, a chunk of a bar. I will name my future cat Cadbury.

So what do i do when i FEEL like eating a chocolate cake but i know that about 99% of the recipe on the Internet will give me a dense, oogey gooey rich chocolate cake?

I google "Light Chocolate Cake Recipe'.

It took a fair amount of searching and skipping recipes because of horrible review, but i eventually found this one. I was skeptical at first. A cake made out of Olive oil? no BUTTER? But the review were phenomenal. SO i had to try it out.

It did not taste like a diet cake.
At all.

It sort of tasted like one of those box-cake mixes i love so much. Sans the preservatives and artificial flavouring. My sister, who isn't terribly fond of chocolate confectioneries as well, whacked about 1/3 of the cake by dinnertime.

You don't have to be on a diet to eat this. but if you ARE on a diet. Say hello to your new best friend!

Cinnamon Sugar Apple Chips

Have you ever had the irristable urge to hop out of your house to the nearest seven-eleven to invest in a good old packet of Lays sour cream and onion?

I know i have.

It's not a particularly good habit.
But i love chips! i love the thin crisp crunch i get whenever i bite down on them.

Until i discovered these.

Although they require a pretty long pre-craving preparation time (2 hours in the oven!) it can be easily solved by whipping (or slicing) up a new batch every time your previous one dissapears.

and trust me, that's what they do.
They dissapear.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

What kind of baker would i be if i didn't have a chocolate chip cookie staple recipe?

And these cookies are 'da bomb.
crisp and brown on the edges and gooey and chewy and divine in the middle.

Man, I am still hungry.

If you want to shake it up a little, add white chocolate chips. Or butterscotch chips. Or peanut butter chips.
Well, whatever floats your boat.

I love walnuts and semisweet hersheys bake-able chocolate morsels.

Mmm.
Now ponder this: Should i ask for a giant tower of chocolate chips cookies for my sixteenth birthday 'cake'?
Fancy Schmancy sweet sixteen cakes are so overrated.

I'll have a leaning tower of choc. chip goodness.

Pros:
1. i don't need to CUT the cake into slices
2. You don't need to feel bad asking the hostess to cut you another slice. just nip one right off the tower.
3. i like cookies more than cake
4. i ESPECIALLY love these cookies

cons:
1. i might finish the whole cake myself

well, then.
it looks like i am having a birthday cookie tower.

Pumpkin Pie

Let me say this:
I love pumpkin.

I love pumpkin salads, and i love roasted pumpkins in olive oil and rosemary. I love pumpkins in pasta and risotto. i love gnocchi made out of pumpkins, i love pumpkins.

So, of course, i had to bake a pumpkin pie. because what pumpkin lover does not love some pumpkin pie?

After eating this, i must say that my love for pumpkin has, if possible, grown even stronger. it even tastes slighly of sweet potato pie. Although it is slightly less starchy.

So have a go at it and try your best not to finish the whole pie in one sitting. It's rude not to share. wink. wink.

Here is the pie crust recipe.

Cream Puffs

I love this recipe.

Make them into little balls and you have cream puffs.
Roll them a little long into logs and top with chocolate ganache once they are done, and you have elcaires.

Brush the little balls with egg wash and cross hatch like and peanut butter cookie and sprinkle some pearl sugar and you have those deliciously delicate french pastries, choquettes.

this is the ever-versatile choux pastry recipe. Mine is a Japanese take on the choux recipe.

It tastes incredibly similar to those custard-filled giant cream puffs that exploded in my face (quite literally) on my trip to Hokkaido.

Next i need to master the cream puff swans.

Something just fills me with glee when i think of eating cream-filled swan puffs.

Fill these babies with buttercream or custard.
If you are daring, vanilla ice cream.

In fact, i stuff my puffs (heh. heh.) with a variety of ingredients. the whackier the better. I like fig jam and kaya (coconut custard) and peanut butter and mousse.

Try it out. go crazy.

Apricot upside down Cake

This cake has been an important part if my life for the past three years.

I still remember the first day my mother decided to try out a recipe from some odd magazine we sneaked out of a hotel.
Peach upside down cakes.

Of course, we did not have peach jam.
So we used the only jam we had in ridiculous quantities: Apricot.

Why we possess so much apricot preserves? Because my mother loves making fruit cakes. For Easter, Christmas, dinner parties. And whenever you ice a fruit cake with marzipan it is never half as good when you do it without a layer of apricot jam in between.

So, anyway. Apricot Jam it was!
And, my oh my. i must say, apricot jam would probably be the better choice. As much as i do love my peaches, apricot really brought out the buttery, warm, moist cake more than it's peach counterpart would have.

Now even if we have a jar of peach jam in the fridge, we still may these babies with apricot jam.
But i suppose this would go well with almost any kind of jam.
Imagine raspberry, or blueberry. How about Marmalade?

Oh!
My recent jam-obsession : Fig Jam.
I wonder if fig upside down cakes will taste just as good.

Because i was incredibly bored today, I doodled out the recipe too.
I am no picasso.
but, here it is anyway. have a laugh.

Japanese cotton cheesecake

I hate it when i have to walk past bread talk every time i go to the mall.
You know why?

Because every time--EVERY TIME--i catch a glimpse of their cotton cheesecakes and i just die.
right there.
In a public place. i die.

Well, not literally. But inside.
Why i never BUY one?

Because by that time i would have already spent about 99% of my savings on topshop stuff. More accurately--ONE topshop item. gosh things are getting pricey, aren't they?

Then i came up with the GENIUS idea that i would make my mom buy me all the ingredients so i can MAKE my own. That way i get to stuff my face all free of charge!

SO here is the ultimate sponge-cake-like, light, cheesy, Japanese-inspired cheesecake that i have been obsessing over for about nearly a year. It's about damn time.

This is what happens when a cheesecake meets a sponge cake. ever want all that cheesy goodness in a less dense, not-so-rich cake?

Of course you do.
Now you have the solution so don't dilly dally and get your parents to invest in some quality cream cheese.

And because i couldn't resist...

More Macarons!

The success of your macaron recipes is entirely dependant on your climate, oven temperatures, et cetera, et cetera.

Here is the one that worked for me, although what works in my kitchen may not necessarily work in everyone elses'.

Basic Cupcakes

Eh, Who doesn't like a cupcake?
And, honestly, who hasn't already tried baking one?

If you have, and failed. Or if you just feel like baking more amazing cup-like-cakes, try this recipe. It you don't have much of a sweet tooth, you could cut down on the sugar.

But for me and my mouth-full of sweet teeth, these were perfect.

For my birthday, I once demanded a tower of cupcakes instead of a regular cake. Save the hassle of cutting perfect slices, just grab one off the tower once they were candle-free and stuff your face.

Ahh, memories.

Buttercream? Here!
In fact, feel free to use ANY buttercream/ganache/frosting I have here. I'll bet they taste AMAZING with coconut buttercream!

Coconut Layer Cake

This cake, is a commitment.
You have to make the cake, make the custard, make the cream. Split the cake. Manage not to break the cake, layer the cake, make sure the cake doesn't fall over as you ice the cake...

You get my drift.

And even the buttercream or custard isn't the easiest thing to make.

You may even have to drive down to your nearest supermarket to grab some coconut extract if you don't have any already (who would?)

But, nevertheless, this cake is worth it.

So make that cake, custard, cream, what have you. Don't have coconut extract? what are supermarkets FOR?

And then when you have run out of cake it is perfectly fine to go ahead and make another because practice makes perfect, and who can resist a perfect coconut layer cake?

(only people allergic to coconut)
(even then, maybe not.)