cookie confusion

I'm a great fan of cookies, believe me. Though I still prefer a slice of cake over a chocolate cookie, I'm not fussed. If it's sweet, chewy and fulfills my cravings for whatever I crave at that moment then I'm satisfied. My ideal cookie would be those from Subway; although I haven't tried many different store-bought biscuits I do love the chewiness and size of those giant cookies. But I can't have many of those in one sitting since they're a little too sugary for me.

Everyone always talks about their perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe, or their triple-tested snickerdoodles or peanut butter cookies. I've found that everyone's got a slightly different approach to baking cookies, with their own quirks and tips; and so sometimes one person's recipe will not work for someone else.

I'm hoping that that is the case, or else I'm just not one for baking cookies. I've used a couple different recipes for different biscuits, but they all don't turn out the way I want them to. Or what the pictures look like.

 I used Lovin' From the Oven's recipe for this one; I absolutely love how amazing her cookies turn out, every single time! I needed to add milk to the batter before baking, and I probably should have added more so that they would spread more. 

Now chocolate chip cookies. My favourite type of cookie and a classic. I can't remember which recipe I used for this one because it was a while ago, but I definitely know that they weren't meant to become little chocolate chip rocks. 

I tried again using Bakerella's recipe but even that didn't turn out...right. The texture never ended up the same, even though I thoroughly burnt it. 

And these were peanut butter cookies that were meant to be moist, chewy, giant melt-in-your-mouth wonders. But at the time I didn't actually mind the size because they were still relatively chewy.

I'm sure that there's something very obvious that I've missed, but I'm quite lost about what it is. Anyway I returned to something that I could do relatively well and baked these Mandarin and Orange Squares a few weeks ago. The recipe was originally for lemon, and if I would do it again then I would stick to the recipe. The citrus taste barely came out at all; in fact I would suggest adding more juice than in the recipe. Nonetheless the crust was crumbly and good, and it was a family favourite.

I've lost where I found this recipe, so I'm very sorry if this was originally yours!

Lemon Squares
Adapted from Martha Steward's Cookies

For the crust:
1 1/2 (3/4 C) unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 C plain flour
3/4 C confectioner's sugar
3/4 tsp salt


For the filling:
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/3 C sugar
3 tbsp plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 C lemon juice
1/4 C milk

Preheat oven at 350 F(180 C). Grease a 9-13 inch baking dish before lining with baking paper, including some overhang.
For the crust: Cut the butter into small pieces and set aside. Whisk together flour, confectioner's sugar and salt in a bowl. Add butter and mix until just combined and the mixture looks crumbly. Press mixture firmly into baking dish and cool in fridge for 15 minutes before baking until golden for 16-20 minutes.
For the filling: Whisk together eggs, sugar, flour and salt until smooth. Stir in juice and milk. Pour over the hot baked crust. Reduce the temperature to 325 F(160 C) and bake until filling is set and the edges are slightly golden brown. Let it cool completely on a wire rack before dusting with confectioner's sugar and slicing into squares.
The lemon squares can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge up to 2 days.

birthday and recent foods

It was my sister's 21st birthday and she found this 'Big Fat Chocolate Cake' in one of the cafes while we were in Fremantle. It was the first and last cake that she saw, and it doesnt take much to guess why she picked it. It was essentially a chocolate mud cake, with lashings of milk chocolate icing, and protected by a delicate layer of more chocolate. I don't really like mud cakes because they taste a little too boring and dense for me, and the cake itself wasn't very sweet apart from the icing and surrounding chocolate. But it was a good way to end a fun birthday dinner party.

This was from the nearby Japanese restaurant Yuki's that the family dined at the night before her birthday party. This dessert, I think, was some kind of almond and coffee ice cream, and unfortunately I only remembered after I'd taken a bite that I disliked almond ice cream, just like I disliked marzipan. 

I baked the Aria Chocolate Tart; which featured on Masterchef (of which I'm a hardcore fan of) from this recipe, for my sister's birthday lunch. I had pie dough left over and decided to turn it into some chocolate cookies for the family to nibble on. In the end I ended up nibbling the most of them. 

 My favourite lunch of late: toasted sandwiches. I think I had it about 5 times during the school break, and with the usual characters: cucumber, carrot, chicken and cheese. I'm in love with my mother's sandwich toaster at the moment, and I've tried it on spinach wraps too. Next time I'm putting in a little djon mustard.

Spontaneously I decided to make use of the gluten-free pasta I'd bought a while back. The sauce consists of some regular spaghetti sauce, fried celery, tomato, onion, garlic and pork mince. I just love a chunky pasta sauce.

batch of tastiness

I had forgotten about blogging for quite some time. It's been a little bit of a bumpy journey for me and things have yet to settle down but I'm trying my best to put everything back to normal. Life is so unpredictable at times; it feels like I'm living monotonously one day and the next everything has changed. I'm sure I don't have to remind anyone of this, because we've all got our own struggles and achievements.

I don't think I can put many words down today. I guess it's just one of those days where you're not sure of anything enough to make a definite decision. But I wanted to review the food experiences since the last post, because there is quite a bit and I think it deserves mentioning.

 This is the Chinese New Year feast at my aunt's house in which all the separate families contributed their personal signature dishes. As you can see, it was a celebration of colours, textures, smells and tastes that we all devoured happily. 

This was my aunt's special Chinese New Year biscuit platter, which consists of shortbreads, peanut cookies, pineapple cookies and pineapple tarts in the center. 

My yoghurt cake which I'd forgotten to include baking powder. The result was a dense soya-like cake loaf; not so popular with the household. Nevertheless it was finished within the week. 

That month I also made an orange chiffon pie with uncooked egg whites. It gave it a fluffy and light texture, but left an eggy aftertaste. I don't think we managed to finish this one before it went off.

Dinner one night: fried pork dumplings I think.

Banana cake with cream cheese frosting. The cupcakes went to my friend who needed some cheering up.

Results from my cooking class. :)

For a friend's 21st; the dress theme was animals and she was the glamorous butterfly.

a Summer dinner party

A while ago, since the family came back from Canada my sister and I had been planning to have a special occasion in which we were to cook and serve the food and entertain a couple of our closest friends for one night. My mother was given specific instructions not to assist us and to act like a guest; leaving us free to pick whatever we wanted to make. There was no special occasion for this party, but we figured that we'd try it and if it turned out well it could become a yearly tradition :). And in this case, I really hope it does because it was all so much fun~

The dishes chosen were quite simple and Western-style foods, which made it double the fun since we rarely get to make non-Asian foods. It was a new experience for us, and I'm sure, for everyone at the table. Here's the menu:

Drinks: Homemade Citrusade

Soup: Seafood Chowder with a French Loaf

Main Course: Honey Garlic Chicken, Pork and Water Chestnut Rissoles and Broccoli Salad

Desert: Chocolate Dipped Strawberries with Ice Cream

We spent about 3 days in total for the entire cooking process, including buying all the ingredients, juicing the numerous oranges and grapefruits for the citrusade and slow cooking the honey garlic chicken the night before. The party was on a Friday and so I used my flexi time and came straight home to cook. And in the end we were nearly late, and managed to plate up the food before the guests arrived. 

Even with many of the guests unfamiliar with each other, I think they all got along quite well. There were many laughs and jokes, some solemn moments to enjoy the food, and only a few silences during the entire night. Unfortunately I don't have many good pictures of the dishes, since we were in such a hurry. ;P

These were our formal invitations to each guest. 

The homemade citrusade, made out of thick, orange and grapefruit goodness and a whole lot of juicing. 

We assigned ourselves 3 dishes between us; I had the broccoli salad, honey garlic chicken and chocolate strawberries. Since I'd done the chicken the night before, and the strawberries were done in 30 minutes, most of the time was used getting the rissoles (which turned into meatballs slightly burnt by my failure at deep frying) and chowder finished. It was worth it though, especially the chowder which came out really thick and wholesome. :)

Dipping strawberries ended up being quite difficult, since the berries I had were very ripe and a bit soft and the chocolate just kept running of the surface. I realised that I had to wait until the chocolate thickened a bit more before I could coat them, which was when I was halfway done anyway. Despite this, the crowd quite liked this desert, as with everything else.

And this is my favourite picture of the night; when the dinner was done. The group voted the salad and rissoles the best, but unanimously agreed that each one was great. I probably wouldn't make the chicken dish again, since it ended up a bit boring and average, but it did smell absolutely amazing while cooking :). I'll provide the recipes so you can try for yourself:

Homemade Citrusade

From Taste.com.au, Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups (375mL) fresh orange juice

1 1/2 cups (375mL) fresh pink grapefruit juice

1/2 cup (125mL) fresh lemon juice

2/3 cup (150g) caster sugar

1L mineral water

mint leaves, orange and grapefruit slices and ice to serve

Method:

1. Stir fruit juices and sugar together in a large jug until sugar dissolves.
2. Add ice, mint, and orange and lemon slices, then top with mineral water.

Notes: I omitted the mint leaves because I don't think it really suited the taste of the drink.

 

Seafood Chowder

From Taste.com.au, Serves 6

Ingredients: 

1 medium carrot, finely chopped

1 stick celery, finely chopped

3 (750g) potatoes, peeled, roughly chopped

4 cups (1 litre) chicken stock

2 corn cobs

500g gourmet marinara mix

200ml thickened cream

Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2 tbs chopped fresh chives

2 tbs chopped fresh parsley

Crusty French bread

Method:
1. Place carrot, celery, potatoes and stock in a large pan. Cover and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Process mixture until smooth. Return to pan.
2. Cut kernels from corn cobs and add to soup. Simmer for 10 minutes, or until corn is tender.
3. Reduce heat and add marinara mix and cream. Stir, without boiling for about 3 minutes or until seafood is cooked and chowder is hot. Season to taste.
4. Stir through chives and parsley. Serve immediately with bread.

Honey Garlic Chicken
From Allrecipes.com, Serves 10
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
10 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
3/4 cup honey
3/4 cup lite soy sauce
3 tablespoons ketchup
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
1 (20 ounce) can pineapple tidbits, drained with juice reserved
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup water

Method:
1. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat, and cook chicken thighs just until evenly browned on all sides. Place thighs in a slow cooker.
2. In a bowl, mix honey, soy sauce, ketchup, garlic, ginger, and reserved pineapple juice. Pour into the slow cooker.
3. Cover, and cook 4 hours on High. Stir in pineapple tidbits just before serving.
4. Mix the cornstarch and water in a small bowl. Remove thighs from slow cooker. Blend the cornstarch mixture into remaining sauce in the slow cooker to thicken. Serve sauce over the chicken.

Pork and Water Chestnut Rissoles  
From Taste.com.au, Serves 4
Ingredients:
750g lean pork mince
227g can water chestnuts, drained, finely chopped
2 tablespoons salt-reduced soy sauce
1 tablespoon Maesri sweet chilli sauce
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Asian salad leaves, steamed rice and sweet chilli sauce, to serve

Method:
1. Combine mince, water chestnuts, soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce, egg and garlic in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Using clean, damp hands, mix well to combine. Using 1/4 cup mixture at a time, shape into 12 rissoles. Using fingers, flatten slightly.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large, non-stick frying pan over medium-low heat. Cook rissoles, in batches, for 5 to 6 minutes each side or until cooked through, adding more oil if necessary.
3. Serve rissoles with salad leaves, steamed rice and sweet chilli sauce.

Notes: I deep fried them instead since we were running out of time.

Broccoli Salad
From Allrecipes.com, Serves 2
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups fresh broccoli florets
3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
4 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
3 tablespoons mayonaise
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar

Method:
In a bowl, combine the broccoli, cheese, bacon and onion. In another bowl, whisk the mayonnaise, vinegar and sugar. Pour over broccoli mixture and toss to coat. cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.

Notes: I par-boiled the broccoli for a few minutes, so that it wasn't so hard in the salad. I added some cherry tomatoes too :).

Chocolate Strawberries
From Allrecipes.com, makes 15
Ingredients:
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 pint fresh strawberries with leaves

Method:
In a microwave-safe bowl, or in the top of a double boiler over simmering water, cook chocolate until melted. Stir occasionally until chocolate is smooth. Holding berries by the stem, dip each one in molten chocolate, about three-quarters of the way to the stem. Place, stem side down, on wire rack and chill in refrigerator until hardened.

Notes: I used the double-boiling method instead of microwaving, and used white chocolate instead of dark.

 And this was my modest birthday cake bought from The Cheesecake Shop. Turning 16 doesn't seem half as interesting as everyone made it out as, but we'll see. It's only the beginning isn't it? :)

Mini food tour of Vancouver and Hong Kong

Well on my holiday my sister and I racked up approximately 1200 photos, and a significant number of them were involving food. But you'd be bored if I showed all of them would you? We were fascinated by the different vegetables and products that we went a bit crazy remembering them. The people at Save on Food must have thought the worst :).

I have several pictures that I can display, and more will go up when I find where I saved the other ones. First off, my mother, sister and I traveled to Hong Kong as a stopover flight to Canada. We could only stay there 2 1/2 days, so we had to pack every bit of excitement into them. And I think we succeeded, considering how we were so exhausted that I actually managed to fall asleep on the flight in Vancouver. While in Asia we saw many convenient bread and cake stores; this was the first I saw and I just had to go in and buy browse. :)

The shops all had beautiful peach cakes on sale. :)

We walked past countless markets and street shops; selling almost everything you could think of. This sight was one that we became well accustomed to by the end of the three days.

We went to a fancy-looking restaurant and were very surprised to find everything very affordable. The food was yummy too~

The appetizing entree.

My choice - Thai Style Pork Neck Fried Rice, 58 HK.

My sister's choice - Singapore Shred Chicken Laksa with Thai Noodle, 58 HK.

And my mum's dish - Boneless Haianese (excuse the incorrect spelling) Chicken with Lemongrass Rice, 68 HK.

Now onto Vancouver, which I stayed at for nearly a month with my father. Nothing much to report about that, but it was a good holiday and I liked Canada.

Of course, my family being asian meant that we'd search for good asian ingredients at Chinatown. Gosh, it felt like we were back in Hong Kong!

Is that a...yes it is, as my sister and I were horrified to discover.

Okay, how about something nicer?

Much better.

This delectable place is the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory somewhere in the city of Vancouver. I was dying to buy one, even though I don't like toffee apples.

Cutie.  :3

For the few days of Christmas we went to the beautiful snowy wonderland of Whistler. It was amazing; even though I didn't go skiing or dogsleding (though I did snowshoe and it was tiring but really enjoyable) I was content with just playing with the abundance of snow on the side of the road. Sad yes, but I'm easily amused. :)

The first meal I had there; a panini with coloured corn chips. Yummy and very filling.

Our modest Christmas Eve feast; turkey and some tom yum soup with rice.

Look at those delicious long white mushrooms...mmm, my favourite.

And that is the end of the post! I'll try to find those missing photos, and post what I've been up to in the kitchen soon. Hope you all hope a great Christmas and New Year!

from past to present

While on my daily peruse through the internet, involving the checking of several popular food blogs, I suddenly realised that I hadn't actually posted any of my individual cakes and baking adventures. So here we go.

These are banana cupcakes with cream cheese frosting from one of my morning cooking classes. I have them every Wednesday for two hours, starting from 7.30 when my eye lids barely open to 9.30 which is considered my 2nd session. I dread the mornings; the biting cold and terrible sleep deprivation, but in the end it was worth it. I got to make many different meals ranging from meat pies to sponge cakes and its been so much more enjoyable than I'd anticipated.
My mother does not prefer the cakes and sweet treats I like to make and bring home, but out of all my school creations this is her favourite. I consider that to be quite a job well done.


This is a carrot cake made on the 17th of June from my need of a major baking project. And the whole process was going smoothly until I put it into the oven, and it came out 2 and a half hours later. Now I've most definitely learnt that when a recipe asks for several shallow pans I must not chose the lazy way out and use one deep pan. Though the actual cake turned out rich and slightly moist, just the way I like it.


Well as you can see, I kinda like cupcakes. Actually I love them much more than I'm expressing right now so I guess this isn't the best example.
I apologise for the quality of the photos again; I always happen to take pictures under the dull yellow light of my kitchen. This occurs mostly in a hurry and right before I take a massive bite out of it.
I've tried several different cupcake recipes and they've all been delectable, but I've yet to find a staple recipe that I can alter and still be reassured that it will turn out okay. I don't suppose anyone out there has anything they'd like to recommend to me? :)


And to finish the journey through my short and inexperienced (but hopefully improving) baking life we have a snapshot of a plain sponge cake with cream, jam and some melted sugar which was a toffee shard in a previous lifetime. On the way home from cooking class the poor box container took quite an unnecessary bump and I was lucky that the half-cake still stood upright.

of walks, rain and bread

Today was a special day and for that my family went out for lunch at a chinese restaurant. We were celebrating my sister's 20th birthday even though it isn't until another few days and so the importance of the outing was lessened, however it turned out to be quite a productive day.

I haven't been sure exactly what I should be putting in this blog, and now I've decided that I'll at least share some food news from the bakeries and shops in my area. Mind you, I do not live in a very populated state and there are few stores that I know of, but I'm doing my best to find them all and report them here.

One of the things that I found strangely interesting was one of the restaurant's desserts: This was sago with coconut milk and watermelon on strawberry and lime flavoured jelly. I must admit, this kept me busy for a while just playing with the mixed colours.

And it was quite yummy at the same time.

After lunch we went strolling around the city and visited a small oriental bakery named Regent Cakes. I wanted to look inside the Corica shop (where the most heavenly apple strudels are made) but they had already closed by midday. Here are some pictures of the breads and cakes they sell there:

From left to right: a crumbly pineapple custard bun, a soft cream bun and a glazed custard butter bun. The pineapple flavour wasn't very strong however the cream was very nice, while the butter bread tasted true to its name. I would have to say that the cream bun won the competition this time, but overall they were quite good selections.

I believe this is a wild berry cake slice, which is my favourite from that bakery so far, and a sweet Holland tart, which was quite average.

I love opening their doors and walking close to their kitchen where the warmth and the aroma of fresh buns reaches your nose...

I asked specifically to go to the local spice shop in order to find some cocoa nibs for my sister's birthday cookies. She's hasn't much of a sweet tooth (sometimes I wonder why we're related) but figured that if anything a chocolate recipe with authentic cocoa beans would be best. Personally I didn't even know there was such a thing as a 'nib', but I went along with it anyway.

We searched, high and low and everywhere in between-- but they didn't have it, and we didn't know any other spice store in the city. Unfortunately I had to scratch that particular cocoa nib cookie recipe and opt for her second preference; a chocolate-y hedgehog slice. I purchased some dutch cocoa powder for this even though my mother is convinced that it will make no difference. I wouldn't know either but its got to be better than supermarket cocoa powder right?

More on the promised hedgehog slice, my sister's upcoming birthday and some pictures of my past baking experiences (gulp) in the next post~