Strawberry Bread Pudding

Okay, today I'm putting some effort to write out my recipe for the strawberry bread pudding.  Thank you for bearing with my delay. I'm in no mood for a lengthy story, so here we go... the recipe for this dessert. Oh, by the way, I made a little adjustment to my usual recipe for bread pudding...because I have a large box of whipping cream, I used some of it to make this and alhamdulillah, the bread pudding turned out nice. You can substitute the strawberry with other fruits as you like such as pear, peach, raisins, or even fruit cocktail. Do try my recipe out!

Strawberry Bread Pudding

Soft texture, you'll love it!

The sauce isn't too sweet, but still...watch your calorie intake!

The custard

2 cups       whipping cream
1 1/2 cups  low fat milk
2                eggs
1 tbsp        vanilla
2 tbsp        sugar


The bread
2/3 stick    French baguette (roti Perancis)
3  pieces   Croissants

Others
3 tbsp       melted butter
1 cup        fresh strawberries slices ( I used dried because I'm out of stock of fresh ones)


How to make your bread pudding
1.     Cube the bread and croissant, arrange in your baking dish, mixing them with slices of fresh strawberries. Try to spread the strawberries evenly.

2.     To make the custard, just mix all ingredients in a jug and pour it into the baking dish in which you arranged the bread and strawberries.

3.     Pour melted butter over the pudding.  Let the bread absorb the custard for about 20 minutes.

4.     Put your baking dish in a baking tin and pour hot water halfway and cover with aluminium foil, then bake in your oven preheated at 180 C, for half an hour. Uncover the baking dish and bake for another half an hour.

Steam bath baking method used for the recipe.

The Vanilla Sauce
2  tbsp      butter
1  tbsp      flour
350 ml      milk
3  tbsp      brown sugar (or white if you prefer)
1  tbsp      vanilla essence

Making the sauce:
Melt the butter, add in flour, stirring consistently; then add sugar and finally milk. Keep stirring and the sauce will thicken. If you don't stir consistently your sauce will become lumpy. Last but not least, add in the vanilla. Let cool and it's ready to pour on the bread pudding.

This is quite and easy recipe to make, so please try it out. If you have a sweet tooth, you can add more sugar to your preference.

Sapphire Meringue Lemon Pie

I love this lemon pie and it's to make and I would love to share its recipe my readers.  It's sweet, tard, chocolatey bitter and salty in a balanced way. It's made in individual mould so that it's not too much or too little for one to enjoy it. I sell this pie to those who wants to buy them and so far I have had positive comments from my buyers.  Probably because they've the sweet tooth for lemon pies. I wish not to extend further time with my never ending story on the trial I made on creating the recipe for this pie, so here is the recipe, and I call it Sapphire Meringue Lemon Pie.

Sapphire Meringue Lemon Pie

Snow White with drizzle of chocolate chips

A yummy custard in the center, soft meringue on top and nice crust

A close look on the inside

Another batch in different paper cups

Ingredients (makes 10 pies)

The Custard
1     can of sweetened and condensed milk
3     egg yolks
1/2  cup lemon juice

The Crust
1     pack Oreo cookies, (14 pairs in each pack) crushed
4     tablespoon melted butter, mixed with the crushed Oreo

The Meringue for Topping
3     egg whites
1/4  teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4  cup fine granulated sugar/castor

Other items
Muffin baking tin
Paper cups


Baking method
1.     Pour in sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice and egg yolks into your mixing bowl and mix well.

2.     While the custard is mixing, prepare your pie crust. Press the crushed Oreo cookies which have been mixed with melted butter into paper cups.  Please refer to photo.

3.     When your custard is ready, pour into each cup, but to about 80% full only, allowing space for topping later.

4.     Place your baking tin into your preheated oven at 180C  for about 20 mins, until the center of the custard is quite firm when you shake your baking tin.

5.     When the pie is baked, let cool.  While cooling the pie you can make the meringue.  Beat egg whites with cream of tartar at a high speed until soft peaks form, then add 1/4 cup of sugar and beat again at high speed until stiff peaks form, and it's ready to use for topping.

6.     Spread the meringue on top of your cooled custard and decorate as you wish.

Happy baking my friends...I must say this is one of my favorite sweet treat...ever made by me. I hope you'll like it too!

Daging Masak Kicap Berempah

Ish ish ish...banyak juga entry yang tertangguh ni. Dok masak masak tapi tak gak post recipe nya di blog ni. Whatever it is, I will try to catch up with the capacity I have right now. Okay, kawan2...recipe kali ini adalah daging masak kicap berempah.  Sebelum tu saya nak bercerita dahulu tentang lauk daging masak kicap.  Ada orang masak kicap, hanya tumis bawang merah, bawang putih, halia and letak kicap.  Tapi kalau ikut ajaran mak saya, masak kicap ni lebih sedap kalau ada rempah2nya.  Satu masakan yang senang saja dibuat tetapi perlu luangkan masa untuk menyediakan bahan tumisannya.  Bagi kawan2 yang bekerja, tidak punya masa yang banyak untuk menunggu daging empuk, boleh lah merebus dulu daging yang dihiris tidak terlalu nipis, dan diletak garam sedikit untuk perisa. Versi yang saya sediakan ini adalah versi cepat, makanya daging rebus yang saya gunakan untuk kali ini.

Let's check out the recipe...

Daging Masak Kicap Berempah

Makan dgn nasi putih dan sambal belacan pun sedap!

Dari dekat...

Bahan bahan tumis
2        ulas bawang merah yg debab2
2        ulas bawang yg agak gemok2
1        hirisan halia setebal 1 cm
3        kuntum bunga cengkih
3        biji pelaga
1        batang kayu manis (dalam 2 inci panjang)
1 1/2  sudu makan biji lada hitam (atau 2 sudu makan kalau suka pedas)

Tumbuk halus kesemua bahan dalam lesung batu atau gunakan saja blender kering, letak sedikit air kalau blender susah nak berputar.

Bahan utama
Daging yang telah direbus, bersama air rebusannya utk 2-3 orang makan
Kicap masin
Kicap manis / gula
Minyak masak untuk menggoreng ubi kentang dan menumis

Bahan bahan sampingan
1        biji ubi kentang saiz besar, dipotong bulat2 setebal kurang sedikit dari 1 cm
1        biji tomato, dibelah 4 atau 6 kalau size besar
1        labu bawang besar dipotong bulat2 setebal 1/2 cm
1        batang cili merah dibelah 2
2-3     tangkai daun bawang dipotong2 1 inci panjang

Cara memasak
1.     Gorengkan hirisan tebal ubi kentang hingga separuh masak.
2.     Keluarkan sedikit minyak masak, kemudian tumiskan bahan2 tumisan yang ditumbuk/kisar tadi sehingga naik minyak.
3.     Masukkan daging yang telah direbus dengan air rebusan sebanyak mana yang dikehendakki menjadi kuah tapi jangan terlalu banyak, nanti jadi sup pula lauk kicap anda.
4.     letakkan sedikit kicap masin sedikit dan rasa masinnya, kemudian letak kicap manis atau gula secukupnya. Saya gunakan brown sugar.  Kemudian masukkan ubi kentang yang telah digoreng tadi.
5.     Bila ubi kentang sudah empuk, masukkan hirisan tomato dan bawang besar, balik-balikkan sedikit kemudian masukkan cili merah yang dibelah dua dan separuh dari hirisan daun bawang.

6.     Separuh lagi hirisan daun bawang boleh ditabur sewaktu menghidang lauk daging masak kicap berempah ini.

Masakan ini mudah untuk disediakan dan lebih sedap dari hanya menuangkan kicap sahaja ke dalam masakan.  Setahu saya, orang Jawa dan orang Johor kalau masak kicap, beginilah cara mereka memasaknya.

Portugese Egg Tarts

EURO 2012 telah bermula. I'm not such an ardent fan but boleh lah layan bola ni.  Teringat lak game between Portugal and Germany. Kalah la pulakkk Portugal ni...masa tengah menonton game bola tu, dok teringat2 lak Portugese egg tarts. Saya tak pernah buat egg tarts ni tapi teringin pula nak membuatnya sendiri. I would never make my own puff pastry but hey, there's always what we call the "store bought" stuff, right?  Yeah, okay; so I decided to  make them on Sunday (yesterday) and bring them to Putra Ave to share with the rest of the family members.  The ones I made yesterday was tasty enough but didn't turn out beautiful as I expected. So today I made another batch with modifications to the recipe and Alhamdulillah they turned out quite nice.  The pastry expanded like flower petals (a discovery by chance).

Okay, without further ado, here's the recipe:

Portugese Egg Tarts

Begini rupanya egg tart ni...

tengok dekat sikit...

Macam kelopak bunga2

10       puff pastry squares (brand Kawan)
5         egg yolks
1/2      cup heavy cream
1/2      cup milk
1/4      cup castor sugar/ fine granulated sugar
1         tsp vanilla extract


The pastry:

1.      Gunakan acuan bulat tekapkan pada puff pastry utk buat membuat bentuk bulat. Kemudian lipat 2 dan gunting sedikit 2 bucu pastry tersebut, kemudian lipat 2 lagi dan gunting bucu2 yang dua lagi.  Kemudian susun dalam muffin tin dan tekan sedikit untuk memenuhi acuan. Buat sehingga habis. Sila lihat pada gambar.

pastry diletak dalam acuan muffin

The custard:


Panaskan oven pada suhu 180 C, sambil itu...

1.     Campur kesemua bahan2 lain yang telah saya senaraikan tadi - kuning telur, heavy cream, susu, gula dan esen vanilla, dipukul 3-5 minit, kemudian tuangkan ke dalam pastry yang telah diletakkan dalam acuan muffin anda.  Jangan tuang terlalu penuh..dalam 85-90% penuh sudah memadai.

tuangkan custard ke dalam tiap acuan, jangan terlalu penuh

2.     Bakar selama lebih kurang 20-25 minit atau lebih sedikit kalau anda suka pastry anda lebih rangup (saya rasa paling2 lama pun 30 minit cukup lah)

Demikianlah recipe Portugese Egg Tart yang sanga senang dibuat ini...yang lecehnya adalah membuat acuan pastry nya....bukan leceh camner pun... tapi memakan sedikit masa kalau nak buat cantik2.  Selamat mencuba, kawan2!

*Nota: kalau suka lebih manis, tambah la gula lagi.. mungkin kalau menggunakan 1/3 cawan gula agak manis. Saya ini diabetic, jadi saya takkan buat kuih muih yang terlalu manis.

Purple Velvet Cake

So, okay...I've been craving for a Red Velvet cake for quite a while.  Nak beli, mahal sungguh harganya...bukan tak leh buat sendiri. Cuma tak berapa "rajin" nak buat.  I finally gathered my "mood" to make it on Sunday...errr...that's yesterday, I reckon.  Since my brothers and little Harritz will be at my parents' and my dear sister-in-law pun ada...why not?

I will share with you a super moist velvet cake and I'm using a different topping AND I'm not making a RED velvet cake, but PURPLE.  Yes, purple...Prior to this, I have made a Red Velvet Cupcake and they look gorgeous but don't taste that gorgeous because of the coloring. They taste weird because of the coloring. So this time around I'm going to use purple coloring.  The same recipe used for the red velvet cake, am only changing the color.  So here goes....the recipe.

PURPLE VELVET CAKE

3-layer Purple Velvet Cake

Not too purple... I wonder if I put more color, will it turn really purple?

meh tengok dekat sket...

...tengok dekat lagi.

The Cake

2 cups     multi purpose flour (please sift it)
1/2 cup   cocoa powder (kalau nak sedap, cap HERSHEY'S)
1 cup      white sugar
1/4 cup   brown sugar
2 tsp       baking powder
1/4 tsp    baking soda
1/2 tsp    salt
1 cup      buttermilk at room temperature
1 cup      evaporated milk at room temperature
1 cup      butter (250 gm)  at room temperature
2-4 tbsp purple coloring (I used 2 tbsp, u can use more)
4 no.s     eggs at room temperature


Making the batter and baking it

1.     Mix flour with baking powder and salt and sift.
2.     Cream your butter and sugars, then add eggs one by one while mixing.
3.     Alternately add in flour and buttermilk and evaporated milk and cocoa powder.
4.     Add in purple coloring to the cake batter.
5.     Grease you baking sheet ( I used my cookie baking sheet size lebih kurang 5" X 12"), line with parchment paper, and grease again with butter (don't forget to grease the sides of your baking sheet as well)
6,     Put your batter into preheated oven at 180C for about 30-35 mins, until your cake tester comes out clean when you dip into the middle of you cake)
7.     Let cool before topping.


Topping
1 cup       butter (250 gm)  kalau 3/4 buku butter pun masih boleh
4 tbsp      flour
1/4 - 1/3  cup granulated sugar (gula halus)
350 ml     milk
1 tsp        vanilla

Method

1.     Melt butter in a pot, add in flour and stir with a spatula, do not leave the sauce unattended or else the sauce will be lumpy.
2.     Add in sugar, keep stirring.
3.     Add in milk, stir until it reaches a consistency to your preference.
4.     Let cool.
5.     The whole process takes about 10-15 mins. When cooled the sauce will thickened. If you like a thinner sauce, add a few table spoons of hot water, one at a time.


How to assemble the cake
1.     When the cake has cooled, cut into 3 pieces.
2.     Put 1st layer onto a cake plate. Layer your cake with the topping, then stack 2nd layer on top and layer again with sauce, same goes with the 3rd piece of cake and top with the sauce. Crumble some cake leftovers on top to garnish.



Do try out the recipe, I have adjusted the sugar measurement, so I guess those who are on a sugar-diet can still enjoy this cake, tapi jangan la makan sampai banyak slices! Nex time I will try work on different presentation with the same recipe. Await my next entry on this Purple Velvet Cake in a different presentation version. Happy baking my friends. :-)