The Sweet Shoppe

Mochi bread

2008-07-11T11:17:00.003+08:00

After my Dora-cheaterbug-yaki (cos it wasn't baked), the cheater bug is in action again, presenting my 2nd bake of the week.

Korean Mochi Bread. This time round I did turn on my oven, but I used something I've never used before (okay pancakes don't count) -- PREMIX.

I'm not a premix person, nothing wrong with using premix, just that I don't like the idea of using a premix. I like the mixing and whisking part of baking, so premixes are no fun at all to me. But I have freaking no idea how to make these from scratch, and since my sis bought the premix, I might as well turn it into something edible.

All I did was

Mix the egg and water
Add to the premix
Roll into balls and place onto baking sheet
Spray some water
Bake @ 180 degrees for 30 min

The bread was super chewy, not recommended for anyone who has gone for botox at the jaw. (Cos its gonna work the muscles back, waste the botox money. lol)

It's not that similar to those at Sun Moulin, it's much chewier. It's also got this 香香的味道 that's very unique, but i just can't seem to figure out what might have contributed to the 香香ness.
I'm gonna try making it from scratch after I finish the other packet.

Dorayaki

2008-07-09T17:13:00.002+08:00

My sis bugged my mum to cook red beans so that I could make these for her. I'd ask her to buy the canned ones initially, but got a shock when she said one small can costs $6+! According to my mum," 六块钱可以煮很大一锅 lor". Hahaha.

I got the recipe from here . I (or rather my mum) did not follow the instructions for the red bean paste, cos it was super 麻烦. What my mum did was to cook the beans in water and pandan leaves, then add rock sugar when half the liquid has been absorbed/evaporated, then continue cooking over low heat until the red bean soup become red bean paste.

As for the pancakes, I was happily whipping the eggs, sugar and honey mixture till it was all light and fluffy. Then I was horrified when the egg mixture collapsed. Haha. But the dorayaki turned out fine, just a tad dark despite cooking over the lowest heat.

Well technically I COOKED and not BAKE these, but it shall count as one of my two for this week's resolution! Need to decide on the 2nd one. So indecisive. tsk tsk.

Cookies

2008-07-07T22:09:00.002+08:00

I have been baking recently, really. Just that I can never remember to take photos of my bakes after they're out of the oven, and most of the time they are gone before i can remember. The other reason for the lack of posts is I've been baking pretty much the same stuff. Cranberry scones, cookies, buns, blah blah. More or less the same stuff. I think I need to spend more time baking other stuff before I start work. So resolution of the week, bake at least 2 other things that I can blog about.

Anyway I baked these cookies some time last week, Butter Cookies and White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies. I don't really like the white chocolate one, cos I find it a tad too sweet and not crunchy enough for me. Butter Cookies were good, crunchy and buttery. Perfect with a cup of tea. *drools* haha.

Anyway I had fun printing Hello Kitty and friends on the cookies, and sprinkling them with colored sugar.

The stamps seasoned quickly. This was the second time I used it, and it was able to produce such a pretty imprint! So glad I got my sis to get it for me from HK.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies and Baby Cookies

2008-06-04T17:18:00.002+08:00

I made a big batch of oatmeal raisin cookies yesterday for my boyfriend, to remind him to eat while he's working while I'm away. He had the giant jar, and I packed a smaller jar for my craziest friend cos it's exam period for her, and though she's taking only one paper, I know exams suck. So a small bottle for her to munch on while she study.

This other small bottle was what my mum stole from the giant jar to give to my aunt, who adores almost every kind of cookie I make.

I also made some cookies for my baby guinea pig this afternoon. Thought I should bake some cookies for my mum to feed to him in the mornings while they're at the park, since I won't be available to help to entertain him.

My sis bought lots of cookies for her little one from the supermarket, and they are usually ridiculously expensive and taste crappy. So I thought it's time for me to bake something edible with no added flavourings for the little worm. These are made with eggs, sugar, flour and ground almonds. My mum said since he's already 15 months old, he can start eating nuts. The problem with these cookies is they stick very badly to the baking sheet, since they contain no fat.

The cookies turned out very crisp and tasty, with a very nice almond aroma. I'm gonna try making pumpkin and sweet potato cookies using this same method after I come back from Bangkok.

No recipe posted today, cos I'm going off to the airport in a couple of hours!

First Post

2008-05-28T15:36:00.005+08:00

Okay technically not the first post cos I did not delete the wedding cupcakes photos.

I've decided that I should use this blog to record the recipes I've tried out and think are worth keeping and using again. I don't bake as often as many out there, but I definitely blog hop a lot. And while blog hopping, I come across many many recipes that I wanna try, but don't have the time to. And there are also some recipes that I've tried but forgotten where I got them from. So I guess this is a good way for me to record, with pictures and all.

Blueberry Muffins

I'm not a fan of muffins. In fact, I don't like muffins cos I find them very dense and the crumbs tend to get stuck in some weird corner in my mouth. However, I decided to bake these muffins cos I got some frozen blueberries in the freezer, and Nicole of Baking Bites did mention that the muffins were tender and moist, and not too sweet. I used self-raising flour instead of plain flour, as I had lots of self-raising flour at home, and tweaked the recipe a little cos I didn't want so many muffins.

True enough, I found the muffins very light. My guinea pigs complained that the muffins were not sweet enough, which I agreed, after taking a bite off my sister's. But the weird thing is, I had one for breakfast this morning and it was just right! Weird leh...

Big Blueberry Muffins, from Baking Bites

2 cups self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup salted butter, very soft
1/8 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 frozen blueberries

Preheat oven to 190C.

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light.

Beat in the eggs one at a time, followed by the vegetable oil and the vanilla extract.

Alternate buttermilk and flour into butter mixture, ending with an addition of flour and working in 2 or three additions.

Stir in blueberries.

Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.

Bake for 18-22 minutes, until tops are lightly browned and a tester comes out clean.

Cool on a wire rack.

Orange Chiffon Cake

I like chiffon cakes, cos they're light and not difficult to make. One of the blogs I visit regularly (almost everyday) is auntyyochana's blog. I don't know how she churns out so many goodies everyday, and looking at the pictures of her bakes gives me many ideas (that I don't have time to fulfill. haha).

Anyway oranges were on sale in NTUC last week, 8 for $1.88. Given the very hot weather, my dad and I decided to buy 4 bags of the oranges so we can have lots of orange juice to cool ourselves down. And with so many oranges at home, it was only natural for me to think of orange chiffon cake. I decided to try out auntyyochana's orange chiffon cake recipe, which turned out very well.

I baked them in individual cups instead of using an tube pan, cos it's easier to distribute to my guinea pigs. The cake was very light and soft, with a tight crumb. I didn't use the orange emulco cos we don't have space in the kitchen for such things.

Orange Chiffon Cake, from Auntyyochana
(A)
4 egg yolks
125 ml.Orange juice
75 ml. sunflower oil
90 gm. sugar
150 gm. Cake flour
3 gm. salt
1 tsp. Baking Powder

(B)
5 egg white
1/8 tsp. Cream of Tartar
100 gm. sugar

Mix all the ingredients (A) together and stir till smooth.

Whisk egg white with cream of tartar for 1 min, then gradually pour in sugar and whisk till medium-stiff peak.

Fold both mixtures together and pour into prepared cups.

Bake at 190c for about 20 min or till cake is cooked through.

Cranberry Scones

I've been wanting to try out this recipe since exams, mainly because it seems extremely easy to make.

I think scones are not that popular in Singapore, which is probably why I don't usually see them anywhere else other than at Four Leaves. I don't quite like the ones at Four Leaves though, cos I find them very hard and dry, and very crumbly (as in the crumbs fall everywhere). But I relied on them when I was staying in hall though, cos they keep pretty well at room temperature, so it's easy to buy a pack of 4 and have one everyday for breakfast.

Anyway I found this recipe at Little Corner of Mine. There was no rubbing-in needed, as the recipe did not call for any butter. It was simply measuring out the ingredients, deciding what to throw in (chocolate, nuts, dried fruits), mixing the wet and dry, then baking. It took me only 30 min or so from the beginning till the yielding of my end product. (My mum was like, "That's all? Can eat already? You sure not...")

The scones turned out to be surprisingly buttery despite the absence of butter, crisp on the outside and tender inside. The sweetness was just right, and the cranberries added both sweetness and tartness to the scones. Even my 15-month old guinea pig loved it. The only down side is the recipe called for heavy cream, which is quite expensive. =(

Cream Scones, from Little Corner of Mine

125g all-purpose flour

1 + 1/2 tsp baking powder

30g sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup dried cranberries

5/8 cup heavy whipping cream

Preheat oven to 210C.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl except heavy cream and mix well. Stir in the cream and mix with a fork or whisk.

Scoop dough onto baking sheet and lightly flatten.

Glaze the top with cream and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 11 minutes or until golden brown.

*just a sidetrack. a green bean dropped into the sink we use to dry the plates, and my mum didn't notice. and this was what happened. how amusing!

Wedding Cupcakes

2007-12-12T23:56:00.000+08:00

Here are some of the pictures of the cupcakes we made for a church wedding.