Osmanthus Jelly

I ate this in Hong Kong for the first time last year and I just could not get the frangrant taste off my mind. So I came back and searched the shops for this Osmanthus dried flowers. When you open the packet, take a whiff and it will send you to heaven. So I went home to make this dessert. I don't see it selling anywhere in Singapore, let me know if they are and tell me where. In the mean time, I will make do with my own.

Osmanthus Jelly
Ingredients:
1 packet of Konnyaku premix powder (Red Man)
4 tsp of dried osmanthus flowers
4 tsp 'wolfberries' (gei chi)
1250 ml water

Method:
Fill a medium pot with 1250 ml of cold water.
Add the premix konnyaku powder and stir till powder dissolves.
Put the pot of mixture on the stove and heat it till it boils.
Lower down the heat and simmer.
Add dried flowers and wolfberries.
Bring to boil again and turn off the heat.
Let the mixture infuse with the dried flowers and stand till cool.
Pour cooled jelly mixtrure into container and put it in the fridge to harden completely.
Cut into sqaure pieces and serve.

                                                                     

Fruit Cake with a Twist

I know it is not Christmas, but a friend wanted to eat fruit cakes and requested for one from me. Well, I am not a fan of fruit cakes but I am now totally converted after this particular one. I was very keen to bake for him after I found this recipe, it looks pretty easy but I tweaked it a little and it turned out just right. This recipe can yield a 7 '' square cake and a small loaf for me to taste. Perfect! This will be my Christmas giveaway for close friends.
Valrhona Chocolate Fruit Cake with 5 tpes of Liquor 
Ingredients:

500 g mixed fruits

250 g raisins

175 g unsalted butter

175 g dark muscovado sugar

50 g 55% Valrhona Equatorial Noire Feves

175 ml golden syrup

2 tbsp dark rum

2 tbsp cognac

2 tbsp vodka

2 tbsp Tia Maria

2 tbsp Dom 

2 oranges, zested and juiced

1 tsp mixed spice

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp Valrhona cocoa

3 eggs, beaten

150 g plain flour

75 g ground almonds

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

Directions:

The day before baking, put all the mixed fruits and raisins into a container, pour in all the liquor and let it macerate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).

Line the sides and bottom of an 7 x 7 x 3 inch, cake tin and a small loaf tin with a layer of baking parchment. When lining the tin with the parchment, cut the material into strips that are twice as high as the tin itself (it is easier to use two shorter strips of parchment, than one long strip); the height of the strips protects the cake from catching on the outside of the cake tin.

Place the fruit, butter, sugar, golden syrup, orangezest, orange juice, mixed spice, cinnamon, Valrhona chocolate feves and cocoa into a large wide saucepan. Heat the mixture until it reaches a gentle boil, stirring the mixture as the butter melts. Let the mixture simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and leave to stand for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees C (300 degrees F).

When the mixture is cooled. Add the eggs, flour, ground almonds, baking powder and baking soda, and mix well with a wooden spoon until the ingredients have combined.

Carefully pour the fruit cake mixture into the lined cake tins. Transfer the cake tins to the oven and bake for 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours , or until the top of the cake is firm but will has a shiny and sticky look. At this point, if you insert a sharp knife into the middle of the cake, the cake should still be a little uncooked in the middle.

Place the cake on a rack. Once the cake has cooled, remove it from the tin.
Please note:
This cake can be baked in a 9" (23 cm) round cake tin and bake for 1 3/4 to 2 hours. You can use any chocolate or omit the chocolate feves. You can use any kind of dried fruits. For a stronger alcoholic taste, pour more liquor onto the cake when the cake has cooled somewhat in the tin. Only turn out when it has cooled completely and when the cake has absorbed all the liquor.

Nectarine, Vanilla and Almond Tart

With the success of my homemade vanilla extract, I could not wait to try out delicious treats using it. So I chose this Nectarine, Vanilla and Almond Tart to bake. This is a recipe I adapted from the book Cinnamon, Spice & Warm Apple Pie, comforting baked fruit desserts for chilly days. The tart is a classic French pastry. This book has quite a few people contributing to the recipes. First you have to bake blind a sweet short crust pastry, then fill in the fillings and top with the fruits. The original recipe used pears. I used nectarines because I have so many of it lying around. 

Serves 6

Recipe for the pastry:

27 cm round pan or 35 cm x 11 cm tart pan as shown, buttered and lightly floured.

200g plain flour

100g unsalted butter, chilled and cubed

2 tsp sugar

pinch of salt

Put the flour, sugar, butter and salt in a food processor and using the pulse button, process until the mixture is just combined (about 5 - 10 pulses) Add 3 to 4 tbsp cold water and pulse just until dough holds together. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, put it in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough on a floured working surface or put the dough in between a cut out freezer bag (always work for me, no mess at all). Roll out the dough slightly larger than the prepared tart pan. To trim the edges, roll the rolling pin over the top, using the edge of the tin as a cutting surface and let the excess pastry fall away. Refrigerate again for another 30 minutes till firm.

To bake blind, preheat the oven to 200 C (400 F). Pick the pastry base all over, lined with baking parchment paper and fill with baking weights or beans. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, then remove the paper and weights and turn down the oven to 180 C and bake for a further 5 to 10 minutes. Let cool before filling.

Recipe for Filling:

100g unsalted butter

100g sugar

100g ground almonds

2 large eggs

2 tbsp plain flour

Seeds from 1 vanilla pod or 1 tsp of pure vanilla extract.

4 to 5 ripe Nectarines, cored and sliced.

Preheat the oven to 190 C (375 F)

In a mixing bow, combine the butter and sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well and make sure you scrape down the bowl after each addition. Turn down to the lowest speed, add the flour, ground almonds and vanilla seeds or extract and mix just until combined.

Spoon the almond mixture into the pastry case and level the surface. Arrange the nectarine slices on top.

bake in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until puffed and golden. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or custard.

Vanilla Extract

About two over months ago, I posted about making my own Vanilla Extract. I used the vanilla beans and Absolut Vodka that my good friends brought back for me from Bali to make my very own extract. It is now ready and I don't have to spend a fortune buying bottles of the Nielson-Massey Vanilla Extract anymore. It is so fragrant and pure, a little goes a long way. I just added more vodka into the jar of vanilla beans to make a second extract, I wonder whether it works!

Oreo Cheesecake

Beginning of June was my son' s birthday. One of his favourite cake is this Oreo Cheesecake. He said he wanted oreo cookies at the bottom and top as well. So here it is. This cake can be kept quite well, for up till 2 weeks if there is any left.
Ingredients:
500g Philadelphia cream cheese
140g sugar
75g sour cream
45g cream
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
Extra 6 pieces of oreo cookies crushed real fine to sprinkle on top.
8 inch round cake pan, Roasting pan for water

To make base:
1. Brush the inside of an 8 inch cake pan for a 1kg cake with a little butter.
2. Crush 12 (double) pieces cookies, discard cream filling. (Put biscuits in plastic bag and  crush it with a rolling pin)
3. Melt 50g butter and mix into biscuits.
4. Put mixed cookies onto the cake pan and press it flat with a spoon.
5. Put it in the fridge to harden and set.
Method
1. Pre-heat your oven to 180 deg C.
2. In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth for at least eight minutes at medium speed.
3. Add sour cream to the mixture and continue to beat till smooth.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after every addition. Then add the vanilla essence. Continue to mix at the medium speed till the mixture becomes fluffy.
5. Pour it into the cake pan with the prepared base and bake in a bain marie (a large roasting pan of barely simmering water in which the cake pan, or a container with the pan in it, is placed, and the water level 1/3 up the sides of the cake pan), which allows the mixture to be heated gently and evenly for 45 minutes to one hour at 180 deg C.
6. Be careful: Over-baking your cheesecake will cause the skin to crack and it will become dry and difficult to cut.
7. Let the cheesecake cool down to room temperature.
8. Store it in the fridge.
9. When it is cold, put the crushed cookies in a small sieve and sift it on top of the cheesecake.
9. Serve cold.

Avocado Coconut Ice Cream

This ice cream is extremely easy to make and does not contain eggs. I did not follow any recipes in particular. I used my base ice cream method without eggs and improvised from there. It is very creamy and delicious. Avocado and coconut milk go very well together. This time round I used plain sugar, next time I will try to use muscovado sugar or palm sugar and add pandan leaves! I am sure it will taste even better. I love the pale green colour on the white bowl.

Ingredients:

2 Hass avocados (ripe)

2 cups coconut milk

1 cup whipping cream

3/4 cup plus 1 tbsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

Method:

1. Chill avocados, cream and coconut milk in the fridge till cold.

2. Put all the ingredients into the blender and mix till the sugar dissolves.

3. Put it into the ice cream maker to churn according to manufacturer's instructions. Alternatively, if you don't have an ice cream maker, you can place the mixture in a shallow metal tray and freeze, whisking every couple of hours until frozen and creamy.

4. Scoop the ice cream into a container and freeze till a little hardened.

Strawberries, vanilla and sour cream crumbed cake

                
I am always attracted to colourful pictures of cakes and desserts on either cookbooks or food magazines. Especially on cakes that have a homely feel to it and made with fruits. Almost every month, I would rush to the newsstand to grab a copy of ‘delicious’ food magazine from the UK. Their recipes have been highly reliable unlike some cookbooks that are written by some famous chefs or personalities. Even some Nigella Lawson’s cake recipes are unreliable, as well as Barefoot Contessa’s. So far I have failed in two cakes from Barefoot Contessa’s recipes and some of Nigella's. I am considered quite a seasoned baker and therefore it should not be my skills that was the problem but their recipes. Maybe only half of them are reliable.

               

I could not wait to bake the cake on the cover of the March’s UK issue of ‘delicious’ magazine a while ago, it looked so inviting with the pieces of crumbs on top. I adapted the recipe a little. I used strawberries instead of rhubarb as it is not easy to find in Singapore.

Recipe from ‘delicious’ magazine by Debbie Major

Ingredients:

275g strawberries

50g sugar

2 tsp plain flour

Icing sugar for dusting

For the cake

6 tbsp of sour cream

1 large egg plus 1 yolk

1 tsp of vanilla bean paste or extract

100g plain flour

100g sugar

½ tsp of bicarbonate of soda

½ tsp of baking powder

¼ tsp salt

75g butter (room temperature)

50g ground almonds or hazelnuts

For the crumbs                                               

50g unsalted butter (cold)

25g light muscovado sugar

40g sugar

¼ tsp vanilla bean paste

100g plain flour, sifted

Pinch of salt

Method

1. For the crumbs, melt the butter in a small pan over a low heat. When it is melted, remove from the heat; add both types of sugar and stir constantly until dissolved into a smooth, toffee like sauce. Stir in the vanilla bean paste, pour into a small cake pan, then stir in the flour and salt to make a stiff, and biscuit like dough. Press the mixture firmly into the bottom of the pan and put it in the fridge to harden.
2. Preheat the oven to 180 C. Grease and line a 20cm/8 inch loose bottom pan with baking paper. Cut the strawberries into quarters and put them into a mixing bowl. Mix the sugar with the flour and stir it into the strawberries and leave it aside for 15 minutes and stir it now and then. The sugar and flour should cling onto the fruits.
3. For the cake, stir the sour cream, egg, egg yolk and vanilla in a small bowl. Sift the flour, sugar, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt into the mixer and add butter and mix until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the ground almonds or hazelnuts, and then gradually beat in the sour cream mixture until smooth.

4. Spread the cake mixture into the prepared pan, and then scatter over the strawberries, making sure the red parts are facing up. Break the crumb mixture into small pieces and scatter over the cake leaving some red fruits showing. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until golden brown and skewer comes out clean. Leave it to cool on rack and when cooled sift some icing sugar over the top.