Strawberry Custard Teacake/ Kek Strawberry Kastard

 

Moist crumb scented with citrus goodness (of orange zest and juice) and nutty almond, layered with creamy, velvety vanilla custard and topped with tart strawberries plus more almond - what more could you ask for in a cake? Go make this now!

Strawberry and Custard Teacake
Source: The Austalian Women's Weekly

Ingredients: 
250g butter, softened

2 tablespoons finely grated orange rind
1 1/2 cups (330g) caster sugar *I used 270g
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups (225g) self-raising flour, sifted
1/2 cup (75g) plain flour, sifted
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice *I used 3 1/2 tbsp
1/2 cup (60g) ground almonds (almond meal)
150g fresh or frozen raspberries *I used strawberry
1/4 cup (20g) flaked almonds *I used nibbed almond
icing sugar, thickened cream for serving

CUSTARD
2 tablespoons custard powder
1/4 cup (55g) caster sugar
1 cup (250ml) milk
20g butter, chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method: 

1. CUSTARD: Combine the custard powder and sugar in a small saucepan; gradually stir in the milk. Cook, stirring, until mixture boils and thickens. Remove from heat, stir in butter and vanilla. Press a piece of plastic wrap over the surface of the custard to prevent a skin forming; Refrigerate until cold.
2. Preheat oven to 170°C (150°C fan-forced). Grease a deep 22cm springform cake pan. Line base and side with baking paper.
3. Beat butter, rind and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Gradually fold in combined sifted flours, orange juice, then almond meal.
4. Spread two-thirds of the cake mixture into the prepared pan. Dollop small spoonfuls of custard over cake mixture. Spoon the remaining cake mixture over custard: carefully spread with spatula to completely cover the custard. Sprinkle over raspberries, then flaked almonds.
5. Bake for about 1 hour 25 minutes or until cooked when tested. Cool cake in pan. Transfer cake to cake stand and dust with sifted icing sugar. Serve with thickened cream, if desired.

*Suitable to freeze. Not suitable to microwave.

 

Kek Kastard Strawberry 
Sumber: The Austalian Women's Weekly

Bahan-bahan: 
250g mentega, suhu bilik

2 sudu besar parutan kulit oren (orange zest)
1 1/2 cawan (330g) gula kaster *saya guna 270g
4 biji telur
1 1/2 cawan (225g) tepung naik sendiri, diayak
1/2 cawan (75g) tepung gandum, diayak
2 sudu besar jus oren segar *saya guna 3 1/2 sb
1/2 cawan (60g) serbuk badam (badam dikisar halus)
150g strawberry segar
1/4 cawan (20g) kepingan badam

KASTARD
2 sudu besar serbuk kastard
1/4 cawan (55g) gula kaster
1 cawan (250ml) susu segar
20g mentega, didadu
1 sudu kecil esen vanilla

Cara-cara: 
1. KASTARD: Satukan serbuk kastard, gula dan susu dalam kuali. Kacau atas api sederhana hingga pekat. Alihkan dari dapur dan masukkan mentega dan esen vanilla. Sejukkan.
2. Panaskan oven kepada suhu 170°C (150°C fan-forced). Griskan springform pan berukuran 22cm dan alas dengan baking paper.
3. Dalam mangkuk besar, pukul mentega, parutan kulit oren dan gula hingga ringan dan gebu. Selepas itu, masukkan kedua-dua tepung yang diayak, jus oren segar dan serbuk badam. Kacau sebati dengan kaedah kaup balik. Gradually fold in combined sifted flours, orange juice, then almond meal.
4. Tuang 2/3 daripada adunan kek ke dalam springform pan tadi dan ratakan. Tuang kastard yang telah sejuk, ratakan. Selepas itu, masukkan adunan kek selebihnya dan akhir sekali tabur strawberry dan kepingan badam. 
5. Bakar selama 1 jam 25 minit atau sehingga masak sepenuhnya. Sejukkan kek di dalam loyang. 

Pistachio Butter Cookies and Happy Birthday to Me!

I am a year older now starting from Tuesday, 19th February 2013. Yes, it was my birthday. I celebrated at home, with my wonderful family. They cooked these Thai fare (deep fried squid in crispy batter, sweet and sour snapper and spicy vegetable tomyum):

...and bought this decadent bad boy:

Everbody, meet my birthday brownies! Simply named American Brownies from Secret Recipe. A rich, decadent, fudgy dark chocolate pistachio brownies. I loved it so much because it is how I like my brownies - FUDGY! So fudgy and chocolate-y it's not for the faint-hearted. Describing this brownies makes me wanna go to the fridge and grab a slice...and it's 11.13pm now...Ok, enough with this brownies. Let me introduce you to these wonderful cookies I found on Patricia Scarpin's Technicolor Kitchen (love her blog so much!). These cookies were fabulous! Buttery like shortbread, they are so crispy and full with nuts that you find yourself munching on them non-stop. They are really that good. And oh, I did not have enough pistachios when making these cookies so I added chopped cashew nuts too and they work wonders with pistachios. No kidding. 

    
Pistachio butter cookies 
Original recipe: Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook
Source: Technicolor Kitchen

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks/226g) unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 ½ cups + 2 tablespoons (370g total) all-purpose flour, sifted
½ teaspoon salt
112g (4oz) unsalted pistachios, lightly toasted, cooled, finely chopped, fine dust sifted out *I used 70g pistachios and 60g cashews
about ¼ cup granulated, extra, for rolling the dough log 

Method:
1.  In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and granulated sugar on medium speed until light and creamy, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Add the egg and vanilla, and beat to combine. Add the flour and salt; mix on low speed until combined. Stir in the pistachios.
2.  Divide the dough into two equal parts. Place each on a piece of parchment paper; shape dough into logs. Fold parchment over dough; using a ruler, roll and press into a 3.5 cm (1.4in) log – like Martha does here. Wrap in parchment (I wrap in foil). Chill in freezer until very firm (I chill overnight).

This is how my cookie log looks like.

3.  Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F; line two large baking sheets with baking paper. Unwrap one log at a time (keep the other in the freezer). Roll dough log in the extra sugar, coating them evenly, then cut into 6mm (¼in) thick rounds; space 2.5cm (1in) apart onto prepared sheets. Do the same with the other log.

Roll in sugar then slice.

4.  Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until golden brown around the edges, 15-20 minutes. Cool on the sheets for 5 minutes, then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Note:
*I find 180C to be perfect for cookies with such thickness as the photo above. But I find it to be too thick so I slice it thinner and bake those thinner slices at 160C.
*To get thinner slices, it's important that the log is cold. If you find the dough to have softened a bit to room temperature as you roll with in sugar, pop it back in the freezer for about a minute or so to firm it back. 
 

Pistachio Butter Cookies 
Sumber: Technicolor Kitchen

Bahan-bahan:
1 cawan (226g) mentega tanpa garam, suhu bilik
¾ cawan (150g) gula kaster
1 biji telur saiz A
1 sudu kecil esen vanilla
2 ½ cawan + 2 sb (370g) tepung gandum, diayak
½ sudu kecil garam *kalau guna butter biasa, letak secubit je garam
112g (4oz) unsalted pistachio yang disangai, cincang halus dan serbuk halus diayak keluar *saya guna 70g pistachio dan 60g kacang gajus
anggaran ¼ cawan gula, ekstra, untuk salut doh.

Cara-cara:
1.  Pukul mentega dan gula hingga ringan dan berkrim. Masukkan telur dan vanilla, pukul sebati. Tambah tepung dan secubit garam, gaul sebati. Akhir sekali masukkan pistachio.
2.  Bahagi doh kepada dua bahagian dan bentukkan seperti log (kayu) panjang anggaran ketebalan 3.5 cm (1.4inci). Balut dengan parchment paper (saya guna foil) dan sejukkan dalam freezer sampai keras (saya sejukkan semalaman).

3.  Panaskan oven kepada 180°C/350°F; gris dan alas dua loyang dengan baking paper. Ambil satu doh dari freezer (satu lagi simpan dulu) dan salut dengan gula ekstra. Selepas itu, potong doh kepada kepingan-kepingan setebal lebih kurang 6mm (¼inci) dan susun atas loyang tadi. Selepas habis, keluarkan doh yang satu lagi dan buat langkah-langkah yang sama. 

Salut dengan gula dan potong.

4.  Bakar selama 15-20 minit atau sehingga garing. Pusing loyang semasa separuh masa membakar jika perlu. Sejukkan biskut sepenuhnya dan simpan dalam bekas kedap udara.

Nota:
*Suhu 180C sesuai kalau potong biskut tebal-tebal macam dalam gambar. Kalau potong nipis-nipis, kena turunkan suhu sikit kepada 160C, kalau tak nanti cepat hangit. 

...By the way...there are still some of those brownies left in the fridge. Don't be shy. Help yourself :)

A slice for you :)

Basic Bread Recipe 2/ Doh Roti Asas 2 (Step-by-Step Instruction)

This is a follow up to my previous post of Basic Bread recipe here. I love the recipe as it is, but being quite a perfectionist myself, I find the bread to be lacking in 'body', that it is too soft and airy to my liking.  Therefore, I tweaked the recipe a bit by reducing the amount of water roux and increasing the amount of liquid. Note that I knead my dough by hand. The amount of water might be a little bit different if you use a Bread Machine. 

Now, are you ready to bake some bread? Let's get started. 

First,  we need to activate the yeast. In a small bowl, combine the yeast with a tablespoon of sugar, a tablespoon of flour and 150ml of lukewarm water or milk. Make sure the liquid is warm and not too hot, otherwise, it will kill the yeast. Let the yeast mixture sit while you prepare the other ingredients.   

Then, we make the water roux. Water roux is basically a mixture of water and flour that would help make your bread springy. For more information on water roux, check my post here.Water roux is one part flour and 5 parts water. So, mix together 25g flour and 125ml water:

 Stir the water roux mixture on medium heat until thicken, like this:

Set the water roux aside too cool a bit. Now, in a large bowl, combine and whisk together the flour (I used half all-purpose flour and half wholemeal flour), sugar and salt:

Then, it's time to put in all the wet ingredients - the yeast mixture (should be frothy by now), the water roux and a beaten egg:

Ok, from now on, it's work out time! Mix the wet and dry ingredients with a spatula or by hand:

Knead the ingredients together for about 5-7 minutes until a rather dry dough is formed. It may not be smooth or elastic at this stage because we are yet to add in the margarine/shortening. You might feel that you need to add more water to the dough, but trust me, you don't. The moisture will be added once the margarine is added in. But if you will, just add a little water tablespoon by tablespoon, not more than 50ml or 3 tablespoons:

Now, it's time to add in the margarine. Work the margarine into the dough and continue kneading with the heel of your palm until a smooth and elastic dough is formed, about 8-10 minutes. As you knead, scrape the bowl clean with dough. The dough might become greasy at first, but as you continue kneading, the margarine will be incorporated into the dough and it helps to create elasticity: 

 

After some serious hand workout, this is what you will get, a smooth and elastic dough. Note that the bowl now is clean:

Next, the dough need to be rested until it doubles in size (about 45 minutes to an hour), like this:

Then, punch the dough to deflate and now is your chance to shape the dough in whatever shapes you fancy:

Then, rest the shaped dough for another 30-45 minutes until they rise again. Glaze them with eggwash before baking. Bake at 350F/175C for about 15 minutes (depending on the size of your bread, the buns above took about 15 minutes to cook). 

Basic Bread Dough
Adapted from My Resipi

Ingredients:
To activate yeast:

5 tsp instant yeast
150ml warm water or milk

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon flour 

To make water roux:

25g flour

125ml water

For the dough:

600 g (5 cups, leveled) all-purpose or bread flour
100g caster sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp milk powder (optional)
1 egg, beaten
Water roux  
60 g softened butter/ margarine

1 egg, beaten + 2 tbsp milk (for egg wash)
Melted butter/ margarine (for brushing on cooked bread)

 

Method:

To activate yeast: In a small bowl, combine the yeast, sugar, flour and warm water/milk. Set aside and let the yeast do its thing.

To make water roux: Mix the flour and water in a saucepan and stir on medium heat for about a minute until thicken. Set aside to cool. 

To make the dough (by hand):

1. In a large bowl, combine and whisk the flour, milk powder (if using), sugar and salt together. 

2. Then, add in the activated yeast (should be frothy by now), cooled water roux and and an egg. Mix well. 

3. Using your hand, knead the mixture for about 5 minutes until a rough dough is formed. The dough might be rather dry and not elastic at this stage and there might still be bits and pieces of flour in the bowl.

4. Next, add in the butter or margarine into the dough. The dough might become greasy at first. Continue kneading using the heel of your palm until all the butter is incorporated in and the dough is no longer greasy and becomes smooth and elastic. 

5. Set the dough to proof for about an hour until it doubles in size.

6. After that, punch the the dough to release the air out. Now, you may shape the dough in any shape you like. Then, rest the shaped dough for at least 30 minutes to an hour to allow them to rise again.  

7. Preheat the oven to 350F or 175C. Brush the bread with the egg wash and bake in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes (depending on the size of your bread) or until cooked. 

8. Lightly brush the tops of bread with the margarine or melted butter when done to prevent crust from getting hard. 

  
Note:
- For variation, you may substitute half of the flour with wholemeal flour for a wholemeal sandwich, like this:

 -  You can use this dough to make pizza too.

Look at its texture:

Resipi Doh Roti Asas
Diolah daripada: My Resipi

Bahan-bahan:
Untuk aktifkan yis:

5 sudu kecil yis *saya guna Mauripan
150ml air/susu suam

1 sudu besar gula

1 sudu besar tepung

Untuk membuat water roux:

25g tepung

125ml air

Untuk doh:

600 g (5 cawan rata) tepung roti atau tepung gandum
100g gula kaster
1 sudu kecil garam
2 sudu besar susu tepung (optional)
1 biji telur, dikocok
Water roux  
60 g marjerin

1 biji telur dikocok + 2 sudu besar  (untuk glaze)
Marjerin (untuk sapu roti selepas masak)

 

Cara-cara:

Untuk aktifkan yis: Dalam bekas kecil, satukan yis, gula, tepung dan susu/air suam. Ketepikan.

Untuk water roux: Kacau tepung dan air di atas api sederhana hingga memekat (dalam 1 minit). Sejukkan.  

Untuk membuat doh:

1. Dalam mangkuk yang besar, satukan tepung, susu tepung (jika guna), gula dan garam.

2. Selepas itu, masukkan yis yang telah diaktifkan tadi (yis akan berbuih), water roux dan telur yang dikocok. Gaul sebati. 

3. Dengan menggunakan tangan, uli bahan-bahan tadi sehingga menjadi doh yang kasar, dalam 5 minit. 

4. Selepas itu, masukkan marjerin/butter dan uli lagi doh sehingga menjadi licin dan elastik. 

5. Rehatkan doh selama 1 jam atau sehingga naik dua kali ganda.

6. Selepas itu, tumbuk doh untuk membuang angin dan bentukkan doh mengikut citarasa anda. Selepas itu, doh perlu direhatkan semula selama 45 minit atau sehingga berganda saiznya.  

7. Panaskan oven pada suhu 350F/175C. Sapu permukaan roti dengan campuran telur dan susu dan bakar selama 12-15 minit (bergantung kepada saiz roti) atau sehingga masak. 

8. Selepas dikeluarkan dari oven, sapu permukaan roti dengan sedikit marjerin/butter supaya roti kekal lembut. 

  
Nota:
- Untuk variasi, boleh juga gantikan separuh daripada kuantiti tepung gandum dengan tepung wholemeal untuk buat roti sandwich wholemeal.
- Doh ini juga boleh digunakan untuk roti pizza. 
 

Condensed Milk Pound Marble Cake/ Kek Marble Susu Pekat Manis

Seriously, I swear by this recipe. Bake this countless times, in different guises. It's the same recipe for the orange pound cupcake and marbled loaf I made before.  I'm forever grateful for finding this recipe on the fabulous Kak Rima's blog Bisous a Toi. The fantastic Che Mat Gebu of dapur tanpa sempadan too has tried this great recipe. If you don't trust me, you have two baking greats' stamp of approval on this recipe. You MUST try this, like now!

Condensed Milk Pound Marble Cake
Sources: 
baking fiends unite! 
Bisous a Toi
dapur tanpa sempadan

Ingredients:
240gm good quality butter
90gm sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup (304gm) condensed milk
3 tsp vanilla paste *I used 2 tsp vanilla extract
240gm cake flour *I used all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
4 large eggs
3 tbsp cocoa powder / 1 tbsp chocolate emulco 

Method:
1. Sift cake flour and baking powder together. Set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
3. Add in salt and vanilla paste and cream well.
4. Pour in condensed milk and cream till well combined.
5. Using the mixer on low speed, add in flour in 3 additions. Mix till batter is smooth.
6. Add in eggs one at a time. Make sure it's well mixed and smooth. 

7. For marbled effect, take out about a third of the batter and add in the cocoa powder or emulco. Pour in the remaining batter into a greased pan. Drop in the cocoa batter dollop by dollop and swirl with a chopstick or knife to achieve that marble effect. 
8. Bake at 175C for 1 hour. *I followed Kak Rima and baked mine at 170C for 45 mins.  

Kek Pound Susu Pekat

Sumber: 

baking fiends unite! 

Bisous a Toi

dapur tanpa sempadan

Bahan-bahan:
240 gram mentega berkualiti tinggi 

90 gram gula halus

Secubit garam

1 cawan susu pekat manis

2 sudu kecil esen vanilla

240 gram tepung kek *saya guna tepung gandum
1 1/2 sudu kecil baking powder

4 biji telur gred A

3 sudu besar serbuk koko / 1 sudu besar chocolate emulco 

Cara-cara:

1. Panaskan oven pada suhu 170C, griskan tin kek bersaiz 9 inci dengan mentega dan alas dasarnya dengan kertas minyak, lenser juga kertas tadi. Ayak tepung dan baking powder. Ketepikan. 
2. Putar mentega dengan gula hingga putih.

3. Masukkan esen vanilla dan garam, putar hingga gebu.
4. Tuang susu pekat manis dan putar lagi hingga sebati.
5. Perlahankan kelajuan dan masukkan tepung yang telah diayak tadi sedikit demi sedikit hingga habis, putar rata.
6. Akhir sekali masukkan telur satu persatu sambil terus memutar hingga mendapat adunan yang licin.

7. Untuk buat marble, keluarkan 1/3 daripada adunan tadi dan masukkan serbuk koko atau emulco. Tuang adunan selebihnya ke dalam loyang tadi. Selepas itu, masukkan adunan koko dan lorekkan dengan chopstick.  

8. Bakar selama 45 minit hingga 1 jam atau sehingga masak sempurna. 

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies/ Biskut Coklat Chips Mentega Perang

While I was pinning on my bake! cookies board on Pinterest, I found three recipes for browned butter chocolate cookies. The first one is Cooks Illustrated recipe on laura's sweet spot. The recipe is deemed the perfect chocolate chip cookies, and it is from Cooks Illutrated, so it must be good, right? Then, I found a sinful recipe on cooking classy: Nutella Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies with Browned Butter, Vanilla Beans & Sea Salt. Say what?! I almost settle on that until I found a recipe on Kak Rima's bisous a toi and decided to give it a try. This recipe is so simple and the cookies were fantastic! I reduced the sugar a bit and added chopped cashews for extra bite. Yum! A definite keeper. Oh, before i forget, I'd like to remind you that these cookies do spread and don't place them close to each other like I did. Follow the recipe and place them 2 inches apart so you can get perfectly round cookies.

DON'T place the cookies too close to each other like this! They'll spread. 

     
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Original Recipe: completely delicious
Source: bisous a toi

Ingredients:
1 cup (226 grams) unsalted butter
1/2 cup (100 grams) sugar *I used 90g dark brown sugar
1 cup (215 grams) brown sugar *I used 200g light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cup (300 grams) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups (450 grams) semi-sweet chocolate chips *I used 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips and 1/2 cup chopped toasted cashews
Coarse salt, for sprinkling (optional)

Method:

1. In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Once melted, continue to cook until it turns golden brown. Swirl the pan occasionally if needed so that it browns evenly. Watch it fairly closely, as it can go from brown to burned quickly. When the color has turned golden, small flecks speckle the butter, and it has a nutty aroma, remove from heat and poor into a shallow dish. Chill in the fridge until it becomes solid. You want it to be soft, but not melted. If it cool too hard, let it come back to room temperature before using.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees (175C) and line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
3. Beat the brown butter, sugar, and brown sugar on medium high speed with an electric mixer until light and creamy, about 4 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each. Add the vanilla extract.
4. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Add the chocolate chips and mix until incorporated.
5. Spoon by the tablespoon onto the prepared baking sheet, leaving 2 inches in between each cookie. Sprinkle with coarse salt, if desired. Bake until golden brown, 10-12 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes on the pan before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
6. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature.

Biskut Coklat Chip Mentega Perang
Resipi asal: completely delicious
Sumber: bisous a toi

Bahan-bahan:
1 cawan (226 grams) mentega tanpa garam
1/2 cawan (100 grams) gula *saya guna 90g gula perang gelap
1 cawan (215 grams) gula perang *saya guna 200g gula perang biasa
2 biji telur
1 sudu kecil esen vanilla
2 1/2 cawan (300 grams) tepung gandum
1 sudu kecil baking soda
1/2 sudu kecil garam
2 cawan (450 grams) coklat chips *saya guna 1 1/2 cawan coklat chips dan 1/2 cawan kacang gajus yang disangai dan dipotong kasar
Garam kasar untuk ditabur (tak letak pun xpe)

Cara-cara:

1. Dengan api perlahan, cairkan mentega dan biar sehingga ia bertukar ke warna perang. Jangan biar sampa hangit. Selepas itu, sejukkan mentega perang di dalam peti sejuk sehingga ia keras sedikit.  
2. Panaskan oven pada suhu 175C dan alas loyang dengan kertas parchment.
3. Pukul mentega perang, gula dan gula perang sehingga berkrim. Masukkan telur satu persatu dan pukul sebati. Tambah esen vanilla dan kacau lagi. 
4. Dalam satu bekas yang lain, satukan tepung, baking soda dan garam. Masukkan campuran tepung tadi ke dalam mentega yang dipukul tadi (wet ingredients) dan kacau sebati. Masukkan coklat chips dan gaul. 
5. Letak adunan biskut anggaran 1 sudu besar setiap satu di atas loyang. Jarakkan dalam 2 inci kerana biskut akan mengembang semasa bakar. Tabur sedikit garam kasar jika suka. Bakar selama 10-12 minit atau sehingga garing. Sejukkan dan simpan dalam bekas kedap udara.