Pineapple Tarts (Closed/ Balls)

I love pineapple tarts!!! Yumz! Made this during CNY last year and it was good. Generally I prefer the closed type as less sweet. But it is quite tedious as need to measure the jam and shell individually. 

Pineapple jam, I got from Phoon Huat but this recipe also include the jam recipe. So if hardworking enough, can give it a try.

But i had being so long ago that I did this recipe hence unable to make any side notes. But I do remember weighing the jam and shell individually and rolled into balls.

Link:
https://rasamalaysia.com/best-ever-pineapple-cookies-pineapple-tarts/

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 sticks butter, unsalted butter, at room temperature (350 g)

• 3 1/2 oz sweetened condensed milk (100 g)

• 2 egg yolks

• 18 oz all-purpose flour or plain flour (500 g)

PINEAPPLE FILLING:

• 2 whole pineapples (8 lbs / 3 1/2 kg or 5 lbs (2 1/2 kg) pineapple flesh)

• 1/2 tablespoon cloves, (optional)

• 1 - 1 1/2 cups sugar, or to taste (250 - 300 g)

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

EGG WASH:

• 2 egg yolks

• 1/4 teaspoon condensed milk

• 1/2 teaspoon oil

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Cut the stalk off the pineapple and follow by the skin. Make sure all divits are removed. Slice the pineapple flesh into pieces and blend in a blender until they become puree. Add the pineapple puree and cloves to a non-stick pot and cook on medium heat, constantly stirring to avoid burning. When the pineapple is almost dry, add the sugar and lemon juice, stir to combine well. Lower the heat to simmer and continue to stir until the pineapple filling turns golden in color and becomes very sticky. Transfer the pineapple filling out, remove the cloves and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

1. Cream the butter and condensed milk until light and fluffy. Add in the egg yolk one at a time, and beat until well combined. Mix in the flour slowly to form the pastry dough. The dough is ready when it no longer sticks to your hands.

1. Prepare the egg wash by mixing all the ingredients together in a small bowl.

1. Divide the pineapple filling and dough into 100 portions. Roll them both into balls. To wrap, use your palms to roll each dough and then flatten it.

1. Add a pineapple ball in the middle and fold the edges of the dough up to cover the filling.

1. Finish it off by rolling it into a round ball.

1. Place the pineapple cookie on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Using the back of a paring knife, cut the criss-cross shape on the cookie, and brush the top of the cookie with the egg wash, twice. Repeat the same until all ingredients are used up.

1. Bake in a preheated oven at 330F (165C) for about 20-22 minutes or until they turn golden brown. Transfer them out and cool on a wire crack before storing in an airtight container.

NOTES

The pineapples filling is good for two batches of pineapple tarts. You can keep the pineapple filling in the fridge.

Japanese Potato Salad

Backtracking some of the old recipe I had made before. My boys love potato and this is a more refreshing recipe than the usual Potato Salad but probably less popular due to the various vegetables.

Link:

https://www.justonecookbook.com/japanese-potato-salad/

INGREDIENTS

• 2 russet potatoes
• ½ tsp kosher/sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; Use half for table salt)
• 1 large egg
• 2 ½ inch carrot
• ¼ cup corns
• 2 inch English cucumber (The cucumber in this photo is about 3", but you just need about 2")
• 2 slices black forest ham
• ⅓ cup Japanese mayonnaise
• kosher/sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; Use half for table salt)
• freshly ground black pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Gather all the ingredients.
2. Peel potato skins and cut into 1 ½ inch pieces. They should be roughly about the same size so that they’ll be done cooking around be the same. Put potatoes in a large pot and add water until it covers all the potatoes. We start cooking potatoes in cold water so that it allows them to slowly heat up so they will cook through evenly.
3. Boil potatoes with high heat. After water boils, lower heat to medium and cook until a skewer can goes through the potato smoothly, about 10 minutes. Drain the water from pot and put the potato back on the stove again.
4. On the stove, evaporate water and moisture of the potatoes over medium-high heat (for less than 1 minute). Shift the pot in circular motion so the potatoes wont’ get burnt. When you see there no liquid in the pan, remove from heat.
5. Mash the potatoes but leave some small chunks for texture. Sprinkle salt and transfer it into a big bowl and let it cool on the kitchen counter.
6. Meanwhile prepare a boiled egg. Remove the shell and mash the egg with a fork in a small bowl. Set aside.
7. Cut carrots into quarter (or half) and then slice it thinly. Put them in a microwave-safe container and cover it with water. Microwave for a few minutes until a skewer goes smoothly through the carrot (don’t overcook). Drain water and cool down.
8. Peel the cucumbers (leave some skin on to create stripe pattern) and cut into quarter. Then slice it thinly.
9. Dice the sliced hams into small size.
10. Prepare and boil corn (canned corn kernels works as well).
11. Add hams and veggies into the mashed potato bowl. Grind some pepper over and mix well.
12. Add mayonnaise and mix until incorporated.
13. Add boiled eggs and mix a bit but don’t over do it. Let it cool and then refrigerate for 30-60 minutes before serving.

To Store

1. Keep in the refrigerator and consume it in 3-4 days.

“No. 2” Toilet Odor Spray

Another non edible recipe but useful for toilet so that it is not so stinky when we do our big business.

Link:
https://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/natural-toilet-odor-spray-with-essential-oils/

You’ll need:

50 drops Simple Clean Essential Oil Blend*
~4 ounces witch hazel
Small glass spray bottle

Note: My original formula featured lemon, grapefruit, and bergamot essential oils, but I recently started using Simple Clean instead. If you don’t have it on hand or it isn’t available, using 25 drops of lemon oil and 25 drops of eucalyptus oil is a great alternative.

Directions:

Remove the spray top from the bottle and add the essential oils, with the help of a small funnel if necessary.

Fill the rest of the bottle with witch hazel, then replace the spray top and shake to combine.

How To Use Your No. 2 Spray

Shake the bottle well before each use. Spray 3-4 times directly into the toilet bowl before you “go,” and the oils will create a vapor barrier to trap offensive odors. (It doesn’t get much easier than that!)

Danish Butter Cookies

Smells very good though personally I did not feel it taste the same. The kids love the cookies and my SIL and helper said that it does taste like Danish Butter Cookies.

Link:
https://penangfoodie.com/danish-butter-cookies-recipe/
There are photos you can refer to if needed.

Ingredients

• 125g butter
• 90g whipping cream
• 180g cake flour
• 30g powdered sugar
• 30g fine sugar
• 2g salt

Step 1: Begin by taking the butter out of the refrigerator for at least an hour before baking to soften.

Step 2: In a bowl, mix together butter, powdered sugar, fine sugar and salt. Then, whisk until well combined and fluffy.

Step 3: Gradually add in the whipping cream in 3 portions, beating on low speed between each addition.

Step 4: Sift the cake flour and add it to the butter mixture. Mix well, pour into a piping bag with a star piping tip.

Step 5: Pipe out the batter on a lined baking sheet. (If you don’t have a star tip, use a fork to make some designs)

Step 6: Place the baking sheet in a preheated oven at 180°C. Bake for 20 minutes. Let it cool and enjoy!

There is a tip that I missed out: If your cookies start to turn too brown, simply place an aluminium foil on top and continue to bake!

The cookies do brown and tasted abit burnt if I baked the full 20 min. However if I try to remove them from the oven too early, while the whole cookies do not turn too brown, especially the middle of the cookies, the middle of the cookies was still abit soft. So I will try the aluminium foil method next time.

Cream of Mushroom

My boys love Cream of Mushroom hence decided to try to make this dish. However since it was served to kids, I skipped the wine and did not bother to get any fresh herbs. Hence slight alteration to the recipe but still it manages to get thumbs up from everyone! 

Link:https://cafedelites.com/creamy-mushroom-soup/

INGREDIENTS

• 4 tablespoons butter (56g)
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 2 onions diced (yellow onion used)
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 1 1/2 pounds (750 g) fresh brown mushrooms sliced
• 4 teaspoons chopped thyme divided (did not used)
• 1/2 cup Marsala wine (any dry red or white wine) (did not used)
• 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour (90g)
• 4 cups low sodium chicken broth or stock
• 1-2 teaspoons salt adjust to taste (1 teaspoon used but too salty)
• 1/2-1 teaspoons black cracked pepper adjust to taste (no specific measurement, normal pepper and Italian Herbs used)
• 2 beef bouillon cubes, crumbled (did not used)
• 1 cup heavy cream or half and half (sub with evaporated milk) (heavy cream used)
• Chopped fresh parsley and thyme to serve (did not used)

INSTRUCTIONS

• Heat butter and oil in a large pot over medium-high heat until melted. Sauté onion for 2 to 3 minutes until softened. Cook garlic until fragrant, about 1 minute.
• Add mushrooms and 2 teaspoons thyme, cook for 5 minutes. Pour in wine and allow to cook for 3 minutes.
• Sprinkle mushrooms with flour, mix well and cook for 2 minutes. Add stock, mix again and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low-medium heat, season with salt, pepper and crumbled bouillon cubes.
• Cover and allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes, while occasionally stirring, until thickened.
• Reduce heat to low, stir in cream or half and half. Allow to gently simmer (do not boil). Adjust salt and pepper to your taste.
• Mix in parsley and remaining thyme. Serve warm.

Pasta Cream Sauce

Our defined 'Carbonara' pasta sauce. To us, it will be the cream sauce, wet version.

I like this recipe as it only calls for 3 ingredients. So simple and basic and yet it passes the taste test of the kids and my hubby.

Link (even has video!!):
https://vikalinka.com/pasta-cream-sauce/

This website even give tips on what kind of pasta to use and why freshly grated cheese preferred.

Ingredients

• 500ml/2cups double cream/heavy cream
• 50g/1/2cup Parmesan cheese freshly grated
• salt to taste

Instructions

• Heat the cream in a pan over low heat but do not let it boil. 
• Take it off the heat and whisk in the grated Parmesan cheese until melted and smooth. Taste the sauce and add the salt as needed. (Salt is an important ingredient here, so do not skip it.)
• To dress the pasta with the cream sauce, add the pasta directly to the pan with the sauce and gently shake the pan to coat the pasta with the sauce. Add up to 1/3 cup of the reserved pasta water to loosen the sauce. 
  

  Serve immediately.

Pasta portion: 1 packet of pasta is too much for 3 adults and 2 kids. Perhaps 3/4 packet will be just nice. Cook the pasta in a pot of salted water.

Butter Cupcake

Besides the school project my boy did previously, where he laid his hands on a bit of 'cooking'. This is another recipe he did but this time mainly by himself. I managed to convince him to bake for his Nai Nai's birthday. So found this recipe that seems easy enough for him to handle. We passed him the ingredients and he measured out and even tried his hands on using the mixer.

Here's the link:https://oladybakes.com/2019/08/04/super-easy-mrs-ng-sk-butter-cake-no-egg-separation/

Even has step-by-step photo!

Btw, this 'Mrs Ng' website does seem to have quite interesting and nice recipes. If I have the time and am hardworking enough...

Recipe (makes 8 cupcakes)

• 125g salted butter cut into cubes

• 85g caster sugar

• Pinch of salt

• 2 eggs

• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence

• 100g plain flour

• 1/2 tsp baking powder

• 30 ml milk

Method1. Cream butter, salt and sugar till light and fluffy.

2. Add in eggs 1 by 1, beat well at high speed after each addition till well mixed. Add in vanilla essence with second egg.

3. Sift flour with baking powder. Then add half to the butter mixture. Mix well at low speed

4. Add in half the milk and mix and low speed again, just a few seconds. Repeat for the rest of the flour and milk. Batter is quite thick.

5. Spoon into paper cups as below about 2/3 full.

6. Top with chocolate chips if you like. Bake at 180 deg C for 25 min.

7. Cool on rack.

Makes about 12 for my own paper cups.
2nd time trying this recipe, we added 1 tbsp of chocolate powder, taste not very strong so can add more next time.

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