Sheep German Cookies

There was so much craze on the Sheep German Cookies on Facebook. They are so cute and make me so tempted to try, what's more this year is the year of the Goat. So apt right?

Before we start on the shaping, let's start on the recipe which I took from one of the mommies from Facebook (cannot remember who anymore, but pretty much the same recipe for most except this one calls for milk powder).

German Cookies Recipe

Ingredients:
1) 125g Butter (I used SCS butter)
2) 40g Icing Sugar (I used 35g)
3) 125g Potato Flour/ Starch
4) 80g Super Fine Flour (I used Top Flour, but as per my previous articles on Flour, it can be Cake Flour as well)
5) 1 tablespoon Milk Powder

Method:
1) Preheat the oven, 150 degree celsius
2) Soften the butter, add on icing sugar and beat until fluffy and light in colour by mixer.
3) Sieve and combine the flours and milk power.
4) Sieve all the flour mix and make become a dough.
5) Cover the dough and put into the fridge for 30 minutes (I was busy with other recipes as well as attending to the boy, hence the dough was left in the fridge for at least 7 hours which by then was very hard. In this case, I took it out 15 min earlier to soften before shaping)
6) Shape it to round/ sheep shape. Use a fork to press on the top (for round shape), wet the fork with each press to avoid sticking.
7) Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven or until light golden colour (I only used about 12 min)

For Sheep Shapes:
1) Shape it to a ball for the body
2) Shape 2-4 small balls for the wool, placed onto on the round body, then press down with toothpick
3) For the horn, use choc chips on each side
4) For the eyes, uses sesame seed (I find this very challenging, the use of a tweezer will make the job much easier. Another suggestion was chocolate rice but )

my cute meh-meh

I saw another mother shaped into other animals. Creative yah! But I am keen to try chicken and dog. Shall post if I do get a chance to try.

Choc Chip Cookies

I had quite alot of choc chip leftover from the animal cupcakes decorations, hence I thought the best way to use them up is to bake choc chip cookies. I wanted to try Famous Amos kind but the recipe I found looks like alot of ingredients. I am not ready to go buy more ingredients just to make one item. I remembered I was ever given a recipe, memory was that it was not too bad. Hence I went to dig out my Recipe File.

Choc Chip Cookies Recipe (yields about 40 small cookies)

Ingredients:
125g Butter
70g Castor Sugar
70g Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence
1 Egg
260g Self-Raising Flour
130g Choc Chips (more if you like)

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degree celsius
2. Sift the flour, set aside
3. Beat butter, essence, sugars using mixer until smooth
4. Add egg and beat until well combined
5. Stir in sifted flour and the remaining ingredients
6. Take rounded teaspoons of mixture and roll into balls
7. Place balls about 4 cm apart on slightly greased oven trays or line with baking sheet
8. Bake in preheated oven for 15 min or until brown (*my oven definitely takes less than 15 min, perhaps about 12 min)
9. Cool in trays for short while and transfer to wire rack for cooling

 

mixed dough

all spread nicely on the tray waiting to be baked

baked products

Different Types of Flour

During this period, I was quite on form (by my standard) on baking.

In fact just last Friday alone, I had baked 3 different recipes on the same day.
1) Cheese Breadsticks
2) Choc Chip Cookies
3) Meh Meh/ Sheep German Cookies

However with so many different kind of recipe experiments, each recipe called for different kind of flour. I am not a pro as yet to differentiate one from another. So to be on the safe side, I buy those flour as indicated in the recipe and guess what, I have so many different kind of flour now. This can get quite frustrating.

So I googled the Internet to get a better understanding. This particular website stands out, perhaps she's a Singaporean and can explain better.

http://everybodyeatswell.blogspot.com/2013/05/different-types-of-flours-for-chinese.html

Some excerpts from the website:

QUOTE

To understand what type of flour to be used for what type of cakes, tarts, cookies, breads or buns, you have to first understand the role of protein and gluten in flours. Flours are either wheat-derived or from non-wheat sources (gluten-free). Wheat flour contains protein and when it comes into contact with water and heat, it produces gluten, which helps yeast stretch and rise, and which gives elasticity and strength to baked goods. Different types of wheat flour contain different amounts of protein, so the main difference between flour types is in the gluten content, which can vary depending on whether the flour is made from hard wheat or soft wheat, what brand it is, whether it is bleached or unbleached or for what purpose. At one end of the spectrum, you have Cake Flour (lowest protein level, 6-8%), then you have Pastry Flour (8-10%) and All-Purpose or Plain Flour (medium-protein level, 10-12%), and at the other end of the spectrum, you have Bread Flour (highest-protein level, 12-14%). The type of flour used will ultimately affect the finished product, so always use the type of flour which the recipe specifically calls for.

Cake Flour (low-protein flour, low-gluten flour, 低筋面粉) is a finely-milled soft wheat flour with a high starch content and a low protein content (6-8%). It has the lowest protein content of all wheat flours. It is smooth and velvety in texture. Cake flour is almost always chlorinated (bleached), which toughens the protein molecules, enabling the flour to carry more sugar and liquid with collapsing. Good for making cakes (especially white cakes and biscuits) where a tender and delicate texture is desired, or cakes with a high amount of sugar and liquid in proportion to flour.
One cup sifted Cake Flour can be substituted with 3/4 cup (84 grams) sifted bleached All-Purpose Flour plus 2 tablespoons (15 grams) cornstarch.
Cake Flour is sometimes also called "Softassilk Flour".

Pastry Flour is similar to Cake Flour, but not bleached. It is made from soft wheat flour and has a slightly higher protein content (8-10%) than Cake Flour, which aids the elasticity needed to hold together the buttery layers in flaky doughs such as croissants, puff pastry and pie crusts. It is soft and ivory in color. The medium protein level makes Pastry Flour great to use in recipes where you want a tender and crumbly pastry, as too much protein would give you a hard pastry and too little protein would give you a brittle dough. Good for making pastry, pies and cookies.
To make Two cups of Pasty Flour, combine 1-1/3 cups (185 grams) All-Purpose Flour with 2/3 cup (90 grams) Cake Flour.

Self-Rising Flour (自发粉） has a 8-9% protein content and contains flour plus baking powder and salt. If the flour is stored too long, the baking powder will lose some of its strength and your baked goods will not rise properly.
If you want to make you own SR Flour, add 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt per cup (130 grams) of All-Purpose Flour.

All-Purpose Flour or Plain Flour (medium-protein flour, medium-gluten flour, 中筋面粉) has a 10-12% protein content and is made from a blend of hard and soft wheat flours. It can be bleached or unbleached. Good for making cakes, cookies, breads and pastries.

Bread Flour (high-protein flour, high-gluten flour, 高筋面粉) has a 12-14% protein content and is made from hard wheat flour. The high gluten content is good for bread baking, because when combined with water, the flour becomes elastic from gluten formation, and this gives you the chewy texture that is desired in a good bread. Comes in white, whole wheat, organic, bleached and unbleached. Good for making breads and some pastries.

The above cover more or less all you need to know about flours in the western baking world. When you need to make chinese steamed buns, the recipe often calls for using Hong Kong Flour (Waterlily Flour) or Pau Flour or Cake Flour, you start scratching your head again and ask what the heck is that? Actually HK Flour = Waterlily Flour = 香港水仙面粉. Pau Flour is most of the time synonymous with HK Flour, but not always, because some Pau Flour comes pre-mixed with added yeast. Then you wonder, why do you need HK Flour, Pau Flour or Cake Flour to make chinese steamed buns, why can't I use ordinary Plain Flour? Well, HK Flour is highly bleached. Freshly milled flour is unbleached and is yellowish naturall. Bleaching not only whitens the flour, it breaks down the gluten level further and makes the flour softer. HK Flour has about the same protein level as Pastry Flour, about 8-10%, whereas Cake Flour has a slightly lower protein level, about 6-8%. Hence HK Flour, Pau Flour and Cake Flour which are all bleached low-protein flours are suitable for making asian dim sum especially the HK-style smiling char siew buns which have a very white fluffy texture.

Then how does HK Flour differ from Superlite Flour and Top Flour which are often mentioned in recipes from Singapore and Malaysia? According to the Prima Flour website, "Superlite Flour is a super soft flour best used for making Hong Kong type steamed buns, Japanese castella cake, Malay sponge cake (kueh baulu) and others where a specially soft and light texture is required. This flour is also referred to as "Hong Kong Flour" by some users." Ok, mystery solved. So the Prima brand Superlite Flour is actually just Hong Kong Flour!

Then what about Prima Top Flour? The Prima website says that "Top Flour is an extra-fine quality flour to give exceptionally smooth and fine texture for your baking needs. It is especially ideal for baking very fine cakes; such as chiffon cakes, swiss rolls, crepes, cake doughnuts and butter cookies." I have never used Prima Superlite Flour or Top Flour before, and I don't know their protein level so I can't tell you what is the difference, but I suspect if there is a difference, it is very subtle in terms of protein level. They should be very similar in nature as in they are both low-protein flours for making delicate cakes and cookies.

Not to forget, Prima also has a Cake Flour which we already know what it is. The Prima website says that "Cake Flour is a superb quality, soft-as-silk flour. It has excellent tolerance to a high amount of butter and sugar resulting in cakes of good volume. This flour is best used for baking sponge cakes and very rich cakes like pound cakes."

**More useful info on the comments:
Bake King Brand, Top Flour is also Cake Flour

Basic Flour to have: Plain Flour, Cake Flour and Bread Flour

How to turn All-Purpose Flour into Cake Flour
Step One: Measure out the all-purpose flour that you'll need for your recipe.

Step Two: For every cup of flour you use, take out two tablespoons of flour and return it to the flour bin. Throw the cup of flour (minus the two tablespoons) into a sifter set over a bowl.

Step Three: Replace the two tablespoons of flour that you removed with two tablespoons of cornstarch.

Step Four: Sift the flour and cornstarch together.

To make 1 cup of self raising flour:
1 cup of all purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

UNQUOTE

A table I found from another website
http://www.eatbydate.com/substitutions/flour-substitutes/

Cheese Breadsticks

I noticed whenever we were at hotel buffets, the boy is always so contented with the breadsticks. However it's uncommon anywhere else. Hence I thought of baking some for the boy, those crunchy kind. He loves bread but loves it even more if it's crunchy.

The ever so reliable food-4tots.com has a recipe, in fact for both the crunchy and soft kind. Although crunchy kind is just plain breadsticks, no worries, just add cheese into the recipe.

The link: http://food-4tots.com/2012/01/11/simple-breadsticks/2/

Below recipe is pretty much the same as the link with some (very) slight adjustments by me, indicated with * with italic font.

Recipe for Simple/ *Cheese Breadsticks
Source: Adapted and modified from 一学就会做匹萨-美食讲堂系列 - 白锦霞 ( (*as per food-4tots.com)

Ingredients:
250g high gluten flour (or bread flour)
130-150g water (note 1 and 2)
2g instant yeast
4g salt
12g extra light olive oil
*100g grated cheese (I used Coon Extra Tasty)

Methods:

1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast with water (130g).
2. In a large mixing bowl, add flour and make a well in the center. Pour the yeast mixture into it and mix well. Then follow by salt. Add the remaining water little by little. It’s not necessary to use all the water. Knead until a dough is formed.
3. Add in olive oil and continue kneading until the oil is fully absorbed into the dough. It’s fine if  the dough is wet and sticky at the initial stage. Continue kneading until the dough is less sticky and more manageable.
4. *Add in almost all the grated cheese (remaining to be sprinkled later) is added into the dough and knead till well mixed.
5. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead until soft and smooth. (note 3).
6. Test the dough to see whether it is well kneaded by doing a membrane test (refer to this cheese breadsticks post). Take out a small piece of dough, gently stretch it outwards at all the directions to form a thin layer of “membrane”. If your dough has not reached this stage, continue kneading.
7. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with cling wrap and proof for 20 minutes at room temperature.
8. Divide the dough into 3 equal portions and shape into balls. Place them into a large container/ tray, cover with cling wrap and proof in the fridge for another one hour.  (note 4)
9. Remove the chilled dough from the fridge. Let it sit in the room temperature for 5 minutes. Work on one dough at a time.
10. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a rectangular shape with 0.2-0.3cm thickness. Roll from center towards outside at four different directions. Make sure the dough has equal thinness. You may need to roll it several times to achieve this thickness. Sprinkle some flour (on the surface and the rolling pin) as and when required to avoid dough from sticking.
11. Brush the dough lightly with olive oil. (*Sprinkle the remaining of the grated cheese) Use a pizza cutter to cut the dough into small strips (about 8-10cm long x 1cm width each). Hold both ends and twist the strip. (*My dough is kind of elastic and not able to stay in the twisted form. In the end I'd resorted to rolling them and to ensure that the grated cheese remained on the dough)
12. Place on a lighted greased baking tray. Cover with clip wrap and proof for another 15 minutes.
13. Bake at a preheated oven at 180°C for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown (note 5). Then leave it the oven (without heat) for another 2 minutes. (*actually I totally forgotten to leave it in the oven, without heat for another 2 min, but the result is still good)

Notes:

1. If the weather is hot, just use normal tap water. If the weather is cold, then use luke warm water (45°C). (*I used about 2/3 of tap water and 1/3 of hot water)
2. Start with 130g and slow add the remaining during kneading. You may not need to finish all.
3. The following videos will demonstrate how to knead dough with hands.
• - The Kitchn
• - Carol 自在生活 (even if you don’t understand Chinese, you must watch video no. 6 and 7 to learn the technique of “smashing”甩打. It helps to improve the texture of the dough.)
4. Proofing the dough in fridge helps to improve the crunchiness of the breadsticks.
5. The baking temperature and time should be used as a reference. You can reduce the heat after 5 minutes.
6. You may need to bake these breadsticks in 3 batches.
7. Instead of strips, you can roll the dough into long strips. For this, you need to divide the dough into 10g dough at step (8). Roll into 25cm long strip (refer to photo (h) at this cheese breadsticks post). If you can’t get the required length at first attempt, set it aside and work on other strips. You may need to roll it 2-3 times to achieve this length as the strips will shrink slightly. Brush the long strips with olive oil. Cover with cling wrap and proof for 15 minutes. Then continue with step (12).

This dough is suitable for making thin crust pizza. You can follow step (1) to (8) in this recipe and refer to this thin crust pizza post and this homemade pizza post for the remaining steps.

On the cheese breadsticks post, the blogger had also included other video on the kneading technique. So I had used the membrane method as well as the 2 fingers poke test (to make sure the 2 fingers poke remains at the dough) to ensure that the dough is done with kneading.

My results and most importantly, the boy eats non-stop:

 Source: Adapted and modified from 一学就会做匹萨—美食讲堂系列 – 白锦霞 - See more at: http://food-4tots.com/2012/01/11/simple-breadsticks/2/#sthash.ElSArZP6.dpuf

RECIPE FOR SIMPLE BREADSTICKS
Source: Adapted and modified from 一学就会做匹萨—美食讲堂系列 – 白锦霞
Ingredients:
250g high gluten flour (or bread flour)
130-150g water (note 1 and 2)
2g instant yeast
4g salt
12g extra light olive oil
Methods:

1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast with water (130g).
2. In a large mixing bowl, add flour and make a well in the center. Pour the yeast mixture into it and mix well. Then follow by salt. Add the remaining water little by little. It’s not necessary to use all the water. Knead until a dough is formed.
3. Add in olive oil and continue kneading until the oil is fully absorbed into the dough. It’s fine if  the dough is wet and sticky at the initial stage. Continue kneading until the dough is less sticky and more manageable.
4. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead until soft and smooth. (note 3).
5. Test the dough to see whether it is well kneaded by doing a membrane test (refer to this cheese breadsticks post). Take out a small piece of dough, gently stretch it outwards at all the directions to form a thin layer of “membrane”. If your dough has not reached this stage, continue kneading.
6. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with cling wrap and proof for 20 minutes at room temperature.
7. Divide the dough into 3 equal portions and shape into balls. Place them into a large container/ tray, cover with cling wrap and proof in the fridge for another one hour.  (note 4)
8. Remove the chilled dough from the fridge. Let it sit in the room temperature for 5 minutes. Work on one dough at a time.
9. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a rectangular shape with 0.2-0.3cm thickness. Roll from center towards outside at four different directions. Make sure the dough has equal thinness. You may need to roll it several times to achieve this thickness. Sprinkle some flour (on the surface and the rolling pin) as and when required to avoid dough from sticking.
10. Brush the dough lightly with olive oil. Use a pizza cutter to cut the dough into small strips (about 8-10cm long x 1cm width each). Hold both ends and twist the strip.
11. Place on a lighted greased baking tray. Cover with clip wrap and proof for another 15 minutes.
12. Bake at a preheated oven at 180°C for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown (note 5). Then leave it the oven (without heat) for another 2 minutes.

Notes:

1. If the weather is hot, just use normal tap water. If the weather is cold, then use luke warm water (45°C).
2. Start with 130g and slow add the remaining during kneading. You may not need to finish all.
3. The following videos will demonstrate how to knead dough with hands.
   • - The Kitchn
   • - Carol 自在生活 (even if you don’t understand Chinese, you must watch video no. 6 and 7 to learn the technique of “smashing”甩打. It helps to improve the texture of the dough.)
4. Proofing the dough in fridge helps to improve the crunchiness of the breadsticks.
5. The baking temperature and time should be used as a reference. You can reduce the heat after 5 minutes.
6. You may need to bake these breadsticks in 3 batches.
7. Instead of strips, you can roll the dough into long strips. For this, you need to divide the dough into 10g dough at step (8). Roll into 25cm long strip (refer to photo (h) at this cheese breadsticks post). If you can’t get the required length at first attempt, set it aside and work on other strips. You may need to roll it 2-3 times to achieve this length as the strips will shrink slightly. Brush the long strips with olive oil. Cover with cling wrap and proof for 15 minutes. Then continue with step (12).
8. This dough is suitable for making thin crust pizza. You can follow step (1) to (8) in this recipe and refer to this thin crust pizza post and this homemade pizza post for the remaining steps

- See more at: http://food-4tots.com/2012/01/11/simple-breadsticks/2/#sthash.l5QVuMYE.dpuf

RECIPE FOR SIMPLE BREADSTICKS
Source: Adapted and modified from 一学就会做匹萨—美食讲堂系列 – 白锦霞
Ingredients:
250g high gluten flour (or bread flour)
130-150g water (note 1 and 2)
2g instant yeast
4g salt
12g extra light olive oil
Methods:

1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast with water (130g).
2. In a large mixing bowl, add flour and make a well in the center. Pour the yeast mixture into it and mix well. Then follow by salt. Add the remaining water little by little. It’s not necessary to use all the water. Knead until a dough is formed.
3. Add in olive oil and continue kneading until the oil is fully absorbed into the dough. It’s fine if  the dough is wet and sticky at the initial stage. Continue kneading until the dough is less sticky and more manageable.
4. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead until soft and smooth. (note 3).
5. Test the dough to see whether it is well kneaded by doing a membrane test (refer to this cheese breadsticks post). Take out a small piece of dough, gently stretch it outwards at all the directions to form a thin layer of “membrane”. If your dough has not reached this stage, continue kneading.
6. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with cling wrap and proof for 20 minutes at room temperature.
7. Divide the dough into 3 equal portions and shape into balls. Place them into a large container/ tray, cover with cling wrap and proof in the fridge for another one hour.  (note 4)
8. Remove the chilled dough from the fridge. Let it sit in the room temperature for 5 minutes. Work on one dough at a time.
9. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a rectangular shape with 0.2-0.3cm thickness. Roll from center towards outside at four different directions. Make sure the dough has equal thinness. You may need to roll it several times to achieve this thickness. Sprinkle some flour (on the surface and the rolling pin) as and when required to avoid dough from sticking.
10. Brush the dough lightly with olive oil. Use a pizza cutter to cut the dough into small strips (about 8-10cm long x 1cm width each). Hold both ends and twist the strip.
11. Place on a lighted greased baking tray. Cover with clip wrap and proof for another 15 minutes.
12. Bake at a preheated oven at 180°C for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown (note 5). Then leave it the oven (without heat) for another 2 minutes.

Notes:

1. If the weather is hot, just use normal tap water. If the weather is cold, then use luke warm water (45°C).
2. Start with 130g and slow add the remaining during kneading. You may not need to finish all.
3. The following videos will demonstrate how to knead dough with hands.
   • - The Kitchn
   • - Carol 自在生活 (even if you don’t understand Chinese, you must watch video no. 6 and 7 to learn the technique of “smashing”甩打. It helps to improve the texture of the dough.)
4. Proofing the dough in fridge helps to improve the crunchiness of the breadsticks.
5. The baking temperature and time should be used as a reference. You can reduce the heat after 5 minutes.
6. You may need to bake these breadsticks in 3 batches.
7. Instead of strips, you can roll the dough into long strips. For this, you need to divide the dough into 10g dough at step (8). Roll into 25cm long strip (refer to photo (h) at this cheese breadsticks post). If you can’t get the required length at first attempt, set it aside and work on other strips. You may need to roll it 2-3 times to achieve this length as the strips will shrink slightly. Brush the long strips with olive oil. Cover with cling wrap and proof for 15 minutes. Then continue with step (12).
8. This dough is suitable for making thin crust pizza. You can follow step (1) to (8) in this recipe and refer to this thin crust pizza post and this homemade pizza post for the remaining steps

- See more at: http://food-4tots.com/2012/01/11/simple-breadsticks/2/#sthash.l5QVuMYE.dpuf

Steamed Banana Cake

Banana turned black quite fast. So in order not to waste it,  I'd mashed the remaining banana before it turned black and freeze it. I intend to use it for banana cake when I can find the time.

Frankly the idea to freeze the mashed banana did not strike me until I found this website. It's not everytime I can find the time to bake. So the idea to freeze it for later use is brilliant.

Here's the website where I got my idea as well as recipe.
http://food-4tots.com/2013/11/14/steamed-banana-cupcakes/2/

I'd basically follow her instructions exactly. Hers even have notes and photos step-by-step so worth to check it out.

Recipe for Steamed Banana Cupcakes

Source: Adapted and modified from Amanda of Held by Love, Bake from Scratch (*as per food-4tots.com)

*Make: 18 cupcakes (I got those small cupcakes cups from Phoon Huat)

Ingredients:
150g low protein flour (cake flour)
1½ teaspoons double acting baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs – at room temperature
90g castor sugar
Pinch of salt
75g salad oil (*I use olive oil, note 1)
3 fully ripen bananas (net weight 160-180g) – mashed (either fresh or frozen) (*as mentioned, I used frozen banana around 165g, note 2)

Methods:

Preheat steamer (note 3).

Mix together flour, baking powder and baking soda. Sieve and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, using electrical mixer with low speed beat eggs until foamy. Add sugar bit by bit to combine. Then beat with medium high speed until the mixture is pale yellow, almost white in colour and reaches ribbon stage (meaning when you lift the mixer over the mixture, the batter should fall slowly forming a ribbon that will hold its shape for a few seconds). It takes you about 5 minutes.

Add smashed bananas and salt to mix.

Add flour mixture through a sieve in 3-4 batches and gently fold in to incorporate the batter till just well combined. Do not deflate the air bubbles in the mixture.

Lastly, add oil to combine well.

Spoon the batter into the cupcake cups until 90% full. Lightly tap the base of the cups to release the air bubble.

Steam on high heat for 15 minutes or until cooked (*depending on the size of the moulds, I'd steamed for 15 min) (note 4 & 5)

Once it’s done, open the lid slightly to release the heat for a few seconds. This is to avoid the cupcakes from shrinking due to change of temperature.

After releasing the heat, remove the moulds from the cooking pot or wok immediately and transfer to a cooling rack. Best to serve warm.

Notes (*very good tips from the originator):
1. You can use corn oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, canola oil, peanut oil, a light olive oil, or any other fairly bland (flavourless) oil you can find.

2. Use bananas that are fully ripen. *I use those small banana.

3. Fill a cooking pot or wok with water. Place a steaming rack. Wrap the lid with a piece of cloth (to avoid condensation during steaming). Bring water to boil.

4. Make sure you have added enough water. It is not advisable to top up water during steaming.

5. The water must be boiling hot before you cover the lid.

6. If using those cupcakes liners/ papers, the base of these cupcakes must be supported with moulds, ramekins, teacups or small bowl so they can rise nicely. It is not advisable to put the batter on cupcake liners or soft paper baking cups as they are too flimsy and can’t hold the mixture well. Alternatively, you can grease the moulds with oil and steam without cupcake liners.

7. These cupcakes can be frozen for later consumption. Before eating, remove from the freezer, thaw slightly and steam again for 10-12 minutes until the muffins are soft.

Good right, her recipe is very detailed. You can hardly go wrong.

My slight inputs indicated with * with italic fonts.

Here's a photo of my work but sorry it's a blurred photo.

 

the cakes right out from the steamer

 

still tasting good after 2 days (kept in the fridge and heat/ steam it up)

Almond Florentines

My bestie passed me some of her self-baked Almond Florentines. I love nuts and this is an addictive snack for me. So I asked her for the recipe and it was really easy. In fact the easiest recipe I ever tried.

She referred me to this website for reference.
http://www.thebakingbiatch.com/2015/01/almond-florentines.html?m=1

Only difference is my friend added sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds.

Ingredients
100g Almond Silvers
30g Pumpkin Seeds
30g Sunflower Seeds
1/4 tsp of salt
50g of Florentine Premix (I bought mine from Phoon Huat)
Sesame Seeds to sprinkle on top

Method
Preheat the oven at 170 degree celsius. (original recipe called for fan mode but my basic oven only have one mode/ function, so whatever mode I am using, I do not know)

Just throw in everything in a bowl and mix well.

Then spread them on a baking tray covered by baking sheet. Spread out evenly.

Sprinkle a pinch of the Florentine premix to any 'open' spot to ensure all covered. This ensures that the nuts will stick together.

Sprinkle Sesame seed on top.

Bake for about 6-7 min. However think my oven temperature tends to be higher so it usually is done about 2-3 min earlier for this instant. So better to keep close watch as it browns and burnt pretty fast.

Take it out of the oven to cool. If you want to cut the nuts sheet to break into nice straight pieces then need to cut it with scissors when it is still hot. Otherwise can just randomly break into pieces when cooled.

At one go, I baked 3 sheets. Yes, it was that easy. With each sheet, there was slight variation.

1st attempt: Everything less the salt (so purely sweet)

2nd attempt: Everything less the sesame seed (sweet with a tinge of salt)

3rd attempt: Everything (sweet with a tinge of salt and slight fragrance)

So if I were to do it again, I will do the 3rd attempt (1st one for my FIL who loves sweet things). And shall try to use the pizza cutter to cut to see if it's easier. Perhaps it's my skill, using scissors the sheet tends to break apart slightly. (OCD at work)

Some photos for my attempts.

 

almond, pumpkin and sunflower

 

adding in the florentine premix

 

mix them well          

 

spread out evenly on baking sheet

 

the ready product

Kayden's 2 Year Old Celebration - Animal theme

Since his class is pretty small, 8 students including the boy himself. And we only going to have a small scale celebration with family only. Personally I think to just buy a normal 2D cake, it will be so uninteresting. So I decided to give baking a try.

We had basically finalised his theme this year to be ANIMALS.

I had toyed with the idea of doing a small cake and decorate it. However I am not keen of fondant as it usually is very sweet.

I googled for ideas and this webpage came up.
http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/jungle-animal-cupcakes/a8accd18-50b5-40b2-a7d6-06954ef74378

Pretty right? Check out the webpage, it even have the video. Looks simple. So I went in search for the ingredients. Decoration bits for the zebra poses a challenge.

I was also considering to buy pre-mix cake mixture or bake from scratch. In the end I chose to bake the cupcakes using the same recipe I gotten from my friend for hubby's cake less the cheese layer. I used to have another cupcake recipe but decided against it as it tends to peak. I need it flat for decoration.

I decided to go with ready made Betty Crocker frosting. Butter cake for lion and tiger designs. Chocolate cake for monkey and bear (my own version). I shall not attempt on the zebra.

For the school, I only went for 2 designs. Lion and Monkey.

 

the lion

 

the monkey

 

mini cupcakes

For the family, I went with more designs. Lion, Tiger, Monkey and Bear.

Bear was actually created by accident. First time trial, I did not follow strictly and did the Monkey based on memory. It turned out looking like Bear. Realised the difference is the placement of the ears and how the nose/ mouth is drawn.

 

mini cupcakes

 

the tiger

 

the monkey w/o ears

 

the bear w/o ears too

 

the lion w/o whiskers

 

the cakes on the stand

Since this is designing at work so I did change some things slightly. Mainly as long as I can achieve the effect. 

Ingredients

Betty Crocker Rich and Creamy Chocolate Frosting

Betty Crocker Rich and Creamy Cheese Frosting (original recipe called for Vanilla but oos)

Wilton Black gel

Wilton Red gel

Wilton Yellow gel

For my 8 butter cupcakes and 8 chocolate cupcakes, I mixed about 4 tablespoons (eating metal kind) of the chocolate frosting and 4 tablespoons of the cheese frosting. (Still have excess)

Orange: Mix Red and Yellow (1 spoon each using the stirrer spoon) into the 4 tbsp of cheese frosting and mix well.

Light Orange: Spoon out about 1 tbsp of the Orange mixture into another bowl and spoon another 1 tbsp of the cheese frosting. Mix well and scoop into a piping bag. Cut out a SMALL corner.

Brown: Use as it is for the chocolate frosting

Light Brown: Mix about 0.5 tbpn of each chocolate frosting and cheese frosting. Mix well and scoop into piping bag. Cut out a SMALL corner.

*Try to make the colour differentiation between the Orange and Light Orange/ Brown and Light Brown as varying as possible. Once the light colour was piped onto the darker colour, if the variance is not too great, it will somehow blend in abit and it will not look so distinctive or nice anymore.

Black: Mix the chocolate frosting with about 2 stirrer spoon of black (or whatever it takes to achieve as black as possible). Mix well and scoop into piping bag. Cut out a SMALL corner.

Lion Decoration

Spread the Orange onto the cupcakes.

Popcorn for the mane

Mini Choc Chip for the eyes

Pretzel Sticks for the whiskers

Orange Frosties Cereal for the ears

Pipe the Light Orange for the snot. I use fingers to even the surface.

Pipe the Black for the nose and mouth over the snot.

Tiger Decoration

Spread the orange on the cupcakes.

Mango (or any flavour as long as it's orange colour) Gummy Sweet for the ears (Cut into half for each ear)

Mini Choc Chip for the eyes

Pipe Light Orange for the snot. Even the surface.

Pipe the Black for nose and mouth over the snot.

Pipe 2 triangles on each side and 1 triangle on top with the Black for the stripes.

Monkey Decoration

Spread the Brown on the cupcakes

Mini Oreo cookies for the ears (Half it)

Mini Marshmellows for the outer eyes (Cut into half)

Mini Choc Chips for the eyes

Pipe the Light Brown for the snout and the turf of hair on top. Even the surface for the snout.

Pipe with the Black a small dot on the marshmellow before placing the choc chip to ensure it 'sticks'. Then pipe the nose and mouth.

Bear Decoration

Pretty similar to the Monkey except the placement of the ears (Monkey is at the side whilst the Bear at the top) and how the nose and mouth is drawn (Monkey is drawn with a dot and a smiley smile whilst the Bear is drawn the same way as the Lion and Tiger)

Spread the Brown on the cupcakes.

Mini Oreo Cookies for the ears (Whole)

Mini Choc Chip for the eyes (I did not use the marshmellow as I wanted the Monkey and Bear to have more differentiation)

Pipe Light Brown for the snout. Even the surface.

Pipe the Black for the nose and mouth over the snout.

Green Wordings

0.5 tbsp on Cheese frosting with 1 stirrer spoon of Wilton Green gel. Mix well and scoop into piping  bag. Cut out a SMALL corner.

I piped out the Green 'H-A-P-P-Y B-I-R-T-H-D-A-Y K-A-Y-D-E-N 2' on each mini cupcakes. 

Stick candle on another mini cupcake.

Quite happy with the overall effect.