Simple wraps

Usually I wrapped tortillas in a typical cylinder roll. In Nigella's express, I saw Nigella wrapping up the tortillas as the above picture. Thought it was something different, so I did just that.

The filling itself was really a fusion of middle east and Indian cuisine. The middle eastern spiced lamb plus Indian raita.

Ingredients:
500g lamb
1 onion - sliced
salt and pepper to taste
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp tablespoon white vinegar/lemon juice
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon garlic minced
1 tsp brown sugar
1 red/green capsicum - sliced


Method:
Sliced lamb into thin strips.
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl/freezer bag and marinade in the fridge for a few hours/overnight.
Lay lamb slices on a baking tray and grill for 20 minutes.

Raita
1/2 cucumber - Cubed
1 tomato - cubed
1 onion - cubed
2 green chillis- sliced
A sprig or coriander leaves and mint leaves
1-2 tbsp plain yogurt
1tbsp lemon juice
Salt + crushed black pepper

Method: Combine ingredients and store in fridge till really to use.

T0 serve:
Warm up a couple of tortillas/wraps.
Place a tbsp of raita in the middle of the tortillas and top with lamb slices.
Roll or fold the tortillas and dig in! :p

Summing up 4 days in 1 post.

So finally I'm ill. Not that I have been looking forward to this... :p I guess for most people, being ill means you can actually take a break and have ample rest. But it's ain't that simple. Raya is approaching and there is sooooooo much to do! I'd decided not to take any orders this time round coz I was fully engaged for E whole week before Raya. Furthermore, I was planning to gift my uncles/aunties with some freshly baked cookies/cakes. Now, I'm not sure whether its happening or not! I'm still ill. It's vexing to be ill when you have so much to do.
Not E right time at all.

Anyways last week was a really busy week. 4 straight days of baking.

Red velvet cupcakes - I have been making these so much nowadays that I believed if I were to blindfold myself, I can still bake this! Haha! Another reason is tht, all E measurements r in cups...:p

Heavenly Chocolate Cupcakes

Soccer Themed Cupcakes - Heavenly chocolate cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache. E grass is Swiss buttercream.


Classic Chocolate - Super super moist! The only cupcake I had in the 4 days of baking.

Strawberry 'n' Cream

Chocolate Cupcakes

There were also Tiramisu, peach n cream...etc that I didn't get to snap due to time constraints.

Wedding cupcakes

E colours and flowers were personally chosen by the bride. She wanted everything to be as pastel as possible. She repeatedly said "I want the green really2 light" I guess she knew that her cupcakes might end up looking bold if I had the authority to play with the colours! :p The grass in the cups are actually organic wheat-grass and those were bought by the bride herself. :)

Assembling the tiers were really fun. I had Nk and Izzybaby to help me! Obviously we had to set up E tiers before the arrival of the guests. Only the best-men n bridesmaids were around. There were quite a number of 'em and suddenly we were transported back to Fann Wong's wedding! lol...! They were surrounding the tiers (which made me very nervous obviously) and started talking among themselves. 1 of them were saying in mandarin which kinda translates as "do you think she will let me eat any of these If i ask her?" My brain said "keyi" but instead I went...cannn. Obviously they were err kinda impressed :p I gave 'em the extras n "not so pretty ones" though :P

Everything went on fine in the end despite some hitches here and there. The manager was scary ok! His presence gave me immerse pressure! Halfway through he was nice and all...describing the cakes as nice n all...Haha! We even got vouchers! So sweet...we won't get to use it though coz I don't think the food is even halal! Haha! But hei, its E thoughts that count right? :p

Oh ya, the ballroom were so stunningly decorated. It made me n Nk dreamt a tiny weeny bit......:p

Recipes!! :D

I was quite free yesterday, thus I made dinner. Mom wanted fried chicken wings..but she ended up buying drum-lets by mistake :p

Anyways, I tried another new recipe from Nigella's Express. Well, all I can say is....Nigella never disappoints! At least for all the recipes I'd tried so far.

Nigella's Potato & Mushroom Gratin.

Mine vs hers! :p
Ingredients:

250g mushrooms, thinly sliced (I used fresh button mushrooms)
3 baking potatoes, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons garlic oil (I used a tbsp of olive oil+ a tbsp butter)
350ml full fat milk
3 tablespoons white wine - I used chicken stock.

Method:

Preheat the oven to 220C.
Bring the wine/stock and milk to the boil in a large pan and add the potatoes. Stir occasionally and season.
Fry the mushrooms in the garlic oil until tender. Add these to the potato mix.
Pour into a casserole dish and bake for 45 mins until the bubbly and browned.

Note: I used 1 tbsp olive oil + 1 tbsp butter and I saute 2 chopped garlic together with the mushrooms.

Crispy Chicken Drumlets with Lemon Mayonnaise

Lemon Mayonnaise:

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice

1 tsp freshly grated lemon peel,

A good pinch of ground black pepper.

Mix all the above ingredients and set aside.

For the crispy drumlets

10 Chicken wings/drumlets

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Good sprinkle of salt and black pepper

1/2 tbsp minced garlic

1/2 tbsp minced ginger

1 egg white - lightly whisked

1 cup rice flour

Method:

Marinade chicken with lemon juice, salt, pepper, garlic and ginger. Set aside.

In a pan, heat enough oil to deep fry.

Dip the chicken in egg white and roll in flour and fry til golden.

Baked Vegetables

There is hardly a recipe for this! Basically I cubed whatever vegetables I had in the fridge. In this case, its red and green bell peppers, pineapple, Japanese cucumbers and carrot. I drizzle some olive oil, a tsp of Worcestershire sauce, a tsp of lemon juice and a heap tsp of brown sugar. Season with crushed chili flakes/black pepper and salt.

Bake at 200C for about 20-25 minutes!

Over the weekend...

These were what I did over the weekend.

Assorted Cookie Lollipops for a kiddo's party...

An order from a soon to be bride. She requested that I decorated the cupcakes in her presence. It was definitely a 1st and boy I was nervous! She chose the colours and flowers. She wanted her wedding cupcakes to be really pastel and simple.
These are red velvet cupcakes and cream cheese frosting. I have been getting a lot of red velvet order these days. The red velvet are slowly pushing my heavenly chocolate cupcakes down to spot number 2 :P

Bees and flowers....

Awwww@ bee with ribbons!

Mini non bake cheesecakes...

Recently I managed to buy a chef torch. Been looking for it for ages! I thought I could use it immediately but apparently I have to fill it with gas 1st. This is embarrassing but I am openly declaring that I am quite afraid of fire. I can't light a matchstick. Neither can I light a lighter. I guess I can do it but I never tried coz I'm afraid of "playing" with fire :p I'm fine with stove lighters though! Whenever we play sparklers, my niece or nephew would help me to light up my sparklers! And yes....they are about 1/3 of my age! :S

Enough of self embarrassment for now. So my brother filled the torch with gas and the fire was SO BIG! No kidding! It went at least 30cm!! Apparently he adjusted it to MAX! Somehow he adjusted the flame and all. It took me a good 20mins before I used the torch. I was soooooooooo afraid!! The moment I used it, I was head over heels in love with it!! It was soooooo easy to use and definitely not dangerous :)

I already used it to get the crackle top on creme brulee. I also used it to brown tandoori chicken.

I used very little sugar for the topping coz mom told me not to make it sweet. Nevertheless, I still managed to get the characteristic crackly crust!
It's gorgeous!! I'm planning to make lemon meringue next! :D

Seafood Marinara

I'm disappointed with E pastas served at Pastamania. I totally do not understand why people go gaga over 'em! I prefer my pasta......anytime! :P

Ingredients
1 package linguine/spaghetti - Cooked till al-dente
2 tbsp olive oil
5 cloves garlic - minced
2 onion - chopped/sliced
2 tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 green pepper - cubed
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried thyme
Mussels/clams cleaned -
Prawns
Squid rings
Button mushrooms

Method:
Heat 2 tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.
Stir in the garlic and onion; cook and stir until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes.
Mix in tomato paste and fry for a minute
Stir in diced tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes have softened. Add crushed tomatoes, oregano, and thyme. Simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in green pepper, mussels, squid, shrimp and mushrooms.
Season with salt and black pepper.
Cover and increase heat to high. Cook until shrimp have turned pink and mussels have opened, discarding any that have not opened.
Serve over pasta.
Top with cheese if preferred.

Vanilla Apples with Sweetheart Croutes

Whenever I'm browsing Nigella Express, it flipped open to this recipe, several times, It is hard not to give this recipe a chance despite the fact that I had no high expectations. Well2, I guess Nigella is the domestic goddess after-all! It turned out yummy. Totally satisfied my cravings for dessert! Deff gonna make this again!

Ingredients:
4-6 tablespoons of butter (I used less)
2 gala apples
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
3 slices of bread, cut into heart shapes

sugar for sprinkling

Method:
Melt butter in a skillet, reserving a spoonful for later.
Finely slice the apples. Leave the peels on. Nigella said tht she gets 22 slices out of 2 apples.
Add them to the pan and cook for about three minutes.
Add vanilla and cook for five minutes more, turning the apples once.
Remove the apples to a plate.
Add the remaining spoonful of butter to the pan and fry the bread hearts, the croutes.
Arrange the croutes on the plate with the apples and sprinkle with sugar.
Serve with cream.

Important: Place a croute on a spoon, top it with a slice of apple and a bit of cream. Bring it to your lips...open your mouth wide n in it goes! The 3 ingredients just works together, so there is no other way to eat it! :D

Note: I did not sprinkle it with any sugar coz I served it with sweetened cream.

Naughty Cupcakes!

Was super busy the whole week. Orders for cupcakes during weekdays too! Oct- Dec are gonna be a busy period for me...but no complains really :)

Whenever some1 wanna order wedding cupcakes or cookies for wedding favors, I do insist that they have some samples to try coz I personally feel that wedding is a big big affair and you want everything to be perfect or at least close to perfection thus I want 'em to try my bakes 1st and make the decision after that.

The week started with me making some samples for 2 couples....




Note: The following images have fairly obscene content. Do not scroll further down if you are not comfortable with sugar laden naughtiness! If you still need to scroll, I recommend that you close your eyes while scrolling! :p

>

>

>

>

I also made some cupcakes for a Bridal shower and the theme was Naughty Bachelorette Party. I told the customer tht I would keep it mild...she replied "you don't have to keep it mild at all" I guess tht meant I should go little over the board! I did just tht...I have to be professional right? *yes2 good excuse Maya!* :p I do hope tht its not too vulgar though! :)

There were lingerie, whip, a bowl of chocolate, lips, a pair of handcuffs and the rest are pretty obvious I guess! :D I shocked quite a few of my cousins and friends with these cupcakes.
Dearies, I was inspired from the naughty cupcakes I found on Goggle search...nothing more than tht :p

Shahza named these "Lusty cupcakes"
Norli said these are "kinky cupcakes!"
I named 'em Naughty bits! :D






My favourite has to be this though....


Sho romantic! :p

I received the most comment for this 1 though! I guess it doesn't take a genius to figure out why?! : On Saturday, I had an order for talam lauk, shepherd pies, samosas and cupcakes meant to be given as door gifts....

Red velvet cupcakes...

Loved the combination of yellow n red!

I have 2 days off so you can expect some recipes over the next 2 days..so till then! Nite2!

My cousin with the Prada...:p

Dearest Shaf,

At times people around us can be so unpredictable and everything looks uncertain, just one thing is crystal-clear...I know I can always count on you to be there for me. Spending time with you have always been lotsa fun especially those late hours of gossips and secrets sharing! The best thing is tht we didn't choose, we're simply related!

Happy b'day dear. Fret not...it only happens once a year so celebrate all tht u want coz you deserve the best today and every other day too! Just as I said, you look 18, so the real number doesnt matter at all!

Happy Birthday once again...and don't forget to have the brownie caKE that I baKE...for goodness saKE!! :p


---------------------------------------------------------------

I baked a brownie cake for Shaf for a whole lot of reasons. Shes a chocolate lover and that is of coz 1 of the main reason. I frosted the cake with chocolate ganache and covered the top of the cake with some fondant just so tht it looked prettier. She's pursuing a degree in accountancy, thus the calculator, book n pencil :p Well, the paperbag is just coz she love to shop! She's the cousin with all the branded stuffs! :p I would love to mould more stuffs but my art skills are quite limited! It took me a good 3 hours to mould just those few things! I guess I need more practice. Sugar-crafting is something that I just pursue very recently. :)

The recipe for the brownie is the same as the 1 I have on my blog. I added some chopped Old Gold in the brownies coz she loves dark chocolate. I had a packet of Valrhona pearls tht is still unopen coz I so sayang want to use :p I added a good handful of my very precious Valrhona pearls in the Ganache. This is how much I love you shafy!

Ps: Shaf, mom said that you are planning to "KEEP" the cake and not eat it! Eat tht cake ok...else next time I'll make a cake out of styrofoam for you to KEEP! :D

Gulab Jamun

Apparently I'm always very excited and happy during Diwali! I also love to visit Little India during Diwali! E accessories...the sweets...E lights! :) As a kid, I would be so happy when my neighbour arrived with a plate of sweets n snacks every Diwali morning! They already shifted but I the memories keep coming back every Diwali :) For E past few years, I do make at least 1 type of sweet for Diwali...its my own way of celebrating Diwali. I'm an Indian after-all! :D

Made this for Diwali. Gulab Jamun is often eaten as a dessert, and usually eaten at festivals or major celebrations, such as marriages, Diwali, and Eid. There are various types of Gulab Jamun though. This is a simple recipe....delicious nevertheless. :)

Ingredients:
1 cup Milk Powder

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tablespoons ghee/butter -melted

Whole milk - just enough to make the dough

For the Sugar Syrup

2 cups Sugar (I used less)

1 cup water

------------------

Oil for frying

Method:

For Syrup:

The syrup should be made earlier and kept warm.

To make the hot sugar syrup add mix the 2 cups of sugar to 1 cup of water.

Add 2-3 cardamom pods and a few strands of saffron if you prefer.

Mix with a spoon and then heat at medium heat for 5-10 minutes until sugar is all dissolved in water. Do not overheat, that will caramelize the sugar.
Off the fire but keep warm on stove.

------------------------------------------
For Gulab Jamuns:

Make the dough by combining the milk powder, soda and ghee/ butter.

Add just enough whole milk to make a medium-soft dough.

Divide the dough into 18-20 portions.

Make balls by gently rolling each portion between your palms into a smooth ball.

Place the balls on a plate. Cover with a damp yet kitchen towel.
Heat the oil on high and then lower the heat to medium.

Slip in the balls into the hot oil from the side of the pan, one by one. They will sink to the bottom of the pan, but do not try to move them. Instead, gently shake the pan to keep the balls from browning on just one side. After about 5 mins, the balls will rise to the surface. The Gulab Jamuns should rise slowly to the top if the temperature is just right.

Now they must be gently and constantly agitated to ensure even browning on all sides.
If the temperature of the oil is too high then the gulab jamuns will tend to break. So adjust the temperature to ensure that the gulab jamuns do not break or cook too quickly.
The balls must be fried very slowly under medium temperatures. This will ensure complete cooking from inside and even browning.

Add the fried gulab jamuns directly into the warm syrup. Leave gulab jamun balls in sugar syrup overnight for best results.

They can be served warm or at room temperature.

Delicious Recipes!

I know I have not been updating regularly, but I have been really busy. Besides Diwali orders, I have been making cupcakes as samples for a few couples who are tying the knot this Nov and Dec. I had some post raya baking too. Some of my customers finished their cookies by the 2Nd week and they decided to order more, thus I was constantly baking!

I have not been cooking that much. I only cook when I have guests over. Most of the time, dearest mom did all the cooking! :D

3 days back, I was in the mood to cook something. I went through my cookbooks and 1 hour later, I decided on this.

I cooked Fennel Rice, Rogan josh and Cucumber n tomato raita. Raita is a Indian condiment based on yogurt wherelse Rogan Josh is a popular curry dish hailing from Kashmir and is popular in other parts of the world too especially among Indians and NRIs.

This plate was perfection. Everything was in harmony. Both mom and I enjoyed our dinner so much. Mom even said that I should cook this for Hari Raya Haji. Try it peepz!

Fennel Rice (Recipe from Asmah Laili's cookbook)

4 cups Basmati Rice

1 tsp fennel - lightly crushed

2 onions - sliced

3 garlic - crushed

3 tbsp ghee - I used a mix of butter and oil

Salt

1/4 cup milk plus 4 cups water

3 star anise, 1 cinnamon and 2 cardamon

1/4 tsp turmeric powder.

2 pandan leaves.

Method:

Soak rice for 15 mins and drain.

In a frying pan, fry onions, garlic, all spices except for fennel in ghee/butter till light brown.

Add in fennel and immediately turn off fire.

In a rice cooker, boil 4 cups of water and milk. Add in a good teaspoon of salt.

Once it comes to a boil, add in fried ingredients and rice.

Cook as per normal

Top with coriander/mint leaves and fried shallots.

Sprinkle some rosewater if desire.

Rogan Josh - Travel & Living Magazine

1kg Lamb (you can use beef or chicken too)

4 tsp coriander powder

2 tsp fennel powder

2 tsp cumin powder

2 tsp turmeric powder

2 tsp chili powder

2 tsp garam masala

1 onions - sliced

2 tomatoes - cubed

2 tbsp plain yogurt

- To be blended

1 large onion

5 garlic

2 inch ginger

Method:

Add oil in a pan and fry onion.

Add in onion and spices and fry for 10 mins

Add in meat and fry for a further 2 mins.

Mix in tomatoes, yogurt and a cup of water. Add some salt.

Cover pan and cook for a further 30-40 mins.

Once gravy thickens and meat is tender.

Top with some mint/coriander leaves.

Cucumber and Tomato Raita - Maya's recipe :p

1 cucumber - seeded and cubed

2 tomatoes - seeded and cubed

1 small onion - cubed

1 green chili - sliced

2-3tbsp plain yogurt.

Mint leaves - chopped

Method:

Place yogurt in a bowl, add in salt and a dash of sugar to season.

Mix all the other ingredients and keep in the fridge till ready to serve.

Dessert was Rachel Allen’s gorgeous yet simple Brown Sugar Custard. It resembles creme caramels, or flan... with the brown sugar adding a decadent rich toffee flavour.

Ingredients

2 Eggs

50g brown sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

200ml milk 100ml double cream

1 small orange- finely grated zest only (optional)

1 tsp vanilla

Method:

Preheat the oven to 170C

Whisk the eggs together in a bowl, then add the brown sugar and mix well.

Place milk, cream and orange zest (if using) into a saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer. Remove from the heat and gradually pour onto the egg and sugar mixture, whisking constantly until well combined. Mix in vanilla.

Pour the mixture through a sieve into a large jug and skim off any froth from the surface.

Place four small cups or ramekins in a baking dish or wide shallow pan and fill them up with the custard mixture. Pour enough hot water into the baking dish to come halfway up the sides of the cups or ramekins and cover the ramekins with foil.

Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes, or until the custards are just set in the centre.

Remove the custards from the baking dish and remove the foil. Serve warm or allow to cool. Sprinkle a little bit of extra brown sugar on top just before serving.

Enjoy! :)

Happy 21st!

Dearest Nk,

I cannot digest E fact tht we only got so close within these 2 years despite E fact that we had a whole lot of opportunities to do so! For the whole of our lives, we were practically a few blocks away! There were also the tuition sessions....tailoring lessons that your mother gave me and me popping over for some reason or the other and vice versa. I failed to comprehend as to where we went wrong! I'm like so lovable and you...err quite like-able i guess. Hahaha! :p

Jokes apart! ;) It's better late than never! Very cliche I know...but true too! I guess we only saw the real side of us recently? :p Anyways, I wished I could make your 21st better, but at times...we humans can only plan :( Nevertheless, I hope you had a good time. I'm elated that I'd the chance to bake a b'day cake for you and I sincerely hope that I would get to bake many2 more b'day cakes for you! Obviously it should get better with age! :p

Now at the age of twenty-one, life has truly just begun. People always say that huh? Crap lah! :p You may be 21 now...but you don't have to change you know? I rather have E crazy, smartyPants...stubborn, you. Ok maybe you can work on that stubborn part a bit...haha! Hei...I'm just saying this coz Im older and your dad trust me so much so I'm supposed to give sound advice. :p But seriously who cares! Towards the end of the day, you can only be your true self with the people you are close with...your loved ones.

It's ur month anyways, so once again...happy birthday! Though you are legal to be everywhere, avoid the keys for now. Accept nothing less than a condo/car keys k? :p May all your dreams come true...may each passing day.....glorify! So heres to many more years of love, cookies, brownies, cupcakes and me! XoxoX0X0!!

About a week before her b'day I asked her..."What cake would you like to have for your bday? Not that Im making or anything...Am just asking!" Yes, thats my stupidest line ever...like seriously! Her reply was "Something rich and moist with cream cheese frosting!" So I decided on a red velvet. I added some chocolate ganache between the layers to make it richer.

Eid 2009 memories...

This year I didn't get to snap a lot of pictures...but what's new right? Seriously I can't help it. Very busy most of E time.


Anyways, my mom is super creative. She can make nice vases from mineral water bottles! She's very good with floral arrangement too. This year, I tried my hands with floral arrangement too. It turned out quite nice I guess. At least that's wat every1 said n I believed 'em!! :p

It's a MUST for mom that our corridor should be adorned with some flashing lights. It's a yearly routine. My brothers would help me to hang the lights as I instruct 'em as to where they should hang the lights! After breaking the fast, we would then on the lights and as usual the little ones and my sister in laws would go wow! And I try to claim as much credit as possible since I was E "designer" :p Every year our lights would always be the brightest and prettiest! My eldest always joked tht "you have the best lights...none of those in these blocks can beat urs. I'm sure they cant beat your electricity bills too!!" Hehehe!

Every year without fail, he younger ones indulge in this though. I don't play much coz am kinda scared! :p Embarrassing I know! Even my 4 years old niece ain't scared! Hmm!

More nieces n nephews....

Look at her lips! Cuteness!

*Sings* oh beyonce beyonce...oh shakira shakira! Well 1 of 'em is Shakira! Guess which 1! :p

This girl needs no introductions. Shes E princess in my family.

Little Anzalla. He was very intrigued with me and my cam. Managed to capture quite a lot of pictures of him! Happy little guests. They are mom best-friend's grandsons :) E little 1 liked me I guess coz I kept giving him cookies and chicken wings :P I kept going hao chi ma? He would always reply with a "hao chi" in a split second! Haha!

This blog is all about food so here it goes....:D

Made some simple cupcakes but these were greatly enjoyed by the guests..both young and old. Some of them kept eyeing the cupcakes coz some of them thought that it's not supposed to be eaten! :p

Rose agar2 with basil seeds. This is the "head of E table"

On E 1st day of Eid, I cooked Satay, lontong and nasi lemak instead of the usual Indian cuisine...

I wanna upload more pictures but Blogger is such a wuss at times! I have been wanting to upload pictures since yesterday btw! Anyways, I guess thats it for tonight. I have a few delicious recipes to share. Shall post those very soon! :)

Backdated issues :p

I didn't blog for a longggggg time, but still Eid Mubarak to all the muslims out there! Hopefully it's gonna on allright yeah?

This is gonna be a quick but hopefuly detailed update so pardon all my mistakes and errors! THe fasting month was a busy 1 as usual. I had more orders this Ramadan. I seriously dunno how it happened. I tried to limit the bottles of cookies that I should bake. The closing date was earlier still I went way above the limit. The problem is... I can't say no. There are of coz people like my grandma, my mamis and mom's frens'...obviously saying no was a big NO2. 1 week b4 Eid, I had to cook for 120 people. Halfway I was done, 1 of my runner informed that she had to collect the cookies a few hours before scheduled. I was cooking and baking at the same time. There were of coz the packing too. I started to feel the strain. I sat on the sofa to take a short break and somehow a few unstoppable tears just flowed. The stress was building up and of coz I couldn't say a thing. It was 1 who came up with the idea of cooking Iftar for the old folks at Darul Takrim. I chose the date too! I bucked up and said a silent prayer in my heart. We are doing a good deed, I believe he would listen to it. Alhamdulillah...he did and despite a slight delay, everything went on just fine.

Cookies were made on time too...so yeay! Didn't get to snap much pics though...I only snapped pictures for the 1st few days...after tht it was a frenzy! I made about 20 types of cookies. 200 bottles in total!

200 empty bottles waiting to be filled....

After 5 days of baking...

Traditional Sugee

Woof woof Milo Cookies :p

Oatmeal Raisin

Peanut Butter Shortbread

Oreo and White Chocolate Cookies

Koko Crunch Cuplets

Triple Chocolate Chips w M&Ms

Chopping up kgs of chocolate for my triple chocolate chip cookies.

Triple Chocolate CHips - Make about 3000 of these! Killer!!

Shall update more tomorrow! It's 4am and Im hitting E sack :)

It's the time of the year again...

Hello peepz! So my favourite month is back! Supering dupering loving it!

1stly I wanna wish all the Muslims ard the world a very blessed Ramadan Mubarak! May Allah accept our fast, prayers, duas and grant victory to all of us! Amin!

I wasn't feeling very well for E past few days. Not coz of fasting though, just that the red splash wasn't very kind this time. I am fine now...so yeah!

Btw, remember the last time I had mention that Blackberry had ordered a few hundred cookies for their meeting? They actually ordered again! I was so happy. Infact this time they tripled their orders :) They emailed me and said that "the cookies were very lovely but it wasn't enough" I am so glad that a reputable company actually chose my humble home made cookies over other biggies. Makes everything feel so worth it. Chopping up chocolates, rolling cookies dough while trying hard not to think of the tummy cramps.

Anyways, Eid baking starts next week! I was actually planning to bake less this year but I don't think it's happening. Orders are pouring in. I can put a full-stop with strangers but relatives and friends? I always end up saying yes to every1! It's funny at times...my eldest brother would always complain that every house has the same cookies and he is apparently sick of it :p Whenever I go to my aunties house, they would always cook something for me and not offer any cookies to me. Haha! I guess they knew that I'm tired of eating my own cookies! It's quite true actually. I rarely eat the cookies I bake. Usually for Eid I would bake at least 2000-3000 pcs of triple chocolate chips. Neighbours or visitors would describe the smell coming from our house as "heavenly" but I find it nauseating. The smell of valrhona chocolates baking away give me a headache! Btw for those who are interested to have a look at my list of cookies for Eid, do visit http://www.divine-indulgences.com/

We Muslims usually break our fast with dates. Dates are rich in natural fibres, vitamins, minerals and calcium, so it's really a healthy food when consume in moderation! So my 2nd brother bought 3 types of dates that were shared among us 4 siblings. I don't remember the name of the other 2 types of dates but the best were the Ajwa dates. Moist and delicious. It actually cost $65 per kg! Yesterday I took a handful of these, blend with some milk and we drank this for Iftar. It was really lovely. We enjoyed it tremendously especially mom. She went for seconds (that's always a good sign when it comes to mom) So give it a try peeps!





Ingredients:

About 15 dates - pitted
2 glass milk
1 tbsp sugar/honey - if your dates are not very sweet.
1/4 cup hot water


Method:

Soak pitted dates in hot water till soft.
If your dates are kinda hard and dry, you can boil the dates till it softens.
Blend dates(with the water used for soaking) and sugar if using.
Add in milk and blend again.
I liked the bits of dates here and there, so I didn't strain. If you prefer it to be smooth, do strain to remove the sediments.
Add some crush ice and serve chilled.
Yummyyyyyyyyy!

More experiements...

I made more cookies. These are all new recipes that I attempt coz I wanted some new cookies for the coming Eid...

Chocolate Ecstasy

Weekend was awesome! My 4 best everrrrrr cousins came over from a sleepover! :) Basically I had 2 sleepless nights. We only slept in the early mornings :p On E 1st day, I had only 25minutes of sleep! We ate, played cards...ate...watched some recorded shows on Hub with Riya till 6am!

By the 2nd day, there were the occasional eye-closing incidents. Sharifa had to bring me back from the doors of lalaland a couple of times!!

So I didn't really snap any pictures of E food and stuff....except for these...

It all started with us browsing thru Nigella Express trying to find the chocolaty cookies. Somehow we ended up baking her Flour-less Brownie instead. The brownies tasted nice on it's own. But with the chocolate sauce, it was soooooooooooooooooo good! We served it with a scoop of ice cream too. SUPER DELICIOUS AND GORGEOUS!!!!

Just E thought of it now makes me wanna have some!!


Look at the pictures. Doesn't it look good? Bear in mind that these pics are totally unedited, was captured at 2am with poor lighting. This is a must try recipe...but plzzzz serve it with the killer sauce! Infact I insist! :D


Brownies
Ingredients:
225g dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids
3 eggs, beaten
225g butter
150g ground almonds
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
100g chopped walnuts (I omitted this)
200g caster sugar

Method:
Preheat the oven to 170°C.
Melt the chocolate and butter gently over a low heat in a heavy-based saucepan.
Take the pan off the heat, mix in the vanilla and sugar, and let it cool a little.
Beat the eggs into the pan along with the ground almonds and chopped walnuts. Turn into a 24cm square baking tin.
Bake in the oven for 25–30 minutes, by which time the top will have set but the mixture will still be gooey. Once cooler, cut carefully. Makes 16 squares

Hot Chocolate Sauce
75g dark chocolate
125ml double cream
2 x 15ml tablespoons coffee or 2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
in 2 tablespoons water (Riya and me dislike coffee so I used 1tsp of coffee dissolved in 1 tbsp of water instead)
1 x 15ml tablespoon golden syrup (I used 3tbsp maple syrup)

Method:
Break up the chocolate and put into a heavy-based saucepan.
Add the remaining ingredients, then place the pan over a gentle heat and let everything melt together.
Once everything has melted, stir well, take off the heat and pour into a jug to serve.


Important: Serve with vanilla ice cream!!!!

National Day 09

Last 2 weeks have been busy. This week gonna be kinda busy too. Besides orders for triple chocolate cookies, there's a thanksgiving and b'day coming up at my brother's place this weekend. I need to squeeze some time and experiment with at least 2- 3 more types of cookies for Eid too. I am looking at Mexican wedding cookies and different variations of shortbread..

eg: lavender, pistachios, lemon or hazelnut.

Next week would be spring cleaning. And I do plan to go full throttle so that I have nothing much to do during Ramadan (fasting month) itself. I'm gonna focus on more important things during Ramadan.

So last week, I had quite a number of orders. Besides orders from the university babes, there were the 2 surprise packages too. An order from Blackberry company and MINDS - Movement For The Intellectually Disabled of Singapore.

Tiramisu order from E babes. I really need to practice on my writting!!

Blackberry ordered a few hundred cookies. (triple chocolate chips, Viennese fingers and sugary butter cookies)

I received an email with very positive feedback. They said they enjoyed the cookies very much but it wasn't enough for them and they might have to double the order next month.

That was very good news indeed! Infact the Communications Advisor thought that my cookies were very cheap! Double happiness for me! I am always happy when customers feel that my bakes are reasonably priced :)

MINDS ordered red velvet cupcakes, strawberry sweethearts cheesecake and a whole cake for a National Day Celebration. Just sharing 2-3 pics that I managed to sumhow...snap.

I'm not very artsy. The best I could do were these fondant toppers!

E whole cake was red velvet with cream cheese frosting.

They also got back with positive feedback. I was really happy. I am so scared that I would disappoint. The fact that they chose my cakes/cookies over some other reputable bakeries, I had a lot of expectations I guess. Well all ended well, so I am elated.

My all time favourite...

My favourite bolognese sauce...
The meatballs were yummy! A slight adaptation from Rachael Ray's recipe.
Shall update the recipe when I have more time in hand :)

Deliciously Quick!

One fine day, I was home alone and I was very hungry. I had a few choices....

1. Call mom and tell her that I'm dying of hunger. She would return home with food. Most probably 3 hours later.
2. Call Mcd and get them to deliver something which would take 30-40minutes.
3. Cook instant noodles and it's just gonna take 10 minutes. Yes I know instant noodles supposed to cook in 2 minutes...but hei, I ve to get a pot...boil water...get an egg...crack it...blah2. :p
4. Ransack the fridge and cook something in a matter of 15minutes.

I chose the last option. I wanted to go with option 2 but I just had fast food the week before, I don't think my body needs more fast-food. I am of coz very glad that I chose to cook coz I came up with a yummeh quickie that would bring some restaurants to shame!!! *Grins*



I had some cooked rice I decided to cook a simple dish to go with my rice. I had a whole lot of options considering the fact that the fridge was full. I obviously went for something easy.



Ingredients:
1 chicken breast - large cubed /sliced and season with salt and pepper.
1/4 capsicum - cubed
1/4 Japanese cucumber - sliced
1 small onion - sliced
2 garlic - chopped
2 thin slices of ginger
1 tbsp bbq sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
Black pepper



Method:
In a frying pan, pan fry chicken slices in some oil.
Once cook, add in onion, garlic and ginger. Fry for 1-2 minutes.
Add in both the sauces and capsicum.
Lastly, add in slices of Japanese cucumber and black pepper.
Cook for another minute and serve!

It was a wonderful meal. Sighs...
Something that I would definitely repeat very soon. :)

Note: If you prefer your cucumber crunch, just serve it by the side.
I prefer soft centers, thus I cooked it for a minute or 2.

A Classic Repetition

Panna cotta's one of the easiest desserts to make. I'm not very confident about plating it, so I usually serve them in little shot glasses or pretty little moulds. It's a perfect dessert to serve especially if your you've got no time in hand on the day of the event/party itself. You can be prepared the night before and kept in the refrigerator until you're ready to serve it.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups cream
1 1/2 cups milk
1 vanilla bean
1/2 cup (115g) caster sugar
2 1/2 tsp gelatine powder

1/4 cup hot water

Method:
Place the hot water in a small bowl and sprinkle the powdered gelatine in.

Give it a stir and set aside for 5 minutes.
Spli the vanilla and scrape out the seeds. Place both the seeds and the rest of the bean into a saucepan with the cream, milk and sugar.

Simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring gently.

Add in the gelatine mixture and turn off flame. Stir till the gelatine completely dissolves.
Strain the liquid into a small jug, and discard the vanilla bean.

Pour into shot glasses/moulds and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.