Gingerbread Cookies

It's year end soon. It is really exciting because of the coming Christmas & New Year.
This is something that I really look forward to. Gingerbread cookies is definitely suitable for this season.

It is always a challenge to make "cut out" cookies in Malaysia especially when you need to cut it into different shape e.g. stars, heart, trees....etc. The main culprit is the warm weather where make the cookies dough difficult to handle, it will become so soft & oily. Therefore, the cookies dough must rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 mins before hand. Then, roll out the cookies dough QUICKLY about 5mm, then cut it QUICKLY. Otherwise, I will need to put the dough into the fridge to rest for another 20 mins in order to make a perfect cookies.

Since I always love to make things easy & quick. I use the scone cutter to cut the cookies into round shape. It was super fast. Then, I glazed it with egg wash & run the fork on the cookies to make it a bit more sophisticated. See for yourself.

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Italian Foccasia with Cherry Tomato

Madness. I have made up my mind to test out every recipes in my favorite baking book by Richard. We are luckily today because there are a lots of wonderful bread making book out there. It is all easily available in MPH, Popular & Borders. Besides, you can always search on the net for a better bread baking books, e.g. http://www.thefreshloaf.com/bookreviews

My personal point of view, there are baking book for beginner & advance baker. Just buy the books according to your needs. Then, you can move one step at a time. Finally, you will be able to become an artisan baker. My family appreciated artisan bread so much. I encouraged people to buy artisan bread because you can truly enjoy a good & healthy bread. It is "OKAY" to pay slightly more for the bread because it worth it.

Tips to make a good Italian Foccasia: Use good quality olive oil. I have top the foccasia with some lovey yellow cherry tomato, rosemary & French sea salt. They are so gorgeous. My kid love it so much.

Here is the bread before putting into the oven. Make sure the pan is oiled properly.

After baking for 30 minutes. Golden brown. Lovely.

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Simplified Korean Bibimbap

Oh...I got to confess that I am a real foodies. I love culinary adventures in different countries; I would eat anything except the weirdo stuff eg, cockroaches, tiger meat, whale meat....etc. hm..........I guess not everything huh?....ehhehehe

Korean Bibimbap looks very similar to a Hakka Lui Cha. There is a lot of side dishes top on the rice. You can buy the ready made Korean side dishes from the shelf or make your own. There are plenty of choices. It is all up to you.

I make mine with:
Korean Seaweed Salad (Korean seaweed, sesame oil & toasted sesame)
Fried egg
Fried Crispy Ikan Bilis (buy good quality fresh ikan bilis from Pangkor, not the very salty type)
Pickled Cucumber (Kimchi sytle)
Vegetables ( green vege, bean sprout, carrot)

For richer flavors: you can stir fry shredded pork or beef with Korean Spicy Miso.
Normally, I will just stir fry the shredded pork with onion for a cozy Sunday lunch.

Simple but unbelievable delicious.

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Lemon Fairy Cake

Fairy cake is actually a British term for cupcakes. The frosting for fairy cake is slightly different from the America cupcakes. It is less icing sugar with more butter, no milk.

What I like about this Lemon Fairy Cake is they are so easy to make yet so delicious..tangy. My hubby even says, this taste like the fairy cake in the 80s made by the grandma. This is not the 1st time I got this comment. Sometimes ago, I shared some cakes with my friend, she brought home & his son thought that was baked by a very old or aged grandma....And that was me, I am not that old yet.....


For delicious recipes: Pls refer to
http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/276270/Rachel-Allen-s-lemon-cupcakes

Anyway, I also did some experiment. I poke some fresh California black raisin into the batter before baking it. It turns out fantastic. Each of us pop one cake into our mouth after it rest for about 30 mins .How I wish I have some fresh strawberry, blueberry or raspberry on hand..

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Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache

Back to cupcakes again. I just love to bake cupcakes & play with the decorations.

This time I am experimenting to decorate the cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache. It is a very simple decorating technique to make the cupcakes looks gorgeous. Here is the recipes:

150 ml cream
150g chocolate
a knob of butter

Melt the chocolate & cream in a double boiler.
Double boiler meaning, heat some water on the pot, then put in a bowl in the middle of the pot to melt chocolate mix with cream & butter.

When the chocolate ganache is slightly cooled. Pour it on top of the yellow cupcakes. Decorate it with silver balls or colorful sprinkles = the pretty little cupcakes.

For the yellow cake base , pls refer to :http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/276270/Rachel-Allen-s-lemon-cupcakes

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Sesame Sourdough Bread

Frankly speaking, I am addicted to bread after I started to bake my own bread. Well, put it this way, I am addicted to carbohydrate. Be it rice, wheat, bread, pasta, noodles, kuih muih, pastry, potato......etc. I can live without meat but not without those carbo. I always believe that one can enjoy delicious food & stay healthy at the same time. That's is why portion control is very important so that you do not over eat & put on weight unnecessary. Just do not over indulge.

Last week my baking project is to make sesame sourdough bread (organic sesame seeds, rye flour, wholemeal flour & bread flour). I noticed one thing about sourdough bread, it is really packed with flavors. Thank goodness, the fermented sourdough yeast strains is giving my bread great texture. Love it.

Since there is some left over of the dough. *Blink Blink*....I used it as a pizza base, it just turn out fantastic as usual. The pizza was slightly over baked because I was multitasking in the kitchen & forgot about the time. Nonetheless, it was still good with a slight charred topping. 3 of us gobble up the 2 pizza in less than 15 mins....... ehehhehehe........

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