Marbled Eggs

So, as Easter is approaching, eggs are somewhat loved by many even though it doesn't have much true meaning in relation to the purpose/significance of Easter. Here's a really simple recipe for Marbled Eggs for any parties that you may have or even a simple treat for kids! I've used gel food colouring in these eggs as they're the easier way out but you may definitely seek alternative natural food colouring options like Pandan Leaves for green, Blue Pea Flowers for blue, Beetroot for red so on and so forth. 

Bah Kwa Cookies

What's Chinese New Year without Barbecued Pork aka Bah Kwa? The fragrant and savoury slice of meat is one of my family favourite and it sure is interesting how we can include something so sweet and yet savoury into cookies. 

I was baking more of the Pineapple Roses for Chinese New Year yesterday and I had some dough left. So with Gwen's inspiration, I baked some Bah Kwa Cookies that melt-in-the-mouth using the same melt-in-the-mouth dough used for the Pineapple Roses. 

Using a higher temperature, these cookies browned faster than that of the pineapple roses which were pale. These cookies are crunchy on the surface but melts in the mouth. The bah kwa gives a really good salty/savoury chewy texture. Also, being tiny in size, these cookies are really easy to pop and savour in one mouth. Try these cookies today! 

Bah Kwa Cookies Recipe

This recipe yields about 100+ pieces of  5cm round cookies

250g unsalted butter (room temperature)

50g icing sugar

2 egg yolks (I used 55g eggs)

360g plain flour

2 tbsp corn flour

1/4 tsp salt

400-600g bah kwa, depending on preference

Kueh Lapis Legit: Revisited

So as Chinese New Year is approaching, I try to bake as many goodies as I can despite my busy school schedule. Apart from the Pineapple Roses/Stars, Almond Cookies and Cornflake Cookies, I baked 3 Kueh Lapis Legits last night. 

This time round, I baked 2 lapis concurrently to save time and effort to some sort as I allowed one layer to bake while arranging the next layer. As on of my tins was shallower, I baked a third smaller lapis as well. This time round in place of Liv Butter, I tried Golden Churn butter which is usually recommended for Kueh Lapis Legits. The slice I tried last night wasn't to my fancy.. I'll try another slice tomorrow (as I've brushed my teeth this evening already) and make a decision as to which butter I prefer. In any case, here's the link to the recipe for the Kueh Lapis Legit I did in July 2012. 

Have fun baking it! 

I'd love to see the bakes or stuff you've cooked using the blog's recipe! Do share photos of stuff you've baked or cooked using the blog's recipe with me either via FB message to http://facebook.com/limcynthia OR http://facebook.com/thebakingbiatch OR via email at cynthia.lim.hl@gmail.com! I look forward to hearing from you! (: 

Pineapple Roses

So Chinese New Year is approaching and what is Chinese New Year without Pineapple Tarts? The last time I made Pineapple Tarts successfully was 2 years ago when I was adventurous enough to cook my pineapple paste from scratch. It was sure a lot of fun and a lot of satisfaction but as time isn't on my side this season, I decided to try out the Sarawak Pineapple Paste from Ailin that's so highly raved. Well, true enough, I love the pineapple paste that's not too sweet yet it's not too sour. For me, it's just right, even though it's not as fibrous as I'd like it to be. Then again, with store bought paste, this is really good enough at $6.80 for 1kg. So this time round, I love these Pineapple Roses.

This recipe was taken from food4tot. Even though the paste is meant for Nastar tarts, it worked perfectly fine for the close tarts I did. They melt perfectly in the mouth and that's just about the only complain I have of these tarts: they are way too crumbly and fragile! Then again, even though it's a mess to manage it after it's baked, it's all worth it as the tarts are so 'melt-in-the-mouth-and-oh-too-good-to-be-true' good.

So, give this recipe a try! (:

Almond Cookies

Almond Cookies.. where do I begin? Tiny yet packed with flavour.. Even though the cookie is tiny, it's sweet but yet packed with the fragrance of ground almond! It's kinda irresistable.. so much so that I keep popping one after another into my mouth! Just this inability to control the popping of CNY snacks.. uurgh! Just when I need to shed some weight for the big day!

In any case, even though I don't really fancy the Chinese-ness of Chinese New Year cos' it's usually associated with loud festive Chinese music for my family, some family visits and maybe some good food! The only thing I love about Chinese New Year is the abundance of good food! Love Letters, Pineapple Tarts (Oh I so wanna bake these again!), Kueh Bangkit, Barbecued Pork and the list goes on and on.. and oh yes, the ultimate favourite of mine? MANDARIN ORANGES! 

Chinese New Year is so much about food and more food! So.. if you have the luxury of time, why not try this relatively simple to prepare Almond Cookie? The only difficulty/set back in this is that the moulding of the cookie is tricky but I found a way to combat that.. Other wise, this is relatively manageable and is worth a try! This recipe was given to me by Sally who took it from Alan Ooi's book.

Cornflake Cookies,

I'm so glad I tried out this recipe that a really dear friend and mentor Molly shared with a bunch of us girls. This recipe is really simple and it tastes great! Crunchy yet not too heavy! This cookie is perfect for Chinese New Year.. or actually, just about any time of the year! 

This recipe is really simple and I believe that it's easy enough to even have your kids around to bake with you! This is one of those rare 1/5 level of difficulty recipes I have on the blog! So, quick buy some Kellogg's (I only like these!) and some good quality butter (if you're gonna bake such awesome cookies, why not use good butter? more fragrant too!) and start baking!

SNOWSKIN MOONCAKE 1: Passionfruit paste with mango skin snowskin mooncake

This was my first attempt at making snowskin mooncakes and I may say, I like them (: It's been a havoc week and it isn't helping that my school workload is increasing. I was struggling between getting more sleep and getting these 'baked'. Well, no prizes for which activity won (: This recipe is adapted from Richard Goh's recipe for snowskin mooncake.

Updated: 24 August 2013

I've been blessed with the opportunity to present this recipe in video form with all of you! Here's a video tutorial I did for the making of snowskin mooncakes! (: 

Snowskin Mooncakes

I've just successfully made 2 flavours of snowskin mooncakes! I love how pretty they are even though I'm a bigger fan of traditional mooncakes! Do keep a lookout for the recipe to these two mooncakes! Passionfruit paste with mango skin as well as red wine cranberry with cranberry pomegranate skin! 

I'd love to see the bakes or stuff you've cooked using the blog's recipe! Do share photos of stuff you've baked or cooked using the blog's recipe with me either via FB message to http://facebook.com/limcynthia OR http://facebook.com/thebakingbiatch OR via email at cynthia.lim.hl@gmail.com! I look forward to hearing from you! (: 

Kueh Lapis Legit

Kueh Lapis Legit.. one of my absolute favourites that has been on my to-bake list for eons! It's a tough cake to bake though as it's really time consuming and you need all 3 hours of it! Once you've started baking, you're basically camping in front of the oven watching this darling delicate kueh/cake work wonders! 

This recipe is from Richard Goh and I'm an absolute fan of his. It's just a pity that school's starting soon and I won't be able to attend his classes any time soon. In any case, this recipe takes 3 full hours (sometimes more) to bake and it yields a 25cm by 25cm Kueh Lapis Legit! (:

Kueh Lapis Legit Recipe

This recipe yields a 25cm by 25cm cake/kueh

Ingredients:

500g semi-hard butter (I used Liv salted butter)

300g condensed milk

3 tsp rum (optional but makes a whole lot of difference)

150g plain flour

1 tsp gingerbread spice

20 egg yolks

200g castor sugar

10 egg whites

50g castor sugar

1/4 tsp cream of tar tar

Caramel Kaya Glutinous Rice Cake (Kueh Salat)

Kueh Salat is one of those classic Nonya Kuehs that is really popular in Singapore and even in Malaysia. This is one of my mum's favourites and I decided to cook/bake/steam one for her. Am really glad that it turned out real well and this was just so well-received. (: Most importantly, she liked it! (:

The recipe was taken from a recipe book but I haven't gotten the title of whatsoever. 

Image taken from this page. 

To begin with, this is what a tradtional Kueh Salat looks like, or rather, what most people know it to be. However, I love how the glutinuous rice could be so pretty in blue, just like the way it made my nonya rice dumplings so pretty that I decided to do a mixture of blue and white glutinuous rice for this recipe.

Image taken from Malaysia Best

The blue pea flower, also known as the clitoria flower due to it's resemblance to the female anatomy is one of the best ways to get natural blue food colouring. Am thankful that Ricky gave me a dried pack of it that he has planted previously so I made good use of it (: This can be purchased in the dried form from some medical halls. Alternatively, some baking shops do carry it as well.

If you cannot get your hands on it, you can omit it and use all white glutinuous rice for this Kueh Salt. (: This took me about 3 hours to steam/cook. However, do not that you would have to soak the glutinuous rice for at least 8 hours prior to cooking it.

Caramel Kaya Glutinous Rice Cake (Kueh Salat) Recipe

This recipe yields one 6" round tin worth of Kueh Salat

Ingredients:

RICE LAYER

250g glutinuous rice (1/2 blue, 1/2 plain OR all plain)

6 pandan leaves

200ml thick coconut milk

1 handful of blue pea flower

1 tsp salt

CARAMEL KAYA LAYER

2 large eggs (60g)

200ml thick coconut milk

100ml water

100g fine sugar

50g rice flour

2 tsp pandan paste

Happy Call Pan Roasted Pork (Shio Bah)

This is a dish I just love so I'm trying ways to perfect it. (: I managed to get a big beautiful slab of meat from Sheng Shiong for $8.70 so I cooked the Happy Call Pan Roasted Pork (Shio Bah) again! This dish is relatively simple to cook with the Happy Call Pan and it took me an hour to cook and 3 hours to marinate this time round.

Happy Call Pan Roasted Pork (Shio Bah) Recipe

Ingredients:

Pork Belly (Mine was about 20cm by 12cm)

2 tbsp five spice powder

1/2 tbsp salt

1/2 tbsp for skin

Some salt for boiling pork