Matcha Macarons

Woo-hoo... It's the Macarons craze now! Let's join in the fun~

Matcha Macarons
(Recipe adapted & modified from Carol 烘焙新手必备的第一本书)

Ingredients
45g egg whites
50g castor sugar
65g almond meal
60g icing sugar
1/2 Tbsp green tea powder

Method

1. Combine & lightly whisk almond meal, icing sugar & green tea powder in a bowl.
2. Place egg whites in a clean mixing bowl. Using an electrical whisk, whisk egg whites until foamy, add in half of the castor sugar & whisk until soft peaks forms. Add in remaining castor sugar & whisk until the egg white mixture becomes shiny & stiff peaks.
3. Fold in half of the dry ingredients into the egg whites batter until just combined, fold in the remaining dry ingredients until thoroughly combined, be careful not to over mix the mixture.
4. Pour the batter into a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle, pipe the batter into whatever size & shape you wished.
5. Rap the baking tray hard, a few times on the floor to spread the batter slightly.
   
6. Set it aside for the shells' surface to dry up.
7. Preheat oven to 200C, slide the tray of dried macarons into the oven, off the heat immediately & keep the oven door ajar with a thick glove placed in between, for 6mins.
8. Once the 6mins is up, close the oven door . Bake the macarons at 140C for 5mins & lower the heat to 100C & bake for 15mins again.
   
9. Remove from oven and let it cool completely before removing from the parchment paper. Fill with fillings of your own choice & keep in airtight containers inside the refrigerate for 1 day before serving.

*Note: The temperature for every oven varies. What works for me may not works for you. Thus, you need to adjust the temperature accordingly.




I'm submitting this to the Aspiring Bakers #4 Love is in the air (Feb 2011) hosted by Ellena of Cuisine Paradise

Black Tea Loaf

(Recipe adapted & modified from Aunty Yochana's Open-top wholemeal bread)

Ingredients:
255g Bread flour
3g bread improver
20g sugar
5g salt
5g instant yeast
150g Black tea (I used 2 tea bags)
20g butter

Method:
1. Combine all the ingredients except salt & butter into a mixing bowl. Beat till it forms a dough.
2. Add in salt & butter & continue beating till a smooth & elastic dough is formed.
3. Roll dough into a rectangle shape, then roll into a swiss roll shape and place into a loaf pan
4. Leave to rise for 1hr.
5. Bake @ 180C for about 30mins.

Carrot Bacon Loaf

I swear I didn't add colouring to my loaf. I had only added home made fresh carrot juice into the dough! Weird... how did my orange coloured carrot juice dough ended up as a yellow coloured loaf? I am totally puzzled.

This is how my loaf looks when it was out of oven. Pretty right? ;P

*sigh* so disappointed to see the colour changed after slicing my loaf :(

Bloggers Meetup

Today mark my first major gathering with 7 other bloggers. There was so much delicious food that it filled up the whole table. Usually I only get to see all these salivating pictures on their blogs, now I can finally see and taste them, heavenly.

Take a look at our spread.

Lemon Curd Meringue Tart By Edith (Precious Moments)

Chocolate Mayonnaise Cupcakes By Edith (Precious Moments)

Lemon Squares By Jess (J3ss Kitchen)

Pomelo Salad By Jo (Sugar & Everthing Nice)

Mango Cheesecake By Jasmine (The Sweetlicious)

Jelly Hearts By Jasmine (The Sweetlicious)

Fried Nian Gao By Jasmine (The Sweetlicious)

Meatballs By Jean (Noms I Must)

Durian Swiss roll By Wendy (Wen's Delight)

Durian Chiffon cake By Wendy (Wen's delight)

Lemon Cream Cheese Cupcakes with Lemon Swiss Meringue buttercream
By ZY (Baking Library)

Brownies By ZY (Baking Library)

Dulce De Leche cupcakes
Chocolate Madeleines
Chocolate Macarons with lemon curd filling by me

The gathering was definitely a success and I had a great time meeting up with all the bloggers. Thanks to Edith for hosting us. Looking forward to our next gathering.

Dulce De Leche Loaf

After doing bakes using DDL as ingredient, I am curious to know how does a DDL loaf tastes like? Take a look at my loaf...

Does the pattern on the loaf reminds you of the golden crown on 'Sun WuKong's' head?

Verdict: Slightly brownish bread with a soft texture. Sad to say the DDL taste is minimal. I should be more liberal when adding my DDL next time! Overall, the bread is sweet with a bit of milky taste.

Jess (from Jess Kitchen) gave me a can of DDL & her whipped cream cake last Sun. Her cream cake reminds me of Sara Lee cake. Very fragrant & creamy! Thanks Jess for the cake, DDL & not forgetting the loaf tin that you lent me (I'm going to get my own this wk! Hahaha)!

Jess & I won these gifts in a Valentine Giveaway hosted by Veronica of Quay Po Cooks! The earrings are handmade by Veronica herself. Very sweet & beautiful right? Thanks Veronica! Hope we can meet up soon.

Make a Guess....

Pluto is pondering what are those stuffs in front of him. What do you think? Take a closer look... Yeah, you are right! They are doggie bone bread for Pluto! Aren't they cute? ;)

I am using the recipe from my previous Hearty Buns bakes & added bread improver to speed up the bread proofing process, mozzarella cheese as fillings & wrapped the bread centre with bacon.

Verdict: I love the combination of cheese & bacon. As you took the first bite, you can taste the soft bread with melted cheese. The second bite comes the tasty bacon. Heavens!

Chocolate Macarons with Lemon Curd filling

Lemon Curd (Recipe adapted from Quay Po Cooks)

Ingredients:

6 egg yolks
3/4 cup castor sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice
2 grated lemon zest
1/2 cup cold butter

Method:

1. Whisk egg yolks & sugar in a metal bowl placed on top of a saucepan over simmering water. Add in lemon juice & zest until combined & smooth.

2. Stir the mixture constantly with a spatula until it thickens. Remove from heat. Whisk in butter slowly. Spoon mixture into clean glass container & allow it to col with a piece of plastic wrap laid on the surface to prevent a skin from forming.

DDL Pound Cake

My little DDL Kitties are saying "hello! Come & eat me!"

Dulce De Leche Pound Cake (Recipe adapted & modified from Bakericious)

Ingredients
60g butter
15g brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
60g Dulce De Leche

60g flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
*Sift together

1 egg

Method
1. In a bowl, using an electric whisk, cream butter & sugar till light & fluffy. Add in vanilla essence & DDL, whisk till incorporated.

2. Add flour & whisk till the batter is smooth. Add in egg & whisk well.

3. Pour the mixture into the prepared mould.

4. Bake at 180°C for 20mins.


Verdict: I love the smell & taste of DDL. It is soft & tastes perfect.

DDL Cuppies

Vanilla cuppies (Recipe adapted & modified from Joyofbaking,com)

Ingredients
110g butter
120g castor sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
190g plain flour
1.5tsp baking powder
60ml milk

*Extras: Some DDL & chopped cashew nuts

Method
1. Sift flour & baking powder together.
2. Whisk buter & sugar until light & fluffy.
3. Add in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add in vanilla essence & DDL.
4. Add in flour mixture & milk alternately in 3 additions. Add in chopped cashew nuts.
5. Fill muffin cups with batter till 3/4 full & sprinkle cashew nuts on top
6. Bake at 180°C for 20mins.

DDL Cream
85ml whipping cream, cold
35g DDL

1. Put DDL into mixing bowl & put in a bit of cream. On low speed, mix to combine, adding more gradually. When all the whipping cream has been added in, turn to high speed and beat until soft peaks.


These cuppies have a nice fragrance of cashew nuts when out of the oven. *sigh* I am unable to sample them as they were baked specially for a friend ;P

Love binds us together

Butter Cookies (Recipe adapted & modified from Anna Chan)

Ingredients
90g Butter
75g sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
135g plain flour
45g corn flour

Method
1) Cream the butter & sugar together for one minute.
2) Mix in egg yolk & vanilla essence. Stir in plain flour & corn flour. Knead briefly.
3) Roll out the dough to about 2-3mm thick & cut into shapes with cookie cutters.
4) Bake at 180°C for 15mins.


I'm submitting this to the Aspiring Bakers #4 Love is in the air (Feb 2011) hosted by Ellena of Cuisine Paradise

Dulce De Leche Cream cake

Dulce De Leche Cream Cake (Recipe adapted & modified from Table for 2 or more)

*Sponge Cake
Use any of your favourite sponge cake recipe

DDL Cream
170ml whipping cream, cold
70g DDL

1. Put DDL into mixing bowl & put in a bit of cream. On low speed, mix to combine, adding more gradually. When all the whipping cream has been added in, turn to high speed and beat until soft peaks.

Syrup:
15g brown sugar
35ml water

*Microwave the mixture & leave to cool down.

Assembly:
1. Slice cake into 2 layers.
2. Place 1 layer onto cake board. Brush on syrup. Spread with 2/3 cup of DDL cream. Brush the topping layer of cake with syrup & place the surface with syrup onto cream. Spread DDL cream all over cake.