Vanishing Oatmeal Raisins Cookies

Who would have expected such quality cookies from a recipe off a lid? I certainly wouldn’t till I overcome my “fear” and decided to try. 1^st saw this at <Blonde Ambition in the Kitchen> pictures of her yummy cookies attracted me, so I bookmark them and had them on my to-do list, since my kitchen is always stocked with quaker oat =X I must say, this is by far the best oatmeal cookies I made *grin* I like my cookies crispy and crunchy instead of soft and chewy. I added a few more baking minutes, and they turn out crispy, light lesson learnt? It is worth to give recipes on the lid a try! The following recipe is from <Quaker’s Oat> … Did these sometime back, with Quality Assurance(QA) procedure outsourced to several QA personnels Reviews was great~ Made them into mini bites size… 1 teaspoon amount, good and cute things comes in small sizes yea? (But sadly, when one overdose on these, small and cute waistline will all be just a dream >.< ) Enjoy!

Ingredients:
½ pound/2 sticks/ 226g margarine or butter, softened
1 cup/220g firmly packed brown sugar
½ cup/ 70g granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1½ cups/180g all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt (optional)
3 cups/ 150g Quaker® Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1 cup/ 40g raisins

Steps:

1. Preheat Oven to 175 Degrees C.
2. In large bowl, beat margarine/Butter and sugars until creamy.
3. Add eggs one at a time followed by vanilla extract, beat till well combined.
4. Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt, mix well.
5. Add oats and raisins, mix well.
6. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto baking sheets.
7. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown.
8. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.

Verdict?
I reduced the sugar as usual, used around 150g of brown sugar instead of a combination of brown and granulated sugar. Love the cookies! But the next time, I will increase the cinnamon to 2 teaspoon as I would prefer a stronger cinnamon taste.

- .: Baker Lee :.

Steam Orange/Mango Cake

Steam our way to a healthier diet! I finally finalize my thesis! *cheer* I decided to make my all time favorite, <Steam Banana Cake> and after doing a batch, i played around with other fruits… and I ended up with… 3 variety of steam cakes….

Did a batch of steam orange cake…. instead of bananas; swapped in 120g of orange puree, beat the mixture to soft peak instead of ribbon stage this time, as i’m afraid that the amount of moisture in the orange puree will collapse the cake…

For the steam mango cake, i used 180g of mashed mango. and the steps follows those of the <steam banana cake> only difference is the fruits in it.

The main reason for altering the amount of fruits called for, is that the amount of moisture in these fruits defer respectively therefore slight alteration in the hope that texture will not be affected. well, it was fun to try out different combination *laugh*

Verdict?
The oranges i used in my orange cake were more to the sour side~ =X but the cake gives a refreshing feeling though! for the mango cake, i love the bits of mango in them, but however, this mango i’m using ain’t those fragrant type, therefore there seem to be an egg-y aftertaste which covers up the mango taste. =/<steam banana cake> is still the best! >.<

- .: Tester Lee :.

Happy Bento-ing Day!

I’m supposed to be doing work! But I’m tooooooo happy, I need to share this joy! Blog it down and remember this special day~ *grin* Thanks Ling for making my day! my special special pal! *hug*

Time flies yea? Just last week, I was all stressed up… on the verge of giving up! >.< really felt like scrapping my thesis report and do it next year… Well, that will mean I have to extend my study in the uni for 1 more year… all the thoughts + backup plans just seems to flood into my brain! I must say I’m really thankful for the kind support I get from my parents and friends! Nice friends supported me, all the “加油!” messages I get encourages me even more~ you people know who u are! *hug*

Was really lost and confused, I took time off, prayed, trust and rest in Him. He is indeed faithful, my rest and strength, throughout the days when I get little sleep, and tiredness didn’t get to me! I just seem to be able to go on n on before I know it; I have already generated 140pages of words! >.< Finally managed to get good rest on Monday as the report was close to completion. Meeting with my supervisor on Tuesday went really well, as no further changes were required. Rewarded myself with baking this -> Mocha Banana cupcake coffee, chocolate chips and bananas! which i offered to my dear partner Yunjie :p

Sleepless night well worth! (okie, I’m exaggerating here, I did get rest but like 3 hrs per night?) now I’m left with the last and most important part of the thesis to complete… Abstract Summary! >.< eeeeks~ after which, time to turn on my engine and prepare for my exams starting on the 2^nd May! Geez… I have a love and hate r/s about schooling life!

Back to Today, it was a wonderful day! Went for an outing with Ling and she kindly offered to make me a sushi bento… I felt like a child! It feels good to be pamper with goodies… I can’t help “showing off” to yani during class hours. With “I’m having sushi for lunch”, “I’m hungry, I wan sushi” , “this lecture better end soon, I wan my bento” keke~

Haha~ the inner child in me just came out while I unpacked the bento bag… it feels like just like unwrapping xmas gift! All hopeful and curious about what’s in it. >.< Anyway, She totally blew me away with this cute bento lunch~ *touched* sooooo sweet, so cute and so thoughtful. guess what is inside! *grin*

Yummy cold soba with Tamago + crabstick + cucumber appetizers~ *GASP* Papa, mama and baby Panda onigiri! Ling made mama panda after seeing them on <japanese bento site> .  GOSH…so KAWAII! They are just sooooo adorable, i cant stop looking at them, but at the same time i wanna eat them up =X i am one confused kid. >.< ohh~ and check out the cute condiments holders~ lunching like this really makes one happy! dun you love colors?

Ling eating up Mummy Panda~ noooooooooo……………. well, i ate up papa and baby panda They are centred with either yummy korean style sliced pork, Kani (crabsticks) Mayo or fish flakes. ^^ delicious~~

Had a really good lunch today and a good time at Meidi-ya Supermarket (Japanese Supermarket at Liang Court) okie, might sound weird, but it seems we enjoy shopping for food, cooking, baking related items more than clothes and accessories. Ohh~ and I mus so show this! Check out this rockmelon -.- $89.90! OMG~ will any1 seriously buy it? =/

Ended the day with desserts! Custard + caramel… and a light, soft fluffy Cream cheese chiffon cake~ At this little Japanese deli, known as Tampopo Deli at basement one of Liang Court, they serve goodies like bentos, puddings, cakes, savoury stuffs(tempuras, salads etc).

*grin* ahhhhh~ feel so charged up now, after an enjoyable day! alright~ I’m happy~ back to my thesis~

- .: Happy Amanda :.

TGIF!

Wohoooo~ it is Friday once again! TGIF! =X What have I been up to this whole week? *sign* nah~ not much work-out in the kitchen this week… as I’m pretty buzy with…………

Yes… >.< my thesis report! Eeeeks~ shall make this short… need to bury myself in this report *wails* Really happy when i check the comments readers left me today! *grin* Thanks people! All the kind comments! And many thanks to deeba and sarah for brightening up my long, tiring day Both of them kindly shared their blogging awards with me… so sweet!

THANKS DEEBA + SARAH! *hug*

This is what I did earlier this week; on Tuesday(15th April) was one of my darling cousin, Lewis’s b.day. I took time off, woke up early and baked him a cake… well… wasn’t really a success~ =X i sandwiched the cake with butter cream and black current preserve. Didn’t manage to get the correct consistency for the preserve *sulk* I faced troubles spreading butter cream over the sides of the cake, therefore I gave up totally and make them into slices… =X

seeee~ (-.-”) as it was sandwiched with the butter cream, it looks kind of messy with the cream and preserve mixed together, i bet it is my poor cake decorating skill~ =/ i need more practice! This is actually a recipe by Dorie, her Perfect Party Cake. I need more practice to make these perfect…

Thankfully, Lunch was pretty prefect! pizzzzzza~ and it was thin crust pizza! we both had fun, messing around with the ingredients available in the fridge to make these… yum yum! a new favorite homemade thin crust! This deserve a post on it’s own, so i shall find time to do it later next week when i’m closer to completing my thesis. Alright~ back to boooooks… not cookbooks sadly! *wave*

- .: Amanda :.

Banana Buttermilk Pancakes

Rise and shine! start a beautiful Sunday with a yummy breakfast! Breakfast is the most important meal yea? Therefore, do remember to feed yourself well and happy. Been craving for some pancakes for awhile, let’s see, it was actually on wed night >.< Suddenly the urge to have some pancakes flood into my brain, I blame it on my fellow classmate which discussed about McDonald’s Delivery (online order is now available) during our Ecommerce revision class! Ecommerce = McDonald’s online order = hotcakes I bet that must be the link~

Made these rectangular-shape babies this morning… who says pancakes ought to be round? Got the recipe off Dorie’s book, Pancakes from Morning to Midnight. Seriously, these are sooooooo good! I’m lovin it! really soft, fluffy… gives the “yea….” feeling! I tell u! These are super when they are just done, but even leaving them out there, they still taste as soft and fluffy! Dad lazes in bed as usual, since it is a Sunday, but after 2hours, they are still good!

I added banana to this buttermilk pancakes, resulting in nice, fragrant, soft bananas pancakes! Love the part when u chewy on some bits of bananas giving the pancake some extra sweetness. I enjoyed my share with some maple syrup + slices of bananas + a scoop of chunky peanut butter! <3 peanut butter. here’s mine…. so how do u like yours?

Ingredients:

1 cup/125g plain flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup/8 fl oz/240ml buttermilk **
1 large egg
3 tablespoons/1 1/2 oz/40g unsalted butter, melted

Optional:
1 banana (chopped into cubes)

** No buttermilk on hand? You can make your own, by adding 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice to 1 cup of milk. Mix and let it stand for 10mins. And remember to give this mixture a mix before using it.

Steps:

1. In a medium bowl whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
2. In another bowl or jug mix the buttermilk, egg and butter.
3. Combine the wet and dry ingredients.
4. If making bananas pancakes, add it into the mixture
5. Fry pancakes.

Verdict?
Perfect breakfast! I’m lovin it! am sure gonna make these the next time I have guests in my place~ simple, yet delicious.

.: Breakfast Chef Amanda :.

Brownies IV

Bro having his PS3-gaming-throughout-the-night Session with some of his friends tonight, he actually requested for cookies. YES! Dorie’s chocolate chip cookies =/ it will be like my 4^th time in 2 weeks if I’m making them again. Rejected that request, 1stly, I’m behind time on my thesis! >.< and 2ndly, I love that cookie, enjoy the process of making them, but if I make them too often, I might turn myself into a cookie making robot that only produces 1 kind of cookie.

This is actually the same recipe as cakey brownies I’m always using. But instead of creaming the butter this time, I just simply melted it, throw in all the other ingredients, mix with a spoon. =X me being lazy here~ greatly shorten preparation time, simplified the whole process and it is a now a 1 bowl recipe. Added in 50g of chocolate chips as well and *drum roll* fudgey brownies!

Ingredients:

(A)
80g Butter (melted)
100g Sugar (I like it bittersweet, do feel free to increase it to your liking)
2 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Essence

(B)
60g Plain Flour
30g Cocoa Powder
1/4 tsp Baking Powder

50g chocolate chips
60g Chopped Walnuts

Some nuts for Toppings (optional)

Steps:

1. Preheat Oven to 175 Degree C. Grease baking pan.
2. Mix all the ingredients in (A) till combined.
3. Sift ingredients in (A) into the mixture. Mix with a fork/spoon
4. Add in chocolate chips and walnuts, mix.
5. Pour the mixture into greased pan.
6. Bake for 20-25mins.

Verdict?
I’m lazy today anything simple + easy + less clean-up = GOOD… but I seriously feel fudgey taste better than cakey! =X moist, dense and chocolatey…

- .: Lazy Baker Lee :.

Banana Cupcakes

Banana craze? O.o it seems like everyone is either baking banana cakes/loafs or in the massive bread baking mood. *ponder* by coincidence I have 2 huge bunch of bananas sitting in the fruit basket and our dear always happy- nonsensical-crappy-friendly-yet we love classmate, Zheyan, will be celebrating the day he aged tml(10^th April) GOSH!! God thanks for this crappy chap in my life!

Always-nice-and-kind Amanda, plans to make him something… and being aware that he fancy bananas(maybe that’s the reason why he is at times nonsensical like a monkey?), I decided to make him banana cupcakes! no frosting and fancy deco, as we have class till 10pm today! *sulk* i wouldnt want him to bring home melted and messy looking cupcakes! So here’s my undecorated, simple, light soft, banana cupcake! take a look~

well, it’s actually a banana cake recipe! =X As I’m currently in the use-the-muffin-tray-for-everything mood, i made them into cupcakes! LOL, been making full use of the muffin tray! it’s easy work! easy clean up, shorter baking/steaming time, easy to consume, grab and go! In fact, I made <this> and <also this> recently again! As they are soooooo much loved by my family and friends. *wink*

This is shared kindly by aunt, yields light, soft banana cake. Checkout the texture! *drool* i love soft and fluffy cakes! erm… cupcakes! (^.^ V) keeping this recipe!

Ingredients:

225g Cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
150g butter
150g castor sugar
2 eggs, large
50ml milk
3 large bananas (mashed)

½ tsp banana essence (optional)

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 175 Degree C and line muffin pan with paper cups.
2. Sift cake flour, baking soda and baking powder into a mixing bowl. Set aside.
3. Cream butter until light and creamy for about 5-8 minutes.
4. Add sugar and continue to mix until light and fluffy.
5. Beat in eggs, one at a time.
6. Stir in banana essence if you are using.
7. Beat in mashed bananas and milk.
8. Finally, fold in sifted flour into mixture.
9. Divide batter evenly into paper cups. Bake for 20 – 25mins or till an inserted skewer comes out clean.
10. Remove the pan from the oven. Rest for 10 minutes before removing the cupcakes from the pan. Cool on wire rack.

**NOTE** if baking in loaf, increase baking time to 50-60mins.

Verdict?
Yum Yum! Amanda feels that they are delicious! light and soft indeed! but however, <steam banana cake> still wins hands down among all banana cakes! If you have a sweet tooth, do increase the sugar content. For me, this amount is sweet enough though. Btw, i did some “limited edition” version and Dorie’s Chocolate chip cookies <once> <again>. :X ohh side-track before i forget!

Happy B.day ZY!! May u be Blessed with everything and anything! *wink*

Back to the “limited edition”, it is centered with chocolate chips. The following image, may be disturbing! i apologize~ >.< it looks messy with the chocolate all over… =X but one can never go wrong with chocolate yea?

- .: Baker Lee :.

Happy B.day Susee!! 4th April 2008

Whee~ What’s more exciting then spending time with people u love! even better, their b.day! who is it? one of my fav girls of cos! yeahhhhh~ Susee’s b.day again! And it means a good meal together + chilling out till late! =X I will brush aside my school work and revision just for this! *nod* Susee is a year older once again! time flies indeed and unknowingly we have known each other for 7 years. She is getting older (hee~ i still love u no matter wat!), so am i. >.<

come~ Let’s see what i specially made for her!

She is a brownies lover! =X Therefore I pulled out my Chocolate cookbook! And decided on white chocolate brownies! “rewarding” her with something different. It was also my 1^st time baking with recipes from this book, I’m excited Let’s see…

This recipe gives a more of a cakey type of brownies… love the macadamia nuts in there and with the lemon zest, gives a nice fruity twist to the sweetness. however, I personally feel that they don’t taste as wonderful on its own but will be wonderful with fruits and ice-cream.

Since I’m not sastified, with the little time I have before meeting up with her, I made some Dorie’s chocolate chips cookies again! This time with almonds instead of pecans.

*whistle* Happy b.day susee!! Enjoy a year, full of wealth, happiness, joy and everything good ok!! *hug*

Susee enjoys Japanese food, instead of the usual sushi place, we planned an outing to the famous Kazu Sumiyaki Restaurant, which according to food bloggers offers the “best yakitori in Singapore”.

 

Check out the b.day girl posing just outside the restaurant. :X

Here’s their simple, clean menu… all text based…

Here’s what we had~ 2 of their spring collection appetizers to start with… According to the service staffs, their appetizers are based on seasonal goodies, therefore there is no fixed menu for appetizers. 1^st was some homemade bean-curd skin with mushrooms and beans.

 

Definitely not appetizing based on looks! Seems like baby food to me… mushy and all… >.< but it tasted not bad~ =X with nice chewy bits of mushrooms in it, a simple cold dish. Next, stewed bamboo shoots, simple, light, crunchy. Apettizers are at $8 and $12 each.

 

Next up, sashimi~~~~ *drool* I must say they are really fresh! But price kind of steep… their assortment sashimi, which consists of 4 types, 10 slices in total, at $30.

We tried out their seasonal catch sashimi too… 2 types, 4 slices in total, $15. But i mus say the presentation looks lovely~

WOAH~ here comes the popular yakitori!! price ranging from $3.50 – $12 per stick… had a few pork belly yakitori! Imagine the amount of fats i inputed into my body -.- seriously!!! but they are delicious~ XD aparagus with pork belly~ beef wrapped with mushrooms… and all other kind of stuffs! different types of mushrooms, fruits and cheese!

Ohh~ here are my personal 2 favorites! Apple + pork and pork + mushroom… i love sweet and savoury combi! delicious looking aint it? —>

And here we have crispy chicken skin….. =X and some chicken balls… and after taking too much fats… i start to lost track of what i am eating.. =P soooo… let the pics do the talking…

JJ and Susee posing for the yummy meat balls…

This is another favourite! Huge chunks of cheese wrapped with a thin slice of beef… I’m so satisfied with the “pull-able” cheese effect… <3 ahhhhh~ heavenly ! *blissful*

After getting our tummy filled with tons of fats… JJ got abit cranky~ =X i really dunnoe what is this woman up to… LOL

Soon after, we all got bored and while waiting for our desserts to be served, I started cam-ing with the piece of leaf… served with one of the dishes. =X

Followed by aishi’s turn with the leaf… and me with a slice of leftover cabbage -.-

Then…. More crazy people posed with the star~ LOL, who is the star here? The leaf!

 

And finally… desserts came~ their “homemade” icecream… some beany and mango icecream… :X both tasted really good!

That marks the close of the meal… totaling up to $226.60. The place was rather small…and when the crowd starts to flood in around 8-ish pm, it feels kind of crampy in there… Overall, food wise, not too bad, but I felt that the service staff could be more prompt and helpful with recommendations. =/

 

ADDRESS: 5 Koek Road, #04-05 Cuppage Plaza
Phone: 6734 2492

- .: Amanda :.

Rose Sugar

I feel feminine~ *pose* Mummy bought a pack of dried rosebuds today and it got me all excited! am suppose to make floral tea with them (according to her, it helps in weight loss -.- I seriously wonder how true), but i decide to do even more with them. I started google-ing for recipes! Landed at Once upon a tart, where Myriam did a wonderful post on homemade rose salt and sugar! woah, so simple! I really would have never thought of that! so off I went to make my own rose sugar! i’m sure i’ll be using these very soon. cookies, cupcakes etc… Thanks Myriam!

 

Ingredients:
10g dried rosebuds/pedals
40g sugar

Steps:

1. Rub dried rosebuds/pedals between your fingers until fine.
2. Mix with sugar and keep in a preserving jar.
   

*Note* I opt to pulse my rosebuds into coarse bits, so as when used in baking, nice small bits of petals can be observed.

Lemon Cream Cheese Cupcakes

It was a warm day! was digging in the fridge when i spotted this! Big fat lemon! nice cooling, refreshing lemonade comes to my mind! DING! let’s make something with the rind as well!

This recipe is taken from Betty Saw’s Tempt, Cupcakes to Excite. These cupcakes really excites me!! Don’t be deceive by it’s simple and plain appearance! They are simply DELICIOUS. Really good! sooooooo good! The texture of these cupcakes is so soft and light that u can easily munch a few at one go!

These come along topped with lemon glaze, but it is so good on its own, I refused to make the glaze! =X Trust me! They are just the kind of cupcakes you will proudly give away naked, unfrosted, undecorated, un-everything! just so simply good on it’s own… *blissful*

Ingredients:(Makes 12)

130g cake flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
130g cream cheese, at room temperature
135g butter, at room temperature (reduced to 100g)
145g castor sugar (reduced to 100g)
1 tsp grated lemon rind (increased to 2 tsp)
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 tablespoon lemon juice

**my modification in teal

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 175 Degree C and line muffin pan with paper cups.
2. Sift cake flour, baking soda and baking powder into a mixing bowl. Set aside.
3. Cream butter and cream cheese until light and creamy for 8-10 minutes.
4. Add castor sugar and continue to mix until light and fluffy.
5. Beat in eggs, one at a time.
6. Stir in lemon rind and lemon juice.
7. Finally, fold in sifted flour into mixture.
8. Divide batter evenly into paper cups. Bake for 20 – 25mins or till an inserted skewer comes out clean.
9. Remove the pan from the oven. Rest for 10 minutes before removing the cupcakes from the pan. Cool on wire rack.

Verdict?
I love these!! *nod* so does my family! the 1^st thing my bro told me when he saw me was “nice!” definitely a keeper!

- .: Baker Lee :.