. Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies .

I used the recipe from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/best-big-fat-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookie/ and made changes as usual. I found it too sweet and had too strong of a baking soda smell. I think I would amend to as follows and see how it goes.

Fresh out of the oven! Pic via Instagram

My recipe:

• 2 cups plain flour (used cake flour cos we ran out of plain)
• 1/3 baking soda
• 170g butter - 3/4 browned, 1/4 softened for creaming with sugar
• 1 -2 tsp instant coffee
• 1/4 white sugar
• 2/3 brown or muscovado sugar.
• About 3/4 tbsp molasses
• 1 tsp salt
• 1.5 cups of dark chocolate chips (up to you, but leave some aside to put on top of the cookies. You can also sub some with white choc chips, caramel bits, then I'd reduce the sugar more if I were you.)
• 1 Vanilla pod
• 1 egg
• 1 yolk

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven at 170C.
2. Brown 3/4 of the butter. 
3. Sift flour, salt and baking soda together. Set aside.
4. Cream 1/4 of the butter with all the sugar, molasses, vanilla and coffee. Don't sink the container that you browned your butter in yet.
5. Add in the egg and the yolk one at a time, allowing proper mixing in between each addition.
6. Sift in the dry ingredients and fold till just incorporated. 
7. Fold in all your choc chips cept the ones you've left aside obviously.
8. Tuck the bowl of batter into the fridge for a bit. The longer the better.
9. Prepare your cookie tray/sheet/whatever. I lined mine with baking paper and oiled it with the leftover butter from my saucepan.
10. Plop a small portion of batter onto your tray, leaving about 3 inches space in between cos these lil fuckers tend to spread.
11. Dot your unbaked cookies with your leftover choc chips for prettiness.
12. Bake for 15-17 mins or until edges are browned and crisp.
13. Remove from oven when done and resist temptation to eat one now. It's too soft still. 
14. Let stand on the tray for a few mins before removing (you can eat one now) and cooling on a wire rack.
15. Eat some more.
16. Go for long run.

 The cookies were perfect warm from the oven; crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside, with gooey chocolate chips. As they cooled though, the sweetness started to come through. By the time they were fully cooled, all of them were oily and completely soft. Super disappointing. I guess there wasn't enough gluten, too much butter and maybe the molasses gave too much moisture. I'm most likely still going to use molasses cos the taste is lovely but, while using the same proportions, I'll give a full cup of bread flour rather than all cake flour.


Next time, I must try substituting the flour for 1 and 1/3 cup bread flour (for chewiness) and 2/3 cake flour (adapted sorta from http://buttercream-bakehouse.com/2013/04/perfect-chocolate-chip-cookies.html). According to TLC cooking, cake flour is bleached which does something to the protein, which reduces spreading.

That webpage has a whole host of info on different types of flours. Pasting here just in case the link dies. Credit given to the Editors of Easy Home Cooking Magazine

Q. What's the difference between cake flour, bread flour, and all-purpose flour? Is it okay to use all-purpose flour for everything?

©2007 Melanie Martinelli Using the right type of flour can make all the difference in taste and texture.

A. The main difference among flour types is in the gluten content, which varies depending on whether the flour is made from hard wheat or soft wheat. Gluten is the protein that helps yeast stretch and rise. To achieve the best baking results, use the type of flour a recipe specifically calls for.All-purpose flour is designed for a number of uses, including cookies, quick breads, biscuits, and cakes. A mixture of high-gluten hard wheat and low-gluten soft wheat, it comes in both bleached and unbleached forms, which can be used interchangeably.
Bread flour is an unbleached, high-gluten blend of mostly hard wheat and is best used in yeast breads.
Cake flour is made predominantly of soft wheat. Its fine texture and high starch content make it ideal for making tender cakes, cookies, biscuits, and pastries that do not need to stretch and rise much.
Pastry flour is similar to cake flour but has a slightly higher gluten content. This aids the elasticity needed to hold together the buttery layers in flaky doughs such as croissants, puff pastry, and pie crusts.
Self-rising flour is all-purpose flour that has had baking powder and salt added to it. Use it in yeast bread recipes in place of all-purpose flour by omitting salt, and in quick bread recipes by omitting salt and baking powder.

When the recipe calls for:	Substitute:
1 cup sifted cake flour	1 cup minus 2 tablespoons sifted all-purpose flour
1 cup pastry flour	1 cup minus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 cup self-rising flour	1 cup minus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour plus 11/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour	1 cup plus 1 tablespoon pastry flour

Q. Most of my recipes call for pastry flour, but I prefer using Softasilk® cake flour. How much cake flour should I use in place of pastry flour? Also, will the amount of baking powder, baking soda, or salt need to be changed?
A. Pastry flour and cake flour are both milled from soft wheat and have lower protein levels, which makes them more suitable for items that need to be tender, such as cakes, pies, and pastries.
However, recipes call for specific types of flour for a reason. At 6 percent to 8 percent, cake flour has a lower protein level than pastry flour, which ranges from 8 percent to 10 percent protein. In addition, while pastry flour is usually sold unbleached, most cake flour, including Softasilk®, is bleached to speed up the natural process of flour maturing and color lightening.

©2007 Photodisc Cake flour has a lower protein level than pastry flour.

In the past, wheat was left to mature in the field, and flour was stored in silos for a while, allowing the oxygen in the air to bleach the flour naturally. These days, because farmers take their wheat to market sooner, flour millers bleach flour to speed up that maturing process.
Bleaching toughens cake flour's protein. This allows cake flour to support large amounts of sugar and fat without collapsing. But, because of this strengthening effect, substituting cake flour for pastry flour does have some physical effects. In cookies, for example, using cake flour reduces the amount that cookies spread.
Still, because of its lower protein levels, using cake flour instead of pastry flour will yield products that are more tender and possibly more crumbly. To compensate for that, you can substitute 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of cake flour for every cup of pastry flour. Normally, you don't have to make any adjustments in the other ingredients.
Q. I see lots of recipes that call for whole-wheat flour. Can I substitute with all-purpose white flour? Would it make a difference in baking, such as a cake or muffins?
A. Substituting white flour for whole-wheat flour could make a difference in many dishes, especially in baked goods, because the flours are so different in texture, taste, and moisture content.
White flour is the ground inner kernel or endosperm of two types of wheat: high-gluten hard wheat and low-gluten soft wheat. It contains neither the bran nor the germ of whole-wheat flours.
Whole-wheat flours are available in two general types: The type labeled "whole-wheat" is usually ground hard wheat that is high in gluten and best for baking bread. Whole-wheat "pastry flour" is made from a soft wheat low in gluten and is best for cakes, muffins, biscuits, scones, pastries, and cookies.

M. MacKenzie You can make delicious, fiber-filled muffins using whole-wheat pastry flour.

Although bread flour and pastry flour -- either white or whole-wheat -- can't be substituted for each other, most sources say you can successfully substitute up to half of the whole-wheat flour called for in a recipe with all-purpose white flour. You may have to experiment with the amount of the liquids in the recipe as a result.

Keep in mind, however, that white flour does not contain the fiber and nutrients of whole-wheat flour. Whole-wheat flour has fewer calories and carbohydrates than white flour, and it contains five times the fiber, twice the calcium, and 25 percent more protein than white flour.
Q. When I'm doing my weekly grocery shopping, I see the words "fortified" or "enriched" on food labels. What do they mean, and what's the difference?
A. A "fortified" food is one that has had one or more nutrients added to it that it normally does not have. For example, milk is fortified with vitamin D. Orange juice can be fortified with calcium, which benefits bone health.
Other foods, such as flour, can lose important nutrients during processing. By "enriching" the food, the food processor adds back lost vitamins and minerals, so the food can still provide most of these nutrients.
However, "enriching" does not mean extra vitamins or minerals are added. Instead, a food such as breakfast cereal can use "enriched" flour and be "fortified" with added vitamins and minerals.

. Peanut Butter Cocoa Balls aka Chocolate Salty Balls (recipe) .

To read the background story, click here (so sweet ah, you)


(Makes about 18 balls depending obviously on your ball size (teehee). Mine were 3/4".)

Utensils:

Mixing bowl - big enough of course.
Spoons - however many you might need. I kinda used about 3 teaspoons I think.
A tray or an airtight container (preferable so your lovely salty balls won't absorb fridge smells) - to lay your balls on.
Parchment/wax/baking paper (optional).
Mug/Cocktail glass/Drinking receptacle (optional)

Ingredients (any portions are estimates):

1. Cocoa powder - 3 generous tsps.
2. Milk powder - 3 generous tsps. 
3. Peanut butter - 3 generous tbsps.
4. Maple syrup - pour enough to taste and bind.
5. Orange zest - enough to taste.
6. Vanilla essence or seeds from one vanilla pod.
7. Any liquor of choice - a dash (optional).
8. Sea salt flakes to sprinkle. 
9. Coconut oil (or butter, or any complementary oil) - enough to oil tray/container.
10. Any cocktail mixer of choice (optional).

Directions:

1. Make your alcoholic beverage of choice. Consume throughout at desired speed.
2. Line your tray/container if you wish, then oil the liner. Or just oil the tray/container straight. Your choice.
3. Mix dry ingredients together (1 & 2) thoroughly.
4. Make a well.
5. Add the peanut butter and mix slightly, or muchly. Whichever you choose. Keep in mind that the end mixture should be wet enough to bind together into balls or whatever shape you choose and hold its shape, but not too wet that it'll fall apart.
6. Add all the other ingredients except the sea salt flakes and the oil, as and when you wish into the centre and just mix them all well. Keep tasting and revising. Just don't eat it all at one shot. You'll totally regret it!
7. You can add some coconut oil or butter if you'd like a slightly oilier consistency and if you want the flavour.
8. Shape into balls. Chocolate salty balls. Or whatever shape, if you don't want balls. Chocolate salty balls.
9. Put your balls (or not) onto your prepared container/tray.
10. Sprinkle with salt. I like mine saltier, so I sprinkle more salt.
11. Refrigerate till shiok (I happened to leave them overnight but I'm sure they'll be fine in 3-4hrs or so to firm up. Although they felt fine eaten straightaway/while shaping).
12. Lick your fingers (optional but highly recommended).
13. Finish your beverage. 
14. Or make another if you've already finished.
15. Enjoy the satisfaction of having just made an easy hands in the clay dessert. And the warmness of alcohol in your belly.

Don't forget to wash your hands........ Or not. I would judge you if you didn't. Just sayin. 

. Chocolate Salty Balls - story .

The other night I was restless and itching to make something, a dessert, something chocolatey, something slightly rich that hit the right spot and didn't require a whole lot of planning, measuring, time or baking. Basically something that didn't need much concentration or brain power.

I'd bought a box of cocoa powder recently which was sitting on a buffet table directly in front of my room and along the common walk way in our home (or whatever you'd call that). So that had been on my mind. I do love opening packages, regardless of what's inside. So I decided to make my own version of Peanut Butter Chocolate Salty Balls (teehee I am a child). No measuring, just pour and agak-agak (estimate).
 
Just below is exactly what I did.

The next post will be an amended version and improvements that I think could be made.
The rest of this will be me prattling on about my thought process of improvements, tips and variations so you can skip right ahead and click here if you don't want to read the in betweens (okaaayyyy #sadface).

The ingredients:
Cocoa powder. Milk powder (well I used a few scoops of Mum's colostrum and a little milk powder...let's hope Mum doesn't read this haha...otherwise...um...nutrient packed snack Mummy! :D). Maple syrup. Peanut butter . Sea salt flakes to sprinkle. Coconut oil.

Directions:
Line tray with foil or wax paper and oil with the coconut oil.

Mix cocoa powder n milk powder till nicely blended, then all the others except the salt. Then shape into balls, line em up on ur oiled paper and sprinkle with sea salt. Put that whole thing in the fridge and try not to touch them till, I dunno, a few hours time or something. I left them overnight seeing as I'd finished making them around midnight.


I ate quite a bit while I was making them (and along with a lovely hot cocoa...heavy on the cocoa...found out that too much hot cocoa can induce a slight caffeine OD), then I ate one tonight, and another. So different! They tasted like they had some kind of orange essence!

Notes and tips:
The fridge I put them in is our dessert, fruits and drinks fridge. So basically no funky un/cooked food smells. Seeing as I'd left them uncovered, I can only guess that they absorbed the orange smells in the fridge perhaps.

So Tip #1: Would be a good idea if you put your balls in an airtight container if you don't have a separate fridge from your meats and foods with funky smells.

Tip #2: Add vanilla something...pod, essence, what have you.

Tip#3: Add orange juice and zest. And cointreau. And for that matter.....

Tip #4: Alcohol! Cointreau, Grand Marnier, Bailey's (all the flavours), Kahlua, Tequila Rose, whatever you could think of that could possibly match! Get creative! Which brings me to....

Variations!: 
Sub peanut butter and maple syrup with condensed milk.
Whack coconut sugar, gula melaka, any form of sweetener/sugar.
Throw in molasses.
Milo.
Horlicks.
Any nut butter [I probably would be slightly more conscious of making it a healthy snack so....rather than store bought peanut butter (which was leftover from making Mal's cakes) I'd make my own pb.]
Chopped nuts
Mash some bananas, cook them in butter, squeeze some lemons over them and throw that banana chunk/mash mixture in.

Mix all the above together or do them separately. This can be a pretty fun experiment. And if I leave out the white sugars and the gluten stuff, Mum can eat them too.

. ...Some Cake with Peanut Butter in it .

So maybe a Reese's cup inspired cupcake?
A chocolate cake with a peanut butter centre, and a peanut butter cream cheese frosting.
The peanut butter will be home made. Ground peanuts (till creamy) with salt and honey/sugar/maple syrup/palm sugar and maybe vanilla?

Method 1

Enclose a dollop of pb in melted chocolate then freeze? So these are made maybe the day before.
After making chocolate cake batter, put a dollop into each cupcake wrapper and push a piece of home made Reese's piece into e relative centre and cover with another dollop of batter.

Method 2

Dollop cake batter, dollop pb into centre, fill the rest with batter. Bake. Cool. Frosting.


Frosting
Not sure if I can combine this home made peanut butter with cream cheese
1 1/4 cup smooth, creamy pb
1 pkg cream cheese
Vanilla extract
125g softened unsalted butter
4 cups brown or palm sugar (well-blended)
2-3 tbs milk or heavy cream.

or
Two Chicks from the Stick's
6 tbs unsalted butter
1/2 cup creamy smooth pb
4 cups brown or palm sugar (well-blended)
Pinch of salt
6 tbs heavy cream or milk

(Frosting for 4 dozen cupcakes. So maybe we can take it down a notch eh?)

After!

. Recipe Idea - Lemon Tea Jello Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting .

Here's another reason why I absolutely love my cousin (not that I've ever mentioned it here before, but he is one of my favourite persons in the world). Brainstorming recipes with him tonight, about what I'm going to make for him when he gets back (he has a standing order, unlimited use, to request any baked goods and I will make em for him because he is darling).

He wants something with peanut butter and something with jelly but not pbj haha
So I asked him what flavour jello and told him I'm thinking of flavour combinations. And bless the dear! Lemon Tea he throws out! And of course I exclaimed as my brain juices started flowing! Lovely hot tea to mix with lemon jello. This will be poured into an Earl Grey tea cake ridden with holes (nice big ones made fr a straw perhaps or a big fork twisted, not poked to the bottom). A cake or a cupcake....haven't decided. And then he said and a cream cheese frosting! Genius! The flavours will go together perfectly! And I shall add lemon zest to the cake as I have done before....or orange zest to the cream cheese, ala my Earl Grey cupcakes (which is another story I haven't written about. Hmm long story short, I don't take to having many kitchen helpers very well). Probably the cream cheese.
And yes! They shall be cupcakes (cos easier hahaha)! In my ducky wrappers! Or my floral ones (cos *affected accent* Earl Grey cupcakes Sir?).

. Moisture substitutes in cakes, and other ideas about matcha cake and homemade white chocolate .

Instead of milk for cakes.....
So I won't forget...

• Cream cheese
• Butter milk
• Sour cream
• Yoghurt

Yet to be testeds...

• Mascarpone
• Apple puree
• Ricotta (might create grainy texture)
• Heavy cream
• Heavy cream + ricotta

Feel like using our packet of matcha in a cake. Maybe use the cocoa butter and turn that into white chocolate, caramelise that white chocolate, add cream and have that with the matcha cake. Make 2 batches - one with proper white chocolate and the other with browned white chocolate. Or layer them.....oooooh the possibilities.

Recipe ideas for white chocolate

White chocolate requires cocoa butter, a sweetener, milk solids and vanilla. There are so many different combinations that could be made.

I think I remember reading that there shouldn't be any water, but I'm not sure if vanilla extract would cause the cocoa butter to seize. So,

Sweeteners:
- Sugar: muscovado sugar, coconut sugar, palm sugar/gula melaka, maple sugar
- Honey
- Maple syrup

 Milk solids:
- Milk powder,
- Coconut milk powder

Vanilla:
- Vanilla bean paste
- Vanilla seeds

Wonder if I should buy a candy thermometer.

. Brown Butter Cupcakes .

Note to self: don't use yoghurt as a substitute. Sour taste overpowers the browned butter. Perhaps mascarpone next time. Recipe follows kiwi cupcakes. However, half of the butter is taken to be browned while half is creamed with light muscovado sugar. Is there a dark one? If so, next time I'll try that. Maybe caramelise the sugar while browning the butter. Also as with all recipes now,  yolks and whites are separated.

. Hello! Buttermilk! .

Well, it's been a while.

I've moved back home and it's taken a while for me to get used to equipment and humidity here re: baking. I believe I'm getting back on my feet.
Baked 2 cakes recently, from the Little Teochew's blog. I bought buttermilk on a whim and also because I was craving pound cake and had the idea of possibly trying buttermilk out in cake. So Google led me to the Little Teochew's links below:

http://www.thelittleteochew.com/2012/03/lemon-buttermilk-pound-cake.html
and
http://www.thelittleteochew.com/2012/04/chocolate-buttermilk-cake-again.html

I know I didn't follow the recipes to a T (as I usually do, out of habit), and can't really remember what I changed up (cept subbing 1/4 or so cup of  Bailey's for the rum in the latter cake; and increasing the measurements of everything but the sugar, to use up ingredients) but they both turned out pretty magnifique. So I believe the cat might have finally landed on her feet.

Tomorrow, I find out if the chocolate cake managed to stay soft, moist and luscious.

No pictures because I really suck at doing justice to the food, and also I'm lazy.

Update: The cakes were absolutely luscious. The chocolate chunks which I added also gave lovely solid little chocolatey velvety crunches. Big brother chided me for him just absolutely having to gorge his face on cake because he just could not stop himself. Lovely =)

. Honey Cupcakes/ Cookie Batter .

1 1/3 cup plain flour minus 2 1/2 tbsp

2 1/2 tbsp corn flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

125g butter

1-2tbsp honey

2/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

Dash of coffee essence

Vanilla essence

180deg....

Timing = ??? Maybe about 20 mins or so

Makes a crusty cupcake but might've been the semi unmelted butter chunks

Might make good cookie batter

Excellent topped with Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge Icing

. Housemate's bday cupcakes...sorta .

Same recipe as the lemon kiwi cupcakes which were turned into the honey grape ones
but sub half a pack of cream cheese for the fruits.
And 1 and a half tbsps of honey

. honey, strawberry and green grape cupcake .

same recipe as kiwi-lemon cupcakes but i subbed the kiwis with some strawberries and some green grapes. left out about 1/16th of the sugar and added 2 heaped tsps of honey.

while the cupcakes were baking....my god....the aroma of the honey was unbelievable. it was heavenly! Almost cloying (i was wondering if i'd put too much honey but it was just right), almost tangible
honestly, the smell was almost intoxicating and i have no idea how to describe it in a way that wud do it justice. one of those, "you had to be there" moments

and now my hair smells lovely =)

the cake(s) i ate was sooo moist and fluffy and the honey added such a lovely delicate crust. mmmmmmm

gotta thank my housemate for suggesting honey
in a moment of temporary amnesia, i wasn't wanting to add it in at first cos i wasn't sure of the measurements, then remembered who i really am and did it the usual 'just whack' way

. strawberry creamcheese earlgrey cupcakes with lime creamcheese frosting .

:D

. raisin & mint choc bits cookies .

125g butter
1 cup of brown sugar and granulated sugar mix (mostly brown sugar)
1 large egg
¼ cup milk
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 ¾ flour
½ tsp bs
½ tsp bp
½ tsp salt
1 ½ tsp instant coffee
1 cup raisins (or however much you want)
1 ½ cup choc chips (or however much you want. I didn’t have choc chips so I cut up a block of some couverture chocolate and the remaining cubes of mint choc that my housemate had lying around
Optional:
Almond essence
Cinnamon sugar for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Sift flour, bs, bp and salt.
3. Cream butter wi sugars till fluffy approx 30secs
4. Beat in egg and vanilla extract for another 30 secs till well combined. Stir in milk/
5. Beat power into butter about 15 secs low speed till just combined. Stir in rest of ingredients.
6. Roll heaped tbs of batter into balls or drop batter onto baking sheet about 3 inches apart. Press down gently with back of spoon to spread out into a 2 inch circle (if you want)
7. Dust with cinnamon sugar if you want your cookies to come out nice n crunchy/crispy on top.
8. Bake for about 15-20 mins till nicely browned.





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I HAVE to say! The mint choc made a really really nice touch!

On another note, I made earl grey cupcakes with orange buttercream icing a coupla weeks ago. Good stuff. A little drama also heh cos a whole slew of people wanted to help me and I'm usually a 1 woman show when it comes to baking so I had to think of stuff that they could do and got a little distracted. Also, my butter didn't soften as much as I'd hoped it would (darn u cold weather!) so it was really hard to cream. Whilst my fren's bf was creaming the butter with his MANLY STRENGTH I decided to try a little trick of Mummy's by separating the yolks and the white and beating the whites till stiff.
So after I mixed everything together, the batter looked a little not runny which was strange, but me being a little harried n stuff went "meh" and put the cupcakes into the oven. Then realised I didnt mix in the damn whites -_-
Thank goodness there was some left over batter waiting to be distributed into my pretty pink disney princesses cupcake liners (which I bought for my fren's bf hahaha...pwetty pink for u sir!)

ANyhoo!! Despite all the drama, the cakes turned out really yum! Coulda done with more earl grey. Might try it out again next time. Who knows? The only recipe I've done more than once was the lavender cookies.

And Lyshe, I'll try to bother to put up pictures. But they're really nothing to look at. They kinda look like mini steamed Chinese egg cakes. The kind you see at Chinese New Year.

. Chocolate Strawberry Yoghurt Lime Cupcake .

About 1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 cup strawberry yoghurt (I used ski)
Lime peel chopped (however much you want...I chopped till I was tired)
About 1/5-1/4 cup of milk. (Um I used quite a big mug so maybe 1/4)
2 eggs
125g butter
1 cup self-raising wholemeal flour (or plain or normal wholemeal flour with about 1 tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt)
Dash of vanilla essence

Usual steps for baking stuff.....
preheat oven
sift flour n cocoa powder (that's what i did)
cream sugar and butter
add eggs 1 at a time to creamed butter, mix after each
fold in flour/cocoa
add milk, mix mix mix
add yoghurt, mix mix mix
add vanilla essence, whenever you feel like it
add in lime peel chopped....if u have lime juice, maybe u can add a dash or 2? i dunno, i haven't tried that. cos i'm not at home and i've nowhere to store the remaining juice.
empty into cupcake liners or whatever
Bake for about 20 mins in 170-200 deg c oven or till fork/stick comes out clean
stare at clock impatiently
fish tray out of oven
stare at tray impatiently
grab a friend and something hard and fan the cupcakes furiously.
stare impatiently some more
grab a fork, grab cupcake, try not to burn your hand put cupcake on table.
eat

SUPER SOFT MAN!!!
super soft and moist! mmmmm

. note to self .

when baking with cinnamon, 1 full tsp and a big dash is not enough
probably 3 full tsps and a generous few dashes would be better.
also, maybe just 1 smal tsp of chilli will do

. more food .

In between making the black cherry mocha and the kiwi lime cupcakes, I made a batch of black cherry yoghurt muffins with chocolate chips and 1 had a face on it!! hehe...

I also borrowed my friend's soya bean milk maker thingamajig (which by the way, is a BITCH to clean!!!!!!!!!) and did my very own batch of home made soy milk. Awesomeness I tells ya! I made a few batches. Thing about home made soy milk is that you'll get this residue thingy which the Japs call okara. It's awesome stuff....full of nutrition -> protein, fibre, and all that jazz. Also, it's a superb ingredient for breads and baked goods.

While I was making the kiwi lime cupcakes, I made a mistake and sifted my sugar with my flour (sugar shuda been creamed wi e butter) so I kept that bag of mistake for future use. I don't deal with wastage very well see...

So I used that, added the okara, choc chips and yoghurt and...I dunno maybe 1 egg or something. I wanted to make something scone-like, bread-like. Also I was lazy so I just plonked the whole bowl of batter down into a loaf shaped thing on my pan. I topped it with cinnamon sugar so it'd be all crispy crusty like.

It came out kinda cake like, kinda scone like, kinda bread like, kinda awfully yummilicious as my friend put it. =)

Check the texture out...slightly chewy.....very fluffy......

Mmmness

. kiwi lemon cupcakes .

I made 2 batches.
Well actually I didnt have enough space on my rack for all so the last 2 had significantly less batter than the others. Added vanilla essence and amarula.
The others rose like a souffle and fell like badly done souffles as well.

(Badly done souffles)

(Perfecto)

The 2 were perfect.
The differences were the other 2 had less batter, were refrigerated before being baked and had frangelico in them. Hmm...
Also at the end, I turned up the top burner to like full blast to brown the tops. Shiok man
They all taste like the seiyu cheesecake. And with the browned tops like damn yummy crust. Next time I'll add more frangelico and see what happens. Sorry no pics. Lazy to upload the souffle ones... Maybe next time... and the perfect ones were gone too quick. Heh

Her recipe also includes a strawberry and kiwi cream cheese frosting (sounds yummy) but obvi I'm too lazy for that. And the cupcakes are delish on their own anyway. Very delicate flavour with bursts of sourness fr the kiwis. DAMN GOOD LA! I might wanna wolf down another but that'd be 3 of em and it's mdn hehe. GAH NO! NAUGHTY!

Recipe as follows thanks to Couture Cupcakes
Lemon Kiwi Fruit Cupcakes

125g / 1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup caster sugar
3 eggs
1 ¼ cup SR flour
1 tsp finely grated lemon rind
1 tbs lemon juice
1/2 cup sour cream
2 kiwi fruit finely diced
1. Preheat oven to 180 (350).
2. Line a muffin tray with cupcake liners.
3. Cream butter, lemon zest and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
4. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. Beat in the flour until just combined, add the sour cream and lemon juice and beat until well incorporated.
6. Fold in the finely diced kiwi fruit.
7. Evenly divide the batter into cupcake liners and bake for 20 - 22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
8. Allow to cool completely before frosting.
Makes 12 cupcakesIt says makes 12 but I'm quite sure if you fill the cups like you're meant to (ie 3/4 stead of 5/6 hehe) you'll def be able to make at least 15, maybe even squeeze out an extra 16th.

. Recipe .

So I've finally gotten an oven. =) Table top one, but it'll have to do.
And I realise that I really enjoy baking (my neighbours also apparently enjoy me baking too...I wonder why.....)! I can't wait to go home now because making do with minimal equipment and a temperamental oven while baking is not as fun as messing around with all that crap Mummy has at home. Although, I keep telling myself that mixing by hand would at least be burning off some of the calories I'll no doubt be ingesting at the speed of an inhalation later.

Oh wow what a ramble.

What I was going to say was that obviously, while enjoying baking, I'd have to have recipes to bake. So I found this website (as shown in my last post) (one of many anyway..I get a bit obsessive with googling) and it has a recipe for loove which I've been kind enough to share.

Moroccan Majoun

By Aliza Green from The Santa Monica Farmers' Market Cookbook

Cannabis is mixed with dried fruits, nuts, and spices to make the Moroccan candy called majoun, love potion in Arabic. Marijuana is considered an essential herb in Jamaica’s Rastafarian cooking. Cannabis seeds may be toasted and used as a condiment, ground and brewed as a coffee substitute, made into cakes, or fried. In Japan, the seeds, called asanomi, are one of the ingredients in the spice mixture Shichimi Togarashi.

INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 ounce marijuana tops
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground anise
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons butter

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Remove stems and seeds from marijuana tops, then dry and crumble the leaves. In a dry skillet, toast the leaves over very low heat until the aromas are released.
2. Mix the leaves with raisins, walnuts, nutmeg, anise, ginger, honey, and water, adding more water if the mixture is too dry and crumbly.
3. Simmer together until the mixture is soft and thick. Mash by hand or transfer to a food processor and blend, using several short pulses.
4. Stir in butter, spoon into a jar, and refrigerate for storage. Spread on crackers or plain cookies, or use as a filling for stuffed cookies. Majoun will keep for 2 to 3 months refrigerated.

. Recipe for the perfect Norwegian Mocha Cake .

Attempt 1

Wrong ingredient. Baking powder and baking soda are NOT the same thing. Baking soda tastes DISGUSTING. Remember to check!
Also don't be over enthusiastic about beating.

Attempt 2
Experience helps make things go quicker.





So does a fair amount of alcohol.
Also makes for less but sillier pictures.





Also we got lazy so we didn't line the bake ware so half the cake fell out and half got stuck.
Oh well.
It tasted awesome though.
And the birthday girl loved it.


And we had fun.



And that's all that matters.



Yup. That's all that matters.

. Tim Tam Orgasm .

Also known as the Tim Tam Bomb and the Tim Tam Slam
Personally I think it's more of a bomb which explodes in your mouth rather than a slam
I mean, imagine slamming a bar of Tim Tam in your mouth. You'd get it everywhere.
On your teeth, your clothes...

Yes anyway

How to have a Tim Tam Orgasm

1. Make a nice hot drink
2. Grab a Tim Tam
3. Bite of a corner off 2 opposite ends of the Tim Tam
4. Dip Tim Tam into hot drink
5. Use said Tim Tam as a straw and suck up your drink till the drink reaches your mouth
6. Pop hot-drink-filled Tim Tam into your mouth
7. Enjoy Tim Tam collapsing into a gooey chocolatey mess in your mouth. Mmm. My friend calls this the closest thing to having a taste buds orgasm =)