CHOCOLATE BOTTOM BANANA SQUARES

I know what you have in mind......exactly what I have in mind too when I received these 'ugly-dark skinned over-riped bananas' from my FiL. According to him, a friend gave him like.......4 to 5 bunches few days ago, and they were already a bit ripe at that time......so after a few days has gone by you can see how ugly they got.....LOL

I personally don't fancy bananas especially if you ask me to eat them like that.....I mean as a fruit. I would choose anything else but bananas. The funny thing is if they were bake into cakes.......then its different, haha.......crazy woman you might think. Ya, well, I totally agree to it myself :P

Anyway, I got these bananas last Saturday from my FiL, and I already baked a 'Banana Walnut Cake' for my sister and also my Hubby's Tai Yee the same day. Unfortunately, I was in a rush to fetch my son from his basketball practice, so once the cake got out of the oven I quickly packed it and sent over to my in-laws house where the two ladies are having their weekly 'dry-swimming' session there. My bad, I did not snap a shot of the cake, it was actually a very fluffy, rich and nice one though. Don't worry, I 'll definitely bake it again someday when I was being given 'lots of over-riped bananas' by my FiL, hehe.....

The reason why I baked banana cake again today is because I still have some of the bananas in the fridge from the last bake. Since my FiL complaint yesterday that he did not get to taste the Banana Cake I baked yesterday, because the two ladies quickly wrapped up the cake and kept it away from him,  LOL........I told him I'll bake another one for him today........and so I did :)

Instead of baking the same Banana Cake I did on Saturday, I decided to bake this one as I just got this awesome recipe few days ago from here. Now that I have a good excuse to bake it, why not, haha!! Seriously, you must try it, the cake texture is awesomely 'soft and fluffy'....almost fragile I would say, :P

Here's the recipe that I did with a little changes, however if you want the original one, you can kindly hit on the above link ;)

CHOCOLATE BOTTOM BANANA SQUARES

130gm Butter, softened

140gm castor sugar (I reduced it from the initial 225gm)

1 egg , lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla essence

3 -4 medium ripe bananas, mashed or pureed

190gm plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate soda

A pinch of salt

30gm good quality cocoa powder

1/2 cups chocolate chips (I reduced from the initial 1 cup)

2 Tbsp milk 

Method: 

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Add in the egg, vanilla essence and then the mashed / pureed bananas, beating thoroughly.
3. Sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate soda and salt. Slowly add into the mixture in a few batch until well mixed.
4. Divide the batter into half.  Add the cocoa powder to one portion of the batter and mix well.
5. Evenly spread the cocoa batter on a lightly greased and lined with parchment paper 8" inch square baking tin.
6. Spread the remaining plain batter on top and gently swirl it with a knife. Lightly  sprinkle the top with chocolate chips.
7. Bake at 180 degree Celsius for about 30 minutes or the tester comes out clean when inserted to the centre of the cake.
8. Cool on the wire rack before cutting them into squares and serve.

Happy Baking!

CRISPY 'NIEN GAO YAM ' ROLL

Hey, it's been a month now that we have just celebrated our Chinese New Year, time flies? Yeap, I'll say that again, and again. I don't know about you guys, but every year, I told myself that I'm not going to stock a huge amount of snacks, junk foods, goodies, and whatever that is needed to serve your guest during the festive season.........but no matter how hard I try to stay low in the volume, after the CNY celebration, I was always left with heaps of food in the cupboard 'untouched' and 'unopened', hmmmm..............

Well, I cleaned up my cupboard and found a lot of food, and I cleaned my refrigerator, and found one 7" inch and one 4" inch 'Nien Gao' given to me by my MiL and my Hubby's 'Tai Yee' before the CNY. When I opened the fridge drawers, I found 3 packets of Spring Rolls wrappers, nicely intact, untouched. Ok, I know that if I don't start thinking what to do with these two Nien Gaos, and the Spring Roll wrappers, it's going to end up in the trash very soon....:P

You wouldn't believe that Wendy of 'Table for 2 or more....'  saves my life more that once and that include this time too.......LOL , thanks Wendy ;)  I was browsing her blog the other day and bumped into this recipe that she posted - Nien Gao Taro Rolls.......I found it really innovating and interesting too when i saw it. I told myself I'm going to tell my MiL that there is another way of frying the Nien Gaos........as my MiL normally used to fry it with egg or sometimes, if she is not lazy, she'll sandwiched it with slices of Yam and fried it.

But , this is going to be so different and quickly jotted it down, I promise I'll inform my MiL....hehe. Well, who would know that I get to try out the recipe first and then sent some for her to taste........hehe

The following is the ingredients required, and as I have mentioned, I got this awesome recipe from Wendy, so hop into her blog and the original are there. Thanks again, Wendy, for the awesome recipe :)

  

Ingredients (Makes about 33 rolls)

500gm Yam , Cleaned and steamed to cook, mashed it while it's hot;

2 Tbsp of castor sugar

Add salt to your taste

100gm fresh grated coconut (However, as I don't have this at the time of preparation, so I didn't use)

300gm Nien Gao , cut into about 2" inch strips

Spring Roll wrappers , the size of 125mm x 125mm

Some egg whites for sealing 

Method

1. Cleaned, sliced the yam and steamed to cook, it should be soft. While it's still hot, use a potato masher or the back of a fork ( that's what I used)  to mash it up.
2. Put in the sugar , salt and if you have the grated coconut into the mashed up yam, and stir to combine.
3. On a flat surface or a big round plate, place a slice of the Spring roll wrapper, take a spoon full of yam, lightly spread in at the edge of the wrapper. 
4. Place a piece of the Nien Gao strip on top of the yam, and roll it up, wrapping it up.
5. Lightly brush the sides of the wrapper, and seal it. Repeat  until all the ingredients are used up.
6. Heat up your frying pan / wok with cooking oil at low medium heat.
7. Fry it until it's golden brown and  drained the remaining oil with kitchen towels, ready to serve.

 Enjoy, you'll love it!!

p/s: I sent some to my MiL for afternoon tea, she rang me back and told me that she loves it very much, and that she has now learnt a new way to fry her Nien Gao, LOL.

Nestum Cereal Crispy Cookies

This is another cookie recipe that I totally have no record or memory where I got it from, as it was hand-written by me it a miserable piece of old 'chinese tear-off type of calendar' (if you know what I meant, hehe)......but I'll definitely make it again, and it is a sure keeper as the texture of these cookies are awesome. You can almost smell the buttery smell in the whole kitchen when the cookie is almost done baking, and best of all, it's crunchy from the inside out unlike most of the cookies that I made previously, all of which are always crunchy on the outside only, when it comes to the centre of the cookies.......it's a little 'soggy' or 'cakey' .......making me wonder if I have underbake it or what?

So, as promise to some 'Baking Friends', here is the recipe and I have added some of my own notes (in green) to it, hope it helps enhance the outcome of the cookies J

Here's the ingredients:

400 gm plain flour / superfine flour ( I used HK Plain Flour)

300gm Butter, at room temperature

150gm Nestum Cereal (I spread it on a baking tray and roast it at 160 degree Celsius for about 15-20 mins to get a more fragrant and crunchier cereal)

4 egg yolks

200gm Icing sugar (I already adjusted , so it's not sweet)

Method:

1. Mix egg yolks, butter and icing sugar with hand until icing sugar is melted. (However, I used the mixer, hate to get messy hands, hehe)
   
2. Add in Nestum cereal and plain flour and knead to form a dough.
   
3. Greased and lined the baking tray with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 160 degree Celsius.
   
4. Take a small amount of the dough and knead into a ball, put it on the tray and flatten it using the back of a fork, or if you prefer it to be just smooth round, and do the same with the rest of the dough.
   
5. Glaze the top of the cookies with egg yolk and bake at pre-heated oven of 160 degree Celsius for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
   
6. Leave to cool on the wire rack before storing into air-container.

 Happy Cookies Baking!!

Counting down to Chinese New Year....another 1 week to go!!

Frangrant Peanut Cookies....another ‘must –have’ for Chinese New Year

I love everything that has 'nuts' in it and all kinds of nuts .....to name a few, Almond, Hazelnut, Pistachios, Macadamias, Walnut and of course....Peanuts! Last year, I did not manage to make Peanut Cookies for the Chinese New Year, as this cookies is delicious to eat, but when it comes to the preparation work.....it's a lot!! You have to at least allow yourself a day to start with 'oil-less frying' of peanuts in the wok till it cook, with very low –medium heat, and that already have you tested on your patience, hehe.

Then comes the part where you have to remove the skin of the peanuts, using the palms of your hands, and then flip it up and down on a tray with the fan blowing on low speed to blow off the skin, well, if you have a better and easier way, please do suggest. I did not do mine this time because my hubby is such a good helper this year (maybe age is catching up on him, and he finally decides that he 'should' at least participate in the Chinese New Year baking and frying and cleaning of the house), which actually surprises me a lot.....a tonnes in fact!!! LOL.....the past few years, he would just watch me do, and then walk off before I can start to open my mouth and order him to do something. Anyway, hubby helped me to blew of the skin of the peanuts and I only did the grinding ....using a grinder or miller that is ;) Thanks dear....muaks!!

After the grinding of the peanuts to 'an almost fine peanut powder' ( I grinded mine to really fine texture because I prefer the cookies to be peanut - chunkless), then you are ready to make and bake your Peanut Cookies.

To start off, get all the following ingredients ready as per follows or you can always check this original source at here :-

500gm plain flour

500gm roasted peanuts (skinless and finely milled)

500gm castor sugar (this amount is already adjusted, but if you prefer to cut down, please do so)

200ml + 2Tbsp peanut cooking oil (to better enhance the fragrance of the cookies)

1 egg for glazing

Some peanut halves for deco, if you want, (I grinded all, so none left for deco L) haha....


Methods in 4 easy steps......

1. Mix plain flour, castor sugar and milled peanuts well until all blended in, then add in the peanut cooking oil and knead with your hands until the oil and the mixture are well incorporated and form a dough. Leave it for about 20 minutes.
   
2. Take a small amount of the dough and roll into a small ball and place it on the a lined baking tray with baking paper. If you are using the peanut halves for deco, then you can place a small piece on top and lightly press on it. Do the same to all the rest of the dough.
   
3. Use a pastry brush and glaze the top of the cookies with the 'lightly beaten' egg .
   
4. Bake at pre-heated oven at 170 degree Celsius for about 15 - 20 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Let it cool completely on the baking tray before storing into airtight containers.
   

Happy 'Peanut Cookies' baking!!

The Start of a NEW YEAR in 2011........CHEESE BAKED RICE as promised

"Happy New Year" to all of you, if I can still say that some of you who are still patiently following my blog.....by this time , could have been bored to death with my last posting on the "Konnyaku Jelly" ...which was like since last October........yeah, you are right, I felt deeply "SORRY" for not blogging lately.....and really felt "BAD" for not keeping my promise in being a consistent blogger......and I felt truly "AWFUL" for owing so many of you recipes that you have requested from me and I have promise to post.......PLEASE ACCEPT MY SINCERE APOLOGY, FOLKS!! I promise to be good from now on........or else I'll punish myself for 3 months of "NO-BAKING"....which I think will definitely kill me, LOL ^_^...OK?? Deal??!! hehe.......

 I know I have tonnes of posting (I meant back-dated ones) to post and to clear my debts towards those of you that I owe.......but, don't worry , I will start with the very recent ones first, as the really old ones, I'll definitely bake and make again.......if the recipe is worth to be a keeper, so sooner or later, it'll be UP ;)

So, I'll start with the the celebration of me and my family "Welcoming the NEW YEAR 2011  on the eve of 2010....where I knew a few of you requested for this "Cheese Baked Rice" that I made for that night. I must say I'm not so much of a 'rice-person' as I would choose bread and pasta for rice anytime, hehe....but this "Cheese Baked Rice" was something that I would choose otherwise :)

CHEESE BAKED RICE

1.5 cups rice

2 cups water

A knob of butter (I put 1 Tbsp)

Salt and pepper to taste

3-4 cloves of garlic

1/5 cups pineapple cubes (Optional , I didn't put this)

1/2 cup button mushrooms, sliced

1 cup ham, sliced

3/4 cup Mozzarella Cheese, grated (or more, hehe)

3/4 cup Cheddar Cheese, grated  ( or more too, hehe)

1 can of Cream of Chicken Soup (do not mix with water, straight from the tin please)

Herbs of your choice, I used Rosemary, Bay Leave, Parsley and Basil and lots of Black pepper

Method:

1. Melt the butter in a frying pan, then add in the garlic, salt, pepper and some herbs. Fry till fragant, then add in the rice. Fry for about 5 minutes and transfer to the rice cooker.
2. Add the water and sprinkle some more herbs if you like. Let it cook.
3. Add the sliced ham , mushrooms, pineapple and some black pepper to the rice when cooked. Stir and mix well.
4. Dish into a baking dish or individual foil casing, add more herbs (trust me, it won't overdose, you'll regret if you don't, LOL).
5. Evenly  spread the Cream of Chicken Soup on top of the rice, generously please, hehe.
6. Sprinkle the grated Mozzarella and Cheddar cheese on top and bake at preheated oven at 200 degree Celsius for about 15-20 minutes, or until you see the cheese on top starting to brown and turn golden. Dig in and enjoy.........you'll love this, I promise!!

Happy New Year everyone, may all your wishes come true .....

 for me, all I wish for in 2011, is for God to give me a fat bank account and a slim body, but please don't mix these 2 things up like YOU did last year, Amen !! LOL