A Tribute to Lavender: Lavender Shortbread

Okay so I was supposed to write a 400-word write-up for school, my fingers finally got typing and I can’t resist not writing a blog entry that I’ve promised my friend since weeks ago!

I’ve been wanting to bake with lavender since I watched an episode of Masterchef Australia (2 seasons ago, I know I’m slow) featuring Fiona’s Chocolate Ganache, Lavender Cream and Raspberry Tart. And I finally got the courage to stomp into Phoon Huat to grab (okay, buy) a packet of dried lavender flowers. It’s really not expensive at all, can be kept in the fridge for a long time, and a little pinch goes a long way in spreading its scent to any dessert!

This shortbread recipe is different from before, it gives a really light and crumbly texture instead of the dense shortbread cookies you see in supermarkets. And the scent of lavender is so delicate it calms you down after a long day of school or work. Best enjoyed with a cup of warm tea, I recommend Earl Grey.

I encountered a bit of difficulty with the dough softening too quickly in the warm and humid environment, but it can be easily salvaged by me being less lazy and returning the dough into the fridge when it’s not needed.

Here’s the recipe, with a few tips from me.

LAVENDER SHORTBREAD

(adapted from Dessert First)

1 cup butter, softened
2 cups flour (all-purpose or plain), sifted
1/2 cup superfine sugar (caster sugar, it’s finer than normal fine sugar)
1 tablespoon dried lavender

DIRECTIONS

1. Beat the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl till creamy. Add the flour, beat till combined. Add the lavender, and beat till distributed throughout the dough.

2. Scrape the dough mixture onto a sheet of cling wrap, use your fingers to press it into a disk. (The mixture would be slightly soft and sticky, but don’t worry because it will harden in the fridge) Wrap it tightly in the cling film, put it on an even surface (e.g., plate or tray) and refrigerate until firm, at least an hour.

3. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius.

4. Roll out the dough to about 1/4″ thickness and cut desired shapes. (Here’s when cute cookie cutters come in handy!) Place on baking tray lined with baking paper and bake till just golden, about 18 minutes. Let the cookies cool in the tray for 5 minutes before transferring on wire rack.

A Bread Pudding and an Old Friend

First whole day back home and I just wanted to use my kitchen, to be able to make whatever I felt like eating. That meant omelets for my family in the morning and this special dessert in the afternoon. This post is all about my White Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding, with detailed photo instructions, taken by my old friend the Canon DSLR!

White Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding

Hey, old friend!

So, I was curious about the history of bread pudding so… I googled it. According to the Reluctant Gourmet, the bread pudding was born in the 13th century. It was considered a “poor man’s pudding” because it made use of stale bread. Traditionally, the bread was soaked in milk or water, then sugar, butter, fruit, and/or spices. I absolutely love the idea of using simple and humble ingredients to make some of the best tasting foods ever!

This recipe elevates a humble bread pudding into a sophisticated dessert that still brings you comfort and warmth much like a family dinner during Christmas time. Using croissant instead of stale bread for buttery layered goodness, adding in vanilla bean paste and white chocolate for a lighter creamy custard flavour… Bake it in individual ramekins for classy presentation, and most importantly to set a limit for how much you get to eat!

So get your pen and paper (or ctrl-c and ctrl-v) ready to take some notes!

This recipe makes 4 individual ramekins

WHITE CHOCOLATE CROISSANT BREAD PUDDING

INGREDIENTS

3 eggs
1/3 cup fine sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
300ml thickened cream
200ml whole milk
5 croissants
37.5g white chocolate, chopped

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven at 160 degrees Celsius (or 320 degrees Fahrenheit). Line the bottom of the ramekins with baking sheet circles to prevent the pudding from sticking to the bottom.

Lining ramekins

2. Half the croissants, line them on a baking tray. Bake for 10 minutes or till crisp and golden.

Croissant halves in the oven

3. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs. Add sugar, vanilla, cream and milk. Continue whisking till well blended.

A lovely teaspoon of vanilla bean paste

4. Cut up croissants into 3 cm chunks. Take half of the croissant chunks to cover the base of the ramekins evenly, sprinkle the white chocolate chunks, and pour half of the custard mixture. Allow the croissants to soak up the mixture.

First layer of custard-soaked croissants and white chocolate chunks

5. Add the remaining croissants and custard. Press down gently to make sure that all the croissants chunks are soaked.

6. Now you have to prepare a water-bath (It prevents the temperature in the oven from getting too hot, which could burn the top of the pudding): Place the ramekins onto a baking tin, then fill the baking tin with boiling water till halfway up the ramekins. Carefully put the baking tin into the oven and bake for about 40 minutes, or until the custard has set.

Puddings in ramekins in water bath

7. To serve, turn the puddings over onto a serving dish. Best eaten warm!

Yummy gooey in the tummy

Tip: If you don’t have ramekins, you could also make this bread pudding in a baking dish, just bake it longer for about 50 minutes, or until the custard sets.

After a long hiatus… The popular banana cupcakes!

5 months away from home in the States, with a lack of baking equipments, settling for hand whisks, microwaves, unfamiliar ovens, loaned baking tins… Still, I have never received so many requests for any recipe (or the cupcakes themselves).

Fresh mashed bananas are the secret to these cupcakes, adding genuine flavour and not to mention the pack of vitamins they contain, the best way to feed kids (including college kids) the fruits they should be eating. Instead of using fattening frosting, try topping the cupcakes of with crispy oat streusel topping with a touch of cinnamon. A plus plus plus is the aroma of bananas and cinnamon that will fill your kitchen (and living room and dining room)… What a perfect start or middle or end to a busy day of work and activities!

Banana Cupcakes with Oat Streusel Topping (and an optional dollop of Nutella)

This recipe makes 12 regular cupcakes

Banana Cupcakes and Oat Streusel Topping

(adapted from Martha Stewart and For the Love of Cooking)

INGREDIENTS

(For cupcakes)

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
5 ripe bananas, mashed
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

(For oat streusel topping)

1-1/4 cup of oats
1 tablespoon flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into chunks

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (or 177 degrees Celsius). Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.

2. In a medium bowl, prepare the dry ingredients. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

3. In another bowl, prepare the wet ingredients. Mix together butter, mashed bananas, eggs, and vanilla. (Tip for mashed bananas: Slice the bananas into a bowl, use a fork to first prick the bananas to break the structure, then press the bananas to mash them. BE PATIENT!)

4. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and pour the wet ingredients into it. Stir to incorporate flour mixture (do not overmix). Dividing evenly, spoon batter into the muffin cups.

5. For the streusel topping, combine together the ingredients in a bowl and mix with your fingers until crumbly. (Tip for topping: Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the dry ingredients. Again, be patient!) Sprinkle evenly on top of the muffin batter.

5. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the centre of a cupcake comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove cupcakes from the pan, it’s best to eat them warm!

I hope you enjoyed the recipe as much as I did!

Bet you can’t wait to get your hands on one (or more)!

Introducing Tofu Mousse…

Okay it might seem pretty weird that I haven’t been posting any new recipes these past few months and doing it now right smack in the middle of the examination period. I’ve been pretty busy this whole semester so sorryyyy! And now I need to de-stress and get away from the piles of books and notes on my study table. Plus I can’t wait to introduce to you something most of you would probably not expect… Nutella (Tofu) Mousse!

What kind of person would ever have thought about using Tofu to make a mousse? Well, I don’t know but it certainly isn’t me. The silken tofu actually forms the base of this mousse and gives a pudding-like texture, instead of the usual whipped cream and eggs (like in this Martha Stewart recipe, which I’ve tried and unfortunately failed). And yes I can read your mind (Psychology major, kidding!), no you won’t be able to taste the tofu in the mousse, that would be quite mortifying. The resulting mousse is silky and light, and best of all you won’t feel as guilty as eating a whole portion of cream-based mousse!

If you look at the recipe of a regular chocolate mousse, you’d find that a lot of steps are involved, which means a greater chance of messing something up. It also doesn’t help that the steps are rather complex like whisking egg yolks till pale and frothy, boiling sugar and corn syrup till clear large bubbles form, and then whisking the hot syrup into the eggs… *worry worry worry* and not a relaxation technique suitable for an examination period. To make a tofu mousse, just pour all ingredients into a blender, blend till smooth, pour in individual ramekins!

Just in case you are still unconvinced, here’s a sneak peak at the portion of mousse I had just now:

Nutella (Tofu) Mousse

So, for a fool-proof mousse, why not try a tofu mousse? Your friends/guests wouldn’t even suspect that there is tofu in their dessert

Think about it, weigh the costs and benefits, rationalise your decision… while I perfect the Nutella (Tofu) Mousse Recipe, because it’s currently too sweet for my taste. But if you really can’t wait, try this recipe.

Baileys Tres Leches Cake

Tres Leches (a.k.a. Three Milks) Cake is a traditional Mexican dessert, which is basically cake soaked in three types of milk – regular milk, condensed milk and evaporated milk, and should only be attempted by self-professed milk-lovers! I’ve been wanting to try this recipe for a really long time, but I wasn’t brave enough! I was afraid no one (including me) would like the cake, then all the efforts (and money) would be wasted, and I might get another scolding for wasting food (while so many children in Africa have none… Sounds familiar to you too?). I got to say that this cake didn’t disappoint though, all I got were YUMs and MMMs, and the ingenious idea credited to my little sister that I should open a Tres Leches shop that sells cake soaked in all sorts of flavoured milks! Are you sold on the concept of milk-soaked cake yet?? Firstly, here’s a photo! (Since a picture says a thousand words…)

Baileys Tres Leches Cake

Just like baking any other types of cakes, you need to be patient, but there is a special something about this one that requires you to be extra patient. First thing’s first, egg whites are to be beaten separately, so you need to perform that confident yet delicate spatula movements to mix them into the batter. Next, after the cake has been baked, you have to gradually spoon the milk mixture onto it till the cake is fully saturated (imagine pouring spoonfuls of water over a huge piece of dishwashing sponge till it’s full). Finally, as if the saturation process isn’t long enough and the sweet scent of milk isn’t enticing enough, you need to refrigerate the cake for at least an hour more!

Baking isn’t always as therapeutic as you’d think. Sometimes you need to be calm BEFORE you start baking. But of course all those efforts will all be worth it, because one spoonful of this cake and you’re in Milky Paradise.. Pushing your fork into this cake unleashes its contained milky goodness!

And did I mention I put Baileys in the cake???

This recipe makes 8 generous slices with a 9- X 13-inch baking tin. I halved the recipe to make a smaller batch.

BAILEYS TRES LECHES CAKE

(Adapted from Martha Stewart)

INGREDIENTS:

Unsalted butter, room temperature, for baking tin (Though you could also line the baking tin with baking paper)

6 large eggs, separated

3/4 cup sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted

1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk

1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk

1 cup whole milk

Baileys, as much as you want!

(For topping, whip 1-1/2 cups thickened cream and 1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar, or you could also add some fresh fruits with it like strawberries, oranges, kiwi, if you wish)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Butter a 9- X 13-inch baking tin, or line the tin with baking paper.

2. In a mixing bowl, beat egg yolks and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites to soft peaks (peaks shouldn’t be stiff). Using a rubber spatula, fold whites into yolk mixture until almost combined. Gently fold in the sifted flour. Note that you should take extra care not to overmix this batter and risk beating too much air out of the egg whites.

3. Spread the batter in the prepared baking tin. Bake until golden and pulling away from the sides of the dish, 20 to 25 minutes. Using a small knife, scrape the skin from the top of the cake (and if you wish the sides too). This is so the milk could be absorbed into the cake later on. Do not waste these cut out segments, keep them in the fridge to eat with ice cream! Cool the cake in the tin for 20 minutes.

4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the three milks and Baileys. Gradually spoon the mixture evenly over the top of the cake. Keeping the cake in the tin in this step ensures that no single drop of the milk mixture would be wasted. Continue spooning the milk mixture until the cake no longer absorbs the milk. You could tell when this is completed by pushing your spoon on the cake surface and the milk mixture flows out – saturation has been reached. Cover with plastic wrap, refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to a day. (Note that you do not need to use every drop of the milk mixture. Keep the extra amount to put into your morning coffee for the next few days! RECOMMENDED!)

See the milk welling up at the bottom

5. To serve, prepare topping: In a mixing bowl, whip heavy cream with sugar to soft peaks, and spread all over the top of the cake, or drop a dollop on a piece of the cake. Arrange some fruits on top of the cream, if desired.

As you can already tell, a lot of LOVE has to be put into making this cake. But of course, this is reciprocal love! You’ll feel it once you take a bite out of it

LOVE