rainbow valentine cookie

saw this beautiful rainbow valentine cookie on facebook and decide to give it a try. first thing I need to take the colouring from yong jie.

ingredients:
170g butter
155g icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 egg yolks
310g cake flour
colourings
spinkles
egg white
1 teaspoon water

method:
1. cream the butter with icing sugar
2. add in the vanilla extract and mix
3. add 3 egg yolks and mix
4. add in the sieve cake flour and mix well to form a dough
5. spilt the dough into 3 parts.
6. keep one part of the dough as it is. spilt the other 2 parts of the dough into 6 and mix the colouring into each small part and mix well
7. measure the height of your heart shape cookie cutter.
8. divide the height of the heat shape cookie cutter into 6 and roll the colour dough the thickness as required.
9. ensure the roll out dough of all the same size to make stacking easier later.
10. chill the roll out dough to set the shape.
11. mix 1 teaspoon of water to egg white
12. brush some egg white on the colour dough and stack another colour dough on it. repeat till all colour dough are stack up in a pile
13. press them together with a rolling pin lightly.
14. cut off the uneven side from the pile.
15. put the pile in the fridge to set
16. cut the pile according the thickness of the cookie cutter
17. cut out the heart shape from the dough and set aside
18. brush some egg white on the cut out heart shape dough and stack all of them together
19. slowly roll out the original dough into strips and place them on the stack up heart shape dough.
20. ensure all the original dough cover up the heart shape roll nicely into cylinder.
21. set it in the fridge again
22. get ready a plate of sprinkles
23. brush some egg whites on the dough and roll it on the sprinkles.
24. ensure the roll are cover in sprinkles
25. slowly cut them up into the thickness you want for the cookie
26. bake at 170 degree for about 10-12 minutes

almond crisp

with lot of egg white left over from baking of pineapple tarts. I have to make almond crisp.

ingredients:
100g almond slice
40g egg white
50g plain flour
30g butter (melted)
60g castor sugar
1/8 teaspoon vanilla essence

method:
1. thaw egg white at room temperature
2. sieve flour twice
3. melt the butter with double boil method
4. whisk the egg white till you see white bubbles
5. add in sugar and beat in circular motion till sugar dissolved
6. add in the flour till well combined
7. mix in the butter and mix well
8. spread the mixture on the baking paper thinly
9. spread some almond slice on it
10. bake at 170degree for 8-10 minute or till brown. (take care of the side as it brown faster then the middle portion
11. cut it into the size you want after taking out from oven
12. cool it completely before storing

nuts nuts

many share their cny bakes/fry on facebook. I tried to air fry cashew nuts and almond too. so glad that it did turn out well.

cashew nuts, air fry for 7 minutes at 180 degree
almond, air fry for 3 minutes at 180 degree then 2 minutes at 150 degree

spring roll

this year we have spring roll for cny. its air fry spring roll. no more oily snacks.

ingredients:
1 pack of spring roll skins (cut into 4)
1 bottle of hae bee hiam (glory or singlong)
1 egg as sealer

alternative ingredients:
1 bottle of crispy pork floss*
1 bottle of pork floss

method:
1. cut the spring roll skins into 4 pieces**
2. put 1/2 teaspoons of hae bee hiam/pork floss in the middle of the spring roll skin
3. put a bit of egg at the corner of the spring skin and wrapped it up.
4. air fry them for 8 minute at 180 degree.

 

* grind the crispy pork floss finer before mixing with the pork floss to wrap
**thaw the skin in original packing. cover with a wet cloth after removing them from the packaging to prevent it from drying up.

seaweed cod fish

finally, I get to make this seaweed cod fish.

ingredients:
1 pack of cod fish
1 pack of seaweed
egg white

method:
1. take out 1 piece of seaweed and brush some egg white on it
2. place the cod fish slice on the seaweed neatly.
3. cut the seaweed with cod fish slice up into smaller squares
4. air fry them for 4 minutes at 180 degree
5. cool them complete before storing.

kueh lapis

i have finally get the ingredients and find time to bake the kueh lapis. its really a lot of work. now i know why its so expensive to buy kueh lapis. i sit beside the oven for an hour + to bake this. I'm glad it turns out well.

my testers love it. if i were to bake it in future, must bake a bigger cake to make all the effort worthwhile.

uss

our first trip to uss. we were very excited about it. starting off the day with breakfast with sesame street characters, follow by activities within uss and Christmas show. determine to make full use of our package to stay the whole day.  

 

 

the breakfast with sesame street character is the best. it just turn all of us back into kids. we get excited over every character that walks into the restaurant. drop of food and off we went to queue. everything is so pretty in there. i want to take every single thing back with me.

 

 

maybe its holiday and its a weekends, all the rides queue are long. the shortest queue is about 15 minutes to 40 minutes. we didn't queue for a lot of rides as many are not suitable for them as well. we have funs taking pictures with many of the mascots.

 

 

 

 

i wouldn't go back to uss in the near future unless they have special events going on.

 

 

mosaic christmas party

 

the august 2008 kids had their mosaic christmas party this year. its just a small scale party for them to gather and have fun doing an activity together. where we mommy get to chit chat with another to catch up.

 

 

its no longer an easy task for them to gather and have fun together as they grow older. can you see that it even very hard to gather together to take a proper photo.

 

 

 

i'm glad that we still manage to get this done. thank you hui chin for designing the lovely lego tees for us though the printing is quite bad. the colour runs quite badly for the whites tees.

baked cheesecake

i have been wanting to bake cheesecake. however, darling never like all the non-baked cheesecake that i bake. finally found this baked cheesecake recipe and all tester says its nice. thanks for bakingmum.blogspot for this recipe.

base:

200g digestive biscuit

90g unsalted butter (melted)

1. crashed the digestive biscuit.

2. pour the melted butter into it and mix well.

3. press the digestive biscuit into a 10-inch springform pan and refrigerate before use.

filling

500g cream cheese 

175g caster sugar (1)

4 egg yolk

4 egg white 

juice and skin (grated) of half lemon

87g caster sugar (2)

250g whipping cream 

 

1. beat cream cheese and 175g sugar until creamy

2. add in egg yolks one at a time and mix well. then add in lemon juice and grated lemon skin.

3. mix whipping cream mixture 

4. whisk egg white and 87g sugar t a soft peak.  add to cheese mixture and mix well.

5. pour cheese mixture onto the prepared cake pan and steam bake it at 150ºC for 2-2½ hrs.

 

 

cheese cake is cooked when top is firm. leave to cool for 30 mins and keep in fridge for a few hours before serving.

annual event - thomas show

we are at city square mall for our annual event, thomas show. i didn't tell the kids where we are going. upon reaching city square mall, they were all excited cos they see poster of thomas everywhere. the question of can we go see thomas, goes on and on.

 

told them we need to have dinner first while thomas need to rest. when we are done for dinner, thomas will be out too. we went to our favourite cheapo Japanese restaurant, trying to hit our quota of $50 spending. however, we were early today so nothing much on the belt. we end up spending much less. of course, we need to spend a bit more to top up the amount to get a photo pass. so i bought a dress to make up for it.

 

the queue and announcement is on when we were paying for the dress. they keep chasing me to be faster cos thomas is coming. we 'run' down to where thomas is and get darling to queue for photo pass while we sit on the floor to wait. its was only 6.20pm, another 40 minutes before the show start. however the floor is almost half filled with excited kids waiting to meet thomas.

 

 

thomas show are more or less the same every year. i'm expecting to see the same thomas and fat controller today. but they changed another fat controller this year, he is not that fat to be the fat controller. hehehe..... well, as long as the kids enjoyed the show. who cares about the fat controller right?

 

the 'snow'

 

etoile 2013

the practice, the wait is over. yu ze has his first violin concert, etoile 2013. i believe i'm more excited then him. there is a rehearsal before the actual concert at 4.30pm. we skipped berries today cos it will be a super long day for him if we still go for berries class.

 

we left home for the rehearsal at around 12.30pm. when we arrived, i left yu xi in her car seat and only bring yu ze with me. she was crying badly but i have no choice but to leave her there with darling. we are not supposed to stay behind for the rehearsal but to leave them with wei han.

 

the whole group

however, there are parents who stayed on for the rehearsal and so i did too. its not a big place but good enough to hold small scale concert. i didn't dress him for the concert and only changed him at 3.30pm where they have a short break.

 

the calypso group

the concert started promptly at 4.30pm. most guests started coming in around 4pm. i totally forget that my camera is spoilt and only have to rely on my hp to take any photos or pictures which is not very good. the moment i zoom in, the photo is not as clear. sigh.... well, i just have to make do with it. i must buy a proper camera this christmas.

 

 

ah gong, gugu and the whole family come to support him. i'm very proud of him and did get a bit emo to see him performing on stage. it was a good experience for him. i'm also glad that cos of this concert, he gets to see the older kids playing the violin, he is inspire by them and wanting to be like them.  

sesame street

december is a month of many shows going on at many shopping mall. so we have to be selective about cos we definitely don't have so many weekends to go for  all the show. i grow up with sesame street, they are the classics. new generations kids still love them. we brought the kids to the sesame street show at takashimaya.

 

told darling to pick them up from school before coming to pick me and we head down to takashimaya right away for dinner and the show after dinner. we joined the queue at 6:20pm after our dinner. the show only starts at 7pm. though its was a good 40 minutes wait, the kids didn't grumble much as they want to watch elmo show (its not sesame street to them but elmo show). we were within the first 5 who were in the queue.

 

 

i must say that this is the best show that i ever watch. or is it cos i can relate to the characters very well. i feel like a little kid enjoying all the singing and dancing too. yu ze is more responsive to such show now. is it cos he is older or he is more open to go up on stage? he was a bit sad that he was not selected too participate in the activities.

 

 

we enjoyed this show very much. since we are in the queue early, we also get to take photo with the character which make us all so excited about. after this, i'm very sure that they will enjoyed themselves when we go to uss to have our breakfast with sesame street characters.

review for cast

yu xi went back for her review. i was hopeful that her cast can be removed. i was a bit shocked when the doc told me that she actually had a fracture and needed a new cast for another 3 weeks. the poor girl's hand was so dry and the skin broke due to the casting. its was so bad that it was actually bleeding. so heart pain to see that.

 

 

yu ze was very sweet. he helps to fan yu xi's hand cos its actually very painful due to the broke skin. i promised her a lollipop after she put on the new cast and she is not to cry. of course, i expected her to cry and will still give her the lollipop. asked her what colour she wants for her new cast and she mentioned orange.

 

 

 

though i keep telling her and prepared her for the next cast but it doesn't help at all. she cried so badly and keep saying that she don't want when they clean up her wound (broke skin) before putting on the new cast. this new cat is suppose to be better and more breathable for the skin which i really hope so since its going to be on for 3 weeks!!!! anyway, i was tearing with her when i have to hold her down for the cast. 

 

 

after making payment, i brought her to get her lollipop. we also took the shuttle service available at kk to square 2 for lunch and more fun. brought them to the lego fun at square 2 and tomica fair at united square.

 

 

first cast

we were out to jacob ballas after berries class. upon reaching then we realize the water play area was closed for maintenance work. well, we can only play at the playground then. both were happily playing till yu ze came running to us and say that mei mei cried. darling went over to see her and all she said was she fall down. clean her up, change and pacify her. she keep saying her right hand is painful and doesn't want to move much with her hand.

 

we leave her as she is and quietly observed her behavior with her right hand. she is very careful with it and handling it with care though she didn't cry in pain. we left around 12 noon to head for lunch. we keep looking at her in the car and decide to bring her to kk to see doc for just in case.

 

as usual, long queue at kk a&e. after we registered, i notice we are still far away from our turn. went to check with the nurses if we can go take our lunch then come back. she check our records and told us to take x-ray first and better not to let yu xi eat or drink in case there is really a crack and they need to do some procedures for her.

 

i went in with her to do the x ray and we continue to wait at the waiting area till she complain tummy pain (she is hungry). i went to check with the nurse again, they told us to wait while she get a doc to look at the x ray. we manage to jump queue and see the doc pretty soon. doc mention there is nothing shown on the x ray but she proposed to cast yu xi up for just in case. in case there is any hair line crack that can't be see and if she move too much, it will make it worse.

 

yu xi started crying when the doc try to touch and assess her. doc told us to come back later when she calm down and was able to follow her instructions. we asked if we can go take lunch and she say its fine. we went for lunch and back in the clinic within 30 minutes. back there, yu xi still doesn't really want to move her hand much. and so we proceed to put on the cast for her.

 

she cry the whole kk down while the cast was on. keep repeating that she want it. and she ended like a broken recorder, cry and stop, cry and stop all the way. back home, i remove the sling for her to make her slightly happier. her crying still comes occasionally but she does slowly get used to the idea.

 

i bribe her with a lego friends. told her if she is good, don't touch and don't cry, i will buy her the lego friends soccer practice and she agreed. 

grandparent's day concert

its year end. their childcare is having their usual grandparent's day concert for the kids again. yu xi has her very first concert performance this year cos she missed hers last year with her fever. i was very sad then. looking so forward to their performance. i think i'm more excited than them.

 

like yu ze, i keep preparing them about the concert. keep telling her not to cry, not to wave or shout at mommy even though she sees me. i will wait for her after the concert ends, so she don't have to cry.

 

as a first timer on stage, maybe cos she is older now. i must say she does a good job. i still remember how yu ze cried at his very first concert. of course, yu ze then was a year younger then yu xi now. its was a good experience and good exposure for them.

 

 

some concert pictures for yu ze performance. 

 

 

 

yu xi's performance pictures.

 

nutella swiss roll

i wanted to try to make a swiss roll last christmas. hoping that i can make it and be able to do up a christmas log cake. however, it didn't happen till now. i did my very first swiss roll. found happybaking recipe and started with it.

 

well, i didn't make it this time. i don't know how to roll it nicely. it actually crack inside and its too thin. i think my pan is too big though its just a bit bigger than what she recommended. darling say its actually taste nice though somehow its a bit crispy. i don't understand the crispy part but who cares. its a failure. need to work on this again.

ingredients:
3 eggs, bring to room temperature
65g caster sugar
80g cake flour
20g unsalted

butter, melted
2~3 drops vanilla extract

method:
1. sift cake flour, set aside.

 

2. line a 9" x 12" (23 x 30cm) swiss roll tray with parchment paper, set aside.

 

3. pre-heat oven to 180 degC.

4. whisk eggs and sugar on HIGH speed for about 5 to 7 mins, until the batter double in volume and is ribbon-like (stiff peak). turn to LOW speed and whisk for another 1 to 2 mins. Whisking at low speed helps to stabilise the air bubbles in the batter.

5. add sifted cake flour into the batter in 3 separate addition. with each addition, use a spatula, gently fold in the flour until well blended. take care not to deflate the batter.

6. add the melted butter and vanilla extract, fold with spatula until well blended.

7. pour the batter into the tray. spread and smooth out the batter evenly.

 

8. bake for 10~15 mins*, until the surface turns golden browned or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

9. remove tray from oven. remove sponge layer from tray (with parchment paper still in tack), place it in a plastic bag**. tie the plastic bag and leave it to cool. (instead of using a plastic bag, i remove the cake and put on a cooling rack and cover the sponge layer with swiss roll tray.)

10. upon cooling, remove the parchment paper, and turn the sponge layer with the 'skin' side down on a sheet of clean parchment paper. spread with nutella (or any filling as desired) and roll up the sponge layer by lifting it up with the parchment paper. Place the rolled cake seam side down.

note:
*do not over bake the sponge layer, otherwise it will turn dry and may crack upon rolling.
** The reason for doing so is to keep the sponge layer moist for easy rolling.

kueh lapis

i have been wanting to bake kueh lapis but haven't have the courage to it. looking round the web for recipe. this one looks good to me. copy down the recipe first and hopefully i will get to bake it soon.

 

this recipe is from http://wlteef.blogspot.sg

Ingredients:
(17cm square pan - mine is a 6" which is 15+cm, hopefully it will work too)
250g butter at room temperature
60g + 60g + 30g castor sugar
10 egg yolks
4 egg whites

66g cake flour

1 tablespoon rum/brandy
2 tablespoon condensed milk
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
Method:
1. preheat oven to 170C - 180C. line the baking tin with baking paper and grease it well with butter.

2. cream butter with 60g sugar till creamy.

3. beat egg yolk with 60g sugar till thick. stir in rum/brandy and condensed milk.

4. sieve flour, baking powder and mixed spice onto a plate.

5. mix butter and egg yolk mixture well. fold in flour mixture by thirds and mix well. (I use the beater on low speed to mix this).

6. beat egg white till big bubbles form, add in cream of tartar, beat till white in colour then add in sugar and beat till stiff (about 7 -10 minutes).

7. fold egg white into egg yolk mixture and mix well.

8. turn on the top fire only, grill baking pan for 1 minute and spoon 2 tablespoon batter into baking pan. spread the batter evenly, put to grill at top fire in the oven. Grill for about 4.5 - 5 minutes or till brown. remove from oven, use a cake tester or toothpick to prick holes on the top of cake. repeat this layer by layer till batter finish.

9. unmould cake immediately and turn on to wire rack to cool.

 

notes:
1. best to use oven with top and bottom fire. adjust oven temperature and check cooking time required for each layer according to your oven.
2. do not grease the sides of the baking tin.
3. make sure the lined paper fits the baking tin exactly.
4. do not put too much batter for each layer, else the centre of the cake will not be cooked.
5. adjust sweetness and flavour of cake by increasing or decreasing amount of sugar and spices.
6. make sure you use the same spoon and same amount of batter for each layer, so that the layers will be even.
7. bake each layer till quite brown before adding new layer. this way when the whole cake is baked, the layers will be explicit.

cheesecake

in the past, i make those non-baked cheesecake. darling always complained that its not nice, too cheesey. so i never really succeed in the making of cheese cake. i saw this very cute cheesecake from facebook (thanks to angela chia). i'm determine that i must baked them too. another reason for baking them is also cos this will be the first cheesecake that i make that requires baking. i'm glad i did and its was well-received.

 

 

cos my cupcake cups are bigger so i only can baked 4 with this, number of cookies, biscults and chocolate chips are adjusted accordingly.

 

ingredients:
1 block (250g) of cream cheese - cubed and softened (i used philadelphia)
65g of fine sugar
4 oreo cookies (in original form and retaining the cream)
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
6 Ritz Bits biscuits - separated and cheese removed (as décor)
tiny handful of chocolate chips (as décor)

methods:
1. put the oreo cookie into the cupcake cases. Set aside.

2. beat cream cheese and sugar until combined.

 

3. add the egg and vanilla essence and continue to beat until just combined*.

4. scoop and distribute the mixture evenly into 4 cases, decorate as shown in picture or your own creation.

 

5. bake in pre-heated oven at 150deg for 20mins**.

6. leave baked cheesecake to cool at room temperature before refrigerating. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before consuming (best over-night).

*do not over-whisk after beating in the egg. It will incorporate lots of air into the mixture causing the cake to crack easily during baking.

 

**do not worry if the cheesecakes still crack during baking. Any cracks will fuse after cooling in room temperature and a chance that it will disappear completely after chilling. Even if it did not disappear completely, it wouldn't look obvious after chilling.

halloweon party

yu ze's violin teacher has a small tricks or treat for his student in yesterday's group practice. all the students are supposed in come dressed up for halloweon. i'm pretty surprised that the older kids came in dressed up too.

 

they had their usual group practice before the tricks or treats. in order for their treats, they had to answer some simple questions relating to what they learn and also simple observation of things around them. its not really a party but i think its quite nice for him to have something for the students.

 

well, i have a hard time convincing yu ze for the dressed up. luckily, andrina came along with us when we were at daiso to buy the stuff last week. she managed to convince him from nothing for dress up to 3 items from daiso. my kid listen to others more than his mommy. sigh.... anyway, i'm glad that i had prepared him for it and he seems to look forward to it after that.

 

oh yah, when its yu ze's turn for the treats, he only took 2 sweets from it. he shared one with yu xi. he even told wei han that cannot eat so much sweet, must brush teeth.  

pandan chiffon cake

i try out another pandan cake recipe from little teochew. my testers say its better than the previous one. 

 

ingredients
7 egg (separate whites and yolks)
75g coconut milk*
1 teaspoon fresh pandan extract**/bottle essence (i didn't leave it overnight to get the super concentrated one, so i add 3 teaspoon of it)
150g flour
4g baking powder (1 teaspoon)
75g + 100g sugar
3g salt
83g vegetable oil

*coconut milk
1 coconut (grated) to get the first squeezed coconut milk. do not add a lot of water to it, at most is 1 or 2 tablespoon of water to the grated coconut before you squeeze.

**used 30 fresh pandan leaves + 1/2 cup water and blend in a food processor. squeeze out the juice from the pulp and leave it in a glass overnight in the fridge. use only the green stuff that settles at the bottom of the glass (i didn't leave it overnight, so i add only 3 or 4 tablespoon water to it to blend and extract the juice)

method:

1. preheat oven to 160°C.

2. combine egg yolks, coconut milk and pandan extract in a mixing bowl. sift flour, baking powder and salt. add flour mixture and 75g sugar into the bowl. add vegetable oil and whisk everything to combine.

3. in a separate and clean bowl, beat egg whites and 100g sugar together till it forms soft peaks.

4. slowly fold egg white into egg yolk mixture in 3-4 additions.

5. pour cake mixture into an ungreased tube pan.

6. bake for 45 minutes (i think need to increase the timing a bit more).

7. flip the pan upside down against a bottle on kitchen counter and let cool for 25-30 minutes. un-mould the cake.