Merry Christmas

May all your days be merry and bright and sweet...as the macarons seen here in the Pierre Hermé window display which I visited recently in Paris.

Spent my Christmas with my daughter baking cupcakes and cookies for the wonderful season.

Had a wonderful Christmas dinner with my family too.

Le Fraisier

Le Fraisier is a classic combination of creme mousseline sponge cake and fresh strawberries.

After unmoulding from the square ring

Finished with a plastic wrap

Strawberries lined on all sides of the cake.

GreenTeaTiramisu  

Tiramisu with a twist-of green tea

The sponge ladyfingers were infused with green tea and matcha powder dusted over the top of the mascapone cheese.

Green tea cheesecake

Green Tea Cheesecake

Gosh, how time flies. It is already 2010....and in the month of May.

This cheesecake is baked for my son's birthday.

I used a combination of Matcha green tea paste and green tea powder.

My Watercolours

These are some of my old watercolour artwork :

Savoury Cheese and scallion  scones

Oats anyone?
Eating oats is good for us, but it is not the family's favourite, especially for breakfast.
Thus, in this recipe by Amy Scherber, she added rolled oats and this created a very delicious and yet healthy scone. The rest of the ingredients: ham, eggs, scallions and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese make a complete breakfast  with coffee.

Portuguese Egg Tarts

My children were home early from school today and so I decided to bake something sweet for their teatime snacks.
I used ready made puff pastry and baked these portuguese style egg tarts. The caramelized custard makes a delightful difference from the chinese dim sum-style egg tarts.
These tarts were great when eaten freshly baked from the oven and with a cup of tea with milk.

Parmesan  Crackers

Similar to the Goldfish crackers found from the supermarket.
Made with cheese and butter.
These crackers make great snacks.

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies are always a favourite.
These were baked with roasted hazel nuts.
My daughter loves the good old way of eating these cookies :
Dunk her cookie into a glass of fresh milk.

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Banana Marble Loaf

This black and white banana loaf is moist and delicious.
My son loves it.

Chocolate n Wine 


Bundt Cake


Baked this Double Chocolate n Wine bundt cake for a double celebration;
Happy Birthday to my brother n brother in law.
The wine used is Cabernet sauvignon.

Cake cooling on the rack and before decoration

Savoury Cheese Biscuits with herbs

My friend gave me some Parmigiano- Reggiano and so I decided to make some cheese biscuits with them.
These cheese biscuits were spicy(with added paprika) and shaped free-form. I topped the biscuits with different herbs; like dried rosemary, thyme, basil and even black pepper.

These biscuits came free-form but I gave a twist to these savoury treats. I baked them in the muffin cups.

Peanut Butter Cookies with Chocolate Chips

Using my homemade peanut butter, I baked these cookies and added chocolate chips too. Yum!

Quick and easy snack-
Double chocolate brownies with roasted hazelnuts

Brownies with double chocolate-Valrhona cocoa powder with Heshley chocolate chips.

Yummy! Homemade Peanut Butter

Nothing more satisfying than making your own peanut butter at home.
Just simply two main ingredients : Peanuts and oil.
Healthy and yummy.

TeaTime Muffins

Saturday afternoon TeaTime snacks-

Baked some savoury muffins as requested by my daughter.

These are black-peppered ham with cheese.

I added some smoked paprika for a little spice. 

My First Chiffon Cake-Lemon Glow

Chiffon cakes contain both baking powder and a liquid fat that is in the form of oil. It is the oil that gives the cake its wonderful moistness and tenderness .In this Lemon Glow Chiffon, the lemon zest gives a very light lemony scent.

All Blueberry Desserts

Blueberry Fleur Bundt Cake

Lemon-blueberry cake baked in this beautiful  fleur-bundt pan.(flower design)

Top and side views  of the cake.Cake is completed with dusting of confectionery sugar.

Blueberry Tart  

Tart shell filled with cream , blueberry jam and topped with lots of fresh blueberries.

Blueberry Crumb Cake

Blueberry cake with crisp streusel topping.

Blueberries season is here again!

Baked this fantastic Double Blueberry Tart with cream cheese filling.

My Homemade Marmalade

I love marmalade on my morning toast with butter.

So I decided to make it on my own.

I prepared a pot of citrus; a combination of oranges and grapefruits.

The marmalade is made up of juice and lots of  julienned peels.  

I have also put some candied ginger to add a little spice to the jam.

Jam in the making:

Boiling peels and juice in the pot with a cheesecloth or muslin bag containing the seeds and membranes of the oranges. The pectin for the jam is extracted from the contents in the bag.

Molten Chocolate cake

Baked these molten chocolate cakes  for dinner desserts.     

                                                   

         

The molten chocolate flows out of the cake when cut.

Cakes turned out from ramekins and dusted with confectionery sugar.

Chocolate cakes baked in ramekins.