Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Last week my gym buddies decided to have a breakfast potluck after our routine morning gym workout. I did not have much time to prepare something extravagant. So I optioned to make cookies. Since we are working towards a healthy living, I searched the blogsphere for a healthy chocolate cookie.

I stumbled upon an easy and yummilious recipe from one of my favourite food blog "Happy Home Baking". It's called Chocolate Oatmeal Cookie. The ingredients used are much healthier than the normal chocolate cookie. So I decide to get my hands dirty on it. Baked 2 batches (1 for the family and the other for my gym buddies).

Some of my cookies are slightly overbaked (so they are crispier)

I (and the rest of those who consumed my bakes) love the crunch and the taste of the cookies. It is crunchy on the outside and slightly chewy in the center, The walnut, oatmeal & chocolate were a perfect match. Moreover, this cookie uses less butter and sugar. So... it can be eaten without guilt ;-D.

A definite keeper. Here is the recipe.

Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies (adapted from Happy Home Baking)

(makes 25 cookies)

Ingredients :

90 gm butter (soften at room temperature)

25gm castor sugar

25gm brown sugar

1 egg (weight is about 60gm with shell), lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

100gm plain flour

100gm roll oat or oatmeal (I used organic baby oat)

20gm dark semi sweet chocolate (finely chopped)

50gm walnut (roasted and coarsely chopped)

60gm mini chocolate chips

Method :

• Preheat oven to 190 C.
• Line baking tray with parchment paper.
• With manual whisk, cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl till pale and fluffy.
• Gradually beat in the egg.
• Add in salt and vanilla extract, mix to incorporate into the batter.
• Sift flour over the batter and fold in with a spatula.
• Add in oatmeal, chopped chocolate, walnuts and mini chocolate chips.
• Mix well with the spatula.
• Drop tablespoons of the cookie dough onto the prepared baking tray. Space them out evenly to allow spreading.
• Flatten each cookie dough slightly with the back of a fork (keeping the shape as even as possible.
• Bake for 8-10 mins or until golden.
• Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Store in an air-tight container.

Salmon Teriyaki

I normally do not cook dinner on Sundays. (It's my day off! ;D ).

However, today is an exception. DH is away on business trip in China. I am lazy to bring the children out for dinner. Since I just bought a bag of Calrose Rice (Japanese rice), I thought it could be a good idea to prepare a Japanese meal for the family. My children love Japanese food.

I have 2 slices of Salmon in my freezer. So decided to cook Salmon Teriyaki. It will go well with the Japanese rice. A Stir fry Choy Sum and Black Pepper Mushroom dish will complete this meal. Simple and delectable.

This is how I cooked the Salmon Teriyaki.

Salmon Teriyaki

300gm Salmon block/slice - Cut into slabs, pat dry and season with some salt.

Pan fry the salmon and set aside.

Teriyaki Sauce

2 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp mirin

2 tbsp soy sauce

Mix the 3 ingredients together in a small saucepan. Bring it to boil. Keep stirring and reduce the fire to Medium flame so that the sauce will not burn. The sauce will thicken and result in a shiny glow. Set the sauce aside.

Once the Salmon is pan fried, arrange them on the serving plate and drizzle the teriyaki sauce onto the Salmon. Tadaa... ready to eat!

This is what my children and I had for dinner tonight.

To make this meal more Japanese, I used my Japanese rice bowls and Japanese chopsticks. A refreshing change from the normal dinner plate with fork and spoon.

Swedish Visiting Cake

I have been keeping my oven working almost daily. However, I have not been posting much of my bakes lately as I just find taking photos and uploading them such of a hassle. Not to mention I have also been slacking in updating my blog. ;(

This morning I visited my favourite foodblog " The Little TeoChew" and saw this very delicious looking muffins (photo from The Little Teochew....thanks Ju, your photography skill is a class above)

I just go to get my hands on them. After serving breakfast, I told my little girl that I must bake something. Showed her the post and she is in agreement that we need to have them on our table.

So, got out all the ingredients and this is what we got for tea!

Swedish Visiting Cake
(from The Little Teochew)
Makes 8 to 10 servings

Ingredients :
- 1 cup sugar, plus extra for sprinkling (I used 0.8 cup)
- Grated zest of 1 lemon
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (I used vanilla beans)
- 1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- About 1/4 cup sliced almonds (blanched or not) ( I used almond nibs)

Method :

• Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (about 175 degrees celsius). Butter a seasoned 9-inch cast-iron skillet or other heavy ovenproof skillet, a 9-inch cake pan or even a pie pan.

* Like The LittleTeochew, I used a muffin tray

• Pour the sugar into a medium bowl. Add the zest and blend the zest and sugar together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and aromatic. Whisk in the eggs one at a time until well blended. Whisk in the salt and the extracts. Switch to a rubber spatula and stir in the flour. Finally, fold in the melted butter.
• Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Scatter the sliced almonds over the top and sprinkle with a little sugar. If you're using a cake or pie pan, place the pan on a baking sheet.
• Bake the cake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until it is golden and a little crisp on the outside; the inside will remain moist. Remove the pan from the oven and let the cake cool for 5 minutes, then run a thin knife around the sides and bottom of the cake to loosen it. You can serve the cake warm or cooled, directly from the skillet or turned out onto a serving plate.

The cake is delicious .. slightly crispy outside whilst the inside is soft.

However, being less of a sweet tooth, we find it a tad too sweet for us. So the next time I will further reduce the sugar to 3/4 cup.

Mine is square!

Banana Crumb Muffin

I had some bananas which were overly ripe last Thursday. As the skin had turned slightly black, my children were reluctant to consume them. It will be a waste to discard them. So I turned them into muffins.

I googled for a good banana muffin/cupcake recipe and found this in Allrecipe.com.

The minute I read through the recipe and saw the number of positive reviews on it I was SOLD. I have got to turn those pathetic bananas into the scrumptious and aromatic muffins.

These muffins smell so heavenly when freshly out from the oven. The crumbs give a crunchy twist to this soft and light muffin.

I did reduce the sugar in my muffin as we prefer them to be less sweet.

Banana Crumb Muffin (adapted from Allrecipe.com)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 bananas, mashed (I used 4 )
• 3/4 cup white sugar (I reduced to ½ cup)
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon butter

Method

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease 10 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.
2. In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
3. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

Walnut Pandan Chiffon Cake

I love baking simple cakes especially those that I can throw in whatever I can find from my pantry. The Chiffon cake that I normally bake is one of those that fits this description. It is something that I can whip up in less than an hour (10 mins preparation and 30mins baking).

I had some leftover santan (coconut milk) in my fridge and a packet of walnuts. So, I took 3 blades of pandan leaves from my garden and...... Viola !!!! I am ready to bake this wonderful and easy cake.

Walnut Pandan Chiffon Cake

Ingredient

4 Egg Yolk

Coconut Milk 70g + a pinch of salt

Superfine Flour 100g

3 blades of Pandan leaves (blend with 2 tbsp water till fine)

5 Egg White

Castor Sugar 40g (add more if u like it sweet)

0.5 tsp lemon juice (optional)

Roasted walnuts

Method:-

1. Combine Ingredient 1 - 4 until well blended, leave aside.
2. Beat egg whites with electric beater till frothy, add in the sugar and lemon juice. Then continue to beat till stiff peaks are formed.
3. Mix 1/3 of egg white into egg yolk batter, and then FOLD in remaining egg white foam into batter with a whisk.
4. Line the chiffon tin with walnuts
5. Pour batter into chiffon tin and bang the tin to release the bubbles.
6. Bake in preheated oven 175°C for 30 - 35 minutes* or till cooked.
7. Remove from oven and invert cake tin immediately for 30 minutes.

* Adjust the temperature and timing according to your oven !

Note : By blending the pandan leaves, it will yield a dark green colored and more fragrant cake compared to just using the juice.

The walnut adds an additional texture and the nutty taste is a great match to the pandan chiffon cake.

Verdict : This is a keeper.

Workstation

In my previous post, I have mentioned that my eldest son has got himself a brand new desktop PC. So now we have an addition PC at home. Since it is still in good working condition, I am using it. (before this, I would normally use the Netbook, the Itouch or my sons' desktops). Now that I am spending more time online (as I have my webstore and blogs), this desktop comes it handy.

I needed a place to house this desktop. After much consideration, it is decided that the best place would be in my room. I have a spare corner which is just perfect for it.

Therefore, yesterday Dear Hubby took me to pick up a workstation from Ikea! Then Dear Hubby and my second son helped to assemble it for me.

Great job guys!

See the makeover!

I am very happy as now I have a proper place to do my work.

My little SOHO.

This should motivate me to work harder!!!

Orange with Kaffir Lime Granita

Today is Sunday and it is a real sunny and hot day. (The weather lately has been extremely humid and hot here in Malaysia). As usual on weekends I will be busy in my kitchen preparing bread dough for next week’s breakfast.

Dear Hubby and my two sons went out early this morning to the city to get a PC for my eldest son. My eldest son started working this year as he is taking a 6 months break from his studies. (He will be starting his under-graduate studies in August this year). With the money he earned so far, he wants to get his own PC (the one he has now is more than 7 years old).

My daughter stayed home with me. Since it is so hot, I decided to try out the recipe on Orange and Kaffir Lime Granita that was posted by The Little Teowchew recently. It would be just perfect for the guys when they come home later in the day. Moreover, I have all the ingredients especially the Kaffir Lime Leaves as I have a plant in my garden.

It is really easy to make and it is really refreshing. The combination of Kaffir Lime and Orange is just perfect! An excellent choice to serve on a scorching hot day.

Orange with kaffir Lime Granita

(adapted from The Little Teowchew)

For the syrup
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup regular sugar + 3tbsp sugar (I omitted the 3 tbsp as I am cutting down my sugar intake)
- About 6 to 7 kaffir lime leaves, torn (sub with lemongrass if they are more easily available)

For the juice
- 2 cups fresh orange juice, strained

Method
1. In a small saucepan, add water, sugar and kaffir lime leaves. Bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar until you get a syrup consistency. Discard the leaves and leave to cool.

2. In a 9-by-13-inch glass or ceramic baking dish (I used a metal dish), stir the cooled sugar syrup into the orange juice. Freeze for about 45 minutes, or until ice crystals form around the edge. Using a fork, stir the crystals into the center and freeze for about 30 minutes, until a thicker rim of crystals forms around the edges. Stir again and freeze for about 1 hour longer, stirring every 15 minutes or so until all the juice is frozen.

3. Scoop the granita into serving glasses, and top with vanilla ice cream (optional).