RASPBERRY BUTTERMILK CAKE

This is another cake which is loaded with fresh berries, moist and delicious. Besides raspberries, I have added loads of blueberries... and I think the cake looks heavy with too much berries. It is not the best looking slice of cake you see, but I can vouch for one of the yummiest cake you can sink your teeth into.

If you are planning to play host this Christmas, this cake is perfect to be served after a heavy dinner. I don't think you will have any leftovers for the next day. Remember to snap some pics before the cake is completely gone!


Ingredients
adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 cup (130 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon (2 grams) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon (2 grams) baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick (56 grams) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup (146 grams) plus 1 1/2 tablespoons (22 grams) sugar, divided
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (optional)
1 large (57 grams) egg
1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1 cup fresh raspberries (about 5 oz)


Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle. Butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside. In a larger bowl, beat butter and 2/3 cup (146 grams) sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about two minutes, then beat in vanilla and zest, if using. Add egg and beat well.

At low speed, mix in flour mixture in three batches, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour, and mixing until just combined.Spoon batter into cake pan, smoothing top. Scatter raspberries evenly over top and sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons (22 grams) sugar.

Bake until cake is golden and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and cool to warm, 10 to 15 minutes more. Invert onto a plate.

POLVORONES - ALMOND COOKIES

This is my first attempt on cookies and turned out goooood. This recipe is adapted from Seasaltwithfood, which I also learned that polvorones are Spanish almond cookies common during Christmas. If you are like me who is planning to make a small variety of cookies for Christmas, I highly recommend this. Light, crumbly and aromatic... and above all, super easy to prepare. Why not try it now too?!

Ingredients

110 g All-Purpose or Pastry Flour, sifted

100 g Unsalted Butter, at room temperature

40 g Confectioner’s (Icing) Sugar

50 g Ground Almond

Method

Preheat the oven to 300˚F (150˚C).Line a baking tray with a piece of parchment paper.

Spread the sifted flour and bake for about 20 minutes. Stir occasionally while baking, and then remove from the oven and let cool completely.

In a large bowl, using a wooden spoon beat the butter and sugar until soft and creamy. Mix in the ground almonds until well blended. Add the flour and mix until smooth dough is form.

Roll out the dough to a thickness of 10mm( 1/2 inch). Using a cookie cutters, cut out desired shapes and transfer them to a baking pan. Gather up and reroll the scraps and cut out more cookies.

Bake for about 20 – 25 minutes and transfer the cookies to wire racks and let cool completely.

Dust the cookies with some confectioner’s sugar, if desired.

Store in an airtight container to keep them crisp.

Makes 16 to 24 cookies.

PERFECT BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

I had a packet of blueberries and I needed to find a recipe that was convincing enough for me to try. I found this recipe at Smitten Kitchen blog. I was smitten by the title perfect blueberry muffins. I was perfectly convinced.

The muffins turned out perfectly beautiful and perfectly delicious.



Ingredients
adapted from Smitten Kitchen


5 tablespoons (2 1/2 ounces or 71 grams) unsalted butter , softened
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces or 100 grams) sugar
1 large egg
3/4 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 1/2 cups (6 3/4 ounces or 191 grams) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon (7 grams or 1/4 ounce) baking powder
1/4 teaspoon (1 gram) baking soda
1/4 teaspoon (2 grams) salt
3/4 cup (3 3/4 ounces or 105 grams) blueberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen, don’t bother defrosting)


Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a muffin tin with 10 paper liners or spray each cup with a nonstick spray. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well, then yogurt and zest. Put flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a sifter and sift half of dry ingredients over batter. Mix until combined. Sift remaining dry ingredients into batter and mix just until the flour disappears. Gently fold in your blueberries. The dough will be quite thick (and even thicker, if you used a full-fat Greek-style yogurt), closer to a cookie dough, which is why an ice cream scoop is a great tool to fill your muffin cups. You’re looking for them to be about 3/4 full, nothing more, so you might only need 9 instead of 10 cups. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until tops are golden and a tester inserted into the center of muffins comes out clean (you know, except for blueberry goo). Let cool on rack (ha), or you know, serve with a generous pat of butter

LEMON & CHERRY JAM THUMBPRINT COOKIES

Such lovely melt-in-your mouth cookies, and so easy to make! What sets this recipe apart is the inclusion of lemon zest and lemon juice. Trust me, it perfumes the flavour of these bite size cookies.

The original recipe calls for cherry jam, but I used apricot and strawberry jam instead. These are the only two jams available in my fridge. I halved the recipe, and used zest of one lemon and 1/2 Tbsp of lemon juice. I also used 1 tsp of dough for each cookie to make it bite sized, instead of 2 tsp of dough as the recipe suggested.

I will be making this again for Christmas - using cherry jam for sure!



Ingredients
fully adapted from Cookin' Canuck


1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large egg yolks
4 tbsp grated lemon peel
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
6 tbsp (approximately) good-quality cherry jam


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Lightly coat two baking sheets with cooking spray. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or a large bowl, using a hand mixer), beat together room temperature butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, 4 to 5 minutes. Next, beat in egg yolks, lemon zest, fresh lemon juice, and salt until combined. Lower the speed of the mixer to low and add all-purpose flour in two additions. Beat until moist clumps of dough form. Using your hands or a rubber spatula, press the dough together. Using 2 teaspoons of dough for each cookie, form the dough into balls. Place the balls of dough on prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart. Using the round portion of a 1/4-teaspoon measure, make a deep indentation in each ball. Fill each indentation with cherry jam. Fill until just below the lip of the indentation. If you fill it too high, the jam will come bubbling out during baking.

Bake the cookies until firm to the touch and golden on the bottom, 9 to 11 minutes, switching the baking sheets top to bottom and back to front halfway through baking.

Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes, then remove with a metal spatula and cool on wire cooling racks.

If not serving immediately, store between sheets of waxed paper in airtight containers.

Makes about 36 cookies.

COOLIO'S STRAWBERRY BANANA MUFFINS

Yup, you read it right.. Coolio the rapper bakes too. I was googling for recipes with strawberries and found this at sweetspot.ca (click on the title for the link). Monica Reyes of Nervous Chef was contributing her tried and tested recipes there.

If you are a newbie at baking, why not give this a try? It is so easy to make. The muffins are guaranteed to come out so pretty :)




Strawberry Fields Banana Muffins Forever


A few drops olive oil
½ stick unsalted butter, softened*
½ cup milk
1 large egg
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
¾ cup sugar
1 cup chopped strawberries
1 banana, thinly sliced
A regular old muffin tin


*Monica’s note: melted butter will work too and is preferable. This makes mixing easier.



Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Farenheit.

Use a few drops of olive oil to grease up a muffin tin. (I used muffin case instead)

Combine the butter, milk, and egg in a small bowl and beat it lightly.

In a larger bowl, pour your flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar and gently mix it.

Toss in the chopped strawberries and sliced banana, then stir to coat with the flour mixture.

Pour in your milk mixture and stir it all up together.

Fill up the muffin cups with your batter, then place in the oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

Let them cool down for 10 minutes, then remove from the pan and serve these bad boys up.

ORANGE OLIVE OIL CAKE

I will be making this cake again, for sure! When I saw this recipe calls for EVOO instead of butter, I bookmarked it pronto! Anna Olson's recipes can't go wrong. Check out her Blueberry Muffins on my August post, another great healthy recipe.

Light, moist and citrusy - unbelievably good! You just have to try it.

Ingredients

by Anna Olson

2 eggs
1 1/4 cups sugar (I used 1 cup + 1 Tbsp)
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3/4 cup 2 %milk
zest of 2 oranges or tangerines
1 cup + 2 Tbsp all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
dash salt
icing sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 °F and butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan.

In a large bowl, whisk eggs and sugar. Add olive oil, milk and orange zest and mix well. In a separate bowl, stir flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to olive oil batter and stir just until smooth.

Pour into prepared pan and bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Let cake cool completely, then turn out onto a plate and dust with icing sugar

DUTCH APPLE CAKE

This is the easiest cake I have made so far. All you need is a fork and mix all ingredients together in a big bowl. How easy is that!

This cake is moist and loaded with apple goodness. The cake texture tastes like gingerbread - that's what I thought! However, I am not going to stop at this one but will try out different recipes.

Ingredients

adapted from recipe4living

4 C. apples, peeled, cored and sliced (I cut into small chunks instead)
2 C. flour
2 C. sugar (I used 1 C. caster sugar and 1/2 C brown sugar - I ran out of caster sugar!)
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 C. oil
2 eggs
2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 C. chopped nuts

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, break eggs over apples. Mix with fork and add sugar and dry ingredients. Add oil, vanilla and nuts. Fold gently until blended.

Spoon into a 13x9-inch greased and floured baking pan. (I used a round cake pan instead)

Bake for 1 hour or until tester comes out clean.

CARROT MUFFINS

After my successful attempt on Anna's Blueberry Muffins (baked twice in fact!), I was in the mood for healthy muffins again.

I found this recipe by Patricia Scarpin of Technicolor Kitchen. She takes excellent pictures, which makes me want to bake all her recipes.



Ingredients

fully adapted by Technicolor Kitchen

2 cups (280g) all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¾ cup + 1 tablespoon (162g) caster sugar
pinch of salt
1 cup (260g) plain yogurt
2 eggs
½ cup (120ml) vegetable oil
finely grated zest of 1 large lemon
1 ½ cups (135g) grated carrot
icing sugar, to serve

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F; line twelve ½-cup (120ml) capacity muffin pans with paper cases.
Sift flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Add the sugar and salt and stir to combine. Set aside.
Place the yogurt, eggs, oil and lemon zest in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Add the yogurt mixture and carrot to the flour mixture and whisk just until combined – use a fork to mix and do not overmix; the batter is supposed to be lumpy.
Spoon the batter into the prepared cases and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden and cooked when tested with a skewer.
Sprinkle with icing sugar to serve.

Makes 12 – I used 1/3-cup (80ml) muffin pans and got 12, too

ANNA'S BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

I have bookmarked this recipe for quite awhile, and I wished I could have done this earlier. If you are looking for a healthy yet delicious muffin recipe, this is surely for you. The muffins are unbelievably soft and moist, and with lots of berry goodness. I added some fresh cherries too.

Ingredients

adapted from Fresh with Anna Olson

1/3 cup (75 mL) canola oil (I used olive oil instead)
1/2 cup (125 mL) honey
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cups (300 mL) 2% plain yogurt
1 teaspoon (5 mL) finely grated orange zest
1 cup (250 mL) whole wheat flour
1 cup (250 mL) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons (10 mL) baking powder
1 teaspoon (5 mL) baking soda
1 teaspoon (5 mL) ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon (2 mL) salt
1 1/2 cups (375 mL) fresh blueberries


1. Preheat oven to 375 °F (190 °C) and line a 12-cup muffin tin (or 36 cup mini muffin tin) with paper liners (alternately, tins can be greased).

2. Whisk oil, honey, eggs, yogurt and orange zest to blend. In a separate bowl, combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

3. Add to yogurt mixture and stir just until blended. Add blueberries and spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

4. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, until muffins spring back when touched. Muffin will keep 2 days in an airtight container, or can be frozen.

OVEN BAKED CHICKEN WINGS

This is probably the ultimate finger food treat. It was so easy to make, and I will definitely make this again. It has a delicious all-over brown hue and the aroma seeping out from the oven is to-die-for.

My photo does not look appetizing here, but it certainly taste goooood. All thanks to Gertrude, her recipes never fails me.

Ingredients:
adapted from My Kitchen Snippets

10 - 12 chicken wings
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cayenne pepper (I used chili powder instead)
2 tsp sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Wash and clean the chicken wings to make sure there are no stray feathers. Cut wings into portions through the joints, discarding wingtips (I left wingtips on)

2. Combine all the rest of the ingredients in a bowl. Add wings and coat in mixture. Cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours or overnight, stirring occasionally.

3. Preheat oven to 425 degree F. Cover a baking dish with aluminum foil. Drizzle it with some olive oil. Spread wings over the base, brush liberally with marinade. Roast for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown. Turn the wings half way through the baking. Serve warm or at room temperature

ALMOND CHERRY FINANCIERS

Cherries -my all time favourite and I usually eat them fresh. Lately, cherries are in abundance everywhere and I have the luxury of buying extra for baking. I tried them on my stone fruit tea cake and it was mad deliciuos. So, I went on searching for recipes with cherries.

When I saw this financier recipe from Sarah-Jane of SiliconeMoulds.com I was so excited and baked it the next day. Each dainty cutesie cake with a big fat juicy cherry in the middle - simply divine. Sarah-Jane was right on this!

Ingredients

adapted from SiliconeMoulds.com

70g ground almonds
105g icing sugar
35g flour
92g of salted butter

92g of egg whites (3 eggs)
1/2 tsp of baking powder
1/4 tsp of vanilla extract

Preheat fan oven to 200deg C.

Brown the butter to a nut brown.

Sift the dry ingredients together and mix in the egg whites and vanilla. I used an electric hand held mixer. Add the hot butter, mixing in quickly.

Pour as quickly as you can into your moulds and then pop in your sweet cherry, with stalk attached.

Cook in the oven for 10 mins, then turn down the heat to 180deg C. Bake for a further 15 mins or until golden brown. Test with a skewer. If it comes out clean means the cake is done.

CHICKEN MEATBALLS

This is a wonderful alternative to beefballs or porkballs, not too meaty nor heavy. With carrots and waterchestnuts to give a natural sweet and crunch - sheer delight and lotsa yum!

I chose to bake the meatballs instead of deep fry. It is definitely a healthier choice and taste as good. The original recipe comes with the sweet and sour sauce which I have omitted here. For the full recipe, swing over to My Kitchen Snippets.



Ingredients for meatballs
adapted from My Kitchen Snippets


1 pound of ground meat (can be pork, chicken or beef)
1 carrot – finely grated
6 water chestnuts - finely cubes
2 spring onions – finely chopped
2 tbsp of oyster sauce
1 tbsp of soy sauce
2 tbsp of cornstarch
1 egg
Salt and pepper to taste (I use 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper)


1. Put all the above ingredients in a mixing bowl. Mix well and let it marinate for an hour.
2. Form it into little balls . At this stage you can either deep fry the meatballs or bake it in a 400 degree F oven until golden brown.

KUIH BAHULU

The recipe looks simple and easy to follow, no drama. I am so gonna make this. And so did I!

It is best to use the bahulu mould to get the right texture, but the lazy me used paper cups instead. The cake is light and soft and it is addictive by popping one by one into my mouth.

Here's the recipe adapted from My Kitchen Snippets.

Ingredients

5 eggs

130 gm sugar

140 gm cake flour

10 gm cornflour or custard powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 tsp lemon zest

3 Tbsp melter butter

1) Sift flour and baking powder and set aside. Whisk eggs and sugar until white and stiff.

2) Add vanilla essence and lemon zest. Turn down the speed and slowly add flour. Mix until combined. Fold melted butter and mix well.

3) Pre heat oven to 400F, warm the bahulu moulds for 5 mins. Take it out and brush with oil or spray with non-stick spray.

4) Put about 1 tsp batter into the mould. Bake for 10 mins or until golden brown.

STONE FRUIT TEA CAKE

My, oh my! Being an amatuer, I surprised myself by setting up this blog and posting my first attempt on this cake. I think this cake has some kind of magical powers in me :p

Anyways, me no professional photographer. I just use my trusty old Nikon Coolpix and snap away. I am such a clutz when it comes to photography.

The moment I saw the pics and recipes from My Kitchen Snippets, I told myself I just gotta try this. I have been following MKS for awhile and I simply adore her blog. But that does not mean I bake or cook all the time. For some unexplainable reasons, I simply love buying recipes books, watching food channels, reading food blogs.... well, hoping I would end up cooking and baking often for family and friends.

My friends could not believed I "bake-it-myself". They loved it!

I have leftover cherries in the fridge - good start. So I got peaches and blueberries from the nearby supermarket and bake away!!! (Extra peaches for myself to eat- love em!)

Here is the recipe adapted from My Kitchen Snippets.


Ingredients:


1 tbsp butter (for greasing pan)
150gm all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
100gm sugar
80gm butter
1 + 1/2 eggs (I used 2 eggs)
1 tbsp orange zest
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp brown sugar (I used 2 tsp only)
1 peach- removed the stones and cut small
1 cup blueberries
1 cup cherries - halve and removed stones



1. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl. With a mixer, cream the sugar and butter together on medium-high speed for 3 to 5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition, then stir in the orange zest and vanilla.
2. Add the flour in 2 or three shifts, mixing just until a smooth dough forms. It will be pretty soft still. Dollop it out onto two pieces of plastic wrap, making one mound of dough slightly larger than the other. Wrap the dough blobs in the plastic and form them into flat discs. Place on a baking sheet and stick them in the freezer for 30 minutes. While waiting, prepare and cut your fruits.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degree F. Butter a shallow, 8-inch baking dish or tart pan. Take the slightly bigger parcel of dough and press it down onto the bottom of the pan. Scatter the fruit over the dough. Break the second disc of dough into tsp size balls and scatter them over the fruit.
4. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until lightly golden and firm. Cool for 30 minutes before serving.



P.S, I did not stick the dough into the freezer either.