Friday, December 25, 2009

Christmas Pressies from my friends and colleagues

I love Yami Yorgurt. One of the sweet treats my two colleagues got for everyone in the office. Yum! Yay to all pressies from my colleagues. I can't bear to open them till X'mas is over.
I love receiving flowers. The last time I received one was from my gfs for my birthday this year. A nice and sweet surprise X'mas pressie from a good friend of mine. Thank you!
                                   
The Britney Spears cd was from my wish list. I wished for the latest album from Britney Spears as I love the song 'Womanizer'. I got the singles' collection from her first album to the latest. It was great!!

A wonderful gift from another good friend. Thank you!


Thank you thank you thank you. Merry Christmas everyone and have a wonderful holiday!

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

No Bake Cheesecake



Made this no bake cheesecake on a workday morning @ 6am since I was too tired to get started right after dinner. Beauty sleep is so precious to me. Topped the cheesecake with strawberries (or any fruits you desire) after my dinner plus chilling out session with a good friend, ie. 3ish in the morning (24th Dec 09). Decided not to top with any jello due to time constraint. My upper back is aching, not sure if it is due to too much baking over the weekend. It hurts tooo. Sigh... You can go to here for the recipe. =) Enjoy!

Monday, December 21, 2009

The time of giving

I love Christmas. That is a time where I will prepare a modest pack of goodies bags for my colleagues and selected priviledged friends. I love the joy of giving. Love the smile on each and everyone's faces upon receiving of a tiny surprise. It made them happy. It made me happy too. I think I spent a significant amount of money in my goodies this year. A large bulk of the money spent goes to the slightly pricey Japanese chocolates called Royce. They are not as premium as Godiva but they are still quality chocolates (Thorntons is always my favourite UK brand of chocolates). I paired these chocolates with some sweets, lollipops, crackers etc...

I always feel a tinge of regret when I commenced packing these sweet treats. I need to ensure there are an equal number of goodies in each bag by counting away.

I feel like I'm some packer working in a factory. Took me a good 1hr 30mins to finish the packing.

Finally, my finished products! Yay!

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Almond London Cookies

A very fulfiling Sunday. Baked cocoa brownies for an order from a friend. Was kinda busy last weekend, so I postponed the baking order to this sunday.



The brownies are meant for 15-20 people, so I can cut a larger piece for the brownies.

Feeling underaccomplished, I decided to bake almond london cookies. I have been baking from 3pm to 945pm. My feet are so sore now. =( The only time I sat down was during my dinner time. I didn't count the number of london cookies which I rolled into a ball. Having to decorate them was such a chore. At the same time, I hate to serve them plain looking.


See, aren't they cute? I love the sprinkles from Wilton.



The recipe is adapted from Sweet Jasmine. I will post the recipe when I have the time. Kinda drained at the moment... =)

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Risotto

Risotto. Risotto is a traditional dish in Italy. It is one of the most common ways to cook rice in Italy. The main feature of a risotto dish  is the maintainance of starch at the end of the cooking that binds the grains together as a cream. Explanation is extracted from Wikipedia. My first experience of risotto was in some restaurant 3 years ago. 3 years later, I had them again in Prego, an italian restaurant in Singapore and I fell in love with them since. I love the cheesy taste and smell cooked with some mushrooms especially but my friend (you know who you are) will reject a risotto dish with mushrooms. Mushrooms are good for you. Trust me.

I wanted to go cheap and went to buy a box of risotto 2 weeks ago. I spent a good 15 minutes trying to select the most yummylicious pack of risotto. I made my choice and chose , 'Risotto in Four Cheese from Riso Gallo'. It is  fairly easy to cook them. You just need approximately 12 minutes to cook R. I added mozzarella cheese and ham to them. My family is not a fan of italian food, so I cooked a humble portion of Risotto for myself. My mum saw me cooking R and she gave me a 'Yucky' look. Haha... My R turned out well and yum (solely in my own opinion)!






Enjoy!

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Christmas Shortbread cookies

I needed a change. I'm in the mood for cookies. I have had enough of cakes. My weekends, especially Saturdays, are very precious to me. I'm not one for major changes but changes are good sometimes for the better. I love surprises. I enjoy planning for one and love to receive one too. Life is such that no one didn't seem to realise that surprises be it small or big ones will brighten that special someone's day. I do not know why the topic of surprise suddenly comes into the picture. It has no relation to what I am baking today. In my opinion, I feel that sometimes you do not need a reason for doing certain things. Most importantly it makes you happy and the ones you care about happy, plus it is not anything against the law. =)





I am baking shortbread cookies adapting the recipe from Joy of Baking. Loved the shortbread cookies from Walkers. Yum! Life is good when you're surrounded by so many yummy food. Life is even better when you can make fresh bakes as and when you feel like it provided you have the time and the ingredients are easily accessible.



Recipe:

2 cups all purpose flour ( I replaced 1/2 cup of all purpose flour with 1/2 corn flour)
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter ( I use Lurpak unsalted  butter)
1/2 cup icing / powdered confectionery sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

Beat the butter until smooth for about a 1 minute. Add the icing sugar to the butter and mix about 2 minutes untill smooth. Beat in the the vanilla extract.

Gently stir in the cornflour and all purpose flour until just incorporated. Flatten the dough into a disk shape and chill in the fridge for at least an hour till firm or overnight.

Pre-heat the oven at 300 degree F (150 degree celsius) with the rack in the middle of the oven.

On the lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/4 inch (0.5cm) thick. Cut whatever shape you desire using lightly floured cookie cutter. Place the cookies on the prepared cookie sheet and chill in the fridge for 15 minutes. This will firm up the cookies and maintain their shape while baked.

Baked for 20-23mins or until light brown. Cook on rack.

Notes: I read that subsitute 1/2 cup of all purpose flour with 1/2 cup of cornflour will give the cookies a 'melt in your mouth' texture. And yes, it is so true. The use of confectionery sugar gives a smooth texture to the cookies too.




How I wish I can courier these X'mas cookies to my friends in  Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia and UK.

This recipe is definitely a keeper for me! Enjoy!

Friday, December 4, 2009

New York Cheesecake II

I made New York Cheesecake (NYCK) again last Sunday. Made them for my favourite Reina, baby of my friend, K. She is one bubbly baby at 15 months old. My parents love her too especially my mum. Reina just knew how to win the hearts' of many who met her. Back to my cheesecake. I beat the eggs lightly first before  mixing them with the rest of the ingredients. You can refer to here for the recipe. My cheesecake looked kinda yellow for the second bake. I wonder if there is any difference between beating with whole eggs and beating with lightly beaten eggs. Whatever the case may be, my NYCK turns out fine. No water bath method used for this round but the cake is still moist and soft. Cheers to fresh bakes!