Goodbye 2013 & Happy New Year 2014

2013 has been a wonderful year for me. A lot of accomplishment that have been made for the past 12 months.  At least a more consistency in blogging, I managed to write at least three entries each month, sometimes more. Owh! I finally have my own dotcom :)...

There were also many firsts in terms of baking experiment that made myself very proud because they were all a successful ones. I baked my first Challah, I finally have my first successful pudding...and my first tiramisu....so yummy. And then there were my first Blueberry Mascarpone Roulade, first chili beef queso, the most delicious Lemon Mascarpone Layer Cake and of course my first quiche to conclude the 2013.

Wishing for a more prosperous and wonderful baking year of 2014.

Mushroom & Cheese Quiche

This weekend has been a quiche challenge weekend. The first quiche case that I made on Saturday was a bit hard and the base was a bit undercooked. But the filling was nice and yummy so the kids just eat the filling and discarded the undercooked crust.

The next day I tried it again and it was wonderful. The crust perfectly cooked, the filling of course so yummy and it is just another successful weekend baking.

Ingredients:
Crust
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, diced
1/4 cup cold iced water

Filling
3 tbsp unsalted butter 
1 large onion - diced
4-5 medium sized portabello mushrooms - sliced
6 medium sized white button mushrooms - sliced
1 small capsicum - diced

Salt & pepper to taste
90g shredded cheddar or edam cheese
3 eggs
300ml cream
A handful of chicken pepperoni slices - optional

Instructions:
Crust

1. In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour and salt. Add in the cold butter and rub it into the dry ingredients until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add a tablespoon of cold water at a time and knead until it forms a soft dough. You may not need to use all the water. Form the dough into a ball and wrap it in a plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.
2. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into a circle with a diameter of 10 inches. Line an 8 inch tart pan with the pastry. Press down into corners and sides. Trim the edges or crimp it if you want. Wrap it with a cling film and return it to the refrigerator and chill for another 15 minutes. You may want to start working on your filling at this point.
3. Preheat the oven to 200C at least for 15 minutes. Prick the pastry base. Line the pastry case with a parchment paper and fill the top with rice, beans or pie weight. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the pie weight and paper and bake for another 5 minutes. Set aside to slightly cool.
4. Lower the oven temperature to 180C.

Filling

1. On a medium saucepan over a medium heat, melt the butter and add in the onion. Cook the onion until translucent. Add the mushrooms and cook until the liquid reduced. Add in the capsicum, salt and pepper. Cook for another minute and remove from heat.
2. In a medium mixing bow, whisk together the eggs and cream.

Assembly

Pour the mushroom filling into the pastry case. Arrange the pepperoni on top and sprinkle with shredded cheese. Slowly add the egg and cream mixture into the filling.

Bake for 40 minutes or until the filling is set.

Churros

Taken from my Samsung S3 phone....couldn't get hold of the camera as it disappeared too fast

Churros
(Adapted from Poires au Chocolat)

Ingredients

140ml water
2 tbsp brown sugar
55g unsalted butter (cut into 1/2 inch cubes)
Pinch of salt
60g all purpose flour
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Vegetable oil for deep frying
Castor sugar for coating

Instructions

1. Combine together the water, butter, sugar and salt in a small saucepan and bring it to a low boil. Using a silicone spatula, fold in the flour and stir until the mixture comes together and begins to roll into a shiny ball.
2. Take it off the heat and continue to stir for an additional 2 minutes and let the mixture slightly cool down for about 5 minutes.
3. Add the eggs and vanilla and stir until fully incorporated.
4. Scoop the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a medium star tip.
5. Heat up 2 inches vegetable oil in a medium pot or saucepan to 180C. Pipe a few inches of the soft dough into the hot oil, use a pair of scissors to cut the tip before piping another one. Once it started to brown, turn it over and cook until it turns golden brown on each sides. About 1 minute on each side.
6. Scoop out the churros using a slotted spatula or tong and transfer them into a kitchen towel to absorb the excess oil.
7. Toss them into the caster sugar.It is best eaten while warm with chocolate sauce.

For the dipping sauce:
75g dark chocolate
100ml double cream
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp sugar

Put the cream, cinnamon and sugar into a small pan and heat until nearly boiling. Chop the chocolate up and place it in a small bowl. Pour the cream mixture over. Leave it for a few minutes then stir until smooth.

Tropical Carrot Cake

Combination of ingredients in this version of carrot cake that includes lots of shredded carrots, toasted shredded coconut and pineapple ensuring it stays supermoist even after a few days in the refrigerator. Other than that...it is just tasty and coconut lovers will definitely indulge this.

Ingredients:

Cake

2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp mixed spice or ground cinnamon

3 large eggs

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup canola or vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups shredded carrots (from 3-4 large carrots)

1 can crushed pineapple, drained

1 cup shredded coconut, lightly toasted

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup dried cranberry or any raisins of your choice

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 cup cream cheese, at room temperature

60g unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup icing sugar, sifted

Instruction:

Cake

1. Preheat oven to 180C and grease a 9 inch baking pan
2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and spice. 
3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla. Stir in the carrots, pineapple and coconut. Fold in the flour mixture just until incorporated. Stir in the nuts and raisins.
4. Spread the batter in the prepared pan.
5. Bake for 30 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
6. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 15 minutes then invert it onto the wire rack. Let it cool completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1. In a mixing bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a flat beater or a handheld mixer, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla until smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Gradually add the sugar and continue beating until it is smooth and thoroughly combined.
2. Frost the cooled cake accordingly using an icing spatula.

Butterscotch Blondies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 cups lightly packed brown sugar
1 cup whipping cream/heavy cream
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt
2 cups plain/all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 large eggs
Confectioners' sugar - for dusting

Instructions:

1. In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Using a silicone spatula, stir the brown sugar until it starts bubbling, about 4 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium low, stir in the cream and let it bubble and start whisking until smooth and slightly thickened , about 10 minutes. Stir in the vanilla and salt. Let it cool to room temperature.
2. Preheat your oven to 180 degree Celsius. Grease a 9 inch baking tray with butter.
3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder. Stir the butterscotch mixture into the dry ingredients, then whisk the eggs one at a time until it is well blended.
4. Spread the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 18 minutes.
5. Remove from the oven, let cool completely and indulge it with chocolate sauce, ice cream,or whipped cream and some berries! Or just dust some confectioners' sugar on top and enjoy.

Lemon Squares

Ingredients:

Crust
3/4 cup plain flour
1/4 cup confectionery/icing sugar
A pinch of salt
90gm cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

Filling
3 large whole eggs
3 large egg yolks
1 cup caster sugar
3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice, strained (about 3-4 medium lemons)
90gm soft unsalted butter
1 tsp grated lemon zest

Instructions:

Crust

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius and butter an 8 inch square baking pan.
2. In large mixing bowl, combine flour, icing sugar and salt, stir until blended. Fold in the butter and mix until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
3. Press the crumb mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake the crust for 15-17 minutes until slightly golden and the top feels firm when lightly touched. Set aside.

Filling

1. Set a saucepan filled with 1 inch water over a medium heat.
2. Off the heat, combine egg, yolks, lemon juice and sugar into a large heat resistant mixing bowl and whisk until the sugar dissolves. 
3. Reduce the heat to low, once the water comes to a gentle boil, set the mixing bowl over it, add the soft butter and stir constantly using a silicone spatula until the mixture begin to thicken, about 12 minutes.
4. The mixture should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon and tt should register 160F or about 71C on the thermometer. Remove from the heat.
5. Using the spatula, immediately push the curd through a fine strainer into a medium glass bowl. Pour the lemon curd into the baked crust.
6. Bake until the center is just set, 13-17 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 20 minutes. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled at least 3 hours before cutting it into squares and serve.

Round Braided Brioche

I can never tired of breads...sometimes it is just the same bread all over again but I'm making it or trying it using a different element. This brioche recipe is the same recipe that I used for the past few years but I don't think I have ever put it on in this blog. Normally I will use a strong flour but today I am making it using unbleached plain wheatflour (10% -11% gluten) and mixed it with a small amount of strong white bread flour (13% gluten). The texture of this bread recipe using a strong bread flour is more chewy because of the high percentage of gluten inside it (see Challah) whereas if using an unbleached white plain flour, it produces a slightly flatter and denser texture as seen below. It is a bit crumbly, but not as crumbly as a cake. But the taste it still the same. So, if you want a slightly denser bread, you may want to add up to a 1/2 cup of strong flour on top of 500gm unbleached plain wheatflour. I think, the one using strong bread flour is a bit lighter...

Ingredients:

200ml warm milk

2 tsp active dry yeast

60gm sugar

90gm melted butter

2 eggs

500 gm strong bread flour, more if needed

1 tsp salt

Instructions:

1. Combine the warm milk & sugar in a mixing bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast over the top. Lightly whisk to blend and let it stand for 5-10 minutes until foamy.
2. Add the egg, butter, 500gm flour and salt. Place the bowl on the mixer with a dough hook. Knead on low speed for 8-10 minutes. If using unbleached flour, you may want to add one tablespoon at a time and up to 1/2 cup of flour until the dough does not sticking to the sides of the bowl.
3. Remove the dough from the bowl. Form it into a ball, transfer it into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap. Let the dough rise in a warm place until double in size, about 1.5 hours. 
4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and lightly knead, add more flour if needed. Divide dough into 4 equal pieces. With flattened hand, roll each piece back and forth, forming a 15 inch rope with tapered ends.
5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat and lay 2 ropes horizontally and 2 ropes vertically on the sheet crossing each other, just like lattice pastry. Weave or braid the ropes together accordingly into a round shape. Pinch together the four ends and tuck them under the bread.
6. Cover the braid loosely with oiled plastic wrap or clean kitchen towel and put in a warm place, let rise 40-50 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 180 degrees C a few minutes before baking.
7. Glaze the braid with beaten egg and bake in the preheated oven for about 15-20 minutes until golden.
8. Cool completely on a wire rack before slicing it with serrated knife.