Wake Up and Smell the Cake

YESSS I DID IT. I tried Ben's Cookies (orange chocolate chip) recently, and honestly I didn't like it. I'd rather buy Famous Amos but I have friends who love it, so I decided to try making my own and see how it'll turn out. I really splurged on this, with tips from friends, because this is an indulgent cookie after all! There's a few recipes around, and I used this , with the recipe below: Ben's Cookies 275g self raising flour (I used 265g flour + 10g baking powder) 200g butter 50g cocoa powder 300g caster sugar 1 egg 150g milk chocolate morsels (I used Nestle Toll House brand) 150g white chocolate (I used Nestle Toll House brand) 1 bar of Lindt sea salt dark chocolate, break into pieces Cream butter with sugar, then egg, then flour like how you'd make a cake. I used a spatula for mixing, just because I used the spatula to scrape off all the butter from the wrapper. You can use a wooden ladle too. Add in chocolate chips. Roll into b

Recording my plantui progress. Bought on 11 November 2017, planted Thai basil on 12 November 2017 and coriander and kale on 14 November 2017. Or maybe I should count as 15 November 2017 since 14 was on sleep mode only. 17 November 2017, day 2. Seeds not opening up yet!! WHYYY. Day 2. I see sprouting! This takes faster to grow than the other 2. I see growth here as well! Day 6 I do hope the coriander will grow! Maybe it'll take longer. Will update at the 10th day, when the lights are supposed to change.

Finally FINALLY I got my indoor gardening set thanks to dearest Husband! :) Was aiming for clickandgrow and plantui, and we settled for plantui though more expensive, but can fit 6 pods at a time and the light seems better. So YAY! I've been trying to grow herbs at my home but since we're not at home most of sunlight time, we can't grow much. I tried pandan leaves but it eventually died, mint grew but more of a survival thing rather than growing fully leafy. All these because we don't put our plants in direct sunlight, and our windows are tinted. We have money plants though, which I put in the sun only on weekends but those plants can survive anything so those don't count. HAHA. With my very own plantui I hope to grow my own herbs! I started out with Thai basil on Sunday (cos who wants normal basil when you have Thai basil!) and yesterday I added in 1 pod kale and 2 pods coriander. Will be updating on the progress soon! So far I see that the thai basil se

We were watching Asian Food Channel, Cooking for Love programme and the menu for the day was rawon (slow cooked in the oven!), ikan pepes and durian creme brulee. I'm actually interested in the dessert, but Husband wanted the ikan pepes. So the next day he went to the market and then we prepared the fish together. Original recipe is here , but we kinda adapted it cos I wanted to try a hand at masak campak-campak and master it. Also I know there's many variations of ikan pepes but we absolutely LOVE this. So here's our recipe, which was just nice to cover 3 medium sized ikan merah. Ikan merah is a good fish since it's so soft! Ikan Pepes To blend: 2 onions 7 garlic 2 inches ginger 2 inches galangal 6 candlenuts 2 inches tumeric 10 red chilis 6 cili padi 4 cm sq belacan 4 lemongrass (stub keep for later) Other ingredients: 2 blocks gula melaka 2 asam keping 1 1/2 tsp salt 16 lime leaves 2 tbsp coriander powder Blend all the to-blend ingredien

Such a belated post but just had to record this down. The Husband loves mozzarella cheese sticks from Swensen's, and recently we found out the kids love them too! So I tried to recreate it at home, since I already have the coating ingredients (children LOVE  homemade chicken nuggets ). First try had the mozarella melting in the oil, so the second time I did double coating and increased the heat such that the coating will cook quickly. I used 2 egg, cornflour, panko breadcrumbs and a mix of the following spices: smoked paprika, black pepper, salt, cajun spices, garlic powder. And mozarella, of course. Here's the first attempt! Cheese melted out, but super yummy! So second batch, made with double coating i.e. cheese in flour, then egg, then flour, then egg, then panko mix. Take that Swensen's! HAHA. Of course it's not as neat as Swensen's cos that's like machine made and all, but I think I did well! 

Kids were sick over the Deepavali holiday so I made macaroni soup, only for me to finish practically the entire pot. Pfft. First time making it, and I used minced beef meat like my mum, but I didn't put leafy greens in. Instead I added carrot and baby corn. Also used a cube of Maggi chicken stock for some flavour. 1 cube shouldn't hurt right? Haha. It turned out alright, but the household aren't soup eaters. Anyway just to document, no recipe used. Just fried 1 onion sliced, with 3 cloves chopped garlic, then 300g minced meat (250g should have been fine). Added water only after the minced meat was cooked. Also added 1 tsp black pepper, 1 cube chicken stock and 1 tsp salt. Oh and spring onions. Also when we were grocery shopping, the boy wanted to eat mushroom soup, since he said he tried it in school before and he likes it. So we bought 1 can (I know I cheated) and added mushrooms which I already have. Guess how much he ate. THREE spoonfuls. *rolls eyes*

YES. Another stir fry! HAHA. Cos that's easy to cook for meal prep Sundays! Also I was clearing out the larder and fridge, checking for expired items, throwing out food we won't be eating and since it's post-Raya, I have one larder tray filled with only empty containers. Haha. This round's stir fry aim is to finish up the limes in the fridge, and I came across this Thai concoction of sorts, which sounds yummy and could gel well with pasta. I didn't follow exactly the recipe so I shan't link it, so here's my take. Coconut Lime Chicken Stir Fry Chicken cubes (again, never measure. 400g?) 1 small onion, sliced 3 red chilis, sliced 1 cili padi, sliced 1/2 inch ginger + 4 cloves garlic, pound 100ml coconut milk 2 tbsp honey 2 tbsp oyster sauce Fry the onion and chilis in oil until onions are golden. Add in the pound garlic and ginger and fry. Add the chicken, then oyster sauce, coconut milk and honey and fry until chicken is cooked. You can add a

I love boneless chicken. Easy to cook. I also buy boneless chicken mainly for the kids' homemade nuggets, but last weekend I cooked for myself too. Made some easy stir fry, adapted from Orange Soy Sauce Chicken . Didn't use soy sauce but used oyster sauce. Orange Juice Chicken Stir Fry 700g boneless chicken cubes 4 cloves garlic Juice from 3 oranges 2 tbsp oyster sauce 1 tbsp honey 1 cili padi, 2 red chilis Handful of roasted peanuts Smash the garlic and chop finely. Slice the chilis. Fry the chili in oil, then add in garlic. Add the chicken and fry for a few minutes. Add in the orange juice, oyster sauce and honey. Cook until sauce thickens. I removed the cili padi right after cooking. Husband approves this! Though only for 1 meal, no reheating. Haha. I'm amazed he wanted to give this a try, and even more amazed that he likes it! Also made roti kirai and chicken curry (boneless chicken to the rescue again!) the day after because the kids had a taste of

Made the best Alfredo ever! From the many past experiments, use real cream, and never go overboard with cheese! I had leftover thickened cream about to expire, bought them for cupcake icing but never got down to using it. Chicken Alfredo 1 tub of thickened cream 1 tbsp butter Diced vegetables (I used carrots, capsicum and corn) Garlic powder, about 3 tsp hurhur 1/2 tsp black pepper 1/2 tsp smoked paprika Cooked chicken, shredded (same amount of veg) 1/2 cup grated pizza cheese Cook the vegetables in minimal oil. Add butter, chicken and cream at low heat. Add the spices, stir and add cheese. Once cheese melted, it's done! 

I realise a cupcake and a butter cake recipe should be different after making this cupcake, cos a butter cake will typically separate from the tray and you can just pop it out but you're not supposed to do that with cupcakes. This is by far the best vanilla cupcake I've ever made, with a really pretty bump and super light, perfect for frosting. I've also made a good basic frosting and this time I really used the proper recipe hahaha. My princess has been bugging me DAILY to make princess cupcakes, and I finally got round to it by printing the princess pictures and pasting them on these bamboo sticks which is used for mini kebabs I guess? I did go round looking for ready made cupcake toppers (Robinsons, Toys R Us and Phoon Huat) but they didn't sell. Only found upper half dolls (no clothes) at Robinsons and Phoon Huat but I was lazy to make fondant clothes so no. And Robinsons charged $20 for the pack of 4 dolls, but Phoon Huat charges $12 only! Rip off. I assembl

I haven't been cooking much for the past few weekends, and yesterday was like a major cookout that compensates for the lack of using the stove. To list everything yesterday just to show how much cooking AND cleaning because we are a family of four that have different menus and many meals: banana cake sausage, tomato omelette fries beef rendang roti kirai, TWICE panko crumb chicken nuggets maggi apple popsicle instant prata nutella bread rolls But at least 1 kid has his appetite back, after a whole week of being sick and week. Also, this *could* be what life will be like if I were a SAHM. Hahahah

Baked for cousin's birthday party, and he requested for a non-chocolate cake. Since I had only key lime in the fridge that can be used for baking, so it's fruity lime zest time! My frosting didn't turn out well, and what I gather from Google is that I overwhipped the cream cheese. Ohwells. I always have a problem with frosting. I think it's high time to STRICTLY follow 1 frosting recipe and stop making agarations. The key lime cake itself was yummy! My daughter likes it too! Won't mind making it again if I have leftover limes. I used yoghurt instead of sour cream cos that's what I have, and it adds to the tangy flavour. Recipe from here Key Lime Cake 1 3/4 cup flour 1 tsp baking powder + 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 cup butter 1 1/4 cup sugar 2 large eggs (I used 2 1/2) 3 tbsp fresh key lime juice 1 tbsp grated lime zest 3/4 cup yoghurt When frosting fails, use sprinkles. HAHA

Been making airfried chicken wings for the past two sahurs, cos Husband approves! I made my go-to chicken wing marinade using Nando's sauce and some other stuff, and airfried them with no oily mess of deep frying or baking in the oven, and at more than half the time required in the oven! Definite winner! Only downside is cleaning the basket. So for future reference, here's the recipe. 500g chicken wings (no drumlets) 2 tbsp Nando's sauce 1 tbsp sugar 1 tbsp soy sauce 1/2 tsp ground black pepper 1 tbsp tomato pesto Pinch of salt Marinate overnight. Airfry at 200 degrees Celsius for 8 minutes skin side up. Turn the wings on the other side and airfry for another 8 minutes. Crispy yummy skin, with juicy chicken inside! I love!

It's that raya baking time again! :) Yesterday I made another batch of Nutella tarts (made 1 batch for personal consumption a week ago) partly for my sister and part for me, and chocolate chip cookies. This time round I used my mum's chocolate chip recipe instead of the so called "Almost Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookies", and I think this tastes more like Famous Amos! And this yields way more too, for 1 block of butter. Less sinful too perhaps? HAHA. There are no pictures, probably I'll update later and include pictures. Nutella Tart 1 tin butter 3 eggs + 1 egg yolk 3 tbsp susu manis 2 tbsp ghee 1 1/2 tsp salt 700 - 800g flour (I never measure) Bake tarts at 180 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes, take them out to cool. Once cooled, pipe Nutella. Bake them again at 160 degrees Celsius for 5 or 6 minutes to harden the Nutella a little bit. Mak's Chocolate Chip Cookie I made some adjustments, the flour is supposed to be 5 cups, but I reduced to 4

Yesterday night as I was prepping chicken for this morning's sahur, I was out of soy sauce and couldn't make kung pao chicken. Hence I made a never before tried concoction, and decide to throw in sesame oil for a twist. While I marinated the chicken, the sesame oil smell was strong, was afraid that Husband may not like it. But thankfully after frying, was toned down and in fact it was yummy! So I have to note this down, in case I need a quick stir fry. Spicy Sesame Oil Chicken Stir Fry 400g thigh boneless chicken (was 500g, but I removed skins), cut into strips 1 1/2 tbsp Nando's marinade 1 tsp sesame oil 3 tbsp kicap manis 1 tsp chili paste 1 1/2 (or 2 ) tbsp honey 1 tsp garlic powder Handful of wok fried peanuts Mix all wet sauces together with the chicken and marinate for about 15 minutes. Fry on a nonstick pan, until  the chicken is cooked. Sprinkle garlic powder and fried peanuts and cook till juices are reduced to the amount that you desire. Tada! It&#

Over the weekend, the little one is finally moving out of our room, about the same age as my first. Surprisingly it was easy, maybe since toys are in that room and she has company, and hello kitty bedsheets too. We arranged on Saturday evening, and rearranged on Sunday morning because of the airflow from the air conditioning. Kids are happy with their new arrangement. Our room is finally kids free!Such a milestone! But it does feel quite empty now, and we kinda miss little girl's lingering smell. But at least now we don't have to worry about waking her up! This is the result after the second shift Did a simple lempeng pisang for Sunday morning, which I had no recipe (lots of bananas, flour portion less than bananas, sugar, water and splash of milk). Just a watered down version of jemput-jemput pisang and with less oil. What's not to love! Mine were odd shaped though, but it'll all end up in the tummy so who cares.

This is the best bread pudding I've ever made thus far! Even Husband thinks so. It was so good I made it twice in the past weekend, and also I've realised how to bake it right. I baked it slightly longer the second time cos the middle was still wobbly, but I should have just left it at 35 minutes cos the custard was sort of cooking still after removing from the oven. I wanted to make Carousel's bread pudding recipe but seeing the amount of cream, I give up. I'd rather find a recipe that uses things that I can find in my fridge at any time. Bread Pudding 1/2 loaf Gardenia white bread 3 eggs, beaten 2 cups milk 1/3 cup sugar 1 tbsp condensed milk 2 tbsp butter Raisins and sliced almonds Tear the bread into pieces and throw into an 8 inch pan together with raisins. In a pot, heat milk, condensed milk, sugar and butter and stir until all are melted together. Set aside to cool until it's warm to the touch. While stirring the milk mixture, pour in slowly the

Sometimes my choice of recipes are made because of lack of ingredients, like this no egg no butter chocolate banana cake. While I do have butter, I ran out of eggs. So I ended up baking a rather healthy cake that's worth making again! Original recipe here , and my tweaks below. No Egg No Butter Chocolate Banana Cake 2 cups flour, sifted 1 1/2 cup sugar 2/3 cup cocoa powder 1 tsp baking soda 2 tsp apple cider vinegar 1 1/2 cup hot water 1/4 cup oil 4 large bananas, mashed Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Grease and flour an 8 (9 also can) inch pan and set aside. Mash the bananas in a bowl. Sieve flour, cocoa powder and baking soda in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, add the hot water, apple cider vinegar, oil to the sugar and melt the sugar completely. Add the banana puree and mix. Add the flour mixture and mix well. Don't overmix. Pour into baking tin and bake for 50 minutes. I made some simple cream cheese frosting (250g cream cheese + 100g butt

I have done this a few times yet I did not write down the recipe. I also keep changing recipes all the time as a result. But this time I finally noted down! Kungpao Chicken Marinate for 30 minutes: 750g chicken breast cut into cubes 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar 1 tbsp light soy sauce 1 tbsp Sesame oil 1 tbsp corn flour For the sauce, mix in a bowl: 1 1/2 tbsp sugar 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar 1 tbsp soy sauce 4 tbsp water to help dissolve the sugar 2 tbsp kicap manis 2 tbsp corn flour Frying ingredients: 5 cloves garlic, minced 2 inches ginger, thinly sliced 12 to 16 dried chilis, soaked then halved chopped spring onions Cashews Marinate the chicken and set aside for 30 minutes.  Prepare the sauce in a separate bowl, make sure sugar is completely dissolved. I didn't add in the kicap manis initially, that was added in while cooking cos the taste wasn't there yet and the colour was too pale. Lightly fry cashew nuts with some oil and set aside. Can

Start of a new year! My little boy is in K2, and princess is starting school, same place as her brother. Over the weekend we made cupcakes for a get together and for some at home, since Husband loves red velvet cupcakes. Used a repeat of this recipe , cos since Husband doesn't like change when it comes to food,  I won't google for a new one. Plus I could get like 30 cupcakes per batch! But I didn't manage to make proper frosting since: I didn't have enough icing sugar. The ants in my house are amazonian ants. They went into the supposedly air tight container and ate my icing sugar. Happily eating my icing sugar. Luckily I have some left in another packet, but wasn't enough so I ground some normal sugar to top up. Was supposed to buy mascarpone cheese but Friday plans changed, so could only get cream cheese. Frosting didn't turn out as light. Hence, sinful. Frosting wasn't enough for all! For the first time, I don't have enough frosting! Even