Cranberry & Raisin Scones

This was my very first time baking scones. I tried scones years back when I tour europe and I didn't have a good first impression on it. The scones there are rocky hard and I could hardly cut them half to spread the butter. I don't bother to learn baking them as I have bad impression for scones until I see this Blueberry Scones baked by Wendy - The Adventures Of Giggles

I was totally inspired by her lovely blueberry scones. Too bad, I can't get all those fresh blueberries here in Alor Star. I failed to get the frozen one as well, maybe not much people demanded for it. What I can get is only blueberry puree, the one which is more sticky like jam type and I can't use that to bake scones. To replace blueberry, I substitute them with dried cranberries and raisins. But, according to Wendy, blueberries are the BEST for scones. I really want to taste it now. Wendy, keep one for me okay?? lol

After I bake the scones, I totally change my impression toward it. The recipe shared by Wendy are fantastic! The scone are soft and yummy. Not too sweet and it's best eaten warm with some butter or fruit jam. However, I still prefer the eat them with butter. Do give it a try!!

I was lazy to retyped the recipe and please feel free to click HERE for the recipe from The Adventure Of Giggles!

**I substitute the blueberries with the same amount of dried cranberries & raisins mixture.

Happy Baking!

AMY

Nutella Cup Cakes

A quick bake for my kids and they loved it!!

Nothing will go wrong with Nutella. It's simply yummy on anything. If you are a chocolate lover ~ make sure you didn't miss this Nutella Cup Cakes. I have baked it many times and will repeat to bake it again and again in future.

Please refer HERE for the recipes. Do give it a TRY!! Cheerz~

Important Notes: ***I reduced 1-2 table spoon of sugar in the recipe as I found it's too sweet to my taste buds, the nutella itself are already sweet. I only add 1/2 teaspoon of Nutella chocolate spread on each cupcakes, don't add too much or it'll be too sweet and for those who don't like the buttery taste on cakes just substitute the butter with the same amount of margarine. HAPPY TRYING!! ***

AMY

Pizza ~ Simply Tasty!!

Once a while, my 3 kids will crave for Pizza when they are getting bored with rice. Taking the kids out to dine at Pizza Hut are quite expensive, I might as well bake one myself. I can't afford to bring them out too often, each trip normally will end up spending RM50-RM60 sometimes more, including all the side orders like chicken wings, garlic bread, salad, mushroom soup and drinks. Sigh..! economy so bad, must save a bit ~ lol

Pizza are very well depended on the sauce used and the most important part is CHEESE. It didn't went wrong with a lot of cheese and it's not hard at all to bake our own pizza. Mix all the ingredient for the crust and let it proof for 20-30minutes. Spread the dough on pizza pan and top it with our favourite toppings ~ tuna, bacon, hotdog, mushrooms...etc, etc. I used this Prego Pasta sauce on my pizza and it taste fantastic!!

Baked this pizza for my kids so, I made their favourite toppings - hotdog, mushroom, onion, pineapple and a lot of cheese...yum, yum!! I use Mozzarella cheese. If you are cheese lover, you can always spinkles some Parmesan cheese powder on pizza before serving for more cheesey flavour. I'm hungry now, when think of the pizza...haha!

Pizza in the oven

Look at the melted cheese...at this time you can smell the yummy pizza from the oven.

For the PIZZA recipe, please click HERE!



Believe me or not?? It's simply tasty!!

AMY

Thank You, Tracie !!

I would like to thank Bitter Sweet Flavours - Tracie for giving me this Kreativ Blogger Award. This is the first award I got since I started blogging...hehe! Thanks again sweetie!!

When I first look at Tracie's Blog, it doesn't even come across my mind that she is only 18 years old college girl. When I was her age, the only cake that I bake is Butter Cake, nothing more than that. She is a genius, very smart girl. Look at her latest post on the Chocolate Banana Cake, it really impressed me, the cake look no different with the one sold in Secret Recipes. Congrats, girl!! I wish my 2 girls will grown up to be like her, a very creative girl !!


The Kreativ Blogger Award comes with some rules:

1. You must thank the person who has given you the award.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who has nominated you for the award.
4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.
5. Nominate 7 other Kreativ Bloggers.
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on which of the blogs to let them know they have been nominated

Okay, now let me share 7 facts about myself :

1. I love the smell of the freshly baked cakes, bread or cookies out from oven.
2. I love to walk bare foot on soft sandy beach. Enjoy the wind & sound of waves.
3. I love to collect recipe books, mostly are books with pretty pictures of cakes or desserts.
4. My life will be boring and dull without chocolate and ice-cream. I love vanilla flavoured ice-cream with Bailey...Yumm!! (I love to have ice-cream on winter time-when it's extremely chill~lol*)
5. I love THAI food the most and I enjoy Japanese food as well, sashimi ~ slurppsS
6. I wish I could have more time to bake and cook. I got so many recipes lining up, waiting for me to try out...hehe!
7. My other hidden talent is knitting and I don't have time for it now, I'm too BUSY!

The next seven 'Kreativ Blogger' holders would be..

1. Fad About Food - Constance, she is my very first blogger friend who encourage me to have my own food blog. My best pal and I miss her.
2. The Adventures Of Giggles - Wendy, we have been friends for more than 15 years since college days. She finally found her beloved hubby, married and now residing in Arizona, USA.
3. My Kitchen - Lydia Teh, I love the collection of recipes in her blog and the beautiful foodie pictures in her blog.
4. Kitchen Corner - Grace, her success in baking chiffon without cream of tartar and baking powder inspires me to try out her recipe. I love her blog a lot.
5. Tartelette - I love her unique creations and everything in her blog.
6. Closet Cooking - Kevin, his cooking never fails to impress me, he is a GREAT chef !
7. Nasi Lemak Lover - Sonia, I always found her blog very informative and interesting. One of the blog I will repeatly visit and read.

AMY

Moist Chocolate Cake, Anyone???

This is the best chocolate cake I've ever tried. I baked the Steamed Moist Chocolate Cake not too long ago and was wondering how is this oven baked Moist Chocolate Cake turn out, will it be nice?? Anyway, I stumbled upon this wonderful recipe at My Kitchen (original recipe is from kak izan on MyR) This recipe is definitely a keeper. Try it and you will know why I'm saying so...hehe!!

I LOVE everything that is related with chocolate. So, I decided to give this recipe a TRY!! Ya, this cake turn out almost perfect, moist and rich in chocolatey taste. It's worth a try if you are one of the chocolate craze out there.

I use Hershey's natural unsweetened cocoa powder to bake this cake. This is one of my favourite brand for cocoa powder. However, I still found the cake are a bit on the sweet side. I will reduce the amount of sugar use on my next bake. My kids enjoying eating it so much, they just love it!

Ingredients:
(5"x8" loaf pan)

Chocolate Paste:
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp instant coffee (optional)
1/4 cup castor sugar (reduce 1-2 tbsp if you prefer it less sweet)
1/2 cup hot water
1/4 cup evaporated/fresh milk (I use low fat milk)

pinch of salt

125g butter, softened
1 cup castor sugar
1 tsp vanilla essense
2 large eggs

1 cup cake flour
1 tsp baking powder

Method:

• Grease and line bottom of cake pan with baking paper and preheat the oven to 180c.
• Combined all ingredients for chocolate paste except MILK in a mixing bowl. Hand whisk mixture till sugar are fully dissolved.
• Add in milk, stir to mix well. Set aside.
• Sift cake flour and baking powder together for later use.
• In another bowl, cream butter and sugar till it is light and fluffy. Add vanilla essense and continue with eggs one at a time. Beat till well combined.
• Gently fold in flour mixture, alternate with the chocolate paste. *Start with flour and end with flour.
• Pour batter into cake pan and bake for 45-50 minutes or till it is cooked.
• Leave it to cool before unmould the cake.

One of the BEST chocolate cake EVER!!

AMY

Ayam Kurma (Kurma Chicken)

This is my youngest daughter's favourite. What's the different between this Kurma Chicken with other curry out there? It's more yellowish in colour and it's not hot at all, slightly in the sweet side. With the use of different spices, it taste totally different with the normal curry we always had. My kids just love it with a lots of potatoes and tomatoes.

Let me share on how I cook this yummy "Ayam Kurma" here.


Ingredients:

600gm chicken/meat (1/2 chicken), cut into pieces

Blend together:
4 shallots
3 cloves of garlic
1 green chili, seeded
1 inch ginger

1 packet of Adabi Kurma curry spices (mix it with some water to form curry paste)*
1 lemon grass, smashed
1 inch stick cinnamon

2 candlenuts (grounded)
1 piece tamarind skin (can replace it with some tamarind juice)

3 potatoes, skinned and cut
2 tomatoes, cut into wedges
1 large onion, cut into wedges

1 cup of coconut milk (reduce it if you prefer it less santan taste, adjust according to your own liking)

some cooking oil
sugar & salt to taste

-this is ADABI KURMA spices -

Method:

1. In a wok, heat some oil. Add in the blended ingredients, lemon grass and cinnamon. Saute until it's fragrant.
2. Add in Adabi Kurma paste and ground candlenuts. Stir till it's a bit dry and fragrant until the oil appears on top of it, keep on stirring it to prevent the curry paste sticks on the wok (At this time, we can lower the heat and this take sometime to cook it)
3. Add in the chicken pieces, stir to until all the chicken is cover with the paste and change colour, slightly pale. Add in some water and let it cook for a while.
4. Pour in the coconut milk, add in the potatoes. Let it cook till the potatoes are soft (we can always boil the potatoes half-cooked ahead)
5. Add the tamarind skin, salt and sugar to taste (I didn't add any sugar as I found the curry is already sweet)
6. Lastly, add in the tomatoes and onions wedges. Stir and let it cook till the tomatoes and onions are cooked.
7. Serve warm with steamed rice or tomato rice.
   
   
   

I hope you all can try to cook this at home. A good dish to prepare when there are gatherings or party.

Wish you all a wonderful weekend and Happy Cooking !

AMY

Fried Eggs With Preserved Sweet Turnip & Onion

Both my girls loved egg dishes so much. When I was out of idea on what to cook, I will just did this simple fried eggs for my family. I got all the ingredients in my fridge and what I do is just cut and chopped and put all the ingredients together, season it with some soy sauce and fried it...Easy right???


To make this simple egg dish, we need:

4 eggs (beaten)
1 large onion (sliced)
2 tbsp chopped preserved sweet turnip (cai por)
1 tsp soy sauce
some cooking oil for frying

Method:

• Cracked the eggs in a bowl, add soy sauce and beat it to mix.
• Heat the wok with some cooking oil.
• Saute the onion slices until it's fragrant, add in the chopped preserved sweet turnip and stir-fried for 2 second (lower the heat if the wok is too hot)
• Spread the fried onion and preserved turnip in the wok and pour in the beaten eggs on it.
• Do not move the eggs for few minutes (lower the heat to prevent the eggs got burnt)
• Check on the eggs if it already cooked before we flipped over and continue to fry the other side (add a little more oil if the eggs sticks to the wok)
• Dish up and serve warm with steamed rice.

Happy Cooking!

AMY