On the Quest for the Famous Cookie!!!

I'm one of those people that likes to stick to something that has been proven and tested! Yes, I'm one of those people that 9 out of 10 times will order the same dish at the same restaurant, or at the very most, I may venture to order the same type of dish at different restaurants! (I can hear my friend Cheryl nod in total agreement at this!) Anyhow, this habit or trait of mine therefore made it very difficult for me to try a new choc chip cookie recipe this afternoon.

By the way, I havent made the cookies yet... perhaps it is the thought of the unknown of a new recipe that is putting me off.... hahaha just kidding, it's more of the guilt of not having done much study this weekend that is putting me off!

So this afternoon, I was on the quest of finding a recipe for the "Famous Amos" cookies - yes what better and more reliable place than Google itself! Hahaha! For those that may not have tried these cookies yet - it's a tiny taste of heaven! Truly! My bro encouraged me to try and either bake the Amos or Subway type cookies... and not having baked successful versions of these before - (actually I lie... I once baked these cookies that was so much like the subway ones, chewy inside and crispy outside, and even looked like it! But it was weird, it was one of those recipes that only seemed to work on occassions.... too unreliable! I stopped baking them after a few times when they didnt appear Subway-like anymore! It was too discouraging hehehe!) I was extremely reluctant. I preferred to stick to the recipe I last used that worked well :)

Anyhow, I found a semi-convincing recipe on the net that I am tempted to try later... as a reward for reading and digesting the accounting standards on Revenue and Provisions... they should have cookie standards... would be so much easier to understand hehe!

Will let you guys know how it turns out.... that is, unless I change my mind and not bake at all! :)

Saturday... Awesome breakfast!

Good morning!!!

One of the things I love about Perth is its most awesome weather and beaches! This morning, we had a lovely breakfast at the Oyster Bar on the Beach in North Freo - only the pictures below can explain how wonderful both the breakfast and weather was!

Our million dollar view...

The Bride to be and me! :)

Yummy hot breakfast... :)

Raisin toast....

Fresh fruit! :)

There is also a fantastic beach bar/pub next door to the restaurant!!! It looks really nice, wooden chairs by the glass that faces the beautiful ocean, plenty of seats and meals and drinks available!

Let's go there sometime soon! :)

Trifle!

Okay, here is the trifle I made!

1. The apple sponge was cut into pieces (it can be roughly chopped up) and placed into a glass bowl.

2. Made raspberry aeroplane jelly (follow instructions) and poured it over the apple sponge.

3. I made instant custard - will try to make real custard the next time!!! I have to say that I was very proud at the smoothness of the custard hehe! Trick here is low heat and the whisk! :)

4. Once the jelly over the sponge has set, pour the custard over and refrigerate.

5. Once this is all chilled, whip the cream up and pour over the jelly and custard.

(Note: This is probably one of the few times that I have actually whipped cream, and surprisingly it does take quite awhile to get it whipped! So keep whipping - I had to whip it on high for a few minutes :))

Totally Obsessed...!!!

Ok, I think it is official! I am obsessed! I feel obsessed! I think I'm totally obsessed with cooking and baking! Too bad it's not my full time job!

I have discovered these fantastic food blogs (makes mine look absolutely pathetic!:P) with wonderful links and awesome creations, which I would love to try out (Eg. Green tea marble cake, strawberry tiramisu... YUMMY!)!

Just in the past 15mins, it has even crossed my mine to either move or go for a holiday to the US as they seem to have these amazing bakeries, chocolate shops, restaurants and fantastic cookbooks! (Check this chocolate place out in the US - talk about cool chocolate varieties - http://www.vosgeschocolate.com/) Now I wish I had paid more attention to all these things when James and I visited the US in 2004!

I'm about to watch the OC which starts in exactly 2 mins - finally after weeks and months of not watching it on TV (due to my own impatience! My friend Trish which has been so sweet as to send me copies of the series, so I would be totally up to date and infront) - for those people who detest the OC - I apologise - but seriously check it out before you conclude that! :P

Anyhow it's breaktime now... so yes wanna know what happened to my apple sponge pudding? Turned out that it wasn't that bad after all - in fact my mum really liked it, and had it with ice cream! It actually does have a great texture, light, fluffy and perhaps one of the better sponges that I have made that hasnt got those occassional annoying air holes in it! Infact, the use of the custard powder with the flour was a good touch - made the sponge a nice yellow colour, which made it look more appetising! :) I think perhaps the trick to this great texture was the beating of the eggs before adding in the sugar? Process of elimination.

Despite all of the above, I still decided to turn the apple sponge pudding into another dessert (in a way so I could also have more photos!:P) - so right at this very moment, the apple sponge pudding is being transformed into a trifle - the jelly over the sponge is currently sitting in my fridge, it's nearly set. I'll make some instant custard (havent mastered real custard yet!) and pour it over, and tomorrow before cell, I'll whip up some cream and pipe it over the dessert. Perhaps some chocolate flakes or 100s & 1000s as decoration :)

Check in tomorrow to see how it turned out........!!! :)

Sunday - Apple Sponge Pudding!

Yes I have been rather mad over baking and cooking lately! So, today was no exception - especially since this was going to be a long weekend for me!

I decided to flip through the latest addition of "Food Ideas - May 2006 edition" and came across an "Apple Pudding" recipe - which really, was more like an apple sponge pudding!

Here is how the baking happened.......

Red apples (recipe did say Granny Smiths tho, but I didnt realise Granny smiths actually meant GREEN apples, haha, I thought they were just the brand... hahaha!) were peeled, cored and sliced and placed into a pot with a couple of tablespoons of water and 1/4 cup caster sugar and some cinnamon (my own!)






Next... beat the eggs till pale in colour, then gradually add in 1/4 cup caster sugar till mixture was thick and pale yellow.








Then fold in the sieved self raising flour and custard powder. Once this was combined, spoon over the sliced apple mixture which has been transferred into a oven-proof bowl for baking.

Oven @ 180 degrees, and bake for 20mins according to the recipe, but I baked it for 27mins to be exact! Bake till golden at the top and cooked :)

And here it is! Looks nice??? Read below for the taste verdict!!!

"Taste Verdict" - Well, unfortunately, I can't say this would be a recipe to keep.... the sponge was a little dry, and on reflection made perfect sense since there was no milk or water for the sponge, or butter (so in a way you could think this was somewhat healthier than normal for a dessert... hmmm...) - but I think as suggested by the recipe, this is to be eaten with custard or ice-cream. Taste wise was quite nice though... so anyhow, I'm thinking I will turn this apple sponge pudding into a triffle of somesort! I think it could be quite decent and pleasant!

(p.s. Reflection time: Yesterday's cupcakes are definitely worth a try for those cupcake fans! I tried it this afternoon and it was still lovely! Light, fluffy and moist, and wasn't as sweet as expected, and the over "eggy" taste I suggested was present seemed to have disappeared... I must have tasted it whilst it was hot out of the oven!!!)

Mini Cupcakes!

Mini Cupcakes with Sprinkles!!!

As previously discussed, these are the mini cupcakes! I had the good intention of doing something a little more creative than chocolate frosting and 100s and 1000s sprinkles (which brings back good childhood memories!), however, I admit, I overslept this morning! I must have snoozed the alarm for about a good hour, and by the time I woke up, I was running late! So I did not make it to the cake decoration shop in the end.

There is certainly an art to getting the cupcakes to be the exact correct shape, and hahaha, I did not learn this till the very last batch! The first couple of batches saw an "explosion" of cupcake! You should have seen it, there was a whole tray of glued mini cupcakes (much to my horror!)! So advice here is fill the cupcake cases to probably about half way of just under 3/4 of the case, as the self raising flour and eggs certainly cases it to rise a lot higher than you would anticipate!

This was vanilla flavoured - nice, fluffy and quite light! However, perhaps more vanilla essence would have been nicer :) - the egg taste is actually quite strong. And also, another note, I always like to cut down on the sugar, this time I did cut it down, but mental note for next time, cut it down even more, as the frosting definitely compensates for this!

Overall, I must thank Nigella again - this is certainly going to be a recipe worth keeping!!!

Pre-long weekend...

Apparently it is a very strange thing for me to be blogging!!! Hahaha! My sister says Im becoming like a teen! Well well! :)

Thanks to those who have left comments on the blog :D

The long weekend is coming, and in between study and things like that, I'm going to be baking for church refreshments. I'm thinking of pretty little mini cupcakes :P With icing and something cute like that! Either that or just different flavoured mini muffins.

Anyhow, should it all work out, I shall take a picture and post it up! :)

Okies... it's past midnight now, time to sleep....

Till next time! :)

Easter weekend - bunnies, drinks and chocolate!

Just a quick one!

Had a fantastic long easter weekend, fun was maximum, study was minimal :P I think we should always have at least a 4 day weekend each month!

It was a fantastic fun filled weekend of cooking and baking and laughs with some of the funniest people! (thanks to all of the hosts for their great hospitality!!!)

I baked Nigella Lawson's "Snow flaked brownies" which I hope was nice - and apparently was - I think her brownies must be one of the best recipes, perhaps to do with the fact that it is mainly made out of chocolate and mixed with white chocolate too!

I also made vietnamese rolls, and dipped in hoisin sauce is a great combination! I also made tom yum chicken, and these wonderfully bright pink and baby pink agar agar layered jelly! I really wish I had taken these photos now!!! Darn it! It worked out really well, despite my fears that the colours would mix and it would turn out to be more of a pink blob of agar!

You know how they say you learn something new everyday? Yes on Friday, I learnt (much to the horror of many!) that when people tap their fingers on the table at dim sum restaurants, it is infact NOT a signal to start and stop serving the tea, but infact goes back many years ago... back to those China days... let me know if you thought that it was a signal to start and stop serving tea - or perhaps I was the only one?!!!

Saturday was Bunny, duck, chick and egg day! I had inspiration a few weeks back to bake shortbread but in these shapes. I bought these nice cutters from Wheel & Barrow and after baking it, and knowing that a bunny, duck and chick almost looked the same without a face, decided to ice it - this actually proved a lot trickier than what I imagined it to be! So I didnt get to outline it beautifully like the shops do, instead they all just had an eye and a bit of a coloured pattern :) It still looked really cute - thank God! :)

Agar was clearly the popular taste for the weekend - on Sunday, I made pink and lilac agar layered jelly with a flower cut out in each square. Mind you, the pink actually gradually turned to be a light purple a few hours later!

How was your easter weekend? Hope you had a great one - I'm now hanging in for the Anzac Day break!!!

Love, Liz

My very first Blog entry...

Hi everyone!

This is very first Blog entry ever... I have no idea exactly what to do! I am almost going to admit that I am stuck in the snail mail age (ok just kidding, I email!) - this whole Blogg business seems all too complicated, however I have been inspired by other people's blogs!

I have lately become even more crazy over cooking and baking, so I'm hoping to put some pictures up here and talk about it! hahaha! Besides that, there may be some random thoughts/frustrations/chit chats and hmmm yes random stuff! :)

By the way, can I introduce to you Sugar (white), Rusty (dark brown) and Honey - they are one of my beloved Forever Friends Bear - current occupants in my room! :)

Who knows... your picture may suddenly feature on this page too....ooohhhh lucky lucky people! hahaha! :) - I hope no one violently objects to this! :P

Eulynn, I have actually really started my own Blogg! Now just waiting for you to start yours! My fellow friend who loves to cook and bake......!!! :)

So here it goes...... stay tuned...

Love, Liz