Shortbread varieties!

After dinner tonight, the perfect square of butter in the fridge totally distracted me! Days ago, I was thinking of baking plain shortbread with chocolate shape print in the middle, so totally eager to make these perfectly shaped cookies, I headed straight into the kitchen after dinner.

I made choc chip shortbread, plain shortbread and "double decker" shortbread! My initial idea of those shortbread with cute patterns in the middle disappeared after I tried doing it, too much work, far too delicate and for some weird reason, my dough tonight seemed to be a bit drier than I remembered it was previously!

Anyway it turned out well! So here I am, 2 hours later, kitchen cleaned, shortbread baked, waiting for it to be cooled before packing it away! Tomorrow is the first day of the month, busy time @ work - hopefully these cookies will bring some sense of comfort to us in the midst of urgent journals, accounting issues and tight deadlines! :)

Have a happy mid-week everyone! :)

More Apples!!!

Entry on Sunday: Yes yes yes! More apples! Weekends seem to be getting busier! After a REALLY busy Saturday, today seemed like a holiday :) I even managed to do my laundry and watched "The Break up" too - I had heard mixed reviews about it. My quick review of it: dialogue was VERY realistic, and shows the different ways in which guys and girls work! Ending was a bit ermmm... iffy.... if there is such a word! It was perhaps a "blah" movie... in which you cant really comment on for more than 2 sentences! :)

A couple of weeks ago, I bought the Nov 06 issue of "Food Idea" and saw a recipe for a "Apple and Custard teacake" - that seemed interesting enough! Seeing the huge basket of apples that we still had and liking custard, this seemed like the perfect recipe to try!

Taste verdict: Not bad! Although I think the previous apple cake was a better recipe! That one had an incredible fluffy texture! But this one was definitely really nice and moist because of the custard. The cake formed a slight apple and custard layer at the bottom.

An Apple a day keeps the doc away? :)

Yes of course! :) So what better way to consume your daily prescription of fruits than in a yummy Apple & Cinnamon teacake?! Haha! Well, ok this probably wouldnt be what a doctor would prescribe, but nevertheless there are real fresh apples in this cake!


Recipe came from the "Good Taste" Sept 06 magazine! I have been starring at it for ages, and was hoping to bake it on the weekend... but didn't end up baking it. So tonight, after a loooong day @ work, I was STILL thinking about the cake... and was going through the "should I or should I not" thought process, and then BANG! thought why not! How long would it take me anyway?! And so in less than an hour, it was sitting very nicely in the oven... 40mins later, the aroma filled the kitchen, and shortly after, here it was! Taste was really quite lovely! The texture of the cake was nice and fluffy and very light, yet moist! A very even textured cake :) Apples were nice and sweet and it was all just right! I increased the milk a bit just to make sure it would not be dry, but other than that, I didnt change the ingredients!

Hor Fun

One of my friends asked why I didnt mention his name in my blog when he was part of the "blog action"! Haha! I told him I would devote a whole entry to him then - so here it is, this "Hor Fun" entry is for you - hahaha! To someone who is entertaining to watch eat, always likes savouries, who doesnt like sweets, and only enjoys about 2 desserts in the whole world!!! (that has to change one day! haha! :P)

A few weeks ago, I started cooking this dish - I'm sorry I dont have the recipe - Im being like a typical asian cook and just adding this and that to the dish to taste! - I now understand my Mum! :) It's basically white noodle sticks (Kway Teow) - that you buy fresh from the asian shops and you fry it with oil and garlic, and to make it brown, simply put a bit of the dark sticky black sauce! You then cook the egg sauce and once completed, you ladle the sauce over the kway teow. This was dinner tonight - my family enjoyed it - phew it passed the high quality food control family testing! :)

A trick to make the egg sauce - crack the whole egg in and swirl it very quick and only a couple of times, otherwise the sauce looks too eggy like scrambled eggs! :)

Best eaten with the green pickled chilli, but we forgot to buy some, so ate it with some hot red pickled chilli instead!!! :)

Green tea cupcakes!!!

Green tea green tea green tea! It has a very subtle fragrance! :) I'm not sure what it is about it, perhaps the thought that it may ermm have a healthy element to it that makes it appealing? Nah not really! Hehe! Anyway, I finally got round to baking these "different" sort of cupcakes - thanks to the Cupcake Bakeshop @ http://cupcakeblog.com/! Check this blog out, it is all inspiring!!! :) Takes the idea of a cupcake to a whole different heavenly level! :)

I once thought and still do think that green tea has a bit of a fish food flavour to it, and I remember my friend once asked if I had actually tasted fish food! No! Of course not, but really, you have to admit it does have that type of flavour to it... :)

On that ermm interesting note, here are the fruits of my oven labour this afternoon! :) Very good - a recipe to keep! This is not your fluffy airy type of cupcake - it is one that has a fairly solid feel to it, and you can definitely taste the green tea - it's subtle but it's there. For those who dont like a strong taste of it, you'll appreciate this, and I love the fact that these cupcakes are green! :) Kinda different! :)

I cut down on the sugar to 1.5cups of sugar instead of the 2 cups... refer to the Cupcakeshop blog for the recipe :)

Enjoy all! :)