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Showing posts from 2011

Bakerella's Chocolate Comfort Cookies

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    Dark Chocolate Chip Comfort Cookies Recipe

Oats & Whole Wheat Pizza

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Whole grains pizza crust topped with corn, onion, bolognese sauce and quick-melt cheese

Pioneer Woman's Apple Pie

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    Apple Pie Recipe

Chocolate Apple Cake

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Easy With Strawberry

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  Strawberry Tart Strawberry Filled Pastry

Rock Cakes

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        Unbaked dough Rock Cakes Recipe

Simple With Pineapple

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Pineapple Cake   Pineapple Tart

Chocolate Toffee & Coffee Bars

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It's no new stuff, I used to make this a lot in the past (even sell some). Last night I suddenly missed its taste and baked it right away, but to make it a bit different I mixed in some instant coffee powder to the batter. It tastes better, even better the next day. Worth every calories I would gain from consuming oh so many butter and sugar in every slice (not to mention the chocolate chips). But it's worth it, really! :)   Maybe you begin to wondering why I often put some unbaked stuff photos lately. That's because I barely realize that some stuff looks better unbaked. Well, what do you think? Chocolate Toffee Bars Recipe

Rocky Round

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In this special occasion, what would be more blessing and heartwarming than sharing your happiness with others? Especially when the happiness you share come in round shape cakes with lots of chocolate chunks all over them. With caramels and cherry, too.   This is how they look unbaked. Appealing already.   And they look like this when they come out of the oven.       Happy Eid Mubarak! :)

Cheese-Herb Twist

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It seems like a long time ago the last time I posted something here. Well, we have moved to a new house and I'm still trying to cope with the situation. This is my first time taking care of my toddler alone, and it's really a challenging job. So you can imagine that I can hardly find some leisure time to do this hobby of mine. Anyway, we are in the middle of fasting month now and I find it a bit difficult to get my toddler to eat much. I think having to eat alone makes him lose his appetite. Desperately wanting to make him chew something I made these twists, so at least he could consume some carbs in a more fun way. I made them in a small batch, hurrying as my toddler dangling on my leg trying to attract my attention. Cheese-Herb Twist Recipe

Apple Streusel Muffins

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Another version of muffin. This one is wonderfully moist, given by the use of buttermilk and of course the juice from the apples. And my favorite part of these muffins is the streusel which gives additional sweetness and crunchiness. I ate mine from the bottom, saved the streusel for last :) Apple Streusel Muffins Recipe

No-Knead Bread

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I found this bread recipe and I tell you, it's amazing. You really don't have to knead and the result is a soft and fluffy bread. The recipe tells you to stir all the ingredients together (yes, just stir with your spatula, no mixer, no hand kneading); then put the dough in the fridge overnight, and it'll be ready to be baked the next day. Before I put mine in the fridge I set aside a small chunk of the dough and let it rise on my kitchen table, covered with kitchen towel. I just wanted to know if I could also make a good bread without having to wait overnight. About an hour later the dough had risen twice its size. I formed the dough into a ball, let it rest in a cake pan for a while, then baked it right away. Half an hour later I took this wonderful bread out of the oven. It smelled and tasted wonderful, with or without a spread of butter. It had a thin and crispy crust but so soft inside. (I'm sorry I have no photo, the bread was all gone before I had the chance t

Homemade Crackers

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One day I took my son out all day, from morning until late in the afternoon. I brought along his homemade food but he refused to touch it. Even when my husband and I had lunch at a restaurant he just tasted a little of my meal but seemed not interested to eat. Feeling worried of him barely ate anything aside breast milk we stopped by a convenience store, bought some bread and a pack of whole meal crackers (I’ve glared at the ingredients written on the package and I thought it was the most nutritious one that I could find in store-bought biscuits). My son rejected the bread but liked the crackers so much. Later at home I thought of baking him homemade crackers so I’d know for sure what they contain. I browsed the web for a recipe and found so many of them. They are homemade versions of store-bought crackers, familiar ones you may find at supermarkets. This is the first thing I was intrigued to try: Fish Crackers Fishes in the Pond Actually I’ve never tasted the real Goldfish Crackers

Potato Gratin with Smoked Beef, Mushroom and Cheese Sauce

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This is how to bake delicious goods in one dish: Boil potatoes until tender (peeled or not, as you wish); slice thinly, set aside. Saute chopped onion, garlic, your choice of mushroom, and smoked beef. Season with salt, pepper, basil or oregano or whatever you like. Set aside. Make cheese sauce: heat some milk, stir in shredded quick melt cheese, let it melt. Thicken with a little cornstarch diluted in a little milk. Layer all the prepared ingredients in a buttered baking dish (you could also rub some crushed garlic if you like). Potato slices go in the bottom, top with sauteed mushroom and smoked beef, then pour the cheese sauce (fight the urge to lick your spoon. Or not). You can repeat this 2-3 times to make wonderful layers. When you're done with the layering, sprinkle some grated quick melt cheese on top of all. Add some extra seasoning. Now bake them until set and the cheese melt. Enjoy while still warm (and finish them before they get cold).

Melon Frozen Yogurt With Strawberry Sauce

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My mom has an ice cream maker. She got it as a door prize from an event many years ago. But she's never used it. Every time I pass by the kitchen I glance at the box of the ice cream maker stacked on top of kitchen cabinet, covered with dust. I've always planned of making use of it someday, but only yesterday I finally made it. It was when I found a half of melon in the fridge, I thought of the ice cream maker and a melon frozen yogurt recipe that I've read. You cut a melon in half, scrape the flesh out (reserve the skin), crush and blend with yogurt (I used about 140 ml of plain yogurt for half a melon) and a little sugar (1 tablespoon or more depending on the sweetness of the melon), then put the mixture in a container and put the container in the freezer. When the mixture is half-hardened take it out, crush and stir until smooth, then put it back in the freezer. Repeat this around 3 times. As I used an ice cream maker I didn't do this. I just poured the mixture into

Banana Chocolate Cobbler

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I like cobblers, as I like crumbles and pies. They have a similar principle, bake fruits along with crusty dough. I just love the combination of tender and juicy fruits with crunchy-crumbly crust in my mouth. So rich. This banana chocolate cobbler is exactly what rich would mean. You have tenderness, sweetness, crispiness and spiciness together in your plate. Complete. Banana Chocolate Cobbler Recipe

Chocohotopots

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Yesterday I ate a chocolate molten cake from some restaurant. It was so good that I thought about it all day. Craving for another one, I browsed my chocolate cake recipe collections and stumbled upon these chocohotopots. Tempted by the look of them, I baked them at once. The result was far from what I expected, well, it was a different kind of cake anyway. But it tastes pretty good if you enjoy them while still hot. And it would look prettier if you use ramekin instead of that aluminium foil cup like I used. Chocohotopots Recipe

Cheese-Chunk Cookies

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This is one of my favorite chewy chocolate-chip cookies recipes, but I replace the chocolate chips with cheese chunks. Are you a cheese lover? Do try this at home! Chocolate-chip Cookies Recipe

Banana Almond Chocolate-Chunk Cookies

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Fruit, nuts and chocolate - all in one cookie, I wonder what the combination would taste like. Turn out it tastes very close to banana bread, but this one has chocolate chunks inside. And I should say the chocolate chunks are the highlight of the cookies. So they have strong taste of banana mixed with chunky-nutty feel, then you meet the chocolate and it would dominate your taste buds and soon create a smile on your face... Or is it just me? I indeed have a very soft spot for chocolate. Banana-Walnut Chocolate-Chunk Cookies recipe is from Martha Stewart's Cookies

Making Pizza

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This is the first time I make pizza. From scratch. It's not too hard, very similar to bread making. I roll the crust as thin as I can, to resemble Italian pizza, but they turn out not thin enough. I guess I should learn to hand-toss the dough to make it really thin. You know, like pizza guy in Italian pizza restaurant :) For the topping I put bolognese sauce with minced beef, portobello mushrooms, paprika, pineapples, onions, and Kraft's Quick Melt cheese (mozarella is too expensive), like this: And this is the already baked pizza... Only one slice left for taking photos. And oh, I also make another version with carbonara sauce, fresh basil and tomatoes. Delicious! Pizza Recipe

Chocolate-chip Muffin

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I'm quite satisfied with this muffin recipe that I usually use, but I'm curious to try this another muffin recipe . I mean, look at the picture on that blog, what a mountain high muffin! Very tempting. It's much more simple to make, basically you just mix the dry ingredients in one bowl, the wet ingredients in another bowl, and then combine them. My muffins rise well and taste alright, moist because of the sour cream. But next time I'll stick to the first recipe. It's a bit tricky to make but I think they taste better. Rich and buttery.

Vanilla Butter Cookies

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Cookies with butter and vanilla, sounds so ordinary, right? But when you use good quality butter and vanilla bean for real vanilla flavor, they become special. Simple but good. Plain yet sophisticated. Try them and you'll know what I mean :) Vanilla Butter Cookies Recipe

Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta

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I was drooling when I saw the picture of David Lebovitz's Perfect Panna Cotta on his website . It looked perfectly smooth and silky, made me wonder if it tastes as good as it looks. So I tried to make it myself. But the problem is, I couldn't unmold my panna cotta, it stubbornly sticks to the cup. Feeling disappointed of not being able to get the silky look, I just took a picture of it with the cup. About the taste, I think it tastes similar to milk pudding that is made from agar or jelly powder. But I think I like milk pudding better than panna cotta, because the taste of gelatin is just a bit weird in my tongue. Panna Cotta Recipe

Banana Breadcrumbs Pudding

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I had some very ripe bananas left from baking my son’s birthday cake; they were getting bad and pleaded to be used soon. I also had some breadcrumbs that were already mixed with melted butter and didn’t know what to do with them. Then I got the idea of making banana bread pudding. There’s a recipe that I like so much; it calls for bread slices that were soaked in melted butter so the pudding has a touch of savory taste. So I just substituted them with the breadcrumbs. And oh, I had some cream cheese frosting left over too, and I added it into the eggs and milk. Turned out really good! I didn’t bake it ala au-bain-marie , I did regular way and extended the baking time until the pudding had browned and the surface cracked a little bit. It’s delicious! Perfect to be served warm in rainy afternoon, even better with vanilla ice cream. Banana Breadcrumbs Pudding Recipe Source

Up and Beyond!

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I was thinking about Up movie by Disney-Pixar when brainstorming ideas for my son’s first birthday cake. I love the movie so much; it’s so beautiful and inspiring. Besides, my son loves balloons; he would act joyfully whenever he spots balloon sellers on the street with their colorful balloons. So I thought the decoration of the cake would be about them (the balloons, not the sellers). I browsed a baking supplies store for colorful balloon miniatures, looked in a gift shop for real balloons, baked a cake, whipped some frosting, et voila! I came up with this cake. The blue box that I used for placing the cake represents sky, the cake represents clouds, and the balloons are hopes and dreams, flying above the sky to reach the star (the biggest balloon). The cake was actually sugarless banana bread so my son could eat his cake as much as he likes. The frosting was a mix of cream cheese, whipped cream, and shredded cheddar cheese (yep, no sugar added). I made it plain white with fluffy

Orange-Poppy Seeds Cake

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I still got tons of poppy seeds from previous cheese cake , so I browsed the internet for more recipe using them. Orange and poppy seeds seemed like a good combination, and they did. But I used yogurt instead of water like the recipe called for, so the cake had this sour taste. I did that because I had a cup of nearly expired plain yogurt in my fridge and didn't want to waste it. Maybe I wasn't supposed to pour the whole cup to the cake batter. It was too much. Orange-Poppy Seeds recipe is from Natural Cooking Club mailing list

Smoked Beef and Chicken Pie

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Got chicken? Some smoked beef and cream? Why not baking this easy-creamy pie then. you don't need to make the puff pastry from scratch, just stop by the store and grab some. This pie would be suitable for breakfast, nice as an afternoon snack. Enjoy while still hot and watch the cheese melt in your plate :) Chicken Pie Recipe