Apricot Marmalade Buns

Apricot Marmalade Buns - another bread and bun post. :)

The recipe is taken from jocooks. I halved the recipe and produced 17 soft and delicious buns that are good for breakfast and tea-break.

Ham And Cheese Rolls

I try to bake on Sundays so that we could have home-baked breakfast the next morning before we go for work and school. These Ham and Cheese Rolls are freshly baked yesterday afternoon, a lazy Sunday that we spent at home as my younger girl is down with stomach flu.

These rolls are puffy and soft with 2 fillings that my daughters and I love, ham and cheese. The addition of dried mixed herbs also add flavor to these savoury rolls.

I adapted the recipe from The Batter Baker but made some adjustments to the proofing process, in accordance with the usual yeasted bread proofing process that I am more comfortable with. 

Here is the recipe with all the adjustment that I have made:

Ham and Cheese Rolls

Yield 7 rolls

Ingredients:

• 135ml milk
• 1 tbsp melted butter
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 2/3 tsp instant yeast
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 200g all purpose flour
• Ham and Cheese slices (cut into half)
• Salt-free dried herbs

Methods:

1. Combine milk, sugar and butter in a small bowl, place in simmering water to bring the temperature up to 45 degree C and stir to dissolve the sugar.
2. Add in the instant yeast, set aside for 5 minutes until bubbles formed in the mixture.
3. Add in the flour and salt, stir to mix and then knead by hand on a slightly floured surface till a soft and non-sticky dough is formed.
4. Place the dough in a oiled bowl, cover up with tower and leave it to rise till double, about 1 hour or slightly longer.
5. Punch down the inflated dough, knead it a few times, then place it back to let it rise for a second time, for 30 minutes.
6. Take out the dough from the bowl and give it a quick knead. Divide the dough into 7 small balls. Roll out each ball into a flat rectangle, sprinkle some dried herb on it before placing one halved-slice of ham followed by one halved-slice of cheese on top. Roll up from the short side to conceal the fillings completely in the dough. Pinch the 2 sides of the rolls to seal openings so that the cheese will not leak out during the baking process. Coat the top of the rolls with some more dried herbs.
7. Place the rolls on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Let them rest for 20 minutes before baking them in the pre-heated oven at 180 degree C for 15 minutes.
8. Once the rolls are taken out from the over, brush the tops with melted butter for a grossly look.

Fresh-made and home-baked breads are always the best! :)

This is for Yeastspotting.

Chocolate Chip & Walnut Blondies

I baked these Blondies with Chocolate Chips and Walnuts together with my elder girl as birthday present for her senior in the school's band.

These squary cookie/bar are very crunchy and chewy. Daughter shared the leftovers with her classmates who liked them very much.

The recipe as given below is adapted from Martha Stewart site. 

Blondies with Chocolate Chips and Walnuts

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for pan
• 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar (I omitted this)
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt (i reduced to 1/2 teaspoon)
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I used a mixture of dark and white chocolate chips)
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (I used less than this amount)

1. Preheat oven to 175 degree C. Brush an 8-inch square baking pan with butter; line pan with buttered baking paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on two sides for easy lifting later.
2. In a large bowl, whisk butter and sugar until smooth. Whisk in egg and vanilla. Add flour and salt; mix just until moistened but do not over mix.
3. Fold in 1/2 of the chocolate chips and walnuts. Transfer batter to prepared pan and smoothen the top with a spatula. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips and walnuts on top.
4. Bake until top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. 
5. Let cool completely in the pan. Using the overhanging baking paper, lift the blondies from the pan and transfer to a cutting board; cut into 16 squares.

Apple Crumble

Apple Crumble with Strawberry Sorbet for a hot Sunday afternoon.

This delicious and easy to whip up desert is adapted from Noobcook. I adjusted the quantity of ingredients as a afternoon tea-time dessert for my family of four.

Apple Crumble

Ingredients
(Serves 4)
- 75g plain flour
- 3/4 tsp cinnamon powder
- 35g cold butter, cut into small cubes
- 21/2 tbsp caster sugar
- 3 big apples or 5 small apples
- ice cream to serve (optional, I used strawberry sorbet as I did not have ice cream in my fridge)

Directions
1. Mix flour and cinnamon powder in a large mixing bowl.
2. Add cubed butter to sifted flour. Using fingertips, gently rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add sugar and mix well with a spoon.
3. Peel and core the apples. Cut into small thin slices. Arrange apple slices in a shallow baking dish.
4. Spread the crumb mixture to cover up the apples and press lightly with the back of a spoon.
5. Bake at pre-heated oven of 200°C for about 30 minutes, or until the topping is lightly golden brown.
6. Carefully scoop the hot apple crumble in individual serving plate, top with a scoop of ice cream. Serve.



Green Tea Spongy Cupcakes

Another green tea bakes fresh from my oven - Green Tea Spongy Cupcakes. 

I simply love to fill my house with green tea aroma.:) These little green cuppies are light, soft and full of green tea taste that has a calm-down effect on me. 

Green Tea Spongy Cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 95g cake flour
• 5g green tea powder
• 3 eggs, room temperature
• 70g caster sugar
• 20g unsalted butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons fresh milk

Method:

1. Sift cake flour and green tea powder together, set aside. 
2. Line 12 cup cake liners in the baking trays. Preheat oven to 170 degree C.
3. With an electric mixer, whisk eggs and sugar on HIGH speed for about 5 to 7 mins, until the batter double in volume and is ribbon-like (the beater should leave a ribbon-like trail when the batter is lifted up). Turn down to Low speed and whisk for another 1 to 2 mins. This is to helps to stabilise the air bubbles in the batter.
4. Add sifted cake flour mixture into the batter in 3 separate additions. Gently fold in the flour with a spatula each time the flour is added. Take care not to deflate the batter.
5. Add the melted butter, fold with spatula until well blended.
6. Add in fresh milk and fold in gently with spatula.
7. Pour the batter into the cup cake liners and bake for 18 mins. Transfer to rack and let cool.

Honey Roasted Pork

Honey Roasted Pork - A simple and delicious roasted pork served at our dinner table on Sunday evening.

Honey Roasted Pork Recipe
Adapted from Adorasbox

Ingredients:

• 600g shoulder of pork cut in two whole strips (I used only 1 strip of pork shoulder, around 300g)
• 1/4 cup of sugar
• 2 tsp of salt (I cut down to 1 tsp)
• 2 tsp of light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp of Chinese wine or dry sherry (I used about 2 tbsp Chinese Wine)
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil
• a dash of 5-spice powder
• 2 tbsp honey
• some minced garlic

Method:

1. Mix sugar, salt, soy sauce, wine and sesame oil together in a shallow dish to form the marinate sauce. 
2. Put the pork in and coat very well with the mixture. Cover the dish with cling film and leave to marinade for 30 minutes (I left it in the fridge for about 2 hours).
3. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C. Line a roasting pan with foil. Place a roasting rack in the middle of the lined pan. Place the pork on top  and roast for an hour, turning every 15 minutes. 
4. Add the honey into the marinate mixture, basting over the pork every 15 minutes.
5. When done, remove it from the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing.
6. Heat up the remaining marinate sauce together with some minced garlic in a small pan until boiled and thickened. Pour the sauce over the sliced roast pork. Serve with hot chili sauce.

A pictorial menu of our simple but wholesome Sunday Dinner:

Honey Roasted Pork

Baby Kailan with minced garlic

Radish Soup

Cinnamon Sugar Monkey Bread

I baked this Cinnamon Sugar Monkey Bread on Sunday afternoon together with my younger girl who was bored at home with no one to play with as her elder sister was at her friend's place.

This is a relatively fuss-free sweet bread to make. It was moist, full of cinnamon flavor and still very soft this morning when we ate it for breakfast. Certainly a bread which I will bake again.

When I told my girl that we are making Monkey Bread, she found it amazing. "What is a Monkey Bread? Why it is called a Monkey Bread?' These were the two questions she asked and I had no answer for her. Hence, we googled and get this information - Monkey Bread is also known as Hungarian Coffee Cake or pinch-me-cake. Some believe that when you pinch a piece to eat it, it resemble the eating behavior of monkey. LOL.

I adapted the recipe from Namelymarly. I halved the quantity for a single ring bread and also made some slight variation to the steps. Below is my adapted recipe.

Cinnamon Sugar Monkey Bread

Ingredients:

• 2½ teaspoons instant dry yeast
• 1/4 cup raw sugar
• 1 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2.5 cups all-purpose flour + 1/2 cup more for kneading
• 1/2 cup raw sugar
• 2 tablespoons of cinnamon

Directions:

1. Combine yeast, sugar, and warm water in a small bowl. Let it sit for about 10 minutes until it becomes frothy. Then add the oil and stir slightly.
2. In a large bowl combine 2.5 cups of the flour and the salt. Stir until well combined.
3. Pour the yeast mixture into the flour mixture and stir.
4. Turn the dough onto a clean, well floured surface, and knead in more flour until the dough is no longer sticky. I used all the 1/2 cup flour.
5. Place the dough in a well oiled bowl, and cover with a cloth. Let the dough rise in a warm place until double; this should take about 1 hour.
6. Punch down the dough, and form a tight ball. Allow the dough to relax for a minute before rolling out.
7. Prepare a bunt pan by lightly oiling the bottom and sides.
8. Mix the sugar and cinnamon on a plate.
9. Pinch off a small piece of the dough and shape the dough into small ball and roll it in the cinnamon sugar to coat. Drop it into the bunt pan.
10. Repeat step 9 until all the dough are used up. I formed 2 layers of cinnamon sugar-coated dough ball in the pan.
11. Bake in preheated oven at 175 degree C for 25 – 30 minutes.
12. Once the Monkey Bread is done, remove it from the oven and set aside to cool. Invert the pan onto a serving pan to remove the bread from the pan.