turkey bacon & mushroom quiche February 28, 2007

i found out about the existence of quiches when i was a kid, leafing through my mother’s collated recipe book that she and her students use for food and nutrition classes. all i could remember was spinach quiche – i picture green mush… and then i stop there. (mum, if this account is not accurate please forgive me)

maybe that was the primary reason why i never bothered much about quiches, up till around less than two years ago. the boy and i discovered a pleasant quiche at coffee bean; the shiitake mushroom one. we’d eat that when we’re sick of cheesecakes and chocolate cakes.

i finally decided to make one, since we’re having a picnic tomorrow to celebrate his “birthday.” i adapted evan’s recipe, and i’m glad to say that it turned out rather well, according to my taste. i forgot to add the parmesan cheese though! i think i’d sprinkle some on top when reheating it tomorrow.

Birthday Cupcakes February 25, 2007

this set was for a very dear friend. they were chocolate cupcakes with mocha ganache and buttercream. i found that the ganache was a bit too bittersweet, so i hope the buttercream will level things off.

korova cookies February 25, 2007

when i read her entry, i knew i had to try this someday. it became an installment for the boy’s birthday present.

the picture doesn’t do justice to the taste of the cookies, primarily because i took it in bad lighting. they were superb; the boy said that the chocolate taste is a “shot to the head.” i had six at one sitting with a glass of cold milk.

i didn’t get perfect rounds because i was in a hurry to bake them off (it was past 1 in the morning) and i think my chocolate bits were a tad too large, but these has been one of the best cookies i have ever made. and one note, i substituted the fleur de sel with normal salt.

chinese new year cupcakes February 23, 2007

strawberry & peach mascarpone tart February 21, 2007

i had half a tub of mascarpone sitting in the fridge, so i googled for recipes. came across this simple recipe. (no bake!) i did a few modifications – i used digestives, upped the vanilla essence to 1/4 teaspoon, used disposable foil tart cases and added diced canned peaches on top of the strawberries.

the tarts were great – the mascarpone base is so light and creamy, it doesn’t leave that cloying “full” feeling. the crust is crumbly because the ratio of butter to biscuit was quite low, but surprisingly it was nice that way.

got dough? February 14, 2007

for my cookie monster; from this tried-and-tested recipe. however, instead of using chocolate chips, i used cadbury old gold macadamia.

bandwidth exceeded February 11, 2007

that means i think most or all images here won’t get to be viewed for a considerable amount of time.

birthday cupcakes February 11, 2007

this is a feature post – meaning that these cupcakes were not baked by me. the first picture shows an assortment of cupcakes that shidah baked, when the jc girls met up for dinner last week. the ones that have my name are strawberry cheesecakes, the one on the left side are chocolate-dark-cherry cupcakes with chocolate ganache, and those on the right are chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting!

and these were baked by my sister. i heard from my mother that the kitchen was in a total mess. these were chocolate cupcakes with chocolate ganache and two of them were frosted with mascarpone cream. she used baking powder instead of baking soda, which resulted in a denser and chewier texture (almost like a brownie), but it was a very commendable effort, given that it was her first time!

look at how she took pains to arrange the teeny-weeny sugar dragees into letters! again, thank you shidah and adik. *hugs*

and i still have an uncut whole chocolate fudge cake from secret recipe that the aunt and cousin bought. chocolate overdose!

cakes in cups February 10, 2007

double chocolate almond biscotti February 6, 2007

i don’t know why every time i set out to bake something new, i always end up baking something familiar, or do a spin-off of tested recipes. i wanted to finish up the small packet of white chocolate chips in the freezer and the half-used chopped almonds, so i made these.

this recipe uses eggs, so the resulting biscuit was more tender and soft compared to the previous nutella ones that i made. the flavour of cocoa came through nicely and the biscuit wasn’t too sweet.