Viennese Chocolate Sables

Viennese Chocolate Sables

It's cookie mania around me these days especially with Deepavali coming up. This time i made the chocolate cookies i did last year.. Viennese Chocolate Sables.. move over Choc Chip.. we have a new superstar .. and it was really simple too.. some all purpose flour, Valrhona cocoa powder, confectioner's sugar, salt, butter and egg whites, that's all , all mixed together and we have the thick batter.

It's the recipe from Pierre Hermes book Chocolate Desserts. The famous W shape of the cookie stems from the fact that it was originally made at the Wittamer Pastry Shop in Vienna. I loved piping them though i must say there were times when my cookie was too big or too small but heck i loved them either way.

The batter

All piped and ready for the oven

The final product.

Just like its name, crumbly and fine like sand. It's not very sweet because i think the recipe called for more confectioner's sugar to be sprinkled on top but i'm going to dip it in chocolate instead.

Frozen Blueberries

Icy Jems

There has been bucket loads of blueberries selling everywhere. Maybe its blueberry season in Oregon or something. I bought three punnets and polished one off the day i got them. Another punnet i brought to work and decided to have them frozen. When i took them out, they sounded like pellets as i shook the container.. i don't know if it was just the sound but it made me giggle.. just a little bit. Frozen fruits are yum and blueberries are no different. Before this i never knew the inside was actually off white with tiny brown seeds or clear when no frozen like grapes. Ha .. guess that's because nobody really bites half a fresh blueberry. I just assumed they would be blue or violet inside as well. Hmmm i learnt something new today..

Sweet Potato Cake with Chocolate Orange Frosting

Weekend Baking

This week i decided on a sweet potato cake maybe because i was thinking about the sweet potato pies i made whilst studying in Australia. Sweet potato desserts are usually spiced with nutmeg and cinnamon and some other spices usually to evoke feelings of fall and thanksgiving.

So the recipe came from Sky High Irresistible Cakes and the frosting had chocolate in it. But the picture of the slice was more orangy. I'm still perplexed as to whether the frosting really did turn out in that colour or was it just some good photoshoping... hmmm

Layered and cooling in the fridge

The recipe was the type when the whites are separated and beaten to soft peaks and then folded into the cake batter for a light cake. Baked it for twenty minutes and they were done. They peaked and cracked a bit but the smell .. oh my.. the whole apartment smelled festive.

Now the frosting really didn't work this time. I'm not sure if it was because of the hot air but it was just so difficult to work with. The cream cheese was beaten with the butter and the confectioners sugar. But the texture was like cake batter.. really runny.. so i put the bowl in the refrigerator to harden up. After about twenty minutes the frosting was slightly better to work with. So i filled the cake and let it harden up. Maybe the cake was heavy and the frosting to runny because as the cake settled the frosting kept oozing out despite the ring of chocolate cream cheese frosting.. arghh... slightly peeved by this point

Attempt 1 at basket weave

I admit i didn't really look at how to do a basket weave. I kinda improvised. Ha ha ha.. yea i forgot the verticals. But it was really had to work with this frosting. The more i worked with it the more it 'melted'. So i did one row then refrigerated. Second row then the fridge again. By the third row, i just sat in front of the refrigerator and finished piping it with the door slightly ajar.

I really liked the cake and was not so thrilled by the frosting. I think i had enough of the cream cheese frosting. You can see that even after half an hour in the fridge the frosting pulled as i sliced through the cake. For the first time, i thought the cake would have been perfect with just a dusting of icing sugar because it in itself was quite sweet and did i mention delicious. Yay for the cake and nay for the frosting.

Dim Sum in Hong Kong 2008

Dim Sum Place in Sing Woo Road

In the travel books that we borrowed, it mentioned that we should try Dim Sum at Happy Valley. So on our final day, me and Mom set out to find this restaurant. We got down at Tsim Sa Tsui or some other train station and walked and walked and walked. Seriously we walked probably for an hour till we were far away from the city. It began to look more like Hong Kong, i remember dispensaries and corner stalls. We even walked past a cemetery of some sorts. For a moment we were beginning to think we were lost. But eventually after asking some for directions we made it.

Hard at Work making Dim Sums

The interior was very English. Odd but there were the hard wood, and fans and booth seating. I was honestly puzzled as to what we were supposed to do and at dire times, the old adage 'monkey see monkey do' came in very handy. We saw another young couple looking at the menu and ticking things they wanted. But mind you we weren't seated yet. All four of us (including the couple) were sorta jammed in the front of the restaurant. Though finally the four of us shared a table because we would have had to wait for long and sadly we didn't have that luxury.

Char Siew Bao

Mushroom something Dim Sum

Fried Tofu Skin stuffed with something

I ordered the Char Siew Bao for myself and the rest of the dishes had to be vegetarian.. Mom.. so we had mushroom something dumpling, tofu skin something.. i seriously had no idea what they were.. i just remember looking at the pictures.. i think that's why this place was recommended in the travel books.. the dim sum menu comes with pictures so you can see what you want even though you might not know what you're eating.. talk about a brave eating experience..

The bao was good.. i mean how could i go to Hong Kong and not eat Char Siew Bao right.. it was really god... the rest of the items were okay but the chilli was supremely salty. I had no idea if that was the way it was supposed to be but there was just way too much sodium in that tiny dish. I must say i didn't really enjoy it. Maybe it was the worry of getting back on time or the reality of having to backtrack our steps. It just didn't hit the spot for me.

Some Dessert and Egg Tarts

At least the egg tarts lifted me up a bit. They were so cute and light. They tasted similar to the ones we can get back in Singapore though more delicate i must add. The dessert thingy, though good, in retrospect, i think it was red bean paste or something, was okay in texture but it had this herbal taste to it. Like a tea of some sorts. I could taste the red bean but then it was also accompanied by that herbal after taste.

I think by the end of the meal, i was more than ready to head back home not that i didn't enjoy the meal but i was beginning to get homesick.

Indian Food in Hong Kong 2008

Woodlands Indian Restaurant in Hong Kong

It was all my Mom's fault. She was vegetarian during the trip and insisted that i brought her to Woodlands an Indian restaurant that she found in the travel books we had borrowed from the library. We tried to find it the second day but to no avail. On the second attempt the third day, a nice security guard pointed us in the right direction. Apparently the restaurant had shifted. Thank goodness it was only to the next building so we didn't mind the walk.

South Indian Tali Set

I must have had something to eat earlier because i remember not wanting to have anything. Mom on the other hand ordered a Tali set.. it comes with rice, Indian bread (poori), papadums, 6 or 7 dhals and vegetable dishes, yogurt, pickle and payasum.

Poori is just a dough made with flour and water, rolled really thin and deep fried. As it fries, it magically puffs up and stays that way until its surface is broken with hungry fingers.

Payasum is vermicelli cooked in milk and sweetened with jaggery or cane sugar. Sometimes, fried cashews and raisins or sago balls are added for texture.

I was rolling my eyes the whole time because i could not substabtiate having Indian food in Hong Kong. It was all for my mom. I hope she knows that.

Kulfi

I could only think of having dessert to keep me sane. So I had Indian ice cream, better known as Kulfi. It was the traditional ice cream served in India when refrigeration was not yet invented. So its much harder than than the ice cream we know. It's super creamy and dense. The one i had was flavoured with pitachios and cardomons. Mmm. very Indian.. very nice. Made me a tad bit happier.

Hong Kong Trip 2008

Streets of Hong Kong

Was working late at the office and happened to be browsing through my photos when i found pictures of Hong Kong ! It had been a trip me and my mother had taken last year thanks to the generosity of the firm i'm interning at right now. And seriously there could be no better timing given that Mom is going to Hong Kong next week for an audit. Sigh .. i'm going to miss her..

Tarts Galore

I vaguely remember reaching Hong Kong somewhere in the evening and we were planning to go explore but ended up falling asleep with some Korean channel on TV running throughout the night. Oops demerit points for wasting electricity.

On the second day, we took a ride from the hotel and dropped off at Tsim Sa Tsui, a famous boulevard in Hong Kong. So we walked and walked aimlessly and it was a great feeling. Albeit the frosty drafts every now and then, it was winter, the shining sun over the bay area warmed our faces. It was wonderful and time for breakfast. As we walked, we came upon a streetside bakery with a myriad of tarts and buns. Yummy !

Mom had a cheesy twist whilst i had a milk tart.. i mean its the second thing i'm having in Hong Kong (i skipped the first cos i bought it at a 7Eleven store and it was something i could get back home.. the tummy wasn't as patient as i wanted it to be).. so anyways being the second thing i was getting, it had to be something i've never had and so that was it. Mommy's cheese twist was oozing with butter and cheese and it was DIVINE.. my tart was pretty good too.. a lighter version of an egg custard tart... i think we went back the last day to get some more goodies before heading back.

Hong Kong's Milk Tea

After breakfast, we took the train to see the Big Buddha. It was fun riding the train because they had blinkers that told you which stop you're approaching and which side of the train you should get down at.. i told Mom that Singapore should adopt that and wadya know .. the newer trains have these blinkers installed.. some gooner was one step ahead of me.. hmpf..

We stopped at the final train stop beside some shopping complex. This time it was lunch. I think we made a mistake by choosing something safe. We went to Food Republic .. i knew we should have had something more local. Anyways Mom had Indian food (rolling eyes here) and i had some creamy chicken macaroni.. bad.. but then i had milk tea and that was good.. my friend J has always divulged about the superior milk tea in Hong Kong and she's right.. it was excellent.. not too sweet .. not too bitter.. i could still taste the tea behind the creaminess of the milk...three ticks..

Big Buddha

We walked all the way up to see Big Buddha. Mom started panting at mid point and i kept telling her you can do it.. felt like i was back in Secondary school cheering the juniors during jogging sessions.. good days those were... Finally made it up and the view was spectacular. All the hills and mountains maybe .. don't know if they were big enough to be called that.. and lakes.. We read up about the history and his relics and felt totally at peace with the whole world.

What a wonderful first (technically second) day we had.

Macarons

Vanilla Macaron with Chocolate Ganache

Yesterday, my brother's friend J came over to the house and talked about the cookies i had made for my brother's birthday.. at first i thought he was talking about white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies but the description all pointed to the infamous Macaron. I had made choclate macarons the last time and he wondered if i could make some more. Sure i said.. no problem.. there has been heaps of ground almonds sitting in the frigde waiting for an excuse to become macarons. This was the time.

Topless beauty

They can be done really fast. I had the recipe in french and translated it. So there was the tant pour tant, and eggs and italian meringue. I love the smooth glossy voluptuos meringue. Oh so luscious. After incorporating all the ingredients, the so called magma like concoction was ready for some heat action. According to Piere Herme, the macarons should start at a hot temperature and then turned down. I didn't do such things and left them at the recomended temperature of 170 degree celcius.

Oops something went wrong

Some of them came out cracked on the top and some beautiful and exactly the way they should be. I think it might have been the temperature because i found the perfect ones amongst the cracked ones so it can't be the batter right ? I guess i'll just have to experiment a few more times before nailing this cookie.

My first Sky High Cake

Sour-Cream Chocolate Cake
with Peanut Butter Frosting and Chocolate Peanut Butter Glaze

Before i begin, i would like to make a shout out to Deb from Smitten Kitchen for inspiring me to attempt my first triple layer cake. I was so inspired by Deb's Wedding cake that i just had to take it upon myself to do this. So once again Deb thank you.

After i read about the book Sky High Irresistible Triple Layer Cake in Deb's blog, i went straight to the library to borrow it. Flipping through it i was amazed at how they explained all the technicalities and the nature of many of the ingredients.

The weekend came and it was cake making time. The cake was fairly simple. It didn't have any butter so i really didn't need a mixer. It was more like a brownie cake because oil was added to the flour and sugar and then eggs were mixed in the end. The batter was too much though. My ordinary cake bowl was not big enough.I knew this just by looking at the ingredients. I had to use my mom's casserole dish to mix it.

I made the cake on Saturday and let it cool completely before beginning to frost it on
Sunday. The frosting was something that i would not have tried previously .. because it was a Peanut Butter frosting and i'm not really a huge fan of that.. but i thought what the heck.. i'm gonna do this...

Crumb coating the cake

The recipe called for 5 cups of confectioner's sugar but i reduced it to 4 cups because even though i have a super sweet tooth, my family prefers concoctions that are less sweet. The frosting was still sweet but bearable at least enough to get my famiy's sign of approval. So i did the crumb coat first and let it set in the refrigerator. I tried to thin it as much as possible because i had no idea how thick or thin the crumb coat should be. Then took it out and started frosting it proper. But this was a difficult frosting to work with. It wasn't smooth and had a lot of air pockets in it . Eventually i finished frosting it but if i could i would have worked on it a bit longer.

Peanut Butter Glaze

After the frosting, there was a glaze to put on the top. But as you can see bits of the crumb still came out. But given that this is my second attempt at frosting a cake, i just told myself that i'll get better. Now the chocolate was to be melted with some peanut butter and corn syrup. I put it all in a bowl and into the microwave. Took it out and it started to seize ! Arghhh but fear not i learnt young that adding oil to seized chocolate can save it and you can see that it worked.

When i sliced it, i was SO EXCITED with the three layers !!!

The Finale

The cake was tall and beautiful ! (to me anyway) The cake was moist and gooey not really crumbly. The frosting was definitely peanut buttery and the glaze was really the icing on the top.

Cuppycakes

The recipe was designed for 8 inch cake pans but i only had 6 inch ones. So i used some of the batter to make cupcakes and used the rest for the cake.

A Chinese Fare

Seafood Soup

It all began one night when mom and I were discussing dinner for Sat and Sun. Yup that's what we do.. plan something special or exotic for the weekend since i don't really get to see her much over the week. So this particular weekend, we wanted Chinese food. Now Mom usually suggests sweet and sour chicken or fish but i thought.. lets be adventurous and do something different.. so we decided black pepper chicken..

Chap Chye

So Sunday came and Mom started prepping for dinner. She did the soup first, then the chap chye and finally (not really the case of save the best for last) the black pepper chicken... the soup was good.. flavoursome with fresh fish, fishballs, Chinese cabbage, carrots and more. The chap chye equally delicious with so many different vegetables .. but mom didn't put in the baby corns that i so fondly remember from all the chap chyes i had in my childhood.. the black pepper chicken was horrible.. yuck.. it was pungent and sweet and yuck yuck yuck and it was all my fault... i suggested that mom use a prepackaged sauce and so we bought one from the supermarket... big mistake.. it was so bad.. none of us could stomach it.. mom had to wash.. literally wash the whole dish and quickly stir fry it again in soy sauce, ginger and dried chillies.. thank god for my mom's quick thinking the dish became more palatable.. i can't believe they still sell that stuff and people buy it.. eeewww .. some people out there have really weird standards.

One rainy day

Rain rain go away come again another day

One rainy rainy day, the air was really cold and all i wanted to do was wrap myself up with a woolen blanky and cuddle my jack russell Josh. Thank goodness it was a Saturday and so i didn't have to go to work. I looked outside and the window sill had beautiful droplets of rain . I just had to take a picture. Then sitting by the window the occasional gust of wind carrying tiny droplets would glide across my face. It reminded me of winter in Australia and ironically it is winter now down under.

Bobbing Marshies

Now i naturally don't like hot drinks. Don't fancy coffee (even if it was cold), tea, milo, horlicks and the list goes on. But on a really cold day, i wouldn't mind the warmth of a cup of Hot Chocolate with tiny marshmallows. This then reminds me of my younger more naive days when mom would use cocoa in her recipes and it smelled oh so good. Good enough to make you put a teaspoon of powder in your mouth and then behold the smoke of brown powder that comes out with some gagging noises and a cringing face. Yup freakin cocoa powder doesn't taste like it smells. Sigh a lesson every child learns the hard way.

Ribbons of White

Well this greedy gal had two cups. I haven't tried making hot chocolate with cocoa powder yet. I just do it the most straight forward way i know and that is one cup of milk to a handful of chocolate (real chocolate and not drinking chocolate powder) Whisk away as the white liquid turns a soothing brown and pour into a lovely mug , Collin's glass or i prefer it in an old-fashioned glass. My first cup was with marshmallows. The marshies were too big and i had to submerge them in the hot liquid with my fingers every now and then to properly melt them. Note to self: To get tiny marshmallows or the cut the bigger ones into tiny pieces. My second cup (i had it only because i remembered we had whipped cream in the fridge) was with whipped cream. I liked em both. No favourites yet.

No more... sobz

Father's Day Brunch

Brunch at home

It's Father's Day today and me and mom started our prep for brunch. We decided the day before what we were going to have. So there were pancakes, apples and celery (Dad's fav), scrambled eggs, hash browns, tomatoes, cucumber, rocket leaves, pickled onions, cold cuts and its condiments.

I made the cold platter and pancakes whilst mom did the eggs, hash browns and apples.

Cold Platter

Cucumbers and tomatoes with cracked black pepper, then sprinkled Maldon salt on both. Laid the chicken ham, rocket leaves and placed the onions in the middle. We had Jalapenos as well but left that to the side for my bro whose more adventurous with his tolerance for heat. Either way Dad and bro really enjoyed the cold platter. The pickled onions go really well with the cold cuts and to top it up - some whole grained mustard. Yum. The morning-afternoon was spent with good food and good conversation.

Soup Course

Supper was prepared at home as well. Initially we thought of having an early dinner since it was Sunday but we were still reminded of brunch by our rumbling tummy (overworking because of all that we ate) that we decided to have supper instead. We had Cream of Mushroom with dinner rolls. Followed by panfried chicken legs with potato wedges and creamed spinach. For dessert we had brownie cake.

Main Course

I prepared the dinner rolls the night before so they were proving in the oven. Soup was done by 7pm and i started pre-heating the oven (without the rolls inside of course !) Marinated chicken marylands (deboned) were to be panfried and potato wedges baked in the oven. Mom started her creamed spinach and it was so quick and delicious.

The brownie cake from Polar Cakes was quite a disappointment. It was really hard even after bringing it to room temperature. And the cake was dry. It was too bad we didn't have ice-cream. But luckily Dad was too stuffed for dessert, so he had a tiny weeny slice and didn't complain.

Happy Father's Day Dad !

Weekend Pasta

Angel Hair Pasta with Anchovies and Pangritata

T'was the weekend and i was sitting at home pondering if i should just get a take-out for lunch or make it myself. Since i don't really get the opportunity to cook during the week, i thought i'd cook.

I was looking at Jaime's cookbook yesterday cos i wanted to make bread for Father's Day tomorrow. And i happen to chance upon the recipe on spaghetti and anchovies. Similar to the Ceaser Salad, i had the urge to use the anchovies sitting in a tiny container in the refrigerator.

I was super fast .. seriously. I boiled some water in a kettle (to save time). Poured the hot water into a deep saucepan. Added salt, a little oil and the angel hair pasta.. suffice for one hungry girl.

Pangritata

1 toasted bread, crushed
1 clove garlic, sliced
a good lug of olive oil
fresh thyme
salt and pepper to taste

For the Pangritata, Jaime called for breadcrumbs, which i couldn't be bothered to check if we had any. So i toasted a slice of bread till crispy and crushed it with my hands. Presto breadcrumbs.

In a hot pan, pour the olive oil. Fry the garlic and when fragrant add the breadcrumbs. Then add the thyme and taste for salt and pepper.

Pasta with Anchovies

Angel Hair Pasta (I prefer them)
A good lug of olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
6 anchovies
lemon juice
salt and pepper

Cook the pasta till al dente. In a frying pan, add the oil and garlic. Then add the anchovies and they will start to melt and disseminate into a thick paste. Add the lemon juice and then the pasta and coat the pasta in the sauce. Season with salt and pepper.

To serve

Place the pasta on a plate and sprinkle the Pangritata on top. Nice. (I would have prefered more anchovies though)

Soup Spoon

Mushroom soup in a Breadbowl

Lunch time, me and my colleagues A and S decided to go to Soup Spoon for lunch. Mainly because i wanted to go to Bugis to check out the prices of things at Four Leaves Bakery. Anyways, we waited in line and i was contemplating what soup to try.. minestrone .. too vegetable-ee, mushroom.. too common, tomato and pumpkin.. nah.. i think the other soup had beef so that was a straight up no and so i finally chose clam chowder.

The clam chowder was really thick and it was packed with ingredients. It was more of a chunky soup. There were potatoes, clams (of course), celery and much more. A had the same whilst S had mushroom soup in a bread bowl. Now who ever came up with that idea was a genius! (I'm guessing he/she is dead by now .. if not .. oops)

Bread and soup, perfect combination and after you're done less surface to clean. For those skilled eaters.. no cleaning at all.. ha. S's bread bowl soup was too much for one person but it only comes in one size. Therefore, unless you have a mammoth appetite, i suggest this dish better serves two.

By the way, the restaurant serves sandwiches and wraps too.

Breakfast Fit for a King

Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich

Sitting at home right now too sick to go to work today. Sigh. I feel so drained but Mom said i had to have breakfast. Walked into the pantry and saw the bright blue Skippy jar staring at me, looked around somemore and there were some bananas too. An Elvis sandwich perhaps...

So toasted my bread, spread my peanut butter and laid the sliced bananas for breakfast. Easy, breezy, beautiful breakfast!

High Tea Buffet at the Goodwood Park

Goodwood Park Hotel

Today i brought my Granny to the Goodwood for high tea. I prefer the Goodwood because it's all English. There's no Asian items, i mean i have nothing against Asian food but i can't justify Mee Goreng or Popiah for high tea. I had been to the high tea before and i really enjoyed their savoury section. A commendable selection of items i must say.

Anyways, i picked up my Granny late and so had to quickly call the restaurant to secure my reservation. Complimentary tea or coffee is served but i don't drink either. But this is high tea right.. i mean how can you have high tea without the tea ? And so i had Rose hip and Hibiscus whilst Mom had Earl Grey.

Granny

Granny came in her beautiful sari and started with the cold sandwiches. There were so many of them and in different shapes too. The rectangular one was egg, square was ham and mustard, triangle was tuna and roast beef and another square was cucumber. Other cold dishes were smoked salmon and salad, foie gras with candied oranges, smoked salmon canape with caviar, filled vol-au-vents, croissants with ham, prawns and beef, just to name a few.

Sandwiches and Canapes

We didn't have the beef items but the rest of them were really good. There was this particular item, crostini with cream cheese and dried tomatoes. Oh my god it was delicious ! Then there was the hot section with potato croquettes, some long-ish fried spring roll (they couldn't keep it all English i guess), panini with cheese and rocket (good !!) and pasta bake (really good!!). The panini was crisp with rocket and cheese and pasta bake had heaps vegetables and cheese which was really nice as opppsed to mouthfuls of filling pasta.

Desserts

The dessert section...mmm... there were scones, bread and butter pudding, apple tart, matcha and white chocolate tart , chocolate mousse cake. What we had on the plate were, strawberry tart, eclair, custard cup (i call it that because i have no idea what it was), blueberry cake and lemon meringue tart. The lemon meringue was different in that the base was filled with frangipani and then finished with a dollop of lemon curd and a swirl of meringue, perfectly torched to brown the edges.

Creme Brulee

Mom simply adored the Creme Brulee. The custard was good and i like the tiny vanilla seeds that settled at the bottom. However, the sugar didn't impress me. I felt it was too coarse. I could still see and eat the sugar grains. Not good in my book. I reckon finer sugar should have been used so that when torched there is layer of burnt sugar without the texture of grains. Mom couldn't care less and was helping herself to heaps of them. She reckons its the best she's had so far in Singapore at least. I actually preferred the ones Mom made for dinner once. Weird.

Opera Cake

The Opera Cake was okay. I found the butter cream a bit too much to handle. Maybe it was Italian butter cream because it left a film in my mouth after finishing it which i didn't really like. But i am always amazed by layers in cakes and the perfect cuts where the layers don't run into each other when they're sliced.

Chocolate Ice Cream

The ice cream though limited in selection, there's only vanilla and chocolate, is excellent. The vanilla ice cream is bespeckled with tiny vanilla seeds and tastes oh so divine and pure. Pure because it tastes like really good home made vanilla ice cream. The chocolate ice cream at the Goodwood is always special. It's smooth creamy and laden with chocolate flakes. Can you see the flakes in the picture. The ice cream is kept in these metal canisters and so they're not really rock hard but really soft. Too bad to all those who like their ice-cream solid. So anways, my scoop gave in to the heat real fast and so i could see the flakes swimming arond in my cup. Really really yummy stuff people.

English Afternoon Tea
Goodwood Park Hotel
L'Espresso
2-5pm Mon-Thurs
2.30-5pm Fri - Sun and Public Holidays

Cost : S$33 ++ (price as of June 2009)