Little Marble Cupcakes

Today I was in the mood to use my new baking trays, it's a mini 6s mould tray. I got it from my Batam trip recently. It cost a mere $3+ I think.

I browse thru my 'bookmarks' and there I go, from QiQi again, little marble cupcakes. I actually wanted to bake the Oreo Cupcakes, but since both kids haven really recover from their cough, I decided to still 'bookmark' them first. Haha~

The little cakes were light and fluffy, and I only use 1-bowl for baking them. I cream with hand whisk and mix everything in from there. I like the hint of Blueberry yogurt, with a bit of bitterness from the coco batter too.. Yummy....

Here it goes, for my lovely neighbor to try...

Little Marble Cupcakes (adapted from QiQi)

*i halve the recipe but I forgot to halve the milk & vanilla extract, makes 6 regular size muffins*

63g Butter

35g Sugar

1 Egg
63g Self-raising Flour

2Tbsp Milk *i replace with Blueberry Yogurt*

1/2tsp Vanilla Extract

1/2Tbso coco powder for marbling effect

1) Cream Butter and sugar til light. Add egg and mix well.

2) Add flour in 2 additions, mix well. Add in yogurt and extract.

3) Fill mould 2/3 full! mix balance batter with coco powder and then top each mould with coco batter.

Swirl a little and bake at 140deg for 25-30mins, or until skewer comes out clean.

Prawn & Veg Fritters

I have been craving for this the longest time, my neighbor used to make them for me when she makes it for her family. But now she had a newborn, I guess it's gonna be a 'long' wait! Hahaha~ (Joking la, she still cooks me other dish on and off, but standing there to deep fry seems not so realistic with 2 older kids and 1 baby at home.)

Anyway I chanced upon this recipe from QiQi a while back, but I didn't have the courage to make them. I'm just worried that the fritter will 'spread out' and not be nicely fried and all. So this afternoon, I didn't had lunch and couldn't have a proper nap as both kids are home (#1 was sick), they claim hungry after their porridge lunch so I decided to go out and make them.

It took me 15mins to prepare the ingredients, chopped and another 15mins to fry all. I use 1/3 of recipe and came up with about 13-15pcs of average size fritters. Overall, it taste wonderful with Chilli sauce, crispy on outside and soft inside. I left about 2-3pc batter in the fridge for hubby to come home after work, before in make them piping hot for him. 

My kids enjoy them, with my gal asking when will I make them again. It's a good snack to get non-vegetable eating kids to have vegetables. I simply play around with whatever ingredients I have in the fridge for this fritter, it works well too...

Prawn & Vegetable Fritters (adapted and modified slightly from QiQi)

100g Self Raising flour

1tsp Chopped Parsely

1tsp Tumeric Powder

3Stalk Spring Onions, Chopped

1/2Cup Corn

1/2 Carrot, strips

1 Egg

1tsp Salt

6 Shrimps, cubed

1-11/2 Cup Water (I use 1Cup)

1) Prepare all above ingredients, mix flour, chopped Parsely, Tumeric powder and egg with water into batter, until no lumps are seen. (I used a whisk)

2) I add in remaining ingredients and mix well.

3) Heat up fire in a pot, I drop smalls coops of batter into pot and fry both sides til golden brown. Serve warm.

Simple White Bread

今天心血来潮，想用新的面包食谱所又在我的“书签”找了找。最后决定用Christine的食谱。食谱很简单，用水，油，面粉，糖，盐 和 yeast咯。

通常我用牛奶，和我常在用的也有鸡蛋。所以我非常期待今天这个食谱会和平时有什么不同。今天面团比较湿和粘，我就加了多20-30g 的面粉。我也用了面包粉，虽然Christine用的是普通面粉。（普通面粉不够，通常很少用）而且今天最大的不同，它用了油，而我以往用的是黄油！

但它第二次proof的时，面团看起来还是有点粘粘的。不过当它开始烘的时候，形状就比较好，也不会粘粘的。（好开心）面包在烘的时候还是非常香！

终于烘好时，我忍了好久，终于能把真相揭开！味道不错，和平常的食谱相差不大。希望明天还是一样软！

 Simple White Bread (adapted from Christine)

350g Water
Olive Oil 37.5g
500g Plain Flour (I used Bread Flour)
11/2Tbsp Sugar
11/4tsp Salt
1tsp Yeast

1) Put ingredients as per above sequence, menu 1, light crust.
2) Retrieve 15-20mins earlier, when you see crust is nicely browned.

Non-Baked Strawberry Cheesecake

Happy Birthday to my mum! Couldn't do something nicer as I wasn't feeling very well. So I decided to try 1 of the non-baked cheesecake recipe in my 'bookmarks' list. 

I didn't use Ribena as both my boy n myself are coughing so I replaced the plain yogurt with strawberry yogurt. And my balance Creamcheese was 200g so I play around with the proportion.. Hoping secretly in my heart that it turns out well.. And this is also my first time, making little hearts from swirling the skewer. Quite fun though it isn't perfect looking. 

Pardon me for the messy sides of the cake cos I was kiasu and use foil, cling wrap. With the use of my new heart-shaped chiffon tin, I overlapped the 'hole' with foil and wrap, made my base and set my cream cheese. As for Gelatine, luckily my estimation did worked out well, it sets well.

I took out a little into 2 small dessert cups for my gal & hubby.. Yummy!!

Hope my mum loves the cake prepared with love for her.

Non-Baked Strawberry Cheesecake (modified slightly from HappyHomeBaking)

100ml water

2Tbsp Gelatine powder

250g Disgestive Biscuits, crushed

100g Melted Butter

200g Creamcheese

60g Sugar

200g Strawberry Yogurt (I used Meiji)

1) I prepared the Gelatine solution first, letting it bloom in the water for 10mins then using microwave at 10seconds interval to melt. Leave aside.

2) Crushed the biscuits, combined with melted butter and pressed into the tin. Leave in freezer while preparing the Creamcheese mixture.

3) Beat Creamcheese and sugar til fluffy. Add Gelatine solution(I leave balance of about 15-20ml since I am not using full recipe) and yogurt. Mix well.

4) Spoon over prepared crust. I leave 1Tbsp of mixture, mix with purple and drop droplets onto top of cake. I use a skewer and gently swirl around to create 'hearts' effects.

5) Refrigerate for at least 2hours or overnight since I prepare a day in advance.

Pandan Bread Loaf

**Edited Oct 23rd as I missed out Butter**

I was rushing out for and thus thought that since grandma was home, I can put my breadmaker to work and come home with my bread loaf done.

In my rush, I forgotten I ran out of eggs so I decided to go ahead and replace additional 40ml milk to replace. Luckily for me, the bread turns out well. It is still soft and nice. Fortunately for me, I dun haf to feed to Mr Bin!

I simply love the hue of green, and also this basic bread recipe from Carol. I have been this recipe so often that my 'bookmark' list are sitting there, waiting for me to try them. Hahha~

Pandan Bread Loaf (slight modification from Carol's Pandan Marble Bread)
125ml Milk
1 Egg *omit as I realized I ran out of eggs, replaced with 40ml milk
260g Bread Flour
20g Cake Flour
20g Sugar
1/2tsp Yeast
1tsp Pandan paste
1/2tsp Pandan flavour
20g Butter

1) Put above ingredients as per above sequence. Menu 1, take out 15-20mins earlier once it is browned.

Maple Syrup Butter Cookies

People go for retail therapy when they are moody or in a lousy mood. I bake to make myself feel better. Something awful happen today, I accidentally spill bee hoon soup on my boy. I wasn't feeling very well, under medication and dunno how come the plate just slipped.

Luckily my boy didn't suffer any burns, just slightly red and by afternoon, his leg looks ok, skin doesn't look burnt or anything. They look normal and he never complain of anymore pain. Lucky me! If not I would have been carrying this guilt for the longest time.

I was thinking what to bake to cheer myself up and I remembered that I bookmarked this cookies. I decided to bake them for my little boy whom I think he will be thrilled. Tiny and looks like little stars.

Taste wise, it does melt in the mouth but I prefer a much crunchier feel. I realized that if you bake them longer, darker shade of brown, they will be more crunchy. I will definitely try this again, replacing all with plain flour for the crunch!

It filled up a small half tub so I am wondering how long they will last. Presenting my humble dinner.

Maple Syrup Butter Cookies (adapted from DailyDelicious)
*i halve recipe*
63g Unsalted Butter
40g Maple Syrup
1/2tsp Vanilla Essence
55g Plain Flour
17g Corn Flour

1) Beat butter, maple syrup and vanilla essence til fluffy.
2) Add in sifted cornflour and plain flour. Mix well and put into piping bag.
3) Pipe into tray and bake at 160deg for 15-20mins til browned.

Stir Fry Scallions with Egg Tofu

Just back from our short trip and this is the first meal I cook. Since I bought the egg tofu last week,  I decide to cook a lazy meal and incorporate 2 dish into 1!

I am making a oyster sauce base to serve together with tofu and scallions. It goes very well with a bowl of rice. I wasn't feeling very well after the trip (post-holiday fever) and this works very well for me to go with my rice. Yummy...

I am submitting this post to the event, Little Thumbs up organised by Doreen from my little favourite DIY and Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, hosted by Mich of Piece of Cake.

Stir Fry Scallions with Egg Tofu
1pkt Scallions
2tube Egg Tofu, sliced and pan fried til brown
6-7 Prawns, de shelled and cleaned
3 Eggs, cooked into omelette and placed on bottom of serving plate

Sauce: 2Tbsp Oyster Sauce+2/3Cup Water+1-2Drops Dark Soy Sauce+Pepper+Cornstarch

1) Fry garlic til fragrant. Add in prawns, then scallions.
2) Add water and sauce seasonings except cornstarch. Meanwhile, arrange cooked tofu on top of omelette.
3) Once sauce boils, add in cornstarch and stir well. Put over tofu and serve warm.

2D1N Batam Staycation with the kids - Part II

For Day 2, we had breakfast at hotel. It's wasn't that fantastic, average and basically the types of bread offered was good. Omelette was a bit cold, so I asked for sunny-side-up after that.

We went back to room, laze til it was time to check out before proceeding to Mega Mall which was opposite the hotel & ferry terminal. The mall is a bit small nothing much except for the department store - Mahathari. Bought 3 box of toys, basically 2 dolls and 1 robot.

We also had lunch at Black Canyon Coffee. It's cheap, around SG$40 for 2 mains, 1 kids portion, 2 sides. It's so fulfilling for our tummy!

We walked a while before settling for coffee break, which was our last meal there too.. Had JCO Donuts and it is so cheap. SG$0.70 per pc. And when you order drinks like coffee or iced tea, it comes with a glazed donuts as well. Basically, it was a fulfilling trip.

Breakdown:

Ferry from WaveMaster $45/adult, $30/child

Harris Batam Center IDR$695,000 (approx $78)

Meal average $40 from restaurants (4 adults + 2 kids)

CoffeeShop/Food Court $2.50-$3 per dish

Taxi Fare range IDR$40,000 - IDR$75,000, depending on location

Ikan Billis $6-7 from Dry Market (average size)

2D1N Batam Staycation with the kids - Part I

We had a short Staycation over the weekend at Harris Batam Center. It was a treat from Hubby cos I was complaining about having a short trip to eat, shop and relax. I have been seeing frens posting about Batam but my last trip there was years ago. 

Hubby didn't really want to go, he felt that it would be a bit rowdy and not suitable for families with kids to go. But I did some homework and managed to convinced him for a day trip actually, but who knows, he says let's stay for a night then. Hurray!! And I went ahead with the prep with a bit of 'planning' lessons learnt. 

(1) Do not plan to go during peak hours. You never know if there is jams, train breakdowns etc.

(2) Do book hotel next to shopping malls, instead of ferry terminal. You may save more over the taxi fare, rather than just being early to Ferry Terminal as you can always set off early.

(3) If you are keen to visit whole of Batam, it's worthwhile to follow tour cos money is saved from traveling. But my next trip is only gonna be Nagoya Hill Mall.

And many more pointers to note, but the above 3 is more important.

I booked Harris Hotel - Batam Center at 695,000IDR, with breakfasts for 2. I took 2 rooms, with my grandma and auntie in the next room. We had connecting rooms, 1 King + 2 Twins. (I think Twin bed more comfy, my King's mattress was overly 'slumped in' in the center. Breakfast is average, basically the croissant and bread are nicer.

We went to the dry market, next to Gideon Hotel & BCS Shopping Mall. The Ikan Billis are cheap, dried shrimps didn't 'pass' my grandma standard. And the tidbits are nice too, but I didnt over-buy cos I am not really into snacking. The market sells cheap children clothing. PJs are SG$3-4, and I got a HK top at SG$5-6.

We then went to Food Court opposite for lunch. The Bak Kut Teh is average, Chicken Rice was yummy, Wanton Mee is not bad but very spicy. All for merely SG$3 or less.

BSC Shopping didn't have much stuff. We bought children soccer jersey at less than SG$3. Nothing really interesting there, mainly hand phone casing, accessories. We then proceed backtdo our room for check in.

Hotel looks kinda not that classy from outside, but the room interior is consider not bad with the price we are paying. Standing shower is my preference when I travel with kids. 

Part 2 shopping at Nagoya and I didn't cover 1/4 of the mall. It's so huge. We bought a lot of stuff for the kids, I dint really have 'mood' to see my stuff. Managed to get 2 baking tin and 4 silicon cupcakes case with 'hands'. All for less than SG$10! (From the Hypermart) My recommendation is to go there to spend a day of shopping and it's so worth it. Google for hotels nearby!!

We had dinner at Grand Duck, which I feel comparable than going to the Seafood Center. It's SG$40 for what we had. Too bad no prawns cos I wanna try the Oats Prawns. Would recommend eating here since the standard of seafood center dropped.

That's all for Day 1.

Little Chocolate Hearts

I am using back this recipe again as I am only making enough for tml's BF as well as for Irisa to bring to school for snacks. This recipe is just nice cos the amount of bread yield is just nice for 3 adult and 2 kids. Heee.....

I really like the softness of this bread. It is soft and kinda like those you get from outside bakery. I divide them into 6 little hearts at 30g each, and 300g bread loaf. As I am shaping and rolling them into little hearts, my gal aldy requested to bring them for school tml... 

After cooling, I packed them up. My little boy ran up to me and say, mummy r u making milk for me? Then he saw the bread, I wan eat bread I wan bread! So I asked, bread then no milk ok? He says yes. Later I drink milk I cough milk le. (Think he meant if he eat bread and drink milk will vomit cos overly full) He is getting so verbal nowadays! 

**Note: I am using my breadmaker for kneading and 1st proof.