Oven-Baked Nuggets

This recipe was shared by a member in Culinary Kitchenette, was quite intrigued as it is a healthy version for nuggets. I decided to give it a try, along with the kids' favourite - Ham & Corn Fritters to serve with Fried noodles for dinner.

I am using back the same recipe previously for the Prawn & Veg Fritters, replacing Ham & Corn. I added an additional tsp of fish gravy as the previous attempt is not flavourful enough. It is a simple dish that my kids love when I did the prawn version. Tonight's version is made up of my kids' favourite - Corn. Yummy...

As for the oven-baked nuggets, I find it a bit not flavourful enough. I guess healthier version usually can't beat the unhealthy version huh?! But it is indeed crispy and taste like nuggets. I think I would marinate the Chix fillet with a bit of salt and pepper overnight, before doing the usual coating. Shall try soon and update if it works. It's still worth a try especially if you wan to replace all the deep-fried food.. 

Oven-Baked Nuggets (adapted and adjusted slightly from OnePotChef)

3-4strips go Chix Fillet, cut into small chunks

1/2Cup Plain Flour, add 1tsp salt & pepper

1Cup Breadcrumbs

1 Egg + 2Tbsp Milk

1) I washed the Chix chunks and wiped dry with kitchen towel. 

2) Dip and coat Chix with flour and shake off excess.

3) Dip into egg mixture and shake off excess.

4) Coat with breadcrumbs and shake off excess.

5) Repeat Step 2-4 and cover with cling wrap for 30mins.

6) Bake at 170deg for 25-30mins til cooked. Serve warm.

Happy 3rd Birthday to my boy!!

I have taken a long break from baking else than the usual bread loaf for breakfast. It's has been rather busy with fren's daughter birthday, fren's wedding and also partly, laziness.. Hhahha..

Today is my boy's birthday. As our usual practice, we will go swensens for dinner and have their signature firehouse. Hubby actually asked me not to bake any cakes but mummy can't live with the guilt of not baking one. In my last minute rush, I used optima flour for fail-proof sponge and made buttercream (with fingers crossed cos I haven make smbc for a long time)

I baked the sponge with the new baking tin that have a 'Birthday' theme but I didn't unmould well so I had to cream the cake too... So in a rush, I had to cream quickly, touch up slightly and do my wordings.

My gal helped to deco the sides of cake, topped the deco for cupcakes and happily said that she made them for lil brother's birthday.... With that, I wish my boy a very Happy Birthday!! Stay healthy and grow up obedient.. =) That's the greatest gift to mummy and daddy...

Vanilla Sponge

250g Optima flour
4 eggs
 6 Tbsp Milk
1tsp Vanilla Extract
1 1/2 Tbsp Canola Oil

Chocolate Sponge

125g Optima Flour

2 Eggs

3Tbsp Milk

1tsp Coco Powder

3/4Tbsp Oil

1) (Both using same method) Beat eggs and flour til light and fluffy.

2) Add milk and vanilla extract. Continue to beat til soft peak, almost ribbon stage.

3) Fold in oil gently. 

4) Fill cupcakes to 2/3 full. Pour remaining vanilla batter into cake tin. Bake cupcakes at 170deg for 20-25mins

5) Repeat steps 1-3 for chocolate sponge. 

6) Pour into same cake tin from center. Bake at 170deg for 40-45mins.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream (adapted from TasteGoblet)

4 whites

1/2 Cup sugar 

200g Butter

1tsp Vanilla Essence

1) Dpuble boil sugar and egg whites til sugar is dissolved.

2) Use mixer and beat on high til soft glossy peak. Add in cubed butter slowly and continue to beat.

3) Once it reaches medium soft peak, add in vanilla extract and beat to mix. 

'Mini' Marble Buns & Strawberry Buns

My gal loves to have mini buns as she feels that mini buns are for mini people, like herself. Haha~ She loves it when I make special shapes for her as well. Thus I decided to make choc marble buns for her, as she likes to ask me to buy for her from the bakery.. 

I am using this recipe, I 2x the recipe, using half for loaf bread and balance into mini buns for Irisa to bring to school for Deepavali celebration. I did a trial and I ended up with too thick paste, after cutting them, it oozes out. So this round, I decided to brush on bottom layer, then top with another layer of bread. Cut into bite size and bake them like the mini cheese bun I did prev. But again, the shaping isn't tt nice, and I slightly over-baked, thus the crust is slightly crispy.

Worried that the bread is a bit hard for the kids, I make another batch of bread, replacing all the milk with strawberry milk. So we have some mini strawberry buns too..

Though my trial, 2nd attempt wasn't perfect, both my kids really like them. It is yummy that Irisa have thumbs up! I will continue to explore since my kids love the mini buns & I hope her classmate will love them too... =)

Chocolate Paste (modified slightly from Carol)
*I only used half the paste*
25g Chocolate Chips
10g Butter
20g Milk
15g Cornflour
10g Bread Flour
5g Coco powder

1) Melt butter and chocolate chips using microwave on 10 seconds intervals. Then add in remaining ingredients into a paste.
2) Put on cling wrap and shaped into a square, put in fridge for later use.
3) Once dough is ready, put in between 2 flat bread dough, roll it and cut into desired sizes.

A weekend brunch

Last Sunday, we went for brunch with my GFs and their lil family as well. We initially wanted to go to indoor playground but with the crowded weekend, hefty price tag, I suggested going to The Bank Bar & Bistro in Shenton Way. 

I learnt about this place from Cheekiemonkie.net and their reviews was very good. We decided to give it a try, bearing in mind that we can sit longer, as in sit in the playroom to chat while the kids 'digest' their energy. Lol~ 

Every adult that orders a main, majority of the items in their menu will get a kids to dine for free on weekends. Both me and hubby had The Bank Breakfast which comes with choice of Chix with Cheese/Pork sausage, choice of eggs, toast, pan-fried mushrooms & potatoes and a small serving of baked beans. The kids had Spahgetti Bolognaise and Fish n Chips. 

Unfortunately for myself, hubby commented that the sausage taste funny after I fed 1 of mine to the kids. We sort of had a 'tasting' session with my GFs Bank Breakfast, comparing the sausage. Apparently the remaining sausage taste sourish to me and I did a quick feedback. (Keeping fingers crossed that the kids could have eaten the normal sausage instead of the same as mine since all the sausage tasted different) My GF's portion tasted normal, mine was like gonna turn back, hubby's was like in between. 

Though they return me a new plate of breakfast, to me, most impt is that nothing will happen to the kids. Luckily the kids meal was ok. And I did learn a lesson from the incident - to taste everything before we feed the kids. 

We spent almost 2hrs in the playroom,before coming out to 'redeem' the free scoop of ice cream that comes with the kids meal. I ordered a vanilla cheesecake which I didn't liked, and a iced cappuccino that was not 'coffee' enough. 

Towards the end while we make our bill, we were given a feedback form. I did write down about the unpleasant incident as Chef claim that is how the sausage taste. But seriously how can 3 plate of the same breakfast, with all the pork sausage tasting different? But nonetheless, I don't mind giving the, 1 more chance on the pretext of using the not overcrowded playroom to enjoy bonding time with my GF again.

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.