I've always heard about Pavlova and seen beautiful pictures of this dessert but have never gotten a chance to try it out. Pavlova is basically a meringue with a crisp crust on the outside and is pillowy soft inside. It's often topped with whipped cream and fruits.

According to wikipedia, Pavlova is named after Anna Pavlova, a Russian ballerina. Although the dessert has a Russian name, it is believed to have originated from New Zealand (or Australia) when the ballerina was there during or after one of her tours to those countries in the 1920s. The dessert is apparently a popular dish and is frequently served during celebratory and holiday meals in New Zealand and Australia.

With some egg whites sitting in my fridge, I was contemplating between making friand, french macaron  or pavlova. I decided to go with Pavlova coz it seemed to be the easiest to make and I have some fresh berries at home that I can incorporate to the dessert. Plus, I'm always curious about this dessert.

I googled for a recipe and went with one I found on Allrecipes.com making slight changes. As I fear that the dessert will be too sweet, I reduced the sugar a little. The outcome was perfect, not overly sweet and light. The meringue is indeed crisp on the outside and soft in the inside. The berries paired nicely and they added some freshness to the dessert.  This is a dessert you could definitely eat more without feeling too guilty! I brought the dessert over to my neighbor's for dinner and I think they loved it! =)  Berries are in season now and this make a perfect summery dessert!

Here's the recipe with my changes. Note to self, hull the strawberries next time =)!


BERRY PAVLOVA RECIPE
*Serves 8-10

Ingredients

• 4 oz Egg White (About 4 Large egg whites)
• 1 Cup Granulated Sugar
• 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 Tsp Lemon Juice
• 2 Tsp Corn Flour
• 1 Cup Heavy Cream (Add 1/2 Cup - 1 Cup more if you want more cream)
• 1/2 Cup - 3/4 Cup Blueberries
• 8-10 Oz Strawberries, Halved

A couple weeks ago, the husband and I were invited to a super bowl party. It was a pot luck style, so everyone was welcome to bring something to the party. I decided to make a spinach dip as well as some brownies.

The brownies turned out very moist and pretty good. The original recipe did not ask for nuts or extra chocolate chip, which I added for some extra texture. Here's the recipe for the chocolate brownie adapted from www.chow.com.


CHOCOLATE BROWNIE RECIPE
*Makes a 8x8 pan

Ingredients

Simply June 

After several months of hiatus (again), I'm back! We've been busy with travel (took a trip to India!) and family and friends visiting and I got a little lazy in between, the past few months. These days, I'm busy baking for Chinese New Year, a ritual I try to do every new year so that the husband and I and some of our friends get to snack on CNY cookies. And of course, my brother will also receive a care package of homemade cookies from me. =)

Anyway, I got a couple request for the recipe of one of the cookies I made; Honey Cornflake Cups. I've tasted them before but never thought to make it myself. But since, I had a big bag of cornflakes leftover from making the cornflake cookies, I decided to whip up a batch of these cute yummy stuff. I adapted the recipe from Charlene, made a few tweaks and I love the results and the simplicity of the recipe!  Here's the recipe if you want to make some for Chinese New Year or just for fun!


HONEY CORNFLAKES CUP RECIPE
*Makes about 70-80 super mini cups

Ingredients

• 90g Butter
• 2 Tbsp Granulated Sugar
• 2 Tbsp Honey
• 4 Cups Cornflakes, Slightly Crushed
• 3-4 Tbsp Almond Flakes, Toasted
• 1 Tbsp Sesame Seeds, Toasted

Method
Place the empty baking cups on a baking sheet. Preheat oven to 325F. In a pot, melt butter, sugar and honey over medium heat. Once the mixture is bubbly, turn off the heat and stir in cornflakes, almond and sesame seeds. Coat the mixture well and spoon cornflakes mixture into the mini cups. Bake the mini cups for about 12 minutes until the cornflakes are golden brown. Let the cups cool (the cornflakes will stick together when it's cool) and enjoy.

Simply June 

A couple weeks ago, I invited some of my Thousand Oaks friends over for some afternoon tea. Afternoon tea (according to wikipedia) is a snack eaten between 3-5pm and originated from England. Finger food like savory sandwiches and tasty desserts are served along with tea of course.

I've had afternoon tea twice in the US, but they don't compare to the ones my friends have had in Asia or other parts of the world. The spread of the afternoon tea and the trays of glorious food that was served was mouth watering and oh so tempting. So, I wanted to create that experience at my home. I baked/made a couple different items and bought a yummy petit four cake sampler from Trader Joe's to put together a spread of afternoon tea for 5 people. Here's what was served at tea; homemade Cranberry Orange Scones (recipe at the end of this post), Egg Salad Profiteroles, Salmon Cucumber Sandwich, Jam Thumbprint Cookies, Strawberry Cream Profiteroles, Trader Joe's petit four selection, Nokdujeon (Korean Savory Mung Bean Pancake) by my friend, some fresh fruits and of course tea!


How can I serve afternoon tea without scones?? So, I made some scones the day of the afternoon tea to make sure I serve the freshest batch of homemade scones to serve to my friends. As I was unable to find clotted cream/devonshire cream, I just served scones with some jam. I googled for a scone recipe and decided to go with one I found on all recipes and was utterly pleased with the results . Here's the recipe for some yummy Cranberry Orange Scones adapted from all recipes with just a minor tweak.


CRANBERRY ORANGE SCONES RECIPE
Ingredients

• 2 Cups All Purpose Flour
• 1/3 Cup Sugar
• 1 Tsp Baking Powder
• 1/4 Tsp Baking Soda
• 1/2 Tsp Salt
• 8 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, Frozen
• 1/2 Cup Dried Cranberries
• 1 Tsp Grated Orange Zest
• 1/2 Cup Sour Cream
• 1 Tsp Vanila
• 2 Large Egg 

With a tea party coming up and bottles of jam at home, I wanted to make some thumbprint cookies. After googling for a recipe, I decided to go with Ina Garten's Jam Thumbprint Cookie. I've used some of Ina's recipe in the past and have always had good results with her recipes. So, using her recipe again is a no brainer!  The only change I made was adding some lemon zest (proud to say, the lemon was from my garden!!) to the cookies, and I used Blueberry and Apricot Jam for the jam filling. The cookies were delicious; the husband couldn't stop eating them! =)
Here's the recipe with my little twist..

JAM THUMBPRINT COOKIES RECIPE

• 3/4 lb (3 sticks) Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
• 1 Cup Sugar
• 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• Zest from 1 Lemon (Optional)
• 3 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
• 1/4 Tsp Kosher Salt
• 1 Egg Beaten with 1 Tbsp water (for egg wash)
• 7 Oz Sweetened Flaked Coconut
• Raspberry and/or Apricot Jam (Or your Jam of choice)

Updated Oct 28, 2013 

I promised my friends from work I would bring brownies to work the following week. Brownies are pretty easy to make and this is one sinful chocolaty treat that most (not-too health-conscious) people would say yes to!

I sort of knew what kind of brownie I wanted to make; Cheesecake (Cheese) Brownie. I’ve tried a recipe by Martha Stewart once but I was in the mood to try other recipe. It was when I stumbled upon David Lebovitz’s Cheesecake Brownie that I knew I just had to try out this version! I’ve tried a few of his recipes and have no regrets trying them. They were all delectable!

After work (and dinner), I gathered the ingredients needed and started baking. I wasn’t going to wash my electrical appliances (i.e. mixer) and used a traditional whisk and my muscles to do the work of blending the ingredients into a smooth consistency!

Here’s the chocolaty sinful Cheesecake Brownie by David Lebovitz. And like usual, I like to tweak things a little; this time I sprinkled a handful of chocolate chips to the batter prior to baking. The result was a fudgy like brownie with bits of chocolate chip and random sections of cheesecake! Yums!

CHEESECAKE BROWNIE RECIPE

Ingredients:
Part A (Chocolate Batter)

• 6 Tbsp Unsalted, Cut Into Pieces
• 4 Oz Bittersweet / Semisweet Chocolate, Chopped
• 2/3 Cup Granulated Sugar
• 2 Large Eggs, At Room Temperature
• 1/2 Cup All-Purpose Flour
• 1 Tbsp Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
• 1/8 Tspn salt
• 1 Tspn Vanilla Extract
• 1/2  Cup Chocolate Chips

Part B (Cheesecake Batter)

• 8 Oz (1 Block) Cream Cheese, At Room Temperature
• 1 Large Egg Yolk
• 5 Tbsp Granulated Sugar
• 1/8 Tsp Vanilla Extract

Method:
Line a 9-inch square pan with foil, making sure it goes up all four sides. Use two sheets if necessary. Mist with non-stick spray or grease lightly. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and chocolate over low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and beat in the 2/3 cup sugar, then the eggs. Mix in the flour, cocoa powder and salt, then the vanilla and chocolate chips. Spread evenly in the prepared pan.

In a separate bowl, beat together the cream cheese, the yolk, 5 tablespoons of sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Distribute the cream cheese mixture in eight dollops across the top of the brownie mixture, then take a dull knife or spatula and swirl the cream cheese mixture with the chocolate batter.

Bake for 35 minutes, or until the batter in the center of the pan feels just set. Let cool, then lift out the foil and peel it away. Cut the brownies into squares.


June’s Comments: I used salted butter instead of unsalted butter; therefore I skipped the salt in the batter. I used bittersweet chocolate (chips) throughout the recipe as I think bittersweet chocolate gives a richer chocolaty taste. Feel free to use semisweet ones.

I also sprinkled about 1/2 cups of chocolate chip after I swirled the cream cheese mixture to add more chocolaty goodness to the brownie. =). 

Oct 28, 2013 - I recently made another batch of this brownie and decided to double the chocolate batter part, but kept the cheesecake part. I like this "version" as well. 

Lemon Bars…Lemon Squares…whatever you call it, this is one yummilicious Lemon Bar! I’ve always enjoyed Lemon bars/squares usually from catered events. I have a thing for this tart and tangy dessert but have never made it from scratch. The first time I made some lemon bars, I used Krusteaz lemon bar mix and I remember not getting a great lemon bar. My bars did not look like the picture on the box. It was all messy I probably threw the not so great lemon bars away out of frustration.

I had some Lemon Bars at work recently and that sparked my inspiration to make my own Lemon Bars. I found a Lemon Bar recipe on www.allrecipes.com and decided to try it out with a little tweaking based on the reviews.

The result was some awesomely lemon bars. The  filling/ “curd” was SO GOOD! Tart and tangy just the way i like it. The sweet salty buttery crust was a great companion to the tart lemon filling. The bars were half crust, half filling. The lemon filling was definitely refreshing and you get “burstfuls” of fresh lemony goodness in your mouth. I brought it to work and I’m happy to say it was quite a hit!

Here’s the simple recipe. It takes just about an hour to bake the dessert, but you do need to let it cool down before cutting into it!

LEMON BARS RECIPE

Ingredients:

Part A (Crust)

• 1 Cup Butter, Softened
• 1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
• 2 Cups All-Purpose Flour

Part B (Filling)

• 4 Large Eggs
• 1-1/2 Cups Granulated Sugar
• 1/3 Cup + 2 Tbsp All-Purpose Flour
• 3 Medium Lemons, Juiced
• Zest from 1 to 1-1/2 Lemon

Method:

Preheat oven to 350F. In a medium bowl, blend together softened butter, 2 cups flour and 1/2 cup sugar. Press into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 inch pan. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until firm and golden.

In another bowl, whisk together the remaining 1/12 cups sugar and 1/4 cup flour. Whisk in the eggs and lemon juice. Lightly and randomly poke crust with a skewer/fork. Pour over the baked crust. Bake for an additional 20 minutes in the preheated oven. The bars will firm up as they cool. Cut into squares.

June’s Comments: It took me about 30 minutes to bake the crust till golden. If you’re not a big fan of tartness, reduce the juice of lemon to 2 medium lemons. If you do reduce the juice, reduce the flour to about 1/3 Cup or slightly less.  Use fresh lemons for this recipe!

PS: Mom, I think you’ll enjoy this recipe! Try it and let me know!! =)

As much as I tried to use recipes which uses the whole egg so that I do not waste anything, most of the cookies I made for CNY call for egg yolks only. Little that I know that by the time I’m done baking a few batches of cookies, I’ll be left with quite a bit of egg whites. Hating to just wash it down the drain or cook it for breakfast, I decided to make meringues! That means another addition to my CNY cookie collection! it was truly a spontaneous thought!

Here’s the recipe….perfect in situations like mine! Or whenever u have a craving for some meringues!

MOCHA MERINGUE KISSES RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 5 Extra Large Egg Whites
• 1/4 Tsp Cream of Tartar
• 1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1-1/3 Cup Granulated Sugar
• 5 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
• 2 Tsp Granulated/Instant Coffee Powder

Method:

Preheat oven to 300 F. In a bowl, combine egg whites, cream of tartar, and vanilla. Beat until the whites form soft peaks. Slowly pour in sugar a quarter at a time and beat until mixture becomes glossy and stiff peak forms. Fold in cocoa powder and coffee powder lightly incorporating them into the mixture.

Fill a pastry bag (attached with a large star piping tip) with meringue and piped baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Space them about about 1-1/2” apart. Bake for 20-25 minutes until outside is firm. Transfer to wire rack. Cookie will continue to harden as it cools. Store in air tight containers when meringues are cool.

I’ve been busy making a mess in my kitchen baking cookies and cakes about 2 weeks prior to Chinese New Year. The oven has been busy almost every night as I churn out tons of cookies and cakes for family and friends. My kitchen looked like a tornado has torn through it. I’m lucky my hubby did not complain and just let me do what I like!! After days of baking, I ended up with containers of different cookies. Some I made more, some I made less. Some, I even had to hide them from the husband. He will happily finish the peanut cookie for instance if I do not make an effort to hide it away from him!!

Now, we’re leisurely munching the CNY goodies. Here’s what I made.

Cornflake Cookies – I made this the second year in the row and this year I made 5 batches of the crunchy cornflake cookies. These are bite size, so all you need to do is grab a handful and pop them into your mouth like popcorns!!

Kuih Bangkit – Husband’s favorite cookie and my MIL makes a freaking awesome Kuih Bangkit. I tried 2 different recipes for this white traditional CNY cookie and ended up with only one successful attempt! I successfully made 2 batches of Kuih Bangkit using Lily’s recipe.

Butter Cups – I first tasted this cookie when my brother and his gf, Qi came to visit. They made this delicious butter cookies, filled with strawberry jelly. The recipe is from Qi, and I think she calls it Jam Tart. It was so good, I asked Qi for the recipe and made one batch of this for CNY.

Kuih Lapis – I was introduced to the name “(Indonesian) Layer Cake” by my mom who used to make them when I was younger. She no longer makes this now as this is one labor intensive cake! This cake is a favorite among my friends and I made about 2.5 batch of this. Great breakfast item and because it’s so labor intensive, these cakes are served thinly sliced!

Kuih Rose – My grandma makes excellent light and crunchy kuih rose (which I have to remember to get the recipe from her). The recipe I used this time is not bad either. Quite easy to make as long as you have the special mould! Tried one batch of this which hubby and I finished in one day! It was that good and addictive!

Peanut Cookies – Husband’s favorite cookie! This cookie melts in your mouth and is toasted peanut is ever so fragrant yums! I made 3 batches of this, so that hubby has tons to munch on when he’s watching the telly!! If you hate peanuts, this is definitely not for you!!

Pineapple Rolls – This is one of the favorites among myself, hubby, my brother and his gf. I therefore slaved away, bending my back to roll these babies. I made about 3 batches of the pastry and 1.5 batches of the pineapple jam. I cooked the jam days before, and spent hours rolling and wrapping these pineapple goodness. I can’t feel my back after that and can’t imagine how those aunties do this as a business!!

Mocha Meringues – This was a last minute cookie idea. I was left with tons of egg white and I hate to just throw them down the drain. Meringue was a perfect way to use up those egg whites! I will share the recipe later!

What is Chinese New Year without these delectable sinful goodies that will add inches to your waistline?? Making the CNY treats is an excellent way to embrace the CNY even though we’re miles away from our family in Malaysia.

I surely miss celebrating CNY with my family which is always a big family event that lasts about one week. My family will drive about 6 hours to grandpa’s house where all the other aunts, uncles and cousins will also reunite….all 30 plus of us all under one roof! Can you just imagine how much work is involved in making breakfast, lunch and dinner for 30 plus people! It is indeed a lovely reunion for all!

So, what did you make for CNY? Do you have any favorite recipe to share?

Kuih Bangkit is one of hubby’s favorite CNY cookie! Don’t ask me why this white powdery cookie is named “Rise Cookie” (literally translated from Malay into English). This is one cookie where you’ll either love it or hate it I think. When you put it in your mouth, you get the powdery/floury texture which can be overwhelming if you pop one too many into your mouth and refrain from drinking water.

My MIL makes one of the yummiest Kuih Bangkit which crumbles and melts in your mouth! Hubby likes to describe it as “burst into powder”. Sadly, I was unable to achieve the same result when I tried out my MIL’s recipe. My MIL has many years of making and selling Kuih Bangkit under her belt. I have almost no experience in making them. The closest I came to making them was when I was younger and helped my mom mould the cookies. Well, my MIL did teach me her recipe when she came to visit and we made some together with success. Without her next to me, I was not able to get it right despite 2 separate tries a few weeks ago. =( They turn out hard as rock the first time. The second was ALMOST as hard as rock!

I found Lily’s recipe first before I tried my MIL’s recipe and was very happy with her outcome. It’s firm on the outside and melts in the mouth. Although it’s not as good as my MIL’s but that might be due to baker error……… the result was still satisfying! At least I can’t kill anyone if I hurl the Kuih Bangkit at them!! 

Lily’s recipe can be found HERE. I’m lucky to have the Kuih Bangkit mould, so I shaped mine into the mould with that instead of using a cookie cutter. Thanks, Anna for sending me this last year!! Here’s the recipe with my changes.

KUIH BANGKIT RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 225 gm Tapioca Fllour
• 36 Pandan Leaves, Cut into 2 Inch
• 30 gm Margarine
• 65 gm Powdered Sugar
• 1 Large Egg Yolk
• 75 ml – 90 ml Coconut Milk
• Pinch of Salt
• Red food coloring (Optional)

Method:
Line a large glass microwavable bowl with greaseproof paper, microwave the flour and 1/2 Pandan Leaves on high 1 min at a time for 5 times, stirring every minute. Set aside, cool completely before using.

Heat (medium low) coconut milk with remaining Pandan Leaves for about 10-15 minutes stirring constantly until leaves have wilted. Leave pandan leaves in coconut milk and let milk cool completely before removing leaves.

Cream margarine with sugar and yolk till sugar dissolves. Add in 75ml coconut milk and mix well.
Add flour to mix till a non-sticky dough is formed. If dough is too dry, add more coconut milk but add 1 tsp at a time, otherwise, dough may be too sticky. Leave dough to rest covered with a damp cloth.

Take a quarter of the dough and roll dough on a floured table to 3/8 inch(this thickness is necessary to obtain a nice size cookie)and use cookie cutters to cut into shapes. Using a pincher to pinch desired designs. Alternatively wooden moulds can also be used and that omits rolling the dough.
Baked on lined tray in preheated oven at 350 F for 15 –20 minutes until the bottom edges of the cookie is slightly brown. Let cookies cool before dotting the cookies with red food coloring and a bamboo skewer. Store cookies gently.

June’s Comments: I left the flour to cool overnight before using this. This was one of the tip my MIL passed on to me when attempting her Kuih Bangkit.

Lily’s original recipe requires a baking time of 15 minutes at 300F. That did not work for me as I was left with raw dough in the middle. at the end of the 15 minutes. I increased the temperature instead and that worked out better. Feel free to taste a cookie (don’t burn your tongue though) to see if it’s cooked through. The middle should be dry and powdery, not damp and doughy.

I’ve never quite knew the name of this deep-fried cookies/biscuit/snack but I know my grandma makes a freaking yummy one!! Got to make a mental note to ask grandma for her secret recipe!! =)

Anyway, my friend Anna sent me the Kuih Rose mould last year and I haven’t gotten a chance to use it until recently. My fingers were itching to try out the mould and with CNY around, I’ve got a great excuse to be adventurous! I’ve never seen how this cookie is made but I suspect it can get rather tricky. One has got steadily dip the mould in the batter and not getting the batter all around the mould. Using the right recipe is also key to achieve a light and crispy Kuih Rose. I know one of the key ingredient to get a delicious Kuih Rose is the use of Rice Flour but I don’t know what is the right or perfect proportion. I looked for recipes, decided to try my luck and settle for this recipe coz it looks pretty good. The outcome was great! Light and crunchy!

Anyway, here’s the recipe extracted from www.neckredrecipes.blogspot.com that I tried and liked, if any of you are interested! I still miss grandma’s Kuih Rose though… =) Oh yeah, I later found out from my MIL that 100% Rice Flour is used! I guess I need to look for another recipe to try and to see if there’s a difference in texture!

KUIH ROSE / BEEHIVE BISCUIT RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 1 Large Egg
• 35 gm Sugar
• 100 ml Coconut Milk
• 60 gm Plain Flour
• 25 gm Rice Flour
• 1 Tsp water

Method:

Mix all the ingredients together until the sugar is dissolved. Sieve batter and let batter rest for at least 30 minutes.

Heat your oil(medium heat) in a deep/fryer or wok or pot and place the mould in it to get it hot. Moulds must be hold enough for better to adhere to it. Remove mould from hot oil and stick it into the batter to get a coating; just on the bottom and the sides of the mould. Do not allow batter to cover the top of the mould. Hold still for a second or two to give the batter a chance to adhere to the mould.

Place the mould back into the hot oil. Hold still for a second or two and start jiggling the mould to get the biscuit to drop when the batter turns slightly golden brown . You could also use a wooden chopstick to slowly remove the batter. Deep fry until both side is golden brown. Remove and leave to cool. Repeat until all the batter is finished. Let them cool on wire racks then store in an airtight container.

With Chinese New Year just around the corner, I’ve been busy baking baking baking cookies last week. The kitchen is in total chaos and the oven had been working hard for 6 consecutive days non-stop last week! I’m mostly done with baking cookies but now I’m off to baking more Indonesian Layer Cake and perhaps a brownie. =)

Cornflake cookies is in my cookie list (again) this year. I love this cookies and I know many of my friends love this cereal-ly goodness too. It’s quite fairly easy to make these cookies and definitely a fun way to eat up those cornflakes!!

Here’s the recipe by Amy Beh @ www.kuali.com. I’ve been using this recipe for years now. =)

CORNFLAKE COOKIES

Ingredients:

110g Butter, Softened @ Room Temperature

110g Granulated Sugar

1/2 Tsp Grated Orange / Lemon Rind

1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract

1 Large  Egg Yolk

100g Cornflakes, crushed lightly

125g Self-Raising Flour

1 Tbsp corn flour

Method
Cream butter, sugar and essence until the mixture turns light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolk and lemon rind. Fold in sifted flour and mix. Put mixture into the refrigerator to chill for half an hour until it turns slightly firm.

Drop teaspoonfuls of mixture onto the crushed cornflakes. Shape into balls and place baking trays lined with parchment paper. Bake in preheated oven at 350F for 20—25 minutes or until lightly golden in color. Cool on wire racks before storing in airtight containers.

June’s Comments: When I drop the batter into the cornflakes, I like to make sure there’s some cereal in the inside too. So, using the tips of my finger I will squeeze some cereal into the batter and also coat the outside with more cereal.

Chinese New Year is just around the corner, to be exact it is 3 weeks from now. This year, CNY will also fall on the same day as Valentine’s Day! What a coincidence! And hubby and I have are going to be skiing in Vermont that weekend! Hotel’s been booked! We’re spending the weekend there with friends. If only we could have some hot pot in the snowy mountain!!!

Anyway, I’ve complied my baking list and have started stocking up my pantry. So, I should probably start the baking soon! Here’re what I have in mind to keep my kitchen busy!

• Indonesian Layer Cake
• Pineapple Roll Cookies
• Peanut Cookies
• Kuih Bangkit (Hubby’s gonna help in this!)
• Butter Cookies
• Cornflake Cookies

It’s been too long since hubby and I are out counting down to the New Years. The biggest New Year countdown event we did was about 7 years ago. We count down to the 2003 at Times Square, NYC. It was fun yet torturous coz it was freaking cold that night. We got into the highly secured Times Square vicinity at about 6-7pm and waited all night for the Countdown Ball to drop and to usher the New Years along with hundred thousands of people from all over walks of life! We’re proud that we did it once and vowed never again to go back! Just imagine holding your pee for hours, in the cold. No public washrooms are available, unless you’re dining at a nearby restaurants!!

For years now…we only celebrate New Years at home. Just us and/or with family and close friends. No NYE dinner at a fancy restaurant where prices are hiked up..….just a fancy home cooked meal at home! =) This year, like many others…it’s another at home celebration with great company, yummy food and bubbly champagne.

We invited Chris over for dinner along with my brother and his gf who are still in town. =). Dinner was easier this time as the oven does most of the work. I baked some mini frozen ham and cheese puffs from Trader Joe’s ($4.99 for 12). These were delicious and saved me time from making some on my own! =)

Don’t get me wrong…I did make my own appetizers too =). Inspired by bacon wrapped scallops and the Japanese Beef Enoki wraps, I came up with Bacon Enoki (Bottom Left) which was easy to make and was quite delicious! Enoki is a kind of long thin mushrooms often used in Asian cuisines. You can get them canned or fresh in bags in most Asian stores. For this dish, fresh Enoki mushrooms were used.

Bruschetta (Bottom Right); chopped tomatoes over toasted French loaf. Bruschetta is an Italian snack now very commonly found in restaurants and is served as an appetizer. There are many variations out there, but the basic idea is chopped tomatoes over toasted (oiled with garlic rub)French loaf slices. I made mine using some quartered grape tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, garlic, basil leaves, salt and pepper and served it over slices of toasted French loafs. I actually enjoyed eating them, which was unusual since I’m not a big fan of eating raw tomatoes. 

I made some Stuffed Mushrooms (Bottom Left) using a recipe I found on www.allrecipes.com and modified it a little. The mushrooms were gigantic, cheesy and were delightful. It was a tad spicy, so I would probably reduce the cayenne pepper next time.

For entree, it was huge stuffed Tiger Prawns (from Costco). I used a recipe I found HERE and again modified it a little and added some crab meat to the mixture. I topped the baked Stuffed Tiger Prawns with some homemade Spicy Mayonnaise and served them with some Garlic Asparagus. YUMS!

And what is a countdown without some bubbly champagne. Sparking wine (Asti Spumante) to be exact since this bottle of bubbly is from Italy and not the region of Chamgpane, France best known for sparking wine that bears its name; Champagne. Chris was generous to bring a huger 1.5L bottle of bubbly over to go with our meal. We had a great time finishing that bottle, plus another 1.5L of Muscato among the 5 of us! Thanks, Chris for the bubbly sparkling wine!!

And when I organize a dinner party, I try to include dessert(s) to complete the meal/party. It was a trio of desserts; 2 of them French origin. I stumbled upon some French Macarons from Trader Joe’s ($4.99 (I think) for 12) and just had to get them!! Especially, since I had 2 failed French Macarons baking attempts. Boo! The French Macarons were delicate, light and delectable. It was my first time eating store bought ones and I’m quite pleased. Now, all I need to do is replicate them at home – successfully!!!!

Raspberry Napoleon (Bottom Right) was the next French origin dessert. It was baked puff pastry, layered with raspberry flavored Cool Whip, topped with a fresh raspberry and a dusting of powdered sugar. This was my first time using Cool Whip. Though, it may not be the healthiest product, Cool Whip is my new best friend. =)

And sticking to something truly Malaysian was a slice of “Pulut Tekan” (Pressed Glutinous Rice) served with Kaya (Coconut Egg Jam). Recipe to make this Malaysian “Kuih” will be posted!

  

We spent the rest of the night watching movies past midnight….and actually FORGOT to countdown!! It was 12.30am or so, when we actually wished each other “Happy New Year!”. Well, at least we had great company and loved ones by our side. Isn’t that most important of all? =)

Hope your New Years was fun!

PS: What’s your New Year resolution?????

I made Gingerbread Man again! Although, I was a little late this year (baked them on X’mas eve)…..it’s their “presence” that counts! Haha.. I’ve mentioned last year that I love Gingerbread Man and I would usually get one (or two) when I see them! With my homemade Gingerbread Man cookies, I have almost unlimited supply of them! =)

I made these yummy cookies with the recipe I extracted from www.Joyofbaking.com. The recipe can be found HERE.

GINGERBREAD MAN RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 3 Cups All Purpose Flour
• 1/4 Tsp Salt
• 3/4 Tsp Baking Soda
• 2 Tsp Ground Ginger
• 1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
• 1/4 Tsp Ground Nutmeg
• 1/4 Tsp Ground Cloves
• 1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter, room temperature
• 1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
• 1 Large Egg
• 2/3 Cup Unsulphured Molasses

Method:

In a large bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, and spices. Set aside. In the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and molasses and beat until well combined. Gradually add the flour mixture beating until incorporated.

Divide the dough in half, and wrap each half in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place rack in center of oven. Line 2 baking pans with parchment paper and set aside while you roll out the dough.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of about 1/4 inch. Use a gingerbread cutter to cut out the cookies.  With an offset spatula lift the cut out cookies onto the baking sheet, placing the cookies about 1 inch apart. If you are hanging the cookies or using as gift tags, make a hole at the top of the cookies with a straw or end of a wooden skewer.

Bake for about 8 - 12 minutes depending on the size of the cookies. Small ones will take about 8 minutes, larger cookies will take about 12 minutes. They are done when they are firm and the edges are just beginning to brown.

Remove the cookies from the oven and cool on the baking sheet for about 1 minutes. When they are firm enough to move, transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Let the Gingerbread Man cool completely before decorating them with some royal icing!

June’s Comments: I did not have some of the ground spices required in the recipe. I therefore made a slight change to the grounded spices. The cookies still turned out great. Here’s what I used : 2 Tsp Ground Ginger, 1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon, and 1 Tsp Pumpkin Spice. After refrigeration, the cookie dough was tough to rolled out, so I left it at room temperature for 5 minutes or so for the cookie dough to soften a little being rolling it out flat. Cookies turned out great!!

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What are Gingerbread Man without some sugary sweet white icing on it?? I did not use the frosting recipe for the Gingerbread Man as provided by www.joyofbaking.com as I did not have anymore butter at home. I used the royal icing recipe I found on www.simplyrecipes.com which I have used last year (both the cookies and the icing) to make my Gingerbread Man cookies.

Here’s the Royal Icing recipe extracted from www.simplyrecipes.com. The original recipe can be found HERE.

ROYAL ICING RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 1 Egg White
• 1/2 Tsp Lemon Juice
• 1 3/4 Cup Powdered Sugar

Method:

The traditional way to make Royal Icing is to beat egg whites and lemon juice together, adding the powdered sugar until the mixture holds stiff peaks. With modern concerns about salmonella from raw eggs, you can either use powdered egg whites or heat the egg whites first to kill any bacteria. With the heating method, mix the egg white and lemon juice with a third of the sugar, heat in a microwave until the mixture's temperature is 160°F. Then remove from microwave, and beat in the remaining sugar until stiff peaks form. Using the powdered egg whites method, combine 1 Tbsp egg white powder with 2 Tbsp water. Proceed as you would otherwise. (Raw egg white alternatives from the 2006 Joy of Cooking)

If the icing is too runny, add more powdered sugar until you get the desired consistency. Fill a piping bag with the icing to pipe out into different shapes. (Or use a plastic sandwich bag, with the tip of one corner of the bag cut off.) Keep the icing covered while you work with it or it will dry out.

I was in a mood to bake some cookies. It must be the “X’mas is just around the corner feeling” that initiated the cookie baking mood! =) I browsed through a few cook books and settled for a chocolate chip cookie recipe. This recipe is adapted from Better Homes and Gardens; The Ultimate Cookie Book.

I adapted the recipe for the Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies and made some slight changes to it. Again, I added nuts to the recipe for some added crunch. I added 3 kinds of chocolate chip morsels; semisweet, milk and white chocolate. I love the result of the cookie as it’s not overly sweet! Here’s the recipe!

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup Butter, Softened
• 3/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
• 3/4 cup Brown Sugar, Packed
• 1 Tsp Baking Soda
• 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2 Large Eggs
• 2 Cups Flour
• 1/2 Cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
• 12 Oz Semisweet Chocolate Morsels/Chips
• 1/4 Cup Chopped Nuts; Pecans or Walnuts (Optional)

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 F. Beat butter with a mixer (preferably stand mixer) for about 30 seconds. Add granulated sugar, brown sugar and baking soda. Beat until combined, scraping sides of the bowl occasionally. Beat in vanilla extract and eggs one at a time until combined. Gradually beat in flour and cocoa powder. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts until evenly combined.

Shape about 1 tbsp of dough into balls and place about 1-1/2” apart onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for about 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Cookies will harden as they cool.

June’s Comments: I actually used the hand mixer (per recipe’s / book’s instructions) to mix the first 6 ingredients and my hands when it was time to mix in the flour, chocolate chip and nuts. I had a hard time mixing the dough with the hand mixer, hence using my hands were a easier and better alternative!  I made my cookies bigger; about 2 tbsp of dough and baked them for about 15-18 minutes.

….on Thanksgiving…..

So, I’ve mentioned that hubby and I was having a little Thanksgiving party…. I was the main chef making some stuff the day before and making some on the day itself. My brother and Qi offered to make cookies. Seyda offered to bring Buffalo Shrimp and Su Boregi (a yummy Turkish dish) and hubby’s friend from work brought Rice Pilau and some Cheesecake. There was so much food, we had even had leftovers! I don’t mind slaving in the kitchen for hours preparing food on holidays. I love entertaining…love having friends over and definitely love feeding making dinner for them! =)

Here’re some pictures of what were served on my Thanksgiving. We served everything on the kitchen counter (Bottom Left) and ate thanksgiving buffet style with guests sitting where ever they find a seat. Yes, it was a non-traditional thanksgiving dinner……. no big roasted turkey and no large table with everyone sitting around the table in one room! =p

I made some Savory Palmiers (Bottom Right) using store bought puff pastry and filled it with chopped olives, chopped sundried tomatoes, mozzarella & parmesan cheeses and salt & pepper! It turned out very well! =)

 

Crab Salad in Phyllo Cups (Bottom Left). The phyllo cups were so petite, it was so cute. You could make your own phyllo cups, but I bought it ready made from the store. It came in a box of 15 for about $2-$2.50. It was even baked; all I did was make the crab salad by mixing lump crab, chopped celery, chopped cilantro, mayo, salt and pepper! This was another delicious appetizer! It was cleaned very quickly!

Korean Shrimp & Scallion Pancake (Bottom Right). I will post the recipe soon! In the past, I have made this using store bought Korean pancake mix from the store. A friend told me it was easy to make it from scratch. After Googling and trying a few different kind of recipes….I found one I like the best! The pancake is definitely best served immediately after cooking. As I made mine a few hours in advance, I thought they weren’t as tasty as the fresh off the pan ones.

My main highlight was the Roasted Duck (Bottom Left). Instead of roasting a whole big fat turkey, I decided to roast a whole duck. I forgot to take a picture of the duck before I cut them up in pieces (yes I did let the duck rest for about 20-30 minutes). I have never bought an uncooked duck before and found out that they cost MUCH more than the 2 other poultries; chicken and turkey. I paid about $2.50/lb for the duck and that duck was about 6-1/2lbs. Chicken was about $1.20/lb and turkey was about $0.49 - $0.99/lb. I cooked the duck for about 2-1/2 hours and I served it with some Cranberry Pomegranate Orange Sauce. I thought the duck was ok…perhaps a little on the dry side? Yikes!!!!

Although the Thanksgiving dinner was not quite a traditional one….I decided to sort of stay within the tradition and still serve turkey. Turkey Meatballs seasoned with some cumin. I thought they were delicious and perhaps will share that recipe next time I make it again.

Hubby invited some of his Indian friends from work and I thought roasted chicken would be a good alternative in case they don’t eat duck or turkey (Bottom Left). I was right, they don’t eat duck. Not wanting to roast 2 whole uncut poultry, I decided to cut the chicken up into pieces. I marinated the chicken in some honey mustard for 2 days. My brother and Qi loved the chicken dish.

Seyda brought over some Buffalo Shrimp (Bottom Right). Simply yummy. Who would say no to shrimp and buffalo sauce, right? =) Thanks for making this, Seyda! I know Kelvin had plenty!! =P

Su Boregi, a Turkish pastry (Bottom Left) which reminds me of lasagna…but not quite. Seyda made this dish (well..per my request). She’s made it many times before when we go over to her place for dinner and I love it every time! She made this with some spinach and feta cheese filling. YUMSS!!Here’s a little explanation adapted from Wikipedia; “Su böreği ("water börek") is one of the most common type of Borek. Layers of dough are boiled briefly in large pans, then a mixture of feta cheese, parsley and oil is scattered between the layers. The whole thing is then brushed with butter and laid in a masonry oven to cook.”

Garlic Green Beans (Bottom Right). This is pretty self explanatory; Garlic + Green Beans + Oil + Salt. Did not want to do green bean casserole which would be far richer since I made it for last year’s Thanksgiving!

Roasted Sweet Potatoes (Bottom Left). Again, another self explanatory dish; Sweet Potatoes + Olive Oil + Salt. I wanted to do Candied Yam/Sweet Potatoes (my favorite) but thought I left it simple since the sweet potatoes were pretty delicious and sweet just like that!

Mashed Potatoes (Bottom Right). Boring stuff, I know!!! But I wanted some kind of easy to make starch for dinner. Sad to say, I either over-estimated the potatoes or there were more other yummy stuff that guests did not want plain old mashed potatoes or it was simply just not great. I would like to think that there were other yummy food, my guests decided to skip the mashed potatoes! I have quite a bit left…………….about half that casserole bowl to be exact. =(.

 

Cookie platter for dessert (Bottom Left). My brother and Qi made some delicious butter cookies with strawberry jam (Left in picture). I will request the recipe from Qi next time and post it here. The cookies are best piped into super mini cupcake liners. They should be petite and are supposed to be a one-bite size. I only have mini cupcake liners at home, hence a slightly large cookie which also took a little longer to cook. It was still very addictive nevertheless. One is not enough!!

I made some Sweet Cinnamon Palmiers (Right in Picture) by using puff pastry. A box of the frozen Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry came with 2 large sheets of puff pastry. I used one to make savory palmiers, and the other, the sweet ones. These were simple to make and was definitely a hit among my guests. I was (definitely) surprised; something so simple would be so well liked! I will remake this and share the easy recipe next time! =)

Jackfruit Cheesecake / Tart (Bottom Right) which I made the day before. Glad to say, my guests loved this. Yay! I’m super pleased as this is my own recipe!! =)

We ended up eating leftovers and turning them into a new dishes the next couple days. As my brother and his gf were in town the whole week………..I ate so much. Too much to tell you the truth! I think I would definitely break the scale if I hop on it now! I’m gonna give myself a few days before weighing my damage and see what Thanksgiving have done to my weight and waistline. Not to mention, all of a sudden…..I’m having a pimples breakout……Must be too much food and wine last whole week!!!! Arghhhh!!! Food intoxication!!!!!!!!