Sweet Treats

Sweet treats for everyone!!

Ok maybe not everyone... just for my colleagues at work.

This is a post that should have been written AGES ago but as usual I never got around to it.

Ever since I’ve started baking, I love an excuse to dress up food. Why would anyone pick an ordinary cookie over one that has a bow around it? Everything looks better with a bow around it !

So for the last two Eids I wanted bake goodies and put them into cute little individual boxes. For the first Eid, I probably went a little overboard and decided to make 6 sweets in a little box. I probably pushed it a bit with the 6 sweets in 2 days because on the day of Eid I was still at the supermarket buying eggs and running around town trying to find peppermint extract.

 

 Fortunately except for a few mishaps it all came together and I was able to come up with something I was very happy with!

 

The boxes had

·         A chewy chocolate chip meringue

·         A rainbow whoopee pie

·         A piece of carrot cake

·         2 pieces of Mint and chocolate fudge

·         A piece of chocolate cake

·         Dates (that should have been Turkish delight L )

The chewy chocolate meringue (from bakerella) was my favourite treat from the box. They really were chewy like a good cookie with the surprise of mini chocolate chips inside. Couldn’t help eating a whole bunch of them as they came out of the oven :D

 

For some reason the Turkish delight didn’t quite turn out right and had to be chucked last minute L After all that stirring, I was quite disappointed. 

 

Aaaaand for the second Eid, I decided that I probably should try to do something a little bit simpler; COOKIES. Now every time I make a cookie I ask myself why on earth we buy cookies from the store, when it is so simple to make them at home. Laziness I suppose. Something I’m experiencing right now on this very slow rainy Saturday evening. I want a raisin cookie but I’m too lazy to walk to my kitchen and make it. The bed shall be my home today :D

The initial plan was to make five kinds of cookies and put them into transparent cookie bags, tied with polka dotted ribbons. However on the way to the bookshop to buy wrappers, I came across these absolutely ADORABLE gift boxes that made life so much easier. How cute are they??

 All lined up waiting to be eaten :D

The cookie boxes had;

·         Every cookie box HAS to have a chocolate chip cookie
·         A peanut butter cookie
·         An orange glazed cookie
·         A filled raisin cookie
·         Carrot and ginger spiced cookie

Now as much as I love a good chocolate chip cookie I was very surprised with how amazing two of the cookies on the list turned out.

While I was making the orange glazed cookie, I misunderstood the recipe and made the glaze really runny. I poured it over a batch of cookies turned the other direction for a minute and the next, the glaze was dripping all over my kitchen. So I made the glaze again! Finally using some common sense I added more icing sugar and the glaze sat beautifully on the cookie. Thing is once I was done cleaning I didn’t feel like trying even one of the orange cookies because everything I touched smelt like orange and I was feeling a bit sick. Fortunately at work the next day my stomach was growling (as it always does because  I cant seem to ever make time for breakfast) and I ate one of these guys and I was pretty blown away! Definitely making that one again. Super impressed with how well it kept as well. 

The next one I loved was the raisin filled cookie. Generally I don’t like raisins in anything other than cookies. I was originally planning on making oatmeal raisin cookies but decided on these at the end. I’m glad because not only where a delight to eat but now I know how to make a stuffed cookie! Sure it takes slightly longer to make than other usual scoop batter and bake cookies but it is worth it.

So I’m going to give you both recipes so you can go make it and tell me what you think!

Orange glazed cookies
Filled raisin cookies

Dripping Quiches and Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Its been ages since I updated this blog. I have been cooking and baking but I think I have been shying away from uploading the tiny things I’ve made because of all the crappy photography. I wonder why I can’t spend just a few more minutes and take a decent picture. (Always in such a hurry….. -.-)

Over the last month I made an upside down apple cake, red velvet cupcakes, a failed quiche and chicken pot pie.

The quiche is an interesting story because I love quiche!! I can eat quiche for breakfast, lunch and dinner! My favorite quiche is spinach and cheese and although I planned to each quiche last week I wasn’t destined to. I think once again I should refer to my disaster making pouring fondant but this time really it was nothing but my stupidity that ruined what could have been a beautiful quiche. I stay away from making dough due to my lack of confidence but then earlier this year my friend Simone’s mom made these yummy little quiches using store bought puff pastry.

Mistake number 1; I thought it was brilliant and I decided to give it a try, except for some ridiculous reason I decided it would be easy to make it in a pie tin.

5 mins in the oven and pastry fell and about 1/3 of the filling dripped out through the bottom.

Mistake number 2; I should have listened to my father. When I bought the oven my dad mentioned that I should probably keep the cookie tray underneath the wire rack if I was going to bake something that might overflow. Well I obviously didn’t do that or it would have saved me the trouble of cleaning cream and cheese off the bottom of the oven. -.-

I did salvage it though. I pulled the pastry into a silicone cake tray and put it back in the oven to see if it would work out mainly because it was too late to go out and buy dinner. It was fine. Obviously the pastry wasn’t great because it was soaked through but it was edible. Unfortunately by the time I cleaned the gigantic mess in the oven and the floor of my kitchen I had lost of appetite. So I gave the quiche away.

On a happier note, I found some really cool ingredients and baking stuff. Those of you who are my friends on facebook and follow me on twitter would know that about a week ago I found Polenta! ; an ingredient that I have been looking for high and low in Oman. I found it!! In Sri Lanka! Who would have thought?  I am super excited to make Polenta! Insanely excited!! So keep posted for something this weekend. 

I have been having a major cookie craving! That too for Subway cookies. Does anyone else think that Subway cookies are way better than any store bought cookie? Yesterday was Poya, (Poya is a Buddhist public holiday here which occurs every full moon day), so I moved my lazy ass to the store and bought all the ingredients and made a gigantic batch of cookies. Super easy, no mess cookies which I’d like to think are pretty healthy.

I used a recipe from smitten kitchen 

I was very pleased. No issues what so ever. If you prefer a sweet cookie you might want to add more sugar to the recipe.

Congo Bars

My last post is a bit too depressing to read. I was having one of those days; feeling cranky and frustrated. So I am going to take that down.

I’ve been itching to bake in a while, but I’ve been having issues with the trip going off suddenly at my place. This happened when I was in Malaysia for a week and everything; I mean EVERYTHING that I brought from Oman and the rest of what I had in the fridge was rotten by the time I got back. I think I’m still a bit upset about all that cheese that got ruined. It kept happening over and over. Each week I had to throw out most of my groceries until I changed my fridge and things seem to be okay so far. Good thing the chocolates survived it or I wouldn’t have chocolate chips for this. 

I baked yesterday which made me feel really good. I’ve been watching some Korean drama lately, (Do not ask me why) so I put the tray in the oven, cleaned the kitchen and sat down for an hour of Lee Min Ho and for once after a very long time I felt calm and quite happy. Honestly it felt great because I’ve been feeling awfully stressed out lately because I do not have time for anything. 

I made Congo bars! These congo bars were for my awesome new colleagues at work.  Congo bars are in between a chocolate chip cookie and a brownie. As bakerella calls is; a ‘brookie’. These guys pretty much combine the best of both worlds. They are super chewy which the best part of it all! Who doesn’t like a big chewy cookie? I’ve been searching all over for a nice chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe, but I think this is way better because it is also a brownie! Sigh..... I was so excited I kept on eating raw batter the whole time I was making it till I felt a bit sick once the bars came out of the oven. I didn’t even taste any till I tried one at work. Thank goodness Bakerella’s recipes have been amazing so far or I would have been feeding rubbish to everyone at work. 

I picked up a few pointers from Bakerella’s post. I did all the mixing by hand as suggested because the texture would be better. I didn’t do another batch with the mixer to see the difference but I am super happy with the texture of the bars so I think I’ll stick with mixing by hand. When I read that I should mix by hand I felt a bit lazy, but it wasn’t hard at all. It is nothing like having to mix dough with a big wooden spoon until your arm hurts. This is merely mixing the ingredients together and if I used a metal tablespoon to do I’m sure it would be much easier with a wooden spoon/spatula.

Also I am using a new oven! I love my old oven, I honestly do. But being in Sri Lanka means I had to buy an electric oven and this was my first time using it. I had a few issues but nothing too serious. It took longer than 30 minutes to bake until I finally had to cover the tray with foil and let it bake for 10 more minutes. Notice how the top of the Congo bars are a bit too brown?   

 

(please excuse this bad photograph.... had to rush to take these just before heading to work) :p

I borrowed an aluminium tray from my cousin and so far I have to say I miss my good old non stick pans. I’m probably going to have to keep baking in these aluminium trays while I’m here and I hope I have some positive reviews to relay to you guys soon.  Getting used to a different kitchen without any of your trusty utensils and appliances is a bit daunting but I suppose this is how it is to have to be a student, never in one place constantly shuffling between countries. You start missing a lot of things and have to make do with the temporary. I suddenly thought of this long story about moving from country to country that I should probably keep for next time.  For now I’m going to bask in my good mood.

If you want the recipe for the congo bars I made you can get them from Bakerella. 

OOOOOOOH OHHHH I also got a new phone!!! Since I do not have my brothers DSLR here I’m going to experiment taking pictures from my phone for a while. The fact that I can take pictures and share them immediately is sooo exciting!! Yes is know this has been around for ages -_-  Do not insult! Like I said let me bask in my good mood while it lasts :D

Mango Mousse Cake

Sometimes I try to get away with doing stupid things in the kitchen. For example the time I tried to make fondant without a thermometer or the time I put sugar syrup into the blender and it got rock hard. Most of the time, this is when my dad walks into the kitchen and asks me what on earth I’m doing. Truth is sometimes I just like to cheat hoping at the back of my mind that I can get away with it and everything will work out just fine. 

Take you back a month, I wanted to make individual lemon mousse cakes. Buuuuuut I didn’t have cake rings. After reading a few articles, I found out that I could probably use transparent plastic sheets and roll then into make-shift cake rings. Boy was I wrong!! Not a minute into pouring the mousse in the whole thing started dripping; all the mousse was on the tray. I had to serve something! So I scooped the mousse into little ramekins and got away with it... sort of... :D

I’ve had my fair share of failures in the kitchen and from what I’ve discovered I really need to learn to stick to the recipes! Especially when it comes to deserts. 

But sometimes you never learn :D

  Leaving Oman is making me all sentimental. Also it means finishing up all the ingredients that I’ve bought and till remain in the pantry. Got a tin of mango pulp and here goes mango mousse cake. 

I was trying to find a recipe for mango mousse and I couldn’t find one that I really liked so I decided to combine a few recipes into one makeshift recipe fuelled by a really informative article I read about using gelatine. I probably should have just stuck to one recipe but I didn’t anddddddddddddddddddd it turned out fabulous! Haha 

The reason I’m excited is that I was expecting

1.  The mousse to start dripping
2. The mousse not setting 
3. The whole thing collapsing when I took off the spring form cylinder 
4. The mousse breaking off when I removed the parchment paper

But none of that happened! So you see!! I deserve to be happy :D I suppose you could argue that a mousse cake is super easy to make bla bla but let me just bask in my happiness will you? :P

Mango Mousse Cake

For the cake

2 eggs

½ cup milk

1 cup sugar

1/8 cup butter

1 cup all purpose four

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

Beat the eggs in an electric mixer for about 2 minutes. Then add sugar and vanilla beating for another 3 minutes until light and fluffy.

Sift together all dry ingredients and add to the egg mixtures. Beat on a low speed till combined.

In a small saucepan, heat the milk and butter until the butter is melted. (Do not boil)

Add to batter and combine.

Pour into two 8” round cake pans

Baked at 160 degree Celcius for 15 minutes. 

For the mousse

3 cups mango pulp

2 tsp sugar

2 tsp lime juice

5 tsp gelatine bloomed in 50ml water

2 cups whipping cream

3 small ripe mangoes

Combine mango puree, sugar and lime juice.

Place bloomed gelatine in a small saucepan and dissolve over low heat. DO NOT boil

Refrigerate for half an hour

Whip cream until soft peaks form

Reserve 1 cup of the puree and folds in the rest of the puree into the whipped cream 

To assemble

Cut out a circle of parchment paper for the bottom of the springform pan (I did this because I was afraid of the mousse dripping).  Also cut a strip of parchment paper wide enough to line the inside of the pan extended 1 inch above the rim.

Place one cake at the bottom of the pan

Carefully pour onto the cake half of the mousse mixture.

Cut mangoes into strips and place over the mousse

Cover mangoes with the other cake

Spoon over the rest of the mousse and place in the refrigerator for about fifteen minutes*

Take the cake out and carefully spoon over the reserved mango puree forming a thin layer and place back in the refrigerator for 8 to 24 hours.

Once set remove the springform pan and slowly take off the parchment paper

·        

        *I placed the mousse in the refrigerator for 15 minutes before spooning on the topping as I was afraid the puree would sink into the mousse. I’m not exactly sure if this step is necessary but it worked well for me

 

Cake Pops

Those of you on Facebook may know that for some time now I've wanted to make sweets for a baby shower. Not that I suddenly have the desire to be surrounded by all things baby, but mostly because I am intrigued by making all things miniature. Having followed Bakarella's blog for so long I finally got around to making cake pops! I probably should have made them a long time ago but other than the cake ball itself it is impossible to find the rest of the ingredients here in Oman. There is no way you'd come across candy coatings, funky sprinkles or even ready made fondant...... other than Dr Oetkers's White Regal-Ice Ready to Roll Icing! Now I came across this very recently and I solemnly hope that I continue to find it here. At least there is this and compared to reliving my horrible attempt at making pouring fondant, this is a life saver! Oh the effort and the mess.... no definitely NOT making fondant again!!

I used a white cake and mixed in classic chocolate icing. Now that I think of it, I probably should have used velvet cake, as it would have looked much nicer to bite into. However when I was making the cake I had no idea what the outside was going to look like so chocolate cake it was!

see! cute little baby girl pops :D

Making these cake pops have completely been based on me using what ever I could find. Didn't have Styrofoam so I used a white pizza box :D.... Didn't have any molds so I used a cookie cutter for the flower and cut the bows out with a knife. To add the tiny details I used..... pottery tools!! Im not saying that having the right tools is unnecessary, but if you are going for something super simple like these you wont need a lot.

What I initially wanted to do was make white and pink polka dotted pops, but that was almost impossible without the right cutters. So there you go. If you can find them buy the right tools and surely you'd be able to come up with really creative and neat my father keeps pointing out that my pops are irregularly shaped x) cake pops!

I told the sister-in-law that I needed her to hold the cake pops so I could get some pictures. She got super excited as you can see, got all dressed up :D earrings and all 

I've got some marzipan left from a pound cake I made sometime back so I think I'm going to try and make more cake pops before I leave.  I want a duck mold to make duck pops.. Has anyone seen one around?

 

Happy cake popping!