Halo Lemon Cream for Christmas Holidays

Halo (a.k.a spun toffee) with Santa Hat


No Eggs, No Butter, No Gelatin (most importantly) - I tell u why.

So This is a yum cold dessert , so creamy with tangy tinge of lemon, bit of sweetness .. taste like yogurt !

I like the colour of spun sugar , golden caramel , so attractive ! so not easy to make. My 1st time of making this , so out of control! should really learn and practice how to spin" the toffee ! see my so called 'out of control' toffee !

I sprinkle more lemon zest before eating this. very yum! taste like lemon yogurt.

*Oh i like this recipe because no gelatin! I am not a gelatin person. but I like panna cotta. ( and not all panna cotta is good! too much gelatin will spoil) too much gelatin , i feel like eating fake dessert. U know if too much gelatin, when spoon to mouth, I need to make my 'panna cotta' melt in my mouth for a second, let my body temperature melts the cream before I can swallow! that is the moment I really dont like! very eyewwww ! but this recipe is not! really smoooth

Ingredients

2 cups whipping cream

80g (or less) sugar

2 T lemon zest

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

a. Place cream + sugar in a pot and heat it up for 3 minutes. Remove from heat.

b. Stir in lemon zest and lemon juice . ( notice the cream will thicken after the lemon juice). stir well.

c. pour in the ramekin and fridge for 3-4 hours. Serve cold.

Strawberry Mango Panna Cotta

so Hot in the afternoon, nice to have some cold panna cotta.

I was craving for panna cotta ! I was at Grazie Restaurant with collq the other day, so tempted with their Panna Cotta, but their Fantasia dì Maria & Tiramisu were more interesting though. E I wanted to learn their chocolate pudding! so nicee.. its like 20% pudding, 80% sauce! ( sounds really uncooked) but really yumm~~[ ha! I need to highlight here, when I introduced this to another fren, she came back and complained the choco pudding was 80% pudding, 20% sauce! aiks! inconsistency here! why?] and Tiramisu is good !

Back to my Panna Cotta.
When I finished blending the mango puree, ha! this is a mistake! among all the mangoes, only 1 was ripen! the rest was like half-ripen!! hence my mango colour not so orangy, and also, the taste a bit powdery! due to not fully ripen mangoes! After scope the mango puree into glass for freezing ... I realise I don't have gelatin ! ! argh! searching high & low, got myself almost half a pack of the gelatin left! errr...

Then come to blend my strawberry, again not much frozen berry left in fridge, so difficult to blend until really smooth with tat small amount ! errrr...

I think panna cotta goes well with citrus fruit / this strawberry ! It didnt go so well with mango.. dunno why, may be just my taste bud is different!

Recipe : Ganache's Panna Cotta with Strawberry Puree
* I replace vanilla bean with Vanilla ext.

*yum*

Mango Strawberry Clafouti

Ha, I have mango given by aunty, unfinished frozen strawberries..

I am still off from work today. I was arranging my recipess into folders, while this.. this "Peach Blueberry Clafouti" looks good to me ! I mean why not I make this today!

The texture of this recipe is so yummy ! like yorkshire pudding, like dutch baby , very soft eggy springy texture. but no eggy smell.

It puff like a dome while in the oven, and start to shrink once it's out from the hot oven.

Recipe

2 cups mango cubes

1 cup strawberry

4-6 T sugar

3 large eggs

3/4 cup milk ( I used whipping cream)

3 T flour

1 t vanilla ext.

a. Preheat oven to 190C. Butter the baking dish.

b. combine the mango and strawberry with 2 T of sugar in a bowl and let macerate for about 15 minutes.

c. Whisk the remaining sugar and eggs together in a mixing bowl.

d. Add in milk/cream & vaniia ext.and whisk until combined.

e. Sift in flour and whisk until combined.

f. spread the fruit over the bottom of the dish. Pour the batter into the dish until just cover the fruit. not too much, it will over-fall when u back it.

g. Bake in the oven for 30-35 minus until the batter looks puffed and golden and is set in the center.
* I like to sprinkle some sugar on top when it's half way bake. *

Strawberry Crumble

Finally, I can have 3 days off from office. Sat, Sun, Mon . I can feel the freedom all over especially when I m eating the warm strawberry crumble. Little sweet buttery crumb with tinge of sour strawberry . I like the tiny bites of sugar in the crumb and the crispy feel.



These frozen strawberries are really beyond my "acid" level! I have to add spoonful of sugar to sweeten it a bit.

Ingredients
2 cups strawberries
2 T sugar
1 t corn flour + 1 T water

[crumb topping]
3/4 cup flour
3 T brown sugar
2 T white sugar
5 T butter, and more for butter the baking dish

a. preheat the oven to 190C
b. Slightly cook the strawberry for 1 minute with sugar, and stir in corn flour water to thicken the sauce.
c. Pour into individual baking dish ( I discard some of the sauce, not too much)
d.In a separate bowl, combine flour, sugar, mix well, rub in the butter into the flour until it forms crumbly mixture.
e. Place the crumb on top, bake for 5 - 10 minutes or until topping has lightly brown.
serve warm...with vanilla ice cream is the best !

mum would probably kill me if she sees this picture with her precious orchid been picked!

Mango Mille Crepe

A Mille Crepe, A Thousand Thanks to dad for being so kind, so much considerations given, so everything to us~ ! Here's a mini 8 layer crepe ! ha ha, as opposed to a thousand layer ! mille means 'thousand' in french.


mum bought some apple mango from gaya street. 6 of them cost about RM 5. Being a bit 'high-spirit' today, I made some crepe, by sort of "play cheat" here. make 1 large sheet, cut into few pieces with cookie cutter, then spread with cream and mango, frozen it. Drizzle with some chocolate sauce & walnut. The crepe skin quite thick here, need more practice.

Crepe Ingredients
1/2 cup flour
1 egg
1/2 cup milk + 2 T milk
pinch of salt
1 T butter

Fillings
whipped cream
fresh mango

1. mix all the crepe ingredients together, make sure no lumps in the batter. I sieve the batter after mix.
2. heat up a pan, drop some butter / oil, pour the batter, make the crepe as thin as possible. ( really, need lots of practice + patience)
3. stack up the crepe, let cool.
4. Spread the crepe with some cream in middle, some mango on top, and repeat the same.
( I slice the mango with peeler, which helps a lot!)
5. make some chocolate sauce. I melt 2 T of chocolate chips in microwave, then mix 3-5 T of cream to dilute it, adjust it to your likings.

Lemoney Lemon Bars

This is my first attempt on Lemon Bar, and guess what? my first time eating Lemon Bars. I used to see these bars in the cafe, and they were so dry and just not getting my attention to buy them.

my sis requested for a "Lemon" recipe. She's the type who love "Linzer Torte" kind of food. I'm happy, I have a "western" tongue sis with me now. (note: she is my 1st younger sis, not the youngest sis whom wasted my unbaked mango cheesecake )

I search for Lemon bar recipe from tastespotting ... and get this Very good recipe from Smitten Kitchen.
Sometimes I am thinking, Picture really says everything! Smitten's Lemon bar picture really makes me drool !!! and I think , like I say, picture says everything. the recipe turned out good. (Thanks God I pick the right recipe)


* Argh, compared to Smitten, my picture really bad enuff! haha. However, this bars, give a slight moist lemon creamy mixture on top, then middle slightly dense, and bottom with buttery crust.*

Again, the second thing I like about this recipe is the crust. I 'm very particular with crust or any cookies type (butter + flour + sugar) food. As advise by smitten, u can adjust the crust a bit. I hence reduce the sugar, add slightly more salt ( probably 2 sprinkle). And I guess the portion of flour & butter is good, as It gives a crumbly light crisp crust. ee I like this crust! *lolz*

recipe (I halve from Smitten's and change a bit)
crust:
half bar of unsalted butter. ( I used anchor brand)
2 T of sugar only
1 cup of flour
2 dash of salt
1 T lemon zest ( I added this part)

lemon layer:
3 eggs
1 cup sugar ( original calls for 1 1/4cup)
*using 1 cup sugar , lemon layer turned out quite sour, but we like*
2T lemon zest
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice + 2 T ( I added extra 2T )
1/2 cup flour

Icing usgar for dusting.

1. prehead oven to 350 Degress F. ( 180C)

2. Cream butter & sugar until light in a bowl. I used Whisk to cream ! no machine here. Then combine flour, salt & zest. Dont over mix. U will get something like the pic. After that, gather the mixture and form a ball.

3. Grease the baking dish or pan. ( I dont have square flat pan) Then flatten the dough and press into the greased dish..

4. Bake the crust for 15 - 20 minutes, until lightly browned. Let cool outside the oven, while leave the oven on.


5. For the lemon layer, whisk together eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice & flour. U will notice the mixture give lots of lump. For me, I pour into a sieve and use a whisk to keep stir on the sieve, until the lump gone. then pour back the zest into the mixture.

6. Pour the lemon layer over the crust and bake for 30-35 minutes.

Coffee JeLLY

I am so happy! Finally! I know how to upload picture from Flickr! ah Call me idiot!
Know why, If I upload pictures directly from the blogger, u get limited size. Even I use html to control the width and height, my pictures turn out 'zagged' ! But, by using flickr, u can pick ur own size! see! my pictures are slightly 'larger' now, without disturb the surface of the picture! phew...


Again, call me idiot! I never had Japanese coffee jelly in any of the jap outlet before, eventhough they're on the train , round and round, but to my impression, they are hard-texture jelly. I give a try on this recipe! It turned out purrrrfect ! Also, my Aunt's Vietnam brewed coffee powder are soo 'heong' (fragnant). The coffee aroma are so strong and perfect! I just need extra work to filter my jelly before I pour into the glass.



Gelatin based coffee jelly are so.. so.. perfect! It melts in your mouth! that's all I can describe! very smooth especially we eat it with cream.

haha, I keep feeding myself with lots of cream lately... argh! my waistline!!! but it's really yummy!

Recipe , click here "Terri's Japanese Coffee Jelly"

Pumpkin Sweet Soup with Green Beans

I'm late for Halloween Dessert ! *(lol~)

The shop in Damai that sells variety of Tong sui, such as this, Pumpkin with green beans, Green Beans with snow fungus, etc etc..

I once had their pumpkin with green beans! and it was excellent ! so smooth, so nice ! Aiks, my smooth here as in smooth like a good congee. not machine-blended creamy-smooth, which I don't quite like. I want my soup where, u still can eat the pumpkin !

I got my pumpkin from Gaya Street this morning! The flesh is very orangy ! very vibrant ! When I skin it, it smells so good! and my mum starts nagging there! " Don't skin too deep" !

[Ingredients]
1 cup + 1/2 cup of no husk green bean (like the packet below)
[note: Must use no husk green bean. don't use the original green bean, u wont get the same texture, colour. I tried before, as it tastes yucks!]
10 cup water
500g ~ 700 g skinned pumpkin
Rock sugar to taste
1/2 cup sago

1. soak the green bean for 2 hours. or overnight like mine.
[Boil green beans first, as it takes longer time to cook than pumpkin)
2. Bring the water to boil, cook the green bean for 1 hour , until soften. (notes: To yield smooth soup base, make sure the green bean is fully opened and cooked before added-in the pumpkin)
3. Throw in pumpkin cubes, stir well then throw in sago at the same time too.
Always keep an eye on the soup to prevent burnt in the bottom . I steal 5 minutes having my mango pudding and when I'm back! OMG! It's slightly burnt! I hate ! )
4. Continue cook for 25~30 minutes. Put some rock sugar to taste.

Now I m ahead to Lido market, get some coconut milk, guess it should enhance the taste !

Blood is thicker than water hah! Finally you're back !

Panna Cotta with caramel sauce

I am quite depressed. D is right! The 1st 10,000 pics will be the worst ever! I am having trouble with the the macro shot. and etc etc. Really need a lot of practices. Now I start missing my point & shot cam! Like I said, I m having trouble with macro shot, dunno why, I didnt focus too near, but the cam just don't allow me to press the shutter-release button! I need to stand from a distance! Lots of trials.. until my Panna Cotta is melting................

I used Terri's panna-cotta-amara-con-caramello Recipe.
After making & tasting it.. I recalled why T tried to splash Bailey's. This Caramel sauce (cooked syrup) tasted like a liquor. I should rephase. It has a bitter taste like hard liquor! When I finished preparing the sauce.. I was like how am I going to eat this with bitter sauce? U will be surprise! It tastes so great with the panna cotta!! even just sauce + cream. Of cuz fruits will be a bonus here.

(Picture of Gelatine leaves. I taken this, because ppl might mistaken it with agar-agar leaves.) Dont put this leaves too near to ur nose! like I did! U wont like it!

Boiling water & sugar

and the syrup start turning golden brown

Slurp!

Rolled Tuille cookie

Tuille , pronounced as "Twill" , not TULIP .
I should name it as "shape your own" cookie. When it's just baked, shape or curl it as you want. Once you know the trick, we can even make it into basket shape, and serve it with scoops & scoops of ice-creams, top with Cherry. How's that?
Today I shaped my Tuille into cone shape, pipe some Dairy Whipping Cream. (Yes, Dairy Cream). Thanks to L telling me the differences between Non-Dairy & Dairy cream. I was eating fake cream all the time. my system probably clotted by Non-Dairy over 28 yrs! Not today, I will start eating Dairy cream. Today I Chilled my cream + bowl + beaters before I beat the cream. It turned out well ! (not watery, no more sag!) and the texture are just so pure , so creamy.

[Ingredients]
2 Egg Whites
1/4 cup Sugar (Edited! Original yield for 1/2 cup!)
1/3 cup All-purpose flour
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
50g melted unsalted butter
1/4 cup chopped almond (Edited! Original says Sliced almond)

a. Preheat the oven to 180C
b. Line the baking pan with waxed parchment paper (This is very important. mine was low quality baking paper, and I'm having hard time to pull the cookie off from the paper! so must use waxed paper or nonstick paper!)
c. Whisk the egg whites & sugar, then add the flour, vanilla extract and cooled melted butter. Whisk until smooth. Place 1 Table of the mixture onto the baking pan. Spread the mixture (Make sure it's paper-thin, so that the cookie will be crisp & Crunch.) to 10cm circles, sprinkle with some almonds. Bake until golden around the edges about 6 minutes.
d. While still hot, remove the cookie from pan, and place over the rolling pin to curl.( Do it quick!) If you find the cookies start to get 'harden' before you able to shape them, pop them back into the oven for about a minute to reheat and rework.

Paul's Dairy Cream.

Does my fork looks real ? go back to second picture. I didn't know this until I load my pic. I put my food on a magazine, a carrot cake with a fork as the background. hahahaha.

Peach N Cream " Roses "

I can't cover my smiles today. Almost burst into Sweet tears! :D
U all must see how I drive around the office, telling everyone that the Idiot is back!! Back in surprise! Back in 2 weeks time!
Okay, since no reports to format tonight... "Arms & Legs" mix up wor.. I made roses for my cream dessert! I love cream! "Nestle Reduced Cream" is always my stock in home! instead of plain cream with cocktail fruits, why not a cute rose to accompany with ?


Easy, very easy... my 1st attempt!
To make the roses, thin slice the peaches.. for the bud, choose a small piece, roll it between ur fingers. Let it rest on flat surface (press with pressure if it stands up) and start adding slightly bigger slice around it, overlapping a little... and repeat. before u realise, you will have a prettie fruit flower !

Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding

Before I say anything, Let's pray! This Pudding will bring me luck. This Pudding will change my life ! my Wish must come true! I must move to a city with berries!
This is a pretty easy warm dessert! I love this. Taste quite similar to Chocolate Molten . But this is light-er. But, both are the same. U will still get warm gooey-ooey-yommy-Chocolate.


Serve immediately! I just Can't wait control myself from not scooping into mouth before continue-ing snapping pic! This is the most hard time to endure. (pls bare with me)


Preheat the oven to 350F (175C)

Sift flour,salt,sugar,baking powder and cocoa powder into a bowl. Add the milk,melted butter, egg and vanilla extract and whisk thoroughly until combined. Pour into coffee mubs or ramekins (until half)

For the topping, stir the browk sugar and cocoa powder in a bowl to combine then sprinkle it over the cups of pudding batter. Pour the boiling water (to fill up another half) carefully over the puddings, then bake for 18-20 minutes. Remove carefully from the oven and serve hot.

Note: I just back from Dark Knight. Christian Bale is soooo AWwwww !