Hiatus!

You must be wondering... did this baker abandon yet another blog? It's almost a month and nothing's up. Well I swear to you... I was so busy I almost died baking the other day.

So what's up recently? Well actually nothing much... either than attempting a Bob the builder cake and making more macarons (posts on those real soon), I've been pretty much sorting out things like work and applying for university (I did got in, hurray!). One other thing caught my eye though...online shopping.

I can't explain how addictive online shopping is... you just click away, punch in your card number and wait to get that mysterious parcel to arrive. The thing is... when you are buying something that you know you can't quite find something like that in your tiny little sunny island, no matter how expensive or how long the shipment is you know you just want to get it. Like forbidden fruits that gleam at me from the opposite patch of greenland, I click and click and click and next thing you know, I see my bank slip full of oversea payment. One word: Horror.

These are just one of the few, there's more to come and they are much more beautiful. When I say beautiful, I'm not talking bout simple polka dots like these. I'm talking bout 'Bohemian and swirls of colors' kind of beautiful and I can't wait for them to come next week. I'm not saying that the liners in Singapore sucks, but seriously I think there can be more. So... anyone gonna bring these in and not charge up a hell?

Anyway, end of the day we buy them simply to bake them in it. Thank god I did have a very strong sense of sentimental towards these liners else they would get stuck in the cupboards forever untouched, only to be admired from time to time when I remember to. Someone did mention to me that end of the day these liners are just gonna get thrown away. But you know what? I think the visual impact makes eating these Peanut Butter and Chocolate muffins a little better :)

But yea in the end the liners did end up in the bin. Oh well!

Btw, I've added a new gadget on the side named Katherine's Favorite Things (oh I'm Katherine by the way too) and those links there are tiny pieces of Nirvana that I enjoy reading from time to time. If You too are a food blogger and wanna link up, just drop a comment or email and I'll be more than happy to check you out :)

I hate orange juice with pancakes and also, food blogs that stretch my screen like crazy :D

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

I think this year is definitely one of the best year that ever happened to me. Its the year when I daringly challenged myself with macarons, trying out recipes that I would never had dreamt of baking (more of that later) and formed a strong bonding with egg whites.

When I first started baking I was super scared of anything that is even slightly meringue based. I think I've said this before, but I assumed my kitchen is not suitable for beating egg whites and you need those really fancy standing mixers to whip up a batch of meringues. Until one day, I don't know what overcame me but I just went on to bake a chiffon cake... successfully with my Kenwood handheld mixer. Since then, beating eggwhites has became one of my favorite things to do in the kitchen.

Here is another breakthrough for me this year, Swiss meringue buttercream. Its a little time consuming, requires a little bit of effort and patience. To be totally honest with you, I was whisking away with my hand on the stove for at least 15 minutes. But I think if you do want some improvement in your kitchen life and do have substantial amount of greed to motivate you, then do it. Especially when you have a dark past with one of the ingredients (egg whites in my case), you'll feel exceptionally triumphant when you taste the cream afterwards. Not to mention I finally have another better option than the usual icing sugar buttercream.

No I am no kitchen goddess (yet, I hope)  But perhaps this walkthrough will convince you a little... if you faced the same problems as I did.



Start with whisking 2 egg whites with 100g or 1/2 cup of caster sugar over a bain marie. That is, placing the mixing bowl over a pot of simmering water on low heat and whisk. I thought by turning the heat up will help everything along faster but hell I was wrong. Everything turn sticky really fast and I wasn't in time to whisk so, seriously just keep the flame low.



As you whisk, the mixture will start to thicken up a bit and has the texture of thick glue. You may feel the sore on your arm and start getting a little annoyed, but just treat it as a little mental trashold exercise.



Continue whisking and the mixture should look somewhat like this. Thicker than ribbon stage and stiff, somewhat like marshmallow fluff but only shinier. The sugar should have all been dissolved by now, and it's time to get the bowl out of the bain marie and start whipping with an egg beater.



whipping.... it took me about 10 minutes to get to...



This stage. Please note that at this point, as sore as your arms might be you'll feel extremely proud of yourself and totally mesmerized by the solid bright white.



But the beauty doesn't last long... yet. It's time to turn that beautiful thick and lush meringue into buttercream!





Add butter bit by bit (I cut them into cubes while they are still cold and leave them to soften to room temperature) and I have to tell you, you'll will be slightly disappointed by the dirty tinted yellow and think the stupid butter has ruined everything, but hang on... just keep going.



And then... it will pick up and everything will be right on track again! Beat till all 165g of butter has finish up and add in a good splosh of vanilla or other flavorings you are after. The end product, should be a thick, creamy, smooth and firm cream and light cream white.... unless you tint the cream with food colorings of course.

Not that hard right?

What I really love about this recipe is how smooth it really is and that you don't bite into sugar granules like normal buttercream. Also because it's really firm and stable yet smooth, it's perfect filling for macarons as it doesn't soften the macaron shells with too much liquid. Yes it's a little time consuming, but hey it only consist of 4 ingredients... and a bit of arm exercise. Fair trade right?

I've faced a few of my demons in the kitchen... how about you? :)

Jam Muffins

I love this kind of baking. Lazy sunday don't really feel like doing much, but still there's breakfast to be considered for the upcoming week. And just when a good friend brings you some really nice strawberry jam from a strawberry farm, the choice is rather obvious... Jam muffins. Or rather, However You Want It Muffins.

These are not hard to make... Just whip up the batter and swirl a teaspoon of whatever jam you like. And the thing is, I am one of those who buys jam, think I will eat the jam, but really just go for peanut butter or Nutella at the end of the day. I like to try to be English, but then truth is I'm a junkie at heart. But still, I have quite a good collection of fruit jams at my fridge door.

Whatever it is, these can't be bad. Hell I'm even thinking of a savory version with a swirl of my favorite sambal. Should be quite a nice way to kick off another new week :)

 

Jam Muffins/However You Want It Muffins

150g Butter, soften

3/4cup Sugar (Brown or white, up to you)

3 eggs

2tsp Vanilla Extract

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 1/2cup Plain Flour

Preheat oven to 160ºC, sift flour and baking powder in a bowl. In another mixing bowl, beat the butter and the sugar till fluffy and pale, then beat in one egg with one tablespoon of flour while mixing. This is to prevent the batter from curdling (curdling cause hard muffins) Continue till all eggs are beaten in, add in the vanilla and finish up the remaining flour. Spoon batter into a muffin pan, each till halfway full and swirl in a teaspoon of your desired jam. Bake for 20-30 mins, as all ovens vary.

Happy Jamming!

CNY 2011

So how was your Chinese New Year?

Well for me, it had been one of the worse year that I could remember. This is so far, as long as I remember, the first CNY that I got sick. Nursing a sinusitis and high fever while shuffling between visiting relatives and blowing my nose away is no fun at all. I didn't dare to talk or walk too much fearing that I'll go all woozy and giddy and not to mention, all those yummy CNY goodies I had missed out! Didn't even dare to touch a single slice of ba kwa!

But still I baked. Usually I'll make my Sunflower cookies aka Butter Cookies, Cornflake Cookies, Nutella Cookies and Pineapple Tarts, but this year I went a little different. Made Almond cookies instead of the butter cookies and gave a cute little twist to my pineapple tarts.

Cute little things aren't they? Everyone who tasted them thought they are fabulous and too cute to eat. But sadly, none for me! :(

But anyway. It's 人日 today... Happy Birthday everyone! Hope you had a wonderful new year :)

Nigella's Chocolate Fudge Cake

First, let me start off this post with 2 words: Nigella Lawson.



Although I sometimes like to pretend to be like her (which girl don't?) cooking gracefully and seductively in the kitchen, I do personally feel that her recipes are not getting as much credit as her wits and looks does. Sure she is really beautiful and I adore her Rubensque curves and deep set eyes with hanging lashes, not to forget her crown of raven hair and cute British accent. But people often put more attention to her life and other commercial stuff in front of what her main attraction is - her recipes.





I've read tons of people saying how inaccurate her recipes how, how hard they are to follow etc. But honestly, I don't think so. None of her recipes gave me too much kitchen disasters so far, but you do need to have the culinary common sense to make them.Take this cake for example. All you need is just 2 bowls and one wooden spoon, if you know how to stir and beat sugar and butter together. Sieve if you wanna pretend to be competent, or throw everything into the mixer or processor if you are really amateur.



And as her recipe says, this cake is so moist and full of chocolate and a total pleasure to bake. Not to mention, how tall and dark and proud it stands once it's all done. I happily baked this cake again for a friend's birthday last year and just as how the guests in Nigella's show all appears to be satisfiedly fed, so were the people at the party.

Chocolate Fudge Cake Recipe

Enjoy!

Baking Macarons for the first time

Back at my old blog I use to have these series of posts that I labelled under 'Blings', where I share about my new kitchen toy and perhaps give a little slight review of it. Not that I was trying to look bimbo or anything but the kitchen that I got from my mom is 40 over years old. Everything, the mixing bowls the spatula the whisk etc... they were either badly stained or on the verge of breaking down. So everytime I got a new one to replace it, the new item literally 'blings' in the cupboard among it's old residents.

I don't know how did your New year's eve went but I had a total blast at home. After reading about Tott's I called to check if they are open on the holidays and rush down for a shopping spree. My cupboard is truly at the new stage of 'Blingaston' but the proudest thing that I lunge home that day is perhaps that bag of almond meal.

See, every baker or cook has got an culinary archilies foot. Some have problems with souffle, some have problems with pie or roux and I, have a problem with anything base of meringues. I used to be very intimidated by the idea of 'egg whites' as I believe my kitchen does not meet the requirements and my house is too stuffy etc. Yet my greed for those sweet crunchy and slightly chewy meringues and macarons grew bigger and bigger each day and baking them myself seems a little far fetched.

But that day on New Year's eve, I went berserk. I had enough when I was paying $15 for only 8 macarons from some overrated bakery with each bite sickeningly sweet to the core. While at Totts, I decided to go on the macaron project.

As it turns out, beating up egg whites and folding dry ingredients in wasn't that hard at all! Then I realise the bigger deal was actually pipping. And after reading through several online macaron guides, I could have given this batch a bit more turns in the bowl.

And not to mention, I found the best temperature for my oven when it comes to meringues. Apparently 140°C is too high for me. My first tray went in all cracked and I was screaming with devastation. 120°C is better.

Feet!

They may not look perfect, and finding 2 matching shells was like giving birth to an ugly daughter and trying to marry her off. But I was feeling really really proud of myself... felt like a real colon capital D in the world of emoticons :D

I simply sandwich these with some melted bitter chocolate. And god how good these were!

As for those over baked ones, I had them with peanut butter instead.

First box of macarons in my life, on it's way to a New Year eve party!

Recipe wise, I used David Lebovitz's French Chocolate Macaron recipe. For a blue first timer like me, my pictures definitely helped to justify how reliable the recipe is. Can't wait to post up the next macaron post!

Crumb Shop Cheesecake sale!

The Crumb Shop Cheesecake Menu

Very Ribena Cheesecake 

Ribena flavored cheesecake, with malty disgestive crust. The perfect choice for kids and adults from the usual Cheesecake fare.

Ferreroche & Nutella Cheesecake : It may not be the prettiest among it's sisters but greed outwins everything. Ferreroche Cheesecake with blobs of Nutella. A total hit for people in love with the hazelnut and chocolate combo!

Classic Oreo Cheesecake

Digestive crust with layered cheesecake and oreo chunks. Classics are always beautiful!

 Bailey's & Nutella Cheesecake

One of Crumb Shop's proudest and best seller of all time. Baileys lovers will be excited to know how well the nutella goes in with the alcohol and cooling cheese flavor.

All cheesecake Bases are made with the usual digestive biscuits but we do offer the option of only oreo too. Suitable for vegetarians and one week advance as all orders are made to order. Please Send all orders to thecookiecrumb@hotmail.com :)

As I'm signing off from here, Here's wishing everyone a Happy New Year! May 2011 be a great year of blessings for everyone!

Love, Hugs and Chocolate Kisses,
The Crumb Shop