Dark Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies

Coconut Red Bean Kuih

We're back from Israel!!! What a trip!!! Overwhelming and amazing in every way. Anyways, I haven't had time to really make anything since coming back, but here is what I made before I took off for the Holy Land.

I know it doesn't look very good, but it tasted gooooood. Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to eat it all before our trip so I froze it and when I came back it didn't taste the same :( Very disappointing. I adapted the recipe from my 12 layers of steamed Kuih.

Pandan Chiffon Cake II

After months of wanting a 7" chiffon cake pan, I finally ordered one off of Amazon, taking advantage of the free super saver shipping over $25 since I had to order random stuff for DS in preparation for our trip to Israel next week. Since Hubby doesn't like chiffon cakes, there is no reason for me to make a 10" one, a 7" chiffon cake is plenty for me to eat.

I give myself a big pat on the back for making this Chiffon Cake, turned out perfect :) Exactly what I was looking for, soft, spongy, airy, not too sweet, tasted much better than my first Pandan Chiffon Cake. The original recipe for this came from Baking Mum, but I've made quite a few changes. Chiffon cakes are not for everyone, most people would probably find it too bland and tasteless, but I really love this type of cake. I give this recipe 5 stars!! You'll be seeing more variations of chiffon cakes coming on my blog based off of this recipe.

Ingredients: 
(A)
1 tsp pandan paste
50 ml canola oil
100 ml coconut milk
Pinch of Salt
4 Egg Yolks
50g sugar

(B)
100g cake flour
1 tsp Baking Powder

(C)
5 egg whites
¼ tsp cream of tartar
50g sugar

Directions:
1. Mix (A) well using hand whisk.
2. Sift (B) and fold into mixture (A). Mix until smooth. Set aside.
3. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar at high speed until foamy. Add 50g sugar little at a time while
beating egg whites until stiff peaks form.
4. Add 1/3 beaten egg white to the yolk mixture and mix using a hand whisk.
5. Slowly fold in this mixture to the remaining 2/3 of beaten egg whites.
6. Pour mixture into an ungreased 18cm chiffon tin and bake at 325 degrees F (170 degrees C) for about 50mins.
7. Turn tin over on a cake rack to cool completely before loosening cake.

Osmanthus Red Bean Pudding

I've been collecting the right ingredients to make this for awhile. When we were in LA this past October, I bought agar agar stripes and dried Osmanthus. This recipe also called for gelatin sheets, but unfortunately I couldn't find any so I just substituted it with Knox gelatin powder. The taste of this is very interesting, not sure if I like it that much, but at least its pretty :)

Original recipe: Do What I Like

Ingredients:

Red bean layer:

280g red beans

400ml red bean water

60g rock candy

30g-40g caster sugar (I used regular granulated sugar)

20g gelatin sheets (I used 16g of Knox gelatin powder)

8g agar agar stripes (In my opinion this is optional although I did use it myself)

Directions:

1. Soak red beans overnight

2. Cook red beans until soft (be patient, takes at least 1 hour unless you have a pressure cooker). Drain and reserve 400ml red bean water for later use.

3. Wash and cut agar agar stripes into small pieces, soak in water until soft.

4. Add rock candy, sugar, and softened agar agar stripes into red bean water and cook until agar agar stripes dissolve. Add in gelatin and drained red beans, stir to mix well.

5. pour mixture into a 15cm x 15cm x 6cm tray and chill in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before topping it with Osmanthus layer.

Osmanthus Layer:

1 1/2 tablespoon Osmanthus

300ml water

80g rock candy

25g-30g caster sugar (I used regular granulated sugar)

15g gelatin sheets (I used 16g of Knox gelatin powder)

Directions:

1. Cook Osmanthus with rock candy and sugar in 300ml water until rock candy dissolves and the aroma from the Osmanthus is released.

2. Stir in the softened gelatin till well mixed. Leave aside to cool to room temperature.

3. Pour cooled Osmanthus mixture into the chilled red bean layer and refrigerate until set.

Steamed Taro Cake

I've been wanting to try this recipe for a long long time, but never had a chance to buy taro. Right before Christmas my mom stopped by and happened to bring over a huge taro, now I had no excuse to not try out this recipe.

I attempted this recipe twice. The first time, I made a huge boo boo. The original recipe called for corn flour, which they actually meant corn starch. Well, I guess in Asia there is no corn flour, only corn starch because the difference between the two in the U.S. is HUGE. It wasn't until it turned out weird that I started reading the commentaries and realized what a mistake I made. I finally tried it again yesterday using corn starch and it turned out much better. I simplified the recipe by quite a bit for my own sanity and also for the fact that I didn't know what they were or where to buy them. I don't think I'll be making this again, I liked it, just didn't love it. I was also disappointed that my taro didn't turn out purple :(

Original Recipe: Do What I Like
Ingredients:
(A)
220g rice flour
250g corn starch
500ml water

(B)
5 tbsp corn oil
800g-850g taro, cubed

Seasoning A:
1 tsp chicken powder
1 tsp five-spice powder
2 tsp salt
0.5 tsp white pepper
600ml water

Seasoning B:
1 tablespoon Chinese wine
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon light soy sauce

Directions:
1. Mix (A) together until smooth. Set aside for later use.
2. Add corn oil to heated pan, stir fry taro cubes and seasoning A until well combined. Add in water and seasoning B and let it simmer until bubbling hot. Reduce heat to low.
3. Stir flour mixture with a whisk until smooth then add this to taro mixture. Cook till thicken.
4. Pour everything into a well greased 8 inch round pan and smooth the top.
5. Steam on high for 45 minutes.

Parmesan Tuiles

Instead of going to church, I stayed at home and made these instead, I know I'm terrible. When Hubby is not home and the roads are icy and slippery, my motivation to leave the house is below zero. These are so easy and fun to make. Takes literally 10 minutes.

original recipe from The Urban Spork
Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups of fresh Parmesan cheese, grated

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Spoon small mounds of cheese onto baking sheets and flatten them into rounds using the back of a spoon. Be sure to leave plenty of room between each mound, as the cheese will spread when it melts.
3. Bake the Parmesan for about 5 minutes, until golden. Remove from the oven and leave on the baking sheets for a minute or so to firm up. Using a spatula, remove the tuiles carefully from the paper, curl them over a rolling pin until set. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

Makes about 10.

Broken Glass Jello

Fun colorful and pretty desserts are my favorite to make. Enjoy this one as it is easy as cake to make.

Ingredients:
4 small (3oz.) boxes of Jello, different colors
1 can sweetened condensed milk (I used Eagle brand)
2 envelopes of unflavored gelatin (I used Knox Gelatin)

Directions:
1. Dissolve each box of Jello separately into one cup of hot or boiling water and pour into individual containers and chill overnight (I chilled for 3 hours). 
2. In a separate bowl, dissolve 2 envelopes of unflavored gelatin in 1/4 cup of cold water. Add dissolved gelatin to 1 3/4 cup hot water and condensed milk. Cool.
3. Cut the 4 flavors of Jello into small blocks. Mix together carefully in a 9x13 pan.
4. Pour cooled condensed milk mixture over Jello and chill overnight.