Custard Crisp biscuit

I've got this receipe in my to do list for the longest time. And every time, I would end up with something else in the bake, and its usually a cake.

However, today, I decided that its time to give my family members a 'deserving' break from my cakes. Or should I say, I was in no mood to bake a cake.

Instead, I worked my hands on baking this custard crisp biscuit.

The easy to follow steps to preparing the dough was a breeze. And if you love anything custardy, you would love the strong aroma of the baking custard, especially when it was almost ready to be out from the oven, ready for its show case, ready for thy bite.

As for the simple lines across the biscuit, it was formed from the use of just an ordinary fork 'impression'. Decent looking right?

Yupz, got thumbs up for this receipe.

Nice.

Receipe extract :

Plain flour 180g

Custard powder 150g

Baking powder 1/2 tsp

Butter 180g

Icing sugar 120g

Castor sugar 1 tbsp

Egg 1

Steps :

a. sift dry ingredients. set aside

b. cream butter & sugar until light and fluffy. beat egg in.

c. stir in dry ingredients. mix well.

d. with floured hands, shape dough into balls per tsp of dough

e. place on cookie tray, dip fork in flour, press down centre of each ball

f. bake for 15 mins @ 175 degrees celsius.

Pearl Barley Drink

The heat today is overbearing, even though it was windy. And after mopping the floor, (yes, housework to help out Mom once in a blue moon when I am not working), I was perspiring and out of breathe, yearning for a cooling drink.

Theres always something in the cupboard for me to uncover and there it is, a unopened can of pearl barley awaiting the 'grand opening'. Straight after a cool shower, I washed the barley seeds about four times till the water turns clear. Thereafter, I left the barley to soak in pot with hot water for about half an hour before I placed it on the stove to boil and simmer till the barley was softened. Added rock sugar to taste and after just half an hour, viola, a nice bowl of simple, homemade barley drink.

I much prefer to take the barley drink minus the barley itself. Some would compared it with taking chicken rice without the chicken. Its uncomparable I would declare. But Mom would have thought otherwise, you can imagine her outburst if she had seen me 'secretly' thrown away the barley after a bowl of the drink only.

No baking today coz hands too tired from the mopping.

Sour cream blueberry cake

Just last night, when I was browsing my blogpage, someone asked me the receipe for this cake and I directed her to the originator, Zu's quickneasy blogsite where I learnt this bake from.

That stirred my intent to bake this cake as well. With some sour cream balance in the fridge, I walked to the nearby NTUC to grab a punnet of blueberries. It is pricey at $5.95. How I envy those staying in countries where the berries (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries) being locally farmed are fresher, cheaper and in abundance. Wonder if I could cope with the 4 seasons. Winter chill....hmmm.... However, nothing beats the security and tropical island peace in our little red dot though. No place like home. Arh, woman.

The cake is moist and soft, like cheesecake, melting in the mouth. Nice.

Green Tea Winter Blossom Pastry

1st day of my leave and I am feeling restless. I had not made any travel plans as this was a last minute leave approval. And boy, my annual leave was hardly touched for this year. Madness is the term to describe my workaholic being.

Then again, nothing beats doing what I enjoy most, Baking.

With 500g of the green tea paste in the fridge, I decided on doing a green tea winter blossom pastry. Yes, mid autumn is just over, but I must say that this version is timeless cos its lovely shape which just wins thy sight. No one ruled that you can bake only during special occassions.

Yumz, the crispiness of the pastry with every bite. Yes, 3 are more well baked than the rest which are 'fair with tint of brown' from the egg yolk glazing comparatively. The contrast is obvious.

Mom behaves like a kid sometimes, peering and checking to see if the pastry is ready for her to savour. She is my biggest fan so far, I must admit. Mom loves this pastry. So do I.

Its simple and easy to master, trust me. If clumsy me can do it, anyone can too.

Fruit Pastry

Initially I had planned to go out shopping with my siblings today, a public holiday, {Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri to all Muslims }, and this year, it coincides with Children's Day too, {oh, Happy Children's Day to all kiddos out there!!}, i decided against the idea of shopping with them in Vivo City. I can imagine the crowd and the waiting time for car park slot as well. I do not enjoy been cooped in a non moving state

The first thought that came to mind was how to make the lovely 2 punnets of strawberries which I got from NTUC into a lovely cake.

1st thought was to make a strawberry marshmellow chilled cake. The ingredients were not readily available at the nearby NTUC. It was recently renovated and the stocks arrangement are not in full array.

Next immediate thought was the fruit pastry cake which was baked awhile back. Yes, I even bought kiwis to go along too.

Love this receipe very much. Simple and delightful.

Try it too and you will agree.

Cheers !

Lychee cake

I managed to steal time off to indulge in my passion last week.

And rather than baking lychee muffins, I made a round lychee cake instead. Tadah, this is my lychee cake. Can you see the bite size lychees on the surface and within the slice. The steps to this bake is easy and yes, you can find it in Jestina's blogpage, that was where I borrowed the receipe from.

Baking does help to make me forget the 'worldly' affairs and mindless 'work' . Nice way to destress and fill the thoughts with nothing but just to make a decent bake to please the palates.

Cool right ?