Back to basics

It's been a while since I posted anything but here you go....

I'm lazy to type but this OLD FASHIONED STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE can make anyone's day.

It certainly made mine :)

Shortbread anyone?

So I was gonna meet a bunch of my friends one night and decided to kill time in the afternoon by baking Cranberry Shortbread for them.

It turned out sweet tasting and super duper buttery....I mean shortbreads are meant to be buttery after all. My fav shortbreads are those from Walkers or Marks and Spencers. But I hardly eat shortbreads actually....maybe twice a year or so. I don't usually buy them, I prefer to indulge in cakes and breads :)

Anyway, so I packed them in individual mini bags (from Daiso - cute!) and off I went to spread the love.




With Christmas around the period, I need to get started on baking more stuff for my friends....I should start finding some "Christmassy" recipes :) hmm...or I could always make my brownies for them, Becky lurves my brownies....but I havent made them in a long long long time!

What is your ultimate dessert for Christmas? I have tons! But I guess if I must choose, it would be my mum's or aunty audrey's trifle :) I know I would get to taste that only on Christmas Day!

We have a winner!

"We have a winner!" that's the first words which came out of my mum's mouth when she tried this. The Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bar is one recipe which will be on the top of my list for the time being. It's SUPER easy to make and it's chewy texture tastes like brownies!!!

I baked a new batch last night for my girlfriends but I realised I didnt have eggs! But I still carried on baking the without the egg and it turned out perfectly fine too! Less chewy and more crumbly but still good. I used wholemeal flour instead of white flour too and it still tasted wicked. But the recipe calls for 1/2 cup of white sugar and 1/2 cup of brown sugar, I used 1 cup of brown sugar instead and I feel 1 cup is still alot. I shall use lesser sugar the next time round.

Delish I tell ya.

Lemony Snickets!

Was looking through my recipes and I came across this Lemon Loaf and it's simplicity attracted me so I decided to bake it. It's not exactly a loaf but it's baked in a loaf pan so it's called loaf. I added cranberries to the loaf cake and with it's lemon glaze, it tasted perfect.

This Cranberry Lemon Loaf with lemon glaze is definately a keeper.

Perfect on a sunday with english tea and a good book. Basically it's so simple, just butter, flour, grated lemon zest, lemon juice etc...

Be tempted.

Wake up and smell the Coffee

I love coffee. The smell...the taste....the fact that coffee can be used to make/bake/brew so many different kinds of stuff, I simply adore coffee.

Was busy with work the past weeks so I didnt have time to post up any of my recent bakes but this is one of them....

I call it the Coffee Love Cake.

It's so simple to bake that it took me less than an hour to prepare, mix and put it in the oven.

The icing is the easiest! Icing sugar, Coffee essence (or Coffee powder/ granules), Butter etc...

The texture is soft and oh so yummilious light! It's good!

Only thing is I only had one slice and it was gone the next night.

My obsession with berries...lead to this muffin

A simple muffin recipe. Oatmeal Blueberry Muffin. I decided to try the recipe because I was attracted to it by it's "healthy" ingredients....

Made mostly of oats, brown sugar, flour and loads of blueberries! It doesn't taste like a regular muffin, it's more clumped together and not as cakey....

As you can tell by now, I'm so in love with berries! I just can't get enough of them :)

be tempted.

Surprising Sunday (Part two!)

So after baking the Strawberry and Apple Pie Crumble, I decided to bake some more! Hence, it was a double baking day. I decided to make Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies and the recipe I used turned out to be the BEST Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie ever!

Everyone loved it so much that there's only a few left today....

The texture is OH SO chewy and delish! I used Hershey's semi-sweet chocolate chips and a generous amount of it too! I can't stand those cookies selling outside where the chocolate chips are so miserably little....I cant believe this recipe turned out perfecto and I can't wait till I have the time to bake more of them for my friends to try!


be tempted.

Surprising Sunday (Part one!)

Yesterday was a great day. I didnt expect myself to be in a double baking mood! Firstly, I decided to make a simple Strawberry Pie Crumble and since I had extra pie crust, I made an Apple Pie Crumble too. I figured since I had apples in my fridge, I didnt wanna waste them....

The pie crust I made is a healthier version. Made up of oats, flour, brown sugar and a hint of cinnamon. After pressing the crust against my casserole dish, I poured my prepared fruits onto the crust. I coat my fruits with sugar, honey and flour and more cinnamon powder. I added some strawberry jam on the crust for the Strawberry Pie Crumble as well.

Somehow, cinnamon always enhances the flavour of desserts like these. Then I top my fruits with my crumble mix...the crumble is really simple. Made of oats, sugar, flour and milk.

Pop it into the oven and bake for an hour or till you see the fruit bubbling....once done, cool it down and serve with ice-cream.



My friends who came over for dinner left with a smiling and satisfied tummy.

be tempted.

O where art thou are the nice cupcakes?

So the girls and I decided to go to this really nice cafe which we all love the different kinds of cupcakes they have.

It's Paisley and Cream located at Central @ Clarke Quay. We really like this cafe because the interior is nicely decorated in a chic french style with pictures of Audrey Hepburn lining against the wall and the last time we tried the cupcakes, they were moist and 75% satisfying.

BUT not this time...we went a couple of weeks ago and the cupcake turned out dry, too crumbly and I have to say a little bland too.

We ordered our all time favourite the Toberone Cupcake and a classic vanilla cupcake. However, both were dry and like I said, didnt taste as good as we remembered.

Props goes to presentation though....

What I think:

Paisley & Cream cupcakes - 6/10

Cookies anyone?

I always love oatmeal...the smell of it smells like comfort food...I love oatmeal and I love berries so what a better way to satisfy my baking dilemma then to bake Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies.

It's so simple to make and it turned out soft and delicious! You can actually use any alternative dried berry instead of cranberries. I wanted to use raisins but had more cranberries at hand so I decided not to waste them and used them instead...

The cranberries add a nice sweet flavour to the cookies. I used brown sugar as well so it's more fragrant and a teeny bit "healthier" too! At first I thought the cookies will harden through time but my cookies remained soft and delicious! I read in a few places that if you want your cookies to remain soft, put a slice of bread with the cookies but make sure the bread doesnt touch the cookies. I dont know if it works but I will try it one day and let you guys know ok!

be tempted.

Berry goodness

I lurve custard ever since I was a young girl. And I absolutely love berries too. Any kind of berries! Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries....unfortunately, raspberries are rather expensive here in Singapore so it's best to get blueberries as an alternative to any berry dessert.

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon so I decided to make Oatmeal Blueberry Custurd Trifle. It's so simple and hassle free. My family loved them and it makes a very nice dessert. Not exactly that fattening too because I'm quite the health freak myself.

I made a simple fuss-free vanilla pound cake the day before so I used the cake as the base then I poured vanilla custard over the cake, then I placed blueberries on top of the custard and I reapeated the steps again. I topped it off with crushed granola bar and more blueberries. It's delish and really a comfort food. It takes less than 10 mins to make.

Oatmeal Blueberry Custard Trifle

Ingredients:

Any type of plain cake (Chiffon cake works best)

2/3 cup of Blueberries (You can use any sort of berries too)

Vanilla custard

4 Granola Bars or any oatmeal biscuits (Hobnobs are good too)

*Makes about 6 small bowls


be tempted.