ANYONE UP FOR CREME BRULEE ? :)

Picture this: a really, really, REALLY soft, creamy pudding delighting your taste buds. Such a sweet treat it is. Originally invented in France, Crème Brulee literally means “burnt cream”- which it simply is. Similar to the traditional caramel pudding and Japanese ‘Purin’, what differs this dessert to them is that uses heavy cream and egg yolks rather than milk and whole eggs. Another difference is that Crème Brulee has a hardened caramelized part as topping- unlike the caramel pudding that has it on the bottom of the dessert. 

I had a pretty hard time finding the right recipe, until I found this Gordon Ramsay’s perfect Crème Brulee on the internet. I gotta say I do have some credibility issue when it comes to recipe browsing; after all, nobody wants to fail over the wrong recipes, right? So when Chef Ramsay’s appears on the search I immediately picked this one.

And it turned out GREAT- as expected. Everybody enjoyed this lovely French dessert.

Care to try some? Here is the recipe to get started. The recipe yields to 4 to 5 ramekins servings.

You’ll need:

•  300 ml double cream
• 130 ml milk
• 40g vanilla sugar
•  a pinch of salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 egg yolks
•  granulated sugar, to sprinkle for caramel topping

Steps:

1.  Heat the milk and cream until it is just about to boil, stirring in a dessertspoon of sugar and a pinch of salt. Allow them to cool.
2.  Lightly whisk together the remaining sugar, vanilla extract, and the yolks.
3. Reheat the cream until about to boil. Pour it into the yolks mixture and whisk it. Strain the mixture and pour into the ramekin dishes.
4. Fill a large roasting tin half full of boiling water. Put the ramekins in and bake at 80^o C for 10-15 minutes until just set.  
5. Allow to cool in the fridge.
6. Finally, dust the top with granulated sugar. Using a handy baking torch, burn the topping until it is caramelized. If you don’t have one, simply bake them again under upper heat of the oven for about 15 minutes or until the caramel appears.
7. Serve them warm, or chilled.  (Tastes better when chilled, of course!) 

MUSTARD-FILLED BITTERBALLENS

FINGER-LICKING SNACK TIME!

Well I gotta say, this is one out-of-the-theme post. Bitterballens are supposedly deep-fried snacks, not the oven-baked ones. But anyway, I feel like I need to post this, so... here we go.

I HAVE A THING FOR DUTCH FOOD, to begin with. They're rich and creamy, but somehow uniquely spicy. Bitterballens are one of my favourite Dutch food. They're relatively EASY to make, finger-lickin' good, and  are perfect for any occassion. 

Here is the recipe to these yummy treats :

Ingredients :

• 300gr minced meat
• 3 cloves of garlics, finely chopped (or grated, however you like it)
• 1 onion, finely chopped (you could use 6 shallots to substitute)
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter
• 120gr all-purpose flour, sieved
• 400ml heavy cream
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg powder
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp white granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp pepper (or more, however you like it)
• 50 gr grated Cheddar cheese
• 1 tsp Mustard
• a sprig of parsley, finely minced

For coating :

• 2 eggs, mixed
• 4 tbsp all-purpose flour
• Breadcrumbs

How-to :

1. Lightly toast the minced meat in a pan. No oil, butter, or water needed. You just want to get the meat done and get rid of the raw smell. Use small heat, and toast for about 5 minutes or until the meat is cooked through. Turn off the heat and set it aside.
2. In a medium sauce pan, add in the butter, saute the garlic and onion until perfectly golden brown and caramelized. 
3. Add the sieved flour to the pan. Mix well, try not to incorporate the flour without burning it. Use small heat to avoid it.
4. You can see that the mixture is now a bit lumpy. It is time to add in the heavy cream gradually to the mixture.
5. Add the toasted meat, nutmeg powder, grated cheese, mustard, and minced parsley
6. Add salt and pepper to taste.
7. Now that the batter is done, it is time to divide them to golf-ball-sized parts. However since the batter is still hot and is highly impossible to shape, you might want to set the batter aside to cool, or simply store it in the fridge for about 2 to 3 hours.
8. Having been chilled down, you can now shape them up. Take about 1 tbsp of the batter, make a golf-ball-sized part and set it aside. When all of the batter is perfectly shaped, store them in the fridge (again) and let cool for an hour. 
9. Now here comes the messy part. Coat the Bitterballens (dip in the eggs mixture first, followed by flour and finally breadcrumbs afterwards).
10. If you're in a hurry, you could immediately deep-fry these babies and serve them with chilli sauce. If you're not, you might want to store them in the fridge and fry 'em later.

PS : Bitterballens could only last for 3-4 days in the fridge. Don't store them too long or they'll flatten when fried. Happened to me a couple of days ago and I am sooo upset about it. :(

FEEL FREE TO TRY THIS UP. 

GOODLUCK! :D

MOIST CLASSIC FUDGE BROWNIE

Who hates brownie? 

Punch me in the face if I see any hands rise up. Yes, everyone LOVES this delightful, chocolatey cake. Having tasted so many brownies in town, I haven’t found anything that is similar to my mum’s classic brownie I used to eat in my childhood. Its moist texture and classic taste has always been a secret to discover. It’s a classic recipe, she said. Though it takes longer time and slightly different technique than the usual brownie, it’s really worth the try!

So what makes it different than any other brownie recipe? The answer lies in the ingredients and technique. If most brownie recipe uses milk, this one uses yoghurt. Why yoghurt? Turns out that yoghurt takes part in making moist brownie rather than milk. Another different ingredient is unsalted butter to replace vegetable oil in most recipes. The fat contained in butter helps softening the batter and builds a cake-like fluffy texture of the brownie.

Enough with the theory. I’m not a baking expert myself, so I’ll just move on to the making of this yummy brownie.   I tried making it today, and the result is just as perfect as expected! How crazy is that. The brownie tastes very chocolatey, not too sweet (the way I like it), aaaaaaaand moist as planned.

Never have I been so happy before (yeah, since most of my baking experiment always turns out to be disastrous), so I decided to share the recipe in this blog. Enjoy! :)

For this recipe, you’ll need :

• 100 grams of Cake Flour or All-Purpose Flour
• 3 ½   tablespoons of fine quality cocoa powder
• 60 grams of unsalted butter
• 150 grams of granulated or caster sugar
• ½ teaspoons of salt
• 1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder
•  2 whole eggs
• 125 cc of  low-fat plain or vanilla yoghurt
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• Chocolate sprinkles (optional)
• 20x20 cm mould.
• Electric mixer
• Preheated oven : 150 degree  C.

As I wrote before, there is a slightly different technique of making this brownie, right? Yep, it lies in the method. Unlike most brownie that uses a simple method (only a single manual whisk required) to mix all the dry and wet ingredients (vegetable oil and egg altogether) with a simple and quick stir, here we use a classic, time and energy-consuming method but worth the result.

Now, first thing you wanna do is beat the butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy using the mixer (takes for like half an hour). Then, add the eggs (one at a time), yoghurt, and vanilla extract until all is incorporated. Turn off the mixer. Add in the dry ingredients- the brownie mix (flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt). Stir the batter gently using rubber spatula until all is incorporated and less lumpy. 

Do not mix too hard unless you want a hard, rock-like brownie. When you’re done, pour the batter onto the butter-coated mould, add the chocolate sprinkles on the top, and put it in the preheated oven. Place it the center rack, and bake for approximately 45 minutes. When the time has elapsed, insert a tooth pick to see if it’s done. If not, bake for another 10 minutes. Wait for it to cool, and serve.

Bon appétit! ^,^

MAKING BREAD PUDDING FROM SCRATCH

One rainy afternoon and I was craving for some comfort food. Checked out the fridge, found nothing but milk, eggs, and some plain white breads (that have been there for nearly a week). Thank the cold temperature they didn't go stale whatsoever. These pitiful breads gave me the idea of making a humble bread pudding from scratch ,just like what my grandmother always does on a cold, rainy day.

Not exactly a comfort food, but you can say it really does give you a comfort sense to your buds. The combination of eggs, milk, breads, and some spicy Spekoek (i'm being fettish on it lately, LOL)  is just perfect and gives me warmth on a rainy afternoon. 

A really, REALLY, simple recipe is all that it takes :

Ingredients :

- A loaf of white bread  

- 1 cup milk

- 2 tablespoon condensed milk

- 4 eggs

- 1/2 cup white granulated sugar

- A pinch of salt (just to balance things up)

- 1 teaspoon Spekoek spice 

- 1 stick Cinnamon

- 4 pcs dried cloves

- Pandan leaves (not necessarily required, i just love using it on milk-based dessert recipes)

Directions :

1. Mix the eggs, sugar, and condensed milk until thoroughly combined.

2. Soak the shredded breads in the wet mixture

3. Add the salt, Spekoek spice, and Pandan leaves.

4. Butter the 20x 20 rectangle tempered-glass mould (I use Pyrex, they're the best)

5. Pour the whole batter into the mould

6. Arrange the cinnamon stick in the center of the batter, the cloves on the four sides of it, and the cut Pandan leaves on the surface (just to decorate it)

7. Bake the batter with au-bain-marie method for about 20 minutes in a 150 degree Celcius oven.

PS : You could simply steam the batter instead of baking it.The reason why I bake it is because the aroma of the batter would come out better when baked than steamed.

COMING FRESH FROM THE OVEN : WALNUT-TOPPED ONBITJKOEK!

One fine Sunday morning and I happened to find some left-over walnuts, palm sugar, and spekoek spices.

Voila! Here goes the classic, home-made Onbitjkoek. 

"An ontbijtkoek (literally translated breakfast cake) or peperkoek is a Dutch-Belgian spiced cake. Rye is its most important ingredient, coloring the cake a light brown. It is often spiced with cloves, cinnamon, ginger, succade and nutmeg. Several parts of the Netherlands have their own local recipe, of which the most famous is "Oudewijvenkoek" (old wives' cake) which is mostly eaten in the northern regions, and is flavored with aniseed. Ontbijtkoek is originally served at breakfast with a thick layer of butter on top, as a replacement for bread. However due to its sweet taste it is also served as a snack.

Originally called 'peperkoek' it was made from breadcrumbs and other left over bakery products stored in an attic.These ingredients were periodically collected and pressed to create the 'peperkoek' which was augmented with black pepper to conceal the age of the resulting thick bread, hence its name. Pepper being historically one of the most valuable Dutch East India Company trading products, it was used in many Dutch food products. "

This cake makes such an awesome breakfast and teatime companion, I tell you. 

Here is the worth-trying recipe : 

ingredients:

2 cups self rising flour
1/2 cup palm sugar (you can use brown sugar, alternatively)
1 cup milk

1 mixture of Spekoek spices, consisting of : 

1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 pinch salt

directions:

Combine all the ingredients to a smooth paste. Butter a rectangular 8" x 3" cake tin, fill with dough and bake about one hour in a slow oven (300 degrees F). When cooked, allow to cool and keep in a tin or in the bread-bin for 24 hour before serving. 

This cake keep moist when put in the bread-bin with the bread. The Dutch serve it with their "elevenses", buttered or on a slice of bread for breakfast.

ps : as for me, i'd love to sprinkle some roasted walnuts on the top of the dough before baking it. makes such a fine aroma to it. 

recipe source :http://www.cdkitchen.com  

and here is the final result! :)