papaya smoothie

refreshing drink

banana chocolate chiffon cake

Ingredients [A]
> 4 egg yolks
> 50g corn oil
> 25g milk
> 80g bananas (mashed)
> 80g Cake Flour (sieved)

Ingredients [B] 
> 4 egg whites
> 70g castor sugar

Ingredient [C] 
1 tbsp cocoa powder and 1 tbsp hot water, mixed, to be used later.

Method
[1]  Sieve cake flour and set aside.
[2]  Mix Ingredients [A] - beat egg yolk and corn oil, pour in milk, mix in mashed banana.
[3]  Lastly add in cake flour and mix with a mixer.
[4]  Beat Ingredients [B] till stiff.[5]  Remove one third of the white batter to mix into the yolk batter, fold.
[6]  Mix in the rest of the white batter and fold.
[7]  Take half of the mixed batter and add in cocoa mix.
[8]  Pour banana batter in an 18" chiffon mould.  Tap pan lightly to get rid of trapped air bubbles.
[9]  Add in cocoa batter, with a chopstick or knife, move around the batter in circles. 
[10]  After preheating oven, bake at 170°C for approximately 30-35 minutes.
[11]  Invert the pan immediately and let it cool completely before serving.

banana oatmeal raisin muffins

After making Banana Oatmeal Almond Cookies, a friend suggested that I try Banana Oatmeal Raisin Muffins.  She said that it is very yummy and asked me to look up the internet.  I followed this recipe, I found in Rasa Malaysia website.
Ingredients
> 1/2 cup (80g) raisins 
> 1 tbsp water
Bowl A
> 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour 
> 1 tsp baking powder 
> 1/4 tsp baking soda 
> 1/4 tsp salt 
> 1/2 cup brown sugar
Bowl B
> 1/2 cup quick oats + extra for topping 
> 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp milk 
Bowl C
> 1 large egg
> 1/2 cup vegetable oil
> 2 over ripe bananas, mashed
Method
[1]  Soak raisins with 1 tbsp of water and chill for 2-3 hours.
[2]  When raisins are ready, remove from refrigerator, squeeze dry and pat with paper towel.
[3]  Preheat oven to 190 180°C.  Line a 12 muffins/cupcakes baking pan.
[4]  Bowl A:
Sieve flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a bowl. 
Add in brown sugar, whisk to mix the dry ingredients together and set aside.
[5]  Bowl B:  Combine quick oats and milk together.  Set aside.
[6]  Bowl C:
Beat egg.  Add in vegetable oil and beat to incorporate.
Add in mashed banana and mix well.
[7]  Make a well in the center of Bowl A and pour in Bowl C.
[8]  Use a spatula to fold the flour into the center until all combined with no traces of flour.
[9]  Next, fold in Bowl B.  Add raisins and fold a few more times.  Do not over mix.
[10]  Spoon batter into muffin tray until 75%-80% full.  Sprinkle some oats on top.
[11]  Bake at 190 180°C for 10 minutes.
[12]  Then reduce temperature to 180 170°C for another 8-10 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center come out clean.
[13]  Transfer muffins to wire rack to cool completely before storing the muffins in air tight containers.

banana oatmeal almond cookies

There were 2 combs of ripe bananas in the house.  I had been making quite a number of times of steamed banana cakes and wanted to make something different with these bananas.  I browsed through Allrecipes.com and found this Banana Cookies, which is quite easy to make.

Ingredients
> 1/3 cup shortening
> 1 cup white sugar
> 2 eggs
> 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
> 1/4 tsp lemon extract
> 3 ripe bananas, mashed
> 1/2 cup ground walnuts almonds 
> 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 
>  2  1 tsp baking powder
> 1/2 tsp salt 
> 1 cup oats

Method
[1]  Preheat oven to 175 170°C.  Lightly grease or line baking sheets with parchment paper. 
[2]  In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugar.
[3]  Beat in the eggs, vanilla and lemon extract.
[4]  Beat in bananas and the nuts.
[5]  Gradually add in flour, baking powder and salt.
[6]  Drop the dough by spoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets.
[7]  Bake at 175 170°C for 12 to 15 minutes or until lightly coloured.
[8]  Transfer to wire racks to cool.

Recipe courtesy of allrecipes.com

steamed banana cake

Min loves doing this... mashing the bananas!

Ingredients
> 500g ripen bananas ('pisang berangan')
> 250g 125g castor sugar 
> 250g low protein flour (sieved) 
> 2 tsp baking soda 
> 2 tsp baking powder
>  1  1/2 tsp cinnamon powder (optional) 
> 1 tsp banana essence
> 150ml less than 70ml corn oil 


Method
[1]  Mash bananas in a big bowl.
[2]  Add in baking soda, mix well and leave aside for 1 hour to leaven.
[3]  Add in castor sugar and stir a little.
[4]  Add in other ingredients (low protein flour, baking powder, cinnamon powder, banana essence).
[5]  Mix well and leave aside for another 1 hour.
[6]  Lastly add in corn oil.  Fold well and rest for 10 minutes.
[7]  Spoon into small moulds lined with paper cups.
[8]  Steam cake for 15 minutes.

For this cake (8" square), steaming time is about 45 minutes

crackle cakes

What to make for the kids' school Children's Day class party?  Flipped through this book (Cupcakes & Muffins by Nancy Lambert) that I bought back in 2009 when I first learned baking.  Hmmm... this looks cute... I halved the sugar amount and it turned out quite nice.  :-)   We may use cornflakes or crisped rice to make these little cakes crackle.
 
Ingredients
> 100g 50g sugar
> 100g butter
>  8  4 tbsp cocoa
>  4  2 tbsp golden syrup or honey
> 100g cornflakes
> coloured chocolate drops to decorate

Method
[1]  Put sugar, butter, cocoa and golden syrup or honey into a pan over low heat.
[2]  Stir until the ingredients have melted.
[3]  Remove pan from heat.
[4]  Stir cornflakes into the mixture until they are completely coated.
[5]  Spoon a little of the mixture into small paper cup cases.
[6]  Top each crackle cake with a coloured chocolate drop and leave them to set.

reminder to self

A reminder to self to always allow my girls time to explore, to play, to learn... 

    

Picture courtesy of Childhood 101

homemade paint

Recipe courtesy of Cool Gadgets Concept
1 cup salt;
1 cup flour;
1 cup water; and
some food colouring.

Mix them well and I managed to keep my girls buzy for nearly half a day.

The dough made from what the recipe suggested here is a bit difficult for the kids little hands to mix.  Therefore, I am suggesting instead of using "cup", maybe I can change it to "tbsp".

I would also suggest using warm water, as the salt did not dissolve well and we can feel it in the paint.

Until my next round of homemade paint.

vegetarian apple & carrot cake

I wanted to try baking this Vegetarian Apple & Carrot Cake and if it is a success, it will be my next Chinese New Year cake.  It is the family's tradition to observe vegetarian diet on the 1st day of Chinese New Year.

Ingredients [A]
> 180g margarine/butter 
> 1 tbsp golden syrup
> 100g 50g castor sugar

Ingredients [B] 
150g green apple slices, mixed with
100g sliced carrot and 1/2 cup water,
cooked till soft and blended finely

Ingredients [C] 
> 200g self-raising flour
> 1/4 tsp mixed spice
> 40g ground almond
> 100g raisins, chopped
> 1 tsp grated lemon peel

Method
[1]  Greased and lined a 20cm/8" square baking tin.
[2]  Beat Ingredients [A] till light and fluffy.
[3]  Add in Ingredients [B] and mix well.
[4]  Lastly add in Ingredients [C] and mix till well-combined.
[5]  Pour mixture into baking tin.
[6]  Bake at 170 160°C for 35-40 minutes or till golden brown and cooked.
[7]  Remove, leave to cool and cut into pieces. 

Recipe courtesy of Agnes Chang, Baking Made Easy