Durian Snowskin Mooncake

Making mooncakes, contrary to what most people think, is not difficult. The pretty, exotic molds lend a wow factor which belies the simplicity of the modern day process of making this traditional celebratory pastry. Modern day accessibility allows one to purchase a myriad of ready made lotus paste in a wide array of exotic flavours. I don't believe I know of anyone who would cook their own lotus paste from scratch, a process that entails long arduous  continuous stirring over a boiling cauldron....

Compared to the traditional baked mooncake, the Snow Skin Mooncake is even more beginner friendly. Not requiring baking of any sort, the process only involves mixing of cooked glutinous flour (store bought), sugar and shortening before wrapping this dough with the ready made filling. To be honest, I have never been a big fan of the Snow Skin Mooncake and am even a lesser fan of it now that I realise that it involves the mixing of uncooked shortening.... However, the snow skin wrapping does open up  possibilities for more intriguing flavour combination, something that is less rich. I have always for example wondered about the Mango Pomelo mousse like filling in Goodwood Park Hotel's creation. This year, they have even introduced a new Lychee With Lime Marshmallow flavour.


For me, the Durian Mooncake will always be associated with Goodwood Park Hotel.  They have made it wildly popular more than 10 years ago. Though some better ones have been offered by other bakeries, the Goodwood Park durian mooncake will always have a special position among the durian mooncake lovers.




I have no idea how the durian mooncake is being made but was game to give it a go. Working with 100% pure durian pulp, I cooked this first over fire to remove as much moisture as possible.  Next, I tried to semi freeze the portioned durian pulp in the fridge before wrapping them. I have to concede, this is not easy. I had trouble with the degree of firmness of the frozen pulp - it can neither be too hard nor too soft. Then the snow skin poses another problem - it has to be just malleable enough to ensure that the skin does not break or crack during the wrapping process. I made a batch of dough but was only able to get 4-5 decent looking mooncakes. (the recipe should yield 20!)  I doubt that I am doing it right but at least I have a couple to show off...  So if you have any good tips to make these, please do share.

I am submitting this entry to Aspiring Bakers #11: Mid-Autumn Treats (September 2011) hosted by Happy Home Baker.



Recipe :
Dough
150g         Fried glutinous rice flour
200g         Icing sugar
65g           Shortening
150g         Cold Drinking water

Filling
250g         100% Durian Pulp
7g             Sugar

Method :
Filling 
1. Cook durian pulp in a heavy bottom saucepan until boiling. Add sugar and stir until it is completely dissolved and relatively dry.
Cool down to room temperature. Portion into 50g portions and freeze.

Dough
1. Sift all dry ingredients together. Add shortening and mix well with the dry ingredients.
2. Add water gradually to the flour and mix to form a dough.
3. Leave the dough to 'proof' for 20mins.
4. Portion out the dough into 30g portion. Flatten and wrap a 50g portion of the durian pulp. Press with mooncake mold and store in freezer.
5. Defrost before consuming.

Lime Thyme Cream Phyllo Cones - Easy Dessert Recipe

Let's be absolutely honest and not pretend to be lofty about it - when we cook, we cook to please others... We revel in the sense of pride and achievement when the ones we feed manifest delight over what we serve them. Well, luckily for most of us (food bloggers like us, anyway...) we actually find delight in cooking and pleasing our audience. So in the end, the endeavour is quite a win-win for both parties actually... wait a minute, I need to tag a little asterisk to that... provided the audience is appreciative.

The urge to please motivates the cook to constantly look for exciting and delicious recipes... and once in a while, impressive good food can run contrary to the general impression that 'good food is trouble'...
I picked up this recipe almost 10 years ago at a company team building cooking event. I was given the task of creating this dessert dish which eventually went on to become the unofficial winner of the meal. It was the first time I marinated strawberries with balsamic vinegar and I recall creasing my brows in sceptism as I read through the recipe then. It was also the first time I infused cream with a herb like thyme and I believe it was possibly also my first time having a working experience with those flimsy phyllo sheets. Yes, I was a late bloomer when it comes to pastry... The flavours, I recall, were so subtly elegant and the presentation with the phyllo nests ( I modify it to a cone here), so gourmet that I almost believed that I have some innate talent for baking.

And...wait for it.... the recipe is really easy to follow.  Utterly accessible and feasible for home cooks of all abilities!
Doubt not and hesitate not - get into the kitchen and start cooking!


Recipe :

Lime Cream :
2 cups cream
4 sprigs thyme
1/2 cup sugar, castor
5 tbsp lime juice

Marinated Strawberries:
1 punnet strawberries
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp castor sugar

Phyllo Cones :
6 sheets phyllo pastry
2 tbsp clarified butter

Method :
1. Heat cream and bring to boil. Remove from heat and put in thyme sprigs to infuse for 20mins
2. Remove thyme. Return to heat ad bring back to boil. Add sugar and let simmer for 3-4 mins.
3. Take off heat and stir in lime juice. Chill in fridge for 2 hours.
4. Dice strawberries and sprinkle sugar and balsamic vinegar tover it.
5. Allow to marinate for minimum 30mins.
6. Butter 3 sheets of phyllo, layer on top of each other, then cut to rectangles. Wrap them around butter cone molds and bake in over at 180C for about 10mins or until brown.  (Alternatively, cut sheets into 4 inch squares and press these squares into lightly greased small muffin tins.

Assembly :
1. Pipe or spoon Lime thyme cream into phyllo cases. Top with marinated strawberries and serve immediately.

Pierre Herme's Sable a L'olive Noir Recipe - Black Olive Cookies Recipe

I have often been told that I look young for my age and because of that, I have always celebrated it to almost the extent of flaunting it...on many occasions, telling people that I am almost half a century old - which is really, not too far from the truth. I guess everyone, especially those from the fairer sex would be happy to look younger. However, sometimes, working in a male-dominated industry, to look like you've just graduated from college can often work against you. However,over the years, I have also learnt that as much as appearance can set a formative impression in others, what is often more important is the first conservations you hold with the other party. It is when you speak that you can either affirm or overturn their prejudice. It is from that point onwards that credibility gets a chance to build and gradually be allowed to develop into something bigger, such as respect. I am, as you can see, still on the Pierre Herme trail. Referencing from his book, Le Livre des fours sees et melleux de Pierre Herme which gave me the Sable Viennois, I found many other interesting but simple recipes. It is amazing how once satisfaction has been delivered, trust follows - almost unconditionally.

This is another Sable recipe but is based on a technique that I have never worked before. Different from Sable Viennois which uses egg white or the more common ones that uses wet egg/egg yolk, this recipe works with cooked egg yolk. The egg yolk is cooked fully and mashed up into fine crumbs. A small quantity of this is then added to the creamed butter.
I understand that this is not an unique methology but for me this is new and I was suitably intrigued.

The texture of the cookie is totally unlike the shortbread which is more compact and crumbly in a melty sort of way. It is neither the same as the Sable Viennois, the crispness of which has a more airy quality to it. This cookie is crisp with an light crumbly snap. It was magical and my immediate impulse was to create a chocolate chip version next time.


The other reason that drew me to the cookie was the incorporation of Black Olives and EVO in the recipe. A more adult and sophisticated taste, this is perfect for those who prefer a savoury cookie to the usual sweet ones.

I can't be more pleased to add this to my cookie repertoire. I will never look at cookies in the same way again.


Recipe :
5g Cooked Egg Yolk(Cooked & passed through a fine mesh)
65g Unsalted butter
2g Fleur de Sel
35g Powder sugar
25g EVO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
15g Corn Flour
80g Plain flour
25g Black Olives in Oil (finely minced)

Method :
1. Preheat oven to 170C (fan assisted mode)
2. Lightly beat an egg yolk and microwave at high for 30secs until cooked. (if you don't have a MW oven, you can hard boil your egg and remove the egg yolk from the hard boiled egg)
3. While the egg yolk is still warm, press it through a fine mesh.
4. In a mixing bowl, whisk together, softened butter, Fleur de Sel until creamy.  Add powdered sugar and cream until homogenous.
5. Lower the mixing speed and gradually add in the EVO.
6. Add in sifted plain flour and corn flour.
7. Fold in minced black olives.
8. Roll out dough between 2 sheets of cling wrap to 0.6-0.8cm thick. (Alternatively, you can roll the dough into a log)
9. Refrigerate to firm.
10. Cut dough using cookie cutter or slice log with a knife.
11. Bake at 170C for 12 minutes until brown.

Expanding on Pierre Hermes' Sable Vennois Recipe - Sugared Danish Butter Cookies

As much as I admire gourmet flavours and sophisticated recipes, I know I am not a good cook. I have neither the skills, the experience nor the deftness to create intricate and sophisticated dishes. Unlike full time housewives tasked with enormous responsibilities and with loads of practical experience stashed under their belts, I am at best, only pretending to cook in my kitchen. However, I would also admit that I like my food to make me look like a good cook... hence my quest and my penchant for 'simple gourmet recipes' that taste great and pack a punch of  wow...

If you are rolling your eyes now at the sight of yet another sable vennois post, sorry dear... this is my blog, I cook and I post what I like. I had liked how the sables tasted and I had felt gratified by the way these had resonated with many. Until recently, I had never thought that having someone read my post and attempt my shared recipe with raving success could be so rewarding and satisfying. I now realise I had underestimated the power of sharing. To all those who had recently tried the recipes in the last few posts, thank you for sharing your satisfaction with me - they had really made my day...

There is something magical about this recipe and I am determined to create the full collection in the very popular blue tin. This is an easily identifiable shape... I don't remember seeing cookies that come in this 'pretzel' shape except for those in the Danish Butter Cookie Tin. I bought the cookie cutter years ago and have never used it. Now that I have found the right recipe for it, I just can't wait.

In the previous posts, the cookie dough was piped from a piping bag. For ths creation, I have chosen to roll out the soft dough into a sheet, chill it to firm before cutting with the cookie cutter. Straight forward approach that does not require a nobel prize winning scientist to figure out but sometimes, we are too fixated with a recipe and just need a little nudge to move things out of the box.... in my case, the nudge came in the form of this twisted cookie cutter :) .

There is another advantage in shaping the dough this way - the thicker slice actually made the cookie less delicate to store and transport. Many would remember the pretzel shaped variety in the blue tin came crusted with grainy sugar. My sugar is not coarse enough to create the same effect but the slight crunch from the grains nevertheless added good texture to the cookie. To be honest, out of the 4-5 varieties normally encased in the blue tin, the sugar crusted versions were my least favourite. The ones that would run out first would always be the plain round wreaths (like what I made the last time), followed by the coconut raisin cookie...  So stay tuned - if I succeed in my experiment with the coconut raisin butter cookie, I would technically have the full range from the Blue Cookie Tin... :)  So - which is your favourite variety from the blue tin?

Recipe :
95g               Unsalted Butter
1g                 Fleur de Sel
1/8 tsp          Vanilla paste (the recipe originally asked for 2-3 pinches of Vanilla powder)
40g               Powdered Sugar
15g               Egg White
115g             All purpose flour
Method :
1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk unsalte butter with Fleur de Sel until creamy.
3. Add in powdered sugar and whisk until homogenous and creamy.
4. Add in egg white. ( The mixture may curdle a little but it will smoothen out after flour is added.
5. Add in flour and mix until well combined.
6. Roll the dough in between 2 sheets of plastic to 0.3cm thick. Chill in the fridge for 30mins or more. Cut the dough into desired shapes using a cookie cutter. Sprinkle with coarse grain sugar.
7. Bake at 180C for 10 -12 mins or until golden brown.
8. Cool down and store in air tight container.

Caramel Tiger Almond Cookies

It all started with the bottle of Dulce de Leche which Gertrude of My Kitchen Snippets gave me in New York. I tweeted that I was looking for something to bake with the Caramel and that led to a tweeting marathone debating if Dulce de Leche and Caramel (cream based) are the same thing.

I have always made my Caramel by adding cream and butter to a boiling sugar syrup and when I started to see many fellow bloggers raving about the process of making Dulce de Leche with sweetened condensed milk in a can, I recall simply dismissing it as just another novel way of making caramel.

When Gertrude gave me the bottle, she had told me that she was a little amused that so many bloggers in Malaysia and Singapore are crazy about making Dulce de Leche and that I should try this original one from Argentina. I recall feeling a little confused at that point - not understanding why she had said that the original version is from Argentina. Later as I pondered, it started to make a little more sense. Dulce de Leche, is after all, the Spanish term for Milk Candy and it is completely probable that the term should have originated from a Spanish speaking/ influenced region. In fact, the first Dulce de Leche I tasted was from Mexico - made with goat's milk, it had a goaty smell which I have not learnt to appreciate.

Many years later, when I learnt to make my own cream based caramel, I started to use the terms Caramel and Dulce de Leche interchangeably.... though I have to admit that Dulce de Leche does sound so much more exotic, myseterious and... gourmet. The process of making Dulce de Leche, which involves cooking and reducing a mixture of sugar and milk until the sugar caramelises, is basic and straight forward.  Caramel cream, on the other hand calls for caramelising the sugar in water first before the milk component is added. To give it more body and smoothness, butter is often also added.  To me both methods have the same essential components. Milk, after all is more than 80% water and less than 20% milk solids while cream, is just a version of milk that is higher in butter fat content. What differs is the process and my personal preference is the second method which gives me more control over how the sugar caramelises and absolves me from having to deal with curdling boiling milk.

Back to the bottle of Dulce de Leche from Argentina. Truly sensational in its balance of sweetness and body. It conjured up images of  happy children.... and Quality Street's old-world-cellophane wrapped fudgy toffees....



I found this cookie recipe in Tish Boyle's The Good Cookie (yes, again!). A very short almond based cookie, this is another keeper. I would be most content eating the cookie by itself with tea or coffee. Sandwiching and drizzling it with the silky smooth Dulce de Leche just elevated the indulgence to an even more gratifying level.

So thank you, Gert, for the sweet gift. I am looking forward to making more delicious treats with it!


Recipe : (Adapted from Tish Boyle's The Good Cookie)

Almond Cookies
1/2 cup            Almond meal
1.5 cups          All purpose flour
1/2 cup           Corn starch
1/8 tsp            Salt
225g               Butter softened
1/4 cup           Castor sugar
1/4 cup           Powdered sugar
1/4 tsp            Almond extract

Caramel Filling
3/4 cup           Granulated sugar
3 tbsp             water
1/3 cup           Heavy cream
2 tbsp             Unsalted butter
Pinch of salt

Method :
1. Mix almond meal, corn starch, salt and flour together in a bowl.
2. In a cake mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar together until light in texture. (about 2 mins)
3. Add in almond extract. Lower mixing speed to low and add in flour mixture.
4. Scrape the dough onto a plastic food wrap. Flatten to form a disk and refrigerate for 2 hours.
5. Preheat oven to 175C.
6. Roll out dough to 1/8" thick and cut out cookie using a 1.5 inch fluted round cookie cutter. Using a 3/4" round cookie cutter, cut out the center of half of the cookies. Refrigerate for 5-15 mins if dough becomes too soft.  ( I used a Linzer cookie cutter which makes it easier)
7. Bake cookies at 175C for 12 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and cool completely.

Assemble :
1. Spread Dulce de Leche / Caramel on to cookie and sandwich with another piece of cookie with the cut out center.
2. Placing some Dulce de Leche/ Caramel into a piping bag, cut a small hole at the tip of the bag and pipe drizzles of the caramel over the cookie.

Caramel

1. In a small heavy saucepan, place sugar and water and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves.  Increase heat to high and cook without stirring and occasionally brushing down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush until the syrup caramelizes and turn into a golden amber colour (about 4 minutes).

2. REmove the pan from the heat and carefully add in the heavy cream. Stir the bubbling mixture until smooth. Stir in butter and salt until the butter is melted. Cool caramel down until it is thick enough to spread.

Lemon Curd Bites - Experimenting With Meyer Lemons

My business travels wreak havoc on my blogging activities but they also give me interesting new exposure to elements that very often turn into inspirational fodder for my blog.... provided if I find time to tap into those inspirations before they fade away in my memory....

I was back in the Big Apple region for almost 3 weeks, working on business plans. Between the cold rainy weathter, the floods in New Jersey and the first transfixing images of the engulfing tsunami in Japan, I was still fortunate enough to be blessed with 2 sunny, fair weathered weekends to roam the streets of New York. 

I saw these Meyer Lemons at Dean & Deluca on my first weekend in town. Fascinated by the collection of cross-bred citrus varieties available, I made a mental note to bring home some blood orange, meyer lemons and mandarinos... Unfortunately by the time I returned again on the weekend just before my departure, the stock has already dwindled to a haggard looking bundle, stripped of the barrels of sunshine I had seen a week earlier. I picked out half a dozen of the best looking Meyer Lemons I could find and hand carried them on my flight home.

Just a little bit of background on the Meyer Lemons for those who are interested - this citrus is a cross bred between a lemon and a mandarin orange. Believed to have been first bred in China for ornamental purposes, US started to consume this in the early 1900. However, I believe I have only become aware of this after I have seen this featured in gourmet magazines and Martha Stewart's recipes over the last 2 years.

Rounder than the ordinary lemon with a deeper orangey hue, the fruit smelt gorgeous like a sweet grapefruit with a mild hint of the lemony zest.  Taste wise, it is less tart than an ordinary lemon but with alot more tang than a sweet orange. I would think that the juice of the Meyer Lemon would be perfect as it is for a lemonade drink without the need for additional sugar.

I deliberated over what to do with the Meyer Lemons when I got back. Now, on hind sight, I have to admit that I had been too narrow minded and was too boxed in by my own pre-conception that to test a lemon,I would need to make a lemon curd. I played safe and fell back on Tish Boyle's Lemon Curd Bites from her The Good Cookie cookbook. 'The miniature tarts made with a tender cream cheese dough was filled with tangy lemon curd. Very posh, very sophisticated.' - I was sold.


These turned out to be pretty little things and yes, I could imagine them looking posh and sophisticated among a tea party spread but I have to admit that the Meyer Lemons did not quite give the right taste to the tarts. Lemon curd, I have come to conclude, should be smooth and tart. One expects the lemon curd to be bright and zesty. However, the subdued tartness of the Meyer Lemons was not enough to deliver the kick. With this recipe, I found that the curd was a little lost in its flavour. At one point, I think my disappointment even wryly hallucinated me into thinking that I was tasting Benadryl...  now I am really lost...

I have not lost heart. I still have 4 lemons in my fridge. I will think of something.....

After thought : I probably should have cut the sugar for the lemon curd by half and that would give me a more tart finish...


Recipe
Lemon Curd Bites (from Tish Boyles's The Good Cookie)

Cream Cheese Dough
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup confection sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter cut into tablespoons
3 oz Cream chees,cut into 1/2 inch chunks and frozen for 30mins
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Lemon Curd
1 large egg
4 large egg yolks
1 cup plus 2 tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
Pinch of salt
6 tbsp unsalted butter cut into tablespoons

Method:
Dough
1. In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, confectioners' sugar, baking powder, and salt and process for a few seconds, until blended. Sprinkle the butter and cream cheese pieces over the mixture and pulse about 18 times until the butter pieces are the size of peas and the mixtures resembles coarse meal. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolk and vanilla with a fork. Add the mixture to hte processor and pulse just until the dough starts to come together.

2. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and gently press it into a disk. Wrap the dough with cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, until firm.

3. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 400F (205C). Coat 2 12 cup miniature muffin pans with non-stick cooking spray. Cut out twenty-four 2-inch squares of aluminum foil.

4. Remove the dough from the fridg and divide it in half. Divide each half into 12 portions. Shape each piece of dough into a ball. Place one ball in each muffin cup and press down into the center of the ball with the knuckle of your index finger to form an indentation, then press the dough up the sides of the cup to its rim. The cups should be completely lined with dough. Prick the bottom of each crust with a fork. Line each crust with a alumninum foil and fill with a few pie weights, dried beans or rice.

5. Bake the crusts for 10mins. Transfer the muffin pans to a wire rack and reduce the oven temperature to 350F (175C). Remove the foil and weights from the crusts and bake the crusts for another 7 to 9 mins until golden brown around the edges. Cool down the muffin pans completely before removing tart cases from the pan.

Lemon Curd
1. Set a fine mesh sieve over a medium bowl and set aside. In a medium sized heavy nonreactive saucepan, whisk together the egg, yolks and sugar until blended. Stir in the lemon juice and zest, salt and butter and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until the mixture thickens, 7-10mins. (do not let the mixture boil, or it will curdle). Immediately strain the mixture through the sieve, pressing it through with a rubber spatula. Cover the bowl and refrigerate the curd until chilled, about 1 hour.

Assembly

1. Placing the chilled lemon curd in a pastry bag fitted with a medium star tip, pipe a generous rosette of lemon curd into each crust.

Strawberry Cream Puff

Strawberry Clan.... a term that is used in Taiwan to refer to those precious youth born in the 80's into small single child families. This is a generation that is born into a relatively affluent society where the pressure on survival and living is not as prevalent as during the more tumultous times experienced by our parents or grandparents. This generation generally demonstrates lower threshold for hardship and setbacks.. they bruise easily at the slightest pressure and wilt quickly in adverse conditions... fragile creatures that don't last well.... just like Strawberries!

I now fully appreciate the analogy. I had gushed about the strawberries I ate in Korea last week.... pretty, garnet ingots that were bursting with sweet flavours. When I raved about the strawberries to L over messenger, he was skeptical. I can't quite blame him, for indeed most of the imported strawberries we get in Singapore/ Malaysia are mild in taste at best and unappealingly sour as they get worse.... The Wednesday morning I was to leave for the airport, I bought 2 punnets of the ruby red fruit, taking care to choose the less ripened ones so that they would last a little longer. The store assistant was quite adamant that they wouldn't be able to last till Saturday - I foolishly chose to ignore her believing that my super intelligent Panasonic fridge would be able to preserve the fruits well. True enough, when I took them out today, I can already spot wilting signs on the pock-marked berries.... a touch of yellow on the calyx, a small smudgy bruise at the tip....
Now I understand why the strawberries we import are usually tasteless... to ensure that they travel well, they must have been harvested before they have a chance to fully develop the sweetness in them...

As I wondered what to do with the strawberries, I had been reluctant to pulp or puree these gorgeous fruits. I had wanted to keep the fruits intact without processing them too much. 2 options came into mind : a strawberry cheesecake topped with fresh strawberries and/or a strawberry choux cream puff. I woke up this morning knowing that I no longer have the luxury to dither and opted for the very basic choux puff pastry and vanilla pattiserie cream. The whole puff was light and refreshing. I had deliberately chosen the butter free pattiserie cream from Bourke Street Bakery's Berry Tart. This was easy to prepare and the simple vanilla custard allowed the strawberries to take center stage.


As I looked at the cream puff photos, I realised there was something 'bare' about them... then it hit me... I should have dusted a little powder sugar over the puffs... well, nothing's perfect but I am contented.


Recipe :

Choux Puff Pastry
All Purpose Flour                 30g
Bread Flour                         30g
Unsalted Butter                    40g (cubed)
Water                                 100ml
Castor Sugar                       2g
Salt                                     1g
Eggs                                    2

Pastry Cream (Please refer here)

Method :
1. Preheat oven to 200C.
2. In a heavy saucepan, place water, sugar, salt and butter. Heat until butter is melted and mixture just starts to boil.
3. Remove from heat and add flour. Using a spatula blend flour with butter liquid until a dough is formed and is well mixed.
4. Return dough in saucepan to heat. Continue heating and stirring dough to evaporate moisture.
5. Continue heating dough until dough becomes sticky and forms a thin membrane at the bottom of saucepan.
6. Remove from heat and bit by bit , add beaten eggs into warm dough and mix until well combined.
7. Using a piping bag fitted with a 1cm round piping tip, pipe 3 small rounds side by side on to a baking sheet.
8. Lightly brush the dough mounds with egg wash. (or mist lightly with water spray)
9. Bake at 200C for 30mins. Cool completely and split 'eclair puff ' horizontally.
10. Pipe in custard (pastry cream) and garnish with strawberries.

Isabella's Lemon Meringue Cupcake

At last! Star World is screening Australia's first Junior Masterchef here in Singapore! When I was in Sydney last November, practically everyone I met was talking about it. My Australian colleagues were raving in disbelief about how 12 year old kids were cooking snails and  11 year old boy was making lamb wellington.

When this started screening 3 weeks ago,I was shocked and amazed by what the children could do.The skeptic in me wondered if this is all preconceived...that the producers had put the kids in some perversely dark boot camp where they had to practice all the dishes before hand. There was something incongruent about watching the kids hovering and fussing over a real stove when one has been more used to see them molding  playdough over kitchen play kits.

Nevertheless, the kids were amazing and it was pure delight to watch them. Stripped of the ugliness, the politics and the sacarsm that usually accompany competitive reality TV, Junior Masterchef was sweet, endearing and inspiring.

The judges were always encouraging and it was wonderful to see the children's faces light up when they were praised. The camaraderie they showed for each other was also refreshingly sweet when compared to the conniving behaviour normally seen in the adult version of the same. Just yesterday, Pierre, the challenge winner from last week was asked to pick a leader for the opposing team for their new challenge.He picked Anthony (the goofiest of all contestants and my favourite!) because they are good friends.... how I wish the adult world can be as simple as this.


Today I share with you Isabella's Lemon Meringue Cupcake which won her the first mystery box challenge. In the challenge,the children were given a mystery box with a collection of ingredients with which they had to create a dish in 40mins... without a recipe in sight. When it came to judging time, Isabella's cupcakes were so luscious that it literally had the judges swooning over them.

When I saw the recipe in the Masterchef magazine, I knew that I had to recreate this....in 40mins. With enough focus, 40 mins is sufficient to create this 3 component cupcake which includes the cake, the tangy lemon curd and the meringue. The cake made with pouring cream instead of butter, is a breeze to make and yields a beautiful even dome shaped cupcake.

The verdict? I burnt the tip of the meringue a little but these cupcakes were GORGEOUS! The combination of fluffy meringue, tangy lemon curd and soft crumbly cake was an absolute winner. I now understand why judge Gary Mehigan almost melted when he tasted the cupcake.

So, dear readers, will you challenge yourself to complete this in 40mins? I hope you would.


Recipe (from Masterchef website )
Cupcakes

250ml /1 cup pure cream
220g /1 cup caster sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
225g/ 1 1/2 cups self raising flour
Finely grated rind of 1 lemon

Lemon curd
125ml/ 1/2 cup lemon juice
100g butter
110g/ 1/2 cup caster sugar
1 egg
3 egg yolks

Meringue
3 egg whites
110g/ 1/2 cup caster sugar

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180'C. Place 12 patty cake liners in a 12 hole 1/2-cup capacity muffin pan.

2. Place cream, sugar and eggs in a large mixing bowl and whisk until smooth. Gradually add flour and zest and continue whisking until mixture is thick and smooth.
3. Divide mixture between prepared liners and bake for 15-20 minutes or until cakes spring back to touch. Cool in muffin pan.
4. For lemon curd, heat lemon juice and butter in a small saucepan and simmer until butter has melted. Add sugar, egg and yolks and cook, whisking continuously until mixture becomes thick and glossy. Pour into a shallow oven tray to cool.
5. For meringue, beat egg whites in an electric mixer until firm peaks form, gradually add sugar, a tablespoon at a time, beating until sugar has dissolved between each addition. Spoon meringue mixture into a piping bag.
6. To serve, preheat grill to medium-high. Cut a small hole in the top of each cupcake and fill with 1-2 teaspoons of lemon curd. Pipe a swirl of meringue mixture on the top of each cupcake and place under heated grill for 60-90 seconds or until golden. Arrange on a serving plate with spoonfuls of lemon curd if desired.

Bourke Street Bakery's Macadamia Nut Short Bread

You may have already noticed that almost every popular Chinese New Year pastry we are serving for the festival is buttery, eggy and richly rich. Catch phrases such as 'soft against the tongue', 'melt in your mouth', 'short and buttery' are the usual ravings for the scrumptious treats that we are reaching for during this holiday season.

In my attempt to find something a little different to put in my cookie platter with my Pineapple Tarts, I decided to try out another recipe from what I suppose is now my favourite cookbook fom Bourke Street Bakery. This is a very buttery but rustic shortbread. Everyone should know by now the secret to an amazing shortbread is really copious amount of good butter. While most of the shortbread recipes I have come across call for creaming the butter and sugar together until a smooth whipped cream texture is obtained, this one simply requires the butter to be worked into the dry ingredients with fingertips - very much like the way short crust pastry is prepared. This method, when used with fine grain castor sugar instead of powder sugar, yields a more grainy texture hence, my earlier rustic comment. The shortness of most short bread - the melt-in-your mouth sensation- is usually achieved with the use of corn flour but BSB's recipe calls for rice flour instead.  In recent years, the Japanese have raved about using rice flour for chiffon and sponge cake to impart a light and springy texture. Hence I was rather curious when I saw this not so common ingredient in the recipe. Last but not least the addition of chopped macadamia nuts just added another dimension of marvel.



As no liquid is used in shortbread recipes, the dough is commonly pressed compactly into a square mold, baked and cut into fingers or squares while it is slightly warm. For Chinese New Year, I have learnt that cookies are best served in small bite sized morsels. (For those who are unfamiliar with the customs of Chinese New Year, we typically house hop, visiting as many as 4 or 5 friends/ families in one day... eating from house to house. Hence food are usually best served in small bites..the smaller the better.) So instead of using a rectangular / square baking tray, I chose to make my shortbread in my long financier molds. When these are turned out, they take the form of a long slim stick. These can then be cut easily into small nuggets.

How do they taste?.. Crumbly and buttery, they melt away on the tongue like sweet nutty sand - rustic heaven!


Recipe (Macadamia Shortbread from Bourke Street Bakery)

Ingredients
175g         Unsalted butter
250g         plain flour
60g           rice flour
1tsp          baking powder
1/2 tsp      salt
125g         castor sugar
80g           Macadamia nuts, chopped. (do not use food processor as it will turn into a paste)

Method :
1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Sift plain flour, rice flour,salt and baking powder together. Add castor sugar to the flour mixture and stir to combine.
3. Cut the butter into 1.5cm cubes. Rub the cold butter into (1) with finger tips until mixture resembles bread crumbs. Add chopped macadamia nuts, rubbing together to combine. and then knead to form a dough.
4. Pat the dough into a lined square tin (20cm x 20cm x 4cm). Smoothen the surface of the dough with the back of a spoon.
5. Set (4) in the fridge for 20mins to set.
6. Bake @ 180C for 30-40mins until the shortbread is light golden. Allow to cool in the tin before turning it out. Using a serrated knife, cut the shortbread while it is still slightly warm into fingers.

Pineapple Tarts

By the time this is published, most of you would have seen,baked and eaten one pineapple tart too many in the last few weeks to want to read about yet another Pineapple Tart post...

As popular and festive as it may be for Chinese New Year, I have never made the pineapple tart before. I wrote about how futile it would be to try to create a tart that is good enough to hold its own against the myriads of family heirloom recipes here. A couple of sightings last few weeks prompted me to give this a go this year. First glimpse was sighted on Ju's Tweet. Second came in the form of a step by step guide to homemade pineapple jam at Wendy's blog.

Some of you may know that I had traveled to 2 continents and 3 regions in the last 2 weeks. I touched down at midnight last Saturday and was already stirring at my first batch of pineapple jam on Sunday morning. Made with ripe pineapples, I found the jam too sweet even though I had reduced the amount of sugar suggested by the recipe. In my desperation, I tried to balance the sweetness with fresh lime juice. This complemented the jam so well that for all subsequent batches, I retained the lime juice component.

For me, the element that blew my mind was the little ball of homemade jam on the buttery pastry. Juicier and fruitier, this is starkly different from the dry sticky pre-packed paste sold at bakery supply stores. And really, cooking the jam is more easy and effortless than I had originally thought.


Typical of me and prompted by my vegetarian sister, I also experimented with organic wholemeal flour for the pastry. The pastry took on the strange musty brown colour of the wheat flour. Although the texture was very similar to the cookie made with refined all-purpose flour, a 'wheaty'/grassy after taste lingered. I am not keen to see the scrunched up faces of friends I will be serving these to, so I guess between my sister and myself, we will have to clean these up.

P.S.: Just learnt that j3ss kitch3n is hosting a Aspiring Bakers event for 'My Favourite CNY Cookie'. I shall contribute this to join in the fun!


Recipe :
Pastry (Adapted from Ju's Recipe)

200g            All purpose flour
50g              Corn flour
1 tbsp          Icing sugar
1/4 tsp         Salt
140g            Butter
2                  Egg yolks
1/2tsp          Vanilla extract
1.5 tbsp       Cold water

1 egg yolk for glazing

Method :
1. Sift flour,corn flour,icing sugar and salt together in a mixing bowl. Refrigerate for 5 mins.
2. Cut chilled butter into cubes.
3. Add cubed butter into flour and work the butter into the butter with finger tips until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
4. Mix egg yolks, vanilla extract and cold water together in a cup. Add this to (3). Work briskly with finger tips to mix the liquid with the flour. Gather the dough into a ball and refrigerate for 10-15 mins.
5. Roll out dough to 0.8mm thickness. Cut dough with pineapple tart cutter.
6. Brush egg yolk glaze over the cut dough.
7. Place a ball of pineapple jam on the dough.
8. Bake at 160C for 20mins. Cool down and store in air tight containers.

Pineapple Jam (Please refer to Wendy's post if you need more details)
Recipe
1000g         Semi ripe pineapple, cut into chunks and puree in a blender.
150g             Castor sugar
1                   Lime juice
2                   Twigs of cinnamon

Method
1. Place pureed pineapple into a large heavy pot.
2. Add lime juice, and cinnamon. Heat over medium heat until 80% of moisture has evaporated. Stirring occasionally.
3. Add sugar. Stir once and leave to reduce further over medium -low heat until jam is 90% dry.
4. Increase heat and continue heating for another 10mins. Stirring 2-3 times to avoid burning.
5. Reduce heat to low and further dry up jam.
6. Remove from heat and cool down completely.