Stained Glass Butter Cookies

Ingredients:
2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

¼ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

250g butter ~ softened

¾ cup granulate sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tin Fox’s Fruit Sweet

Directions:

1. Using an electric mixer, cream together butter, sugar & vanilla until pale & creamy.  Occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula. 
2. Add egg & vanilla, beat until well mixed.
3. Reduce speed to low, gradually beat in sift flour mixture just until blended, occasionally scraping bowl.
4. Mix well & divide the dough into half, press each half into a disc then wrap in cling wrap & refrigerate for about 1 hour.
5. Preheat the oven to 160 C & line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
6. Roll each disc out between 2 sheets of baking paper to about 3mm thick.   Using cookie cutter cut out the desire shapes & place onto the trays.   Repeat the process until the dough finish.
7. Bake the cookies for 15-20 minutes until light golden.   Remove from oven & add 1 candy per cookies in the centre & return to over for an extra 5 minutes to melt.
8. Allow to cool for 15 minutes before removing from the tray & store in an air-tight container.

Seaweed Crackers

Today I went to Giant for my groceries,  I'm so craving for crackers then I saw this Nori on sale & I decided to buy & thought I would eat it while watching TV tonight.  Unfortunately, that didn't happen cuz I remember I had a recipe for Nori.   This recipe was given by my Japanese neigbour.  It's so sample & would like to share this recipe to my friends but I've to warn you that this is very addictive as you'll keep munching will frying them....so, enjoy & have a great day!

Ingredients:
1 packet of Nori Seaweed

1 packet of spring rolls

Some sesame oil

A tiny sprinkle of salt & pepper ~ per piece of seaweed

1 egg white

Directions:

1. Spring roll skins peel them apart nicely.  Don’t separate them all at once as they tend to dry out.
2. With a brush, spread egg whites on one piece of spring roll skin.   Lay seaweed on top.   Rub some sesame oil, salt & pepper on seaweed.   Brush another piece of spring roll skin with egg white & lay it on top of the seaweed, preferably covering the entire piece of seaweed.   Repeat for all ingredients.
3. Cut into any shape or roll like a Swiss roll.   Heat up oil & deep fry till golden brown &crispy in batches.    Separate the pieces which stick to one another.    Cool till the batches feel lukewarm before storing in an air-tight container.

Homemade Pattie Sausages aka McDonald Sausage

Couple of days ago, my eldest daughter asking me to take her to MacDonald for breakfast.   Each time we had breakfast, she'll asked me to order for her "Sausage McMuffin with Egg".  Even it costs only S$2.00 plus, (not to mentioned about our MRT fares, back & fro) I still find it expensive.  Especially family of 6.....So, I asked my dear hubby to get recipe from his family!
This morning, I decided to try how to make breakfast sausage for my family & some for my neighbours for breakfast.   Everyone loves it and I would like to share this recipe with you, my friends.....give yourself a try!

Ingredients:
16 ounces (450g) ground beef / turkey / pork (look for lots of fat in the meat)
½ tsp salt
½ tsp dried parsley
¼ tsp rubbed sage
¼ tsp ground black pepper
¼ tsp crushed red pepper
¼ tsp dried thyme
¼ tsp coriander powder
¼ tsp MSG (Ajinamoto)

Directions:

1. Mix the entire ingredient in a large bowl & well blended.
2. Roll into a ball & pat into patties.
3. Fry the patties in a skillet on each side until golden brown on both sides & done in the middle.
4. Drain on paper towels.   Serve immediately with your favorite egg, sliced cheese & English muffin.

Spring Roll Crackers

After making the "Seaweed Crackers", I've couple of spring rolls left & I decided to make something instead of keeping them in the freeze.   Do you know that we can make many dish with spring rolls beside, mini popiah, veg spring roll, steam spring roll etc....
I was introduced these crackers by my aunt in Malacca.   She gaves me a bottle of these crackers.   I started nibbling on these while watching TV at home and in no time, they were gone!   They were so addictive that I called my aunt in Malacca to share with me this recipe.  Surprisingly it was really easy!  This is what you will need to make this delicious little snack.

Ingredients:
1 packet of spring rolls (square or rectangle)

1 egg white or 1 tsp cornflour ~ for sealing

Oil for frying

Sugar for coating

Directions:

1. Roll a spring roll like Swiss style with the help of a chopstick.
2. Seal the edge with some egg white or cornflour.
3. Cut up into desired size & deep fry till golden brown (Note: Best result, let it dry for couple of hours then fried them to get the crispiness)
4. Drained on the absorbent paper towel to absorb any excess oil.
5. Toss them into a bowl of sugar so that they are all coated with sugar.   Store them in an air-tight container when cooled.

Ngo Hiang ~ Spicy Chicken/Shrimp Roll

Make 15 Rolls

Ingredients:
1 tbsp oil

5 shallots ~ sliced

500g minced chicken

300g shrimps ~ chopped coarsely

8 water chestnuts ~ peeled & chopped

1 egg

1 large dried bean sheet ~ cut into 15 equal rectangles

1 tbsp corn flour ~ for paste

Seasoning:

½ tsp five-spice powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp black soy sauce

Pepper to taste

1 tbsp corn flour

Directions:

1. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a work & fry shallots until golden.   Set aside.
2. Mix chicken, shrimps, water chestnuts & egg in a large bowl.
3. Add the seasoning & blend in corn flour.   Finally add the fried shallots & shallot oil.  Mix well to combine.
4. Soak the dried bean sheet for about 1-2 minutes.   Wipe both sides of the dried bean sheet with a damp cloth to rid it of excess salt.
5. Place a small amount of meat mixture in the middle of the sheet & roll like a spring roll.   Use corn flour paste to seal.
6. Place rolls on a heatproof plate & steam for 10 minutes or so in covered wok.   Cool.   Serve with chili sauce.

Barbie Doll Cake

It's my first time to bake this Barbie Doll Cake for my daughter, Ashley, whom celebrated her 5th b'day on March 21, 2009 (Saturday).  I bought myself a Wilton doll cake set & I used my daughter's Barbie doll instead.

The Wilton doll cake pan is not tall enough for the whole Barbie Doll, so I needed to bake 2 set of deep round cakes for the bottom dress.  Else my doll cake might look funny as the doll & dress are not proportionate.

I baked this Barbie Doll Cake on the day itself early morning.   As my fridge is not big enough to put the whole Barbie Doll cake in it.  Give yourself a try!

Ingredients:
3 Boxes Premix Cake (Yellow cake) – Read Instruction for baking

Butter Icing

3 Blocks of butter ~ softened

1 tbsp vanilla essence

3-4 tbsp milk (your preference)

3 ¼ cups confectioners sugar

Directions:

1. Baked 3 premix cake as per the box’s instruction.  1 cake for the skirts (Wilton mould) & 2 deep round cake for the bottom skirts.
2. Invert the cake to completely cool & chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.  Using a serrated knife, trim tops of cakes to make level; brush off crumbs.
3. Make the butter icing:  Cream together butter, vanilla & milk.  Slowly beat in confectioners’ sugar, adding more if need to make a nice fluffy.
4. Place four strips of parchment paper around perimeter of a serving plate.  Place the first thin layer on the cake plate & spread top with ¾ cup of icing.  Place the second layer on top, bottom side up & spread with icing; repeat process with the third layer which is the skirt.   Spread thin layer entire cake with icing & chill in the fridge for 15-20 minutes.
5. Once the icing is hard, insert the Barbie doll in the middle of the cake.   Spread entire cake with remaining icing & decorate to your own desire.

Note:
Before spread icing, insert the Barbie to be sure that the Barbie is fix right in the cake, if not you can cut the middle of the cake to fix the Barbie doll in.

Lap Khai ~ Spicy Thai Chicken Salad

I'm craving for thai dish today & I'm not sure what should I cook as my hubby is on diet!  No rice!  Mmmm....ok, there's cabbage...some healthy dish then.

Ingredients:
500g ground chicken

2-3 shallots ~ thinly sliced

2 kaffir limes leave ~ julienne

3-4 sprigs fresh spearmint ~ chopped

3 tbsp roasted rice powder (roasted the rice & blend)

1 tbsp chili flakes

3 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp palm / brown sugar

Garnish:

Cabbage

Green Beans
Parley
Coriander Leaves

Directions:

1. Bring a pot of water & add 1 tbsp lemon juice to a boil.   Cook the ground chicken for approx 5 mins.  Strained the ground chicken & put in a large bowl
2. Add all the ingredients into the ground chicken & mix well.   Serve with fresh vegetables & warm freshly-steamed rice.

Steamed Sponge Cake

Ingredients:
1 cup shift cake flour (Note: not 1 cup cake flour, shifted)

1 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

5 eggs

½ tsp cream of tartar

¾ cup fine sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp lemon extract

Directions:

1. Line an 8x8 inch cake pan with parchment paper.  Prepare a wok for steaming.
2. Place the flour in a medium bowl.   Sift in the baking powder & salt & set aside.
3. Separate the egg yolks & whites.   In a medium bowl, beat the egg whites until frothy.  Add the cream of tartar & beat briefly.   Add ¼ cup of sugar & beat for another minutes (don’t let the egg whites stiffen).
4. Add the egg yolks & the remaining ½ cup of sugar.  Add in the almond & vanilla extracts & beat for about 2 more minutes.
5. Gradually add the flour mixture to the egg mixture.  Stir thoroughly, do not beat.  Pour the batter into the cake pan.
6. Bring the water in the wok to a high boil, then turn down to medium.   Steam the cake, covered for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
7. Remove the cake pan from the wok (take care when removing the wok lid to keep condensation from dripping onto the cake).   Cool the cake on a rack.   Invert onto a plate & remove the parchment paper.   Re-invert onto another plate so that the cake is right side up.