Yuzu Egg & Mushroom Mayonnaise Cups

My Christmas menu usually have appetizers, main course, desserts and beverages. I made Yuzu Egg and Mushroom Mayonnaise as my appetizer for Christmas dinner with my family.

Recipe for Yuzu Egg & Mushroom Mayonnaise Cups.
(Makes 24 pcs)

Ingredients:
12 pieces Wanton skin, cut diagonally
30g Liv salted butter, soften for brushing
3 Eggs, hard boiled
6 pcs Brown button mushrooms, chopped
1 clove Garlic chopped
1 tbsp Olive oil
2 tsp Yuzu Curd
2 tsp Mayonnaise
Salt
Freshly grind black pepper

Method:

1. Brush the wanton skin with butter.

2. Carefully put the pointed sides together to form a mini cup. Place in a mini muffin tray individually. 

3. Bake in a preheated oven of 120C for 6-8mins. Watch the oven well as it gets burnt very fast. 
4.Remove from the oven and let it cool completely.

5. In a small saucepan, heat the olive oil, and add in the garlic. Then stir in the mushroom and cook well.
6. Drain the liquid from the mushroom.
7. Mash the hard boil eggs. Add in the mushroom. Add in the yuzu curd, mayonnaise, salt and pepper. Mix well.

8. Scoop the mayo into the wanton skin cup generously.
9. Serve immediately.

Hasselback Potatoes

I like to include potatoes in my Christmas baking. Mainly because it's the only source of carbohydrates...and a good natural source too. Usual years, I will bake gratin. However, when I saw Veronica's Hasselback Potatoes, I decided this has got to be the potato for this year!! My children loves Jack's Place baked potatoes, mainly because it has sour cream and bacons. So I knew this can't go wrong. Even if others don't like, I can count on my children! True to it, it was the most popular food on the Christmas table spread! We loved them very much.

Recipe for Hasselback Potatoes, adapted from Peng's Kitchen.
(Makes for 6 persons)

Ingredients:
6 Russet potatoes, washed & scrubbed cleanly
8 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp Rock salt
1 tsp Parmesan & Garlic herbs
Freshly grinded black pepper

6 Bacon rashers, pan fried till crisp & brown
150g Cheddar cheese (I mixed 150g cheddar and mozzarella cheese)
200g Sour cream 
2 sprigs Spring onion, chopped

Method:

1. Using a shape knife, slice the potatoes thinly without cutting all the way through. Refer to Veronica's picture.

2. Combine olive oil, salt, herbs, and pepper and mix thoroughly.
3. Spread the mixture evenly all over the potatoes.
4. Bake in preheated oven at 200C until the skin is crisp and tender inside, about 45 mins.
5. Meanwhile cook the bacon until crispy and crumble it.

6. Sprinkle the potatoes with the cheese and return to the oven until the cheese has melted, about 10 mins.
7. Top with sour cream, bacon bits and spring onions.

This post is submitted to "My Treasured Recipes #4 - Ho Ho Ho It's Christmas (Dec 2014)" hosted by Miss B of Everybody Eats Well in Flanders and co-hosted by Charmaine of Mimi Bakery House.

This post is linked to "Cook and Celebrate: Christmas 2014" organised by Cook & Celebrate Christmas 2014 hosted by Bake For Happy Kids, Eat Your Heart Out and Domestic Goddess Wannabe.

Orange Pork Loin stuffed with Bacon and Mushrooms

Near Christmas is the time when I'm most busy. Busy baking Christmas presents, and planning Christmas parties which I usually host for my own family and my in-laws. This year was no exception. My spouse likes our Christmas with Turkey and Honey baked hams. So we usually order from the local supermarket, then roast the marinated Turkey. It was huge, but it was good. Besides just buy and roast, I decided to make Pork Loin this year. I made reference from Martha Stewart's Orange and Cumin Pork Loin and Honey Bee Sweets Pork Loin. I like the idea of Orange Pork Loin.

Pork Loin can be quite tough if not cooked properly. So I decided to see how nice or tender it can be when baked. Well, although it wasn't melt-in-the-mouth tender, it was quite soft and had the tangy orangey taste. It was pretty nice and refreshing. I actually like it although I'm not a pork person. And the good thing about baking meats is that you can add any flavour or sauce to suit your taste. It's that versatile.

Recipe for Orange Spearmint Pork Loin stuffed with Bacon and Mushrooms
(Makes for 4-5 persons)

Ingredients:
1.5kg fresh Pork loin
1 packet Brown button mushrooms (brown or white will do), sliced
4 sprigs Spearmint (or peppermint) (or any other fresh herbs)
1 Orange (squeeze the juice and use the zest)
250g Bacon rashers
2 cloves Garlic, chopped
Salt
Pepper

Method:

1. Slice the pork loin almost all the way through lengthwise; you can then open the tenderloin like a book. This is called butterfly. You may refer here to see how to.
2. Marinate the pork in orange juice and zest for 2 hours.

3. Heat up a saucepan. Add a little olive oil, add in garlic. Fried until fragrance. Add in mushroom and cook well. Drained and leave aside.
4. Open up the butterflied pork loin. Lay bacon rashers over it. Then spread the mushrooms over it thickly.
5. Wrapped it up like swiss roll tightly. Place in your baking tray.
6. Then wrapped it up with bacon rashers.
7. Use toothpick to poke through from the top to hold it's shape.
8. With the remaining orange juice and zest, add in spearmint, salt and pepper and mix well.
9. Pour over the bacon top. Scoop some spearmint for the top.
10.  Bake in preheated oven of 180C for 45mins.
11. Let the meat rest for at least 15 minutes before slicing. Serve with pan juices.

This post is submitted to "My Treasured Recipes #4 - Ho Ho Ho It's Christmas (Dec 2014)" hosted by Miss B of Everybody Eats Well in Flanders and co-hosted by Charmaine of Mimi Bakery House.

This post is linked to "Cook and Celebrate: Christmas 2014" organised by Cook & Celebrate Christmas 2014 hosted by Bake For Happy Kids, Eat Your Heart Out and Domestic Goddess Wannabe.

Red Velvet Christmas Logcake

This post is sponsored by Liv butter. Try Liv today!

Early November, in the Facebook group of the Singapore Bakers, someone posted a red velvet logcake. I thought it might be a good idea to make red velvet logcake this year. There were already some famous bakery selling this. I supposed the recipe for red velvet logcake will be different from the normal red velvet cupcake. As shared by the member, the recipe was modified from Yummyholic site. The batter from the original recipe was too stiff that it was really difficult to fold. So I added oil and milk to it, to make it more foldable.

Recipe for Red Velvet Christmas Logcake
Makes a 11" x 14" cake sheet

Ingredients:
Cake Sheet
4 Egg yolks
30g Caster sugar
25g Whole milk
20g Vegetable oil
60g Cake flour
10g Cocoa powder
3/4 tsp Baking powder
1/4 tsp Fine salt
A few drops of red colouring

4 Egg whites
1/4 tsp Cream of tartar
90g Caster sugar

Method:

1. Prepare a cake tray and lined with parchment paper.

2. Sift the cake flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt; set aside.

3. Whisk egg yolks and sugar till light and frothy. Add milk and vegetable oil, mix well. Then add colouring.

4. Add in the sifted flour mixture into the batter and mix well.

5. Beat egg whites in a mixing bowl till frothy.

6. Add the cream of tartar into the caster sugar, mix well. Gradually add in the caster sugar into the egg whites. Beat till stiff peak.

7. Fold the egg whites into the egg yolk batter. Mix well.

8. Bake for 12 mins in a preheated oven of 180C or until browned.

Cream Cheese Frosting

300g Cream Cheese

90g Unsalted Liv butter, room temperature

100g Icing sugar, sifted
2 tbsp Lemon juices
1 punnet of fresh blueberries (optional)

Method:
1. Beat cream cheese and butter until light and creamy.
2. Add in sifted icing sugar and mix well.
3. Add in lemon juices and combine well.

Assemble:

1. Spread the cream cheese frosting onto the swiss roll, followed by blueberries if using.

2. Roll it up tightly.

3. Trim both sides of the cake and placed the swiss roll to the main log.
4. Frost the whole cake with cream cheese.
5. To make the spikes, just use the spatula to gently pat on the cream cheese frosting and lift it up quickly. Repeat the process for the whole cake.

6. Decorate with X'mas cake ornaments as desired, then chill it in the fridge before serving.

Christmas Holly Durian Logcake

Christmas is my favourite festive season of the year. It is a period where there will be lots of feasting and gathering. I love to host Christmas gathering with family members and friends too! This year, I invited my family members and in-laws over to my place (separately) for a mini celebration. For occasions like this, I will usually bake some kind of desserts. And one of the common desserts will have to be Christmas logcake.

Ploughing through the patterned swiss rolls recipes in the blog, I decided to try this recipe from Reese. As I wanted to make two log cakes, I increased the quantity of the ingredients. I made one with strawberry jam and the other with durian. The durian logcake was very well received by my in-laws! I was glad they enjoyed it!

I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #26 - Creative Christmas Motif Bakes! hosted by Alan of Travellingfoodies.
 
Recipe for Christmas Holly Durian Logcake, adapted from Reese.
Makes two 10 x 13" sheet cake

Ingredients:

Egg yolk batter:
8 Egg yolks
27g Caster sugar
80g Milk
2 tsp Vanilla extract (may omit this. I prefer to add vanilla extract as I found it very eggy without)
60g Vegetable oil
133g Cake flour
20g Cornflour

Egg Whites:
8 Egg whites
94g Caster sugar

For picture: (I originally use more. However, there were a lot of left over. This is the original recipe)
20g Egg whites
10g sugar
[with 30g egg yolk batter from the top]
Green colouring
Red colouring

Frosting:
60g Durian flesh
130g Whipping Cream
13g Caster sugar

Method:

1. Egg yolk batter: Whisk egg yolks together with sugar, then add in milk and oil and mix well.
2. Add in cake flour and cornflour and stir well. Set aside.
3. Scoop out 30g egg yolk batter with 10g (for red) and 20g (for green) respectively. Mix in red colouring to the 10g batter and green colouring to the 20g batter. Mix well.
4. Whisk the 20g egg whites and sugar (ingredients for pictures) till half soft peak form and add 1/3 in the prepared 10g red egg yolk batter, and remaining egg whites in the green yolk batter. Stir well.
5. Spoon the red batter into a piping bag with tip #3. Pipe 3 rounds to form a little triangles onto lined tray.
6. Spoon the green batter into a piping bag. Cut off the tip and pipe it to form a leaf. Pipe three leaves around the red triangle.
7. Bake at 180C for 1 minute then set aside.
8. Egg whites: Whisk the egg whites together with the sugar until stiff peak.
9. Fold into the egg yolk batter. Then pour batter over the half-baked hollies. Split them (almost) equally into the two trays. (As I have left over from the picture batter, I piped them onto the surface of the batter, to prevent wastage.)

10. Flatten the top with a spatula and bake at 180C for 13 minutes, or browned. (Then baked the other tray)
11. Transfer onto wire rack to cool completely.

To assemble:

12. Whisk the whipping cream with sugar till stiff.
13. Spread the durian flesh onto the swiss roll, followed by whipped cream.
14. Roll it up and decorate with Christmas decorations.

Wish you a Merry Christmas & a very Happy New 2013!

Christmas Tree Cookies

Merry Christmas everyone!
Here's sharing a Christmas Tree Cookies with you.

I adapted the recipe for the cut out cookies from Martha Stewart's Citrus Cookie Dough and the Chocolate Cookie Dough. Chill it, and roll it out in a floured surface. The cookie dough can be quite soft at times, I had to rub in more flour. Using star cookie cutter of various sizes, cut out according to your preference. Bake it at 190C for 15-18mins depending on the size of the cookies. Place the same size cookie doughs together. Do not mix various sizes as the cooking time is different.

To Assemble:
Chocolate Ganache
Colour Dragees
Crunchy Valrhona Chocolate Pearls
Chocolate Coffee Beans
White Chocolate Shavings
Cupcake Plastic Containers

1. Alternate the cookies from biggest (at the bottom) to the smallest (at the top) with citrus and the chocolate.
2. Put some chocolate ganache on the cupcake base and place the biggest star cookie on it to stabilise it.
3. Sandwich the cookies together using chocolate ganache. I used dark chocolate ganache. You may use white chocolate.
4. Alternating the colour dragees and chocolate pearls on the tip of the stars.
5. Topped the last star with chocolate coffee beans (or any other toppers you can find).
6. Lastly, sprinkle white chocolate shavings on the X'mas tree cookies.
7. Wrapped it up, and give it away!

Notes:

1. You can use any cut out cookie recipe to create the X'mas Tree.
2. I'm limited by the size of my cupcake plastic container. Your X'mas tree can be as high as you like.
3. Toppers can be anything, including a vertical star.
4. The design and creation is unlimited, be creative!

I'm submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #14: Creative Christmas Bakes (Dec 2011) hosted by Hankerie.

Christmas Celebration

Christmas evening was spent at a relative's wedding dinner. Therefore, my family decided to have our usual Christmas celebration on Boxing Day instead. What made the dinner worth waiting for was the Black Truffles. After our White Truffles dinner last month, we decided to have Black Truffles for our Christmas celebration since it was in season. The truffles were sponsored by my younger sister, while my elder sister prepared the food for us. My elder sister is very resourceful. She managed to source for reasonably good black truffles for our dinner.

As usual, I will prepare the dessert. For this special dinner, I made Concorde Dessert. The recipe was extracted from Daily Delicious. My younger sister also ordered some ice-cream from the same source. Therefore, we had two desserts!

After trying both the white truffles and black truffles, I can understand why white truffles cost more. The smell and flavour is more intense for white truffles, compared to black. A small amount of white is enough to provide the taste and flavouring. Black truffles cost about a third of white truffles. Personally, I prefer white truffles!

Here's recollecting what we had.

Salad

Black Truffle Pasta with Scallops (the most classic way to have truffles!)

Concorde Dessert

Classic Truffle - Sabayon semifreddo and gianduja ice cream coated with crushed hazelnuts and cocoa beans

Kids' Bomb - Gianduja ice cream with a cream core (for the kids of course!)

The Concorde cake was very nice. I made 14 cups (thanks to Grace for giving me the lovely cups), just enough for my whole family. I made the meringue smaller, even though I doubled the recipe. There were leftovers for my chocolate meringues. This recipe used raw eggs for the mousse. The mousse was very stable, ie. it was very easy to manage and wasn't the runny type.

Recipe for Concorde Dessert, extracted from Daily Delicious

(Makes 14 cups)

Chocolate meringue

240g Egg whites

200g Icing sugar

60g Cocoa powder

200g Fine sugar

Chocolate mousse

250g Dark chocolate (70%)

150g Unsalted butter (soft)

4 Egg yolks

80g Icing sugar

180g Egg whites

20g Fine sugar

Icing sugar for sprinkle over the top of the Concordes

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 120°C

2. Line the baking trays with silicone baking mat.

3. Sift the cocoa powder with the icing sugar, set aside.

4. Whip the egg whites until soft peaks formed, gradually add the granulated sugar and whip until stiff peaks formed.

5. Sift the icing sugar and cocoa into the meringue, fold lightly until fully combined.

6. Put the batter into the piping bag fitted with 1 cm piping nozzle.

7. Pipe the meringue into approximately 45 disks (3 inches in diameter), then pipe the rest of the meringue into long strips.

8. Bake for 2 hours, or until the meringue dry, turn off the oven and rest the meringue in the oven for 1 hour. (After 30mins, leave the oven door ajar for 5mins to release the steam. Repeat this once again after one hour)

9. After taking the meringue out of the oven, let cool completely before proceeding to the next step.
(Note from dailydelicious: you can bake the meringue and keep it in the airtight container for 2-3 days at room temperature. For me, I baked the day before.)

Making the chocolate mousse:

1. Melt the chocolate and the butter in the microwave. Be careful not to overheat the chocolates. Stir together to combine.

2. Pour the egg yolks (one at a time) into the chocolate mixture, stir to combine after each addition. Sift the icing sugar into the chocolate mixture, stir to combine.

3. Whip the egg whites until soft peaks formed, gradually add the granulated sugar and whip until stiff peaks formed.

4. Fold the meringue into the chocolate mixture, 1/3 of the meringue at a time, fold lightly until combined.

Assemble:

1. Trim the sides of the meringue to ensure that it can fit into the cups.

2. Scoop the chocolate mousse to fill the meringue.

3. Then repeat #1 and 2.

4. Cut the meringue strips into small pieces, and decorate the top with the strips.

5. Sprinkle the icing sugar over the cake. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Ensure that they are stored in air-tight container in the refrigerate as chocolates absorb surrounding odours.

This is my entry for the Christmas Giveaway hosted by Swee San of The Sweet Spot and I'm submitting this post to the Aspiring Bakers #2 too!

Boxing Day Celebration

This year, our usual family X'mas celebration was arranged on Boxing Day, 26 Dec. My elder sister hosted our celebration party at her place. She single-handedly prepared three dishes for us - Salad, Roasted roots and vegetables and Seafood Aglio Oglio. It was really nice. My youngest sister prepared her usual fruit salad, a pre-dinner food. My third sister bought drinks. Each of us did our part to bring some food, to lighten the load from my sister. At times like this, I really appreciate my family being slightly bigger, where sisters come together to share burden and make merry!


As for me, I made a Christmas Logcake. Wasn't a difficult task for me too! I tried a new swiss roll recipe from Daily Delicious. The cake sheet was pretty easy to make.


I filled the cake sheet with whipping cream, chocolate ganache, hazelnut ganache and almond nibs. Rolled it up and poured chocolate ganache over it. As I was left with some whipped cream, I just splashed some on the cake to make it look more attractive. Decorated with Christmas decorations, and WO-LA, my Yule Logcake!




Recipe for Chocolate Cake sheet, modified from Daily Delicious.

Ingredients:
5 Eggs (separated)
100g Sugar
55g Cake flour
12g Cocoa powder
42g Butter, melted

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Line the base of 11"x13" cake tray with baking paper.
3. Using hand mixer, beat the egg white with sugar (add the sugar gradually) until stiff peaks form.
4. Pour the egg yolks into the egg white, beat with low speed for 1 minute.
5. Sift the flour and cocoa powder into the bowl and fold to combine.
6. Pour the melted butter into the bowl, and fold lightly to combine, then pour the batter into the prepared pan.
7. Bake for 10-11 minutes, or when a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Homemade Christmas Presents

Tis the season to be jolly and giving. This Christmas, it's no difference for me. I baked some goodies to give away to my family members. I hope they like it.

Gingerbread Men & Women. Each drawn to a specific family member. Heehee...


Spiced mixed nuts which include cashews, almonds, walnuts and some hazelnuts. I used the guide based on the Straits Times' Mind Your Body dated 17 Dec 09. I used olive oil, together with dried rosemary and coat them with mixed spices to toast.



This include spiced mixed nuts and my X'mas fruit cake.


Finally, I made a Chocolate Truffle Cake and covered it with fondant to celebrate my parents' in laws' 44th wedding anniversary on Christmas Day. Overall, the cake, the frosting wasn't quite well done. However, my parents in law were happy as they understood it did take quite some time to make this cake. :p I'm fortunate that my parents in law are not fussy people!