Steamed Pumpkin Peanut Butter Buns

After making my pumpkin cupcakes, I was left with some (canned) pumpkin puree. As I didn't want to waste it, I decided to make some pumpkin buns. Deciding between HBS's Soft Pumpkin Milk Loaf or Pumpkin Pork Floss Steamed Buns. Since I still have a packet of Hong Kong flour, I decided to make the Steamed Buns instead.

However, as I had no Pork Floss on hand, and not wanting to have plain steamed pumpkin buns, I decided to spread some peanut butter on the dough instead.

Recipe for Steamed Pumpkin Peanut Butter Buns, adapted from Honey Bee Sweets.
Makes 40 buns

Ingredients:
Starter dough:
120g Hong Kong flour
1/2 tsp Instant yeast
80g Warm water
pinch of salt

Method:

1. Knead all the ingredients together till it comes together to form a soft, smooth dough. Chill in the fridge up to 6-8hrs before use.

Main dough:
200g Starter dough (all of starter dough)
3tsp Instant yeast
600g pau flour
360g Steamed pumpkin (I added half canned pumpkin puree & fresh steamed pumpkin. I added slightly more pumpkin than the recipe. Therefore, the dough was slightly moist)
40g Water
80g Caster sugar
1/2tsp Fine salt

Creamy Peanut Butter

Method:

1. Place everything in a large mixing bowl and knead till it comes together. Continue kneading till it is elastic and smooth.
2. Place the dough in a greased bowl and let proof till double in size. Punch out the air and divide the dough into 4 portions. Roll round and let rest for 5 minutes.
3. Take a dough portion and roll it out with into a big flat rectangle. Spread them with creamy peanut butter. (I made two rolls of plain buns and two rolls of peanut butter buns.)
4. Roll it up from the long side like a swiss roll and then slice it up into 10 equal portions. Place on a grease proof paper and let proof in the steamer (cold) for 10 minutes.
5. Start the stove fire, once the water boils, lower it to medium low and let steam for 10 minutes. Then turn off the fire and let the buns stay into the steamer for another 5 minutes before taking them out. (As I need to steam twice, I removed the buns immediately after steaming and put in the second batch.)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Tarts

I finally found time to do some baking this week. Past few days I was coaching my children for their SA2 (mid-year exams). I'm relieved exams are over already. Like what Happy Home Baking said, with school-going children, we can't even enjoy the Labour Day and Polling Day holidays!

The other day, Cathy asked if I submitted any entries for the Aspiring Bakers for April. I told her I didn't manage to because for that month, my cheese bakes didn't turn out well! So I decided not to embarrass myself by submitting something that didn't work for me. She has submitted quite a few entries for the theme this month, and encouraged me to do so too! So I thought it's time to catch up with this event. I figured the simplest theme should be chocolate already!

So here I am, fulfilling my own challenge. I have decided to make Chocolate Peanut Butter Tarts. I got the idea from Crustabakes. She makes really yummy desserts! Just by looking at the desserts make one drool! I modified her recipe and used my own tart recipe. My children loves the tartlets so much they just pop one after another into their mouth until I had to stop them in case they got overdosed! This is really worth a try!

I'm submitted this to Aspiring Bakers #7 – Chocolate Delight (May 2011).

Recipe for Chocolate Peanut Butter Tart, modified from Crustabakes.
(Makes a 9" tart. As I have spare tart dough, I made extra mini tartlets)

Sweet Cookie Tart Crust

Ingredients:
113g Unsalted butter, cubed
30g Caster sugar
200g Plain flour
1/8tsp Salt
19g Egg yolk
28g Heavy cream

Method:

1. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar and salt.
2. With a scraper, cut in the cold butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
3. In a separate small bowl, stir together the yolk and cream.
4. Mix it into the flour mixture until the dough comes together and can be formed into a ball.
5. Flatten it into a disc, wrap the dough and refrigerate for at least 30mins until firm enough.
6. Roll it out and transfer the dough into a pie pan.
7. Bake at 200C for 20 mins, or until light brown.

Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients:
100g Semi sweet chocolate, chopped (I use 72% Valrhona chocolate mixed with bittersweet chocolate)
80g Whipping cream


Method:

1. Place the chopped chocolates in a heat-proof bowl.
2. In a saucepan, heat up the whipping cream. Before it boils, turn off the heat and pour into the chocolate.
3. Let it rest for 1 minute before mixing them together.
4. Ensure that all chocolates are thoroughly melted and mixed.
5. Leave aside to cool.

Peanut Butter Mousse

Ingredients:
65g Cream cheese
170g Creamy peanut butter
20g Fine sugar
180g Whipping cream

Method:

1. Lightly whipped the whipping cream. Leave aside
2. In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, peanut butter and sugar until thoroughly mix.
3. Beat in 1/4 of the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture. Mix till just incorporate.
4. Fold in the rest of the whipped cream until they mixture is well blended, but still airy.
5. Scrape the mousse into the tart crust and smooth the surface so that it is level.
6. Pour the chocolate ganache over the peanut butter mousse slowly. Thickness depends on individual preference.
7. Take care not to pour too much on a single spot as it might cause a depression in the mousse.
8. Using a spatula, gently spread it across the tart and even out.
9. Refrigerate until ready to eat.

Simple Thoughts

I was thinking during earlier of the week what I shall bake for my friend's birthday gathering. I wanted to bake chiffon cake initially, but the box will be quite bulky for me to bring from one office to another office for a meeting. The idea of baking creamed cake was also out. Finally, I settled on pound cake (again!!) Okay, I really have to admit that it's one of the easiest cake to bake, take and give. No frosting required, easy to pack. Simplest for lazy people like me. :p I also thought that since we are going out for buffet dinner, there should be nicer and better cakes in the cafe, so I might was well bake something for her to bring back. I baked two pans so that I can cut some smaller shares for the rest of my friends.



I also bake some peanut butter cookies the night before. The peanut butter cookies were...not that crispy crunchy, but were really fragrant alright! I also packed some for the group (which I was glad I did!)


Anyway, we had our celebrations at Cafe 2000, M Hotel. I thought it was really worth mentioning this place as the food, the service and the prices were all good! Using Citibank credit card has a discount of 1 for 1 at $40+++ per pax (before discount). This is a semi-buffet where you get to select your main course from a menu with five varieties. They have buffet table of sashimi, salads, seafoods, some cooked food and a good spread of desserts! What's more, they arranged for a rather big slice of cheesecake for my friend upon my request. And a couple of the service staff actually sang the birthday song for her. She had a very pleasant and unforgetable evening!

Breads Again!

Lately, I'm into bread baking. I love to eat breads, therefore, I'm exploring the different flavours of breads, hoping that one day, I can bake yummy soft breads for myself and my family.

Using the TZ method again, the bread dough is allowed to proof to double its original size.

Then they are shaped and left it to proof a further 10mins.

After that, I added red bean paste, Nutella and some peanut butter on some of the dough. And let it proof for another one hour.

After one hour, they are brushed with egg and ready to be baked.

These are the breads I baked. The extra huge round one is the Nutella bread.

Recipe is extracted from Angie's Nutella Bread / 汤种榛果巧克力酱面包.
Note: My breads didn't turn out as nice as her. Skills are not up to mark yet! :p