Winner for the "Cuisinart Classic Waffle Maker"!

Thank you everyone for taking part in this giveaway!

I have excluded those non-Canada & US residents from this selection. From the random number generated from Random.org, the winner for this giveaway is Jolene!

Congratulations to Jolene!

Jolene, please send your home address to my email (aloyallyanders@gmail.com) so that I can forward it to CSN store for your new gadget!  Enjoy your waffles...

Made of friendship, love and food

Dear Grace,

Thank you for hosting me at your place again. You asked if it was too far for me. My answer is, even though I had to take a bus, followed by Circle line, NS line, then LRT to your place, it's all worth the journey, knowing that I'll be treated well, fed well, and will be having a great time with you. Love Friendship conquers all.

The wholemeal pancakes with homemade peanut butter and blackcurrant jam for breakfast was just fantastic. Your homemade kaya was also truly good! I've learnt more about your secrets of photography. Thanks for sharing it so openly and willingly with me.

Since our friendship started a year ago, we've been the best of baking friends. I've always been a great fan of your beautiful bakes and blog.

For lunch, you made for us Rosemary Chicken Drumsticks, Onion Rings and Bruschetta. It was simply overwhelming! The drumsticks were juicy and tender. The onion rings were so crispy that even when dipped in mustard mayo, the crispiness can be felt through the teeth! The fresh tomatoes and herbs on the toasted homemade Ciabatta made me want to have more! With such sumptuous lunch, how can I still have my dessert?

Your Cream Cheese Dark Chocolate Mousse is something I would die for! The cream cheese is not overpowering, the chocolate mousse is so light it just melt in the mouth. You said I don't have to to finish it, how could I let such divine food go to waste? Especially when it was made with tender loving care?

We spent the lazy afternoon going through recipes. You have so generously shared your favourite recipes with me, teaching me how to make them and making me understand them. I'm ever so grateful to you.

Unfortunately, time don't stand still for us. Even though we spent the whole day together, the day just seemed so short! You still managed to feed me with your Raspberry Swirl, and Chocolate Mint ice creams before I left. I simply love the mint ice cream!

You not even fed me to the maximum, you've also given me your bakes to bring home!! No words can describe how happy I am to have know you. Your Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake, Lemon Pound Cake, Almond Tuiles and Homemade Kaya will be shared with my beloved family. The cake container shall be treasured and used by me often.

Finally, I hope you like my little gifts to you. You have been a great friend, a wonderful buddy and a fantastic chef! Take care my dear friend. Hope to see you real soon!

I hope your wish will be fulfilled soon.

Love,

Jane

Feather Swiss Rolls

Lately, I've been referring a lot to the recipes from "Baking Code" by Alex Goh. I found that his recipes are easy to understand, rather easy to make and it's very much our Sin-Malaysian style!  Here's one swiss rolls which I made from his book. However, I made a couple of changes to it.

Recipe for Feather Swiss Rolls.
Ingredients:
A
5 Eggs
120g Sugar

B
130g Plain flour
1 tsp Vanilla extract

C
100g Corn oil

D
1 tsp Chocolate paste

Method:
1. Whip A until light and fluffy. Fold in B, mix until well blended.
2. Add in C, mix until well incorporated.
3. Take out a tablespoon of the batter. Add in the chocolate paste and mix well.
4. Pour the original batter into a lined 13" x 11" cake sheet pan.

5. Place the chocolate batter into a piping bag. Pipe lines on top of the batter. Then use a skewer to make patterns on batter.
6. Bake at 190C in the middle shelve of the oven for 20mins.
7. Remove it immediately from the mould when baked.
8. Allow to cool.

Frosting:
50g Chocolate Ganache
20g Dessicated coconut

Assembly:
1. Roll out the cake sheet with the feather pattern face down.
2. Spread chocolate ganache on the cake.
3. Sprinkle dessicated coconut evenly.
4. Roll it up tightly.

Walnut & Flaxseeds Wholemeal Rolls

I've been quite slow in updating my blog lately. Partly was because I got put off by having to type in the recipe, and partly because I was venturing and reading new recipes. However, no matter how long I put it off, I knew I just have to update them one day. Therefore, this a delayed post.

I made Walnut & Flaxseeds Wholemeal Rolls last weekend. I added the flaxseeds myself as it was not in the original recipe. This recipe was extracted from "Baking Code" by Alex Goh.

Recipe for Walnut & Flaxseeds Wholemeal Rolls.

Overnight Sponge Dough

(makes approx. 155g dough)

Ingredients:

100g Bread flour

60g Water (room temperature)

1/4 tsp Instant yeast

Method:
1. Mix the instant yeast with 20g of water until well-blended.
2. Add in the remaining ingredients and knead to form a dough.

3. Let it proof for 30mins.

4. Wrap in cling film and keep in the refrigerator overnight.

Main Dough
Ingredients:
A:
200g Bread flour
100g Wholemeal flour
15g Brown sugar
3g Salt
5g Instant yeast

B:
60g Overnight sponge dough
1 tsp Molasses
190g Cold water

C:
20g Butter

D:
70g Walnut, chopped
10g Flaxseeds

Method:
1. Mix A until well-blended. Add in B, knead to form a dough.
2. Add in C, knead to form a smooth and elastic dough. Add in D, mix until well-combined.
3. Cover it with cling film, allow it to proof for 60mins in a warm place.
4. Divide the dough into 60g each and mould it round. Allow it to rest for 10mins.

5. Flatten the dough and shape it into oblong shape. Place it onto a greased pan (or put them into a bundt pan like what I did), allow it to proof for another 60mins.
6. Bake at 200C for 12 mins.

For me, in order to finish up my overnight sponge dough, I made 2.5x of the original recipe. The rolls remained soft even after three days. With the overnight sponge dough, it really retains the softness of the bread even after three days!

Time for a Giveaway!!

It's time for a giveaway exclusively for Canadian and US residents. Fancy having your speakers mounted on the beautiful speaker stands from Racks and Stands?  This is made possible, thanks to CSN Stores for hosting this great giveaway!

This is what you stand to win ... A Cuisinart Round Classic Waffle Maker!

 

Bake delicious waffles fast with this gleaming stainless steel Cuisinart Classic Waffle Maker.

Features:
• Bakes one large traditional-style waffle
• Five-setting browning control
• Regulating thermostat
• Red and green "ready to bake/ready to eat" indicator lights
• Nonstick baking plates
• Brushed stainless steel housing

How to win yourself this fantastic classic waffle maker?
Leave a comment on your favorite kitchen appliance or gadget. Please include your name and your email address.

The giveaway will be open for ONE WEEK. The closing date will be 28 April 2010. The best comment will be picked as the winner. Once the winner has been picked, your name and email address will be sent to CSN Stores for them to follow up with the shipment.

Start putting your comments now, good luck!

No Yolks No Butter

Ever since I started baking, I've seldom come across recipes without eggs and butter. Oh, I know there are, but it's either without eggs or without butter, but not without both. Even there is, I guess I've not tried them before.

However, when I got my hands on this book-Dessert's Temptation, I can't help but to try out one of the recipe the moment I got home! This recipe uses no butter and egg yolks. In fact, it was really healthy, using olive oil and egg whites only! Even the quantity of sugar used was extremely low! How would one not like it?

Having said so, the challenge was folding the thick flour mixture into the fragile meringue. I did have a hard time folding it, even though I did it with some tender loving care. But still, I thought the cake didn't rise very much though.

I was quite surprised that it turned out to be pretty soft & light. Light as in the cake was really light. But because of my heavy dates and raisins and the rest, the cake was heavy in its weight! My “very health conscious” colleague said it was very nice, while the rest of them also commented it good! However, my hubby didn't like it! He said it tasted weird! Then it occurred to me that he doesn't like healthy food! *sshh* Don't tell him I said so!

Recipe for Nutri Cake, modified from “Dessert's Temptation – Wendy's Delights”

Ingredients
(A)
40g Olive oil
60g Whole milk
(B)
100g Cake flour, sifted
1 Egg white
(C)
5 Egg whites
50g Fine sugar
(D)
8 Iran Dates, chopped finely
1 ½ tbsp Flaxseeds
1 ½ tbsp Rye oats (or rolled oats)
15g Raisins
20g Walnuts, chopped

Method:
(1) Heat olive oil and milk together up to 50°C.
(2) Remove from heat.
(3) Fold in (B).
(4) Put in (D) and mix well.
(5) In a separate bowl, beat egg whites and sugar until soft peaks form.
(6) Take some egg whites and fold gently into the flour mixture.
(7) Then add the flour mixture back to the egg whites bowl and stir gently.
(8) Pour into a 7” cake pan lined with baking paper.
(9) Bake at 180°C and bake for 30mins or until done.
(10) Cool completely before serving.