Chocolate Ganache Frosting

| San

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I do not own a cake stand, and as if that is going to stop me from picking up frosting skills?

I can always remove the glass tray from my microwave oven, balance it over a large rim bowl to elevate it, and tah-dah: my makeshift frosting station is set up! That’s how much I like to make my stuff “multitasks”.

I have been using this Chocolate Ganache recipe to make my cakes look every inch fancier.  No matter how I spread it, the frosting never appears messy, just pretty and glossy, no piping skills required!

CHOCOLATE GANACHE FROSTING
Source
INGREDIENTS :
- 10 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
- 1/2 cup water (or cream, if you prefer it richer)
- 1 and 1/2 sticks or 170g unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
 INSTRUCTIONS :

01. Place water/cream and the chocolate in a small metal pot, melt the chocolate by placing the pot over pan filled with barely simmering water.  Stir occasionally and remove the pot from the simmering water once all the chocolate has melted.
02. Whisk cubed butter into the chocolate mixture until they have completely melted.  The frosting should look smooth and glossy.
03. Set aside at room temperature let it cool down to a spreadable consistency.

++ Notes To Self ++
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this recipe is enough to generously frost a 2 tier 9 inch cake, with about 1/2 cup leftover.
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the frosting appears to be runny but i still manage to use it to frost my cake, sides and all, at room temperature.  However, the slippery frosting between a 2-tier cake makes cutting difficult, the layers appear to be sliding off each other with every slicing motion.  My solution is to chill the cake slightly in the fridge to set the frosting before cutting it.
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A Very Small Batch Cherry Compote

| San

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The way I eat ice cream in a shop is very different from how I serve it at home.
I’ll order a single scoop or two, and just enjoy the cold treat without buying any additional toppings.  No crunchy nuts, no gooey syrup, not even chocolate chips.

But when I have ice cream at home, I will search for some goodies as toppings, or make some on my own.  Cherry compote happens to be one of those toppings that  can be easily homemade,  and instantly upgrade my plain vanilla ice cream to a sundae level dessert.

I usually use about 12 pitted cherries to make just enough to top 4 small bowls of ice cream.   After they are served, I don’t have to worry about storage containers or how long before I have to finish it up, that’s the best thing I love about small batch recipes.

I loosely follow David Lebovitz’s recipe here.  For my small batch, I took out the almond extract and liqueur (Kirsch/Cherry Brandy),  but add I them back when I make them in larger quantity for cake toppings.

VERY SMALL BATCH CHERRY COMPOTE
Source
INGREDIENTS :
- 12-15 fresh cherries, wash, stemmed, halved and pitted
- 2 tablespoons sugar
 INSTRUCTIONS :

01. In a non-reactive small saucepan (one that does not react/get stained with acidic ingredients), put in the cherries and sugar to cook over a small fire for about 10 minutes, stirring with a spoon frequently.
02. Because I am cooking such a small batch of cherries, I usually encourage faster juicing from the cherries by pressing them with the back of the spoon against the pan once they turn soft.  This will also prevent the sugar from getting burnt without having enough liquid in the pan.
03. When the mixture starts to look thickened, and the cherries have completely cooked, remove the pan from the fire and let cool.  It will thicken up further.

Tea Tree Mushroom + Tofu

| San

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I am not sure what these 茶树菇/柳松茸 are called in English, but “velvet pioppini” popped up under wiki.  They look like shimeji mushrooms with longer stems and flatter caps.  I usually get the dried ones for stews and soups because of the rich umami flavor.

These fresh ones were found at a Taiwan produce fair.  Since the mushrooms are already full of flavor, I simply stir fry them with oyster sauce, and top them on silken tofu to make a dish for pairing with my staple white rice.

TEA TREE MUSHROOMS TOFU
INGREDIENTS :
- 1 small handful of tea tree mushrooms, about 100g
- 1 clove of garlic, chopped finely
- 1 package of silken tofu
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- 1.5 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1/2 cup of water
- white pepper, to taste
- few drops of sesame oil
- 1/2 teaspoon of corn flour, mixed with 2 tablespoon of water.
- for garnish: chopped spring onion
INSTRUCTIONS :

01. Trim off the ends of the mushrooms, and wash them thoroughly.  Drain, set aside.
02. Heat up the tofu by steaming it for 10 minutes, drain water released from the steamed tofu and place it on a serving dish.
03. Mix oyster sauce and water in a bowl.
04. Add a tablespoon of cooking oil in a heated wok, once it smoke, add in chopped garlic and cook till soft, but not brown.
05. Add in tea tree mushrooms, stir fry for about 30 seconds with medium heat.
06. Pour in oyster sauce and water mixture, continue to stir, till the sauce starts to boil and bubble, about 2-3 minutes, for the mushrooms to be cooked.
07. Add a dash of pepper and sesame oil.  Turn down the fire to low, taste, and adjust to preference.
08. Mix the corn flour solution well, before adding it to the mushrooms to thicken the sauce, stirring to cook all the while.
09. Simmer till the sauce thickens, then pour it over the steamed tofu.
10. Garnish with chopped spring onions. Serve immediately.

Baked Chicken Katsu

| San

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I hardly deep fry anything at home.  The grease, the mess, the calories…… Nah, forget about it.  But I’ll gladly prepare the baked versions, like chicken nuggets, french fries and this Chicken Katsu from Just One Cookbook.

The concept is simple : toast the panko with olive oil first, then coat over chicken meat and bake.  The end result remains crispy minus the cleaning up work (Yay!).  I used the tonkatsu sauce recipe from the same blog this time, but it would go easily with other condiments like black pepper, onion mushroom, or cheese sauce.  Just treat it as a fried chicken cutlet.

RECIPE : BAKED CHICKEN KATSU
Source
Ingredients :
- 1 large skinless, boneless chicken breast
- Salt
- Black Pepper
- 1 cup panko
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/4 cup plain flour
- 1/2 large egg, beaten
- 1/2 tablespoon water
INSTRUCTIONS :

01. Clean and pat dry chicken breast.  Slice the chicken into desired size.  Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
02. Heat up a frying pan.  Pour in panko and olive oil.  Toast over medium heat till it turns golden brown.
03. Prepare 3 shallow dishes.  In one, place the toasted panko.  In the second one, put in the flour.  And in the last one, mix the egg and water.
04. Preheat oven to 200C (400F).
05. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
06. Pick up a piece of chicken, dredge it in flour to coat , tap to remove any excess.
07. Next, coat the surface with egg mixture, before dipping it into the panko to coat.
08. Arrange the meat on the lined baking sheet.
09. Repeat till all chicken meat are coated completely.
10. Baked for about 25 – 30 minutes (depending on how thick you have sliced your meat) till it is thoroughly cooked.
11. Serve immediately.

DIY Popsicle #009 : Blueberry Banana Yogurt Popsicle

| San

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The yogurt pops are just as easy to make as it is satisfying to consume.  I have mentioned before, that the flavored yogurts are your best bet for an (almost)-instant popsicle treat.  Just fill up your popsicle molds with ready yogurt and freeze.

But I still feel guilty for its sugar content.  The frozen yogurt sometimes can taste just as good as they are straight off the tubs from the chiller compartment.  If you have made enough ice cream, you’ll know that more sugar/ sweetener is required for the recipe because the ice cream (or anything desserts frozen) will taste blander when frozen.  I have to disregard all my diet concerns when making ice cream at home, but it’s good to know how much sugar you are getting, and what commercial joints are adding in, this sort of deter me from binging on ice cream when I am feeling for a sweet fix.  The hot days lately aren’t exactly helping with my curbs either.

So enter plain/greek/greek-style yogurts as the base for today’s popsicle recipe,  plus bananas and blueberries as the natural sweetener.  Here’s roughly how:

Blueberry Banana Yogurt Popiscle
INGREDIENTS
- Plain yogurt (I used full fat version for a creamier texture)
- 1 large banana (the riper, the sweeter, the better)
- 1/4 cup blueberries (fresh or thaw them if frozen)
INSTRUCTIONS

– In a food processor, blend banana and blueberries until smooth.
– Measure this banana/blueberry mixture in a measuring cup, and fold into twice as much yogurt till it is well mixed.  The more yogurt you have in the mixture, the more creamy and less icy it will be.  My own preference for the banana to yogurt ratio is 1 : 2.  Feel free to adjust.
– Taste the mixture, and add some honey if it is not sweet enough.
– Scoop mixture into the mold.  I added 2-3 blueberries first into mold to make the popsicle look nicer, totally optional.
– Tap the mold on the table a few times before freezing, to get rid of air pockets within the mixture.
– Freeze till popsicle is set, at least 3 hours.

++ Notes To Self ++
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I use full fat yogurt for a creamier texture end result.
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The riper the banana, the sweeter it is.
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Fresh or thawed frozen blueberries are both okay for this recipe.
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D-I-Y (Decorate It Yourself) Cake

| San

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While I have no qualms about eating a sponge cake as it is without any frosting, the kids are more than eager to decorate a cake first before eating it.

It is an easy activity to prepare, with only 4 items, for an hour of fun!

ITEMS NEEDED:
- 1 x 6" whole cake
- Heavy Cream / Whipping Cream
- Food colorings
- A Few Small Clear Plastic Bags/ Sandwich Bags
Optional For Extra Decoration :
- Chocolate Rice 
- Chocolate Buttons
- Colored Sprinklers
INSTRUCTIONS :

01. Prepare whipped cream frosting with these instructions here.
02. Frost entire cake with plain whipped cream.
03. Separate rest of the whipped cream frosting in at least different bowls.
04. Add food colorings to make colored whipped cream.

05. To turn plastic bags into piping bags :
A. Fill the bags with frosting cream, squeeze the cream down to one corner.
B. Twist to tie up the bag, making a knot closer to where the cream is and cut off a tip as a piping hole.
C. Try to cut a smaller hole at first.  You can make a small hole bigger if you find it too small for the cream to be piped out smoothly, but you cannot turn a bigger hole smaller.

06. The rest is up to their imagination and creativity.  Have fun!

 ++ NOTES TO SELF ++
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Plain cupcakes or muffins are also good alternatives to whole cakes, and just as fun.
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30+ Ideas For 30 Days Of June School Holiday

| San

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A friend of mine, with her newly minted Primary One kid, enthusiastically planned the previous March week-long holiday packed to the brim : with 1 and sometimes even 2 different activities everyday.  After all, it is the child’s first official school holiday, it would be wonderful to fill up his/her free time with something interesting or enriching during this break.

So the idea for this crazy post was born: taking a leaf out of my pal’s book, I am penning out 30 over ideas for every single day of this June holiday.  Now with a whopping 30 days of free time, starting this coming Saturday, are there enough activities around the island for us to carry out one everyday?  I am happy to announce this after some form of scheduling : Yes we have!  But will I do it? : No I won’t!

Cos, the following is done under the assumption that me and my children have an unlimited crazy amount of energy, never get tired, none of us will fall sick, and we still have enough time for household chores and homework/revision, all of which I think is more challenging than going out everyday.  But it serves as a good guide for outing ideas, should we get bored.

And since I have them “all planned out”, might as well :

____________

31/5 (Sat) – Singapore Navy Open House
/ Vivocity
/ 9am – 9pm
/ LINK

1/6 (Sun) – Nature Society
/ Horseshoe Crab Rescue & Research
/ 7.30pm – 9.30pm
/ Preregistration is required
/ LINK

1/6 (Sun) – Singapore Botanic Gardens
/ Outdoor Concert : Jerry Monteiro & Jazz Brasileiro/6 pm – 7.30pm
/ LINK

2/6 (Mon) – Jurong Regional Library
/ BASF Kid’s Lab
/ 10am -11.30am
/ Preregistration is required
/ LINK

3/6 (Tues) – Changi Airport
/ It’s such a nice place to hang around, drop by Indonesia Event going on @Terminal 3
/ 12pm – 11pm
/ LINK

4/6 (Wed) – Singapore Turf Club
/ Family Carnival “Fun for All Under the Stars”
/ 5pm – 9pm
/ LINK

5/6 (Thurs) – Singapore Botanical Gardens
/ National Orchid Garden
/ Admission fees is waived for Students & Accompanying Adults during this period (till 8/6)
/ 8.30am – 7pm
/ LINK

6/6 (Fri) Swimming @ Public Pool
/ Choose one pool per week with water features such as slides or fun pool for more holiday mood
/ Sengkang, Jurong East, Jurong West, Pasir Ris, Choa Chu Kang

7/6 (Sat) – Singapore Maritime Trails
/ 9am – 12nn
/ Pre-registration is required
/ LINK

7/6 (Sat) – Singapore Botanic Gardens
/ Opera In The Park : Singapore Lyric Opera
/ 6pm – 7pm
/ LINK

7/6 (Sat)- Bonfire 2014 @ Kallang CC
/ Various circus and performance acts, some free workshops for kids
/ LINK

8/6 (Sun) – Peranakan Museum
/ Straits Family Sunday – Supersized!
/ 1pm – 5pm
/ LINK

9/6 (Mon) – Central National Library
/ Slow down and relax at the library.
/ Pop by Bras Basah Complex next door for another round of book hunt.
/ Explore more around Bugis/Bras Basah area with a Free Trail Apps ( iTunes)

10/6 (Tues) – Bukit Timah Nature Reserve
/ Nature Keeper Camp
/ 9am – 12nn
/ Pre-Registration is required
/ LINK

11/6 (Wed) – Plan A Trip To One Of The Old Playgrounds
/ About the playgrounds
/ A Photo Essay : Mosaic Memories
/ Plan a trip to one of them (Pg 13 within the Photo Essay)

12/6 (Thur) – Downtown East
/ Wild Wild Wet day
/ LINK

/ Transformer Meet & Greet (@7pm) + Transformer Zone Activity Area
/ LINK

13/6 (Fri) Army Museum of Singapore
/ Cadets, Fall In!
/ ‘BMT Programme” for kids
/ Pre-registration is required
/ LINK

14/6 (Sat)- Indian Games Carnival
/ Ace The Place Community Club
/ 9am – 2pm
/ Pre-registration is required
/ LINK

14/6 (Sat) – Bukit Timah Nature Reserve
/ A Walk With Your Neighbours – The Macaques of Bukit Timah
/5 pm – 6.30pm
/ Pre-registration is required
/ LINK

15/6 (Sun) – Memories at Old Ford Factory
/ History Workshop
/ 10am – 11.30pm or 12.30pm – 2pm or 2.30pm – 4pm
/ Pre-registration is required
/ LINK

16/6 (Mon) –  Ang Mo Kio Heritage Trail
/ Plan a few interesting and easy to access destination from the Heritage Trail PDF : LINK
/ Ends at Ang Mo Kio Library, which is covered as part of the trail.

17/6 (Tue) – Plan A Trip To One Of The Old Playgrounds
/ About the playgrounds
/ A Photo Essay : Mosaic Memories
/ Plan a trip to one of them (Pg 13 within the Photo Essay)

18/6 (Wed) – Pasir Ris Park
/ Mangrove Guided Walk
/ 9am – 10.30am
/ Pre registration is required
/ LINK

19/6 (Thur) – Day Trip to Kusu Island
/ Ferry Schedule HERE
/ What to do there : HERE, HERE and HERE

20/6 (Fri) – Swimming @ Public Pool
/ Choose one pool per week with water features such as slides or fun pool for more holiday mood
/ Sengkang, Jurong East, Jurong West, Pasir Ris, Choa Chu Kang

21/6 (Sat) – National Museum of Singapore
/ Special extended hours + Movie Screening
/ 6pm – 9.30pm
/ LINK

22/6 (Sun) – Gardens By the Bay
/ Far East Organization Children’s Garden
/ 9am – 9pm
/ LINK

/ Family Fun Under The Sun
/ 2pm, 2.30pm, 3pm, 3.30pm
/ LINK

/ End the day with OCBC Garden Rhapsody Show @ Supertree Grove
/ 7.45pm or 8.45pm

23/6 (Mon) –  World War II Heritage Trail
/ Go through this 22 page Trail PDF and choose a spot to visit.

24/6 (Tue) – Asian Civilisation Museum
/ Once Upon A Time In Asia – Part of Children’s Season 2014
/ LINK

25/6 (Wed) – Plan A Trip To One Of The Old Playgrounds
/ About the playgrounds
/ A Photo Essay : Mosaic Memories
/ Plan a trip to one of them (Pg 13 within the Photo Essay)

26/6 (Thur) – Swimming @ Public Pool
/ Choose one pool per week with water features such as slides or fun pool for more holiday mood
/ Sengkang, Jurong East, Jurong West, Pasir Ris, Choa Chu Kang

27/6 (Fri) – Sports Hub
/ Open House Weekend
/ LINK

28/6 (Sat) – Singapore City Gallery
/ Case for Conservation Trail
/ 10am – 1pm
/Pre-registration is required
/ LINK

28/6 (Sat) – D’Kranji Farm Resort
/ Farmer’s Market
/ 4pm – 10pm
/ LINK

 29/6 (Sun) – Singapore Botanic Gardens
/ Piano Concert at Dusk : By Przemyslaw Witek
/ 6.30pm – 7.30pm
/ LINK

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No Bake Nutella Bars

| San

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The girl came back from school and passed me a recipe for Nutella Bars.  “Can we make this? I’ve been drooling throughout the Math class today …”

Apparently, the teacher used this recipe ingredients to illustrate the concept of ratio, how sweet (literally)!

It’s pretty kid-friendly, both the making (It’s a no bake recipe!) and eating part, so you might like to include this as an activity for you and your children during the school holidays, or this weekend if you can’t wait!

Save me the hassle of signing up for a holiday baking class. 🙂

NO BAKE NUTELLA BARS
INGREDIENTS :
- 120g butter, unsalted
- 2 cups caster sugar*
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup fresh milk
- 1/2 cup Nutella
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 & 1/2 cups rolled oats
- Optional : Rice bubbles, Sprinkles, Chocolate Chips, Chocolate Rice
INSTRUCTIONS :

01. Line a baking pan** with baking paper and set aside.
02. In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.
03. Add sugar, cocoa powder and milk, let mixture boil for one minute.  Remove for heat.
04. Add Nutella, vanilla extract, rolled oats, rice bubbles (optional) to the pan and mix well to combine all ingredients.
05. Pour the batter into the lined baking pan, level and smooth surface with the back of a metal spoon.
06. Decorate with sprinkles of your choice.
07. Refrigerate till mixture is set, about 3 hours.
08.  Cut into desired serving size with a clean sharp knife.
09.  Keep well by storing in containers, place inside fridge.

++ Notes To Self ++
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*I reduced the sugar amount to 1 & 1/4 cups.
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**I used a 8×8 inch baking pan.
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Champion’s Milk Toast | 吴宝春金牌牛奶吐司

| San

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I have been very very lucky to be able to get my hands on 吳寶春麥方店’s World Champion Rose-Lychee bread (荔枝玫瑰麵包) before, but not his Japanese style breads.  Looking at the whole array of items available at his bakery, I am not sure if I will settle with a plain looking milk loaf from the Master Baker.  But back at home, kids love white, soft and fluffy breads, and it’s going to be an impressive story to tell my husband that I baked a milk toast with this recipe supposedly from 吳寶春.

I did a very fast browse around the bakery website to see how the end result should look like, but could not find the item ‘金牌牛奶吐司’.  However, from the ingredients, I reckoned that it should be looking like this 皇冠吐司, or like another all milk version called 極制瑞穗鮮乳土司.  Despite doing my homework, I still ended up baking the loaf with my bread tin covered, even though the pictures online clearly show otherwise.

I have since found a few other 吳寶春‘s bread recipes videos online, with the master himself demonstrating the steps.  This is one generous Master Baker.

RECIPE : CHAMPION’S MILK TOAST | 吴宝春金牌牛奶吐司
Source
INGREDIENTS :
- 300g plain flour or bread flour
- 24g fine sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 135g water
- 69g fresh milk
- 3/4 teaspoon instant yeast
- 15g unsalted butter, cubed
INSTRUCTIONS

01. Put all ingredients, EXCEPT BUTTER, in the  mixing bowl.
02. With a flat beater attachment, mix all ingredients at low speed (1 on my kitchenaid)
03. Change to a dough hook, and continue to knead the dough, adding cubed butter gradually.  Keep kneading till dough reached window pane stage.  You may increase the speed of the mixer to level 2 halfway when the dough starts to look stretchy and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
04. Remove the bowl from the mixer, grease working hand slightly with butter so that the dough won’t stick to fingers, loosely shape the dough into a ball*.
05. Cover the bowl with a clean damp tea towel, and let it proof for at least 60 minutes (or until it double in size).
06. After the dough has double in size, punch the dough down, and move it to a clean work top.
07. Divide the dough into 2 equal portions, roll each into a neat ball, leave it on the counter covered with towel for 15 minutes.
08. After 15 minutes, the dough rise again.  With a rolling pin, flatten the dough, pushing out trapped air inside, then loosely roll up, swiss roll style.
09. Cover with towel, and proof for another 15 minutes.
10. Repeat step 8, place dough inside the bread tin, covered with towel, and let it have a final rise.
11. For square loaf : Once dough has risen to fill up about 90% of the bread tin, cover bread tin, wait for another 15 minutes (to let dough rise all the way to the top), and bake for 40 minutes in a preheated oven at 210C / 410F.
12. If bake without cover, bake for 30minutes at 170C / 240F.

++ NOTES TO SELF ++
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this dough will be sticky, almost impossible not to stick to fingers when touched, so I had to use the tucking method (using greased fingers to tuck/fold the sides of the dough to its base)  to roughly shape it into a neat ball for its first proof. See photo 3,  it’s not all smooth and perfect, but good enough.
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my bread tin measures 20x10x10 inches.