Moist Banana Bread

The texture of this loaf is between a bread and a cake....moist, crumbly, prefect for breakfast or tea...

 

 

You need :

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup fine sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
a pinch of salt
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
3 medium bananas (ripe), mashed

Preheat oven 180C and prepare a loaf pan (grease and dust with some flour).
In a mixing bowl, stir together butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, vanilla and mix well. In another bowl combine flour, soda and salt.
Add flour mixture to butter and mix till smooth. Fold in sour cream, mashed bananas and walnuts. Mix well.
Pour batter into prepared pan and spread evenly.
Bake for about 50 min - an hour. Toothpick inserted should come out clean. Cool in pan for about 15 mins. Then remove from pan and cool on wire rack. Best served warm.

Sour Cream Pancakes

So the little one decides to sleep early today, giving mummy some selfie time :)
This awesome recipe is a must try....made these perfect pancakes for breakfast a couple of days ago...very quick and by far the best pancakes I've made....and the husband agrees :)
I had some sour cream left from baking a Banana Bread loaf (recipe will be coming up soon) and so decided to use it and mdke pancakes ... I'm so glad I did...original recipe from :  http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2013/04/edna-maes-sour-cream-pancakes/

 

You need :

1 cup sour cream
7 tbsp. all purpose flour
2 tbsp. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
some butter for greasing (I used non-stick pan)
butter and honey to serve

In a small bowl, whisk together eggs and vanilla. Set aside.
In a separate small bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
Add dry ingredients to sour cream until just barely combined (don't overmix.) Whisk in the egg mixture until just combined.
Heat a pan over medium-low heat and melt some butter in the pan. Drop batter by 1/4 cup servings onto the pan. Cook on the first side until bubbles start to form on the surface and edges are starting to brown. Flip to the other side and cook for another minute. The surface will be golden.
Serve with some butter, honey or maple syrup.

Indian Style Chicken Mushroom Pasta

Bored with the usual tomato based pasta sauce? Here's one with a touch of spices to give it a new taste altogether....not as easy as opening a bottle n warming up the sauce but surely worth the extra effort..

You need :

Pasta (shell type / macaroni / bow tie pasta) - enough for 3 - cooked, drained and kept aside

1 small boneless, skinless chicken breast - cut into bite size pieces
5-6 button mushrooms - sliced
1 onion - sliced thinly
1 tomato - sliced thinly
a little turmeric powder
2 sprigs curry leaves
salt to taste
coriander leaves - garnish

For masala :

coriander seeds - 2tbsp
black peppercorns - 1 tsp
3 green chillies - chopped
5-6 garlic cloves - chopped
1 tsp olive oil

Heat oil in a non-stick pan and roast coriander seeds, peppercorns, garlic and green chillies. Let it cool and later grind the ingredients together till it makes a smooth paste by adding some water.

Next heat olive oil in pan, sauté onions till soft, add in chicken, mix well...later add in tomatoes, mushroom. Cook till tomato is soft. Add in ground masala, curry leaves, turmeric powder, salt and some water. Stir well and cook till chicken is cooked and gravy is a little thick.
Then, add in the cooked pasta and stir well. Taste and add in salt if needed.. Mix till well combined. Serve hot with coriander leaves as garnishing.

Blueberry Cheese Butter Cake

I made this when my aunt invited us for her Diwali open house....It makes a 9 inch round / square cake..buttery with a lovely combination of juicy blueberries and cheese..makes the ordinary butter cake extra special...worth the try..

You need :

250 gms butter
3/4 cup fine sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 medium sized eggs
250 gms cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 rd cup milk
2 1/4 cup self raising flour
150 gm fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 160C.  Beat butter and sugar till fluffy using paddle attachment. Add in vanilla. Add in the eggs, one at a time..beating well between each addition.
Change to whisk attachment and add in cream cheese and milk. Whisk till batter is smooth. Add the flour and whisk till combined. Using a spatula, fold in the blueberries.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for about 45-50 minutes or till skewer inserted comes out clean.
Place on wire rack to cool before removing from pan.

Mini Chocolate Orange Cheesecake

It's been sometime since my last post...well, looking after a little one is not a piece of cake and though the laptop is set up in the next room from where she sleeps (with the idea of updating my blog during her sleeping hours), the temptation to grab some sleep myself always seems to be winning...

Hmm...now for this particular recipe...I came up with the idea of baking a mini cheesecake..Firstly, coz there's only the 2 of us and importantly, it's a way of avoiding myself from over indulgence (guilty feelings aside).

So here goes....a perfectly baked, creamy cheesecake which is just the right size as a dessert and has a crust made with Oreo cookies, giving it a kinda balance I love....Made this for our 3rd Wedding Anniversary which was last week (12.12.13) ;)...As usual, earned me some awesome remarks from the husband and also some lucky friends who got to taste it for breakfast the next day...

The recipe makes about 6 medium cupcake liner sized cheesecakes

I used :

1 block Philadelphia cream cheese (250 gm)
1/3 cup fine sugar
1 egg
juice of 1/2 orange and rind of 1 orange
5 tbsp. whipping cream

For the crust :

1/2 packet of Oreo cookies (cream removed)
3-4 tbsp. butter (softened)

Preheat oven to 180C...Line a muffin pan with 6-8 cupcake liners (depending on size).
Crush the Oreo cookies and add in the butter and mix..(oreo crumbs should be sticking together).
Take a tbsp. of mixture and press down onto the cupcake liners and press with the back of a teaspoon until smooth. Set aside.

In a stand mixer, beat cream cheese, fine sugar till well mixed, smooth and creamy. Add in the egg and beat till well combiner. Add in orange juice, orange rind and cream. Mix well. Divide micture evenly into the cupcake liners with Oreo base.

Bake cheesecakes for 18-20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let it cool before refrigerating and serving. Serve cold.

Valrhona Chocolate Buffet at Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur

Imagine having everything Chocolate for tea.....yes, you heard me right....the minute I came across a post on this chocolate buffet in KL, I just couldn't resist going.... so me, hubby and my two gal friends had a jolly good time catching up over a selection of delectable chocolate treats..all made with Valrhona Chocolate.


Check out these mouthwatering pics ;) :

                      

 

 

I'm sure the pics say for themselves...mouthwatering delicacies they were....velvery smooth chocolate creations with different textures, melts in your mouth with every bite....

 

Our favourite of the day was the decadent Chocolate Tart with the perfect balance from the shell and the filling with a golden leaf on each slice and some crispies to give a little crunch...that sure spells PERFECT...till it made us have seconds...sinful alright ;)

 

 

Even the cappuccino we ordered to finish our tea time treat with was really good....

From the start, we were provided with great service and the ambience at 38th floor of Grand Hyatt was just perfectly set up...giving us the view of the KL Twin Towers from where we were sitting

 

 

That's the husband with my little angel...;)

 

 

To those who would like to give yourselves a treat, do take some time off and head over to THIRTY8 at Grand Hyatt KL ...the Valrhona Chocolate Buffet is available every afternoon from 2.00 - 5.00 pm

 

 

Price : RM 78.00 per person (chocolate buffet only)

 

           RM 98.00 per person (chocolate buffet and afternoon tea)

 



 

 

 

Nov 2013 Bake Along Challenge - Muffins

To me, muffins are a kinda comfort food...perfect with my cuppa coffee for breakfast or with my tea as a tea time treat...and I so love the smell of fresh muffins in the oven..who doesn't eh ;)
So, do Bake Along with me this month....
As usual, there are some simple rules to follow, and I will do a round-up of all the entries.

The rules :,
1. Follow my blog.
2. You may send in as many links as you want...archived posts are also accepted...do link it using the linky tool at the end of this page and send a pic to my email add (resh_82@hotmail.com)...for the round-up ;)
3. Use of above logo is advised and your post should link back to this event page...
4. To those who do not have a blog, do send your entries to resh_82@hotmail.com Pls include your name, pic, recipe and 'Bake Along Challenge' as the subject.

Steamed Sweet Corn Cake

My friend gave me a can of cream style sweet corn which her mom has accidently bought and told me to bake something using it...hmmm...I'm used to making custard with cream style corn but this time I wanted to try out something new...the end result : a steamed corn cake. I gave her some to take home to her parents and they all loved it ;)

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

4 eggs

150 gm sugar

300gm cream style corn

250g plain flour

1 tbsp double action baking powder

 

80g melted butter ( I melted in the microwave)

Method:

1. Whip eggs and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the sweet corn, mix well.

2. Add in the flour and baking powder, mix until well blended. Lastly add in the butter and mix.

3. Pour the mixture into a greased cake pan. Cover the cake pan with aluminium foil to avoid water droplets to drop onto the cake. Place in a steamer.

4. Steam for 30 minutes or till cake is cooked through.