Kue Lapis Surabaya

For Chinese New Year in the last two years, I have been making Kueh Lapis Legit (Thousand Layer Cake). This year, I decided to try another version of Lapis which is the Kue Lapis Surabaya. Firstly, its because I am quite busy this year now that I am a stay at home mum and also because I've always admired the moist and soft texture of the Kue Lapis Surabaya on the various blogs I've seen and want to make it myself.

Unlike the Kueh Lapis Legit, where I have to be on my feet for three hours grilling each layer one by one, Kue Lapis Surabaya is much easier to make because its just three layers. The only drawback is that you'll need three cake tins to bake the layers concurrently.    

The texture of this Kue Lapis Surabaya is fine and moist which I had expected with 30 egg yolks in just a 7 inch cake! It is quite a delicious cake. However, I really much prefer the Kueh Lapis Legit because of the flavours of the spices and the use of rum. Think next year, I'll go back to the multi-layered version :)

Kue Lapis Surabaya (7 inch square)

Recipe from Sweet Sentsations

Ingredients

• 30 egg yolks
• 280 g (1 1/2 cups) granulated sugar 
• 375 g (2 1/2 cups) butter, softened (I used Golden Churn Tin Butter)
• 150 g (1 1/4 cups) flour
• 1 tbsp mocha or chocolate paste (or 2 tbsp cocoa powder)
• Strawberry Jam

Directions

• Preheat the oven at 180 degrees C and grease the pan.
• Beat the butter at high speed for about 10 minutes until it turns pale white in colour.
• Beat the egg yolks with sugar until pale and tripled in volume. When you lift the beaters it should form a ribbon.
• Pour the yolk mixture slowly into the butter mixture and fold in until fully combined. Be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl for any butter so the entire mixture is incorporated.
• Sift in the flour and fold. Careful not to over fold, as over mixing will result in a reduced volume of batter.
• Divide the mixture equally into 3 portions. For one portion, add cocoa powder / chocolate or mocha paste and lightly fold
• Bake  in 3 separate pans for 20 minutes or until cake springs back when touched.
• Let the cake cool and spread strawberry jam between each layer.

Peanut Cookies

These traditional Peanut Cookies are a must have for Chinese New Year. Just like these Almond Cookies which I made last Chinese New Year, these top my list of favourite cookies for the festive period. 

The best part is that its incredibly easy to make and doesn't require any equipment at all. All the mixing is done in a bowl and then shaped by hand. 

These are so addictive because they literally dissolve in the mouth and the batch I made didn't make it to Chinese New Year. They were gone in two days!

Peanut Cookies (About 40 cookies)
Recipe adapted from here

Ingredients

• 360 g peanuts, fried/roasted and ground until fine
• 200 g castor sugar
• 250 g all purpose flour
• 160 ml of canola oil (use sparingly and use only enough to bind the mixture, start with about half and pour the rest in little by little till the mixture comes together into a ball without falling apart)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Handful of peanuts, fried/roasted, halved then cut into quarter when still hot.
• Egg white for the glazing finishing touch

Method

• Preheat the oven at 200°C and lay out 2 baking sheets with greased baking paper or silicone mat.
• Grind the roasted peanuts till fine and put them in a large mixing bowl. The oil from the ground peanut will make them stick into lumps, use fingers to break them apart.
• Sift the flour, salt and sugar into the peanut mixture and mix them together until well combined.
• Drizzle half of the oil into the bowl, use hand and knead the mixture together.
• Pour the rest of the oil little by little while still kneading the mixture until all the sugar melted and you can roll the mixture up into a ball without sticking to the bowl or your fingers. Then test it with a small lump of the mixture and roll into a ball between your palms. If it doesn't crumble, then your mixture is ready. If not, add just bit more oil until you can roll them into a ball. You may not need to use all the quantity of oil specified. 
• Scoop a tablespoon of the mixture into your palm, and roll them into small balls. Place them on the baking sheets.
• Put a little quartered peanut on top of each ball, then glaze it with the egg white. Put in the oven for 17 mins or until golden brown.

I am linking this post to the Bake Along event created by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours, Lena of Frozen Wings and Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids.

White Chocolate Cheesecake

The White Chocolate Cheesecake from the book Coffee Cakes: Simple, Sweet and Savory by Lou Seibert Pappas is the next bake for the members of The Home Bakers. The Home Bakers  is hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours. If you are keen to join us, please contact Joyce. 

Charmaine of MiMi Bakery House has chosen this lovely White Chocolate Cheesecake for our next bake. I have eaten chocolate cheesecake but not one made of white chocolate. This chesecake is a great choice as it is smooth, rich and I can taste the luscious white chocolate with each bite.

The original recipe came with a raspberry coulis (sauce) but raspberries are really expensive locally so I substituted with a blueberry sauce. For some reason, I love blueberries on cheesecake and I think the bluish tinge looks quite pretty against the white cheesecake too :)

I baked half the recipe in a 6 inch round tin and already it took us almost a week to finish up because it is so rich and we couldn't eat more than a small slice daily. For the full recipe, please go to MiMi Bakery House.

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs up organised by Doreen from my little favourite DIY and Zoe, Bake for Happy Kids, hosted by Alice from I Love. I Cook. I Bake. at this post.

Green Tea White Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm very much a green tea lover and I drink it daily and love to try all kinds of green tea flavoured items such as ice-cream, cakes, cookies... 

When I saw this on Just One CookBook last year, I decided that its going on my Chinese New Year cookie baking list. Who can resist green tea cookies embedded with white chocolate chips! I loved the strong green tea flavour in this cookie and the white chocolate adds a nice crunch and texture to this delicious cookie.

I prefer my cookies a little more crisp and baked them a little longer than recommended when I baked these the first time. The white cookie chips turned slightly browned. The second time I made these, I ensured that the chips were not burned, but the cookie wasn't quite as crisp as I'd like it to be. Perhaps its my oven - I am wondering if there is anyway to overcome this problem? 



Green Tea & White Chocolate Cookies (36 cookies)
Recipe from Just One CookBook

Ingredients

• 240 g all purpose flour
• 15 g green tea powder (matcha)
• 150 g unsalted butter, softened
• 130 g powder sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1/3 - 1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Method

• Sift the flour and the matcha powder.
• Cream together the butter, sugar, and salt until soft and light.
• Add the egg yolks and beat well.
• Gradually add the flour/matcha powder mixture.
• Fold in the white chocolate chips.
• Shape the dough into 2 round logs and wrap them in plastic wrap. Place your wrapped log on a bed of rice to chill to prevent one side from being flattened. Chill in refrigerator for several hoursor, better yet, overnight.
• Preheat oven to 300F (150C) degrees. Remove the dough from plastic wrap and cut the cookies into slices of 7mm (1/4 inch) thick. If you put too many chocolate chips, this step can be a little tricky.
• Bake for 20-22 minutes then cool on a rack.

I am linking this post to the Bake Along event created by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours, lena of Frozen Wings and Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids.

Cheese Crackers

I was looking for a cookie recipe made of cheese for Chinese New Year and chanced upon these Cheese Crackers. 

These crackers are made of just four ingredients - shredded cheese, salt, flour and butter - and very easy to make. The recipe recommended you blend all the ingredients together in a food processor. But I simply let the butter and cheese out for about 30 mins then rubbed the ingredients together using my hands. 

The trick to getting these really crispy is to roll them out as thin and possible and after you've cut them with a pizza cuter, lift them off the board with a spatula and place them onto the baking tray. These golden cheese crackers are so addictive - reminds me of those fish crackers I loved to buy when I was younger!

Cheese Crackers

Recipe from Diva Can Cook

Ingredients

• 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (or other types of cheese)
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• ¼-1/2 teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup flour
• course kosher salt for sprinkling, optional

Method

• Add all ingredients, except kosher salt into a food processor.
• Process until a dough forms.
• Shape dough into a disk and wrap with plastic wrap.
• Refrigerate for 1 hour 
• Remove dough from fridge and let it soften.
• Preheat oven to 175 degrees C.
• Roll the dough out on a smooth surface until it is about ⅛ inch thick (note: Roll it out as thinly as possible or the crackers will not be crispy)
• Use a pizza cutter or pastry wheel and make 1-inch squares.
• Sprinkle dough with kosher salt if desired.
• Use the end of a wooden screwer to make holes in the center of each square.
• Place the squares on a cookie sheet lined with non-stick foil or parchment paper.
• Bake for 10-12 minutes or until bottoms are barely golden.
• Let crackers sit in the pan for a minute before removing to a cooling rack. Crackers will crisp up more as they cool so be sure not to over bake.
• Store in an airtight container.

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs up organised by Doreen from my little favourite DIY and Zoe, Bake for Happy Kids, hosted by Alice from I Love. I Cook. I Bake. at this post.

I am linking this post to the Bake Along event created by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours, lena of Frozen Wings and Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids.

Sweet Potato Ondeh Ondeh

Wishing one and all a very Happy New Year! I hope everyone will have a great 2014.

I simply love biting into an Ondeh Ondeh coated with coconut and Gula Melaka oozing out. When I saw these delicious snacks from Jessie of Cooking Moments, I was really fascinated as it was made of healthy sweet potatoes. 

These Ondeh Ondeh are wonderfully chewy as they are dipped into ice cold water once they are boiled. 

The sweet potatoes give a lovely colour to the Ondeh Ondeh. They are however not sweet to taste, so a little sugar added to the dough makes it better. These are really addictive and I couldn't help popping one after another into my mouth!

Sweet Potato Ondeh-Ondeh (About 24)

Recipe from Jessie of Cooking Moments

Skin Ingredients:

• 150 g Mashed Sweet Potato
• 150 g Glutinous Rice Flour
• 95 g Icy Cold Water A (I used 85 g)
• 12 g Caster Sugar

Filling Ingredient:

• 100 g Palm Sugar (Gula Melaka) – I used 90g

Coating Ingredients:

• 100 g Shredded Coconut
• 1/4tsp Salt
• 1 Pandan Leaf, tied a knot

Others:

• Pot of water for boiling 
• Another pot of icy cold water for dipping (B)

Method

Preparation ahead of time

• Fill up a bowl with room temperature water. Freeze for 30 minutes or until further use.
• Chop the gula melaka roughly. Place in a stick blender, blitz until resembles fine crumbs. Set aside.
• Mix coconut with salt. Steam with pandan leaf until soft.

Rolling method

• To make the dough, mix flour with sweet potato until resembles coarse crumbs. Add water A, starting with 50ml, knead the dough.  Add little bit of water at a time(I added 15ml each time) & knead until the dough is pliable & not sticky.
• Place the dough in a bowl, cover with a clean, wet tea towel to prevent dryness.
• Grab a small piece of dough, about 15g and roll into ball.  Either flatten it or make it into a small bowl-shape, place some gula melaka inside (Do not overfill or the skin will burst).
• Carefully seal & roll into balls again. Place on a lined tray. Cover with cling wrap. Repeat until the dough is all used up.
• Remove water (B) from the freezer.
• Cook ondeh-ondeh in boiling water until they float up.  Do this in small batches. Don’t over-crowded the cooking pot. Give a gentle stir to the ondeh-ondeh if they stick to the base of the pot for too long. They should be cooked within a few minutes.
• Very quickly, remove from hot water & place in the cold water.
• Remove from the cold water, then coat with coconut before serve.

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