Speculaas

Christmas is still a way away, but that doesn't stop me making these tasty spiced cookie called Speculaas;) They are traditionally eaten on St. Nicolas Eve in Netherlands, and often have images related to the stories of St. Nicolas.

Since I don't have those special cookie cutter, I opted for a very simple cookie shape. As soon as I started working on the dough, the kitchen was filled with that spicy aroma of Christmas! ...hummm..., maybe this year we're having Christmas twice (or at least twice!) ....

The key ingredients of this recipe are, of course, the spices. To get the best effect of them, you must let the dough rest so that the spices spread through the dough and give the cookies a nice spicy taste:)

To see the recipe, visit The World of Sweets Recipes, Netherlands.

30 seconds dessert

Tonight was one of those nights I have crazy cravings for desserts as my dinner. This happens time to time with no reasons... Does anyone have the same thing as me?

Unfortunately, I couldn't get a chance to make any cakes or desserts during the day today. However, I knew there were some goodies in the fridge... Ready-made pudding and Mango kulfi from other day! I say "ready-made", but of course, they were made by me;)

So..., quickly put kulfi on top of the pudding and sprinkle some mixed nuts, seeds and berries. In less than 30 second, I've got a pretty dessert in front of me. Hopefully, this will give me a nice sugar supply and let me have a good night sweet dreams...;D

Mamon

Mamon is a very simple sponge cake from Phillippines. They are very easy to make, taste homely. They are what I call "no-frills cake".

But, don't get me wrong. These individually baked sponge cupcakes are nice tea time snack. In a way, they remind me of my childhood, make me feel a little nostalgia... They're great as they are, but if you like sweeter ones, try adding sprinkle of icing sugar on top. Huum, gorgeous;)

You can easily finish a couple (or even more!) of these soft and light little sponge cakes in one go!

To see the recipe, visit The World of Sweets, Phillippines.

Super simple pudding

Egg yolks were left aside quietly because they didn't make it into those macha financiers I made yesterday. There are quite few things you can do with egg yolk such as turning them into nice home-made custard, egg tarts, ice creams, cookies... but they can be a little time consuming... (Oh, don't get me wrong, I love those time consuming process too!)

Basically, after the financiers I've cleaned up all the tools, so the last thing I wanted to do was do those washing up and cleaning up again late at night....

My choice for saving those left-alone egg yolks were... Pudding! Yes that's it, a super easy peasy one! All you need is mix, put them in the oven, sit back and relax while you wait. With so little effort, you get a smooth creamy slightly nutty pudding. Not bad, huh?

Ingredients;

Egg yolk 3

Almond milk 250 ml

Maple sugar 1 tbsp

1. Preheat the oven to 200º. Mix all the ingredients together.

2. Pour 1 into pudding cups. Place the cups in a baking pan. Pour water in the pan until the water reaches to half the height of the cups.

3. Place the pan in the preheated oven (200º). Bake for 45 minutes.

4. Cool them in the fridge. 

Macha Financier

On the other day, we took a day trip to France to get some nice bits there. Aaah, I love french supermarket. Especially, their kitchen section has more variation of baking moulds.
There I found a petite financier mould made with silicon, which make up 20 small financiers. Very pretty... immediately..., it was in the shopping basket...

So... today, I used my lovely new mould to try a French-Japanese fusion cake, Macha Financier. I love macha. It is another taste of home for me;) A table spoonful of macha powder is enough to get the unique flavour and beautiful green colour of macha (see the picture!) :D

A hint of macha flavour in the light yet moist almond cake really made me want to have a strong Japanese Hojicha. Great way to feel the French and Japanese in the same mouthful!

Ingredients;

Egg white 3

Almond powder 50g

Flour 50g

Sugar 120g

Macha powder 1tbsp

Butter (Melted) 130g

1.Preheat the oven to 200º. Beat egg white until it's fluffy.

2. In a bowl, mix together almond powder, flour, sugar and macha powder.

3. Make a well in the centre of 2, and pour 1 into it. Fold in lightly.

4. Add melted butter into 3, fold in.

5. Pour the mixture into a financier mould.

6. Bake in the preheated oven (200º)for 12 minutes or until the edge of financiers become slightly brown.

Dr Pepper's birthday

Our friend, Pepper is having his 30th birthday happy today. Happy Birthday, Pepper! I mean... Dr Pepper ;)

So, as usual, I made a cake for him. Since he's pepper, and he once told me to call him "Dr Pepper", my choice for his cake was, yes!, Dr Pepper's cake!

I used one of my favourite giant cup cake mould, which make a cup cake 25 times bigger than a normal one....Awesome...and Of course, there is a whole bottle of Dr Pepper in it. Rich and  moist, very sugary...  covered with more sugar... I just love the whole process of making a cake and decorating it pretty for people. Well, we're off to see him now. I hope he will like it. ;)

Poisson d'avril

Everyone, it's April Fool's Day today. Did you do any naughty stuff or something stupid and funny?
Well, I made dinner... yes, fish and chips... Huh? you think that's nothing special? Yeah... it is...

It's not those deep fried fish and chips, but they are made by The World of Sweet and so..., of course, it's SWEET! Look closely, the big yellow eyed fish is a almond milk pudding, the peas are marzipan, and even the chips are sponge cake! Humm..., I have to admit I'm pretty happy with my Poisson d'avril dinner :D

Not only does it look nice, it tasted yummy too, and there was no need for dessert!

Here we are..., happy April Fool's Friday..., done;)