Kid-Friendly Cupcake Baking

I totally suck at creating food that people can eat so I had this grand idea of training my girl to cook so that she can be the chef of our family (*laughs*).

Anyway, I was thinking of ways to occupy her during the weekends when I remembered that I had promised her to bake cupcakes. Following the recipe from one of our Dora Magazines, I went to the nearby supermarket and got the ingredients.

Mixing the butter and sugar in the mixing bowl

She needed a little help with this so I jumped in to help mix it more evenly

Sieving the flour

This girl got so impatient with sieving the flour, she poured about 30% of it into the bowl without sieving it! *gasp* 

Next we added Milo powder (replaced cacao powder) and vanilla essence and stirred them all evenly together.

Helping to scope the mixture into the cupcake holders (have no idea what they are called)

All ready to put in our Philips Air-fryer to bake!

The girl with her finished product!
(Note: Frosting was supposed to top the cupcake together with the strawberries but I omitted it. Too sweet.)

The cupcakes were a little hard (I think due to the flour that was not sieved properly!) and we may have over-baked it a little. Even though no one wanted to eat them (including the girl!), I ate most of them because 1) I'm her Mummy, showing support is part of my job; and 2) Some tasted not too bad actually (probably those with properly sieved flour..).

We're thinking of doing mini cakes next.. wish us luck! =)

Homemade Pancakes with Greenfields Milk

My girl, the brother-in-law and I are big fans of fresh milk. The bro and my girl loves plain fresh milk while I simply love (no prizes for the correct answer..) chocolate milk!

Every week we buy 2 packets of milk from the supermarket: 1 Low Fat & 1 Chocolate. It's one of our main sources of calcium and an essential part of our diet. Hence, it was crucial that we bought only the best in the market!

As a producer of natural and honest milk, Greenfields guarantees that the milk that they produce does not include additives, chemicals, antibiotics or hormones and are pasteurised and packed within the dairy to ensure optimal freshness.

As we have never tried Greenfields Fresh Milk before, they kindly sent us their full range to try: Fresh milk, High Calcium Skimmed milk (0.1% fat of fresh milk), High Calcium Low Fat (contains only 1.3% fat) and Chocolate Malt.

Photo credit: Greenfields

The taste of the milk (I'm mainly describing the Chocolate Malt of course since that was the one I tried) was not as thick as some of the brands that I used to drink so initially I wasn't used to it. It wasn't as sweet as well, which the hubby later commented after I mentioned it to him that this meant that the milk was truly real. Real foods may sometimes be viewed as less tasty simply because it is not as salty or as sweet as the artificial flavours that we're used to. I thought that made a lot of sense!

Since we had so many packets of milk in the fridge, we decided to cook something with them but I had absolutely no idea so as usual it was our Head Chef (aka Mum-in-law) to the rescue! She said my girl really enjoyed the pancakes her paternal aunt made for them so my Mum-in-law wanted to try making them herself.

Ingredients Used:
200g of flour
3 tablespoons of baking powder
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 egg
50g salted butter
300ml of Greenfields High Calcium Low Fat Milk

Step 1: Ensure flour & baking powder are sieved together. Add sugar, salt and milk.

Adding the milk to the flour, baking powder & sugar mixture

Whisk batter until just creamy enough (do not over whisk)

Step 2: Scoop batter and pour into heated pan (low to medium fire). Flip the pancakes after bubbles start to form.

Our pan was big enough for 3 to be made at a time, super painstaking work if you ask me >.<

And there you have it!

Homemade pancakes!

My excited girl, all ready to sink her teeth in one!

Mum-in-law said on hindsight that in future it might be better to use unsalted butter instead of salted, to add 1 teaspoon of salt as well as 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract for a better taste.

I thought seeing as she had never done pancakes before, this was an awesome result for a first try! We're thinking of trying it again, hopefully with greater success.

If you decide to give this a try, let me know how it went for you =)

Greenfields Milk comes in variants of Fresh Milk, Chocolate Malt, High Calcium Low Fat (only 1.3% fat) and High Calcium Skimmed Milk (less than 0.1% fat). Available at most supermarkets at $5.95 for a 2-litre bottle (except at FairPrice), $3.25 for a 1-litre pack and $1.50 for a 200ml pack (at 7-Eleven stores only).

Disclosure: This is a sponsored story on behalf of Greenfields Singapore. All opinions are my own.

1st Attempt at Cream of Broccoli

I said I would move on to making Cream of Broccoli from scratch the last time I tried out the hand blender, so as promised, here's the recipe that we used (didn't follow the book exactly as we didn't have all the ingredients).

Ingredients for Cream of Broccoli:
1 litre of chicken stock
1 head of broccoli (chopped)
50g of butter
50g of flour
100g of leeks (diced)
100g of onions
100g of celery
200ml of cream
2 egg yolks
Pepper

As usual, I roped in the Head Chef of my house (aka mum-in-law) to prepare and cook the soup.

Step 1: Ensure all ingredients are diced, sliced and sieved.

Chopped and cooked broccoli, diced onions, leeks & celery and cooked egg yolks

Sieved flour

Step 2: In a large pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the Mirepoix (I had no idea what this meant until I googled), and stir for abour 5 minutes until soft.

Mirepoix = Leeks, onions & celery

Step 3: Add broccoli and flour and let it cook for a while.

Broccoli, which was later cut into smaller pieces with a scissors

Step 4: Add the chicken stock and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 15-30 minutes until the broccoli is soft.

Simmering mixture

Step 5: Turn off the heat and puree the soup by using the Philips Jamie Oliver Hand Blender directly into the pan until smooth.

Use Turbo Power for quicker blending

After about 5-10 minutes of blending

Step 5: Heat the pan again and stir in the egg yolk and cream to desired consistency. Add pepper and viola, you're done!

1st attempt at Cream of Broccoli Soup!

On hindsight, we may have added too much leeks, onions and celery (we didn't like the taste). Decided that we only need to add 50g of onions in future. Also, we might have to either blend the mixture for longer or sieve it to make the soup smoother. Otherwise, the taste and consistency was just right. Not bad for a 1st attempt! =)

Try it yourself! If I can cook, anyone can! *laughs*


Keep life simple with the PHILIPS | Jamie Oliver range which includes a food processor (S$268), blender (S$128) and hand blender (S$108). Available at leading electronics and departmental stores. For more information on the Philips Jamie Oliver range of products, visit Philips Singapore.

Disclosure: This is Part 2 of a series of sponsored conversations on behalf of Philips Electronics Singapore. All opinions are my own.

Baking a Birthday Cake for My Girl

After an enjoyable afternoon where I learnt to bake for the 1st time, I had an idea to bake a cake for my baby girl's 2nd birthday!

Obviously I'm not talented enough to do this on my own so off I went to the nearest chef available. Why, Mrs P of course! *laughs*

We decided to do a simple butter cake (you're talking about a baking-idiot like me after all *laughs*). After buying the ingredients at a nearby supermarket, we are ready to begin!

Laying out our baking utensils & ingredients

Ingredients You'll Need:
250g of unsalted butter
2 cups of self-raising flour
3 eggs
2 tablespoons of vanilla essence
1+1/4 cups of castor sugar
1 cup of milk
1 packet of marshmallows

You must be wondering what the marshmallows were for? Well, that was for the fondant that I intended to make. I googled (as usual) for a fondant recipe and found not only all the different ways you can make fondant but how to do it. Perfect! Or so I thought.

I chose to make fondant using marshmallows and powdered sugar as it's the easiest. But as we had forgotten to buy powdered sugar, I googled again and found that we can make it by blending ordinary sugar in a blender! Genius =)

Clockwise from left: Blending sugar to make powdered sugar; Sugar & marshmallows before microwaving;
Mixture of melted marshmallows (after microwaving for 2 minutes) & powdered sugar

Unfortunately, that was where the success ended. After trying hard to blend the melted marshmallows and powdered sugar together to create fondant, it just didn't work out like I had hoped *sigh*

And that's probably the last time I'm ever going to try and make fondant -_-

Baby girl probably benefitted the most from my failed attempt..

Stealing a bite of the 'fondant'

Mrs P has had a lot of experience baking cakes so she did most of the work while I only helped out just enough to say that I had a hand in baking it *laughs*.

Step 1: Sift self-raising flour
Step 2: Cream butter, sugar & vanilla essence with electric mixer. Add in the eggs and continue. Cream until light and fluffy.

Creaming the butter, sugar, vanilla essence and eggs

Step 3: Fold in flour and milk, alternating between flour and milk a little at a time until the mixture is blended.

Step 4: Grease the baking container and fill it with the cake batter.

Step 5: Preheat oven at 180 degree celcius and bake for 25 minutes.

Baking the batter in the oven

And viola!

Completed!

Mrs P's Tip: Poke a satay stick into the cake to check if it's done. If the stick comes out clean, it is done! =)

And next up is my favourite, decorating! As you know, we don't have fondant so thankfully we had a backup plan. We turned once again to our best friend Google and found a simple icing recipe.

Creaming the butter, powdered sugar & vanilla essence

I decided not to add colouring to the icing just in case it turns out looking weird. And after spreading it onto the cake..

..and piping in the words using black icing that I had bought, the cake is finally complete!

Lovingly made for you my darling! =)

I had wanted to add in more decorations but the hubby thinks it's ok the way it is. Right.. I mean after all, the uglier it is, the more likely people will believe I made it right?! -_-

We brought the cake to my parents' house to celebrate baby girl's birthday with them.

Celebrations Part 2

My dad was in town so it made the celebrations even more special =)

Overall the cake tasted great except that it's a little plain. We definitely could have added some chocolate chips or other ingredients to 'spice' it up a bit.

I can't wait to join Mrs P in more baking sessions!

And by that, I mean helping her to crack the eggs while she does everything else (and then going on to blog about it as if I did it *laughs*).

Linking Up With:

My 1st Baking Experience!

Chef Judy Koh is the owner of Creative Culinaire & Cafe Pralet. Her cafe, which is located just next door to her school, is regularly patronised by me, my friends and even my in-laws.

You might not know this but Chef Judy is my neighbour and I've always wanted to take baking lessons at her baking school ever since I got married and moved in to live with the hubby and in-laws. Unfortunately, I also did not have the time or the money to do so (the school fees are not cheap!).

So you can imagine my delight when I was given the opportunity to attend a special baking class last Sunday organised by Rolleyes and taught by Chef Judy herself!

Our master chef & teacher!

I have always said that I'm not a good cook and most likely will never be one because it's just not in my blood. But a baker? I might still have some hope because baking is more of a science than we think. As Chef Judy started explaining the baking process to us, she even went as far as to write out chemical symbols on the whiteboard behind her.

Ah Science. Now that, I understand.

Chef Judy explaining the process of baking a batter type cake,
with the mirror above strategically angled so that we can see all the action from the top view.

She wants to inspire us to fall in love with baking by teaching us the fundamentals on how to make her signature chocolate zucchini cake, which is exactly what you are thinking. A vegetable cake. But it tastes amazing ('cos the other ingredients hide the veggie-ness of it) and most importantly, it has half the calories of a regular cake! What's not to love right? *laughs*

Demonstrating to us how the end product is supposed to look like

After learning the basics, we were off to make our own batch in our special aprons and with the pre-prepared ingredients by the staff of Creative Culinaire (we're so spoilt right? *laughs*).

All prepared to start!

Ingredients (for a batch of 16 cupcakes)

230g butter

172g light brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
308g self raising flour
1 tsp baking soda
224g grated zucchini
90g chocolate chip
50g toasted walnuts

The Method
Step 1:  Cream the butter, light brown sugar & salt till light.

Susan & Sandra in charge of doing a great job with the creaming

Step 2: Add in the eggs, one at a time (we each took a turn to do this).

Me trying hard to crack the egg without causing the shell to fall in!

Step 3: Toss the chocolate chips, walnuts and zucchini with about 1/2 cup of the flour.

Delphine was in charge of mixing the zucchini while I was in charge of seiving the flour =)

Step 4: Mix in the remaining flour into the butter mixture (a little at a time).

We spent most of our time watching this thing spin and commenting on how weird our batter looks while trying to look like we're so busy and professional

Step 5: Fold in the zucchini mixture.

We each took turns to scoup the mixture into the piping bag..

..and pipe it into cupcake containers (for easy transportation home).

We called ourselves 'Bakerlicious Mummies'.
It was supposed to identify our tray but who can resist a chance to boost their egos?! *laughs*

Step 6: Bake in oven till cooked at 175 degree celcius.

Our creations baking in the ovens

And since this step would take a while, we spent the waiting time taking pictures with Chef Judy..

Singapore Mom Bloggers (left to right): Me, Chef Judy, San, Delphine, Susan, Rachel & Kyle (our youngest chef)

..and having tea and pastries at Cafe Pralet next door, with complements of the chef =)

We had to quickly finish our tea break because it wasn't long before our cakes were ready for the final step!

Yay they didn't turn out so bad!

Step 7: When the cakes are cool, glaze them with chocolate and decorate! This is my favourite part! *grin*

Mad-Made especially for my hubby & family =)
(LOVE the heart-shaped design!)

I had an awesome time baking, thanks to the amazing team work of my group and the kindness of Creative Culinaire and Rolleyes.

If you would like to get more recipes and tips from professional chefs or find out more about F&B restaurants in Singapore, visit Rolleyes which is a new online platform that is dedicated to showcasing video clips of food for the food lover or chef in you.

In addition, become a subscriber and you will also receive special vouchers or discounts to the F&B establishments featured on Rolleyes.

Now go. Eat and be merry! =)


Disclosure: An invitation to this event was received from Rolleyes and Creative Culinaire. No monetary compensation was received; all opinions & text are my own.

Spicy Grilled Chicken by Mel's Kitchen

You know how I always say I'm so blessed to have people who are so willing to cook for me and my family? Well, my good friend Mel (aka Mrs P) is definitely one of those people and her greatest ambition is to become the perfect wife and mother on top of juggling a full time job.

After much pursuasion (and persistent nagging) from me, she's finally debuting one of her recipes on my blog! *excited*

Spicy Grilled Chicken

You will need:
4 chicken thighs
Spaghetti or rice
2 stalks each of fresh Basil, Thyme & Marjoram (washed & chopped)
2 tablespoons of Cajun Spice Blend
4 tablespoons of Chilli Powder
3 tablespoons of Lime Juice
3 tablespoons of Olive Oil
1 tablespoon of Sugar
A pinch of Salt

(All are for marination, except for the 1st two ingredients)

Preparation for marination

Marinate chicken thighs with the marination blend as listed in the ingredients list above.

After marination

Leave the marinated mixture in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

When you're ready to cook, warm up the Happy Call Pan and drizzle it with olive oil. Next, pan fry the chicken thighs for approximately 2-3 minutes on each side. Then, remove and place the chicken in the oven and continue to grill it for 6 minutes.

Lastly, serve the grilled chicken with spaghetti, mash potatoes or butter rice, depending on your family's preference.

Grilled Chicken with Spaghetti

And viola! It's so simple and tasty, it's perfect for the busy working mother to cook for her family. I hope you will have a fun time cooking and eating this dish! Enjoy!

P.S: Many thanks to Mel's Kitchen for the recipe and photos =)

Chocolate Mint Cookies by JK Creations

I've been wanting to write more about food on my blog but as I am clearly not an expert on it, I had an idea to get people who are to do so instead. This idea led to the birth of my first Guest Feature by JK Creations! J is married to K, who's the hubby's best bud since secondary school. We met at one of their many gatherings and didn't bond right away. After all, the only thing we had in common was that our husbands were friends. But we soon bonded over planning for our weddings (we both got married in the same year) and our love for kids. She's another one of my friends whose passion is to be a Stepford Wife.

Here at the University of Motherhood, I'm proud to present J's debut feature:

Chocolate Mint Cookies

Found my very first recipe book (which was also my secondary school Home Economics recipe book) from my mum's place and decided to do some baking at home.

Since I already got most of the ingredients at home, I decided to make cookies using the simplest method - The "Rubbing-In" method.

As I did not have any chocolate chips at home, I improvised using the chocolate mint sticks, which I cut into small pieces as shown:

Cutting up the chocolate mint sticks

Next, add 50g of butter into 150g of plain flour.

After adding the butter, cut it into smaller pieces in the flour.

After it's cut into smaller pieces, you can start rubbing the butter into the flour.
(Tip: Ensure that your nails are trimmed. Definitely not advisible for ladies with nicely manicured nails.)

Rub the butter into the flour

As you're rubbing the butter into the flour, remember to raise your hand up high to"incorporate air" into the mixture.

You should also rub the mixture until it resembles breadcrumbs.

Mixture resembling bread crumbs

It should look a bit like yellowish milk powder. You will see the difference in colour when you're doing it (my camera is not good enough to capture the change in colour).

Next, add the chocolate mint chips (which you've just cut) and about 75-100g of sugar into the mixture (I usually use my own estimation).

Add the chocolate mint and sugar into the mixture

*Tip: You may replace the chocolate mint with other ingredients according to the flavour you would like your cookies to be. If you decide to use savoury ingredients such as peanuts or pistachio, be sure to add some salt to taste

Mix the mixture well

Next, after making a well in the centre of the mixture, add some eggs and milk so that it becomes a dough.

Add eggs that have been beaten

Add some milk

Eggs and milk should be added bit by bit while kneading the mixture into a dough with your hand. Doing this will ensure that you know when to stop as the the dough should not be too dry or too wet.

"Bread crumbs" + egg + milk = dough

Next, roll the dough into little balls of roughly the same size (about the size of a fishball). You can get your kids and/or hubby to help you as this is fun :)

Roll up the dough into individual "fishballs"

You may shape the cookies with a cookie cutter if you have one at home. As I do not have a cookie cutter, I flattened the ball-like dough with a fork instead.

Flatten the 'balls' using a fork

Finally, bake the flattened dough in a preheat oven at 180 degree celcius for about 20 minutes.

Bake cookies in the oven for 20 minutes

You should be able to smell the scent of cookies after 20 minutes. Be careful not to burn your cookies. You should be watching your oven and not be leaving it unattended for too long.

After 20 minutes of baking in the oven, the end product should look like this:

Freshly baked cookies straight out of the oven!

We decided to give some of the cookies to our neighbours as they have often bought egg tarts for us. It's time we returned the love with something, hehe..

Home-baked chocolate mint cookies

Our neighbours gave us very good feedback on them (although I personally found them a bit dry).

You can definitely add more butter than I did and see if it will turn out well. I later made more batches cookies in the pistachio and sunflower seeds flavour using the same method (as described above). You should try it!

Happy Baking! ^^

Find this and other great recipes at JK Creations.

P.S. This post is linked up to Tasty Tuesdays at FTLOB & featured on Mumcentre