Baking Weekends

Ever since I made scones and realized that baking could be really easy, I dabbled a little here and there. So, it’s been almost a weekly affair now, baking! Here are some of the things I baked over the past few weekends.

Cream Puffs

Mom wanted to eat cream puffs, so I googled up on how to make cream puffs. First attempt was disastrous because I didn’t watch out how much butter I put in. Being inexperience, I thought, the more butter, the better! Ended making rather weird looking puffs.. like doraemon’s pancakes! Hahahah! This picture is my second attempt at making cream puffs. Success! Recipe here.

Custard Cream

Actually, I was merely googling to look for how to make custard cream to be inserted into my cream puffs, as alternative to whip cream. I stumbled upon this recipe and think to myself, what the heck? I might as well make the cookies since it looks so damn easy. So, it was so easy that first attempt was a success! Watch out on the making of the cream though. It can be rather tricky. Recipe here.

Salted Chocolate Cookies

I’ve been following Kim’s blog for awhile because she is such a great cook! Her recipes are easy to follow and with pictures, I don’t think anybody can go wrong lah! But I was wrong! Haha! I decided to make this cookie because the children in my house enjoy chocolates. Actually, me also lah. Hahahha! Since my oven is rather small – I am using just a toaster oven (seriously!), my tray was not big enough to put the cookies apart. My first attempt, ended with cookies fusing together, that I had to use a knife to hack them apart. Hahahah! Not wanting to take anymore chances, my second attempt, I used a heart shaped mold. Saja lah! Hahaha! The aroma emitted while baking, is uncannily similar to Famous Amos! No kidding! Thanks, Kim for this recipe.

Roasted Peanuts & Caramelized Onions Cookies

Well, this is also from Kim’s recipe. The moment the cookies are out from the oven, they tasted heavenly! My aunt even thought that I made hup tou sou! Hahahha! I didn’t press the cookies while shaping them, to place onto the tray, hence the cookies were loosely bound. So, it sort of tasted like hup tou sou. Not many like this cookie because, I guess most of my family members disliked onions. Also, I think I over roasted my peanuts.. so… I guess, I will put this on hold for awhile. Recipe here.

Arrays of butter cakes!

Also, this is requested by mom, butter cake. She always loved butter cakes and has been pestering me to make butter cakes for awhile. I procrastinated because I thought my oven toaster wouldn’t be able to handle baking cake! However, one fine night, out of whim, I just drove to the mall to get a log of butter, some milk, the baking pan and went home to bake till 11 pm. Yes, that’s how crazy I am now!

First attempt was successful, despite the fact, I accidentally scooped in 2 teaspoon of baking powder. LOL! No wonder the cake naik macam gunung! However, because of the direct heating in oven toaster, the top part was rather dark, even if it wasn’t burnt. Second attempt, I got myself a proper baking pan, only 20 cm diameter, a shallow baking pan. Instead of placing the baking pan in the middle of the oven, I slided it on the last slot, so that the exposed part of the batter would be far away from direct heating. It was a success! Also, make sure you cream your butter properly, I guess it helps! Also using a good butter seems to play a crucial part too. I’ve used 4 brands of butter so far, and I find Golden Churn (Salted – so no need to add salt) – is more aromatic and Tatura – seems to be less greasy and fragrant.

This recipe is from Rasa Malaysia.

Happy baking!

Tags: baking, homemade, pastry