Happy 2010 ! My first baking of the year got nothing special to share but just a simple cookie recipe that came with some compliments from my family members and friends during the Xmas season. This is a very simple recipe which you could make the dough in advance and bake it whenever you want to refill your cookie jar. It could be shaped in any fancy patterns before frozen. I've no idea how to name this frozen cookie, please give it a good name if you can. Here are two type of flavours, plain and cocoa that go with some pecans and chocolate chips. People who had tasted love the texture and it serve well with a cup of coffee or tea. Freeze more doughs and make it as a little gift in a rush in NO TIME!!
Beat 110g butter with 50g icing sugar until lightly pale and fluffy. Add in the 150g shifted flour and 25g cocoa powder if you like to make cocoa flavour, otherwise replace the 25g with plain flour. Add some pecan, walnut or chocolate chips but not too little or too much. You want to taste the crunchiness and also easy to cut out in pieces once the dough harden from the freezer. I added 30g pecan and 30g chocolate chips into the mixture. Using a wooden spoon to mix until everything come together. Place half the cookie dough on a piece of cling film. For square shape, I used a 1 1/2 inches height baking tray to make an even square shape. Wrap the cookie dough with the cling film in a longish shape about 1 1/2 inches even size then pushing it to the side of the baking tray, press it and pushing another side again until you've got an even size of square loaf of cookie dough. Place in the freezer until harden. Cut out the cookie with your desirable thickness and bake in the oven at 170C for about 15 minutes. Keep in the cookie jar when it completely cool. Place a piece or two at the side of your coffee or tea, enjoy!
Last year, I made Panettone for X'mas but did not manage to try out any Stollen recipes. So, this year I got to try a Stollen recipe first before Panettone. It's something new to me and I think the texture is something like Panettone. Again, Stollen is also one of the bread that Italian will have during the X'mas but now everywhere having it for this lovely season.
I'm not sure why Stollen had its unique shape, anyway I just followed the recipe. The texture is soft on the day it's baked and taste quite good with some dried apricot, cranberries, raisin and the crunchy pecan had given it extra texture. Not to forget, my favorite ingredients "cinnamon" make this bread taste better. My hubby and I very much prefer Stollen and Panettone instead of Fruit Cake.
The bread wasn't that soft the next day. So, I tuck it back to the oven at 200C losely wrapped with aluminium foil to warm it back, then it's turn soft again and it's nice to serve warm I feel. My first experiment told me that I should make it again to give away as a gift very soon.
It's a big day of my other half and it's always a headache of thinking what type of birthday cake for him is the best as you might have the same feeling like me hope to give the best to our life partner, right?! Since he likes durian a lot and I still have a box of frozen durian, why not make a durian cake or durian cheesecake for him. Thinking along the way, if you did follow my blog you'll know that I've just made a 
Time is limited, I don't really have much time to think somemore as his birthday is just around the corner. Ended up, I make durian cheesecake again, but with a Non-Baked version sandwich with plain spongy cake. I followed a 
For the cheese filling, I'm very particular with chilled cheesecake, as too much gelatin will cause the cake like jelly type. I'm really looking for a soft, light and melt in-the-mouth texture but not jelly cake. So, really have to be cautious about the portion of gelatin added in.
I was quite nervous when he was taking the first bite of this durian cheesecake, guess what? It's so obviously show the satisfaction from his face. I couldn't believe it and I quickly tried the first bite too and it's really something I was looking for. It's soft, light and super tasty for us and couldn't feel the gelatin texture. As I added less gelatin in the batter, the cake couldn't stay at room temperature for too long but it set and stand nicely in the fridge. I'm really glad that the cheesecake turn out very well. When he is happy, I'm happy too!
It's quite easy to make and the result was good with a spongy, light and fluffy texture. My previous cocoa sponge was slightly dry whereas this one stay moist which you can eat it straight. Not only that, the main thing is the sponge can be used as a cake base for making all kind of celebration or party cake. Feel free to watch the video clip on how the lady chef did it as well as my final result of experiment. See how spongy it is :) 
After the first attempt on 
The cheesecake was not too bad but I still like the texture of durian cheesecake as it's very smooth and silky texture that melt in the mouth was great! This texture is slightly thicker that might take a few more second to melt in your mouth.
I tried to place a piece at room temperature for 15 minutes and the texture was not that thicker then. The crumble is very tasty and goes well with the cheesecake but the apple cherry wasn't that very special. It taste ok but nothing so special for me.
I've done a few study from the recipe book and found that some cheesecake had a very silky smooth texture. I remember before baking the durian cheesecake, the batter was quite liquid or should I say runny whereas this batter of cherry cheesecake was quite thick.
I guess it's due to the ingredients used. Although they both used the same amount of inggredients like cream cheese, sugar and eggs. The different is batter that added with same milk or cream is smoother than the batter made with cream cheese and eggs only. The durian cheesecake was added milk whereas this is not, may be that's make the difference. Please correct me if I'm wrong but so far this is the experiment I've gone through. Anyway, people who are not very choosy like me will still love this cheesecake. It's just an ordinary one for me :P
I've some leftover cinnamon buns and I want to give it a twist to something else. Bread butter pudding is a very traditional English dessert that usually serve with a dollop of ice cream or custard.
I baked these cinnamon rolls into buns shape by baking it on a muffin pan. They looks like quite happy sitting on the muffin pan! Other than adding the raw sugar with cinnamon powder, I gave it some extra texture.
Here, I've prepared some peach cakes which is a recipe from 
Mum bought me a cheesecake recipe book 我和起士蛋糕的秘密. (I think she has been addicted on buying me recipe books recently.) I miss her cooking and till now I can't forget those delicious foods she cooked and baked. But, she said she had retired from the kitchen :( Anyway, I think I've inspired by her passion in the kitchen when I was young. She cooks three proper meals plus an afternoon tea to serve the whole family including my grandparent and aunties uncles. I like to touch the ingredients while she was preparing foods but I always got warning not to touch this and that. If you're a mother you'll understand why she warn me. But, that wasn't stop me from loving the kitchen stuffs :) Oppss... back to the cheesecake recipe book. To appreciate mum, I think I better try out one of the recipe from the book. Since I've still got some leftover durian in the freezer, I decided to try out durian cheesecake recipe.
I didn't put so much hope on this recipe at first, because this is my first attempt and the recipe is not that very precise. I used a slightly bigger cake pan to make this also modify the amount of ingredients used from the recipe.
Guess what! The result is absolutely fantastic! If you're a durian lover and cheesecake lover, you'll hardly to resist this. The cheesecake turn out moist, rich and smooth. You will like it to melt in my your mouth slowly and feel hard to let go!
The texture turn out quite nice with the combination of sponge cake, custard, toasted almond, chopped dark chocolate and covered with melted chocolate for the coating. Then, let it stand nicely on top of a piece of cinnamon cookies. I didn't manage to make it as pretty as the picture from the book. I think I need more practice and patient for coating the cakes. Anyway, this is something special and definitely will make it for a party.
So, thinking to make it myself. I made a simple swiss roll sponge cake and cut them into very thin round shape to layer the cake. For the cream, I mixed 270g of durian flesh with 135g custard and folded in 200ml whipped cream. This is truly a rich and creamy durian cake. I didn't add gelatin for the mixture so it's a bit runny, however it set after sitting in the fridge for few hours.
I would like to try out a next batch with gelatin one to find out the difference. Perhaps adding some gelatin would be easier to do the decoration. For the simple one, this batch is very yummy indeed! Must do it again for some celebration party.
Method: 
I find myself really lucky to have a friend like 
