Mac and Cheese


After trying White Rabbit's Mac and Cheese, I've been craving for more, so I googled for the recipe.
There were so many to choose from, so I used the one that looked the simplest.
Allrecipes.com has a recipe that requires ingredients that I already have, so I gave that a try.






Ingredients:

• 1 cup elbow macaroni
• 1 1/2 tablespoons butter (melted)
• 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
• 1 1/3 cups milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (adjust according to preference)
•  1 cup shredded cheddar
• sliced cheddar (for baking)
  
  
  
  The above recipe isn't the exact one the website provided.
  I added more macaroni, more butter, more cheese and more salt.
  Instead of using biscuit crumbs for baking, I used sliced cheddar at the top.
  
  
  *Add more cheese if you like

Shred the cheddar as thinly as possible.
This shortens the amount of time needed to melt the cheese.



Cook the macaroni in salt water for about 8 minutes, until it's firm to bite.
Don't overcook the macaroni as it will be cooked again later, together with the cheese.
Drain well.



Combine butter, milk, flour, salt and the shredded cheddar cheese in a large saucepan over medium heat.
Stir constantly until the cheese has melted and the mixture has thicken.
This will take about 7-10 minutes.

Add cooked macaroni into the sauce and stir.

Pour the mixture into a baking dish.
I used aluminium foil as a baking dish because I was too lazy to use the in-built oven.
I hate having to preheat ovens because I'll always end up with burnt food.

This was what I got after 20 minutes of waiting.
Looks decent, isn't it?
The only complain I've got is that it isn't cheesy enough for me.


But you can give this recipe a try.
Go, go ahead!

Pancakes and more

Everyone in the house loves "Good Old Fashioned Pancakes".
They're so good my parents kept requesting for more. They don't usually ask for dessert food.

I've finished my entire pack of flour because of the countless requests and each time, we make more than 15 pancakes.
And my dad actually asked me to teach him how to make it!

My very first try.
I'd say it turned out pretty well.
The recipe was easy to follow and the pancakes were really delicious!

Then I tried out another recipe - Blueberry pancakes.
The batter was not as good though the tinge of blueberries in the pancakes was what I wanted.
So, I'm sticking with the "Good Old Fashioned Pancakes" recipe and the next time, I'll just add blueberries to this recipe.

This blueberry pancakes looks like a fried egg.
But I love the colour of blueberries in my pancakes!

We've mastered the art of making pancakes!

The stack of pancakes my dad made.


The pancakes go really well with lemon curd.
Way better than maple syrup.
Now I don't have to visit MacDonald's to satisfy my cravings for pancakes.
Because these pancakes are equally good!

Good Old Fahioned Pancakes

My sister has been saying she wanted to have some pancakes for breakfast, so I got a recipe off all recipes.
They have a variety of recipes for pancakes, like blueberry pancakes, canadian pancakes etc, but good old fashioned pancakes caught my eyes.


I'd imagine the traditional pancake taste.
Plus I had all the ingredients needed and the steps were easy to follow!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted

The recipe stated that this would make about 8 pancakes, but it gave me only 4 1/2.
The number of pancakes you can make is dependent on the size of your pancakes.
I made mine about 6 inches in diameter and thick, similar to MacDonald's pancake size.


All you need to do is to sift the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar into a large bowl, make a well in the center and pour the milk, egg and butter in.
Mix everything together until smooth.

Heat your pan and oil it lightly with either cooking oil or butter.
I used butter just because I like the smell of it.


The recipe said to fry the pancakes over medium heat, but I fried mine over small heat.
I'd prefer to watch the pancakes cook slowly to prevent overcooking them.
Wait for bubbles to be formed on the batter before flipping the pancake over (like the above).

And you'll achieve pancakes like this!

I had a little batter left so I used my heart-shaped mould just for fun.

There you go!

Easy and tasty pancakes for breakfast the very next day.

Custard Fruit Tarts

Liying has been making fruit tarts and bringing them over to my grandma's a few months back.

The tarts were so good I couldn't stop eating them.

Because it was easy to make, I got the recipe from her.

Ingredients for custard:

• 1 tablespoon custard powder (heapful)
• 1 1/2 cup cooking cream
• 2 1/2 tablespoon sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

(This makes about 30 small fruit tarts.)


To complete fruit tarts:

• Tarts
• Fruits (Get a variety)

I got my pre-made tarts from Phoon Huat.

Just because tarts are troublesome to make and these taste really nice.

Get a heapful of the custard powder and put in the pot.
It doesn't matter if you put more.

I used measuring cups to get exactly 1 1/2 cups of cream.

Separate the yolks from the whites.
You can keep the egg white for cooking purposes.

Mix all the ingredients together.
I used a whisk because the sugar tends to stick to the bottom of the pot.


When the mixture is well mixed, heat the pot over small fire.
Stir the mixture constantly to ensure that the sugar doesn't burn.
(Mine does all the time.)

The custard mixture is ready when the mixture starts to curd.


While waiting for the mixture to cool, cut some fruits.
I would usually get strawberries because the colours make the fruit tarts look vibrant.

Scoop the custard mixture into the tarts.

Decorate the tarts with all the fruits you have got.

Pack the tarts into whatever boxes you have got and give them to friends!

The tarts taste best when chilled!

Chocolate Cake Brownie with Buttercream Frosting

My dad's birthday is at the end of this month and with some time on hand, I was thinking, why not try baking a cake. If it fails this time, at least I'd know what to do the next time and whether or not to tweak the ingredients. Got the recipe, again, from the oven mitt.

For the cake,


Ingredients:

2 cups of white sugar
1 1/2 cups of flour

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
  2 teaspoons vanilla extract (vanilla essence can be used)
1 cup water


P.S. A cup is about 237ml. A normal drinking cup will do.


Preheat the oven to 176 degrees celsius. 

I preheated mine to 50 degrees celsius as I'd take a long time to mix the ingredients together.
Grease the pan/tray that you're going to bake the cake in with oil.

Sifting the flour, baking powder and baking soda, mix them together with the sugar and salt in a mixing bowl.

Add the eggs, milk, vegetable oil and vanilla extract to the previous ingredients and mix the batter on medium speed for about 2-3 minutes.

In a bowl/saucepan, add boiling water to the cocoa powder to create chocolate. Stir until all the powder has dissolved.

Add the chocolate to the cake mix and mix on medium speed for another minute.

The batter would be slightly thin.

Pour the batter onto your cake tray/pan that is already greased and bake for 30-35 minutes.

Leave the cake to cool for about 10-15 minutes.


As the cake cools, prepare the buttercream frosting!


Ingredients:

3 cups of confectioners’ sugar (icing sugar)
1 cup butter, softened (i used a cube)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons of whipping cream

On medium speed, mix the sifted sugar and butter until you get a creamy and smooth texture.

Add in the vanilla extract and the whipping cream and continue blending until the mixture is well blended.

To assemble the cake, you'll need 2 layers of cake.

Set the first layer of cake, spread the buttercream, and pile on the second layer of cake.

Then, frost the whole cake.

If your cake mixture is slightly overbaked, like mine, you can make it brownie-style.

Cut the cake mixture into little square cubes and pipe on the buttercream any way you like.

Put on sprinklers and what not and you'll get what I've got!

Golden Brown Sugar Meringues

Chanced upon a baking website recently, The Oven Mitt, and I absolutely love every single item on the blog. It has been listed as one of my favourite baking blogs ever since and I've decided to give the simplest baking recipe a try. As compared to cooking, I've had less success rates at baking and this recipe has lower failure rates. I'm not too sure how long meringues are supposed to be baked and I tend to use estimation when it comes to cooking and baking so this is the perfect recipe! If the meringues are burnt, at least it will taste like caramelized meringues.

Ingredients:

 3 regular eggs

1/2 cup brown sugar (can be adjusted to suitable levels)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (vanilla essence can be used as a substitute)

a pinch of salt

parchment paper


According to the blog, this can make about 2 dozens meringues but I had slightly more than 2 trays of meringues. You can probably adjust the amount of ingredients, especially the brown sugar. My family felt that the meringues were a little too sweet.


To start, preheat your oven to 225F. I preheated mine to 100 degrees celsius. Line the oven trays with parchment paper.

Separate the egg whites from the yolks. Only the egg whites are needed.

Mix the egg whites with the salt in a mixing bowl before using an electric mixer on high speed until the egg white start to form soft peaks.

It will look something like that.

With the electric mixer still on high speed, mix in the brown sugar slowly. Continue blending until the mixture is shiny and stiff. Add in the vanilla extract and blend a little longer.

At this stage, the mixture is between liquid and solid form (it wouldn't drip from a spoon).

When this is achieved, transfer the mixture into a piping bag. You can use the common household plastic bag and simply cut a hole in the corner.

Pipe the mixture onto the parchment papers in any shape you want.

It is possible to line them as close to one another as they do not expand when baked.

Leave the meringues to bake in the oven for about 45 minutes.

To test if the meringue is ready, use a spoon or fork to touch the sides. If the mixture has hardened, the meringue is ready.

Once the meringues are ready, leave them to cool with the oven door ajar.

Do not leave them out for too long as Singapore's humid weather will turn them soggy.

Place them in air tight containers and they are ready to be served!