You are currently browsing the category archive for the 'Desserts' category.
The month of February was filled with so many events and projects that I could hardly find time to get down and mess around in the kitchen for long. Firstly, there was the 15-days long Chinese New Year celebrations (lots of food and photos, I’ll get to posting them soon, hopefully!) and then, I had a couple of Valentine’s/Friendship Day celebrations with my dear friends (photos again, soon!). On top of that, I’m also tied down by a record amount of school projects and assignments in this final semester of college. That explains my absence from February’s Daring Bakers’ Challenge which I heard took 10 hours to complete! Great job you guys and gals!
It wasn’t till the week long mid-semester break last week, that I could find a little time off from all the slogging to bake this Banana Phydelity. The “break” came in time for me to catch up with and finish up some work and at the end of it, I felt like treating myself to some home-made desserts. SZ and I went on a dessert hunt the other day and tried the “Baked Banana in Phyllo Pastry” and signature dish, “Grand Marnier Soufflé” from Infuzi at Biopolis. The desserts were pricey and quite disappointing. The only saving point was the vanilla ice-cream that came with both desserts. It was really light and smooth, and I could see all the tiny vanilla seeds in it. We preferred the Baked Banana over the Soufflé, which we thought was too ‘egg-y’ for our liking and had only the slightest hint of Grand Marnier. You have to be really lucky to scoop out a spoonful of soufflé that had Grand Marnier in it.
I’m really pleased with my decision to join the Daring Bakers. Although it has only been 3 months since I joined, I managed to experiment with so many baking techniques which I have avoided in the past for fear of failure and inconvenience. My first challenge involved bread making from scratch, and that’s without a bread machine! In the second challenge, I had to make a genoise cake covered with coffee buttercream and decorated with marzipan mushrooms for the Yule Log. This month, the daring bakers were celebrating the arrival of the new year with lemon meringue pies!
Island Creamery is a great place for students and friends to hangout at. Located at a prime location where many schools reside, it has become as a favorite haunt for students to chill at. Upon entering the shop, you are greeted with a plaster of photos on the walls. They are mostly photos taken by the customers at the shop, creatively decorated like what you find on Neoprints. What you do is take a photo using your phone or digicam and send it for printing on the spot using their photo-printer.
Here’s a nice breakfast or tea time dish you can serve up in under 15 mins!
My cousin is having a BBQ birthday party tonight for her ‘lil boy! In my family, whenever someone holds a party, the rest of us will usually contribute a dish or two just like you do in a potluck. Nevermind that there is already enough food at the party, it has become a habit for everyone to turn up with something extra.
My mom asked me the other day to think of something to make so I can bring it to the party. I browsed through my collection of recipes and read all the food blogs I frequent to gather some ideas. I wanted to try a new recipe, something I’ve never made and have always wanted to. In the end, I picked apple strudel!
The apple strudel I had in mind was the layered version you find from Ritz Apple, served with creamy custard. Almost all the recipes I found online were that of the tradition German apple strudel where the apple filling is wrapped inside the pastry. I searched high and low for recommendations on the type of pastry to use - strudel, puff or phyllo; ways to make that creamy custard - think Ritz Apple and Beard Papa Cream Puffs, not tradition custard cream. After much research, I ended up using a combination of recipes and adjusting the methods to get what I had in mind.
It is not uncommon to find mango sago as the choice of dessert whenever my family visits a Chinese restaurant for dinner. My parents and sis are in love with this chilly and smooth dessert. My brother is fond of almost anything that has to do with mangoes. My aunts and uncles are also die-hard fans of this sweet dessert, even though half of my family and relatives are diabetics.
Last night, I went grocery shopping with XY and Mung in NTUC/Phoon Huat after our late lunch at Botak Jones. We saw this bottle of mango puree in Phoon Huat which sparked the idea to make some mango sago. With leftover pomelos from Mooncake Festival and hints from the hot weather these few days, it sounded like an awesome idea to make cold mango sago. We grabbed the other ingredients we needed from Phoon Huat and NTUC before returning home.
After much research on the net for tips on cooking sago and making the mango base, in addition to XY’s and Mung’s expertise, I tried my hands on this dessert this morning. Mhmmm…heavenly! My sis commented that it tastes just like those we had in the restaurants!
