Peppermint Cheese Cake

This recipe is from Sammy who is a friend of my stay in Robe, same town that I currently staying in Australia. she is multi-talented and a super mother. I really respect her a lot and she taught me and Valerie this beautiful recipe, just beautiful and very simple to.

Sorry I can't share the recipe, it is private recipe of a dear friend :)

Korean Jja Jang Noddle~~ yummy

                                                       JjaJang Mee with Soba noodle


I love to try and have a taste with JjaJang mee for such a long time. But In Malaysia is Super-rare and don tell me Station 1 got serve, because I don't like StationOne at all. My friend found this youtube video and he let me try it. I actually likes it. So I decide to cook my own.

Ingredient:
(well this lady use the amount of ingredient was not accurate at all, haha she goes by feeling so I also can't really measure it. So i also goes by feeling on this site)

2 big Tbsp         Black Bean Paste (Korean)
200g                  Pork in cube
2tbsp                 Sugar
2tbsp                 Potato Starch
few drops          Sesame Oil

Vegetables: -  All cut into cubes shape- 
1/2cups     Raddish
1cups        Sweet Potato
1/2cups     Zucchini
1               Big Onion

• Heat the pan in medium heat and pour olive oils, fry the pork until crispy(10min)
• Drain Excess oil, add olive oil to it and pour all vegetables in and stir fried it 
• Pour water just about cover all ingredient, Let it slimmer and close with lit
• Separated pan:   Pour olive oil and fried the black bean paste just 1 minutes, drain excess oil
• Pour the fried BB paste into the simmering cooked veges
• pour in (2 tbsp potato starch in 4 tbsp water)
• put sugar in and let it boil a bit and seasoning it with sesame oil
• Serve with Kimchi cucumber or kimchi cucumber 

My Reference is from this Korean Lady:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtZMeLbTgMs&feature=fvw
http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/jjajangmyun

A simple butter cookie

A simple taste yet really nice, my mission of butter cookie is to bake as good as the expensive blue tin butter cookies, which I don really remember the name,brand or company, just recognize the blue tin. I haven't got the best one yet, but this is reliable

Ingredient:

175g    Unsalted Butter/margarine
90g      Golden Caster Sugar
250g    Plain Flour
optional: Demerara(Raw) sugar for coating

• Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy
• Add flour and beat until mixture foams a smooth dough
• Roll as in sausage, cylinder or any shape 
• sprinkle above or coat all around it with demerara sugar 
• wrap it with plastic wrap and chill for 30minutes or next day
• cut it into thick slices and place on baking sheet
• bake it at 160'C for 20minutes
• Let it cool and it will harden eventually 

Who said flour is flour?

Flour

Most cookies recipes use plain(all purpose) flour, it has low gluten content, resulting in a crumbly texture. 

The grains are processed with chlorine to make the flour whiter(It is unhealthy, no good). You can buy unbleached flour, which has a greyish colour. All flour must be sift before use, for better result.

Self-Raising flour

•  This flour contains raising agents that make cookies spread and rise, giving them a lighter texture.
• if you run out of self-raising flour, you can substitute plain flour, adding 5ml/1 tsp baking powder to each 115g/1 cup of plain flour. 
• SRF should not be kept for longer than 3 months because raising agents gradually deteriorate.

Wholemeal Flour

•  Milled from the entire wheat kernel and contains all the nutrients and flavour of wheat. It is coarser than white flour, giving heavier result. It absorbs liquid than white flour so recipes should be adjusted if wholemeal flour is used.
• Brown (wheatmeal) flour contains only 80-90% of the bran and wheat germ and has finer texture and milder taste

Non-wheat flours

Potato flour/starch

• This fine powder is made from potato starch and can be mixed with wheat flour to give a lighter texture to cookies

Chestnut Flour

• This light brown nutty flavoured flour is made from ground chestnuts and is often sold in italian delicatessens 

Cornmeal

• also known as polenta or maizemeal,this is bright yellow and coarse or medium ground

Cornflour/cornstarch

• This fine white powder is made from the middle of the maize kernel. It is often used in piped cookie mixtures to give a smooth texture.

Soya flour

• Made from soya beans, this has a distinctive nutty flavour. It has a high protein content. Medium- and low-fat varieties are available

Rice Flour

• This is made by finely grinding polished white rice and it used in many cookie recipes, to give a short, slightly crumbly texture. 

Gluten-Free Baking

Some people are allergic or intolerant to the protein gluten, which found in wheat and rye. Specially produced gluten-free and wheat-free flour mixtures can be used for baking, as can any of the naturally gluten-free flours such as cornmeal, potato flour, rice flour and soya flour.

Ref: The cookie Book by Catherine Atkinson and others

Cookies Knowledge? [Butter,Sugar and other sweetener]

Butter

Unsalted (sweet) butter is best for making cookies

•  It has a sweet, slightly nutty taste and firm texture 

Temperature of Butter

• For rubbed in cookies, butter should be cold and firm but not to hard                                                  (Take it out of refrigerator 5 minutes before using.)

• To cream butter, it should be in room temperature if you forget to take it out from refrigerator in advance, you can microwave it low power for 10-15sec

• If using butter to brush baking tin(pans) or sheet. Use unsalted butter rather than salted, which tends to burn and stick

Storing Butter

Butter should be stored in the refrigerator or freezer.
It can absorb other flavour easily so protect it by wrapping

Salted butter can be stored in the refrigerator for about a month
Unsalted butter should be used within 2 weeks.
But all butter frozen in freezer can last up to 6 months

Other Fats

Margarine

• -This won't produce same flavour as butter but it is less expensive and can be use in same way
• -Block margarine are better for cookie-making
• -Soft margarine are better for creaming

White Cooking Fats(Shortening?)

• Made from blended vegetable oils or a mixture of vegetable and animal or fish oils. White fats are flavourless and create light, short-textured cookies. They work well in highly flavoured cookies, in which you won't taste the butter. Lard is an opague white fat made from rendered pork fat and features in some traditional cookie recipes. 

Oil

• This may sometimes be used instead of solid fat. Sunflower and safflower oils are preferable as they are light in colour with a mild taste. Olive oils has a distinctive flavour but may be added to savoury crackers

Sugar
 There are many different types of sugar, all of which add their own distinctive character to cookies

Refined Sugars

• Produced from sugar cane and sugar beet, refined white sugar is 99.9% pure sucrose

Castor/superfine sugar

• This is the most frequently used sugar for cooking-making. It has a fine grain so is ideal for creaming with butter. It is also used for melted mixtures, meringue toppings and sprinkling over freshly baked cookies.

Icing/confectioners' sugar

• This is fine, powdery sugar is used to make smooth icings and fillings and for dusting. It may also be added to some piped mixture

Soft Brown Sugar

• This is refined white sugar that has been tossed in molasses or syrup to colour and flavour it; the darker the colour, the more intense the flavour. It makes moister cookies than white sugar, so never substitute one for the other.

Unrefined Sugars

• Derived from raw sugar cane, these retain some molasses. They often have a more intense flavour but tend to be less sweet than refined sugars

Golden caster/superfine sugar/ Granulated sugar

• These are pale gold and are used in the same way as their white counterparts.

Demerara/raw sugar

• This rich golden sugar has a slight toffee flavour. the grains are large so it is only used in cookie doughs if a crunchy texture is required. it is good for sprinkling over cookies before they are baked.

Muscovado/molasses sugar

• This fine-textured, moist soft brown sugar may has a treacly flavour.

Storing Sugar

• Sugar should always be stored in airtight container. 
• If white sugar forms clumps, break it up with finger
• if brown sugar dries out and hardens, warm it in the microwave for 1 minutes

Other Sweeteners

Golden/light corn syrup

• Slightly less sweet than sugar, this produces moist, sticky cookies and it often used in no-bake recipes

Maple syrup

• Thinner than golden syrup, this has a distinctive flavour.

Honey

• Use blended honey in cookie doughs as the flavour of milder honeys will be lost.

Malt Extract

• This concentrated extract made from barley has a distinctive flavour, thick consistency and dark, almost black in colour

Molasses

• A by-product of sugar refining, molasses looks like malt extract but has a slightly bitter taste. 

Ref: The cookie Book by Catherine Atkinson and others

Banana Cake

Even though banana cake is low cost and easy to find anywhere in shop. But Still I must know how to bake this, I tried one recipe before this, it was sucked haha, no ideas who wrote it. From the Blue Ribbon Aussie recipe book, I found this perfect(for me) banana. I lovin't it.

Ingredient:
125g               Butter
3/4 Cup          Sugar (165g)
2                     Eggs
3                     Big Banana(ripped and smashed)
1tsp                Bicarbonate Soda
2tbsp              Milk
1 1/2Cups       Self-Raising Flour
Optional:         Glyerine

Method:
1. Beat Butter and sugar until it dissolve in butter
2. Add egg one at a time,when beat well. Stir in banana
3. Add Flour, separate into 2 portion
4. Dislove soda and (glyerine)in milk and pour it in
5. Bake at 180'C for 1 hours; or until brown and springy when touch

Sweet Bun for my sweet ^^

Story:
haha.. I always wanted to try bake bread, I knew how to bake cakes,pie and other minor thingy. But bread? I still have no ideas, out of the many kinds of breads, I wanted try croissant but...... it is too difficult to try it now, ingredient is hard to find in Australia, especially the small town i stay. Second choice is the sweet bun, I tried it yesterday, it turn out not bad, just a little hard(over bake, my dad ask me to calculate bills, by the time i realize is a bit over, but still good) Today I did a lot of improvement ^^ I love it; just the sausage make it sucky a bit haha

When I was still at middle school, I used to day dream, my mother will bake me sausage bun for me to take to school, but chances never came, we were poor once. Oven and learning is costly. So my dream come true by friends and family who encourage me today. Everything I do and learn is from others person than myself

Ps: choose the right sausage for the right bun ^^ and I don't create this recipe, I took it from internet; please refer to the owner I just edited a bit for my own personal taste


Ingredient:
150g Self Raising Flour  (300plain flour + 1 3/4 tsp Baking powder)
150g Plain Flour
5g     Active Dry Yeast
3g     Salt
125g Milk
1       Eggs
60g   Castor Sugar
50g   Butter
(Eggs for glazing when bake)

1. Mix all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add in milk, egg and butter. Mix into doughy(hand)
    Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Knead the dough until the gluten developed,
    keep kneading for 20mins. Even it is sticky, just keep twisting and kneading making sure all mix well.
2. Place the kneaded dough in the bowl and cover it when dam towel or plastic wrap, this help to
    seal the moisture. Allow to dough to ferment. Will double it size in 1 hour
3. Take out the dough and punch out the air produced. Let it rest again for 15min
4. Dive the dough in your way, usually 60g a portion. Shape and filling with desire, place on the greased or
    line pan and let it proof again for 30min-45min before into the oven
5. Brush eggs oven the top and oven it for 190'C for 15mins.
6. Done and let it cool down and put into your mouth! haha

ref: http://happyhomebaking.blogspot.com