Homemade Bagel

Bagel was one of my favorite type of bread ever since I had it in Canada; and I could have it for breakfast or afternoon tea every other day!
Now that I moved back to Hong Kong, it is not as easy to get a fresh bagel on the way to work.
If you like a food that much, you might as well made it your own!

Comparing to cake baking, making bagel does involve more steps, but overall the process is easy. I have to mention though, it requires some muscle strength kneading the dough! Especially, when you are making a big batch of them.

Serving Size:  4 mini bagel
Preparation time: 1 hours + 20 mins waiting time, 30 perp time
Baking time: 20 mins


Ingredients:

Bread Flour        250 g
Sugar                  2 tsp / 10 g
Salt                     1 tsp              
Instant Yeast       1 tsp
Lukewarm Water  200ml

Optional:
Cheddar Cheese          2 Tbsp
Matcha Powder           2 Tbsp

Instruction:


1) In a bowl, add in yeast and sugar, pour lukewarm water in. Gently mix till dissolved.

2) In a bowl, place bread flour and add in salt, stir well. Make a well in the centre, slowly pour yeast mixture in while slowly mixing till yeast water is all poured in.

3) Dust fingers and countertop with flour, move the flour dough on counter top. Knead dough for abour 10 minute. Add lukewarm water in dough if too dry and not holding together. (I added about 100mL of water extra, depends on the moisture level in your area, the amount of water needed can vary)

* Tip --Place a baking paper between counter top the dough; it makes cleaning easier afterward.

4) In a bowl, place the dough in, and cover bowl with a damp cloth and let sit in room temperature for at least an hour until it double its size.

5) After an hour of waiting, punch dough with fist to allow air to escape, cover with damp cloth again, wait for another 10 minutes.








6) Remove dough, equally divide dough into 4 little pieces, use palm of  the hand to shape dough into round shape. If you want to add anything in the dough, like nuts, seeds or seasoning flavour, you can add them in this step. (I added matcha power in the dough here, it gives a bit of green colour ) Use finger or a stick gently poke through the centre of the dough, to make a ring shape.

7) Cover with damp cloth for another 10 mins sitting on counter top.

8) Bring a pot of water to simmer. Drop bagel dough in for 30 seconds, flip over for another 30 seconds. This process is to harden the surface and gives a crisp texture on the outsize after being baked. At the same time, pre-heat oven to 220C.

9)Take out bagel. Place bagel dough on baking sheet. Add any topping on tops before baking, I add cheddar cheese and dash some basil on top.

10) Bake on baking pan for 20 min or until turn golden. Done!

Bagels taste best when it's fresh. Leftover bagel can be heated up in toaster before serving!

Classic Lemon Meringue Pie

Lemon Meringue is  one of the fancy pies you can play with, the most fun part is playing around creating meringue topping. It can be as causal as dropping with a spoon or create a delicate piping drops or flowers. It is not as hard as it seems, once you get the hang of making the egg white meringue, it is pretty easy to bake a delicious pie in an hour.

Prep Time: 20 Mins (Using Store Bought Crust)

Prep Time: 30 Mins and 30mins for chilling (Made own crust)
Baking Time: ~15 Mins

Oven baking temp. 175C

Makes Two 5 inches Pie


Ingredients:

Lemon Fillings:

White Sugar            1/4 C
All-purpose Flour   1 Tbsp
Cornstarch              1.5 Tbsp
Salt                         1/8 tsp
Water                      3/4 C
Lemon Juice           1 lemon
Lemon Zest            1tsp
Butter                     1 Tbsp
Egg Yolk                2

Meringue Topping:

Egg White             2
Caster Sugar         3 Tbsp

Butter Crust: (Store-bought) or make from scratch 

Unsalted Butter, soften      1/4C, 55g

Cake Flour                         1 C, 125 g (can substitute with 2Tbsp all Purpose Flour with 2Tbsp  cornstarch for every 1C all Purpose Flour-- 1C minus 2Tbsp all Purpose flour + 2Tbsp cornstarch) 

White sugar.                         1/8C

Egg, beaten                        2 Tbsp

Salt                                     Pinch
Vanilla Extract                    1tsp, Optional

Instructions:

Butter Crust: 

1) Pre-heat oven to 175C. In a mixing bowl, mix flour, white sugar, salt. Add soften butter, blend till combined. 

2) Add 2 Tbsp beaten egg. Using hands to form a ball of dough. Don't need to kneed the dough too hard and long, Stop mixing when ingredients are well combine.  

3) Use food plastic warps wrap the dough, chill in fridge for at least 30 mins. The chilling will give the crust firmer texture, but time isnt allowed, this step can be skipped. While chilling, prepare lemon fillings. 

4) Roll dough on a flour dusted counter or on a food plastic wraps. Roll flat into about 3mm  thick and it's wide enough to cover the size of the pie pan. 

5) Grease Pie pan. Place a baking sheet on pan if wanted, its optional.  Place dough over pie pan, gently use finger tips to edge off dough on the side. If there is cracks, gently press crack to "stick" crust together. 

6) Use fork to poke holds on the surface of the crust to allow extra air to escape. 

7) Bake for 10 mins or golden brown.

 

Lemon Filling: 

1) In a mixing bowl, mix sugar, flour, cornstarch and salt. 

2) In a pot, heat under med heat, pour in lemon juice, hot water and lemon zest. While whisking, add in flour mixture. Keep stirring. 

3) Stir in butter and 2  egg yolk.

4) Keep stirring until it is just about to boil, turn off heat. 

5) Pour mixture in to pie crust. 

 

Meringue Topping:

1) Pour egg white in a mixing bowl. Use electrical mixer blend till foamy. 

2) Keep beating. Add caster sugar by 1 Tbsp at a time into egg white, until sugar is done. 

3) Keep beating till stiff peak forms. 

4) Spoon Meringue on pie, use spoon to create peaks. 

5) Bake in lower level in oven, adjust temp to 130c, bake till golden. Lower temp allow meringue to cook through without  over baking the surface. 

 

 

 

 

Leave a comment below if u have got any questions on this recipes or finding the right ingredients! Enjoy :) 

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Pan-fired Vermicelli

Vermicelli is a popular dish in Asia. It is very dedicated and thin that it is always challenging to  pan-fired.

This is not the first time for me to pan-fired or I should say stir-fired Vermicelli, but every time when I make this dish, I still worry the result will not turn out good.

After many attempts of cooking Vermicelli, I have concluded one main tip in making this stir-fired Vermicelli. It is to have Vermicelli stay as moist as possible. Having said that, water is constantly added in my recipe instead of adding oil.

Unlike making other stir-fired noodles, oils is added to avoid Vermicelli sticking on the firing pan happening.
For making Vermicelli, water is needed to avoid noodles sticking on the pan and this is always the main reason why it is so easy to turn the bundle of noodle into a bundle of burnt rice patties.

Here is the steps:

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Servings: 2

Ingredients:

Vermicelli                                2 bundles
Shredded carrot                       1 C
Shredded cucumber                 1C
Ham/ chicken ( cut in strips)   1C
Soy sauce                                 1 Tbp
Salt                                           1 tsp
Pepper                                      1tsp
Olive oil                                   1 Tbsp

Instructions:


1) Boiled a pot of water, put Vermicelli Bundles in the pot for 2 minutes, while constantly lossen  Vermicelli.

2) Poured water out of the pot, and drained Vermicelli quickly using a strainer.

3) In a wok or frying pan, put 2 tablespoon of water in the pan, then put soften Vermicelli in the pan, in this step do not add oil. Using chopsticks to loose and Vermicelli in pan for 2 one minute.

4) Added in shredded vegetable and ham, mixed well with chopstick. Cooked for 2 minutes,

5) Added condiments, salt, pepper and olive oil.

6) Added Soy sauce, and made sure Vermicelli is well mixed with the soy sauce.


* Trick- do not add oil before adding Vermicelli. If  Vermicelli sticks to pan, add water.

Butter cookies

Prep Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 15-20 minus

Ingredients

Butter,  room temperature     250g

Icing sugar                               100g

Egg                                             2

All purpose flour                      350g

Chocolate (for decorating)    150g

Instruction

1) Preheat Oven to 350F.
2) In a bowl, using an electrical mixer to cream soft butter and sugar until well combined.
3) Sifted in flour, mixed well. Beat in egg one at a time, mixed well.
4) Assembled piping bag and piping tip. Put dough in a piping bag.
5) Placed baking paper on a baking pan, piped a straight line/ rose shape or  dots to create patterns.
6) Baked for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
7) Removed cookies from baking pan, let cool for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, get prepared to melt  chocolate.
8) Using a double boiler methods to melt chopped chocolate until it reached liquid consistency.
9) Two methods to decorate: a) dipped cookies in chocolate batter or used a spoon to pour chocolate on top of cookies. b) Used a piping bag to create thin chocolate lines or patterns on cookies, using a piping bag can create chocolate drizzle very nicely.
10) If you wish to decorate cookies with  chocolate, make sure to do it before chocolate cools down, I would finish chocolate coating/ dipping in a small batch, and then sprinkle some granola, almond slices ( it can be anything, such as marshmallow etc.) on top, before coating chocolate on second batch of cookie.
11) Dusted icing sugar on surface if you wanted
12) Ready to serve!

Chocolate munchies

Super Easy Treat. It only takes as little as 10 minutes to make!

Ingredients: 

Chocolate waffer     handful

Dried fruit               handful

Granola                   handful

Direction

1) Using double boiling methods (Click here for method) to melt chocolate

2) Poured mixture in a piping bag or a ziploc plastic storage bag, cut one corner to create a hole

3) Placed a baking sheet on a baking pan, gently pipe/ squeeze chocolate mixture onto baking sheet.

4) Created any shape you like on the sheet. 

5) Sprinkle dried fruit and granola on top*

* It doesn't take long to cool down chocolate mixture, be sure to sprinkle dried fruit and granola before it gets hard, so that they will stick onto chocolate. Used a fork or dried  fruit touch gently to test if chocolate has been hardens.

6) Chocolate should be harden within 10 minutes, removed from baking sheet by gently peel off baking sheet. 

* Avoid placing chocolate under sun or on hot surface

Nutella Swirl Pound Cake

I have been trying to clean out my fridge, and noticing that I have quite a lot of fat ingredients sitting  in the fridge. Since I have a jar of Nutella left, I thought I would add some in today's recipe.


It is a quick bread recipe, it is very easy and fast to make. Combine all ingredients together, mix well then it is done!



Here is the ingredients you need:


Butter (placed in room temp.)     3 Tbsp/ 50g
Cream Cheese (room temp.)       1/2 C,  100g
Sugar                                           3 Tbsp / 50g
Egg                                               2
Cake Flour                                   1 C/ 120g
Baking Powder                            1/2 tsp
Milk                                             1 Tbsp
Vanilla Extract                            1 tsp
Nutella                                         2 Tbsp


Instruction:

1) Pre-heat oven to 360F
2) Cut baking sheet place for a baking pan for the size of 4" x 11"
3) In a bowl, using an electrical mixer to beat cream cheese and butter which is placed in room temperature for at least 20 minutes until well mixed
4) Beat in sugar.
5) In another bowl, beat 2 eggs
6) Slowly beat in beaten eggs in 3 portion into the batter, mix well before adding another portion of egg mixture
7) Using sifter to shift flour into batter, mix until well blended
8) Add is baking powder and vanilla extract, mix well
9) Once your mixture is ready, spoon 1/3 of batter into another bowl, mix nutella until cooperated
10) Now you have 2 colour of better, pour nutella batter on top of the original batter, using a spatula to cut through batter using a "8" motion. (as if you are writing the number 8 when mixing the batter)
11) Slowly and gently mix using the 8 motion for about 8 times
12) Pour batter into pan, gently smoothen the surface
13)To create a pattern on surface, use a toothpick/ skewers or chopstick and dip in nutella, gently draw lines across the surface of the batter
14) Using another clean toothpick, ( not dipping in nutella this time) draw across the surface in an opposite direction. (if you draw your line with nutella across horizontally, you need to draw across with a clean toothpick from the top to bottom)
15) Bake for 30 minutes or until insert comes out clean

 

Meringue Minis Cookies

 

Looking for cookie recipe that does not call for flour?

This recipe might be what you are looking for!

 

Meringue cookies are usually made up of Egg white and Sugar only, according personal preference, you may add your favourite ingredients to enrich the flavour, taste and texture.

 

This recipe is easy and simple, it doesn't require many cooking utensils; as long as you have an electrical mixer, you are good to start!

 

 

 

 

 

 Time: 25 minutes + baking time (30 to 45 minutes)

 

Serving: 12  6-inches cookies  or 3 cups of mini cookies

 

 

Ingredients:

 

Egg White             2

Icing Sugar           1/2 C

 

 

 

Instruction:

 

1) Preheat oven to 280 F

2) Separate egg white and egg yolk

3) Using an electrical mixer, beat egg white until foamy - soft peak ( about 2 minutes)

4) Sparkle icing sugar no more than 1 Tbsp at a time into egg white foam. Keep beating until all sugar is used

5) Stop beating when egg white foam can hold its shape. (Using a spoon to scoope foam, and see if its consistency is still runny ( water-liked); if so, beat till foam is stiff or hold shape)

6) Using a piping bag* to create cookie shape, or simple spoon egg white foam and drop on ungreased cookie sheet.

7) Bake for 30 to 45 minutes depends on size of cookie, if surface of cookie becomes hard, take out from oven and let cool.

8) Enjoy.



 

 

 

*Tips: No piping bag? Simply use a plastic storage bag such as Ziploc bag or those clear bags you get from the bulk barn store work too!  Scoop spoonful of mixture and put in one corner of the bag, cut  corner of the bag to create a hole. It is just that simple.

 

 

Easter addition: Bunny Cream Cheese Cupcake

    Since I have some cream cheese leftover, I thought I would try baking cream cheese cupcake. One thing that I noticed between a yellow (butter) cake than a cream cheese cupcake is that the latter gives a denser texture, but yet moist. Cream cheese cake gives more flavour and amour as well. The cream cheese I used in this recipe was plain cream cheese.  It would be an interesting experiment using flavoured cream cheese such as strawberry cream cheese in this recipe.

 

Time: 30 minutes + baking time

Servings:    8 cupcakes

 

Ingredients:

Butter                          90 g / 6 Tbsp

Plain Cream Cheese  90g   / 6 Tbsp
Icing Sugar                  2/3 C
Vanilla Extract            2 tsp
Egg                               2
Self-Rising Flour         1/8 C
All-purpose Flour      ½ C

Instructions:

1)      Pre-heat oven to 350 F, prepare muffin pan with greased muffin paper cup

2)      In a big bowl, mix butter, cream cheese, egg, vanilla extract and icing sugar, using electrical mixer, beat until fluffy.

3)      Add flour into mixture, blend well

4)      Pour spoonful mixture into each cups

5)      Bake till golden brown or when insert come out clean

 

Variation:

Add chocolate chips, shredded coconut into mixture before adding flour for personal preference.



 

No pan-fry Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Serve 1      Cooking time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

1 Piece of White Bread   +   1 Slice of Processed Cheddar Cheeses

Instruction:

1) Toasted bread in toaster for 1 minute or until surface has been grilled crispy

2) Used a knife, pick an edge, gently slice between bread to create pocket/ opening on a side of the bread

3) Put in slice of cheese in the pocket, cut size if needed

4) Toasted bread for 2 minutes or until golden brown with opening facing up

5) Served hot, enjoy!

Thin crispy crust with melting cheese :)



Pink Lady Strawberry Cake

Ingredients:

Pastry cake flour               1.5 C
Sugar                                 1 C
Baking powder                 1.5 tsp
Salt                                    pinch
Butter  (soften)                  1/2 C
Strawberry                        1/2 C
Egg white                          1.5
Milk                                  2 Tbsp



Instruction:

1) Pre heat oven to 350F
2) In a bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking power and salt.
3) Pureed strawberry using blender or a fork to mash strawberry to finest.
4) Incorporated butter into flour mixture.
5) Poured strawberry puree in to mixture, using mixer to blend mixture until fluffy ( for about 3 - 4 mins)
6) Separated egg yolk from egg whites, whisked egg whisk and milk until it is well blended
7) Add half egg white mixture into batter, mix until well blended,  add the rest of egg white mixture and mix until well blended
8) Prepared baking pan with baking sheet placed on bottom, poured batter in pan, baked for 20 minutes or until insert comes out clean

Cheesecake Brownie

Cheesecake Brownie

Serve 12,  Preparation : 45 times

Ingredients:

Brownie:
 Butter (soften)                3/4 Cup or 125 g
 Eating Chocolate            150 g
 Egg                                1
 Icing Sugar                     2/3 C
 All Purpose Flour           3/4 C   or 110 g
 Self-rising Flour              1/4 C   or  35 g

Cheesecake:

Cream Cheese (soften)    250 g
Vanilla Extract                 1 tsp
Icing sugar                       1/3 C
Egg                                  1
Cream                             1/2 C


Instructions:

1) Pre-heat oven to 180 C. Greased a 12 -inches round baking pan or a 19 cm square pan, placed baking paper on the sides and base of the pan, extending baking paper 5 cm above to cover sides of the pan.

2) Chopped butter and chocolate into small pieces. Prepared a double boiler (See recipe for an alternative method: click here) . Melted butter and chocolate using double boiler method. Stir until smooth.

3) In a big bowl, mix egg and icing sugar using a mixer, creamed until thick and smooth.

4) Poured chocolate mixture and shifted flour ( self-rising and all purpose flour) into egg mixture. Mixed until combine.

5) Poured mixture into pan, baked for 10 minutes.

6) In a bowl, cream cream cheese until smooth using electrical mixer.

7) Added in vanilla extract, icing sugar and egg. Mixed well.

8) Added cream, mixed well.

9) When brownie was done, pour cheesecake mixture  on top of brownie evenly. Baked for 15 minutes.

10) Let cheesecake brownie cool down in room temperature for 30 minutes , refrigerated for 1 hour.

11) Recipe best served with whipped cream or fresh fruit.

Quick Bread: Scones in Muffin Pan

Quick bread:

Basic recipe for Scone

Make 12 Scones

Ingredients:

Self-raising flour     2 C
Plain flour              1/2 C
Sugar                    3/4 C
Butter                   1/4 C / 100g
Egg, beaten           1
Milk                      1 C

 

Instructions:

1)      Preheat oven to 350 F

2)      In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients, flours and sugar

3)      Use a fork to mash/ cut soften butter to little pieces.

4)      Using a spatula, cooperate  butter in the flour mixture,

5)      Pour milk, beaten egg, mix until ingredients well combined

6)      Drop a spoonful of mixture in each muffin baking liner/ sheet

7)      Bake until golden brown

Variations:

·         Plum Scone: place sliced plum on top of each muffin

·         Chocolate scone: mix in 1/4 Cup chocolate chip in mixture after other ingredients are combined

Tips: 
> To soften butter in a short period of time, microwave butter for approx. 10 seconds for this amount of (1/4 C) butter. Do not over heat, or butter will melt to liquid
> Scones server best when just baked out of the oven, to help maintain the moist in scones when keeping over night, put a piece of bread on top of scones.

Blueberry Yogurt Loaf

Have left-over yogurt? or want to use up the fresh berries before it goes bad?

This recipe takes only 10 minutes to prepare. A great nutritious option for breakfast and snack; and it helps "cleaning out my fridge" too. It is also a great idea to use those sour blueberries you got in this recipe, the sour taste will blend in with the cake, it actually tastes and smells flavorful, and personally thinks that it has no difference from using the sweet, ripened blueberries.

I found the yogurt in this recipe gives a firm texture and month-feel, unlike the regular cake recipes they have a lighter and fluffier texture. 

Serves 8

Ingredients:

All purpose flour    1 C 

Baking powder      1/2 tsp

Baking soda          1/2 tsp

Salt                       1/4 tsp

White sugar           2/3 C

Butter (soften)       4 Tbsp

Egg                        1

Plain/ Greek yogurt 1/4 C

Milk                       1/4 C

Blueberry               1/2 C      

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven at 400F

2) In a bowl, mixed flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

3) In a large bowl, using mixer or a spatula to cream butter until smooth, than add sugar and mix well.

4) Add yogurt and egg into butter mixture.

5) Add half of flour mixture in butter mixture and mix well using mixer or spatula, pour milk and mix, and add the rest of the flour. Mix in blueberry at last.

6) Spray baking pan with oil or place a baking sheet on pan, pour batter in pan, spread mixture evenly in pan. Put in oven for approx. 25 minutes or until golden brown.

7) Serve hot, or keep in fridge for max. 2 days

Vanilla butter cream icing

   

Make approx 1 cup icing

Ingredients:

Butter       3 Tbsp / 45mL

Icing sugar    ¾ C  or white  sugar    1 C

Vanilla extract      1 tsp

Milk           1tsp  / 5mL

  

Directions:

1.       Soften butter by placing butter in room temperature for at least 15 mins or till it reaches room temperature

2.       In a big bowl, use a spatula/ electrical mixer to cream butter until fluffy and smooth.

3.       Add in vanilla extract, milk and icing sugar, cream mixture until well mixed.

4.       Chill in refrigerator for 10 mins to thicken mixture.

     5. Store remaining icing in refrigerator for later use, soften icing for 5 mins in room temp. before use. 

Valentine Selection: Creamy Cookie Cranberry Chocolate Bar

Make 2 chocolate bars

 Ingredients:

White melting chocolate/ white chocolate wafer                       2 Cup

Milk/ Dark chocolate wafer ( for drizzles/ garnish on top)      1 Tbsp

Oreo cookies                                                                                             2 cookies

Rice Krispy                                                                                                 ¼ Cup / 4 Tbsp

Dried Cranberry                                                                                       2 Tbsp

Mini Marshmallow                                                                                  20 -25

Directions:

1.       Decide on the shape / size of the chocolate you  want to have. If  you do not have a chocolate mold, simple use any baking pan.

Pick a pan that  can  hold the amount of your recipes you are going to made. If you are making  only 1 chocolate bar, use a small baking pan approx. 4” x 10”.

2.       Spray chocolate mold with a very thin layer of oil or butter. If using baking pan, trace a pan on top of a parchment sheet (baking paper) or wax paper, and place it in the bottom of pan.

3.       Using a knife to scrape off cream in oreo cookies. Put oreo cookies in a food plastic bag ( Ziploc bag).  Use rolling pin to break cookies to crumbles. Set aside.

4.       Using double boiler methods to melt white chocolate wafer. If you do not have a double boiler like me, please follow the next step.

5.        Boil 2 cups of water, pour in the a shallow container or bowl or a pan. Place a tall bowl or plate ( preferably a metal/ steel ware – help in heat transfer from hot water to melt chocolate.)  it is important to have a bowl that are taller than the bowl containing the hot water, preventing water mixing in with the chocolate.

6.       Stir chocolate till melted.  Add it cookie crumbles. Mix well.

7.       Pour half chocolate mixture into prepared pan. Spread evenly making a thinly layer of chocolate base.

8.       Add in rice Krispy, use spoon to press rice Krispy in the chocolate mixture.

9.       Pour in rest of the chocolate mixture on top. Spread well.

10.   Drop in dried cranberries and marshmallow.

11.   Use same method in step 1 and 2 to melt milk chocolate.  ( In this case, since it is only a small amount of chocolate, it would be safe to use microwave to melt chocolate wafer. Microwave for 30 seconds, stir every 15 seconds, re heat for 15 sec if mixture is not smooth/ not melted well enough.

12.   Put melted chocolate in another food plastic bag ( right in a bottom corner). Cut a tiny hole at corner, squeeze and decorate chocolate on surface with drizzle.

13.   Sit in room temperature until set or put in freezer for 10 minutes. ( Do not over freeze)

14.   Turn over pan to take out chocolate bars.

15.   Run a big knife under hot water for 10  seconds, dried. Cut chocolate into desired size. Repeat this step if needed. The heat  helps cutting chocolate easily.