Monday, November 23, 2015

Cantonese Egg Tarts II 港式蛋挞

Over the years, I've made egg tarts on few occasions. The result mostly looked rough and rustic but this time these tarts look  like the real deal! That said, am still trying to achieve a melt in the mouth lighter crust. Mine have slight chewy tart shell. I'll have to work on my short crust pastry technique. However, the filling is exactly what I'm looking for.

Cantonese Egg Tarts
serves : 12-15 tarts
I have halved the recipe from Guai Shu Shu

Ingredients
For tart shells 
1 egg (lightly beaten) 
220 grams of plain flour (sifted) 
40 grams of icing sugar (sifted) 
100 grams of chilled butter (cut into cubes) 
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla essence (optional) 

For egg custard filling   
220 grams of fresh milk 
75 grams of castor sugar 
2 eggs 
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence (optional) 

Pre-heat the oven to 180°c

In a big mixing bowl, put butter cubes and sifted plain flour together. Use the finger tips to rub the butter cubes and flours together until it become crumby. Add in sifted icing sugars and continue to rub until well mix.

Add lightly beaten eggs and vanilla essence, mix slowly until it become a dough. Put it in the fridge to chill for 20-30 minutes. Note that if you are able to handle soft dough, you can by pass this step. Take the dough from the fridge and use a rolling pin to roll it into a flat sheet with about 0.5 cm thickness.

Use a round cutter to cut about the size of the mould.  Note that this step is optional and will help you to roughly gauge the amount of dough required and you still need to adjust the quantity of dough as you progress.  Use your hand to press the dough against the sides and make it as even as possible. Use a knife or anything sharp to cut off the sides. If preferred, use a fork to lightly make some holes to let any trapped air to escape.  However, this step of making hole is optional. Set aside for later use.

For crispier crust, bake the tart shell in the pre-heated oven of 180 degree Celsius for 10 minutes. However, this step is also optional. 

For filling :-
In a microwavable bowl or mug, heat the milk until boiling hot (if you do not have a microwave oven, just heat the milk over the stove). Set aside for the next step. 

In a big mixing bowl, put egg, sugar and vanilla essence. Use a hand whisk to beat until well mixed. Pour the hot milk to the mixture and use a sift to sieve the custard mixture. 

Pour the custard mixture to the pre-baked tart shells. 
  
Bake the egg tarts in the pre-heated oven of 180˙c for 10-15 minutes. Once the tarts starts to puff up a bit, open the oven door, leave the door ajar and continue to bake the tarts for another 5 –8 minutes. A tart is considered as baked when a toothpick inserted in the centre of the tart, the toothpick stands upright. The tarts is best served warm when the custard is still soft and crust crispy.

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Homemade Belgian Waffles

Not sure why it took me so long to invest in a waffle maker, when I love eating waffles?! Now that I finally bought one and that the first recipe came out exactly how I like it. It will definitely be used many Sundays ahead.

Homemade Belgian Waffles
adapted from casa de lindquist
serves : about 6 x 10x12cm waffles

Ingredients:
1 large egg or 2 medium-sized eggs, room temp.
1 Tbsp sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
about 207ml milk, room temp.
57gm butter, melted2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt

Method:
1) Lightly grease waffle maker then switch it on to pre-heat.
2) Mix together flour, baking powder and salt. set aside.
3) In another bowl, whisk egg(s) and sugar until light and fluffy.
4) Pour in milk and melted butter, mix well. Finally add in the flour-mixture. Mix until lump-free. Don't over mix.
5) Spoon waffle batter onto pre-heated waffle maker. close it. and set timer to 5 minute.
6) Serve hot with any sweet or savoury condiments.

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Spanakopita { Greek spinach pie } with homemade filo / phyllo pastry

When I have spinach and feta available, first thing that come to mind is spanakopita. It's an absolute favourite filling for filo /phyllo pastry for me. Never in my life that I would've imagined making filo / phyllo pastry  though! I gave it a go on and as usual it is not as scary or hard as I thought. What I did was prep. and knead the dough a day ahead and let it rest in the fridge over night. 

Homemade Phyllo Dough

via http://korenainthekitchen.com/2011/06/27/daring-bakers-baklava-with-homemade-phyllo-pastry/

Ingredients
Dry
1 1/3 cup flour (type “00” or pizza flour, if possible – all purpose flour will do, though)
1/8 tsp salt

Wet
1/2 cup less 1 tbsp water
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp cider vinegar

Filling
spinach (frozen, with access water removed)
feta cheese
sautéd garlic
salt, to taste

Method
1) Mix together dry ingredients. In a small bowl combine wet ingredients. Then pour the wet mixture slowly into the flour.
2) Continue mixing stirring until it comes together in a soft dough with no dry flour bits left. You may need slightly less water, or slightly more (I had about 1 tbsp of water left over) – just add it slowly, bit by bit, to gauge how much you’ll need.
3) Knead the dough in mixing for about 20 minutes, until you have a soft, silky, smooth dough.
4) Then  remove from bowl, on floured surface knead another 2 minutes, whacking the dough down hard on the counter a few times during kneading.
5) Rub the dough with vegetable oil, wrap it in plastic, and let it rest for at least 2 hours – longer is better.

Rolling and stretching the dough

Divide the ball of dough in half, cut each half into thirds, and each third into thirds again, to end up with 18 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and place them on a plate, covered with plastic wrap.

Flatten a ball out with your fingers and place on a well-floured surface. Roll out with a floured rolling pin or dowel until it’s about 9″x5″ (mine was twice as large), picking up the dough and re-flouring the surface underneath it every few strokes. Don’t be afraid of adding too much flour – keeping everything properly floured will make it much easier to roll, because if stuff starts to stick you’re in trouble! Let the dough rest for a minute or two if it starts getting difficult to roll out.

When the dough sheet is as thin as you can roll it, gently lift it and stretch it with your fingers from underneath. Do this very s-l-o-w-l-y and gently, using more of a stroking motion than a pulling motion, and letting the dough rest every so often. Don’t worry if you get some rips and holes – you only really need one perfect sheet for the top layer of your baklava (it took me until sheet number 14 to get a perfect one, and only about two out of 18 had no holes!).

When the dough is stretched thin enough to read through, place it on a floured baking sheet, and lightly sprinkle flour between each sheet to stop them from sticking together. The original recipe says that the sheets won’t dry out, but it took me forever to roll them out so I covered them lightly in plastic, just in case.

Monday, November 23, 2015

Cantonese Egg Tarts II 港式蛋挞

Over the years, I've made egg tarts on few occasions. The result mostly looked rough and rustic but this time these tarts look  like the real deal! That said, am still trying to achieve a melt in the mouth lighter crust. Mine have slight chewy tart shell. I'll have to work on my short crust pastry technique. However, the filling is exactly what I'm looking for.

Cantonese Egg Tarts
serves : 12-15 tarts
I have halved the recipe from Guai Shu Shu

Ingredients
For tart shells 
1 egg (lightly beaten) 
220 grams of plain flour (sifted) 
40 grams of icing sugar (sifted) 
100 grams of chilled butter (cut into cubes) 
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla essence (optional) 

For egg custard filling   
220 grams of fresh milk 
75 grams of castor sugar 
2 eggs 
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence (optional) 

Pre-heat the oven to 180°c

In a big mixing bowl, put butter cubes and sifted plain flour together. Use the finger tips to rub the butter cubes and flours together until it become crumby. Add in sifted icing sugars and continue to rub until well mix.

Add lightly beaten eggs and vanilla essence, mix slowly until it become a dough. Put it in the fridge to chill for 20-30 minutes. Note that if you are able to handle soft dough, you can by pass this step. Take the dough from the fridge and use a rolling pin to roll it into a flat sheet with about 0.5 cm thickness.

Use a round cutter to cut about the size of the mould.  Note that this step is optional and will help you to roughly gauge the amount of dough required and you still need to adjust the quantity of dough as you progress.  Use your hand to press the dough against the sides and make it as even as possible. Use a knife or anything sharp to cut off the sides. If preferred, use a fork to lightly make some holes to let any trapped air to escape.  However, this step of making hole is optional. Set aside for later use.

For crispier crust, bake the tart shell in the pre-heated oven of 180 degree Celsius for 10 minutes. However, this step is also optional. 

For filling :-
In a microwavable bowl or mug, heat the milk until boiling hot (if you do not have a microwave oven, just heat the milk over the stove). Set aside for the next step. 

In a big mixing bowl, put egg, sugar and vanilla essence. Use a hand whisk to beat until well mixed. Pour the hot milk to the mixture and use a sift to sieve the custard mixture. 

Pour the custard mixture to the pre-baked tart shells. 
  
Bake the egg tarts in the pre-heated oven of 180˙c for 10-15 minutes. Once the tarts starts to puff up a bit, open the oven door, leave the door ajar and continue to bake the tarts for another 5 –8 minutes. A tart is considered as baked when a toothpick inserted in the centre of the tart, the toothpick stands upright. The tarts is best served warm when the custard is still soft and crust crispy.

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Homemade Belgian Waffles

Not sure why it took me so long to invest in a waffle maker, when I love eating waffles?! Now that I finally bought one and that the first recipe came out exactly how I like it. It will definitely be used many Sundays ahead.

Homemade Belgian Waffles
adapted from casa de lindquist
serves : about 6 x 10x12cm waffles

Ingredients:
1 large egg or 2 medium-sized eggs, room temp.
1 Tbsp sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
about 207ml milk, room temp.
57gm butter, melted2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt

Method:
1) Lightly grease waffle maker then switch it on to pre-heat.
2) Mix together flour, baking powder and salt. set aside.
3) In another bowl, whisk egg(s) and sugar until light and fluffy.
4) Pour in milk and melted butter, mix well. Finally add in the flour-mixture. Mix until lump-free. Don't over mix.
5) Spoon waffle batter onto pre-heated waffle maker. close it. and set timer to 5 minute.
6) Serve hot with any sweet or savoury condiments.

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Spanakopita { Greek spinach pie } with homemade filo / phyllo pastry

When I have spinach and feta available, first thing that come to mind is spanakopita. It's an absolute favourite filling for filo /phyllo pastry for me. Never in my life that I would've imagined making filo / phyllo pastry  though! I gave it a go on and as usual it is not as scary or hard as I thought. What I did was prep. and knead the dough a day ahead and let it rest in the fridge over night. 

Homemade Phyllo Dough

via http://korenainthekitchen.com/2011/06/27/daring-bakers-baklava-with-homemade-phyllo-pastry/

Ingredients
Dry
1 1/3 cup flour (type “00” or pizza flour, if possible – all purpose flour will do, though)
1/8 tsp salt

Wet
1/2 cup less 1 tbsp water
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp cider vinegar

Filling
spinach (frozen, with access water removed)
feta cheese
sautéd garlic
salt, to taste

Method
1) Mix together dry ingredients. In a small bowl combine wet ingredients. Then pour the wet mixture slowly into the flour.
2) Continue mixing stirring until it comes together in a soft dough with no dry flour bits left. You may need slightly less water, or slightly more (I had about 1 tbsp of water left over) – just add it slowly, bit by bit, to gauge how much you’ll need.
3) Knead the dough in mixing for about 20 minutes, until you have a soft, silky, smooth dough.
4) Then  remove from bowl, on floured surface knead another 2 minutes, whacking the dough down hard on the counter a few times during kneading.
5) Rub the dough with vegetable oil, wrap it in plastic, and let it rest for at least 2 hours – longer is better.

Rolling and stretching the dough

Divide the ball of dough in half, cut each half into thirds, and each third into thirds again, to end up with 18 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and place them on a plate, covered with plastic wrap.

Flatten a ball out with your fingers and place on a well-floured surface. Roll out with a floured rolling pin or dowel until it’s about 9″x5″ (mine was twice as large), picking up the dough and re-flouring the surface underneath it every few strokes. Don’t be afraid of adding too much flour – keeping everything properly floured will make it much easier to roll, because if stuff starts to stick you’re in trouble! Let the dough rest for a minute or two if it starts getting difficult to roll out.

When the dough sheet is as thin as you can roll it, gently lift it and stretch it with your fingers from underneath. Do this very s-l-o-w-l-y and gently, using more of a stroking motion than a pulling motion, and letting the dough rest every so often. Don’t worry if you get some rips and holes – you only really need one perfect sheet for the top layer of your baklava (it took me until sheet number 14 to get a perfect one, and only about two out of 18 had no holes!).

When the dough is stretched thin enough to read through, place it on a floured baking sheet, and lightly sprinkle flour between each sheet to stop them from sticking together. The original recipe says that the sheets won’t dry out, but it took me forever to roll them out so I covered them lightly in plastic, just in case.