Xoi Man

Ingredients:
Nep - Glutinous rice 
Soy sauce 
Boiled quail's eggs
Cha lua - Vietnamese ham
Lap xuong - Chinese sausage
Thit cha bong - Dried pork floss
Vietnamese style chicken liver pate 
Mo hanh - scallion oil
Hanh phi - Fried shallots
Dau phong - Roasted peanuts

Banh Tieu - Vietnamese donut

This donut is slightly sweet and hollow center and crunchy outside, it taste best after being deep fry.It is usually to be eaten with Banh bo(steam rice cake). In the original way, it  was made with ammonium bicarbonate, and it gave the donut smell. For this version, yeast will replace ammonium bicarbonate.

Ingredients:
350g all purpose flour
235ml tepid water
8g active dry yeast
100g sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
50g white sesame for sprinkle
Oil for deep fry


Methods:
Mix 1/4 flour with the yeast - water mixture, cover with a damp cloth, leave rest for 30 mins.

Add the rest of water, flour, baking powder, slat and sugar to the mixture. 

Knead into a smooth dough,cover with a damp cloth and rest for 30 mins.

Divine the dough into 18-20 small balls.

Roll the balls in sesame.Cover with damp cloth, rest another 30 mins.

Flatten the ball, roll into 3mm thick circle.

Heat the oil in a deep frying pan, slightly pressed the puffed spots, to encourage the center to puff.

Careful not to poking a hole or it won't puff.

Buttercream Roses

These roses are made from buttercream which is made from butter, milk, and flour instead of shortening. I found this recipe taste better than using vegetable's fat but the texture is less stiff so you have to work faster.


Buttercream Forsting
Ingredients:
1 cup milk
1/4 cup unsifted, all purpose flour
1 cup butter (room temperature)
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract


Methods:
In a saucepan whisk flour and milk together. Cook over low heat until starting to thicken carry on for 1 to 2 mins more (don't let it get too thick or it will be too stiff when it cools)

Let cool, stir now and again . If mixture is lumpy when it cools, press it through a fine sieve.

With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until fluffy.

Beat in the cooled flour paste and mix until smooth. Mix in the vanilla.


*If it's too soft refrigerate until it is of spreading consistency

Puff pastry

I made a batch of puff pastry today and used that to make Cream horns, Eccles cake and Sausage roll.
Eccles cake is made from puff pastry filled with mixed dried fruit and spices. The cakes are named after the English town of Eccles, Machester.

Financier

According to Dorie Greenspans website the "financier was created in the late nineteenth century by a pastry chef named Lasne, who had a shop on the rue Saint-Denis near the Bourse, the city's stock exchange. Lasne had a bead on his clients: he knew that they were rich, discriminating and always in a hurry, so he designed his little unglazed cookie-cake so that it could be eaten without a knife, fork or spoon and without risk to suit, shirt or tie. It was an early and classy form of fast food.

Financiers are as rich as the bankers they were named for. They're made from ground almonds, sugar, unwhipped egg whites, flour and an enormous quantity of melted butter, which is cooked until it is golden brown. And, in keeping with the theme, the cakes were originally baked in rectangular pans, so that they ended up resembling ingots."

I halved the recipe and sprinkle with some sesame seeds and cranberry. The cakes were really nice but just a little too sweet for me.

Adapted from Paris Sweets, Great Desserts from the City's Best Pastry Shops

Ingredients:
Makes 12 cookies
1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces; 180 grams) unsalted butter
1 cup (200 grams) sugar
1 cup (100 grams) ground almonds
6 large egg whites
2/3 cup (90 grams) all-purpose flour

Methods:
Put the butter in a small saucepan and bring it to the boil over medium heat, swirling the pan occasionally.

 Allow the butter to bubble away until it turns a deep brown, but don't turn your back on the pan - the difference between brown and black is measured in seconds. Pull the pan from the heat and keep it in a warm place.

Mix the sugar and almonds together in a medium saucepan. Stir in the egg whites, place the pan over low heat, and, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, heat the mixture until it is runny, slightly white and hot to the touch, about 2 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the flour, then gradually mix in the melted butter.

Transfer the batter to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, pressing it against the surface of the batter to create an airtight seal, and chill for at least 1 hour. (The batter can be kept covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.)

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Butter 12 rectangular financier molds (these were tested in 3-3/4 x 2 x 5/8-inch [10 x 5 x 1-1/2-cm] rectangular molds that each hold 3 tablespoons), dust the interiors with flour and tap out the excess.

Place the molds on a baking sheet for easy transport.Fill each mold almost to the top with batter.

Slide the molds into the oven and bake for about 13 minutes, or until the financiers are golden, crowned and springy to the touch. If necessary, run a blunt knife between the cookies and the sides of the pans, then turn the cookies out of their molds and allow them to cool to room temperature right side up on cooling racks.

Mooncake 2010

Roses Three Layer Flan

I made this flan for a birthday party. The flan has two thins layer of jelly at the bottom which are flavored with pandan and coffee. The roses are made from coconut milk, the clear one are made with water, sugar and little lemon juice.