Chocolate Panna Cotta 朱古力奶凍

I did Lychee Panna Cotta before, and I use the same recipe with little modification to make this Chocolate Panna Cotta. 

Link for Lychee Panna Cotta: http://winniemsfong.blogspot.com/2012/10/lychee-panna-cotta.html

1/2 envelope (3.5g) or 1/2 tbsp of  Knox powdered gelatin

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup whole milk

3 tablespoons sugar

2 oz semi-sweet chocolate

Place 3 tablespoons of cold milk out of the 1 cup milk in a bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over the top. Let sit for one minute. Then place it over pot of simmering water. Heat and stir until all gelatin dissolved in the milk. Remove from simmering water and set aside.

Combine cream, milk, and sugar in a medium saucepan. Heat on medium, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved and it just comes to a boil.

Pour cream and milk into semi-sweet chocolate. Stir until all chocolate melt and combined. Then add dissolved milk gelatin. Mix well. 

Divide mixture among glasses and refrigerate until set, at least 2 hours.

You can decorate chocolate panna cotta cups with raspberries or sprinkle cocoa powder on top of panna cotta.

 

Matcha Red Bean Cheesecake 抹茶红豆芝士蛋糕

Ingredients:
cream cheese 250g
Whipping Cream淡奶油 110g
Sugar 糖 90g
Matcha Powder抹茶粉 2Tsp（可以加多到1大匙）(up to 1Tbsp)
 Milk 牛奶 50g
Egg 鸡蛋 2个约110g
Corn Starch 玉米淀粉 3Tbsp

Canned red bean to put on top of each cheesecake pieces

Directions:
Biscuit base:
Around 1 cup (114g) biscuit to 1/4 cup (57g) melted butter. (Ratio can be 3:1 to 2:1)
Mix melted butter to biscuit crumbs and press it onto the cake pan base. Put in refrigerator until use.

1. Preheat oven to 170C (338F) 
2. Soften Cream Cheese by placing at room temperature.
3. Blend cream cheese with mixer until soft and continue blending by adding sugar.
4. Whisk the egg. Add egg in 2 batches into cream cheese batter and blend until all mixed. 
5. Sift corn flour with matcha powder. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix well with spatula. 
6. Finally add milk and cream to mixture and mix well.  
7. Pour in pan and bake for 50-60mins.

creamcheese 放软，用打蛋器打软，加入糖再继续打匀 - 分次与打散的全蛋液混合 - 玉米淀粉与抹茶粉仔细混合均匀后，加入芝士糊中拌匀 - 加入鲜奶油和牛奶拌匀
模子底部铺饼干碎（饼干和黄油的比例大致是3/1到2/1，程度是拌匀后捏起来能成团然后又散开的样子），倒入芝士糊
165-170度，中下层，50-60分钟

   

 

桂花杞子大菜糕(Osmanthus Goji Berry) /柚子蜜(Honey Citron)大菜糕 Agar agar jelly

I want to try this dessert long time ago. I know there is Agar agar powder for sale. But I always want to use the natural Agar agar to make the dessert. This is the first time I saw and bought natural Agar agar. I also found 桂花糖as well. I decided to make 桂花杞子大菜糕和柚子蜜大菜two kind of flavors. The agar agar that I bought is 30g and it can make 10-13 cups of jellies (the amount is adjust to the texture you like to have) . It is quite a lot. I decided to make 2 flavors.

 

  Ingredient:
Agar agar 30g
Water 10 cups (adjustable to your prefer texture)
Sugar 300g
桂花糖 (Osmanthus sugar) 2Tbsp &杞子(Goji Berry-Lycium Barbarum or Wolfberry) 2Tbsp

柚子蜜 Honey Citron Tea 3Tbsp

Directions

1.  Soak agar agar in cold water for 15 mintues. Soak 杞子 in hot water until soft.
2. Boil 10 cups of water (you can add more water if you want more jello texture)
3. Drain water and take agar agar out.
4. Add sugar (according to taste) and agar agar to boiling water.
5. Boil until all dissolved in water. 
6. If you make two flavours, divided water to two equal parts.
7. Keep one portion in pot and keep boiling. Add 桂花糖. Stir until all dissolved.
8. Add 柚子蜜 to the other portion. Stir until all dissolved.
9. Prepare pan or mould.
10. For 桂花杞子大菜糕, Pour mixture to mould and add soaked 杞子.
11. For 柚子蜜大菜糕, just pour the mixture to mould.
12. Refrigerate it and serve.

Hello Kitty Waffle 格仔餅/窩夫

It is so much fun to shop baking accessories. Especially if you like those special Japan character like Rilakkuma / Hello Kitty / Doraemon etc. The bake shops offer many varieties of these characters mold and utensils. Few years ago, I bought egg waffle pan back to Canada. And I told myself not to buy anymore of these heavy kitchen stuffs. But when I saw the Hello Kitty and Rilakkuma waffle pan, I cannot resist from buying that. I chose to buy the Hello Kitty one because it is smaller in size and it has more detail than the Rilakkuma one. I cannot wait to try and to test the result of using it.


 可做三塊格仔餅份量 (3 Original waffles) or (8 Hello Kitty waffles)

材料Ingredients：

• 120g 低筋麵粉 Cake Flour
• 1/2 Tsp 發粉 (baking powder)
• 2隻 雞蛋 Egg
• 20g 砂糖 Sugar
• 1/2cup 牛奶 Milk
• 50g 融化牛油 (melted butter)
• 水（隨量）water - adjust
• 1tsp 雲呢拿（可以不加） Vanilla (optional)

做法 Directions :

1. 先把牛油融化。打散雞蛋成蛋汁。Melt butter. Whisk the eggs.
2. 在蛋汁中，加入砂糖拌勻。倒入牛奶和雲呢拿拌勻，然後篩下低筋粉和發粉搞勻。最後加入融化了的牛油。拌勻的漿粉，稀調度以能隨隨流下為準。這樣弄出來的格仔餅就會鬆軟。（當預備粉漿期間，如感到粉漿太濃杰的話，可酌量加點水。） Add sugar to egg and whisk. Mix well with milk and vanilla. Sift in cake flour and baking powder and mix well. Add melted butter and mix well. If batter is too thick, add a bit of water to adjust.
3. 把漿粉倒入預熱的格仔餅模型爐中，烘至金黃色即成。 Spread butter or oil on waffle pan. Preheat the pan. Pour in batter. Heat 1 minutes on each side.

可以塗上牛油，花生醬，煉奶，並加砂糖，即成經典的香港格仔餅！
Serve with butter, peanut butter, condensed milk and add sugar (HK style). Or add chocolate syrup, cinnamon powder and serve with ice-cream (North Amercian Style)

Read more: http://www.christinesrecipes.com/2008/05/diy-waffle-recipe.html#ixzz2ZMcuOQeH

Basketball Chocolate cupcake with chocolate ganache

It is my brother-in-law's birthday today. He already bought a mango cold cheesecake. We celebrated and ate that in morning! I planned to make him something for his birthday few days ago. Therefore I still go ahead and make him something as originally planned!

 I still not feel comfortable about baking cake in Hk. The oven here is not accurate at all. To be safe, I will use cake mix to bake cupcakes. No matter you know to bake or not, it is 100% successful rate by using cupcake mix. In this case, I can spend more time on decorating the cupcakes.

For 10 medium cupcakes:

Orange Chocolate ganache: (2:1)
orange chocolate chips 100g
Heavy cream 50g

Dark chocolate piping ganache (3:1)
Dark chocolate chips 75g
Heavy cream 25g

White chocolate ganache(2:1)
White chocolate chips 100g
Heavy cream 50g

DIRECTIONS:
Boil heavy cream until just boil. Pour cream into chocolate chips and stir. Stir until all chocolate chips melt and become smooth.

Chocolate Bread pudding

 Bread pudding is always my girls' favorite breakfast. Yes, it's breakfast. Adults will take this for dessert but my girls love to eat this in morning. Warm bread with egg and milk ingredients in it. Just like a breakfast for them! I made bread pudding a few times before, therefore, I want to try to add chocolate to make it a new dessert for me!

Ingredients:
2 cups whole milk (or 2 cups half & half)
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup dark chocolate 
1tbsp cocoa powder
2/3 cup brown sugar (light or dark, depending on taste preference)
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
 3 cups bread, torn into small pieces (french bread works best)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Directions:

1. In medium saucepan, over medium heat, heat milk (or half & half) just until film forms over top. Combine butter and milk, stirring until butter is melted. Take away from heat. Add chocolate and stir until melt. Cool to lukewarm.
2. Combine sugar, eggs,cocoa powder and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer at medium speed for 1 minute. Slowly add milk mixture.
3. Place bread in a lightly greased 9"x13" casserole.
4. Sprinkle with raisins if desired. Pour batter on top of bread.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 to 50 minutes or until set. Serve warm.

If you make the sauce to put on top of your bread pudding, adjust the brown sugar in the bread pudding recipe. Reduce the amount in the recipe to 1/3 cups dark or light brown sugar (the sauce has the other 1/3 cup in it, in the form of white or light brown sugar).

Bread Pudding Sauce

Ingredients:
1 cup whole milk
2 Tablespoons butter
1/3 cup granulated white sugar (light brown sugar can be substituted)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 Tablespoon flour dash of salt

Directions:
Mix everything together and bring to a boil for 3 - 4 minutes, stirring constantly. Set aside for 5 minutes, then pour on warm bread pudding.