Oven Baked Kuih Kapit (Love Letters)

Thanks Erin for the beautiful season's greetings card all the way from Malaysia...Happy Birthday & Happy Chinese New Year !!!

Ingredients:

1/3 cup egg (from 1 egg)
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup thick coconut milk
1/8 cup water
1/3 cup rice flour
1/4 tsp tapioca flour

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 °C.

Grease a rough surface non-stick tart or cake pan with butter and preheat it in the oven.

In a large bowl, whisk egg with sugar till sugar dissolves.

Pour-in coconut milk and water, stir to incorporate well.

Add-in flours and whisk to smooth batter.

Remove pan from oven.

Spread 1 tbsp of batter onto the heated pan circularly (about 8 cm in diameter) and allow batter to spread out thin by it own for short while.

Return pan to oven and bake for 6-8 minutes or until golden in color.

Remove from oven, immediately remove thin kuih from hot pan, start from all edges, fold straight into a quarter, press lightly with a light object to level the surface while cooling till set.

Allow to cool completely before storing into an airtight container.

Yields 23 kuih kapit.

Acar Telur (Spicy Eggs)

Ingredients:

6 hard boiled eggs, peeled
oil for deep-frying

6 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
6 onions, peeled and roughly chopped
1 knob fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

3 tbsp cooking oil
3 tbsp sambal omelek chili paste
2/3 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp ketchup
2 tsp sugar or to taste
2 tsp salt or to taste
5 tbsp water (add more if over heat and dry)

Method:

In a wok or deep pan, heat enough oil, deep fry peeled eggs till golden brown, drain on absorbent paper towel; set aside.

With blender/food processor, blend together garlic, onion and ginger to paste; set aside.

Heat 3 tbsp oil in wok or deep pan over medium high heat, saute the blended paste till fragrant and start to golden brown (about 3 minutes).

Add-in chili paste, saute for another 1 minute or till aroma.

Return eggs into wok and add-in all the remaining ingredients, stir-fry till gravy is homogeneous and thicken (adjust taste accordingly with sugar and salt).

Dish-up and best serve hot immediately with rice.

Kuih Rose/Loyang (Crispy Honecomb Cookies)

Ingredients:

1 ¼ cups rice flour

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 egg
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
20 mL coconut milk
80 mL water

oil for deep-frying

Method:

In a bowl, mix well rice flour and all purpose flour; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk egg with sugar and salt till sugar dissolves.

Pour-in coconut milk and water, stir to incorporate fully.

Add-in flours mixture, whisk to smooth batter; set aside.

Heat enough oil in wok or deep pan over medium heat.

Preheat mold by dipping in the hot oil for a while (important).

Transfer small amount of batter into a narrow cup.

Remove mold from oil, dip hot mold into the batter up to almost reach top surface, return coated mold into the hot oil, hold it for short while (may counts to 5), shake mold up and down within oil to drop shaped soft cookies from mold (may use fork to fasten the process).

Deep fry cookies till golden in color.

Drain cookies on absorbent paper and leave to cool completely on wire rack before storing into an airtight container.

Yields 52 cookies.

Kai Chai Peng (Kampar Chicken Biscuits/Savoury Fragrant Biscuits)

Thanks Mei Fong and Kim Yuan for such a sweet watch...after 4 years, it till looks new!!! Hahaha...

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups all purpose flour
1/2 tbsp icing sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking ammonia
1/2 tsp salt or to taste
1/4 tsp black pepper powder
1/2 tsp five spice powder
1/2 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp toasted sesame seed
50 g candied winter-melon, finely chopped (omitted)

2 pieces nam yue (red fermented beancurd), mashed
1 ½ eggs
1/2 tbsp cooking oil
1 tbsp honey

Method:

Preheat oven to 160 °C.

Line a big baking tray with parchment paper; set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients.

In a bowl, mix the wet ingredients of nam yue, eggs, oil and honey.

Add the wet ingredients mixture into the dry ingredients mixture.

With an oily hand palm, knead to smooth and soft dough.

Pick out small amount of dough and form into small dough balls.

Roll out dough balls flat and thin between two lightly greased plastic wrapper by using rolling pin to about 2 mm thick.

Arrange the biscuits onto the prepared tray, dock biscuits surface with knives or fork and bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from oven, transfer onto wire rack and set aside to cool completely before storing into an airtight container.

Yields 62 biscuits.

Coconut Cake with Cherry Pudding Topping

Ingredients:

Cake:

2 cups cake flour
1 ⅓ tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup (60 g) butter
1 ⅓ cup sugar
3 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup freshly shredded coconut or dessicated coconut

Cherry Pudding Topping:

3 cups water
2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp cherry jam (I take advantage of it color, may use any other preferential jam)
3/4 cup pudding powder (I use mango flavored pudding powder)
1/4 tsp fruit sugar (enclosed together with pudding powder)

Method:

To prepare the cake:

Preheat oven to 180 °C.

Lightly grease a springform cake pan (18 cm in diameter), dust bottom and side of pan with bread crumbs and tapping out excess; set aside.

In a bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter with sugar till creamy, pale and glossy.

Add-in eggs and oil, whisk till homogeneous batter forms.

Alternately, stir-in flour mixture and coconut milk, whisk to smooth batter.

Add-in dessicated coconut, stir to disperse out evenly.

Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of cake comes out clean.

Remove cake from oven, let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes.

Run a thin flexible knife or spatula around the pan to loosen the cake, transfer cake onto a plate, protect cake side with the rim of the springform (for pudding topping purpose); set aside to allows it to cool completely.

To prepare the pudding topping:

In a pot, bring water to boil.

Add-in sugar and jam, stir to dissolve.

Remove from heat and immediately stir-in pudding powder, keep stirring for 5 minutes to dissolve the powder.

Add-in fruit sugar, continue stirring for another 1 minute or till pudding solution starting to gel slightly on cold side walls and on stirring ladle/spoon.

Pour pudding solution onto the cooled cake, tilt cake to spread out pudding topping if necessary.

chill cake in refrigerator for at least 2 hours or till set.

Carefully run a thin flexible knife or spatula around the pan again to loosen the outer pudding frosting layer of cake.

Remove the rim of the springform, decorate cake and coat cake side accordingly if desire.

Chilled well till serve.

Ghoriba (Moroccan Semolina Cookies)

Ingredients:

1/3 cup ghee or butter
2/3 cup icing sugar
1 cup fine semolina flour
2 tbsp ice cold water

Garnish:

Powdered/icing sugar for cookies surface dusting (optional)

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 °C.

Line a big baking tray with parchment paper; set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter together with sugars till creamy, pale and fluffy.

Gradually, add-in flour and knead into smooth and soft dough.

Wrap well with plastic wrapper and set aside to rest for at least 3 hours.

Divide dough into 15 pieces of dough balls (about a walnut size); set aside covered.

Lightly greased or flour a cookies mold, press a smooth dough ball into mold and tilt out cookies carefully (I use jelly/pudding plastic mold).

Alternatively, roll out dough flat to about quarter inch thick and cut accordingly with cookies cutter.

Arrange the shaped cookies on the prepared tray and bake cookies in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until lightly golden brown.

Remove from oven (If desire, dust-on with some powdered sugar right this moment), transfer onto wire rack and set aside to cool completely before storing into an airtight container.

Yields 15 cookies.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

3/4cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 egg (lightly whisk a egg and divide into 2 portions)
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

Garnish:

45 pieces of toasted sunflower seed kernels

Method:

Preheat oven to 190 °C.

Line a big baking tray with parchment paper; set aside.

In a bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter together with sugars till creamy, pale and fluffy.

Add-in egg and peanut butter, whisk to incorporate fully.

Gradually, stir-in flours mixture and knead into smooth and soft dough.

In between two pieces of plastic wrapper, roll out dough flat by using rolling pin to the thickness of 1/4 inch.

Cut dough accordingly with cookies cutter and gashes cookies upper surface with knives.

Place shaped cookies onto the prepared tray and press a sunflower seed kernels onto the center of each cookies.

Bake cookies in the preheated oven for 12 minutes or until aroma and cooked through.

Remove from oven, transfer onto wire rack and set aside to cool completely before storing into an airtight container.

Yields 45 cookies.