SINFUL DESSERTS

 BROWNIE WITH VANILLA ICE CREAM

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH VANILLA ICE CREAM 

Look at the layer of chocolate at the top of the cake. A must try for chocolate lover. Indeed very sinful but delicious.

 

NEW MAJESTIC HOTEL

I had attended a rom lunch at the majestic restaurant in the new majestic hotel. It is located near Outram park mrt station. The hotel had a very nostalgic feel and the restaurant serve very nice modern Cantonese Chinese cuisine. The dishes are nicely arranged on individual plating. It gives me a feel of western fine dining in a traditional Chinese restaurant.

I love the dessert below. It is not the usual kind of dessert that you had for wedding lunch or dinner. It is sorbet ice cream with grass jelly, pomelo, mango, strawberry and decorated with frosted grapes. This dessert is very refreshing and the combination of the ingredient is great. Plus the cute little fried bun with melted salted egg yolk filling to go along with the ice cream. It is a must try dessert.  

Cute little fried bun with melted salted egg yolk filling

Below is the link of the restaurant:

http://www.asiatravel.com/singapore/new_majestic/facilities.html

HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE CHIPS WALNUT COOKIES

I had tried out the recipe that my girl friend had shared with me for baking chocolate chips cookies. However, it tastes a bit funny probably due to the additions of cornflakes. Crusted cornflake mixes together with flour gives a chewy texture and the cornflakes tend to stuck at the teeth. The sweetness of the cookie is just nice and those that do not enjoy sweet stuffs can reduce the sugar to 200 grams instead of 225 grams. The cookie is middle soft probably due to the addition of vegetable shortening instead of butter. It depends on individual liking as I prefer cookies that are harder. I will definitely try again without adding the cornflakes, reducing the sugar to 200 grams and replace the vegetable shortening to butter instead.

To my surprise, the cookies taste harder after being kept for a few days. Yummy..

VEGETABLE SHORTENING VERSUS BUTTER

I had happened to browse through some cookie recipes and found out that some of the recipe uses vegetable shortening instead of butter.

So what is the difference between the two ingredients used for baking the cookies?

Vegetable shortening a solid fat made from vegetable oils, such as soybean and cotton seed oil. Although made from oil, shortening has been chemically transformed into a sold state through hydrogenation. Vegetable shortening is almost flavorless (with a bland and neutral flavor). It is solid form at room temperature with a higher smoke point than butter and margarine. The smoke point generally refers to the temperature at which a cooking fat or oil begins to break down to glycerol and free fatty acids.

The glycerol is then further broken down to acrolein which is a component of the bluish smoke The smoke point also marks the beginning of both flavor and nutritional degradation. It has 100% fat content, compared to about 80% for butter and margarine. Vegetable shortening has become the subject of some health concerns due to its traditional formulation from partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, which contain trans fat. Trans fats have been linked to a number of adverse health effects.

However, due to the reformulation of certain brand like Crisco and Cookeen, the amount of trans fat present in the shortening had decreased. This lead to the popularity of substituting shortening with butter in baking of pie pastry, cookies and cakes. Shortening blend well with flour and it can be stored at room temperature for a year. Butter tastes better than shortening but it is more expensive and has cholesterol with a higher level of saturated fat. It makes cookies less crunchy and bread crusts crisper. Below is the link for the information:

http://www.foodsubs.com/Fatsoils.html

I will try it out on the cookie recipes to see if there is any difference in the taste using the shortening and the butter. Stay tune.

SHERMAY’S HOLIDAY DESSERTS

Went for my first baking classes at the Shermay’s Cooking Class. The place is very cosy and neat. A very nice and clean kitchen for the teacher to conduct the classes, a small area to sell the bakery stuffs (cookbooks, cookie cutters etc) plus a cosy area where the students are seated to view the demonstration by the teacher. 

I really like the design of the kitchen. The mirror on the top is very useful as it serve as a visual aid to the students. A better view of the ingredients and how the ingredients are mixed.

They even have LCD TV where the demonstration is captured and reflected on the TV for a clearer view too. The school is really thoughtful to have thought of all these and help the students to have a better eye view of the classes.

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingered pecan crust and The ultimate dark chocolate tart

Panforte di Siena

Applesauce cupcakes

The ultimate dark chocolate tart

Applesauce cake with tea plumped golden raisins and walnuts

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingered pecan crust

Ching Yi and me with our complimentry nicely packed foodies

The nicely packed Applesauce cupcakes & Panforte di Siena

Applesauce cupcakes

Panforte di Siena

We really enjoy ourselves for the baking lesson. I can’t wait to try out the Christmas festive baking recipes and hopefully it is a success. Christmas = to indulging ourselves with cookies, cakes, pies, tarts. Yummy…

Looking Forward..

SHERMAY’S COOKING SCHOOL

I am really looking forward to 8^th November as me and my gal friend will be going to Shermay’s Cooking School for their FABULOUS HOLIDAY DESSERTS 2009 baking class. It is a 3 hours and 30 minutes lesson. We have not been to the school for their baking courses and really hope that we could learn something there for our upcoming Christmas party. We will be learning how to bake Panforte di Siena (A traditional Italian Christmas desserts), Pumpkin cheesecake with a gingered pecan crust, Applesauce Cake with Tea plumped golden raisins and walnuts, the ultimate dark chocolate tart. Sound very delicious and yummy right? If there is extra time during the lesson, extra bonus recipes will be shared to the students too. Hurray….Every student that sign up for this class will be given a Sunmaid goodie bag with 250g box of raisin plus Fruit and Sunshine recipe book. We can also bring home some of the baked treats too. It will be a demonstration class on how to bake the desserts and I must definitely remember to bring my camera, pen and recipe notebook for the class. Of course, we must go there early too so as to get a front seat for a bird eye view of the desserts demonstration.    

I will post more on the classes and not forgetting pictures to share with you all after attending the lesson.

Hoping to bake delicious tarts, cookies for this Christmas….

 Shermay’s Cooking School is located at Chip Bee Gardens (Holland Village), Blk 43 Jalan Merah Saga #03-64. Here is the link of the cooking school: http://www.shermay.com/schedule_nov2009.htm

 Guest Pastry Chef’s blog: http://brandoesq.blogspot.com/

 

Peanut Butter Cookies Recipes

My second attempt in baking cookies. This time round, I had baked peanut butter cookies. Baking is so much easier with those premixes available in the supermarket. Less than half an hour time, you can get delicious homemade cookies. Baking is so fun and i am enjoying it….   

Mixing the flour, vegetable oil and egg together

Mix till the dough is formed

Ready for baking @ the temperature of 190 degree celsius Before Baking

 Betty Crocker Peanut Butter Cookie Premix

 After Baking: The cookie expand after baking

Had overlooked that the cookies will expand while baking and as you can see from the pictures the cookies is ‘kissing ‘one another…So cute… Thus, please remember not to put the cookies so near to one another as it will expand during baking.

Final Product: Peanut Butter Cookies.. Yummy

Verdict: Taste Like subway cookies but it is harder and less sweeter than subway cookies.

Tips: After baking, let the cookies cool down for about 5 minutes so that the cookie will be harder than when it is freshly bake from the oven.

You guys should try it out too… ENJOY..