中秋莲蓉月饼Homemade Lotus Paste Mooncake

中秋节快乐！

Homemade Cold Press Virgin Coconut Oil ( Fermentation Method)

This was my first attempt of making this coconut oil. I bought 3 mature freshly grated coconuts from the nearby wet market, and 3 cups of warm water were added to the coconut pulp to extract the coconut milk from it. As fermentation works better in a warm and enclosed place, so my pot of coconut milk was put in the turn off mode microwave oven to ferment. After several hour, the curd, oil and water start to separate:- the protein stay at the surface, the oil float at the 2nd layer, then follow by the water and a layer of fine pulp settles at the bottom. After filtering I was able to scoop out about 3/4 cup of cold press virgin coconut with no heat apply to it at all. The oil that was extracted this way might has some water moisture content in it, so i will keep it in the fridge to prevent it from rancid.

Kueh Bangkit/Kuih Bangkit( Chinese New Year Cookies)

This is a video of making kueh bangkit.

During Chinese New Year, Kueh Bangkit is a must-have cookie for many families and it has become our family favourite ever since I started making them a few years ago.

Kueh Bangkit is a fragrant and tasty cookie that simply melts in the mouth and leaves a creamy and coconuty taste that most people cannot resist. 

To dough mix should not be too wet or dry. If it is too wet, the cookie will expand until the pattern disappears. If it is too dry, the cookie will be very hard.

Try to get very fresh tapioca flour. Do check the manufacturing date before buying it. Put the whole packet of 500g tapioca flour with pandan leaves in a wok and dry-fry over low heat until the pandan leaves turn dry and the moisture disappear and it becomes light and fluffy.  This takes about 15 - 20 minutes.  Let the flour totally cool to room temperature before sieving it (you will be left with less than 500g after sieving). Pack sieved fried flour into a plastic bag and store it in the fridge until needed.

Get 1 whole grated coconut without the brown coloured layer (1 coconut is able to squeeze out about 150-200ml coconut milk) and extract the milk.  Put all the milk that you have extracted into a pot with 2 tbsp of sugar, salt and some pandan leaves and bring it to a simmer over low heat ( do not over boil it, it will curd if over boiled ) until all the sugar and salt are dissolved and fragrance of the pandan leaves fuse into the coconut milk and let it cool before using it.

Ingredients for making kueh bangkit:

• 350g fried tapioca flour ( Dry-fry the whole packet of 500g, the amount will reduce after the moisture disappear, you might need extra flour for adjustment)
• 5 pieces of pandan leaves
• 1 tsp of salt
• 2 large egg yolks
• 120g fine granulated sugar (2 tbsp to put into the coconut milk)
• 150ml of thick coconut milk( with all the milk you extracted from 1 whole fresh coconut, add 2 tbsp of sugar, salt and pandan leaves, bring to low simmer) 

Cream egg yolk and sugar

add tapioca flour alternately with the coconut milk to the egg mixture

adding coconut milk 

the final dough is firm and not sticky

 baking tray lined with baking paper

Method:

1. Wash the pandan leaves. Wipe them dry and cut into 3cm pieces
2. Over low heat, dry-fry the tapioca flour in the wok together with the pandan leaves till it is very light and fluffy. It takes about 15mins, let it totally cool down to room temperature and sieve. Packed sieved fried flour into a plastic bag and store it in the fridge until needed.
3. Over low heat, boil coconut milk with some pandan leaves and 2 tbsp of sugar ( taken from the amount 120g fine granulated sugar) and salt. Leave to cool before use.
4. Beat egg yolks and the balance sugar till light lemony and creamy. Add sugar slowly so as to ensure all the sugar dissolve easily.  
5. However if the sugar does not dissolve properly, you can add some coconut milk first before you add the flour (see step 6 below).
6. Add flour and coconut milk, alternately, to the egg mixture slowly. The last addition of the flour should be done bit by bit to get a good firm dough. The dough should not be too wet or dry.  If it is too wet, the cookie will expand until the pattern disappears. If it is too dry, the cookie will be very hard.
7. Roll dough to 1/2 cm thick and cut out cookie with the cookie cutter.  Lay them on the baking tray lined with baking paper (to prevent cookies from sticking onto the tray after it is baked). 
8. Bake in a preheated oven at 160°C for about 15 mins.  I prefer the kueh bangkit to be a little over baked so that it turns a little brown at the sides.  This makes it more fragrant. 

This recipe can made 2 containers 

I am submitting this post to Chinese New Year Delights 2013 hosted by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover 

My previous post on Kueh Bangkit is here

My Aunty's Pineapple Tart Recipe(CNY Cookies)

Ingredients:

• 600g plain flour
• 375g golden churn butter
• 5 egg yolks and 2 egg whites
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• for glazing 1 egg yolk+ 1 tsp water mix well

Homemade pineapple jam recipe

Method:

1. Place everything in a mixing bowl and mix evenly using a paddle attachment on the lowest speed possible.
2. Use 12g of dough and 8g of homemade pineapple jam, form it into a small ball. Put on the baking tray lined with baking paper.
3. Brush tarts with egg wash before baking in preheated oven at 160°C for 6 minutes first, take out and  brush egg wash again.
4. Continue baking for another 20 minutes or until tarts  are golden brown.
5. Let to cool completely and keep in an air-tight container.

I am submitting this post to Chinese New Year Delights 2013 hosted by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover 

Klassiske Vaniljekranse (Danish Butter Cookies)

My cookies look under-baked when compared with the other bloggers' photos. sigh...I was afraid of over-baking them but now...:(,may be I should double bake them again. Aiya..ya...:(. I was using temperature at 190°C and baked for 8 minutes. Next time I should add 1-2 minutes to ensure they are not under baked again.

Danish Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 egg (60g)
• 200g butter( I used SCS120g + Golden Churn 80g)
• 130g icing sugar
• 320g Plain flour
• 2 tbsp/30g of vanilla paste

Method:

1. Place everything in a mixing bowl and mix evenly using a paddle attachment on the lowest speed possible.
2. Pipe wreaths onto greased cookie sheet or baking tray using an open star tip.
3. Bake in a preheated oven at 190°C for 9-10 minutes.
4. Leave to cool slightly before removing from cookie sheet.Transfer cookies into airtight container after cookies are at room temperature.

Source of the recipes are from here and here.