Homemade Almond Croissants

 

How to turn a Costco croissant into an almond croissant?  It was fairly easy actually and can save a almond croissant lover a ton of money by doing it at home.  All you need is almond flour and almond extract, and the rest of the ingredients you would probably have it at home. 

All you need to do is to make a simple frangipane and air-fry the croissant in the air fryer at 350'F for 5 minutes. 

Frangipane

1 large egg

1/2 cup almond flour 

1/4 cup cane sugar

1/2 stick or 4 Tbsp. Unsalted butter, soften

1/2 tsp. Almond extract 

1/4 tsp. Himalayan rock salt

Methods 

1.  Whisk egg, butter, sugar, almond extract, and salt together.   Then, add almond flour and whisk together into a paste.

2.  Cut the Costco's croissant into half and spread the paste inside.  Top the croissant with some more paste and sprinkle sliced almond on top.

3.  Air-fry in the air fryer at 350'F for 5 minutes.   Serve!

Air-fryer Sesame Balls

I remembered the sesame balls that I used to have in Malaysia while I was young was filled with ground peanut filling.  After I moved to the US, the ones that I had were filled with mung bean paste or red bean paste.  Even to these days, I have not seen one that's filled with peanut filling, and I missed that.

Then, while browsing my Facebook page, I saw a video clip about an air-fryer sesame balls recipe that caught my attention.  An easier way to make this without the oil and heat while deep-frying sounded just perfect for me.  Furthermore,  by making it myself I can fill it with whatever filling I desired.   So, without further hesitation, let's get working.  I made my own peanut filling by grounding some toasted peanuts and sweeten coconut flakes in a food processor and then added some cane sugar and toasted sesame seeds.  Mixed well to be used as filling.  Sorry, no measurement here as I just eye balling with what I had in my pantry.

Ingredients:

1/8 cup + 1 Tbsp. White cane sugar

175ml warm water

200g glutinous flour

Filling of your choice

Sesame seeds, to suit

Method:

1.  In a bowl, dissolved sugar into the warm water.  Set aside.

2.  In another bigger bowl, add in the glutinous rice flour and pour in the sugar water mixture.  Mix and knead until a soft dough is formed.  You can add more water or glutinous flour to adjust the consistency. 

3.  Then, pinch a piece of the dough, shape into ball and flatten it and wrap the filling inside inside and close it.  Coat the balls with sesame seeds completely. 

4.  Place the sesame balls into the deep-fryer and spray with oil.  Air-fry at 370'F for 10 minutes. Open the air-fryer, and flip to the other side, spray with oil and air-fry for another 10 minutes at the same temperature. 

5.  When it is done,  don't open the air-fryer just yet,  let it sit in there for 5 minutes before open.  Otherwise,  it might cracks.  Then, serve warm!

NOTE 1: It got harden when its cold.  So, air-fry leftover at 330'F for 4 minutes.  Serve immediately. 

NOTE 2:  I still prefer it deep-fried.  Texture wise is better.

Homemade No Knead Baguette

Here is my no knead baguette.  If you want the recipe, just google no knead baguette and the recipe will show up.  I think this only used 4 ingredients and let it proof overnight, then shape, proof again and bake.  Very easy and delicious especially when you air-fry it in an air fryer 350"F for 3 minutes.  Then, spread with your desired spread and enjoy!

Toasted Coconut Chia Seeds Cake

Coconut toasted coconut cake, so yummilicious.

I had a vision and I made this cake and it was so divine!  When I told my Edda about my vision of this cake, she gave me the look that it was not going to be good, she said I don't like coconut cake.  Oh well, as it turned out she really loved it and had few pieces after it was cooled.  I asked her, this is really good right and she said yes and please don't share it with anyone.  Hahaha....she wanted the whole cake for us!  As usually I would share half of the cake away.  

Super fragrant and super moist coconut chia seeds cake!  The chia seeds gave it a little crunch when biting into the moist cake.

This creation is so unexpectedly delicious that I decided to keep the recipe within my family.  Who knows, I might decide to sell some of my bakes in the future!  As for now, this is priceless!

Matcha Yogurt Cake

I remembered I made yogurt cake before and it was pretty good.  A co-worker gave me a big tub of Brown Cow vanilla yogurt so it gave me an opportunity to make this cake again.  I told her I am going to make a yogurt cake and give it to her.  She didn't know we can use yogurt to make a cake hence just had to let her try it herself I guess.  I decided on the Matcha flavor just because I liked it. This is another one bowl and a whisk recipe that I liked very much.  Easy and not a lot of things to wash later.  This cake is best the next day, a soft and moist cake with vanilla and matcha flavors.

Steamed Layered Sago Kuih

I was in loved with this Malaysian dessert when I first had it in Malaysia many moons ago.  I had no idea this dessert was actually so easy to make as I thought it would be difficult to produce this dessert at home.  I suddenly had a craving for this sago kuih again and went on Google to look for how it was made.  To my utter surprised, it was fairly easy to make and since I have all the ingredients in my pantry, I set up to give this a try!  I would try other flavor next time or other recipe for a different texture? This one is chewy.

I steamed it in my old-time electric steamer and to my total dismay, my 10+ years steamer broke down in the middle of steaming!!!  What a timing for broken down.  So, I had to cover it with foil and finished steaming it in my wok on the stove top.  Today was not a good day for me, one obstacle after another kept on happening to me on the same day!  I wanted to go to the bank to have some document notarize and found out I forgot my cellphone which had my ID card at home ( thus I had to drive home to get it),  then I went to the bank they told me they charged $5 for cashier checks (so I had to go to Walmart), went to Walmart and realized they only took cash or debit card for money order (I didn't have either one so had to drive home), then got a call from school to tell me to come pick up my younger girl because she was not feeling well and had fever (So, had to drive to school), then my steamer broke down half way through steaming (and I had to find alternative way to finish steaming my kuih, I prepared this in the morning before I got a call from the school, supposed to bring it to my friend's house at night.) and because of my girl not feeling well, I had to cancel the plan to have dinner at my friend's house! :-(  Whoa, I didn't expect all these to happen when I had all plan up nicely the night before.  Seriously, life is so unpredictable!  

Short-cut Curry Puffs

This is my short-cut way of making curry puffs as I don't have lots of time to spend in the kitchen. Edda wanted me to make curry puffs for her, and I remembered I used to make curry puffs while I was in my early 20s and people loved it.  I didn't have the recipe anymore but I remembered I only used flour, salt and butter I think.  I loved my keeper flaky pie crust recipe and it had all the ingredients that I remembered, hence I set out to try this flaky pie crust recipe for my curry puffs.

The skin is flaky when deep-fried as well.

As how did I come out with the short-cut curry puffs?  When I cooked a big pot of curry chicken with organic red potatoes, I took some of it without the gravy and keep it in the freezer.  When I have the mood or time to make curry puffs, I defroze the curry chicken potatoes the night before and then cut it into smaller pieces.  Then, I used my food processor to make the flaky dough.  After that, just wrap it and then deep-fried it in my newly acquired deep-fryer.  Viola!  Just like the name implied, this curry puffy skin was flaky.  Just toast it in a toaster oven to have a warm curry puff the next day.

You can also individually freeze these uncooked curry puffs and then put it in a Ziploc freezer bag and deep-fry it as needed.  In this case, you can have curry puffs anytime you desired.  It is great to invest in a deep-fryer, it makes deep-frying so much easier for me.  I especially love to deep-fry firm tofu in my deep-fryer and had it with my noodle soup, so good!

Red Bean Roti Canai

While shopping at the Asian market one day, I saw this frozen red bean roti canai.  It reminded of the Chinese red bean pancake dessert that I had when I was in Malaysia, so I bought this on impulse.  I just pan-fried this oil free in a non-stick pan and it came out looking like roti canai instead of the Chinese dessert that I thought it was.  It just tasted like roti canai with red bean filling so I was kind of disappointed.  Edda said she didn't like it at all.  Oh well, guess we wouldn't be buying this in the future.

I think the one that I made here long time ago tasted better than this!

Roti Canai with red bean filling.

Coconut Mochi Cake

I have some sweeten coconut flakes in the refrigerator and making a coconut mochi cake just strike me as an excellent idea.  It couldn't be yummier and the crust was crispy in the day it was baked and turned soft the next day.  Nevertheless it was still delicious!  If you like all things coconut, you might want to give this recipe a try!  Least to say it was super duper easy to make as well.  Enjoy!

No Bake Chocolate Oat Bars

No Bake Chocolate Oat Bars to go!  I made this bar before back in 2013!!  I think it's about time that I made another version of this bar again.  Any healthy nuts, dried fruit, seeds you have, just add it into this bar and you are good to go!

Packed and ready to grab and go bar.  My girls loved it!

Cranberry Oatmeal Bars

I saw this recipe while flipping through my old Penzeys Spices magazine.  As you know, I am attracted to easy and healthy recipe, even though I couldn't really say this recipe is healthy but hey it has oats and dried cranberries in it!  Hahaha....  Anyway, what got me in the end is this one bowl and a hand whisk preparation method.  I don't like to see a sink full of things to wash in the end, so I always favor this type of recipe.

I liked this recipe, the cranberry oatmeal bars turned out very fragrant and delicious.  Next time I can make this for teacher treat or party.  My girls took this as their school snacks and ate it as after school snack.  Easy to make, less thing to wash and delicious to eat, what more can you ask for? *wink*

Glutinous Rice with Shredded Coconut

I like to make this easy kuih if I happen to crave for some Malaysian kuih-muih (Asian steamed/baked cake).  You can either use a rice cooker or a steamer to make the bottom part of this kuih which is the glutinous rice.  For this recipe, I will use a rice cooker to cook the rice since its more widely available in people house.  Serve this as a dessert, snack or breakfast.  This kuih should be finished in 3 days without refrigeration.  The glutinous rice will harden when place in the refrigerator but you can always microwave it before consuming.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Pound Cake

I wanted to buy some cocoa powder but some how when I was in the supermarket, it just slip my mind.  So, I had to pen it down and reminded both of my girls to remind me to buy some cocoa powder when we are in the supermarket again.  I wanted to buy some Talentie's gelato that was on sale in Albertson so I told my girls, lets go look for the cocoa powder.  The Everyday Essential brand of cocoa powder was on clearance for $1.72 and the original price is only $1.99! I was like no way, why is it so cheap compared to Hershey's brand??  I checked the ingredient list and it said 100% cocoa powder.  Checked the ingredient list on Hershey's and it said cocoa powder.  So, I grabbed the last two cocoa powders that were on clearance.  Didn't know I had been paying so much extra for cocoa powder until now.  Now I know where I would go for cocoa powder when I am out again!

I loved this cream cheese pound cake recipe and wanted to create a chocolate version out of it and here it is!  This pound cake is not very sweet, I would say mild in sweetness as I reduce the sweetness in this.  If you like a sweet cake just use 2 cups of sugar.   This cake is a must-try because oh it's so good!

Baked Pumpkin Mochi Cake

I wanted to try making this because I saw a picture of someone selling pumpkin mochi.  Since I made red bean mochi before, I knew I could easily modified the recipe and made my own version of pumpkin mochi.  So, I set to work and created this beauty.  When it was out of the oven, the top crust was crispy and soft inside.  On the next day, it turned soft and slightly chewy.  I hope you like this recipe and feedback to me!

My easy recipe, with only a whisk and a bowl.  Less steps and less things to wash later.  I couldn't resist and cut one small row to try, before I remember I haven't taken a picture yet!  Heehee!

No Egg Cake

A recipe without using egg, milk and butter and still turned out soft and fluffy, not to say easy to whip up too.  The recipe said just mixed everything in the baking pan, but I would advice to mix it in a bowl first before pouring in to bake in the pan.  As, the cake stuck to the pan even though I had greased it before hand.  Other than that, this is an awesome cake to try and very easy to make and delicious to eat.  It is not a sweet cake so don't bother to cut down on the sugar.  I reduced the sugar to 3/4 cup and ended out have to glaze the cake because it was not sweet enough.  Hahaha...we all gain from my experiment.  *smile*

If I am out of eggs and still want to eat cake, this will be my to go recipe for sure.  My girls loved this cake as well and I bet they would request me to make this often along with the fudgy brownie that they liked so much.

Pumpkin Chia Seeds Bar Cake

Modified this from the Best Pumpkin Cake recipe I posted few years ago.  Now, I added ground flaxseed and chia seeds for a healthier approach.  I should try it with whole wheat flour next, but I am not sure of the outcome and afraid to give it a try.  I was experimented it with a 9x13" pan instead of the bundt pan because that took a long time to bake.  Luckily this turned out well and it only took 35 minutes to bake.  I freeze half for later and the other half I just store it in an air-tight container and place it at room-temperature on the kitchen countertop.  My girls had this as breakfast and for their afternoon snack.  

Nothing better to bake some pumpkin treats at this pumpkin season.  It's also a great time to stock up on canned pumpkin when it goes on sale, so that we can enjoy it throughout the whole year, not just at the end of the months.  *wink*

Homemade Strawberries Jam without Pectin

Hey, it's Spring, with the abundance of cheap strawberries on sale, what are you going to do with it?  You can make strawberry jam that last through the summer!  I used to spend a ton on organic jam but not anymore!  I have learned to make my own jam by following the simple rule of 1 lb.of fruit to 1 lb. of sugar (almost 2 cups).   However, I do cut down on the sugar depending on the sweetness of the fruit, not a whole lot but some since we need the sugar to preserve the jam.  If you click under my label on Jam/Preserve, I have since made kaya (Malaysian coconut jam), clementine marmalade, orange marmalade, pear jam, blueberry jam, blackberry jam and raspberry jam.  Now adding to the collection is strawberry jam!  I should stick to 2 lb. of strawberries next time, since it was my first attempt, I have no clue how much it will yield.

3 lb. of fresh strawberries yield almost 7 jars of strawberry jams for me.  Sweet and oh so yummy!

Toast Pizza

I saw this Pizza using bread in someone blog before, but couldn't really remember where (Maybe Tigerfish?).  I have also seen pizza using tortilla and pita bread.  It just so many lazy and easy variation out there these days, and some even made dessert pizza.  I made this for my girls' school lunchbox.  I wanted to give them a different variety of lunch boxes instead of the same old thing.  So, I toast it and make it looks like mini pizza instead of making it into a sandwich.  

This was made in a different day without the spinach and cooked chicken breast.  All packed in their lunch box.  They preferred it this way instead of wrapping it in foil.  I would add a cutie into their lunch box too.

2 Ingredients Pancake!

When I first read about this 2 eggs and 1 banana pancake, it was shared on a health website on my Facebook page.  They called it Paleo pancake.  I was like okay it was interesting.  And then I saw it again on a Chinese cooking page on my Facebook and I got really interested then because I like simple and easy recipe, furthermore I have frozen banana in my freezer calling me to use it.  So, this time I thaw one banana in the refrigerator and set up to give this recipe a try because I was quite skeptical.  In my mind, I was like would it really work?

I wish I can trace it back to the original creator and give him/her the well reserved credit, but it's just too much work.  So, I just want to say that this idea was not created by me.

Almond Milk Pancakes

My girls wanted some pancakes but when I looked through my old keepsake pancake recipes, it called for milk.  Since I don't buy milk anymore, I had to use my alternative almond milk and had to experiment with it.   I told them they had to eat all the pancakes even though it didn't turn out soft and fluffy since this was an experiment.  They agreed and so I gave it a try.  Luckily, the pancake turned out just as delicious and it was also soft and fluffy!!  My girls really enjoyed the almond milk pancakes.