Evy

Evy at 17 months. In a few days, she will be 1- 1/2 year old, yup...time sure flies on you. She can say 32 words already and what a fast learner she is. She understood a lot of things we said, so can't really say certain thing in front of her. As an example, her daddy said, "Don't give her the pensil, after she would poke it into her eye." And sure enough after hearing what her daddy said, she tried to poke it into her eye (she never know how to do that before). And she tried to do that again when her daddy said the same thing few days later. As you figure, I gave her pensil to express herself in writing and drawing, she knows how to write 1 and said it correctly at the same time. As for drawing, she can draw straight lines and circles already.

Will be MIA

Good news! We bought a new house which is currently being build and won't be ready until Jan next year. We just sold our current house and have to move out by end of this month. So, at the meantime, we will be staying in a rented old house until our house is ready. I'm very excited about my new house and can't wait to move in. :)

I have been spending the past few days packing my stuff. Oh lord...the stuff I have in the kitchen...one can faint. So not looking forward to packing but have to do it! Have to set aside certain items for Goodwill and giveaway too. I will move out of this house on the 28th so I probably won't have any Internet connection for these few days. And of course no cooking or baking or posting food pictures for some time until I'm settle down.

Chocolate Coffee Topping Mexican Bun

Made Mexican Bun with chocolate coffee topping the other day. I used coffee emulco & some instant coffee and found that I couldn't taste the coffee flavor. Perhaps the cocoa powder was over powering the flavor of coffee? Still need to experiment more with the topping. But here's the chocolate topping recipe.

Chocolate Flavor Topping

1/3 cup sifted cake flour

1/4 cup sifted icing sugar

1/2 stick of soften butter (or 1/4 cup)

1 egg

2 Tbp. Hersey cocoa powder

Steps:

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Whisk until all blended and put it into a piping bag and pipe spiral on top of each bun. Bake in 375'F for 8-10 mins.

For the buns:

Use any basic sweet bun recipe. The filling will be salted butter straight from the fridge. Cut into cube to use as filling, about 1/2 Tbp. for each bun.

Pandan Chiffon Cake

I made Pandan Chiffon Cake for Lily's grandson one month old party. I had tried several recipes that used different quantities of eggs and found this recipe is the best. It used 6 eggs and always produced very high chiffon cake unlike the others that I have tried. I have used this to make almond chiffon cake, orange chiffon cake and lemon chiffon cake before. 

The above is the picture of the Pandan paste that I used, usually selling for 99 cent at the Asian grocery store.  This is the brand and paste that I recommend to produce a fragrant cake, essence and powder form are not recommended. 

Lily's Grandson One Month Old Party

I got invited to Lily's grandson one month old celebration on Aug 27th. Her grandson is so cute and such a good baby. He won't mind being pass around and could even slept through all the noises. Yeah it was pretty loud on that day as Lily and Sandra invited a lot of friends and neighbors.

Look at what Lily cooked!! She cooked a lot and we all had a full tummy. I just love being around this family, makes me feel at home. And I just love homecook meal, so satisfying!

Lemon Biscotti Dipped in Chocolate

Made this for a friend's daughter. I used a basic biscotti recipe and added lemon zest, fresh lemon juice and lemon essence to make it a lemon biscotti and then dipped it in Baker's chocolate.

Ingredients

(A)
1 stick of butter or 1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. lemon essence
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Zest of 1 lemon

(B)
3 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 Tbp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

(C)
4 cubes Baker's chocolate, melted
~microwave for about 1 min 15 or 30 seconds or til melted.

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 375'F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a medium bowl, beat together (A) until well blended. Add in (B) and stir to form a dough. Divide dough in half and roll each roll into the length of the cookie sheet. Then move each roll to the cookie sheet and press down to 1/2 inch thickness.

3. Bake for 20-25 mins or til golden brown. Remove to cool on wire rack. When it's cool enough to handle, slice each one crosswise into 1/2 inch slices with a serrated knife. Place the slices cut side up back to the cookie sheet and bake each side for a further 6 mins. Remove to cool on wire rack while preparing the melted chocolate.

4. When cool, dip each biscotti into the melted chocolate and let rest on the wire rack. Put it in the refrigerator for 30 mins for the chocolate to harden. Store in an air-tight container.

Note:
This recipe is very versatile, you can play with it to come out with any combination or flavor biscotti that you like. Like add in nuts, raisin, chocolate chips, etc.

If you want the lemon flavor to be stronger, use zest of 2 lemons and 1 Tbp. of lemon essence. The dipped in chocolate step may be omitted.