Root Beer Brownie

Been seeing post in pinterest about this root beer brownie..there are soo many recipes on this but i decide to stick to stick to my usual brownie recipe and I went to goggle more information on how to make adjustments to my ingredients. Apparently, I used 1 1/2 cup of oil, for this recipe, I only use 1 cup of oil and 1/2 cup of root beer. The rest of the ingredients remain the same.. ( you can find the recipe in my older post) . Root beer makes my brownie fluffy and light....Turns out a success ..yahoo!

Butter Cookies

 Ingredients

125 g butter

½ cup sugar

3 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 ½ cup self raising flour

½ cup custard powder

 

 Method

Beat butter and sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

Add milk and vanilla essence, beat well

 

Fold in the sifted flour and custard powder until well combines.

Place some of the mixture into a biscuit press with desired nozzle

Form biscuits by pressing onto greased baking trays

Bake for 12-15 mins @ 200 oc or until golden brown.

Cool tray for 2 -3 mins .

You can decorations to the desired cookies eg cherries, coloured rainbows, chocolate chips or even nuts.

This is a basic biscuit dough which anyone can do up different variations ..like coffee, coconut, cinnamon or even chocolate .

Try to experiment with different flavours that you like.

Happy Baking!!!

Chocolate M&M Chip Cookies

Ingredients

185g Butter

½ brown sugar 

½ cup caster sugar

1 egg

13/4 self-raising flour (sifted)

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 cup chocolate chip

1 cup peacan or any other nuts

Method

·         Beat butter, sugar, egg and vanilla essence in a small bowl with an electric mixer until soft and creamy

·         Stir in the sifted flour, nuts and chocolate chip

·         Drop tablespoonfuls onto greased baking trays, allow room for spreading

·         Bake 180oc for 10-12 mins

·         Transfer to a wire rack. Cool completely, Store in an air tight container

Additional

You can drizzle chocolate over the biscuits.

Chocolate Glazing or Icing

Cocoa Powder

Butter, melted

Powdered sugar

Warm Water

Vanilla essence

Directions

Melt your butter

Add all ingredients

Stir until well mixed and smooth

Add more water if you want it thinner

If using as icing and you think it’s too thick just let it sit for a few mintues

For this recipe, I did not follow the exact recipe from the book, I omit the caster sugar and just added in the brown sugar and for the additional taste and colour, I’ve added a tablespoon of cocoa powder (therefore you need to mins 1 tablespoon of self-raising flour) to the ingredients. 

Iced Cupcakes

Ingredients

115 g butter

120g superfine sugar ( i used 50g)

2 eggs, beaten

120 g of self raising flour      

½ tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

For Frosting

170g icing sugar

2 tbsp of lemon juice

1 tsp of hot water

Few drops of food colouring

 Method

 ·         Preheat oven to 180c

·         Put the butter and sugar in a large bowl and use electric whisk, beat together until light and fluffy

·         Add eggs gradually, beating well after each addition.

·         Sift in the flour and baking powder and gently fold into the mixture. Stir in the vanilla extract

·         Spoon the mixture equally into the paper cups

·         Bake in the oven for 12-15 mins until springy to touch.

·         Transfer to a wire rack  and leave to cool.

 Frosting
 

 ·        Sift the icing sugar into a large bowl and gradually stir in the lemon juice and water until smooth.

·         Put half the frosting in another bowl and add in the food coloring (exceptional unless u want to create different colour frosting).

·         Spoon a little frosting on each cupcake and smooth the surface with a palette knife. Decorate with what you like ..

Sifting Flour

Sifting is the process of sending flour through tiny grates, whether using a flour sifter or a sieve. Often times flour that has been sitting in a container or bag will lump over time.  The sifting process aerates the flour, making it much finer, softer and able to absorb liquids more evenly. The softer flour creates lighter, evenly cooked pastries, cakes and pancakes.

Quick and Simple Donuts recipe

Ingredients

• 500g plain flour
• 250ml milk
• 75g sugar
• 75g butter
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• Vegetable oil to fry

Directions

1.    Sieve the flour and baking powder together into a large bowl.

2.    Add the butter and rub it into the flour with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs, then stir in the sugar.

3.    Beat the egg into the milk, then make a well in the flour mixture and pour the milk mixture into it.

4.    Mix together to form a soft dough, then put into the fridge until ready to use.

5.    Roll the dough out to 1cm thick before cutting into the shapes of your choice.

6.    Fry the donuts in 180C oil for around 30 seconds, then turn them over and cook for another 30 seconds. Remove from the fryer and drain on kitchen towel to remove excess oil.

7.    You can add any toppings you like,,,,,,,,

Non Bake Oreo Cheese Pie

Filling

250g block PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
¼ cup caster sugar (depends on the sweetness u want)
1/4 teaspoon (x2) gelatine dissolved in small amount of boiling water (need to be dissolved)

Whipped Cream

Oreo cookies

Decorations

Fresh berries

Peaches
Chocolate curls  or any other options u desire

Method

For the biscuit crumb base, I got the ready made pie crust from cold storage .

BEAT the PHILLY and sugar with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the gelatine mix until smooth, then fold through the whipped cream. Once done you pour in the oreo crumbs.

Pour the mixture over the prepared base. Chill for 2 hours or until set. Decorate with with whatever you desire . I prefer to use slice peaches and top it with a oreo biscuit  

Pie Crust

This non-bake cookie pie crust recipe can be made with any type of crunchy cookies/biscuits eg. oreos, graham crackers, shortbread, gingersnaps, chocolate chip cookies etc.

14 graham cracker (crackers) equal one cup of crumbs. To make graham cracker crumbs, place crackers in a closed plastic bag and use a rolling pin to crush them.

Combine the biscuit crumbs together with the butter then press into the base. Chill until firm. 

This pie crust is easy to make. Once you have tried it, you will probably never forget how it is being done.

 (comes in a standard of 6 pies) you can purchase them in cold storage outlets

 

Tiramisu

Instead of the usual size of a Tiramisu that you see at the cake shop or some coffee outlet. I decided to make my own version of mini cup tiramisu..

Instead of adding the usual rum to my coffee brewed, I added baileys instead.

This mini size is easy to consume within minutes... Basically, kids and friends just love it

As you know there are many ways of doing the Tiramisu  Here is my favorite one. This recipe is easy to made...You don't even need to bake a sponge cake which can be a hazzle   All you need is ladyfingers.

Ingredients

3 egg yolks

50 g white sugar

10 ml vanilla extract

250 g mascarpone cheese

24 ladyfingers

355 ml brewed coffee  (You can add Rum, Baileys or Kahlúa)

5 g unsweetened cocoa powder

Directions

In a medium bowl, beat yolks with sugar and vanilla until smooth and light yellow. Fold mascarpone into yolk mixture. Set aside.
Dip ladyfingers briefly in coffee and arrange 12 of them in the bottom of an 8x8 inch dish. Spread half the mascarpone mixture over the ladyfingers. Repeat with remaining cookies and mascarpone. Cover and chill 1 hour. Sprinkle with cocoa just before serving.

Facts About Tiramisu

Tirami su’ is a dialectal expression from the Veneto region meaning “pick me up,” in the sense of re-energize, regain strength, or wake-up. The meaning becomes apparent when you analyze what goes into this dessert. The main ingredients of Tiramisu are Mascarpone cheese, Zabaglione cream, Espresso coffee, Savoiardi cookies (also known as Ladyfingers), and a topping of chocolate.

Mascarpone has very old origins. It appears to have already been produced in the 13th century in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, where it took its name from mascherpa, the local term for a sort of ricotta cheese. Mascarpone is more than a cheese: it’s a concentrate of milk cream with a fat content up to 75%, with a smooth, creamy, and sweet texture

Mascarpone  was considered a winter product for its caloric content and also because it is very delicate and didn’t keep for long in the hot temperatures before the advent of the refrigerator. There are many American makers of this cheese, but none of the American versions have the same delicate taste, smoothness, and refinement of a freshly made Italian one. Still, even if American Mascarpone is not the best, do not even think about substituting it with cream cheese: the result would be disastrous.

Zabaglione cream is a classic Italian dessert originally from Venice. The famous Italian gastronome Giuseppe Maffioli wrote that the name of this cream originates from zabaja, a sweet dessert popular in the Illiria region, a coastal area across the Adriatic Sea that was Venetian territory for a long time during the golden age of the “Repubblica Serenissima” (The Most Serene Republic) of Venice. Zabaglione was prepared in those times with yolks, honey, and sweet Cyprus wine. Today, sugar and Marsala wine, giving it a distinctive flavor, are used instead. It is a simple and easy recipe, even though many food writers have described it as a complicated and laborious thing. The original Tiramisu’ recipe from the Restaurant Le Beccherie doesn’t include the use of wine.

Espresso coffee is obtained by forcing pressurized water through coffee powder. It is made from a blend of roasted grains of different origin, often ground on the spot to maximize the flavor. Espresso is naturally much stronger that regular American coffee. It is a true shot of caffeine.

Savoiardi: These delicate cookies, also known as Ladyfingers, were originated at the court of the Savoia Dukes around the 1500s in the northern Italian region of Piemonte, near the French border. They were supposedly created for a lavish reception organized in honor of a visit by the French king. Later, thanks to their extraordinary success at this memorable banquet, these cookies were offically “adopted” by the Royal House of Piemonte. They were renamed “Savoiardi” after the Savoia dynasty, and they became the most appreciated dessert of the house. Savoiardi are very light because they are prepared with a dough rich with whipped egg white. Very popular for the preparation of layer cakes, they are also served as a complement to custards, ice cream, or fruit salad. 

A summary of the dessert: a very rich cheese, the eggs yolks, sugar, and sweet wine in the zabaglione, the caffeine of the espresso coffee, and the chocolate make this cake an ultra-nutritious combination, guaranteed to “pick you up.”

Facts about Tiramisu was taken from http://www.annamariavolpi.com/tiramisu.html 

Happy Baking Peeps!