Butter Cake

As the old saying goes, "Variety is the spice of life." I don't know if this is normal, but I don't really like to bake the same things over and over again. I mean I know of people who have an amazing signature dish, but that's all that they ever cook, most of the time. I like to experiment with different combinations and create new dishes every time I bake. But that's not possible when the people around you, like my family, are pretty resistant to change. 

I love change. I embrace it wholeheartedly. But to my sisters? Change is like a gross dish served to them at dinner that they're forced to eat. Honest. They like to dine at the same places, eat the same types of food, and have me bake the same types of cakes, brownies, blondies etc. 

Of course, there are downsides to having too much or too little change. Baking a new dish every time means I don't learn to improve on past dishes that show promise, baking the same dish leads to boredom(at least for me). And while I was so tempted to tweak the recipe and add different flavours or spices to the cake, I held back. Some things are meant to stay the same. 

Butter Cake, adapted from MrsNgSK as seen on Wendyinkk

Ingredients:

230g unsalted butter 

200g eggs (4 grade eggs), separated
40g + 120g sugar
200g all purpose flour, sifted
60ml milk
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped 

Method:
1. Preheat oven at 170C. Grease an 8 inch square pan. 
2. Separate the eggs, and place the whites into a medium sized bowl. Beat egg whites until soft peaks, gradually add 40gm sugar and beat until stiff. Set aside.
3. Cream butter and 120gm sugar until pale and fluffy. Put in vanilla seeds and and beat for a while. Put in egg yolks one by one and beat well after each addition.
4. Put in half the flour and mix on low speed until incorporated. Put in milk in 2 additions and mix until well incorporated. Mix in remaining flour.5. Put half the egg whites in and mix on low speed. Fold in the balance of egg whites.6. Pour batter into pan and level.7. Bake for 45 minutes or until skewer comes out clean. 

Bagels

As a child, I worshipped at the shrine of the Golden Arches. Yes, I'll admit, I loved eating McDonalds. (Don't give me that look. I'm long over those days already.) Don't ask me what was my favourite thing on their menu because I loved practically every single thing on their menu. From their burgers, to french fries, to breakfasts. I can still remember spending my Saturday mornings there, drowning my hotcakes in their "maple syrup" or chomping into their quarter pounder burgers. (I can't help but cringe as I look at my younger self.) Occasionally, they served specialty items like Nasi Lemak and for a period, spaghetti. And for breakfast, they once served bagels with cream cheese and jam. I was so hooked onto it. I couldn't resist the warm, bagel served with a generous helping of tangy, creamy cream cheese and sweet jam. When it was taken off the menu, I recall being pretty upset about it. My experience with bagels at Macs with my first and for the longest time after that, I hadn't gotten the chance to have bagels again.

After all these years, I guess I do get a chance of reunion at bagels. And this time, I know that it's not going to be filled with any sort of additives chemicals.

Basic Bagels, adapted from 17&Baking

Ingredients:

2 1/4 tsp dry yeast(1 envelope)
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 1/4 cup warm water
3 1/2 cups unbleached flour(I used white whole wheat flour), plus extra for kneading
1 1/2 tsp salt

Method:
1. Sprinkle the yeast and sugar into 1/2 cup of the water in a small bowl. Leave for 5 minutes and then stir to dissolve. 

2. In a large bowl, mix the flour and salt together. Form a well in the center and pour in the dissolved yeast.

3. Pour half of the remaining water into the well. Mix in the flour and stir in the reserved water as needed, forming a firm and moist dough.
4. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Gradually work in as much additional flour as possible while comfortably kneading to form a stiff and firm dough.
5. Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, turning the dough to coat it. Cover with a towel and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size. Punch down and let the dough rest 10 minutes.
6. Divide the dough into 8 pieces. Shape each piece into a ball – cup between your hands and press the bottoms together between your palms. Press down to get rid of air bubbles and roll the dough between your palm and the work surface to form a smooth ball. Coat a finger in flour and press it through each ball to form a ring.
7. Work the rest of your fingers into the hole, stretching the ring and widening the hole to about 1/3 of the bagel’s diameter. Place the bagels on a lightly oiled baking sheet and cover with a damp towel. Let rest for 10 minutes and preheat the oven to 220C/425F.
8. Bring a large pan of water to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Use a perforated skimmer to lowel the bagels into the water in batches of 2-3. Boil, uncovered, until they rise to the surface, about 1 minute. Turn them over once. Then remove from the pan, letting the water drain, and transfer to a lightly oiled baking sheet. Bake 20 minutes, until golden, and cool on a wire rack.

Creamy Avocado Pasta with Garlic Prawns

I've been spending the bulk of my past few days at home. And well, while a "break" from school sounds nice, when you have absolutely nothing, no activity or any sorts to spend your time on, this amount of time you have on your hands gets on your nerves. After all, time is a precious commodity. This is going to sound morbid, but no one knows how much time we have on this earth. How many more days we wake up to, how more breaths before it's our last, how many more precious moments we will get to spend with our friends. Which is why I always make it a point not to waste my time doing nothing. I'd rather be reading a book, talking to friends or even typing out this blog post than staring blankly into space. This is so that, when I do take my last breath, whenever that is, I want to know that my time was well spent.

Creamy Avocado Pasta recipe, adapted from Kevin & Amanda
Ingredients:
100g spaghetti
1 avocado, pitted and peeled
1 lemon, juiced, divided into 2
3 garlic cloves, 2 whole 1 minced
10 prawns
1/4 cup scallions, chopped
lemon zest
salt and pepper to taste
some vegetable oil for sauteing

Method:
1. In a small saucepan, bring several cups of lightly salted water to a boil and add in spaghetti. Cook until al dente.
2. Meanwhile, make the avocado sauce. In a food processor, combine avocado, 1 portion of lemon juice and 2 garlic cloves, salt and pepper. Set aside.
3. Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add garlic and lemon juice. Add prawns and cook until the turn pink.
4. Turn off the heat. Add scallions and stir to combine. Then, add pasta and avocado sauce. Mix it well.
5. Garnish with lemon zest and season as needed. Serve.

Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Pests. They exist everywhere. Most of them live, breathe, twitch and crawl about to scrounge for food. As for others, they don't scounge. Like the ones that live in my house, happen to be 2 years younger than me. So how then, do they feed themselves? They ask, or well, you could say demand.
"Jie, bake double chocolate chip cookies PLEASE!!!!!" one cries.
"No....Jie, I want blondies! Please!!! I'm dying without blondies!" the other protests.

A few days ago, I satisfied the cry for blondies and today, I'll shush the one asking for cookies with cookies.

Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies, recipe adapted from iloveicookibake
Ingredients:

150g butter

100g sugar

30g brown sugar

1 egg

220g plain flour

50g potato starch(you can sub with cornflour)

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

150g chocolate chips

30g cocoa powder

Method:

1. Sieve flour, potato starch, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda together, set aside.
2. Cream butter with sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add in egg and vanilla essence. Mix well.
4. Fold in the sieved flour til it forms dough and mix in the chocolate chips.
5. Roll out the dough into walnut sized balls. 
6. Bake in preheat oven at 180C for 20 minutes.