Bittersweet Chocolate Pear Cake

I realise that I haven't baked with fruits as much as I have with chocolate or vanilla. And it's probably because the fruits are usually all eaten up before I can even bake with them, haha! Anyway, I baked this when I was facing an overload of pears in my house.

Bittersweet Chocolate Pear Cake, adapted from Pastry Affair
125g white whole wheat flour flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3 eggs
113g unsalted butter
150g sugar
4 pears, diced in small pieces(I used Chinese pears)
115g bittersweet chocolate pieces

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Butter and flour a 9 inch spring-form (or cake) pan.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder. Set aside.
4. In a large mixing bowl, whip the eggs until they are pale and very thick. With a hand-held mixer, this will take 8 to 10 minutes.
5. In the meantime, brown the butter over medium heat in a medium saucepan. As the butter cooks, it will foam up. Stir occasionally and scrape the solids off the bottom of the pan as they accumulate. Do not let it burn. When browned, remove the pan from the heat.
6. Add the sugar to the eggs and continuing whipping for a few more minutes. When the eggs start to lose their volume, turn the mixer onto low and add a third of the flour mixture. Then, add half of the butter, a third of the flour, second half of the butter, and the rest of the flour. Mix until the flour is just barely combined. Too much mixing will result in losing more volume.
7. Put the cake batter into the pan. On top of the cake, place the diced pears and bittersweet chocolate. When the cake bakes, the cake will rise up around the pears and chocolate, burying them deep within. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Gula Melaka Mango Sago Pudding

 Gula melaka sago is one of my favourite desserts. Every time I visit Malaysia, I never fail to encounter this dish. It is made up of a pearl sago pudding, flooded with rich, pandan-infused coconut milk and a caramel-like palm sugar syrup. What's not to love about it? Of course, due to health concerns, I rarely partake of this dish nowadays. But when I do, I thoroughly relish it.

  I added cubes of mango at the side to complement this dishand bring out a feel of the tropics. It is best served on a hot day, when you're just craving for a cold dessert.
  

Gula Melaka Sago with Mango Recipe, adapted from Jewel Pie
Ingredients:
100g pearl sago
100g gula melaka
125ml coconut milk
4 pandan leaves, tied in a knot
pinch of salt
1l water + 2tbsp water, divided
1 mango, cubed

Method:
1. Wash pearl sago and soak for at least 30 minutes.
2. In a large pot, bring 1l water to a boil over medium to medium high heat. Add in sago. Stir constantly to prevent it from clumping together. Boil until it is cooked, when it is translucent with a white dot in the middle, about 10-15 minutes. Turn off the heat. Leave it for about 5 minutes.
3. Pour the sago and water into a fine mesh sieve and run cold water over it to remove excess starch.
4. Once drained, separate the sago mixture into 4 ramekins(you may want to brush the ramekins with vegetable oil to ease the unmoulding stage). Leave it to cool, then refrigerate it until set.
5. Combine coconut milk, pandan leaves and salt in a small saucepan. Bring it to a gentle boil over low heat. Remove from heat once it bubbles. Discard the leaves. Set the coconut milk aside to cool.
6. Using the same pan, combine water and gula melaka. Over low heat, stir until it dissolves. Be careful it doesn't burn. Once dissolved, set a side to cool.
7. Unmould the sago puddings. Pour the coconut milk and palm sugar mixture over it and serve with mango at the side.

Rice Krispy Treats

For the past two years, I made gingerbread cookies with royal icing as Christmas gifts. It was a complete nightmare having to bake the cookies, let them cool, make the royal icing and outline the cookies, wait for them to dry, then flood the cookies, followed by another period of waiting, then the eventual wrapping.
This year, haunted by past Christmas baking episodes, I turned to rice krispy treats. They only require one pot, 5 ingredients and little waiting! So here's an easy alternative for a Christmas gift. I'd have to warn you though, this will get you less "ooh"s and "ahh"s compared to red velvet cupcakes, gingerbread cookies and what not.

Rice Krispy Treats recipe, adapted from The Vegan Mom
Ingredients:
1-1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
7 cups puffed rice, or more as needed

Method:
1. In a large pot, heat together light corn syrup and sugar over medium heat until it begins to bubble. Stir constantly to avoid burning the pot.
2. Add in butter and continue heating until melted. Remove from heat.
3. Add vanilla extract. Stir.
4. Add in the puffed rice and stir until the puffed rice grains are well coated with the syrup mixture.
5. Scoop the rice crispy treats into little paper liners with a spoon.
6. Leave it in the fridge to set.