Fondant Cuppies Creation Continued.....

As promised in the earlier post, here is the remaining creations of fondant cupcakes. This cupcakes are easier to make as compared to the animals figurines. I can't be making 60 plus animals figurines rite? I'll be dead tired after making them.. So to ease my 'burden', the second and third batch fondant cupcakes were flower themed. They still look lovely to me... Do you share the same opinion as I do? Kindly have a look at them and give your verdict..

Second batch - flower themed

Third batch - flower themed as well

Some of the close up shots for the flowery ones......

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My First Fondant Cuppies Creation

Horsey cupcake

'Moo moo' Cow cupcake

'Baa baa' Sheepy cupcake

Snails couple cupcakes - maybe they quarrel; which makes them look different directions

' Oink oink' Piggy cupcake

' Buzz buzz' Bee cupcake

Caterpillar cupcake

Tootsie tortoise cupcake

Animals parading....

Still marching...

Are they heading for a 'riot' or something else????

OOOO.. There's more here.....

So how many are they?

Sheep seems to be the leader?

Now I can see a clearer picture....

Here we go..... Are you prepared??

They came to greet Daddy and Mummy - Happy House Warming Party! That's why the HOME word came into the picture... :)

I have been super duper busy the whole week night time in order to prepare for this lovely cupcakes to bring back home. My first attempt on making fondant on my own was a failure. Thus, the following night I tried another recipe of rolled fondant and thank GOD they turned out fine except that I had been using more icing sugar than what the original recipe to get the consistency of fondant which it's not stick and soft. After making the fondant where it was recommended to let them 'rest' overnight, the following night was my figurines making project where I had googled and search for ideas of the types of cute animals that I can make out of the fondant.

The experience of making the figurines is similar to the experience of kids playing with their 'Play Doh'. Very fun and enjoyable but it's very time consuming. After trying my hands on this making this cute little guys, I really understand why all those cute cupcakes sold outside were priced premiums. Indeed a lot of concentration and time were needed to make them. So guys, hope you'll like my first time animals fondant figurines. Hope to make more of them in the future. :)

*Next post will still be on my fondant cupcakes where they were more flowery themed.

Ingredients

1 tbsp plus 2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup cold water
1/2 cup glucose
2 tbsp shortening

1 tbsp glycerin
8 cups sifted icing sugar
Icing color and flavoring, as desired

Methods

1. Combine gelatin and cold water; let stand until thick.
2. Place gelatin mixture in top of double boiler and heat until dissolved.
3. Add glucose, mix well. Stir in shortening and just before completely melted, remove from heat.
4. Add glycerin, flavoring and color. Cool until lukewarm.
5. Next, place 4 cups confectioner’s sugar in a bowl and make a well.
6. Pour the lukewarm gelatin mixture into the well and stir with a wooden spoon, mixing in sugar and adding more, a little at a time, until stickiness disappears.
7. Knead in remaining sugar. Knead until the fondant is smooth, pliable and does not stick to your hands.
8. If fondant is too soft, add more sugar; if too stiff, add water (a drop at a time).
9. Use fondant immediately or store in airtight container in a cool, dry place. Do not refrigerate or freeze. When ready to use, knead again until soft.

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Vanilla Raisin Cupcakes

I had made this cupcakes to prepare for my fondant cupcake project for the upcoming parents' house warming party. The cupcakes were moist and filled with raisins flavour covered with the orange juice. A very nice and simple recipe and it's very good to just have it on it's own even without any decorations.

*Read more on my fondant cupcake creations in my coming post. Stay tuned!

Ingredients

1 cup dark raisins

1/3 cup orange juice

2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar (used slightly lesser)

3 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup milk

Methods

1. Set oven to 160 Celsius.
2. Line cupcakes liner in the tray.
3. In a saucepan, bring raisins and orange juice just to a simmer over medium heat; remove from heat.
4. In a small bowl combine the flour with baking powder and cinnamon.
5. In another bowl beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
6. Add eggs and vanilla, beat well.
7. Alternately stir in flour mixture and milk into butter mixture beginning and ending with flour mixture.
8. Drain raisins and discard soaking liquid, then stir raisins into batter.
9. Spoon batter into cupcake liners to three-quarters full.
10. Bake cupcakes about 20 minutes or until lightly browned and tested with cake tester.
11. Cool then transfer to a rack.

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Coconut Candy

I had made this candies to bring back to my hometown in conjunction with parents' house warming party. This candies recipe came into my mind as one of the desserts for the party. I remember Mum used to make this when we were small. The taste was delicious and of coz sweet. It was supposed to be pressed hard to form a more dense structure but I didn't pressed them hard enough. The end result - it's formed with bits of grated coconut shreds sticking out. I am quite pleased with it's 'new' form since it gave more coconut 'feel'. Hehe...

Ingredients

350g grated coconut

480g sugar

170g evaporated milk

50g butter

1 tsp vanilla essence

a few drops of food colouring

Methods

1. Place all the ingredients except butter together into a heavy saucepan and stir continuously over heat until sugar dissolves.
2. Add in butter and continue stirring until mixture thickens.
3. Pour thickened mixture into a greased square tray and press till the surface is even.
4. Leave to set and cool.
5. When slightly cool, cut into squares.
6. When completely cooled to room temperature, store in airtight containers.

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Sweet Potato Ginger Tong Sui

I had a taste of this type of tong sui in our frequently visited porridge stalls - Sweet Potato Ginger Soup few days ago. Since ginger has the ability of the getting rid of wind as Chinese believes, it's actually good time to prepare this sweet soup as Hubby was having GI upset for the past few days and on top of the reason will be my sweet tooth was craving for this lovely spicy taste of ginger in this sweet potato tong sui. Nothing beats the spicy taste of hot tong sui warming up my tummy especially in this rainy season. Simply heavenly taste!

Ingredients

500g sweet potato, peeled and cubed

2 inch ginger, sliced

5 dried honey dates

handful dried longan

handful sago

rock sugar to taste

water

Methods

1. Bring enough water to boil in a small pot.
2. Toss in sweet potato, ginger, honey dates and longan.
3. Let it boil for approximately 1 hour on medium heat. Stir occasionally.
4. Add in sago and enough rock sugar (according to your preference). Continue to stir occasionally till all rock sugar dissolved.
5. Serve hot.

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Broccoli Salad

I was having broccoli salad as lunch few days back in a cafe and it was super duper tasty. Therefore, I decided to give it a try on making this salad back home after googling about the recipe for the salad. It was pretty simple. The original recipe didn't blanch the broccoli and it was served raw. The taste of raw vegetables definitely puts me off. Therefore, I decided to blanch the vegetables for a few minutes to 'tenderized' them. It was indeed a keeper salad recipe. Hubby loved them too. He ate most of the salad that I made for tonight after his regular badminton session with his friends. THUMBS UP from him on the salad.. :)

Ingredients

4 cups broccoli florets

1 orange, cubed
1 cup almond flakes

1 onion, diced
1/2 cup raisins

1/4 cup corns

1 carrot, cut into long strips

Dressing
1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/8 cup sugar

1 tbsp vinegar

Methods

1. Blanch broccoli, carrots and corns for a few minutes. Drain and set aside.
2. Pour in raisins, onions and almonds into the blanched vegetables.
3. Toss all ingredients together in a bowl.
4. Pour the mixed dressing into the bowl. Toss again.
5. Lastly put in oranges so that they don't break apart too much.
6. Place in the fridge for approximately 1 hour.
7. Serve chilled.
   

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Herbal Chicken Drumstick Noodles

Herbal Chicken Drumstick Noodles for our dinner. It's very simple to prepare. Place all the herbs and chicken drumstick into the slow cooker in the morning and set to 'Auto' mode . We had prepare ourselves the chicken herbal soup for the noodles for the night. All we need to do it's just blanch the noodles and vegetables before serving until cooked. Put the noodles into a bowl and pour the herbal soup into the bowl. Garnish with spring onions and ready to serve.

Ingredients

1 pre-pack herbs for soup

5 chicken drumsticks

spring onions, for garnishing

Methods

1. Put in herbs and chicken into slow cooker and leave it overnight (or in the morning).
2. Add in salt to taste. Stir to mix well.
3. Blanch noodles and vegetables just before serving until cooked. Put noodles into a bowl and pour herbal soup into bowl.
4. Garnish with spring onions. Ready to serve.

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Banana Muffins

Banana are a good source of fibre and they are easily available in Malaysia all year round. Thus we can actually make this type of muffins anytime we want. Not only do they taste great any place and any time, but the health benefits of bananas are of astounding. Bananas are a great source of instant energy whether you are watching your diet or just trying to eat healthy. Besides having them raw, they are widely used to make cakes, cupcakes, dessert and etc and of course in this post, I have used them to make muffins. Banana muffins make great healthy breakfast or snacks anytime you like. This recipe is a keeper because the texture of the muffins were soft and moist and of course full of the banana fragrance. You can actually put any types of nuts in the batter to get the 'crunchy' feeling when you're eating the muffins. I had used walnuts in my muffins. :)

Ingredients

4 large bananas
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped




Methods

1. Mash bananas.
2. Add sugar and slightly beaten egg.
3. Add the melted butter, vanilla essence and chopped walnuts.
4. Add the dry ingredients stir to mix.
5. Scoop the batter to the liners. Bake for 25 minutes at 180 Celsius.

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Choy Sum with Oyster Sauce

Ingredients

Choy Sum
3 tbsp garlic, fried
2 tbsp oyster sauce
dash of sesame oil

Methods

1. Remove stems from choy sum, then cut the bunch crossways into 3 pieces and wash thoroughly.
2. Fill a pot with water and bring to the boil.
3. Stir in vegetable oil, add choy sum and simmer until it is bright green and tender – about 1 minute.
4. Remove choy sum from water and place on a serving plate.
5. Drizzle with oyster sauce and sesame oil and fried garlic.

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Claypot Chicken Rice

Claypot chicken rice is a very popular dish in Malaysia. Malaysian normally will eat this dish as their lunch or even dinner. The rice were normally cooked in a claypot. Thus, it is called Claypot Chicken Rice. The rice were cooked in the claypot first and followed by arranging the ingredients like chicken pieces, halved mushrooms, sliced Chinese sausages and salted fish on top of the rice. All placed in one pot and cooked. Sliced spring onions were garnished on the cooked claypot rice and dark soy sauce and oil drizzled on top. Therefore, it can be rightfully categorized as 'One Pot Cooking'. If you don't have a claypot, this dish can be prepare using our rice cooker too. Of course we wouldn't be able to have the crispy burnt rice on the bottom if rice cooker is used. I always loved to scrape off the burnt rice every time having this comfort food coz it's the best part of the claypot rice.

Once the rice were cooked for approximately 15 mins, arranged the marinated chicken on top of the rice.

Secondly, arranged the sliced mushrooms.

Followed by Chinese sausages and fried salted fish.

After cooking for another 15 minutes to ensure the other ingredients to be cooked. Leave to stand for 10 minutes till rice is dry and fluffy. Drizzled the oil and dark soy sauce on top. Garnish with spring onions.

My delish comfort food ready to be serve.

Ingredients

2 cups rice, washed and drained
3 cups chicken stock (3 tsp chicken stock + 3 cups water)
500g chicken pieces

6 mushrooms, soaked, cut into half
1 Chinese sausage, sliced
2 cm thick salted fish, sliced thinly, fried till crispy (save the oil for the rice later)
1 tbsp black soya sauce
2 tbsp garlic oil

2 tbsp salted fish oil (used earlier for frying the salted fish)

1 stalk spring onion, sliced (garnishing)

Marinade

2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp cooking wine
1 tsp of ginger marinade

1 tbsp sesame oil
½ tsp pepper
½ tsp sugar
½ tbsp corn flour

Methods

1. Mix chicken, mushrooms with marinade and season for 30 minutes.
2. Put rice and chicken stock into a clay pot, cover and bring to boil lower fire and cook with low heat till holes are formed on top. (About 15 minutes)
3. Arrange marinated chickens and mushrooms, Chinese sausage and salted fish on top. Pour the remaining marinade on the rice.
4. Cover and cook with low heat till rice is dry and chicken pieces are cooked (another 15 minutes). Remove from fire.
5. Cover and leave to stand for 10 minutes till rice is dry and fluffy.
6. Drizzle with dark soy sauce, garlic and salted fish oil. Garnish with spring onions.
7. Mix well to combine all the ingredients with rice. Serve hot with vegetables.

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