Rainbow cuppies

It has been raining a lot around here, every single day. So wet, so gloomy. Hence I made some rainbow cupcakes - cause you know what they say: rainbows apologise for angry skies.

I remember how my teacher used mnemonics to help us remember the colors of the rainbow: Ronnie Of Yishun Gathers Bricks In Vases. Every first letter is the first letter of each hue: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet. Okay, I never got the colour "indigo". What is it really? I always thought it was some weird shade of brown. Really. Until I realised that it was some kinda purple. Violet is also some kinda purple. Right? *shrugs*

Little cupcakes for people who made me see sunshine after a rain. (: and one for mom.

I hope I capture a Leprechaun.

Some day.

Caramel brownies

At some point in time, we would all need some perking up or some kinda short respite. For some, relief from an exhausting work day would mean to head home to the comfort of the sofa and the tv; Oddly for some people, doing the household chores and keeping the home spotless bring them much satisfaction and unimaginable joy (ya really unimaginable to me...) Perk-ups can come pretty random, from a planned dose of adrenaline from coffee to finding an expected piece of chocolate. Or a piece of cake. Or a brownie.

Or two.

These are my fudgy caramel infused brownies. If you look closely you can probably see the loving goodness oozing out.

Packaged as a gift.

Saved a couple for my mom and a dear friend.

Hope you enjoy eating it as much as I did making it. (:

Cheesecake brownie

For mommy's birthday this year, we decided to stay in and have dinner at home. We had steamboat for dinner and despite the fact that the cooking was carried out as we eat, there was a lot of preparation work to be done prior to dinner time. This meant that I didn't get any kitchen space until 1-2 hours before everyone returned home - I had just enough time to whip up a brownie cheesecake. Chocolate and cheese, 2 of mom's favorite flavors.

A simple brownie recipe was used to make the base, topped with cream cheese and some swirling with a knife for marbling effect. As an afterthought, some chocolate chips in the brownie would be nice to further enhance the fudginess.

And so it was a pleasant night with home-prepared dinner, after-meal soccer-watching, a birthday song and some cheesecake. Simple and warm.

Mini cheesecakes

I love these liners - pretty plaids in bright cheerful colors. The plaid designs are on the inside, apt for these mini cheesecakes that will not rise or be filled up to the brim of the liners.

These are made with the classic cheesecake recipe, scaled down in baking proportions to fill only 2/3 of a liner. 

So I made about 9 of these minis. Philadelphia cheesecakes, lighter in texture yet richer in flavor than NY style cheesecakes.

Boxed up as a gift. Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Geburtstag.

Assorted big mooncakes

I'm late with this post. It's the last day of September, and I want to upload these final batch of moonies before the new month. (: Here are they: pandan, passion fruit, red date and cranberry.

MAF this year was pretty good, got to spend more time in the kitchen, more time with mom and dad, more time with friends, more time with myself. It's a month of a couple of new beginnings - new friendships, new skills, new opportunities, and finally, renewed chances.

I wished I had more time that night of MAF though. Got home pretty late, but mom and dad waited to have tea and mooncakes together. We had those my sister and jiefu got for us - they weren't around in person, but nevertheless, a heartfelt-presence. <3

Dad hung lanterns (yes those with the candles burning in them) in the balcony - a very pretty and heart-warming sight. But one got burnt! A pretty red one. This wasn't much of a horror 'cause I was too busy with the mooncakes I didn't notice something caught fire in the balcony. On the average we burn one every year. We should buy more.

As much as I would love to, I didn't carry lanterns or burn candles or sparkles this year. But I had two light sticks and a nice walk around a park. THERE WERE KIDS WHO WANTED MY LIGHT STICK - NO!! MINE. :D Yes perhaps next year, next year there shall be some real fire.

As my memory rest

But never forgets what I lost

Wake me up when September ends

Summer has come and passed

The innocent can never last

Wake me up when September ends.

Mini mooncakes assortment

Made these for the people at work. (: Interaction day it was called. There was a mix of pandan, pomelo, passionfruit, cranberry and red date moonies.

Key to making snowskin: not to over knead the dough. The more you work it, the springier it gets. So to avoid getting a rubbery snowskin, mix it minimally.

Mixed different colored doughs together to see how that'll turn out. The color spread wasn't too even, but hey, beauty in imperfection yup. (: Let's just say it was intentional haha.

Mid autumn festival is really just around the corner now, exactly one week from today. As a child, I played with sparklers during maf, finding joy in the short-lived starbursts that spluttered into nothingless in less than a minute. I was awed by the beauty of the lights, never disheartened by its anti-climatic end.

There was a year I made my own lantern. I think it was a wire framed into the shape of a bird, covered with cellophane. I burnt a hole in that one. Imagine the horror of watching your handmade toy melting away. T.T I've always preferred these lanterns with the burning candle in the middle to those noisy battery operated ones. What's maf without real lit candles!? But after that lantern burning incident I was always a little paranoid when I carried my paper lanterns; I'd peep into it once in a while to check if the candle was still firmly in place and standing straight. I remember how I'd carry my pink paper lantern on a wooden stick and walk around the estate with my sister, cousins or friends. Those were the days.

I wonder when I'd get to chance to do that again. It'd be nice.

Perhaps there'll be more moonies to come. (: And oh yes, thanks to mom for helping me in the washing up. <3

Orange passion fruit snowskin mooncakes

圆满。

It's granny's birthday. And in place of birthday cakes, I made mooncakes. There is still about 3 weeks to mooncake festival, but nobody said it's too early to have any now. (: I got excited shopping for the ingredients to make these little squares, and so I decided to make them the very next day upon gathering all the things I needed.

Mooncakes are regarded as a traditional delicacy eaten during the Mid Autumn Festical that falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month. Making and sharing mooncakes is one of the hallmark traditions of this festival and symbolise completeness and unity. However in this day and age, hardly anyone makes mooncakes at home anymoe. This has given way to the more popular custom of purchasing mooncakes for family members as a way of signifying family reunion.

Mooncakes are typically round or rectangular shaped, with a rich thick filling usually made from lotus seed or red bean paste. Some may contain yolks from salted duck eggs.

I personally don't fancy lotus seed paste, and so when I came across this passion fruit paste at a bakery store (I get to taste it too before I bought it!) I immediately got it. It's sweet with a hint of tanginess and goes well with snowskin mooncakes. Refreshing, as some of my trusty tasters said, and prolly would be nice as an appetiser before a meal. On a side note, passion fruit lowers risk of high blood pressure. Hmm.

I made a Pooh bear mooncake just because I thought it was cute.

I've always looked forward to mooncake festival every year: to carrying paper lanterns and strolling in parks, to moon-watching, to eating mooncakes in small wedges accompanied by chinese tea, to being with the family and loves ones. This year, perhaps, we'll have some of these I made. (:

Cream cheese pie

It's unbearably warm here now and I'm ashamed to say I dread turning on the oven in the kitchen because of the heat. However, sweet desserts aren't all baked, how about some chilled ones for a change?

Cheesecake is a baked dessert, a dense one with cream cheese, eggs and sugar. This cream cheese pie, however, is a chilled dessert made without the eggs and sugar but replaced with condensed milk. Squeezed in some fresh lemon juice to add some tartness. Smooth, sweet and creamy, and pairs well with a graham crust. I baked the crust for a while though, despite trying to avoid the oven heat...

The only thing about this recipe was that I had to chill it for really long. Even after a day it was still difficult to make a clean cut. Next time I'll go easy on the condensed milk and prolly throw it in the freezer, maybe then it'll be firm enough to cut.

Regardless, my mom and I enjoyed it. I made a teeny small one so we finished it in one setting. The addition of condensed milk to the cream cheese gives the impression that this pie is gonna be overly sweet, but really it isn't (ok, coming from someone with a sweet tooth you wouldn't think it's a good gauge).

Top a slice of the pie with fresh fruits or some strawberry sauce (my slice was too tiny for any fruit topping)...

Or some chocolate bits (drizzle with chocolate or caramel if you like)...

I like mine plain. Old boring me. *gobbles*

Strawberry sweetheart chocolate cupcakes

Und dieses Mal schwöre ich, dass ich ok bin. Ich bin fertig. Es ist nicht mehr dasselbe ohne dich, aber es bedeutet nicht, dass es nicht besser sein wird.

Ich habe endlich meinen neuen Ofen ausprobiert. Ich habe etwas Schokolade-cupcakes gebacken und ich habe sie mit rosa Erdbeere Zuckerguss verziert.

Ich wusste nie, dass ich wieder so fühlen kann. Es gibt eine unausgesprochene Genugtuung, eine unbeschreibliche Freude. Es ist erstaunlich, wie etwas so klein einem Zufriedenheit geben kann.

Ich möchte glauben, dass ich stark bin, aber ich weiß, ich bin nicht stark genug für die Wahrheit.
Ich möchte an dass Gute glauben, aber ich weiß jetzt, dass es alles verdorben ist.
Ich möchte in der Einfachheit zu glauben, aber es kommt mit Komplexität.

Manchmal will ich einfach alles hinwerfen und führen für dich.