july-aug: kerri’s chocolate pot de creme

I love parties where there is a lot of food. Not just quantity, but variety. Like at a buffet. Yes, I am greedy and want my tummy to be satisfied. But I don’t like to go home rolling out the door because the serving sizes were too big and I wanted to try it all. So when I think of party food, I think of small bites, finger food, variety in little mouthfuls so guests can try it all.

And, as has been for the past year or so, I needed a quick and easy recipe for this challenge. Which, in hindsight, is just what you want when doing multiple dishes for a party. Yay, we all win!

I’m a big fan of Williams Sonoma’s Tasting Table. So when the video came up for this recipe, I knew straight away it was what I wanted to make. I ran out of my favourite Callebaut chocolate to bake with, and have not found where I can buy it here in Singapore yet. So I’m trying out different brands here that I can find. This particular one is only 55% cocoa, but the recipe wants a darker chocolate. I think it is fine, though I would probably prefer a darker one. This is more mainstream, middle of the road, not too bitter, not too sweet.

The recipe calls for a topping of ganache and cocoa nibs. But I ran out of ganache, and cocoa nibs are harder to find. So I did half with ganache and Lindt 70% dark chocolate curls, and half with crushed Oreos.

And here they are, my chocolate pots de creme.

And I found the cutest little pots in the kitchenware store here, complete with lids which makes transporting them or giving them as gifts super easy!

You can find the recipe here.

 

may-june: anna’s sour cherry crumb bar

This post is well overdue as June was taken up by my wedding and honeymoon (woot!) and May was a little crazy with all the preparations. I’m now back home trying to adjust to real life…. the good thing about it is that post-wedding, I can actually eat the sweets I bake (woot woot!)

What a treat to have fresh sour cherries to bake with! They arrived in a friend’s CSA box and were the inspiration for my bake sale dish. I’ve never baked or cooked with them before, and was really excited to use them.

I used the same base recipe as the blueberry crumb bar I made for the breakfast cereal theme back in 2013.  I made some adjustments, including replacing some of the flour with ground pecans (freshly roasted and ground pecans add the best flavor) and using orange zest and juice in place of lemon.

These bars are delicious and the sour cherries are really something special! I made them for a Fourth of July party but they would definitely be popular at a bake sale too!

Find the recipe here

may-june: kerri’s lemon olive oil cakes

So I’m a couple of days late. I actually baked these on June 30 but circumstances got in the way of posting them up. Sorry for the lateness!

I’ve wanted to bake these for so long, but the original recipe is for meyer lemon cakes and I really wanted to use meyer lemons when I first baked it. However, I’ve not lived in a country where meyer lemons are easily found, so this recipe has stayed in the ‘to do’ category…until now.

We travelled during May-June, and on returning I was overwhelmed with sleep deprivation from baby jet lag, baby travel tummy and studying for my drivers license conversion test which I was super nervous about because I can’t remember what I did yesterday let alone memorise a book full of road rules!

So as I went through an old cookbook, I was looking for something really quick, easy and that I could get done within one baby sleep cycle. I re-read this recipe and decided to use normal lemons (which are not as sweet as meyer lemons) instead, and see how they turned out.

The finished product is good. It’s very lemony (like you get in a good lemon tart, but in cake form), and my mum would LOVE it. If you love lemon, and find that most lemon cakes are too subtle, this is the recipe for you! Of course, to tone down the lemon, add ice cream or thick cream and it balances the flavour out just nicely.

Enjoy!

You can find the recipe here.

 

may-june: Constance’s S’mores Tray Smash

This little treat definitely brings back nostalgia to childhood favourites – minus the bbq, campfire smoke and skewers. No one really wants to get campfire going in this Hong Kong 100% humidity ridiculousness anyways. So what’s better than whipping up this 15 minute Americana in the comfort of your own air-conditioned kitchen? Perfect recipe for a bake sale tray smash.

This recipe requires four ingredients: Golden Grahams, marshmallows, vegetable oil (optional) and semi-sweet chocolate chips.

2 cups of Golden Grahams
2 cups of marshmallows
12 ounces of chocolate chips
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil (optional)

Instructions:

1. Line a 8×8 pan with parchment and spray with cooking spray
2. Using a pan, fill up with water and simmer, placing a metal bowl on top but making sure the water does not touch the bowl. Melt the chocolate until smooth. Add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil to the mixture to maintain the smoothness of the chocolate. If using baking chocolate, omit this step.
3. Mix in all the ingredients thoroughly
4. Pour mixture into the tray. Place parchment over the tray and press to compact the mixture.
5. Refrigerate for a few hours. When bringing back out, run a knife under hot water and cut into slice.
6. Serve!

May – June : Bake Sale

Bake sale! Who doesn’t’ love a good bake sale? This month we will be exploring our favourite bake sale treats, think cookies, tray bakes, cupcakes, brownies and bars!  Kitchen Wizardry!