Zairul and the Blog

Spice Cake ( Kek Berempah )

Ingredients:

• 250 g sifted all-purpose flour
• 2 g baking powder
• 1 g salt
• 250 g white sugar
• 200 g unsalted butter - chilled, cut into tablespoon-size pieces
• 3 g grated lime zest
• 3 g ground nutmeg
• 1 g ground cinnamon
• 1 g ground allspice
• 3 eggs
• 1 teasppon honey
• 120 ml evaporated milk ( kalau tak ada susu sejat,susu biasa pon boleh)
• 50g nuts ( eg: cashew,walnut,almond)
• 30g raisins
• *OPTIONAL* 20g dried fruits ( eg: cherry )

How to make:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.
2. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the lime zest, honey, nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice.
3. Add the dry ingredients alternately with the milk, stirring after each addition. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
4. Bake for 75 to 90 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Halfway through cooking, bring out the cake and sprinkle crushed nuts,raisins and dried fruits. Then continue to bake until cooked.
5. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a rack to cool completely.

Again,found the recipe at AllRecipes.com from a recipe called the Grenadian Spice Cake. Though I did make some changes. The original recipe called for susu biasa but I used susu sejat instead. I also added walnuts and raisins sbb tak nak kek nya rasa plain sgt

Rasa kek ni macam kek buah sikit2 tapi sedikit lain sbb letak hirisan kulit limau purut in the acuan. Very nice and sesuai untuk minum2 petang

Homemade Brownies. Rich, chocolaty and VERYYYYY FATTENING!! >

INGREDIENTS:

How to make:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour an 8 inch square pan.
2. In a large saucepan, melt butter. Remove from heat, and stir in sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat in cocoa, flour, salt, and baking powder. Spread batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Do not overcook.
4. To Make Frosting: Combine butter, 3 cocoa, vanilla, sugar. Frost brownies while they are still warm.

Got the recipe from AllRecipes.com under the name of Best Brownies. There is also another recipe called Deep Dish Brownies. I’ve tried both and I might say yang Deep Dish Brownies tu is more rich and browny-like

Biscuits (Biskut)

Ingredients:

How to make:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Cut in the shortening until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Gradually stir in milk until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl. Agak2 masa masukkan susu. Make sure adunan tak terlalu lembik or terlalu kering. You can adjust the amount of milk ikut kesesuaian adunan ( can be less than 200ml )
3. Turn out onto a floured surface, and knead 15 to 20 times. Pat or roll dough out to 1 inch thick. Cut biscuits with a large cutter or juice glass dipped in flour. Repeat until all dough is used. Brush off the excess flour, and place biscuits onto an ungreased baking sheet. I prefer buat mcm jemput2/cucur and just uli pakai tangan. Much easier!
4. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges begin to brown

..yup..I had these with my roasted chicken for lunch today.Teramat la simple and senang untuk dibuat. Asalkan ada tepung,margarine(utk ganti shortening,incase tade),susu and baking powder, then you’re all set! Takes up less than 20minutes utk siap. Osusume desu!

courtesy of:J.P.’s Big Daddy Biscuits of AllRecipes.com

Strawberry Shortcake

Ingredients:

How to make:
1. Slice the strawberries and toss them with 1/2 cup of white sugar. Set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Grease and flour one 8 inch round cake pan.
3. In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, 2 tablespoons white sugar and the salt. With a pastry blender cut in the shortening until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
4. Add lemon juice into milk and let it set for a while. Then,make a well in the center and add the beaten egg and milk. Stir until just combined.
4. Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool partially in pan on wire rack.
5. Slice partially cooled cake in half, making two layers. Place half of the strawberries on one layer and top with the other layer. Top with remaining strawberries and cover with the whipped cream.

A perfect dessert that can be done in such a short time. Sweet in the mouth & pleasant to the eyes as well

courtesy of:Strawberry Shortcake of AllRecipes.com

Fruity Tart( Tat Buah-buahan )

Ingredients:
The crust:

The cream cheese custard:

Fruits:

How to make:
The crust:
1. Place the butter and sugar in mixer bowl. Beat until light and fluffy.
2. Gradually add the beaten egg, beating just until incorporated. Jangan kacau telur and butter tadi terlalu lama,kalau tak nanti butter akan start terasing and warna jagi makin cerah.
3. Add flour mixture all at once and mix just until it forms a ball. Cara menggaul: Rapatkan adunan ke dinding mangkuk dgn menggunakan spatula and ulang sampai adunan jadi rata. Jangan gaul lama sgt or bila bakar nanti akan jadi keras. Adunan will be a bit melekit.
4. Faltten the dough on a flat surface, wrap in plastic wrap and sejukkan for 15-20mins.

The cream cheese custard:
1. Mix the sugar and egg yolks together. Jangan biarkan terdedah terlalu lama or you’ll get pieces of egg forming.
2. Sift the flour and cornstarch together and then add to the egg mixture, mixing until you get a smooth paste. Set aside.
3. In a saucepan combine the milk vanilla essence on medium heat until boiling. Add in cream cheese ( this is optional. Kalau tak ada pun takpe)
4. Bila dah berbuih,remove from heat and add slowly to egg mixture. Kacau selalu sambil menuang susu panas tadi utk elakkan dari berketul.
5.Place back in saucepan and cook over medium heat until boiling, whisking constantly. Bila dah mendidih,kacau lagi for another 30 - 60 seconds until it becomes very thick and creamy.
6. Pour into a clean bowl and immediately cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a crust from forming. Sejukkan dan boleh disimpan dalam fridge up to 3 days.

The arrangements:
1. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the sweet pastry to the desired size. Roll to a round about 1/8-inch (3 mm) thick size that fits a 8 or 9-inch (20 - 23 cm) tart pan. Untuk memastikan size kulit tart,ambil talam pie/tart and terbalikkan ke atas dough td and potong about 1 inci lebih dari bentuk talam.
2. Roll onto tart pan, menggunakan rolling pin. Remember utk sapukan sedikit tepung dalam talam utk elakkan kulit tart dr melekat. Jangan tarik atau paksa kulit tat tadi bila meletakkannya kedalam talam. This is untuk mengelakkan drpd ia mengecut bila dibakar.
3. Using your fingers,ratakan bahagian dalam talam mengikut lekuk2 nya. Then, rollkan rolling pin di atas talam untuk buang kulit tart yg berlebihan.
4. Ratakan cream custard yg telah disejukkan ke dalam kulit tart tadi.
5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. And then bake for 20-25minutes sehingga kulit tart keperangan.
6. Biarkan tart yg telah dibakar td menyejuk and kemudian susunkan buahan2 seperti peaches,kiwi,strawberries yang telah dipotong mengikut selera masing2.
7. You can also add whipped cream on top. Sejukkan before dihidang.

The original recipe was a bit different, and I altered it a bit. Instead of letak filling cream custard td siap2, you can always bake the crust first.
AND MAKE SURE letak parchment paper and pemberat pie ( it some kind of stones bentuk mcm coklat chips yg digunakan utk diletakkan dlm kulit pie masa membakar ) Kalau tak kulit tart tadi akan mengecut dan tak rata.
That’s why I like to put my filling in and then bakar( sbb tak ada pemberat pie :p)

Very yummy.Selamat mencuba!

reference:Joy Of Baking