Little Egg Tarts

I miss the egg tarts in my hometown. The crumbly pastry with the smooth yet creamy egg custard is just right to my taste. They said the "siew bao" is nice but I find their egg tarts is a winner. Anyway, I can't have it here so I've to make it myself. It's hardly get the same texture as the one I ate unless the owner of the shop give me the recipe which is definitely impossible. Well.... I refer back to the recipe of shortcrust pastry that I normally used and combine one of the egg fillings recipe from the website. I make it into small sizes by using a super small muffin pan that I bought from car boot sale. The shortcrust pastry was just nice but the texture of the egg fillings is not what I want. It's a bit firm and more like jelly type. I'm looking for the smooth, gooey and creamy one. One of the chef said, adding some evaporated milk would be nicer, may be I shall try it another time. If you've got any good recipe please let me know. I hunger for it!!

Anyway, my friend loves it so much and ask me to teach her to make this tarts. I purposely bake the pastry in light color rather than golden brown but the heating system of my oven makes some of it in light yellow color and some turn into dark brown color. That's very annoying! However, it mini size is a cutey. For ladies, you'll need two bites whereas it's just a mouthful for man!

Recipes from HHB

I like her blog very much because every time she gives very detail descriptions and all the recipes on her blog I've tried is unforgettable. I was inspired by her scones recipe recently. I like scones crazily, it's my all time favorites snacks. I've tried many scones recipe, all of them are yummy! I find the goodness of this recipe is quite low in fat.

Normally those scone recipes I've baked contain lots of butter whereas this is not. That's why I like to give it a try. Yes, it's not very buttery flavour on it. I added some raisin and chopped walnut to give it some sweetness and crunchy texture. It's good to eat!

I freezes some doughs so that's I can have fresh scones at anytime :P

The other recipe I've tried recently from HHB recipe is the banana bread. The goodness of the recipe are low in fat, low sugar and contain fifty percent of wholemeal flour.

The texture is like cakes and bread. As it contains little sugar, I eat it with some jam. When you think that it's healthy than those banana cake, it's nice to eat! Guilty free! All thanks to HHB recipes!

Baked Pasta

I would normally keep a big jar of homemade pizza sauce or you call it pasta sauce in the freezer because it's just so convenient using it for a meal, either to make lasagna, pizza or pasta. After those tired home trip, I was quite lazy to cook, luckily I found a jar of the pizza sauce from the freezer that I made it few weeks ago. I simply pan fry some carrot and mushroom with the pizza sauce then season with a tablespoon of soy sauce, some black pepper and salt. Also didn't forget the creamy texture, I added some cream and milk to thicken it then pour it into two serving plates. Other than topped it with some cheese (I don't have enough cheese on hand, too bad!), I like to give it an extra flavour and moisture texture. I mix an egg, some cream, anchovy puree and parmesan cheese then pour on top of the cheese. Bake at 180C until the cheese melted and the white sauce is bubbling. Simply the best!

Mango Cho. Mousse Cake

Rushing back home to get these done for a birthday boy as promised. Things that always done in a rush would never be perfect especially from my hand. I didn't made it nicely and it's definitely not looking good which you could see the edges didn't nicely ummold, so I cover around the edges with a piece of transparent cakes wrapping paper. I was quite disappointed at first, however the taste make me feel better. The mango and chocolate mousse give a special taste which had balance up the sweetness. It's somehow quite refreshing! Anyway, I hope the boy will like it. I make it in a 16cm round mould and two of 5cm chef rings, so the two leave it for me and my other half :P

P/S: If you like the recipe please let me know and give me some time to post it up here ok. Cheers!

Recipe extracted from 不用模型做点心

Recipe for the chocolate sponge (35cm x 35cm): 5 whole large eggs / 125g sugar / 1g salt / 100g plain flour / 2g baking soda / 15ml oil / 50ml milk /20g cocoa powder

1. Mix the oil, milk and cocoa powder until a smooth thick paste.
2. Whip the eggs and gradually add in sugar. Whip until very light pale yellow color.
3. Fold in shifted plain flour and baking soda. Do this gently.
4. Fold in cocoa paste (1) until well combine. Pour into a baking pan lined with baking paper. Bake at 200'C preheated oven for 15 minutes.
5. Remove the cake together with the baking paper onto a wire rack to cool down.

Recipe for the chocolate mousse: 20g egg yolks / 30g sugar / 80ml melted butter / 150g dark chocolate (melted) / 250ml whipped cream

1. Whisk the egg yolk and sugar on a double boiler until pale in color and thicken. Mix in the melted butter.
2. Add the melted dark chocolate to the egg yolk mixture, mix until well combine.
3. Fold in the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture.

Recipe for the mango mousse: 200ml mango puree / 70g sugar / 20ml lemon juice / 3 pieces gelatines / 300ml whipped cream

1. Put the gelatines into a bowl of cold water. Wait until it soften.
2. In another sauce pan, warm the mango puree and sugar until the sugar dissolved.
3. Drain the gelatines and add into the warm mango puree.
4. Wait until the mango puree slightly cool down, fold in the whipped cream.

To assemble the cake:

1. Cut out two pieces of chocolate sponge. Place one at the bottom of a cake mould or chef ring then fill in the chocolate mousse.
2. Add another layer of chocolate sponge on top of the mousse then add the mango mousse.
3. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours before unmold the cake.

Banana Chiffon

Bake this chiffon for many times but have no time to post it here. Although I find the recipe is good but I believe many of you know how to make it as it's quite a famous flavour of chiffon. I added some chopped bananas into the mixture to give it some extra texture so that I don't feel boring when just biting a plain banana chiffon but with some little chunky bananas. Another thing that I like is to eat it cool from the fridge as I feel it's much refreshing, super soft and fluffy. If you like to have the recipe. Please let me know I'll try to post it. Cheers!

Recipe for 21cm round chiffon pan:

For the egg whites mixture: 180g egg whites / 110g caster sugar / 10g corn flour/ 140g chopped banana (in snall chunk)

For the egg yolks mixture: 70g egg yolks / 30g water / 70g vegetable oil or olive oil / 90g mashed banana / 70g plain flour

How I made it:

1. Mix all the egg yolks mixture except flour. When everything well combined then add in sifted flour (I used electric mixer, its came very handy for this process). Mix everything well combine and no lumps left. The mixture would be very thick and smooth. Gently mix in the chunky banana.
2. Beat the egg whites in a clean large bowl until peak foam. Gradually add in sugar, one tablespoon at a time. Then finally add in corn flour. Make sure the corn flour mix well in the egg mixture (Using an electric mixer would be great!). The egg whites mixture should be peak foam, smooth and shiny.
3. Gently fold in 1/3 of the egg whites mixture into the egg yolks mixture. When everything well combine then gently fold in the 1/2 of the remaining egg whites mixture. Lastly, fold in the remaining egg whites mixture. (Note: This stage took some times and patient and practice. Make sure all the egg whites mixture well combine with the egg yolks mixture without breaking the egg whites. Little egg whites left will cause a big hole in the cake during baking. And, over mixing will cause it hardly rise during the baking.)
4. Pour the well mix mixture into a 21cm chiffon cake tin and bake at a 160-170'C preheated oven for 40 - 50 minutes. After baked, let the baked cake turn upside down for cooling before unmold it.
5. Unmold the cake, keep the cake in the fridge it could last for 5 - 6 days. Best serve in 3 days.

Warm Chocolate Tart

~These are perfect for entertaining - chill the uncooked tarts until you're almost ready to serve, then quickly cook them. The only rule with these is to eat them straight from the oven while the centres are still gooey.~ (BBC Good Food Magazine)

The good thing is you can make this in advance, just tuck it into the oven from frozen and enjoy your dinner before the oven "ding". Hassle Free!

Serve the warm chocolate tart with some homemade oreo ice cream. Yummy!

Recipe for 4 x 10cm tart pans

For Shortcrust pastry: 220g plain flour 110g unsalted butter 20g sugar powder

pinch of salt 2 egg yolk + 2 tbsp cold water

For chocolate fillings: 200g dark chocolate, broken into pieces 2 tbsp double cream 1 tbsp brandy (optional) 2 large eggs, plus 1 yolk 50g caster sugar 85g almonds, chopped

1. Mix the eggs yolks with 2 tbsp cold water stir with a fork until well combine. Place the flour into the bowl of a food processor, followed by the cold butter and the salt.
2. Turn the processor on and pulse several times until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.Add the egg yolk/water mixture and pulse again. Be careful not to overwork the pastry. Stop pulsing when the mixture has the consistency of chunky breadcrumbs.
3. Turn the pastry out onto a clean, floured work surface and, with floured hands, bring together to make a dough, but don't knead. Shape into a flattened ball, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for about 30 minutes. You can keep the pastry at this stage for 2-3 days if not using it immediately.Remove the pastry from the fridge. On a clean, floured work surface, roll it out with a floured rolling pin until it's slightly larger than the flan ring. Using the rolling pin, lift the pastry and lay it over the flan ring.
4. With your fingers, lightly press the pastry into the sides of the ring. Run a rolling pin over the top of the ring and pull away the excess pastry at the edges. Using your fingers, gently press the pastry up to slightly build up the height of the pastry at the edges.
5. Line the tart with a piece of parchment and chill it for 20 minutes so it doesn't shrink when you cook it.
6. Heat the oven to 200'C. Add baking beans or rice and bake it for 15 minutes, then lift out the parchment and beans and cook for a further 5 minutes or until the pastry is dry and a good brown colour.
7. While the pastry is cooking, melt the chocolate, cream and alcohol, if using, in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water.
8. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolk and sugar until light and frothy. Briefly whisk the melted chocolate into the eggs and fold through most of the chopped nuts.
9. Divide the chocolate mixture between the cases and scatter with the remaining nuts. Uncooked tarts can now be frozen. Bake for 12 minutes or 20 minutes from frozen. The tops of the tarts will souffle up and they should still be soft in the middle. Serve with some berries, cream or ice cream. Enjoy!