Polo Bun 菠萝包 (2)

I made this polo bun quite often but there is a difficulty in handling the pastry as the butter melt very fast and cause it sticking on my hand while I'm trying to gather the dough with the pastry. Recently, I found another solution which would be much easier to handle. The original recipe asked to beat the butter until pale and fluffy then gradually add in sugar powder, salt and milk powder and beaten egg till everything combine. With this method you would get a wet pastry paste which you may need to store in the fridge for some time to harden before use (but it'll melt very fast in this hot weather, so it's not easy to handle).

For the new method, cut the cold butter into 1cm pieces (store them in the fridge if there start melting). With the same method as shortcrust pastry, process the flour, sugar powder, cold butter in a food processor till the butter mix thoroughly with the flour like the fine breadcrumbs. Add 1 tablespoon of beaten egg then pulse several times until its become a chunky breadcrumbs but not a dough (don't over process). 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. Divide the pastry into pieces and it's ready to use. I found that the texture is much better and most wonderful thing is, it's easily to put together the dough with the pastry.

Biscotti

Biscotti is my daily snack, I have it in my kitchen at all time for my craving teeth. I know many of you know how to made it but it's just a sharing as I didn't bake and blog much recently. This is a recipe from James Martin. I've been using his recipe for many years as my snack or gift for friends. I find homemade biscotti is always richer because we could add any nuts as we like and the quantity of nuts added will not stingy at all. The nuts I like the most is Almond, Hazelnut and Pistachio. Other than nuts, I find that adding some lemon zest into the mixture taste really good. I used food processor to make the mixture, it's really a simple snack to make and nice to crave! Recipe of James Martin (Desserts): 250g plain flour 125g caster sugar 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 3 medium eggs, lightly beaten 1 lemon zest 75g shelled pistachio nuts 50g whole blanched almonds 50g shelled hazelnut

1. Toast the shelled nuts in the preheated oven at 100'C for about 15 minutes.
2. Mix the flour, sugar, lemon zest and baking powder in a large bowl (I mix the ingredients in a food processor). Add half the beaten eggs and mix well, then add half of what's left and mix again. Now add the last quarter a little bit at a time until the dough takes shape but isn't too wet (you may not need to use all of the eggs). Add the toasted nuts and mix well.
3. Divide the dough into six, roll into sausage shapes and place on the lined baking tray (wetting your hands before rolling these cut helps to prevent the dough sticking). Lightly flatten the doughs.
4. Bake for 20 - 30 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave for 10 minutes to cool and firm up.
5. Using a serrated knife, cut the biscotti on an angle into slice. Lay the slices on the baking trays. Return to the oven and cook for 8 minutes, then turn the slices over and cook for a further 10-15 minutes or until a pale golden colour. Cool on wire racks, then store in airtight jars.

Passion Fruit Chiffon

I bought five passion fruits week ago then left it at the room temperature to ripe. The passion fruits filling could fill up 250ml of glass. It's great!

I used them to make some chiffon cake. This is my first attempt on making chiffon cake by using the passion fruits, and it's really refreshing.

I made two of 17cm chiffon. One for myself and another for my friend who taking care of me very much during my sickness.

I made simple decoration with some passion fruits for topping. If you don't mind to eat the seeds, it's really refreshing dessert and smell so good!

Recipe:

Egg white mixture: 110g egg whites 55g sugar 5g corn flour

Egg yolk mixture: 40g egg yolks 36g vegetable oil 50g passion fruit 55g plain flour Decoration: 200ml whipping cream 20g sugar powder some passion fruit juice without seeds some left over passion fruit

Method:

1. Scoop out 50g of passion fruits and set aside.
2. For the chiffon cake, mix all the egg yolks mixture except flour. When everything well combined then add in sifted flour. Mix everything well combine and no lumps left. The mixture would be quite thick and smooth.
3. 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. The egg whites mixture should be peak foam, smooth and shiny.
4. 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.)
5. Pour the well mix mixture into a 17cm chiffon cake tin and bake at a 160'C preheated oven for 40 minutes. After baked, let the baked cake turn upside down for cooling before unmold it. .
6. Whip the cream with sugar powder until thicken, then mix in some passion fruit juice without the seeds.
7. Cream the chiffon cake then deco with some leftover passion fruits on top of the cake. Keep the cake in the fridge it could last for 4 days. Best serve in 3 days.