I want to make this..... Beancurd Pudding with Deco Shiratama (Tang Yuan)

冬至 is still far... far... away.  In fact, it just happened 2 months ago.  hehe.. I saw this recipe and I really wanna try it as a dessert.  Anytime can eat tang yuan anyway right? :)

Usually, I don't usually like to eat Tang Yuan.  Maybe once a year for custom sake.  But if I have a choice I don't usually have it.  In fact, I don't really have a sweet tooth for any desserts.  But why do I get fat... haiz.. that's ironic.  hahahaa... ok, that's beside the point.

I decided I want to make this because I kinda like beancurd.  I prefer beancurd to soy milk.  And when I saw the cuties below, I know I want to try it out.  Both pictures are extracted from Little Miss Bento



Soy Pudding with Panda Deco Shiratama

 

Kiioritori Tang Yuan (Deco Shiratama)

And there's another recipe here from Ellena Guan's blog.  She uses low fat pudding using plain yogurt to replace the usual cream or egg found in most pudding recipes.  YIppieeee!  Isn't that great to enjoy great desserts without the usual calories?

PANDAN YOGURT PUDDING

 

And of course, below is what I wanted to try most with the cuties tang yuan floating on top.  I can already almost imagining it!!! I can make angry birds!!  Thought of it makes me so excited.. And Ellena says in her blog that "the recipe below is quite close to the popular "Lao Ban (老伴豆花)" beancurd pudding which has branches located at Old Airport Road and Maxwell Market." wooohooo!  How cooooool...!! Yes yes..!

 

Soy Milk Beancurd Pudding

Okay, now .... what I need are the ingredients to execute it... :))

Ingredients for Beancurd Pudding:
500ml Vitasoy/Soy Bean Milk
2 Teaspoons of Gelatine Powder
15g of Creamer (Optional)
(Serves: 2 | Preparation: 5 minutes | Chilling Time: 3 - 4 Hours)

Method:-

1. Heat up Vitasoy/Soy bean milk in a saucepan over low heat(do not let it boil).
2. Put gelatine powder in a small bowl, ladle about 50ml of the warm soy milk in it and stir till gelatine powder melt and well mixed.
3. Next pour the gelatine mixture into the remaining warm soy milk, stir stir in creamer if using and let it simmer for another 30 seconds(careful not to let it boil).

4. Off the heat. Let mixture cool off slightly before sieving it into prepared containers to cool completely.

5. Chilled mixture for at least 3 - 4 hours in the fridge before serving.

Ingredients to make Deco Shiratama (Tang Yuan)
40g of Japanese glutinous rice flour
42~48g of silken tofu
food coloring

Method

1. Mix 42g of tofu to the flour, use your hands to knead.

 

2. The dough should come together to form a smooth ball that does not stick to your hands. The texture is like your ear lobe feels like (sorry for this vivid description :P) If it is dry and show cracks, add a little tofu at a time until the texture is right.

 

3. Separate the flour into different balls and mix food colourings as desired.

Bento attempt .... Angry Birds and Pancakes..

 

The week before CNY, I fried some bee hoon with canned pig trotters.  It was a speciality that my mom cooked and I was inspired to cook too.  It tasted alright but of cos my mom's one was much better.

 

Anyway, Louis has "picky" eyes.  If he doesn't like the food at the sight of it, he wouldn't even want to try it. Haiz... forcing him just doesn't work and he will "inspect" the food before it goes into his mouth.  He wouldn't eat anything with vegetables, corn and carrots.  He doesn't even eat duck previously as Ducks are supposed to be his bathmates and not food.  OMG.  hahaha..  He loves noodles though.  So any type of strip looking stuffs, we will tell him it's noodles - including bee hoon.  As I was cooking the fried bee hoon, I was also thinking what I can make it into.  Recently, he's just craze about the Angry Birds' Yellow bird.  So, since the colour is closest to the yellow bird.  I shaped it into a triangle and made some brows and expressions for it using seaweed.   It really doesn't look really alike, I must say cos I was free cutting the seaweed and trying to serve the hungry people out there asap....

 

Well.... but as long as Louis likes it.... who cares! hahah..



Yesterday, I decided to try making pancakes again.  This round I use a pre-mix pancake mixture and made 2 angry birds and a rilakkuma pancakes.  :P 

As for the methods, I put the mixture into a squeeze bottle.  In the frying pan, I squeeze out the brows, the eyes, noses, ears and the face first. Let it cook for a while before pouring the batter to fill up the spaces.   This way, the eyes/noses/ears are actually a darker shade from the rest of the face.

 

 

Below is not my picture - Just found it from the internet as an illustration.



Pineapple Tarts ... (again) ... Rilakkuma theme

This is my last batch of Pineapple tarts. After inspired by Bento Days, I couldn't help but created my own version of Rilakkuma Pineapple tarts.  hahaha.. they are really sooooooooooo adorable!  For my version, I used chocolate icing for the eyes and nose.

 

Rilakkuma Pineapple Tarts..

I specially sent 2 boxes to a small kid and a big kid.  haha... The small kid posed below with the tarts but the big kid is too shy.





Delivery in cupcake boxes..
with a Huat ah Sticker
to make it look a little more CNY feel.. hehe
 



Happy Tate

 

 

Happy Tate

Hope you like the Rilakkuma Pineapple Tarts too!!

Happy Lunar New Year!!

This year is a year of horse! Hopefully everyone will have a galloping good year and good health! Keep galloping!

I made a pair of horse for my good friend and her hubby, Christina and Edmund who was borned in the year of horse!  Check out the funny looking horses.

It started with the horse for Christina.  Looking so cute and blur. That's my 1st horse sculpture and I gave the 1st to her...! hahaha... but unfortunately.. the 1st sculpture normally is not the best looking one.  It's the thought that counts ya?  :P

My 1st horse sculpture - for Christina

Added another horse for Edmund.  A couple horse. hehe..

Then, another friend Susan saw the horses and ordered 6 for herself and friends/family. I'm flattered.  and I really thank her for supporting Woofy Creations all these while.  Here are the 6 horses I created for her.  They were made into keychains, therefore the sizes are actually much smaller than the ones for Christina and Edmund.

The cuties sitting on my hands..

 

They do look like they needs lots of love ya? :P

6只小马祝大家:
六六大顺, 心想事成,
身体健康, 财源滚滚来!
Huat ah! !

Weekends: Pancakes .... Bento..

Looks like my Woofy Creations is suddenly turning into a food blog. hmmm.... :P

Last weekend, I have the mood to make ourselves breakfast.  I was inspired by my friend, Christina who made very nice looking pancakes.  And her hubby made a jumbo breakfast adding hotdogs and eggs! Yum Yum... So, I decided to make for us too. hahaha.. and I also bought a Piggy pan from Daiso - but it failed. hmmmmmmmmm... and there were 2 hungry monsters outside waiting for their breakfast.. so I didn't explore further.

I didn't get the pancakes premix.  Instead, I made the batter from scratch... zzzzzzzzzz... mainly also because I was unsure whether I want to make pancakes or not. Then on Sunday, it was a split seconds decision. (this is just so me.................................. I believe, that's why I prefer to work on my own.. cos it's easier to make decisions.. I think.)

Anyway, this is my breakfast.... and the boys enjoyed it.  It wasn't filling enough to be honest.  I fried another 2 eggs after that for Louis and myself, which no chance to take picture before we gobbled it down.  hahahaha!

We went out lunch at Changi Airport after sending my parents for a wedding lunch.  Had Popeye Chicken..? or something like that.  Hmm.. it didn't really fantastic.  Should have just stick to food court.. hot and yummy food..

Then... dinner... was too tired to cook anything.  We tabao from zichar.  I was dying to try out a bento for louis and here it is.... my 1st bento.. :D ... it just look so cute and appetising after decorating.  Louis finished everything! hmm.........

Will try out vegetable garden.. hehehe.. hopefully will lure him eating vegetables.. :P

Pineapple Tarts (Buttery Melt-in-your-mouth version)

This year, I decided to make my own pineapple tarts after getting hooked on cooking/baking!!  My sister in law also mentioned before that she prefers the opened-version rather than the closed version.  And because it looks more beautiful.. I decided to source for the open-version type.  I made some "horse-shaped" version after my "piggy" version just for fun for Louis.  It's a hit!!

There are few receipes that I sourced for.  The 1st recipe I tried wasn't really fantastic.  The crust is too dry and not much buttery taste - actually it's quite blend. hmmm.. FAILED. Maybe it's me.....

Then I proceed on sourcing again.. Angela Chia's blog. Looks good and delicious.. and there's many comments about it.  But I checked if it's good for open-version pastry, she said it's no good as it'll be too soft.  ok... so I KIV-ed this recipe.

Then! I found the perfect recipe for our family! I tried it and everyone loves it! It's from the The Little Teochew blog.  The pastry is buttery, flaky, melt in your mouth (not in your fingers!).  Yummy yummy!  I don't usually eat Pineapple tarts mainly because I found it too sweet.  This version I find it quite good.  Have a try! If you would like to... :)

Pineapple Paste
I bought pre-packed ones at $5 at Phoon Huat.  Save the trouble of making it myself.

Recipe for Pastry
- 400g plain flour*
- 50g corn flour
- 280g soften salted butter (Original recipe: cold, unsalted butter) - Sister in law mentioned some savory taste with sweet paste will blend well - so I tried and it works!
- 3 egg yolks, beaten
- 6 tbsp icing sugar**
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract (I used vanilla essence)
- For glaze, mix 1 egg yolk + 1 tbsp water

NOTE:
I omitted these when making my pastry:
- 1/4 (heaped) tsp salt (because I used salted butter)
- 3 tbsp cold/ice water

* The original recipe called for 450g plain flour. I changed it to 400g plain flour + 50g corn flour to make the dough more "melty".** The recipe called for 4 tsp castor sugar. I used 6 tbsp icing sugar in its stead. I read somewhere that icing sugar helps soft pastry dough keep their shape during baking.

Method
1) Using 1 tsp (7-8g) of the paste, roll it into a ball. Repeat until paste is used up. Chill in fridge until ready to use.

2) Sift flour, Corn flour into a big bowl and set aside.

3) Using an electric mixer, whisk butter and sugar until pale. Add in egg yolk and essence and mix until well combined.

4) Fold in (2) into (3) and mix to form a dough. Let the dough rest and chill in fridge for 20 minutes.

5) Roll out to desired thickness. Cut out dough using cutter. Arrange neatly onto baking tray, with at least 1.5cm apart. Since this is a very buttery, oily pastry, it would be good to use a small portion at a time. Keep the rest covered in the fridge, otherwise it will ooze oil. ***

5. Once you have arranged the tart shells on your tray, glaze them (the entire surface, not just the rims).

6. Place the pre-rolled pineapple jam balls onto the centre of each tart shell.

7. Bake at 160°C for 20 minutes

DONE :)

** Actually I modify quite a number of things and combined Angela and Little Teo Chew's method. Mainly because I felt that rub-in method is very tiring. wahahah!! I'm lazy.............. so I change to whisking method.. :P

*** This recipe is very buttery.  If you let it stay out for a longer period, it will turn soft and it's not easy to work on.  If you left in the fridge as 1 big round dough and don't use it immediately, it will turn hard and not easy to roll out and by the time it's soft enough, it will be too soft... :/ .... hmmm.. So I found my own method.  Before chilling the dough, I'll roll out the dough in cling wrap several pieces into the height you want your tarts to be, then seal the dough with the cling wrap.  Repeat until your dough is used up.  I take out each piece of dough to work on - this way, the remaining dough won't turn soft.  If the piece of dough is too hard by the time you work on it, roll it out again and it will turn manageable - At least it is not one whole chunk!

Roll out dougbefore chilling.. 

I find it works well.  Perhaps you want to try it. :) 

Chinese New Year coming!!

I think i just love creating things. No matter what. I love the process of creating. But I dread cleaning up! haha!

Recently I’m hooked with baking and cooking!  Not sure if it’s gonna be a good thing.  Electricity bills might shoot up.  I haven’t checked with Gary.  Oops.  I tried to do some clay creations in between.  And I have an order to fulfilled – Horses Keychains!.. but to creation some edible sounds more interesting to Gary.  Oh.. well.. I’m afraid to feed him fat and round... And me too! hahahaha! Ops! 


1st dinner I cooked for 2014!

I was quite on last weekend.. I cooked and baked! :P  This is my 2nd attempt to bake pineapple tarts (1st batch was a failure!  Wasn't sweet, but I thought it's quite good for Louis.. hee)  This is my 1st successful pineapple tarts!!  Not bad eh? :D


1st Batch of Pineapple Tarts!

We had a sumptous lunch last Sunday.  "Surf & Turf"... hehehe... And I baked... and I was so exhausted that I couldn't cook the chicken rice dinner which I planned ahead.  Haahaha!! Too ambitious!

 

Our Surf & Turf Lunch on Sunday

This is Louis' lunch with Chicken
minus the veg and tomato of course.  That's only for deco purpose.. :/

Yesterday the atmosphere wasn’t very good in the evening as Gary had a bad day.  I didn’t bake.. and also the boxes of pineapple tarts are still sitting on the kitchen table. And I fell right asleep lying there with Louis.   And zzz till morning... yeah.. shiok..

Anyway, I have been baking pineapple tarts, cupcakes and I have been buying props for photographing my cooking/baking creations. I tried to incorporate “clay play” to baking! Hahaha! And I’m having fun ~ though honestly speaking – it’s exhausting having to stand through the session. I made some piggies pineapples!!  





2nd Batch + adding a bit of fun!
Piggies!!



Next on line... I’m trying to create horse pineapples for the year of Horse!!! Wishing me success! Hahaha!