If she can do it, so can you.

No-brainer cornflake crunch January 31, 2006

Seriously, this is really a no-brainer kinda recipe!

Why?

Cos even a 4-year-old kid can do this!!!

Haha.. thats why its perfect for a lazychef like me!

I first got this recipe from Gina, my friend from Uni, and after hearing her rave about how simple it is to create it, i decided to give it a try myself!

Indeed! I made one bottle worth of cookies in less than 1/2 hour! Cos there is no baking/cooking involved. Ok, if you wanna consider melting the chocolate, then its only 1 tiny cooking step.

What you need and what to do!

Put baking chocolate(you can get this easily from any baking shop) in a small bowl, put it into a microwave and melt the chocolate. Alternatively, you can melt the chocolate using a double boiler.

Pour the cornflakes into the bowl of melted chocolate and mix until all the cornflakes are well-coated with chocolate.

Spoon small clusters into small baking cups. Decorate with toppings(optional!).

Tada! Done! Enjoy!

See? Isn’t it simple? Its something you can whip up when you have sudden guests, especially when there are little kids too!

Give it a try too. Simple and very versatile. You can add other toppings, like various kinds of nuts, extra chocolate chips, raisins, cranberries… And you can use other types of chocolate… like white chocolate and strawberry chocolate(available from Phoon Huat, Singapore)

Pineapple Tarts January 28, 2006

I LOVE pineapple tarts.

Especially those melt-in-your-mouth kind!

My mummy used to make them when i was young, and i loved them alot! And since i picked up baking recently, she’s been telling me all her baking stories when she was younger.(She since got lazy and would just buy off the shelf or get them from friends). This year, i decided to re-ignite that baking spirit in her!

So, i bought a pack of those pre-made pineapple fillings from Phoon Huat, ready to make some yummy tarts!

Then one evening, i was out with Irene, and she made me so inspired to make my own jam! So, i decided to buy a few pineapples!

The results?

I love my jam! Its less sticky, easier to work with, (because the Phoon Huat version was too sticky for my liking, and it came out hard after baking!) and mine remained moist even after baking.

BUT, my ‘refined-mouth’ bf, said it would have been better if i blended the jam slightly because it was still a little fibrous. But I like it that way. At least I could chew into the fillings. Hehe…

And so, armed with my mummy’s (long-lost-but-now-found)recipe, we made the tarts! I don’t deny. The whole process was super tiring. I find the punching out and pinching (of design) was the most tedious! I would rather stand in front of the stove to cook the jam! Haha…

But it was a good experience. Can’t wait to try it again next year!

Pineapple Tarts

What you need!

Pastry

4 oz self raising flour
4 oz plain flour
5 oz butter
1 large egg, slightly beaten
 

Pineapple filling

2 semi ripe pineapples
Caster sugar
Brown sugar
What to do!

1. Remove skin and black eyes from pineapple (I got the fruit seller to remove it for me!)
2. Grate pineapple and squeeze out the juice. (Squeeze until as dry as you can!)
3. Put pineapple into a large pot and cook.
4. Cook over medium heat for 1- 1 1/2 hours.
5. Add sugar to sweetness desired.
6. Cook for another 30 mins or until it is dry and sticky.
7. Using rubbing-in method, combine butter and sifted self raising flour and plain flour, till they resemble bread crumbs.
8. Make a well in between crumbs and add the egg.
9. Knead the egg into the dough, till they all combine. If it is not wet enough, add a teaspoon or two of cold water.
10. Put dough into a large bowl and keep covered with a cloth as you shape the tarts individually.
11. Roll dough into 1/4 inch thickness and use tart cutters to ‘punch’ out the tarts. Place a generous amount of pineapple filling on top. You may want to put a tiny bit of dough on top of the filling for decoration.
12. Grease the pan, and placed tarts 1/2 inches apart.
13. Bake preheated oven at 200 degree celcius for 25 min.
Enjoy!