Strawberry Cream Cheese French Toast

Hello, kids.

Can you tell me what this is?

That's right.  Strawberry. Stro-be-ri. Strawberries are awesome. They can be manipulated into the most delicious foods like jams, tarts, ice cream, dipped in chocolate, whatever. However, today we're going to use it as a stuffing.

We're going to make stuffed toast. Strawberry cream cheese french toast.

I realised that strawberries in Singapore are expensive, but much to my delight they were selling them off at $2.90 per box in Giant supermarket at Tampines. I think it's berry season over at our western counterparts and right now they're selling them off cheap. Plenty of blueberries too.

Slice bread 2 inches thick with a serrated knife.

I wanted to look for a white bread loaf, but they only had buns, rolls and light and dark rye. I bought light rye bread.

Slice into bread to make pockets

Mix cream cheese and jam

My thighs are screaming for mercy just looking at this picture.

Chop fresh strawberries up and sprinkle sugar over them

Sprinkling sugar over strawberries somehow helps them to break down and create a syrup. You could do that and eat with pancakes, too. Delicious.

Stuff cream cheese mixture in, then fresh strawberries. Repeat step and gently press to close.

The family on the milk carton seem to be really happy with me

Combine ingredients for egg bath then dip bread in it just before frying on a buttered pan.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar and dig in

Look at that. What a beaut. 

Eat this for breakfast, lunch, tea, supper, after-supper and before breakfast. 

It's got fruit. It's healthy. Pretend that you didn't use cream cheese and butter .(Do not trust me when it comes to health food)

Stuffed Strawberry French Toast

Recipe adapted from TastyKitchen and technique from Alice

Ingredients:

1 loaf French bread, or anything you prefer

3 tbsp strawberry jam

1/2 package cream cheese

1/2 cup chopped fresh strawberries

1 tbsp sugar

2 eggs

3/4 tbsp cinnamon

1/2 cup milk

2 tbsp butter

Slice bread 2 inches thick then make a slit in the middle for pockets. Mix chopped strawberries with sugar and then set aside. Combine cream cheese and jam. Stuff bread pockets with cream cheese mixture then chopped strawberries and repeat. Stir together cinnamon, milk and eggs. Dip stuffed bread in egg bath for about 20 seconds on each side, then cook on buttered pan till brown. Serve with orange juice, tea or milk. Your choice!

Drinking Tea With Our Pinkies Out

Something Comforting

These days, I've been feeling rather ...hormonal and discontented of late. Feels childish and feels almost unnecessary. Thank god I still have my best friend who always almost has the same sentiments and to whom I am able to pour whatever heartfelt feelings I have.

What was I doing at this exact time last year? Was I happier? Was I exactly the same? Am I doing more? Am I not doing enough?

The one thing I am extremely proud of myself for having done is this food blog. I have been telling myself to start one since forever and now I've done it. And so far, I think I have been quite consistent. Everytime I get a follower or the stats go up I feel even more motivated and I feel like doing more. It is the one thing that makes me feel like I have something to do and something to give.

I just started out.. and so far, positive feedback. Thank you to my supportive friends and people who read. I really appreciate it :)

ANYWAY, yesterday night I was contemplating what I should make and my little brother persuaded me to make some chocolate chip cookies! I told him I did not want to bake at night because natural lighting(sunlight) makes pictures look even better. I realised my brother is quite a good obedient kid because he does not DEMAND for his way. He actually listens to what I say although quite reluctantly. Interesting.. *evul smirk*

I still did not want to do it until I saw his facebook status, "Yey sister is baking chocolate cookies!" ..Felt a little bad and thought I'd just screw natural lighting and do it.

Add a little more brown sugar to make 3/4 cup

I told him to help though. He was up for it. Hahaha.

I was looking for a basic chocolate chip cookie recipe online that was similar to my aunt's. When I was 16 I used to bake them all the time and brought them to school. Nothing feels more satisfying than having people's eyes roll to the back of their heads when they eat something you made.

In a good way of course. Not in a poisoned way.


I scoured AllRecipes.com and there were two cookie recipes, so I decided to go with the one that had Award Winning in the title. It's award-winning!!! Gotta be good. And I noticed it had a little special ingredient which is..







Wait for it..

TA-DAH!!!!! Instant vanilla pudding!

This makes for a very soft chewy cookie. Just the way I like it.

My minion

Yes he is wearing an 'I'm A Virgin (This Is A Very Old Shirt)' t-shirt. Hand-me-down from my older brother.

Use a spoon or an ice-cream scoop to drop uniform-sized dough on tray lined with parchment paper

Tip: Leave some chocolate chips unmixed with the dough so that you can stick them on top after dropping them for prettier cookies.

And the outcome:

Serve with a glass of milk. And prepare for an eye-rolling experience.





Award Winning Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted and halved from AllRecipes

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp hot water
1 cup (235g) butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 package instant vanilla pudding mix
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F (175C).

Cream butter, white sugar and brown sugar with an electric mixer. Dissolve baking soda in hot water and add in with instant vanilla pudding then beat to combine. Stir in eggs(one at a time) and vanilla. Fold in flour, followed by chocolate chips. Bake for 10-12 mins till edges are golden brown.

Yield: About 3 dozen cookies

A is for..

Look at this picture:

What’s inside the picture?

What do you reckon I’d be making?








..That’s right folks.


PIE.

AGAIN.

Shella, my bouncy fast friend, wanted to come over to my humble abode to bake and she really wanted to make apple pie. So pie it was! Her fault guys.. Not me.

Actually apple pie is easy to make, but I was stressing over the crust. I wanted to make a perfect lattice top, which is a weaved pattern and got rather obsessive over it until I decided that a normal covered crust would be fine. Sheesh.

On a side note, I think my television is haunted you guys. I’m serious. When we started preparing the pie I turned it on, and Alton Brown from Good Eats was doing a segment on apple pie!! And when I worked on the crust, HE worked on the crust!! And when I switched the channel and Shella started on her relationship woes, the twisted song “Love The Way You Lie” from Rihanna and Eminem came on! It was major creepazoids.

Back to the pie. After you line the apple slices on the crust till it mounds, you can get started on the sauce. PLEASE BE EXTRA CAREFUL. When caramelizing the butter sugar liquid, do not spill any on yourself.  Caramel is hard to wash off, so when that hot liquid splashes on you it’s gonna hurt like your partner cheated on you a second time. Ain't kiddin' ya.

Learning from previous pie mistake: Cover edges with foil so that it would not brown faster

Mugshot of the culprit which has been adding to my caloric intake. That's not my hand.

Before you notice I'm going to point out the flaw!!

If you can see, the applesauce is seeping out from the edges because I forgot to add flour, thus it did not thicken. I had sauce dripping everywhere.

But it still looks good & tastes delicious

Make this pie. Cut out a slice. Serve with a glass of milk. Sit in a comfortable chair. Read a book. Sleep. Wake up. Repeat.

You know you want to ;)



Classic Apple Pie

Ingredients:
1 prepared pastry for 9 inch double crust pie
6-8 green apples, cored, peeled & sliced
1/2 cup(115g) unsalted butter
3 tbsp flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 425F or 220C.

Melt butter in a small saucepan, then mix in flour. Add water, white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon & vanilla and bring to a boil. Reduce the temperature and let simmer. Prepare pie crust bottom and line with sliced apples. Pour liquid CAREFULLY and cover with top crust. Poke four holes with a knife at the top to let out air while baking. Bake for 15 mins in preheated oven then reduce temperature to 350F or 175C and continue baking for 30-40 min.

Note: To make crust look presentable brush top with lightly beaten egg.

Snickerdoodles Part II

YAY!


Check it out:

My second attempt at snickerdoodles produced a much more visually presentable yield and all I did was reduce the cinnamon and increase the sugar in the coating! You can see the first attempt in my previous post. I used the cookie dough from my first attempt, though. These are like.. the pretty younger sisters from the same dough.

Roll dough in the cinnamon sugar

I changed the coating to 1/2 cup sugar with 2 teaspoons cinnamon. I want to be able to actually see specks of cinnamon.

..I love cinnamon.

So many fun words to say in this post!

Snick-er-doo-dles. Cin-na-mon.

Mmm. Looks promising.

Fresh from the oven

  

Specks!! I see cinnamon specks!!

Crisp with a crumbly centre

You should smell these when they come out of the oven. Gee golly. I was wondering why they didn't look like pretty at my first try and googled it, and the snickerdoodle recipes I found are more or less the same. I decided that the problem just had to be the cinnamon to sugar ratio.

Mmmhhhhh. Goodness gracious. These are so easy to make anyone can try!


Snickerdoodles
Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients:

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup pure vegetable shortening
• 2 cups sugar, plus more if needed
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, plus more if needed
• 2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 400F or 200C.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat mats and set aside. Sift flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt and set aside. Using an electric mixer, combine butter, shortening and 1 1/2 cups sugar. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, then add eggs and beat to combine. Add flour mixture and beat to combine.

In a separate bowl, combine 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon. Roll dough into small balls and coat with cinnamon sugar and line them about two inches apart on baking sheets (they will spread). Bake for about 10 mins(rotate baking sheet at 5 mins) until cookies begin to crack. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Yields about 30-40 cookies.

Party & Snickerdoodles

So last Saturday I was invited to Denver's birthday barbecue, and I had a ball of a time! Most of the time I was just cracking crude jokes or doing Bon Qui Qui impersonations, which I think most people I meet have already associated me with hahaha. Half of us were in the same Drama Club in secondary school and I haven't seen them in ages! God how I miss you guys.


Some pictures:

Pretty girls :)

My hair is nasty but I still like this pic

With the birthday boy in the middle (my eyes closed ugh)

Pimpin'

I wish Noreen could have come too! She would have so entertained all my nonsense.

Child, please.

OOH DAYUMMMM GURLL

*oof*

With Shella darling

Coach Carr! Trang-Pak ain't feelin' too well!

 Photo credits: Julian


Can I just say that Denver's sister is a great cook? She owns a frickin' Kitchenaid and a Le Creuset pot for heaven's sake! I'd KILL for those. Ugh.

I met new people like Farouk in the picture above and John and Hadrian and they're all soooo darling hahaha. We were quoting Mean Girls & Bon Qui Qui the whole night.

Hope you had a good birthday Denver! xoxo



On another food-related note,

I made snickerdoodles today. If you haven't heard of snickerdoodles you must have imagined noodles. Or Snickers. Or something.

Actually, they're cookies!  Basically butter cookies rolled in cinnamon sugar. But guess what!! Visually, my cookies turned out to be a big flop.

Sheesh.

They were much browner than they were supposed to be and they look burnt! Sigh. I have no idea why, but I think I should have used finer sugar and a little less cinnamon next time.

They still tasted nice and buttery though.

I know I said I wanted to bake something else in the previous post, but these cookies have the ingredients that I already have in my cabinet and are so easy to make!

If you still want the recipe, I used Martha Stewart's here. They look so much lighter.


Maybe next time I'll redo them and we'll see what the problem...


Toodles!