Remember that I used to take part in Tuesdays With Dorie, a baking event that takes place every Tuesday (See all my TWD posts here)?

I started out with intention of baking with the wonderful group of TWD bakers till the end but laziness got the better of me and I only managed to stay for close to 3 years. But I'm still glad that I joined TWD as I had tackled 108 out of 300+ recipes from the book, Baking: From My Home to Yours and this is by far the most used cookbook that I own.

Speaking of cookbooks, I have close to 200 of them but less than half of the books are used regularly. The rest of the books are sitting in the shelves collecting dust and I only browse through them occasionally. One good example is Baking with Julia. I got the book back in 2005 but I've not cooked anything from it yet. So when I found out that it will be used to restart another round of TWD, I immediately jump on the bandwagon as I see it as an opportunity to make good use of the book!

Anyway, to kickstart TWD: Baking with Julia, Laurie (founder of TWD) and Jules have chosen white loaves recipe for all TWD bakers to try out. I'm crazy over bread-baking recently, and so I'm more than happy to try out a new bread recipe. I made half a batch and I got a beautiful loaf of bread that comes with a crispy crust and soft center. It is so delicious that my hubby and I polished off the whole loaf of bread in 1 1/2 days!

If you want to give the recipe a try, hop over to Laurie's or Jules's blog. Don't forget to check out the rest of the TWD bakers' versions of white loaves here.

I was back in Singapore for 10 days last week. Other than celebrating Chinese New Year with my families, I had great fun meeting up with friends, shopping for clothes and English cookbooks, and of course, feasting on local food!

I intended to post the recipe of whole wheat walnut bread during my free time in Singapore, but I guess I was too excited about the trip that I forgot to pack the battery and power cord of my laptop into the luggage, and so all I had was a laptop that I couldn't use at all. I guess age is catching up with me and I'm getting more and more forgetful. :-P Anyway, here's the recipe, give it a try and I'm sure that you won't regret it!

Whole Wheat Walnut Bread
Recipe taken from here

Ingredients:
170g bread flour
80g whole wheat flour
5g instant yeast
20g granulated sugar
5g salt
15g butter, at room temperature
160g water
75g toasted walnuts, chopped

Method:
1) Combine the flours, salt, sugar and instant yeast in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the center. Add water into the well of the dry ingredients.
2) Using dough hook of your mixer, knead until your dough doesn’t cling to the sides of the bowl anymore. Add the softened butter and let the hook works that in.
3) Continue kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic. Mix in chopped walnuts. Shape the dough into a ball, cover with cling wrap and let it rises in an oiled bowl for 40 minutes, or until doubled.
4) Transfer the dough to a clean floured surface. Deflate and divide into 4 equal portions. Form each portion into a ball shape. Cover with cling wrap, let rest for 15 minutes.
5) Roll out each portion of the dough with a rolling pin into an oval shape. Turn the dough with the long side toward you. Fold the outer third of the dough to the center. Fold the other side of the dough over. Use your fingers to crimp and seal the seam. Repeat the step with the other 3 portions.
6) Place the dough on a baking tray. Cover with cling wrap and let the dough rise for another 45 minutes.
7) Preheat the oven to 200 deg C. Put the dough into the oven and turn the temperature down to 180 deg C. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the bread turns golden brown.

I've been baking quite a bit recently and I'm glad that I do not have to finish all the baked goods by myself as I have my classmates to share the calories with! I brought an earl grey pound cake to class before the New Year and I've been wanting to share the recipe here but I've been procrastinating until now. Well, better late than never, right? ;-)

Earl Grey Pound Cake Recipe
Recipe taken from はじめてさんのお菓子作り

Ingredients:
130g cake flour
1/3 teaspoon baking powder
7g earl grey tea leaves, crushed
120g unsalted butter, at room temperature
100g caster sugar
2 eggs, separated
2 tablespoons milk

Method:
1) Preheat oven to 170 deg C. Lightly grease and line a 18X8X6.5-cm cake pan with baking paper.
2) Sift flour, baking powder and tea leaves into a bowl. Set aside.
3) Using an electric mixer, mix butter and 50g of sugar in a medium bowl until light and fluffy.
4) Beat in egg yolks one at a time, follow by milk. Beat well with each addition.
5) In a separate bowl, beat egg white until soft peak forms. With the mixer running, add the remaining 50g of sugar in a slow stream and continue to beat until the egg whites are glossy and form firm peaks.
6) With a light hand, fold 1/3 of egg white into butter mixture until just combined.
7) Repeat step (6) with the remaining egg white.
8) Scrape the batter into cake pan. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 35-40 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center of the cake turns out clean. Let the cake cools on wire rack.

Here's wishing all my blog readers a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

I like to use Japanese cookbooks for baking as they tend to use ingredients that are not common in western recipes. The cookies in the photo above use kinako, or soy bean flour as the main ingredient and it gives a nutty flavour to the cookies. If you have not bake with kinako before, give the recipe a try!

Kinako Cookies Recipe
Recipe taken from いつでもクッキー、どこでもクッキー

Ingredients: 
70g unsalted butter, softened 
50g caster sugar 
1 egg yolk 
1 teaspoon milk 
120g cake flour 
1/4 teaspoon baking powder 
20g kinako 

Method: 
1) Preheat oven to 170 deg C. Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper. 
2) Sift flour, baking powder and kinako into a bowl, set aside. 
3) Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar for 2-3 minutes. Add egg yolk and milk, and mix until well combined. 
4) Add the flour mixture and mix only until the dough begins to form a mass. 
5) Transfer to a lightly floured surface, knead for 4-5 times, or until smooth. 
6) Roll the dough into a 12X15X1.5cm rectangle. 
7) Slice the dough into cookies with the size of 4X2.5cm. You should have about 18 cookies. Pierce 6 holes in the top of each cookie using a skewer. 
8) Place the cookies in the tray, bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. 
9) Remove from oven, and let the cookies cool on a rack.

Are you running out of time to bake for Christmas? Well then you should try making this lemon and almond-flavoured cookies! This is an easy-peasy bar cookie recipe the requires short preparation time. The cookies are baked at one go in a baking pan instead of baking by batches. And when the cookies are done baking, just cut them up into whatever size that you want!

Lemon-Almond Cookies Recipe
Recipe adapted from The Ultimate Cookie Book

Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest

Topping:
3/4 cup almond slices, toasted
2-3 tablespoons caster sugar, for sprinkling

Method:
1) Preheat the oven to 350 deg F. Line a 13X9X2-inch baking pan with non-stick baking paper.
2) In a mixing bowl, beat butter on medium to high speed for about 30 seconds. Add sugar, salt and vanilla and continue to beat until well combined.
3) Beat in as much flour as possible. Stir in remaining flour, lemon zest and half of the almonds.
4) Press the dough evenly into the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle remaining almonds and sugar over the top. Press lightly into surface.
5) Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
6) Remove from oven, cut the cookies into rectangular pieces. Cool on wire rack.

Sorry for the lack of updates these few weeks as I was busy studying for my Japanese language test that took place two Sundays ago. Right after the test, I wanted to put up some new posts and also revamp my blog design but laziness got the better of me and I spent all my free time watching Korean dramas instead (I know, you're rolling your eyes right now :-P). Anyway, I have a few cookies recipes to share and first one on the list is a crunchy and nutty cranberry and pumpkin seeds biscotti. If you are still looking for Christmas cookies recipes, stay tune as there will be a few more recipes coming your way!

Cranberry and Pumpkin Seeds Biscotti Recipe
Recipe adapted from Donna Hay Magazine Issue 60

Ingredients:
2 cups plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup caster sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup pumpkin seeds

Method:
1) Preheat the oven to 160 deg C. Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper.
2) Combine flour and baking powder and sift the flour mixture into a bowl. Add caster sugar and stir to combine.
3) Add eggs, vanilla, lemon zest, cranberries and pumpkin seeds, and mix until a smooth dough forms.
4) Turn the dough out on a floured surface and knead until smooth.
5) Divide the dough into two portions and roll each portion into a 20cm-long log. Place the logs on the tray, flatten slightly and bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes until firm. Set aside to cool completely.
6) Using a serrated knife, cut the log into 3mm thick slices and place the slices on the tray.
7) Put the tray back into the oven and bake for another 8-10 minutes or until the golden and crisp.

I love winter in Taipei as the weather is cool and I can have fun dressing up with coats and scarfs. But downside of it is that, it rains almost everyday! The sky is depressingly grey and the ground is often wet and slippery. Going out has become a chore too as I have to carry an umbrella all the time. Because of the cold and wet weather that I'm experiencing right now, I've been cooking stewed dishes very often lately and one of the new recipes that I tried out few days ago was a stewed chicken with beer and mushrooms dish. If you're craving for some stewed dishes to keep yourself warm, give this recipe a try!

Stewed Chicken with Beer and Mushrooms Recipe
Recipe adapted from きょうの料理ビギナーズ 2007年 12月号

Ingredients:
2 whole chicken drumsticks, rinse and chopped into pieces
2/3 teaspoon salt
Black pepper, to taste
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1 onion, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped finely
1 tomato, chopped finely
200g button mushrooms, rinse and cut into halves
350ml beer
1 bay leave
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3 to 4 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons butter
Salt and black pepper, to taste

Method:
1) In a medium bowl, marinate chicken pieces with salt and pepper, set aside for 10 to 20 minutes.
2) Lightly coat chicken pieces with flour. Heat up oil in a frying pan. Pan-fried both sides of the chicken pieces until golden brown. Dish out and set aside.
3) Melt butter in the frying pan, saute onion and garlic until fragrant. Add mushrooms and chicken pieces and then make a few quick stirs.
4) Add beer, tomato and bay leave. Cover the pan and cook in medium heat for about 30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked. Turn the chicken pieces 2-3 times in between.
5) Season the dish with salt and black pepper. Dish up and serve immediately.

I was supposed to post a honey-roasted pear clafoutis recipe that I made two weeks ago with the last two pears that I have. But I was too caught up in making a diaper bag for my SIL that I was in no mood to blog at all. I realised that I'm not too good at multi-tasking, especially when it involves a complicated sewing project that requires my full concentration. Well, now that the bag is completed, I can finally heave a sigh of relief and go back to my daily routines of surfing the internet and watching TV. :-)

Anyway, this clafouti recipe is taken from the same site that I found the recipe of red wine pear cake. The last time i made clafouti was more than 2 years ago, and I wonder why I didn't make it more often. It's extremely easy to prepare and in my opinion, it tastes much better than puddings too. The warm clafouti is definitely a perfect and satisfying dessert to have on cold autumn days!

Honey-roasted Pear Clafoutis Recipe
Recipe adapted from here

Ingredients:
2 pear, peeled, cored, quartered
1 tbs honey
10g butter
1/4 cup (37g) plain flour
1/4 cup (50g) caster sugar
1 eggs, lightly whisked
1 egg yolks
20g butter, melted
1 cups (250ml) milk
1 tablespoon Grand Marnier liqueur
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:
1) Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Place pears in two 14-cm oven-proof dishes, and then drizzle with honey and dot with butter.
2) Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, turning occasionally, and when the pears are tender and starting to caramelise, remove from oven and set aside for 15 minutes.
3) In the mean time, combine flour and sugar in a medium bowl. Add the egg and egg yolk and whisk to combine.
4) Add melted butter, milk, liqueur and vanilla to the flour mixture and whisk until well combined. Pour the batter over the pears.
5) Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until just set. Remove from oven, let it rest for 5 minutes, sprinkle icing sugar on top, serve.

After making these mini pear rustics, I still have a few pears left. So I went online to search for recipes that I could use for the remaining pears. The beautiful picture of red wine pear cake from this site caught my attention and as I have all the ingredients on hand, I started baking immediately. I made half portion using a tiny 12-cm cake pan that I got from my recent trip to Tokyo. Everything went well until the end of mixing process, the batter seems dry to me and so I decided to add some yogurt to "loosen" up the batter. It turned out to be a great decision, as the cake was moist and tasted really good with the poached pears.

Red Wine Pear Cake Recipe
Recipe adapted from here

Ingredients:
1/2 cup (125ml) red table wine
1.5 cups (375ml) water
1/2 cinnamon stick
2 pears, peeled
1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar
75g butter
1/4 cup (50g) brown sugar
1 egg
3/4 cups (112g) self-raising flour
50g almond meal
1/2 tbs ground ginger
1/2 tsp mixed spice
1/8 cup (30ml) milk
2 tablespoons plain yogurt

Method:
1) In a saucepan, combine red wine, water, pears and cinnamon. Let it simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the pears, add 1/2 cup of castor sugar to the saucepan and boil the syrup for 15-20 minutes. In the mean time, halves and cores the pears.
2) Preheat the oven to 180 deg C. Lightly grease and line a 12-cm round cake pan with baking paper.
3) Mix flour, almond meal, ground ginger and mixed spice in a bowl. Set aside.
4) Using an electric mixer, mix butter and brown sugar in a medium bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in egg. Fold in flour mixture, following by milk and yogurt, mix until well combined.
5) Spoon the batter into the cake pan and smooth the surface. Press the base of the pear halves into the cake mixture, standing them upright.
6) Bake in preheated oven for 40-45 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Drizzle the cake with red wine syrup. Serve.