Work Catering #33: Egg free bake

 

I must have subconsciously picked these recipes for work catering because the speaker at the talk is allergic to eggs and both recipes are EGG FREE!!! hehe! First up are these cheesecake cookies! yum! Found the recipe while looking for interesting chocolate chip cookies for this month's Aspiring Baker's challenge.

Egg free Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cookies
Recipe adapted from InspiredMe

Ingredients
250g cream cheese, softened at room temperature
1/2 cup (113g) butter, softened at room temperature
3/4 cup caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup plain flour
3/4 cup
30g dark chocolate, melted (optional)
30g white chocolate melted (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 180oC. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
2. Beat cream cheese, butter, salt, sugar together with electric mixer until creamy. Add vanilla and beat to combine. Add flour and mix with wooden spoon until dough forms. Stir in chocolate chips.
3. Roll teaspoon full of dough into ball. Place on tray and press slightly with back of spoon or palm of hand. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until light golden brown. Allow to cool before transferring to wire rack.
4. To decorate, place melted dark chocolate into piping bag (or small sandwich bag with the tip cut off) and pipe squiggles over the top.

So...I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #36: Choc-a-cookie (October 2013) hosted by Genie of Honeybee916food.

Next up is Mars Bar slice inspired by my cousin... although I don't think this is the one she was talking about because this doesn't use as much butter as she described.. oh wells! still yummy :D 

Mars Bar Slice
Recipe adapted from Julia from Boredom Abounds

Ingredients
70g butter
1 tbs golden syrup
4 x 53g Mars Bars, chopped up
3 cups rice bubbles
250g milk or dark chocolate, melted

1. Place butter, golden syrup and chopped Mars bars in saucepan over medium heat. Stir until all melted then remove from heat.
2. Stir in rice bubbles until well combined. Spoon mix into prepared 20 x 30cm baking tray lined with foil. Press down using back of large spoon and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Pour melted chocolate over the top of slice and spread evenly. Refrigerate again for an hour or until set and slice into squares to serve.

I have to say this slice is SUPER SWEET!! But I guess if you love Mars Bars then you will love this slice. This could even be a great base for a cheesecake! Hmmm.. *ideas churning... hehe*

Aspiring Bakers #34: Green Tea cookie topped Profiteroles

I haven't joined in Aspiring Baker's challenge in a while. Partly because I was busy/holidaying and partly because last month's theme was DURIAN >____<" But this month's theme is CHOUX PARTY!!! And I thought, I can do that ^^" So gave it a go! The recipe is based on Adriano Zumbo's choux pastry and I just gave it a bit of an asian twist with the green tea =) I burnt a few of the cookie tops >.<" but still tastes yummy ^^ 

There are 3 parts to this recipe: 
1) Green Tea pâte sablé a choux (the crunchy cookie topping); 
2) Choux Pastry (the profiteroles); 
3) Green Tea creme patissiere (the custard filling).

Green Tea Cookie Topped Profiteroles
Recipe adapted from Zumbo by Adriano Zumbo 

Green Tea pâte sablé a choux

Ingredients
60g dark brown sugar
60g unsalted butter
60g plain flour
10g green tea powder

1. Place all ingredients in small bowl. Beat together until paste formed.
2. Roll dough into a cylinder shape (2cm in diameter) using cling wrap and place in fridge for 1 hour or until firm.

Choux pastry 
(I divided the original recipe by 3)

Ingredients
100g butter
106g water
5g caster sugar
133g milk
5g salt
133g plain flour, sifted
204g, lightly beaten egg (around 4 eggs)

1. Preheat oven to 210oC and line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
2. Place butter, water, sugar, milk and salt in saucepan and bring to boil. Remove from heat and quickly beat in flour. Return pan to heat and beat until mixture comes together and dough leaves the side of the pan. (Usually takes 1-2 minutes over low heat).
3. Transfer to stand mixer and gradually add in egg. Beat until thick and glossy.
4. Pipe pastry onto trays (around 2.5cm in diameter and 2cm high), allowing room for them to puff up.
5. Slice the green Tea pâte sablé a choux into small discs (2mm thickness) and place on top of pastry.
6. Bake or 25-30 minutes or until golden brown, puffy and firm. Allow to cool before poking small holes in each profiterole for custard filling.

Choux pastry ready to be baked!

Green Tea creme patissiere
(Original recipe divided by 6)

Mmmm.. nice and green!

Ingredients 
210ml milk
1 vanilla beans, split (or just use 1 tsp vanilla essence)
3 egg yolks (now u know why we divided by 6 xP)
55g caster sugar
55g corn flour
55g butter
1 tbs green tea powder

1. Stir the milk and vanilla beans in saucepan over medium heat until almost boiling.
2. Whisk yolks, sugar, cornflour and green tea powder in bowl until thick and pale. 
3. Gradually whisk in hot milk into egg mixture. Return to saucepan and whisk over medium heat will custard boils and thickens.
4. Spread over tray to cool rapidly. Cover with cling wrap to prevent skin forming. When the mixture has cooled transfer to bowl and stir through butter.
5. Transfer mixture into piping bag and pipe into profiteroles.

A little burnt, but still delicious~

These are best eaten on the day you make them. I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #34: Choux Party (August 2013) hosted by Jasline of Foodie Baker.

Work catering #17: Green Tea Time! (my Aspiring Baker's entry)

Since this month's Aspiring Baker's theme is all about TEA!! I decided to kill 2 birds with one stone.. so to speak =p Any recipes that use tea (not coffee) are accepted so I played around with my favourite tea... GREEN TEA =D Also known as Matcha!

Perfect bite size green tea cheesecake bites :D

I use Green Tea powder bought from a local asian grocer and use it just like cocoa powder ^_^" So you just add it straight into your dough or cake mix. It has a subtle flavour, not too sweet with a slight bitterness. New exotic and interesting flavour for some of my work colleagues =p

First up is CHEESECAKE! These little bites are the perfect size and they are so smooth!!! Like eating Green Tea mousse :D
Green Tea Cheesecake Bites
Recipe adapted from The Hungry Excavator

Ingredients
250g Arnotts Nice biscuits
120g unsalted butter, melted
300ml thickened cream
250g cream cheese
1/2 cup caster sugar
150ml milk
3 tbsp green tea powder
3 tsp powdered gelatin
4 tbsp boiling water

1. Grease and line baking tray (20x30cm) with baking paper. 
2. Crush biscuits in food processor until fine crumbs. Stir in melted butter and mix until well combined. Press tightly into base of tray and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Beat thickened cream with electric beater until soft peaks form. Set aside.
4. Place cream cheese in separate bowl and beat until smooth. Add sugar and beat until well combined.
5. Place gelatin in small bowl and mix with water. Set aside.
6. Heat milk in small saucepan until just comes to the bowl. Remove from heat and whisk in green tea and gelatin until dissolved and no lumps are seen.
7. Add milk to cream cheese and beat until smooth. Fold mixture into thickened cream until even. 
8. Pour mixture over crumb layer and spread evenly. Chill for at least 3 hours or overnight.

silky smooth ~~

Ready to serve!

Close up. You can see the green tea specks

And to compliment these cheesecake bites, I made some COOKIES! The great thing with this recipe is that you make the dough the night before, leave it in the fridge to rest and the next day, all you have to do is slice up into cookies and bake! ^___^

Stack of cookies

Green Tea and White chocolate Cookies

Recipe adapted from Nami from Just One Cookbook

Ingredients
240g plain flour
15g green tea/matcha powder
150g unsalted butter, softened at room temp
130g pure icing sugar
pinch of salt
2 egg yolks 
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

1. Sift flour and matcha powder together and set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add yolks and salt and beat well.
4. Gradually fold in flour and matcha. 
5. Shape the dough into 2 logs and wrap them tightly in cling wrap. Rest in fridge overnight.

~THE NEXT DAY~

6. Preheat oven to 150oC and line 2 baking trays with baking paper. Slice cookies into 7mm thickness and place on baking tray.
7. Bake for 20 minutes or until slightly golden. Allow to cool on rack.

Tray of cookies! yum yum!

These cookies are the melt in your mouth texture. The flavours of the green tea and white chocolate go so well together! I also love the GREENESS to it ^^" really delicious cookies!

Gone quite quickly ^_^"

Close up of GREEN-NESS!

So I am submitting this post to Aspiring Baker's #30: It's Tea Time! Hosted by Food Playground. 
HAPPY BAKING =D!!!! Why not try out using Green Tea? =)

A healthy bake~

This post is for all the health conscious people out there who don't like to use so much butter/oil when baking. Actually I don't really like to use heaps of butter when I'm baking either =p and neither does my mum.

Very healthy and super yummy ^^"

So when I saw that this month's Aspiring Baker's theme is "Lightened up cakes" hosted by Qi Ting of A Dessert Diet .. I thought this recipe for Fruit and Nut loaf would be perfect! It uses no butter or oil and only half a cup of sugar~ Despite the lack of fat, this loaf is still delicious as the sugar from the natural dried fruit makes it sweet :) 

Fruit and Nut Loaf
(recipe from my mum :P)

2 cups self-raising flour
1 cup coconut (+ extra toasted for decorating)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup chopped dried apricots
1/4 cup chopped dates
1/4 cup sultanas
1-2 cups warm milk
1 tsp cinnamon
honey for glazing

1. Preheat oven to 180oC and line a rectangle loaf tin.
2. Place flour, coconut and brown sugar in bowl and mix in large bowl.
3. Add in walnuts, apricots and dates and mix.

~ You can really add whatever dried fruit you like :)

4. Add sultanas to warm milk, pour into bowl and mix until it comes together.
5. Pour mixture into lined loaf tin and bake for 40-45 minutes or until skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
6. In the last 5 minutes of baking, place some shredded coconut on baking tray and toast in the oven.
7. When loaf is ready, spread honey on top and sprinkle on toasted coconut.

Best eaten warm :)

You wont feel guilty eating this one