Apple and Cheddar Scones

Beautiful, bountiful apples, we have to make the most of the apple harvest, hearty apple dishes. From sweet to savory, we've five rich pickings to savor. I usually make a sweet or just a classic kind of scones. Having tried this, is not bad altogether as it taste good and very different from the usual type of scones we usually have.








APPLE and CHEDDAR SCONES

225g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
50g unsalted butter, chilled, plus extra for greasing
1 tsp Colman's Mustard Powder
75g extra mature English Cheddar
1 eating apple, such as Discovery
100ml milk



1. Preheat the oven to 200ºC. Grease and flour a large baking sheet. Sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Add the butter to the flour and rub in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

2. Mix in the mustard and 50g of Cheddar. Coarsely grate the the unpeeled apples into the bowl, discarding the core and any pips. Mix well to coat the apple in the flour. Gradually pour in the milk and mix with a knife to make a soft dough.

3. Turn out onto a well-floured surface and roll out until about 2cm thick. Using a 4-5cm round cutters, stamp out about 12 rounds, re-rolling the dough if necessary. Place onto the baking sheet and sprinkle the tops with the remaining Cheddar.

4. Bake for 15 minutes, until well risen and golden. Leave to cool on a wire rack. Serve warm or cold, split open and topped with Ham, a slice of apple, and a spoonful of Apple and Walnut Chutney.

Coconut Lemon Curd Cake

Combination of lemon and coconut blend nicely and taste great. Making your own lemon curd is much cheaper and you can adjust the sweetness in it.



Serve them as a special dessert at a chic dinner party or just serve them wonderful in the afternoon tea.


COCONUT LEMON CURD CAKE

125g butter, softened
2 tsp finely grated lemon rind
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup milk
3/4 cup desiccated coconut
1¼ cup self-raising flour

1. Make lemon curd.
   
   
2. Preheat oven to moderate (180°C/160°C fan-assisted). Line a 6-hole large or 12-hole standard muffin tray with paper cases.
   
   
3. Beat butter, rind, sugar and eggs in small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy.
   
   
   
4. Stir in milk and coconut, then sifted flour. Divide mixture among cases; smooth surface.
   
   
5. Bake large cakes about 25 minutes, small cakes about 20 minutes. Turn cakes onto wire rack to cool. Increase oven to hot (220°C/200°C fan-assisted).
   
   
6. Cut a 2cm-deep hole in the center of each cake, fill with curd; discard or munch cake tops.
   
   
7. Make coconut meringue; spoon into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm plain nozzle/tip.
   
   
8. Pipe meringue on top of each cake; place cakes on oven tray.
   
   
9. Bake in hot oven 5 minutes or until meringue is browned lightly.
   

Lemon curd

4 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp finely grated lemon rind
1/4 cup lemon juice
40g butter

Combine ingredients in a small heatproof bowl over small saucepan of simmering water, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens slightly and coats the back of the spoon. Remove from heat. Cover tightly; refrigerate lemon curd until cold.


Coconut meringue

4 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1-1/3 cups shredded coconut, chopped finely

Beat egg whites in small bowl with electric mixer until soft peaks form; gradually add sugar, beating until sugar dissolves. Fold in coconut.




How to pipe meringue - spoon the meringue into piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle. Hold piping bag vertical to the cake, piping a spiral from the outside to the center of the cake.

Christening Cake

Happy Heart's Day to All!!!




Made this cake for Jamil's Baptismal today. The cake is a 10" chocolate chiffon cake covered with rolled fondant icing. In using the chiffon cake and covered by fondant, I have encountered a problem as it's crumbly and despite coating the cake with jam it still doesn't stick. I should have covered it first with the buttercream then the fondant. Luck is still on my side, finally I managed to stick all the sides and continue with accessorizing the cakes.











Balls made of fondant to put besides the teddy bear so it will not look very plain.






Used royal icing for writing and in making the footprints. All the writing and the boa feather are ice blue in color.

Chocolate Chip and Oats Cookies

Whoever said never to work with children has obviously not tried baking with little ones as it is a joy to cook with even the tiniest of tots. Ok, so it may get a little messy but the results are worth it. Baking to them is like playing and pretending to copy the adults on cooking. After their hard work, that they are then able to eat the results of their labour is invariably met with wonder and joy. The important thing when baking with little children is to allow a lot of time - children hate being hurried- and not to worry too much about the look of the results! It's the time spent creating something together that's important.





My friend's seven-year-old daughter In-ha, came over to visit us. She mentioned that she have an assignment on how to measure up the ingredients for her baking goodies. So I decided to make some simple and easy to follow recipe and a healthy cookies. I teach her how to measure the ingredients using the digital scale, obviously this is easier for them rather than using the traditional scale. She helped me sift the flour, stirring and my son and In-ha help add up the other ingredients.





Baking at home also gives control back to us parents over what our children eat. The kids can still enjoy sweet treats but without the long list of additives most of us know little about. My son Younnes found baking is fun and was happy to help and sit to lick out the bowl, or 'help' with the washing up in a sink full of bubbles, while I finished off the recipe.




Chocolate Chip and Oats Cookies

100 g butter or margarine
100 g soft light brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
150 g self-raising flour
75 g porridge oats
50-100 g plain, milk or white chocolate chips

1. Help your child to cut out two large sheets of parchment paper to line the cookie sheets while you set the oven to 375°F.



2. Place the butter and sugar in the mixing bowl and help your child to beat them together either with an electric mixer or a wooden spoon until creamy



3. Add the egg and vanilla essence and mix together again. Place the sieve over the mixing bowl, sift in the flour and then mix in.



4. Add the oats and chocolate chips and stir in, then, using a teaspoon and another spoon to scrape the mixture off, place a generous spoonfuls of the mixture in 24 or so lumpy heaps on the baking sheets. Allow plenty of space between the heaps as the cookies will spread as they cook.



5. Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes, until the ones on the top shelf are golden brown, then remove them from the oven and move the other baking sheet up from the bottom shelf. Bake these for a further 3-5 minutes until they are golden, then remove.



6. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring , with a palette knife, to a cooling rack. The cookies will be crispy as they cool.