Presents!

A little stocking which she made at an art camp for Santa to stuff things with. Below is the haul from the stockings: 2 doggies, chocolates, lolly, a Moo water bottle, erasers, stickers, Pokemon cards.

Oh, what big teeth you have reindeer... the better to eat apples with my dear! Oops, we ran out of carrots and celery but we found out that reindeer eat apples too! Why, may you ask, are the apples and cookies enclosed in tupperware containers?? Cos in this part of the world, there are such things as ants *shudder*. For those who know me, you should know I am paranoid about them so not one can live in my home.

This was what Santa brought... the latest electronic Monopoly... cashless system.

She got more Pokemon cards as part of her presents.

Ahh... the Sanrio cum Japanese product gift corner... it's like everyone knew her likes. Tks all! There were some other gifts but I think I deleted the pictures by mistake hahaha. Oh well.

The poor trees.

Of recycled gifts

Every year at this time, I'm usually seething from the insincerity of a certain person. Christmas gift-giving is not a must, but it makes the kids happy. However, for many years now, in fact for all the years since my girl was born, there's a certain person whose gifts make my blood boil. I feel that she shouldn't even bother giving us things, and it's not like we're hard up for them. In fact, it will make me feel better that way. Presents were opened on Christmas morning but the blood boiling reaches a crescendo a few days later, thus this need to bare it all out here, just to get it out of my system.

I approve of recycling of gifts to a certain extent. However, the gifts we often receive from said person are often (from my experience) at least 10 yrs old, and some even have price tags from departmental stores which existed on our shores maybe 15yrs back. Oh come on, if you really do not want to spend money on gifts, there is no need to give one each from child, parents and the grandparents. I'm happy even receiving a brand new item from Daiso, which only costs $2!

I believe our side of the family is the only one who receives old recycled gifts, as I do not think she will do that to her friends' kids and her own family. Me, my sister and cousin gets them too. It is very sad and I used to be really affected previous years when my child would receive a used story book, browned and old, and other crappy stuff. This year we had a nice photoframe but upon closer inspection, it had mould on the glass. She also received a letter writing set which had 2 sheets of paper and 1 envelope left. There was a brand new crayon set which I thought would be her saving grace, but when I opened it this morning, the rubber band had melted away, so what gives? Why do people do such things?? I feel so upset because I do put in loads of effort searching for gifts for people, and I do spend on her family too, from her mum to her and her hubby to her kids. Usually, once her gifts are opened, into the bin they go. How pathetic is that?! This year her mum gave me a mug whose box had browned bits of mould. Why do they even bother? They do not need to give 3 items from their family where 1 item from all is sufficient.

I don't believe she does that to her niece who had huge gigantic stockings full of gifts. Is this what being family is about? Dumping old unwanted things on? I mean they aren't even brand new recycled gifts, but historic items! I feel sometimes that I want to bring it up to the husband. I'm sure he doesn't know what happens at Christmas but I could never do that. I'm too nice for that. So meanwhile, let me wallow in self-pity, till next year when the next influx of historical artefacts descend upon our home.

Compliments of the Season

A belated Christmas to all. How was your Christmas? For us, it was mostly attending parties and for the first time ever, I did not cook a Christmas dinner. The first party we attended on Christmas Eve was at my uncle's place and I did not prepare anything for it.

For another party the day after, I made 4 desserts, one of which was made with ready swiss roll which I just decorated using fresh cream & some toppers. Gosh I didn't take photos of the tiramisu and I think I accidentally deleted the photo with the bread n butter pudding as well as the apple crumble pie. Ooops.

When princess first heard that there was no Christmas dinner at home, she kicked up a big fuss with big tears. I managed to convince her to attend the dinner at her godparents' place in the end, with much coaxing. Lesson learnt - must have Christmas dinner at home next year. And hopefully my sis will be back too.

We've been really stuffed this Christmas and it didn't help that it was my dad's birthday yesterday and we went out for dinner at Szechuan Court at Fairmont Hotel. The portions were huge and we were all 'suffering' after the meal. It was a 7-course+1 dinner and we were stuffed by the 5th course!

Below are some gifts I baked as Christmas giveaways.

Potato Chip Crunchies

Introducing my cookie number 4... doesn't the title just scream for attention? When I came across this recipe in my baking book, I was really intrigued by it. I've never heard of or tried cookies with potato chips in them. I had to do it at all cost, and thank goodness as well, since it was a very simple-to-do cookie.

Ingredients -(I only made half the recipe) this below is the full recipe.

2 cups butter, softened
1-1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup crushed potato chips (I doubled this as I omitted the pecan nuts)
1 cup chopped pecans

Method -

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg & vanilla. Gradually add flour and mix well. Fold in the potato chips and pecans.

2. Drop by tablespoonfuls 1-1/2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Flatten with a fork. Bake at 175deg C for 12-14mins or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks and cool.

In the background are chocolate chip meringues which are a bonus bake. I made them the year before with crushed peppermint candy canes. That was my plan today but the candy canes weren't fresh and crunchy, thus I decided to not use them in case they messed up the meringues.

Ingredients for meringue-

2 egg whites
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 peppermint candy canes, crushed. (I used mini chocolate chips just to make them look prettier)

Method -

1. Preheat oven to 110deg C. Line 2 cookie sheets with foil.

2. In a large glass or metal mixing bowl, beat egg whites, salt and cream of tartar to soft peaks. Gradually add sugar, continuing to beat until white stiff peaks form. Drop by spoonfuls 1inch apart on the prepared cookie sheets (I used a piping bag). Sprinkle crushed peppermint candy or chocolate chips over the cookies.

3. Bake for 1-1/2hrs in preheated oven. Meringues should be completely dry on the inside. Do not allow them to brown. Turn off oven. Keep oven door ajar, and let meringues sit in the oven till completely cool. Loosen from foil with metal spatula. Store loosely covered in cool dry place for up to 2months, if it's not gone before then. ;P

Loved the potato chips crunchies. They are excellent, and no, it's not because they contain the chips!

Christmas Fruit Cake

I decided to take a break from cookie baking to try out a fruit cake recipe shared with me by a friend. Unfortunately I am not able to share the recipe here as per her request. I've never been a fan of fruit cakes. I don't like how very sweet it is with all the dried mixed fruits. But since this is a Christmas cake I decided to finally make it this year. I didn't put aside lots of time for the soaking of the fruits, and only did it 4 days prior to baking.

My schedule during the week was choc-a-block full so I only managed to bake it last evening and due to lots of hiccups during the course of the day, I only managed to put the mixture together around 5plus in the late afternoon and the cake went into the oven only at 6pm. The recipe stated 2-3hrs baking time! I thought I was in trouble as I miscalculated the time, thinking the party that I was due to be at was starting at 7.30. I thought, oh well, I'd only be about half an hour late or so. It wasn't till I put in the cake that I realized oh no, the party was starting at 7!! And then I began praying, please let the cake bake in over an hour like I heard one of my friends telling me, that was what happened with her cake. And would you believe it?! It was done in 1-1/2hrs! I was really lucky. Left the cake to cool overnight and finally cut it up this afternoon.

Both hubby and princess loved it. They had some little tasting bites of it. I'm leaving it to set for another 5 days and I hope my recipients will enjoy it as much as my family did. :)

It's another cookie recipe tomorrow. Look out for it!

Random things

Here's Santa at one of the road corners in Orchard.

Love this little reindeer dressed up as a tree. For more reindeer photos, check out Peony's blog.

Ahh... I've been looking for these too cute ice-cream sticks since the time I spotted them at bff's home. It was during Halloween. I didn't have much luck till last week when I saw them advertised in the papers.

I remember having something similar to this when I was young. Super cute, don't you think?

Christmas Sugar Cookies

I made a date with 2 girlfriends to make some cookies with the kids this holidays. We finally did it today, and what can be more fun than doing sugar cookies and letting them play with dough and decorate in any which way they liked. The kids had fun and I can't deny the adults did too, with all the fun royal icing pipers and fanciful topping that went on the top. We (adults) really had to get the creative juices flowing, but it was much easier for the kids. I think everyone did a great job!

I browsed for sugar or shortbread cookies online last evening, and found this one by Joy of Baking, for both the cookie as well as the frosting recipes. They were both excellent and I have to admit, way better than the ones we made last year. I guess I was just lucky I picked the right recipes this time. These recipes will stay with me for a long time. I love them that much!

Ingredients for sugar cookies -

1-3/4 cups (230gm) all purpose flour

1/8 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup (113gm) unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup (150gm) granulated white sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract


Method -

1. Whisk together flour, baking powder & salt. Set aside.

2. Beat butter & sugar till light and fluffy (about 3-4 mins). Add eggs and vanilla extract and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture & beat until you have a smooth dough.

3. Divide the dough in half & put in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for an hour or until firm enough to roll. (I didn't divide dough, just simply put the entire bowl in the fridge).

4. Preheat oven to 177 deg C (350 deg F) and place rack in the centre of oven. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. (I didn't use parchment paper. Just put them direct on tray)

5. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough till a thickness of 1cm. Cut dough out using a lightly floured cookie cutter and transfer cut out shapes to a cookie tray. Put the tray of unbaked cookies in the refrigerator to chill a second time before baking. This is to prevent the dough from losing their shape whilst baking.

6. Bake cookies for about 10mins depending on their size, or until they turn a little brown around the edges. Remove from oven and let cookies cool down. Frost with royal icing if desired. Be sure to let royal icing dry completely before storing them. This may take a few hours.

Royal Icing recipe :

Ingredients -

1 large egg

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

1-1/2 cup (165gm) confectioner's (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted


Method -

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat egg white with lemon juice. Add the sifted powdered sugar and beat on low speed until combined and smooth. The icing needs to be used immediately or stored in an airtight container as royal icing hardens when exposed to air. Cover with plastic wrap when not in use.

Note: I doubled both the cookie as well as icing recipes and cut down on the sugar for the cookie part. I find the cookie is still sweet so can cut down more to maybe 100gm for a single recipe? Try it out.

Buttery Spritz Cookies

I bought a tree-shaped icing tip last year but never got to use it. I only got it because it was too cute. Thus, I decided I should try out a spritz recipe this year.

Ingredients -

1 cup (227gm) butter, softened
1-1/4cup confectioner's sugar (you could cut it down to 1 cup)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract (could be less as the almond flavour is very strong)
2-1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
Food colouring optional (I used red & green)
Coloured sugar and decorating candies, optional (I used hundreds and thousands)

Method -

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and confectioner's sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and extracts. Combine flour and salt. Gradually add to creamed mixture; mix well. Tint with food colouring if desired.

2. Using a cookie press (I used a pastry bag) fitted with the disc of your choice, press dough 2inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Decorate as desired.

3. Bake at 375 deg F ( I used 170 deg C) for 6-8mins (6mins was sufficient for me) or until set (do not brown). Remove to wire racks and cool.

The cookies were not too bad except that it took me a long time to complete the entire recipe as the icing tip was not big enough. But they turned out really pretty with the decor.

As per requested by Peony, here is a picture of the icing tip I have. It's pretty small thus it churns out really small cookies. Anyone knows if there is a bigger version of this? Please do let me know ya. This can be found at Phoon Huat bakery supplies store.

Cream Cheese Macadamia Nut Cookies

I decided to get started on some Christmas bakes today, seeing that Christmas is in a weeks' time. No more procrastinating or 'trying' to get into the baking mood. Once the mind is set, the task has to begin. I started off the day with a visit to Phoon Huat for some baking supplies. Ambitious me has 5 recipes that I want to try and a fruit cake as well. Let's see how far I'll go.

I made 2 recipes today. One of which was this particular recipe which got me a little excited with the words 'cream cheese'. I've never baked any cookies with cream cheese as an ingredient before, so I decided to give this a try, seeing that I had everything I needed for it.

My reference point for the recipes that I'm going to try out for the first time are from 'Taste of Home - Best Loved Cookies & Bars'.

Ingredients -

1/2 cup butter or 112.5gm, softened
1 package (80zs or 227gm) cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar (no need to cut down as cookies turned out only slightly sweet)
4 tsps grated orange peel (I grated the peel of 1 orange)
2 tsps vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsps baking powder
3/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts or almonds
3/4 cup chocolate chips (I added on my own)

Method -

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, cream cheese, brown sugar, orange peel & vanilla.

2. Combine flour and baking powder. Gradually add to the creamed mixture; mix well. Fold in nuts. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm.

3. Drop by rounded teaspoons 2inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets with a greased glass. (I used my hands to roll them into balls and flattened them a little on the top).

4. Bake at 200 deg C (I used 180 deg C) for 9-11mins or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Notes - This is a good recipe for those who are allergic to eggs. The result was a cake-like cookie.

Point to add - The cookies didn't turn out sweet at all, and they are ok by my standard, but some might not like it. That's the reason I added the chocolate chips, to add sweetness to them, but it gave me a pleasant surprise instead, by bringing out the flavour of the orange which complimented the chocolate chips very well. Without the chocolate chips, the cookies were ok but you couldn't really taste the orange peel.

Too long...

Wow, just looking at the date on my last posting... it's 18 Dec 08. Goodness, that is really a long time since I last updated. Well, a Happy New Year to you all. My apologies to those who have asked for recipes or details regarding caterers etc. I'll try to update those soon.

It was a really busy time the last 2 weeks of Dec, what with Christmas & the many play dates we had. There were two play dates at our place, with Princess' classmates from kindy, an art-themed one where the kids painted on canvases over at J's, and there was also a cookie decoration on over at a swimming class mum, M's, place. We had loads of fun. Every day was packed with activities. We wanted to spend as much time as possible with friends whom we won't get to meet so much now.

Mashed potatoes, salmon with bearnaise sauce, and baked chicken thighs.

Baby spinach & rocket salad, with persimmon, cherry tomatoes, dried blueberries & almond flakes, with a balsamic vinegar (courtesy of beau lotus) dressing.

We had a simple Christmas dinner this year, as always, with mum and sis in attendance. I didn't bake a turkey, no energy for that, but even though simple, mum still thought I put in too much effort into the prep. But really, I only started preparing for the dinner 2hrs' before it was due. The salad was easy to prepare, no cooking involved. The salmon too was quick. Only the chicken took a slightly longer time to bake. Oh yes, I did prepare an apple pie and served it with ice-cream, and the little flower biscuit hors d'oeuvres were filled with canned tuna mixed with some finely chopped onion.

It's Christmas

Is it Christmas already? I really wish time will go slower. I still have loads to do, cookies to be baked and sent out (very very late). Gosh, I don't even have time to think about Christmas. This year, I'm not going to bother myself with a Christmas dinner. Have not planned what to do yet, but princess has her heart set on one. She is telling grandma and I, that she is planning the dinner menu, and she mentioned stuff like turkey, pasta, sushi, fried rice (?????). What???? Oh, whatever!

Her mini Christmas tree - everything from Daiso. Oops, not the nativity scene though.

Instead of spraying snow, we used stickers this year. Love the gingerbread house and people.

I think I caught the decoration bug from KY this year. After visiting her house with all the lovely decor, I decided to do up mine with little touches as well. What have you done for Christmas?

Christmas Day

Christmas celebrations started for us at midnight when we attended the midnight mass. Princess was really excited and hubby too was keen to go for it. It frees up the day for us to clean up the house and do the cooking for the dinner ahead. Princess was a little angel in her beautiful white dress which granny sent over from Ireland. However, she wasn't the only angel there as there were approximately 6 little angels in the pew in front of ours, all dressed similarly in white. We noticed all the girls in church mostly wore white, and mum said, the adults mostly wore black. Hahaha. Maybe we adults should be in more merry colours such as green and red? Hehehe.

It started with a Christmas pageant acted out by the choir, and we even had VIPs in our midst. They were part of some inter-racial thingy. I can't remember what IRCC stood for, as it was late and my brains were not working. I had been up in the morning at 6plus to get princess ready for school. And didn't stop working since then. Did last minute groceries, made the soup, and cleaned some of the house, did the dessert etc. By the night, I was knackered. So I had to try to keep myself awake during mass, just like princess did, and almost fell asleep during sermon. Haha.

I promised princess that if she behaved herself, she'd be allowed to open one present when she got home, as she was starting to get cranky. It was much too late in the night for her to be awake, even though she did have a nap in the afternoon. However, she said she'd do it again next year. :) I believe it's the excitement of being able to stay up so late.

So when we got home, she got to open granny's present. You should have seen the grin on her face when she opened it. It was like a dream come true getting the singing Rosella doll from Barbie the Island princess, which is her current favourite.

And for us, we got a lovely crystal star from mum. Apparently they are limited editions which you collect every year. It was lovely. Thanks mummy.

It was almost 2am by the time we laid out the biscuits and milk for Santa. Hubby and I figured Santa shouldn't come earlier or we'd be up all night. Haha. As I only had one carrot which I needed for my stuffing, reindeer was given celery. ;)

Why, it looks like reindeer love celery too! And Santa must have been super hungry as he finished all the biscuits and milk. I bet it must be tiring to travel all over the world, and it's lovely to be able to fill up his tummy with yummy Christmas bakes. He only gets to do it once a year anyway. And what did Santa bring?

A stocking filled with goodies, and a scooter.

Time to open up the presents.

A pair of inline skates. Her most favourite present from mummy and daddy. She was on them from morning till night. And first thing again this morning.

Some of my presents. Hurray! Kids' bake book from sis, and Jamie's Italy from princess and daddy.

This was a lovely surprise. Thank you, 'Santa', for sending us this letter. It was very thoughtful of you. I hope you're someone who reads my blog or else I don't know how to thank you for it. Princess was delighted to receive a letter from Santa. It was a wonderful gift.

For dinner, it was basically a family affair, with mum and sis, plus a friend of hers visiting from Indonesia. And the three of us.

On the menu, we had roast turkey, mashed potatoes, grilled eggplant, cream of mushroom soup, and asparagus with smoked salmon and Parma ham. Dessert was tiramisu. It was a delightful dinner, not too filling and everyone enjoyed it. Everything was homemade except for the bread and french fries for babe. Hehe. It was all well worth my effort. :)