School bento #6 + CNY baking

A cutey rabbit char siew bun features in this recess bento. I had seen a bunny chocolate bun at Breaktalk but I think this one is way cuter. I got this from Four Leaves Bakery. It looks more like a rabbit than Bugs Bunny. My sis is born in the year of the rabbit and I know she will love this. Unfortunately I can't do one (bento) for her. Little oranges are seen here again (I have a whole basketful!). Normally, princess doesn't like oranges but she loves these as they are cute, sweet and seedless.

I've also been busy baking for CNY gifts. I really marvel those who bake to sell. Just making tarts for gifts and own consumption yesterday already zapped me of all my energy. From making the dough (thank you Kenwood), to rolling out the jam balls (no KW or KitchenAid can do this job unfortunately ;P), to wrapping dough over jam, to glacing, to finally baking. Remember those who eat tarts - think of the person doing them, the amount of hard work that goes into one ball. Please don't pop them like peanuts. It's a plea from bakers like me. Savour every bite and eat them with love, as much love as was put into making each and every ball, then you will feel the love of those who made them. :D

To get the ball rolling on my baking, I started with the very simple chocolate chip cookie. It was quick to prepare, bake and cool, thus making them great as a night time bake, which was the only time I had in the past few days. Afternoons are occupied these days with homework, tons of it. I'm glad that the girl has finally caught up on her hw. There is still one major compo to do and 3 short ones. Those are optional as she only needs to choose one out of 4, but she hopes to be able to complete all 4 at her own pace. Her bedtime has also been adjusted to 9pm, not by choice, but by her heavy workload. She has been quite good last 2 days as I was busy with work (my hubby will have you know that staying home is not work) - cleaning house, doing laundry, baking, cooking etc. Although having to do lots of hw, she did complain once or twice about her aching hand, but I just let her rest a few minutes here and there before continuing. There really wasn't enough time to waste. She sometimes completes them around 8-9pm, and it's off to bed. She gets a sheet of Maths problem sums to bring home every day, and that is on top of a few sheets that they do in school! For Chinese, there are also pages of hw. :( She doesn't have a life anymore! Why do they push them so hard? :(

Well, anyway, so here is my chocolate chip cookies. A big portion = two recipes.

My first batch. :)

This is the reason I hate making pineapple tarts... rolling them jam balls. They are sticky eeky and so time consuming.

Perfect circles.

Here they are, all ready to be packed.

Pandan Chiffon Cake

It sure took me a loooong time to get round to baking my very first chiffon cake. Have been obsessed with the thought of baking it lately, and did quite a bit of homework before deciding to try this one I found through baking mum's blog. The part in the recipe that bought me over was, "I actually like this recipe better than the other one I have shared. When I do this recipe, I only need one bowl to beat the egg whites. As for the egg yolks I only need to use a whisk and whisk it by hand. No need to be thick and creamy texture". I knew this had to be the one for me. I love doing things the simple way. If it works, why bother with complications, right? ;)

The only thing wrong with this recipe is that it is enough for an 18cm tin while mine is a gigantic 23cm. And just when I was about to get the baking tin ready, I noticed a part in it had a dent and that was bad! I did not have a receipt and I was dying to bake it after putting it off a whole week, and now that I had everything I needed in the recipe, I couldn't wait. So, I had to make do by using some foil to cover the outside of the tin. I do feel so cheated as the tin didn't come cheap. It was partly my fault for not having checked thoroughly before my purchase.

While preparing the mixture, the smell permeating from it was heavenly. There's nothing like the combination of pandan and coconut. Absolute match made in baking heaven.

This was what my cake looked like when ready. It wasn't all that bad. It's just shorter by half than the usual size you get at the bakeries.

Once out of the oven, it had to be turned upside down to cool. Now I know the purpose of those little feet jutting out of the tin.

The end result? I managed to get it out perfectly in one piece, and it had a lovely golden colour on the bottom which is now the top. Texture-wise, a bit denser than what you get at the bakeries. It's a great challenge, but really much cheaper to buy it from the baker's. Haha. Flavour-wise, I think sugar could be increased by another 20gm as it was a bit short on sweetness.

PANDAN CHIFFON CAKE (recipe taken from Prima's website)

100g Prima brand Top Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tbsp Pandan Juice (I used 1tsp pandan paste)
100ml Coconut Milk
4 Egg Yolks
50ml Corn Oil
¼ tsp Green Colouring (omit this if using pandan paste)
5 Egg Whites
¼ tsp Cream of Tartar
100g Castor Sugar (can try adding another 20gm)
pinch of Salt

Instructions -

Preheat oven to 170°C. (I used 160-165deg on my fan forced oven)

Extract pandan juice from finely pounded pandan leaves and add to coconut milk.
(**) I did not use pandan juice but used about 1 tsp of pandan paste instead.

Add egg yolk, 50g sugar, oil, colouring and salt to the coconut mixture. Mix well using hand whisk.

Sift Prima brand Top Flour and baking powder and fold into mixture. Mix until smooth. Set aside.

Beat egg whites and tartar at high speed until foamy. Add remaining 50g sugar and
beat until stiff.

Add 1/3 beaten egg white to the yolk mixture and mix using a hand whisk.

Slowly fold in this mixture to the remaining 2/3 of beaten egg whites.

Pour mixture into an ungreased 18cm chiffon tin and bake for about 50mins. (I used a 23cm and it took me 40mins)

Turn tin over on a cake rack to cool before loosening cake using a sharp knife.

Pineapple upside down cake

This cake has been on my to-do list for a very very long time. I just never felt the urge or rather, there was never a real push factor. Glimpsing a tin of pineapple rings as I walked past a shelf in NTUC, I decided to seize the moment and pick it up.

The tin sat on the kitchen countertop for 3 whole days. In the meanwhile, I had to psych myself to get it done.

I finally did it today! Yippee! But since I don't like maraschino cherries, I used some strawberries to fill in the gaps. As you can see, the red didn't turn out that well.

I used Nigella's recipe which you can find here. The cake is nice, although it doesn't rise all that much. It wasn't too sweet, and was really easy to make. Removing it from the cake tin was also a breeze.

This cake holds a very special place in my heart. During my Secondary school days, a friend and I joined a baking contest organised by my school and we won the second price with our pineapple upside down cake. :D However, I have no idea where that recipe has gone. What a pity.

M&M's Peanut Butter Cookies

This cookie was on the list at Christmas but I never got round to making it. I have always loved the combination of peanut butter with chocolate. It all started with Reese's peanut butter cups. I looked around for Reese's cups but unfortunately they were nowhere to be found. Luckily smart me remembered M&M's peanut butter chocolates. They will be a great replacement for the cups. This recipe is dedicated to my sis who loves these chocolates after I introduced them to her.

Ingredients -

2/3 cup peanut butter (creamy)
1 cup sugar (can cut down to 1/2 or 3/4 cup)
1 cup brown sugar (can cut down to 1/2 or 3/4 cup)
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2-1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 cups chopped peanut butter cups (about 6 1.6ozs packages)

Method -

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, peanut butter & sugars till light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips and peanut butter bits.

2. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 2inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 175deg C for 10-12mins or until edges are lightly browned. Cool for 2mins before removing to wire racks.

These were lovely and very colourful.

I would like to wish my Chinese readers a very Happy & Prosperous Lunar New Year, and for the rest, a Happy Valentine's Day!

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!

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.

Happy Valentine's Day

A very Happy Valentine's Day to all. I baked some cutout biscuits yesterday using my new Cinnamoroll & My Melody cookie cutters. However, I won't be posting the recipe here as I wasn't too pleased with the result of the dough. It was too soft to handle and really tough just putting these few pieces together. Have to hunt down a good cutout cookie recipe.. Do you have one to recommend? :)

Yesterday was hubby's birthday, so we went for an early lunch before sending little one to school. Since she was having a proper lunch, I decided to just give her some cookies and fruits for her snack. Bought 2 punnets of blueberries at $4plus for 2 at NTUC.

Double Chocolate Cupcakes

Made some chocolate cupcakes just for the fun of it, and just slathered some ganache on them. Yum! Pretty too. :)

Rich Orange Cake

The picture above doesn't really do the cake justice. As you can see from photo, there's a little portion in the middle where the cake didn't cook too well. But believe me, this cake is heavenly. I had some oranges in the fridge which have been there for quite some time, so this morning, I thought of baking something simple and which needed minimum ingredients, as well as, using the stuff I already have at home. This (Bee Lian's Rich Orange Cake from Allrecipes) fitted the bill perfectly. I followed the recipe mostly, but I substituted the flour for cake flour, adding a tsp of baking powder and half tsp of baking soda. I also used half a tsp of orange essence.

The result? A super light & fluffy cake, very very yummy. I wonder if it's because of the change of flour that made it fluffy, as most of the comments indicated that it was a moist and dense cake. It is slightly moist. I'll be making more of these, definitely!

Sponge cake

This was made a couple of days ago. I can't remember where I got this recipe. I tend to print out recipes when they catch my attention, and usually when it's something simple, I like to try it out. However, I wasn't exactly pleased with it. I have a pack of whipping cream in the fridge, thus decided to slice cake in half and spread it with jam and a layer of whipped cream, followed by top layer of cake and more whipped cream for topping. Hubby loves it, but I'm no whipped cream fan so I didn't have too much of it. :P

Italian night & some bakes

I finally did the risotto, and hubby loves it, S! Princess tried it and said yummy, but she declined to have more. Hahaha! Initially, I was a bit skeptical and thought the water was maybe a little too much, as it was nearing the 15mins mark but the water still wasn't drying up. Thank goodness I persevered and it finally did. Boy, was I rewarded. I added some fresh prawns to it and that really lifted the dish. However, I didn't get a chance to make a trip to the supermarket to get some greens to add, so it looks rather boring. ;P Also made some pizza using pita bread as a base, with a topping of ham, pineapple and mozarella.

I agreed to helping the teachers in school bake some cupcakes for their National Day celebration tomorrow. I was given the Phoon Huat golden muffins ready mix. Just needed to add eggs and oil. They turned out almost perfect. The first lot was the most beautiful but as the oven temp increased, the rest slowly resembled little hills. Hehe. Still, even though it was a pre-mix, I spent 3hrs baking the 50 cups and having to wait for them to cool to store. So much for sleeping early last night. ;P

Choconana brownies

What a name! Haha! I came up with these today. I guess it's a mix of disillusionment as well as boredom. There's a banana cake recipe which I've been trying out. The first time it failed as it turned out very dense, not like the one I tried at the funfair. A mum had made it and because it was so yummy, I asked her for the recipe. Mine turned out nothing like hers. So just this morning I tried baking it again. Everything was perfect till the cake went in the oven and goodness! I had forgotten to add the oil! Another failure. I wanted to try it again but didn't have enough bananas. So since I had promised to bake brownies for princess and hubby, I thought, hey banana and chocolate go hand-in-hand. *Ding* (lightbulb moment). So I experimented and came up with this creation. I have yet to try it as super full from breakfast. But I hope it's good. ;)

All you have to do is use your favourite brownie recipe and cut up a banana into tiny bits and mix it in then bake.

Slice & bake biscuits

I was looking around for a lemon poppyseed recipe and came across this one. I didn't really want a muffin type to bake the seeds with, so after going through the countless recipes out there, I decided to try this biscuit out. It's very versatile and has a lovely texture. It's not for those who love their biscuits crispy though. But it is lovely. I divided the dough in half and added chocolate chips. They were made for a special friend. :)

Part-time mum

We had a little guest with us in our home yesterday. Princess' little friend, C, had gone for her P1 registration at a school near my place. She currently lives in Woodlands and it's unusual for her to be in our area. But they are looking to move closer to school. While I was messaging her mum in the morning, I thought why not see if little C wants to spend the day with us while her mum went back to work. Her mum said to do it another time as C had speech and drama classes yesterday. So I took it as that. After like 5 minutes, she rings me up and says C refused to go to school and was asking when she was coming over to me. Her mum had told her that princess was in school and there was only me at home. That didn't deter her. Anyhow, I told her it wasn't a problem, that I would take her for the day and the girls could have fun together. So it was settled, and while they were on the way, like only 15mins away, I ran around doing all the little things to get the house tidied up a bit. By the time they arrived, it was slightly more presentable.

The girls played very well together and not a quarrel between them (phew). They made crafts with Hama beads, played on the PSP and DS, and made more crafts. Meanwhile, in the kitchen I had some ready cupcake mix which I made up real quickly and after frosting them, gave two little bowls of decoration for them to decorate the tops with. Here's what they did...

I fried some fish fillet with breadcrumbs, which I had picked up a couple of days earlier. Love the crispiness on them when freshly fried.

This is what they had for dinner. Hey Al, do those plastic containers look familiar? ;) Ooops, yes, I also made some blueberry konnyaku jelly with my new moulds but they are mostly gone now so this is all that is left. Can you spy the heart, flower, pineapple and cat?

For lovers of Hello Kitty, Daiso has new stocks of HK merchandise just on the shelves on Tuesday this week. Don't miss them.

Brownies & lunch

I seem to be in a baking frenzy. :D I guess I've been inspired by the few of you with all your yummy-licious bakes. Just couldn't stay away from my oven for long. Thanks gals for inspiring me. My next bake will be the sesame and wheat biscuits once I get hold of some wholemeal flour. ;)

I've been itching to bake these brownies ever since I laid eyes on them and here they are. I didn't do a ganache to go over the top but they were delicious on their own. I would have liked them to be a little more chewy and more chocolatey so will make some adjustments to the original recipe the next time I bake them.

For lunch yesterday, my only day at home this week (thanks to cleaner coming), I prepared a noodle dish for lunch. I usually like these noodles done in dark soya sauce but my little one does not like 'black' food. That is the opposite of me. I love black food myself. Ingredients included fishcakes, crabsticks, thinly-sliced pork fillet, bean sprouts, egg, sliced carrots and yellow noodles. I made a stock with dried anchovies to 'sweeten' the dish.

Oh dear, got to go... Michael's calling. More about that later... ;)

Cranberry Bread & Butter Pudding

Made these a couple of days back after getting inspiration from 3 elements. The recipe sounded easy enough and I had the ingredients needed. You can get the recipe here. However, maybe it was the addition of the dried cranberries but it was rather sweet so I would lessen the amount of sugar the next time I make it. It was a hit with hubby, who before he came to Singapore 12 years ago, had never tasted nor heard of this pudding. Hehe.

What U need:

• 6 slices Bread
• Butter for spreading on bread
• Handful of dried cranberries or any other dried fruit of choice
• 4 Eggs
• 100g Sugar
• 2 cups Milk
• 1 tsp Vanilla essence
• Dashes of cinnamon

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Trim the crusts off the bread & spread butter evenly on one side.
3. Break bread into small pieces onto an oiled 8 inch baking pan.
4. Sprinkle with cranberries.
5. Whisk eggs, sugar, milk, vanilla & cinnamon until well mixed.
6. Pour mixture over bread, ensuring all the bread are soaked with the mixture.
7. Let it stand for 15mins.
8. Bake for 45 minutes or until the top springs back when lightly tapped & browned.
9. Serve warm.

Scones for Breakfast

Was very tempted by the scones Little Corner of Mine made a couple of days' back. I love anything that is super easy to do, one bowl kind of thing, not having to wash up tons of stuff. And so, I decided to make them seeing that the recipe was rather straightforward. Woke up pretty early this morning even though princess wasn't going to school, as my intention was to make the scones for breakfast before her ballet class. Her teacher's assistant is doing her practical exams and as part of the exams, she has to conduct a class before the examiner who will then grade her. So we skipped school today to form a class with 5 other girls and they had loads of fun. All of those who participated were given little goody bags in appreciation of their help; filled with Smarties, jelly babies, a notebook and a pencil. How sweet of these teachers.

The scones are really good. I love the almond flavour in them. Try it. It takes very little effort yet are delicious! However, not sure of the temperature of my oven, I put them in at 218-220deg C but found it to be too hot. Of course I didn't have the time to sit in front of it while it was baking so in 11mins they became really brown on top due to the sugar. I quickly turned it down a little to approx 200deg and let it slowly bake for another 6-8mins. Lovely, gorgeous scones. We had to put them in bags to eat on the way as we were running late. It was lovely and warm and I believe that's the best way to eat them. ;)

It didn't yield a lot. 10 pieces according to how I cut them and only 2 small pieces are left now. Hubby had some too. Princess wants me to bake more for after her swim class when they have a little 'picnic', but I'm too tired now. I will most definitely bake them again, very soon. :)

For lunch, we ate at Sakae Sushi, and this is one dish I've recently discovered which I love. It's Curry Udon with a choice of chicken or beef. Slurp!