Crunchy Granola

 

I have been making my weekly sandwich loaf ever since the start of the year and ingredients such as oats, different types of nuts, seeds and dried fruits were used to make the loaf. I have lots of leftover of these ingredients. That is how the idea of making this crunchy granola came about. 

Home made crunchy granola for my family that I can customize and adjust the level of sweetness (the sweetness of some store bought ones can be really off the chart)  to our liking. That's not a bad thing at all.

Matcha Black Sesame Vanilla Sandwich Cookies

 

I love Matcha! This cookie not only uses matcha, it also incorporate deliciously healthy ingredients such as black sesame and almond meal. I realized that almond meal helps to bring out the flavour of matcha more than compared to just using plain flour in a cookie.  

The cookies are not too sweet as matcha powder do tame down the sweetness. The added vanilla filling, gave a boost to the flavour and texture.

Lemon Cookie Slices

 

When life gives you lotsa lemons (actually I just could not resist that beautiful bag of lemons and there were 10 lemons in a bag!) , you gotta make lemon cookie slices (15 generous slices in total). They shout sunshine to me. And they were so puckering yummy! 

Raspberry Swirls Lemon Cheesecake

This is my basic bake cheesecake recipe that I always use whenever I want to whip up a cheesecake for my family. The ingredients list does not include flour, sour cream or heavy cream but instead natural Greek yogurt is used. This recipe allows me to bake a cheesecake with no crack on the surface.

Home Made Butter Croissants (Maiden Attempt)

I have always wanted to try making home made croissants. It always reminded me of the laminated dough (puff pastry dough) my sis made in her secondary school food and nutrition class. She brought it home and it baked into layers of light and crispy pastry. 

Dark Chocolate Matcha Cake

Homemade Dark Chocolate Matcha cake + Great Reads = Great Time 

Matcha (green tea) and dark chocolate are two of my favourite things. In this post, these ingredients are combined to create a cake for Mother's Day! I have made a seriously dark chocolate cake last year and it was very well received by my family and friends. 

The matcha (green tea) sponge was very light, without being overly sweet and the lightly sweetened matcha whipped cream further enhanced the matcha flavour. The chocolate ganache layer gave a contrasting rich, dense (in a good way) texture and flavour.

Homemade Crepes Recipe

Crepes is a close cousin to pancakes. The omission of leavening agents in crepes recipe results in a thin, chewy texture as compared to a light and fluffy texture of pancakes.  Crepes are made with very simple ingredients, flour, eggs, milk and butter. And the batter can be made simply in a bowl with a hand whisk. With the aid of a hand held emission blender, my batter was completed in less than 10 minutes.

Chocolate Hazelnut (Nutella) Pearl Sugar Braided Bread

Using the same dough recipe as the basil pesto poppy seed braided bread, I replaced the basil pesto with a chocolate hazelnut (Nutella) spread to make a sweet braided bread. 

Honey Lemon Berry Filled Loaf Cake

When I saw this Honey Lemon Berry Filled Loaf Cake in a baking book, I was instantly attracted to it and made plans to bake it as soon as I could. It is filled with raspberries and blueberries inside out. The simple decorations on the cake allow the natural colors and texture of the fruits to be placed in the limelight. It is simple and beautiful.

Hanami Dango ("Flower Viewing" Japanese Dumpling)

This recipe was inspired by an outing made with my friends to view the cherry blossoms (Sakura) at The Gardens by the Bay, a few weeks ago. The cherry blossoms were so beautiful. I also found out that the cherry blossoms season in Japan is ending soon too. By making these hanami dango, I hope that it will prolong the season for a little longer.