Happy shopping =)

Sia Huat Annual Warehouse Sale
15 – 18 September 2011
10 am – 8 pm
20 Pandan Road, Singapore 609272

As promised on my Facebook page, here’s the second follow-up to the Corn Fritters post. Last week I suggested what you could  do with the leftover buttermilk; this week I focus on the leftover cornmeal.

When my husband and I were in London last month (thankfully before the rioting started), I picked up a whole bunch of lovely magazines, among which was BBC’s delicious Olive magazine. When I did a cursory scan of the magazine the first recipe that caught my eye was this one for corn and bacon bread. I’m always on the lookout for alternative ways to use up the cornmeal that I can’t ever seem to finish using, and this recipe seemed just the ticket.

Today being a public holiday, I thought it would be the perfect time to try out this new brunch recipe. Besides having to fry the bacon (which I always find a bit of a pain), the recipe is super easy, and gets you one nice loaf of very fragrant, savoury bread that pairs really well with scrambled eggs. Definitely a keeper =)

Bacon Cornbread
(adapted from “Corn and Bacon Bread” recipe in August 2011 issue of BBC Olive)

Ingredients:

• 130g (1-1/8 cup) self-raising flour
• 120g (slightly less than 1 cup) cornmeal
• 180g (6 oz) drained sweetcorn kernels from the can
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp caster sugar
• 240ml (1 cup) whole milk
• 170g butter (plus some butter to grease the loaf tin)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 6 rashers streaky bacon

Directions:

1. Fry the bacon till crisp. Cut into 1/2-inch to 1-inch strips.

2. Pre-heat oven to 190 degC. Butter a regular 8×4-inch loaf tin and set aside.

3. Sift the flour into a bowl. Add the cornmeal, baking powder and sugar. Stir through with a fork. Add sweetcorn and use a fork or spoon to mix well.

4. Put the milk and butter into a pan and melt over low heat. Pour milk mixture into the flour mixture along with the beaten egg, and mix till well combined. Add half of the bacon strips and season with salt and pepper.

5. Pour the batter into the buttered loaf tin, and sprinkle over the remaining bacon strips.

6. Bake for 40 minutes, till the top of the loaf is golden brown and a skewer inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Leave cornbread to cool in its tin. Serve slightly warm with butter (and pair with scrambled eggs or smoked salmon if you like).

What a weekend.

On Friday, I:

• Helped package brownies for 170 people. Yes I know, I made brownies for 300 people (the number of guests increased at the last minute). But I had to leave the rest of the work to my cousins, because I had to rush off to Caldecott, where I…
• Went on a radio talkshow. Pretty wild, huh? =) No I wasn’t on the show to talk about my blog or about cooking!

Then the next day I:

• Attended a beautiful wedding service.
• Spent five hours styling and shooting pictures for a cookbook project that I’m involved in.

And on Sunday I…

• Went to church.
• Had lunch with my Sunday School school. About 30 of them anyway. 1/3 of the class couldn’t make it. (Yup, HUGE class.)
• Went for a property viewing.
• Attended a wedding dinner.

Here are some pictures of the brownie craziness, and of my hectic weekend…

—–

This was brownie batch 4 or 5, I think….

This was step 1 in the brownie packaging process.

The end of the assembly line…

Ready for distribution!

I hope the guests liked the sweet treat that they found inside…

My shameless plug =)

One of the crazier things I’ve ever done, but it certainly wasn’t without its enjoyable moments… Congratulations Jon and Prisc!

Here’s a shot of the only anomaly in my food-and-wedding filled weekend. Going on radio was super stressful! But it sure was a fun once-in-a-lifetime experience =)

And here are sneak peaks of little corners of two shots I took for the cookbook project! I have to say though, that now that I’ve started shooting in RAW for the cookbook, I’m getting very annoyed by the loss in colour when I compress the pictures to JPEG format… Trust me – the pictures are actually much brighter and prettier than what you see here!

—–

Some weekend, eh? I still feel tired.

But I am grateful that my life is full. =)

This is overdue-ish, and I do apologize. I’ve had major blogger inertia since the new year started, for several reasons:

1. I’m starting on a new and important project, and that’s just zapping all my creative juices.
2. My husband’s been away, and when he’s away, I just don’t feel much like cooking or baking…
3. I’ve been re-thinking how I want to go about my blogging this year, and I still haven’t reached a decision.

But just when I was want of inspiration, I remembered that I had promised you guys a Japan post, and I hadn’t fulfilled my promise! The last time I did a travel post was almost a year ago, when I let you guys in on my trip to Australia, and that time too I was struggling with blogger inertia. Maybe it’s a start of year thing – wanting to start everything so well you just don’t dare start anything at all! =)

But I shall get on with it. Here it is, a mini run-down of my wonderful 9-day trip to Japan, where we visited Tokyo then Kyoto then Osaka then Hakone, and ended in Tokyo.

Sightseeing

It was my first time in Japan, so we did all the usual tourist must-do’s. But I think if I had to narrow it down, the stuff I enjoyed most was:

Tokyo National Museum

Not the biggest or most comprehensive history/art museum I’ve ever been to, but I enjoyed myself plenty. It was spacious, well-laid out, had pretty exhibits, and enough information panels to give me a good education. Did you know that the beautiful kimonos that Japanese women have worn for some time now were actually inspired by Kabuki costumes? (Kabuki being the art of Japanese theatre that engaged only male actors.)

I include this picture below because I thought it was neat. Anyone guess what this is? You know those memory cards games where you turn over two cards at a time and try to match pairs? Yup, this is the very same game. But in the past they used sea shells.

Tokyo Tower

This is the usual go-to-high-building-and-get-a-nice-view experience, I just thought I’d mention it in relation to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, another popular viewing point. The government building gives you free entry, but the view is definitely much better from Tokyo Tower. The shot I have at the top was taken from Tokyo Tower.

Meiji Shrine

I would say that unless you are a devotee, arriving at the shrine building itself is less of an event than the process of making your way there. A very long cobbled stone pathway will take you first to a well for cleansing yourself, and then to a prayer wall where people from all over the world write out and hang up their wishes on wooden ema (our favourite one below, from a frustrated Italian), and then finally to the shrine itself. A very pleasant way to spend an hour, especially if you were going to check out Harajuku anyway.

Nijo Castle in Kyoto

It certainly looked more royal than the Kyoto Imperial Palace, and we had a good time creeping about the inside of the palace trying not to sound the canary floors, which were designed to squeak to alert the Shogun of intruders.

I liked the outside of Osaka Castle (below) too, but the inside was a little more stale because it’s been completely converted into a museum. Educational, just not as fun.

Kiyomizudera Temple in Kyoto

This was a very nice visit also – I just wish we’d had more time to peruse the street leading up to the temple. I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of pictures of the famed tourist attraction, so I thought I would instead include a picture of the lovely late autumn foliage we saw there. Japan is very pretty early December…

Onsen in Hakone

We decided to spoil ourselves and get a room with a private onsen, which was absolutely marvellous. And being in Hakone allowed us to do a cable car tour where we got our requisite view of Mount Fuji. Ah Fuji-san….

Shopping

We really didn’t do much shopping in Japan because the yen was much too strong and everything was alarmingly expensive. I did pick up a basket of random bric-a-brac at Tokyo Hands, but I think I enjoyed shopping more at the following places:

Shinsaibashi Street in Osaka

This street is long and lively and packed with all kinds of stores. We hardly went into any of them, to be honest, but we had a great time just peering through windows. And I got a great little pair of boots at a major steal.

Outdoor Homeware Fair in Tokyo

When we were in Ueno making our way to the Tokyo National Museum, we were fortunate enough to pass by this giant homeware/craft fair of sorts that was housed under a huge tentage. I had hardly any cash on me by that time, but it was fun just drooling at all the beautiful cups and bowls and serveware. And unlike in all the department stores, the stuff here was actually affordable. (This was where I bought the pretty container I used in my XO Noodle post.)

Food

Ah…. where do I begin with the food in Japan? It was so good! But to be honest, I do feel that if you go to Japan, you should do some homework and figure out beforehand where you’re going to eat (get recommendations from friends if you can, especially friends who lived there for a time). Most of the food was generally good, but I would say that it was the places we had planned on trying which were phenomenal.

There’s really no end to food recommendations in Japan, so here are just a handful of places we really loved.

Hana No Bu (an izakaya or Japanese pub eatery) in Tokyo

This was the only place we stumbled into that we really liked. It happened to be close by to the Yodobashi Camera we had been shopping it (which was very close the Tokyo Metropolitan Govt Building). A very crowded, packed pub eatery with fresh wonderful sushi at rock-bottom prices. We got the dish below for about S$9! (US$7) *sigh*

Ooh and we learnt how to fold chopstick holders the Japanese way here! (Different from the Chinese way)

Kyorakutei in Tokyo

We found this place through the Michelin guide. Beautifully-textured handmade soba, which you have to get in line real early for. We were the second couple to arrive, and before the restaurant even opened the length of the line already exceeded the restaurant capacity. We ordered an excellent egg dip that went with the soba. The place isn’t easy to find though… it’s in Shinjuku-ku but you have to alight at Iidabashi station and try your bestest to get a cab driver to take you there. Also, no one there spoke English (though they did have an English menu).

Kappa Sushi in Kyoto

Hands-down one of our very best meals in Japan. The sushi was beautiful. So fresh. And we had some lovely morsel of seafood that we were told was “angko belly”, but I have no idea what that is (I thought “angko” was red bean…).  The chefs spoke very little English, but we got by just fine. And it was fun having a reason to take a glimpse at Pontocho (home to the geisha).

Look at that work of art…

Moritaya Shabu Shabu in Kyoto

Another really wonderful meal. The hotel concierge recommended it to us and it definitely didin’t disappoint! We had the most incredible melt-in-your-mouth cuts of beef… ‘Twas yet another place that didn’t have an English-speaking staff, but they too had an English menu.

Chizu Okonomiyaki in Osaka

My japanese sensei recommended this place to me. Definitely the most authentic okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake, for lack of a better term) experience I have ever had. It was delicious. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to eat the awful okonomiyaki served in Singapore ever again… Oh but beware – no English-speaking staff, and no English menu! Haha you should have seen my husband and I try to figure out our order.

Umeda Hagakure in Osaka

This soba place was recommended in the Lonely Planet, and it definitely didn’t disappoint! Tucked away in the basement of a stale business building, you would never have guessed they served such utterly divine cold soba. And because the boss is used to L.P.-guided tourists wandering in, he speaks enough English to guide you through your meal. My husband and I loved this dish (it tasted 100x better than it looks in my crappy photo here):

Daiwazushi at Tsukiji Market

Divine. That’s all.

There were so many other places we liked, I could just go on and on, but I think I’ll stop here. Ooh wait before I forget – one snack that my husband and I devoured in seconds was this amazing Daifuku (strawberry red bean mochi) in Ginza. I loved it – I’m going to try making it.

There was much more to love about Japan:

• How the super clean bathrooms all came with fitted bidets.
• How all hotel rooms came complete with comfy yukata or pyjamas (and hairbrushes in the bathrooms!).
• How the transport system was uber-efficient (though the mega train stations were a bit nightmarish).
• How the women (and ONLY the women!) would instantly give up their seats for us in the trains so we could sit by each other.
• How in so many parts of the country you see charming old-meets-new architecture.
• How you could in one street see a Cosplay character, a kimono-clad young woman and a businessman all headed in the same direction.

I could say more, but I think this post is plenty long. Japan, ありがとございます！またあとで！

This post isn’t about food, specifically. It really isn’t about anything at all, specifically! I just wanted to share some shots of my Christmas season, and some reflections…

To be honest, it has in many way been a hard year for me. Very hard… And yet, I feel very grateful. Grateful for my husband, who has been such strength for me. Grateful that I have not one but two families who love me and care for me. Grateful for friendships that have endured and deepened through time. Grateful for a safe and comfortable home. Grateful for all the everyday conveniences had by the average Singaporean – clean running water, crime-free streets and excellent public transport. God has been very good to me, and I can honestly say that I rejoiced and gave thanks in my heart this Christmas.

Now for some pictures, because they say more than my words ever could…

Leaves, Tinsel, Lights and Glitter

On the left is our first ever live wreath! Flown direct from the USA. It was so nice having a wreath made of real leaves, which filled our hallway with the scent of pine for a few weeks (I hope the neighbours didn’t mind!).

And to the right are our faithful Starbucks Christmas bears, which we’ve brought out each of the last three Christmases.

Here below are our gift corner, and my home-made garland… (Well, sort of home-made. I bought the parts and assembled them… does that count?)

Christmas lights in Japan weren’t too shabby either =) First picture is of Shinsaibashi-Suji in Osaka, the second of Omote-Sando in Tokyo (not to worry, I’ll do a proper post entirely on Japan a little later on).

Gifts Galore

I got soooo many foodie gifts this year! From Canadian maple syrup to tupperware to spatulas to pots and pans and cookbooks in various languages. Thank you to all my loved ones for thinking of me =) And thank you too to those who got me girlie gifts! It was so nice receiving some presents that WEREN’T for my kitchen! Haha

Here is one my hubby’s gifts to me… Adorable potholders and a bag hanger from Harumi‘s little retail corner in Daimaru Tokyo. Thank you sweetie! And the wrapping paper was so neat… it was covered in Harumi recipes!

Here’s one of my favorites this year – a gorgeous tea set from a precious friend. And the picture on the right shows some of the lovely wrapping paper that some of my gifts were wrapped in! I’ve kept a bunch of them and I’m thinking of making a collage out of them, to hang up next year….

I also had a little surprise earlier in December. I won this cute (and very large) tote bag from the Foodie Blogroll, and it was mailed to me all the way from the US!

Fancy Food

As you know I went positively wild with my Christmas baking this year. It was a ton of work, but the joy on the faces of the recipients made it all worth it…

And of course, there was much feasting to be had with friends and family.

Did you notice the big bowl of red stuff in the picture on the left? Yup that was a Nigella Christmas salad I made… covered in delicious pomegranate seeds. I’ve included the very simple salad recipe at the end of this post.

Making Music Together

Lights and gifts and food are wonderful, but one of the things I love most about Christmas is how it brings the many generations together in an atmosphere of joy… This first shot is of the children in my church performing an item, and the second of my beautiful niece being wrapped up by great grandma!

So this wraps up another year of blogging =) Before I sign off, I just want to say a great big thank you to you, my faithful readers. Blogging is fun only because of you! And to my fellow bloggers who have inspired, supported and encouraged me through the year (I think you know who you are), a special blessing on each of you, and I hope I get to meet you all one day.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!

Nigella’s Christmas Salad

(Adapted closely from here)

Click here for printable recipe.

Ingredients (serves 6-8):

• Seeds of 1 pomegranate
• 1 large head of radicchio (red chicory)
• 2 red peppers
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp honey
• Juice of 1 orange
• 2 tsp lime juice
• Pinch of salt
• 5  tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. First, you tear up your radicchio and arrange the leaves inside a large salad bowl.

2. Next, you get the seeds out of your pomegranate, and sprinkle HALF the seeds over the radicchio.

3. Then you de-seed your red peppers, cut them into thin strips and scatter those over the salad.

4. Mix together the mustard, honey, orange juice, lime juice, salt and olive oil. Pour the dressing over the salad.

*I pretty much doubled up Nigella’s dressing ingredient quantities because I found the original quantities to be quite insufficient.

5. Toss it all together, sprinkle over the remaining pomegranate seeds and there you have it – a very unique, tasty and festive salad!

Alrighty… here’s the 3rd and final turkey idea I have for you this year.

Actually this isn’t my idea, but my Thai relative’s genius brainwave. We were discussing turkey leftovers when she suggested using some to make a Thai dish called “Laab“. It’s something of a salad, only not much vegetable is involved… She said that the key ingredients were ground meat, lime, cilantro, toasted rice, fish sauce, chili pepper and mint, and when I googled for a recipe, I discovered that she was exactly right.

The dish is spicy, sour and punchy, and very unique way to use more of that leftover game that might still be in your refrigerator/freezer. What I like too is that the sourness of the lime and spiciness of the ground chili pepper help take away the gaminess of the turkey.

Without further ado….

Thai Laab

(closely adapted from ThaiTable.com)

Click here for printable recipe.

Ingredients (4-6 servings):

• 2 tablespoon toasted white long grain rice
• 500g ground pork/chicken/turkey
• Juice from 2 limes
• 1  shallot, thinly sliced (you can use more if you like shallots… I love ‘em)
• 1/2 tbsp ground dried chili pepper
• 7 tablespoons fish sauce
• 5 sprigs cilantro, chopped
• 3 sprigs spearmint

Directions:

1. First, toast your rice. Heat up a frying pan on medium-high heat, put the rice in the pan, lower the heat to low-medium, then keep stirring so the rice doesn’t burn. The rice is done when it is golden brown.

*I unbrilliantly used brown rice (we’ve pretty much stopped eating white rice) and had no idea when it was ready because it was brown to start with! I think I actually under-toasted it. Basically after 3-4 minutes, your rice should start giving off a lovely popcorn-like aroma, and you will need to heat it for a few more minutes after that before it is done.

2. Put your toasted rice in a mortar and use your pestle to crush it. Set aside.

3. Marinade your ground meat in the lime juice for a few minutes.

*If you are using your leftover turkey, soak it in a bowl of boiling hot water for a few minutes to clean it. After that run it under some cold water, then dump it into your food processor to pulverise it. After it has been ground, marinade as directed above.

4. Heat your pan again, and add the marinaded meat to it. Cook the meat completely.

5. Put the meat in a large bowl, and add your shallot, chili pepper, fish sauce, cilantro, and most of your toasted rice. Mix well.

6. Garnish with mint and remaining toasted rice. Serve with some green veggies on the side like lettuce, beans and basil.

*You might have noticed that my picture shows a sprig of Italian parsley rather than mint, and that’s because I was in such a daze at the supermarket that I bought a pack of sage instead of mint. Aaaarrgghhh! I’m pretty sure the mint makes a fair bit of difference so please use mint.

On to Turkey Idea #2!

I actually typed out this recipe sometime ago, but never posted it. Since I used it again tonight with more of the leftover turkey that was in my refrigerator and it turned out fine, I figured now would be a good time to post it.

Some of you outside of Asia must be wondering what in the world I mean by XO noodles. XO noodles are noodles fried in XO sauce. And what is XO sauce? It’s a spicy seafood sauce used often in Chinese cuisine, consisting primarily of dried scallop (a delicacy in Chinese cooking), dried shrimp, oil and various seasonings. (Read more here.)

XO sauce does not, as the name suggest, contain any XO Cognac. It is only so-named to denote a certain degree of luxury. (It’s not a cheap sauce.) And it really isn’t awfully spicy either. So yes, it’s child-friendly!

In Asia you should be able to get XO sauce in any supermarket, and in the US I think you can find it in any decent Asian supermarket like 99 Ranch Market. If you enjoy Asian stir-fried dishes, XO sauce is a good thing to have in your refrigerator. It adds a lot of punch to otherwise plain dishes, especially to seafood dishes. The recipe I have here would also work best with seafood, such as shrimp, but I’ve made it previously with chicken and now with turkey because my husband does not enjoy shrimp. Seems to work well any which way!

*Don’t you love the beautiful little container in my pictures? I was fortunate enough to pick it up at an outdoor homeware fair in Ueno (Tokyo) on my last day in Japan.

XO Noodles

Click here for printable recipe.

Ingredients (serves 4):

• 4 servings of noodles like ee mee (which you see in the pictures here) or mee pok (which I like best for this dish)
• 2 tbsp of XO sauce
• 2 tbsp soya sauce
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• Sunflower oil for frying
• 2 thumb-sized pieces of ginger, cut lengthwise then smashed with the back of a chef’s knife
• 1 tbsp chopped garlic
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 2-3 sprigs of Chinese celery or 1 stalk of regular celery, chopped
• 1 cup of prawns / shredded pork/ shredded chicken or turkey
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 stalk of spring onion, chopped finely
• 1 stalk of coriander (Chinese parsley), chopped finely

Directions:

1. First, cook your noodles according to package instructions. Drain and set aside.

2. Mix your XO sauce, soya sauce, rice vinegar and sesame oil together in a bowl. Set aside.

3. Heat some sunflower oil in a wok or large frying pan on medium heat. When oil starts getting hot, add the ginger and fry for a minute or two until fragrant. Add garlic and fry for another minute or so. Throw in your carrot and celery and fry for 3-4 minutes until softened, then add prawn or meat and fry for a few more minutes. Add your cooked noodles along with the water and mix in well with the other ingredients. Pour on the sauce mixture and stir well to incorporate it into the noodles. Finally, mix in your spring onion and coriander, and you’re done!

*In the pictures here you might notice the absence of spring onion and coriander, which I omitted because I didn’t have any at home today. They do make a big difference though, so try not to leave them out.

*This post made it to the Foodbuzz Daily Top 9 on 28 Dec 2010!*

I actually wrote this post some time back, but thought now would be an apt time to post it. The pictures in the post show chicken meat in chicken stock rather than turkey meat in turkey stock, but you can easily make the substitute. I had a leftover turkey the night of the 23rd, from which I made stock on the 24th, and which I used to make some macaroni soup for lunch today.

This recipe is very similar to the Ultimate Chicken Noodle Soup recipe that I posted back in June, and indeed calls for the same process for making the stock. But a little tweak here and there and hey presto, you get a different dish! Just as hearty and delicious, but a tad more Asian.

Chinese Macaroni Soup

Click here for printable recipe.

Ingredients (serves 4):

• Macaroni for 4 (follow serving size on the package)
• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 carrot, diced
• 2 stalks of celery, diced
• 1/2 can of button mushrooms, sliced
• 1 cup of shredded chicken/turkey meat (or more… I like lots of meat in my noodles)
• 6 cups of chicken/turkey stock
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 1 cup of bean sprouts, topped and tailed and washed
• 2 spring onions, chopped
• Handful of fried shallots

Directions:

1. Cook macaroni according to package directions. Drain under cold tap water and spoon into serving bowls.

2. Heat oil in a medium saucepan. Fry carrots and celery for 3-4 minutes till slightly softened.

3. Add mushrooms and meat and fry for another minute or two.

4. Add stock, followed by sesame oil, cooking wine, salt and pepper. Bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

5. Finally, assemble your dish! First you get your macaroni (err… ok I know this macaroni ain’t quite the Asia-preferred variety, but I was using whatever I had in my pantry at the time. Better to use the larger ridged variety which is usually labelled “elbows”.):

Then you pour your soup over:

Sprinkle on a generous amount of bean sprouts:

And finally garnish with your spring onion and fried shallots:

There you have it! A hearty meal, and only 4 cups of turkey meat left to deal with…

Such a long time since my last post, I thought I might never blog again! But I’m too excited about the Christmas treats I’ve made this year to not blog, so here’s one last post for the holidays.

Because I am, for the first time in my life, neither working nor in school, I actually have some time on my hands. So I thought I should put a little more effort into my Christmas goodies this year. (Who knows – things may never fall this way again!)

I decided to buy a bunch of Martha Stewart’s beautiful treat boxes (I got them at such a steep discount online that even with significant third party shipping costs from the US to Singapore, the boxes cost me less than half of what they cost in Singapore.) Now if you buy treat boxes, you haveta fill them with treats. So armed with the gorgeous recipes I got from Better Homes and Gardens (and one from this beautiful book on truffles that I bought in the US), I got cracking a couple of days ago, after recovering from my trip to Japan.

Here’s what I made:

• Butterscotch Pecan Icebox Cookies
• Crisp Pistacchio Biscotti
• Fabulous 5-Minute Fudge
• Spiced Almonds
• Chocolate Ginger Truffles

Icebox cookies in the making…

It was crazy work but a ton of fun, and I must say I felt very satisfied at the end of the whole exercise. All the treats turned out real good! I would have liked the icebox cookies to have been a bit crispier, but that aside, everything was lip-smacking delicious. Both the cookies and biscuits were buttery and tasty, the fudge was rich and yummy (it really only takes a few minutes – totally brilliant recipe), the almonds were crunchy, spicey and addictive, and the truffles were utterly divine. (*Do take note that the fudge should only be made just before you need it. After a few days in the refrigerator the cocoa butter in the chocolate tends to separate a little. I’m sure the same goes for the truffles, but I made the truffles right at the end so didn’t have this problem.)

Oh did I also mention that I made 3 large and 6 mini fruit cake loaves? With my friend’s completely wonderful fruitcake recipe (which I am not permitted to share! =)

*exhaustion*

Very very drunk fruit for fruit cake. Thank goodness I finally found some rum at Cold Storage in West Coast Plaza!

It’s way too much work posting all the recipes here, so as you can see I’ve linked the online recipes to the first four items. After Christmas I’ll try to post the recipe for the truffles, which were lots of work, but absolutely gourmet and store-worthy. My husband and I couldn’t stop at one… Good thing I made extras!

If you’re looking to make some last minute goodies, I highly recommend trying the fudge and the biscotti. The fudge requires no effort whatsoever (be sure to toast the walnuts though, because that’s what makes the fudge incredible), and the biscotti is a little bit more work but not hard to do, and is both delicious and pretty.

To save me a bit of $$$, I used a mixture of Valrhona dark chocolate and some cheaper alternative for the fudge. It turned out just fine.

I really hope our recipients enjoy their treat boxes. I don’t know if I’ll ever undertake something like this again! (On this scale at least…)

Now more pictures my week of baking madness for your enjoyment…

Icebox Cookies. So-called because the dough can be kept in the icebox till you need it.

Fabulous Fudge? Yes.

Spiced Almonds. Roasted once, covered in gooey spicey goodness, and about to be roasted again.

Biscotti. Pre-adornment…

Post-adornment.

Truffle centres. (That’s all I managed to take of the truffles before the final product was done because the process was a little bit messy and highly time-sensitive.)

Best-Ever Fruitcake. Some like it small….

Some like it large!

Back to the treat boxes. Let’s see… 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 items. Good to go!

A very happy blessed Christmas everybody. May God’s love and peace bring you joy and guard your heart through the ups and downs of the coming year.

For those of you who read my previous post in its entirety, you might have realised that I had 1/4 of my pasta frolla (i.e. the dough that became the crostata tart crust) left unused. We were informed in the instructions for the Daring Baker Challenge that the unused dough could be used for cookies, so this evening I decided I would make me a tiny little batch of thumbprint cookies from my remaining dough.

I’ve never actually made thumbprint cookies before, but I have seen them all over the blogosphere, and figured it shouldn’t be too monumental a task making them sans instructions, and it wasn’t. It was actually really easy. I just got my dough out of the refrigerator, peeled off little pieces and rolled them into balls, pressed down on each ball with my thumb, and baked them. And they turned out perfect!

I could really appreciate the taste of the beautiful pasta frolla much more in the cookies than in the Crostata I had made a few days ago. And I wasn’t sure what spread would work best with the cookies, so I used Nutella on half of them and strawberry jam on the other half. The cookies tasted marvellous both ways.

Just to make your life easier, I’m going to include the pasta frolla instructions here once more for your convenience, but extend them to include the cookie-making directions. These are a wonderful treat to make for your family, especially at Christmas time =)

Pasta Frolla Thumbprint Cookies

(Pasta Frolla closely adapted from Simona of Briciole)

Click here for printable recipe.

Ingredients (yields about 60 cookies):

• 1/2 cup less 1 tbsp (100g) caster sugar
• 1-3/4 cup (235g) all-purpose/plain flour
• A pinch of salt
• 115g (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• Grated zest of half a lemon
• 1 large egg and 1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten in a small bowl

Directions:

1. Sift the flour into a bowl. Whisk it with the sugar and salt.

2. Rub or cut the butter into the flour. Mix with a fork or your fingertips until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. (If you use your fingertips, work quickly because the heat from your fingers will melt the butter.)

3. Make a well in the center of the flour and butter mixture and pour the beaten eggs into it. Then add the lemon zest. Use a fork to mix the liquid into the solid ingredients.

4. Use your fingertips to knead the mixture until the dough comes together into a ball. Shape the dough into a flat disk and wrap it in plastic wrap. Place the dough in the refrigerator and chill for at least two hours. The dough can be refrigerated overnight.

5. Pre-heat oven to 180 degC.

6. Remove your pasta frolla dough from the refrigerator. Peel off little pieces at a time and roll them into 1-inch balls. Arrange dough balls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

7. Press down on each ball with your thumb, and place the baking sheet in the oven for 25 minutes.

*Mid-way through baking, if you notice that some of your thumb impressions have gotten a little weak because the dough is rising, use the back of a small measuring spoon to press down gently on the centre of the cookies.

8. Remove baking sheet from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. When cookies have cooled completely, use two teaspoons to carefully scoop & drop your nutella or jam into the thumbprint cavities. (One teaspoon to scoop the nutella/jam, the other to scrape the nutella/jam off the first spoon.)

And if you are in need of other Christmas ideas, here are some posts from before that you might find helpful.

~ Christmas Inspiration ~

All Things Chocolate

Pierre Hermé Dried Fruit and Nut Mendiants

Pierre Hermé World Peace Dark Chocolate Cookies

Pierre Hermé Chocolate & Raspberry Tart (I love his recipes can ya tell)

Mint Chocolate Cupcakes

Chocolate Crinkles

Other Sweets

Nigella’s Peanut Brittle

Financiers

The Meat

Nigella’s Coke Ham (absolutely the best ham ever – many of my friends have used this recipe and they all love it!)

~ Before I Sign Off For A While ~

The winner of my recent giveaway was LIN! Congratulations LIN! You should be receiving your egg poacher very soon.

I am soon headed to colder climates, so this blog will be quiet for a while, at least till mid-December. Have a wonderful start of the holiday season everybody. God bless you each one!