Chocolate Crackle Cookies... Thank you Teacher

I look forward to occasions like these when I can bake and gift as there's not many of us in the family and bakes are usually left undesired after the first few... :(

It's Teacher's Day tomorrow so I have been searching up for some suitable bakes when I came across these. You can find the recipe here or if you have a Thermomix TM31 and want the easier way out, like I did, try mine.

Soya Chicken

Tried this and Arthur really loves it. It's really easy and goes well with rice and noodles :)


Recipe from: http://www.food.com/recipe/soya-sauce-chicken-by-joey-215955#ixzz1sy801h8H

Soya Chicken

• 1 whole chicken (medium)
• 1/2 cup dark soya sauce
• 1/2 cup Chinese wine (Hua Tiao Chiew Brand)
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 cup water
• 4 slices gingerroot , slices thick
• 3 pieces star anise
• 3 chinese peppercorns
• 2 stalks spring onions or 2 stalks scallions

Directions:

1. 1
   In a pot large enough to hold the chicken, put in dark soya sauce, Chinese cooking wine, white sugar, ginger slices, star anise, Chinese peppercorns, water and spring onions.
2. 2
   Keep pot lidded and boil till it bubbles (about 10 minutes).
3. 3
   Place chicken in the bubbling pot & keep lid on.
4. 4
   Boil for 20 minutes, then turn chicken over and boil for an additional 15 to 20 minutes.
5. 5
   Turn off the heat and let chicken rest for 5 minutes.
6. 6
   Remove from pot and cut into appropriate size for serving.
7. 7
   Retain leftover sauce from pot for additional gravy.
8. 8
   Serve with fluffy steam rice.

Cake Pops

Planning ahead, I started searching for party ideas for Arthur's birthday in June and came across cake pops. Admittedly, the very first time I saw such thing was at a local Starbucks... they just have the regular, chocolate-coated cake pops on sticks... something which triggered me to search for more information.

So, there was this unscheduled birthday party of one of hubby's cousin... and, that gave me a chance to try them out ;) 

Any cakes would do and I used lemon cakes...

I have seen lots of version online but did not refer to any particular one when making them... Instead of the lollipop ball shape, I baked the cakes as mini cupcakes and trim the excess off to the shape of a mini cake.

I had gotten the lollipop sticks from a local baking ingredients shop earlier in preparation for 'when needed' and this was 'when needed' :)

Birthday girl loves them very much... so much she wanted them all!

Cake-Sandwich

Saw a photo of a smörgåstårta on Pinterest and thought I'd give this interesting idea a try. It looks really appealing, appetising and yummy... the last which depends greatly on your preference on the filling and of course, your taste ;)

I won't consider my 'production' a smörgåstårta mainly because the real thing looks much better and probably requires more work :p) but it certainly impressed the crowd when we brought it for the potluck picnic it was intended for.

All I did was to cut the sandwich bread to shape (it takes four slices cut into a quartered circle for one layer) and layer them with fillings of my choice. 

Basically, (from the bottom layer), I had...

4 pieces of white sandwich bread, cut to shape

a layer of canned tuna (one can is just right)

a layer of sliced zucchini (about half a zucchini did the job)

4 pieces of wholemeal sandwich bread, cut to shape

a layer of sliced crabsticks

a layer of sandwich cheese (4 pieces)

4 layer of white sandwich bread, cut to shape

top decorated with a layer of creamed corn, shredded lettuce and cherry tomatoes

If you like the idea as much as I do, google 'smörgåstårta' and be impressed with the full version covered with cream cheese frosting and more!

Steamed cupcakes

I saw these on Sasha's FB page... just couldn't wait to make them! You will be able to find out more from her blog :)

Don't worry... they are really easy and fun to make. For those of you who are afraid of baked goodies being too 'heaty' for your kids, this is a good alternative :D