[recipes] Christmas Bread

Christmas is around the corner and this year I managed to bake 2 batches of Christmas themed bread. These sweet Christmas buns make a great alternative to serve on festive table and you can choose to make it plain without the fillings in order to have it with soup or cheese.

圣诞节的气氛越来越逼近，今天就和你们一起分享我和小伙伴一起做的圣诞主题面包

[Christmas Bake] Cranberry Almond Shortbread And Christmas Donuts

Christmas is just another 4 days from now and I am sure most of you are busying with the festive bakes such as Christmas Fruit Cake, Fruit Mince Pie, Gingerbread Man, Christmas Stollen and etc to share as gifts for friends or serve them together with the festive feast. Here with our recipe collaboration with Bake King, we have another two Christmas Bake ideas which might comes in handy for your last minutes bake too.

Shortbread is one of my favourite cookies to enjoy with a cup of freshly brewed tea and in order to make some good quality of shortbread it is very important to use quality butter and pure vanilla extract to enhance the taste. Furthermore you can have different flavour and texture by adding cocoa powder, espresso powder or lemon zest plus a small amount of cornflour to the all-purpose flour to achieve that melt-in-your-mouth shortbread.

[Christmas Bake] Mini Fruit Cakes With Nut Topping

Fruit Cake is a traditional all-time British Christmas cake that is often made with butter, liquor (RUM/Brandy) and lot of dried mixed fruits and assorted nuts. This cake is best to consume a few days to weeks after baking for a better flavour. And if you prefer a strong taste of liquor, you can also bake the cake a few week ahead and brush it with RUM several times and allow the flavour to age before Christmas.

Out of all the Christmas bakes, fruit cake is one of my favourite and every year I will baked some for my family and friends as gift. And since Christmas is just less than a month from now, it’s will be a great time to start preparing some fruit cake to enjoy over the festive season.

Christmas Tree Tuna Sandwich

Good Morning! Merry Christmas to all my friends, readers and supporters out there.  Thank you so much for all your kind comments, supports and frequent visits to Cuisine Paradise website and Facebook page. I am so blessed to know some of you in person as well as those silent readers/supporters who are always there.

In coming 2013 I would continue to share more recipes ideas, review new products and etc which I hope it would inspired you to cook or bake more for your family or loved ones.

CHRISTMAS TREE TUNA SANDWICH

As today is Christmas, I would like to share with you this 10 minutes breakfast ideas which you could easily find the ingredients in your kitchen pantry. I am sure this Christmas Tree alike tuna sandwich would be a hit for your kid(s) or party guests today. It's so easy to prepare and yet too adorable to be consumed.

(Serves: 2 | Preparation: 10 minutes )

Ingredients:

• 4 Slices of Thick Toast
• 1 Can of Tuna Chunk/Flake in Olive Oil
• 4 Slices of Sandwich Cheese
• 1 Japanese Cucumber, thinly sliced and havled
• 1 Medium Tomato, sliced
• 2 Shallots, thinly sliced
• 1 Tablespoon of Japanese Mayonnaise
• Some freshly ground black pepper
• 1 Christmas Tree Shaped Pancake Ring Mould

Method:-
1. Drain the tuna chunk, place it in a bowl together with shallot, mayonnaise and pepper. Mix well and set aside.

2. Next using a Christmas Tree shaped cutter, cutout the shape from the bread and repeat the same procedure using sandwich cheese.

3. Put a slice of the cutout sandwich cheese on top of each Christmas Tree cutout before spreading a layer of tuna mixture on it.

4. Arrange the halved cucumber slices to resemble tree leaves and you can add on extra "Stars" cheese and tomato slices to decorate the trees.

Furthermore, other than the Christmas Tree alike sandwiches I also include this Rocky Road Granola with Milk for our breakfast. This is a super yummy treat made by Sherie from Maameemoomoo. I really loves this great combination and I am always craving for it even before bedtime.

Here you go, these are the lovely granola packaging from Maameemoomoo's Christmas collection which is known as Rocky Road Granola (RRG). Each packet has generous amount of chocolate coated rolled oats, roasted almond, cranberries, 46% milk chocolate sticks and fluffy marshmallows. You can find out more about Sherie's homemade Granola at this link HERE which connected to her Granola posts. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone! Have a blessed and fruitful festive season.............

Orange Marmalade Bread Pudding

There are so many festive bakes to make during Christmas season like Gingerbread Man, Classic Chocolate Brownie, Yule Chocolate Log and etc. Here is another quick festive dessert follow by the Pancakemisu which I have shared two weeks back.

I am sure most of you have tried Bread and Butter Pudding which is one of those classic English recipes that everyone loves. With the addition of marmalade with the egg custard, it gives the bread pudding a zingy orangey taste which makes the whole thing superb.

ORANGE MARMALADE BREAD PUDDING
(using Frezfruta Orange Marmalade)

This dessert is so yummy with layers of soft custard insides that contrasts with the crispiness of the buttery danish bread and nutty almond flakes on top. And it is also very easy to prepare just by whisking together the custard ingredients, pour it over on the bread, bake till custard is set and top is golden brown in colour. 

(Serves: 4  | Preparation: 10 minutes  |   Cooking: 30 minutes)

Ingredients:

• 5 Slices Of Danish Bread
• 1/4 Cup Frezfruta Orange Marmalade
• 3 Egg (55g each)
• 200ml Milk
• 100ml Thicken Cream
• Zest of 1/2 Orange
• 1 Tablespoon Caster Sugar, optional
• Some Julienned Orange Zest, optional

Method:-
1. Preheat oven to 180°C (degree Celsius). Lightly grease the base of two 12 x 12 x 8cm square baking dish and set aside.

2. Spread each pieces of Danish bread with Frezfruta Orange Marmalade, cut it into 8 small pieces and layer them into the two prepared baking dish.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together egg, milk, cream and orange zest for 1 minute till smooth. Carefully pour the egg mixture over the bread and leave it to soak for 5 minutes.

4. Cover baking dish with foil and bake for 20 minutes, remove the foil and continue to bake for another 5 minutes or until top is golden and the custard is set.

5. Remove the pudding from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Dust with icing sugar and serve immediately with a cup of Gold Kili Instant Double White Milk Tea.

Tip:
~ For extra flavour, you could sprinkler some castor sugar and julienned orange zest on the bread before baking..

During baking the bread pudding will puff quite a lot which resemble soufflé but it will deflate once it is out of the oven so remember to use a deep baking dish instead of shallow one for this recipe. And with this easy recipe you could prepare a quick festive dessert to impress your guests together with  some Floral or Milk Tea which is perfect beverage to go with bread pudding.

{Christmas Bake} ABC Power Cake

I am sure for those who love fruit juice you would probably have tried the ABC (apple, beetroot and carrot) Detox Juice during one of your orders. But other than the juice, have you ever tried any cake which is made from ABC Juice and it's residues. If NO, here is a new recipe that I would like to share with you and it might come in handy for this Christmas season.

As Christmas is approaching, I wanted to bake something which has some festive feel like Mixed Fruit Cake, Ginger Bread, Cookies or etc. And the idea of this ABC Power Cake inspired me from my Okara Black Butter Cake which I have shared sometime back.

ABC POWER CAKE
(using Juice and Fruit Residues from Apple, Beetroot and Carrot)

This cake has a brownish red colour tone which similar to those Christmas mixed fruit cakes or sticky date pudding which we all loved. Furthermore this cake is light and fruity in flavour as compared to those traditional Christmas bakes which are loaded with spices and dried mixed fruits or chocolate. 

(Make: 2 tins (17cm x 8cm x 6cm) | Preparation: 10 minutes |  Baking: 45 minutes)

Ingredients:

• 180g Self-Raising Flour
• 20g Valrhona Dutch Process Cocoa Powder
• 4 Eggs (55g each)
• 200g Unsalted Butter
• 180g Castor Sugar
• 150g ABC Fruit Residues
• 50ml ABC Juice

Method:-
1. Preheat Oven to 170°C degree Celsius.

2. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy (beating with an electric mixer for about 4 - 5 minutes on medium speed).

3. Add in 1 egg at a time, beating well in between each additions. Beat in ABC Fruit Residues till combined (a few seconds).

4. Using a rubber spatula, fold in half the sifted flour mixture (careful not to over-stir or beat the mixture) and follow by ABC Juice and remaining flour.

5. Divide the batter into the prepared casing, bake the cake in preheated oven for 40 - 45 minutes or until a skewer insert in the middle and come out clean.

6. When cooked, remove cake from the oven, allow it to cool completely on a wire rack before cutting.

This cake is very moist and perfumed with fruity flavour and aroma from the fruit juice and residues used and with each bite you could also taste a mild beetroot flavour in it. For a change from the usual traditional Christmas bake, perhaps this power cake would be something that you would love to share with your family or friends during this festive season. And for party or potluck idea, you could even bake this in small cupcake size, dust with icing sugar and decorate with Christmas cake toppers too.

Pancakemisu Using Gold Kili Double Shot White Coffee

Good Morning Everyone! Hope you have a great Monday. If you have not taken your breakfast and still wonder what to prepare for today perhaps you would like to try making this "Pancakemisu" which would be ready in less than 15 minutes time!

As we are in the month of December and Christmas is just around the corner I am sure you are into festive mood just like what we do too. And since pancakes are always one of our family's staple food which I would rotate different flavour at least once or twice a week, I decided to make something new for this festive season.

Mixed Fruit Cake

Follow from the previous Double Chocolate Banana Cake post, here is the related post on a simple Mixed Fruit Cake which I made especially for Uncle James as he is a big fan of mixed fruit cake. And since I am baking two cakes on the same day using Happy Call Double-sided Pressure Pan (HCP) for demonstration to my aunties; who are all keen in learning how to bake using this new gadget, I have modify the usual traditional fruit cakes recipes to a simplify one.

Compared to the traditional Christmas Mixed Fruit Cake, this one is much easier in term of ingredients preparation and shorter baking time.You can prepared ahead by soaking the mixed fruit with RUM and orange juice the night before to achieve a better flavour or if you are running out of time like me, just make sure you have soaked them at least 10 - 15 minutes.

MIXED FRUIT CAKE

Here I have adapted a similar recipe from the previous Banana Chocolate Cake with Cranberry which I have shared. And instead of using caster sugar, I have replaced it with brown sugar for its natural brown and taste that enhance the appearance and taste of the mixed fruit cake. As for the type of dried fruit you can either purchase those ready-mixed packed available from baking section or you can DIY your own by mixing a few of your favourite fruits such as tangerine peel, apricot, raisin, cherry, ginger and etc together.

(Serves: 30 x 25cm | Preparation: 10 minutes | Cooking: 30 minutes)

Ingredients:
225g All-Purpose Flour(plain flour)
170g Brown Sugar
170g Unsalted Butter, room temperature
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Pinch of Salt
3 Eggs(55g each)
60ml Orange Juice
Rind of 1 Orange
200g Dried Mixed Fruit
2 Tablespoons of RUM/Grand Marnier

Method:-

1. Soak dried mixed fruit with RUM, Orange Juice and Rind for about 10 minutes. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a bowl and set aside.

2. Cream soft butter and brown sugar using a electric beater or hand whisk till pale and creamy.

3. Add one egg at a time, beat till combined before adding in the flour mixture.

4. Using a spatula, fold in sifted flours in 3 batches alternatively with the mixed fruit mixture(add in the liquid as well) till well combined.

5. Slowly scrap mixture into the lightly greased Happy Call Pan(grease 1 teaspoon of oil on both side of the pan using hand or paper towel).

6. Bake on low heat for 12 minutes, slowly shift the pan towards right side so that left side (1/2 of the HCP) of the pan is on the heat, bake for another 6 minutes. Next shift the pan back towards the left side so that right side(1/2 of the HCP) of the pan is on the heat. (the purpose of doing this is to even out the baking as well as give the cake a nice brown colour on the surface when flip over)

7. Lastly, flip the HCP over and bake for another 6 minutes(3 minutes left, 3 minutes right) to have a nice brown top.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FOR OVEN METHOD:-

1. Follow steps 1 - 4, pour cake batter into a greased 7" square or round tin.

2. Bake in preheated 180° Celsius oven for about 40 - 50 minutes or when a skewer inserted in the center and comes out clean.

BLUEBERRY LEMON BUTTER CAKE

(Preview)

This is another snack preview of my HCP bake cake; Blueberry Lemon Butter Cake made using fresh blueberry. Simply love this light and fluffy lemon taste cake with my favourite blueberry in it. Will update more on the related recipe soon. Stay tune.

Christmas Gifts - Classic Chocolate Brownie and Cheddar Cheese Crackers

What is your PERFECT Christmas Gift! I am sure everyone loves to receive something special for Christmas and for us homemade gifts are perfect for this festive season. You could bake some cookies, truffles, fruit cakes or DIY some special craft and etc for your family or friends.

In this post I would like to share with you two sample bakes that I have made as Christmas Gifts for my friends.

CLASSIC CHOCOLATE BROWNIE

A chocolate recipe that is foolproof at all time would be this Donna Hay, Classic Brownie which comes in handy for all occasions.  Instead of the usual rectangle shape brownie I have made these star shaped brown using foil cases from IKEA which is just perfect for Christmas Gift. 

Adapted from Donna Hay Magazine, Oct-Nov 2011 issue
(serves: 10 Stars | Preparation: 10 minutes | Cooking: 16 - 20 minutes)

Ingredients:
200g Dark Chocolate, chopped
140g Unsalted Butter, cubes
1 Cup(175g) Brown Sugar
3 Large Eggs
1/2 Cup (75g) Plain Flour

Method:-

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Place half chocolate(100g) and butter in a small saucepan over low heat and stir until melted and smooth.

2. All to cool slightly to lukewarm.

3. Place sugar, eggs and flour in a big mixing bowl with the chocolate mixture and mix till well combined.

4. Stir through the remaining chocolate pieces and spoon the mixture into the star shaped foil cases(I bought the star shaped cases from IKEA).

5. Bake for 16 - 20 minutes depending on the size of your mould or until cooked when tested with a skewer.

6. Allow it to cool and dust with extra cocoa powder and icing sugar.

Before serving or packing you could dust the star brownies with some extra Cocoa Powder and icing sugar to give it a better outlook as gift. I have baked this brownie for 17 minutes which I feel it could be even better if I under bake it for another 1 or 2 minutes to achieve that more moist effect with melted chocolate.

CHEDDAR CHEESE CRACKERS

This is my first time making cheese crackers for Christmas instead of our usual Gingerbread Man. These savoury treats can be an appetizer to go with champagne or any yoghurt/cheese dips before Main Course or even as a gift-giving items. And beware this is a very addictive snacks that would be gone in no times.

(Makes: about 40 crackers | Preparation: 5 minutes + 30 minutes chilling |
Cooking: 12 minutes each batch)

Ingredients:
210g Plain Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon MasterFoods Paprika
Pinch of Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
165g Butter, soften
165g Grated Cheddar Cheese
Beaten Egg for glazing

Method:-

1.Sift flour, baking powder, paprika, salt and black pepper into a bowl.

2. Mix softened butter using a spoon with Cheddar until they are well blended.

3. Add dry ingredients (flour mixture) into the cheese mixture and mix until it form a soft dough.

4. Slightly flatten the dough between two sheet of baking paper and wrapped it up and place into a zip lock bag before refrigerate it from 30 minutes to firm up.

5. Take out half portion of the dough, floured work surface and roll dough into 0.5cm thick. Cut dough with desired shaped cutters and place them 1cm apart on baking tray.

6. Bake in preheated 180°C oven for about 12 minutes or till golden in colour. Remove and set aside on rack to cool before packing.

GRILLED CHICKEN WITH AGLIO e OLIO

After spending a few hours in the kitchen baking the above Christmas Gifts we had this quick and simple pasta dish for dinner. I have marinated the boneless chicken drumstick with Portuguese Seasoning and some fresh rosemary herbs.

While the chicken is cooking on the pan, I also prepared some Aglio e Olio (you can refer a similar "Spaghetti Aglio e Olio" recipe HERE) and garden salad to complete the dish.

Lastly I would love to wish everyone MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Yule Chocolate Log Featured @ Yahoo Makanation

It's three more days to Christmas and I am sure most of us are busy getting gifts, preparing bakes or planning  for the Christmas Menu for family or friends gathering. For this year, if you would like to make something easy and yet filled with festive feel perhaps you could try your hands on this quick and easy Yule Chocolate Log.

About two weeks back I received an email from Lorraine of Makansutra requesting to feature a quick and easy recipe post on Christmas Log Cake. So with some twist on my old recipe, I made a chocolate swiss roll and assemble it with some chocolate spread and whipped cream.

For more read-up and recipe of this Yule Chocolate Log, please refer to the article at Makanation HERE.

Once again!!! I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and feast more!!!!!

[Recipe] Decorated Festive Chocolate Cookies Together With Early Christmas Party

Last Saturday we have a small Christmas potluck gathering at my place with some of my old friends as well as the new friends from Twitter. Everyone has a wonderful time despite on the chaotic happening in the kitchen while some of us are busying with the food preparations.

And in order to make this a memorable gathering with Christmas atmosphere, Rey and I have decided to prepare some "door-gifts" for the guests which includes some of these mini decorated festive cookies in it. Can you spot Pooh, Minni and Tigger among these cookies?

  We made these Chocolate cookies instead of the usual one that is infused with spices because we are afraid that some of the guests might not prefer the aroma of the spice. So Chocolate flavor will be best for everyoe. These are some collage photos on the ingredients and steps on making the cookie dough.

Ingredients: (makes roughly 2 dozen)

90g Unsalted Butter
100g Caster Sugar
1 Egg
180g Self-raising Flour
2 Tablespoons Dutch Cocoa Powder
¼ Teaspoon Salt
½ teaspoon orange liquor, optional


My boy and I are busy with the cookie cutout and get them ready for baking and icing decoration.

Method:

1. Cream butter and sugar till light and creamy, add egg and orange liquor then beat till combined.
2. Fold in flour mixture (sifted flour, cocoa powder and salt together) in the egg till it forms a dough.
3. Turn dough on lightly floured surface and knead gently until soft dough is formed.
4. Divide the dough into two portions, flatten each portion on between sheet of baking paper and place in fridge for 30 minutes.
5. On floured surface, roll dough out to half a cm thick, cut into shapes using festive shaped cookies cutters.
6. Re-rolled leftover dough and cut again.
7. Baked in preheat 180 degree oven for about 8 – 12 minutes depending on the size of the cookies.
8. They will be soft when come out of the oven but will set as they cool.


After the cookies cool off and decorated with colourful icing, we packed them into individual packet and get them ready into the goodies baga together with some chocolate for the guests as "door-gifts".

Ingredients For Royal Icing:

65g Icing Sugar
1/2 Egg White
1/4 Teaspoon Lemon Juice
Assorted Food Colourings
Assorted Christmas Theme Sprinkles, optional

Method:

1. Sift the icing sugar and set aside.
2. Beat the egg white till foamy then add in lemon juice and icing sugar in a few batches till smooth. (about 5 - 8 minutes, it must be a spreadable consistency)
3. Divide the icing into a few portion then mixed with your desire colours.
4. Spoon icing into disposal piping bag, snip the tip off and pipe decorative outlines and design on each biscuit.

PREVIEW OF OUR CHRISTMAS POTLUCK GATHERING

Christmas Turkey prepared by Misstamchiak(Maureen) and Kai. Everyone is looking high and low for the roasted vegetables and sauce :p

Cheesy Ham Roll prepared by Yancai, Maureen and Rae. This is another way to present the sliced Turkey and it taste very yummy for us to snatch with just these limited rolls on the plate.

Stir-fried Fish Fillet with Thai Basil Leaves by me (Cuisine Paradise). This is something similar to the Chicken version recipe that I have posted HERE.

Spicy Egg and Cucumber Kerabu prepared by Rae(Shan). This cold appetiser consists of a lot of ingredients such as prawns, egg, cucumber, pineapple, belacan, dried prawns and etc.

Here is another main dish which is the "STAR" and highlight of the day too. Cioppino or fish stew that is prepared by Alvin and Lobs(Lobsterpaints) As you can see, there are big fresh prawn, mussels, clams and different type of fish that are stew together using tomato paste, red wine and many other herbs and seasonings. Very delicious pot :)

The whole table of food that are ready to be served. Yummy Chicken Curry by Susan, Grilled Chicken Drumlets by Joyce(ahpoohbear), stir-fried broccoli with mushroom, logcake, fruitcake and etc.

Thanks everyone for the hard work on preparing the food and travel all the way to my place in order to make our 1st potluck party a successful one. Thanks a lot pals.