Walnut and Raisin French Bread

Sometimes I just cook to satisfy my curiosity. I know it's a little bit risky, because I don't know whether I'll love the taste of the food I cook or not. I could've just bought it first before try to make it in my kitchen. But, where's the fun ? Even small mistakes can be a valuable lesson. In the end, after one or two trials, you can enjoy what you cook with a smile and say "I did it !"

Almond sugar pastry cookies

When this blog was a little left behind and there was no new recipe post due to my busyness with my two latest posts on reviewing one restaurant and one bakery, and after everything is done, I feel like I need a break just to catch my breath. The reason why I posted two resto review posts in a very short time was because I was fortunate enough to be chosen by BBlog as one of food blogger to join with other bloggers to do the review and get paid for it :) Yes, I was so lucky !

Chocolate to try : Indulge yourself with "Chocolate Cheese Snickers Brownies" !

To be able to taste a slice of our favorite cake, sometimes we do not really care about our diet. We are also more than willing to forget the amount of sugar, fat and calories in a slice of cake. What a nightmare ! As if pleasure and health are on two opposite sides. But balancing food intake with exercises is the best way to live a healthy living. 

Chocolate to try : Chocolate crinkle cookies

Eid is approaching ! It also means long holiday is coming. Only in few days all Moslem across the globe will be having their winning celebration. Yes, it is a celebration that marks the end of the holy month Ramadhan. A moment full of forgiveness, togetherness and happiness. After a month of fasting, we experience hunger and thirst and bring us closer to Allah. Now let me wish you "May your life be filled with peace and happiness. Have a joyous celebration and showers of Allah's blessings. Aamiin"

In this long religious Eid al Fitr holiday , we usually visit our closest relatives and neighbors to wish and greet them Eid Mubarak. It's a tradition that after Ramadan ends, every family will serve special meals for the entire family member and their guests. Traditional menus like ketupat (rice cook in coconut leaves wrapper), sayur lodeh (Betawinese vegetable in coconut milk soup), opor ayam (chicken braised in coconut milk) , sambal goreng ati (spicy chicken liver), semur (Betawinese beef stew), setup kolang-kaling (palm sugar fruit compote) can be easily found during Eid. Thankfully that my family and my husband's family always serve different kind of dishes. My mom usually cook Betawinese style ketupat sayur with opor and semur which are amazingly delicious and the best ones ever. While my mother-in-law cook Soto Surabaya (Surabaya style flavorful chicken soup).

Although I don't cook special dishes for Eid but I definitely bake some cookies. It's because I'll be at my mom's house or my mother-in-law's during Eid. Beside mom will also gives me some of the dishes for me to take home and that would be more than enough for the three of us (me, hubby and son). One of the intriguing cookie I wanted to make was Chocolate crinkle cookies. I called it "The ugly beauty". There are cracks everywhere but those what make these cookies look pretty. And I fell hard for its shape, cracks and taste.

I got the recipe from here and did some adjustments according to my liking. I'll leave you with the story and photos of the cookies for now, I'll be back with the recipe by the end of the day. Here's what I've done so far with the recipe and you may check it out below. 

Enjoy....

When scone gets swirled : Chocolate swirl scone loaf

Three weeks after my dad's Cardiac catheterization surgery, our lives are starting back to normal. My dad was hospitalized for eleven days and it took out our attention, mind, energy and time. The surgery went smooth, the doctor was competent and acted fast in critical moment. My dad had become unconscious the time he arrived at the hospital. The pulse from his heart was only 20 beats per minute which is mean below average normal pulse 80 - 100 beats per minute. We almost lost him, but Alhamdulillah, we still have him alive. 

I made this scone loaf right before new year. I think keeping food photos and use them later whenever I get busy or when I have no time to bake anything is very favorable. Just like these days, where I concentrate on my dad's recovery and not fully back to my baking and cooking time. I only open my archive and choose some photos of a recipe I had tried.

Adapted from Donna Hay's Chocolate swirl scone loaf, the scone was absolutely perfect. I fall in love on how easy and simple it is to make and my curiosity for its swirl :D The original scones were made with oats and had a large round shape and grilled-bake over an open fire. Nowadays, the scones can be found in various shapes from diamond, triangle to wedge or people cut the dough with cookie cutter into heart-shaped or crescent moon shaped.

Enjoy.....

Bread pudding

Oh...la...la... how time flies so fast and I've neglected this blog for almost a month. I do miss blogging ! December is almost over and everyone is exclaiming "long holiday", planning their trip with the entire family member. I always love December, the month of festive and of course, holiday. :) I don't have plan to go anywhere during the holiday, because all I need is only a time on my own, being a normal housewife, stay in the house, clean up the mess and cooking. But while my brain says yes, my body screams no. Believe me, age does matter, lol.

When my friend said that she had leftover bread and didn't know what to do with it, I remember my grandma. She used to make bread pudding from leftover bread with coconut milk instead of fresh milk. As a mother, I would feel terribly sorry to see the food get wasted. So, let's call it "food rescue". I save some leftover bread and turn it into bread pudding. Don't tell me I sound like grandma. :p This simple and easy recipe of bread pudding is a savior in case you get bored with toast bread or sandwich.

To all my friend out there, Happy Holidays !!

Coffee cream cupcakes

Are you a food blogger and love food photography ? It's about time to learn and grow together with food bloggers and food photographers around the world in a monthly food photography event called "Does My Blog Look good in This ?" or DMBLGiT. Since I'm the host of DMBLGiT July 2012, I'm officially invite you to join with us. It's not only about winning, but far beyond that. Making new friends that will guide you to new beautiful blogs. Just click here to read the details. I'll be here waiting to your lovely entry !

These cuppies were made a year ago. How could I forget to make a post for this recipe ?! It's quite simple and easy to try and you will get beautiful shape of dark cuppies. 

I'm not really fond of coffee, but *silly me* I drank too much coffee in the last two days. It has caused me insomniac last night ! The effect is still affecting me now. So, no more rambling. Enjoy the pictures !

Nadif, my nephew, I can feel his enthusiasm for cooking

makes 18 cupcakes

Enjoy....

Avocado in a cake ?

Yup...that is true. I didn't believe it either until I saw the recipe in Table for 2.... or more. Sometimes we just cook dishes out of curiosity. No food colouring added, the green really comes from the avocado ! The color, the simplicity and the using of avocado had caught my eyes once I saw it and I bookmarked it immediately !

I promised you to post fruit recipes this month and I will keep my promise. This recipe is one from some of fruit recipes I already prepared. I can imagine that it's going to be colourful like summer.

The original recipe can be viewed on the link I've mentioned above, I did a little twist by adding chocolate ganache topping and pistachio. Okay, it's a quick post and a quick update. Only to keep my promise to you. Be back with another fruits and colors.

click to enlarge

Don't forget to join my giveaway event sponsored by Sambel Pecel Kemangi. It's open for Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Philippines residents. If you haven't got a chance to leave comment yet, there's still plenty of time. But you got to hurry ! Click here for details.

Enjoy.....

Chocolate to try : Chocolate Devil's cupcakes

Another chocolate recipe for my "Chocolate to try" series. With chocolate cake, chocolate frosting and a little surprise inside the cupcakes ! Want to know what the surprise was ? Better keep rolling... :)

These were my first devil cupcakes I've ever made. And I love it !!! This absolutely not a devil cake, it supposed to be an angel cake. The chocolate cupcake with cute crown (that was what I told my son), and it became the kids' favorite. They kept coming back for more cuppies.

Speaking of the devil, does anyone know why this cake is called devil cake ? If you happen to know, I'm all ears.

I love to keep them in the fridge. Because it will make the cakes moist and kind of chewy in my mouth. Besides, the frosting needs to be kept in the fridge or it will soften in room temperature.

click to enlarge

So..what did I put inside the cupcake as a surprise ? It was Snickers chunks. Believe me, that was insanely good. Especially the melted caramel from the Snickers. So, what kind of surprise you want to put inside the devil cupcake ? It's all yours...

Enjoy.....

The delectable cake : Fermented Cassava Cake

Having a man and a boy in the house with different tastes when it comes to cakes has made me as a picky cake baker ! I need to make everyone happy and cook something they both love. They both love fermented cassava, so this cake is like the answer of my question.

When I was a kid, our neighbour used to send us fermented cassava cake. It was a homemade one. She brought the cake to our home while it still warm. Recalling the sweet memories where I had to eat it slowly and enjoyed every bites.

I got the recipe from Vania Samperuru of Adventurelicious. You may click the picture below the read the recipe. 

Once you have put the cake batter in the oven, the incredible smell of it wafted from the kitchen. The delicious smell that will arouse your appetite in a minute. The strong taste from the fermented cassava cake and a hint of cheese is one thing that will stay in your tongue.

Click to enlarge

Enjoy....

Chocolate to try : Self-saucing chocolate pudding

Chocoholic is someone who is addiction to chocolate. Test yourself to know how chocoholic you are on Chocoholic Test. I've tested myself and came up with "Chocoholic Tendencies" :p How about you ?

I remember when my son had ordered a chocolate ice drink from a café, took a sip of it and then he refused to drink it again. When I asked him why, he said "This drink is too bitter, I don't like it !". But it was tasted fine in my tongue. So, I replied him with "This is not bitter. It's creamy, chocolatey and sweet !". How come my hubby and my son said the drink was bitter while it was okay for me ? Dunno :D I'm also easily attracted to chocolate cake, cookies, brownies, pudding recipes.

I have listed down some best looking and interesting recipes with chocolate as the main ingredient and I can't wait to try them one by one. I'm planning to post one recipe of chocolate each month (I named it with "Chocolate to try" event) and share it to another chocoholic friends out there. For the first strike, I chose Self-saucing chocolate pudding from Donna Hay. It caught my attention right away ! The pudding is soft and dense. At this point, I recommend this recipe to anyone who loves chocolate.

 

Click to enlarge

Enjoy...

Brownie Cookies with Peanut Butter Frosting and my first GIVEAWAY

What motivated you to start your blog ?

I started to write my first post on this blog about two years ago. The main reason why I made it was for my food photography. I wanted to submit my food photos to DMBLGiT, an international monthly food photo contest. One of the rules says that I must have a blog where the photos were posted. So, it all began with a simple post and photos. :)

For the last 2 years I've been keeping my works, passion and love through words and photos. From preparing all ingredients, cooking, food styling, photographing, editing and finally I write a post on my blog and share it with you. I enjoy every steps though. But I never say it was easy, writing a post is not easy for me. Now, this blog has become my second home. I keep it neat and clean.

As I promised you on my post on December 2011, I'm celebrating my 2nd blog anniversary. Before you go to the details, please enjoy Donna Hay's Brownie cookies with peanut butter frosting. I did some adjusting in the recipe (I reduced the sugar) and made it not too sweet for my tooth. :D I also stored the cookies in an airtight container in the fridge. It tastes much much better !!

Brownie cookies with peanut butter frosting

Ingredients :

Brownie cookies :
- 175 gr dark chocolate, chopped
- 20 gr butter
- 1 eggs
- 50 gr caster (superfine) sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 13 gr plain (all-purpose) flour, sifted
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, sifted

Peanut butter frosting :
- 60 gr icing (confectioner’s) sugar mixture
- 140 gr smooth peanut butter
- 40 gr butter
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 40 ml single (pouring) cream

How to :

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).

2. Cookies : Place the chocolate and the butter in a small saucepan over low heat and stir until melted and smooth. Set aside.

3. Place the eggs, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer and whisk for 15 minutes or until pale and creamy. Stir through the flour, baking powder and chocolate mixture and allow to stand for 30 minutes.

4. Spoon tablespoonfuls of the mixture at a time, onto baking trays lined with non-stick baking paper. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Allow to cool completely on trays. 

5. Peanut butter frosting : place the sugar, peanut butter, butter and vanilla in an electric mixer and beat for 6  minutes or until light and fluffy.

6. Add the cream and beat for a further 2 minutes. 

7. Spread half the cookies with the peanut butter frosting and sandwich with the remaining cookies.

SECOND BLOG ANNIVERSARY GIVEAWAY **CLOSED !!

To show my gratitude on my 2nd blog anniversary this year, I'm hosting a BLOG ANNIVERSARY GIVEAWAY ! A set of porcelain white bowl with a wooden tray as the prize. Looks perfect for your food photography props or you could use it daily on your dining table.

A set of porcelain white bowl with wooden tray

How to enter :

1. Write about "The reason why you started blogging" on your post and mention about this event (and link back to this post). 

2. Leave a comment in this post telling me you have done so, including the link of your post. (can be written in English or Bahasa Indonesia).

Terms and conditions :

1. This giveaway is open internationally.

2. Only one comment per person. (only comment with URL of your post will be counted)

3. This giveaway will run until January 31, 2012 at 11:59 PM. I will announce the winner on February 2, 2012.
4. The winner will randomly  be chosen.

Good luck everyone !