Yam popsicle 芋仔棒冰

I love yam alot, dessert like orr nee is my all time favourite.  

Today, I shall have some Yam popsicle 芋仔棒冰 as the weather became so hot and humid once again.  This weather is giving me constant migraine, really wish we are not so near the equator.

What you need:

300g yam, steamed

250g water

50g milk
50g coconut milk

200g brown sugar

20g Potato starch, (A little water to mix)

Method:

Combine all ingredients in A and using a blender, blend until smooth.

Pour into frying pan and add potato starch solution and cook until thickens.

Pour into ice cream mould and let it cool.

Freeze for 6 hours.

Eggless Matcha Ice Cream

Finally, my cough went away and I am really happy.  That means I don't have to abstain from alot of food that considered bad for the cough.

My ice cream machine had been on a long holiday and it is time to move those gears again.  

With this crazy humid weather, I was craving for Matcha Ice Cream and Eggless Matcha Ice Cream sounds perfect after all, I needed those eggs for a bake.  On hand, I was also given a bottle of Korean Matcha from a friend.  Well, I usually used Japanese Matcha but I am too lazy to make a trip down to the Japanese supermarket.  I wish they will set up one here together departmental store. haiz.

Well, I can have the whole tub by myself as my family does not appreciate this flavour.

What you need:

100ml fresh milk

50g castor sugar

7g corn starch

8g matcha powder

100ml heavy cream

Method:

Mix sugar with matcha powder.

In a saucepan, combine all ingredients and cook until it has a thick consistency.  Remove from heat and let it cool.

Whisk heavy cream until stiff.

Fold in the cooled mixture.

Pour into the ice cream maker and following manufacture instruction.


Enjoy!

Frozen Yogurt Pop

I guess it is because of global warming getting worse, the weather has been terribly humid and the temperature has reached a all-time high.  Lucky for us, we still are still bless with occasional down pour.

I am also glad that the school is being realistic and allow the girls to wear their PE tees to keep cool.

As it is close to exam period, most CCA activities are halted, with little one being home in the afternoon, I thought a Frozen Yogurt Pop will be nice as a snack in between study break.

For me, I can't wait for my cough to go away so that I can suck on these lollies!

Are you looking forward to weekends?  or are you busy preparing your kiddo for the mid year exam?

Just stay hydrate and take care.

What you need:

1 punnet Blueberries/Strawberries
1 tub Greek yogurt
Honey

Method:

Pour half tub of Greek yogurt into a blender.

Add in blueberries/strawberries

Add honey according to the sweetness level you preferred.

Blitz and fill into the pop bag.

Tied with rubber band and freeze overnight.


Note: These pop bag can be purchase from SKP.

Cheers!

Chocolate Brownie Bingsu

Last month, we had Bingsu twice.  I totally fell in love with this snow texture ice.   At S$18 plus a bowl, it is way too much for me to eat alone, even with hub helping out, we struggled to finish up a bowl.  

The brownies were pathetically little for that kind of price so I wanted to try making Chocolate Brownie Bingsu.  At least I can add as much ingredients as I like.

Findings: I didn't have an ice shaver but I used my useless Kenwood blender (ice mode) and it didn't work at all.   Also I think I need to work on the milk base.  I might want to add in cream for my next attempt.

Texture of the ice is like ice kachang.  I wish now I have an electric ice shaver. (wink)

Overall, we did enjoy this dessert and it will be a bonus if I can find an electric ice shaver.

I realised I forgotten some whipped cream.  Must remember to add that next round.

What you need
Serve 2

500g fresh milk (next round, I want to add in cream)

Banana, cut into thin slices
Oreo Crumbs
Cocoa powder
Almond flakes, toasted
Hersey chocolate syrup
Condense milk
Ice cream
Brownie

Method:

Freeze the milk in a good resealable bag overnight.

Break it up and then blitz it in the blender (I failed).  Just use spoon to scrap quickly.

Add half the shaved ice on a bowl.

Top with cocoa powder and orea crumbs.

Add the remaining ice and dust with cocoa powder and oreo crumbs again.

Top with brownies, ice cream, banana and almond flakes.

Drizzle Hersey chocolate syrup and condense milk.

Serve immediately.  


Happy Sunday!

Easy Banana Ice Cream (1 ingredient)

I heard so much about this one ingredient ice cream but never gotten to making it until today.

As I have surplus of banana that I bought for a charity bake, it was a good timing to make some ice cream.  

Since my princess is on diet in preparation for her competition, high fats food were totally eliminated for the past weeks.

So serving this Easy Banana Ice Cream seems like a bonus for all of us on this hot day.

Findings: for 4 bananas, it didn't quite work in my food processor.  So I double the portion and managed to blitz until it is smooth.  Initially, it was crumb like but further blitzing, it turn creamy.

The texture is indeed creamy.  What I like about it is that it doesn't require any cream and sugar yet creamy and sweet on its own.  

Wonderful as diet dessert.

What you need:

8 bananas, ripe


Method:

Cut the bananas into cube size and freeze it for a min of 2 hours or more.

Using a food processor, blend the frozen banana, scrapping in between until you get a creamy texture.

You can add in chocolate chips, nutella or peanut butter as variation.

Serve immediately or put it back to the freezer.

Watermelon popsicle

With such humid weather, it is best to eat lots of lots of fruits and drink plenty of water.  Definitely not good idea to fall ill before a school hols.

Bought a watermelon to cool down the heatiness in the body especially now my girl's CCA is back on schedule.  

Unfortunately as compared to the last, this one is not really sweet.  I knew my kids will not eat it so I turned it into Watermelon popsicle instead.  Easy peasy. 

What you need:

100g raw sugar

700g watermelon (seedless)
1 tbsp of lemon juice

Method:

Using a blender, puree watermelon, sugar and lemon juice together.

Pour into Popsicle container and freezer.

I'm submitting this post to the Best Recipes for Everyone May 2015 Event (Theme: My Favourite Desserts) organized by Fion of XuanHom'sMom and co-hosted by Aunty Young. 



Cheers!

Mango Sorbet

Time really flies, everyone is planning for their mid year holiday.  It is about time I reflect on what I had achieved.  For sure, I have not been really active in the kitchen.  I think I should start throwing parties again to get me out of my comfort zone. 

The weather has not been very encouraging as well.  It has been terribly hot these days and I have been busy churning out ice cream for the family.

Little one requested for a sorbet and since I have not tried making Mango Sorbet on my own, I shall add this to my tried and tested list.

I like this recipe as I don't need to cook sugar syrup and wait for it to cool down.  So I can get into the action fast.

With this humid weather, taking this shot is tough.  I had to work seriously fast. 

Verdict: Totally yummy and I love the dark orange hue with this batch of mango. 

Now join me with the melting mango sorbet. 

What you need:

800g fresh mango flesh
170g sugar (if mango is very sour you might need more sugar)
¾ cup water
1 tbsp of dark rum
4 tsp lemon juice

Method

Combine sugar and water.  Let it sit for 15 mins to dissolve some of the sugar.

In a blender, put the mango flesh, lemon juice, sugar solution, rum and blend until smooth.

Churn in the ice cream machine.

I'm submitting this post to the Best Recipes for Everyone May 2015 Event (Theme: My Favourite Desserts) organized by Fion of XuanHom'sMom and co-hosted by Aunty Young. 

Have fun!

Horlick Ice Cream

Long ago, I adore Horlick Ice Cream from one of those pioneer ice cream shop when my son goes for his Altar Boy training.  It was my to go to flavour whenever we lugged home a tub of ice cream.

It was so good and then soon it was a forgotten dessert as I no longer goes to that church.

While making the Serikaya Cake (yes I made another one upon hubby's request), I suddenly remember this long lost flavour and decided to try my hand at it.

I modified this recipe get to use up the whole egg.  Seriously too many egg whites stored inside the fridge.  I guess I must make some macaroons to clear them fast.

Findings: The flavour is intense enough and yet creamy. Best of all, I don't have to figure out what to do with the egg whites.   Love it!

Source: Sam Tan's Kitchen

What you need:

55g cup milk
100g Horlick

2 egg white

2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla

300ml heavy cream
70g icing sugar

Method:

Warm milk and mix in Horlick, stir to form into a paste.  Set aside.

Whisk egg white until stiff peak.  Set aside.

Beat egg yolks with vanilla and mixed into the warm Horlick.   Using low heat, gentle heat up mixture, continue stirring until custard is done.  (Spoon test) 
Set aside to cool.

Whisk heavy cream with icing sugar.  Do not overbeat.

Fold Horlick paste into it.

Fold in egg white.

Churn in ice cream machine.

Cempedek Ice cream

While waiting for my friend, I walked around that neighbourhood and was attracted by this sweet smelling fruit, Cempedak!  At S$9/kg, I thought it might be a good price.  Is this?

My last bite on this sweet fruit was during my June holiday in KL.  KC bought my favourite Goreng Cempedak and I actually had so much that we couldn't finish it up.  I love this snack so much.

Cempedak has a close resemble to Jackfruit.  While the texture of Jackfruit is more crunchy, Cempedak is more fibrous and also soft.   The seeds is also smaller than a jackfruit's.

To choose a good cempedak, a Malay lady taught me to look out for brown spots on the skin.  The best is all evenly browned.  The skin texture when pressed against is supposedly to be soft when ripe.

To remove the fruit from the skin, you need to use a sharp knife and slit open.  Next, oil your hand and pluck out the individual fruit.  If you don't oil your hand, the sap from the fruit will transfer onto your hand, and it will leave a sticky mess.

The seeds also can be eaten and has a nutty taste.

I missed those cempedak potong stick so I have to create Cempedak Ice Cream instead.

Finding: This taste so good.  The flavour comes out just right for us.

What you need:

1½ cup milk

A pinch of salt

50g sugar (reduced)

4 egg yolks

1½ cup heavy cream (dairy cream)

A few drops of vanilla extract

2 cup Chempedak flesh, puree 

Method: 

In a pot, warm the milk and cream.

Whisk the egg yolks, salt and sugar until pale and smooth.

Gradually pour the hot milk into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly.

Pour the warmed mixture back into the pot.

Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula until the custard thickens and leaves a path on the back of the spatula when a finger is drawn across it, about 6 minutes; do not allow to boil.

Add vanilla extract and mix well. Strain and let it cool. 

Place in refrigerator for 4 hours and allow ice cream to chill before churning in the ice cream machine.

When the ice cream is ready, add the chempedak and blend until well.

Chill it in the freezer for at least 3 hours or a day. Then serve.

Red Velvet Ice Cream

If you have been following my two blogs these past years, you will know that I am not a big fan of food coloring.  I try not to feed so much artificial food coloring to my kids especially when they were young.  

I am not sure whether it is because of this reason but I do notice that many kids are having eczema these days.   Try sitting in a school canteen and watch the kids, you will noticed a fair amount of them having this skin problem.  My dad for one, is sensitive to food colourings.

Now back to this recipe that I am going to attempt.  I chanced upon this Red Velvet Ice Cream recipe while blog reading.  

I am not crazy over red velvet cake as it uses a fair bit of red colouring that it will actually get you worried but I got curious if it comes in the form of ice cream.

With some red dragon fruit in the fridge, my brain started to think whether I can possible recreate this recipe in a much healthier version.

I was trying also not to incorporate water into the ice cream as it might develop those icy texture.

Thus I was thinking if I seep the fruit in the cream to extract the colours, will it work?  

To sit there just thinking about it is just waste of time, let's get the act together to see the result.  

Findings: I couldn't get a dark red in the cream.  It turned out only pink.  Guess red and white is pink and I should have known better.  So to intensified the colour, I added slight under ½ tsp of red colouring.  

Well it is better than putting in 2 - 3 tbsp of red colouring isn't it?  

Hubby said it did taste like red velvet cake and I agree with him too.  


What you need:

1 cup heavy cream
3 egg yolks
56g sugar (sweeten to taste)
1 cup buttermilk (1 cup milk to 1 tbsp lemon juice)
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
½ tsp red food coloring (slightly under)
1 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

Bring cream to a simmer.

Thoroughly whisk together egg yolks and sugar.

Pour some of the simmering cream into egg yolks while stirring. Return this mixture to the pan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat.

Stir in buttermilk, cocoa powder, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla extract.

Pour into a bowl and leave to cool. Cover with plastic wrap so that the wrap is in contact with the top of your mixture; refrigerate until thoroughly chilled (around 4-8 hours). I placed mine in the freezer for 45 minutes to expedite things.

Churn in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

The weather today is crazily humid and I am glad that I am serving this for our dessert.

Day 2 of Prelim and I hope these P6ers are holding it well.


Cheers!

Snicker Ice Cream

Been making lots of ice cream lately and Snicker ice cream is a hot hot favorite in my family especially the boys.  

I think this is the only non basic appliance that I owned and is fully utilized.  

Join me and have a scoop and welcome the coming weekend.

Source: Kitchen Corner

What you need:

4 egg yolks

100g castor sugar

1 tsp cornflour

300ml milk

150g dark chocolate, chopped

300ml whipping cream

2 bars Snickers

Method:

Whisk egg yolks, sugar and cornflour until thick and foamy.

Bring milk to a boil and then slowly pour milk into egg mixture, stirring constantly.

Pour egg/milk mixture back into the pot and cook over gentle heat, stirring constantly until the custard thickens.    Remove from heat.

Add in chopped chocolate and stir until it melted.  Cool in fridge.

Whisk whipping cream until thickened.

Fold cream into yolk mixture well.

Churn in ice cream machine.

Once done, add in chopped Snickers and fold well.

Cheers

Tomato and Salted Plum Granita

I am trying to cultivate my kids to take more tomatoes.  My mom swears by it that it gives great complexion which I totally agree with her, as her skin is very good even though she is already 70ish.

A pity none of us inherited her good skin and sharp nose.  Haiz.

Have a bag of tomatoes that I needed to clear before the weekend, I will see whether I can tempt my kids to eat this.  

Chanced upon my friend's Tomato and Salted Plum Granita and I immediately know that this will be great.

With this crazy humid weather, it will be superb to end a meal with this.

Findings: Oh gosh, this is so good that I couldn't wait for it to be ready.

You got to try it!

Modified from : Piggy's Cooking Journal

What you need:

8 salted plum 4-5 tomatoes 500ml water 3 teaspoons sugar (add more if you want your granita sweeter)
Method:
Cook salted plums, sugar and water for about 20 minutes. Turn off heat, discard the salted plum and leave to cool.


Serve immediately.

In the mean time, roughly chop the tomatoes.

Put the tomatoes and salted plum syrup into a blender. Blend to a pulp.  Strain.

Pour the mixture into a shallow container. Freeze for two hours, or until frozen. Break into portions and give it a blitz in the blender.

Return the frozen granita to the freezer to freeze for another one hour.

Horchata

I have a big bag of raw almond in the fridge.  Unfortunately it has skinned and I am too lazy to roast it.

Decided to turned some into Horchata to free up the space in the fridge then.

I came across this recipe and it was interesting.   I have never been to any Latin countries.  The closest was only to the Mexico border decades ago and unfortunately, I never had a chance to sample authentic cuisine or snacks. 

I jumped into it as it sounded so delicious and refreshing, just perfect for this crazy hot weather.  

The process of grinding and straining was tough.   As I wanted a grit free drink, I strained it many times.

Wish I have a machine that can produce such quality.  Even the soy milk maker cannot achieve what I wanted.

While straining it, the smell of this drink was yummy.  I think the almond and cinnamon has a big role to play in this.  I couldn't wait to have a cup during the process.

Verdict: It is indeed very refreshing especially with a dash of cinnamon powder.  I like it so much that I had two cups in one go.  Totally awesome to have this in such hot humid weather.  

I also turned some of it into Horchata Popiscle for my kiddo.  

Verdict: It was supposedly to be creamy as what it claimed but I didn't feel this way.  So to me, it is more of a Popsicle rather than ice cream.

What you need:

200g raw almond, blanched
400g long grain rice
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup of hot water
3-4 cups drinking water during straining


Method:

Pour boiling water over almond and let it sit for 10-15 mins.  Remove skin and set aside.  

Blitz the rice in a blender to make it into smaller pieces.

Break the cinnamon stick and combine with rice and almond.

Pour hot water (not boiling water) over rice, almond and cinnamon.  Let it sit in the fridge overnight.

Blend it a blender.  

Strain over cheese cloth.  Add water if the liquid is too thick to sieve through.  You should get 4 cups of liquid.

Then add in 1 cup of water and 1 cup of milk with ½ cup of condensed milk and 1 tsp of vanilla.

Mix well and chilled.

Serve with a sprinkle of cinnamon powder





If you have too much raw almond, this will be a great drink to make during hot weather.  Totally love it.

If you are game enough, do try it.  It is something special and you might also like it like I do.

Cheers!

Pumpkin Ice Cream

The weather for these past days were crazily hot.  I need to water my plants two to three times a day even despite the on and off drizzle.  Even for last night downpour, by noon, my plants were showing sign of distress.  I seriously need a one point watering system. 

Besides brewing cooling icy drinks, the other way to beat the heat is to eat ice cream and that is exactly what I did.

I made Pumpkin Ice Cream, just love the spices in it but I would prefers a more creamy texture than this.

Cheers

Sweet Potato Ice Cream

I bought a combination of yellow and purple sweet potatoes, initially had plans to make Bubur cha cha for a party and then there was a change in plan.

Fried sweet potato balls will be welcome in my household but I think we had too much-fried food of late.

Didn't want to eat it plain too as it was too much for me.  Thus I churned them into ice cream.

A mistake as I should either keep it all to yellow or all to purple.  Should not have mixed them because the color was not very inviting.

This is my first time eating Sweet Potato Ice Cream.  

Verdict: If you like sweet potato, this is intense ice cream.  Unfortunately, my kids didn't.   Luckily I still have hubby as my supporter.

  

What you need:

455g sweet potatoes, peeled and steamed then cubed

1 cup + 2 tbsp fresh milk

150g light brown sugar

50g castor sugar

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp salt

2 tsp lemon juice

Method

Place everything except lemon juice into a blender and blitz until very smooth. 

Add in lemon juice and blitz for a second.

Strain through a sieve.

Churn it in an ice cream machine.

Cheers

Strawberry Yoghurt Ice Cream

Saw strawberries on offer and decided to pack two punnets home.  These days, we have better option from Korea and hardly you get a chance to find sweet strawberries from the States.  For some countries, they export the best but for others, they keep the best for themselves.

As it wasn't really sweet, I picked up those that are not so juicy red and make them into Strawberry Yoghurt Ice Cream instead.

Super easy peasy recipe and perfect for a hot Sunday like today.

What you need:

340g fresh strawberries, rinsed and hulled
150g castor sugar
360g yoghurt
2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

Method:

Put everything into a blender and blitz till smooth.

Sieve to remove seeds.

And churn it in the ice cream machine.



Was your Sunday relaxing, mine did.

Cheers!

Custard Apple Ice Cream

The weather has been really humid.  What better way to beat the heat is to have a scoop of ice cream.

MA gave hubby a carton of custard apple, it was so sweet and delicious.  I love eating this fruit but the kids weren't too keen because of the seeds.  After sharing with neighbours and my parents, I still have some left and decided to turn them into ice cream.  

Hubby said I should eat it fresh because it was so good but I was also curious how it taste like in ice cream.  

Few weeks back, I tried Persimmon ice cream and it was a failure.  I should have waited for the fruit to turn really ripe before puree them.  Anyway, lesson learnt.

This time round, after deseeding the fruits, I put it in the mixer to break it down.  Then later on, I sieve it through as I wanted a creamy ice cream.

Lots of work but the end result for this Custard Apple Ice Cream is so much better.  

The taste in ice cream is not as strong as in eating the fruit by itself.  Family said it is nice though.  

Well now at least I tried once.

What you need:

1 cup custard apple puree
200g fresh milk
200g fresh cream
30g sugar to taste as the fruits is already very sweet

Method:

Deseed custard apple flesh by putting it in a mixer and give it a beat in a mixer.  Beware the seeds might fly out if you don't have a bowl guard.

Put the custard apple flesh in a sieve and try to separate the seeds and flesh.

Pour in the milk, cream and sugar (optional) into the custard apple flesh.

Stir till sugar dissolved.

Churn as per normal in ice cream machine

Cheers

Cream Cheese Ice Cream

I meant to post this up earler but I have been really busy catching up with friends and sorting out the knick knacks at home.  We also had the flooring reconditioned and that is a huge project.  So let's hope I have enough energy to clean and straighten up the house before my next group of visitors.

Besides making my visitors feel comfortable, we are also a home bound family.  We enjoy staying home on weekends rather than visit the malls.  I belong to the group of people who is home proud.  I like my house to be clean, neat and warm and maybe that explains why we stayed home so much.

When we stay home, I have more energy to cook and bake for my family too and we shall talk about ice cream today.

We adore ice cream.  Every holiday, it will be our quest to find ice cream parlours/kiosk and new flavours.   In our opinion, the best is still Italy's gelato.  

I remembered eating ice cream in New Zealand, a cone will be stuffed fully with ice cream unlike here which literally just one pathetic scoop.

Back home, ever since I owned an ice cream machine, I don't buy them anymore as I find it way cheaper to churn it at home also we can ensure that there isn’t preservatives.

So here is an interesting one that I know I just need to attempt once to see whether we like it or not.

When it was freshly churned, the taste was quite strange.  After freezing it for a day, the taste developed and family all like it.  My friend D said it taste like cheesecake and I think she hit the right note.

So do give it a try and let me know whether you enjoyed this as much as we do.

What you need:

180g full fat milk

200g caster sugar

125g cream cheese

½ tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg

juice of ½ lemon

350ml double cream

50g crumbled digestive biscuits (optional)
honey (optional and based on your liking)

Method

Heat the milk in a pan, and while it's getting warm.

Beat together the sugar, cream cheese, vanilla and egg in a bowl. Still whisking, pour the hot milk into the cream cheese mixture and pour this back into the cleaned-out pan and cook till a velvety custard.  You will need to stir it constantly.  Do the spoon test to see whether it is ready.

In another bowl, whipped double cream lightly.

Fold cream into the egg custard.

You can sweeten it further with honey.

Freeze in an ice cream maker or place into a covered container, stick it in the freezer and whip it out every hour for 3 hours as it freezes and give it a good beating

Garnish with digestive biscuit before serve.

Source: Nigella Lawson



This post is linked to Cook Like A Star, organised by 
Zoe @Bake For Happy Kids, 
Joyce@Kitcen Flavours 
Anjuja @Simple-Baking. 

For more details please visit here.

Consente de mangiare 

Durian Ice Cream

The season is in now for Durian.  For some, this is a stinky fruit, for others (including me), this fruit is just heavenly.  I love eating Durian, partly because of its taste and partly it is like an adventure.  Each has its own uniqueness and not all are the same.  It is like having a lucky draw.

Personally I love kampong durian rather than those "branded" ones but these days, getting kampong durian is a challenge.

Anyway, with the humidity in Singapore, ice cold drinks, ice lollies and ice cream are a huge welcome in my household.  

Well, in the meantime, let's pray for some rain and while waiting, join me for a scoop of Durian ice cream.

What you need:

141g fresh milk
140g whipping cream
50g castor sugar
200g durian puree

Method:

Combine milk and cream.  Add in sugar and stir till sugar dissolved.

Add in durian puree and churn in ice cream machine.

Freeze and serve.




I am submitting your post to Aspiring Bakers #33 (July 2013) - Tropical Spiky Month hosted by Charmaine of MiMi Bakery House 


Cheers

Mango Yoghurt Popsicle

This will be my last batch of mango recipe in the household.  With such weather, might not be too good idea to eat so many.

Decided to turn them into Mango Yoghurt Popicle to beat the extreme hot weather.

I love to incorporate yoghurt into my kids' diet.  To be honest, I don't really fancy those cultured milk.  

See how quickly the popicle melts.

Luckily the haze seems to be getting better as compared to two days ago.  Let's continue to pray that it will be at bay for the remaining school holiday.  

It is definitely no fun to be coop up in the house with all windows and doors closed.  With such intense heat, my air cons are working doubly hard as well.

Don't forget to wash those filters!

What you need:

1 cup mango flesh
481g yoghurt
castor sugar to taste

Method:

Put everything into a blender and blend till smooth.

Pour into ice pop mould and chill till it set.


Hugs