31 Oct 16 (Mon) - Baked Chicken and Brie with Steamed Sweet Potato and Honey Dew

Had some mini brie leftover from the previous experimental cooking couple of months back. So thought I had better finished them up before they expire. Googled for recipe that make use of brie and found this "Baked Chicken and Brie" that seemed easy enough.

The recipe asked for a cup of light beer or dry white wine. Didn't have either so went to get a can of Tiger beer after work. After cooking for the stated amount of time, there was still a lot of beer left in the baking dish. Hahaha... Think I should have taken the effort to measure one cup of beer instead of pouring the whole can of beer into the baking dish.

The end result didn't look like the photo posted on the website. Oh well... since I also had some sweet potatoes left, so steamed them to go with the chicken. Added some honey dew to eat as dessert too. Hehe...

29 Oct 16 (Sat) - Edna Mae’s Sour Cream Pancakes

Bought a new tub of sour cream thinking that I could bake another cheesecake over this weekend. After much consideration, I decided against it because I think it would be an overkill as I had just baked some mini New York Cheesecakes few weeks ago. So what can I do with so much sour cream? Ask Mr. Google! And the answer was "Edna Mae’s Sour Cream Pancakes" found on "The Pioneer Woman" website.

Followed the recipe and only made one variation. That was to replace the all-purpose flour and baking soda with self-rising flour instead. Unlike the usual pancake that I had made before, these pancakes were much lighter and softer, just like what the website said. Very tasty too, especially when eaten warm with butter, maple syrup and some lingonberry jam.

23 Oct 16 (Sun) - Buttery Sour Cream Muffins

Had some leftover sour cream and wondered what to do with it. Googled for recipes that use sour cream and self-rising flour and this "Buttery Sour Cream Muffins" by Taste of Home popped out. Tried the recipe and made two muffins. This was the first time that I made savory muffins. I think it will be better if they were in bite-size instead of muffin size because it was very filling. And because it was so buttery, I ate it with a dollop of sour cream to balance the taste and I ate it as a meal.

16 Oct 16 (Sun) - Pumpkin White Cake

Today I did an experimental bake using pumpkin and egg whites. Modified my usual butter cupcake recipe and the result was a bit unexpected. Basically I substituted one egg with the egg white of the same weight and added pumpkin puree. Instead of baking in cupcake cases, I used a springform cake tin plus one cupcake case.

Baked at 160 degree celsius for 20 minutes like what the recipe calls for but the centre of the big cake was still wet while the smaller cake was moist. So baked for another 5 minutes before testing again. This time, the toothpick came out clean for the smaller cake but not so for the big cake. Got a bit impatient, so took out the small cake, left the big cake in the oven and set it to bake for another 10 minutes at 200 degree celsius. This time, the cake was done but the top was browned and slightly crispy. Wondered if it was due to the egg white.

Let the cakes cooled down before trying the small one. The cake seemed to be sweeter than usual and instead of pumpkin taste, the cake tasted more like carrot cake. Wondered if there's something wrong with my taste bud.

Packed the big cake in tupperware box to bring to office tomorrow for taste test. Hope reviews will be favorable.

Ingredients:

50g butter - soften

50g castor sugar

50g self-rising flour

54g egg white

15ml milk

1/3 tsp vanilla essence

65g pumpkin puree

pinch of salt

Method:

1.  Preheat the oven to 160 degree celsius

2.  Line a 4" springform bake tin and 1 silicon muffin case with cupcake case

3.  Mix egg white with milk and vanilla essence with a fork till just blended

4.  Beat butter and sugar till fluffy

5.  Sift flour with a pinch of salt

6.  Add to butter mixture alternately with milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture, mix on low speed till blended after each addition

7.  Stir in pumpkin puree till well combined

8.  Pour batter into cake tin and cupcake case

9.  Bake for 30-40mins until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean*

10. Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool

* For cupcake size, bake for 25 mins

---------------- Edited on 17 Oct 2016 ----------------

Brought the big cake to office for the usual group of testers to try. Didn't tell them the flavour and ask them if they could tell after eating. Just as I thought, they couldn't tell. After I told them it was supposed to be pumpkin flavour, they all suggested that perhaps I should up the pumpkin puree amount and down the sugar and butter amount. Worth a shot. Maybe on next try.

15 Oct 16 (Sat) - Baked Sweet Potato & Pumpkin with Sour Cream

It had been a long time since the last post back in mid-June. My kitchen underwent a revamp after that for a few months and now it is back in "business". Bought a Panasonic Combi-oven (Model: NN-DS592B) and decided to try recipes that I had never been able to do before. As this is my very first combi-oven (I have been using microwave oven all this while), I had to read the manual very carefully before using it for cooking.

Today I attempted something simple, baked sweet potato and pumpkin. Modified the "Quick Baked Potatoes" recipe that I found on "She Wears Many Hat" by Amy and the result was pretty good. First look at the dish, I think one would think that it was meant to be some sort of a dessert, with sweet potatoes and pumpkin as ingredients. However, it was actually a savory dish which I ate as lunch. Heh.

Ingredients:

1-2 tbsp olive oil (I used lemon-infused oilve oil)

2 Japanese sweet potatoes, washed
1 wedge of pumpkin, rinsed
some salt (I used himalayan salt)
some mixed herbs
a dash of cinnamon powder

Method:

1.  Preheat oven to 180 degree celsius
2.  Line metal tray with baking paper
3.  Drizzle the lined baking paper with olive oil
4.  Cut sweet potatoes in half length wise and pumpkin into big chunks
5.  Coat sweet potatoes and pumpkin evenly with the olive oil on the baking paper
6.  Place sweet potatoes cut side down and pumpkin skin side down on lined baking paper
7.  Sprinkle sweet potatoes and pumpkin with salt, mixed herbs and cinnamon powder
8.  Bake at 180 degree celsius for 20-25 mins and check with fork for doneness
9.  Serve with sour cream and some spring onions