Marzipan (Modelling)

Another interesting class that we have this semester is Marzipan. We started from doing our own marzipan, then proceed onto modelling of plaques, fruits, figurines (people and animals) to covering a fruit cake.  Here's some photos of fruits and veggies which we did in our marzipan classes.

Caramelized Petit Fours

I have seen this in showcases and such but I never tried it before except for caramel apples. We boiled the sugar at 150 degrees C till it turns golden brown and then we carefully dipped it into the caramel and allows the access to drip back into the pot. We then transfer the caramelised petit fours onto a silicon paper.  Here's a photo of our caramelized petit fours. My phone camera really sucks sometimes... :(
We had fun in class today!!!

Biscuits, Cookies...

We were having a discussion about cookies and biscuits in our class...and it got pretty interesting. In the US, it seems that a biscuit is like a scone and a cookie are sweet and kind of hard and flat like the famous chocolate chips cookies. However, what is called a cookie in the US is known as a biscuit in UK. Anyway, be it biscuits or cookies, I just love making these babies.

We made several types of fresh petit fours such as Chocolate Spiced Biscuits, Frosted Almond Biscuits, Little Legs Cookies, Macaroons and Financiers. Its all so yummylicious and so sweet.  Awesome for people who has a sweet tooth.  Here's some photos of these babies.

Assorted Macaroons....its really heavenly!!!

Mini Fruit Tartlets and Financiers

Chocolate Spiced Biscuits

Little Legs Cookies

Marzipan Petit Fours - Nougat Triangle, Piping Marzipan, Marzipan Truffles and Marzipan Fancies

One word...DELICIOUS!!!

Pasta Milano & Pasta ala Asian Style

There's a pasta sale at our local super mart and we bought all sorts of pasta...penne, fusilli, tortiglioni, farfelle and macaroni. Normally, I will do my own fresh pasta from scratch. But, with school and family, I ended up buying the dry pasta...easy peasy!!! My other half wanted me to whip out pasta milano but my little princes does not like anything with cream.  Therefore, in the end, I had to cook 2 different types of pasta to satisfied my whole family.  Here's a photo of the Pasta Milano and Pasta Ala Asian Style.

Pasta Milano with Ham and Mushrooms

Pasta Ala Asian Style (with eggs, fishcakes, minced oyster sauce chicken & green veggies)

That's all for now....going to the fair tomorrow if it doesn't rain...
Happy weekend!!!

Petit Fours & Marzipan (Flowers)

Have started school and am doing petit fours and marzipan this term. Both of my lecturers are awesome. Did you know that petit fours in french means small oven? To me, petit four is just small tiny cakes which I can finish within 2 mouthful..ha!ha!  According to my lecturer, there 2 main types of petit fours - dry and iced. For my first class, we made opera and iced petit fours. Here's a photo of the petit fours which we made in class.

In our 2nd week of our Marzipan class, we made flowers. The technique which my lecturer taught us is quite different from the ones I read in the sugarcrafting books. As my lecturer stated, there's 101 ways to do one piece of art.  Here's a photo of my flowers.

We will be doing figurines and macaroons next week....yippee!!!

Chicken Pie

Chicken pies...yummylicious especially if one makes it from scratch.  Pies tend to be savory, with a top and bottom flaky crust with meat filling (chicken, pork, beef, lamb, etc), mixed veggies and gravy. As I had leftover cream of mushroom, I decided to bake a pie.  I made my puff pastry first and left it in the fridge while I cooked the fillings and allow it too cool. Roll out a piece of pastry for the base and line your pie tin. Trim the pastry off around the edge of the tin. Add in the fillings and press it down with a fork. Cover the pie with another rolled out piece of pastry and tuck the edges to seal it. You can be really creative here. I am just plain lazy...ha!ha! I baked it for 30 mins at 180 degrees C.  Here's a photo of my chicken pie.

This is so good with earl gray tea.....

Spring Rolls (Popiah)

It has been awhile since we last made popiah (spring rolls). Its a tedious job....firstly, we have to handmake the skin for the popiah. Then, we have to make the fillings so that we can add it in before we roll it and gobble it up.  I for one prefers the floured popiah skin. I know that my cousins prefer to make the egg popiah skin. To each, its own...as my Grandaunt will say.  My Caucasians friends call it the Asian Crepes. Sometimes, we will have a popiah party and it is just awesome! Anyway, my other half helped me to handmake the popiah skin. He got the hang of twisting the ball of flour mix into a ball and with a twirl, coat the non-stick pan with a thin layer of the flour mix.

We also made the filling for our popiah. We had bamboo shoots, mangkuang (turnips), taugeh (beanshoots), prawns, lettuce, eggs, tofu, etc. One can get really creative here. Once, we had crabmeat in it too. So, how do we assemble our popiah?
Skin
Brush skin with hoisin, sweet sauce and chilli sauce.
Lay a piece of lettuce on top of the sauced skin.
Add a spoon or two of the bamboo shoots & mangkuang filling.
Sprinkle on top some eggs, tofu bits, prawns, etc
When you are satisfied with your fillings, wrap the popiah up.

Here's a photo of my popiah and the popiah skin.

My other half decided to be creative and created bacon rolls (adapted from peking duck rolls).  We did not have any peking duck, so we decided to substitute the duck with bacon.  Verdict....pretty nice!!! Tadaa...a new creation...ha!ha! Here's a photo of our Bacon Rolls.