Chocolate and Kumquat Oatmeal Cookie Bars

According to wikipedia, the kumquats or cumquats are a group of small fruit-bearing trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, in the genus Fortunella which may better be included in Citrus as it is often done. The edible fruit closely resembles that of the orange but is smaller and is often oval.

I,therefore,simply take it as a kind of orange and in my point of view, chocolate and orange are never harmful when paired in a baked good..and in fact,I fancy this duo more than any pairs of other fruit and chocolate!

When I came accross this recipe from recipezaar,I, then, was so keen to give it a try with two very good reasons..a favorite duo of mine and the first try-out for kamquat in baking!

Anyway,I didn't make it in a cookie form as originally done. I, instead, baked a whole batter in a baking tin and cut it into bars which it's the way I prefer to eat cookies..bizaar,isn't it?? lol..

Chocolate Malt (Milo) Loaf

I made this malt loaf with two reasons..Firstly, my daughter is really fond of a chocolate malt drink (like milo or ovaltine)and the other is to experiment with something new in my bread making era!

As for the result,with 1/2 cup of milo used which I thought that would be enough to make it dominant , thus I really expected to get a stronge flavor and scent of malt in my bread. Unfortunately and surprisingly, it didn't appear as much as I thought ! And that seems to be the only negative thing about this loaf..however, I was still pleased with the overall result, a beautiful loaf..soft and mildly sweet..I think it'd be wonderful to eat it toasted and topped with more milo/ovaltine and sweet condensed milk as I did to my slices of bread when I was a little child...

Btw, this loaf will also be posted to Yeastspotting hosted by Susan of Wild Yeast since I happen to enjoy being a part of it..thanks Susan for creating such a great event !

Ingredients:

300 g bread flour
2 heaped tbsp dried milk powder
1/4 heaped tsp salt
3 tbsp sugar
1 1/4 tsp instant yeast
45 g butter
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup chocolate malt drink powder (milo/ovaltine)
1 large egg
egg wash

Method :

1. In a saucepan, add the butter and milk ,heat until the butter has melted. remove the saucepan from the heat. Add the malt powder and stir to dissolve. Leave to cool until warm.

2. Mix the flour, milk powder, salt, sugar and yeast together in a mixing bowl.When the malt mixture are warm enough, then pour it into the flour mixture, add the egg and using a dough hook at low speed to mix everything to form a dough. Increase speed to medium and continue kneading for 10-15 minutes until the dough becomes smoot and elastic. Turn out onto a working surface and knead by hands for a few more minutes to finish up. Place the dough into a slightly greased bowl,cover with cling film and let it rise in a warm place for 1-1.5 hours.

3. Punch the dough down to deflate. Knead lightly for a few seconds, then shape the dough into a plump sausage form and place it into a greased loaf tin (8.5*4.5) ,cover with cling film and leave it to rise again for 45-60 minutes.

4. Preheat the oven to 375F. Brush the dough top with egg wash and bake it for 25-30 minutes until golden brown and the bottom sounds hollow when tapped. Cool on a wire rack before slicing and serve.

Potato and Scallion Bread Rolls

Bread is my all-time favorite baked good and I never fail to enjoy making and eating it even once..savory or sweet one could always grab my attention and easily find its way to tempt me somehow !

As for these potato and scallion bread rolls, I was inspired by 'Potato Sour Cream and Chive Bread' ' made by Chuck of
thekheadforbread..Once I saw the bread, I simply knew myself what to do for my next baking episode !!

Instead of following through the whole recipe from Chuck, I typically adjusted the recipe and forced myself to accept whatsoever it would come out of the oven.. fortunately, they were fabulous and really made me pleased with all changes I done ! And in my point of view, the bread could excellently be eaten along with a soup or simply served as dinner rolls..Since, its taste is not that strong, I think it's probably great for sandwich as well !

Btw,having been following the yeastspotting, a bread making event, hosted by Susan of Wild Yeast for a long while, I finally decided to have myself joined in the event.. Thus I chose these wonderful rolls as my sooo first submission !

Here is my version..

3 small new potatoes, peeled and quartered
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup milk
3 tbsp ( 40-45 g) butter
200 g strong white bread flour
80 g whole wheat flour
1+1/4 tsp instant yeast
1/4 heaped tsp salt
1.5 tbsp sugar
eggwash (1 large egg + a tbsp milk ),half for the dough and half for brushing
2 plus extra for sprinkle scallion, finely chopped

Method:

1. Boil the potatoes in a saucepan until soft. Drain, then add the sour cream, milk and butter and mash until smooth.

2. In a mixing bowl, stir the flours,yeast, sugar and salt together. Add half of the eggwash, potatoes mixture then, using a dough hook, mix everything to form a dough. Add the scallion and continue to knead for about 15 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. Add a little oil to another bowl and add in the dough. Turn over a few times to very lightly coat all sides of the dough.

3. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and allow to rest till double in bulk, about 1 hour. After the dough has risen, pour out onto a clean flat surface. Punch down the dough to release some of the air. Devide the dough into 8 pieces and shape each into a round form. Place the rounds onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Cover with plastic warp and allow to rise for another 40-50 minutes. Brush the rolls with the remaining eggwash and bake into a preheated 350F oven for 22-25 minutes. Remove and cool on a wire rack before served.

Bugnes

This is not the first time that I've learn something new through the internet and I'm sure it wouldn't be the last either..

I firstly saw this French snack posted by Corey of tongue in cheek on foodgawker which its photo totally got my attention..consequently, I did some search on google to find out more about it and expectedly ended up giving it a try !

The recipe is adapted from Corey's blog..And please accept my apology if my bugnes happens to look nothing like it's supposed to be..simply blame my inadequate experience !

What I used :

250 g plain flour
1/4 heaped tsp salt
1 large egg
50 g double cream
50 g butter
1.5 tbsp sugar
1.5 tbsp dark rum
1 tsp orange flower water
Canola oil for deep frying

Note: the method is pretty much the same as the original, only I cut the dough into rectangle forms instead of diamond..

Japanese Souffle Cheesecake

I don't eat much of cheesecake because I've found it's sometimes ( or some kinds ) too heavy to deal with.. but this souffle cheesecake seems to be an exception ! With light and soft texture, I could easily have pieces at a time without feeling sick. If you like cheescake, give it a try and you wouldn't be disappointed !

The recipe is from the same blog that I got the recipe of white chocolate and oreo mousse pie from.. Since it's originally in Thai, thus I translated into English and I adjusted few things to suit my own preference !

Ingredients:

125 g creamcheese at room temperature (I used Philadelphia)
20 g butter, soften
40 ml milk
65 g caster sugar
3 large eggs, white and yolk seperated
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
40 g self raising flour ( or cake flour)
1/4 tsp salt
1 scant tbsp orange juice
1 tbsp orange zest

Method :

1. Add 500 ml water into a big baking tray ( that the tin you use for the cheesecake can fit in) and place the tray in the oven then preheat the oven to 160c.Line the base and side of a 18-20 cm springform/cake tin with parchment paper. Then use a big piece of foil to wrap the tin around from the bottom upto top of the tin side.

2. Place the butter, creamcheese and milk in a bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water, being careful not to let the bowl touch the water, then wait until the butter has melted, remove the bowl from the heat and give it a really good stir until the mixture is smooth, set aside and leave it cool to the room temperature.

3. Add the orange juice and zest to the creamcheese mixture, stir to blend then add the yolks and mix them until incorperated. Sift the flour and salt into another mixing bowl,pour over the cream cheese and egg mixture in the center of thr flour. Quickly whisk or stir everything until just blended ( don't overmix or the cake will be tough)

4. In a seperate mixing bowl , beat the egg white with cream of tartar until foamy, then gradually add the sugar ,few tablespoons at a time, and continue to beat at high speed until reach the soft-medium peak ( more than soft but not hard peak). Gently fold the white into the creamcheese mixture until blended.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared tin. Place the tin in the preheated baking tray and bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted from center comes out clean. Turn the cake out on to a wire rack once taken from the oven ( the cake will shrink if left too long in the tin!). Leave to cool at room temperature, then let it set in the fridge for another hour or so before slicing and serve.