Mini Green Tea Melon Buns

Melon buns ( also known as melonpan) are inexpensive, sweet bakery products popular in Japan, Taiwan, and China made from an enriched dough covered in a thin layer of crispy cookie dough. Their appearance resembles a melon, such as a rock melon.They are not traditionally melon flavored.

Melonpan and pineapple bun from Hong Kong are very similar. By comparison the Japanese style is lighter in weight and taste, slightly dryer and has a firmer outer layer (including top cookie crust) which resists to flaking unlike its Hong Kong counterpart which should be treated with care as the top cookie crust tends to flake easily. The Hong Kong version is also more moist and is generally soft on the outside and inside and has a stronger butter pungent.

I was thinking about how to use up my green tea powder that had been left unused for ages and honestly, bread was not really in my mind since I actually planned to make either cake/muffin or cookie..But then I saw this melon buns posted on happyhomebaking which was just the right time and I undoubtedly fell in love with those lovely photos, so I got myself an answer what to do with the green tea powder !

As for the outcome, the bread was sooo soft,light and fluffy while the topping was crispy and a bit crumbly..it's a nice combination in one bite though! Anyway,there is one thing I could have done to make it better is to add more green tea powder into the dough because I couldn't really taste it from the bread while there's a mild flavor of green tea in the topping..

PS. I will have this post submitted to yeastspotting this week at Susan's blog..



Mini green tea melon buns ( adapted from here )

Ingredients:(makes 12 buns)

Bread Dough:

160g bread flour
30g self-raising flour
1.5 tsp green tea powder
30g caster sugar
a pinch of salt
1/2 heaped tsp instant yeast
100ml warm milk
10g milk powder
1 eggyolk
10g unsalted butter, softened

Pastry topping:

45g unsalted butter, softened
35g icing sugar
1 egg yolk
10g milk powder
70g self-raising flour
1.5 tsp green tea powder

Method:

1. Srir together the flours,green tea powder, yeast, sugar, milk powder and salt in a mixing bolw. Add in the yolk and milk. Using a dough hook ,mix the ingredients to form a soft dough. Add the butter and mix until incorperated. Knead on medium speed for about 15-20 mins. Then finish up by hand kneading for another 5 mins until the dough is smooth and elastc.

2.Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with cling wrap and let proof for about 60-90mins, or until double in bulk. While the dough is proofing, prepare the pastry topping. Beat butter and sugar until light and pale, add in the egg yolk and beat well. Add the cake flour, green tea powder and milk powder. Mix with a spatula until flour mixture is fully incorporate. Gather to form a soft dough. Divide dough into 12 equal portions roll into rounds. Place doughs in a tray and let the dough chill in the fridge for at least 30 mins.

3.Punch down the bread dough and knead lightly, then divide into 12 equal portion. Roll into rounds. Remove chilled pastry dough from the fridge. Take a piece of pastry dough and roll out in between 2 layers of cling wraps, big enough to cover the bread dough then place it over a bread dough, wrap the pastry dough around the bread dough, leaving the bottom 2 ~ 3 cm uncovered. Place doughs in paper muffin cups, cover loosely with a damp cloth or cling wrap and let dough proof for 25 - 30mins or till the dough reaches almost to the rim of the paper cup.

4. Bake in the preheated oven at 190 degC for about 15 mins. Rotate the buns halfway into baking to ensure even browning. Remove from oven and let cool on wire rack before serving.

French Silk Chocolate Cake

I was on duty to make a cake again and this time I chose to indulge everyone with chocolate..

The cake base is a sponge which I adpated from the recipe I used for my white forest cake and the french silk filling is from bakingdelights which I've made before and I remembered how darn good it was, so there is no doubt why I remade it !

I made my cake a bit more interesting by using a caramel syrup to brush over each layer before the filling which gave the cake mild flavor and scent..Also I sprinkled some cocoa powder and grated chocolate over the top to increase a chocolatey taste and it simply worked well..

As for the result, it's certainly worth being my Copper Anniversay cake !!

Ingredients :

The cake base :

80g sifted self-raising flour
30g cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3 large egg, seperated
120 g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla
50 ml milk
30 g butter,melted
some caramel syrup to brush

The french silk filling :

1 cup unsalted butter
1 heaped cup caster sugar
1/3 cup good cocoa powder
2 tsp. vanilla
4 eggs

Method :

1. Make the filling, cream the butter and sugar until very fluffy and well combined. Carefully blend in the cocoa and vanilla. Beating at highest speed add one egg. Beat for about 2 minutes.Repeat with each egg, beating very well after each addition. Whip until very fluffy.Chill for 4 hours before using.

2. Meanwhile, make the base, line the 8" cake tin with parchment paper.Preheat the oven to 350f. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Beat/whisk the egg white at a high speed of a mixer until foamy, the gradually add sugar, few tbsp at a time, then continue to beat until a peak stage. Add the yolk, one at a time, to the white and beat until the mixture have reached a ribbon stage.

3. Add the vanilla and mix to incorperate. Divide the flour mixture into few portions and add a portion at a time into the egg mixture using minimun speed. Mix until just combined, then slowly and gently pour the warm mixture of milk and melted butter into the batter. Now using spatula to gently fold everything until incorperated. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 25-30 minutes until the top springs back when touched. Cool on a wire rack for 5-10 minutes before turning it out to cool completely.

4. To assemble : Slice the cake into 2 layers. Brush the top of bottom layer with the syrup, then spread about 1/3 of the filling over. Place the top layer over and brush with the syrup before frosting the whole cake with the remaining filling. Decorate as required and leave the cake to set in the fridge for few hours before serving.

Cappucino and White Chocolate Muffins

I made these muffins a week ago but couldn't manage to have it posted until now !

The recipe ( adpated from here )

2 cups self-raising, sifted
1/3 cup plus 2 tbsp caster sugar
2 tbsp ground espresso bean
4 tbsp milk powder
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted
100 g coarsely chopped good quality white chocolate

Method :

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees . Whisk together all the dry ingredients except the white chocolate in a mixing bowl.In a seperate bowl, mix the milk, egg and melted butter until blended ,then pour into the dry ingredients mixture and stir until batter just moist (don't overmix). Fold in the white chocolate chunks.

2. Fill the batter into 12 greased muffin cases. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let them cool in pan. Remove muffins from tins to cool.

Chewy Monkey Bars

I've made monkey bars once a year ago which it appeared to be far too cakey, thus I personally considered it as a cake rather than bars because, in my perception, anything made into bars form should be dense..chewy..crispy not light..fluffy and cakey !

I've found and read the post , 'Non-cakey banana chocolate chunks bar' at cookiemadness written by Anna which it simply clicked what I had in mind about monkey bars. And consequently, I've got my version posted here !

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup mashed banana
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
45 g melted butter, slightly cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup pecans, toasted and chopped
2/3 cup chocolate chunks (use more if you want)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Sir flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together in a bowl.

Stir mashed banana, syrup, melted butter and vanilla in a second bowl. Pour flour mixture into banana mixture and stir until well mixed. Stir in pecans and chocolate. Mixture should be goopy, but not too runny. If it’s runny, chill it for an hour.

Empty the goopy banana mixture onto the parchment lined sheet and shape into a rectangle about 10×6 inches.

Bake on center rack for 15 minutes. Pull from oven and quickly score the bar into 1 ½ * 2 inches bars, but don’t separate. Quickly return to oven and bake for another 10minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes on tray, then carefully separate the bars and let them sit on a cooling rack to finish cooling. They should develop kind of a crispy shell.

Oreo and Chocolate Chips Cookies

I got a pack of oreo left from making oreo brownie a while ago and nobody in my family happened to like eating it plain..so I forcefully came up with an idea of making it into cookie (a thing that I rarely make!)..and yeah,as if it's not cookie itself ! lol..

With a little effort, I managed to get some recipes of oreo cookies through the google and chose the one that I found interesting most!

The cookies were good! Although it's not a soft and chewy type as I prefer but it's not too crispy either..I was pleased to feel and taste oreo in every single bite of it. Anyway, my cookies appeared to be slightly salty which I guess it might be the result of the less sugar I used or it's far too much called for in the original reciped..

The recipe ( adapted from here )

170 g unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 egg
1 cup self raising flour
1 cup bread flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
a 150g pack oreo, coarsely chopped/broken
some semi sweet chocolate chips

Method:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Beat butter and sugars until smooth. Add vanilla and eggs and mix until combined.

2. In a separate bowl, stir together the flours, soda, salt, baking powder and cream of tartar. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and stir until incorporated. Stir in the oreo and chocolate chips by hands.

3. Scoop tablespoonful of the dough out and shape into balls. Place balls on parchment lined or non-stick cookie sheet, 2 inches aparted and flatten tops slightly. You don’t want to flatten it too much, you just don’t want it to look like a ball. Bake for about 15 minutes or until brown around the edges. Cool slightly on cookie sheet for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to set: remove from baking sheet. Cool on wire rack. Makes about 25-30 cookies.

Black and White Sesame Cupcakes

I first saw this cake posted by lisa of lisaiscooking and 2 things about the cake that got my attention are sesame seed and sesame oil ! So I tried to seek for the original recipe and luckily, someone was nice enough to let me know about the link where the recipe could be found ! Thanks Khun Beam for that..

I did few changes to the original recipe anyway (typical me!..lol). Firstly I used both black and white sesame seed while the original calls for only black one. Secondly, I replaced plain flour with self-rising flour, then reduced sugar to just almost 3/4 cup and last thing is to transform it into 12 cupcakes instead of one big cake..

The cupcakes were nice..soft and slightly sweet which perfectly fitted my taste. The sesame seeds and oil did a wonderful job and certainly made a plain butter cake much more attractive. So if you like butter/pound cake and are fond of sesame, then this cake is highly recommended !

Sage and Garlic Focaccia

I made this focaccia to go along with my soup which turned out to be a great pair..you just dip the bread into a soup to get soaked like the way you do it with olive oil..ohhh fabulous !

Instead of making it plain, I chose sage and garlic to jazz the bread up..also added some wholewheat flour for health's sake and everything worked beautifully ! I used the leftover to make sandwich on the next day..even though it dried out a bit but it still tasted good !!

Note: this focaccia will be my second submission to YeastSpotting run by Susan of Wild Yeast for the week..
Ingredients :

1 1/2 cups bread flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 heaped tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp instant yeast
1.5 tbsp olive oil
175 ml warm water
7 fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed

Topping:

coarse sea salt
3 tbsp olive oil
a few sage leaves, roughly torn

Method:

1. Stir together the flours, yeast, salt, sugar, sage and garlic in a mixing bowl. Add the olive oil and water then mix everything, using a dough hook to form a rough ball. Increase to medium speed and knead the dough for about 10 minutes. Turn the dough out onto working surface, knead by hands for another 5-10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic.

2. Place the dough into a greased bowl, turn over once to get it coated with oil,cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for 1.5 hours.

3. Turn the dough out onto a greased baking tray ( 11"*7")without punching it down. Then gradually spread the dough with your figfers out evenly over the tray. Cover and let it rise again for 45 minutes.

4. Preheat the oven to 200c. Dimple the dough with your fingertips ,make sure you press them down deep enough. Brush the dough with 2 tbsp olive oil, then sprinkle the sea salt over and decorate with sage. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. Leave to cool in the tray for 5 minutes before turning the bread out onto a wire rack to cool a bit more before served.