raspberry and litchi jelly

i love memories. you may never be able to relive them again, but you can certainly play them back as and when you wish and as many times as you like.

and sometimes, you may even be able to savour a little bit of them once more.

like these raspberry jellies that my mum used to make. whenever any of us opened the frigo and spotted the blushing red liquids setting in their little glasses, it will start a process of 15-minute interval sprints to the fridge to check if the little rubies have settled. we will carefully hold a glass, shake and tilt it around a bit to inspect if it is ready. much to my mum's chagrin i must imagine.

it was only with that same childhood anticipation that i mixed up a batch of these raspberry jellies one sweltering hot arvo, this time dotting the jellies with some sweet canned litchis and perfuming them slightly with crushed tangerine juice (leftovers from chinese new year).

and it looks like some habits never die. *grin* wobble, shake, tilt. every half hour this time, thankfully. only takes 2-3 hours to set before i got to walk 25 years down memory lane again. heaven in a spoonful.

Power Truffles

Ever since I have returned to Singapore, I have been spoilt rotten by Mum's cooking and all the cheap eats (not to mention huge variety) out there. So it seems that getting down and dirty in the kitchen has become somewhat of a rare occasion for me.



And the heat. Nom de dieu, it has been stinking hot over here for the past few days. The walk back after lunch must be the only time I feel that happy to be back at work. You can imagine that sweating it out in the kitchen doesn't exactly appeal to me right now, especially where baking is involved. You must surely feel for me when you think about all the excess heat from the oven seeping out when you are already half-cooked in a 30-degree something kitchen. On the upside, you get to fully steam out your pores here. Free facial anyone?



But I suppose I will make my brother's birthday an exception :) (That's for all the years of crap he had to put up with the terror of 3 older sisters in the family!) My bro is an ENORME chocolate lover. The way he whacks chocolate down will put all self-professed chocoholics to shame. I reckon what every Cadbury or Meiji chocolate-maker-wannabe needs to sustain their business is to find one customer like that and you're set for life.



With that in mind, I thought, what better gift is there than some hand-made bittersweet truffles to really ratch up the intensity of chocolate? I was quite excited too as I haven't made these before. I got my hands on the simplest chocolate ganache recipe I could find, ran back to the shop like a madwoman twice because I forgot the cream and got down to work. After trying to shape the balls and watching each ball die slowly with the heat, I decided to skip the coating altogether and go with a soft dusting of cocoa powder.



I still feel like cracking up at my parents' bewildered faces when I dashed past them into my brother's room at the stroke of midnight with a truffle loaded in a little bowl. And in true Singaporean-ness, he popped it in his mouth and said "Damn gao (intense). Power."

Yay for Power Truffles. *chuckle* Happy Birthday little bro! *hugs*

Bittersweet Chocolate Truffles
200g bittersweet chocolate (at least 70% cocoa), chopped
1 1/4 cup cream
Unsweetened cocoa powder for dusting

Heat the cream up in a saucepan and bring it to a simmer. Take it off the heat and let cool.

Melt the chopped chocolate chunks in a bain marie. Add in the cooled cream and mix. Alternatively, you can heat the cream up and pour it straight onto the chocolate chunks slowly. Mix until smooth.

Firm up the chocolate ganache in the fridge for around 2-3 hours. Using the help of 2teaspoons (I found this much more effective than using my hands), shape the chocolate ganache into balls and place on a tray lined with baking paper. Lightly dust with the unsweetened cocoa powder and let chill in the fridge.

Adapted from Epicurious

Breakfast waffles

Mmm. It's interesting how kitchen aromas draw people like moths to a flame. As I stumbled out from my room, bleary-eyed from a late night out, the delicious smell of breakfast being prepared practically had me tripping over myself to get to la cuisine. It was unmistakably one of the three: crepes, waffles, or pancakes. For a carb lover like myself, you can only imagine the delirious effect of eggs, sugar and flour cooking over the grill has on me.

If you could only see my face when I saw this:



Heh Mum even stacked the waffles on chopsticks to prevent it from getting soggy.

I'm kind of ashamed to say this, but what proceeded was a bit of a mad scramble. (Oh yes, I'm glad no one was around to witness this.) Butter, check. Jam, check. Coffee....now, who moved my coffee?? Wandering around for a bit, I finally gave up and settled on some International Roast instant coffee.

Ahh. A kind of quiet satisfaction takes over me as I slather on a small slab of butter and blackberry jam over a warm piece of waffle.



Simple and wholesome. Just the way I like it. :)

Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting

Dear dear me. Moist, satisfying sweet, intensely buttery and slightly nutty, I can't believe how luscious and addictive these cakes turned out to be.

This is the first time I've experimented with brown butter as I've always been wary about the whole carsinogenic thing, but hell, so are those deliciously crisp charred bits you get with your bbq and that doesn't stop me from consuming them from time to time. That being said, I'm only browning the butter on this occasion for the sake of experimenting. If I make these cakes again (which I'm very very sure I will), I think I'll leave out the browning bit.

After being introduced to salted caramels from my trip to Bretagne, I just can't adjust to normal caramels anymore. So the teeny weeny teaspoon of salt stated in the recipe was really quite unacceptable in my opinion. A good, liberal sprinkling of pink murray salt? Oui s'il vous plait!

Another change I did was to use yoghurt for the buttercream frosting instead of heavy cream. That was a chance I took since I did not really feel like buying a tub of heavy cream just for a couple of tablespoons. I am not sure how my other fellow Bakers fared, but it seemed like I needed a couple of tablespoons more of yoghurt than what the recipe called for. The yoghurt provided an extremely pleasant, sourish tang and is one amendment I'm happy to keep.

These cakes are a Shuna Fish Lydon recipe. The recipe can be found at her website at Eggbeater. And thanks to Dolores, Alex and Jenny for hosting this month's theme! You've certainly satisfied one sweet tooth.

Jabo-what?

I love Harris Farm. It's like a supermarket version of a deli in Sydney, stocked with all sorts of lovely foods, fresh or prepared. It's my mini haven to escape into and the minutes just fly by as I take my time to peruse the aisles. I like to come here to stock up on crusty ciabattas, wholemeal lebanese rounds, thick greek yoghurts, dried and fresh fruits, veggies*, nuts and the occasional soft, buttery brioche loaf or slice of gourmet cheese. Every now and then, there will be some new exotic looking produce that will pop up on the aisle. I love trying new things, so if the price is within reason, it will usually end up in my basket.

Dark purplish, ripe with juice and only at 4 dollars a punnet, there was no doubt in my mind that I had to try these. Jaboticabas are native to Brazil and is much likened to the grape. It has a tough, astringent skin which bursts delightfully to reveal its sweet, whitish, half translucent flesh. The seeds, if present, are soft and yielding and can be crunched through easily. Tastewise, the jaboticaba reminds me somewhat of a cross between a mangosteen and logan. Go figure.

Other than eating these fresh, these are apparently frequently used in jams or drinks. I immediately knew what I wanted to use these for - a peanut butter and jaboticaba-jelly sandwich. I've been craving for a PBJ sandwich for some time now and the mere thought of the deliciously salty, crunchy peanuts melding with the sweetness of the jelly had me practically tripping over to the kitchen to get started on the jam.

The skin of the jaboticaba has a lot of tanins and can impart a bitter taste, but the acid in the citrus helps cut through it somewhat. I used orange in place of lime since that was all I had on hand and it turned out beautiful too, although I was a little stronghanded on the orange. All that's left to do now is to simply slather it on a thick slice of mixed grain toast with a good helping of crunchy peanut butter. Now that's comfort food.

Jaboticaba Jam

A batch of jaboticabas

Sugar

Limes

Place the jaboticabas in a saucepan. Add enough water to cover the fruit and bring to boil, then reduce the heat. Let it simmer for about half an hour to an hour, making sure it does not become too dry. Remove from heat and strain the liquid to get rid of the skins and seeds.

Whatever amount of jaboticaba juice you end up with, add an equal amount of sugar and the zest and juice of the limes to taste. Place the saucepan on a low heat to dissolve the sugar and heat until the jam coats the back of a spoon thickly. Remove from heat and place into sterilized jars.

*I'm trying to shift most of my fresh veggies and fruit purchases now to the little local grocerer though. For one, the produce is usually fresher and picked closer to the ripening stage since they are grown in closer proximity, and two, it helps minimize the amount of energy consumption with the reduced transportation.