Girl Power

In commemoration of the 100th International Women's Day  last Tuesday, 8th of March, 2011, I'm posting this moving video to share with all of you the importance of women especially girls.Under no circumstances are you, especially those heartless men, to do an injustice to a girl.

The Girl Effect Video

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Belgium Waffle: What a simple procedure!

Belgium Waffle with cut banana and a dollop of milk caramel aka dulce de leche.

Belgium waffle, anyone? I ate Belgium waffle in Bangsar, once upon a time (it's been too long that I couldn't remember when, but the taste and the chewy texture linger...). So, when I read Pook's inviting entry on the Easy Belgium Waffle here, I was tempted to try. You can reduce the sugar if you feel that it is too sweet.

My waffle maker is the ordinary one and not like Pook's. The original Belgium waffle is made using the deep Belgian waffle maker like the one used by Pook. I have to hunt and purchase a new waffle maker soon if I want to relish this Belgium waffle again... Does anyone know where I can invest in that kind of waffle maker, please?

Belgium Waffle Ingredients:

50gm unsalted butter (I used Anchor unsalted)

70g Crisco (white vegetable shortening)

2 eggs

120gm caster sugar

½tsp Vanilla extract 

A pinch of salt

2tsp  Creme Fraiche (or milk if you don't have creme fraiche. I used 1 tsp sour cream and 1 tsp milk))

160gm Bread flour

2tbsp Pearl Sugar (I skipped this since I didn't have in store)

1. Beat butter and Crisco together until soft, add sugar and salt, and beat until light and fluffy.

2. Add in the eggs, vanilla essence.
3. Fold in half of the flour, add in the milk, then fold in the rest of the flour.
4. Add the pearl sugar, and fold to combine.
5. Heat the waffle maker and put the dough onto the pan. Cook according to the manufacturer's instructions until golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes. Serve immediately.

Source: Pook at http://dailydelicious.blogspot.com

Treasured Silence

Salam. It's been a while since my absence from the website. Well, I’ve finally felt good enough to post something. Just listen and ponder whatever that the man has voiced out. It is a problem of mind-boggling complexity to me. Thanks for being such a huge bright spot in my life...

Maher Zain Is Allah Satisfied ?"Awaken" with lyrics

Rainbow cake

This cake doesn't use butter at all but coconut milk. It's very easy to prepare and the taste is worth the time spent in baking it. The original recipe calls it Zebra cake. Since this one doesn't resemble a zebra stripe and I have altered the recipe a bit by adding orange, chocolate and strawberry flavours, the name is not suitable anymore.

5 eggs (250 grams)
150 grams coconut milk (cooked) - I used canned coconut milk and poured it straightaway from the can
200 grams fine granulated sugar
150 grams cake flour
1/4 teaspoon vanilin (Since I don't have vanillin, I used vanilla essence instead)
Red colour and strawberry emulco
Orange emulco
Chocolate emulco

1. Whisk whole eggs, sugar, vanillin at high speed for 15 minutes.
2. The at slow speed add in the flour and cooked coconut milk.
3. Divide the batter into 3 portions and colour according to your preference. (The original Zebra cake recipe asks for chocolate, orange and yellow colours).
4. Pour the batter into a lined, greased and floured 8" round tin, starting with 3 tablespoons of yellow followed by red and chocolate. Repeat the process until batter is used up.
5. Bake at 180˚C for 40-45 minutes.

Source: Zebra Cake, 2010. The Joy of Baking. Bake With Yen Sdn. Bhd.

Pancake

I have been using this recipe since Stephanie first started her post on pancakes. This is a recommended one and you can vary the ingredients once you've mastered or familiar with the technique. It is simple and easy to follow. You can have various creation from sweet potato pancake, strawberry pancake, banana pancake to gula melaka pancake (done by Mat Gebu).



Pancakes for breakfast today . We had them with an extensive choice of apple preserve, blueberry jam, honey and dulce de leche toffee.

 1 cup (130 grams) all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons (28 grams) granulated white sugar

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 cup (240 ml) of milk (I used fresh milk, but you can also use evaporated milk)

2 tablespoons (28 grams) unsalted butter, melted (I used vegetable oil since I wanted to reduce the fat intake and it still tastes the same)

Plus extra melted butter for greasing the pan (Since I used a non-stick pan, I skipped this process)

1. You will need to use 2 bowls: in one bowl,whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar; in the other bowl whisk together the egg, milk, and vegetable oil or melted butter.

2. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture, all at once, and stir or whisk just until combined.

 (**The batter should have some small lumps. Anna Olson of 'Sugar' said that a pancake mixture should have lumps of flour. Some people like to use food processor but do not over mix the batter. Overmixing it will cause the pancakes to be tough).

3. Heat the nonstick pan or griddle over medium high heat until a few sprinkles of water dropped on the pan or griddle splatter. 

4. Using a small ladle or scoop, pour about 1/4 cup of pancake batter onto the pan. You can make a few at one time but make sure you space the pancakes a few inches from each other. 

5. When the bottoms of the pancakes are brown and bubbles start to appear on the top surfaces of the pancakes (2-3 minutes), turn over. Cook until lightly browned (about 1-2 minutes).

6. Do not press the pancakes for you want to retain the soft and spongy texture.

7. Repeat with remaining batter.

8. Serve immediately with butter and maple syrup, blueberry jam, honey or even icecream.

9. The batter makes about 8 - 3-inch (7.5 cm) pancakes.  Serves 3-4 people.

**For Blueberry Pancakes: Sprinkle fresh blueberries on the tops of the pancakes just as bubbles start to appear on the top surface of the frying batter.

Source: Stephanie Jaworski of Joyofbaking.com
You can also read further on making the perfect pancakes here