Corn Pudding/ Puding Jagung

Hello lovelies!

When I went through my blog posts, the last blogpost that I poseted was in 2018. What happened in 2019? Then I remembered! I was pregnant. I felt sick almost the entire time. I could barely eat let alone cook or bake!Bleargh. To say that I am better this year would be a complete lie.Totally sleep deprived and exhauseted. Not to mention being totally anxious of the pandemic that is happening.This was not how I envisioned my 2020 to be.

Pandemic aside, I am struggling with mom brain a lot these days. I thought it would go away after child birth, but nope, my mind is still very slow and I couldn't always remember names or words. You'll see me repeating the same words a lot just simply because I couldn't remember a better word for it, or I could simply no longer give any Fs. Oh well.

I have loved this corn pudding recipe for years! Since highschool in fact. I realized that I simply did not pen down my Mak Long's recipe and it is time that I put it here. I made some modifications to make this pudding a whole lot creamier!

Corn Pudding/Puding Jagung
1 can (425g) of sweet corn cream
2 cups (500ml) of milk
1 cup (250ml) of water
1 cup (125g) of custard flour/corn flour
1/2 cup (100g) of sugar
1 can of fruit cocktail (to serve)
1 can of evaporated milk(to serve)

1. In a large pot over medium heat, combine the water and sugar. Mix until the sugar dissolves
2. Pour in the sweet corn cream and the milk. Mix well
3. Once the mixture is warm, whisk in the flour and mix well. The mixture will take some time to thicken
4. Once it has thicken, remove from heat and let cool slightly
5. Pour the mixture into small containers or molds. Let cool to room temperature
6. Chill them in the fridge for a couple of hours
7. Serve with fruit cocktail and evaporated milk

You can also pour the WHOLE mixture into one big container and eat out of the container using a spoon. I won't judge.

Enjoy!

Piña Colada Cheesecake

Hi!

It was exactly a year ago since I last posted anything here! That is just crazy! Well, it was certainly a crazy decision to work full time while studying part time anyways. I work Mondays to

Saturdays(most Saturdays) and I have classes 2 or 3 times a week at night. Sundays are used to get my shit together i.e. laundry, make sure my husband still knows that I love him and also finish endless papers and assignments. How did I manage? A lot of crying for sure.

The thing about having so much stress yet having no time to release it was just crazy. I used to love spending my alone time in the kitchen (I still do) but there was just no time. Whenever I have free time, I sleep. It was like having a baby where I have to wake up in the middle of the night finishing off assignments/group projects that I did not have time to do during the day. 

I just quit my job last Thursday so I can finish off my remaining modules full time. Is that a good idea? I hope so. :)

As I am now a student again, I have a bit more time to spend in the kitchen. I have been brewing up a storm lately. Yesterday, I made something that I have ALWAYS wanted to bake. Piña Colada Cheesecake! My mom's and I favourite mocktail; Piña Colada (minus the rum obvs!). We are tropical girls after all! Who can resist the tanginess of pineapple mixed with the creaminess of coconut milk. Now imagine those flavours with cream cheese. It was a tropical paradise really! 

Piña Colada Cheesecake

3 sticks of cream cheese (750g), room temperature

3 eggs

2 tablespoon of all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup coconut milk

1/2 can of crushed pineapple (from a 567g can), drained 

1 ¼  cup of finely crushed graham crackers

1/2 cup of melted butter

2 tablespoon of coconut oil

1. Preheat oven to 325 degree Fahrenheit (300 degrees if using a dark nonstick spring form)
2. Line the insides of a 9-inch spring form with parchment paper. Set aside
3. In a bowl, mix the crushed graham crackers, melted butter and coconut oil together. Press firmly on the bottom and the sides of spring form.
4. Bake for 10 minutes and set aside.
5. In the meantime, mix the cream and sugar together using an electric mixer until well blended.
6. Add in the flour and continue beating.
7. Add in cocnut milk , crushed pineapple and eggs and beat until combined.
8. Pour the cream cheese batter onto the baked crust.
9. Bake for 35 -45 minutes. The middle should still jiggle while the sides are slightly firm to touch.
10. Let cool in the oven. 
11. Once cooled, let it set in the fridge for 3 hours minimum before cutting and serving.

(Optional) Serve with remaining crushed pineapple and roasted desiccated coconut.

It was so easy to make and it tasted DIVINE!

I will certainly update my other cheesecake experiments soon!

Bon Appétit!

Love,

Soffy

Apple Pie Bread Pudding

Helllo!

My sisters and I share the same past time; baking. The thing that I love most about baking is the amount of creativity that you can put into a recipe and we always share our newly found holy grail recipes in our whatsapp group.All of us are busy with our own things every day but we love the fact that the kitchen is still  our safe haven.

In all honesty, where I live now the kitchen is tiny and the lack of familiar tools frustrate me. For my birthday this year I asked for a new mixer because the old one is rusty. ( I CAN’T EVEN FIND THE PARTS BEING SOLD HERE!!). So off we went and I was happy with this new standing mixer that I bought while thinking of the amazing breads that I can make later. It was such an effing dismay that the mixer was a complete joke! The stand is literally a stand. The bowl doesn’t rotate or anything. I though the stand was faulty. NOPE. I feel like crying just thinking about it. Another thing that I miss having is a legit oven. The one that I have now is a microwave oven that can grill, bake and many other things. But there is nothing that can replace a normal oven. Did I mention that our kitchen is tiny? Tiny kitchen comes with tiny working space. Sigh. One day, when we move out maybe.


Having a small microwave oven and a simple mixer with very limited counter space, baking can be quite a challenge nowadays. So I tend to stick to fool-proof recipe that are easy to make, easy to clean and easy to play around with. Like this Apple Pie Bread Pudding  recipe. It is basically bread pudding with apple pie filling.

Apple Pie Bread Pudding 

Bread pudding layer

4 large eggs, beaten
3/4 granulated white sugar or ½ cup brown sugar
4 cups of milk
7-9 pieces of white bread
a dash of cinnamon and vanilla


1. Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius.
2. Mix the milk, beaten eggs, sugar cinnamon and vanilla in a big bowl
3. Cut the bread pieces into small cubes and soak them in the milk mixture.
4. Pour into an 8" x 8" baking dish and set aside.

Apple Pie filling

4 small apples
½ teaspoon of cinnamon
½ cup of sugar or less, depending on the sweetness of the apples.
3 tablespoon of flour

1. Peel, core an cut the apples into small cubes.
2. Mix the apples, cinnamon, sugar and flour together.
3. Spread  the apple pie filling onto the bread pudding mixture evenly.
4. Bake for about 20 mins to 30 mins.
5. Serve hot with a scoop of ice cream


It is so easy to make, in less than an hour, you can make it, bake it and eat it piping hot with a dollop of vanilla ice cream. The hot and cold sensations in your mouth bring this easy dessert to another level. We served this to our guests recently; and they were amazed by it.

Enjoy!

Love,
Soffy

Lazy-weekend Pancakes

Happy 2016 everyone!

It's been awhile. *Blowing dusts*

2015 was not the best year for me, hence the lack of posts and experiments. This year will be different. WAYYY DIFFERENT from last year. *Amin*

On weekends, my hubs and I would always choose between French Toasts and Pancakes for our lazy mornings. I came across this recipe awhile ago and like other kinds of pancake recipes, I'm sure you can add ANY additional ingredients like Chocolate Chips, Fresh Fruits, Nutella(why not?) even cinnamon and caramelized apples! This recipe is like a blank canvas, color it as you please!

I always use Martha Stewart's recipe because it doesn't require buttermilk or fancy techniques that my Sunday-brain could not comprehend.

Original recipe here.

Martha Stewart's Easy Basic Pancakes

1 cup all-purpose flour,

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

1 large egg

some oil for frying

1. In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
2. In a different bowl, whisk together milk, oil, and egg. 
3. Add dry ingredients into the milk mixture; whisk until just combined (do not overmix; a few small lumps are fine).
4. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. 
5. Fold a sheet of paper towel in half, and moisten with oil; carefully rub skillet with oiled paper towel.
6. For each pancake, pour about 1/4 cup of batter onto skillet.
7. Cook until surface of pancakes have some bubbles and a few have burst, 1 to 2 minutes. 
8. Flip carefully and cook until browned on the underside, 1 to 2 minutes more. 
9. Repeat steps (5-8) with remaining batter.
10. Serve with desired toppings. ( Butter, maple syrup, honey, whipped cream, etc.)

Cinnamon Apple Pancakes

We always have our pancakes with butter and honey. In my book, it may be a sin to serve pancakes without butter. Really *wink*.

Till then.

Mango and Kiwi Cheese Tart

Assalamualaikum


For my wedding last November, my lovely colleagues gave me an amazing microwave oven. This baby can grill, bake, heat up food....you name it. THANK YOU GUYS! Since then, they kept on pestering me to bring baked goods to the office. AS IF I HAVE SO MUCH TIME TO BAKE! Leaving the apartment at 7.30 am in the morning and coming back home nearing 7 pm with a pile of laundry to sort, dinner to be cooked and well..trying not to pass out of exhaustion. When will I have the time to bake?!

It's quite tricky for me to adjust myself with this oven. I usually use the oven that is connected to a stove top and they work wonderfully. Since this oven is smaller and full on fancy schmancy,  I need to amend the baking time as well as the temperature for most of the recipes that I swore by. Oh well. Nothing is easy in life!

I've been wanting to try a mango tart/pie for almost two years, I think. But Mangoes are EXPENSIVE in Canada! Why buy mangoes when you can get berries there, right? In Malaysia mangoes are easy to find and quite reasonably priced. Especially if you go to the markets or even Money Back Guaranteed (MBG) Stores and you get to try em. Yeay! When I was in MBG, kiwis were on sale, hence the mango AND kiwi cheese tart.

Why Cheese filling instead of the usual custard filling? First off, hello? It's cream cheese! This shouldn't even be a question in the first place. Second, if you get the right and ripe mangoes, they are VERY SWEET. Pairing it with custard would make it tooooo creamy and sweet. However, by using cream cheese, you can reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe accordingly and let the tartness of the  cream cheese shine. (GOD! The way I write is very MKR-ish!). The tartness of the cream cheese will balance out the sweetness of the fruits.

Funny story. I made a Mango Tart for my officemates. It was cray cray! Trying to bring a tart in a CRAMPED LRT, what was I thinking?! Once I reached the office,  I sighed with relief. This was about less than 5 minutes before I accidentally dropped the tart on the floor.  I DIED! My friends thankfully are as crazy as I am. They ate it anyways! Obviously I feel bad and made another one on the next day. :p

Mango and Kiwi Cheese Tart

3/4 cup (185g) creamcheese, room temperature
3/4 cup  (170ml) whipping cream
1/3 cup sugar
1-2 ripe Water Lily mangoes
2 ripe kiwis
1 cup digestive biscuit crumbs / 250g biscuits
1/2 cup (125g) melted butter

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degree Fahrenheit.
2. In a bowl, mix together the biscuit crumbs with the melted butter. Press the mixture onto a 9-inch tart pan. (If you feel that your crumbs are a tad too dry, add more melted butter)
3. Put the crust in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes. Let cool slightly.
4. Beat your creamcheese with sugar until light and fluffy. In a different bowl, whip your whipping cream until it reaches medium to hard peak. 
5. Fold the whipping cream into the creamcheese mixture.
6. Once your crust has slightly cooled, pour the creamcheese mixture onto the crust.
7. Peel your fruits and slice them thinly.
8. Arrange your sliced fruits to your liking.
9. Serve immediately 

This tart can be made ahead of time. Just slice and arrange your fruits right before you serve to avoid the fruits from drying or going bad!

It is not that easy to find digestive biscuits near my area. Because I ran out of digestive biscuits, I had to mix some Tiger Biscuits in my crust. Tiger biscuits, for the love of God, do not absorb melted butter well. So I ended up using more butter than usual. The crust tasted fine, thank God!Phew... and I didn't dropped it this time. :)


Till then.

Love,
Sofhan Hasni

Apple Tarte Tatin

Assalamualaikum.


Working is tough. or should I say I am currently working in a tough environment. I am going for a longg long break soon. I need keep reminding myself to breathe. In my final year of university I had anxiety issues. Panic attacks were quite frequent. Although I don't get them that often anymore, I do need to realize when to step back and chill. Most weekends I try my best to chill out. It's hard when your weekend is only Sunday!

On a happier note, my favorite TV show My Kitchen Rules are back on! So happy. I was binge watching the show the other day and all of a sudden I felt like baking! I remembered that we had some apples and puff pastry left in the fridge. Voila, in a couple of minutes, an Apple Tarte Tatin was baking away happily in the oven!

This is an easy recipe where you only need 4 ingredients! Unless you want to make puff pastry from scratch! (good luck!)Tarte Tatin is usually made using an iron cast skillet.Since I do not have one, I caramelized my apples in a pan and then transferred it onto a baking pan.You do watchu gotta do :)

Apple Tarte Tatin

1/4 cup butter

6-8 apples
1/2 cup sugar
1 sheet of frozen puff pastry

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.
2. Peel,core and cut apples. Set aside.
3. In a skillet on a low to medium heat, melt butter in pan and then add sugar.
4. Once sugar is melted, put in the apples. 
5. Coat apples with caramel and cook until the caramel is amber in colour. Make sure you don't burn the sugar! 
6. Turn off the heat and put aside.
7. (If you are using your pie pan, transfer the caramalized apples along with whatever juiciness left on the skillet on to you pie pan)
8. Take out the puff pastry from the fridge, and roll out the pastry big enough to cover your pie pan/skillet.
9. Cover your caramelized apples with the puff pastry and bake for 20-30 minutes or until pastry is golden brown.

It is so easy to make and incredibly delicious! The crispiness and flakiness of the puff pastry combined with the velvety caramelized apples are just too lovely for words! Pair it with some coffee or tea! Perfect for tea time or a light dessert after dinner. My husband who is not too keen of pies LOVED it! So yeay! I might add some cinnamon next time because why not?

Hope I get my sanity back soon!

Cheers

Love,
Sofhan Hasni

Homemade Blueberry Jam

Assalamualaikum

I rarely consume jams of any kind. Recently I rediscovered scones and what a delight it was! Especially if it is paired with some jam and cream! Whenever I buy jams, I usually use them as a glaze or in this case a filling for my cheese tarts. Since I rarely use them, a jar can last for a longggg time. Although it is not expensive, I don’t want to waste any. So I figured, why not make my own jam? There are no preservatives and I can control the amount that I make. :)

Original recipe:here

Blueberry Cheese Tart recipe: here

Homemade Blueberry Jam

1 cup or 2 pint blueberries

1 cup frozen blueberries, thawed

2/3 cups sugar

1 tablespoons lemon juice

1. In a saucepan, combine all of the ingredients.
2. Bring to a boil.
3. Once the blueberries soften, mash them using a form or a potato masher.
4. Set the heat to low and let the jam thickens (about 15-20 minutes)
5. Let cool to room temperature before refrigerating or using the jam.

Voila, it is extremely simple and divine! Perfect for gifts as well; packed in mini mason jars with a ribbon tied around them. So cute!

What am I up to now that I’m done with the Bachelor’s Degree? Chilling out and wasting time. Fun stuff.

Till then.Wasalam.

Love,
Sofhan Hasni

Blueberry Cheese Tarts

Assalamualaikum!

I haven’t blogged in awhile.phew, being in your last year of uni is no fun! Fall semester came and went, and now hopefully, my last semester. I want to enjoy being a student while I still can... J

I just got back from a quick getaway to Quebec City. I freaking love that quaint little town. The architecture, the food, the view..It would've been lovelier if it wasn't snowing and my hands and feet weren't frozen!! We strolled through the Lower side of Old Quebec City; we went to the Ice Hotel, and also the Montmorency Falls. It was frozen. So I can finally tell people that I've seen a frozen waterfall. It was still so Magnificent!  Being such aunties that we are, we wouldn't leave that city without stopping at J.A Moisan. It is the oldest grocery store in North America. Boy, I wish I could just live there, right in the tea cookie section. It was BEAUTIFUL! I died and went to food heaven. I had to stop myself from getting more things that I don’t need. I convinced myself that I need these babies. I can just imagine them in my future kitchen. In between the big red porcelain cookie jar and my sexy red Kitchen Aid mixer. Hah! Okay the imagining part was a lie. But really...I know I would soooo regret not buying them. So I did. Now everyone knows where all my money went. =)

 Anyways, let’s start talking about desserts shall we? Whenever my older siblings went to their orthodontics appointments when we were younger, I always LONGED for the blueberry cheese tarts that were sold in a bakery near our orthodontists’. It was and still is a favorite of mine.It’s funny how I don’t think I like nor would I bake a blueberry cheesecakes, but for some reasons, I simply adore these tarts. Maybe it's the size? It’s one of my mum’s favorite too. So I can’t wait to make her some once I head back home. (Hi mom!)

Blueberry Cheese Tarts

20 Tart shells

1 cup(250g) of cream cheese (room temperature)

1 cup(250ml) of whipped cream

½ cup of sugar

about ¼ cup of blueberry jam

Food coloring (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit and blind bake the shells for 15 minutes or until the crust turns golden brown. Set aside
2. In a big bowl, using an electric mixer, combine the cream cheese and sugar until well incorporated.
3. In another bowl, whip the cream until the peaks are firm.
4. Slowly mix the whipped cream and cream cheese mixture together.Set aside.
5. Scoop about a half tablespoon of blueberry jam into the cooked tart shells. Then, dollop some of the cream cheese mixture onto the jam layer. Even the top of the cheese tarts using the back of a spoon or butter knife.
6. To create any designs, take some of the cream cheese mixture and add some food coloring in a separate bowl.
7. Using tooth picks or bamboo skewers, slowly create your designs on each of the cheese tarts.
8. Refrigerate for an hour or more to let the cheese tarts firm up.

You can definitely substitute the blueberry jam for strawberry jam or marmalade even. This recipe is incredibly easy. If you are serving this at an event,everything can be made earlier on and assembled on the day of. As usual I am not even ashamed of admitting that I used a store bought tart shells. I bought these shells in Provigo. Those are one of the things that I wouldn't waste my time on.  Please.. the extra hour or two to make those tart shells can be spent...well..napping =P

It's already Wednesday!Half of our reading week came and went, the amount of things need to be done is still a mountain high. Lord give us strength!Amin.

Wasalam.

Till then,

Love,

Sofhan Hasni

Apple and Brie Crisscross Galette

Assalamualaikum

So when I made the Brie Stuffed Apples En Croute, I realized how beautifully Brie, apple and puff pastry work together. PERFECT MATCH. MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN. MEANT TO BE. Okay we get it. I was thinking of hashtagging those words just now but restrained myself. Hashtagging…The words we use these days. I tweeted,I googled, I hashtagged, I facebooked, I youtubed…goodness gracious me. Let’s not get carried away now shall we. My friend Trish and I went to the Fifth Harmony Concert awhile back. Talk about being OLD!!! These kids are not even close to being legal, came with their parents, and screamed when 1D song was on. Can you imagine how these girls would react if 1D is in front of them? HORROR! There we were, standing in the middle of school kids looking all awkward. Hahaha. I nearly lost my hearing but it was fun nonetheless. Acting all young and carefree while in my head all I could think of is school work! I’m such a party person. Not.

Anyways let’s get back to food shall we. After eating stuffed apples, it hit me, why don’t I just make a pie out of it? So I did. Yum Yum YUMM!(If you know me well enough, say this in my voice=p)  I was thinking of making a normal galette (free form pie) but…why not we play around and make crisscross pattern just for the fun of it.. and I did. Just like the stuffed apples, this pie/galette is perfect for tea or breakfast. Yes, Breakfast. You can have pie for breakfast. No one’s judging you. I just had biryani with korma for breakfast, so what? I once had salsa with eggs for breakfast too. Delish. All I’m saying is, no one should judge you for anything you do (reminding myself at the same time) especially not your breakfast plate.  Yummy breakfast is a  great kick start of the day. Go on...make this galette and enjoy the rest of your day…

Apple and Brie Galette

1 sheet of puff pastry

2 medium sized apples

50g brie

1 egg + 1 tablespoon of water

Honey (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit
2. Wash, peel and core the apples. Slice the apples thinly.
3. Arrange the apples on the puff pastry, leaving 1 inch boarders around the edges.
4. Put dollops of the brie on the onto the apples,
5. On the boarders of the pastry, cut half inch strips. Create a crisscross pattern using these strips.
6. In a bowl, mix the egg with water. Brush this mixture onto the pastry.
7. Bake for 15 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.
8. Serve with honey or glaze the pie with some jam mixed with water.

 It’s definitely not your average apple pie/galette. But it’s worth the try! 

Wasalam.

Till then,

Love,

Sofhan Hasni

Brie Stuffed Apples En Croute

Assalamualaikum!

It definitely has been awhile! This semester was crazy as usual. Midterms, quizzes, papers, break downs, finals etc. I have been baking a lot, but for some reasons, too lazy to type the recipe up.HAH! In October I went apple picking for the first time ever! It was amazing! Endless rows of apple trees with different colors and sizes for us to pick and eat. AMAZING I tell you. Zainab and I, being girls, took the first hour just taking pictures and posing here and there like nobody’s business. Then, we had a limited time to actually pick apples and pumpkins. We ended up with about 10 kg of apples. Boy oh boy! Jakun  uolls.

The apples were crunchy and juicy! Prior to this trip, I stumbled upon this recipe: here. This was where I got my inspiration from. To be honest, I don’t really care much about pears. I mean, I’ll eat them, but they wouldn't be my first choice from a fruit bowl. Anyways, I used apples instead of pears and add the honey AFTER I baked my apples. Apple en Croute is a bit too heavy for dessert but it is fantastic for breakfast or tea. Enjoy...

Brie Stuffed Apple en Croute

5 Medium sized apples

2 sheets of Puff Pastry

125g brie

1 egg + 1 tablespoon of water

Honey 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit
2. Wash the apples thoroughly. Cut the top of the apple and set aside.
3. Make a hole in the apple.
4. Fill the apple with a dollop of brie and cover the apple with its top.
5. Cut the puff pastry into one inch strips.
6. Wrap the apple with strips of puff pastry. Set aside
7. In a bowl, mix the egg and water.
8. Brush the egg wash (egg water mixture) on the pastry.
9. Bake apples for 15-20 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.
10. Drizzle with some honey

Fancy shmancy dishes are not that hard to make!:)

Stay warm Montrealers!:)

Wasalam.

Till then,Love,

Sofhan Hasni