Oreo Chocolate Cupcakes

These are happy cupcakes. Because it is made of chocolate & cute mini Oreos! I enjoyed the entire time preparing them.

I halved the regular recipe for this batch as I was just trying it out. I used 2.5oz cups & yielded 10 cute cupcakes. It should be the ideal size for this recipe as it is quite sweet, at least to me. So do double up for larger yields. :)

I got these mini Oreos from a nearby baking supplies shop. If I'm not wrong, they can be found in supermarkets as well. 

If you are using bigger cups for the cupcakes, you will need regular oreos for each cupcake contains a piece of whole oreo sandwich inside the cake.

Ingredients: 

For Cake

1. 125g Salted Butter (Room temperature)
2. 1/2 cup Sugar
3. 2 Eggs
4. 3/4 cup All Purpose Flour
5. 1tsp Baking Powder
6. 30g Chocolate Coins
7. 25g Milk
8. 5g Butter 
9. 20 Mini whole Oreo Sandwich

For Cream Cheese Frosting 

1. 125g  Salted Butter 
2. 125g  Cream Cheese
3. 1 cup Confectioner Sugar
4. 30g Crushed Oreo

Method

1. In a microwaveable bowl, add together 25g milk, 30g chocolate coins & 5g butter. Microwave for 20-30seconds. Remove from microwave & stir till glossy. Set aside. (You may use double boiling method).
2. Preheat oven to 175°c.
3. Line cupcake tin with 10 cupcake cups, set aside.
4. Cream 125g butter in the mixer until lightened.
   
5. Add in sugar, beat until light & fluffy.
   
6. Add in eggs, one at a time & add in vanilla. Continue to beat till combined.
7. Mix together flour & baking powder.
8. Add flour mixture into butter mixture, spoonful by spoonful until all flour is used up. Beat until well combined.
9. Remove from mixer.
10. Pour melted chocolate into batter & stir to combined with a spatula. 
11. Once batter is well combined, scoop 2 tbsp of batter into each cupcake cup. Tap filled cups to flatten batter. On each cup, place an oreo sandwich on top of batter. Gently press oreo a little bit on to batter & cover with another tbsp of batter. Tap again to flatten batter. 
    
12. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes, or until cake tester inserted comes out clean. 
13. Once baked, remove from oven & place on wired rack to cool for 5 minutes. 
14. Prepare another tray to hold cupcakes upside down while it is still hot. This will give the cakes a flat top.
    

    

    Cupcake on the left is not cooled upside down & the one on the right is cooled upside down.

15. Proceed to make frosting. Cream 125g butter & cream cheese in a mixing bowl till lightened.
16. Add in vanilla & continue beating till combined.
17. Add in sugar, spoonful by spoonful until combined. 
18. Add in crushed oreo & mix on low speed until oreos are evenly distributed. Increase speed to medium high to give it a last two spins. Do not over mix as it will crush oreos further resulting a brown frosting. 
19. Remove from mixer & scrape down the sides. Refrigerate until cupcakes are completely cooled. 
20. Once cupcakes are cooled, remove frosting from refrigerator & mix it around with a spatula. If it's hardened, leave it aside to soften a little bit but not melted. 
21. Place your preferred pipping tip into the piping bag & fill it with frosting. Pipe cupcakes then top with a whole oreo sandwich. Serve :)
    

Fried Sui Kao / Fried Dumpling

These fried dumplings are fun to prepare & good to go with noodles. I have mixed minced pork with mackerel fish paste. Preparing fish paste from scratch is my mom's favorite thing to do but I never took the effort to learn. According to her, the paste needs to be minced by knife until gluey to achieve the "bouncy" chewing effect. I took a guess & chop continuously until the meat comes together & became kind of wobbly when shape into a ball. I can't confirm it as this recipe is mixed with minced pork but the texture is kind of "bouncy" when chew. 

This recipe yields about 24 dumplings. 

Ingredients :

1. 120g Mackerel Fish Paste 
2. 140g Minced Pork
3. 1tsp Sugar
4. 1/2tsp Salt
5. 2tbsp Starch
6. 1tsp Garlic Powder
7. 1/4tsp Soy Sauce
8. 1tsp Oyster Sauce
9. 1/2tsp Sesame Sauce
10. 1/2 cup Chopped Parsley
11. 1/2 cup Black Fungus, thinly sliced
12. 1 Egg
13. 1 Pack of Sui Kao Skin (You may replace with Wan Ton Skin)
14. Water to Seal Dumpling  
15. Enough oil for deep frying

Method :

1. Soak black fungus until fully expanded. Slice thinly into strips. 
2. Gather all ingredients (No.1 - No.12) in a medium bowl & mix evenly. Leave aside to marinate for a minute or two.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. To wrap, scoop about 1 tbsp of meat mixture and place on one side of the sui kao skin.
   
4. Dip finger with water & gently dab on one side of the sui kau skin, just beside the meat.
   
5. Fold & press the sides to seal. Repeat until all the meat are used up. 
   
   
   
   
6. Heat oil in a frying pan / wok / pot over medium heat. 
7. Gently & slowly place sui kao into oil to deep fry. Fry a few at a time to ensure even browning. 
8. Turn sui kao every now & then to ensure even browning. Reduce heat to low once sui kow skin starts to brown. Fry each batch for about 4 minutes. Remove from heat, place fried sui kow on kitchen towel / oil absorbing sheets to cool. Continue frying the rest. 
   
9. Remove kitchen towel / oil absorbing sheets once sui kow are cool to touch. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.
   
   
   
   

Buttercake

My all time favorite. In this recipe, I use Double Action Baking Powder for a loose texture & taller cake. You may use normal baking powder. 

*I've used a 7x7x3" Square Cake Tin for this bake. 

*Using real butter & pure vanilla do make a difference. If you have been using Spread & Vanilla Essence in replace of butter & pure vanilla, do try switching. 

*I always use SCS salted butter & homemade Vanilla Extract for my bakes.

Ingredients 

1. 250g / 1 Block Salted Butter (Room Temperature)
2. 1 Cup Castor Sugar
3. 4 Eggs (Room Temperature)
4. 1/2 Cup Cake flour
5. 1 Cup All Purpose Flour
6. 1tsp Double Action Baking Powder (You may replace with regular baking powder)
7. 1tsp Vanilla Extract 

Method

1. Preheat oven to 175°c. (Non-forced fan mode). 
2. Grease cake tin with butter / oil. Line bottom of tin with baking paper.
3. Mix together cake flour, AP flour & baking powder. Set aside.
4. Cream butter on medium speed for until light & fluffy. 
   
5. Add in sugar & continue to beat until light & fluffy. 
   
6. Add in eggs, 1 at a time. Beat till just combined. Do not overmixed.
7. Add in vanilla extract. Mix to combine.
8. On low speed, add in flour. Once flour is mixed into batter, increase speed to medium & beat for about 30 seconds, increase to medium high to give it a few spins. Do this in 3 batches to ensure even mixing. At the last batch, increase beating time at medium speed to 1minute & stay a little longer at the medium high speed. 
9. Remove mixing bowl from mixer, use a spatula to reach under the batter to ensure no flour is trapped. If you find any, just fold them into the batter with the spatula. 
10. Once batter is evenly mixed, pour them into the prepared cake tin. Use a spatula to spread even the top as much as you can. Tap cake batter in tin on top of counter top a few times to release trapped air. 
11. Bake for 50minutes to 60minutes or until cake tester inserted comes out clean. (Bake time varies between different ovens. So do check your cake often from 30 / 35minutes onward.) 
12. Once cake is done, remove from oven & let cool on cooling rack for about 5minutes. Overturn cake tin to release cake. Peel off baking paper & continue to let cool on cooling rack. 
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

Chicken Pot Pie

This is a request by my husband after joining me on watching Master Chef last week. What I love about pies is the versatility of its fillings. You can make whatever you want, add whatever you wish and you get to play with the pastry! I'm going to confess; this pastry is store-bought-ready-to-bake Puff Pastry. While I love cooking & baking from scratch, I don't have ever-ready mood & energy for pastries all the time. Got to forgive myself for this. 

However, if you had no idea that it can be bought before this, you can find them in the frozen area of the supermarket where they store Frozen Pizzas, Spring Rolls Wraps, Frozen Peas & so on. 

This is what I used for this post. It comes in 6 sheets, each separated by plastic & stacked. It will expand into a few layers as you bake. In this post, I've used 1 sheet divided into 4 squares, topping each 473ml / 16oz capacity bowl with 2 squares. You may cut the pastries into shapes with cookie cutters if you wish. Do what makes you happy! 

*This recipe is used for 2x473ml / 16oz capacity bowl. 
*Make sure your bowls are oven safe.

Ingredients
A: Marinate Chicken

1. 250g Chicken Breast, cubed
2. 1tsp Salt
3. 1tsp Sugar
4. 1tsp Crushed Black Pepper 
5. 1tsp Garlic Powder
6. 1tbsp Lea & Perrins Worchestershire Sauce
7. 1tsp Italian Mixed Herbs

B: Deep Frying

1. 5 Cocktail Sausages, sliced
2. 2 Medium Potatoes, cubed
3. 2tbsp All Purpose Flour / Plain Flour
4. 1/2tsp Garlic Powder
5. 1/2tsp Salt
6. 1/2tsp White Pepper Powder
7. Enough oil for frying 

C: Side

1. About 10 florets of Cauliflower
2. A handful of Bacon Chips
3. 1 Tomato 
4. 1/2tsp Salt
5. Enough water for blanching 

D: Sauce

1.  200ml Cooking Cream
2. 4pips Garlic, halved 
3. 2-3 Shallots, peeled
4. 1 1/2tsp Starch (mix with water before adding into sauce)

E:

1. 1 Sheet of Puff Pastry, cut into 4 squares

Method

1. Refer to Ingredients (A): Mix cubed chicken breast with all the seasoning & set aside. 
2. Refer to Ingredients (B): In a pan with oil heated up, fry sliced sausages on medium heat till browned. Remove from heat & set aside. Switch off heat.
3. Refer to Ingredients (B): In a medium bowl, mix together flour, garlic powder, salt & pepper. Add in cubed potatoes into flour mixture. Toss around to make sure potatoes are coated with flour. Heat oil from Step 2, fry coated potato cubes until golden brown. Remove from heat & set aside. Reduce heat to lowest & move on to Step 4.
4. Refer to Ingredients (C): Using the same oil from Step 2&3, fry bacon chips till browned & crispy. Remove from heat & set aside. Switch off heat. (Maintain the oil for Ingredients (D) - Sauce)
5. Preheat oven to 175°c. (I used forced fan mode. Increase temperature to 185°c if you're not using fan mode.)
6. Refer to Ingredients (D) & (A): By now, the oil in your pan will be fragrant. Use it to make the sauce. Heat oil, add in garlic & saute on medium heat till little brown spots are noticeable. Add in chicken breast. Toss around until 80% cooked. Add in cream, stir while bringing to boil. If the cream sauce is too little for your bowl, you may add more cream if available. Otherwise just slowly add water, but make sure it's not too diluted. 
7. Once boiled, add in starch water. Stir & bring to boil. Remove from heat & get ready to fill the bowl for baking!
8. Gather around fried sausages, potatoes & chicken stew. Fill each bowl with stew to about 80% full, add in sausages & potatoes. Stir a little to even up the goodies in the bowl. Once you're satisfied, cover bowl top with puff pastry. I used 2 squares, stacked, with top layer rotated to separate its corners from sticking together with bottom layer's. Press all corners onto bowl to stick. Once done, use a knife to make a few slits on top of pastry (on top of bowl). Make sure to cut all the way through second layer. This is to allow steam to escape from within while baking, to avoid rupture of your pie crust. Brush pastry top with butter. Bake for 40 minutes to 60 minutes, or till pastry turn golden brown.
9. While baking, prepare the side. Refer to Ingredients (C): Bring water to boil in a small pot. Add in a pinch of salt & blanch cauliflower until cooked, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat, drain & set aside. Slice tomato & arrange on your bowl. Top it with cauliflower & sprinkle generously with bacon chips.
10. Once pie is baked, remove from oven & serve hot together with your Side.