Egg Yolk Lemon & Lime Cookies

*Dong Dong qiang.....dong dong qiang...*.Chinese New Year is just around the corner.  I haven't even started any new year baking yet. Too lazy to start up anything. haha.... However, don't know what comes biting me today and I ended up making these lovely cookies. I really addicted to anything with lemon & lime and these cookies just wonderful to make my day a little easier. Nice to giveaway on Valentine's Day as well. However, I'm here wishing you all a very Happy Chinese New Year *新年快乐* .....gong xi...gong xi..... May the year of horse brings good fortune & prosperity to everyone.

Ingredients :
3 egg yolk
3 TB  icing sugar
100gm  butter, softened
150gm  flour
1 TB  corn oil (cooking oil)
1/4 tspn  salt
1 lemon zest & 1 lime zest

Method :
(1) cream egg yolk, butter, cooking oil & sugar till well mixed.
(2) stir in the remaining ingredients till well combined.
(3) insert mixture to pipping bag and then pipe mixture to lined baking tray.
(4) finally, bake at preheated oven 150-160'C for 15 mins or till brown.

Cream Cheese Custard Pastry Ring

I found an interesting pastry puff recipe somewhere back...probably about a year ago. Not sure where I found it ! As usual I won't miss a chance of it. This is quite a large portion of pastry, so you going to need some spacing for the folding process. I'm too not missing a chance to try on the cream cheese custard. I bet it going to be amazing. But something I'll have to confess here, the pastry is overly large and I have used the whole piece of it which is very very wrong. Causing the skin turned out a bit too thick, luckily the crust is still crispy. Of course, I prolong the baking time. However, the inner skin didn't turned out as expected but at least its cooked.*wink* hehe..... 

Ingredients for Pastry Puff Dough :
(for 2 recipes)
390gm  flour
1-1/2 tspn   salt
90gm      cold butter, diced
210ml     cold water
300gm    pastry margarine

Method :
(1) combine flour & salt together into a big bowl, mix well.
(2) rub in butter to became fine crumb.
(3) stir in water till everything combined & turned into soft dough.
(4) leave dough rest for 20 mins, by covering it with a damp towel.
(5) once its ready, place dough onto a slightly floured working table and roll dough out flat by the size of 10x10" length.
(6) place in pastry margarine, cover it by folding in the dough like an envelope and seal nicely.
(7) For further process, please refer the folding method here.
(8) after the folding process, keep dough refrigerated to set before using,

Ingredients for Cream Cheese Custard :
(for one recipe)
250gm  cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup  sugar
3 TB all purpose flour
3 eggs
1 cup  milk (1 to 1-1/2 cup)
2 lemon juice & zest
1 tspn  vanilla essence

Method :
(1) whisk together sugar, eggs, milk & flour into a saucepan till smooth & well combined.
(2) then cook the mixture over a double boiler till thickened.
(3) now, slowly beat the hot mixture into soft cream cheese and beat till smooth & thick.
(4) finally, add in the remaining ingredients till well mixed. Leave cool before keep refrigerated to set..



TO ASSEMBLE :
(1) place pastry dough to slightly floured working table
and roll it out flat & thin at 10x24".
(2) place custard to one side of the pastry as shown in picture on top then roll it up like a swiss roll.
(3) place rolled pastry to baking tray and brush on egg glaze.
(4) bake at preheated oven 195'C for about 30-45 mins.

* Egg glaze : 1 egg yolk + 2 tspn  milk (mix well)

The pastry looks good....just too bad it didn't turned out as expected. Will try the pastry recipe again someday later. Hopefully, it works better the next time. Cheers up :o)

However, the custard is simply irresistible I really can't get enough of it and expecting some dynamic inspirations to come up something extraordinary later. At the time being...just enjoy & have fun !

Citrusy Cream Cheese Custard Bun

After being away for so long, I'm still trying to pull myself back together and started baking again but it seems hard to move around this days without any dynamic inspirations. However, I at least started my favourite bread baking already. I really missed my homemade breads and so are the kids. NOW....I think I'll have to come up with more yummy hot breads. I'm really craving for some. Here's what I've been working on the prefermentation bread making.

Ingredients :
Starter Dough
200gm  bread flour
2 tspn  yeast
1 TB sugar
200ml  milk
(combine everything and mix well then leave to rest for an hour for fermentation till double in size)

Main Dough
250gm  bread flour
4 TB sugar
1 egg, do not beat
1 TB  milk
50gm cold butter, chopped

*Extra flour for coating.
& 1/2 cup poppy seeds for topping

Method :
(1) add main dough ingredients to starter dough to form a soft dough and knead gently till smooth.
(2) then let dough rest for an hour or till double in size.
(3) once its ready, punch to release air from dough and slightly knead dough till smooth with oil coated hand.
(4) now, place dough to a slightly floured working table and divide into 12 portions.
(5) fill in each portion with one table spoon of custard and sealed nicely to let to rest on baking tray for 30 mins or till double in size.
(6) brush the top with egg glazing and sprinkle on some poppy seeds then bake at preheated oven 190'C for about 25 mins or till brown on the middle rack.

Ingredients for Citrus Cream Cheese Custard :
125gm  cream cheese, softened
1 whole egg + 1 egg yolk
50ml  milk
2-1/2 TB  sugar
1 lime juice & rinds
1 lemon juice & rinds
1 TB  orange rinds

Method :
1) whisk together sugar, eggs, milk & flour into a saucepan till smooth & well combined.
(2) then cook the mixture over a double boiler till thickened.
(3) now, slowly stir the hot mixture into soft cream cheese and beat till smooth & thick.
(4) finally, add in the remaining ingredients till well mixed. Then leave to cool completely..

Hmmm..mmm....this cream cheese custard bun with assorted citrus flavour tasted absolutely irresistible. I've got to come up with more recipes with such delicious custard. Cause its been a long long time since I last tasted something like this. Hopefully, this will be a great start for the year 2014. Enjoy & have fun guys ! Blessed you all.
*
I'm sending this to Wild Yeast Blog @ Yeastspotting.

Where Am I ??? I Am All Over The Place

Thousands apology to all my readers for being away for such a long time and Happy 2014 as well to everyone! Well, I've been kidnap by hubby.... during the whole season !!!!! haha..... Just kidding ! I was actually with hubby travelling the whole time. He kept me busy for a while and now I'm nearly back to normal. Not much baking & cooking has been done. My kids are now well trained to cook & to feed themselves and do the laundry of their own. >o<  Here's the places where hubby & I visited for the past few weeks. The first picture was taken at Sungai Chohong. This river just a couple of kilometers away from my town. Nice view but no fish. I was standing in the middle of the river while taking this shot and a few minutes later after this it started to rain cats & dogs. Hubby & I with another friend ran to the car which about 500 meters away. Everyone was socking wet.

This photo was taken around 5-6 weeks ago before the year end monsoon at Sungai Bera, Pahang.

This picture was taken two weeks before our second visit to Sungai Lubuk Perah, about 4 weeks ago. The river was almost dry up. The local orang asli normally taking bath here daily.

This is the situation two weeks later after our returned. The river water almost reaches the bridge. No doubt, its the year end monsoon season. It's already under our expectation. Most reserved forest will close down the entry during this time of the year and all the logging activities to call a stop as well.

This picture was taken the following day, the river water is moving fast which almost covering the bridge. Hubby & I quickly packed our things and ready to make a move. Its my first time experiencing the monsoon flood. Not panic at all cause this is the upper stream. The flood won't get that bad. Of course, its not a good timing for hubby to fish around but he's totally addicted to it....he won't give up. LOL !

So, we returned another week later. The flood is over. Another lucky day for us, we met the local 'batin' the same day ('batin' meaning the leader of the orang asli village). We had a great time chatting. The 'batin' is very sad because most of their reserved land has been taken over by the government to develope into oil palm & rubber plantations. And the worst is illegal logging. He lost more & more land after each election. He is also a politician & he has a sit in parliment as well. He is one of the representative of Orang Asli Malaysia  He loves his land and how he wishes everything is still the same. At the same day, we met a hubby & wife team went for wild boar hunting. There are four of them.....included a neighbour with a 7 years old son plus 6 dogs. No guns....only with one long 'parang' (machete) which temporary tight to a long bamboo stick to work as a spear. We saw them went in the deep forest at noon time and then came back a couple of hours later with the wife sitting on top of a 50kg wild boar. While the 7 years old kid bringing back an injured female dog with a broken leg, bitten by the wild boar. Poor thing ! And the rest of the dogs only returned an hour later. Can you imagine how they fight with the 50kg boar ?

Then a week ago, we went to search for other places for more fishing spot. And we ended up climbing to a newly open logging area about 400 meters above sea lever. Quite scary though cause the route is really slippery. Can you imagine what's in front of us ? We're at 60 degree heading down hill....just like riding on a roller coaster. Yikes !

And guess what I found at Sg Madek, Kahang; on my recent trip after the monsoon flood (about 2 weeks ago)? The bridge is still standing strong after the flood when we reached there but the logs are all over the place. We're lucky that still be able to camp here.....*wink..wink*

Now, here's what I found on one of the log nearby. It calls 'dammar gum'. This is the largest piece I collected from the tree. Its another source of income for the local orang asli other than stink beans, wild honey, clear water fish, wild herbal such as tongkat ali & kacip fatimah. I test burnt some of it and it smells just like those incense or 'kemenyan'.

The gum stuck in between the wood. Hubby chopped it carefully so that we can get a nice big piece out of it. It can't easily found on any trees. That's why I said I am a lucky girl ! *wink*  Oh well, guess this is all for today. I'm still trying my best to come up a few post after this. Wish me luck ! >o<

Wishing you all the best and may this 2014 be a blessed year. Enjoy & have a great day everyone.