Banoffeeeeee pie

Banoffee Pie




OK, I've had a number of Banoffee pie but the best HAS to be the one at Delicious. Seriously, it pwns everything you've ever tasted. When I had it with Lovanilla, we were thinking of what ingredients were in it. Basing on that, here's a rough recipe.

Makes about 6 ramekins of banoffee pie.

Crust
1 1/2 cups of digestives biscuits or graham crackers
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

Mix all ingredients until well blended. Press mixture firmly against bottom of ramekins or bowls that you want to use. I would recommend using small bowls instead of a big springfoam pan. It's nicer for it to be individual servings than say... big pie-like to divide. Pop them into the refrigerator for about an hour or so. 2 hours would be great.




Banana



Cut the bananas in segments. I used 2 bananas and it should be enough-ish. If you want more banana, use more bananas! Cut them up and arrange them in a ziplock bag as pictured. You don't have to use ziplock if you don't have them. Plain freezer/greaseproof paper would be ok, just make sure they won't stick to each other when you freeze them for a bit. Just for an hour or so.


Toffee sauce
There are many ways to make toffee. There are the long winded one to the easiest of the bunch. The easiest would be just to buy caramel if they have it in stock. You can also use dulce de leche (I am pretty sure it's not sold here.. at least not at the usual stores). There are a number of ways of making dulce de leche, all using a can of condensed milk (susu cap junjung/susu pekat manis). The way to get smooth caramel is by submerging the can (labels taken off) in water and let it cook for about 4 hours. The thing is, there is a possibility of the air pressure in the can going wonky and the thing will explode. That wasn't a chance I was willing to take. Another is to ensure you have some holes on the top of the can and not fully submerge the can in water. I find that a bit mafan because water MIGHT get into the can or it won't be cooked properly. My method is the worst of the lot. I just poured the condensed milk in a pan and let it cook on a very low heat stirring occasionally. I got really bored halfway (there wasn't anything good on the telly and I was left humming to that 500 miles song!), so I quit stirring and I think that was why mine had darker chocolate spots as the sugar sort of caramelized some parts and not others. It should take about 20 minutes or so. Just see the colour changing. Make sure you do not overcook it as it will turn into hard candy when it's cooled! Just see when it's turn slightly fudge-y. Let it cool for a bit before proceeding to the next step.



As you can see, there are darker spots in my caramel. What to do. It doesn't alter the taste (at least to my tastebuds). It just doesn't look that pretty la if you're that superficial. :P


Assemble your ramekins filled with its set base. Arrange bananas in the ramekins, and pour the sauce on top of it.



It should look something like this once you've filled the sauce. Next step is the topping creamm




Whipped cream
Um, I didn't really measure this.. Maybe about 2 cups of whipping cream? You can use thick cream, double cream, heavy cream. Any cream that CAN be whipped. You can even use the aerosol ones if you like because it's easier but the thing is, if you use them, you have to eat it asap. Otherwise the cream will turn watery and that spoils it. Unless you like that..?

Whip it until it's thick. You can use electric mixer or the good oldskool ways. One of the tips when using the manual whipping ways is that to combine two whipper as one. To create more... um, whipping mechanism? This ensures more air would be trapped in the cream, hence you whipping it manually half the time it would have if you use just one. Want to better it? Use three? The sky's the limits?!!


Spoon some into the ramekins, smooth it over. Add more to make some sort of a mini dome. I am copying how Delicious did it hence the dome. I lack originality. Booo.




Close up sikit.




The ratio for the three tiers is up to you really. You can have.. 1/4 crust, 1/4 banana, 1/4 toffee and 1/4 cream. Or no crust, just banana and toffee and cream. Seriously, do what you like.


Finally! To pretty it up even more. Melt some chocolates (I had some butterscotch chocolate leftover) and add a bit of cream to make it glossy and slightly runny (not too runny!!!). Decorate your pie to your liking. You can use piping or plain old ziplock bag or just a spoon (require super-steady hands!)


Et voilà!



Ignore the fly. It's not part of the ensemble. The flies in my house are super swift. They pounce like a cougar on an unsuspecting victim. I made my brother eat that one.


Have fun trying!

Sawadeekaa...

*mula-mula tu terkejut biler bukak blogger tengok semua dalam thai.mampos mcm mane nak baca ni...hahaha

Sawadeeka, sa bai di mai ka to everyone. Greetings from Bangkok. It's been 2 weeks now and i'm adjusting well. Missing nasi lemak already!!! I don't know how i'm going to survive without it. On the other hand everything else is great here.

My latest updates on food or should i say DESSERTS!!! sorry nothing Thai inspired today but i promise in my future posts.

First up, i came acroos this ice cream parlour called Cream & Fudge and fell in love with it. I'll have to add it to my lists of Haagen Daz & Swensens. It literally took me about 15 minutes standing there deciding on which flavour and concoction i wanted. I fianlly settles on this...feast your eyeballs...


oooohhh aaahhhhhh i want more!!!

Here, the rival for Dunkin Donuts is Mister Donut...ahahha (kelakar tak kay?) anyways i had already took out my camera to snap away but they wouldn't let me. Boo :( I can't say they taste better but their products sure do look interesting and mostly cute. They have mini donut lollipops, bunny shaped, donuts on sticks and more.


Sorry as i only have a photo of the packaging. Was awwed with the smiley face i totally forgot about the actual donut. Hahahaha.


Mini donuts i bought at the market...not bad and inexpensive as well.


Random fact...i love the coconut ice blended here....very refreshing.

One of the specialties here are these...


It's balls of deep fried rice noodles with a meat filling. Could be chicken but most of the time it would be pork and this particular one happens to be the latter. So boo hoo to me...it looks yummy ha? I forgot what's it called...(thinks for 10 minutes) damnit still can't remember...

Finally we go to school...will show you a few of what i've made since i arrived.


Shortbread cookies... very rich and nice (mcm butter cookies yg dlm tin biru tu)


Fruit Cake


Almond sponge cake with almond fondant flower and leaf


Tarte aux Pomme....apple tart..my favourite....pomme tart :)


Mini Fruit Tarts...these are like to die for...i just love em. Filled with pastry cream and topped with any fruits to your liking....*drools*


Same fruit tart but bigger version with more mixed fruits...i still have half of it in my fridge. Mmmm *winks* (kay, ummi, nanie...want some?)


Lunettes...a softer version of the shortbread cookies with strawberry filling.

That's all for now...will go jalan-jalan around Bangkok and hope to write a more thai inspired post. :)

Girls Night Out...

Couple of months back miss D, miss Kim and I decided to meet up for dinner, dessert and movie at D's place in USJ Subang. Yup just us girls...

By evening we were all gathered in D's house when we decided to try out Pizza Uno for the makan-makan and maybe later to have gelato at Leo's. D's mum was gonna be home alone so we insisted that she tagged along...after all IT IS girls night out. :)

So basically Pizza Uno and Leo's are both located in Taipan, which is like 5 minutes drive away from D's humble abode. So yay!!!

About Pizza Uno...
Pizza Uno started as Pizza Italia in USJ in 1997. After 18 months, the 2nd outlet was opened in Kuala Lumpur. Now there are total of 3 outlets in Klang Valley. (USJ Taipan, Centrepoint Bandar Utama, Bandar Puteri Puchong)
Their wide spread menu includes antipasto, tapas, soups, salads, breads, pasta, lasagna, paella, pizza, desserts and beverages.


First picture is miss D's fettucini carbonara with lightly fried beef bacon and onion in a delicious creamy sauce, which she claimed was superb. (it's her 2nd time there and well erm...2nd time having carbonara so go figure) I tried a mouthful and it is really good. Next up is miss Kim's garlic prawn spaghetti. I can't really recall what she had said about it but she did finish it so it must have been good. I had the fettucini con salmone, it's cooked in creamy sauce with a good portion of pieces of smoked salmon. I loved it of course knowing how much i looooove salmon. :) D's mum had the deep fried chicken which came sooo much later than our pastas therefore i was busy diggin into my food that i forgot to snap a picture of that. booo....

next...dessert!!!


About Leo's
Leo's, a trendy cafe, the place to see and be seen (as said by them) offers an innovative and creative selection menu for the current food trend, coffee, pastry and in-house made gelato....mmmmmm Gelato = Italian Ice-cream
Currently Leo's has 4 outlets. (The Store in Bandar Baru Sri Petaling, Carrefour Kepong, Bukit Tinggi, Taipan USJ)
They are specialized in 3 main areas which are Leo's Gelato, Leo's Coffee and Leo's Bakery. Yes they have everything including menu with noodle, rice, western gourmet, soups, light snacks and a long list of groovy drinks which you will not be able to remember the name.


All of us decided to share a 'gang of 5' gelato where you pick five flavours of gelato of your choice and then it is served with whipped cream, chocolate sauce and sprinkles of nuts. There wasn't much flavours available that particular night so we had to make do with what they had which wasn't so bad lah actually....we got a scoop of lime, wafer, after 8 mint, vanilla and hazelnut. We also shared 2 drinks amongst us four. Had a hard time deciding as the names of the drinks made in confusing for us. Ended up with a 'The Glory Of Gold Cup' and a 'Over The Great Crown'. You must be wondering what the heck is that? Well the first one consist of mango, mixed fruits and crystal lychee while the latter is the same just substitute the mango with sea coconut. There were loads more of funky drinks such as 'The Phoenix Crown', Beauty Of The Century', 'Love Overflow', 'Black Temptation', 'Hard To Resist'.....and many many many more. Don't ask me what they all are cause i can't remember. I guess there's a reason to go back there then.

Land Below the Wind II

Mid-week of my stay in Kota Kinabalu...my aunt brought me and bro away for a mini holiday (despite being in KK itself is already a holiday for us) to Nexus Karambunai which is a seaside resort in Sandakan. It's only about 45 mins to an hour's drive from home. So off we went for a 2 days 1 night stay, just me, bro, aunt and grandma. After a day's swimming and soaking in the sea, it was time to relax and have some good food. As usual the hotel's coffee house offers either a buffet spread or ala carte.


My bro was the only one who took the buffet and so i only managed to snap photos of the dessert spread. (Tak larat nak jalan banyak2) As usual the lighting was dimmed hence the darkness of the pictures and plus i was just using my camera phone...didn't have all those funky functions of a digi cam. Anyways, first up was a hazelnut tart with some chocolate deco.


The assorted mousses. The top one is chocolate and the triple colored ones were vanilla mousse with strawberry and mango coulis. Looks so pretty...taste quite good. (suroh adik amik i curi2 makan)


They even had chocolate covered apples...


and sugary covered apples as well...i thought it was toffee apples at first but the reddish sugary coating doesn't look like toffee to me...


Lastly, mini chocolate mousse tartlets. These were the only ones i thought looked interesting, of course there were loads more but it's nothing anyone has never seen before. Now we can go on to the ala carte that me and my aunt ordered.


I had the chicken and pesto focaccia sandwich. The bread was a little hard but the filling was really yummy and it was such a big portion with the fries and veggies that i only ate half and saved the other half for the next day...hehehe...:)


My aunt had the steak pie if i'm not mistaken. I don't think it's steak and kidney but definately steak and something...looks so cute with the mash potato, gravy and salad. Everything was okay but according to her it was a tad bit salty and could have been better.

You must be wondering where did grandma go...well she had egg sandwiches and i totally forgot to snap pictures of those because our order arrived late and everyone was really hungry and grandma was sitting furthest from me...ahak :P

custard puffs

This post goes out to my girlssss, especially lovanilla because we'll make this the next time I get back and to zetihidayah because she says my mom makes the best custard puff in the world :D



Just before the end of my winter holidays, Sha and I planned to make choux pastry (after the success of red velvet! woohooo!) but we didn't get the chance to due to unavoidable circumstances. I'm quite familiar with choux pastry because my mother made them quite a lot when I was younger but we've not made them as often as we did back then. I don't know why! The thing is, choux pastry is easy to make. You just need strength and patience. Plus, the ingredients are nothing exotic. Just water, butter, eggs and flour (maybe salt or sugar, depending on the type of filling you're putting in).

Anyway, here is the fool proof choux pastry recipe from deliaonline. (I had to find a recipe online cause I can't remember the measurement off the cookery book I have back home. Boooo. I edited a bit la the recipe to suit what I actually did)

Oh, the recipe states that it'll make 30 but I only manage to get 20 out of this recipe. Could be due to the egg size..

- 60g plain flour (sifted). You can add sugar or salt if you want but I didn't.
- 150 ml of cold water
- 50g of butter, cut into small pieces
- 2 large eggs (I used 2 medium eggs instead.)


Preheat oven – gas mark 6, 400°F (200°C)

1. Put 150 ml of cold water in a medium-sized saucepan together with 50g of butter

2. Place the saucepan over a moderate heat and stir with a wooden spoon. Turn off the heat as soon as the butter has melted and mixture comes to boil. Don't delay this as some water will evaporate.

3. Tip in the flour. 2 ways to do this, multitask by pouring the flour in the mixture while beating vigorously. Or how I did it was just pouring the flour quickly and then start beating. I used the wooden spoon instead of an electric whisk cause I don't have it. This will give you a lot of work on your carpis (extensor, flexor and radialis brevis) so you might end up with very defined and toned arm. huhu

4. Beat until you have a smooth ball of paste that has left the sides of the saucepan clean – this will probably take less than a minute.

5. Next beat 2 large eggs well, then beat them into the mixture – a little at a time, mixing each addition in thoroughly before adding the next. (OK, I didn't do it this way. Instead I just added one egg at a time without prior beating. Why? Cause I forgot hahahaha)

6. Beat until you have a smooth glossy paste.

7. Lightly grease a baking sheet. Place teaspoons of the mixture on the baking sheet, leaving 1 inch (2.5 cm) between them, then bake on a high shelf for 10 minutes. After that, increase the heat to gas mark 7, 425°F (220°C), and bake for a further 15-20 minutes until the buns are crisp, light and a rich golden colour.

8. Pierce the side of each one to let out the steam, then cool them on a wire rack.




You can put anything you want as a filling. Jam, clotted cream, custard, whipped cream, bolognaise, dulce de leche, anything! I love custard. And dulce de leche but it takes a loooong time to make dulce de leche so custard it is!



How to make custard?

It's easy!




Hahaha. I only know how to make custard with its powder, rather than the whole process. Will post if I ever do attempt to make it from scratch. Otherwise, this ready made custard will do it for me.


Anyway, this pastry you can make eclairs! Instead of balling it with a spoon, pop it in a piping bag and make a line of pastry. It should have the same result. Let me know if it works!

xoxo

Fruit Flan...or Tart

While i was in Sabah, i took the opportunity to bake a few things for my aunt cause it's not always that i get to do it since she's so far away...This fruit flan was her choice from one of her recipe books. Therefore, while typing this it just hit me that i'm not able to share the recipe because the book is all the way there!....*sigh* I'll just generally explain the steps...it's quite simple actually and it turned out good... :)

First step is to make a basic shortcrust pastry. The usual flour, butter, a little sugar and an egg yolk. The crust is baked first without the filling and that's the only baking required. The filling was custard which i made from egg yolks, sugar, cornflour and milk....you can just use custard powder or also change it to cream or cheese filling. Anything goes basically.... Last but not least decorate with desired fruit and chill till set. I use red grapes, kiwi and canned mandarin oranges. I wished i has strawberries but couldn't get any!!! (and also bloody expensive)

Sorry again for not having the exact recipe...i think for those who are familiar with baking shouldn't have a problem with it... :)



Cube lah flen kastad buah ni ye!!! hahahaha...

Something for the eyes

I was at Hotel Istana a couple of days back and so i just took few pictures of their dessert spread...not that clear tho' cause the lighting was dimmed at the time. Oh well, just enjoy!


selection of 4 types of cakes in mini sizes


a local favourite of layer cake


le opera cake...


close view on the usual fruit custard mini tartlets


strawberry, coffee, and 'i can't figure out the other flavour' layered sponge cakes

That's all...overall i would say the cakes were just mediocre. Other desserts there were the normal creme caramel, custard and jelly in glasses and some pudding.