Little Joy Factory

Clock is ticking, there are only two weekends left before Lunar New Year. My back is aching, yet my hands couldn't stop making these lovely cookies. Looking at my beautiful new year goodies box, it has been filled with delectable Pineapple tarts , and now, with Almond cookies and Peanut cookies. Did I tell you Almond cookies is my family's favourite? Last year, I made a few batches of Almond cookies and everyone in my family gained weight within the month. We were all addicted to this bite-sized crumbly cookies. Once eat the first piece, your hand would automatically put the 2nd one into your mouth, and the 3rd one... When I told friends about the "side effect" of almond cookies, they still want to give it a try. Hey, have you all forgotten that losing weight is your new year resolution? Inspired by the popularity of almond cookies, I made some changes to peanut cookies. The traditional recipe call for 100% vegetable oil, which makes the cookies soft and melt-...

We would bid farewell to the year of Dragon on Feb 9, 2013, and usher in the year of Snake thereafter. To celebrate CNY (Chinese New Year) , this month becomes the most busy month of the year. Shopping, spring cleaning, cooking and baking are taking up all my weekends. To me, new year is never complete without new year cookies. My CNY cookies baking list is getting longer each year. I started with Pineapple tarts, then slowly added Peanut cookies , Almond cookies , Cheesy cookies , and even Kueh Makmur (a peanut-filled traditional Malay cookies). Though my favourite cookies are pineapple tarts and almond cookies, I usually bake 4 or 5 types of cookies and put in a nice goodies box during new year period. This symbolizes Four Happiness (四喜) or Five Blessings (五福) . Wondering what are Four Happiness and Five Blessings in Chinese culture? Google them... Starting from this week, I would bake 4-5 types of new year cookies, and hopefully by end of Dra...

My elder one has been pestering me for making Famous Amos cookies for some time. Whenever we pass by a Famous Amos outlet in a Shopping Mall, she would ask me to buy a pack of 200g-300g. The aroma of Famous Amos cookies is simply irresistible. “They are so crunchy and delicious! Can you make these cookies, mom?” Sure, I can. It’s just that these cookies are too sweet and she may eat them non-stop. I quietly dropped the idea of baking Famous Amos cookies. Yesterday, while doing spring cleaning in preparing for upcoming CNY (Chinese New Year), my daughters said they could not feel the atmosphere of CNY at all.  I told them I would bake new year cookies this weekend, and that surely would make them feel the spirit of CNY. They cheered for it and simultaneously, they suggested Famous Amos cookies! Famous Amos as CNY cookies?  I giggled with glee. Never thought of that... but why not? We had Chinese dumplings on Christmas eve, and now Famous Amos cookie...

Singapore is commonly known as "Food Paradise". There are wide varieties of tantalising food to satiate appetites of people from different races and cultures.  As a typical northeastern Chinese, steamed buns (包子) and dumplings (饺子) are part of our main diets.  Having stayed in Singapore for the past 15 years, if I were to rank the dumplings/steamed buns I tasted here in hawker centres , food courts and restaurants, I would say, No.1 is the soup dumplings or xiao long bao (小笼包) from Din Tai Fung .  No.2 is my homemade Chinese dumplings  and steamed buns.     Making dumplings and steamed buns at home is a fun activity, which involves everyone in the family. Sitting around a floured kneading board, one person makes the skins, and the rest wrap the dumplings/buns. Rolling out the skins requires not only skill but also strength. The person has to roll the rolling pin in a steady speed so as to supply to 3-4 pers...

Recently, noticed a few gray hair quietly grown in my head. My daughter came forward to help pull them out, I declined. I believe in the myth about pulling gray hair causing more gray to grow. Maybe it's time to take in more black sesame... As you might know, b lack sesame is very nutritious food full of vitamins and minerals. It has the ability to regrow our nature color hair and prevent gray hair.  Thought of buying instant black sesame paste and bring to office as a dessert during coffee break. It's healthy and delectable, isn't it wonderful?  However, most of the instant black sesame paste sold in the market disappointed me with too much sugar and flour added. In the end, I gave up on all instant black sesame paste and became a patroniser of one of the dessert chain outlet  Mei Heong Yuen Dessert (味香園). Not long ago, I saw this black sesame paste recipe online. It's a very simple recipe, written...