Little Joy Factory

炎炎夏日，你如何度过？朋友以为，我在新加坡这个热带岛国呆了十几年，应该对夏天习以为常了。其实不然。   新加坡的气温常年在26 －30 摄氏度之间徘徊，可是最近骤升到34度。看看家里的电费快要爆表了，就知道躲在有空调的地方是我们"防暑" 的唯一方法。在家开空调，上班公司也有空调。出门无论是驾车还是搭地铁巴士，一路上都有空调。反而在空调的环境生活久了，难得出汗。只好去Gym 做做有氧运动，出出汗，排排毒。 天气热，周末大部分时间躲在家里。去了趟超市采购了一周的水果蔬菜之后，闲来无事， 正好烤个蛋糕。买了几个新鲜的柠檬，驾轻就熟地做了个孩子们最爱的柠檬蛋糕。鲜艳的黄色，看起来很配合夏日的氛围。最喜欢淋在上面的柠檬糖汁，酸酸甜甜，使整个蛋糕绵软润泽，既有牛油的香浓，又不失柠檬的清 凉 。 用了Bundt 烤盘，这款家常蛋糕，华丽大变身，成为一道正餐后亮丽的甜点。 坐在藤制的躺椅上，手里端着杯lemonade , 品尝着自己亲手烘烤的美味蛋糕。看着夕阳西下，此刻才真正体味到“心静自然凉”。。。 FRESH LEMON BUNDT CAKE For the cake 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 250g unsalted butter (softened) 1 cup sugar 3 eggs zest of 1 lemon 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 200ml sour cream For the glaze: Juice of a lemon 1 tablespoon melted butter 1 cup icing sugar DIRECTIONS To make the cake: Preheat your oven to 180 DegC Mix flour, baking powder and the salt in a bowl. Cream together butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Add eggs one by one. Beat well after ...

Knowing that I bake muffins, a friend recommended me to try the muffins from Chocolat N' Spice at Shunfu market.  He said Shunfu market - a neighbourhood hawker center,  is famous because of the muffin store.  The snake queue in front of  the muffin store has become an unique scenery of this quiet hawker center. People queueing for muffins? Out of curiosity, I dropped by the store one day during lunch time. Over the one hour stay at the hawer center, I observed an average of 8-9 people in the queue. It has never shortened until all the muffins were sold out.  I bought one box of 6 muffins of different flavours,  priced from $1.30 to $1.60 each.  I chose Chocolate Chip, Double Chocolate, Banana Walnut,  Blueberry, Mocha and Cheese . These freshly baked muffins are large, soft with golden domed top, so enticing. Shared with colleagues, everyone was asking me when I would make the next the...

One apple a day, keeps the doctor away!  Be it a fact or friction, my family can never get enough of apples. We love Fuji apples, juicy and crisp. We also like Royal Gala apples, sweet with pleasant flavor and texture. When there are extra apples at home, the first thing that comes to my mind is always French apple cake.  Just like any classic French dessert, the apple cake looks elegant, and tastes incredibly delicious! The recipe asks for mixed types of apples. I used 2 large Fuji apples, and 2 medium gala apples. With a few tablespoons of rum, the apple cake smells so nice amid baking. This is a great dessert for your family and guests during holiday. FRENCH APPLE CAKE ( Recipe adapted from David Lebovitz ) Ingredients: 3/4 cup (110g) flour 3/4 teaspoon baking powder pinch of salt 4 large apples (a mix of varieties) 2 large eggs, at room temperature 3/4 cup (150g) sugar 3 tablespoons dark rum (* I used white rum ) 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract ...

Do you like pizza? do you like muffin? How about pizza muffin? When I saw the recipe from Donna Hay's website, I can't help but "Wow"! How come I have never thought of making these easy and delicious pizza muffins?   Just replace whatever sweet stuff in muffins with your favorite pizza toppings, there come the savoury pizza muffins! Soft, moist with cheesy filling, yummy yummy...! A good treat in the midst of the busy week.  I am submitting this post to March Potluck at I Heart Cooking Clubs .  Come and join the fun party ! PIZZA MUFFINS (adapted from Donna Hay's recipe ) Ingredients (make 6 large muffins) 1 cup self-raising flour        1/3 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 cup (60g) grated Parmesan cheese        50g ham, chopped 50g chopped pineapple, drained        50 ml...

Today is the fifteenth day of Chinese New Year , Chinese celebrate it as The Lantern Festival (元宵节). This year, The Lantern Festival is also the The Valentine's Day! It's reported that 243 couples in Singapore will be tying the knot today. What an auspicious “double happiness” date!  The Lantern Festival symbolises family togetherness. Eating tangyuan , or sweet rice dumplings,  is an important part of the day in my family. Back in my home town in Northeastern China,   tangyuan  is usually filled with sugar, walnuts, sesame, rose petals, sweetened tangerine peel, red bean paste, dates, or dried fruits.  A lot of combinations of these ingredients.  It feels so good to enjoy a bowl of warm  tangyuan with your family on a cold winter day . This year, I decided to make my own tangyuan for the first time. One reason is, I have one whole pack of glutinous rice flour, leftover from making Chinese N...

Joining  I Heart Cooking Clubs provides me a good chance to try different ways of cooking. The most exciting part is to prepare an everyday dish in a totally new way, such as steamed coconut curry soup, baked fish fillet,  roasted pork ribs etc. We all like that fall off the bone, melt in your mouth rack of ribs. That's why I often boil pork ribs soup, easy and nutritious. Typical ingredients go well with pork ribs are fresh corns, lotus root, apple, pear.  Never roasted pork ribs at home,  simply because I am afraid they would be too dry.   Asian ribs, one of Donna Hay's recipe suggests using hoisin sauce (海鲜酱), five-spice powder (五香粉), soy sauce (酱油) , sesame oil (芝麻油), Shaoxing (绍兴酒) to marinate the ribs. These seasonings are readily available in my kitchen.  It's so convenient to prepare this dish. To achieve tender roasted ribs, I first pull the membrane off  the ribs before marinate them. The...

Chinese New Year is approaching, food bloggers here are busy baking CNY cookies.  I have baked pineapple tarts, almond cookies, peanut cookies. How about you? Since there is still one week away, I'd like to bake one more type of CNY cookies. Read a few posts about Chinese Walnut Cookies (核桃酥) recently.  Some recipes add alkaline water, some add shortening, some use vegetable oil, some use butter.  Despite the difference in recipes, I notice there is one thing in common:  food bloggers are trying to create the traditional taste of walnut cookies from their hometown, from their childhood memories. In my hometown, Chinese walnut cookies are crunchy and full of walnut fragrance. There is no butter in it,  but for sure there are walnuts. They are so delicious that I have always been tempted to buy them whenever I see similar ones at bakery shops here.  How...