Doughnuts

Yes, doughnuts again!
Actually it was for my Mum, who had a craving for the sweet tea time treat.
I guess it was from watching too much Donut Showndown on Diva!

The recipe we tried before this didn't turn out to well and had too many steps.
I hate long winding recipes, so I browse the internet until I came across one that suited my
laziness!

The recipe had egg, I just only found out that! All this while the recipes I had tried and tested for doughnuts had no eggs! Tak palah, only one egg, so okaylah tu.
The best part no need for special flour, plain old tepung gandum is used.
But maybe next time I'll add a bit of vanilla essence...

So are you up for it? The original recipe required the dough to be made into small balls, and later stuffed with jam but I just cut it out with a doughnut cutter and got much more than 12.
The sugar part is a bit confusing at first but basically all the recipe needs from the stated 4 Tbsp is
1 Tbsp and 1/2 tsp only. The rest was used to roll the freshly cooked doughnuts.

Doughnuts
source: BBC Good Food

Ingredients
1 Tbsp dried yeast (I tipped the entire sachet)
4 Tbsp castor sugar
150ml warmed milk (1 min on med in the mircowave is good enough)
8 oz /225g plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
50g melted butter (2 Tbsp)
1 beaten egg

Method
In a bowl mix the yeast. 1/2 tsp sugar and 2 Tbsp milk.
Let it stand for 15 minutes or until it becomes foamy.

Sieve the flour and add in 1 Tbsp sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the
yeast mixture, melted butter, rest of the milk and the egg. Mix well, you might need
a bit of flour is the dough is sticky. Knead the dough until it smooth.
Let the dough stand, covered in a warm place for 45 minutes or until double in size.

Knead again for about 5 minutes, roll the dough into small balls or use a doughnut cutter.
Place the doughnuts onto a tray and let it stand for another 30 minutes or until dough has double it size.

Heat up the oil in a frying pan or kuali or wok. Gently lift the doughnuts from the tray and drop them into the oil. Fry until golden brown. Toss the excess oil and roll the cooked doughnuts in the rest of the sugar.
All done! Makanlah!
The original recipe, after the balls has cooked, make a small slit at the side and pipe in jam.
I think rolling in sugar is easy and yummy.

Do try it, as it is worth the long wait. It helps if you are doing something else...
But don't leave the dough out too long as it will dry up.

Good Luck!

Cream Puffs

Cream Puffs, or choux pastry not to be confused with the other cream puff recipe I uploaded.
The Japanese Crispy Cream Puff has an extra piping of butter cream before baking.
So there is a crispy layer or skin on the puffs when cooked.
Where else this one is soft and smooth with a fine dusting of icing sugar.

In the original recipe the puffs are dipped in melted chocolate and has orange chocolate filling.
I followed the recipe for the choux pastry. And the method is my take after several tries and errors!

Cream Puffs
source: The Australian Women Weekly Cookbooks (Chocolate Cookbook)

Choux Pastry
75g butter, chopped
1 cup water
1 cup plain flour
4 cold eggs

In a pot combine water and chopped butter. It is advisable for the butter to be of room temperature and chopped into small cubes so that it melts faster.
Once the butter is all melted, turn down the heat and add in all of the flour.
Using a wooden spoon stir vigorously until combine and the dough pulls away from the sides of the pot and forms a ball.
Turn of the heat and allow the dough to cool.
At this point some recipes say to continue beating with a hand mixer or transfer the dough to another bowl.
I just let it cool in the pot, stirring occasionally for it to cool. It takes about 20 minutes or so.
I read that real cold eggs will also help cool down the dough that's why I said cold eggs.

Don't make the mistake I made several times of adding eggs when the dough is still very warm.
You will end up with a mixture that is running and will not puff up at all.

Once the dough is reasonable cool, add the eggs one at a time and continue beating.
I use a wooden spoon but you could use a hand mixer.
Keep adding the eggs and beating until the mixture is smooth and glossy.

You can either pipe the mixture onto a greased oven tray or use tea spoon to drop the mixture onto the tray. I personally found the tea spoon way faster and easier.

Bake for 10 min on high heat and later the next 15 min lower the temperature.
Once it puffs up and is golden brown, take out and cool on cooling rack.

Once cooled, split the puff with a knife or scissors. Pipe in the custard into the puffs.
Lastly dust some icing sugar on the top.

Happy Baking.

Busy holiday weekend

Last weekend was another of those long weekend that simply stretches!
I personally love them but at the same time it does put a dent on daily activities like paying bills, yep I still do it the old fashion way, take a number and patiently wait my turn at the post office.
And of course the normally congested road, the infamous KL traffic is even more so.
I wonder why, after all the traffic reports on the radio say that the highways are equally congested, some several kilometers long. A few years back when ever there is a public holiday or eve of such an event its practically smooth sailing in the capital.
But now it a queue here, a traffic jam there and I'm not just talking about cars. Unfortunately the population of our dear city has grown so much, mostly with foreigners. Oh well, that's another story and I don't think this is where I ought to venture.
Back to my precious cakes!
I have NOT been updating my blog! Good grief does anyone even care? LOL
I planned on adding several more recipes for my own use of course but just haven't gotten around to it.
My other project of transferring old recipes from my battered book to a brand new one pun hasn't taken off either and all the while I keep finding and trying out new recipes and simply jotting them down in another book or pieces of paper!

Yes I did start with the weekend, and I have a fabulous one. I admit it was rather hectic and stressful but I enjoyed baking and made some money too! Now who can say no to that?
We didn't go anywhere but stayed close to home, went shopping at KWC and watched some wuxia films on TV.
Alhamdullilah for the rezeki God has bestowed onto me.

Thank you very much to dear friends who ordered and still enjoyed my baking. I sincerely hoped they had a good weekend holiday as well.

Afni, ordered a moist chocolate cake, a Victoria sandwich cake and cream puffs.
She requested that both cakes were baked in squared tins.

As decoration and a different twist from the norm, I crushed Cadbury Crunchie and sprinkling it on top of the chocolate cake's melted chocolate top. I froze the chocolate bar and smashed it with my rolling pin.

A dusting of icing sugar was enough for the Victoria Sandwich Cake but I piped a few lines of butter cream across the cake and stuck some fresh strawberries.
The cream puff well, remain as they were! The creamy custard filling justified everything else.



In addition to that there was also orders for birthday cakes!
Thanks to Suzila who wanted a marble cake with butter cream icing for her dad.

Another friend also celebrated his birthday that week, Happy Birthday Koko, many happy returns for the day! I hope he enjoyed the butter cake with chocolate cream icing.

If interested, recipes for each can be found in the blog.

Happy Baking.