The Making of Blueberry Cheese Tarts at Min's House

I must confess, I was a bit nervous initially while on the way to Min's house. Not because that I don't know her that well but what if I was not able to make the cheese tartlets all on my own. You see, Min has warned me that she will be guiding me but everything must be done by myself - from the beginning. So I will have to make the pastry, the cheese filling, bake everything and piping etc with my bare hands... and of course with Min as the audience. Hah... coupled with the feeling that I will be laughed upon if I make any mistake (nothing serious, just embarrassment, most likely, and no, I will not die of shame) and Nekrock will obviously be enquiring both of us the outcome.

Turned out that Min is a good sifu. She gave me the instructions, prepare the ingredients and I was ready to show off my culinary skills. Hahahahahaha... probably the skills of a 1st Grader. We were jabbering away while doing the pastry and soon after Min was laughing her butt off when I made some mistakes, I had trouble holding the plastic pipe - I have never done any piping before, and my cheese fillings were somewhat flat. I was laughing too... hehe... for making those silly mistakes. But Min was very encouraging. If I did something wrong, she would show me how it was done (a few times, sometimes) and I would follow suit. All in all, it was a good class. I had a wonderful teacher, so what could go wrong?

Peep, thus I would like to share the pix taken today. I had gobbled at least 5 of the tarts and they taste wonderful. Thanks Min for having me as a student and thank you for sharing the knowledge...

Birthday Bash

Yesterday, I stayed home to bake cakes for the birthday bash which was held today. 3 pieces, ugh... and K. Zue requested for Butter Cheese Cake when we had the meeting last 2 weeks. Since I was baking the whole day, I decided to bake pandan buns as well. Gave some of the buns to neighbours, especially K. Na - her plates/bowls are piling up fast, courtesy to her sending dishes (lontong, laksa, nasik ayam, the list goes on and on) to us, the faithful followers and admirers of her cooking.

Najwa came over about 9.30 pm last night to decorate the birthday cakes. I guess she was expecting me to help with the decor but helloooooooo... ME? Who knows next to nothing about ANY decor, let alone cake decor? Anyway she ended up doing the whole lot, so I was saved of making an embarrassment of myself (I don't want to upset the kids by showing up with a comot cake, now would I?) The results... jeng jeng jeng... nice huh? Trust Najwa, she can really turn a plain cake into a gorgeous one. :D

During the cake decor session, Nadirah and Danish were busy fighting over the rolling pin that Najwa brought along, and I took out mine and gave it to Danish while saying "Nah, mama ada yang lagi besar." Danish looked at Nadirah and declared "Haaaaa... mak kita lagi besarrrrrrrrrrrr!!!" Najwa and me exchanged looks and laughed outright. Hahahahaha... anyway Danish's comment is true since Najwa is the skinny one while I am the chubby one. 

Jimmy, Muadz and Mursyir ended up sleeping over and despite my asking them to sleep early in order to be in time for the early birthday bash event the morning after, all the boys continued on playing X-Box until God knows when. Luckily they were able to wake up just in time... hehe.

All the kids were of course happy to have the birthday event. It was held for the birthday boys and girls born in the month of March, April, May and June (not forgetting, the moms as well). Menu for the day were:

1. Mihun Sup
2. Nasi Impit with Kuah Kacang
3. Donuts
4. Pau Sambal
5. Jelly Cocktail

Of course, I tapau the leftovers, just so that I do not have to cook for lunch and so were many others. I think tapau is part of any makan-makan event no matter when and where, especially here in the complex.

I was totally exhausted by the time I was back and ended up taking a nap for 4 hours, not realising that the boys missed their Friday prayers because they were asleep as well... sigh... Syed actually called to ask for Jimmy who was fast asleep in Thaqif's bed and I felt bad for letting this happened... sigh again...

The jelly cocktail is still available, so probably I should be calling the other madams for a lepak session at the Laman Santai... hmmm... interesting. Ok peeps... must make a few calls. hehe.

Bun Pandan Kak Noor Masri

This is arguably one of the best recipes I have ever tasted. Kudos to Kak Noor Masri.

BUN PANDAN
Sumber: Kak NoorMasri & Resepi Diana


Bahan-bahan doh:
400 g tepung roti (strong white bread flour) - D guna 350 gram tepung roti dan 50 gram tepung superfine (Nani guna tepung gandum biasa)
2 1/2 sudu kecil yis kering
1 sudu kecil garam (paras rata)
50 g mentega }dicairkan
70g - 80 g gula
1 biji telur
100 ml susu segar suam
110 ml air pandan - suam (Nani gantikan dengan air suam kalu nak buat bun biasa)

sket susu segar (1 sudu besar)- utk sapuan atas roti
1 sudu kecil mentega cair} utk sapuan atas rotiCara membuat doh:

1. Campurkan tepung, yis, garam, dan gula kedlm mangkuk besar.
2. Buat lubang di tengah2nya, tuangkan mentega, susu, air pandan dan telur.
3. Gaul tepung tadi sehingga menjadi doh yg lembut.
4. Uli selama 15 minit sehingga doh menjadi licin (tidak melekat di jari) dan elastic (walaupun doh ni agak melekit pd mulanya JGN tambah sebarang tepung)
5. Bulatkan doh kemudian letakkan kedlm mangkuk yg telah dilenser dgn sedikit minyak dan tutup dgn cling film.
6. Letak ditempat yg suam selama 1 ½ - 2 jam sehingga doh mengembang 2 kali ganda.
7. Kemudian bahagikan doh tersbt kpd beberapa bahagian seberat 50-60g g setiap bahagian pastu bulat2kan..susun dlm loyang yg dilapik dgn kertas minyak atau disapu majerin jarak antara satu sama lain jgn terlampau jauh supaya bila kembang doh tu akan bercantum sesama sendiri.
8. Kemudian tutup loyang tersebut dgn cling film selama 1 jam atau sehingga doh tersebut kembang 2 kali ganda semula.
9. Panaskan oven pd suhu 190-200'C, sapu roti dgn susu segar kemudian bakar selama 15-20 min atau sehingga keperangan. (Kat oven Sudan, 170C dah ok)
10. Angkat, sapu dgn mentega cair. Sejukkan atas redai besi dan tutup dgn kain bersih (utk mendptkan soft crust)


(Note: If you are using breadmaker, please proceed to dump everything according to the manufacturer's guidelines and walllahhhh!!!)