KitKat New Flavor

I received this email this morning and I'm excited to get my hands on their mint flavor. I just love minty chocolates! I remember making one way back 2008 but failed to take a picture of it. I might try making another one if I can find mint oil *crossing my fingers*

Transform Sugar into Syrups and Caramels

This has always been my weakness in candy making. But I'm really thankful for my mother's old recipe book, I've finally learned how to determine the different stages of caramelizing sugar.

Ingredients:
sugar and water (amount will depend on what the recipe requires)

First Step: Place sugar and water in a pan. Stir gently over low heat to dissolve the sugar. With a pastry brush dipped in hot water, dissolve any sugar crystals on the side of the pan.
Second Step: Once the sugar has dissolved, stop stirring, put the thermometer (if you'll be using one) and increase the heat a little to bring the syrup to a boil.

Stages:
Small Thread Stage - Allow some of the syrup to dribble from a spoon. It should fall in a fine, short thread (thread-like). Thermometer reading: 102°C (215°F)

Soft Ball Stage - drop a little into a bowl/glass of iced water. Lift out the solidified lump. You should be able to roll the syrup into a soft ball between your fingers. Thermometer reading: 115°C (238°F)

Hard Crack Stage - drop a little into a bowl/glass of iced water. Lift out the solidified lump and bend it. It should snap apart.. Thermometer reading: 157°C (315°F)

Caramel Stage - once it begins to turn into a pale amber color. Thermometer reading: 173°C (345°F)

*Depending on your stove, it can transform from one stage to another in just a couple of minutes (much faster from caramel to *burnt* stage LOL). If you want to stop in any stage, immediately remove it from heat and place the pan on a basin with cold water to arrest cooking.

There's so many things you can do with these from glazes to icing.

My Chili Beef

A couple of years ago, I made Chili Beef with potatoes and melted cheese for my office friends. It was something I made up at that time. Until now, I'm still using the same recipe which I used as filling for our Shawarma.

Ingredients:
1 clover garlic finely chopped
1 small onion finely chopped
oil for frying
1 kg ground beef
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon Lee Kum Kee chili garlic sauce

Heat oil on frying pan. Saute garlic and onion. Cook ground beef. Put in worcestershire sauce and chili garlic sauce. Let simmer for 10 minutes.

Creamy Garlic Sauce - my recipe

Last week, I blogged about the Pita bread and Toum I made. This morning, I made another batch (with different recipe) of Pita bread and mixed my own creamy garlic sauce. We've been using the same sauce for my version of shawarma and my version of Shakey's Mojos.

Creamy Garlic Sauce

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

 2 tablespoons white vinegar
250ml All Purpose Cream (1 pack)
125g Eden Cheddar Cheese (1/4 of the pack)
3 tablespoons beef broth

Mix garlic powder, vegetable oil and white vinegar until smooth. Set aside. Heat all purpose cream on medium heat. Just when it's starting to boil, lower the heat and put in cheddar cheese until melted. Remove from heat. Mix in garlic-oil-vinegar mixture and beef broth.

My version of Shakey's Mojo Potatoes

I love Shakey's Mojos but they can be pretty expensive so I made my own version. They might not look exactly the same but I think it's a good and cheaper substitute.

Shakey's Mojos substitute

And of course, it tastes better if dipped into my creamy garlic sauce

Ingredients:

5-6 large potatoes sliced
water for boiling potatoes
1 pack Crispy Fry Original Breading Mix
1 cup flour
oil for deep frying

Boil potatoes until tender. Mix flour and Crispy Fry Original Breading Mix in a container with cover. Put potatoes in, cover and shake ;) until all potatoes are covered on both sides (you can do it few potatoes at a time too) Then fry until golden brown.

Just in case you're wondering, I moved all my Food & Drinks posts from Realm of a Dreamer to this site. 

Devil's Food Cake Recipe

Several of my blogger friends requested for the recipe so here it is:

Ingredients:
2 1⁄4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 egg yolks
1 1/3 cups cold water
3 egg whites
3/4 cup sugar

Grease and lightly flour baking pan. set aside.

In mixer bowl, beat shortening on medium speed of electric mixer about 30 seconds. Add 1 cup sugar and vanilla and beat until fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating on medium speed for 1 minute after each.
Add dry ingredients and cold water alternately to beaten mixture, beating on low speed after each addition until just combined.

Wash beaters thoroughly.

In mixer bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form; gradually add 3/4 cup sugar, beating until stiff peaks form. Fold into batter; blend well. Turn batter into baking pans; spread evenly.

Bake in 350 oven for 30-35 minutes or until done. Place cakes on wire racks; cool for 10 minutes. Remove from pans; cool. Frsot as desired.

Makes 12 servings.

NOTE:
*the recipe required two of 9x1 1/2-inch round baking pans but you can also use cupcake baking trays (makes 21 cupcakes)
*my parents are diabetic so I made another batch of cupcakes but reduced the amount of sugar to 3/4 cup and 1/2 cup so it doesn't have to be too sweet. It's not as moist though.
*If baking soda is not available, you can use 3 teaspoons of baking powder instead.

And just because I wanted to try my hand on frosting, here's a picture of what I made this afternoon:

Devil's Food Cupcakes

I've been watching reruns of Junior Masterchef Australia and in one of the episodes, the kids were asked to bake a chocolate cake. So I thought I'd try making some cupcakes again but this time, instead of vanilla, I used my mom's Devil's Food Cake recipe to make these:

Devil's Food Cupcakes

I like these better than the first ones I made because, well, these are chocolates :D and they are moist inside. No need for frosting :D