The season for delicious - Chocolate Almond Sables

It's 6 days to the birth of Christ (the mankind date, at least), and it doesn't just look like Christmas, but sounds and smells a lot like it too.

There are 2 camps of Christmast-ers.

The Gifters - natural-born Martha Stewarts who adore the shopping and wrapping. And then there are the Diss-ers - people who scorn gifting as the commercial witchcraft of the season.

I actually appreciate the act of Christmas gifting, as long as we don't get too carried away.

Giving someone a gift is telling the person they matter to us, and we've put in effort to think about them in the tizzy of festivities.

Of course there are many gift nightmares, things you have no idea what to do with, things that shouldn't have been invented in the first place. But take it in the right spirit - someone thought of you,  and you're lucky enough for someone to care.

I love food gifts.

And when I say Christmas smells, it's really kitchen baking that I'm thinking of.

Make some amazing kitchen gifts of your own:
> Gula Melaka Granola

> Chai Spice Granola

> Deep Chocolate Crunchy Granola
> Boozy Rum Balls 

One of my favorite bakes this Christmas is Bon Appetit's Chocolate-Pistachio Sables - so scrummy.

I've adapted it into Chocolate-Almond Sables because I love a good crunch, and the almonds give a much stronger crackle.

Other cookie recipes to try:
> Double Chocolate Fudgy Cookies
> Ombré Swirl Cookies
> Chocolate Chip Shortbread
> Lemon Poppy Cookies

Strictly speaking, these are not your traditional French-style sables (shortbread cookies). But they carry the butter-cookie base that makes them so sabley rich and tender, generously enveloped with rich dark chocolate.

It screams of Christmas!

I've made mine into jumbo logs and sliced them thickly for extra festive indulgence.

So gorgeous for gifting.

They bake into a lovely semi-crunchy exterior, with a mottled crumbly interior that makes them quite addictive.

You can use any sort of nuts you like, just remember to chop them up coarsely so they mix easily into the dough.

Chilling the logs is also essential for a crunchy bake, and when you make jumbos like mine (about 7-8cm), use a big sturdy knife to slice your cold dough - or a big ol' cleaver, much better grip!



Remember friends, think of family and even strangers this Christmas season. Remember to show some love.
> Remembering Robbie Williams

Everyone deserves to be happy at Christmas.

More Christmas goodies for the season:
> Edible Christmas Wreaths
> Red Santa Hats
> Christmas Cake Pops

Aian't gonna let Christmas sneak away!

Christmas has a way of sneaking up on us.

When the lights and sparkles go up in the streets, we're suddenly startled into the realization that we're almost at the end of another year.

Sudden panic sets in for some of us - where did all that time go??
Are we really done for the year?

Others are a bit more sanguine, resigned to the next month or so of scrambling and racing to accomplish the ambitious tower of job tasks and personal errands we crazily set ourselves.

Whichever the case, let's remember to take a breath and absorb a bit of that Christmas happiness.

Don't let that Christmas spirit sneak away without us paying any attention to it.
Such a waste of the most wonderful time of the year.

Looking to ease a bit of that Christmas shopping crunch?

Chocolate-Almond Sables with Sea Salt, Gula Melaka Christmas Granola or Toasted Herb and Sesame Shortbread make for some pretty nifty scrumptious gifts.

Or bring a Tipsy Bailey's Tart or Rocky Road Christmas Wreath to a party.
Spread the Christmas yum!
> details in image above

More Christmas desserts:
> Death by Chocolate Cake
> Salted Bailey's Mint Chocolate Pie
> Decadent Chocolate Pistachio Torte
> Guinness Beer Chocolate Cake
> Deep Chocolate Ganache Cake with Summer Fruits
> Rich Red Velvet Cake

Halloween companions

Most people enjoy a good hair-raising scare.

Which is why Halloween is so popular, and heart-splitting horror movies get more freaky each year.

There are a few however, who like hanging out with humans more than with ghouls. Those who get chills when the window shutters flap about for no reason.

Like me.

So instead of disguising myself as Frozen's Anna or a sexy vamp bunny wannabe, and getting my wits scared out in a devil's mansion, I've rounded up a couple of desserts to snuggle up to on Halloween night, when the clock strikes 12.

Till Death Do Us Part

Adios and Ciao Ciao, part of the cultishly popular Tokidoki series, are condemned to wander the earth after 500 years in hell. Could there be a more perfect Halloween dessert??

> Get the recipe for Martha Stewart's perfect chocolate cake.

More night-friendly cakes:

> Death by Chocolate

> Guinness Beer Chocolate

> Deep Chocolate Ganache

Darkside Chocolate

Chocolate works really well for a night snack. Maybe cuz it's forbidden (says all the healthy folks!), or maybe it's the midnight darkness of the cacao that lures. Either way, this chocolate cupcake topped with dark chocolate ganache, is a definite walk on the dark side. 

Death by chocolate, anyone?

More darkside desserts:

> Salted Bailey's Mint Chocolate Pie

> Deep Chocolate Crunchy Granola

Nighttime Ice-Cream

I-C-E  C-R-E-A-M cravings. They hit at midnight, and they hit hard. If like me, you're not about to venture out into the darkness of Halloween night even for ice cream, you gotta do the next best thing - ice cream cake pops.

You could do ice-cream cone style, like Bakerella's. I had ice cream sticks lying around, so I did the popsicle version. Pretty much the same way you make all your other cake pops - just make sure the cake pop adheres well to the ice cream stick when inserting, press the pop around the base in a little if you need to.

> What are cake pops?
> Making basic cake pops
> So-darn-good Rum Balls
> Ride away Bicycle Pops

Deep Dark Double Chocolate Trouble

Wash them down with milk. Or good coffee. Or a smoothie. That's how you need to eat these little devils. This soft-baked cookie is so decadently good, you'll be fighting demons to stop at one. Their cracked tops erupt into soft chocolately chews, and these are made extra large - for double the evil indulgence. 

Get Martha Stewart's recipe here.

Not enough cookies?

> Ombre Swirl Cookies

> Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies

Embrace your midnight companions and eat up, welcome to the dark side!

Sometimes YOLO is code for Granola

Ok that's probably quite a stretch... 

But what I'm saying is, we're hard-wired to seek comfort.

We do the whole YOLO / bucket list thing, searching for new thrills, loving new adventures. 

But when it comes down to happiness, it's often the dead-easy parts of life that do the trick.

Like a cup of good coffee.
A hot bowl of chicken soup.
Fried chicken that crunches.
Juicy steak.
And of course, brunch.

(I am all about food, I realize!)

All the in-built yearnings.
Nothing fancy.
Just a whole lot of comforting good.

The whole idea of brunch is a soothing indulgence.

A precious weekend treat of taking things slow. Not having to scramble, eyes half-closed, jostling with scores of fellow un-deads.

Brunch is wickedly set in the middle of breakfast and lunch, just to say - I get to eat at a weird time, and no one's gonna stop me.

I love a good hearty full brunch of eggs, bacon, toast, beans and sometimes - even fries.
Fries go with every meal. Truth.

But some brunches are stay-in days. When you're too lazy to get into decent clothes, or when it's raining outside.

Life's answer to stay-in brunch comfort: GRANOLA.

I'm a shameless granola hussy, for 3 simple reasons:

1) Crunch = good
It's a party in your mouth. There's crunch, there's flavor - I'm sold. I was born with a tooth for the crunchy (fried food, chips, nuts - you name it), and granola has awesome crispy texture with such amazing flavors folded into their tiny nuggets of crunch. This may be a sign - I need to start Granola Anonymous.

2) Sweet, salty, sour
Have I mentioned how versatile granola is? There's not a single flavor dimension that cannot work with these grains. I made some super fabulous sweet granola below - Deep Chocolate Crunch and Chai Spice Honey - look out for posts on some savory ones soon!

3) Trickery

And because I snack so much, granola is a fab way of tricking my brain into believing I'm eating my fave crunchy snack, but with the bonus of amazing nutrients and none of the evil trans-oils and salts.

I feel healthier already, just thinking about it!

Totally planning to granolarize the kitchen again, can't wait.


CHAI SPICE HONEY GRANOLA

A wonderfully fragrant mix from the Inquiring Chef, this is a granola that is subtle and strong at the same time. The spices impart a beautiful tang to the grains, and you could eat this on and on... and on without getting tired of it.



































Vary the spice mix as you like, I went with about 3/4 the quantities and found it to be quite the perfect balance.

The granola itself is pretty much up to the grains and nuts you like. Almonds are great for adding a sharp crunch, either whole or slivered. The coconut oil is interchangeable with vegetable oil or any other light oils, and I made mine with rolled oats (instead of a mix with quick-cook oats), and it turned out just as delicious.

More desserts like this:
> Summer cakes & shakes
> Sesame match cupcakes, Zingy ginger crunch


DEEP CHOCOLATE CRUNCHY GRANOLA

I call this an indulgent granola because it's not something you can eat everyday, even if you declare every day Brunch Day. It's got a deep earthy chocolate crunch that is such a treat, but keep reminding yourself - step away from the bowl. 

And I'm saying this as a friendly baker-warning, and a recovering sore throat victim - you SHOULD NOT be finishing this all in one sitting. It's a dangerously addictive granola that needs to be paced out.

Take my word for it.


































Here's the recipe from Peaceful Cooking, I've adapted parts of it to make a blend I like:

Halved the amount of brown sugar, reduced the honey slightly, omitted raisins (I find the blend sweet enough as is). The chocolate chips melt when I stir them in, giving the grains a nice chocolately coat that I love. If you like them whole, stir them in after baking instead. Both instant and regular oats work for this recipe, you just need to vary the baking time a little to the crunchiness you like.

More chocolate desserts:
> Death by chocolate cake
> Guinness chocolate cake
> Chocolately love
> 10 years young

Give in and indulge, give me chocolate!

After a heady few weeks of continuous cholesteral-busting mooncakes celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival's full moon, a detox is in order.

> More summer treats    
- A summer carousel
- Awesome ways to use beer
- Desserts for a hot day
- Color me happy, it's 2014!
- Ombre swirl cookies
- Sweet, sweet strawberries
- Summer day out on the golf course

But because I'm greedy and itching for some good chocolate, I decide to ditch good sense and take the path of indulgence instead.

'Indulgence' (noun): Liberal or tolerant treatment

Yep, that about sums it up.

So gingerly (guiltily... same thing) edging my gym shoes under the shoe cabinet, I reach for my valrhona chocolate and stealthily cart my Kitchenaid onto the kitchen table.

Let the indulgence begin!
> Another indulgent treat: Rich red velvet cake

This is truly a freeform cake. 

Embellish as much or as little as you like, go all out or cut back like a good girl.

All up to you.

All depending on how indulgent you want to be.

Start off by building the layers. 

Bake up some good chocolate cake (Martha Stewart's amazing recipe here), and while it's cooling off, get the frosting going.

> More chocolate goodness

- Chocolatey love

- 10 years young

I've been on the hunt for a good buttercream recipe for a while, and I think I may have finally found THE ONE from the amazing I Am Baker.

My issue with most buttercream recipes is the cloying sweetness it usually involves. 

I treasure my teeth - that's all I'm sayin.

But this recipe has the right balance of stiffness (for piping), and tastes absolutely heavenly. 

I mean, serious pillowy silken-ess.

The very first buttercream recipe that I actually enjoy eating by the spoonfuls, on its own. 

I'm in love.

Spend some time whipping up the egg whites (5-6 min) till they reach a fluffy almost-whipped-cream firmness. That's key.

I also prefer using the double broiler method for melting the chocolate, gives a more uniform heating and no lumps in your mixture. The microwave method works better when you're working with very small amounts, like in cake pops.

After that, freeform as you like assembling the cake.

I'm on an indulgence spree, so I nestle chocolate chips between chocolate frosting layers.

Time to ramp things up.

Enter stage left: Chocolate ganache. 

Any and everything tastes good with ganache. It's a synch to make, and you need just  3 basic ingredients which you'll probably have in the kitchen anyways. 

Let it cool to the right pouring consistency (just a couple of minutes after taking it off the stove), and work fairly quickly drizzling it down the sides of the cake before it starts solidifying. 

I find the best way to do this is to start pouring onto the middle of the cake and slowly edge your way out. 

Use a spatula to guide the ganache down the sides, tilt the cake as needed to encourage 'lava flow'. Just make sure you hold on tight to the cake, I've had a couple of butterfinger slip ups and the cake came crashing down arghhh.

Heart-breaking.

And because we're on a rampage, we need more chocolate.

Enter stage right: Gold chocolate rocks that go round the cake border, chocolate buttercream from earlier that gets piped onto the top.

Each buttercream rosette is crowned with a chocolate malt ball, and I could have stopped right there and we'd have a perfectly scrumptious cake.

But we're in the mood for indulgence, right?

No room for unadorned cake real estate. 

More rosettes go on, more malt balls. 

Think our job here is done. 

I present 'Death by Chocolate': Chocolate cake with velvety chocolate buttercream and chocolate chips, covered with chocolate buttercream, sprinkled with gold chocolate rocks, drenched with dark chocolate ganache, topped with chocolate rosettes and malt balls.

Who says you ever need to stop?

*dust hands*

The colorful Robin Williams

Photo from Parade

It's not like we were friends, it's not like we met regularly for coffee. 

He didn't even know I existed. 

But I certainly knew Robin Williams; through his films. 

Death is never easy. 

And when it's a person who's familiar - even if it's remotely, through a movie screen - the sadness feels a little more personal.

Robin Williams struggled with many inner demons, but he single-handedly brought SO much joy and laughter to so many people who encountered him, on and off-screen.

I just caught Patch Adams again on the movie channel last night, and it definitely did justice bringing the real life Williams to reel life. 

In celebration of this wonderful man's colorful personality, today's post is about a rainbow balloon cake. 

Particularly since the tear-jerker Pixar animation UP, balloons have come to represent hope and positivity.

The skyful of balloons air-lifting Carl's house in search of Paradise Falls... forever etched in our minds as we futilely fought back tears for his missing Ellie...

There's a certain freedom in balloons as they flit and float over everyone and everything, going where no one else goes. 

Their haphazard abandonment carries such carefreeness, just what we're wishing for the iconic comedienne especially now. 

These little fondant figures with their gold shimmer, hold the key to a blue open sky filled with innumerate round bubbles of dreams, as colorful as Williams himself.

Surrounded with fluffy white clouds of royal icing and white fondant cut-outs, the future is always open - for you, for me, for cakes and desserts, for dear Mr Robin Williams. 

More summer colors:

> A summer carousel

> Color me happy!

> A very hungry caterpillar

> A purple green birthday

> Poppin' dots cake pops

> World Cup colors

A summer carousel

The thing about being so near the equator is that we're perpetually in the sun's path, getting the full-scale blazing love. 

Which is why we don't fully appreciate, or even comprehend summer.

We're too busy trying to stay cool and not inflict tropical humidity wetness to the next person to even think about the summer concept.
> How do you stay cool?
> Best uses of beer

Summer fun? 

More like eternal furnace.

But with all the crazy extreme weather happening around the world, I am very grateful for this somewhat normal summer here in Singapore/Hong Kong. 

So dressed in my best summer singlet and breeziest summer shorts, I'd like to invite you to celebrate the summer sun with a dappy day out to the summer fair carousel, with the happiest little birthday girl!

More summer colors:
> Color me happy!
> A very hungry caterpillar
> A purple green birthday
> Poppin' dots cake pops
> Yellow and green, colors of world cup

Don't believe Wilton products that say 'easy to use' in the instruction manual. You usually need an engineer's degree to assemble their showpieces, after which you'll need to spend considerable time decorating them.

This carousel top took several hours to put together, starting with orange and purple fondant panels.

Red, green, blue, pink and yellow accents are hand-piped with stiff royal icing, make sure you have enough time for everything to dry so that it's all nice and sturdy when you put it on the cake. 

A cheery pop of yellow crowning the cake's top tier, 

as the ponies get a-galloping after their royal icing dries off.

20 little fingers eagerly inching closer to the cake, as the finishing touches go up.

Rainbow cake (recipe here): A perennial favorite with kids, and perfect for the summer carousel party!

I love theme parties, the crazy OCD in me just gets such a kick out of 

matching colors and patterns. The birthday girl's mom did a fantastic 

job getting these cute little buckets for giveaways, every 

child was a SUPER happy child by the end of the party.

> Eat kind for kids

Happy birthday, beautiful Ellie!

More happy birthdays:
> A busy day at the construction site
> Dinosaur roarrrr
> Rabbity cake pops

> 10 years young

> A Rilakkuma birthday

> Elmo cake pops

> Curious George, is that you?

The softer side of the World Cup

Sports is amazing.

Team loyalties are crazy fierce, fans go to the ends of the earth to support, defend and rally their players.

And as far as beautiful games are concerned, football is king.
> Awesome ways to use the football beverage - beer!
> What to do when things get hot (under the collar)!
> Get through the late nights, with chocolate

Sports can divide, sports can unite.
As certain as politics and religion can.

In this World Cup season, I want to celebrate the joys of sports, and the happiness it brings.

Presenting... The green, blues and yellows of.. Henry Hugglemonster!
> Who's Henry Hugglemonster?

> More yellow desserts
- Busy day at the construction site
- Minions at work
- A Rilakkuma birthday

Right: The real Henry

Left: My version!

I know it's not what you'd associate with football. But besides the colors of Brazil, Henry also does his part rallying little kids in the challenges of life, teaching extermination, diversity and drive.

Just like sports and football do.
You see the similarities I'm sure :)

Happy splash of colors paying World Cup homage 

The starting point: Base cake layers decked with surprise fillings (crushed oreos, chocolate
chips, mango), and chocolate and vanilla buttercream. These get stacked and covered with
blue fondant, before a smaller 2nd tier goes on top.

With a fairly flat top tier, you can try and cover the entire cake with a single piece of fondant
like I did here. If your top tier is high, you should cover the 2 tiers separately and stack them.

Recipe for the cake base:

> Martha Stewart's delectable Chocolate Torte

> Bakerella's amazing Chocolate Cake

Handpainting takes a steady hand, and good spelling.

Practice, practice, practice till you get good at it, like sports!

Final touch: Cake pops for a poppin' backdrop, they add such a wonderful cheer!

> Bicycle cake pops 

> Hello Kitty cake pops

> Elmo cake pops

> Pony cake pops

Ole World Cup!

Cheers to Father's Day!

Yes I know, not all dads take to alcohol like fish to water. 

Very presumptuous.

But because there are SO many gorgeous desserts with such deliciously boozy yumminess, there's really no good reason not to start your dad/baby daddy on a bit of tipple. 

Father's Day is the perfect time for such initiation ;)

> A hearty Guinness cake

> Bailey's salted mint chocolate pie

> Chocolately rum balls

And for dads who do love their drinks, this is for you.

Cheers to awesome dads all round!