~ Tang Yuan

Taken from:
Tiff's! :)

Description:
Springy glutinous rice balls immersed in sweet ginger broth; a festive dessert for Dong Zhi (the Winter Solstice)~

Ingredients:
2 C glutinous rice flour
5/8 C boiled and cooled water
1/2 tsp pandan essence (optional)
Red colouring
1/2 C rock sugar
1 knob ginger
Bunch of pandan leaves
900ml water

Directions:
1. Mix flour, 5/8 C water and essence to form dough. Adjust with 1 tbsp of water/flour accordingly.
2. Separate into two bowls, and tint one of the dough with red colouring. Knead the white dough first for 8-10min and roll into 1.5cm balls. Do the same for the pink dough.
3. Boil together pandan leaves, ginger and sugar in 900ml water to make the broth. Prepare a basin of cold water.
4. Cook balls in the broth till they float. Plunge the cooked balls into the basin of cold water for awhile to stop the cooking process. Serve hot with broth.

Remarks:
QQ and yummy! Topped up with some water for the broth as some of the water evaporated during boiling. Added pandan essence discreetly to the dough to mask the strong glutinous rice taste =x

~ Wanton Dumplings

Taken from:
Mum's

Description:
Tantalising concoction of minced meat (fish, prawn, pork), fungus, veggies, chestnuts wrapped in wanton wrappers~ Deep-fried or boiled in Caixin soup~

Ingredients:

-

Directions:
-

Remarks:
Filling was made by Mum, I only did the wrapping :p As always, the dumplings turned out lip-smacking good!

~ Almond Oatmeal Bars

Modified from:

Allrecipe

Description:
Healthy chewy oatmeal bar frosted with chocolate, added raisins pack a punch to the nutty taste.

Ingredients:

1 egg
1/4 C white sugar
1/4 C brown sugar
1 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 tsp almond
140 g instant oatmeal
1/2 C chopped almonds
1/4 C dried raisins
100 g chocolate chips
10 g butter

Directions:
1. Whip egg, sugar, butter and vanilla essence together.
2. Fold in oatmeal, raisins and chopped almonds.
3. Press dough into well-greased 6" round pan, and bake in preheated oven at 170deg for 20min.
4. Cut into bars when warm.
5. Frost with chocolate cream made by microwaving 100g chocolate chips with 10g butter.
6. Store in refrigerator.

Remarks:
Would prefer it to be less sweet, but overall taste was unexpectedly good. Chocolate frosting and raisins complemented the otherwise plain oatmeal bar.

~ Sesame Raisin Coffee Cookies

Modified from:

Rosa's

Description:
A nutty cake-like sesame cookie spotted with Californian raisins and with a suggestion of coffee~ Crisp on the outside and cake-like on the inside when warm, transforms into a soft cookie after cooling.

Ingredients:
1 C flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
4 tbsp butter
1/4 C white sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp coffee emulco
50 ml milk
1/2 C toasted black sesame
1/2 C raisins

Directions:
1. Whisk dry ingredients together in big bowl.
2. Beat butter and sugar together till fluffy. Mix in vanilla essence, emulco and milk till well-combined. Put the mixing bowl over warm water to speed up the mixing process.
3. Stir in dry ingredients and sesame. Adjust with more flour if batter is too runny. Stir in raisins.
4. Drop by tablespoons onto baking tray and bake in preheated oven at 170deg for 15min till lightly-browned, turning baking tray around at 12th min. Cool for 5min on tray before transfering to wire rack for complete cooling.

Remarks:
Prefer to add in more sesame or coffee powder to enhance the taste.

~ Orange Swiss Roll

Modified from:
Mum's

Description:
Swiss roll with chiffon cake base, slathered with delectable orange marmalade spread!

Ingredients:
(1)
5 egg whites
80 g sugar

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

(2)
5 egg yolks
40 g sugar
1/2 tsp orange essence
2 tbsp orange juice

(3)
100 g flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

3 1/3 tbsp oil

Icing sugar
Orange marmalade

Directions:
1. Whisk (1) till fluffy, and transfer to bowl.
2. Beat (2) and fold in (1).
3. Fold in (3) and lastly stir in oil. Pour into 9X12" greased baking tray lined with waxed paper.
4. Bake at 160 deg for 15 min, or till middle of cake springs back when lightly touched.
5. Cool for 5 min, and turn cake onto a kitchen towel lightly dusted with icing sugar. Peel off waxed paper and roll cake in towel, starting with the short side. Cool completely on wire rack.
6. Unroll cake, spread jam to within 0.5" of edges. Roll up again and refrigerate for 1h.

Remarks:
Chiffon cake base was rather dense as the cake was rolled/compressed while warm. More suitable to use a swiss roll base instead. Possible to reduce sugar content in the recipe as icing sugar already adds on sweetness. Marmalade makes the cake really moist, can try cream cheese spread instead.