Honeycomb Crisps/Cookies (糖環)

It's only just starting to hit me that the holidays are ending soon, and I might never have this much time to bum around again until the end of the year :( So I've gotten off my lazy butt and started doing the things I had meant to do since I came back from holidays.

Just yesterday, I turned on the oven for the first time since I came back and baked a couple of pots of creme caramel -a recipe which I've made a billion times (but have yet to upload onto this blog) But then I went to watch a movie .......and completely forgot about it until a whole hour later (double the time they should have spent in the oven). Strangely enough, they turned out to be the best batch I've ever made- almost perfectly smooth and silky (perhaps because my electric oven is a lot cooler than my gas one which I usually use?)



So yes, I've officially re-entered baking land and have started going through all those recipes I've bookmarked over the last couple of months (most of which I'd completely forgotten about). Meanwhile, here's another chinese new year snack we made a while ago. I'm not quite sure how to name them but they're basically a sweet coconutty batter (sort of like a pancake batter)deep fried until crispy- and they're terribly addictive too!

To make, these, you need a special mould (like the one in the instructions on this site). I'm not sure whether you can buy them in Australia... We bought ours in Hong Kong- we're buying one or two different moulds everytime we go to there now and are slowly building up our 'special mould' collection :) So I might have a few interesting Asian snacks up on this blog soon!(egg waffles anyone?)

Coconut Sweer Rings (糖環)

140g plain flour
140g cornflour
3 eggs
140g sugar
1 cup each of coconut milk and evaporated milk, mixed

1. Beat the sugar and the ggs until fluffy
2. Add flour and mized milk in batches alternately to the egg mixture. This should be done in 4 additions (beat thoroughly after each addition). Set aside for 1 hour.
3. Heat oil (to deep fry) to meadium heat. Place mould in the oil for a few seconds (until hot) and then remove from oil.
4. Coat mould with flour mixture carefully (dip the mould into the batter)
5. Place the mould in the hot oil. The cooked rings will separate from the mould after frying (we used chopsticks to help them off). Deep fry until golden brown. Drain well and place in an airtight container when cold- they should keep for 1-2 months.
Note: If the oil is too hot, the rings will become brown really quickly and not shape well

Chinese New Year Snacks ....

I'm back!

So. I realise I've been gone for quite a while now, half because of holidays but mainly because of reasons associated with laziness, but let's not worry about that now :)

Well, since it's a little past chinese new year, and I have so much time on my hands right now before uni, I got a chance to try out a couple of Chinese new year snack recipes! We make these fried pastries almost every year but this is really the first time we've come close to success- perhaps because of the recipe or because of experience. In chinese, they're called 角仔, which litterally translates into 'litle horns' because of their shape but are actually pastries filled with a sweet peanutt-y filling.

I'm pretty terrible at pleating the dough though- mine all turn out more ike a child's first attempt at pleating dumplings than anything (the ones in the photos are probably my mum's ) but it's still fun getting my hands all oily and sugary :)

New Year Crispy Triangles (角仔)
(as named by the chinese cookbook I got the recipe from)

640g flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup lard (I replaced with butter)
125g water

320g fried shelled peanuts (I'm not quite sure what that means- I just used plain peanuts)
80g fried white sesame seeds (we used plain white sesame)
240g white sugar
2 Tbs desiccated coconut (I doubled this becuase I like coconut)

1. Grind peanut and mix with sesame, sugar and coconut to form filling
2. Sieve flour onto tabletop and make a well in the middle
3. Add eggs and lard and mix. Gradually pour in water, kneading at the same time until a soft dough is formed
4. Cover with damp cloth and set aside for 30 minutes
5. Roll dough out with a rolling pin and cut rounds with a saucer (we used a cup). Wrap in filling and fold edges in a zigzag pattern.
6. Deep fry on low heat until golden brown and the pastries float to the top (about 8-10 minutes although I'm pretty sure ours didn't take that long.....)

Merry Christmas!!

I haven't blogged for AGES and I promise I will soon, but just before it gets to 12am, I'd like you wish you all a MERRY CHRISTMAS!