Tag Archives: Recipe

New Addiction – Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Recipes May 14, 2013 Comments: 29

Today, I have a confession to make and that is…Mr Bao and I have found a new addiction and that its PEANUT BUTTER! I know it may sound awfully strange to most people, because most like if not LOVE the good old peanut butter but neither of us did :P We never put it on our toast, would never order a PB dessert or even buy a jar! Then…last year April (My Food Trail) made us some chocolate peanut butter brownies for Christmas and has totally converted us! All of a sudden we liked the salty peanut flavour especially with chocolate, since then we’ve made PB Brownies, PB molten cakes and now I present to you the Peanut Butter Cup Cookies :D

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Recently I took my parents to Costco being their first time they were amazed at how big everything was and they had fun buying everything in bulk. I’d had my eyes on the 1.5 Kg Reeses Peanut Butter miniature cups for a while but didn’t want to buy it. But dad saw how I was lurking around same aisle sagain and again so he ended up getting it for me! YAY to parents who spoil their kids :P

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Immediately that night, I wanted to make something with PB, so ended up making these cookies which are essentially chocolate chip cookies but I replaced some of the chocolate chips with chopped pieces of PB cups and to top it off I placed a whole PB cup in the middle for baking them ~

I think next time to make them even more Peanut Buttery I’m going to add some Peanut butter to the cookie dough batter ;) I wonder if we’ll ever get over this addiction but for now its here to stay.

Recipe – Peanut Butter Cup Cookie adapted from Taste.com.au
Yield – 20 Cookies

Ingredients
185g unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (200g), brown sugar
1/2 cup (100g), caster sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 cup (300g) plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
200g Reeses Peanut Butter cup, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup chocolate chips (dark or milk)

Method
1) Preheat oven to 180°C. Line 2 baking trays with baking power
2) Use an electric mixer to beat butter and two types of sugars in a medium bowl until pale and creamy (approximately 3 to 5 minutes)
3) Add the egg and egg yolk and beat until well combined. Add flour and baking powder, stir with a wooden spoon until well combined. Alternatively continue beating with electric mixer until just combined and finish up by hand. Add Peanut butter cups and chocolate chips and stir to combine.
5) Using an ice-cream scoop or spoon, roll two tablespoons of cookie dough into a ball and place on the lined tray, slightly flatten with fingers.
6) Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes or until slightly golden (leave in oven if you like it crisper). Remove from oven and cool on tray before transferring to a cooling rack.

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By Request – Grape, Cinnamon Yoghurt Brûlée

Recipes May 6, 2013 Comments: 29

Never thought this recipe would get so much attention from friends and family :) So many people have left me a message, texted me and even colleagues have asked me to post the recipe. So by request here it is! Last week my parents came over for dinner with two large grocery bags and inside we found so much fruit including 3kgs of red and green grapes! Keep in mind there’s only Mr Bao and I living here hahaha I think this is an Asian parent thing because my other friends say it’s common.

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We have been trying to eat the grapes at any chance we get, as morning snack, taking it to work and after dinner. But still there is so much left! So I decided to hit the books and find a few recipes that used grapes, this is when I came across Stephanie Alexander’s recipe of grape, ginger and yoghurt brûlée. It seemed easy enough and good as dessert or breakfast.

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Basically it’s a ramekin filled full of grapes, then it’s covered with super thick Greek-style yoghurt and then a cinnamon brown sugar mixture is sprinkled on top. It is then placed under the griller and let the sugar melt and bubble wait for it to cool and hardens. I think it’s quite nice as breakfast with the grapes and the yoghurt being slightly warm and the sweetness and crunch from the sugar topping :)

My apologies for the lack of photos >_< Mr Bao made this and we weren’t planning to blog about this recipe and didn’t have time to remake it. But when we remake it I’ll update this post with more photos :D This recipe may sound a little strange but it’s really quite nice  ~ Hope you’ll like it!


Recipe – Grape, Cinnamon and Yoghurt Brûlée from Stephanie Alexander 
Yield – 4 ramekins (125ml) 

Ingredients
300g seedless red or green grapes, stems removed
200 ml Greek-style yoghurt (I used Chobani)
1/4 cup (55g) soft brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Method
1) Pack grapes really tightly in a single layer into each ramekin (125ml), they should be nearly fill the dishes. Spoon yoghurt over and smooth with the back of a spoon.
2) Chill the filled dishes in the refrigerator for 1 hour or overnight.
3) Preheat overhead griller to maximum.
4) Mix brown sugar and cinnamon ensuring there are no small lump in sugar. Sprinkle an even layer of sugar mixture over yoghurt and smooth with back of spoon. Ensure you can no longer see the yoghurt.
5) Place ramekins on a baking tray and slide under the griller and watch it carefully. It should take less than 1 minute the sugar will melt and caramelise. Remove baking tray and allow ramekins to cool slightly as the sugar will be very hot. 

 

Amazing Balls – Chocolate Milo Cake

Recipes April 21, 2013 Comments: 44

Yesterday was a special day for a very special person :) It was Shellie AKA Queen of Balls birthday!!! Happy Birthday my lovely blogger friend! I’m not sure if you guys remember but I wrote on my ‘About Me’ page that Shellie was actually one of the people that inspired me to start my blog :D

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So happy that we got to celebrate Shellie’s birthday on the exact day, we met up with Ms-Ihua, Zeboy and Mr Bao at Merchant’s Guild for brunch, everything was so delicious especially the pancakes! Will blog about it soon!

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I couldn’t go empty-handed and simply had to bake a cake. A birthday is not complete without a cake! Now as you may know Shellie loves her BALLS :P So I decided to make her a cake with balls ~ After doing some research I decided on Steph’s Chocolate Milo cake with a super thick condense milk buttercream filling topped with balls (Maltesers and Ferrero Rocher).

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This is probably by far one of the prettiest cakes i have made :) So I’m super happy! But then need to Thank Mr Bao as well because I curdled the ganache and he had to help me fix it ~ If you like chocolate, Milo and Condense Milk this cake is FOR YOU. Hope you’ll like it as much as I do!

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Recipe – Chocolate Milo Cake adapted from Raspberri Cupcake 

Yield - A double layer 20cm cake

Ingredients 
125g unsalted butter, soften
50g (1/4 cup) caster sugar
195g (1 1/4 cup) plain flour
2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
150 (about 1 1/4) Milo Powder
3 eggs
120ml (1/2 cup) buttermilk

Condense Milk filling
150g unsalted butter, soften
350g icing sugar
2/3 cup condense milk

Milo Ganache 
300ml thickened cream (35% milk fat)
400g dark chocolate
1/2 cup Milo

Garnish
Maltesers
Ferrero Rocher

Method
1) Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F), spray and line a 20cm round springform cake tin with baking paper.
2) Using an electric mixer or standmixer, cream butter and sugar until light, smooth and pale in colour. Add egg one at a time, beat until incorporated.
3) Combine flour, baking powder and Milo together and sift together. With the mixer on a low-speed gradually add the flour mixture to the butter and sugar.
4) Once combined, gradually add buttermilk until just combined – Do not overmix.
5) Pour into prepared cake tin and bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. If the top starts to brown, cover loosely with foil.
6) Remove from oven, let cake cool in tin for 10 minutes before placing it onto a wire rack to cool completely.
7) To make the condense milk buttercream filling. Using an electric mixer or standmixer, beat butter until light and fluffy, add icing sugar and condense milk and beat for another 3 to 5 minutes until fully incorporated and spreadable.
8) To make Milo ganache, chop chocolate into small pieces and place in a large heat proof bowl. Heat cream in a saucepan until it simmers but not boiling, add the Milo and whisk until well combined.
9) Pour heated cream over the chocolate and set aside for 5 minutes, then whisk until mixture is smooth and glossy. Set aside and let it cool until mixture thickens and is spreadable.
10) To assemble, carefully cut the cooled cake in half and level the top. Spread a generous amount of condensed milk buttercream on one of the cakes and spread evenly. Then cover with the other cake.
11) Cover whole cake with Milo ganache spread until smooth. To garnish smear a little ganache onto the Maltersers and Ferrero Roche.

Notes:
- The original recipe was a three layer cake, but I didn’t feel confident enough to cut my cake into three layers :)
- You could substitute Milo with other chocolate malt powders such as Ovaltine or mixture of milk powder and cacao powder

Credit: Ms-Ihua

Credit: Ms I-Hua

Loved this photo Ms I-Hua look of the cake :) Thanks for letting me use it!

Mr Bao Special – HK Style Swiss Chicken Wings

Other, Recipes March 17, 2013 Comments: 24

I haven’t had a Guest post here at Never Too Sweet for quite a while, so I am very excited that someone very special has finally decided to make his debut and that is the one and only Mr Bao! Hahaha I have been asking and bugging him to do a guest post for me for the longest time, but he always declined…but finally he agreed :) He’s actually posting a savoury recipe which is also a first time for my blog ~ Hope you will enjoy this post!

PS. Please do not believe everything he says, because it’s not all true :P
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Hello everyone! It is my honour to guest post for Daisy here at Never Too Sweet, you may know me as Mr Bao, I am actually  the co-founder of this blog as I came up with the name “Never Too Sweet For Me”. Great name don’t you think? Would like to thank all the readers who have supported this blog and I hope you will continue supporting us.

HK Style Swiss Chicken Wings

HK Style Swiss Chicken Wings

Photo courtesy of Lianne Thank you!

The reason why I decided to do this post is because, a couple of weeks ago, we were invited to a pot luck at Lianne’s, where we were asked to bring a dish, there were a lots of good dishes such as the Kong Ba Bao and sticky pork ribs…all the great food you name it!! As an international student, once in a while we miss home, having these Asian dishes inspired me to make our HK Style Swiss Chicken Wings.

I wonder how many of you are curious about why this dish is called “Swiss” Chicken Wings? Let me tell you a little story about Swiss Chicken Wings.  In 1860, there’s a HK style Western restaurant called Tai Ping Koon Restaurant (太平館餐廳).  The founder invented a sweet soy type of wings.  A tourist tried it and adored it.  He asked the waiter about the name of the dish.  The waiter’s reply was “Sweet Wings…”.  Due to confusion of Chinglish, the tourist mistaken it as “Swiss Wings”.  Therefore, the funny name has since lasted until the modern days.

Here I’d like to take this chance to share this recipe.  This recipe is super simple as I’m such a lazy person, it only took me about half an hour.   Meanwhile, I could go play my PS3 while the chicken is cooking =)

Preparation time: 10 mins     Cooking time: 30 mins   Serves: 4

Ingredients:
- 8-10 Chicken wings (full wings or middle wings), rinse and bloat dry with kitchen paper
- Half a bowl (small Chinese rice bowl, roughly 125 ml) soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons Shao Xing wine
- One big bulk of rock sugar (preference depending on sweetness)
- 3cm ginger, roughly chopped into 3-4 pieces
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 cup of water (may vary, just enough to cover all wings)
- Garnish: 1 stalk of spring onion chopped finely (optional)

Method:
- Boil chicken wings with cold water to remove fat and any impurities.  Drain well, bloat dry and set aside for use.
- Heat a large heavy based saucepan adding vegetable oil.  When the oil is hot, add the garlic until fragrant followed by the wings.  Stir fry the wings until the skin is slightly golden brown.
- Stir in all the ingredients, set to boil and cook for 10 mins.  Frequently turn the chicken wings to make sure they absorb as much soy mixture as possible (this step is very essential).
- Turn the heat to low.  Cover the saucepan and let the wings cook for another 20 mins.
- At this time, you may taste the mixture and see if more rock sugar or salt is needed.
- Cover the pan again and turn the heat up.  Let boil for another 3 mins.  This allows the final favour to be absorbed by the chicken wings.
- Turn the stove off and let the saucepan rest on the stove for 10 mins before serving.

So there you go my simple and delicious swiss chicken wings, I hope you will like it :D .  Finally of cause, I would like to specially thank the real founder of NTS for letting me to post this.  Cheers guys, you may see me haunting this blog very soon in the future again!

Bakers Delight Recipe Bank – Honey Toast Box

Other, Recipes March 10, 2013 Comments: 63

I have a love/hate relationship with bread :P I love it…but then I get all carb-loaded and slightly bloated if I eat too much, but nonetheless, I love my bread! Anyhow, Kathryn from Left PR contacted me a couple of weeks ago and asked if I would be interested in developing a recipe for Bakers Delight and their recipe bank ~ rules were simply, use any Bakers Delight product and make a recipe :)

Honey Toast Box with toppings :)

Honey Toast Box with toppings :)

I was so worried whether or not I would be able to come up with a recipe, because generally I just eat my bread as a compliment with Nutella, condensed milk or jam ~ So after accepting the challenge, I gave it a good think…’What can I do with bread…what type of bread….Toast….TOAST BOX’! Then I thought of the honey toast box I’ve had in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Basically it’s a block of bread, hollowed, covered in honey and butter and then toasted after that what you do with it is entirely up to you :P I love topping it with loads of ice-cream, sauce and nuts!

Recipe – Honey Toast Box an original recipe by Daisy@Nevertoosweet

Yield – One small box 

Ingredients
43 grams (3 tablespoon) Unsalted Butter
1 small Baker Delight White Loaf bread
2 tablespoon of honey

Additional:
Ice-cream of your choice
Toppings (nuts, chocolate chips, fruit) of your choice

Ingredients

Ingredients

Method
1) Preheat your oven to 180°C or 350°F
2) Using a serrated knife slice approximately 1/4 of the loaf off, to make it more of a ‘square’ shape.
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3) Carefully make a slit on the base of box, then begin hollowing the bread box by leaving a 1cm around the edges along the base of the box. Gently remove the slices of bread from the centre.

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4) Place butter and honey in a microwaveable bowl and heat until melted and mix to combine.

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5) Brush honey and butter mixture all over the toast boast including the insides, you can let it soak in a little before reapplying to make the bread sweeter. Do the same to the bread sticks.

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Be careful really hot mixture

Be careful really hot mixture

6) Place bread sticks and bread box onto a baking tray lined with baking paper and place into the oven for 10 to 13 minutes. Turn the bread sticks every 3 to 5 minutes to prevent burning.

Before

Before

After

After

7) Once the bread has toasted remove from oven and let it cool slightly, before slowly replacing the bread sticks back into the toast box.

After

Notes
- You can purchase a whole loaf of white bread from your local Bakers Delight or bakeries, simply ask them not to slice it.
- You can use stale bread, will make slicing even easier
- Can omit the honey and make a savoury toast box :)

By now you should be able to smell the delicious toast box :) It’s complete! Now let you imagination go wild! You can top the honey toast box with ANYTHING absolutely anything ~

Honey Toaste Box with honeycomb butterscotch ice-cream chocolate sauce and chopped rocky road

Honey Toaste Box with honeycomb butterscotch ice-cream chocolate sauce and chopped rocky road

I chose to top my honey toast box with Honeycomb and Butterscotch ice-cream, chocolate sauce and chopped rocky road! It was AMAZING if I can say so myself :)

Honey Toast Box with vanilla ice-cream, salted caramel sauce and almonds

Honey Toast Box with vanilla ice-cream, salted caramel sauce and almonds

I made another one and this time it was topped with vanilla ice-cream, salted caramel sauce and almonds. I think I liked this one a bit more because I love salted caramel hehe

There you go this is my recipe that I am submitting for the Baker Delight Recipe Bank ~ I really hope you like it and will try making this at home sometime! It’s super easy, great way to use up stale bread and makes a very indulgent and naughty brunch or dessert :P

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