Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Domo - kun Oreos

I remember every time I went out during my internship in Kuala Lumpur, I'd see these cuteeee furry rectangular stuffed toys called Domo-kun on sale. There were even life-sized ones selling for like hundreds. So cute! I remember longing for one. But hey, you know what? If you can't have a life sized Domo, why not make some Domo Oreos instead? =D Baking the cookies and then matching them according to size after they have cooled. If you're impatient like me however, you would have done it right away =X Hehe The filling.. I might have been a little too generous with that! Domokun!! It was quite a long and ardous process.. And it definitely takes a lot of patience! Be ready to have some Domo casualties in the process.

Although it is quite hard to make, I found it quite rewarding to see all the little Domo-kun looking back at me =D Am I weird? lol..


Here is there recipe sourced from Diamonds For Dessert

Brown Dough


1 cup + 2 T flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

2/3 of 1/2 t baking soda

1 t salt 10 T butter, cut into 3/4" cubes, room temperature


Red Dough

1/2 cup + 1 T flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 of 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt 5 T butter, cut into 3/4" cubes, room temperature

a few drops red food coloring


Filling

1/4 cup + 2 T heavy cream

8 oz. white chocolate, chopped


To make the filling, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from heat and add the white chocolate. Wait 1 minute, then whisk the chocolate and cream together until even. Then set it aside to let it thicken for 6 hours at room temperature or for less time in the fridge.


First for the brown colored dough, mix the flour, cocoa powder,sugar, baking soda, and salt together. Add the butter and incorporate it into the dry ingredients until it comes together as a dough. Gather it in a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate it for 10 minutes.


For the red dough, mix together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Incorporate the butter with a spatula and then add the food coloring, mixing just until no more red streaks remain. Gather the dough and refrigerate for 10 minutes.


Shaping the Dough



  1. Take some of the brown dough and make it into a rectangular prism so that the short sides measure 1 1/4 x 3/4" and place it so the longer edge (1 1/4") is parallel with your table.


  2. Next take a red piece of dough and make a rectangular prism with 3/4 x 1/2" short sides. Center this red rectangular strip on top of your first brown one with the longer edge (3/4") touching the brown dough.


  3. Then make two narrow rectangular prisms with the brown dough with the short sides measuring 3/4 x 1/4". Place them on both sides of the red rectangular piece of dough with the shorter edge (1/4") touching the brown base.


  4. Finally, make another brown rectangular prism with the short side measuring 3/4 x 1/4". Place that prism on top of the red prism and between the other two narrow brown prisms.


  5. Now smooth away the lines between the dough pieces and round the corners of your large rectangular prism. I find it easier to repeat this whole process multiple times with all of the dough to ensure that the shape of the mouth doesn't get distorted by working with too much dough at once.


  6. Once finished, wrap the shaped dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate till firm, around 30 minutes. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F. Take the dough out from the fridge and slice it into 1/8-inch pieces, placing them onto parchment lined baking sheets. Bake them for 12 minutes.


  7. Let them cool on the sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack. Once the cookies are totally cool, they can be filled.


  8. First pair up all your cookies by size. Only one cookie in each pair will need to be decorated (since the other cookie will be the bottom of the sandwich). Place the white chocolate ganache in a piping bag.


  9. Take one cookie from a pair and pipe a bit of filling in the center. Place the other cookie on top and carefully press the cookies together to spread out the filling to the edges. Repeat with the rest of the cookies.

Decorating Domo Cookies

bittersweet chocolate


black food coloring


white chocolate


toothpicks


Melt the bittersweet chocolate. Add a little bit of black food coloring and mix till evenly blended.Take a toothpick and dot on eyes on the cookies.


Next, melt some white chocolate. Trace the top and bottom edge of the red mouth on the cookie with the white chocolate. Then make four teeth on the top edge and four teeth on the bottom edge of the cookie.

Repeat with the rest of the cookies.

Serve immediately, or if not, keep refrigerated so the cookies stay crisp and let return to room temperature when ready to serve.




This recipe is sourced from Diamonds for Desserts


Sunday, March 27, 2011

Mojito Cupcakes

The other day I was just innocently surfing the internet, you know like all university students do when they should be completing their assignments, when all of a sudden, I bumped into this.

Wait. WHAT?? Alcohol. In my cupcakes?! Put it in me NAO!!! I love this bit where you rub the lime zest into the sugar. It's so fragrant!

Oh and I also 'accidentally' added a bit more rum in the batter =PIcing time! Also known as 'time to hide the ugly bits'! Eating on the (photography) job. I couldn't help it, they looked delicious =X Okay, one last picture of these beautiful, alcohol-flavoured cupcakes, I promise =P

These cupcakes take alcoholism to a whole new level. They really do taste like mojitos in a cupcake! But with significantly less alcohol of course =P John and I enjoyed these babies along with two tall refreshing glasses of mojitos. Mmmmmm....


Here is the recipe from 6bittersweets and I have added what I changed in brackets at the side.


  • 1 cup milk or soymilk (I used milk)

  • 1/2 C fresh mint, roughly chopped and bruised

  • Zest and juice of 1 lime

  • 2 tsp dark rum (I used 3tsp of Malibu)

  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

  • 2 Tbsp cornstarch (Skipped this part)

  • 3/4 tsp baking powder

  • 1/2 tsp baking soda

  • 1/2 tsp salt

  • 1/3 cup canola oil

  • 3/4 cup sugar

  • Limes OR fresh mint leaves to garnish


  1. Combine milk and mint leaves in a small pot over medium heat until hot but NOT BOILING. Remove from heat and let steep for 10 to 15 minutes. Pass the milk through a strainer to remove mint leaves, but press on the leaves to extract as much flavor as possible. Set aside to cool.

  2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a regular 12-cup muffin pan with baking liners. Whisk the mint-infused milk and lime juice in a measuring cup and set aside for a few minutes to get good and curdled.

  3. In large bowl, combine the sugar and lime zest and rub thoroughly to infuse the sugar with lime flavor. Add the milk mixture, oil, and rum, if using, and beat thoroughly. Sift in the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and mix until no large lumps remain small ones are okay.

  4. Fill cupcake liners two-thirds of the way and bake for 20 to 22 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack, and let cool completely.

  5. Pipe or spread frosting on cupcakes and garnish with lime slices

Lime Rum Cream Cheese Frosting


  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter

  • 8 ounces cream cheese (That's about 225g)

  • Pinch of salt

  • 2 tsp dark rum (Again I used Malibu, about 4 tsp)

  • 1 Tbsp lime juice (I used juice from 1 lime)

  • 1 1/2 to 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted (Opted for 2 cups)

  • 1 to 2 drops green food coloring, optional (2 drops, roughly)


  1. Cream the butter, sugar, and salt together just until fully combined and smooth. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure even mixing.

  2. Add the cold cream cheese a chunk at a time, waiting until each is incorporated before adding the next.

  3. Add the rum and lime juice and mix just until incorporated. Taste the frosting, adding more sugar if needed.

  4. Add the food coloring, if using, one drop at a time and combining thoroughly after each, until you have the color you want.

The original recipe can be found at 6bittersweets

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Avocado and Pea Penne

For some reason I felt like a vegetarian lunch. Maybe, just maybe, it was the fried chicken I had for dinner last night. =P

I found a recipe for Pea and Avocado Penne here. Avocado. In my pasta?? Sounds like my kind of dish! So today I gave it a go with a few changes.

The idea for this dish is to make pesto using avocado and peas. Nice. I feel that this recipe takes a bit more work but the end result is worth it as you get a nice thick creamy pasta without all that fattening stuff.

Using four types of vegetables, it is really quite a delicious alternative for those who are trying to eat more healthily. Not to mention the pre-meal workout included in the package!

So here we go..
So you trim the green beans and steam them. Then set them aside for later.
Mash the avocados in a large bowl. Resist the temptation to stuff them into your face.
Boil the green peas and then mash them. Feel satisfied that you're getting such a good workout, and all before lunch. Add them to the avocados.
Chop up some garlic and throw it in as well.
Toast some pine nuts and chop them roughly when they have cooled. Stop popping them into your mouth. Save some for garnishing and throw the rest into the bowl.
Squeeze the juice from half a lemon in, roughly.
Lastly, add some chopped spinach and you're done with the pesto and the rest is pretty easy to make =)

I modified it by using less peas, more avocadoes, adding chilli flakes and also feta cheese. (I can never go vegan. NEVARRRR!!!111!!!11!)

Below is the recipe with some of my modifications:

Pea & Avocado Pesto

  • 1/2 cups pine nuts, toasted
  • 1 cup baby peas
  • 2 avocados
  • 2 cups baby spinach, roughly chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, diced
  • lemon juice from 1/2 lemon

Pea & Avocado Penne

  • 2 1/2 cup Penne Pasta
  • 250g green beans, trimmed
  • 490g cups butter beans (1 can)
  • olive oil
  • dried chili flakes
  • feta cheese, crumbled

Prep Work:

Roughly chop the toasted pine nuts reserving a few for garnish.

Boil peas for 1-3 minutes until just tender; strain, rinse and set aside.

Steam the green beans for 3-4 minutes until just tender; set aside.

Making the pesto:

In a bowl mash the avocado and then combine with the cooled mashed peas, garlic, chopped pine nuts and lemon juice. Then stir through the shredded baby spinach until well combined.

1.Cook the penne pasta to the packet instructions, strain and set aside.

2.Heat about two tablespoons of oil in a large deep pan; add the steamed green beans and butter beans toss for 1-2 minutes over a medium heat. Add the cooked pasta and toss well.

3.Reduce the heat to low and toss through the pea and avocado pesto. Toss until well combined (and spinach is wilted) and warmed through.

4.Serve topped with reserved toasted pine nuts, dried chili flakes and feta cheese.

Enjoy!

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Hokitika Wildfood Festival 2011

Huhu grubs are the main attraction at the Hokitika Wildfoods Festival every year. Big, fat and juicy, they were being dug out of tree trunks and cooked fresh for patrons at the festival. Do you see the little kid in the picture? He bought a tiny one for fifty cents, stuffed it into his mouth at an alarming rate, proclaimed that it tasted like nothing and then proceeded to run away looking for a place to spit it out without waiting for his change for 20 bucks. I knew it was going to be delicious.
The grilled ones were being sold in small, medium and large sizes.
We chose the large, naturally.
Nick, Cherlyn and I with our huhu grubs.

I would say that huhu grubs taste a bit like crab, but blander. If I every get stuck in a forest and am desperate for food I guess I'd know how to survive?

Clue: Dig some rotten wood for huhu grubs and roast them on an open fire like they're marshmallows. Yummm!
Honeycomb! How is this a freaky food? Okay. I guess wild food doesn't necessarily mean it's an Andrew Zimmern kind of place. It was Delicious with a capital D. Nomnomnom.
Happy faces =)
Ostrich pie. I've had ostrich a few times and I like the taste. However, I think that this pie was made to salty which sort of ruined the taste of the meat =(
Next up, grilled garden snail, served with garlic butter.
Wow, I so did not expect garden snails to taste good! Cherlyn and I wanted to buy more but we were on a budget. Haha!
The Australian stall were selling Kangaroo and Crocodile meat. Friends have told me that they had kangaroo meat in Ozzie and I finally got a chance to try it. I find that this red meat is a bit too salty for me.
Crocodile meat tastes like steak. Mmmm give me more! This made me wish John was here cos he'd like it so much!
Scorpion paired with ginger beer. This was bearable but not something I'd try again. It had a minty taste for some reason. The ginger beer helped eliminate the taste pretty well though.
Huhu bugs in satay sauce on toast and the Thai style Huhu bugs on rice from the same stall. I think huhu bugs are very chewy! Not bad tasting at all!

Would you think I'm weird if I said I am not afraid of eating worms? Someone once told me, "They're just protein" and I agree. This toast was delicious and I wanted to ask what tomato sauce they use. Haha!

Worms in red bull, Nick had to pleasure of trying this one.
He said he couldn't taste the worms at all. I guess the red bull covered it up.
Kina. Looks like vomit, tastes like sea. Gross. Kina is definitely something I would never eat again.
Sea gull egg. I liked the yolk but the egg white was a different story.
Mastitis mousse made from colostrum. I like how this stall made everything look so tempting. And it did taste amazing too!
These colostrum eclairs were possibly the yummiest thing in the festival.
The mayor got a horse semen shot! How sporting is that!
I just bought mine.

I swallowed. (Not funny? Sorry. I thought it was.=P)

It tastes like milkshake. Haha!After that we went to get some lunch at a nearby cafe =) Nice change after all the wild food we just ingested. =P


So that's my experience at the Hokitika Wildfoods Festival. Honestly, I thought it would be scary but most of the food that I tried were pretty damn good! I guess it's because I came to it from a different perspective. ie I'm Asian? For me, I have to try every food once or else I would not be satisfied. I would say that the Hokitika Wildfoods Festival is a definite must-try for the more adventurous traveller!