Macaroons

15 March 2009

My friend entered a contest and won this macaroon baking class. As she is working overseas she couldn't attend this class and so, passed it on to me! I've never made any macaroons before and also was not quite sure what it is. But after attending the class, I found that it is quite fun and easy to make. Just that you would need to take your time with it. Taste wise, it is a bit too sweet for me though !!

Cookies & Chocolate

05 June 2008


Today is our final class in Pastries and Cookies. For that we'll have another 'relaxing' day and just bake cookies !


There was one recipe which required us to refrigerate the cookie though before we cut it up for baking ! That was the Chocolate Almond Cookie (Fridge Box Cookie)



The dough is put onto a layer of plastic sheet and then into a rectangular shaped tray before being refrigerated.



It is then sliced into this size and baked.

The other 3 types of cookies were : Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies, Chocolate Biscuit and Viennese Cookie. The Viennese Cookie was not spared from being 'chocolated' too 'coz we laced it with chocolate sauce after it was baked.

Chocolate Biscuits

Chocolate Chip & Almond Cookies

Viennese Cookies before being laced with Chocolate Sauce

Tarts & Scones

03 June 2008

Yummy Pineapple Tarts !! We learnt how to make these today and since this was quite a 'relaxing' day we played around with the dough ! Came up with funny shapes for our pineapple tarts - volcanoes erupting, the KL Tower, ...

Also learnt how to make Egg Tarts (not the flaky type) and Coconut Tarts. Having so much fun with the tarts, we nearly forgot that we had to make Scones too!! We even washed all our utensils already ! Pineapple Tarts (in funny shapes) fresh from the oven !

Pies, Pasties & Quiches

31 May 2008

After a week long holiday, we had our lessons again on Saturday. We made pies today ! Chicken Pie, Cornish Pasties and a Quiche Lorraine (the mini version). Again, I found that it was not that difficult to do after all. Only thing is I will need to cook the filling before I get to make the pies. After I buy my ingredients, I may just try to make some.

Puff Pastry

24 May 2008

Yay ! We made Puff Pastries today. This is quite interesting to make and also slightly simplier than when we made the croissants. Technique is roughly the same only that we used Puff Pastry Magarine instead of just pure butter. This enabled us to roll and fold the pastry sheets for a longer time compared to using just butter where we needed it to be cool most of the time. Here's what turned out ! ... oh yes, we also made Shortbread Biscuits!

Pies Anyone ?

22 May 2008

Today we made many types of pies... another easy day for us 'coz we could use the same base (pie) and just put different toppings or fillings ! We also made the Florentine which I personally found a bit too sweet !

Choux Pastry

20 May 2008

We made Choux (pronounced like shoe) Pastry today. Quite a simple recipe. Just that it is very, very fattening !! The amount of butter and cream that we use !!!!! Oh boy! But it's delicious, that's why! We piped out the shape of the swan's head & neck and also the tail. Then attached them to the base (body) of the swan ! If you look at the pictures below you'll see what I mean. We also made them in shapes of flower baskets and also the ever popular Eclair. We had time so we learnt how to make butter cookies as well.

Picture of the choux pastry before they were baked.

The Swan
Flower Baskets & Eclair

Butter Cookies before they were baked.

Chinese Pastries

17 May 2008


Today is the first of our Pastries & Cookies Module. As I mentioned before, we have 8 lessons on breads which we have just completed and now begins the 8 lessons on Pastries & Cookies.

We made the Hong Kong Steamed 'Chicken' Bun, Kaya Puffs and Snow Skin Mooncake with both Lotus Paste & Red Bean Paste fillings.

The Snow Skin Mooncakes were'nt as difficult to make as I thought they would be, the Chicken Bun, I would need to practice wrapping it, and as for the Kaya Puffs, they were really fun to make !

The Hong Kong Steamed Chicken Buns straight out of the oven!

Kaya Puffs, before !
and after !!