Chocolate Friands: Quickly and easy snack for chocoholic!

Small piece of chocolate is enough to make your afternoon brighter. But the chocolate will be more interesting when transform it in to something more delicious. 

 But I'm not in the mood of making anything complicated, I just want something quick and yummy, ^ ^. Due to the fact that I have a lot of egg white in the fridge, so the recipe, that use egg white will be great too. So, the searching for the right recipe began, well, it's not so long because I found it in the first book that I reached my hand to, haha. 

The recipe come from , the small book, that full of delicious idea, and most of all full of chocolate,^ ^.

This friand is very easy to make, the only thing that you need to do is mix all the ingredients, and it's done. I add a bit of texture by sprinkle the diced almond on the mold (but if you use the muffin pan, sprinkle the almond on top instead of the bottom).

With the recipe that's so quick and easy to make, "What are you waiting for?" Let's go to the kitchen with me and I promise you will have a great snack in  a very very short time.^ ^

Chocolate friands

Make 16 (4.5x7x2.5 molds)

110g ................................. Almond meal

250g ................................. Icing sugar, sifted

75g .................................... All purpose flour, sifted

30g .................................... Cocoa powder, sifted

½ tsp ................................ Baking powder

5 ......................................... Egg white

200g .................................. Butter, melted

............................................ Diced almond, for sprinkle on top of the friands

Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F)

If using metal tins, brush the tins with butter.

(Because I use the silicone one, so I don't have to grease the molds, and I sprinkle the almond in the molds).

Place the almond meal, icing, sugar, flour, cocoa and baking powder in a bowl and stir to combine.

Add egg whites and stir to combine. Add butter and stir to combine.

Spoon the mixture into tins and bake for 15-20 minutes or until springy to touch.

Chocolate Friands: Quickly and easy snack for chocoholic!

Chicken Farm Baker's Project 22: In love with Bagels, Bagel Burgers with caramelized onion.

The time for the Chicken Farm Baker Project again, this month Jib, want all of us to play with the bagel, by baking it and turn it into something delicious, ^ ^.

I made the bagel before, but the first time was not impressive, my first bagel was too chewy, a bit hard and very dense, after that I don't want to make it again, -*-. So, when I know that I have to make the bagel for this month project, I feel nervous, haha, and I think that I want to make it better this time.
I choose the recipe from the book and adapt it to make it softer by adding some of the water and honey. And, yes!, this time my bagel is still chewy but not too much, and softer, most of all it makes me feel a lot better with homemade bagel, ^ ^.
I think about what I want to turn my bagel into, luckily I have a hamburger in the fridge (I made it a week ago, ^ ^, then freeze it, it's a fast dinner, haha), so, when I got both delicious bread (My Bagel, wow) and delicious hamburger patties, the best thing that they should turn it to is the Bagel burgers.
I split the bagel in half, toast it a bit then pile up with rocket, caramelized onion, tomato, then squeeze the Dijon mustard on top and finish my delicious creation with the hamburger patty and cheese.
The chewy bread make the eating this burger more delicious, I suggest serving this yummy burger with cold beer or if you like I having mine with the Barcardi, ^ ^.

Bagel Burger with caramelized onion

Makes 4

Plain bagel


250g ............................. Bread flour
1tsp .............................. Instant yeast
½ tsp ........................... Salt
15g ................................ Sugar
1 tbsp ........................... Honey
150ml ........................... Water


-Water for boiling
2 litre ........................... Water
2tbsp ........................... Honey


..................................... Egg white for brushing 


Hamburger 
(makes 4)


300g ........................... Minced meat
½ ................................ Onion, finely chopped
30g ............................. Butter
15g .............................. Bread crumb
2tbsp .......................... Milk
1 .................................. Egg
½ tsp ......................... Salt
..................................... Pepper, nutmeg 
..................................... Oil for frying

Caramelized onion


2tbsps .......................... Oil
½ cup .......................... Red onion, finely sliced
1..................................... Onion, chopped
8tbsp ............................ Balsamic vinegar
1½ tbsp ....................... Light brown sugar
....................................... Salt, to taste


....................................... Rocket, tomato and Dijon mustard, for serving
....................................... Cheese, sliced


First make the bagel:

Mix the water and the honey together.

Put the bread flour and salt in a bowl, whisk to combine, add the sugar and yeast. Pour the water mixture into the bowl.

Use large spoon (or pastry scraper) to mix everything together, and knead briefly to bring all the ingredients together.

Take the dough out of the bowl and knead.

Knead by using the heel of your hands to compress and push the dough away from you, then fold it back over itself (see the picture here). Until all the dough are moisten.

Give the dough a little turn and repeat. Put the weight of your body into the motion and get into a rhythm. Keep folding over and compressing the dough.

Knead for 10-15 minutes or until the dough is soft, pliable, smooth and slightly shiny, almost satiny, the dough will stop sticking to your hand.

Cover the bowl with a tea towel  or cover with the plastic bag and leave the dough to prove for about 10 minutes.

Prepare the baking sheet by lining with the baking paper or silpat (Note: the bagel quite sticky).

Gently press down the dough and cut the dough into 4 pieces, let the dough rest for 10 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 190°C

Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a circle. Fold the dough and roll into a small cylinder.

Roll the cylinder into 20 cm long.
Press one end of the dough, join the ends and place fingers through the hole and roll the ends together. Place on a lightly greased surface, cover with a clean cloth, and let rest until risen but not doubled in a draft-free spot, 20 to 30 minutes.

In a medium, heavy pot, bring 2 cups of water and the honey to a boil. In batches, add the bagels to the water and boil, turning, for 15 seconds. Flip bagels onto the prepared sheet pan. 
Brush the bagel with egg white.
Bake for 15 minutes, until golden brown.


Make the hamburger:

Note: in the picture I make 2 batches of the hamburger.


Heat 15g of the butter in the frying pan, add the chopped onion into the pan, and sweat over low heat until soft but not colored.

In a bowl, mix the ground meat, egg, bread crumb, onion, and milk, then season with salt pepper and nutmeg.

Form into hamburger patties.

Put the rest of the butter in the pan. Place patties on the pan, and cook 5 minutes per side, or until well done.

Make the caramelized onion:

Heat the oil in a frying pan over a low to medium heat. Add the onions and sweat over a low heat until soft but not colored.
Turn up the heat and allow the onions to become caramelized and start to brown. Add the vinegar and the sugar, stir gently and continue to cook over a medium heat, so that the vinegar begins to reduce.
Let the mixture boil until the vinegar has become thick and sticky and coats the onion.




Make the Bagel Burger:

Slice the bagel and toast for 5 minutes, (or more ^ ^).
Place the rocket, caramelized onion, sliced tomatoes and brush (or squeeze) the mustard on top. Finish with the hamburger and cheese and top with the bread.


Serve warm with everything you like, for me I serve my with a bottle of Bacardi Breezer , haha.

Chicken Farm Baker's Project 22: In love with Bagels, Bagel Burgers!

Crispy....Sweety....Salty Sesame Cookies

Crunchy and addicted, well this is the description for this cookie. I got this recipe from my friend, after she baked this cookie on a third time (so, she didn't have to tell me how delicious it is, haha).

She called me one day and told me that "Pook, you has to bake this, I love it, and it's delicious, blablabla...", I waited for her to stop talking so I could say "Send me the recipe right away!" 
And yes, this cookie is great as she said, the black sesame seed has a little bitter taste that makes eating the cookie more addicted, the texture of the cookie is crunchy, and the smell is divine too. I bake only half of the original because I forgot to buy the sesame,^ ^", and if you notice I have to use the white sesame seed in my cookie too. But if you have a lot of people waiting for your creation, haha, I suggest making a full batch, it's very good, you can keep it in an air tight container for up to a week, (but I'm sure that you will run out of the cookie sooner than that, ^ ^).
 Anyway I still feel that this cookie is great when served it with a cup of hot Chinese tea, the aroma of the tea and the sesame are a good couple.
My friend and I made some adaptation from the original recipe, as the original recipe using the dipping method to cover the cookie with the sesame, by rolling the cookie dough into a ball, then dip the cookie in milk and roll it in the sesame seed bowl, the result is a mass work space, haha, and too little sesame in the cookie. So, we decide to add all the sesame into the cookie dough, the result is delicious crunchy cookie, that I think you will love it too.

Sesame Cookies

Makes about 50 cookies

260g ............................ all–purpose flour
100g ............................ sugar
½ tbsp ........................ baking powder
½ tsp .......................... salt
60g .............................. unsalted butter, at room temp.
60g ............................... solid veg. shortening
1 ................................... large egg, at room temp.
½ tsp .......................... vanilla extract
½ tsp .......................... grated lemon zest
140g ............................ unhulled sesame seeds


1. Preheat oven to 375°F 
Prepare the baking sheet, by lining with the baking paper or Silpat.

2. Stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, sesame seed and salt. On low speed, sitr in the butter and shortening a little at a time until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg, vanilla and lemon zest. Stir the egg mixture into the dry ingredients until smooth and well blended, about 2 minutes (the texture will be crumbly, but you can press it together). Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hr.

4.     Roll the dough into 0.5cm thin then cut with the cookie cutter.

5. Place the cookies on the baking sheet. Continue with the remaining dough, placing the cookies 1 inch apart.

7. Bake for 18 minutes or until well browned.

Crispy....Sweety....Salty Sesame Cookies