BUTTERY LIGHT FRUIT CAKE

No festive season is complete without fruit cake.  There were so many different ways to make one. But I always prefer the one with less fruit like this  Light Fruit Cake.  This Buttery Light Fruit Cake will cut down the time you soak the dry fruit.  Soak the fruit in orange juice, microwave for a minute to plump them then leave to cool.

If you mix your own dry fruits, you need to add  candied red and green cherries to the batter.   It would look prettier with those.  I used store bought mixed fruit that include both cherries.

The sweetness was just right,  adding more sugar isn't necessary.   We get natural sugar from the dry fruits.

This Buttery Light Fruit Cake is so simple to make yet tastes awesome.  I used this recipe successfully to get a quick festive treat. If desired, decorate with additional candied fruits and nuts.

BEST EVER EGGLESS COCOA BROWNIES

This Best Ever  Eggless Cocoa Brownies is a quick and easy recipe to satisfy those sweet craving. Made with cocoa powder, vegetable oil, condensed milk and water.

Purposely reduce the sugar since am adding half a cup of condensed milk but you could add more if you want.  Have added the coconut oil but other vegetable oil works too.  For a richer taste, opt for melted butter instead of oil.

The process is about as easy as you can get.  Combine dry ingredients with  oil, condensed milk, water and mix.  Add  in chocolate chips, stir and spoon batter into muffin pan.

Besides baking in muffin pan, a square pan of 8 x 8 in is a great alternative but adjust the baking time accordingly.

These Best Ever Eggless Cocoa Brownies were  fantastic!  They are so good, am planning to bake another batch tomorrow.

EASY DINNER ROLLS

These homemade yeast rolls are well worth the effort.   Easy Dinner Rolls  go perfectly with any meal.  I like to dunk it in a cup of coffee or dip in a bowl of spicy gravy or soup.

I still remember, how my first time making bread,  It turned out miserably.  After years of playing with yeast and successfully baked them, I think everyone can bake a better bread, just  keep practicing!  In fact baking bread isn't that hard if your follow these basic rules.

!.  Yeast
Should be fresh and active..  To check, sprinkle  yeast in lukewarm water with little sugar and wait for 10 minutes until bubbly, if not discard the yeast,

2.  Water
Must be warm to touch and not very hot otherwise you killed the yeast. More water you get in the dough,  the bigger air bubbles you'll get, it makes fluffier bread

3.  Texture
It should be soft like baby's cheek  to get soft and fluffy bread.  Adding too much flour , makes a dense and dry loaf.   Add flour gradually and only the minimum

Today. I will show you how to make these Easy Dinner Rolls that was easy.   Made  by hand but you can use a mixer or bread machine too.  It involves mixing the dry and wet ingredients, knead it then leave to rise until doubled, it may takes shorter or longer time,   don't rush this  final step.  Shape into desired shape then again let sit to rise for  another 60= 90 minutes.

Add variety to your bread by forming the rolls into different shapes or fill these rolls with your favorite filling like chocolate, custard, red bean etc.   Even the plain Easy Dinner Rolls  tasted so good.

Other bread recipes you should check:

Red Bean Swirl Bread

Fruited Pull Apart Bread

Eggless Custard Buns

QUICK BLUEBERRY OATMEAL CUPS

Do you miss your breakfast due to lack of time?  These Quick Blueberry Oatmeal Cups  are the solution. You  make these night before,  pack in your lunch box or eat it while travelling to your work place.

This grab and go meal not only a snap to make but healthy too.   Made with rolled oat, no flour and no butter with endless choice of topping,  choose either  fruits, nuts even chocolate chip.

We  love to have  Healthy Oatmeal Banana Cookies , Cornflakes Crisp Bars, and Mango Oatmeal Bread   alternately for breakfast.  They are great for tea time treat or in between snack..

Am using a standard muffin cup and filled them  3/4 full, it yields only 10.  But you  will get more if using a smaller ones.

I did not mix in the blueberry in the batter but put them in between.  Quick Blueberry Oatmeal Cups are mildly sweeten with brown sugar but this is okay for me,  if necessary  adjust  accordingly to your liking.  more.

MOIST MARBLE BANANA CAKE

Am obsessed with marble cake  or bread.  So far I have baked  Eggless Marble Banana Cake, Banana Chocolate Bread Marbled and   Marble Cake  but that does't stop me from trying another recipe.

Most  of the recipes  call for melted butter but this  Moist Marble Banana Cake uses  vegetable oil.  It has a right amount of sweetness and stay moist even after the next day.

After experiencing and baking with banana.  I must admit that using a right banana is the key to perfect cake.  The banana should be ripe but  firm and not too soft because soft banana contains more water, it tends to make your cake slightly wet.

Another point was about cocoa powder.   Adding more cocoa means you have to add more sugar to sweeten the cake.   Just add a tablespoon or two  of cocoa in the batter is more than sufficient, you still get beautiful marble effect.  So glad Moist Marble Banana Cake turned out incredible!

BLUEBERRY SCONES RECIPE

I can never get tired of quick and  yummy food for breakfast or tea time treat. It has been some time, I baked scones for my family. They are so versatile since you can customize  the add-ins.

Blueberry Scones  prep is similar as making a pie where you cut in butter, using your fingertips  until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  You can make scones using a food processor but made by hand is much lighter. The secret to  good scones are not to handle them too much before baking.

Divided them into 2,  patted one portion onto baking sheet into a round shape and cut into 8 wedges while the balance  I cut  rounds with 2 in cutter. .

These buttery Blueberry Scones are tender, fluffy  and sweet enough to eat on its own, no jam required, but this is entirely up to you..

Other breakfast recipes you should check :

Apple Raisin Scones

Pomegranate Mango Baked Oatmeal

Dry Fruit Scones

PERFECT CHOCOLATE CAKE RECIPE

I have tried various recipes of  chocolate cake and still looking for a perfect ones.  Stumbled upon this recipe on Facebook and decided to try it out one day.

At first glance, it looks complicated with a lot of ingredients, but actually another reason I love this recipe that it  uses a whisk to mix, combine both  wet and dry ingredients then you're ready to bake it.

This Perfect Chocolate Cake can be steamed but I chose to bake it.  Made slight changes by reducing the cocoa powder to 3/4 cup and increase the amount of flour to 1 1/2 cups.  Also reduce baking soda to 1/2 teaspoon.

Despite the changes I  made,  this Perfect Chocolate Cake turns out wonderful!  Perfect chocolate flavor with right amount of sweetness.When completely cool,  glaze as desired.  I don't do this since my family prefer plain good cake without any frosting.

Other cake recipes you should try:

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Eggless Peach Cake

Eggless Chocolate Cake Diary Free

KUIH DADAR LABU / PUMPKIN CREPES

Most South East Asian  kuih or bite sized dessert uses natural products such as coconut, banana or tapioca.  One of my favorite kuih is Kuih Dadar or kuih ketayap, a rolled crepe stuffed with sweeten grated coconut.   It was made by 2 parts, outer cover and the filling normally made  with coconut.

Kuih Dadar  uses natural food coloring by blending  pandan leaves with liquid then strain.  Pandan juice is added back to the batter. These leaves not only gives a beautiful color but also a nice fragrance.   You can simply omit pandan leaves if it is not available at your area, just add green food coloring or a tablespoon of pandan paste.

Made a substitution for the filling using mashed pumpkin instead of grated coconut.  Also prepared it using milk and not coconut milk.   This filling will keep well in a refrigerator if you cook it longer. Adjust the sweetness to your liking  by adding more sugar.

Other kuih/dessert you should check out:

Kuih Dadar with coconut filling

Bingka Pisang

Wajik (Palm Sugar Glutinous Rice Pudding)

CORNFLAKES CAKE RECIPE

Having cornflakes with milk  are a regular affair  for morning breakfast.  This time I intend to transform this favorite cereal into a quick and  yummy treat for the whole family.

It's a simple mix and bake recipe.   This Cornflakes Cake uses  cornflakes that can be crushed by hand or use your  rolling pin to do the job, either way you choose is fine.

You probably want to serve this as a grab and go breakfast for your kids.  Simply bake this in a muffin pan for 15-20 minutes and get their favorite cereal  turns into a muffin.

In case you're running out of buttermilk use yogurt instead.

This Cornflakes Cake  is sweet, easy to grab and tasty,  sure to start your day off on a right foot.

Other breakfast recipes you should try:

Healthy Oatmeal Banana Cookies

Cornflakes Crisp Bars

Apple & Raisin Scones

KUIH BINGKA NANGKA RECIPE

A traditional recipe that doesn't use any leavening agent at all and butter free. Traditional kuih  or bite size dessert/snack normally are  baked, steamed or deep fried. These are made from rice flour, glutinous rice four, tapioca flour, mung bean or plain flour.

Another important ingredient was coconut.   Most old school recipes use coconut milk since we grow our own coconut near our house those days.

Kuih Bingka Nangka or Baked Jack Fruit Cake was quick and simple to make.   You can even throw everything in a blender and it is ready to be baked.

Used evaporated milk instead of coconut milk because am running short of coconut milk.  Some recipes require you to dilute the milk with water, but prefer to add undiluted in order to get creamier  taste. .

You must leave Kuih Bingka Nangka to cool for 1-2 hours before slicing to get that perfect finish. My family enjoyed it with a cup of  ginger tea.

Other traditional kuih you should try:

Abok Abok Sago

Kuih Bakar Kentang

Kuih Sago

CRANBERRY YEAST BREAD RECIPE

I always love to bake my own bread, trying out classic recipes and sometimes adding my little twist to the original  creations.

So far I haven't tried cranberry in my baking  and this is going to be my venture this week.  If you have a bread maker, it will cut down all the manual work but I made my bread by hand from start to finish.  This gives a great satisfaction and learning process,  you can tell by mixing the dough whether it has a perfect balance of water, butter and flour.

This Cranberry Yeast Bread makes one big loaf but I  turned mine into 3 strand braided loaf.  The method varies slightly from regular yeast bread  by  spreading  some butter and sprinkle with brown sugar before final shaping.  Am surprise to see the bread still not very sweet, the way I like it.

Everyone in my family  loved this Cranberry Yeast Bread,  It was a complete success!  This recipe is definitely a keeper and will be used often.

BLUEBERRY OATMEAL BREAD

Most of us like to have oatmeal for breakfast but sometimes you feel bored eating the same thing again and again.  So I incorporated rolled oat and adding fresh blueberries for making this Blueberry Oatmeal Bread.

Oatmeal is a healthier choice but tasteless to eat on its own.   The benefits of  rolled oat can be enjoyed in  yeast/quick bread, muffins, breakfast bars, granola, biscuit, pancake, oatmeal burger and crumble.   Include  this natural power food regularly that contains minerals, vitamins, fiber,  lipid and numerous health benefits in your diet.  The fiber in oatmeal makes you feel full through out the day.   Fiber also eases constipation and control blood sugar.

Some packets of instant oatmeal, loaded with sugar  as much as 8 tsp per serving and high in sodium. Always check the label  to see what you are getting.

For healthier choice, replace half of plain flour with wholemeal flour and easily turns it into dairy free by using oil in place of  butter also milk with soy milk, almond or rice milk.

This Blueberry Oatmeal Bread were delicious.  Very filling with the oatmeal in them.  came out super moist too.

Other fabulous recipes made with oatmeal.   Click on the title to view full recipe.

Apple Oatmeal Bars

Pomegranate Mango Baked Oatmeal

Dairy Free Oatmeal Banana Squares