Earl Grey Sticky Date Pudding, with Salted Toffee Sauce

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I've tried several sticky date pudding recipes in the past, and while none of them were too bad (after all, it is not difficult to like anything served with toffee sauce), they were not particularly memorable either.  Some may consider what I am about to say next rather sacrilegious, but to be very honest, I don't like the 'pudding' texture of sticky date pudding.  What some recipes promise to be "moist" have often turned out for me to be too cloyingly sweet, gummy, sticky and dense.  My memories of most sticky date puddings are that they are sweet in a very one-dimensional, toothache-causing kind of way.

I like this recipe by Rachel Allen very much, because it manages to be very moist without being gummy or overly sticky.  This more open crumb texture means that the cake still has room to soak up the generous lashings of toffee sauce that you will inevitably be pouring over it.  But the best part of this recipe is the addition of black tea, which has a wonderful way of balancing out its sweetness and adding some complexity to its flavour.

I have adapted the recipe very simply by using Earl Grey tea, which complements the naturally-honeyed Medjool dates beautifully with its bergamot notes.  And to bring even more depth of flavour to the sticky date pudding, I salted the toffee sauce, which makes a most amazing difference.  From simple to extraordinary. More toffee sauce, anyone?


Earl Grey Sticky Date Pudding with Toffee Sauce
very slightly adapted from a recipe by Rachel Allen

Ingredients 225g (8oz) Medjool dates (stoned weight), chopped
250ml (9fl oz) earl grey tea (not too strong)
100g (3 ½ oz) unsalted butter, softened
175g (6oz) brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
225g (8oz) self-raising flour
¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda

Toffee sauce
110g (4oz) butter
250g (9oz) soft light brown sugar (or half brown and half caster sugar)
275g (10oz) golden syrup
225ml (8fl oz) double cream
½ tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp fleur de sel/salt
 
Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F), Gas mark 4. Butter and flour the sides of a 20cm (8in) diameter spring-form/loose-bottomed tin, or a 20 x 20cm (8 x 8in) square cake tin and line the base with greaseproof paper.
2. Place the chopped dates and tea in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Cook for a few minutes to soften the dates, then remove from the heat and set aside.
3. Beat the butter in a large bowl or an electric food mixer until soft. Add the sugar and beat until the mixture is pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then beat in the spices and vanilla extract. Fold in the date mixture. Sift in the flour and bicarbonate of soda and fold in gently until mixed.
4. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for about 45 minutes or until the top is just firm to the touch and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
5. Allow to stand in the tin for about 5 minutes before removing and transferring to a serving plate. While the cake is cooking, make the toffee sauce.
6. To serve, cut into slices (or squares if it is in a square tin) and serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream and a very generous drizzle of warm toffee sauce over the top!

Toffee sauce

Place all the ingredients in a saucepan set over a high heat and boil for approximately 4–5 minutes, stirring regularly, until it has thickened.

Easy Quiche Lorraine

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What makes a good Quiche Lorraine?  Nice, salty bacon, a crisp (as opposed to soggy) crust, and a well-cooked egg custard that is not too dry. The last one is a common problem.

But, anyway, I don't mean to scare you. Because making a quiche is really not that hard.  If a stupid stupid rat creature can do it, well then so can you.

The recipe is an easy one to learn by heart too. Just remember "half fat to flour" for the shortcrust pastry, and 1 egg to 1/2 cup liquid, for the egg custard. The traditional fillings are bacon/ham, and Swiss cheese.  But you can really vary this creatively to include a variety of other ingredients like mushrooms, leeks, broccoli and spinach.

Recipe for Quiche Lorraine

Shortcrust pastry
250 gram flour

125 gram unsalted/salted butter, cut into small cubes, chilled
1/2 teaspoon salt (omit if using salted butter)
1 egg, beaten (optional)
2 - 3 tbsp cold water (may not need all)

Method:
Place flour in a mixing bowl and, using a pastry blender, cut chilled butter into flour until the mixture just resembles coarse breadcrumbs. (Alternatively, you can rub the butter into the flour using your fingertips, but be careful not to handle the mixture for too long as the butter will melt). Add beaten egg, mix well.  If needed, add cold water tablespoonful by tablespoonful until a manageable dough forms. 

Roll out the dough on Silpat or lightly floured surface into a 1/4 inch thick round.  Line a lightly greased tart tin with the dough, taking care to smoothen it out and press out any air bubbles beneath the dough. Ensure that the dough comes up evenly to the top of the tart tin (otherwise the wet custard may leak out).  Trim any excess.

Chill the dough for 30 minutes in the freezer.

Line the top of the shortcrust pastry with parchment paper or foil and weigh it down with baking beans. Ensure that the parchment paper or foil hangs over the sides of the tart tin otherwise the sides will burn before the base is baked.

Bake at 180C for 20 minutes or until the base of the shortcrust is almost dry. Remove baking beans, cut a whole in the parchment/foil such it will only cover the rim of the shortcrust pastry but not the base. Bake for another 10 minutes or until the base of the shortcrust pastry is dry and lightly browned.

Set aside.

Egg custard


250 gram heavy cream
125 gram mix of bacon and ham, sauteed and chopped
2 eggs, beaten
50 grams cheese, shredded (e.g. Swiss, parmesan)
dash of black pepper
pinch of white pepper
pinch of nutmeg
1 tbsp chopped parsley
salt

Mix above ingredients well.  Pour mixture carefully into pre-baked shortcrust tart base.  Bake at 180C for 15 to 20 minutes or until the egg is set.  You can test for doneness by shaking the tart tin a little (the egg should not jiggle!) or poking the egg custard with a skewer.  The skewer should not have traces of uncooked egg. Be sure not to confuse this with the wetness on a skewer that is from the steam in the egg. Do not overcook!

Let cool for 15 minutes before cutting and serving. 

White and Dark Valrhona Chocolate Mousse Cake

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Love is a Many Layered Cake.

That's what I thought when I baked this for my husband's birthday last week. Despite the fact that we already bought an excellent Laurent Bernard chocolate cake for him earlier to celebrate with, I thought I should still bake something special for him.  After all, I always pull out all the stops for the kids birthdays and I thought it was only fair that SugahDaddy got a bit of effort too.  Deciding on the flavour was easy - he likes chocolate and macadamia nuts. It would have to be a boldly flavoured, 'solid' kind of cake and not light, fluffy and sissy (sorry no Chiffons then). And lastly, I love doing layered cakes, because they always manage to look so elegant, special and like something you bought from a chi-chi cake shop (and often for correspondingly less effort than you would think!).

I modified a Bon Appetit recipe on Epicurious, and the result was a 5-layered White and Dark Chocolate Mousse Cake, with alternating layers of white and dark chocolate eggless mousse and Kahlua-soaked chocolate genoise sponge, atop a crunchy macadamia chocolate crust (arguably the best part!).  The contrast between sweet white chocolate and bittersweet dark chocolate was very pleasing, and unlike a pure dark chocolate cake, you can many more slices of this cake as it doesn't feel as heavy.

Decorating the cake was easy - no need to smooth out icing all over the cake. All I did was dust the top all over with cocoa powder.  For this cake, leaving the sides of the cake exposed (instead of covered with icing) actually has a better aesthetic effect. I confess I really like those gold flakes they put on cakes which make them look so luxe. But they cost a bomb, and if like me you'd rather spend money on gold you wear, then well, here's something you might want to try: I sprinkled edible gold dust (from Wilton, cheaper than gold flakes!) in a rough zig-zag pattern over the cake, and also brushed some on the berries on top of the cake. Simple and elegant.

Did SugahDaddy like his cake? You bet. Happy Birthday Luv.

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Recipe for White and Dark Chocolate Mousse Cake

Cake
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) (57g) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup (40g) sifted all purpose flour (sifted, then measured)
1/3 cup (40g) sifted unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process; sifted, then measured)
4 large eggs
2/3 cup (150g) sugar

Macadamia crunch base
5 ounces (142g) dark chocolate chopped
1 cup paillette feuillettine 
1/3 cup macadamias toasted, chopped

Dark Chocolate Mousse
5 ounces (142g) white chocolate, chopped 
5 ounces (142g) dark chocolate, chopped
1 1/4 cups chilled heavy whipping cream
pinch of salt

4 tablespoons Kahlua liqueur for brushing on cake layers
Additional unsweetened cocoa powder for dusting on top cake layer
 

For cake:
Position rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 350°F (176C). Line bottom of 9-inch-diameter cake pan with 2-inch-high sides with parchment paper. Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat. Spoon off foam from top of butter and discard. Spoon clear yellow butter into small metal bowl, leaving water and milk solids in bottom of pan. Add vanilla to butter in bowl; set clarified butter aside.

Sift flour and cocoa powder together 3 times into medium bowl. Whisk eggs and sugar in large metal bowl to blend. Place bowl with egg mixture in large skillet of barely simmering water; whisk constantly until egg mixture is lukewarm (105°F), about 2 minutes. Remove bowl from water. Place bowl with clarified butter in hot water in same skillet over low heat to keep warm.

Using electric mixer, beat egg mixture until cool and tripled in volume, about 5 minutes. Sift 1/3 of flour-cocoa mixture over egg mixture and gently fold in with rubber spatula. Fold in remaining flour-cocoa mixture in 2 more additions. Fold 1 cup of cake batter into warm clarified butter until incorporated. Using rubber spatula, gently fold butter-cake batter mixture into remaining cake batter.

Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake until tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean and top springs back slightly when gently pressed, about 30 minutes. Cool completely in pan on rack. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; store at room temperature.)

Run knife between pan sides and cake to loosen. Invert cake onto rack; remove parchment. Using long serrated knife, trim top of cake horizontally, so that cake is level.  Split the cake into 2 layers. Set cake layers aside. 

For macadamia crunch:
Line bottom of 9-inch-diameter springform pan with parchment paper. Melt dark chocolate in a double boiler or in a microwave (being careful not to overheat it).  When chocolate is smooth and completely melted (it should look satiny), stir in pailette feuilettine and nuts. Spread crunch evenly over parchment in pan. Place one genoise cake layer atop crunch layer, pressing to adhere before the chocolate crunch layer cools down and solidifies. Chill until crunch is firm, about 1 hour.

For dark and white chocolate eggless mousse*:

Melt dark chocolate in a double boiler or in a microwave (being careful not to overheat it).  Stir slightly until melted chocolate is smooth. Cool chocolate to lukewarm. Do the same for the wite chocolate.

Using whisk attachment in electric mixer, beat cream and salt in another bowl until very soft peaks form (when bowl is tilted, cream should be fluffy but still pourable and flow to one side). Divide whipped cream into two equal portions. Pour one portion of whipped cream over and fold into dark chocolate just until incorporated. Pour second portion of whipped cream over and fold into white chocolate just until incorporated (mousse will be very soft).

Brush top of chilled cake layer with Kahlua.  Spread dark chocolate mousse over cake in pan. Place 2nd chocolate genoise cake layer over dark chocolate mousse. Brush top of 2nd layer with Kahlua, and spread white chocolate mousse on top. Dust the top with cocoa powder and chill overnight. (Can be prepared 2 days ahead. Keep chilled.)

Run knife between cake and pan sides to loosen. Soak kitchen towel in hot water; wring out water. Wrap hot wet towel around pan sides and hold 30 seconds. Carefully remove pan sides from cake; smooth mousse with knife if necessary. Place cake on pan bottom on rack set over baking sheet. Transfer to platter and serve. 

* You can use crushed vanilla wafers or rice cereal (which was in the original Bon Appetit recipe) as a substitute but the result will not be as good.

**This cake would be great with the usual chocolate mousse made with egg. In fact, the texture of regular mousse is smoother.  I used an eggless mousse (which is really the texture of whipped cream) as I can't consume raw eggs during pregnancy. 

Vargas Butter Cake - the BEST butter cake on the planet

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You have never really lived until you've tasted a Vargas Butter Cake.

Until I bit into one, the perfect butter cake existed only in my imagination. In my fantasies, such a cake would be oozing with fragrant, buttery goodness, without being heavy, dense and oily. As a child, there was nothing I liked so much as to snack on a plate of little salted butter cubes.  It's crazy but I swear, on some days, the sensation of creamy butter melting on my tongue was waaay better than having ice cream.  To me, a butter cake is no good unless it is buttery enough to rival that taste sensation, otherwise I might as well just eat pure butter on its own. 

Unfortunately, I never managed to find or bake such a cake. Until now. Some time ago, I stumbled on rave reviews about the famed Vargas butter cake from Philippines. When my husband went there for a business trip last week, I begged him to bring back one for me. I was going crazy just thinking about it. He managed to get his colleague to lug back not one, but TWO butter cakes.

Did it live up to the hype? You bet. This is one crazy good cake, completely saturated with the intensely rich fragrance of butter.  It is also by far the moistest, lightest and most tender cake I have ever eaten. If you can just imagine - it has a very tender, open crumb structure, so tender that it threatens to fall apart in your hands. It is moist without being wet or heavy, and at each bite you can feel the individual butter-soaked crumbs falling apart and melting in your mouth. And as if the pure butteriness of the cake wasn't enough, it was ALSO topped with a shiny, sticky butter glaze.  Absolutely lip-smackingly swoon-worthy. 

Just when I thought butter cake couldn't get any better than this, I followed the suggestions on the cake-box to toast a slice for a few minutes. I can't even BEGIN to describe how awesome it is when toasted. Just imagine a lightly browned, slightly crisp outer crumb coating, and the fragrance of browned butter sizzling on the pan. Butter Heaven.  

I am so sorry that after all this, I can't leave you with anything other than a butter cake craving. No there will be no recipe in this post, as I have not the faintest clue how to bake a butter cake like that (although you can bet I will be working hard on that ).  Someday, when I have figured out a way to cram a maximum amount of butter into my cake batter and still have a cake that is light as air, I will certainly share my findings here.

In the meantime, to stave off your cravings, you can try soaking your toast in lots of melted butter (another disgusting habit I have besides eating little cubes of butter). 

And, needless to say, if you are EVER in the Philippines, you have to get your hands on this cake.

Vargas Kitchen

49 Pili Avenue, Forbes Park,

Makati.

Manila, Philippines.

Telephone 810-7529 and 817-8483

Also available at Saturday Salcedo Market and the Sunday Legazpi Market.

 

Chinese New Year Pineapple Tarts Recipe (Open-face)

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If you want a pineapple tart recipe that can rival the best from your aunty, grandaunty, grandmother or great-grandmother (or will at least not be laughed off the table), look no further.  150 tarts and 9 pineapples later, I have finally arrived at one that I am happy with. I have, however, to give credit where credit is due. No recipe could ever have a chance of matching a mother's or grandaunty's, unless it is from a matriarch herself, none other than the grandmother from whom all their recipes originated. My recipe is only decent because it was adapted from such a recipe in the first place.

If you are wondering whether this is THE recipe you have been waiting for, let me describe the pineapple tart for you. After all, there are many differing opinions on what constitutes the best pineapple tart - moist jam, caramelized jam, melt-in-the-mouth pastry, firm biscuit-like pastry etc.

This recipe yields pineapple jam that is moist and full of natural pineapple flavour. The spices are in such quantity as to complement rather than overshadow the beautiful honeyed taste of the pineapples. More importantly, you won't taste the sourish tang of lemon in this jam. I know that lemon juice is a very common ingredient in pineapple jam recipes, and my fellow baking aficionado C informs me that it is used to supply pectin to the pineapple jam. However, I find that most recipes add them in such quantities as to make the jam slightly sour and rob it of its natural pineapple goodness. The difference in taste is more pronounced than you would think - I could taste the juice in 80% of tarts I have tried this year, both commercial and home-made versions, and they suffered for it next to a pineapple tart unadulterated with lemon juice.  The pineapple jam I made set well without the use of lemon juice, so I do think it is not essential especially if there is enough sugar to 'set' the jam. Of course, getting good quality pineapples is essential to making good jam. Many people swear by Sarawak pineapples. I used 'honey' pineapples recommended by my fruit grocer this year, and they were fantastic.   Making pineapple jam is the most time-consuming aspect of making pineapple tarts - from peeling to grating to cooking the pineapple to the right consistency.  I tried grating the pineapples both by hand as well as with the food processor, and I have to say, the latter method is superior. Apart from saving you from accidentally grating your fingertips, machine-grating also results in pulp with shorter fibrous strands, which is to be desired.  Cooking the pineapple jam, which can take anything up to 2 hours, also requires some skill. The desired colour is golden yellow, and the jam should no longer be wet but moist. In deciding when to stop, you have to take into account that the jam will dry out further in the oven when the tart is baked.  So you are aiming for a degree of moistness that is slightly more than what you would expect in a finished tart.  If the jam is too dry, you will get a crispy jam 'shell' on top of your tart (yes, that happened to me), and if it is too moist, your pineapple tarts will get mouldy fast. For the same reason, do not be tempted to cut down on the sugar in the jam too much, as that will also cause your tarts to become mouldy. The jam has to be a little sweeter as the pastry in this recipe is not very sweet.

As testament to how good the jam is, take a look at this picture on the right.  I had sternly forbidden my kids from snatching pineapple tarts off the cooling rack. So Sugababe 2 slyly thought that I wouldn't miss a thing if she just pinched the jam from a whole row of tarts. You can see what challenging conditions I work under. Now I don't have enough good tarts for gifting (not that my family is complaining).

Now we move on to the pastry. In our family, we all differ in opinion as to what makes a good pastry. Grandma likes the pastry firm and biscuit-like, my husband likes it firm but yet tender, and I like it crumbly and melt-in-the mouth.  I was striving for the texture I liked, but my husband insisted that he really disliked that crumbly, powdery texture (no doubt melt-in-the-mouth) which always makes him choke.  I have to respect the guy who brings home the dough (so to speak), so this recipe achieves a texture that is firm (as in it won't break apart into little bits in your hand) and yet very tender. What we all agree on however, is that the pastry has to be very fine, fragrant, and buttery.  For that reason, the rubbed-in dough in this recipe has the highest fat to flour ratio that can be tolerated. The minimum ratio for a shortcrust pastry is half fat to flour, i.e. 50% fat to flour. This recipe has the highest percentage I have seen i.e. 66% fat to flour. It does result in a dough that is slightly trickier to handle, but the results are worth it.  The recipe for the pastry is actually very simple.  I have seen recipes that call for milk powder to be added, to achieve a 'melt-in-the-mouth' texture, but again, this compromises on the taste. And don't even consider using margarine or shortening, which gives that tell-tale plastic taste to commercial baked pastries.

If there is any secret to the pastry at all, it is in the use of salted Golden Churn butter. Or any salted butter of the highest butterfat percentage you can find (no less than 80%).  Most of the time, I bake with unsalted butter, but salted butter really makes a difference to this pastry. The other 'secret' is to work the dough as little as possible, since an over-worked dough results in a tough pastry. I used my fingertips to rub the butter into the flour, but my friend C recommends the use of a pastry cutter for this step (so that less heat is transferred), and I think this sounds like a brilliant idea which you should certainly try.

Pineapple tarts are painstakingly laborious to make, but when done well, they are well worth the effort, as nothing that you purchase commercially will ever come close.

If you are craving pineapple tarts, I hope this recipe will serve you well this Chinese New Year.  If not (and you find something better) then in the Chinese New Year spirit of generosity you must absolutely share it with me ;) From my home to yours, Happy Lunar New Year!

Recipe for Pineapple Tarts 

Pastry

340 g plain flour

20 g cornflour

240g salted butter

1/2 egg

2 tsp vanilla essence

1 tbsp cold water

2 tbsp icing sugar

Pineapple Jam

3 big pineapples (grate and discard core. drain all except 3/4 cup of its juice)

284g caster sugar

1/4 tsp salt

2 inch piece of cinnmon stick

2-3 cloves

2 segments of star anise

Method

1) Cook all ingredients for pineapple jam in a pot on the stove, ovver low heat. After 30 minutes, remove spices and continue cooking until the juice has dried up but pineapple jam is still moist (not wet).  This will take approximately 1 hour. Refrigerate.

2) Sift flours and icing sugar together, twice. Cut butter into small pieces and run into sifted flour.after it is completely rubbed in, add egg and then slowly add in the cold water (only if needed) to get a nice and fairly firm dough. Divide dough into 2 portions, wrap each portion in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes. Roll out into 0.5 cm thickness between 2 sheets of plastic and then chill again for another 15 minutes.

3) Meanwhile, roll jam into small balls for easy filling.

4)  Take out dough and cut using a pineapple tart mould. Fill with jam. Work in an air-conditioned room. If dough is too soft to work with, flour your hands, the work table and rolling pin, making sure not to add too much flour to the dough or it will become tough. If necessary, flour the tart cutter before cutting each tart, so that the tart removes easily with all its patterns/grooves intact.

5) Arrange tarts on tray lined with baking paper.  Chill in fridge for about 10 minutes, then bake at 140C for about 30 minutes. When ready, leave to cool and store. Makes about 50 - 70 tarts depending on the size of the pineapple mould.

Almond Polvorones (aka Russian Tea Cakes/Mexican Wedding Cookies)

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Every Chinese New Year, home bakers all around our little island will be busy baking up their Chinese New Year specialties for gifting or selling.  In our families, there is always this unspoken rivalry among the aunts and grandmothers as to who bakes the best pineapple tarts, kueh bangkit (a melt-in-the-mouth coconut cookie), sugee cake (a Eurasian almond cake) or kueh lapis (a multi-layered cake).  Needless to say, most of these treats are extremely time-consuming and laborious to make, for what else other than a completely masochistic recipe could set one's skills apart from the other?

Not daring to prove myself against these doyens of Chinese New Year goodies, I choose every year to bake the simplest (and yet oh so delicious!) type of cookie possible for gifting - Almond Polvorones.  The distinguishing characteristics of these cookies is their fragrant, nutty flavour and incomparably fine, melt-in-the-mouth texture.  My kids go crazy for these cookies and snatch them right off the cooling rack. Which creates problems for me since I need exactly 20 cookies to fill a jar ... and it drives me nuts when I am short of 1 or 2 due to these thieving little runts.

I find these cookies a welcome change from the usual Chinese New Year treats (as do my friends and family).  More importantly, I love it that they are so delicious and yet simple to make in large quantities, as that means I can bless more friends and family with these tasty treats. After all, isn't generosity and abundance the hallmarks of a good Chinese New Year celebration?

But don't let my characterisation of these as Chinese New Year cookies stop you from baking them for just about any other event or reason: for fund-raisers, Christmas, or just simply for an afternoon tea with friends. these Polvorones are simply beautiful when enjoyed with a cup of hot tea. 

Recipe for Almond Polvorones

(adapted from Epicurious)

For cookies:

1 cup (226g) butter, room temperature

1/2 cup icing sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup almonds, toasted, coarsely ground

For dusting: 

1 1/2 cup icing sugar/snow powder 

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Method: Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add 1/2 cup powdered sugar and vanilla; beat until well blended. Beat in flour, then nuts. Divide dough in half; form each half into ball. Wrap separately in plastic; chill until cold, about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 170C. 

Whisk remaining 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar or snow powder and cinnamon in pie dish to blend. Set cinnamon sugar aside.* 

Working with half of chilled dough, roll dough by 2 teaspoonfuls between palms into balls. Arrange balls on heavy large baking sheet, spacing 1/2 inch apart. Bake cookies until golden brown on bottom and just pale golden on top, about 18 minutes. 

Cool cookies 5 minutes on baking sheet. Gently toss warm cookies in cinnamon sugar to coat completely. Transfer coated cookies to rack and cool completely. Repeat procedure with remaining half of dough. 

(Cookies can be prepared 2 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature; reserve remaining cinnamon sugar.)

Sift remaining cinnamon sugar over cookies and serve.

*Note: 

1) You can easily substitute the almonds in these recipe with other nuts such as pecans, hazelnuts, macadamia, or a combination of the above. I used almonds simply because almond treats are popular and considered 'lucky'during the Chinese New Year. 

2) Note that icing sugar can be used if the cookies are to be consumed immediately, or if your climate is generally dry.  In humid weather, icing sugar will start to melt and turn gunky, so the use of snow powder is recommended instead, especially if you are baking these for gifting.

3) This recipe makes 40 cookies, each weighing 14 g (in dough form)

Coconutty Banana Fritters (Goreng Pisang)

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Move aside banana crumble, banana bread and banana cake. Goreng Pisang (literally, 'fried bananas' in Malay, and one of the most popular desserts in Singapore and Malaysia) is hands down the best way to use up overipe bananas. 

Who can resist deep fried banana fritters with a crispy coconutty coating and melty-hot banana insides?  I know I can't.  Have it piping hot, with a scoop of cold rum and raisin ice cream and a drizzle of maple syrup, and you will know why my kids literally BEG me to make this all the time.  


The secret to good deep fried banana fritters? Coconut, not so much as to overpower but enough to lend some fragrance to the crispy coating. Also, the use of baking soda and soda water help the fritters to fry up nice and crunchy.  Having said that, these fritters are best served hot, as they will inevitably become less crispy if left sitting for a while.    As a side note, I do wonder about that extra crunchy goreng pisang that is sold at Maxwell Market, which seems to stay crispy the entire day.  I love the crunch but I really dislike the overwhelmingly bitter taste of baking soda in its crisp coating. So, don't be tempted to add too much baking soda to your fried goods as it can, and does, affect the taste!

Recipe for Coconutty Banana Fritters

Ingredients
1/2 cup self-raising flour
1/2 cup rice flour
1 tbsp cornflour/tapioca flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tbsp dessicated coconut
1 cup cold water/soda water

8 ripe or overripe medium-sized bananas (pisang raja variety is best)

Method
1. Combine and mix all ingredients together to form the batter
2. Heat up sufficient vegetable oil for deep frying at high heat.  To test if oil is hot enough, drop 1/2 teaspoon of batter into the oil. If it sizzles and floats to the surface, the oil is at the right temperature.
3. Dip each banana into batter and deep fry in hot oil. Turn heat down to medium high and turn the bananas over occasionaly to brown evenly on all sides. Remove to drain on a paper towel when they turn golden brown. Do not over-crowd the oil with too many bananas. Depending on the size of the bananas, I usually only fry 2 or 3 at a time.
4. Serve piping hot with ice cream (vanilla or rum and raisin is best), and a drizzle of maple syrup or some cinnamon sugar.