No-Frills Recipes ... cooking, baking & excerpts on travel

May the Year of the Ram brings you plenty of good health, abundance of wealth,   much joy and cheer Happy Chinese New Year

These cookies certainly do not need much introduction as they have been circulating among food blogs for quite some time, more so at this time of the year.   I've bookmarked this since last year and only had the time to make them now.  I made some plain ones as well as marbled ones. There are other flavours as well but for the time being, I can only make do with these.  Also this will be my last post before I take a break to celebrate the Lunar Chinese New Year with my family, relatives and friends. Recipe for German Butter Cookies ~ 德国牛油曲奇  (adapted from 'here' with slight modification) Ingredients 250 gm butter 80 gm icing sugar (sifted) 250 gm potato starch flour 130 gm plain flour 1.1/2 tsp Valrhona cocoa powder (sifted) Method Sift potato starch flour and plain flour, set aside. Beat butter and icing sugar till fluffy. Fold in the sifted flours, mix well. Let dough rest for 15 mins. Take 1/4 portion of dough and mix with the cocoa pow

This Black Russian Cake gets its name from the famous cocktail made with Vodka and Kahlua, a coffee flavoured liqueur.   As with most liqueur soaked cakes, this cake is very moist and delicious. Although I modified the recipe a  bit, as in cutting down the sugar and the cocoa, the cake was incredibly good and the coffee liqueur gave it a rich and unique flavour.  The cake tasted much better upon 'maturity', the next day.  A keeper recipe for sure! Dig in! Recipe for Black Russian Bundt Cake ~   尔罗斯黑蛋 糕    (adapted from 'here' with modification) Ingredients 7 oz plain flour 2.1/2 oz cornflour 1.1/2 oz milk powder 4 Tbsp cocoa powder  (reduced from 6 Tbsp) 1 Tbsp baking powder 1/4 tsp salt 9.1/2 oz caster sugar (reduced from 14 oz) 2 oz butter 3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp vegetable oil 3/4 cup milk 1 Tbsp vanilla 4 large eggs 1/4 cup Vodka (I substituted wit

Today I'm sharing with you a two flavoured muffin and undoubtedly coffee and chocolate is a perfect match.   To give more oomph to these muffins I added in some chocolate bits and these mufins are best served on the day of baking. Recipe for Mocha Muffins ~  咖啡满 芬   (   adapted from 'here' with modifications) Ingredients 1/2 cup Buttermilk 2 eggs 1/2 cup oil 1/4 cup black coffee 1 tsp vanilla 225 gm plain flour 10 gm unsweetened cocoa powder 120 gm brown sugar 1/2 tsp baking powder 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda a pinch of salt 100 gm coarsely chopped lightly roasted walnuts 100 gm dark choc bits Method Sift or whisk flour with cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.  Mix in the brown sugar and chopped nuts. With a hand whisk eggs, buttermilk, oil, coffee and vanilla. With a spatula, fold  the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.  Add in the choc bits.  Fold till just combined. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop t

Pineapple Tarts are available throughout the year in Malaysia and Singapore but they are most sought after and popular during the Lunar Chinese New Year.   They are a common sight in most Chinese households because it's symbolic to have Pineapple Tarts during this time of the year.  'Wong lai' in Cantonese and 'Ong lai' in Hokkien phonetically sounds like 'good luck comes'.  Hence, eating this cookie will thus bring forth good luck and prosperity. This is not the melt-in-the-mouth type of pastry, it's crisp when fresh and will stay good even after being kept for some time.  You can also view my  other recipes on   Nastar and closed Pineapple Tarts from  'here' and 'here'. Pineapple Tarts - 黄梨塔     (adapted from 'here' ) Ingredients 100 gm unsalted butter 200 gm plain flour, sifted 60 gm icing sugar, sifted 1 egg yolk 1 Tbsp milk a pinch of salt pineapple paste Method Sift flour with salt, se