Birthday Bestie!

 :)

February 26th is my super-duper-wonderful-best-friend-for-ever-darling Aussie’s birthday!

Too bad, it was Tuesday. The busiest day of my week (everyday is busy day, tho’) so I couldn’t come to her house and freak her out HAHA

And I waited till 12 PM to send her a numerous text messages. Started from a simple Happy Birthday, I Love You, wishes and jokes, everything. She is 20 now. And 20 is where you life begins.

And as an apology, since I didn’t make it to her party (?)

I made her something special. And pretty. Just like her.

White Chocolate Strawberry Cheesecake


Start with making your own strawberry sauce. Seriously, never use any store-bought strawberry sauce! They are full of artificial sweetener, preservatives, and coloring. I never want my beloved ones to have those on their plate. But of course, you still have another options like blackberry, raspberry, blueberry, even chocolate sauce! But in Indonesia, raspberry blackberry and other berries are pretty hard to find and they come with ridiculous price because we have to import them from the other side of the continent.

Throw some fresh strawberries, sugar, and a tiny amount of cornstarch. Put the water and let them boil for 5-7 minutes

then strain using a fine strainer, set aside and let it cool.

Meanwhile, you can start make your favorite chesecake batter. I used white chocolate cheesecake from CookingClassy (and not to mention, Jaclyn is my inspiration in so many ways, including this cheesecake’s design. She’s awesome!)

You can use whatever cheesecake recipe you like, but pay attention to the consistency of the batter and the strawberry sauce. Since it will be difficult to draw those cute little hearts if your batter and sauce are in a different consistency. Not to runny and not too thick, note that.

This is how my cheesecake looks like

Not as perfect as Jaclyn’s but I’m sure I just need more pratice.

When I gave it to Aussie, she didn’t even dare to eat them. She texted me like 2 days after and said that she wait for her sister to see it first, because it just too cute to eat. Hahaha I couldn’t help but smiling.

Once more, happy birthday Aussie Komala Rani! YOU’RE OLD! HAHAHAHA

Healthy-Earthy

I was having a conversation with my friend about some random things when we ended up comparing our eating habbit. I, for argument’s sake, am very fond of Indomie while he doesn’t like it at all. Such a shocking moment for me because well, I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t like Indomie before! I mean, Indomie, are you for real?

In addition, he said that he has oatmeal as his breakfast almost everyday.

And he successfully made me feel like I’m world’s-most-unhealty-eater.

So, I decided to make something healthy for myself. And finally I have the right excuse to go to the kitchen and bake these healthy-earthy Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies. (Let me be honest to you, even with or without the right excuse, I will bake it anyway)

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At the beggining, I was expecting a crunchy and light cookies like Quaker Oat’s Apple Cinnamon Cookies that I love so much! But then I realized that this recipe is a total reverse. It’s soft, almost gooey. BUT, OH BUT It’s still good and tastes divine (earthy, yet divine? YES.)

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Dunkin’ it in a glass of cold milk is my favorite way to have it. The apple bits make these cookies differently awesome. And because it’s made of oats, I didn’t feel any guilt. I was using instant oat for this recipe, but I guess it will be so much better if you mix them with rolled oats too. And you can use anykind of apple, I was using Apel Malang because that’s what I had. The recipe calls for walnuts but I ignorantly omitted them.

So, here’s the recipe from Joy of JoyTheBaker.com

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter , softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup oats
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
generous pinch fresh grated nutmeg
3/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1 medium apple, peeled, diced small
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1. Place a rack in the center and upper third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

2 Peel and dice the apple and toss with lemon juice.  Set aside.

3. Beat the sugar and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment.  Beat until creamy, about 3 to 4 minutes.  Add egg one,  beating for 1 minute..  Add the vanilla extract and beat until blended.

4. Whisk together the oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt.  Add to the butter and egg mixture slowly beating on low speed until just incorporated.  Stir in the walnuts and apple chunks last.

5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 to 13 minutes or until they’ve reached your desired doneness.  I like mine a little underdone and cook them for 10 minutes.  Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.  Or you could just eat them warm. With a glass of cold milk. Remember to try to stop yourself.

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P.S: I know I rarely mention anyone’s name on my tumblr posts, but since he ehem-ed me on facebook I start to feel the responsibility. Too bad he won’t let me put his name here. So don’t blame me this time. But in the future, I will try to write down everyone’s name.

xo

Hectically Happy

Wahoooo! Hisashiburi nee~

I was in such a frenzy-mode throughout the month of December.
I feel like a real third year student :|

I also went to Bali to attend Global Youth Forum as a volunteer from Dec 1st to 9th. It was a very pleasant journey. I will make sure to write about that completely later. Since this post is dedicated to my new cute kids (eh?)

Watermelon Slice Cookies

Yes, they are not perfectly shaped. I always have somekind of trouble whenever I’m making cut-and-bake cookies (remember my rainbow cookies? Eeekk!)
But I guess this one is cute enough… 

I baked them as a birthday gift to my friend who happens to love watermelon so much! He unintentionally gave me the idea of watermelon cookie, so I asked google and voila! I found it!

This is basically a sugar cookie, very simple to make. And also since I was going to give it to a guy, I didn’t want to make something that too sweet. Some guys have no sweet tooth at all.

And I’m happy with the result!

So, here’s the recipe as shown on its original recipe by Taste of Home

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup Sugar (I was using castor sugar)
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 teaspoon almond extract (I changed it to Vanilla)
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • Red and green gel food coloring (I was using Americolor Super Red and Forest Green)
  • 1/3 cup raisins (I omitted it! Yikes!)
  • 1 teaspoon sesame seeds

Directions

  • In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and extract. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Set aside 1 cup of dough.
  • Tint remaining dough red; shape into a 3-1/2-in.-long log. Wrap in plastic wrap. Tint 1/3 cup of the reserved dough green; wrap in plastic wrap. Wrap remaining plain dough. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm.
  • On a lightly floured surface, roll plain dough into a 8-1/2-in. x 3-1/2-in. rectangle. Place red dough log on the end of a short side of the rectangle; roll up.
  • Roll green dough into a 10-in. x 3-1/2-in. rectangle. Place red and white log on the end of a short side on green dough; roll up. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate overnight.
  • Unwrap and cut into 3/16-in. slices (just less than 1/4 in.). Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Cut raisins into small pieces. Lightly press raisin bits and sesame seeds into red dough to resemble watermelon seeds.
  • Bake at 350°F for 9-11 minutes or until firm. Immediately cut cookies in half. Remove to wire racks to cool. Yield: about 3 dozen.

P.S: The dough was very forgiving! This recipe is going to be my favorite sugar cookie recipe! The only obstacles are when I had to put those sesame seeds on top of my unbake-cookie and the shaping process. The rest are finely fine.

So, it’s December 21st 2012. Happy Doomsday Birthday! 

Lemon Pull Apart Bread. I’ve been craving for this lovely thing since the very first time I saw this picture on pinterest.Can you imagine it? Buttery soft bread highlighted with lemon zest and sugar.Oh, I love love love anything with citrus, especially lemon.  Gotta make this as soon as possible! Yea, I definitely will make this luscious bread once I finally get my Microplane Fine Grater (which means, once I get time to visit Pantry Magic)! The picture is not mine anyway, as I previously told you that I found it on pinterest. Here’s the link of the recipe from Flo Blaker of Leite’s Culinaria Have a lovely Sunday everyone! <3
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Lemon Pull Apart Bread.

I’ve been craving for this lovely thing since the very first time I saw this picture on pinterest.
Can you imagine it? Buttery soft bread highlighted with lemon zest and sugar.
Oh, I love love love anything with citrus, especially lemon. 

Gotta make this as soon as possible! Yea, I definitely will make this luscious bread once I finally get my Microplane Fine Grater (which means, once I get time to visit Pantry Magic)!

The picture is not mine anyway, as I previously told you that I found it on pinterest. Here’s the link of the recipe from Flo Blaker of Leite’s Culinaria

Have a lovely Sunday everyone! <3

Baking is becoming my obsession. I mean, when I&#8217;m in the middle of mid-term exams, I should&#8217;ve studied but what did I do? I bake. I baked Japanese Roll Cake today. Well it&#8217;s no different from another Jelly Roll Cake actually, I just got the recipe from Junko, a Japanese baker, that&#8217;s why this recipe called Japanese Roll Cake. Junko creates so many cute Roll Cake! She inspires me to make this cute Roll Cake, and I also get the inspiration for the cherry pattern from Terry Ng of A Daily Obsession. Okay okay, I have to go back to my study-cave. I have 6 exams waiting for me next week. Ah, anyone please send me a time machine or an universal remote so I could skip my exams -__-&#8220; P.S&#160;: Now, am learning food photography. I got myself a LOT of ebooks and tutorials. I hope my photos will be better and better. I guess I finally found my passion for photography since Fuschi is here already. Yay!
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Baking is becoming my obsession.

I mean, when I’m in the middle of mid-term exams, I should’ve studied but what did I do? I bake.

I baked Japanese Roll Cake today. Well it’s no different from another Jelly Roll Cake actually, I just got the recipe from Junko, a Japanese baker, that’s why this recipe called Japanese Roll Cake. Junko creates so many cute Roll Cake! She inspires me to make this cute Roll Cake, and I also get the inspiration for the cherry pattern from Terry Ng of A Daily Obsession.

Okay okay, I have to go back to my study-cave. I have 6 exams waiting for me next week. Ah, anyone please send me a time machine or an universal remote so I could skip my exams -__-“

P.S : Now, am learning food photography. I got myself a LOT of ebooks and tutorials. I hope my photos will be better and better. I guess I finally found my passion for photography since Fuschi is here already. Yay!

Cinnamon Rolls!

So it’s all started this morning, when I couldn’t stop my brain to command my fingers to click the Cooking bookmarks folder on my G-chrome.

Yes, I have bookmarks folder for everything. Especially for those recipes I love or I haven’t tried.

And today, I decided to make the Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls by Lauren, I’ve been drolling over this recipe for….weeks. I never look down on something so small, so sweet, so good, and so mouth watering like Cinnamon Rolls but since the recipe is a bit time consuming, I have to make sure today is a completely free day before I dare myself to make them.

So, as you can see from the collage above. Start with activating the yeast, make sure your yeast comes out bubbly like pict. 1 because if your yeast looks like pict. 2 it means you’ve failed. Don’t use that failed yeast, make it all from the start again. That’s what I did today. And then prepare your dough. You can see the complete step by step at Lauren’s site (which is just as far as a click from your fingers)

While your dough is sitting for an hour or so, prepare the cinnamon filling. Mix together some packed brown sugar, ground cinnamon, and cornstarch. Yes, don’t forget the cornstarch or you will have your filling oozes all over your pan. You can see it from pict. 3 and 4.

Once your dough has doubled in size (as in my 5 picture), you can roll them into a rectangular, mine was 30x50cm. I got too carried away with this process so I forgot to take any picture. Yeah, my bad. I know…

If your dough is ready, spread a lot of soft butter and then sprinkle with cinnamon filling. Roll, roll, roll. Cut, cut, cut. And put them over a greased pan. Sit again for 10 minutes or so, and bake.

When you are waiting for your rolls to be ready, make the cream cheese frosting. So, you can pour it over your warm rolls and let them melt. Don’t eat it right away or you won’t stop. Wait until someone comes (or even better, call someone to come over) so you will have a reminder not to eat everything all by yourself.

P.S: I’d like to share some with you too, if only I could.

Apple of my tummy!

Apple Crumble Pie!

It looks like a mess, but don’t judge a book by its cover. Na’ah.

1. You just need to make pie crust. Flour, super cold butter, sugar and salt, blend. Add cold water. Mix, knead for a few seconds, wrap, refrigerate. Blind bake for 10minutes.

2. Prepare the apple fillings. Cut 3 or 4 apples (use green granny!), put some butter, heat until the apple almost tender, pour brown sugar, cinnamon, heat again. When the apple is tender, mix in a bit cornstarch, and vanilla. Turn off the heat.

3. For the crumble mixture, I got this from my Swedish friend. Mix in a bowl 2 dL havermut, 1 dL flour, 1 dL brown sugar, 100 grams of butter. Mix mix mix, then it’s ready to use. (She gave me the recipe in dL, sounds so european right? :p)

4. Assemble those cuties. Pie crust, apple fillings, top with crumble mixture. Bake for about 30 minutes in 170 C.

5. Eat them one by one with a scoop (or more….) of vanilla ice cream.

6. Eat them all. Or until you sick of it. Because it’s so good. SO GOOOOOOOOD!

Allo’ Tarte!

Holiday is almost over! Ugh, I think I’m not ready yet to go back to campus. My schedule this semester is freaking me out, I have classes from 8 to 5 almost everyday, including Saturday. I don’t think I’ll ever ready for those but since the show must go on, I can do nothing about it. I can do absolutely nothing…… except bake something to cheer myself up.

You know that I’m a big fan of citrus especially lemon. And this time finally I have a convincable reason to deplenish ALL of my lemon supply. I can’t think about anything else but this Lemon Cream Tart.

I also want to try out my new pastry blender, honestly :p

It looks adorable, it tastes yummy! Sweet yet tangy, and its smell so goood!

Simply, this one is the kind of dessert you’d want to eat when the sun is shining so bright, with a dollop of whipped cream.

And there’s something more about this Tarte au Citron..

IT’S SO EASY TO MAKE!!!

Trust me, seriously, you have to trust me when I tell you to.

Here’s the recipe,

Lemon Cream Tart

  • 2 whole eggs
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 3/4 cup sugar, more to taste
  • 3/4 cup lemon juice
  • 2/3 cup 2/3 cup crème fraîche or heavy cream

Shortbread pastry

  • 1 cup + 2 tablespoons/150 g flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1/2 cup cold butter, cut into pieces
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 tablespoons cold water

Directions

Lemon Cream Tart

  1. Heat the oven to 325ºF/160ºC. Beat together the eggs, yolks, and sugar in a bowl.
  2. Gradually add the lemon juice. Whisk in the cream. Strain into the prebaked shell. Skim off any surface foam, and pop any bubbles. Bake until just set, about 30 minutes. Let cool before serving.

Shortbread pastry

  1. Put the flour, salt, and sugar in a large bowl. Add the butter pieces and blend with food processor or pastry blender to create a crumb texture (I was using pastry blender, you can also use your fingers but I don’t recommend this method.)
  2. Make a well in the middle, and pour in the vanilla and water. Quickly work in the flour to create dough. Do not over-mix.
  3. Pat into a disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate 30 minutes-1 hour.
  4. Roll out the dough, line the tart shell, chill another 15 minutes.
  5. To prebake: Heat the oven to 400F/200C. Blind bake the shell until lightly browned, about 15 minutes. You can blind bake it using beans, or rice, whatever you find handy.

CCC Trial and Error

Hello!

I’m in a very very gooood mood recently, you know why? Because Ramadhan is here already! I’m counting the days till Ied Day!

For those who don’t know, Ramadhan is the name of the ninth month of the Islamic Calendar and it is a holy month best known as the month of fasting and the month in which the Qur’an was revealed. So as a moslem, I do really looking forward for this month.

This year’s Ramadhan started around 21 July and the Final day or Ied Day will fall around 19-20 August according to the Indonesian Governor.

I bet almost every moslem love Ramadhan.

My friend says that she loves Ramadhan because it brings out the spiritual feelings, Ramadhan is always full of festive. Fireworks, sweets, takjil, are wonderfully easy to be found!

I love Ramadhan for its fasting, tarawih, and everything. But to be honest, the main reason I love Ramadhan is the food.

In Indonesia, we usually celebrate Ied Day with a lot of fancy cookies and cakes. In Java, traditional cookies like nastar, kaastengels, and sagoo are a must, along with main dishes like ketupat sayur and opor.

For my family, Ramadhan is also a month of baking.

Holly month! Holly baking!

So this month I can bake as much as I want, literally as much as i want. 

Life couldn’t get better, right?

So I was tempted to make some easy lovely chocolate chips cookies, 

I was sooooo tempted, I made 3 batches in 2 days

First batch (right side), with Bakerella recipe

Second (mid), I was using Ashley Rodriguez recipe

And the third batch, I finally brave enough to formulate my own recipe

Do you see the differences here?

My first batch came out sooooo thin, almost lacey. But it tastes so gooood until I can’t stop muching it.

My second batch was so thick, like button somehow, and it didn’t meet my expectation at all because of its oversweet taste. I mean, the recipe is using 2 cups of sugar in only 3 cups of flour? Oh la la, not my style at all! But just like my teacher said, “Taste is personal.” so, for you who loves sweet so much and have a sweet tooth, this recipe is yours!

My third batch was still thick, but it forms something almost right to my expectation. And it doesn’t oversweet! I put less sugar in it (only about a cup) and it came out lovely!

Im not putting both recipe here since you can just click them through the link, but  here is my own recipe:

Chocolate Chips Cookies

2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon powder

1 cup butter, room temperature

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Directions

1. Cream the butter and both sugars until fluffy for about 3 minutes in medium high speed

2. Mix in the eggs, one at a time. And add vanilla, mix well

3. Shift together the flour, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon powder

4. Mix the flour mixture into the butter in two additions

5. Fold in the chocolate chips

6. Bake for 10-15 minutes in 180 Celcius

Sorry for my ugly pictures, it will be better next time, I promise you!

Oreo Cheesecake!

Few weeks ago, a friend of mine asked me the recipe of Oreo Cheesecake. I have to admit, I never made any serious cheesecake before this. I call it serious because it needs to be baked on a water bath, or use au bain marie method, and I thought I was not ready for those stuffs. But that was something I deeply regret now.

Baking cheesecake with a water bath is unbelievably easy! I must be a stupido because I wasn’t dare enough to make a serious cheesecake before.

So here’s the recipe of Mini Oreo Cheesecake

Mini Oreo Cheesecakes

by Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes via Handle the Heat
makes 30 mini cheesecakes

ingredients:

42 Oreos, 30 whole & 12 coarsely chopped
2 lbs. cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
4 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
1 cup sour cream
Pinch of salt

directions:

1. Preheat oven to 275F. Line muffin tins with paper liners. Place 1 whole cookie in the bottom of each lined cup.

2. With an electric mixer on medium high speed, beat cream cheese until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl. Gradually add sugar, and beat until combined. Beat in vanilla.

3. Add eggs gradually until combined, scraping down sides of bowl. Beat in sour cream and salt. Fold in chopped cookies by hand.

4. Divide batter evenly among cups, filling each almost to the top. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until filling is set, about 22 minutes. Transfer to wire racks; cool completely. Refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight. Remove from tins for serving. Store in refrigerator.

——— P.S: I took the recipe from here [-D]

       As you see from the picture above, I substitute the sour cream with plain yoghurt, less fat and more healthy. I also bake them for about 30 minutes, maybe because I was using a water bath instead of bake them directly.

These cuties are seriously a danger to my waistline!

Rainbow Cookies! I know I know, they are not perfectly shaped. They are cute and tasty but they also left me with a messy kitchen. They are supposed to be a cut-and-bake cookies but the shaping step was a huge test. It&#8217;s a real deal, I&#8217;m telling you. Basicly, it&#8217;s a sugar cookie with a dollop of cream cheese. It tastes pretty much like Monde Butter Cookies, milky and not really sweet since my mom doesn&#8217;t have any sweet tooth. My sisters also love them so much, they couldn&#8217;t stop asking me to bake more and more.  I feel satisfied enough with the result but I definitely will give them another shot to try. I&#8217;m still searching for the perfect recipe since this dough is waaaaaaay too sticky to shape. I don&#8217;t want you guys to get the same messy kitchen as mine yesterday, so I will post the recipe later *after one or two trials or after I have the perfect recipe of it* Hopefully you&#8217;re having a fabulous weekend, fellas!
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Rainbow Cookies!

I know I know, they are not perfectly shaped. They are cute and tasty but they also left me with a messy kitchen. They are supposed to be a cut-and-bake cookies but the shaping step was a huge test. It’s a real deal, I’m telling you.

Basicly, it’s a sugar cookie with a dollop of cream cheese. It tastes pretty much like Monde Butter Cookies, milky and not really sweet since my mom doesn’t have any sweet tooth. My sisters also love them so much, they couldn’t stop asking me to bake more and more. 

I feel satisfied enough with the result but I definitely will give them another shot to try. I’m still searching for the perfect recipe since this dough is waaaaaaay too sticky to shape. I don’t want you guys to get the same messy kitchen as mine yesterday, so I will post the recipe later *after one or two trials or after I have the perfect recipe of it*


Hopefully you’re having a fabulous weekend, fellas!

Baking Rainbow

I think food is pretty much like fashion. It has up-and-coming, down-and-out, or simply, it has its trend. Lately people has been talking about red velvet and rainbow cake, I guess cupcakes and macarons are out from the trend league now. What’s next? In my foresight, popcake it is.

I myself prefer a plain, simple cake but tastes wonderful rather than a fancy cute or colorful cake but dry and tastes ordinary.

But a friend of mine asked me to make a rainbow cake when I was in the mood of baking, so…voila. Rainbow Cake. As easy as a buttercake, bright, cheer everyone up.

But then things went too well with Ninies help, so after spending a whole day in the kitchen, playing with the rainbow dough and our fingers, here’s what we came up with…

Rainbow Cake Pops! 

Hopefully you will cheer up too to see them ;)

I baked Lemon Bars yesterday, I&#8217;ve been craving for my kitchen time since&#8230; last month. So I decided to rush in to the kitchen, no matter what. I went to the supermarket after class and bought a sack of lemons, sweet condensed milk, and cream cheese. I&#8217;m also planning to make some cake pops tomorrow, due to today I have a meeting in Transparency International Indonesia&#8217;s office. This picture actually was not Lemon Bars that I baked yesterday, this was from months ago. But I edited it and added my watermark (Hey you, thanks for reminding me the importance of watermarking!) Have I told you that Lemon Bars are one of the sweety divas in my family? Everyone loves it so much! Jaa matta ne!
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I baked Lemon Bars yesterday, I’ve been craving for my kitchen time since… last month. So I decided to rush in to the kitchen, no matter what.

I went to the supermarket after class and bought a sack of lemons, sweet condensed milk, and cream cheese. I’m also planning to make some cake pops tomorrow, due to today I have a meeting in Transparency International Indonesia’s office.

This picture actually was not Lemon Bars that I baked yesterday, this was from months ago. But I edited it and added my watermark (Hey you, thanks for reminding me the importance of watermarking!)

Have I told you that Lemon Bars are one of the sweety divas in my family? Everyone loves it so much!

Jaa matta ne!

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