Chinese new year is not complete with pineapple tarts. This was my first time making pineapple tarts because it’s impossible to find them in Australia. Pineapple tarts are one of the most expensive new year goodies after making them on my own, I finally understood why. Making these tarts is seriously a lot of work and my back was aching after that. To make pineapple tarts, first you need to prepare the jam. Cooking the jam takes two hours and requires a lot of patience. After that you need to make the cookie dough. I made the jam and cookie dough at the same time and then placed it in the fridge to rest overnight. The next day, I spent about 1.5hr rolling the cookie dough out. You will probably spend about 4hr in total preparing the jam, cookie dough and making the tarts. To me, the perfect pineapple tart is one with a crumbly, melting texture to it and the jam must not be too sweet. So the trick to a crumbly, melty texture …

This is the year of the dog and since I’ve got a lot of time on my hands, I’ve decided to be a little creative and make something different. I wanted an Asian twist to my usual cookie dough recipe to be included into my Chinese New Year menu so I’ve decided to add roasted black sesame powder. It is relatively easy to make these cookies but as I was rolling out the cookie dough, I’ve realised that the recipe could be simplified by using cashew nut halves for the ears instead of having a separate cookie dough – that would save half the time. Anyhow it is always fun trying out new things. After the cookies were baked, I asked my friends what does it look like. One said dog and the other two said koala. Seriously koala? When I looked at it closely, those with shorter ears do look like koalas whereas those with longer ears looked like dogs. Just happened that I made these cookies a day before Australia Day so it …

Less than three weeks to Chinese New Year and I’m prepping my cookie menu. This time round I’ll be baking all my cookies in Australia then taking them back to Singapore, just in time for Chinese New Year. Today I’ve decided to make pandan melting moment cookies. It is similar to kueh bangkit which is melt in your mouth tapioca cookies. To make these melting moment cookies, you will require potato starch. If you can’t find potato starch, you can use corn starch instead but potato starch makes the texture smoother. This recipe also doesn’t require egg, it is a simple creaming method that binds all the ingredients together. Nutrition per cookie (one batch makes 50) Ingredients 125g unsalted butter (room temperature) 40g icing sugar 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 1/2 tsp pandan essence 125g potato starch 80g cake flour 20g desiccated coconut Directions Preparation time: 10min Baking time: 15-20min or when the cookie turns golden brown Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Line the baking sheet with parchment paper In a mixing bowl, beat butter, …

First post of the year! I’ve actually made these cookies last year during Christmas but I didn’t have the time to post it. It’s really easy to make cookies because all you need is a good simple cookie dough recipe and then you can add whatever ingredients you want into it. Since I was feeling rather fancy over christmas, I’ve decided to make some pistachio and cranberry cookies. Nutrition per cookie (one batch makes 60) Ingredients 140g unsalted butter (room temperature) 100g caster sugar 2 egg yolks 1 tsp vanilla essence 240g plain flour 1 tsp baking powder 50g pistachio nuts 50g cranberries Directions Preparation time: 10min Baking time: 15-20min or when the cookie turns golden brown Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy Add in the two egg yolks and 1 tsp of vanilla essence and continue to cream Sieve the flour and baking powder into the creamed mixture. Fold it in until a dough forms Fold in the pistachio and cranberries Cling wrap it and leave it in the fridge overnight …