Sweet Potato Casserole

This is one of the dishes at Thanksgiving :

6 cups mashed, cooked sweet potatoes
2 cups sugar
1 stick butter
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup whole milk
1/2 tsp salt
Mix using stand mixer with wire whisk attachment to catch any sweet potato
strings. Place in casserole dish.

Topping
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup melted butter
1/3 cup flour
1 cup chopped pecans

Toast pecans in small amount of butter in small fry pan.
Mix all topping ingredients and put on top of potato mixture.

May refrigerate and cook when needed at 350 degrees until hot. About 30 to
45 min.

Summer Pasta Salad

Cherry tomatoes (sliced)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp onion powder
Pepper to taste
1/4 tsp basil
1 cup cooked pasta (your choice)
1 can of corn
1/2 cup of cooked shelled edamame
1/4 cup of sliced olives
1/2 cup of feta cheese
Dash of oregano
Dash of rosemary
Bacon bits (optional)

Mix olive oil, lemon juice and herbs and spices.
Toss tomatoes in the olive oil mixture. Let stand at room temperature atleast 30 minutes for tomatoes to release its juices, tossing occasionally.

Stir in pasta and other ingredients. Toss.

Serve or refrigerate up to 1 day.

Milkway cookies

My friend, Sonia, shared this recipe with me. It is popular during the Chinese New Year season.

Ingredients:
100 grams rolled oats
125 grams corn flour
250 grams all-purpose flour
225 grams fine granulated sugar
2 tablespoons custard powder
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
250 grams butter
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla essence
milk powder & icing sugar (3 parts milk powder : 1 part sugar)(I made do without this because I did not have any milk powder in the pantry and it was snowing outside so a trip to the grocery store was just too much trouble)

Sift the dry ingredients together.
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add in vanilla essence and egg yolks. Mix well.
Add in oats and flour and form into a dough.
Roll dough out to about 1/4 inch thick. Cut with cookie cutter.
Bake in 350F for about 10-15 minutes.
Lightly dust with powdered sugar and milk powder when cookie is cooled to room temperature.

Kuih Kemboja / Kuih Bakar

This famous Malaysian delicacy is usually found in most Pasar Malams (Night Markets). It is usually made in a flower shaped mold (Photo on the right belongs to http://kampungboycitygal.blogspot.com), hence the name Kuih Kemboja (Kemboja is a type of fragrant flower)
Well, since I do not have that flower-shaped mold, I used muffin pans instead.
I found the recipe from My Kitchen Snippets and modified it a little bit.

Ingredients :
1 cup sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/4 cups coconut milk
4 large eggs
2 tbsp melted butter
1 tsp pandan paste + 1 cup of water (mixed together)
sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 325 F and grease the muffin pans lightly.
Beat eggs and sugar until sugar dissolves, but not fluffy.
Mix pandan paste, water into coconut milk. Stir.
Add in the flour and coconut milk mixture alternately into the egg and sugar mixture.
Combine it well.
Pour batter into muffin pan (3/4 full)
Sprinkle some sesame seeds on top.
Bake for about 30 minutes until the edges are lightly brown and skewer comes out clean.
It should be very easy to remove from the muffin pan.
I also tried this similar recipe from Auntie Lily :
3 large eggs
1 can (400ml) coconut cream
50 ml water
1/2 tsp pandan paste
4 ozs all-purpose flour
4 ozs fine granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
sesame seeds
Method:

Preheat oven to 350 f. and put in cast-iron pan for heating.

Beat eggs and sugar till sugar dissolves and not fluffy.

Mix pandan paste and water to coconut cream.

Add in flour and coconut cream mixture alternately to the egg and sugar mixture.

Microwave batter until it thickens slightly.

Brush heated pan with a little oil and pour batter , sprinkle with sesame seeds and put to bake for 45 - 55 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool before serving.

Both recipes turned out well.

Royal Icing for Sugar Cookies

Royal Icing is a pure white icing that dries to a smooth, hard, matte finish.

3 egg whites (or meringue powder)
1 lb confectioners' sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp almond extract or vanilla extract

Place all ingredients in a bowl and beat on medium high for a full 10 minutes. Icing will become thick and glossy. Keep covered with a damp cloth while using, removing small portions to a separate bowl as needed. Tint if desired. Can be thinned by adding few drops of water.

Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup softened butter
3 oz cream cheese (softened)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg yolk (reserve the white)
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, combine sugar, butter, cream cheese, salt, extracts and egg yolk.
Blend well.
Stir in flour until well blended
Chill dough for 2 hours
Pre-heat oven to 376 F

Dust rolling surface with flour. Roll out dough, one third at a time to about 1/8 inch thick.
Cut into desired shape with cookie cutter.
Place on ungreased cookie sheet.
Brush with egg white (if desired) and sprinkle with colored sugar(optional)
Bake 7-10 minutes or until lightly golden brown.

Can be decorated with royal icing (See recipe here)

Picture below shows a variety of cookies made using the same sugar cookie dough.
1) Added with chocolate chips
2) Placed an almond on top
3) Dusted with powdered sugar (added a little bit of green coloring into the dough)
4) Added some crushed graham cracker crust and oats

Creme de Menthe Chocolate Chip cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter (softened)
2 eggs
3/4 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons mint liqueur (I replaced it with mint extract)
3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups mint chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 F
In a large bowl, mix together the butter and both sugars until smooth.
Beat in eggs, stir in the mint extract.
Combine flour, baking soda, salt. Stir into the egg mixture.
Mix in the chocolate chips.
Drop dough by heaping teaspoonsfuls into ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.
Allow to cool (5 minutes), transfer to a wire rack.