croissants take two

My second attempt at making croissants. I've learned my lesson, this time I've followed the recipe word for word. The result was much better with the croissants having a more flakier texture. I definitely need to make them many more times in order to perfect the technique.

afternoon tea

Nice afternoon tea at the Tea Terrace in House of Fraser. I love the crockery they use. The two little scones were fruit ones with the perfect texture, served with strawberry jam and clotted cream. I had them the Cornwall way - jam first, cream second. Delicious!

palmiers take two

Palmiers are one of my favourites and I had to make them again. On this occasion, I followed the recipe word for word to make the puff pastry. The result is much better than my first attempt. They turned out to be more flaky and crispier. It won't be long before "take three"!

cheese crackers

Crispy cheese crackers are a great way to use up leftover cheddar. This recipe was given to me by my primary classmate EH. They require very little effort to make. These little crackers are very moreish and irresistible. Once you've started munching on them you will have great difficulty to stop. Yum!

croissants

I should have followed the recipe exactly. The croissants have turned out not flaky enough. My fault! I shouldn't have made more folds than needed. This has caused the butter to be absorbed by the dough instead of having layers of butter sandwiched in between. A lot of time and effort are needed to make these croissants. I now understand why artisan bakeries charge so much for their pastries and bread.




Recipe from: Richard Bertinet's Crust

baked raspberry cheesecake

With over 600 good reviews on the BBC Good Food website, I had to try making this cheesecake. It'll be our friend's birthday on Monday so I've decided to make him this as his present. It was a fairly easy cake to make, with the usual digestive biscuits base and with lots of full fat cream cheese for the filling. Yes, it has to be full fat. I don't see the point of using reduced fat or light version. If you are really worried over your fat and calories intake, just eat a smaller piece.

I was worried that it might collapse on our way delivering it. Luckily our friends only live a few minutes' drive from us so the cake arrived in one piece. Our friends offered both of us a slice of the cake to taste. It is quite a 'heavy' cake to eat, so a small slice is enough. The filling isn't too sweet and the raspberries made it slightly lighter. Maybe next time I could try making this with other soft fruits such as blueberries and blackberries.




Recipe from: BBC Good Food

madeira cake

Madeira cakes are not originated from the Madeira Islands, they are an English invention. It was named Madeira cake probably due to the fact in the good old days that this cake was served with the Madeira Wine. Madeira cake has a firm but light texture unlike the normal pound cake. The home made version tastes a lot better than the pre-packed supermarket ones I had when I was little. It is such an easy cake to make. However, this cake is not one of my hubby's favourite, so it might be a very long time before my next attempt at making this.




Recipe from: BBC Good Food

palmiers

I always thought Palmiers are easy to make. They are indeed very easy to make if you don't have to make your own puff pastry. I wouldn't label this post as Home Baking if I haven't attempted to make the puff pastry from scratch. :)

I have always been put off from attempting to make puff pastry as I have read how difficult it is to produce one that gives you the multi-layers of flaky pastry. But after making them for the very first time, I am no longer scare of making pastry, partly due to a very good recipe book that explains clearly the steps needed to make good pastry. I think I might make these Palmiers again next Saturday for my sister-in-law when we visit her next Sunday. She loves Palmiers a lot. Most importantly, hubby has approved this recipe worthwhile to be made again.





Recipe from: Richard Bertinet's Pastry

wild honey

This was my second visit to Wild Honey. On my first visit it has not achieved its one michelin star status. Wild Honey is the sister restaurant of Arbutus, another French Brasserie style eatery. It was a last minute booking to take my cousin to dinner who was visiting London. Originally I want to book another restaurant near Green Park but with the Jubilee concert taking place, it was best to avoid that area.

The food was very pleasant. Starter was okay, but I was surprised by how succulent the rabbit was with the subtle flavour of the cumin bringing the dish alive. The Clafoutis was delicious served with vanilla ice-cream, although I was expecting it to have the same texture as the traditional style of Clafoutis. We also had a nice bottle of Chardonnay to go with our meal. Overall it was a good meal even though the service was a bit sloppy.

Starter: Razor clams


Main: Saddle of rabbit


Dessert: Clafoutis

pear bourdaloue

Poached pears turned into pear bourdaloue (a.k.a. Tarte Bourdaloue aux poires)! These pear tarts are named after a Parisian street called Bourdaloue - where a patisserie was located had invented them. It took three and a half hours to make these tarts from start to finish. First, the pears were poached in syrup, followed by making the almond cream and finally the sweet short pastry. The recipe calls for pear liqueur for the almond cream but I couldn't find any in supermarket. It did say rum could also be used but there are so many varieties of rum and I have no idea which would be suitable. So I've omitted the liqueur to avoid ruining the outcome.



Ta dah! Here are the final products! They've turned out really well, much better than what I've expected. The tart bases don't need to be blind baked, so I was a bit concerned that they may end up with soggy bottoms. But they turned out to have a crisp tart with soft frangipane filling and moist poached pears. They taste so good that I wouldn't mind spending another three and a half hours to make them again. Hopefully next time it would take less time now that I know how to make them.

Recipe from: Richard Bertinet's Pastry

roast duck rice noodles

What a tasty bowl of roast duck rice noodles for lunch!