Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie.

You know how sometimes you wake up in the morning, and you feel like it's a chocolate chip cookie kind of day? 

Maybe for you, it's mee goreng or Ramly burger or KBBQ day. 

Well, I had that chocolate chip cookie day, and I didn't want to buy and eat them, because I know the sugar content in those are too high! And too sweet for my liking! 

So, while lying down, pretending to sleep so my kids would sleep, I googled here and there to find the right recipe that won't waste my ingredients. 

I also went to read their reviews, and found one that seems promising, and to my liking of a chocolate chip cookie. 

Soft and chewy in the middle, but not cakey, and not too crunchy. 

I only had one 250g of butter, so I need to be sure that this recipe works. I waited for the kids (except Adam) to wake up from their nap, and got them involved in the baking. I didn't let them "roll" the cookies onto the baking tray because our friends were coming over, and I didn't want the kitchen to be super messy. They were okay with it. So win. Hah. 

I was supposed to roll the cookie dough after scooping them one by one, but I didn't have the time so I just scoop them with a baking spoon and place them onto the tray. 

They came out fine. All looking different, because like us, we are all different right. Heh. 

Anyways, I made some smaller ones too and they turned out a bit more crunchy and crispier. I preferred the ones that are bigger. I think I used the 1 tablespoon's spoon. They came out chewy and not sweet, with a hint of some bitterness from the dark chocolate. 

Some important notes:
1) Do not overbake them. Because if you put the cookies longer in the oven, they will not be chewy anymore. The recipe says 7-9 minutes. I did mine at 8 minutes. They will not look brown, but they are amazeballs! 

2) Measure everything ingredients correctly, especially the flour. If you put more or less than the recipe, it may not turned out as how it is supposed to be, but you might still love it anyways. 

So, go give it a try, and let me know if this is a win or a no-go for you :) 

Ingredients: 

1 cup softened salted butter (or 227g)

1 cup granulated sugar (or 200g)

1 cup brown sugar (or 200g)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 eggs

3 cups all purpose flour (or 427g)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups chocolate chips (I mixed semi sweet and dark chocolate)

Steps: 

1 - Preheat oven at 190 Celsius. 

2 - In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside. 

3 - (In a mixer) Cream together softened butter, white sugar and brown sugar.  

4 - Add eggs and vanilla extract into the mixer. Beat until it becomes light. 

5 - Add in the dry ingredients and mix well.

6 - Add chocolate chips and continue mixing until combined. I put in more than 2 cups of chocolate chips because why not. 

7 - Roll the cookie dough and place them on the baking tray (lined with baking paper). 

8 - Bake for 8-minutes, at 190 degrees Celsius. 

Raspberry Oatmeal Bar.

Sweet cravings got me into baking my own baked goods these days - because if buy from outside, it's either too sweet, too expensive or cannot find. 

I first had this Raspberry Oatmeal Bar at a friend's house, and their friend from America made this, and the moment I took my first bite, I knew I had to get the recipe from her - and she was so nice to send them to me! 

I modified a bit because I wanted it to be a lot less sweeter. The first time I made it, it was not that bad - just sweet. Then I reduced the sugar, and upped a bit of the rolled oats and now, this is how I like them! 

Do not ask Adrian or Vanessa. They tried it, and hated it - pfft. Also because they are not really a dessert and oats kind of people heh. Boo. 

So yeah, here is the modified recipe. Feel feel to change it to your own liking, if you like them sweeter and all. 

Enjoy baking them because they are so so easy! 

Ingredients: 

170g softened butter 

150g brown sugar

200g flour

150g rolled oats

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

Raspberry jam (or any other jam you like) - at room temperature so it is easier to spread

Steps: 

1 - Preheat oven at 200 Celcius. 

2 - Mix together softened butter and brown sugar. Mix well. 

3 - Add the rest of the dry ingredients (except jam). Mix well. 

4 - Line 9x13 baking pan with baking paper. 

5 - Spread 2/3 of the mixture onto the pan. Press them flat to cover the bottom of the pan. 

6 - Spread some raspberry jam on top of the mixture and spread them evenly. 

7 - Sprinkle the remaining mixture on top of the jam to cover them. Press the mixture lightly. 

8 - Bake for 20-minutes, at 200 degrees Celsius. 

Till next recipe, bye now.

How To Make Your Own Jam With Only 3 Ingredients!

 If you were to tell me years ago, that I would be making my own jam in the future, I would have said to you, "You mad bro!"

I have never seen myself so domesticated before it is insane. This is what a full lockdown can do to you, and when people give you loads of berries and your children and husband are not big fans of those berries. 

It started because I didn't want the berries to turn bad - so I decided to make a jam out of it - that way, we can keep it for long. Coincidentally, our store-bought jam also finished liau - so perfect time or what. 

I started googling for easy recipes and many of them have pectin in them, but since I did not know then what pectin is, I googled, "Homemade berries jam without pectin" and the recipe came out and it worked! 

FYI - these berries also have got pectin in them naturally so when you cook them longer, they will get thicker over time and becomes jam after keeping in the fridge. 

So, all you need are your berries (can be just strawberry or mix berries), sugar, and lemon juice. SO EASY RIGHT. Ohh, and with lots of love heh. 

Because it is that easy! 

The first thing to do is you would want to dice your berries. Then, put them in a pot and your fire should be medium - not too big later your berries chau-weh-ta (burnt). 

After you realize that more liquid is coming out of the berries, taste to see if the combination of all the berries turns out to be sweet or sour. If sour, add in some sugar and stir. 

Then, add in a bit of lemon juice. Yes, even if the berries are sour, you still need to add a bit of lemon juice, because the lemon juice will lower the pH of the mixture. 

Then, taste again to make sure it becomes the kind of jam that you would like - not too sweet and not too sour. I always add sugar slowly to make sure it doesn't get too sweet. 

Oh, also remember to mash the berries to the consistency that you would like. If you like your jam to be chunkier, then mash less. 

Let the jam cools down, and transfer to glass bottles to keep. I'm not sure if you can keep in plastic bottles, because why not right? But I just follow what people usually do - so I also keep mine in glass bottles heh. 

The first batch that I did, I kept it in the fridge and almost finished. So I guess time to get more berries to make more jam. 

You can try to make your own jam because the store-bought ones - don't know what other preservatives they put inside. So, I guess you can say that this is a much healthier option for you and your family. 

And it is so satisfying to make it seriously. 

Here's a quick video :)

Till next time, bye now. 

Healthy Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Cookies.

 Gone are the days when I crave cookies and go look outside and buy - like from Subway and other places - because cookies that are too sweet are just a no-go. 

I know of people who particularly want sweet cookies, and yes cookies need to be sweet, if not tak sedap okay. Don't know what has gotten into me also, because I've been trying to eat healthier. Heh. I can almost hear Adrian laughing at me saying that. Hah. 

It's true la okay. 

The keyword is 'I try'. 

I was scrolling through recipes on Instagram and I saw the photo of these healthy cookies and looked at the recipes, and they are so simple!

So simple I decided to try it the next day! 

It's flourless and sugarless - so if you have bananas (better if overripe), rolled oats, and peanut butter, then you are set to go! It's so easy, quick,, and healthy!

Also, according to the website where I found this recipe, this recipe is vegan, gluten-free, oil-free, sugar-free, and naturally sweetened! "Nutritious enough to have it for breakfast". 

Here are the recipes and there is a video that you can watch too :) 

These measurements are meant to make about 60 regular size cookies okay, so if you would like to make lesser than that, then just divide all the number by half. 

If not, you can always make more and give them to your friends. I realized kids somehow love the cookies more than adults - because it's really very healthy kind okay. 

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 cups rolled oats
• 2 cups of mashed banana (about 5-6 big ones)
• 2/3 cup peanut butter
• 2/3 chocolate chip (optional)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
• 1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
• 1 tsp salt 

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees. Line a baking sheet over a baking pan. 
2. In a large bowl, mix together mashed bananas, peanut butter, vanilla extra, cinnamon, and salt. 
3. Add rolled oats and chocolate chips (or cranberries - optional) and mix until all is combined. 
4. Scoop the dough into the baking pan and flatten it. 
5. Bake for 15-minutes (for cherry texture). Anything more than 17-minutes will make the cookies quite hard. 
6. Let it cool and enjoy! 

You can choose not to add the peanut butter if you want to be extremely healthy or something, but the peanut butter I feel makes it a lot nicer! Also, you can omit the chocolate chips. It's really very simple and you really can be flexible with any ingredients you want to add in. 

I tried making smaller versions but 15-minutes seems to be too long for them. So, I stayed with the regular size and 15-minutes is just ngam! :)

Enjoy this little quick video to see how it was done! 

Till next baking session, bye now. 

10-Ingredients Chocolate Brownies (One Half With Peanut Butter)!

Brownies are one of those dessert things that my family would crave randomly - quite often actually. And since we love to eat them so much, it is better if we learn to make them and be good at them. 

That way, we can use good ingredients that we can afford heh. and make it less sweet. 

I was very keen to learn to make brownies because I saw online a few recipes and they seemed so doable. I also know and read online that not all recipes will ngam you so try a few times baru tau. 

Then, one day I saw Pat K's IG and she mentioned that she has tried a few recipes and this is the one that she likes the most - so I decided to give it a try. Ingredients are simple enough so the trip to a bakery to get those supplies was easy. 

This is my third attempt (first time with peanut butter) and I am loving it! It turned out to be better than the first time I did it - the differences were I used a better cocoa powder and chocolate chips and I pre-heated the baking pan this time. 

So, this round of brownies was way better - crispy on top and gooey in the middle. In the recipe below, I minus the sugar content already so it is a little different than Pat K's. We prefer less sweet brownies because when brownies become too sweet, it's not nice (to us anyway). Actually, even after I lessen the sugar content, it is still sweet. I don't dare to lessen more because scared later the recipe will lari sikit. Heh. 

So here goes. 

10-INGREDIENTS CHOCOLATE BROWNIES (HALF WITH PEANUT BUTTER)

Ingredients:-

• 225g salted butter (melted and cooled)
• 2 tablespoons canola oil 
• 150g brown sugar
• 100g white sugar
• 4 eggs (room temperature)
• 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 140g all-purpose flour
• 120g unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 200g chocolate chips (or chopped chocolate)

STEPS:-

1. Preheat the oven (and baking pan with baking sheet lined) to 175 degrees Celcius. 
2. Combine butter, oil, and sugar (brown and white) in a large bowl. 
3. Add eggs, vanilla extract, and salt. 
4. Whisk till everything is well combined. 
5. In the same bowl, sift in flour and cocoa powder. 
6. Add in chocolate chips (or chocolate chunks). 
7. Gently fold the batter with a spatula till well combined. DO NOT OVER-MIX - that is why I add in the chocolate chips then only mix together to avoid over mixing. 
8. Pour the batter into the preheated baking pan. 
• This is where you add the peanut butter (if you want). 
• Put a few dollops of peanut butter on top and straighten them out with a butter knife.
• Or you can pour half the brownies batter then add the peanut butter and then 'close' it with the other half of the brownies batter. 
9. You can add more chocolate chips on top (totally optional). 
10. Bake the brownies for 35-40-minutes (my best is 35 minutes).
11. Once the time is up, turn off the oven and leave the brownies inside for a good 2-minutes. 
12. Remove from the oven and let it rest/cool down before you cut with a plastic knife (brownie hack: your brownies won't stick to your plastic knife). 
13. Or even better if you can get those brownies cutter and then you will get even cut brownies - unlike mine. Every piece is unique hah. 

So there it is. 

I modified a bit on the recipe and steps according to what worked for me so yeah. You can go try and see. Maybe you would like to add more sugar to yours or use bitter chocolate chips etc. I used milk chocolate chips and they are so yummy, please. 

Till next cooking and baking, bye now. 

Moist Chocolate Zucchini Muffin.

We are baking - again! 

I know I have failed baking many times but you know what people always say - "Failure is not the opposite of success. It is part of success"

So, here we are. Heh. 

I do not wish to be a baker but ever since I started working from home and being able to be a stay at home mom at the same time, I find cooking and baking very therapeutic. Also very chun that I started my 30-Day TLS Weight Management Solutions Program so I need to eat healthier for 30-days - which means I need to cook most of the time for my own meals. 

This is really when I realized that cooking (and baking) is so fun and I love that I now get to do it at my mom's new kitchen hah - shall wait for our kitchen to be renovated then you will see more videos and photos of the cooking sessions. Heh. 

Anyway, this time we filmed the baking with Sha Lynn (and occasionally Daryl hah), and please, we did not rehearse anything so it was all impromptu. 

Hence, the many baking "oopsie".

You have been warned. 

There were like a few steps that we sort of missed/got confused with but surprisingly, the muffins turned out great! I cannot believe how yummy those muffins were! 

My dad really loved it because even though we put a cup of sugar in, it was not sweet at all! It was just the perfect kind of chocolate cake! 

So, here goes the recipe - and the video below if you feel like you want to watch us bake. 

Also - I have read the recipes and steps many times but still we did it wrongly! Hah. I guess those "wrong" steps did not matter as much. BECAUSE IT WAS FINGER LICKING GOOD!

MOIST CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI MUFFIN

Dry Ingredients Bowl:-

• 1 and 1/4 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/3 teaspoon salt
• (Optional - 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon)
• (Optional - 1/2 teaspoon ground coffee)

Wet Ingredients Bowl:-

• 1 egg (or 1/4 cup of mashed banana)
• 1/3 cup oil (olive oil or vegetable oil)
• 1 cup sugar (1/2 cup white sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar)
• 1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons coconut cream (or 1/2 cup buttermilk)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Add Ons:-

• I cup of grated zucchini (medium-sized)
• (Optional - 1/3 cup of chocolate chips)

Steps to making the best Moist Chocolate Zucchini Muffin:-

1. Grate zucchini and set aside - remove water with paper towels or drain it with a sift. 
2. If you making your own buttermilk, now is the time to add the 2 teaspoons of white vinegar or lemon juice into it and set aside. 
3. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius.
4. Combine all the Dry Ingredients Bowl together. Remember to sift everything. We did not sift because we didn't have a sift, so we skipped this step. But please, sift all the dry ingredients. 
5. In a bigger bowl, combine all the Wet Ingredients Bowl and mix them till it is well combined. Recommended using a hand beater okay. 
6. Then, pour all the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients bowl and using a spatula, stir until everything is well mixed together. 
7. Put in the grated zucchini and optional chocolate chips and continue to stir till well combined. 
8. Prepare your cup liners on the baking tray and scoop the batter into them. 
9. Bake for about 25-30 minutes. (in my video I mentioned 18-20 minutes but turned out we actually put in for a total of 28 minutes). 
10. Test with a toothpick to check if it's cook. If the toothpick comes out clean, then it's 100% done. 
11. If you like your muffins to be a bit like a lava cake, then any time before 18 minutes should be good. 

So, there it is. The recipe to make the best moist chocolate zucchini muffin. Sha Lynn was so doubtful that it will be nice because we put an entire zucchini into the batter but she loved it so much, she immediately went to pack 4 muffins to bring home to her parents. So cute. 

Alex had 2 muffins and I had 2 muffins and then, no more muffins on the table. We will be making more because seems like the entire household loved it too much. Sadly, Adrian did not get to enjoy it because we ate it all. Hah. 

Till next time, bye now. 

Spicy Korean Chicken Stir-Fry.

Korean food this time.

It is like cooking updates one after another because what else do you do when you cannot go out and spend the entire day at home, right?

I decided to get a small tub of Gojuchang sauce because initially, I wanted to learn how to make Sundubu Jiggae from my mom (and she did tell me the steps etc) but it seems like so much work so I'm just going to do other Gojuchang-related meals first.

I happened to see this recipe on Marion Grasby's website and it was so simple so I decided to do it.

For this, you actually only need Gojuchang paste and the rest is just fresh ingredients that you would like to add into this dish.

 I sliced a chicken breast and marinated with Gojuchang paste for a few hours. Actually, no need so many hours wan. I just had a lot of time so I decided to marinate it in the noon and cooked them in the evening.

No need to put salt or any other sauce because Gojuchang paste itself is already very flavorful.

I then opened my fridge and get some of the vegetables I can see and chopped them up into bit-sizes. I started with garlic and then in goes all the vegetables and once, my vegetables (I think) are semi-cooked, I then put in the Gojuchang marinated chicken slices.

Then, it is all just stir and fry until the meat is fully cooked.

To me, I think I added too much of the Gojuchang paste. I think next time, I will just put a tablespoon first and see. If not enough, only put another one. It was a lil too spicy for my MIL and husband. A little too thick too if you ask me.

But overall, flavour is superb and this is the easiest recipe seriously.

Go try please.

Till next time, bye now. 

Pad Kra Pao (Chicken Stir-Fry with Holy Basil).

I don't cook a lot (because one - I am a very lazy person actually and cooking is just too much work, and two - I don't like to wash the after-cooking-things).

But this MCO has "motivated" all of us to some sort of not be lazy in a sense.  

So, to make time pass faster and to do something other than putting my kids to sleep (back-to-back), I cook on the weekends. Or at least I try. 

My mother-in-law is someone who always makes sure that our kitchen/pantry is well stocked up (even on normal days before the whole #dudukrumah thing started), so cooking at home is already a step easier - no need to wake up early to go do the marketing.

I am a big fan of Thai food (shame on you if you didn't already know that - kidding!), so it only makes sense that I have always wanted to master cooking Thai food. 

This basil dish has always been my sure-order whenever I have Thai food. But it is so hard to find one that is really good and satisfying - with the right level of spiciness. Most of the times, it is just not spicy enough - no kick. 

So, I decided to try it for myself - since many people told me that it is quite an easy dish to make. 

This recipe is really simple okay. 

I like to prepare all its ingredients and sauce before I start so I don't like panic last minute (something I learned during this MCO). Heh. 

Preparations (step by step) for you guys. This is what I do but you can do it another way of course.

1. Bring out the minced meat (or diced chicken or any protein) and let them be thawed first. Cannot cook the meat if it is still frozen okay. 
2. Peel 5 cloves of garlic and put them into a blender. Don't blend/pound yet! Add in 5 red chillies and then only blend. You can use any chilli actually depending if you want the dish to be spicy or not. If don't want spicy at all, then no need to blend/pound anything - just chop the garlic. Once done, set aside the garlic & chilli paste. 
3. Pluck the basil leaves and wash, then leave them aside. 
4. Chop some onions (you can add long beans and any other vegetables too). I tried with long beans and cauliflower and it worked too!
5. For the sauce: EQUAL amount of oyster sauce and soy sauce and HALF of fish sauce, a bit of sugar, a bit of water and a bit of dark soy sauce. I usually will use 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce and soy sauce, then half tablespoon of fish sauce - then sugar, water and dark soy sauce I put a little bit (no measurements wan). Mix all of it in a bowl. 

Once all is ready, then it's cooking time! 

Put in some oil and the garlic & chilli paste. Stir-fry until the aroma is everywhere and you find yourself coughing. Hah. Kid you not. 

Then, add the minced meat. 

If I have vegetables, then I will add in my long beans first. 

Once the minced meat is cooked, then add in the onions. I like to add onions later because I love that it is a bit crunchy and not softened. 

Stir them for a little while more and then add the sauce. 

Let it simmer for a while. At this point, you can put in more dark soy sauce if you would like it to be darker. 

The last step is to put in the basil leaves and turn off the heat. 

Stir the leaves in and the dish is ready to be eaten! 

I used the same recipe to make Thai Basil Fried Rice and Pad Kra Pao Spaghetti and they were bombs, please! So so good.

I don't use just minced meat all the time - sometimes cubed chicken meat and sometimes minced salmon. It can really be any protein you want to be honest that is why I love this recipe so much. It is so easy! 

The sauce is really applicable to all kinds of stir-fry if you asked me. It's like my secret sauce now. Not so secret anymore heh. Highly recommended for those who cannot really cook well but loves cooking. This is your go-to sauce please!

Go try them!

Till next recipe, bye now! 

Homemade Pesto Meatballs.

The husband made pesto second-time (both without pine nuts because don't know where to get them nuts) and we kept some of the pastor sauce in the fridge so we can use them next time. Ain't nobody got the time to do pesto as and when one craves for it. Heh.

With the extra pesto sauce in the fridge, I thought of eating something other than pesto pasta for a change so I went to google to get some ideas.

TGFG - Thank God for Google!

Then, I saw the word 'Pesto Meatballs' and I was immediately sold - because I know how easy and mess-free it is to make meatballs.

So, I grabbed half of a chicken breast (with the other half, it looks like a butterfly. Since this is a first-time trial, I decided not to risk wasting my chicken breast. Heh.

I took half of the butterfly cut and grind it with our newly-purchased Tefal blender (because the previous one broke down in the middle of MCO) and we have for ourselves, a handful of minced chicken meat.

TGFOS - Thank God for Online Shopping!

Then using just one bowl, I mix all the ingredients:

- Minced meat (you can use pork, beef whatsoever meat you want - it is your meatballs after all).
- one whole egg
- pesto sauce
- bread crumbs
- salt & pepper

Don't ask me on the measurements okay because I just put according to how I feel only. HAHA.

Then, mix all of these ingredients together. I should have put in more crumbs so that my meatballs not too sticky but it was still okay. Mine just lack salt because I was so scared that it becomes too salty since the pesto was quite salty already.

Then, after that just shape them to however you like.

It can be mini patties too actually - because the second batch I made it flatter.

BECAUSE I DID NOT WANT TO ADD MORE OIL INTO THE PAN - save them oil okay.

And we have ourselves some really yummy homemade pesto meatballs - the green colour is really a bonus! Loved it!

Definitely will be making more of these meatballs in the future.

Till next time.