Tiramisu Recipe

I was really bored the other day and wanted to try my hands on making some desserts, mind you, I actually suck at baking. If you follow my Instagram, you would've seen the disaster that was me trying to make macarons and chiffon cake. So anyway, I started searching for the best tiramisu recipe on the Internet to see if I could pull it off. After my second try, my mom finally gave her seal of approval - the first one was too soggy and the coffee wasn't thick enough.

I got my recipe off taste.com.au as usual and adapted to our liking with my mom's friend's recipe. And don't worry, it won't take you more than an hour to prepare, I promise!

Tiramisu (serves 8)

Ingredients:

For the coffee mixture:

4 heaping tsps of Nescafé coffee powder

4 tsps of caster sugar

1 tsp of vanilla essence

1.5/375ml cups of hot water

A few drops of coffee liqueur/Kahlua/Amaretto (optional)

For the mascarpone mixture: 

3 eggs, separated 

1/3 cup caster sugar

250g mascarpone cheese

300ml thickened cream, lightly whipped

~25 sponge fingers (2 packets, depending on how closely you're laying them later on

Van Houten cocoa powder

Directions:

1. Mix the first four ingredients for the coffee mixture in a shallow dish or a large bowl. 

2. Add in a few drops of coffee liqueur/Kahlua/Amaretto and chill in the fridge while you proceed to making your mascarpone mixture. 

If you want to make a child-friendly version, don't add in the coffee liqueur. Alternatively, I've read that you can swap the alcohol for orange juice but I haven't tried it out myself, so don't take my word for it. 

3. In a large bowl, beat egg yolks and sugar using electric beaters until pale and thick. Then, add in your mascarpone cheese and stir until well combined. Gently fold in the whipped cream until combined. 

I'm not too sure what'll happen if I stirred the whipped cream with too much force but considering that I did have to beat air into it, I didn't want to take any chances. 

4. Whip your egg whites until soft peaks form. I think I went a bit overboard but the mixture still turned out alright. Gently fold your egg whites into the mascarpone mixture. Folding in too vigorously may cause the mixture to deflate. 

I forgot to take a photo of how the egg yolks should look but if you enlarge the first photo in the collage, you'll be able to see the desired colour and consistency - pale and thick.

5. Dip the lady fingers into your coffee mixture but don't dip for too long or it'll become soggy!

Remember, once you chill it overnight, the lady fingers will continue to absorb moisture.

6. Arrange the lady fingers in a dish and then top it with a generous layer of mascarpone cheese. Finally, sift the cocoa powder over the mascarpone mixture and repeat. I made 2 layers but you can opt for more.

This recipe should be able to fill a 19cm square dish. Alternatively, you can put them into a few dishes/containers like I did. Be careful not to layer your tiramisu to the brim, or you won't be able to cover your container later. You must cover the container, otherwise, your tiramisu will dry out.

7. Cover the container with cling wrap or the cover that came with your container. Refrigerate and chill overnight.

This dish is best served two days after preparation, so hang in there!

You can opt to sprinkle the final layer of cocoa powder when you want to eat it but I prefer to let it set together with the rest of the tiramisu just because I don't want to choke on any dried cocoa powder.

Obviously I ran out of the mascarpone mixture until the very end and this was the product. 

Must-try Places to Eat in Penang

Coming back home for the holidays over the last two end of semester breaks has definitely thought me a thing or two about Penang and her food. One - there is no such thing as going on a 'diet' in Penang because the food tastes too good and it would be a cardinal sin to forgo the good food for a better figure (yes the diet plans can wait). And two - almost everybody sees number one to be true. Also, most of us aren't beach bums and don't need to maintain a bikini body. Because Penang food is so good and because I'm proudly Penangite, I have decided to compile a list of the top go-to makan (eating) places here, in no particular order.

1. Gu Bak Koay Teow (Beef Noodle Soup)
This dish closely resembles the Vietnamese Pho, more commonly found in Australia than in Penang, probably because we have this beefy goodness as a substitute. Unlike the overly-expensive and watered down pho we find in Australia, this beef noodle soup is packed with flavour from the broth, which has been simmering in the pot probably since the wee hours in the morning.

Another dish to look out for at this coffee shop is the fried oysters - oysters fried with eggs. And no, they didn't just waste perfectly good oysters that could've been eaten in a fancy restaurant for this because it's really really good.

Beef Noodle Soup. We opted to take-away our noodles to avoid the crowd. Hence, the really pretty looking bowl.

Lam Ah Coffee Shop is located along the busy intersection of Beach Street and Chulia Street and is constantly packed, even after lunch hours. The opening hours depend on how fast they sell out that day. They start about an hour before lunch time and start taking their last orders a bit after 3 p.m. 

Pro tip: The coffee shop is probably pretty darn good if it is still super packed/has a line after the lunch rush. Most coffee shops in Penang are packed during the lunch hour.

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2. Hokkien Mee (Hokkien Prawn Noodles)

Hokkien Mee, otherwise known as Har Mee or prawn noodles in the southern parts of Malaysia and Singapore is a staple breakfast dish among non-Muslim Malaysians and Singaporeans. I say non-Muslim because most Hokkien Mee sellers incorporate sliced pork into the dish, making it non Halal (permissible for Muslim consumption/use).

Hokkien Mee with their homemade chili paste for that extra kick.
Trust me, don't ask for more. They know how much they're giving and it's just right.

This piping hot bowl of goodness can be found in Classic Coffee Shop along Perak Road in the morning. Be sure to be there early because the waiting time is immensely long but well worth it. Another thing to look out for at this location is the Pork Bone Soup (Bak Kut Teh), which is sold at night. Not too bad considering that you're in Penang and this dish is the star dish of Klang.

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More after the jump!

Pumpkin Cheesecake Recipe

Last summer, my mom and I decided to bake something just because we were bored, so I started Googling recipes online to see what piqued our interests most. Well, we had like half a pumpkin at home and I stumbled upon this recipe on The Food Network, so we decided to roll with that.

We made a few adaptations to the recipe because we didn't want to use canned pumpkins. So we roasted our pumpkin in a 180C oven for about an hour. Then, we scraped the pumpkin flesh and blended it until it became a puree. We also added in some water to make it more runny. The full recipe can be found here.

Pumpkin Cheesecake (serves 10)

Crust:
1 3/4 cups graham cracker/digestive biscuit crumbs
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 stick melted salted butter

Filling:
3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
425g pumpkin puree (we used puree from a real pumpkin but you can swap it out for a can of pumpkin puree)
3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350F/180C.

2. To make the crust, combine crumbs, sugar and cinnamon. Add melted butter. Press down flat into a 9-inch springform pan. Set aside.

3. To make the filling, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add the pumpkin puree, eggs, egg yolk, sour cream, sugar and the spices. Then, add in flour and vanilla. Beat everything together until it is well combined.

4. Pour the mixture into the springform pan with the crust. Spread the batter out evenly and place it in oven for an hour. Remove from the oven and let it sit for 15 minutes.

Alternatively, if you don't have a springform pan, you can use a regular cake pan, but be careful when you're taking the cake out.

5. Next, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours. Finally, remove the plastic wrap and pop the cake out of the springform pan or carefully slide a knife around the perimeter of your pan and turn it upside down to get the cake out.
N/B. For some reason, our cake took more than 4 hours to set, so to be on the safe side, let your cake set overnight.

No bake Nutella Cheesecake with Salted Candied Hazelnuts

After a myriad of failed attempts at making macarons, coughs even after using cake mix, I've finally decided to upload a post on my successful attempt in making a no-bake Nutella cheesecake along with the recipe to redeem myself from the shame that is my inability to bake macarons properly, yet.

Anyway, I adapted this recipe from Alvin Quah and combined the best of what both recipes had to offer.

No bake Nutella Cheesecake with Salted Candied Hazelnuts (serves 8)

Crust:
20 chocolate ripple biscuits
1/2 cup hazelnut meal
100g butter, melted
50g

Nutella Cake:
500g Philadelphia cream cheese
200g Nutella
1/2 cup caster sugar

Candied Hazelnuts:
60g hazelnuts
½ caster sugar
2 tbsp water
1 tbsp ground sea salt

1. Place the chocolate ripple biscuits in a freezer bag and break them up until they resemble coarse sand.

2. In a mixing bowl, combine the broken up chocolate ripple biscuits, hazelnut meal, melted butter and nutella until the mixture reaches a wet sand consistency.

3. Press the mixture firmly into a 20cm springform pan and refrigerate for a least 30 minutes.

4. To make the cheesecake mixture, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Be careful to get the cream cheese made specifically for baking, otherwise your cheesecake won't set! You can try but I can't guarantee that it will stay standing for more than 10 minutes, ie. it'll melt.

5. Then add in the nutella and sugar. Beat until well combined and spread the mixture onto the crust. Use a spatula to even out the top of the cake. Refrigerate for at least four hours or overnight to set. I used the freezer because my first attempt resulted in a cheesecake that couldn't set.

6. To make the candied hazelnuts, preheat the oven at 180C and roast the hazelnuts for 7 minutes. Be sure not to leave them in the oven for too long or they'll burn.

7. Remove from oven and let it cool for 1 minute. Then, wrap them in a tea towel and rub together to remove the skins of the hazelnuts. Discard the skins and set the roasted hazelnuts aside.

8. To make the toffee, mix sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat. Melt the sugar and continue to cook until it is amber or golden brown. Immediately remove from the heat to prevent it from turning black.

9. Add hazelnuts to the toffee and coat them well. Tip candied hazelnuts on a flat surface on a piece of baking paper. When cool to touch, quickly but gently separate the individual hazelnuts and coat each one with ground sea salt. Alternatively, you can pour the toffee over the hazelnuts to save time. I found it easier to pour the toffee over the hazelnuts.

10. To decorate cheesecake, remove cake from springform pan and carefully place each salted candied hazelnut on the rim of the cake. Decorate to your liking.

11. If you have some remaining toffee left, you can make sprigs of toffee crystals by pouring and spreading the toffee on the baking sheet to garnish on top of the hazelnuts.

Have fun trying this recipe!