Scones Fever

Raisin Scones

Cheese Scones

Scones. I got to know about scones only when I came over here to Australia. I remember my first scone, it was from a small little cafe in Hunter Valley. Served with cream and jam. Mmmm.... I still remember me asking my friend, what scone is. Hahaha....

Now that I know what scone is, I have attempt to make some myself. Well, for a start, there are so many variety of scones out there. So to help me make a decision of which scone to make, I got my tester to decide for me (he's gonna taste them anyway). So here's two of his favourites - Raisin and Cheese.

I made these with two different recipes, but both tasted almost the same. Here's the recipe for both:

Raisin Scones:

150ml milk

150ml cream

1 egg

330g/3 cups self raising flour

2 tbs caster sugar

1 cup chopped raisins

1. Preheat oven 200°C. Line large flat oven tray with baking paper.

2. Whisk 150ml milk, cream and egg together until well combined. Combine flour, sugar and raisins in a large bowl. Add milk mixture and stir gently to a soft dough. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently until dough comes together.

3. Press dough out to 2cm thick. Cut scones from dough with a 5cm round cookie cutter and place onto tray flat side up. Press dough together gently and repeat using the remaining dough. Brush the tops with milk and sprinkle with a little sugar. Bake 12-15 minutes until golden and well risen.

Cheese Scones:

225g self raising flour

65g butter, cubed

Pinch of salt

30g cheddar cheese, grated

150ml milk

1. Preheat oven 220°C. Line large flat oven tray with baking paper.

2. In a bowl, mix together the flour and salt. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

3. Mix in the cheese and then the milk to make a soft dough. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently until dough comes together.

4. Press dough out to 2cm thick. Cut scones from dough with a 5cm round cookie cutter and place onto tray flat side up. Press dough together gently and repeat using the remaining dough. Brush the tops with milk and sprinkle with a little sugar. Bake 12-15 minutes until golden and well risen.

As I have 150ml cream left over from making the raisin scones, I have decided to create another flavour of scones using the rainsin scones recipe. For those who know me well, you might have already guessed it - yup, Chocolate Scones ! :)

The recipe for my chocolate scones is exactly the same as the raisin scones except adding 3 tbs of chocolate powder into the flour mixture, increasing the sugar to 3 tablespoons and substitute the raisins with chocolate chips.

I didn't manage to take photo of my chocolate scones because they were gone before I even had the chance to bring out my camera :p hehehe...

Ngor Hiang / Loh Bak

I did my routine grocery shopping on the weekend and on my list was pork mince to make wonton. However, I came across some bean curd skin and decided to change my mind to make ngor hiang instead. Ngor Hiang, also known as Loh Bak in Penang is a dish where the pork is marinated in five spice powder, rolled in bean curd skin and fried to crispy golden brown. Hence the english translation would be Five Spice Pork Roll.

Being my first attempt at making it, I have to search for the recipe. So I went online and found one in one of my favorite blogs, Rasa Malaysia, who has a new blog Nyonya Food. Check it out here. I somehow changed the recipe a little to suit the ingredients I have.

So, instead of strips of lean pork, I used pork mince. I also replaced onion with scallions/spring onion instead to give it a little colour. I omitted the cucumber, which is optional anyway cause I really don't like cucumber and the rest are pretty much the same.

When I started rolling, I realized that my bean curd sheet is really large and I didn't want to cut it. So I ended up with really big long roll of ngor hiang =) Nonetheless, the result is what matters and I think it came out quite alright.

Happy Birthday Honey Angel

happy birthday to you.... 

happy birthday to you.... 

happy birthday to honey angel

happy birthday to you.....

Here's wishing my pretty little niece a very happy birthday and many happy returns... =) 

Love, E.E

It's The Little Things....

It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon.... So I decided to take a short walk to the shopping complex near my place. As I was walking pass my letter box, I took a quick glance at it - no letter sticking out of the letter box (it is a very small letter box, so the postman tends to just leave letter half way sticking out instead of trying to push it inside).

Usually if that was the case, I will not bother checking it. But somehow, there was a feeling inside me telling me to have a look. So I did ! ...and boy am I happy that I did, cause whatever that's lying inside my letter box just made my day....my whole weekend, for the matter of fact.

I took out 3 cute little postcards with the most beautiful hand-written message on them. They were from my nephews and niece. It was really a pleasant surprise.

Sometimes when you feel the world has abandoned you or when you are feeling down and gray, it is these simple little things in life that put a smile back on your face and reassure you that the world is actually a lovely place...

Ouch

I woke up today feeling wonderful as last night was the first night in the whole week that I had a really good night sleep. I have been coughing the whole week, and the cough gets really bad during the night, hence the disturbed sleep...

However, this morning after having my breakfast, while I was washing up the dishes, I coughed. And the next thing I knew, I was struggling to stand straight. I don't know what happen there, but I think I have just pinched a nerve on my lower back.... Ouch !!

Now, I can't bend forward, I can't lift my legs up, I have difficulty sitting etc etc.... Argh ! It is not something I want especially on a Sunday..... now I have to stay home instead of going dancing.... *sigh*