... make a hearty Apple Bread Pudding w Chocolate Chips out of it! :D I declare it one of my favourite recipes in this foodblog!!!

My first encounter with bread pudding was at Fullerton Hotel's chocolate buffet few years ago. (YES CHOCOLATE BUFFET LOL) I fell in love with it immediately, helping myself to portion after portion of bread pudding. I later baked one myself at home which was barely satisfying.. But there came my second baking encounter with it - the restaurant I previously worked at.

We served White chocolate bread pudding which was soooo good! BUT STILL, I liked the Fullerton's one more. The overall taste was balanced, it had the perfect amount of sweetness for me.

Today, I made my Apple Bread Pudding w Chocolate chips after studying many different recipes online that claimed to be make the "Best" bread pudding. I adapted the recipe from Food&Wine's Raisin-Studded Apple Bread Pudding. I was exceptionally sure to try it because in this recipe, the yolks and whites are whipped separately to their maximum volume.

Other recipes (including the one I used in my restaurant), only require the eggs to be whisked together without incorporating maximum amount of air into it, I felt that this is likely to be the lighter version of bread pudding I was looking for! Many people may enjoy the denser bread pudding, but definetely not me. I like them firm, yet soft like how a pudding is :) If you like this kind of bread pudding, try this recipe, I am very sure that you will like it. Serving them warm with a scoop of chocolate icecream would be a bonus!

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I love having blocks of butter and cream cheese at home. I love the I-need-to-clear-my-butters-so-I'm-baking! feeling whenever I open the fridge and see them arranged on top of one another. Its like a reflection of my passion for baking!

I don't know if that's the same for you, but they certainly are the fastest-moving yet most expensive ingredients I use.

Cakes, cookies, pies, tarts, bars...... I can hardly escape from opening sticks after sticks of butter. Especially when baking becomes a little more intensive, like how I've been baking almost every day for the past one week, I've finish almost 4 cups of butter!

Last night, I was really tempted to 'clear' my cream cheese again. LOL. It'd be the best chance for me to finish my remaining sour cream from the superlicious Blueberry Crumb Cake too! After much consideration on what cheesecake I should I bake, I decided on New York Cheesecake!

The recipe was from a book bought by one of my best boyfriend in Taiwan. Although the entire book was written in CHINESE..... (Okay, I'm a Chinese, but I really dislike reading chinese words!) I still wanted to use its recipe because I'm actually very appreciative to get his support for my interest! I adjusted the recipe a little as I was a bit disturbed by one of the ingredient "butter" in the cream cheese filling. I substitute it with milk instead =)

The result was really great. I love how the surface of the cheesecake is slightly brown. The best part was that it didn't cracked, it didn't sink in the center, and it wasn't over-baked!

See. Still nice and creamy, one of the best cheesecake texture I'd made!

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Hello everyone!

Sorry I've abandoned my blog for more than 3weeks. I guess that's what most food bloggers'd have experienced because it really isn't easy to maintain a food blog! From the baking to the photography to the editing of pics to the posting...... Yeah, you know what I mean!

For me, it's not an issue about my passion for baking  But, the lack of diligence to carry my DSLR again! In fact, I've baked S'mores, Chocolate Cherry Pie, Peanut Butter Tart, Chocolate Souffle and Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake over the past few weeks! Oh and S'mores did live up to their name, I baked them TWICE because they were that good :D

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Hello Bakers, it's New Year! Happy 2010 and here wishing you guys a great year filled with fun and happiness ahead :)

As much as I'm enjoying every moment of my holidays, I still have to face the anxiety most 16-years-old are experiencing now: O'levels results will be releasing in another 10 days. Gosh..... There's this huge part of me really afraid that I've screwed my results, especially English. Because.. I wrote a crap essay that was incomplete and I usually depend on my essay to do moderately well for this subject. (By saying moderately well, I already mean a low B!)

But of course I don't intend to live in fear and worries every day till the very second I hold my results slip..! So, here I baked a cake for. ermm.. nobody? HAHAHA. It is cute anyway, right? It is certainly one of the funniest cake I've baked. Not that it is funny, but what I've done stupidly that are funny. Especially when my brother saw the mess I made.............

I was really embarrassed. and trying to control my laughters (which I failed. which WE both failed)..... I started slapping his arms - for being there to witness all my stupidity!! AND for laughing at me!

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The entire Decemeber had been one super enjoyable month with all the parties, work and my prom night going on (reaching home as late as 4am!). Great time with my dearly missed schoolmates, but I also managed to bake Cuppucino Cheesecake, Torta Caprese, Brownies, Apple Crumble & Jelly Cheesecake (5times!!! My all-time favourite). I love baking :D (didn't update because my DSLR was brokened)

This morning I made these Banana Muffins w chocolate chips. Awesome, I say! I love them because they are so homey and fragrantly sweet. In fact, Banana Muffins were memories of my first baking experience! I was only 14years old then. You might want to know more about it here. It is seriously funny and interesting :P

RIGHT. So.... Does muffins taste better using butter or oil? My hypothesis was that oil would be a better option and this morning, I divided the same muffin batter into two, half using butter and the other half using oil!

The results wasn't apparent so I could barely tell the difference! (the picture below: those w topped chocolate chips are baked using oil. those without topped chocolate chips are baked using butter) The 'oil' muffins are just really SLIGHTLY lighter than the 'butter' muffins. Besides this, they are equally moist and soft. Very tender and light! Not oily at all!! But if I have to make a decision, I think I'd still use oil in the future which I believe is only a personal preference :D

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