Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 1 large egg
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• if desired, 1 cup chopped pecans

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix sugar, brown sugar, butter and egg in a large bowl by hand. Stir in flour, baking soda, and salt. The dough will be very stiff. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light brown. The centers will be soft. Let cool for one minute then remove from cookie sheet and place on wire rack to finish cooling

(extracted from http://www.popularcookierecipes.com)

Hong Kong Egg Tarts

INGREDIENTS
1 cup confectioners' sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup butter
1 egg, beaten
1 dash vanilla extract

2/3 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cups water
9 eggs, beaten
1 dash vanilla extract
1 cup canned evaporated milk

DIRECTIONS
In a medium bowl, mix together the confectioners' sugar and flour. Mix in butter with a fork until it is in small crumbs. Stir in the egg and vanilla until the mixture forms a dough. The texture should be slightly moist. Add more butter if it is too dry, or more flour, if the dough seems greasy. Shape dough into 1 1/2 inch balls, and press the balls into tart molds so that it covers the bottom, and goes up higher than the sides. Use 2 fingers to shape the edge into an A shape.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Combine the white sugar and water in a medium saucepan, and bring to a boil. Cook until the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Strain the eggs through a sieve, and whisk into the sugar mixture. Stir in the evaporated milk and vanilla. Strain the filling through a sieve, and fill the tart shells.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown, and the filling is puffed up a little bit.

(Extracted from http://allrecipes.com/ )

Basic Vanilla Ice Cream

Ingredient:

1 litre full cream milk

2 1/2 tsp. cornflour1 tsp. gelatine

3/4 cup sugar

1 cup fresh cream

1 tsp. vanilla essence

1/2cup cold milk

Method:

Bring milk to a boil. Boil for 15 minutes on low, stirring occasionally.

Mix cornflour in 1/2 cup cold milk, keep aside. Add sugar to milk, stir. Add cornflour paste, stirring continuouslytill boil resumes.

Boil for a further 4-5 minutes, take off fire.

Sprinkle gelatine over 3 tbsp. water in a small pan.

Allow to soak for 5 minutes. Warm over gentle heat, till dissolved.

Do not bring it to a boil.

When boiled milk cools a little, add gelatine solution and mix well.

Cool to room temperature, freeze in covered tray, till set but not hard.

Break into pieces, beat with an egg beater till soft.

Add cream and essence, mix well.

The texture should be light and creamy.

Reset in the freezer till frozen.

(recipe from http://www.dessert-recipes.co.uk/ )

Basic Pancakes

The following will be the recipe to make basic pancake from http://southernfood.about.com/ . You may serve these pancakes with butter and syrup, or any kind of dressing you like.

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups all-purpose flour, stirred or sifted before measuring
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 1/2 cups milk
2 tablespoons melted butter

PREPARATION:
Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, combine egg and milk; add to flour mixture, stirring only until smooth. Blend in melted butter. Cook on a hot, greased griddle, using about 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake. Cook until brown on one side and around edge; turn and brown the other side. Recipe for pancakes serves 4.

Tiramisu

Everyones' favourite. Here's another one found at http://allrecipe.com

INGREDIENTS :
2 cups mascarpone cheese
3 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons coffee-flavored liqueur
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules
1 (10 inch) angel food cake
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder



DIRECTIONS :
1) In a large bowl, combine mascarpone cheese, cream, sugar, vanilla, coffee liqueur, and instant coffee. Whip until stiff.


2)Split sponge cake in half, creating a top and bottom layer. Spread cream mixture on bottom layer, and replace top half of cake. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Just before serving, dust top of cake with cocoa powder.

Blueberry Cheese Cake

Yummmm... my personal favourite.... The look of it makes me hungry. Check out how to make it from http://allrecipes.com :



INGREDIENTS
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons white sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup sour cream
3/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 eggs
2 cups frozen blueberries, dry pack
1/3 cup blueberry jelly

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine crumbs, 2 tablespoons sugar and butter. Pat mixture into the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan.
2. Mash cream cheese until soft and creamy. Gradually beat in sour cream, 3/4 cup sugar, vanilla and flour. Beat in eggs one at a time.
3. Pour mixture into crumb-lined pan. Bake in a preheated 325 degree F (165 degrees C) oven for 1 hour or until firm to the touch.
4. Cool and then remove cake from pan by loosening edges with a knife. Place frozen blueberries on top of cake. Melt jelly and spoon over blueberries to glaze. Chill until ready to serve.

Glass Noodle Pad Thai

From green chicken curry, the same website also post another interesting dish, the glass noodle pad thai. Pad Thai is a fried noodle dish, although there are many dishes called Pad Thai, all are essentially the same: fried rice or glass noodles with chilli and other ingredients for flavouring. Here is how it's done:



Main Ingredients for 2 servings:


1 Small Pack of Glass Noodle
1 Egg
50 gsm. of Dry Shrimp
50 gms. of Tofu
2 Small Red Onion
50 gsm. Soya Bean Shoots (Beansprouts)
1/2 Tablespoon Sugar
2 Light Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Oyster Sauce
2 Tablespoon Chilli Sauce
1 Tablespoon Peanuts ( pound to fine pieces )
1 Teaspoon Dry Flaked Chilli
3 Tablespoons Oil


Serve With:

Fresh Soya Bean
Green Lettuce


Garnish With:

SugarPeanuts ( pounded to fine pieces )
Dried Chilli ( pounded to flakes )
Lemon or Lime Slice



Preparation Instructions:

1. Soak the glass noodles in water for 5 minutes to soften them.
2. Chop the tofu into small squares,
3. Slice the red onion into smaller pieces.
4. Clean the fresh soya shoots and chop off the roots.
5. Put the oil in a hot frying pan with the dry shrimp, and fry for 30 seconds
6. Move it to one side of the frying pan to make room to fry an egg.
7. Break the egg in hot oil and stir quickly for a few seconds to break it up.
8. Add the glass noodle and other cooking ingredients and stir-fry for 1 minute.

Tips:


Be careful when choosing your noodles, they must be soaked and fried, a good quality noodles survives this cooking process, poor quality noodles will break into unpleasant small pieces. This is a quick cook dish from central Thailand, you add the chilli when it is served, so your guest can choose to make the dish spicy or mild. For the pounded peanut, it's better to choose a dry unsalted peanut, roast them it in a dry frying pan and pound them in a Thai mortar until they form smaller pieces. Alternatively you can chop the nuts by hand. These can be prepared ahead of time and stored in a cool dry place for a long time.