Lemon Cheesecake French Macaron

TGIF everyone! Here I am again, thinking..well lets have a classic lemon cheesecake. Instead of a cheesecake, lets find a way to put it into the macaron. Crazy right? As though an original flavoured macaron isn't delicious enough, I gave into my crave and made LEMON CHEESECAKE FRENCH MACARON. Double the flavour, double the joy, and double the satisfaction.

Dessert Recipe: Limoncello Sugar Cookie Ice-Cream Sandwich

While I was over at Le Delicieux and Dining With a Stud, I immediately knew I wanted to take part in their Sweet Adventure Blog Hop (SABH), which I just discovered is hosted every month. Now, that to me is a fun way of mingling virtually, and presenting my best (so I think) recipes forward. To learn more on how to join in the fun, click on the SABH Blog Hop badge.

For this month of April, the theme is all about cooking or baking with Lemons. Lately, I can't seem to steer away from Limoncello, and today I am presenting you with another way; that I found myself incorporating Limoncello into my desserts. After much pondering and pacing back and forth, I decided that this weekend's treat is going to be a mini treat but will leave you a happy camper once you're done with it.

There will be 2 recipes in a single treat. This recipe is so versatile that you can even just have each of it on it's own. So what did I make, where you might be drooling over? (drum-rolls please ;p) Okay, be prepared.. as I went a little crazy and made 2 things all from scratched. Firstly, I baked sugar cookies, and then went on to make Limoncello Lemon Ice-Cream.

This is my biggest issue, being indecisive. I couldn't decide which to share with you first, so I decided to make a switch up by pairing the cookie and ice-cream together. Alas came Limoncello Sugar Cookie Ice-Cream Sandwich. A long name for such a tiny treat, but it's oh! so worth it. Doesn't the sound of it make you want to take a bite out of this cold treat? Also, here's some good news, this ice-cream recipe doesn't require you to have an ice-cream maker, since I don't own one anyways..LOL. I have been doing up some reading, and the trick is to have adequate amount of sugar in an ice-cream to prevent ice particles from forming in your cream during freezing stage. Too scientific or technical? You're not alone, as I was left confused but felt like I learnt something new after some research. For now, let's enjoy this cold treat anytime of day.

For recipe: Click on image

Whenever I make a treat, I always like a balance of sweet and tangy sensation all at once. A lot like "ying & yang". To achieve the balance, the sugar cookies were sandwiched with lemony, creamy ice-cream with some adult oomph added, for that extra kick; Limoncello. Overall a simple pleasurable decadence for a hot Sunday afternoon tea-break.

So peeps! Enjoy the rest of the weekend. I certainly hope today's recipe will leave you with some oOOOooss..ahHHHHhhhhsss...mmMMMMMMmmmm!!

xx

Baking Recipe: Orange Limoncello Cream Pie

I just love Citrus flavours. Don't you? Just a couple of spritz and immediately it brightens up any dish or treat. While I know the The Land Down Under is now moving into Fall and other parts of the world is moving in Spring; in a way I feel pretty blessed to be situated in a Tropical country, where we have an abundance of Citrus fruits all year round. I just love it's light and fresh flavours. Perfect to add some kick to the weekends for sure. If you are throwing a party, be sure to bring a light citrus treat. Nobody will turn it down, that's for sure...or at least people like me wouldn't. I can never say NO to desserts ;).

Over the weekend, I was dreaming of Italy. I was missing the walk on those cobble stones towards Fontana Di Trevi (The Trevi Fountain), the Gondola Ride we took smack right in the middle of winter in Venice with my family.

Now that is adventure and probably the locals might think "crazy bunch of tourists".. LOL.. crazy or not, this is a chance of a lifetime and it's something not to be missed. Italy to me is a beautiful country, filled with heaps of history and I love the charm of old Victorian buildings. Ahh! great times and this is where I found my all time favourite liquor, Limoncello.

So obviously, to transfer my family back to good times, I decided that my treat for the weekend had to be ultra light and packed with bursting citrus flavours of orange and lemon. To that, I added a little secret ingredient that made it the ultimate treat, Limoncello. Alas, came the birth of my very own Orange Limoncello Cream Pie. This treat is so simple to make and please don't fuss about making the pie shell. Weekend is all about chilling and relaxing. So I am sure you could forgive me for this time. I had a Pillsbury Pie shell buried in my freezer, and I decided that I will cheat this one time.

For recipe: Click on image

I was more excited about prepping the filling and having the pie ready in 1 to 2 hours [including chilling in the fridge], all planned in my crazy mind. Of course, I chilled it slightly over 5 hours. LOL..

Have a good week ahead!! 

xx

Baking Recipe: {Pre-Christmas} Celebration Cupcakes

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone! As usual, I guess I'm always a tad late. {Lol}. Can't believe it's nearing year end and new year 2011 is just around the corner. In fact, it's this coming Saturday. Wow!! How was your Christmas celebration? Any plans for the New Year Eve?

Originally, I had plan to cook for my family on Christmas Eve. Instead my god mum suggested to dine out. So of course my family and my god mum's went ahead and dine out. It was a twist to my surprise. Usually we would go for Western cuisine, but this time, we had Chinese Fusion Fine Dining cuisine. I had to say that I was at first slightly disappointed when I found out we had to have Chinese food during Christmas Eve and was sort of dreading the whole typical 9 course meal, starting with Four Seasons, then the Shark's Fin Soup, etc. However, my god dad surprised us with a customize meal. I must say, it definitely has introduced me to a different side of Chinese Cuisine.

Since Christmas day is the next day, and after all Christmas is the time for giving and sharing, I've decided to bake my very own version of Celebration Cupcake. {Lol} Basically, I tossed in some coloured ball sprinkles into the cake batter. If you're thinking.. {what is she up to?}. I wasn't thinking at all. I was just having fun baking something unorthodox, but topped the cupcake with Limoncello Buttercream frosting. {Yummmmmm} As to decorate the cupcake, the colour and snowflake out of white chocolate as the theme was definitely inspired from my friend Pei Li's Christmas Miniature Cupcake.

Recipe

Yields approx 16 medium sized cupcakes

Ingredients (Vanilla Cupcake)

2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 cup whole milk, at room temperature
6 large egg whites, at room temperature
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
12 tbsp unsalted butter

To prepare vanilla cupcake:

1. Preheat oven to 350F or 180-190 degrees. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.

2. Combine milk, egg, vanila extract in a separate bow. Whisk together the ingredients.

3. In a mixer with dry ingredients and a padle attachment, beat in the butter at a time until it resembles like bread crumbs.

4. On medium speed, pour half the liquid in until batter is incorporated and add the remaining liquid. Turn speed up and whisk for another 2-3 minutes.

5. Fold in colour sprinkles for some light colouring effect.

6. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Transfer cupcakes to tray to cool down.

Ingredients (Limoncello Buttercream)

4-5 tsp of lemon juice
3-4 tbsp of limoncello liqueur
3-4 cups of icing sugar (or just enough for taste of frosting consistency)
1 1/2 stick of unsalted butter
2 tsp of vanilla extract
1 cup milk
5 tbsp all purpose flour

To prepare limoncello buttercream:

1. With a paddle attachment, whisk butter until light, fluffy and creamy.

2. Add in icing sugar a little at a time, as you may not need 4 cups of icing sugar.

3. Turn speed down to slow to add in lemon juice and limoncello liqueur. Then turn the speed up again and continue to whisk until frosting double in volume, as it'll be light and fluffy.

4. In a saucepan, heat up milk but not to boiling point. Let cool slightly, then toss in flour all at once and stir vigorously, until milk and flour is incorporated. You will notice that the liquid will thicken up and return to stove and let mixutre simmer, while continue stirring.

5. Once liquid is thicker, let cool for a couple of minute. With a sieve, press the thicken liquid through into the buttercream. Discard the lumps. Turn the mixer back up and whisk the buttercream for the last time for 2-3 minutes until well incorporated.

6. With a 1M wilton tip, frost the cupcakes according to your choice of design. I did the 1M swirl and some star shape flowers. To decorate my cupcake, I made snowflakes out of white chocolate.

Ingredients (Snow Flake ornament)

1/2 bar of cooking white chocolate (you may decide how much to use according to how many ornaments you plan to make)

To prepare snow flake ornament:

1. Print out snow flake template of your choice. You may google for "snow flake clip art" and there will be tons of choices to pick from.

2. Melt white chocolate over a double boiler.

3. Place template underneath parchment paper prepared on a flat tray.

4. Place chocolate in piping bag with no.3 or no.5 tip; colour by piping out the chocolate following the template accordingly.

Do try it out for next Christmas!

xx

Baking Recipe: Limoncello Cupcakes with Lemon Curd Filling and Cream Cheese Frosting

So, what did I bake? Well, I made mini cupcakes – LimonCello Cupcakes with Lemon Curd Filling and Cream Cheese Frosting to be exact. Yup.. a mouthful indeed.

Mini LimonCello Cupcakes with Lemon Curd Filling and Cream Cheese Frosting

I was surfing for recipes one day and stumbled upon a magnificent site. Therefore, this recipe idea is adapted from MyTartelette.com. As for ingredients wise, I may have tweaked it a little here and there. Like for instance the recipe asked for 2 Tbps of LimonCello liqueur; but I sort of put in a little more for the extra lemony kick. Lol..