Thursday, August 16, 2012

needle..stitches..baking..special day..

I'm doing hand quilting stitches, while baking a spekoek layer cake - the MUST cake I need to bake for a special day.

So, how do you like this handcraft so far ? .. this is my first time doing hand quilting, It's fun. I will come back to post the final result and the cake maybe .. :)

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Donut Cookies

It's almost the end of Holy Month Of Ramadan, is always become a sad day while we no longer in Ramadan Month . Because we never know when we will meet a full of blessing days like Ramadan Month.

And I'm sure almost Moslem's families around the world especially ladies, moms, daughters, aunties busy around the kitchen. They are busy preparing many stuff before Eid Fitri Festive comes, especially baking a good goodies .. Oh, My, it's always remind me how busy my mom was. And even until today. She is still the best cook ever.

Well, I bake too .. but not as much as my mom does. Not many family around us to celebrate the happy day after Ramadan. So, I just bake a little portion of cookies or cake, in case we have friend visit. Mostly I stick with 'an original' , old times cookies style such a nastar (ananas tart), sagu keju etc. But since I have a little girl who loves to help around the kitchen, I bake a little different cookies, so she can help easily too.

Like donut cookies, it's pretty easy for 6yo girl making without worry about messy around the kitchen.

Donut Cookies
Adapted from : King Arthur's Flour Recipe Collection

Dough
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 1/2 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Icing
1 cup (4 ounces) confectioners' or glazing sugar
4 teaspoons milk
4 teaspoons light corn syrup

I'm not used icing sugar but chocolate icing - taste much better for my style.
- chocolate melted and white chocolate melted for topping

Beat together the oil, butter, eggs, vanilla, salt, baking powder, and sugar until smooth. Add the flour, beating until smooth. Refrigerate the dough for at least one hour, or overnight.

Scoop the dough into 2-teaspoon-size (1/2-ounce) balls; a teaspoon cookie scoop works perfectly here. Roll the balls into logs about 4 inches long and about 1/2-inch in diameter. Coil into doughnut shapes, leaving a small hole in the middle.

Place the shaped cookies on lightly greased baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between them. Bake them in a preheated 350°F oven for about 15 minutes (original recipe said : 18minutes, but I find it that made cookies become hard to chew, so just reduce the baking time like mine). They may have the merest hint of golden color on top, but they definitely won't be brown. Remove them from the oven, and transfer to a rack to cool completely before icing.

To ice the cookies - if you use icing like an original recipe
- Put 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar into each of four bowls. Add 1 teaspoon milk and 1 teaspoon corn syrup to each bowl. Stir until you've made a soft, spreadable icing, adding more milk if necessary. Tint the icing in each bowl a different color. Dip the top of each cookie in one of the icings. Sprinkle with sugar decorations. Allow the frosting to harden before storing the cookies.

- or just simple melted enough chocolate or white chocolate into double boiler pan, and dip the cookies on melted chocolate. Sprinkle with sugar decorations.



Yield: 3 1/2 dozen cookies

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Another Happy Colors..

Picnic Blanket .. by Fitri D. // Rumah Manis
I don't have any sewing skill background, I never attend sewing class or what so ever, I proud to say that I'm self taught sewing who learn from many mistake. It take me a while to figure out all the steps. And until today I still learn from everywhere. Including, Youtube. Yeaah right, I'm graduation student from Youtube :O But so far, I'm happy with every result.  And I definitely make quilts to be loved and used, not show quilt. The lady who order this picnic blanket just want a happy colors. My idea about happy colors is to put as many bright pretty colors as I can. I hope she will like it.

I spy in the garden picnic blanket is a custom order picnic blanket , with size 40x48inch. (Reserved - ready to send to France this week)   SOLD
And here is another blanket I finished 2 weeks ago. The lady who got this blanket was so happy. I called this : Sweet Water Picnic Blanket - size 37x49 inch, 100% cotton from  MODA  and Robert Kaufman fabric collection



Have a nice day.. and enjoy the picture