A greet festive months, a bunch of 'hot' recipe..

Happy festive days to all of you fellow readers, and I'm apologize for a long time inactive contents. It's a long story for my hibernation process, where I got a good but yet big responsibilities at my workplace where I got my eyes' weight increase during my home stay after the office hours. You can get my 'pictures' at my other blog, my developer tales at: http://frzdevtale.blogspot.com/. Here I describe my real activities during a day long, and sometimes I got back home at nearly 9.00 o'clock at night. Reaching home is a one-hour later, which is at 10 pm. And you can imagine what you'll feel during this time of reaching home from a daily work. What can I do is just browsing my cookbook, a page by page, but unable to cook it, even at a weekends. I just caught myself slept in my room for almost the whole day, so that when I'm connected again, I feel fresh. So, for this so-long gap, it doesn't mean I do not cook, but I did it in a what so called 'bunch', where I by the ingredients together, and finish it at a range of cooking sessions together. These cooking sessions is not being held very near to each other, but it is rather being held very near to my free times available - as long as I do not feel weak. Sometimes when we want to cook, there are more efforts than we taught, like preparing, measuring, washing, and sometimes cleaning before the cooking starts wherever possible. This could take some time, although in the recipe it said that the cooking just took some 30 minutes or so, but excluding this tiny routines, how can you judge on the precision given by the books? You may or may not found these routines if you are all experts, like a chefs so that everything needed would be in hands for just almost everyday.
By the way, I want to share with you my all baking activities in these past 3 months or so - starting from the Eid-ul Fitr, christmast, and for now - the Chinese new year - but this time the recipe was not quite match, but alias, I did not just mean for this occassion, and there will be other celebrations worth to it as well.
Here's the recipe: there could be around 5 recipes altogether, but let me introduce you with the Raya version first.

Now, the first bunch of recipe:
1) Kek Kukus Baldu - a soft steamed fruit cake

(recipes will be included soon)



2) Biskut Badam Strawberi Bercoklat


(recipes will be included soon)



Here comes the second bunch of recipe, this is my self-invented cake:
1)Kek Betik beryogurt(Papaya Yogurt Cake)



(recipes will be included soon)



And finally, the third bunch of recipe:
1) Sour Cream Cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup margarine or butter, softened
1/4 cup shortening
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour *
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup dairy sour cream
Decorators' Frosting (below) - however, I omitted the frosting.

Heat oven to 425^oF. Mix 1 cup of sugar, the margarine, shortening, egg and vanilla. Stir in remaining ingredients except frosting. Divide dough into 3 equal parts. Roll each part 1/4 inch thick on lightly floured cloth-covered board. Cut into desired shapes with 2-inch cookie cutter, pipe with Decorators' Frosting. Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake until no indentation remains when touched, 6 to 8 minutes. 4 to 5 dozen.

*if using self-raising flour, omit baking powder, baking soda and salt.

SOURCE: Betty Crocker's Cookie Book - Golden Press, New York (Western Publishing Company, Inc., Racine, Wisconsin - 1980)

2) Chocolate Granola Slices.

Ingredients:

1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 cups granola, crushed
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 ounces melted unsweetened chocolate (cool)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Method:

Mix brown sugar, shortening, egg, vanilla and almond extract. Stir in remaining ingredients. Shape into roll, about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours.

Heat oven to 350^o. Cut roll into 1/4-inch slices. (If dough crumbles while cutting, let warm slightly). Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake until set, 10 to 12 minutes. Immediately remove from cookie sheet. About 4 Dozen.

NOTE: To make a chocolate granola drops, you may not refrigerate the dough, but you can drop the dough by rounded teaspoonfuls on the pan, remember to leave some gap.


That's it, all 4 marvelous recipes from my own selections according to this year end and the starting of a new year - all of a sudden, peoples must think something to kick up a new life.
So as to this opinions, may I wish the good warmth of new year celebration to all of you(even we're already end of January, but I thinks it's not too late to start a new kick so that your new year's resolution will spice up), enjoy my recipe suggestions without any fuss.

As far as you can see, the pattern of my activities done reflects my mood at the current time. The history of recipes tracked above is just as how you feel about me. When I'm excited, I'll choose the most simplest and easiest recipe to make, like the first steamed cake. To have the most complicated recipe of all the times required the full stability of mind and body, just see how the chef in the latest advertisement of Ferrerro Roche chocolate, where the chef is making the dessert very carefully, steadily and politely by using the high quality ever ingredients and materials. What I do have at the time(including my mind) could not yet being match with the guy in this advertisement so far. Anyway, I'm approaching through it, and hope you'll see my progress soon!

















At the left you'll see my quick desert made by the fascinating bananas harvested from my second's home garden. There are a lot more fruits and vegetables coming on, but this time this is just enough, a bunch of big bananas coming into my house, waiting to be consumed immediately. And to make it consumable, I've come out with this two fast serving deserts, where it was a banana split and peanut butter toast with a banana and honey topping (top pic). These are the most easiest recipes to prepare, just split the banana into halves, and add any filling that you like in the centre, garnish with whatever sauce and go! For the peanut butter toast with a banana and honey topping, I used two slices of toast and spread with a peanut butter on top, add the banana slices and drizzles with a honey on top. That's how it'll look like when you know how to indulge your garden's goodness yourself!