Easy Tiramisu with LOTTE Choco Pie

So recently I was given the challenge of using LOTTE Choco Pie to come up with an easy and yet delicious recipe. Yes, I ate a whole box of those to come up with a decent idea heehee. :D *Ahem*...excuses for pigging out. But it wasn't that hard really, Texture of the pie was mostly like a sponge coated with chocolate. It somehow leads me to think of none other then Tiramisu cake. Chocolate coated sponge in a tiramisu? Wooo....sounds good already! I quickly got to work on it and voila! See what have I got ladies and gentlmen....Choco Pie Tiramisu!

It doesn't look exciting from this shot, but I assure you...this easy Choco Pie Tiramisu is no less tastier then the original version. :9 And what's best, it is much easier to whip up verses the one I did awhile back. The Heavenly Eggless Tiramisu which like the name states, uses no raw egg and yet tasted really creamy and luscious. But the usual tiramisu recipe requires sponge cake between the layering which is pretty tedious if one is in a hurry to have a tiramisu dessert ready. So now...the Choco Pies come in handy. We can replace them sponge cake with the Choco Pies! Sure you can use Sponge fingers....but if you ask me, I would rather have chocolate coated pies please. :D

Ingredients for Easy Tiramisu using LOTTE Choco Pies
1 box 12 packs Choco Pies 
2 cups (500 gm) mascarpone cheese

8 tbsp confectioner's sugar (sifted) (5 tbsp + 3 tbsp)

1 1/4 cup heavy cream (1/2 cup + 3/4 cup)
1/2 cup (about 100 gm) semi-sweet dark chocolate
1/3 cup strong espresso (I used Nescafe instead)
3 Tbsp coffee liqueur such as Tia Maria or Kahlua

Cocoa Powder for dusting on top (I used Valrhona cocoa)

• I used ToastBox Kopi-O pack to make the esspresso. Prepare a cup with 200 ml boiling water, add the coffee pack and seep for 5 minutes. Then add in the coffee liqueur and stir well. Then chill the mixture in the fridge.

• Melt the chocolate with 1/2 cup cream over a double boiler; cool.

• Whip the remaining 3/4 cup of heavy cream and 3 tbsp of confectioner's sugar till stiff peaks. I run out of powdered sugar, so I blended some coarse sugar to make some. Verdict, I am not going to buy powdered sugar from now on haha!

• Whip the mascarpone and the 5 tbsp confectioner's sugar together till creamy, about 1 minute.

• Fold the whipped cream gently into the mascarpone cheese. Chill mixture in fridge for at least an hour before use.

• Now open up the Choco pies, gently open up the pie. One side will be with the marshmallow cream filling while the other doesn't. Lay them on the base of a raminkin. You will need 9 halves.

• Next you spoon about 1/3 of the espresso mixture over the pie halves to soak. Spread 1/3 of the chocolate ganache over the pie halves.

• Then spread 1/3 of the mascarpone mixture over. Repeat and end with a layer of mascarpone. I even got my little one to do it for me because this recipe is pretty kid friendly. Layering and spreading, how hard can it be ya?:)

• The last top layer of pie halves needs to be all open face down. Meaning the chocolate coated side facing up. I suggest dipping the halves in the coffee mix before placing into the raminkins. 
• Lastly just garnish the top with a good dust of quality cocoa powder. Chill overnight or at least 4 hours.

After chilling in the fridge for a good 4 hours or more, the Choco Pie Tiramisu is good to serve.

I am pretty happy with the end result and know that my mission has accomplished. A delicious and yet simple to make tiramisu dessert made using the LOTTE Choco Pies. A much easier version which even my young kid can help out making. :) Not convinced? Just take a look at how good the tiramisu turned out. 

Need I say more? Choco Pie does make this dessert work! ~happy dance~

Key point to make this dessert taste really good is to make sure you soak the pie halves with the coffee syrup mixture. It literally melts in your mouth and leaving you with a smooth, deep coffee and chocolaty taste.

Creamy goodness that totally deserved to be made and enjoyed for your love ones. :9 Don't just take my word for it, try it out yourself. And since it is school holidays now, get your little ones to help you! I am positive they will enjoy eating it as much as making this dessert. ;)

In the meantime... Happy cooking!

Beetroot Brownies

Since I still have one beetroot sitting in my fridge. I reckon I should get to that recipe which has been "stored" at the back of my mind since forever. Yes...Brownies with beetroot. Sounds really unusual I know, I ever since beetroot has been introduced into cakes in some bakeries (e.g Cedele), I'm pretty intrigued by it. Especially that brilliant magenta just brings so much vibrancy to it. And do you know
Beets are used along with medications in the treatment of liver diseases and fatty liver. They are also used to help lower levels of triglycerides (a type of fat) in the blood, lower blood pressure, and to improve athletic performance. How cool is that! More Beets please!

And that also explains why I did my Beetroot Bread earlier this month. ;) But you know what? This Beetroot brownie was way yummier!

Notice that hint of redness from the brownie? Yeah, it's from that all natural colouring from the beetroot, so love! And taste wise? I am gonna be thick skin and say I am pretty please with it for the first time trial haha. :P Rich, chocolaty and yes with a hint of sour from the root vegetable which surprisingly blending well with the brownie. 

Without further ado, let's check out the components we need:

Ingredients for Beetroot brownie (makes a 8" by 2" square)

250g unsalted butter

200g dark chocolate, chopped into chunks

3 large eggs

180g caster sugar
1 tbsp wildflower honey 

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 tsp salt

175g cake flour

1/4 tsp baking powder
200g beetroot, pricked, steamed and peeled

Reese's PB chips (Or you can use chocolate chips)

100g toasted walnuts (optional)

• In a blender container, add in the peeled and steamed beetroot. Blend at high speed till smooth. Set aside for use later.

 

• In another bowl, place over a double boiler with barely simmering water. Add both butter and chocolate chunks in. Stir constantly till the butter and chocolate starts to melt. Mix so it is well combined. Once both has melted completely, remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly which will be used later.

 

• Preheat the oven to 170C. Grease and lined with parchment, and grease again a 8" by 8" square baking pan.
• In another mixing bowl, crack in the 3 eggs and salt, whisk well. Slowly drizzled in the chocolate butter mixture. and whisk as you drizzle in.

 

• Once the chocolate mixture has been all added in, sift in the cake flour and baking powder. Mix well to make sure there is no lumps.
• Lastly, add in the blended beetroot. Again mix well till smooth.

 

• Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan. And add the toasted walnut and Reese's PB chips on the top.

• Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes. Once baked, remove from oven and let cool on the rack.

Note: DO NOT over-bake the brownie please. An over-baked brownie is NOT good eats. :P It will tend to be dry and hard. So it is okay that the tester comes out with some cake stain. Best way to enjoy the brownie would be to let cake to rest at room temperature before slicing. It will actually taste better the next day. ;)

I actually love how the cake turn out to be soft and crumbly and yet slightly fudgy in the middle, with the contrast of crunchy walnuts and nutty PB chips.

 Moist, chocolaty and all fudgy in the center! And I even tasted mini bits of beetroot in the cake too... such a pleasant surprise. ;)

 

 Another close up in case you didn't catch the gooey goodness earlier. :) 

If you have beetroot, if you adore chocolate, and you love brownies...what are you waiting for? Perhaps it might need more tweaking, but for now, I am happy with it. 

Have a good day ahead everyone!

Chocolate PB Granola Bars

I am always trying to eat healthy lately. No really, I am. I guess it has something to do with my age catching up, so having a healthy balanced meal, especially breakfast, seems really important to me nowadays. Plus I found that eating a well balanced and more wholesome breakfast, will last me satisfied the whole morning without having to sneak a bite later during the mid day. 

So lately I have this craze over granola. Any kind, any flavor, I will chomp it down with my creamy Greek yogurt. :9 One of the tastier granola recipes I found online is from Smitten Kitchen, which she shares her awesome Chunky Maple Granola recipe. One that I always go back to when I run dry of ideas or just plain lazy to create a new one. :P

Well, not this time! Decided to do a simple granola bar recipe which incorporates two of my top favorite ingredients; Chocolate and Peanut Butter. I know I know, its yours too. And thus this Chocolate PB Granola Bar recipe was born...

You got to have something you love to be able enjoy it daily without getting sick of it so easily. No worries, I did the "minimal" amount of these "indulgence", so as to not feeling all fat again when munching on them. :P Besides, looking at the photo above alone already got me feeling all wholesome inside!

Ingredients for Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Bars (makes a 1" x8"x8")

225g rolled oats

75g walnuts

75g whole almonds

20g sesame seeds

50g sunflower seeds

20g coconut flakes

 

100g dark chocolate, chopped into small chunks

80g dried sweetened cranberries

 

100g smooth natural peanut butter 100

150g honey

1 tbsp coconut oil

pinch of salt

• Preheat the oven to 180C. Prepare a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
• In a large mixing bowl, add in the rolled oats, both nuts, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds and coconut flakes. Toss to mix. Then pour out the mixture on to a baking tray. 

• Bake in the preheated oven for a good 10 minutes, giving it a toss every 5 minutes. 
• Once toasted, you will smell the nutty fragrance filling the whole house. Oats and nuts will be in darker brown. Remove from oven and let cool slightly while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

• Next prepare the liquid mixture. In a bowl, add in the honey, peanut butter and coconut oil, mix well. Place in the microwave and heat up the mixture at 1 minute high.

• In a large mixing bowl, add in the toasted oats and nuts in. Then add in the chopped chocolate and dried cranberries in as well. Lastly, add in the heated PB mixture.

• The heat from the PB mixture will gradually melt the chocolate a little, which is ok. The chocolate will be acting as one of the binding agent to hold the granola bar together. So don't panic if you see most of the chocolate melting. 
• Prepare a square baking tray, lined with parchment paper. Grease the parchment paper as well. Next, pour the granola mixture in the prepared pan.

• Press down with the back of the spoon to flatten and compress the whole mixture. You want it as pack as possible so it won't fall apart when you unmould and slice later.

• Place a clean plastic wrap over the surface and then another baking tray over the pressed granola.

• Place in the fridge to chill for a good 4 hours but preferably overnight.
• Next day, take it out and remove the baking tray on top and the plastic wrap. The granola should be rock solid. Using the parchment paper to pull the whole granola block out and on a chopping board.
• Cut the granola up into desired sizes. I cut mine into 10 pieces.

• It is okay if some of the corners break off. No worries. You can wrap these individually which I am too lazy to do haha. I simply stored them into air tight containers in room temperature or you can chill in the fridge.

 I like mine with honey greek yogurt, best thing in the world. Cold creamy verses crunchy nutty, loving the contrast in texture. Plus that nutty and chocolaty bite is sure to satisfy anyone!

Another close up to show you all that goodness. :9 I can eat this everyday for sure!

Try it out and make your breakfast a wholesome one today...or maybe tomorrow. ;)

Have fun guys!

 

Vegan Tofu Brownies with Walnuts and Chocolate Chunks

So here is the guilt free chocolaty treats that I have been wanting to try for the longest time. :) I guess many bakers are actually venturing into this area since many of us are more health conscience nowadays. And substituting some of the ingredients from the usual recipe, we can convert these everyday recipes into more healthy versions. I guess we just need to experiment it and see how it taste haha! Well, today this Vegan Tofu Brownies is one of them successful experimented recipe which I will be sharing with everyone! Excited!

 

So ya the picture pretty much says it all haha! Chocolaty goodness that is guilt freeee! OMG haha! Okay okay, lets get on with the recipe!

Ingredients for Vegan Tofu Brownies (makes 4" by 6")
250g firm tofu
120g brown sugar (I used 100g)
100g dark chocolate (65% cocoa), melted 
50ml coconut oil
100ml fresh chocolate milk
80g cake flour
40g wholewheat flour
15g cocoa powder (I used Valrohna 55% cocoa)
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp baking soda

100g Toasted walnuts
100g dark chocolate chunks

• In the blender, add the tofu, coconut oil and zap till smooth
• Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease & line a 4" by 6" cake pan with parchment paper.
• In a heat proof bowl, add in milk and sugar and cook at low heat or microwave the mixture till slightly bubbly on the side. Stir till sugar has melted in.
• In a large mixing bowl add in the tofu mixture, then add in the chocolate milk mixture and stir till well incorporated. 
• Then sift in both flours, salt and baking soda into the tofu milk mixture till everything comes together into a smooth batter.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Now put in the walnut chunks all over the batter, pushing in some and leaving some over the top of the batter. Do the same for the chocolate chunks.
•  
• Bake in the oven for a good 28-30minutes. DO NOT over bake.
• Remove from oven and let cool on rack before slicing and noming haha!

 

Moist chocolaty goodness that uses no egg, no butter and lesser sugar, how much better can it get!! Haha! Love the addition of the extra walnut and the chocolate chunks,giving it more texture and creamy chocolate goodness.

 Okay if I have not convinced you enough to try this, perhaps staring at the picture for another minute or two might just help haha! Okay, do tag me in Instagram if you tried it, "ig_honeybeesweets"

Okay, goodnight everyone! Hope you have dreams as sweet as these yummy brownies heehee

Steamed Moist Chocolate Oat cake with Bananas

This is a long over due post! Haha, my sincere apologies again. :P I guess I am posting upon on demand now since I can see my followers' interest are. Well mainly from Instagram though since that is where I am most of the time now. :P Anyways, I am gonna post one of the more popular recipes today which I have repetitive requests on. It is Steamed Moist Chocolate Oat cake (with banana). I actually first made this for Easter...yeah 3 months late, hahaha! Oops busted! LOL!

This is such an easy recipe to whip up! I guess the only tedious part is the blending the rolled oats and steaming the batter, haha! Anyways, I adapted this recipe from Cooking Crave but modified the recipe to a healthier version. Here is my recipe:

Ingredients for Steamed Moist Chocolate Oat Cake (makes about 12 standard 4oz)

120ml vegetable oil

200ml chocolate milk (low fat milk can be used)

2 large eggs

1/4 tsp salt

150g light brown sugar (I used 140g when I added banana in)

80g cake flour

50g oat flour (blend rolled oats till very fine)

50g unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Valrohna) 

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

4 ripe bananas, half or quartered to be inserted into cake

• Get ready steamer with cupcake liners or an 8" round cake pan, greased and lined with parchment paper. Set the steamer on low fire
• In a large mixing bowl, add oil, milk, eggs, salt and sugar. Stir well and make sure sugar has dissolved. You can speed up the process by placing bowl over double boiler.
• Sift the cake flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda into the milk mixture. aAdd in the oat flour at this point. Stir well making sure everything is combined and no visible lumps.
• Lastly add in the vanilla extract and mix. Batter will be runny.
• Pour the batter into the prepared containers. If adding bananas, now you can insert them, letting them stand up right. 
• Make sure when you place the batter into the steamer, it is already on low boil. For a whole 8" cake, steam at medium fire for 40mins till cake tester comes out clean. For cupcakes, steam for 10-12 mins till cake tester comes out clean as well.

The addition of oats did not compromise the taste nor much of its soft texture. And with the bananas, you can opt to not add more sugar as it will enhance the sweetness when you bite into the fruit. Yums!

Showing off the moist tender interior of the yummy healthy, yes healthy cake. :D Love the addition of the banana...really makes this cake a whole lot more enjoyable haha!

Okay, that's all for now folks, will post up something savory next, stay tune!

 

Chocolate bread : Roped and Loaf

I just realized that I have not been posting any bread or chocolate recipe for ages! Super unlike me, hahaha! So today I shall "kill 2 birds with one stone"...a chocolate bread post, heehee. :D I found this great recipe book in the library the other and fell in love with it! There are countless recipes inside that I cannot wait to try out! Title of book is "Bread顶级风味面包书" and it is published in Chinese. Anyway, my first one will be this yummy Chocolate bread with some modification ...just to make it a wee bit healthier. ;)

One of the thing I love about this recipe is it's a straight dough method, no pre fermented dough or Tangzhong required. ;) I really love the texture of this bread, so easy to handle and yet so soft and yummy. Not to mention it is packed full of chocolaty flavor too! I had replace some of the bread flour with wholemeal flour to make it healthier, here is my version  of the recipe:

Ingredients for Chocolate Bread: (makes one 9x5x4 loaf, and 5 roped buns)
400g bread flour
60g wholemeal flour (I used Prima)
40g organic brown rice powder
7g salt
60g caster sugar
20g milk powder
15g honey
20g cocoa powder (I used Valrohna)
50g egg without shell
300-325ml water (add as per needed)
8g instant active yeast
40g unsalted butter, room temperature
50-80g raisins (depending how much u like)
80g dark chocolate, chopped into chunks

•  In a large mixer, add in all the ingredients except for water, butter and chocolate chips. 
• Gradually add in 300ml water and start mixing. If needed, add in the additional 25ml water and continue to knead till dough is not sticky and very elastic which will pull away from the sides.
• Add in the butter and continue to knead till it reaches window panel.
• Cover and let proof for 1-2hrs or till dough doubles in volume.
• After proofing, punch out the air and weigh out 600g for the loaf and the remaining dough for the buns.
• Grease the loaf pan. Roll out the loaf dough portion into a large rectangle. Sprinkle the raisins all over the surface. Then roll it up like a swiss roll  and seal up the edges. Then fold the log into half like a skinny U shape, then take the two tips and start twisting it till it is like a twisted rope, then seal the two ends tightly. Gently lay the loaf into the loaf pan. Cover and let proof till it reaches the rim.
•   
• Next roll out the bun portion into a large long rectangle as well. Again sprinkle the chocolate chunks all over the surface. Then gently fold it into 3 fold like a letter, seal the edges. Then using the rolling pin, roll it slightly flat.
• Using a knife, cut the dough length wise into 5 long strips. It will be a little tricky if your chocolate chunks are big.
• Take one strip to shape: Take about 5 cm worth of the tip and fold it up like a U shape. Then the longer end tip and start twirling around the U until all used up. Seal the tip to the center of the dough. Repeat till the remaining 4 portions are all shaped. (Sorry forgotten to take pics this time)
•  
  
• Let dough proof till double in size. Preheat oven in the meantime to 175-180C.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes for the buns while 28-30 minutes for the loaf. I did an open loaf, so no cover. You can cover if you wish. 
• Once baked, remove from oven and let cool completely on the rack.

I had to admit that I did not do a good job on the shaping, haha! But I still had fun nonetheless and it does look a little bit likes ropes, ya? ;) The bread still turned out soft and awesome with chocolaty taste even with the addition of the wholemeal and brown rice powder. Note that you can purchase brown rice powder in Organic Shops.

The twisted loaf also turned out great too. :) Although one end of the loaf was taller then the other, haha!

 It is almost mandatory that I show a sneak peek of the inside of the bread, haha! So again proving that healthy can be tasty as well! Yums! But no worries if you have no brown rice powder or you don't fancy wholemeal in your bread, just use 500g of bread flour. :)

Okay, that's all folks! Hopefully you all will try out this recipe as well. Happy baking all!