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

Kuzi Ayam (Kelantan Style Chicken Curry)

Yay! I am so glad I got to make a dish for MFF event earlier this time! Hate it when I had to do the mad rush all the time. Ehh...not that I am particularly free now but it was all due to Phong Hong's fabulous recipe and urged me to cook it proto, haha! After the Kay Hong dish (which I cook so often now), I knew I can trust her dishes. :) I had to hand it to her that she shares one the yummiest curries. Thanks Phong Hong! :D So this time in support of MFF event featuring Kelantan, I've made Kuzi Ayam (Kelantan Style Chicken Curry), yummy!

I actually had a hard time trying to take nicer pictures out of this curry dish, lol! I bet all bloggers have this annoying problem when it comes to brown colored food...so hard to capture a good one *sigh*. :P But I tell you the taste is so yummy...even though it is the first not spicy curry I made. I was thrilled to make it because my little ones can enjoy it together with me, haha! Plus the ingredients were not hard to gather at all. :) Here is the recipe as adapted from Phong Hong:

Ingredients for Kuzi Ayam (Serves 4-5ppl)
Dry spice powder mixture:
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground fennel
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 tsp freshly grated/pounded peeled ginger
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

800g chicken thigh and drum
3-4 garlic cloves, chopped finely
1 tsp salt

1/3 cup vegetable oil (I completely omitted ghee)
250g thinly sliced onions
30g slivered almonds
80g California raisins
150ml tomato puree
50ml ketchup
200ml coconut milk
300-350ml water

1 tbsp sugar (optional: to counter off the tangy taste from the tomato)

• In a mixing bowl, marinate the chicken pieces with the chopped garlic and salt and let sit for 10-15 minutes.
• In a frying pot, add the vegetable oil and heat up at medium fire. Fry the onions till golden brown, dish up and drain on paper towels.
• Fry the slivered almonds for just a minute to get it slight golden brown. Don't over do it, or it'll char and taste bitter...not good eats. :P (I did not fry the raisins because it plums up after boiling in the curry sauce)
• Remove most of the oil leaving only 1 tsp amount. Add in the marinated chicken pieces and cook till lightly brown .
•   
• Add in coconut milk, water, tomato puree, ketchup and stir a while. Then add in all the ground spices and again stir to mix well.
• Add in the fried onions (which I didn't ground also), silvered almonds and raisins. Bring mixture to a boil and add in sugar and salt to taste. Reduce fire to low and simmer mixture for about 15-20 minutes till tender.

My kids really like this curry! And I was really glad the spices didn't give off a strong spice taste...really creamy with a slight tangy taste. I actually added a potato and some hard boiled eggs, haha...Sedap!

Unfortunately I didn't try to make nasi tomato as what Phong Hong as suggested...but it was still very good! :P And I am very sure I will be cooking this again ...and again! :)

I am very happy to submit this post to Malaysian Food Fest Kelantan Month hosted by Gertrude of My Kitchen Snippets.  

Have a great day all!

Almond wholewheat Piggy buns & loaf

Another week gone, and I am still slacking! I really need to get my momentum going on my posting. I have not been blogging much but I have been more active on my new "passion"....Instagram, lol! If you are too an Instagram user, do come look for me and search for "honeybeesweet88" and you will find me. :P Do drop me a comment if you find me there ya?

Okay, back to my posting. It's been more then a month since my last bread post...geese, so unlike me! Lol! Anyway, I bake bread at least once a week...but this particular recipe has been my favorite lately. After my "Snake buns" episode, I decided to bake something fun again this time...piggy buns!!! *Oink* (ok, it's not a hint about my personality ah, lol!)

 

I just love these chubby-face piggies, haha! I had fun fun fun making them too! My kids were picking off their eyes, ears and snout when they eat their piggies, haha! This recipe is pretty much similar to the multigrain snake buns I posted earlier. But instead of almond+walnut+oats puree, I used almond+brown rice and wholewheat. :) But I do apologise that I didn't get to snap any pictures while I was shaping the piggies. :P But its not too complicated...read on. :P

Ingredients for Healthy Piggy Buns (recipe by HoneyBeeSweets)
Filling:

2 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into big chunks
5 slices of think ham, cut into small squares
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp powder sugar

• Boil the potatoes in a pot of water till it is fork tender. Scoop out and mash well.
• Then mix together with the rest of the ingredients and set aside for the buns later.

Dough:

420g bread flour
55g brown rice powder/ flour (you can sub this with rice flour)

40g wholewheat flour (I used Prima)
50g caster sugar
6g salt
7g instant active yeast
150g almond+brown rice puree  (I got this from my soymilk machine, you can use okara too)
160ml fresh milk
200ml water (+- 15 ml ; add as per needed )  

30g unsalted butter

3 slices of kraft cheese, cut into 4 squares in each slice (yields 12 small squares)

some mini chocolate chips for eyes 

• In a large mixing bowl, add in all the ingredients except the butter. Stir and mix till everything comes together to form a pliable dough.
• Continue kneading till the  dough becomes elastic and pulls away from the side of the bowl and not sticky anymore.
• Add in the butter and continue to knead till it reaches window stage. 
• Place the dough into a greased bowl and cover to let proof for 1.5-2hrs till it doubled in size.
• Punch out the air and divide the dough into 50g & 18g portions. (Note:  I made ~9 piggy buns & a plain loaf (9x4x5).)
• First take the pig head, take a 50g portion and roll flat into a flat disc shape. Place one cheese square at the center, then 30g of the filling over the cheese. Seal up the edges into a roll ball.Then using your palm, press it down slightly to make it a slightly flat for more face "area".
•  
• Take the 18g portion, divide into 5g, 5g & 8g. The two 5g are for the ears and the 8g for the snout. Roll round and stick the snout and ears on the main face dough surface.
• Using tooth pick, dip it in some cooking oil (prevent sticking) then poke the nose to create the nostrils. For the ears, use kitchen scissors to snip the lower end to create an opening.

• Lastly stick 2 mini chocolate chips above the snout to make the eyes. Let it proof for at least 15 minutes and preheat the oven to 175C.
• Then bake these buns in the preheated oven for 13-15 minutes till slight golden brown. 

I really love the filling! I wondered why I never use that combination before, lol! 

With the remaining dough, I made a plain loaf as well. :) I guess I can just let the pictures do all the talking ya? :D

Hope this recipe will also become a favorite for you and your family too. And have fun baking those piggy heads too! :) Have a fantastic day everyone!

CNY Bake : Almond Cookies

I am sure most of you have tasted almond cookies before. I would say a good recipe should be those that will slowly melts in the mouth. It should have a faint almond fragrant and sweet buttery after taste. I don't really fancy those that has almond essence nor small almond chunks in them. The essence taste artificial & those chunky almond bits get stuck in my teeth!  If I say I like almond cookies, it is an understatement...I can chow down a tub all by myself if I am not watching my waistline, lol! But hey, looking on the brighter side, almonds has so many health benefits, it's alright to indulge in it right?

It is essential you get whole blanched almonds for this. Roast them and then grind them to fine powdery texture. If you choose to use store bought fine almond flour, it should be okay if you know the store has fresh stock every time. Else those almond powder that has been shelved too long will loose its fragrant and might even have an old stale taste to it. :P

Ingredients for Almond cookies

250g whole blanched almonds

- Roasted at 200C for 10 minutes till slightly golden. Let cool completely then grind it till very fine.

100g plain flour

120g cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

95g confectioner's sugar

1/2 tsp fine salt

100 - 120 ml peanut oil (add enough to make a soft dough)

50g melted unsalted butter

Egg wash for glazing (omit if you want it vegetarian version)

• In a large mixing bowl, sift both flours & baking powder in. Then sift in the confectioner's sugar and salt. Now add in the grind almond and mix well.
• Add in both peanut oil and melted butter. Stir the whole mixture until it comes together to form a soft pliable dough.
• Preheat the oven to 170C. 
• At this point you can choose to cut out or shape the dough into rounds as desired. Lay them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Repeat till all the dough has been shaped out.
• Glaze the cookie tops with egg wash.
• Bake the cookies in the oven for 15-18 minutes till light golden brown.
• Remove from oven and let cool before storing. Enjoy!

Don't ask me how many of these cookies I have eaten...I've already lost count, lol! I had to seal the tubs to stop myself from sneaking a few cookies ever so often! 

Even though I baked double the above recipe, it still seems not enough. :P Anyway, I doubt I have the leisure to bake another batch for CNY...since I still have a few more cookies to bake!

I am happy to submit this to Sonia's blog event :Chinese New Year Delights 2013 新春送礼.

Okay folks, gonna go bake more cookies...until next time, happy baking all!

CNY Bake: Multigrain Snake Buns

My, it's less then 20 days to Chinese New year!? Where did the time go? Didn't we just had a festive Christmas celebration last week? Well, nothing wrong with my sense of time, but it sure feels like last week, lol! I guess most of us home bakers are frantically baking the new year cookies in preparation for the celebration and to give away as well. As usual, I baking the pineapple tarts, almond cookies etc etc. But since there is a blog event over at Sonia's in lieu of CNY, I decided to join in the fun. :) I made snake buns! Lol, sound creepy and unappetizing isn't it. No worries, no snakes are harmed in the making of these buns. :P Haha...

 

 I know, not exactly snake looking buns...but you can imagine soft sticky dough ain't exactly that easy to mould either. :P But I had loads of bun making them! Haha, like a big kid with "play dough"!

 This dough recipe is actually similar to the one I used for my healthy cinnamon buns I baked last week. But instead of the red bean, red dates & black rice trio puree combo, I used almond, oats and walnut puree instead. I will still post the recipe here for easier reference.

Ingredients for Healthy Cinnamon Buns (recipe by HoneyBeeSweets)
420g bread flour
105g five grain flour (you can sub this with rice flour)
50g caster sugar
6g salt
7g instant active yeast
170g almond+walnut+oats puree
160ml fresh milk
200ml water (+- 10 ml ; add as per needed )  

30g unsalted butter

Filling:
mini smoked sauages

tuna mayo (1 can of chunky tuna, drained and mixed with 2-3 tbsp mayo, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2tsp sugar, pinch of pepper)

some red beans for eyes 

• In a large mixing bowl, add in all the ingredients except the butter. Stir and mix till everything comes together to form a pliable dough.
• Continue kneading till the  dough becomes elastic and pulls away from the side of the bowl and not sticky anymore.
• Add in the butter and continue to knead till it reaches window stage. 
• Place the dough into a greased bowl and cover to let proof for 1.5-2hrs till it doubled in size.
• Punch out the air and divide the dough into 40g and 50g portions. (Note:  I made at least 12 of these snakes buns. But you can make less and use the rest of the dough to make a loaf)
• First take the snake body, so take a 50g portion and roll flat into a rectangular shape:
•  
  
  
• Roll it up lengthwise and seal the edges nicely. Then roll the whole thing into a coil to look like a snake body:
•  
  
• Next, make the snake head. Cut the sausages into 3 length wise and cut the tip to make it look like a snake tongue. Then wrap the sausage with the 40g dough portion like a drumstick shape. Then place the head over the coil dough:
• 

 

 

• Repeat till all the dough portions has been used up. Let proof for 30-45minutes covered. Preheat the oven 175C while waiting. Brush egg wash if desired.
• Place 2 red beans on top of the head to make it look like it's eyes.
• Bake in the oven for 15 minutes until golden brown. Enjoy!

Seems a little complicated, but I guarantee you that you will have loads of fun making this. Get your kids to involve too to make it a bonding project! How cool is that?

You can use any bread dough recipe you are comfortable to work with. The one I'm using can be a little sticky and require more kneading time. But the next photo will proof that it is all worthwhile, haha!

Feel free to use another kind of puree if you don't fancy nuts. And you can also reduce the recipe into half to make a smaller manageable portion. :)

I am happy to submit this fun post to Sonia's blog event :Chinese New Year Delights 2013 新春送礼. Have you submited yours? Do join in the fun! Thanks Sonia for hosting this! :)

Have a great week ahead everyone! And happy baking all!!

Happy Birthday Hubby; Chocolate Meringue Cake

It has already been 10 days since my last post here...don't get me started on the backlogs. :P. In fact this will be my first time using this new blogger interface...hope everything goes smoothly. :P Have been baking mooncakes non stop for the past week....kinda crazy but overall a fun project. Glad it's over now, and I finally get to do some blogging. ;) Besides the mooncakes, I still managed to bake my dear husband a birthday cake as well. (it almost sound like it's less important, haha!) ;P No no no, I actually had it planned months ahead what I wanted to bake for his birthday cake. I can only go with chocolate flavor since that is his favorite....nothing wrong since I love chocolate too. ;)) I remembered I ate this really yummy chocolate cake at a blogger gathering last year. It's call Chocolate Meringue Cake shared with us from Doris of Tested & Tasted. Thanks Doris!! It left a wonderful impression and I knew I had to replicate it in my own kitchen. 

I have one word for this cake....DELICIOUS. I almost forgotten how yummy it tasted until I made this again myself. ;) I was very glad I made a big one, hahaha! I remembered everyone at the blogger gathering was raving about it too. You can't go wrong with that right? ;)

I modified Doris's recipe to make 1.5X of the recipe, plus I wanted a taller cake too. ;) Plus I used my own chocolate swiss roll recipe as I really love that cake texture. So I will repost my recipe here for reference. My cake came to be 10" by 7" and approximately 4" tall. If you prefer a smaller version, please refer to Doris's blog.

Ingredients for Chocolate Meringue Cake: (Makes 10"x14" rectangle)
Chocolate Sponge layer 
Egg yolk mixture

33g unsalted butter

102g egg yolk 

33g caster sugar

26g cocoa powder (I used valrohna)

26ml cold water

Egg white mixture

156g egg white (a little more or less is ok)

78gcaster sugar

59g cake flour

• (refer to here for detail step by step instructions )
•  Once baked, let cool and cut half.  Each rectangle should be 10"x7".

Chocolate Ganache
300ml fresh heavy cream
60g unsalted butter
360g quality dark chocolate (I used 66% cocoa Valrohna)
 *Note that I reserved about 1/2 cup of chocolate ganache to mix with 1cup of vanilla Swiss Meringue buttercream.  (used when assembling the cake later) But if you prefer not to cover the side of the cake, you can use up all the ganache when layering.

• Chopped and place the chocolate in a large mixing bowl.
• Heat up the heavy cream and butter until butter melted and the mixture almost boil. 
• Gently pour the cream mixture over the chocolate and let seat for 5 minutes untouched.
• After 5 mins, gently stir mixture together until it comes to a nice shiny smooth ganache.

Nut Meringue:
7 egg whites
130g caster sugar
75g walnut, toasted and chopped'
75g almond meal
30g bread flour

• Beat the egg whites until foamy, then continue to beat and gradually add in the sugar and beat till stiff peaks.

• Then stir in the chopped walnuts, almond meal and sifted bread flour, stir gently till everything is combined without deflating the meringue.
• Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line a 14" x 10" baking tray. Gently spread the nut meringue onto the prepared tray. 
• Bake in the oven for 15-18mins till light golden brown in colour.

 

•  Once cooled, slice the nutty meringue into 2 rectangles, each measures 10" by 7".

 Assemble:

• Place one layer of the chocolate sponge cake as the first base. Then spread a layer of chilled chocolate ganache over the sponge. Next top it with one half do the nut meringue. Again spread a layer of chocolate ganache over the top. Repeat this step until you used up all the layers.

 

• Then trim of the sides of the cake to make it neater. Spread the chocolate buttercream around the four sides of the cake to cover up the layer. Note that you can opt not to do this step, but I wanted a neater look.
  
  
• At this point, you can choose to dust the top of the cake with cocoa powder or decorate the cake as desired. Like I said before, I'm not a fan of eating powdery bitter cocoa powder, I left it out.

I really like how the soft sponge cake and the nutty meringue come together and gave a really nice texture. You might be wondering if the meringue tasted like a meringue cookie...oh no, it almost tasted like a soft sponge cake bursting with nutty flavor. 

A shot showing all the layers in the cake. If you prefer other nuts, by all means, choose the ones you like. I think I will try hazelnut next time, it will be even yummier. I think this cake will appearing in my kitchen again year end, it'll make a fabulous X'mas cake too. ;)

Okay folks, gonna end my post here. Will try to rush out another 2 more posts before the month ends. *fingers crossed* Have a great one all!