Still alive.. the blog i mean :)

Although I have not been posting much recently, I did not give up on my kitchen or rather my oven.
Have been on/off doing some small bakes for the kids, family and friends. Trial tested a few macarons recipes but failed (feet visible but uneven or macarons did not rise the way I wanted), went for a Macaron class that specialized in Character macarons (Tsum-Tsum, Monster Inc, Totoro etc).

I have to say - most of the time I was busy figuring out the best/perfect Macaron recipe that works well for me because being someone who is on the visual side - I have my own expectations on how I would like my macarons to look like.

Prince Charming has been really supportive because for every batch of Macrons that I baked - It means he has to be the 1st guinea pig to sample them (Giggling) and then down a few weeks, you hear him complaining that he gained a few pounds (LOL), and to my pleasant surprise, I also have my little royal supporter - Baby Kwok #1!

It is amazing that every time I put on my baking apron, his eyes sparks and started his reasoning with me on why he should help me out in the kitchen. Technically, I love to have him baking with me but theoretically I preferred not to. I had previous scared to death experience where we were baking halfway through and he opened up the oven! Of course, I was not worried about failing the bakes but I was so afraid that the high heat coming out from the oven might hurt him. I guess I'll need to wait till he is much older before I brace enough courage to let him do some simple baking with me again.

Anyway, not a good writer so I shall stop my typing here. Pictures shall do the talking ;)

Pineapple tarts using Sonia's recipe. Love the Melt-in mouth texture!
Shared this recipe with my colleague who went crazily addicted to them.

The famous Ogura cake. Referenced Jennie's recipe but made some modification.
For mine - I replaced milk with Chocolate Soy milk and added Cocoa powder.

One of the Macaron recipe that I tried. Feets were visible but just not the kind that I wanted :/
Batter was undermixed as well - See the "nipples" on each macarons?

Went for a Macaron making class with one of July 2013 mummy. :)

It was a tedious class - My neck was so sore from looking down for 3 hours!

Saw a video on Facebook and decided to attempt it for breakfast because it is so simple!

Original recipe calls for Tomato puree as the spread and mashed Avocado for borders.

Mine was a simplified version -Tostitos Creamy Spinach dip as the borders, egg and Swiss cheese.

Another recipe that I tried for Macarons - Love the feet but the macarons were not even. Some of the

sides had no feet and they were hollow. Prince Charming took a bite and it went down his shirt.

Now.. here is my perfect Macarons (in my personal opinion)! Love the feet and overall.

Easier than most recipes and it managed to survive in a humid environment!

Same recipe with different flavors - This was a green tea buttercream

This was Chocolate buttercream! The texture of these Macarons were crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside.

Now that I mastered the art of making Macarons, Prince Charming requested for them to bring to work. I used the egg tray to store these macarons :)