Durian Ice Cream

Finally back to making some cold sweet treats! Hubby reminded me some days back that we still have got some durian puree stashed away in our freezer, and he suggested making durian puree with them.   
We quickly did a search for an easy and eggless durian ice cream recipe and decided to give this recipe by Nasi Lemak Lover a try.  Turned out to be a real simple and good cold, creamy and yummy treat!  Now anyone can make durian ice cream at home.  Just blend and freeze, no need of an ice cream maker!

Blend and store in a clean and dry container

Freeze and dig in!

Durian Ice Cream (Blend & Freeze!)
Recipe by Nasi Lemak Lover

Durian flesh 350g
Sugar 4tbsp ** adjust accordingly - I used only 4 tsp
Fresh Milk 100ml
Fresh whipped cream 70g


1. Blend durian flesh, sugar and milk in a blender till smooth.
2. Add in fresh whipped cream and mix well.
3. Pour into a container and freeze overnight or until set.

Tang Yuan (with Fresh Red Dragonfruit juice)

Today is Dongzhi Festival (Winter Solstice Festival) and many Chinese will celebrate this day by cooking a pot of glutinous rice balls (Tang yuan) and eating them together with the family.

This year I skipped the artificial red food colouring and made pink tang yuan using red dragonfruit juice instead.

Love the colours of the dough as well as the cooked product.

Happy Dongzhi to All who's celebrating this day!

Glutinous Rice Dumplings (Tang yuan)

Glutinous rice flour
Water
Fresh red dragonfruit juice (mash some dragonfruit pcs on a sieve and retain juice that comes through)

Ginger Soup

Water
Brown sugar
3 to 4 pandan leaves, knotted
A pc of 1-inch ginger, peeled and pounded slightly to release the ginger fragrance

To cook ginger soup, place ginger and pandan leaves in water and bring it to boil till fragrant. Allow it to simmer for further 5min on medium heat.

To make Tang yuan, place glutinous flour into mixing bowl and add in enough water and mix dough with hands or a rubber spatula. Add in more water if too dry, more glutinous rice flour if too sticky. Dough is ready if it is soft and easy to handle without sticking to hands. It should somehow feel soft like earlobes. 

For pink dough, I added a tsp of the fresh red dragonfruit juice, then followed by enough water to get a soft and non stick dough. You can add in more juice if you want it a little more pink, but not too much because it will turn the dpugh into a purple hue.

Roll dough into little balls and set them on a lightly floured plate. Once done, cook them in a boiling pot of water. They are cooked when they float. Place cooked tang yuan into serving balls and spoon ginger soup over them. Serve immediately.

Oreo Cheesecake & Coffee Cheesecake Cups

Made these cheesecake cups for my colleagues as a little Thank-You gesture for the farewell lunches and gifts I received.  It was my first time making cheesecakes into little dessert cups and I definitely love how they turned out. Cute, dainty and sweet little cheesecake cuppies. I want to do these again!

Colleagues commented that the plastic dessert cups were cute. Got them from Phoon Huat (not cheap!!!). Gonna try purchasing them from Tao Bao :)

Since this post is done on 9 Aug 2015 - being the SG50 post, I'll end here with a Happy 50th National Day to Everyone & All Singaporeans!!!

Coffee Cheesecake Cups

Makes 10 cups

Bottom base

90g digestive biscuits crumbs 

30g oreo biscuits crumbs 

65g butter (melted) 

Fillings

250g cream cheese 

60g sugar 

12g instant coffee (dissolve with 1 tablespoon water) 

2 teaspoon gelatin (dissolve with 1 tablespoon hot water) 

170ml whipping cream 

Deco (Optional)

10 chocolate coated coffee beans

1. Mix the crumbs and melted butter in a bowl. Spoon 2 to 3 tsp of cookie base into dessert cups and gently press to level base and keep in the fridge. (Do not press base hard as it might be hard and difficult to spoon out to eat)

2. In another bowl, beat cream cheese until soften, gradually beat in sugar until the sugar dissolve. Add in the coffee mixture until well blended.
3. Whisk the whipping cream in another bowl until thicken.
4. Mix the dissolved gelatin into the coffee mixture until well incorporated. Fold in the in the whipped cream until everything well combine.
5. Spoon in cheese mixture into dessert cups  till 3/4 full and chill in the fridge until it set.
6. After the cheesecake has set, decorate each coffee cheesecake cups with a chocolated coated coffee bean. Enjoy!

Oreo Cheesecake Cups

Makes 10 cups

Bottom base

90g digestive biscuits crumbs 

30g oreo biscuits crumbs 

65g butter (melted) 

Fillings

250g cream cheese 

60g sugar 

2 teaspoon gelatin (dissolve with 1 tablespoon hot water) 

170ml whipping cream 

14 individual pcs of oreo cookies (cream removed), crush with a rolling pin till you get a mixture of fine bits and chunky bits 

Deco (Optional)

Oreo cookies (I broke each oreo cookies (with cream on) into 4 quarters)

1. Mix the crumbs and melted butter in a bowl. Spoon 2 to 3 tsp of cookie base into dessert cups and gently press to level base and keep in the fridge. (Do not press base hard as it might be hard and difficult to spoon out to eat)

2. In another bowl, beat cream cheese until soften, gradually beat in sugar until the sugar dissolve. 
3. Whisk the whipping cream in another bowl until thicken.
4. Mix the dissolved gelatin into the cream cheese mixture until well incorporated. Fold in the in the whipped cream until everything well combine. Add in crushed oreo bits and fold in briefly.
5. Spoon in oreo creamcheese mixture into dessert cups till 3/4 full, Place oreo cookie as deco on top, and chill in the fridge until it set. Enjoy!

Dragonfruit & Vanilla Greek Yoghurt Popsicles

Addicted to making popsicles and eating them, so I am making these yummy treats quite frequently.

These popsicles are definitely wat healthier than ice creams. No whipped cream and sugar. Are you in for popsicles??

Dragonfruit Vanilla Greek Yoghurt Popsicles

1 red dragonfruit, de-skin and cut into smaller pcs
3 tbsp Vanilla Greek yoghurt, for blending
Desired amount of Vanilla Greek yoghurt for swirling (optional)

1. Slice and place dragonfruit pcs and yoghurt into blender. Blend!

2. Spoon half tsp of yoghurt into empty popsicle mould. Spoon dragonfruit puree halfway into popsicle moulds. 

3. Add 1/2 tsp yoghurt and then top with puree. Do not fill to brim of mould as popsicle will "pop up" slightly when frozen.

4. Finally using a chopstick, dip into mould mixture and stir about slightly to create a swirl pattern.
5. Place into freezer.

6. When removing, wrap mould with a hot dish cloth / run mould (bottom part) under running water and carefully dislodge popsicles. Enjoy!

Avocado Gula Melaka Popsicles

Now how can one tolerate with such a hot and humid weather??? Aircon has been my best friend these days. All I want to do when at home is stay in my room with the air con and TV nowadays. Super no life!

To curb the heat, I cannot stop making popsicles. Eating icecreams make me fat (and guilty).  Popsicles are the new icecream (at least for me and hubby!).

So easy and fun to make, kids can join in the fun too!

Go make and eat them!! Yummy!

Avocado Gula Melaka Popsicles
2 ripe avocados
230ml milk
1.5 tbsp gula melaka syrup (for blending)
1 tbsp (for swirl patterns)

Gula Melaka syrup
100g gula melaka
40ml water
4 pcs of pandan leaves, knotted

Place gula melaka, water and knotted pandan leaves into saucepan and let gula melaka melt. Stir well. You may use a spatula to gentle press down pandan leaves and stir about so that gula melaka syrup will be infused with pandan fragrance.

Pour gula melaka syrup through sieve to rid bits of residue. Ready to use.

Popsicles
1. Half avocados and scoop out fruit flesh using a spoon and place into blender.
2. Add in milk and gula melaka syrup. Place on blender cover and blend into smoothie. If smoothie is too thick, add in a little more water. You may do a taste test, if smoothie is not sweet to your liking, add in more gula melaka syrup accordingly. Blend well.
3. Spoon into popsicle moulds. For swirl patterns, spoon in blended smoothie halfway up mould, spoon in some gula melaka syrup, top with smoothie to almost top of mould and then use a chopstick to stir and make swirl patterns.
4. Stick in popsicle mould cover and place in freezer.

5. When frozen and ready to eat, place popsicle mould under tap water, taking care not to let water sip into frozen popsicles. Twist and remove. Enjoy!

Mango Honey Yoghurt Popsicle

The unusually hot and humid weather is making me crave for anything cold to cool my body. Very unlike me, for I am one who is not into icy cold stuff. It is the same with my hubby! And so I thought it was about time I put my popsicle mould (I bought some 1 year back!) into good use.  Make some healthy fruit and yoghurt popsicle, will you?

I have got 2 ripened mangoes, a tub of yummy honey yoghurt, a blender and a popsicle mould, so let's do it :)

I got this from Japan Home.

We love this thick and creamy yoghurt.

A must have in our fridge.

This is a super fast and easy popsicle recipe. Seriously, it couldn't get any easier than this! Best of it all was that these are yummy and healthy sweet treats for yourself, and your littles ones :)

Fret not if you do not have a popsicle mould, you can do good even with paper cups, plastic cups or shot glasses for dainty icy treats. Spoon blended mixture into paper cups, cover with clingwrap and stick in centre of clingwrapped cup with a short straw or a snipped wooden chopstick for support of the popsicle.

Wooden chopstick would have been the better support option but I did not have them, so I used straws. It was quite okay too just that you would have to held it with more care :)

Mango Honey Yoghurt Popsicle

220g mango puree (I used 2 Thai Honey Mangoes)
170g Greek Honey Yoghurt

1. Slice and place mango pieces into blender. Blend!

2. Spoon in Honey Yoghurt into mango puree and blend again.

I filled the moulds with half of the mango yogghurt puree, then spoon in half a tbsp of honey yoghurt and finally topped it off with the remaining mango yoghurt puree. Use a chopstick and loosely stir the puree to create a swirl pattern.

3. Spoon puree into popsicle moulds or paper cups. Do not fill to brim of mould as popsicle will "pop up" slightly when frozen.
4. Place into freezer.

I had extra puree and so the remaining were poured into paper cups.

5. When removing, wrap mould with a hot dish cloth and carefully dislodge popsicles. Enjoy!

Baked Chocolate Cheesecake 巧克力乳酪蛋糕

Last week a no-bake cheesecake was featured. This week, expect a baked one! Yeah I love making cheesecakes! Baked or no-bake ones, Im okay with both. Ask which one I enjoy eating more, you can wait long long for my answer haha! I love them all.

Other than having to clear the packs of creamcheese, I also have to take care of the chocolate bars stashed in a big compartment of my fridge, where I could definitely make good out of that space. 

These chocolates would have made me a real happy girl in the past, but not anymore now. I do not chomp on choco bars like I used to, when I still got that slim (or maybe skinny) bod. Chocolates are very much eaten with caution now. I can live without them now. And so, to get rid of those chocolates, I planned to incorporate them into my bakes. Prep yourself for more choco stuff :D

I tasted the slice of cheesecake right after I was done with the phototakings.  Smooth, creamy and easy on the palate. Not as dense as no-bake ones but still yummy enough for me! I will bake this again!

Shared some with the sis who is also a cheesecake lover and I brought some into office. It is always good to share the calories, no?? :P

Baked Chocolate Cheesecake
Recipe from Grace Kitchen Corner
Original recipe from Nigella Lawson (Nigella Feasts) 9 inches round pan
(I used 6-inch springform pan)

For the base: 
(I used 120g of digestive biscuits and 80g of Oreo cookies without cream)
200g digestive biscuits 
100g unsalted butter (I used 85g of butter and melted it for use)
1 tablespoon cocoa powder (I left this out)

For the filling: (I left out the top filling)
175g dark chocolate
500g Philadelphia cream cheese
120g caster sugar
1 tablespoon cornflour
3 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
150 ml sour cream
½ teaspoon cocoa & 1 teaspoon instant coffee dissolved in 1 tablespoon hot water

For the glaze:
2 tablespoon cream
55g dark chocolate, finely chopped
1 tablespoon golden syrup
1 tablespoon warm water


1. Make the base, process the biscuits to make rough crumbs and then add the butter and cocoa. Process again until it makes damp, clumping crumbs and then tips them into a 23cm springform tin. Press the biscuit crumbs into the bottom of the tin to make an even base and put into the freezer while you make the filing. 

2. Preheat the oven to 180’C. Put a kettle on to boil. Melt the chocolate either in a microwave or double boiler, and set aside to cool slightly. 

3. Beat the cream cheese to soften it and then add the sugar and cornflour, beating again to combine. Beat in the whole eggs and then the yolks, and the sour cream. Finally add the cocoa dissolved in hot water and the melted chocolate, and mix to a smooth batter. 

4. Take the springform tin out of the the freezer and line the outside of the tin with a good layer of clingfilm, and then another layer of strong foil over that. This will protect it from the water bath. Sit the springform tin in a roasting pan and pour in the cheesecake filing.

5. Fill the roasting pan with just-boiled water to come about halfway up the cake tin, and bake in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour. The top of the cheesecake should be set, but the underneath should still have a wobble to it. 

6. Peel away the foil and clingfilm wrapping and sit the cheesecake in its tin on a rack to cool. Put in the fridge once it’s no longer hot, and leave to set, covered with clingfilm, overnight. 

7. Let it lose its chill before unspringing the cheesecake to serve. 

To make the chocolate glaze, very gently melt the chopped chocolate and cream. When the chocolate has nearly melted, take off the heat and whisk it to a smooth sauce. Add the golden syrup and mix well. Add the warm water then mix till you got a smooth chocolate glaze. 

8. Pour it evenly on the center of the chocolate cheesecake. Chill in the fridge for few minutes until the glaze slightly set.
Use a hot knife to cut the cheesecake.

Chilled Creamy Mango Pomelo Sago 杨枝甘露

There is no other best time to make this dessert other than now! Yes, when mangoes are so in season now and are going cheap! So so sweet and yummy. This is like an annual thing, a once-a-year-must-make dessert.

Mummy gave me a pomelo which turned out to be very sweet and yummilicious. Mum then asked if I had plans to make the mango pomelo sago. I instantly knew I had to do this soon because Mum seldom have food requests. Hehe!

I searched the internet looking for a recipe that will give me a pot of creamy mango pomelo sago. I decided to come up with my own. It was not too difficult :)

My little brother asked for a second serving of it. He is quite picky and critical about food, so when he asked for more, I felt flattered lor. Hahaha.

I like the creamy tasty of both the fresh mango puree and evaporated milk mixed together. I never like diluted mango pomelo sago. Just indulge lor since we do not eat this dessert so often!

Chilled Creamy Sago Pomelo
(Serves 5-7)

500g mango (to blend into mango puree)
210ml evaporated milk
100g sago pearl
half mango, cut into cube bits
4 slices of pomelo, peeled and separated into bits (Add more if you like)

1. Put a pot of water to boil. Add in sago pearls, cover with pot lid and let it cook on low heat for about 15min or till sago turns translucent.

2. Pour cooked sago pearls onto sieve and leave in a bowl of room temperature water. This prevents the sago pearls from further cooking and turning soft, and this retains sago pearls chewiness. Remove refrigerate sago pearls till ready to use.
3. Blend 500g of mango and evaporated milk into puree.

4. Set mango puree into a big pot or mixing bowl. Add in sago pearls and stir till well mixed.
5. Add in mango cubes and pomelo bits and mix well.
6. Place in fridge and serve chilled.