Dried Cranberry & Blueberry Scones

It was a Friday night and it was nearing the end of my 1-week break so I decided to do something productive. Enhancing my baking skills is definitely on top of the list so I decided to bake Dried Cranberry & Blueberry Scones!

I'm really very thankful I managed to bring to Singapore some of the baking cookbooks from my modest collection. This cookbook "New Baking Book" from Better Homes and Gardens was a gift I got from one of our annual christmas gift exchanges with my cousins, a few years back.

I remember baking scones several years ago but I can't remember which recipe I used and how I baked it so I was glad to find an assortment of scone recipes in the book. I do remember though that it was quick and swift.

Please see entire recipe and baking instructions in the picture above. You might want to save the picture and zoom on it for better reading.

I guess baking scones is artisan in a way because it involves kneading and no use of electric mixers. I did modify the recipe a bit to add more fruit and replaced the cherries, as I'm really not a fan of cherries that much. I also replaced half of the all-purpose flour with cake flour just because I felt it would make the scone more moist and cakey instead of dry and crumbly. Also, I added a tad bit more butter and replaced the sour cream with lite sour cream (haha who am I kidding). Lastly, I had to add more AP flour (maybe a cup more) during kneading as the dough was quite wet, maybe because of the added fruit and butter.


Taadddaahhh!!! Dried Cranberry & Blueberry scones!! Don't they look perfect??! hahaha. Oh and I brushed the top with beaten egg for shine and colour. You can add clotted cream as a siding or orange glaze for topping. Plus, you can use a cookie cutter to make them look more like scones. Zach said they were very good so that makes me a happy baker hehe.

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Salmon Pesto Spaghetti

So one Friday night I just decided to cook something special. For some reason, my yearning to cook has been stirred lately (stirred, isn't that the perfect word haha). Zach wanted salmon pasta using whole wheat fettucine but I couldn't find whole wheat fettucine so I opted for wholemeal spaghetti. All these healthy terms are confusing me, whats the diff between wholemeal and wholewheat anyway?!

I remember cooking with wholemeal/wheat pasta before and I remember how tough it was when I tried to cook it 'normally'. So now I decided to boil it a little longer than usual to make it more 'al dente' and not bordering on raw.

It was very simple actually, I just threw in the olive oil, onions, garlic, olives, capers, pesto sauce, salmon and the lemon (also in that same order). Saute, saute and saute some more then season with pepper, salt and italian seasoning.

Finally, toss in the noodles, mix mix mix then top it off with parmesan cheese. Voila!! Salmon Pesto Spaghetti!

It was quite good I must say (of course, haha). Though the noodles were still a bit tough or maybe I'm just not used to it. Bon Appetit!

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Betty Crocker Fudge Brownies

I don't have work today (Friday) because our office is closed due to our relocation (We are moving to Bukit Batok and I live in Tampines, ugh stress!). To put my long weekend to good use, I decided to put my rusty baking skills to the test by baking some fudge brownies - ready mix brownies though :P.

Ok, I will let you in on a secret - the brownies were supposed to be "best before October 11, 2008", Har Har Har. But it didn't say "consume before" or "expiration by" which means it's all good :) But seriously, I did see this show on Discovery where they experimented with "expired" goods and they found out dry goods are the least likely to expire even years after the "expiration date".


I modified the ingredients a bit by adding canola oil instead of regular vegetable oil then I added bit of butter to make it taste better. I also threw in a few drops of vanilla for another layer of flavour.


Tadaaa!!! Here are my "expired" brownies!!! hehehe. Doesn't it look exactly like the one on the packaging? Yes? Yes! :)

By the way, it tasted great! I love homemade fudge brownies. And it didnt taste funny at all or gave me any stomach problems hehe. Read more on "Betty Crocker Fudge Brownies"!

Homecooked Baked Penne Pasta for New Year's Day Dinner

Ever since I started working here in Singapore (On March 21, I've been here for 2 yrs now, can you believe that?!), I haven't really had the time (and energy) to cook comfort food as much as I did back in Manila.

So the start of a fresh promising year is a great way to bring back old habits. And since we didn't really have any plans for that night, I might as well cook something special for everyone in our flat.

Aileen helped me prepare the pasta. We both love to cook and we have been cooking buddies since we were really young. The pasta is quite simple actually. Just penne pasta, tomato sauce, tomato puree, garlic, onions, ground beef, mushrooms, leftover "bravo" tomato garlic sauce, leftover cheeses in the fridge plus bechamel sauce.

We were intending to cook lasagna but the neighbourhood grocery store didn't carry lasagne noodles.

Zach brought over some "Satay" to add more protein and variety to our meal.

Dessert were leftover sweets and treats from Christmas. The Panettoni is really good - seems like a dry airy bread if you look at it but once you pop it in your mouth it's really chewy and soft.

(Clockwise from far left) Al, Aileen (my cousin), Bill (her fiance), Zach, JP (our friend), and Rye.

So that was our new year's day dinner. Simple yet truly filling AND delicious! (hehehehe)

Happy New Year once again! All the best to all of us in this year of the Ox!

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Home-Cooked Lasagna

It's a saturday night and I'm feeling sick with sinus and sore throat so I just decided to cook lasagna with Aileen. The last time I cooked lasagna was in Manila and I remember I used to cook and bake a lot especially during special occasions.

The lasagna was pretty goob to be honest. Haha so biased. Though I really prefer regular lasagna noodles than instant ones. Bon Apetit! :)

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