Wednesday, September 24, 2008

3 minute Homemade Creamy Peanut Butter

Normally I am quite happy to buy my peanut butter from the supermarket and it never crossed my mind to make my own. But way back in July our supermarket decided to replace our favourite brand with one made in Australia and they pushed the price up as well.

That was it. I refuse to be dictated to, and be told what I can or cannot buy, or where from. I decided to make my own !

Homemade Peanut Butter
It was actually ridiculously easy provided you have a gadget similar to the famous Magic Bullet and you can have fresh peanut butter jelly sandwich in less than 3 minutes. The proof is in the video.

The texture was in fact much creamier and not as dry as the bought ones. And you can actually smell and taste the peanut. Once you have tried some homemade peanut butter, you won't want to go back to that tasteless storebought 'paste'. Plus you know exactly what ingredients has been used.

Peanut butter on a slice of homemade light Wholemeal Bread


Yield : > ½ cup

Ingredients
150gm (1 cup) roasted peanuts
½ tsp peanut oil or onion oil
¼ tsp salt

Method
1. Place all the peanuts into cup of the bullet. Use the flat blade and process until the nuts are roughly broken up.

2. Add oil and salt. Change to the cross blade. Continue to pulse (shaking and scraping the sides of the container every now and then). As you process you will notice the mixture will become more liquid and oily. Process until you are happy with the texture.

Peanut Butter with the Amazing Bullet

Flat Blade...............Cross Blade


Sunday, September 14, 2008

Spicy Date and Ginger Bars

Mr Redneck saw this Spicy Date and Ginger Bars in one of the many monthly magazines we borrow from the library and was literally drooling.

I had a look at the recipe, it was do-able and not overly laden with artery clogging stuff. I made it for Father's Day since there would be many 'guinea pigs' as well as to spread the calories around. The ginger bars were well received.

It is quite rich and sweet so cut it in small dainty slices and serve with coffee or tea. The base is actually a light textured cake. The Ginger Slices freeze well.

Spicy Date & Ginger Bars
Makes : 1 tray 25cm x 30cm

Ingredients
200g chopped dates
250ml milk
1 tsp baking soda

315g plain flour
¾ Tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground allspice

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Thousand Layers Spiral Mooncake

My last trial of this mooncake was back in 2006. Yes, it took me a good 2 years to get over the 'trauma' and give this another go. Not a mooncake for the fainthearted to attempt. What is tedious is sealing the dough without destroying the spiral pattern. But the end result is very rewarding. The pastry is very very crispy, crunchy and light.

Apparently the secret to getting the mooncake to bloom like a snail shell....'dunking it in very hot oil 3 times'.

Thousand Layers Flaky Spiral Mooncake

The traditional filling for this is yam but there is nothing to stop you from putting your own spin into this by using a lotus or bean paste or whatever takes your fancy. Hence I am not putting a recipe here for the filling. Mr Redneck likes his with a savoury mung bean filling.

Makes 6 mooncakes

Ingredients
Water dough
75g plain flour
20g shortening
10g (fine) sugar
35g water + 2-3 drops white vinegar

Oil Dough
65g plain flour
40g shortening


LinkWithin Related Stories Widget for Blogs