Hotteok (Korean pancake)

Autumn is here and it is freeing! So to warm me up this cold morning I decided to make something hot, sweet and delicious. Hotteok is a Korean pancake that is jam packed with either a sweet filling of brown sugar and nuts or a savoury filling of stir fried veggie noodles. It's a popular street food in Korea and is only made during the winter.

 

Hotteok with a sweet brown sugar filling

Makes 8

1 cup warm water

2 tbsp CSR white sugar

2 tsp dry yeast

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp Vegetable oil

2 cups White Wings plain flour

1/2 cup CSR brown sugar

2 tbsp chopped walnuts

1 tsp cinnamon

Place warm water into a bowl and stir in the white sugar, dry yeast, salt and vegetable oil. Stir well.

Add the plain flour and mix it by hand. Let the dough rise for about 1hr at room temperature.

After an hour the dough will rise to double it size. Knead the dough to rid it of gas bubbles. Let it rise for another 10-20 mins.

To make the filling combine the brown sugar, walnuts and cinnamon.

Knead the dough again to rid it of gas bubbles. Place about 1/2 cup plain flour on to your bench top and knead the dough and divide into 8 balls.

Take 1 ball, flatten it, put some filling in the centre, seal it and then roll back in to a ball. Repeat with the rest.

Heat up some vegetable oil in a pan and place a ball on the pan and let it cook for 30 seconds.

When the bottom of the ball is lightly golden, flip the ball over and flatten it down.

Let it cook for about 1 min or until the bottom is lightly golden.

Flip it over once more and cook it on low heat with the pans lid on for 1 min.

Repeat with the rest of the balls.

Serve immediately! Enjoy!

Coffee Swirled Walnut Cake

A coffee swirled walnut cake is probably the most easiest thing you can make. Its perfect for when you want a quick sweet fix or you need to quickly whip something up for unexpected guests. This is a cake that my mum used to make. She basically threw a few ingredients together and voila, with each bite came a deliciously soft mouthful of goodness. It's now something that she gets me to make and it brings back lots of memories. She would whip this up back when I was in primary school (minus the coffee) with chunks of chocolate mixed through and together with my sister, we would heat it up and devour it with a glass of cold milk. It was so good, especially during the colder months.

Coffee Swirled Walnut Cake

Serves about 9

3 eggs

1 cup CSR caster sugar

1 cup oil

1 cup Pura milk

White Wings Self Raising Flour

1 tbsp Nescafe Coffee

1 tbsp boiling water

Crushed Walnuts

Mix all the ingredients together. Add the flour until you reach a thick cake-like consistency. Pour into prepared pan.

Combine the coffee and water. Spoon the coffee over the cake and swirl it around with a spoon. Sprinkle over the crushed walnuts. 

Bake in a 180C fan forced oven for 30 mins or until cooked through.

Serve warm with a cold glass of milk.

Rainbow Cake

Rainbow Cake! It's colourful, pretty, fun and looks so delicious but that's where it all stops. The renowned rainbow cake just didn't do it for me. Did it taste good? Yeh I guess as much as any vanilla cake would taste but it didn't have an enough punch in flavours that I would have liked. And yes it was just another 'vanilla cake' so what was I really expecting? It is taking me forever to find a delicious vanilla cake recipe and this was just another cross off of my list. Im actually super happy that it didn't work out because this gives me a chance to experiment further and jazz up the flavours and the way it looks. YAY! 

So here it is. My first attempt at a vanilla flavoured rainbow cake. 

Rainbow Cake

Serves 6-8

2 cups White Wings flour

2 cups CSR caster sugar

3/4 cup Custard powder

2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup Pura milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla essence

1 cup boiling water

Red, blue, green, orange, yellow and purple food colouring

Icing

1 block (250g) unsalted butter

250ml thick cream

2 tsp vanilla essence or 1 vanilla bean

Icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 150C fan forced.

Combine the flour, sugar, custard powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix through.

Mix in the milk, vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla essence. Pour in the boiling water slowly until mixed thoroughly. Mix on high for 1 min.

Divide into 6 bowls. Assign each colour to a bowl. Add the colour until its a bright and vibrant colour.

Bake separately in the same pan to get the same size for each layer for about 20-30 mins or until cooked through.

Mean while, whip the butter until light and fluffy, incorporate the cream slowly. Add the vanilla bean/essence. Add the icing sugar until you reach the consistency and sweetness that you desire.

Layer the cake and icing. Serve.

Super Moist Banana Bread

I love bananas! So when I have extra over ripe bananas lying around, I get cooking. Quick tip! When a bananas peel is almost black, don't be fooled! That's when the banana is at its best. Inside you'll find a delicious white flesh that is super sweet and perfect for cakes and bread.

My intention was to make a banana bread but it came out looking more like a cake. This is my first time making banana bread and I must say it tasted delicious. It had the right amount of banana and spice but I regret not adding any walnuts. 

The crumble on top worked so well with the banana bread as it gave it that extra sweetness. 

Make sure not to over cook the bread otherwise it'll become super dry and crumbly. If I had cooked it for any longer it would've lost its moistness and been very dry to eat.

Banana Bread

Serves 5-10

2 cups White Wings flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp mixed spice

1/2 cup soft butter

3/4 cup CSR brown sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

4-5 ripe bananas, mashed

2 tsp vanilla essence

Topping

1/4 cup White Wings flour

1/4 cup CSR brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp mixed spice

2 tbsp cold butter

Preheat the oven to 170C fan forced.

Combine flour, baking soda, salt and mixed spice in a bowl and mix well.

In another bowl cream the brown sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Stir in the egg, vanilla essence and bananas. 

Fold in the flour mixture into the banana mixture. Pour into a loaf or cake pan. 

For the topping, combine the flour, brown sugar, salt, mixed spice and rub in the butter. Sprinkle the topping mixture and bake for 20-30 mins or until baked through.

Sticky Chocolate Buns

Uhhh! I'm salivating just at the thought of eating one of this delicious buns. They're soft and fluffy and filled with chocolatey goodness. You have to try them for yourself because words don't do it any justice!

I have also made these using sultanas and its been equally delicious. There are so many flavours you can experiment with, so mix and match until you get the one that tingles your taste buds.

Sticky Chocolate Buns

Makes about 12 buns

For the dough:

1x7g dried sachet yeast

275 ml warm milk

1 egg

450g White Wings plain flour

25g CSR caster sugar

1 tsp salt

50g unsalted butter, melted

1 cup Nestle milk/dark chocolate buttons 

For the filling:

50g butter

2 tsp cinnamon

1/3 cup CSR brown sugar

For the sugar syrup:

1/4 cup CSR sugar dissolved in 2tbsp boiling water

For the coffee icing:

2 cups CSR icing sugar

20 ml espresso coffee

Dissolve the yeast in the milk. Whisk in the egg. Fold in the flour, sugar, salt. Add the butter and mix well. Leave for 10 mins. Add the chocolate buttons.

Lightly oil an area and lightly knead the dough. Return to the bowl and leave it for another 10 mins. Knead it twice more at 10 min intervals, then cover it and let it rise double its size, about an hour.

Flour an area and roll out the dough into a large rectangle.

Melt the butter and stir in the cinnamon and brown sugar. Spread the filling evenly around the dough until all areas are covered.

Roll up the dough tightly and cut into thick pieces, about 3cm thick. Place tightly into a rectangular pan, cover and let it rise for about 30 mins.

Bake at 220C for about 15 mins or until golden.

Mix the icing sugar and espresso until its at a thick consistency.

Freshly out of the oven, glaze the buns with the sugar syrup and serve with the coffee icing or by itself. Either way its super delicious!