Kettle Corn

A movie's best friend.

I love my popcorn. One of the best snacks to go along with a movie is popcorn, for sure. The other is nachos with oozy cheese - but that is another story altogether.

So yes, I love popcorn. One of my weaknesses that my husband frowns upon is my love for snacks. I love snacking on chips, chocs, popcorn, etc. But for some reason, snacking on popcorn always feels healthier to me compared to, say, a bag of highly salted potato chips. Having said that, in the past, I used to make my popcorn at home using pre-made microwavable popcorn. However, what I noticed was that I always had a this weird, powdery sensation on my tongue after going through just half a bag of them. It made me feel like I was eating something artificial. With that, I decided to try making my own popcorn at home. To my amazement, I realised that making my own popcorn is SO EASY!! Since then, I have been making bags of it for myself as well as friends and bags of popcorn would disappear in a flash. They are THAT good. I don't think I can go back to those pre-packaged ones anymore!

Kettle Corn

Ingredients
1/2 cup of corn kernels (I use Trader Joe's organic corn kernels)
1/4 cup of vegetable oil
1/4 cup of sugar, or to taste
Salt, to taste

*a tip about storing the dried kernels: make sure that they are in an air-tight container or bag as being exposed to air means losing moisture, which would result in the kernels not being able to pop when heated.

Pour the vegetable oil into a large pot over medium-high heat. Place 3 corn kernels inside and cover. When the 3 kernels have popped, the oil is ready. Remove the popped corn.

Pour the rest of the corn kernels into the pot and sprinkle the sugar over them evenly. Do a quick stir-through and cover the pot. Wait for 3 seconds and then shake the pot for 3 seconds. Shake it well to prevent the sugar from burning at the bottom. Repeat the sequence until most of the kernels have popped and you hear pops spread over a few seconds. Do not wait for the popping sounds to stop completely as that would mean some of the popcorn at the bottom might be burnt. Take the pot off the stove and continue to shake the pot until you can no longer hear any more popping sounds.

Remove popcorn from the pot and into a bowl, sprinkle some salt over it, mix and enjoy!

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Compound Butter

I've always been very fascinated with compound butter. I love it when I eat out and my slab of steak came with a knob of compound butter on it because it is really a flavor enhancer for the steak (or chicken, fish, etc for that matter) and the flavor varies from restaurant to restaurant, dish to dish.

So, that day I bought some steak and thought, why not make my own compound butter from scratch? After reading several articles and recipes online for compound butter, I decided to use my favorite herbs and make a simple one. Nothing too fancy, since it was my first time making it.

Using a knife, mash the softened butter with the other ingredients.

I used 1/4 cup of unsalted butter softened at room temperature. Do not soften it in the microwave, cos the butter will break down into an oily mess - which is not what you want.

My added ingredients are: 1 large clove of garlic (minced), 1 teaspoon of fresh parsley (minced), 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of lemon juice and a tiny pinch of salt. I love garlic, so I added a wee bit more. The good thing about making your own compound butter (as with all other recipes) is that you can adjust according to your taste so please taste a pinch before wrapping it up! Add more or less herbs, juice, etc to taste!

Roll them up with some cling wrap.

Twist the ends of the cling wrap as you would with a sweet, making sure it is compact all the way through. Try to not have holes and gaps in between.

There you have it. Store it in the fridge for a couple of hours for it to hold its shape.

Cut a knob out and put it on a good piece of sirloin like what I did!

The result was absolutely delicious and I can't believe how EASY it was. I can't wait to try other combinations next time! Other common elements that can be added are shallots, dill, thyme and even red wine - in varying combinations of course, not all at once!

I also baked some potatoes a couple of days later and stuck a knob of butter into the piping hot potato and it was delish! Don't bake the butter with the potato... just stick it in when the potato is cooked and out of the oven. Such an easy way to kick a dish up a notch!

So there you have it - easy, creamy, beautiful - compound butter!

Edit: As to how long this compound butter can last, I try to use it within a week since it has fresh herbs inside (some websites says more, some says less). If you want to prolong its shelf life, you can also put it in the freezer - but even then, I'd say no more than 2 weeks. But that's just me. Hehe. Since this recipe is so easy, I'd just make it in smaller quantities, hence the 1/4 cup butter measurement.

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Christmas Sugar Cookies

Handcrafted with love!

Aren't these Christmas cookies so beautiful? And they are sooo easy to make too! :)

Have been really busy this week (and we are only at the start) shopping for Christmas. Also, a friend from out of town will be visiting me this week so gotta prep some stuff too. I don't know about you, but November seemed to have whizzed past me in a blur. How did time pass so fast? But I love it! All these is keeping my adrenaline pumping...

So yes, as I was saying, what is Christmas without some sugar cookies! I'm not sure if you noticed, but the edges of my cookie hearts are not slick. Why is that so? Because I didn't use a cookie cutter. I couldn't find a heart-shape cookie cutter (strangely, the stores I went to had stars, christmas trees, aeroplanes, but I think they ran out of hearts!) so I decided to just cut them by hand. I guess I can now say these cookies were "handcrafted" hoho. And like thumbprints, you won't be able to find the exact same heart on my cookie tray because I didn't use a stencil. So yes, they are absolutely unique! ;P

So let's get on with talking about how to make these cookies! First, use your favorite sugar recipe. I used the recipe from my friend Sheralyn (the same one who passed me the delicious bread ring recipe) and they worked superbly. I added nutmeg for mine, and I LOVE how it gives the cookies the extra kick and flavor, making it all spiced, sweet and salty at once. Below is the recipe, and thereafter I'll elaborate on how to decorate it using royal icing.

So good, you can even eat them on their own!

Christmas Sugar Cookies

Ingredients
240g unsalted butter, softened
200g sugar or brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
330g of flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg (optional)

Mix and sift the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg into a large bowl.

In a separate large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.

Mix the egg and vanilla into the butter and sugar mixture. You will get quite a wet mixture but it is ok. Add in the sifted flour.

Knead gently and chill the dough for 30 minutes in the refrigerator. You may chill it up to a day.

Preheat your oven to 350F.

Gently roll out the dough about 1/4-inch thick and cut them into your desired shapes.

Line your baking tray with wax paper. Place your cut cookies on them. Chill them in the refrigerator again for about 10 to 15 minutes. This will help to harden the dough and allow it to hold its shape better during the baking process.

Bake your cookies for about 10 minutes, or until the edges are brown. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Royal Icing 1 (for piping the outline of the cookie)

Ingredients
1 large egg white
1 teaspoon of fresh lemon juice
220g of powdered/icing sugar, sifted.

Beat the egg whites with the lemon juice until combined. Slowly whisk 1/2 a cup of sugar into the mixture. Do this with the rest of the sugar until you have a thick mixture - you can't have a runny consistency, but it shouldn't be so thick that you can't pipe it properly. If the icing gets too runny, you can add more sugar. If it is too thick, just add a bit of water.

If you don't own a piping bag, no worries, simply put them into a ziplock bag (or other bags that can give you a nice pointed edge) and snip the tip off. Be very careful, snip the hole as small as you can and adjust from there.

Royal Icing 2 (for flooding - which means to fill out the whole cookie)

Ingredients
2 large egg whites
2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice
330g of powdered/icing sugar, sifted.

Follow the same steps as the above. To add color to your icing, just add your favorite food coloring.

Important note: Royal icing dries out very quickly, so always cover your bowl of icing with a cling film when not in use. Also, place the tip of your piping bag on a piece of moist tissue while interchanging colors/bags to prevent crusting.

Make sure your cookies are completely cooled.

Using royal icing 1, pipe a border around your cookie. This is to help contain the icing later which will be much more runny in consistency. Without this step, your icing might run messily over the edges.

Wait for the icing to completely cool. This may take around half an hour. Always have a cookie that you can test with. If that test cookie dries, you know the rest are probably dried. And you can practice your designs on that test cookie first before attempting on your real cookies!In fact, I usually have at least two test cookies cos i tend to chomp on the first one while decorating hurhur.

Then, use a teaspoon to and start flooding your cookie. Try not to over flood it, just have enough icing to coat the surface. A super thick flooding may run over the border resulting in a horrible mess.

Then, while your icing is still wet (you cannot manipulate the design on dried out icing), dot it with another color. I place my red icing in a piping bag and piped the dots!

After that, use a toothpick and gently run it through the circles.

And there you'll have it, beautifully swirled hearts on a cookie.

When you are done, place the cookie on a flat surface. Make sure it is not tilted, because the wet icing will make its way out of your cookie before you know it! The icing will take several hours to dry (sometimes overnight) so check your test cookie before packing them up! :)

Happy holidays everyone! :)

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How To Use A Pomegranate

Superfruit!

It is hard to ignore this exotic fruit with its lovely crimson exterior that resembles a cross between a peach and an apple. I love how the blood-red kernels adorn the interior of the fruit, like a display of precious rubies hidden in a cave. And these bright "rubies" are not just pretty, they are packed with a hefty dose of vitamins and antioxidents!

But enough of hearing me wax lyrical about one of my favorite fruits. If you are like me in the past, not too sure how to open or use it, let the mystery be solved today!

If you are choosing a pomegranate at a farmer's market or supermarket, try to find one that is deep red in colour and feels relatively heavy . It should also have a shiny exterior, as if it has been waxed, and a soft (not mushy) skin. Avoid picking pomegranates that has cracks on its skin cos they tend to spoil quickly.

Now that we've got that settled, there are two popular ways of eating it raw: by picking the seeds or extracting its juice. If you are wearing your favorite white shirt, I'd suggest you to protect it with a napkin or apron, or better yet, wear something else altogether cos this vibrant fruit has a knack for shooting off red juice that might stain your beloved shirt.

To open the fruit, simply cut the fruit into quarters using a knife and pick the seeds out with your fingers. You just need to be careful about the juice that may spray out when you accidentally burst the kernels. But hey, just like eating mangosteen, half the fun is the mess of prying open the fruit for some finger-licking goodness! :) Just don't go overboard and end up looking like you just butchered a small rabbit.

Alternatively, you can also separate the seeds from the skin by pulling it at the side (like how you would pull apart an orange from its skin).

To extract its juice, simply blend the pomegranate seeds in a blender and strain its juice through a cheese cloth or muslin.

One of my other favorite way of using pomegranate is as a salad dressing or a glaze over meats. Below is a simple recipe to make your own pomegranate molasses.

Pomegranate Molasses

Ingredients
4 cups of pomegranate juice
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons of lemon juice (or to taste)

Simmer your pomegranate juice, sugar and lemon juice over medium heat on a large saucepan for about an hour, or until the mixture becomes a thick syrup. Dissolve more sugar into it if you want the syrup to be sweeter. When done, cool the pomegranate molasses before storing it in the refrigerator. Tweet