Butterscotch Cream Pie with Ginger Snap Crust

This Butterscotch Cream Pie is sure to please anyone who is in the mood for plenty of sweet and creamy butterscotch. 

The recipe is adapted from Karen DeMasco's The Craft of Baking. I was intrigued with the concept of this book as the author teaches you how to create your own recipe from a combination of basic recipes. I like how the author made the recipes to be versatile so that it can be used in other recipes. For instance, the crust of this pie is made from the crumbs of ginger snap cookies. If you ever get bored of eating ginger snap cookies you could turn them into this wonderful pie. 

If you already have a bottle of ginger snap cookies lying on your kitchen counter, this will be an easy and quick pie to make. You will only have to bake the crusts and pour the cooked filling into the pie and refrigerate it for a few hours before serving.

Pumpkin Pie

 
I have never made a pumpkin pie before. It is not something that is popular on this side of the world. We have pumpkin dishes but it's not something that people would make into a dessert here, which is strange because we use yam and sweet potato which have a similar texture to pumpkin in our local dessert, bubur cha cha. 

This pumpkin pie is super easy to make and I was surprised how delicious it turned out even though it's my first time making a pumpkin pie.

I love the creamy and sweet taste of pumpkin. It tastes great whether as a savoury dish or made into a dessert.

Though pumpkin pie is commonly eaten during Thanksgiving in North America, it would make a nice Christmas dessert as well. Don't you think  cinnamon and ginger taste very christmassy?

Super Easy Mince Pie (Merry Christmas Everyone!)

It's that time of the year. It really isn't Christmas without mince pie. I always have a mince pie or two when Christmas is near. It's something I picked up while studying in the UK and it stuck ever since. This year I decided to bake my own. Home made pies always taste great because you get to use as much butter as you want and control what goes into the pies. These mince pies are rich and buttery and filled with boozy fruits. Go ahead, tis the season to indulge.

I used store bought mixed fruits for the "mince meat" (it's called mince meat even though there's no meat in the filling -_-). If you're up for it, make your own mince meat. I think Mary Berry's or David Lebovit's recipes are good. Traditionally, suet ( pork fat) is used to make the filling. If you can't find suet, don't sweat, just use butter. These mince pies are super easy to make.

Easy Fisherman's Curry Quiche

There will be a temporary shift of direction in the type of food I bake as I will be baking/cooking food to pack to work. This means you'll be seeing a lot more posts on savoury baked goods.  

If you're sick of having leftover dinner for tomorrow's lunch, I suggest you jump on the bandwagon and start preparing tasty little baked treats for lunch at work. It's fun to plan a menu and workday lunch can never be as satisfying as enjoying your own tasty creation in your office pantry. If you have other people living with you, such as family or housemates, share your creations with them. Nothing like putting a smile on their faces and reminding them of what a sweetheart you are when they open up their lunch boxes.

It will be a challenge to look for main courses to bake. The first baked main that comes to mind is quiche. So here's the curry quiche recipe I made to kick start my "baked main course challenge". 

Tart Aux Fraises

 

Wouldn't it be nice to be sitting at a cafe somewhere in Paris sipping black coffee and nibbling on a tart aux fraises while watching Parisians go on about their daily life. I can only dream for now.

I always wanted to make those beautiful sweet pastries you see at a French cafe. They look so chic and so delicious with their creamy filling, topped with refreshing fruit, glazed or garnished with chocolate strips and powdered sugar. There's just a certain je ne sais quoi about anything that's French.

Quick and Easy Chicken Mushroom Pie

Hearty pies make a great lunch box meal at school or work

I’ve been baking far too many cakes lately and it’s about time to bake more savoury treats that can double up as a main meal. I was thinking of something delicious that can conveniently be packed in our lunch boxes and chicken pie it was. 

Don’t worry if you don’t know how to make puff pastry because we don’t know either. Nothing’s wrong with using cheat puff pastry which you can easily find in the frozen section of the supermarket. The one we got is locally made, from Kawan Food. The pastry was fresh and good and you won’t be able to tell that it’s frozen.

Blueberry Cheese Tart

Buttery and crumbly shortbread crust with light cream cheese filling, blueberry jam and fresh blueberries

One of my favourite desserts is blueberry cheese tart. I remember the first blueberry cheese tart I had was from Berry’s bakery which was oh-so-heavenly. Last I checked, their blueberry cheese tart was still as good and it only costs RM2.90 each (but I don’t know whether there’s a price increase after GST). Talking about GST just makes me sad, let's move on to happier things like creamy and buttery blueberry cheese tart.


I like blueberry cheese tart with a crumbly and buttery crust and creamy cheese filling with lots of blueberry jam. It's called blueberry cheese tart for a reason, so don't stinge on the jam.

Strawberry Almond Tart

There is something comforting about having these strawberry almond tart. It's light and the sweet and sour taste from the strawberries goes really well with the toasted almond flakes. These are perfect if you want a little bit of indulgence without feeling guilty.