Cheryl of @baking_taitai shares her baking tips and top recipes to up your baking game at home
With flour and yeast missing from most supermarket shelves this Circuit Breaker, there can only be one logical conclusion - the entire Singapore is baking! 🤯 And given we are into our seventh week, you should either be perfecting that recipe or running out of baking ideas.
Don’t worry, Cheryl (or better known as @Baking_Taitai) is here to share some of her popular recipes! Cheryl is a stay-home-mum who has a strong passion for baking and started her baking journey nine years ago. As a self-taught baker, she hopes to inspire people to prepare simple and healthy food for your family and friends, for nothing beats the taste of homemade food prepared with love and care!
1. Ham & Cheese Waffle Recipe
Photo Credit: Cheryl of @baking_taitai
Ingredients: (Makes about 12 pieces)
- 250g plain flour
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 12g sugar
- 2 eggs
- 355ml fresh milk
- 85g unsalted butter, melted
- 120g deli ham (sliced thinly, chopped into small pieces)
- 170g shredded cheddar cheese
Method:
- In a mixing bowl, mix all dry ingredients well together.
- Mix all wet ingredients well together in another bowl.
- Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, mix till batter is smooth.
- Mix in the ham and cheese until well combined.
- Preheat the waffle pan, spray cooking oil on the inner surfaces of the pan and use a pastry brush to coat evenly so that waffles can be removed easily after cooked.
- Scoop adequate batter into the heated pan, cover and cook for 5-6 minutes or until golden brown.
📌Baking Tips:
- The waffle is soft when hot, it will crisp shortly after cooled down.
- This recipe is versatile, it can be used for making pancakes too.
2. German Melt-In-Mouth Cookies Recipe
Photo Credit: Cheryl of @baking_taitai
Ingredients: (Makes about 50 pieces)
- 125g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
- 40g icing sugar, sifted
- 1 tsp pure vanilla paste
- 125g potato starch
- 80g plain flour
Method:
- Use an electric mixer to beat the butter and icing sugar till light and fluffy. Add in the vanilla paste, continue to beat until well combined.
- Sift in the potato starch and all-purpose flour, mix with a spatula to form a soft dough. Note: Leave the dough to chill in the fridge for about 10 mins if you find the dough too soft to handle.
- Divide the dough into 8 grams balls. Roll it round and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Use a fork to press lightly down and dip the fork in water after each press to prevent the cookie dough from sticking to the fork.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 150 degree Celsius top and bottom heat, fan forced, for about 15 minutes.
- Remove from oven. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking tray for about 5 minutes to prevent breakage before you transfer to a wiring rack to cool down further.
📌Baking Tips:
- Softened butter should yield slightly to gentle pressure. Too soft butter will not cream properly with sugar and will affect your baked product.
- To make cocoa flavor, add 1 tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder and 2 tablespoons of icing sugar to the above recipe.
- To make matcha flavor, add 1 tablespoon of Uji matcha powder and 1.5 tablespoon of icing sugar to the above recipe.
3. Peanut Pancake (Min Jiang Kueh) Recipe
Photo Credit: Cheryl of @baking_taitai
Ingredients for Pancake Batter:
- 150g plain flour
- 1 egg
- 185ml water
- 30g sugar
- 1/2 tsp yeast
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
Ingredients for Peanut Spread:
- 50g ground peanut
- 25g sugar (adjust to your liking)
Method:
- Mix the ingredients for pancake batter together and leave aside for about 1 hour. Check that the mixture must be bubbling.
- Pour the batter into a non-stick pan. Smooth out to get an even thickness.
- Cover with lid and cook on low heat for 6 to 8 minutes.
- Remove from pan, spread some butter then add the peanut spread. Fold into half, slice and serve.
📌Baking Tips:
- If you are using HappyCall Pan, shift the pan left & right every 2 mins when cooking.
- For a more fragrant and flavorful taste, you can spread a thick layer of peanut butter instead of butter before sprinkling the ground peanut sugar over it.
4. Super Soft Fluffy Banana Cake Recipe
Photo Credit: Cheryl of @baking_taitai
Ingredients: (Makes 2 loaves)
- 4 eggs, room temperature
- 160g brown sugar
- 250g ripe bananas, cut into small pieces
- 190g cake flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 135g rice bran oil or any cooking oil
Method：
- Preheat oven to 160°C top and bottom heat.
- Sieve the cake flour, baking powder and baking soda together twice before setting aside.
- Use an electric mixer to whisk the eggs and sugar at maximum speed till ribbon stage before mixing in the banana until well combined.
- Briefly fold in the flour, then add in the oil. Continue folding until batter is well mixed, shiny and flowing.
- Pour into the baking pans and bake for 40 - 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
📌Baking Tips:
- DIY your own cake flour! For 1 cup of plain flour (120g), remove 2 tablespoons (about 15g) of it and replaced it with 2 tablespoons of cornflour. Put in a mixing bowl and whisk until well combined. Sift the mixture together 4-5 times to aerate the flour and incorporate the two together really well. There you have cake flour!
- If you need more or less cake flour, just scale the recipe up or down as needed.
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