Kaastengels cookies {Batang keju}

Christmas is around the corner. For my darling son he can't wait for this coming christmas. Keeps looking around the house to get the clue where mommy and daddy hide his presents. But for me  I don't want the Christmas season to end. It is just too fast. What I love about Christmas is I do enjoy sketching, painting and designing while doing those kind of stuff the Christmas music is in the background. I never get tired listening Christmas songs. I will miss those moment surely.

I bake Kaastengels cookies for Christmas. It is made of lots of cheese. In my country this cookies is a must to bake during the holiday. Very tasty and crunchy. 

 Kaastengels Recipe:

Ingredients:
125 gram margarine
125 gram butter
2 yolks
salt
350 gram flour
200 gram cheese (finely grated)
50 gram grated cheese for top garnish

 Directions:

Mix butter, margarine, salt and yolks together. Until everything blend well add flour and grated cheese gradually. Mix them well. I like to use speed no 2 on kitchen aid mixer.

Roll the dough and cut. The size of the stick is variety. I like to make them not to thick or long.

Glaze them with yolks and sprinkle the cheese on the top.

Bake at 350F for 30 minutes.

Pineapple cookies {Nastar}

Where I come from, Indonesia. pineapple cookies aka nastar are our family favorite cookies for Christmas. As my parents mostly had an open house for christmas, we used to make lots of these cookies. Now I live far away from them, and I try as much as I could to keep the tradition going. I got this recipe from my friend Eliza. You can check her blog HERE. 

These cookies are easy to make but are really time consuming. 

Ingredient: 

700 gr all purpose flower

4 tablespoons dry milk powder

250 gr margarine

250 gr butter

100 gr confectioners sugar

3 egg yolks + 1 whole egg

Glaze:

egg yolk

Mix together flour and milk powder.

Mix margarine, butter and confectioners sugar. Add eggs. Gradually beat the flour mixture until well combine. 

I like to refrigerate at least 2 hours before used. 

Roll dough into 1 inch ball, flatten, fill it pineapple jam and enclose it back into a ball. Place in greased baking sheets. Brush the cookies with glaze. 

Baking at 350F for 30 minutes.

Pineapple jam:

2 pineapples, grated finely

300 gr granulated sugar

cinnamon powder

Cook the pineapples with sugar and cinnamon until has no more liquid and is quite sticky. Refrigerate it for couples hours before used. 

Saturday dreaming....

I never been to Paris yet, hopefully someday.... One of the movie I love is "Sabrina' where some of the scenes take place in Paris. I see the beauty, calm, dream..... someday I wish I could sit in one of the outdoor cafe's and do some sketching. Just so peaceful and calm.

So this saturday my mind bring me to the place that I haven't been there.... yes someday, in Paris ....

BOO!

Here is a story from halloween. I wish I could post this on time. Our Halloween day is just like most other american families that have kids, my son chose to dress up like a ninja. We did carve a pumpkin with my husbands help.

While I was working in illustrator for the halloween, I also made a homemade apple pie. One thing that I love the most about fall season is the chilly weather it is just so good to smell the aroma of baking. 

Enjoy your fall! 

Beautiful Monday!

Hello Monday,

My son is always not fond of Mondays as it is the first day of the week. Time to go to school!!

Anyway, often we think about why “I can’t” why I can’t sing as good as others, why I can’t be a doctor, teacher, engineer like those people. Why I can’t be as good as them.

“I can’t”, “I can’t” keeps feeding us daily. We know it is not healthy for the soul. I often compare and talk to myself with many of the word “I can’t”. So today PAUSE…. I need to think the word “ I can”

So here is the illustration for you. I hope you all enjoy your beautiful Monday!

Hello Weekend!

Couldn't be happier that today is FRIDAY! As it means it is family time! 

I hope you all enjoy spending time with family - Have a good weekend Everyone! 

DIY {recycle} table.

Yeah… it has been a while since I’ve write anything on my blog. Partly because I’m unsure what to do with this blog yet. I would like to post things that I love, find, cook, make and draw. But so far I can’t find time to sit down and focus on it. I have a little time now I am trying….

Ok, about DIY table. I find my hand hurts a lot when I type or edit pictures on my old computer table. Just because my table was to small with the little keyboard drawer. I can’t rest my arm on the table so when I typed only my palm touched the table and it caused problems.

I wanted to buy a brand new big computer table but really I don’t want to spend money.  I remember I have an old computer table in the basement. Lucky me I have a hubby who likes to fix things. He fixed the table. I cleaned and painted it white. Then I bought a 6 cube  white organizer from Target. It goes nicely with the table. I am pretty happy with the outcome, especially now I can rest my arm on the table when I draw or type.

Thinking about bunny and carrots .....

I meant to post about Easter on the Easter day, but unfortunately I didn't have time. Our Easter was beautiful we celebrated daddy's early birthday at granny's. Happy Birthday Daddy, Hope many blessings in health and prosper to you!

Now about the sketch, I have been doodling for sometime but due to many reasons I wasn't able to finalize what I was planning. This time I think about bunny, carrot and the most of all is about Easter. While my son and his friends made eggs coloring and played at the park I managed to do some doodles. Don't laugh at my doodles, I know it looks like kids drawing right LOL.

In the process of finalizing the pattern I didn't follow my sketch exactly. I keep changing from one design to another. Anyway so far I am happy with the result. I know it is very basic shapes. But I promise I will be back doing more advance design :)

Here the final Result of 'EASTER PATTERN'.

Bananas Chocolate Muffins

Happy Friday!

My son was so excited as this is the last day of the week for school. He is always happy when the weekend comes. That's when he gets to play! Me, being mom aren't quite as thrilled. I am developing a cold. Thanks for the germ my son hahahhaa.

I get this recipe from FOOD NETWORK.

Bananas Chocolate Muffin:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups smashed bananas (about 4 to 6 bananas)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
2 large eggs at room temperature
1/8 teaspoon fine salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cups chopped walnuts
1 cup of chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 425 degree F. Lightly brush a 12 muffin tin with butter and set aside.

Whisk the flour, baking soda, brown sugar, and cinnamon together in a medium bowl; set a side

Which the banana, oil, milk, eggs, salt and vanilla in a large measuring cup with a spout or another bowl

Make a small well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour wet ingredients into the center, then stir with a wooden spoon until the dry ingredients are moistened but still lumpy. Do not over mix the butter or your muffin will come out dense. Gently stir in the nuts. Divide the butter evenly into the muffin tin.

Put the muffins into the oven and immediately reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees F. Bake until golden brown about 25 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the cooking. (Insert a toothpick into the center of a muffin to check if it is done. Toothpick should come out clean). Cool muffins in the pan on a rack for a couple minutes. Turn the muffins out of the pan and cool on the rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

The music by Matt Maher "Lord I need You" was playing on the background.

Happy Weekend everyone!

{Whole wheat bread - bread machine recipe}

 I haven't been able to find a bread machine I really like until now! I had a cheap one but it broke down and later on my friend Eri gave me hers but unfortunately it quit shortly after I made some loaves. I personally love white bread even though it's not healthy. My hubby prefers to have whole wheat bread, and I have been searching the recipe for a good soft whole wheat bread that has a light texture.
I remember my friend Joy loves to make her own bread, so this time I tried her recipe.  The bread comes up very nice looking with soft inside texture and a slightly harder outside. It tastes very good as well. So thanks Joy for the recipe!

This Bread machine has come handy for me. I am not much of kneading dough. Here is the recipe for WHOLE WHEAT BREAD:

1 1/2 c water
3 tbls oil
4 tbls honey


After combining these ingredients in the bottom of the bread machine, pile 3 c of wheat on top of the water. This creates a barrier between the wet ingredients and the dray. 
Next add:

2 tsp salt
3 tbls dry milk
5 level tsp of bread machine yeast

I

The aroma of freshly home baked bread permeated my kitchen. As I took it out of the bread machine and looked out the window, I saw the snow falling. It just makes the house feel so peaceful, quite, and I hear the hungry tummies were calling for food.
Also while waiting for the bread to be ready I managed to finish a newborn bonnet for my photography props that I have left untouched for a few days.  

{Snow White Lace Bonnet and Leg Warmer}

Thanks to OSCARS night! Finally I am done making a bonnet and a pair of leg warmers for newborn photography props. Anyway if you are around Erie PA location and want to have one a kind newborn photography please contact me. You can visit my photography business HERE.

I got this beautiful yarn from a local yarn store called Cultured Purl. This yarn is so soft and fine it is very nice for newborn props. 

Back again to the OSCARS, I am pretty much happy that Lupita Nyong'o won Best Supporting Actress and Matthew Mcconaughhey won Best Actor. 

One line I love the most from Lupita speech is "When I look down at this golden statue, may it remind me and every child, no matter where you're from, your dreams are valid".

 

{Ultimate Chocolate Chips Cookies}

Yes, today is my first post on this blog. I used to have another food and craft blog HERE. But for some reason I couldn't maintain it for a while. So I decide to open another blog just for the sake of blogging about things we do here with my family. Other fun stuff about my photography hobby and crafts... If you like to take a peek at my professional photography blog please visit HERE.

I am writing about how much chocolate is so popular in my family. You see I can't be slim as I would like and a chocolate eater too. But cross my finger tho I am trying to minimize the need of eating chocolate LOL. But hey this weekend I was spoiling my hubby and son! They have been nagging me to make their favorite chocolate chip cookies. Then here you go... They are fluffy, chunky and so soft. I got the recipe from CHATELAINE magazine.

The Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Ingredient:
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsb baking soda
1/2 tsb salt
1 cup unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsb vanila
2 cups dark chocolate chips or milk chocolate chips.

In a medium bowl. Use a fork to stir flour with baking soda and salt. In a large bowl, using a wooden spoon or an electric mixer, beat butter with sugar until creamy about 1 minute.
Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually stir flour mixture into butter mixture until just combined.
Mix in chocolate.

(I store the dough in the fridge for 2 hours before baking)

Scoop about 1 tbsp of dough and place on prepared sheet. repeat with remaining dough. Bake in the oven to 350F for 8-10 minutes.

And whoalaa... there you will have chunky, fluffy soft chocolate chips cookies.

 

In between baking chocolate chip cookies I managed to do some knitting. I got the yarn from Cultured Purl yarn store. Fell in love with this yarn, so soft and fine. It is just prefect for my project for newborn photography props.  I will give an update when it is done.