Our Gingerbread House - Christmas Count Down

So here we are 7days away from Christmas..oh wow..the clock is ticking and I have not done enough baking and cooking...**panicking**..**panicking**
Not that we make it a very big event..no..just that what I've expected is way beyond my capacity..**deep breathing**..**deep long breathing**...relax Lidia..chill out and just enjoy every moment..(note: no baking for these past 2days..).
For this 7th day before Christmas, I would like to share one of our activities during pre-Christmas, sorry no recipe this time, instead expect a lot of photos...
Here is a fun day making and eating Gingerbread House with kids.

Since I was panicking and running out of time, I did not bother to make it from scratch (and I don't think I could do it). There is a shortcut by purchasing the kit from stores and they were on sale last week (only 9$).
In case you are wondering how it looks like, here is the picture of the whole kit. It comes with the prebaked Gingerbread cookies, icing sugar, tray and of course lotta candies.

The prebaked gingerbread cookies are easily to arrange to become a house by gluing it with icing sugar and let it set for 15min. I did not let the kids doing it up to this step.

I just let them helping me with the decoration. Choosing the color and putting the candies on the house. It was a total fun! Look at this beautiful result...Well done kids!

And some closer looks of the gingerbread man, the fancy roof and the Christmas tree..

When daddy got home from work..it was time to eat the Gingerbread House...Look at their happy (messy) faces..

And here is our poor Gingerbread House..at the end the adults should finish the cookies all up...

Choco Chip And Walnut Cookies - Christmas Count Down

One of those days, Bianca was asking for some cookies, but I was too lazy to go to the store. I checked my pantry and found all I need to bake some for her. This was the first time I baked chocolate chip cookies and it turned out really good. No wonder they named it the best chocolate chip cookies and it's easy for beginner like me. The best part is that you can adjust the sweetness to your preference (I found out in North America cookies and cakes are way to sweet to my taste).
So here is my 8th day before Christmas recipe: Choco Chip and Walnut Cookies..

Ingredients:

- 1c butter, softened
- 1c white sugar (I reduced it to 3/4c)
- 1c packed brown sugar
- 2 egg
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3c all purpose flour
- 1tsp baking soda
- 2tsp hot water
- 1/2tsp salt
- 2c semisweet chocolate chips
- 1c chopped walnuts

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour, chocolate chips, and nuts. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans. Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.

Snow White Cookies - Christmas Count Down

I was supposed to write this Christmas count down post 3 days ago, so that I could fit to my 12th day before Christmas version. But I hardly find time to sit and type on my computer, an excuse of having frozen brain..**blame it to the weather, the heater does not help**
Oh well, so here is my 9th day before Christmas post. Enjoy!

Today I would like to share our fave cookies recipe...we call it Putri Salju (snow white cookies), coz it is coated with icing sugar. The common recipe does not have cheese in it, I added Edam and Old Cheddar this time, and I like it.

Ingredients:

- 225g butter (I like the salted one)
- 100g fine granulated sugar
- 200g ground baked cashew nuts
- 250g all purpose flour
- 100g grated cheese (mix of Edam and Old Cheddar)

For coating:
- 120g icing sugar

Directions:
Whisk butter and sugar until smooth and pale. Add the cashew nuts, flour and grated cheese and mix them well. Make a ball of the dough and cover it with plastic wrap. Keep it in a fridge for an hour. Preheat the oven to 300F and layer the cookie tin with parchment paper. Take the dough out of the fridge and form half-moon shapes. Place them on the tin, give space in between. Bake for 20min at 300F. When it is done, take out and cool off for 3min, then coat them with icing sugar. Keep them in an airtight container.

Duo-Trio Layers Cake (Lapis Surabaya) - The Economic Version!

Some preggo crave for something during their pregnancy. Some are lucky enough to get what they wanted for. I was one of them. When pregnant with Bianca, 4years ago, I craved for this specific cake which require a lot of egg yolks, known as Lapis Surabaya. I do not know where it got its name from and why they pick Surabaya, a city in East Java to name it. Anyway, I got someone kind enough to make it for me at that time.
And when we moved to other town, I have no one to bake this cake, so I decided to try it on my own. But since, it was my first trial, I did not dare to use a lot of egg yolks, so I chose this economic version.
Oh, I got the recipe from here.

Ingredients:

A:
- 8 egg yolks
- 9 egg
- 300g fine granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 150g all purpose flour
- 1 tsp ovalet/emulsifier

B:
- 150g all purpose flour
- 25g corn starch

C:
- 250g melted margarine

D:
- 1/2 Tbsp rum
- 1 tsp chocolate paste

Filling
- strawberry jam

Directions:

Mix and whisk A until fluffy. Add B and mix it under low speed. Add C and mix it well. Divide into 2 or 3 part (as you like, you may use just 2 layers or 3). Take one part and add D into it and mix it well. Pour the batter into 22x22cm cookie tin/tray which was lined with parchment paper before (you may use 2 0r 3 trays according to how many layer you like). Bake at 175C for 25min until done. Cool it off. Take one layer and spread the filling and arrange another layer on top of it. Cut edges to complete.

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Green Tea Frappucino - would you do anything for love?

Many people say they would do anything for love, but how far would you really go? Some are willing to go to the ends of the earth for their significant others (read: I gave up my comfort zone in Australia and moved to a cold place called "Can I duh?" to unite w/ my ex-boyfriend-now husband), while others are not so ready to give up their freedom and still make a way to keep the relationship strong.
Found a nice quote about it recently: Do everything with so much love in your heart that you would never want to do it any other way (Yogi Desai).
Okay, I would not say much about this love and sacrifice things, instead I would like to share our drink related experience.

One of those hot summer days, we went to Starbucks to get something cool to drink. I got this green tea frappe, and husband got something else, dont remember what it was. Then he took a sip of mine, and since then he loves this drink. We then often go to Starbucks just to get this particular addicting drink. Since he loves it that much, I thought I would try to make it on my own (and I've already stocked up some green tea powder before) just for convenience, so that I can make it every time he wants it (am I doing anything for love here? you may say so). I browsed around on the net, and found many recipes, quite similar though. Thus I tried mixing and combining, and here is my version of green tea frappe. Would you do anything for love?

Ingredients:
- 1.5 tsp green tea powder
- 120ml hot water (not boiling)
- 2Tbsp of sweet condensed milk (may be replaced with granulated sugar)
- 120ml fresh 2% milk
- 60ml cream
- ice cubes
Optional: vanilla flavoured syrup

topping:
whipped cream

Directions:
Dissolve the green tea powder in hot water, add sweet condensed milk and mix it well. Transfer it in a blender, add milk, cream and ice cubes and blend it until smooth. Pour it in a tall glass and spray the whipped cream on top.
The recipe is good for 2 tall glasses.

Note: you may blend it without ice cubes, then keep it in a freezer until half frozen. Take it out and blend it again briefly. The result will be smoother.