Putri Salju / Cashew Melting Moments

don't bother about its name, putri salju literally means snow white. it has nothing to do with the cookie and probably the only reason why its named after snow white is due to the color of the cookie and the look of snowy-like icing sugar. this one is my favorite cookies growing up, i could never get enough of this. however, it's been a very very long time since the last time i ate this cookies. due to the crazy amount of its icing sugar-coating, my mom and people around me tend to keep their distant from this incredibly delicious and addictive cookies. i ever made this cookies once before i started blogging and i didn't really like the way it turned out to be, the reason is simply because the icing sugar didn't coat the cookies thickly enough and it lost its sensation of those cool and sweet effect of icing sugar, which made me feel like eating just another buttery cookies.

sometimes ago, i suddenly saw some photos of this cookies on instagram and just realized how i really really miss munching and having this sweet treats around. to favor my cravings, i decided to quickly make this cookie since i coincidentally also have 500 grams of cashews in hands. this cookie uses toasted cashew powder in it and that's probably the reason why they are so addictive aside than the icing sugar itself. it is originally crescent-shaped, but using cookie cutter is just not my favorite thing to do so i simply round them into balls, i personally thought they look cuter in ball form which makes them looks like a snowball.

Nastar / Pineapple Tart

during the time that i didn't blog, i still frequently bake a lot of good things and with the existence of instagram, i somehow become a bragger who almost always post my homemade creation there. though the picture might not be as pretty as the standard of professional food blog photos, it still looks decent on instagram. this one was taken last year, exactly last year. i was experiencing a sudden craving for my pastry teacher's pineapple tarts, thank God she gave me her recipe when i was her student.

pineapple tarts was not my favorite cookies back when i was a child, i didn't like the acidity of the pineapple and also the fragrant of caramelized pineapple kinda made me sick. but now.. i love it, i love pineapple tart more than i could imagine. i realize that somehow my palate of taste has changed not only because of my sudden change of heart in this pineapple tarts but also because when i first wrote this blog i really really hate any lemon flavor in any sort of things, i personally felt like i was eating a car perfume, but lately i am completely in love with lemon. nowadays, everytime i have this tarts around i just couldn't stop munching it, especially with this recipe that is sort of sweeter and crumbly and melt in your mouth. 

Lapis Legit

Hello,

I have been going AWOL for too long since 2012. i am sorry. So many things have happened and maybe you are not that interested to know what it was all about. Because really it's not that interesting either. Lol. Anyway, who cares, i am here now, blogging again. Let's make this year counts. This post was meant to show you all one very sophisticated traditional indonesian cake. The oh-so-famous thousand layer cake or lapis legit. Some people make and eat this cake only on some special occasions, due to the labor and expensive ingredients if you made it yourself and if you buy it, the cost will be doubled or even tripled.

This was actually KBB challenge for last month, making lapis legit. I have tried to make them several times last year and none of them succeed. Just when KBB challenged me to, it came to a success. I am that type of girl who can easily be excited just because of small things, such as this successful lapis legit i made. I don't care if it's still not that perfect, i love it, at least it is cakey and it is still taste really good just like store-bought lapis legit and it is actually a huge progress from the last lapis legit i was trying to make. It's pretty dense, almost layered perfectly, a little too sweet, and quite less spekkoek scent.. or i can say, some moments later i feel a little hatred to the cake i made. It has to be perfect! So the next morning i made it again just to make everything better and lovelier, and BAM! I failed again, it was worse than what i have made.. thankfully i still have some picture of the almost perfect cake, and i have learned some tips and tricks about how to make it to perfection. I am just not that eager to try it now since i still have so many leftover egg whites in my fridge. But i will revisit this cake again real soon.

traditional indonesian cheesecake

what so hard about leaving your holiday is adjusting your usually laid-back day back into rush-rush day. that's what has been happening to my self this week. school has started and my dearly beloved best friend has gone back to seattle. holiday is officially over. but the great thing is my favorite tv shows are coming back in its new season because summer break is over *big grin*. anyhow, last wednesday managed my self to bake a cake to remind me that even though i have started my busy routine again, i will always have time for doing things i love.

this cake is the traditional Indonesian cheesecake. i have been wanting to make this cake from months ago and i kept skipping it with another baked goods. thankfully this time, a friend kindly requested me to make this tasty and moist cake. this cheesecake is different from the western cheesecakes. it is basically a super rich and moist sponge cake covered with buttercream and grated cheddar cheese. it may sound funny to eat a sweet cake with salt cheddar cheese. you know what, that's the thing that make this cheesecake so rich and tasty. the saltiness from the cheddar cheese elevates the sweetness and the richness from the sponge cake and they will melt in your mouth playfully. i love this classic cake so much.

however, there's one little thing i regret when i made this cheesecake. look at my sponge! it doesn't look very decent right?! first of all, i think i might set the oven temperature a little too high on the beginning and my cake browned too quickly. i quickly lowered the temperature and suddenly my (used to be) super high cake sinked slowly.. but fortunately it didn't really ruined but it should actually rise a little higher than this picture below. there will definitely be a next time for me to make this again, perfectly. high and not that brown. so, for anyone of you and especially for my friend, Rini, who has been waiting for the recipe, here's the recipe.... :D

durian pancake and a little reunion

hello my dear readers, i'm so thankful for not forgetting today's post. i almost missed it. i spent too much of my time playing with my friend who's back in town again. she's completely insane and she's the one who shares almost all the same thoughts with me. well we have another best friend who knows us too well but she's a little wiser and not as crazy as we are. she brings balance to our friendship.

unfortunately, both of them don't eat durian, so none of them taste this durian pancake. but my mom is a durian fan and she enjoys this pancake. too bad i didn't really give it some justice because i made the crepes slightly thicker. my bad. the next time i make it, i hope i could make it thinner and more beautiful.

I got the recipe from Mbak Pepy on Indonesia Eats. If you love Indonesian food, you must love her food blog right away. Anyhow, back to me and my friends, it's nice to know that we are all completing each other with laughter and advices, hopefully til later even after we have had kids and family. I'm so happy and thrilled to be able to hang out again together at the same time in the same place with them. That's us below! And for those of you who are craving for this durian pancake, i have reposted the recipe from Indonesia Eats below.. :)

June - July 2012 IFP Round Up

hello guys, this time we will see another IFP round up from June 2012 until July 2012.. we didn't receive as much entries as previous months this time. but it will still makes us crave for some! so, without taking too long, let's see those beautiful foods..

April - May IFP Round Up :)

Hello everyone! :) this month, i am helping Tata to be in charge of making IFP Round Up. it's been too long already isn't it? these pictures below are the collection of many many Indonesian Food that certainly tastes delicious! so, without further ado.. let's go!

IFP: Cantik Manis

hello.. i hope you enjoyed your weekend happily, just like i did.. :) and here we are on the busy Monday again. today, i am going to show you a traditional Indonesian sweet again, named 'Cantik Manis'. if i want to translate it in English literally, it will become 'Beautiful and Sweet'. i don't really know why the people called this sweet as 'Cantik Manis' but i personally thought maybe because of its so-girly-color. it has soft pink color or sometimes white with some colorful dots.

Cantik Manis is basically made from mung bean flour and coconut milk, so yes it is gluten-free i guess.. CMIIW :p any of you wondering where the dots come from? it comes from colorful sago pearl, mine has green and red color. sometimes the mixture turns into soft pink color because of the sago pearl, just like mine.

do i love this sweet? hmm.. yes of course! i love almost everything made from coconut milk. moreover, it is pink and sweet. so, i don't think i have an excuse to say that i don't like this traditional Indonesian sweet. and anyway, i also wanted to remind you, that i will be hosting this Indonesian Food Party round up. so, for any of you, wherever you are, indonesian or not, who are interested on making and posting any Indonesian recipe, post it! after you posted your indonesian dish, send an email to indonesianfoodparty@yahoo.com including your post URL, a photo of your dish, and some comments about your dish. i can't wait for the potluck guys! :)

dadar unti / rolled crepes with coconut stuffing

hello again.. with a new post for this week. this is my entry for this month's IFP. so happy for hosting this event with Tata Bonita. what come to our surprises is that many-many people has joined and submitted their entries to our IFP's email (indonesianfoodparty@yahoo.com). we are very lucky and also grateful for all of your supports. please join us again next month? my entry for this month is dadar unti or as i've stated above rolled crepes with coconut stuffing. it was one of my favorite traditional kuih. however, it is getting harder to choose what kind of sweets to make for IFP, because i have tons of sweets i want to make. 

dadar unti is quite simple to make. you just have to prepare the stuffing which can be made ahead, then just make pandan crepes, simple and lovely. my dadar unti doesn't come to its perfection though, i made the crepes to thick and i think there must be something wrong with my way of folding the crepes. it's not like what i used to eat. maybe it will be better if i cooked it the right way. so, how about if you try to make some dadar unti at your place and tell me how yours turn out?

putu ayu

hellow! i am back again with good news! tee-hee.. wait for it okay! anyway, this cake called putu ayu (read: poo-too a-yoo) is also my entry for this month's Indonesian Food Party, a monthly event held by me and my dearest TaBon! :) check out what she has made for this month. last month, we have made kue pepe and quail egg satay. and also if you are interested for joining this event with me and TaBon, just post it and tell us. this event is opened for anybody anywhere, we'll be delighted with your indonesian food entry.

so let me introduce you to this cake, this sweet and beautiful cake to be exact. this is my very first time making this cake. but i could find it pretty easy between traditional cakes which are sold in the traditional market. this is basically a very simple cake to make, the batter is similar with most Indonesian steamed cakes batter, almost similar with sponge cake batter. flavored with pandan and finely grated coconut. i love this cake. i don't know why but when i eat this cake, i think this is the best cake to represent the taste of other indonesian traditional sweets. it is very easy to make with very simple ingredients to find in my country, but i don't know if you can easily find pandan leaves or suji leaves or even coconut flesh when you live outside asia.

now, let's go to the good news. starting from monday.. i'll be back to campus and my college life but with a very nice schedule. i have my class only for 4 hours monday til saturday, i can bake and make anything before or after class. so happy! i can be back on track and post regularly again with mostly 5-7 posts a month. yay! hopefully the assignments won't hold me hostage. that's the news i wanted to tell you and now without further ado let's check out the recipe..

indonesian thousand layer sticky cake - kue pepe

hello readers, start from this month, i will give you a special monthly treat. what is it? it's indonesian traditional sweets. actually this is supposed to be a monthly event between me and TaBon, but she will give you the indonesian traditional foods while i do the desserts. this indonesian sweets post will be featured on the beginning of every month. and here come the first one! yay!

this kue pepe (read: coo-way peppay) has two original version, with more sago flour or with more rice flour. the difference is if using more sago flour you'll end up having a more elastic and transparent layers but chewy as well. on the other hand, if you use more rice flour, you'll end up having easier-to-tear-layers, but not chewy. my father and my grandma prefer the rice flour versions, while i personally love the sago flour versions. why? because it reminds me of my childhood.

when i was little, i used to be given this kue pepe by either my mom or dad whenever they visited traditional cake seller. and i love the color of this cake: chocolate, white, topped with red. always always always love the slightly thicker red one. but my most favorite part of this cake is eating it, up until now whenever i eat this cake, i eat it layer by layer , i always separate each layer and stretch it into a long ribbon before putting it in my mouth. lol. i just love this habit and i want to share it with all of you. i hope my habit will become contagious to all of you whenever you eat kue pepe.

wajik - brown sticky rice cake

my dad now has been the frequent readers of my blog. he gives a lot of supportive ideas about this blog and also about the photographs. he was the person who first introducing me to the world of photography back when i was a toddler. sadly, i didn't develop too much skill on it even until now. hahaha. however, one interesting idea that my dad has told me is to create more indonesian traditional sweet foods. traditional? yes. as an Indonesian, i think it's an obligation for me to master all those traditional Indonesian food or desserts, but in fact i don't. making Asian dishes is not an easy one for me, Asian dishes are so rich in spices and flavor, it feels complicated to really get a perfect balance of all those spices and ingredients. that's why, once the dish has been done perfectly, Asian dishes will give you the superb explosion of flavors in your mouth.

wajik literally means diamond shape. in case you wonder how to spell it, it should be like this: 'waa-jeek'. in terms of food, wajik is a sliced sticky rice cake, it is flavored by caramelized palm sugar and coconut milk. it is very simple to make, just cook the glutinous rice in the boiled and reduced palm sugar-coconut milk syrup until all the syrup has been absorbed, then we spread the rice into a lined baking-pan and let it cool. when it has reached the room temperature, slice it into diamond shape. i think any people would love this cake, from whatever nation you are. i mean, who doesn't like the richness of coconut milk? and who can resist a caramelized sugar?

this cake is one of our favorite among those traditional Indonesian desserts. my mom, dad, and siblings love them tweaked with durian flavor, not me though. i don't really like durian. in this post, i will give you the original recipe also the durian flavored wajik recipe. for the first-time wajik-eater, i think it would be wiser for you to try the original one first and then you may go to the next step with durian flavor. come on, try it and tell me what you think about it! :)

onbitjkoek

hello everyone! i'm back again. haha. this time will be the time for onbitjkoek. onbitjkoek is one of the traditional Indonesian sweets which may be influenced by the Dutch. well, it is basically a sponge cake flavored with spices and lots and lots of java almonds. this cake will make a good recommendation for elder people though. not preferably for us, under 40 years old. lol.

the reason why i want to make this cake is because i had a big family gathering today. most of the attendance are elderly. since onbitjkoek probably will suit their taste-bud, i decided to make this classic cake. i always love the technique of making sponge cake. i failed thousand times before when i have just started baking. however, i eventually succeed and it felt so satisfying, that's why i love making it now. it feels like repeating your victory over and over again. ;)

i used KBB as my references on making this onbitjkoek. KBB ever came with onbitjkoek challenge when i haven't joined them yet. i saw the recipe not from KBB's website but from KBB's member's blog, it was Mbak Hanna's blog. she made a slight modification for this cake and i thought it is better with the modification. this is an excellent recipe and i feel glad using this recipe. all people eating this say that it was delicious. so why don't you give it a try and make this soon?

kaastengel

maybe some of you don't know about this biscuits. it's famous in Indonesia though, i don't know where the name comes from because it doesn't sound Indonesian at all. perhaps the name comes from Dutch because there are many Indonesian cakes using sound-like-Dutch name. for example: klappertaart, onbitjkoek, and this kaastengel.

when it comes to Christmas or Eid, cookies and biscuits always seen in almost every house. Kaastengel is kind of a must have one, the other is Nastar and Cats' Tongue. actually, kaastengel is almost a savory biscuit with parmesan or edam cheese as the main ingredients. this is my first time making kaastengel but it turns out great. all my family members love this, moreover they can't stop nibbling at this biscuit when they're watching television, except me. i don't like savory biscuits, i prefer the sweet one.

the recipe was originally from Anchor but i found it through Mbak Anne Vijaya's blog. the recipe makes a crisp and very tasty biscuit. i'll simply put it on top of the favorite cookies recipes. at least even though i won't make it to satisfy my appetite, it could make other people happy. i know a lot of people who loves kaastengel as much as i love Cashew Sandies (Putri Salju in Indonesian). they'll be thrilled with this recipe.

KBB#20: Kue Bangket

hello guys.. wew, i feel like it's been so long already that i haven't do any KBB task. to be honest it seems like i haven't been in the kitchen for quite some times. reason: mid term test. yeaah, 2 weeks full of tests. it hasn't finished yet though, the last is on next Monday. how pathetic life can be, huh?

this is this month's edition, traditional biscuits. this traditional biscuits named Kue Bangket, it was originally come from Sumatera. i think there are so many variations of Kue Bangket itself. the one i made is Bangket Susu (Milk Bangket) and Bangket Rempah (Spice Bangket). in this month's challenge, KBB works together with NCC, what a really perfect pair they are (don't you think so?). it was said that in both mailing list, they got some sort of 'Bangket-Fever'. haha. anyway, this is just another fun challenge KBB giving me and i really enjoyed making those vintage Bangket.

Bangket's main ingredient is tapioca starch. there are many flavors of them; peanut, milk, spice, chocolate-dipped, ginger, vanilla, lime, and so on you can name it. it's very simple to make, no need to use any fussy equipment, even a pair of your hands is enough to make it. the only part that i think was quite difficult to do is the shaping part. you know i'm not a quite patient person and i messed them all up for few times. the Spice Bangket was easier to make because it hold its shape better than the Milk Bangket. to make the long story short, i can jump up to the conclusion that maybe some of you have been wondering. does this biscuits taste good? hmm, according to my liking, i prefer the Milk Bangket however some people say it was too sweet. but, i couldn't say i really like the Spice Bangket (my mom does), i'm not a massive-fan of spice.

lemon milk agar

this is a dessert i've been promising Tengo Un Horno y Se Como Usarlo to make about a month ago, she should read this post.. (p.s. i'm really sorry for the delay and hopefully you'll like this recipe). remember my post about lemon pudding? well, i don't really like it but this lemon milk agar or i can say the Indonesian style lemon pudding is a sweet caress for my tongue. i love this too much.

in Indonesia, we're almost always referring to milk agar when we heard the word pudding. for some of you who maybe don't know what agar is, agar is a powder like gelatin which was made not from animals' bones but from seaweeds (red algae to be exact), here's the link in wikipedia in case you want to know more about it. milk agar was made from agar powder with milk and in Indonesia we call it pudding, we can modify the flavor though. the modification has no limits, you can even put biscuits into it, i'll make you some later. agar contains so much fiber and very good for your digestive system. this is one dessert i've always fond of since i was so little. like most jellies and gelatins, agar is best served chilled. we can make agar with not always milk, the simplest one is just with water and sugar. but if there's no agar powder available near you, don't worry, you can always substitute agar powder with gelatin powder of course.

my lemon milk agar has a mild taste of lemon. i don't really like a strong flavor of lemon, it makes me dizzy. the lemon tastes even milder when it blends in with the milk. if you prefer a stronger taste of lemon, serve this with lemon curd, i'm sure it would be nice. however, i prefer to eat this with sweetened condensed milk in a hot sunny day. so refreshing!

black glutinous rice porridge

not quite a big beginner luck for me today.. haha. for MasBar entry this month, i hate to say, i'm not really do well. this month's theme is Sweet Porridge and i was eager to make black glutinous rice porridge. main reason is because i like it, the other reason is because i have never made this before.

the way you're supposed to cook black glutinous rice porridge is different with how you cook the regular white rice porridge. in order to get the super smooth and mushy rice, you have to at least soak the glutinous rice overnight and drain them the next day. when you've finished drain them, that's the time it's ready to be cooked.

since i didn't know anything about cooking glutinous rice (and forgot to google it), i cooked them just like cooking white rice porridge. that's why it's not so mushy and a little weird for my taste. hahaha. the weird i mean here is that i found that i don't really like this glutinous rice porridge i made though generally i would really love to it black glutinous rice porridge. i'll cook it better next time..

steamed (cup)cakes

lately these days, i don't know why i had a huge passion of making Indonesian cakes. so that.. yesterday, i tried making Potato Donuts but i don't have any report with me since i was not in the mood for taking pictures. today, i tried making steamed cupcakes/bolu kukus. i've never succeeded making anything steamed before, but in the contrary, i did it today. you can't imagine how happy i was that time, haha. even my parents laugh at me. that's why i really want to document everything here, yes here!

my dad once before when he was little had a little cake-shop, well actually it's my grandma's. as the result of that, my dad and aunts understand a bit on how to make cakes. the thing that i was going to say is, my dad gave me a comment for the steamed cupcakes, he said, 'you shouldn't be that happy, steamed cake is easy to make..' hahaha. i don't know if my dad's words are actually true, is that really true people?

well, i got the recipe from NCC mailing list. i guess the source come from Mbak Rina (click to see her blog..). i won't post you any recipe. the recipe is on Mbak Rina's blog, on her post called 'Bolu Kukus Mekrok'.

okay guys, i hope you also have a happy day just like mine.. thanks for reading! :)

klappertaart

happy valentine's day and happy chinese new year, readers..

i'm celebrating valentine's day today (Feb 15th) because yesterday my family and me were celebrating CNY. i'm making klappertaart for valentine's day. a bit awkward am i? hahaha. yeah, no chocolate, no heart shaped cookies, no pink garnishes; just klappertaart. i've been planning to bake this Indonesian dessert for so long since i haven't started blogging but i always find excuses for not making this Manado (North Sulawesi) dessert.

until a week ago..

a dear friend of mine whom his mother comes from Manado ask me whether or not i can make klappertaart. it's his favorite, he said. hmm, it's like a silver lining for me to finally make klappertaart. me and him were junior high school friends and we haven't met for a long time until grammy united us. haha. no, not really like we came all the way just to watch grammy together, we just talked about grammy. hoho. then from it on we always like to have a chat just to talk about anything until that klappertaart conversation popped up by itself. you know, i always adore him as my bestfriend and i am dedicating this klappertaart as a valentine's gift for him.

how about my boyfriend? hahaha. he's easy to please with any kind of food. but i guess, he won't like klappertaart. do you know, he's never eaten klappertaart before. and i take a conclusion that he won't like it because he doesn't like coconut, cinnamon, and raisins; they're all in klappertaart! hahaha. seems like i have to make other things for him. but that's okay, at least i won't throw that klappertaart away because i like it. klappertaart is just one of my all time favorite dessert, so proud that it's an Indonesian dessert.

klappertaart is some kind of custard pudding that consists of young coconut flesh and nuts, topped with soft meringue, and garnished with cinnamon powder, raisins, and any kind of nuts. i don't really know how to spell klappertaart, but so far as i know it uses double 'p' and double 'a'. haha. please correct me if i'm wrong..

for the recipe, i got it from Mbak Riana's blog.. as usual, i cut down the recipe half.


please try this dessert, you won't be disappointed. :)